Log #3: Degrading of Women in Society

When I was first going to write this "log".. I was going to come at it at a completely different, partially sexist angle. (As hinted at the bottom of log #2) But upon further discussion with among namely my father, some friends and some researchers on the internet I've come to an entirely different conclusion. In fashion and the media, I don't believe that women degrade themselves. (At least the percentage of the female population dedicated to not dressing inappropriately.) But before I address these matters let me just say one little thing...

See?.. I even got a panda for you!

I really am.. But I'm not going to spend this whole log trying to reestablish my "ethos". You're just going to have to believe that I'm sorry. But now back to the matter at hand. Coming back to last weeks point of women basically remodeling their clothes during the sexual revolution to be more provocative I must correct. While there were some controversial styles during this time period, the change of clothes was designed to make clothing for women more comfortable, and functional.

Today, Women's clothes are still mostly designed by... you guessed it; Men. That helps explain, A LOT. And actually brings a lot into the Women's defense for the way some of them are forced to dress. Women beginning to finally make a footprint in their own sector of the fashion industry was such a big deal, that even BBC News had to post an entire article on the subject. ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15088308 )

I honestly can't say I'm complaining. But maybe it's because I'm a boy?

Women are degraded pretty much everywhere, mostly by the miraculous idea that being female means you're: Weak, Emotional, incapable, stupid, and essentially just baby-makers. None of these factors come along with being a woman, except maybe the second one. Because girl's typically have more empathy than guys. But all of the rest are not true, and if they are true for an individual woman, they could easily be just as true for the individual man. Guys have an advantage biologically with being stronger, but that strength can't be maintained without exercise, and both sexes can easily exercise, right?

These thoughts and ideas are generally force-fed to us by the media. It's ingrained into everyone that woman are basically coveted sex-trophies. From basic children's stories, to children's media, to adults stories, to adult media. A Woman can't be strong, she can't lead and she most certainly doesn't have a future beyond the kitchen. These ideas all stem from the ideas that women are the more "submissive" sex. While on a universal basis this may be partially true it's not a 100% constant.

Does she look like she wants to take any crap from you?

 The Media is sneaky with this kind of thing. They try to brainwash you since you're little. Too little to understand what "sexism" really is. Take for example beauty and the beast. You watch the movie, you're all "Nice start.. Songs are a little cheesy.." *Belle puts off the typical chauvinist douchebag that all the Disney princess' fall for... Good, good.. We might actually like this one. She reads books, dang she even has a brain too! 

And then..... BAM!

 A few scenes later and we've got this smart, forceful girl kidnapped by a monster and TRAPPED inside of a castle inhabited by talking furniture. (Because this is normal in the land of Disney) I know that there was the obvious trouble with the forest, and the wolves being between her and the town but come on... An 8 foot tall bear, dog, demon-thing has you trapped in it's house, with it's even scarier piano and eerie talking furniture.. And you wouldn't rather risk going back to town through the woods?... No. She's going to sit forever in the castle and read to herself while she develops a grade A case of "Stockholm Syndrome".

Seriously?

Disney is famous for indoctrinating the children into these ideals. But it's not just Disney, almost everyone does it because it's universally accepted that if a female is going to be in your story she's got to fulfill the "damsel-in-distress" archetype at least once. But come on CK.. That's just a children's film? I've seen plenty of badass women in the movies.. I mean just look at "Kill Bill", or "Columbiana". (Both ironically about women seeking revenge and going on to kill men.) But yeah. I'll give you that, it's getting better. We're a bit past horrors of seeing "Princess Leia" victimized in star wars. (She plays an epic role in the films, but come on.. Was what they did to her in Episode VI necessary?)

I actually came across a blog post which talked specifically about this particular scene... They were disturbed that this was all that was to be remembered of Princess Leia, besides her weird haircut. Their was the inherent symbolism of Slave Leia strangling the fat nasty snail guy: "Jaba the Hutt" to death. But as said by the author of the piece in "Slave Leia's" popularity she is only relished as a sex object. A Woman of high-standing who is basically made into a Sex-Slave and has to be rescued by men. (To see the blog I'm referencing click here: http://www.socialjusticeleague.net/2011/10/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-slave-leia/ )

These are some very sexist and offensive overtones. Would we have felt differently if let's say, it was "Han Solo" stuck wearing a speedo, while chained to Jaba the Hutt? And Leia frozen in the carbonite? Yes.. We would have. It probably would have ruined the whole movie. This just shows how hardwired we are to attribute women with sex, and how we've been desensitized to thinking that this kind of behavior is okay.

Star Wars ain't special. Apparently Star Trek's had it's own slave variant.

Women are also degraded in the workplace. Oftentimes getting paid less than men for the same job. And being treated like they couldn't possibly understand what's really going on. Even if they hold a higher degree than their fellow man.. And if they're put in charge; They're generally not well respected. Because somehow being a woman will automatically make you incapable in business. Even if you own the whole damn company.

Yeah. Some cookies and Equal Pay.

But the reason for the degrading of women all boils down to one issue. Comparison. If men and women were not constantly being compared this wouldn't be an issue. Now it's impossible to not compare, but could the comparisons be more balanced? We should all know that men and women AREN'T equal. But we should recognize that we both hold different qualities in different areas that make us naturally superior to the other sex. Not saying that with dedication that these factors cannot be changed.

But that would lead us into Friday's topic... Log #4: The Battle of the Sexes. That wasn't cliche at all, right? ;)