Sincerely - What About The Men?
I meant to mention this yesterday but I got distracted by the Hacksaw Incident.
I often get responses (sometimes frustrated, sometimes not) of people saying “You do know that sexism happens to men too, right?” There’s implications in that sentence that really bother me - that I’ve somehow managed not to notice the way that men are told to behave, even though I’ve written about it; and that somehow I should either be writing about sexism towards men more often, or just stop writing about sexism towards women. There’s an implication in there of “well, it’s happening to everyone, so just stop focusing so much on women!” (As though women, being half of everyone, are somehow not as important as men, being the other half of everyone.)
I end up wondering - why should I stop focusing so much on women? What’s stopping the person pointing this out to me from writing their own blog entries about sexism against men?
March 8th (which is today in my world) is Blog Against Sexism Day.
Sexism happens to men, too. Write about it, should you want to bring attention to it. In your blog, in a comment here, wherever. Raise up your voices and tell us about it.
I write about sexism against women because I think it’s become so much a part of our culture that we don’t notice how bad it is. That’s my take on things. I’d like to hear yours, fleshed out into something a little bit more concrete than “it happens to men, too, you know.”
Yes, I know.
Tell me more.
March 8th, 2007 at 17:52
Discrimination against women has been a pervasive historical force in society and cultures FOREVER. Sexism is all about discrimination against women.
And that is where the focus should remain and not be distracted by claims of male discrimination.
On the other hand I do believe there have been corrective forces which have resulted at times in men being treated unfairly. For example–I do not think it is necessary for the sitcoms to act like all men are total dolts, I do not think they always get a fair shake in divorce courts.
But Sexism as a problem is an ongoing pervasive problem which women must deal with on a daily basis.
The discrimination against the members of what is still the ruling class in our patriarchal societie should not be encouraged and it should be eliminated–but it is not a central historical pervasive theme.
~Becky
March 8th, 2007 at 17:55
I completely agree with you, on all points.
At the moment, though, I’m getting a lot of flack from friends (and not!friends) that I’m not paying enough attention to the men. *sigh* So, I’m encouraging them to say something themselves, because I’m not interested in writing about that.
I hate the implication that in writing about half of the population, I’m somehow blind to the issues of the other half.
{I am also incredibly bemused by the fact that I have to approve my own comments.}
April 4th, 2007 at 21:43
Thank you for acknowledging the problem with sitcoms. In my office the doors of every female director, after an woman’s only networking meeting placed the following signs “Behind every successful man is a surprised woman”. The pointing out of this as inappropriate was met with the female boss of our office saying- if you don’t like it you can leave. My male friend at Ernst & Young wanted to bring a female client to a company sanctioned women’s only event where they were treated to a fashion boutique and spa treatements. The client was welcome, my friend was informed he was not. From education to health care the littany of anti-male, sexist exclusionary practices are in dire need of being addressed. Thank you for your time.