Those in Favor of Society say, “Men in Power”
By: Jessica Facundo
Tags: Double Standard, Discrimination, Feminism, Narcissism, Power

Throughout the history of the world, men have been glorified and held to standards such as superiority and masculinity. These standards have ultimately encouraged the behaviors that men present in society. These behaviors include: discrimination, violence, and narcissism. These behaviors can all be seen in terms of how men treat women. Men discriminate women, use violence against women, and they believe that they are ‘better’ than women because of how infatuated they are with themselves. More specifically, men in power, or better yet those with a high status in society believe that they have immense power over women. Men in today’s society are raised to hide their emotions, be dominant, and they are taught at a young age that boys are supposed to be masculine. Society, culture, and family play an important role in trying to understand why men, and people as a whole, act and think the way that they do.

Discrimination:

Discrimination towards a specific gender is known as sexism. It is not surprising to find that men are sexist towards women considering the fact that men have been and continue to be the ‘superior gender.’ Men do not feel that male and female are equal genders, and for as long as this mentality remains, men will continue to discriminate towards women, leaving women their victims. Women are constantly put down, given lower titles at work, and rejected from positions that they may be overqualified for. This is seen all throughout the workforce all over the United States, men dominate the workforce.

Discrimination can also be seen in the world’s perceptions of double standards. A double standard is a rule enforced on a group of people unfairly as opposed to a different group of people. For example, when men date and have sex with multiple women, they are considered an experienced, but accomplished “man” for their ability to get many women. However if the genders were flipped and if this were a woman we were talking about, she would be considered a slut, or a whore, with a negative connotation of course. Taking this into consideration, if a woman refuses to have sex with anyone, she is then considered a prude. This type of discrimination towards women, leaves them wondering, “Well what do I do? I can’t have multiple relationships with men, but they can have a fuck here and there?” Women are confused and left with no guidance as if there even needs to be guidance. Women should be allowed to do whatever and whoever they want without the fear of judgement like men do.

Violence:

Men in power believe it is okay to inflict pain and violence on women because of their social status or title. It gives them a sense of entitlement, and authority. Due to their social status, men repeatedly abuse, and harass women violently. Women report that they feel that they have no control over the situation because of the man’s social status. This can be seen in the Aziz Ansari case. Aziz Ansari is a male, famous comedian who sexually assaulted and harassed a woman. Because he was famous, the woman felt that she had no power over the situation. This is important because it shows how men with power can make women feel vulnerable, or susceptible to ideas that they do not want to take part in. This can also be seen as coercion, which is also NOT consenting. In “National Security,” Sylvanna Falcon mentions how men with government jobs have a “code of silence.” And what this code means is that the men involved in the work must not tell anyone if one commits a crime such as rape. Many women are raped and nothing ever happens because men are not speaking up, and women are scared to speak against men with higher titles. This shows how corrupt the government is, and how it fails to take correct measures to prevent this from happening. If the public knows that a code of silence exists, why doesn’t the government care enough to take serious precautions? What I can make out of this question is based off my background knowledge and assumptions; I believe they do not care enough to do anything serious about it because most government jobs are taken by men. Men do not want to call one another out, which contributes to this never-ending cycle.

Narcissism:

The narcissistic views of men boosts up their self esteem which should not be a bad thing necessarily; however their self-absorbed mentality does not allow room for them to believe women are great too. This leads to the constant battle of choosing which gender is better. But why should there even be a ‘better’ gender? Men took it upon themselves to make that decision for thousands of years, yet here we are 2018, and women are still oppressed. Being a narcissist usually looks like one praising themselves, while putting others down. Men with power, who are narcissist put women down, and this leads to women having a low self esteem. Having a low self esteem can cause psychological problems, doubt, and can increase the likelihood of substance abuse. https://cmhc.utexas.edu/selfesteem.html

There isn’t a golden answer on how to fix the world’s perception on women. However I do believe that once we change the media and culture of society, then women will receive more respect. For example, fashion is constantly changing. It changes because of the culture and media presented by society. Once society uses its’ power for good, and really assimilate and integrate positive views of women is when change can finally happen.