You suck to be a woman
I’ve been getting increasingly disturbed lately about just how rampant misogyny is. It started when a guy I was having dinner with suggested, I think with a fair degree of seriousness, that men were superior to women in every field of endeavour. I suggested they were certainly better at getting imprisoned for crime. (The rate in the US is about around 15 times more men than women in prison.)
More recently I was reading the most disturbing article in the June 2010 edition of The Monthly on “gendercide“. To be blunt, the issue’s what it sounds like: baby girls being killed one way or another, because they’re girls. The extent of it is breathtaking: according to economist Amartya Sen, in 1990, distortions in the reported gender imbalances of Asian countries suggested the number of missing girls/women was approximately 100 million. The article reports that the overall male:female birth rate in China from 2000 – 2005 was 123:100. Where couples are permitted to have a second or third child, the ratio can balloon as high as 275:100. Baby girls are routinely dumped: either left to die or, for the “lucky” ones, placed in overcrowded and abusive orphanages.
There have been so many other instances, almost on a daily basis I have noticed something. One example in recent press has been moves by members of the Anglican communion to marginalise women in senior leadership roles in the church. I suppose this is not entirely unexpected given religion’s traditional nexus with patriarchy, but I guess I was blown away by how blatant it was. Another example today was reading people’s moronic sexual comments on Youtube clips featuring women. Even when it’s fully covered meat, it seems, it’s still the meat’s fault.
My final exhibit is Jon La Joie, whose astonishing complicit critique “Show Me Your Genitals” popped up in my Twitter feed this week. La Joie decodes misogyny and male insecurity perfectly – but I wonder how many of his adolescent audience take him completely literally, despite the obviously goofy dance moves, clothing, rhyme schemes and cinematography?
I’m interested in people’s thoughts about this. How does it affect you as a woman? Are there cultures that have moved away from this successfully? What are the ways we can change cultures so that women are, in every respect, first class citizens?
excellent post, richard and it’s kind of interesting to read this post-julia in australia. i can tell you that most of my female friends, although wary of her policies, sighed in relief that we finally crossed a hurdle that is long-overdue.
watching the rampant sexism unfold as a result of her leadership has been quite intense – proving the level to which sexism exists in the media (more than anywhere else, really). but thank you for the reminder about the gendercide that still exists in LOADS of places worldwide.
iceland are doing a pretty awesome job of crafting a different, non-gendered society. we love them right now.
thanks again for posting this stuff. i can forget that there are actually men out there for whom misogyny is also revolting. and nice retort to your misogynist dinner companion – last week must have been tough for him.
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your reply.
There are a lot of young women at my workplace – I was with some of them and watched Bryce sign Gillard’s prime ministership into reality. It clearly had a huge emotional effect on them.