Sexism And Misogyny: The Feminist Movement

Although women now have many more rights and freedoms than what they used to, it didn’t simply happen over night. Throughout the course of history men have always had a superior role to women in our society. White Men could own land, earn a wage, get an education, and state their political ideas much before women ever could. Women have earned their way closer to being equivalent to men by fighting for a higher position in law, receiving education, and advancing to wage labor in the work force.

The chapters this week expanded my understanding and knowledge about the impact of gender roles and sexism on men and women’s health struggles and outcomes across life, they showed me what health can look like for both men and women. Women live longer than men, yet they are often more ill throughout the year. Out of nine of the ten leading causes in death, men are more likely to die. Women have higher rates of morbidity (illness) and men have higher rates of mortality (death) (Helgeson, 2012).

Sexism has retained its grip on the contemporary woman and man as with a force similar to those of the yesteryear. Its must be taken into consideration how much we have progressed as a society in regards to sexism. Prior to the 1970s women were perceived as wives and mothers. The second wave of feminism hit around this time which led to legislative change to reflect the societal values that were being born. With writes in this era like Anne Summers helping define the Australian woman’s place in society. By examining our stereotyping and helping women of the 1970s move forward and grow. However this growth I believe has stalled. With sexism remaining a dominant force.

Women make up half of this world’s human population, and with consideration of this fact, who is to say women are lesser of the two genders? Sexism and Women’s Rights are a global issue, that affects more than just woman themselves. Even in the United States, commonly known as the “Land of the Free”, ironically is empowered by the Statue of Liberty, which presents false ideas that women are well respected in this country and provided with equal rights. Throughout history, women have constantly been working hard to prove their strength and ability, it was not until the twentieth century that women started to rise up in society and were slowly beginning to be viewed as an equally capable being in the eyes of the United States. From Cleopatra

There is a problem in today’s society that affects not just me but every other woman on this earth. This problem, that renders woman around the globe “helpless” every day, is called sexism. The problem is, is that women are not helpless, and we aren’t just heads on bodies or inanimate things that can be treated every which way society pleases. Every day from the time I was born I have experienced the repercussions caused by sexism, and me along with millions of other women are tired of it and are working to solve the insufficient equality in our world. We are finishing what our female ancestors started as suffragettes, and finally level the playing field between men and women.

An investigative journalist went to Afghanistan to study the culture and was shocked to discover that women were made to walk ten paces behind the men. She asked her guide why and he said, "Because they are considered of lesser status." Outraged the journalist went home. A year later she returned covering violence in the region and was surprised to see the women walking ten paces ahead. She turned to her guide and this time asked, "What has changed?" The guide answered, "Land mines." This joke and many others similar to it have been used to reinforce the ideal that women are viewed as lesser creatures than men. Misogyny and sexism is an ideology that has been integrated into society for so long many still view it as a normal worldview. As a

That “women live dispersed among men” is the unifying condition of women and the feminist movement (de Beauvoir 8). Beyond that, differences in culture, in privilege, in circumstance all speak of the community that never was. Even so, both history and current conversation speak of women as though they were a unified group. If gender is performative and is the result of “an historical situation,” this generalization of women declares that women experience gender in one way (Butler 520). From this emerges a war that isolates woman in the effort to define what it is to be a woman.

It’s quite obvious women have definitely gained more rights in a century, and that they’re almost as equal as men. Notice how I put “almost” in there; not equal, but almost equal. Women are still seen as the “house-wife who has to take care of the kids, clean the house, and cook for the family,” and that’s even how they were seen back then. Sure, women get an education and go to a university, but don’t change the fact that they’re still seen as inferior to men. “In May, Google released its employee data report, revealing major disparities between gender demographics. Google reported having a workforce composed of only 30% women (Chan).” There are more women in the world, yet the job opportunities aren’t equal and men are being given the job

Living in a society that is engulfed in sexism and patriarchy is absurdly harmful and detrimental. How can one justify a man beating and or kidnapping his wife, not allowing females to have an education, or separating ones’ self because of their class and status? With Malala being a young female, and growing up under such oppressions without adapting or accepting its “norms”, it is absolutely remarkable. Today, not all, but many youths would fall into the trap. Whether because of fear, because that’s what society portrays, or because they just want to fit in. Surprisingly, this trend is not only for youngsters, adults also fall into the oppression. It is very hard to live in a world where standing out on your own is no longer acceptable. However, with every one single person that dears to reject society’s ideologies and stand out on their own, paving the way for the equality and a better society, the world will be a better place. Just

The feminist movement originally derived from a focus on dismantling workplace inequality, suffering from accessing better jobs creating gender specific salary inequality within the workforce. However, gender discrimination changed when the Civil Rights Act was proposed, this movement is often called the “Second Wave” of the feminist movement. The movement fought to achieve equality for women by challenging many unfair labor laws. The movement also informed women about sex and reproduction rights and fought to legalize the use of birth control. Also, feminists established many organizations and wrote books, articles, and essays challenging gender differences. The feminist movement began to gain ground when the Presidential Commission published

The inclusion of environmental justice as a part of feminism includes women who extend to aid to counter the injustices of the immeasurable instances in which companies contaminate and devastate the neighborhood environment of people of color. Jasmine Kumalah says, that “the problem is these spaces live within a hierarchical structure; these dominated spaces are often mostly accessible to those of more means” (Kumalah). Additionally, Hooks finds that “the foundation of future feminist struggle must be solidly based on recognition of the need to eradicate the underlying cultural basis and causes of sexism and other forms of group oppression (Hooks 240), as well as

Despite the progressive actions our country has taken, we still face problems with gender inequality. We continue to prevent women from having control over their bodies, we prevent them from having proper access to medical/social services and continue to pay them a lesser wage in comparison to men.

With the rise of the feminist movement there have been many significant advances toward women gaining equality in all aspects of life. Media has a strong influence on society and it is continuously educating, informing and conditioning how humans behave and display themselves. With the media endorsing so many hyper sexualized images of men and women, it is very unlikely that these ideas would render no impact on our sense of identity. Feminism is a social principle and political movement mostly based on and aggravated by the experiences of women. It usually provides a critique of social relations, however many aspects of feminism also focuses on evaluating gender inequality and the support of women’s civil rights, benefits and concerns. A person who subscribes to feminism can be either a male or a female. Feminist theory recognizes the nature of gender biases and focuses on gender politics, power and sexuality. Themes explored in feminism include inequality, stereotyping, sexual objectification, domination and patriarchy. Cultural critic Bell Hooks describes “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression”. However, despite the ongoing progression of feminism many of the issues that feminism is fundamentally opposed to are still heavily ingrained in society. For example, magazines, music videos and advertisements often normalize the objectification and sexualisation of women and men for profit, all of which can have an adverse affect on people.

Hostile sexism exists in about any place one might look. Whether it be in the classroom or in the workplace, sexist people are the culprit in the gender equality movement. However, not all types of sexism are apparent. Benevolent sexism is a passive form of stereotyping people based on their gender (Glick). Surprisingly, this type of passive sexism starts at home. When parents have a baby boy or girl, their future and expectations are already mapped out and planned in the minds of their parents. While it might not be obvious at first, parents do hold different standards and hoped for their children based on their gender.

Women have grown accustomed to this discriminatory behavior and lived in a constant fear of what will occur next. Over time, many women have stood up for their constitutional rights and fought back against the injustice. Even with such improvement, women are far from equal to their supposed superior gender. This prejudice against women has led to a phenomenal wage gap, hateful speech, and violent behavior, which will continue until everyone starts to think of people as people regardless