If a religion offers justifications for sexism, racism, or homophobia, then maybe that belief system isn't so moral after all.
Posts in category Sexism
The Rights of the Minority
The majority should not get to decide whether the minority can enjoy the same rights that they get to take for granted. This should be common sense.
The Good Old Days, Revisited
When people start waxing poetic about the good old days of the 1950s, here's a little reality check. This appeared in the New York Daily Mirror: "If a Woman Needs it, Should She Be Spanked?" And here's what four fine Brooklyn men had to say ...
Toys for Girls & Toys for Boys
Buzzfeed has compiled a collection of "16 Ways the Toy Industry Is Stuck in the Stone Age". In spite of how much social progress women have achieved, toy makers haven't gotten the memo. They're still defining playtime for girls and playtime for boys along strict gender lines, and they amount to something like this: "Girls: please clean the kitchen. Boys: do science. ... Boys: guitars, war, roller coasters. Girls: pink home decor, baking."
(Note how the pink "My Cleaning Trolley" says it's for "Girls Only". Yeah, no shit.)
Check out the rest here.
Trollops
Chicago, 1922: These women were arrested for wearing one-piece bathing suits that revealed too much leg. What trollops.
The “War on Men”?
The "War on Men"? Seriously?! In this Fox News article (are you surprised?), writer Suzanne Venker makes the ridiculous claim that more and more men are shying away from marriage because:
"Women aren’t women anymore. ... In a nutshell, women are angry. They’re also defensive ... That’s because they’ve been raised to think of men as the enemy. Armed with this new attitude, women pushed men off their pedestal (women had their own pedestal, but feminists convinced them otherwise) and climbed up to take what they were taught to believe was rightfully theirs. ...
Whaaat? "Women had their own pedestals"? Oh, does she mean like back when we didn't have to worry our pretty little heads about voting and all that political nonsense? Or does she mean back when our only option in life was to get married, have kids, and stay home and we didn't have to worry our pretty little heads about working outside the home? I have a feeling that her concept of being on a pedestal means being subservient, holding a supporting role, and letting men make all the big decisions as leader.
"But what if the dearth of good men, and ongoing battle of the sexes, is – hold on to your seats – women’s fault? ... [The media has] put women front and center, while men and children sit in the back seat. But after decades of browbeating the American male, men are tired. "Fortunately, there is good news: women have the power to turn everything around. All they have to do is surrender to their nature – their femininity – and let men surrender to theirs."
Hear that, ladies? You're emasculating the menfolk! If you ever want to get married, stop browbeating them, stop trying to steal their jobs, and get back on your pedestal in the kitchen! Let the men take the front seat for once! Stop the War on Men! And for Christ's sake, stop being a damn feminist! They ruin everything.
Read the rest here, if you can stomach it.
This Is a Bitch
Here's the small print: "Sexist & homophobic words are violent & they're everybody's problem. Realize words have an impact even if you don't see it. Challenge sexist & homophobic language. Use different words. Change the subject. Support people who are being harassed. Use humor to change minds. Violent words support violence. Everybody has a backbone. Use yours."
Read more about Backbone Zone.
Worse or Better
... or that we shouldn't complain about sexism here because women have it worse in other countries.
Are You Feminine?
"Do you remember not to stride ... to walk with a spring that looks as if you like to dance?" Why, yes I do! In fact, I often do the Waltz as I walk. I may not get very far, but golly gee, do I look feminine!
Female Chauvinist Pigs
Quote is actually by Emily Maguire in the intro to Ariel Levy's book, Female Chauvinist Pigs.
Tease
Example of men's sense of entitlement over women's bodies. Here's the underlying message: She's a tease, because men wanted to see her topless but she wouldn't do it. But as a woman, she's obligated to show men her breasts if they want her to. But haha - the joke's on her because they got their way after all, whether she was aware of it or not. (And before anyone says that she chose to wear a sheer top without a bra, I speak from personal experience that in certain lighting, black tops are sometimes more sheer than you'd think.)
Poor Things
You can play their theme song right here -- http://sadviolin.com/ ;)
Love or Hate
Almost everything we feel about others is subjective -- remember this next time you're rejected, insulted, etc.
