Week 9 Apply and Reflect

TW; Suicide
 Tokenism is created to apply a straw man to minority groups so those in the majority can mock or use them to further their own agendas of what they think is best for the group based on stereotypes. Reading Trinh T. Minh-ha's Difference: "A Special Third World Women Issue its clear that she understands how these issues affect everyone, not just African Americans."I shall, therefore, play a double game: on the one hand, loudly assert my right, as a(n exemplary) woman, to have access to equal opportunity; on the other hand, quietly maintain my privileges by helping the master perpetuate his cycle of oppression" Essentially, shes describing how she has to prove herself to be an extremely competitive woman in order to be seen as a person by others. As our society views women as "cute and docile". This cycle of what we expect from women also places an unfair expectation on men. Sexism does apply both ways, though it is much more unfair to expect women to be better than every other person at their work in order to receive the same benefits as men. Some examples of how men are also given ridiculous gender expectations include, how men are expected to be unempathetic, accept their place and never complain, an hide their emotions at all costs.These roles create a higher suicide rate for men than women,  nearly 3 to 4 times more likely in fact (Värnik, P March 2012).Telling others about what you are planning to do allows them to help you and give support. Men do not receivec this on the same level as women, because it would require them to express emotion, something that would invalidate their whole identity if they did. This is exactly why the movement of feminism isn't just for women, despite the name. It's to improve conditions between both genders across all races. Art can help one side understand how the other is portrayed as seen in the piece below by Robert Espiritu. The hammer, a cold un-moving tool to be used by others and the woman as a sandwich, only good for others consumption.

Gender Identity By Robert Espiritu | Discrimination art, Feminism art, Identity art

Gender Identity By Robert Espiritu

In my opinion, gender is a ridiculous concept that serves no purpose except to create ludicrous expectations for men and women as men thousands of years ago thought they were "the best" and decided what everything should be through force. This isn't the fault of men as a whole, that's ridiculous. Just some powerful and ignorant people who didn't take into account how their culture of emotionless men was destroying them.




Trinh T. Minh-ha, "Difference: "A Special Third World Women Issue," 1986-7 

 Värnik, P (March 2012). "Suicide in the world". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 9 (3): 760–71. doi:10.3390/ijerph9030760. PMC 3367275. PMID 22690161.

Comments

  1. FranOctober 24, 2020 at 3:22 PM

    YESSS!! I really like your post. Gender roles are something that needs to be in our past asap. It is unfair and hurtful to everyone, and causes lasting issues which ripple through society. As much as I tried to be a good mother and not raise my son to be "manly" or whatever, I was still not able to do it 100% as good as I wish I had been able to. He painted his fingernails and basically dressed how he wanted to dress, I bought him dolls and trucks (etc.) when he was little, but I unfortunately taught him to suppress his emotions by telling him to "toughen up." Of course, this was something I grew up with and then passed along. (ugh:( ) In hindsight, I would do many things differently. I just wish we could collectively see how damaging these forcefully inflicted roles are for ALL people. Do you think we'll ever get to a place where we are collectively all-inclusive, and don't force roles onto people?

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    Replies
    1. SoarxisscaredOctober 25, 2020 at 11:07 PM

      I really don't think its possible at this point to completely remove gender from our society. The roles men and women are given in our society would require a cultural overhaul so significant, that the entire country would need to change. That isn't to say we shouldn't try to disavow harmful stereotypes among men and women, its just important to be aware of them and fight to change them. There are parts of the world where raising children to be "gender non conforming" is becoming a part of the culture, though I really don't think even countries like Sweden are safe from the gender enforcement.

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