Being raised in an Islamic home, I could never understand why my mother and sister could never come to the mosque with my brothers and I. When I got to the mosque, I never saw any women. Why? I never gave it much thought. Many religions are a patriarchy and women are just inferior. I think it's great that a person can be so dedicated to religion especially a female. But when religion gets in the way of equality, that's where I draw the line.
Gendered World Views (Section 4)
About this class
Pink is for girls and blue is for boys, or at least that's what many of us were taught as children. But what are these stereotypes really telling us? Assumptions like these force men and women into specific roles, and from a very young age, we socialize boys to be aggressive and girls to be "nice" -- the aesthetic assigned to each group reflects this. But how do real people deal with these expectations? What does it mean to see the world through gendered terms?
This course will investigate three different, and sometimes competing gendered worldviews: feminism, hegemonic masculinity, and the perspective of LGBTQIA activists. We will start by examining feminist discourses that help expose what it means to be a woman living in a man's world. Then we will investigate how North American society constructs masculinity and places another set of behavioural expectations on men, demonstrating that men also struggle with assumptions about gender. Finally, we will ask how the LGBTQIA community navigates the treacherous terrain of gendered expectations, and what this means for how they see the world.
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by popcm on September 11, 2014
I've heard tons of stories about women feeling ashamed of themselves or being shamed by others after having been raped. Sexual assault, like other forms of physical violence, is a criminal offence that should not be excusable in any way. If a person were shot, stabbed, beaten or strangled, their reaction would be to immediately tell everyone they know and have the perpetrators punished. Yet, often times when women are raped, their feelings of shame and guilt prevents them from seeking help and justice.
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Dawson College
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by You on September 11, 2014
color:#1D4A67">Since the media plays a very important role in the society, the female had wrong role Models. The media made a sexy, hot, and stupid figure for female. In the movies, magazines and online sites, the public figure of female became worse and worse. This fact will have a bad influence for the females’ right and their place of the society.
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Dawson College
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by chvzsoto on September 11, 2014
Education plays a big part of people’s life in many ways. Young men and women are eager to graduate from college and university in order to find their dream job and make a living. Sadly, women were not seen worthy and did not have the right to be educated like men were up until a few years ago. Countless stereotypes are used in society to insult women on an intellectual level and make them feel inferior to men. Let’s say you call someone dumb simply because she’s blonde or tell your co-worker she’s too emotional to make an important professional decision.
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Dawson College
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by lalo on September 11, 2014
According to Merriam-webster, “Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights of women”. Feminism seems to be a good idea, but not everything has been fine. Some feminism advantages are:
The women have gain equality.
The women are able to participate in elections.
The women are able to speak in public.
The women are able to demand their rights.
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Dawson College
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by eyesopened on September 11, 2014
Negative portrayal of women in the media
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by Not Chance on September 11, 2014
Professional Women: Never forget the goalI recently watched a video in class showing women talking about the difficulties and hardships of being their gender in this world. One part that took my interest was the talk about professional women, and how they are treated and talked about in contrast to professional men. This post is essentially a collection of my thoughts and experiences in dealing with this topic in the working world.
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Dawson College
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by ronayam on September 11, 2014
In the movie “Missrepresentation” it talks about gender socialization. Women are expected to be beautiful. For women family obligation is prioritized than career. Women have to sacrifice their education and dreams in order to meet this social expectation.
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Dawson College
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by MackShakeem on September 11, 2014
Women across the world are more inferior to the male gender, why? , well I believe that it’s because we’re afraid of change and having women in power. Women in today’s modern media and society are used for their bodies more than mind, and are only used for their sexuality, again powerless. As the younger generation of girls grow they are surely seeing that the perfect exterior is what all women should aspire to look like, portraying to them to worry more about their aesthetic then the intelligence they have within them.
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Dawson College
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by CG2014 on September 11, 2014
Television and media today is almost entirely controlled by men. What we see on television is filtered far too much, women are told how to dress, how to look, and what to say to the general public. This gives little room for the younger generations to explore their own desires, thinking they need to have the perfect shape to achieve success in life. The media giants have even gone as far as to keep the women reporting or speaking on air from doing a normal job.
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Dawson College
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by EightLions on September 11, 2014
In media nowadays woman are usually portrayed as someone that is pretty, sexy, cute, has an amazing body and sometimes don’t get along with other females. Weak, nagging and emotional, They always need someone’s help. In reality, it’s a way different story and sadly, people don’t see it.
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Dawson College
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by Bloomer Duckling on September 11, 2014
After watching the movie ‘Miss Representation’, a friend and I started a discussion about the media’s effect on women and how it ends up affecting both genders negatively. While women are constantly under the pressure to look a certain way, my friend made the point that men are under that same pressure. While I argued that I was focusing more on the physical and superficial aspects of this negative effect, my friend once again pointed out that men had the same pressures too. Walking through the downtown area of St.
3,758 | 2 | 2
Dawson College
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by leila on September 11, 2014
Throughout time, a certain image of human beings has been made and anyone contradicting that image is considered a reject in the eyes of the population. People have not evolved with the world they live in.
