Monday, July 20, 2009
On Neutrality
Judge Sottomayer's hearings last week brought to light the racism and misogyny inherent in our society. While these seem to be invisible to many of the older-white-men-in-suits, feminists and others have been pointing out this problem for a long time. Simone de Beauvoir explored why and how women become othered in The Second Sex (1949).
While white men in suits have held power, they are not the majority: white men are only 32% of the population. Women make up 52% of the population.
Unfortunately no one seemed to effectively call them out on their racism and misogyny while they were trying to hold on to their power. We need to be able to call people out on their statements instead of looking the other way, or ignoring them.
Steven Colbert did so with humor. Here is Steven Colbert's take on why white people might think they are the default or neutral, and every one else is "othered." From the color of band-aids(tm) before designs & cool colors to the color of the crayon in that big box of Crayola Crayons (tm) named "flesh" Colbert reflects back the non-neutrality of it all.
Steven Colbert on White as Neutral:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/238783/july-16-2009/the-word---neutral-man-s-burden
On a more serious note: Joan Tronto & I wrote "Truth and Advocacy" about the very gendered concept of citizen: http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/TruthMyersTronto.pdf
While white men in suits have held power, they are not the majority: white men are only 32% of the population. Women make up 52% of the population.
Unfortunately no one seemed to effectively call them out on their racism and misogyny while they were trying to hold on to their power. We need to be able to call people out on their statements instead of looking the other way, or ignoring them.
Steven Colbert did so with humor. Here is Steven Colbert's take on why white people might think they are the default or neutral, and every one else is "othered." From the color of band-aids(tm) before designs & cool colors to the color of the crayon in that big box of Crayola Crayons (tm) named "flesh" Colbert reflects back the non-neutrality of it all.
Steven Colbert on White as Neutral:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/238783/july-16-2009/the-word---neutral-man-s-burden
On a more serious note: Joan Tronto & I wrote "Truth and Advocacy" about the very gendered concept of citizen: http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/TruthMyersTronto.pdf
Labels: misogyny, racism, sottomayer
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Which is worse?
The campaign pundon'ts are having at it (sort of): Which is worse: Racism or Sexism? And, since most of these pundon'ts are male, they have arrived at the answer: racism.
Their logic is that some of those who are raced are male, none of those who are male are affected by misogyny, I mean sexism.
In my humble opinion--both racism and sexism are untenable.
The pundon'ts need to pay attention though--51% of the population are female, and thus, the majority. This majority is getting pretty fed up with politics and business as usual misogyny.
As Bob Herbert pointed out in his column today "Politics and Misogyny" NYT 1/15/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=1" &hp&oref=slogin
misogyny is all around us--from pornography to violence against women to how women are treated and how women are protrayed in the media. It is "normal" to treat women as sexual objects, to belittle women, to treat women as unequals, to blame women and denigrate them if they are sexual, smart, professional, nice, good, competent, experienced (you get the picture). We see this in this campaign with the over scrutinization of Hillary's every move while giving all the male candidates passes--for instance, did Edwards not vote for the war?
Herbert said "If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "
I say, naming the problem is the first step to change, keep pointing out the sexism (and the racism) so that it misogyny is no longer acceptable. I am mad as hell, and am not going to take anymore!
How about you? And, this includes men, too--you have mothers, friends who are female, some have wives and daughters.
Call people on their sexism and racism.
Their logic is that some of those who are raced are male, none of those who are male are affected by misogyny, I mean sexism.
In my humble opinion--both racism and sexism are untenable.
The pundon'ts need to pay attention though--51% of the population are female, and thus, the majority. This majority is getting pretty fed up with politics and business as usual misogyny.
As Bob Herbert pointed out in his column today "Politics and Misogyny" NYT 1/15/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=1" &hp&oref=slogin
misogyny is all around us--from pornography to violence against women to how women are treated and how women are protrayed in the media. It is "normal" to treat women as sexual objects, to belittle women, to treat women as unequals, to blame women and denigrate them if they are sexual, smart, professional, nice, good, competent, experienced (you get the picture). We see this in this campaign with the over scrutinization of Hillary's every move while giving all the male candidates passes--for instance, did Edwards not vote for the war?
Herbert said "If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "
I say, naming the problem is the first step to change, keep pointing out the sexism (and the racism) so that it misogyny is no longer acceptable. I am mad as hell, and am not going to take anymore!
How about you? And, this includes men, too--you have mothers, friends who are female, some have wives and daughters.
Call people on their sexism and racism.
Labels: misogyny, politics, racism, sexism
