You searched for gender identity - Page 25 of 98 - Everyday Feminism

Prevalent messages in our society say that business and life don’t mix. And this separation between vocation and voice is a separation between our masculine and feminine selves. It’s an unfortunate reality, as it relegates feminine principles to the background and labels them as detrimental to sound business practices. So how do we reclaim entrepreneurship?

(Trigger warning: Rape) Check out this TED Talk by activist Tony Porter about how the expectations of masculinity and restrictive gender roles lead to disrespect of and violence against women. He shares powerful stories from different points in his life and encourages men to act outside of the narrow box that society places them in.

I am all for rethinking, reforming, and in most cases, smashing gender-based norms. But if bucking gender norms is going to be the key criterion for bad-assitude, I wonder: Would a boy earn bad-ass points for choosing a Tinkerbell Halloween costume, or for getting a pedicure, as my son once did with me (at his request) before he stumbled face-first into the gender divide? My guess is no.

You’ve probably thought before about the implications that feminist ideals can have on your relationships. Society’s social norms can make things tricky, especially when not all of our relationships exist with equally as feminist people. But how you chose to relate to and with others is completely up to you. The ultimate feminist act is to practice this.

The Internet is very much a public space – with all of the same sexism, racism, homophobia, and transphobia of our streets, but often, much worse. Women are the targets of a lot of this ugliness. Not unlike street harassment in the way we feel its hovering, ominous presence and the way it can control our actions — or at least try to — online harassment is an issue to be taken seriously.

Within the last ten to fifteen years, shows like South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, and American Dad have been popping up, creating huge hordes of followers and dominating the airwaves. These shows are unique in that they are animated, which allows for extremely off-color, inappropriate, or even offensive stereotypes. The question is: Are these stereotypes positive or harmful?

A lot of Americans are still struggling with extreme poverty – and women are getting the short end of the stick on pretty much all fronts. This year, the Census data revealed that one in seven women live in poverty. These crazy-high numbers of poor American women are nothing new. But they’re still unacceptable. Now go out there and do something about this inequality.

There is something else lurking below the surface that is making things even tougher for women to get – and stay – elected. And it’s hiding behind a friendly grin: that casual comment about the outfit she’s wearing or that mention of her hairstyle. Simply put: Discuss a female candidate’s appearance in the media, and you steal some of her political credibility.

Patriarchy affects how custody battles are eventually ruled – and not because the court is particularly in favor of women. It’s true that mothers are more likely to receive custody of their children in a divorce. But the source of the bias is not in the courts – it’s in the marriage. So if we want to change the role of fathers in divorce, we must first address the roles of fathers in the home.

Boys will always be boys. What kind of boys they are, is up to us parents. Unfortunately, most boys and girls are exactly the types of children our society wants them to be. As brave as we need our children to be, that example must be set by us. Society as a whole, however, still encourages the “Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls” mentality.

Sexual entitlement has become so normalized, that calling it out gets equated to attacking all men. But here’s why this isn’t the same as calling men pigs who are slaves to their sex drives.

Nursing is very much a gender defined industry and one that has historically been dominated by women. And the work force certainly reflects that. I have had to explain why I work as a nurse because people often think that’s not what “real men” do. We need to work to break down this stereotype and value nursing work and nurses of all genders.

Construction jobs are a desirable career choice for many. However, while sex discrimination is illegal, many construction sites have anti-women attitudes, making construction jobs less desirable and more torturous for women. I know because it happened to me. And we need to increase the number of women in the construction industry so that this doesn’t happen.

Some believe that since gay men do not want to be sexually intimate with women, our uninvited touching and groping is benign. In a culture that doesn’t see gay men as “men”, our sexist acts are instead read as “diva worship” or “celebrating women” even when they are acts of objectification, assault, and dehumanization. We must question these assumptions in ourselves and in our communities.

By the time I reached adolescence, I wanted to be one of the boys. I prided myself, more than anything, on being nothing like a girl. When I look back, rather than being progressive, it was actually quite anti-feminist. It wasn’t as if I had liberated myself from caring what the boys thought of me. On the contrary, my entire life centered on gaining their approval.

Too many times, oppressed people use whatever power they have secured to oppress another instead of using that power to challenge the hierarchal order of things. Internalized racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and misogyny are all alive and well and we must continue to battle those beasts within. We have to ask more of ourselves and the communities we are a part of.

The decision to come out and to whom is as individual as you are. It is likely that you will have to come out to those people closest to you and those you see frequently. However, being publicly out – as an activist or as anyone in the public eye – is a decision you must weigh. Here are some thoughts on when and how to come out but remember, only you know what’s right for you and your situation.

Pornography sucks at depicting realistic sex, including lesbian sex. Yes, it’s supposed to be a fantasy. But the problem with that excuse is that without any factual knowledge to keep you grounded paired with misconceptions already being spread by mainstream media, you can become miseducated and end up believing that’s what they’re probably like. And that has a real effect on queer women.

When women write about feminism, some men threaten them with rape and murder, call them “man-haters,” verbally abuse them, and more. But men’s online harassment of women seems to go unquestioned, even defended, in most circles. So it’s not enough for me to simply not harass women myself – if I don’t raise my voice when I see this, I’m letting the Limbaughs be the lone voices of my gender.

There’s an annoyingly persistent question often asked by the Nice Guy(TM) sect: “Why do some women go for jerks?” We need to redirect that question.