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by Person123 on September 11, 2014
A woman will always have to sacrifice a little more if she wants to have children. It will always be a vicious circle because of the fact that the woman is the child bearer. That doesn’t mean that her career will be a short one and that she will have to be a stay at home mother. If a woman wants to have a high-end job and a family, the woman would have to have made a very wise decision regarding her life long partner. One of this chosen life long partners first qualities would have to be something resembling team spirit.
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Dawson College
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by wonderay on September 11, 2014
The media plays a powerful role in our society. It basically is the spokesperson of people working behind the media. What’s their message? “Change who you are and be someone you’re not.” It affects our daily lives due to our excessive exposure to it. Although it’s not our fault, media and advertisements are inevitable. They’re literally everywhere! Did I mention how influential they are? You may already have noticed how it changes someone’s mind and behavior, brainwashes people thinking that what the media is showing is best for us.
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Dawson College
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by bojack horseman on September 11, 2014
-Being someone who wants to have kids one day, I cant just assume that my kid will grow up to be a classy, self respectable, young lady, so much parents want their young to be. Even in todays generation we see the youth being corrupted by the media and society’s low standard of respect.
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by Twinie17 on September 11, 2014
Women today are everywhere in the media. They are in beauty magazines, publicities, music videos, movies, etc. One thing that all the women have in common is that they are forced to look a certain way. They are molded to fit the idea of “the perfect girl”. Big boobs, nice skin, unproportional hip-to-waist ratio, big eyes and high cheek bones are just a handful of qualities that it takes to be one of these girls. The biggest qualification, however, seems to be the size of your jeans. In almost every source of media, the women being portrayed are extremely thin.
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by MeowMix on September 10, 2014
As a woman I have been subjected to cat calls, inappropriate comments and the occasional groping; which at least one happens on a daily basis. Now the big question is ‘Why is this okay?’ or better yet ‘Why do men believe their entitled to treat women as objects of THEIR desire?’ In the media today, all we see in advertisements are women being objectified to sell products, being eye candy in the film industry, or simply the beauty pageant industry.
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eyesopened
Hey, I really enjoyed your reading your article and I think you made some really good points and observations. I feel this is a rising issue that needs to be addressed before it becomes too out of control. I am seeing more and more racist costumes on social media and with my own eyes. I wanted to point out that the majority of these racist costumes seem to be worn by man. Men dressed as Trayvon, pimps, athelets or entertainers that wear black face or men that dress in religious wear. I think that too much energy is put into making sexy women costumes. As male costumes seem to get more racist, women ones seem to be getting more and more sexy to the point where they might as well come out in their underwear. I think the lack of options for men are what causes them to make their own costumes which lead to these racist disasters that I think most of them think is funny and they don't even realize how stupid and offensive they are being. Obviously they are some that do and don't care. But I feel most of these costumes are an attempt at joke gone horribly wrong. Costume makers need to stop taking their focus off of sexualizing Halloween and make more appropriate costumes for women and have more options for men.
http://www.teabreakfast.com/25-racist-halloween-costumes/5/
www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-scariest-thing-about-halloween-...
http://black-face.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/sexy-halloween-costumes
MeowMix
I agree with what you're saying completely, as well as i wasn't aware that there was a vote to remove such a thing. However, when it comes down to racism just like sexism, or sexual discrimination these topics will never be 'over'. In our society, we need to label things, and point out issues that are seen not of a normal standard that society has placed to be. One thing that comes to gender, it is very much linked with gender and sexual orientation. A black gay man will adhere to many more racial comments and not receive as many privileges as a white heterosexual man. With that being said, the government is seen as a powerful figure and all other individuals not in such a high position have to accept the rulings that are given, not considering this is a democratic state and the public should also have a say in what is being done and chosen for them. But this is how we are governed, what others choose to be fit for us, living in an unjust society with one that has not changed in many years. We are made to ‘accept’ this fact, because one individual cannot change the way things are seen by millions, it takes groups of people to force a change, but if we are being shut down. How far can we go?
Any interesting article that should be read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keli-goff/keli-goff-racism_b_982443.html
EightLions
I found this really surprising that he actually got fired for basically, doing his job. Showing a video from the past that includes racism is not his fault. It's the past, history, and it's his job to educate the students in the class about it. You can't just avoid the whole subject because it's bad, you have to show them how it was and why it is not illegal. I feel as if the school administrator took it too seriously or overreacted in that situation. It's ridiculous how it even came to be that he had to be fired, that no one in the office thought about " Hey, this isn't racism at all, I should stand up and do something about it.".
There's a similar story but more of a extreme ridiculous version of this, where a man was teaching homophones to his students. I repeat, homophones meaning like eye and I. He fires for "promoting the gay agenda." which I find completely crazy. Just because homophones has the word homo it was automatically assumed he was teaching about sexuality.
You can read more about it here : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/blogger-fired-homophones_n_5637...
