It is strange to think that terms like you "throw like a girl" have a connotation which are easily associated with weakness and extreme femininity. Across age, gender, and racial gaps, the above "Like a Girl" video from Always' new advertising campaign helps highlight some of the struggles in the daily life of women. Highlighting our reasons to fight not only for equal rights on paper but (now more than ever) for equal rights in everyday language, this video helps raise an interesting debate centering around the role of stigma in creating our current perception of women. From medieval times into the modern day, what does it mean to be a women?
I don't want to write a huge piece on this because I believe we are all firmly versed in the ideals of feminism BUT, I did want to pose a few questions...
1. Why are women's sports (OVERALL) lay claim to so few viewers in comparison to men's sports?
2. Why do we all associate the images in the video to the phrase, "throw like a girl?"
3. This is more for the women in the room, why is the sentence "you'll find a job because you're a woman" relevant?
4. What do modern perceptions of women impact? i.e. sexual assault, domestic abuse, education lapses (in a global sense).
5. For those who say the fight for feminism is over, what about the women of Arica, Asia, and the Middle East? What of democracy in that role?
To being, I really like the topic of social stigmas in our everyday language. We don't realize this, but the language we use to associate with our friends and family really does have an impact on how we perceive certain things and it perpetuates the social stigma as long as we use it to demean others. It's almost shocking how simple verbiage such as "like a girl" in a negative context can give us an in-depth view of how our entire society views women and how it actually is detrimental. Now onto the questions! Personally, I think men's sport are generally favored in lieu of women's sport because it is subconsciously recognized that sports are to be extremely aggressive and competitive and when we apply those characteristics to our society views of women and how they should be feminine, dainty, and weak, we don't like it. I really believe that sports we see today are just improved versions of the carnage humans saw and wanted to see in Antiquity like in Ancient Rome with the Coliseum and Ancient Greece with the Olympics; both of these cultures have had a major impact in Western society and culture. In both examples, women were generally excluded from the games because they couldn't have put on a better show then aggressive men for the crowd, which I feel can apply to today's time. For the second question, I don't think women have had a good representation of being strong and powerful in mass media. We all love movies like Sleeping Beauty and we shove these movies down the throats of children as soon as they know how to sit properly in front of television screen for two hours. However, in movies like Sleeping Beauty and in many others, the princess (the woman) does not play the aggressive role of saving herself even though she is the main character; it is always the masculine aggressive prince that saves the princess. The media perpetuates the stereotype that women cannot fend or do anything physical for themselves without the assistance of a man. I think the whole "you'll find a job because you're a woman" implies that the office that woman is applying for is only going to hire her because the office has to meet a status quo to keep its workforce balanced in terms of gender, or it implies that they're only going to hire her so she can act as eye candy for the men in the room. In both situations, it is never because of woman's hard work, work ethic, and experience that allows her to secure a well-paying job, and we need to change that. Modern perceptions of women impact the education system. There is a really big push by international superpowers, like the United States, to get education to women who live in poor villages that are in third-world countries. The good thing is is that because we now have a more positive view of women getting an education, it is more likely that the process to get education available to everyone of all genders will be a lot smoother. I think that women in other parts of the world still have a long fight when it comes to the equality of the sexes. Perhaps, the fight for feminism is over in America; however, it is still a very real problem in countries like Saudi Arabia and other parts of Africa. But, I do feel that we cannot interfere with separate countries dealing with their domestic issues because the United States has no room to judge one country when it has a long history of injustice in regards to discrimination against people who were not rich, white, and a male.
ReplyDeleteI think that women’s sports are seen as less competitive due to the fact that women are seen as weaker and not as strong which in turn will mean a less exciting and competitive game. This goes for why people associate throwing like a girl as weak because in most movies, show, books, etc girls are usually weaker than the men who are alongside of them. Due to this girls are just thought of as not strong at all. As for you’ll find a job because you are a woman is not something I have heard often, it is usually you will find a job or get into school because you are a minority. Either way it is not the way that I want to be seen as, only getting a job due to my gender or race is infuriating. Why not because of the skill set that I have or the knowledge that I have of the subject. But I think that this phrase is also saying that women can find jobs, maybe not as respected jobs but the stereotypical jobs that women get such as a secretary. The modern women in some places are starting to change and women are seen as strong independent women with power, yet this is still not true everywhere. In many countries women are still oppressed and are seen as objects and property than equals. These countries still have a lot of catching up to do but it is important to start helping now and give people a voice.
ReplyDelete1. In regards to sports the majority of sports in today's world are popularized out of the athletic ability that can be appreciated by the fans. For this reason fans tend to lean towards men divisions as they provide a more exciting element of athleticism that is simply not seen in women's sports. This is not to say that women's sports or unexciting because they are and in many respects women's sports are even gaining in popularity.
ReplyDelete2. To answer this we must simply look at society. What was once a playground insult has now spun itself into the mainstream meaning of being nonathletic and thus has become a mainstay in today's world.
4. I would argue that the modern perception of women throughout the world is a group that is continually gaining rights and that woman are a group that are on the push for equality in many respects. Women in different countries are legally earning rights that they were not capable of having a generation ago.
5. I would not say that the fight for feminism, nor the fight for women in general is over. Women inn other countries still face many legal restrictions and seen women in the US are victims of sexism in a multitude of scenarios.
I believe that the modern perceptions of women affect all aspect of everyday life for any woman. It is perceived that women are inferior in the work force through the evident difference in pay between men and women. It is seen that women are sexual icons, therefore advertisements display women in very liberal attire trying to sell hamburgers, website domains, water bottles, potato chips, beer, and most all material possessions that have absolutely no sexual connotation whatsoever. Women are seen as stay-at-home moms who have their separate duties that are not desirable, but need to be done, yet not terribly straining because a woman could never be a strong, independent human being just as men are displayed in popular media. Yes, women’s equality is increasingly the focus of current legislation and debate, but women are just beginning to earn rights that are basic human rights. Women have been systematically subjugated, therefore in my eyes, giving women these basic human rights cannot be seen as modern strides towards equality, rather the expulsion of oppression.
ReplyDelete