Half the Sky
"Half the Sky" is a new documentary on PBS which "... introduces women and girls who are living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable — and [who are] fighting bravely to change them."
Read more about the woman in the photo, Rebecca Lolosoli.
Can They Talk?
Douche of the Day:
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said on his radio show today "... that the way he and his network pick out female hosts is, 'we go into the Victoria’s Secret catalogue and we said, ‘Can any of these people talk?’"
Listen to it here.
Sexual Assault Prevention
Women are routinely taught how to avoid being raped. We're taught not to leave our drinks unattended, to not walk in certain neighborhoods, to not wear certain clothes, etc. The responsibility for rape prevention is placed on women's shoulders instead of where it belongs -- on potential rapists. It's about time that we saw more Sexual Assault Prevention Tips like these:
Lighter
Here are two 4-letter words I'd say about dating guys who'd have this lighter: FUCK THAT.
She Just Wanted to Learn
Badass Girl of the Day -- Malala, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban last month. She was targeted because ever since she was 11, she'd been encouraging other girls to defy the Taliban and to go to school. This photo is from a few days ago.
Read more at CNN.
Not Very Gentlemanly, GQ
Can you spot the difference between these three photos? One of the things that indicates sexism is when women are treated in a way that reduces them to a superficial quality, such as treating women as sex objects. In these photos, "Ben Affleck and Channing Tatum sharing the 'man of the year' title and Rhianna [is] named 'obsession of the year.' Affleck and Tatum are fully dressed, while Rhianna just gets a leather jacket. Affleck and Tatum get closeups, while Rhianna gets a suggestive body shot."
Why am I getting deja vu? Oh yeah, it's because of the recent British GQ's Men of the Year covers, which featured fully-clothed comedian/Broadway star James Corden, fully-clothed singer Robbie Williams, fully-clothed rapper Tinie Tempah, fully-clothed "Mad Men" star John Slattery, and naked singer/Internet celebrity Lana Del Rey.
I'm noticing a trend here. Apparently, GQ doesn't think women are noteworthy unless they're undressed. You'd think that a magazine called Gentleman's Quarterly would behave in a more gentlemanly manner. But no.
“Special Snowflake”
This is what I think when I hear women talking about how they're "not like other girls" or they're a "cool girlfriend" because they like watching sports, or they don't mind going to strip clubs with their guys, or they're not high-maintenance. It's as if pleasing men is the highest priority & that either molding yourself to their interests or simply having those same interests makes you better, cooler, or more fun than women who don't.
Keeping Up with Limited Options
In a new study conducted by USC Annenberg and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, researchers looked at the way women are portrayed in the media. They analyzed nearly 12,000 speaking roles on prime-time TV and in children's TV shows and family films, studying "female characters' occupations, attire, body size and whether they spoke or not."
The results were pretty depressing:The team's data showed that on prime-time television, 44.3 percent of females were gainfully employed -- compared with 54.5 percent of males. Women across the board were more likely to be shown wearing sexy attire or exposing some skin, and body size trends were apparent: 'Across both prime time and family films, teenaged females are the most likely to be depicted thin.' ... Perhaps most telling are the percentages of speaking female characters in each media form: only 28.3 percent of characters in family films, 30.8 percent of characters in children's shows, and 38.9 percent of characters on prime time television were women.
... [R]esearchers reported that they found a lack of aspirational female role models in all three media categories, and cited five main observations: female characters are sidelined, women are stereotyped and sexualized, a clear employment imbalance exists, women on TV come up against a glass ceiling, and there are not enough female characters working in STEM [science, technology, engineering, math] fields."
Media messages reinforce sexist attitudes about what women are capable of achieving. As this study shows, female characters are significantly limited in the roles they play -- they're often relegated to supporting roles, as characters less central to the plot, and as sex objects. This impacts how girls grow up feeling about their own abilities and what opportunities are open to them, and it also affects how boys learn to view girls -- who gets to be the star, who gets to be the boss, and who's supposed to just sit there and look pretty:
"Both young girls and boys should see female decision-makers, political leaders, managers, and scientists as the norm, not the exception. By increasing the number and diversity of female leaders and role models on screen, content creators may affect the ambitions and career aspirations of girls and young women domestically and internationally."
