In "Backlash Spectacular" Katha Pollitt indicates that feminism is not making strides forward but that misogyny is spreading. For every step forward women take, they are pushed backwards even further. Pollitt states, "Yes, women are still making gains in education and--slowly--in politics and other areas. But longstanding feminist gains are eroding" (Pollitt).
Have Women Made Advances Forward?
You decide!
The glass ceiling remains firmly in place — not cracked, as Hillary
Clinton insisted as she tried to claim rhetorical victory after her
defeat in the Democratic nominating contest. It wasn’t even scratched
with the candidacy of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential
nominee — unless you consider becoming an object of national ridicule to
be a symbol of advancement. As divergent as these two women are
ideologically and temperamentally, as different as are their resumes,
they both banged their heads — hard — against the ceiling. Both were
bruised. So was the goal of advancing women in political leadership. (noticingthegap)
Yesterday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Peruvian Prime
Minister Salomon Lerner. Instead of focusing on diplomatic issues
between Peru and the United States,
the Huffington Post created a poll to gauge how readers are “feeling (about) the Hillary scrunchie.” (noticingthegap)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Yet American women are a majority of the population and a
majority of the electorate. They earn more than half the bachelor’s and
master’s degrees, a level of educational achievement far exceeding that
of women in developing countries. There must be some reason we don’t do
any better than women in impoverished, rural regions of the world where
cultural norms oppress women.
Maybe it is because our culture isn’t so different after all. (noticingthegap)
*****
To treat her like some silly bim is not merely to say, “What she says
does not matter,” but also to tacitly endorse the message that women do not matter. (noticingthegap)
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"In the last few months alone, men have released songs about raping women (Rick Ross' "
U.O.E.N.O"), knowing women “want it” (Robin Thicke's "
Blurred Lines") and sticking dicks in our mouths to shut us up (Kanye West's "
On Sight")" (Music).
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“We have an epidemic here,” [Rep. Jane Harman]
said. “Women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.”
That was
2008, yet little has changed.(noticingthegap)
Kori Cioca, 25, of Wilmington, Ohio, tells about how she was
raped while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Long story short, I was raped.
When I told my command they waited. They didn’t do anything to help
me. It’s like they didn’t care. It wasn’t important. I wasn’t important.
The coast guard’s a lifesaving service yet they didn’t save mine.
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It’s only one day into the Olympics and I’m already feeling put off
by the sexism female athletes still face as they compete in the games.First, it was the revelation that
many countries were
flying their male athletes first class while the women’s teams (even those with much more success in their respective sports) flew economy. Second, Australian newspapers decided to focus on the weight, rather
than amazing Olympic career, of swimmer Leisel Jones. Thus reminding us,
as
Chloe at Feministing points out,
"that no matter how accomplished a woman is, no matter how
talented, how skilled, how strong, how tenacious, how gutsy, she is not
exempt from the rules of modern femininity. Not even during the Olympic
Games. She has to be skinny and beautiful before she can be recognized
for being any of those other things, and if she isn’t skinny and
beautiful, we’ll ignore her guts and tenacity and talent and dedication
and waste our time debating whether or not she’s gained weight during
the twelve years she’s been in the public eye."(noticingthegap)
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References:
http://thenation.com/print/article/backlash-spectacular
http://noticingthegap.com/tag/hillary-clinton/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/12/06/a-metaobservation-on-misogyny/
http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2013/6/Misogyny-makes-a-comeback-Kanye-Robin-Thicke-and-degrading-women
http://twi-ny.com/blog/2013/02/07/athena-film-festival-the-invisible-war/
http://noticingthegap.com/category/equality/
http://www.thenation.com/print/article/backlash-spectacular
