So Tell Me Again That Pornography and a Pornified Media are Not Harmful?
Girls Accepting Sexual Assault At School As Fact Of Life: Reports
The article doesn’t actually make any correlations between over 20% of girls being sexually assaulted in Toronto schools and expecting it and the pornification of our culture. The only conclusions the experts can draw is to say that the problem is that “most kids don’t actually know what sexual assault is”. Really? Now why wouldn’t they know what sexual assault entails when this is the generation of kids that grew up with “innappropriate touching” education? And why, like the title suggests, are girls accepting this as part of school life?
Someone please give me an intelligent answer to this, because I’d really like to hear it. Be forewarned, don’t use the party line that this has been going on all along, because I’m not buying it. I went to school. Boys cat-called, and on dates they sometimes tried to get more than they were going to get, but I don’t remember one single incident of a girl telling me that a guy followed her into the bathroom and stuck his hands down her shirt, and she thought this was to be expected! There have been times in history and places on the map where women have been subjected to this type of treatment, and that’s because they lived in a time or culture of oppression. How do we explain that in a time and place where women are supposed to more or less have equal rights, that this is happening? How do we explain the conflict between being told we are in a “sex-positive” and “sexually liberated” culture that brings us such gems as Girls Gone Wild and the fact that young girls don’t feel safe getting their EDUCATION? Is it at all possible that the sex industry that has leaked into every facet of our daily life and portrays women liking being objectified, used, and abused and as nothing more than a commodity to be obtained for male pleasure is having any influence at all on young minds?
All I ask is that you open your eyes and take a look around. Listen to the music. It’s not just about sex, it’s about sexually degrading women. Pay attention to the television, the movies, the ads, the stuff that is all around us everyday and how it is not just about sex, but about women being objects. Do this for a few days. Do it honestly. Then come back and give me your answer.
While you’re thinking about it, you can start with this thoughtful video: Hip Hop - Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Pay particular attention to what the people on the street are saying starting at about three minutes in. Watch the full length video here.
***On a lighter note, “note to self”. When putting on a turtleneck sweater, if the neck is so tight you feel like you’re being birthed all over again, it’s time to stop putting said turtleneck sweater in the dryer. Capiche?
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American Studies rears its outraged head! The concepts of male masculinity is such an amazing subject, the constructs originate with Teddy Roosevelt and the American Man. Is it even possible to tackle issues such as sexism and homophobia and a prevalent sex culture without tackling the distortion of masculinity.
The male construct is not something I’ve studied except in passing, but I liked this guy’s perspective. If you haven’t, you should watch the full video. What’s loaded here is just an excerpt, but even that is enough.
What I’m finding interesting is that so many young women are buying into this where we didn’t before, and what is causing that? Why are women backlashing against themselves and not seeing it? It’s not being taught by schools or parents, so far as I can tell, so the next largest influence is media. Even my own two children, both being raised by a single mother and feminist seem to buy into this “way of life” as well. My daughter has told me stories about things happening at school that we wouldn’t have put up with, and she too just thinks it’s part of life. I also question her about song lyrics, and she says, “lighten up Mom”.
While I know we said the same thing to our parents, in retrospect I can see how much the music I listened to and what I watched influenced me back then. Even so, in the 80’s, there was a lot of sex, and there certainly was objectification, but the sex was SEX more than degradation, and there were some counterbalancing factors like family oriented shows and portrayals of strong women.
I don’t think I’m smart enough to enter this conversation but I pretty much blame all of this on those whorey Bratz Dolls.
The Great Bloggess, I’m sure you’re quite smart enough. I know for a fact that you’re quite a whipper-snapper, but that’s ok. I respect your decision to keep it to “those whorey Bratz Dolls”.
I feel like what’s going on in schools is not so much driven by the fact that pornography exists, but by the easy access kids have to it now. It’s hard for me to believe that women are LESS objectified by men today than in the past. It’s just out in various media and so much more accessible than in the past. I also think the internet and instant messaging have made explicit sexual conversation much more prevalent and acceptable among kids. That in turn places pressure - or makes it seem acceptable - to behave that way.
I love the note to self. Maybe rebirthing therapy is much simpler than I thought.
I saw this documentary first at a feminist conference here in DC last spring. I was blown away. I grew up loving hip hop and, unfortunately, can barely stomach it these days. I even find myself being appalled at lyrics I used to belt out along with the radio 10 years ago. It’s just so normalized, the woman-hating and the violence, that kids don’t even realize that what they are listening to, watching, etc. even IS woman-hating or violence. It’s just the norm.
Yes, I have a very strong-willed daughter who is 15 and she truly doesn’t get that what is in those lyrics is really damaging young men and women’s perspectives about sex and self-image. I hope she comes to realize it.
Thanks for stopping in.
It’s a culture-wide accepted practice to use men and boys in most of the “hearty” or “wholesome” or “perfect” in the main role. If you look at the main characters in most television shows or ads, the male role is taken as one to live up to. The female role, on the other hand, is the “quirky” or “slutty” or “uncool” part played.
It is something that if left unchecked, is being ingrained into our girls’ and boys’ heads and beings as normal. In my daughter’s preschool television shows, the girls are auxiliary characters or play the role of annoying caretaker.
It is this underlying “unconscious” learning that is the base for men and women to believe we are 2nd class citizens. It’s not something that is examined in the main stream. It is something that will eventually bring us back to a time, if not already, where it is widely accepted to allow our children to act as though it is all normal to put “he” first instead of “she.”
I’m normally much more hilarious in my posts. Eh… next time.
Hi A Whole Lot of Nothing. I’ll have to check out some of your more hilarious offerings. And yes, it’s the unconscious, subtle, yet constant and pervasive normalizing of these skewed and harmful attitudes that we have to call out and not accept for our children, or ourselves.
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