“A study done at the University of Central Florida found that on average, women’s deodorant costs 30 cents more per ounce than men’s, even when the only difference between the products was the smell. The study’s coauthor, Megan Duesterhaus said, “These companies have us convinced that men and women are so biologically different that we need completely different products, as though we are a different species.”
— Turns Out Being Born a Woman Is a Major Financial Mistake (via sociolab)
A new Swedish toy catalogue has reversed the traditional gender roles by showing Spiderman pushing a pram, and a young girl riding a toy racecar.
Kaj Wiberg is the CEO of the company behind the catalogue, “Leklust”, and claims that it is time to move forward from old-fashioned gender restrictions.
“Gender roles are an outdated thing,” he told Metro newspaper.I thought you guys might like this.
Rest of the story can be found here.
:)
that boy would actually be my little cousin
oh gosh he always pushes around strollers, stands like that (the sassiest kid!), and wears costumes <3This is super rad but I didn’t know that spider man was also spawn….. Hmmmmm
Fucking Sweden, man. They’re way ahead of us.
I love this! BTW, that link didn’t send me to the article, so if anybody else can’t find it, here it is!
Posted 1 month ago with 11,020 notes | Reblog
“True gender equality is actually perceived as inequality. A group that is made up of 50% women is perceived as being mostly women. A situation that is perfectly equal between men and women is perceived as being biased in favor of women.
And if you don’t believe me, you’ve never been a married woman who kept her family name. I have had students hold that up as proof of my “sexism.”
My own brother told me that he could never marry a woman who kept her name because “everyone would know who ruled that relationship.” Perfect equality – my husband keeps his name and I keep mine – is held as a statement of superiority on my part.”
— Lucy, When Worlds Collide: Fandom and Male Privilege. (via seaofbadstories)
I might have reblogged this already but it’s so good I don’t care.
(via stfufauxminists)
Kyriarchy in action.
(via transstingray)
Also the study where they had women and men talking in a discussion and when women spoke around 30% of the time, men perceived them as dominating the discussion. They didn’t consider it “equal” until something like 5-10% of women talking.
(via dumbthingswhitepplsay)
Voila. A beautiful example of why fighting for equality becomes a gross exaggeration in the eyes of the oppressors.
(via curiouslycool)
Distinguished sociologist Erving Goffman noted that women in photographs are often portrayed in compromising or submissive situations such as having the head turned upwards to expose the neck or in a contorted stances often with light self-touching. Such poses invite the gaze of the viewer and make the subject of the photograph seem vulnerable and exposed to sexualization.
as highlighted by the image, Erving Goffman made it known that these poses were problematic because if we saw any reversal of the gender roles, we perceive it as weird or strange. this image shows a man posing in a feminine fashion… men are very rarely posing like this in professional photography.
essentially, if our instincts tell us something is strange about a person in a photograph, it is representative of the demand of gender display in advertisements.
This kind of thing is super interesting to me. Other ways women are photographed but men rarely are include;
Standing on one leg/legs crossed and weight all on one leg/leaning on someone or something - The woman is vulnerable and incapable. She literally can’t stand (exist) alone.
With their head cropped out of the image or with their eyes down - This goes back to Madonna and Child and is totally entwined with the whole subject/object problem. The (male) viewer is the active subject, the woman is the passive object. You’re allowed to look because she sure as hell isn’t going to do anything, her body exists for you. (Hello rape culture.)
Not dressed - This isn’t such a big deal if the woman is photographed alone but often photos will depict naked women and fully dressed men, often in suits. The implications of this are pretty obvious.
Cut/Bruised - Vulnerability again. To be honest I’ve seen these kinds of images more on tumblr than I have anywhere else, they don’t seem to have made it into mainstream photography quite as much. But Tumblr is super fond of headless semi-dressed women with grazed knees. I guess in some way you could agrue that these photos show the strength of women, but I personally don’t buy that. For the same reason I don’t like this theme used in domestic violence ads, I think it only serves to re-victimise the women.
Obviously I’m speaking in general terms and there’s always exceptions; sometimes men are photographed like this, there are also some really great photographs of women that don’t do any of these things, and there are some photographs that use these themes for legitimate reasons.