Read more about the study at Huffington Post.
Is America Ready for a Male Leader?
LOL -- I love this little bit of satire regarding the different ways we speak about male vs. female politicians. The role reversal points out how absurdly sexist and condescending it is:
"The Secretary of State job requires both tenacity and restraint, both of which may be difficult for a man's unique chemical constitution. The male hormone testosterone, while responsible for such wondrous miracles as back hair and upper body strength, is also responsible for an increase in male aggression, anger, and even violence. Diplomacy is a difficult enough task without having to temper a man's natural tendency to throw chairs through windows when angered by gridlock. ...
"In addition to fluctuating male hormones, a male Secretary of State will undoubtedly be faced with the difficult task of trying to balance work and family. For generations, men have tried to 'have it all' — the great career, the perfect family, a hot body, a youthful, buoyant buttocks ... I know it's not the 'politically correct' question to ask, but it needs to be addressed when making important decisions about men in the workplace: if Jon Huntsman is appointed head of the State Department, can we trust him not to shirk his responsibilities in favor of fulfilling his duties as a father of seven? ... Who is going to make after school snacks? Can America, with a clean conscience, remove a father from his natural role as hands-on provider and permission slip signer?"
Read more at Jezebel.
We Won – Deal With It
There have been a lot of sore losers since election results were announced -- plenty of political pouting, arguing, and Facebook un-friending. The losing side wants us to stop gloating and just get on with life. Ordinarily, I'd agree, but not this time. They want us to stop now, even though all throughout election season, these same people didn't stop making inflammatory attacks and absurd claims about the Nazi-Communist-Socialist-liberal agenda, the Black man in the White House, gay marriage bringing on the apocalypse, baby killers, sluts wanting you pay for them to have sex, "legitimate" rape vs. girls who "rape easy," and so on. In spite of all this "fair and balanced" rhetoric, conservatives still lost fair and square. But now they want everyone to stop talking about the election and to shut up with all our celebrating.
Well, you know what? Fuck that! Fuck that, because YOU are the ones who lit the fires. YOU are the ones who started shit. YOU are the ones who fought to take away people's rights to their lives and their bodies. YOU are the ones being degrading and insulting. So damn right we're going to express how absolutely thrilled we are that we shut that shit down!
There's been so much bigotry throughout politics lately, an incredible amount of sexism, homophobia, and racism. And those who support those ideals -- or those who can so casually excuse them -- deserve to be called on it.
This is the most politically involved that I've ever been in my life, because as many other women realized -- our rights are being threatened. And I'm finding it really hard to separate people from their politics, because beliefs matter. They impact your worldview and your behavior toward others.
You're entitled to believe in whatever you want, but you are not entitled to impose your beliefs on me. And I don't care if it's under the guise of religion or if you believe that God Himself personally spoke to you. Because when you start forcing your beliefs on me, it becomes abundantly clear that your "traditional values" are less about following a moral code and more about oppressing others in the name of your self-serving ideology. Those are not values that I will abide by. You are not allowed to infringe on MY rights, MY body, MY choices, no matter how "righteous" or "justified" you believe yourself to be. Your beliefs do not get to trump my freedom. Your sense of entitlement over others' personal lives, your selfish belief that you have the right to control others -- these are complete and utter boundary violations. How dare you say that your beliefs matter more than mine! That kind of arrogance and lack of compassion astound me.
When our rights are attacked; when we're treated with condescension and our morals, maturity, and ability to make decisions about our own bodies and lives are questioned; when the definition of rape is twisted to benefit the rapist and punish women -- well, damn right we're going to take it personally! We're going to defend ourselves against insulting, selfish, and paternalistic attacks against our humanity. We're going to stand up against sanctimonious bullies who use religion and legal maneuvers to chip away at our civil rights. We're going to vote for the people who actually respect our constitutional and moral rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And we're going to question the integrity of those who are so willing to throw our rights under the bus. How dare you speak about freedom when you are so intent on attacking ours.
In this election, we had more on the line than you did. We had more to lose. And guess what? YOU built that. So hell yeah -- of course we're going to celebrate and we're going to do a bit of gloating about how we prevailed.
We won. You lost. Deal with it.
Celebrate
Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling would like to celebrate with you. ;)
