PC Fabulous Troll
(?)Community Member
- Posted: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:11:36 +0000
One of the most damaging viewpoints our society has absorbed is our understanding of the role of women. We have a set of guidelines of how women as a group should behave and how they are allowed to be treated by men. This can be plainly seen across all facets of our society, from politics to entertainment.
Take, for example, Michelle Obama, the wife of the current President. The majority of the articles she is featured in discuss her wardrobe choices and accessories worn to public events. The fact that she has been educated at both Princeton and Harvard are never mentioned and her occupation as a lawyer is disregarded so room can be made to remark on how that dress makes her look pudgy. She is a woman of notable achievement and activism and the media focuses on the style of her hair.
Yet Barak Obama, George Bush Jr, and even Stephen Colbert are not part of the fashion pages despite their frequent public appearances. Instead we focus on their achievements and their activities in the political sphere. Don Cherry, a man known for wearing outrageous outfits, is more likely to have what he says analyzed, not what he is wearing.
Obviously there is a problem. Ashley Judd recently spoke out against this form of female objectification in a heart felt article. She is hardly the first, and she won't be the last.
Now, everyone has heard of the oppression of women and the rise of feminism, but one of the positions that is often neglected is the role of men as something other than oppressors. Men are often just as trapped in their own gender performance and the consequences there of as women, and while they are often more materially successful they are usually just as emotionally unsatisfied as women.
One of the aspects of the gender performance of masculinity is the encouragement of competition in the work place as a measure gender suitableness. Men are often pressured to speak about things they would prefer remain private in order to reassert there own gender. They are told to be emotionally reserved, even in the face of tragedy, and are raised with the idea that if they are not number one they aren't worth anything.
So this raises the question, if everyone is unhappy, why are we as a society so trapped in our own gender performances? Why do we not seem to have the ability to acknowledge that while men and women are different, they can still be equal and deserve equal opportunity to prove their ability to perform and deserve equal compensation for those performances? How can we learn to let go of our own societal condition in order to stop being men and women and just start being people?
What do you think?
Take, for example, Michelle Obama, the wife of the current President. The majority of the articles she is featured in discuss her wardrobe choices and accessories worn to public events. The fact that she has been educated at both Princeton and Harvard are never mentioned and her occupation as a lawyer is disregarded so room can be made to remark on how that dress makes her look pudgy. She is a woman of notable achievement and activism and the media focuses on the style of her hair.
Yet Barak Obama, George Bush Jr, and even Stephen Colbert are not part of the fashion pages despite their frequent public appearances. Instead we focus on their achievements and their activities in the political sphere. Don Cherry, a man known for wearing outrageous outfits, is more likely to have what he says analyzed, not what he is wearing.
Obviously there is a problem. Ashley Judd recently spoke out against this form of female objectification in a heart felt article. She is hardly the first, and she won't be the last.
Now, everyone has heard of the oppression of women and the rise of feminism, but one of the positions that is often neglected is the role of men as something other than oppressors. Men are often just as trapped in their own gender performance and the consequences there of as women, and while they are often more materially successful they are usually just as emotionally unsatisfied as women.
One of the aspects of the gender performance of masculinity is the encouragement of competition in the work place as a measure gender suitableness. Men are often pressured to speak about things they would prefer remain private in order to reassert there own gender. They are told to be emotionally reserved, even in the face of tragedy, and are raised with the idea that if they are not number one they aren't worth anything.
So this raises the question, if everyone is unhappy, why are we as a society so trapped in our own gender performances? Why do we not seem to have the ability to acknowledge that while men and women are different, they can still be equal and deserve equal opportunity to prove their ability to perform and deserve equal compensation for those performances? How can we learn to let go of our own societal condition in order to stop being men and women and just start being people?
What do you think?