Posted 2 months ago with 15,246 notes | Reblog
The fact of the matter is that these magazine covers are far more damaging not only to Shiloh but also to all individuals who consider their gender identity to be something other than heteronormative - especially younger people. I think you’ll find that it’s not a fluid spectrum of gender expression that’s harmful to children, but rather the negative reaction to it that does more damage. Rejection of difference from adults and lack of positive reinforcement for nonconformity truly has the poisonous affect on young children, and impact from the media, such as Life & Style magazine covers, can perpetuate that attitude easily, quickly, and enduringly.
- My Fears for Shiloh: Why the Scrutiny is Sexist, Homophobic, and Harmful
Posted 3 months ago with 47 notes | Reblog
“Martin, who calls himself a “feminist” and a “men’s rights activist,” said he did a line-by-line analysis of the core texts taught in the gender classes and decided they were “overwhelmingly negative on men, blamed men for women’s perceived inequalities, and complained about misogyny but never spoke about misandry [which is defined as the hatred of men].” Martin declined to provide me with a list of the texts.
…
While Martin claims he’s after egalitarianism only, some of his views may raise eyebrows. “I don’t buy that women were oppressed by men historically,” he said. “There’s a perverse incentive in gender studies to preserve the inequalities that women face.” He also believes that men are the “victims” of prostitution, that women “volunteer” into sex trafficking and that women’s “hysterical” fear of rape damages equality.”
— Man Sues London School Of Economics For ‘Sexism’ - Forbes (via greaterthanlapsed)
→ French schoolbook ignites gender debate
‘ONE IS not born a woman, one becomes one,” Simone de Beauvoir wrote in 1949. More than 60 years later, the inclusion of a similar claim in France’s primary school textbooks has deputies in Nicolas Sarkozy’s party up in arms.
With French children returning to class this week after the summer holiday, 80 members of the UMP party wrote to education minister Luc Chatel to call for the withdrawal of a schoolbook that tackles gender theory, or the idea that masculinity and femininity are socially constructed.
Their protest centres on a life sciences manual by the publisher Hachette. Under the heading “Becoming Woman or Man”, chapter nine explains that “biological sex identifies us as a male or female”, but is not in itself enough “for us to describe ourselves as masculine or feminine.
“This sexual identity, constructed throughout one’s life, is a constant interaction between biology and the socio-cultural context, yet is decisive in our positioning in relation to others,” it adds. In their complaint, the UMP deputies say this is “a philosophical and sociological theory that is not scientific” and demanded the manual be withdrawn.
Experiment: Conformity to gender roles. We placed common male and female signs on opposite transparent doors instructing people to walk through the correct entrance.
After several women collapsed upon completing the 800 meter dash at the 1928 Olympmics, the powers that be in the world of running decided that women lack the constitution to run long distances. Running was thought to be not only unladylike, but dangerous for frail, frail ladies. Some hypothesized that running long distances could cause a woman’s uterus to fall out of her body, and we all know that the worst thing that could possibly happen to a woman is NOT HAVING BABIES. Women were barred from racing distances of more than 200 meters.
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, a 20 year old college student, registered to run the Boston Marathon under the name “K. V. Switzer.” When race officials discovered that K. V. was a woman, the race had already started. This picture shows perfectly-named Boston Marathon official Jock Semple attempting to physically remove Switzer from the event, reportedly shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers!” Switzer’s college athlete boyfriend bodychecked the race official and the pair continued running.
She successfully completed the race in 4 hours and 20 minutes, and seven years later won the New York City Marathon with a time of under 3:08.
Posted 1 year ago with 2,041 notes | Reblog
“
At first, I was simply struck by how parents seemed to see children through the “lens of gender”, as the psychologist Sandra Bem put it. Then, after the birth of my second child, I was astounded one day at playgroup. About a dozen young children were sitting eating and the playgroup leader’s daughter, a boisterous five-year-old, started to lead them in a chorus of shouting and foot stomping. For some reason, only the other girls joined in; my two sons and the few other boys carried on eating quietly. “Aren’t boys noisy!” one of the mothers exclaimed over the girlish uproar.
I was also surprised – especially given how politically correct we all supposedly are – by how quick parents were to chalk up their children’s behaviour and traits to some deep gendered core. When among our group of friends the second crop of children came, a common question was, “Are they different?” Of course, the answer was always yes. But while the parent of two sons or two daughters would answer by talking lengthily about the unique, idiosyncratic personalities that made up the essence of Jack-ness or Sarah-ness, parents with one of each, I noticed, would often say instead, “Oh yes. Boys and girls are so different.”
” — Let’s end the great gender lie | Life and style | The Guardian (via bagleworm)
