Recently in Gender Category

Let's Go Shopping!

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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2923821/Women-spend-three-years-shopping-in-lifetime.html

 

this article shows a few statistics on how often women shop. The average woman spends 3 years shopping in her lifetime, but why is this? It is interesting that this is something that is interesting to write about... women do seem to shop a lot, but what is the main reason for this? It is because women are told they need to shop, or is this because this is a bonding experience for them when they go out with other women? Is the materialistic culture the reason for the shopping, or just the stereotype, or mainly both? In the article they also divide up the time spent shopping for certain items. Could another reason that women shop so much be because they are responsible for carrying on the household i.e. buying clothes for the family, food to be cooked, cleaning supplies.
Men do stuff around the house too, and they do shop as well... but there doesn't seem to be a need or hype around it.

"PORTLAND - About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity."



     Ah, finally, a movement I can support, and from the looks of it, they need all the "support" they can get!  Apparently the state in which this unorthodox event took place, Maine, defines nudity as "genitals only".  So, what's a girl to do when she can walk around topless?  Well, it seems she's going to...um....walk around topless.  

"The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and mostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras"

     Oh really?  No kidding?  You don't say?  A whole bunch of guys followed a whole bunch of topless women?  This sounds more like a bizarre bachelor party or Girls Gone Wild event than a social movement.  My favorite part of this story is the organizers' comments after the march:  

"Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on."

Come on Ty, COME ON!  Sure, I suppose she can be enraged, but I think her position would have been more effective had she used this as a teachable moment.  What if she had said the following INSTEAD:  
      
     "The attention we received while marching today illustrates the divide between the social perception of men and women, and how we still have a long way to go before we reach equality.  I mean, if there were 20 topless men walking down the street, it would probably have looked like a ghost-town around here.  I think we have made some progress though, and I look forward to our next event"

Ty, you can lose your shirt, but lose the aggression too!  Have a sense of humor for goodness sakes, and realize that until internet porn is obsolete and Hustler and Playboy go bankrupt, naked chicks will remain totally sweet...

NOTE:  I felt it was my duty to maintain the normative male perspective on female nudity for the purposes of this entry.  Please don't think less of me, I really am a decent human being.  

About-face.org is a website dedicated to exposing media messages that are detrimental for the body image of girls and women. Their mission is "to equip women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect self-esteem and body image."

They focus on analysing visual images that appear on the media, in order to foster a critical mind in the viewers, particularly female viewers who are most affected by images of the "ideal woman" presented in the media, most pervasively in advertisements selling all kinds of products.

An interesting feature of this website is their "Gallery of offenders", in which they present offensive media images, including an analysis of the negative messages that they present. For example, the following image from a magazine ad, which presents a stereotypical image of female passivity, victimization, and objectivization.

A bad Ad!

The website also includes a "Gallery of winners", in which they present images that send more positive messages. For example, the following magazine ad, which presents a woman in a position of strenght.

image nine

It is an excellent resource for teaching women to look more critically at the information they receive from the media. For more information, visit: http://www.about-face.org/ 

A Plug for V-Day

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Just a little plug for an event and an organization that I think you all should know about if you do not already. V-Day is an international organization with the mission of ending all violence toward women and girls. Below I have left a link for the V-Day website and the link to V-Men a series of essays from men about their journeys to their contributions toward ending violence against women and girls. Guys especially might want to check that out.

I feel the whole movement works to change people's sometimes misinformed views about violence against women. It also helps give women a voice all around the world and helps create awareness for the way woman are treated in various parts of the world.

The Vagina Monologues is a wonderful show that everyone should see at least once because of its ability to stretch one's horizons. Especially if one considers themselves  "Midwestern" and/or "of a traditional upbringing" this show might make you uncomfortable (but that's because of the mental scaffolding its breaking). It certainly has a lot of talking points. UNI is having a show this weekend, if you cannot go you could go to Wartburg's Monologues March 6th at 8pm! If that's not available you can pull up some of the scenes from it on youtube. I feel it's more insightful as a whole show in context though.