Person123
I'm always attracted to sports and when I saw your post, I just had to give it a read! There has been a lot of controversy in many sports and in this case of a racial issue. I am taking a gendered world views class right now and we have been studying the gendered world view. I wanted to add to what you had to say about race, because not only is this a race issue to me but one of hegemonic masculinity. What does "not being black enough" really mean? When one male says this to another, it is like he is putting the other male down. It is as if he is also saying that he isn't manly enough. This comment may have been the cause of how he was raised; possibly in a society/family that thrives on hegemonic masculinity.
Here is a link to a definition of what hegemonic masculinity is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemonic_masculinity
Twinie17
I love the fact that you refer to the man-box because it is definitely a big issue that is rarely discussed. Even though men have this expectation to be the strong, handsome man in the movies, in reality, many men actually put up a front so that they LOOK like a real man to the world, but are actually 'less of a man' then they appear. This front is sometimes known as the "Tough Guise" front and the reason they put it up is so they can avoid being called humiliating things like 'pussy', 'fag', feminine and so on. If they don't learn to put up this front, then they risk being seen as less of a man. The man-box makes it hard for guys to be themselves, because if they do something that is not considered manly, they will be criticized for it. I think that men (as well as women) should be able to be who they really are without having to put up a front that masks who they really are. As you said, our society is disturbing.
To find out more about the tough guise front, you should definitely read the following link: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/hoffm794/medialit/2011/09/what-is-a-tough-guise....
MackShakeem
I agree 100% with what you’ve mentioned that there seems to be a thing where we might tell someone that is black that they aren’t black enough because they don’t conform to what a typical, and stereotypical black man should act. It almost seems as though we want to keep all black people under an umbrella, only viewing them in negative ways such as too ghetto, only good at being athletes, not as smart as the next man, often times white males, and constantly violent, & aggressive. In my own personal experience I’ve been called too preppy and too well-spoken, because I decide not to wear my clothes a certain way and speak with slang. In my opinion Charles Barkley is voicing what many black people all over the world experience and for that he should be acknowledge in a positive manner and that not being what is expected of black people very enlightening.
Suggestions: look more into what and we are more common to see and hear such acts. The demographic and maybe what parts of the world go through such on a more daily basis. Here a links that you can maybe draw from to help strengthen your argument. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2238790-mike-freemans-10-point-stance... and http://www.latimes.com/news/la-op-chude-sokei18feb18-story.html
TaRiiQuE
This is a very interesting subject. I realized Suarez had a problem with biting people but I did not know he also had a problem with racism. All jokes aside, even though it might have seemed racist and I do believe that he is not a victim, I believe too much of the problem is being blamed on racism. Luis Suarez’s behavior can also be explained by hegemonic masculinity in sports. The members of a team are not taught to respectfully just win a game, but to embarrass, degrade, and dominate the opponent team. Meaning that it is not enough to just win, but the other team must lose. I do believe that racism can be seen a lot in sports, but when it is compared to the real world it doesn’t make sense. In a sport, when someone is seen as racist it is blown out of proportion. Suarez did deserve the punishment and he did show signs of racism, but it was no more than competitive trash talk.
This is a good article if you are looking to learn more about hegemonic masculinity and its effects on sports.
http://www.academia.edu/3052388/Hegemonic_Masculinity_on_the_Sidelines_o...
AngelOfHope
I agree that an act such as this is rather outrageous; however, if you look into a case like this and put set it into a gendered theme, where men and women cross dress for Halloween. Cross dressers fit into the transgendered category; an individual would feel angry and shocked of seeing someone cross dressing "for fun". Is it something to joke about? Not really; though I have had my fair share of cross dressing for Halloween for the reason of fun. These people who dressed up as a black person could've been doing it for that reason, though it is still insulting even though their intentions to offend anyone may not be present. Why must we put racism on a higher pedestal than other hatred that has and is presented? Why don't we view it as all equally wrong? some schools have decided to ban cross dressing entirely because they perceive it as wrong, on the same level as racism.
http://thestir.cafemom.com/parenting_news/132903/schools_ban_on_crossdre...
MeowMix
I completely agree with what you're saying that media controls the aspect of how young girls grow up. But one thing that many seem to forget is that it is not only media that pushes it, its other girls also that enforce it. If woman didn't criticize each other on such a harsh level and set high standards (partly because of media) we would not have such a high issue of this today, but we encourage the image were given, we encourage what we see and we continue to play it out without realizing the consequences. We help media continue the path it has by being vial to one and other, constantly judging a girls outfit, hair, make-up. Women don't fully realize that even small comments effect others self-esteem, we forget to take into account the smaller things in life and we allow ourselves to be the puppet to the masters of media.
A great link that shows partially what I am saying: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-25/why-are-women-so-bitchy-...
P.s: Great job on your work!
popcm
I found your post to be very interesting and I like your choice of subject and article. I have to disagree on your disagreement with the author in regards to the generalization though. Rather than pointing fingers, I think the point she is trying to make is that racism is far more common than we may think, whether it is something done consciously or not. Social constructs can be so deeply internalized that they may seem natural and innocent behaviors and we fail to see how these can impact our lives. My class on gendered world views has greatly enlightened me on that matter and I think taking a look on how this phenomenon is present in different group categories could help you understand. Here's an article on insidious sexism http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/2013/04/02/benevolent-sex...