sexism
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How Sexism Defines
Sexism 'sek-"si-z&mFunction: nounEtymology: 1sex + -ism (as in racism)1 : prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially : discrimination against women2 : behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex
(http://www.merriam-webster.com)
Countries based on an economic system traditionally require a woman’s role to take place within a private sphere:
*Cooking*Cleaning*Raising children
These hold no physicaleconomic value, thus,devalued.
$Money$ = POWER
Basically...
Women slowly integrated into the workforce; however, they earned much less than their male counter-parts. Today women still only earn 50-95% of male counter-parts.
August 18, 1920
Until the 19th Amendment was ratified, women were not able to vote.
Worldwide, women are often viewed as commodities
Females worldwide are considered property.Often, men make the choices and women are
coerced to obey.
Globally, women who are considered an investment often are treated so.
Infidelity is common for men but
a woman who is unfaithful is often beaten.Sex is not optional. "An Afghan election
staff takes off her veil..."
Dowry:Money or goods paid by the bride’s family to the groom’s family in exchange for a marriage.
Problematic in India, Greece, and Pakistan.
Many music videos promote a negative view of women
as commodities.Female Referents
Chick
Cunt
Bitch
Ho
Pussy
Wench
Slut
Male Referents
Player?
Pimp?
???
“...in 1976, it was revealed that the U.S. government had sterilized 3,000 Native American women in a four-year period without obtaining adequate consent.”(Hartmann,1995)
The U.S. is not innocent.
• Gonorrhea is declared an epidemic among girls
• Daughters with gonorrhea often had fathers (from white, middle- and upper class families) with gonorrhea.
• Evidence suggested incest... ...so health officials revised views on gonorrhea, not incest.
Disturbing Facts: America 1890 to 1940
Doctors weighed penalties for incest against the assumption most accusations
were false.
“One knows the facility with which children are disposed to accuse and lie. We now recognize that gonorrhea in children is vastly more often due to accidental mediate transmission than to attempted intercourse.” -Prince A. Morrow (physician, 1904)Source:Sacco, L., (2002). Sanitized for Your Protection: Medical Discourse and the Denial of Incest in the United States. Journal of Women’s History, 14(3), 80-104.
In every state, the following people are required by law to report suspected abuse: Doctors; nurses; dentists;
mental health professionals; social workers; teachers; day care workers; law enforcement personnel.
Feminism Pronunciation: 'fe-m&-"ni-z&mFunction: noun1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests
(http://www.merriam-webster.com)
The gender wage gap is one issue Feminists work to decrease... along with sexual violence, sexual stereotypes, reproductive rights, and exploitation.
Although not everyone agrees...
"Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
-Pat Robertson
Most feminists don’t want a matriarchy...they want equality.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Rebecca West
Gloria Steinem
A United States woman has 1 in 5 to 1 in 7 chance of being raped
in her lifetime.
College Freshmen Orientation
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “more than 350 rapes a year will occur on a college campus with a population of 10,000 female students.”
1950s Wellesley College women singing in a dorm
Prostitution• In order to keep high morale, the U.S. Army encouraged military sexploitation in Southeast Asia.
• In the Philippines, an estimated 50,000 childrenhave been fathered by U.S. Servicemen over the past fifty years. (Coronel &Rosca, 1993)
“Though rape is viewed merely as a crime, it is the fundamental, primal, most destructive way to seize and maintain control in a patriarchal society. When wars are declared, everyone involved in the declaration assumes women will be raped.” -Inga Muscio
“Pretty much every nation in this world was established by war.
How many women do you think that is?” –Inga Muscio
Sexual harassment in K-12 is often tolerated and characterized as flirting
“Teachers would act as if I had done something to cause it.” -13 year old,
Pennsylvania
Sex Education goes beyond the classroom...beyond the teachers...and beyond textbooks...
...and affects every girl by means of social influence. Sex
education starts at birth when someone declares, “It’s a Girl!”
• Programs such as Girls Inc. teach girls to resist negative images of women.
• Girls are taught to be “strong, smart, and bold” through after-school activities and classes.
Girls involved in activities within a structured environment are more likely to:
Be satisfied with
their bodies,
go to college,
have a high quality
of life,
& overcome effects of
gender stereotypes
Yet blame does not equal a solution.
“Women can be kicked when we are down, but no one is stupid or strong enough to kick us when we are standing up, all, together.” -Inga Muscio
Music:“Human Behavior”
Björk
Public SphereVs.
Private Sphere
Lucy Stone, suffragist
Susan B. Anthony
UNL = 8,990 females students.
UNO = current female population is 4,756
World War II: Moroccan soldiers raped Italian womenJapanese soldiers raped Korean womenNazi soldiers raped Jewish women
1970s:Pakistani soldiers raped Bengali women
1980s:El Salvador and Guatemala
1990s:• Bosnian Serb soldiers raped 20,000-50,000 Muslim women in
former Yugoslavia
• 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls were raped during a civil war in less than 100 days in Rwanda in 1994
• Thousands of women in Congo were gang raped between 1998 to 2003
Genocidal rape: attempts to destroy ethnic or political groups perceived as enemy
Opportunistic rape: occurs when men take advantage of lenient laws during war time
Political rape: to punish individuals holding different political views
Nisha Sharma
“Shero”
Some feminists regard the English language as extremely sexist and in need of correction, thus, many words are spelled gender neutral. (Example: Womyn no longer means “of man.”)
How can we possibly explain sexism to children?
Children’s books with a positive feminist message can raise
awareness about sexist issues.
The Girls Inc. “Kid-Ability” program teaches girls to be aware of predators.
Girls are taught about their rights to say “yes and mean yes” and “no and mean no.”