If anyone has done anything or seen anything from any of these sources, I would love to hear how they impacted you.

Vagina Monologues

Friday, 2/19/10 - Saturday, 2/20/10
7 pm, CAC 108 The Vagina Monologues seek to raise awareness and funds for the prevention of violence against women world-wide. Proceeds will benefit Club Les Dames, the NE Iowa Food Bank and V-day international.. Tickets/Registration: Tickets are $10, or $5 with a donation of two canned goods.

 

http://www.vday.org/home

http://www.vday.org/meet-vday/v-men

"Although more and more American schoolgirls grow up playing team games, those sports just don't attract commensurate attention at any level. With women's team sports, there is still a glass grandstand"
Maya Moore peeks around teammate Tina Charles as the Connecticut Huskies celebrate victory.

     We'll go banana's for Super Bowls, and we'll go bonkers for gold medals, so how is it that the most dominant team in history goes unnoticed?  The Uconn women have won 65 consecutive games -by double digits- and have what many see as the TWO best players in college basketball.  So why aren't the masses on the edge of their seats each time the Uconn women take the floor?  The article linked above submits that it comes down to dollars and cents.  

"While Las Vegas will take bets on almost any game men suit up for, only at NCAA tournament time can you bet the women's game. Then, ironically, almost no women bet -- just hard-core male gamblers."

Could this be?  Is it really possible that the only reason more fans aren't...well...fans is because they can't place a wager on these Huskies?  I think the author of this article may be trying to put a unique spin on the situation, and may even be avoiding a more "delicate" dialogue.  American culture has always subscribed to the "Great Man" perspective, the idea that success comes to those who work hardest and have the gusto for cutthroat action.  In team sports success is achieved through teamwork, something Tiger and Serena don't have to worry about.  All the while though, the world tunes in for the World Series and the Super Bowl, both of which are team sports.  So it can't be JUST that you can't bet on women's sports, or that its a team sport.

Maybe, just maybe WE LIVE IN A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY WHERE MEN HATE THE SUCCESS OF WOMEN AND WANT TO KEEP THEM UNDER THEIR THUMBS FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!

AHEM...ER, UM I MEAN.. there must be another reason why we aren't more excited about the incredible achievements of this all female squad, but I for one am still trying to figure it out.  Your thoughts?





"Good Morning Boys and Girls"

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Tolerance.org published this article by Rebecca S. Bigler, Ph.D.  The article takes a simple look into school-related gender bias.  How many times do you think you've heard phrases like "good morning, boys and girls", "ladies and gentlemen, welcome...", or "boys vs. girls"?  Throughout our 15+ years in academia, my guess would be we've all heard such gender labels used in generic fashion like this hundreds, if not thousands of times without giving it much thought.  Well what if drawing attention to gender differences like this on a daily basis at an early age perpetuates into stereotyping, stereotype threat, and bias?  Recent studies have shown this could be the case.

The article gives a few ideas as to how to correct this problem.  Using groups such as boys and girls is a really easy, and natural thing to do, so rather than selecting something like gender teachers could separate the students by what kind of shoes they're wearing (laces, buckles, velcro, etc) or other such things.  The article also, however, mentions that gender should not be ignored in any way.  It just needs to be approached in a way that would not enter into bias or stereotyping.

My thoughts on this are as follows:  I never would have stopped to think that using gender as a constant grouping, and drawing excessive amounts of attention to gender could be a precursor to gender bias.  At surface level it seems like one of those "crazy over protective findings that causes more troubles than its worth... just let the kids figure things out".  However, it makes me wonder how I might view gender differently if my school-hood would have avoided the gender-typing.

My question for you is... how early is too early to begin mentioning stereotyping and sexism?

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-28-fall-2005/good-morning-boys-and-girls