Feminism! Hooray!

Thank you once again for producing a full and considered reply. I hope that my own responses are similarly appreciated. Rape Culture & Victim Blaming I would suggest that there is truth to both sides of the argument. On the one hand, we do not live in a perfect world when it comes to gender issues (hence my continued belief in the necessity for a feminist movement), and that the argument about women not taking some elements of self-protection into their own hands is dangerous " but only because society has yet to sufficiently instill into a sufficiently large number of men that rape is unacceptable. On the other hand, I entirely agree with the feminist narrative that there is something inherently wrong in society that women have to take such measures to feel secure. There is also a serious element of victim blaming in suggesting that women should not, for fear of being accosted by a violent misogynist man, walk on her own after dark; that she should not be able to wear what she likes; and that she should mediate her behavior in some other way, lest she become a target. Of course, much of the conservatism in the arguments regarding how women should behave are covertly sexist " they are backdoor means of controlling women"s ability to express themselves through their own actions. Many of them are also outright fallacious. It is an opportunity to "sl*t shame" and to place the blame back on women. In reality, rape cannot be prevented by, to use your example, suggesting that women dress differently. The vast majority of rapists target women they know. [1] In fact, because rape is actually about power " the subjugation of one person by another, then modifying one"s dress to appear, for instance, less "sl*tty" may have the opposite consequence to that intended: "If, as studies of rapists suggest, harassers look for more passive or submissive women, women who are provocatively dressed may appear more confident and are therefore less likely to be considered appropriate targets by potential harassers. Indeed, the cases involving requests that women dress more professionally or tone down their sexy attire suggest that people are generally uncomfortable with women who dress provocatively in the workplace. The power dynamic involved in telling women to dress less provocatively (essentially trying to control their attire) is also interesting. It suggests that there is power in dressing provocatively, and that employers are uncomfortable by such assertions of this power by women." [2] Finally, it is no merely feminists on the internet who contend that a big part of the problem regarding rape is how elements of society tend to depict and codify femininity. Hard headed research, studying convicted rapists shows the same thing: "While admitters and deniers present an essentially contrasting view of men who rape, there were some shared characteristics. Justifications particularly, but also excuses, are buttressed by the cultural view of women as sexual commodities, dehumanized and devoid of autonomy and dignity. In this sense, the sexual objectification of women must be understood as an important factor contributing to an environment that trivializes, neutralizes, and, perhaps, facilitates rape." [3] This suggests to me that the feminist project to re-codify social conceptions of, and attitudes towards, gender and gender roles is essential. It is not asking for a special privilege " it is asking for the privilege not to be raped and for people to stop passing the buck back onto women as opposed to the real problem: the rapists. The kind of thing I am talking about above is at the center of the issue of victim blaming. Your personal example is a false comparison, and I"m afraid that you are slightly misrepresenting the issue and the arguments of feminists on this. Affirmative Action I entirely agree that affirmative action is dangerous nonsense. As a man who teaches and researches on gender, I find that plenty of the jobs I"ve applied for have gone to women. In some cases this is because they were indeed more qualified or performed better on the interview day. In others, however, I strongly suspect that the universities did not want to be seen to fill courses on women"s history and gender studies with a man. That aside, while there might be some well-meaning feminists who argue for affirmative action, I would suggest that they are not representative and there are excellent feminist arguments against it. [4] Indeed, I would say that feminists have actually been more effective than their opponents in calling out this kind of nonsense. Peer Pressure I don"t think that it is fair to straw man feminism via focusing on the flaws of Anita Sarkeesian " who is indeed, at least in my view, easily deconstructed through serious methodological flaws in her analysis. However, you are wrong to reduce her actions to mere complaining. While her videos lack the academic rigor and intellectual insight to convince me, her overriding point is correct: that the gaming industry is a male dominated sphere, that game development targets [5] [6] a dwindling demographic of gamers (and developers have yet to catch up) and that elements of the gaming community are openly hostile to female participation or the development of games that might facilitate that.[7] So, while I disagree with Anita Sarkeesian on plenty of what she say"s (in terms of specific content " nearly all of it) her overarching message is a necessary one. Setting up a dialogue, of sorts, it isn't just complaining " moreover, it seems to be having some effect on the industry.[8] What she is doing is simply bringing public attention to points actual academics have already made. [8] Objectification & Female Nudes You suggest that I haven"t shown how this is a bad thing. Well, to re-quote an academic analysis already posted above: "sexual objectification of women must be understood as an important factor contributing to an environment that trivializes, neutralizes, and, perhaps, facilitates rape."[3] The issue of female nudes, is, of course, implicitly and explicitly tied into this. The point is that feminism continues to be important in pointing out why the continued sexual objectification of women (in this instance unsolicited sexual objectification through the public airing of private property) is harmful and should be combated. Steubenville Well, you"re right that I took a particularly egregious example for its rhetorical value. However, the point was not that this case was entirely representative, but rather to highlight how the mass media, which is of course merely reflective of wider social norms in this instance, presents women and questions of gender through precisely the socially constructed gendered prism I have been discussing. Actual discourse analysis on the news media (though indicating that things are improving (hooray, third wave feminism)) continue to corroborate. [10] Pay Gap At least one of the links I provided did supply statistical evidence, as examples: "women supervisors of retail sales workers earn 79 percent of what their male counterparts make; women nurses earn 88 percent of what male nurses make; and male elementary and middle school teachers earn 9 percent more than their female colleagues." Unfortunately, I do not have access to the raw data, the time to analyse and reproduce it here " nor the characters remaining. However, it is, I feel, fairly safe to assume that the assertions made in this popular scientific publication are accurate as they mirror what the US Department of Labor says on the matter: "The pay gap cannot be fully explained by a set of measurable variables " when controlling for factors such as experience, education, industry, and hours, among others, the wage gap still persists to a large extent. Over the course of her lifetime this gap will cost a woman and her family lost wages, reduced pensions and reduced Social Security benefits. American families are relying now, more than ever, on the wages of women. Lower pay for women not only means less economic security for women but also for the families that depend on them, during their years in the workplace and in retirement." [11] [1] http://www.d.umn.edu... [2] http://scholarship.law.duke.edu... (p. 150) [3] https://www.d.umn.edu... [4] http://tech.mit.edu... [5] http://link.springer.com... [6] http://venturebeat.com... [7] http://dangolding.tumblr.com... [8] http://www.polygon.com... [9] http://eprints.soton.ac.uk... [10] http://www.scirp.org... [11] http://www.dol.gov...