Isn’t sexism just a subtle (or not so subtle) part of the way society and history are shaped? Aren’t we almost done with the old stereotypes of what makes a man—or a woman—something different than the other?
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The Good Men Project prides itself on challenging masculine and feminine stereotypes—we actually eat them for lunch.
So what are we to make of The Huffington Post’s latest videos of the 48 things men and women hear differently, knowing that we’ve come so far in the last 100+ years, and cognizant of the fact that we have unlimited miles to go?
If we addressed the 96 comments in these two videos, would we make a dent in our assumed cultural regression? Or we would just find a new set of stereotypes to start disassembling?
If we take into account the progression of Western Civilization, modern history, patriarchal dominance over verbal and written history, and current gender roles that dominate religion, business, entertainment, and Western culture, are we “okay” where we are, even with these types of comments that we ourselves perpetuate, sometimes unknowingly?
Judge for yourself:
48 Things Men Hear…
48 Things Women Hear…
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Originally posted on HuffPo here.
Photo: martin/Flickr
I can totally vouche for the woman-video. So much of what is said to you when you’re a woman is about how you look, how you chould look and qualifying your value through what you do that is attractive or not attractive to men.
And I can totally see the truth of the man-video. I don’t think these videos are attempting to make us ‘gender neutral’ though. But they do show us how deeply underlining thought patterns stick with us.
Almost half, if not more than half of everything that is said to men is in a way or another an attack on females and femininity, that is deemed as way too inferior for men to ever think it’s a good idea to have anything to do with it. Truly misogyny, the type that in the end also burdens males. Some of the things said was also just homophobia, homophobia that in the end also hurts straight men. Manhood and straightness is never really attacked directly, as both are supposed to be “superior”, better. Not that most men would actually… Read more »
Elume Rocha,
The attacks that you talk about, the ones that diminish in men any quality that is randomly and arbitrary attached to someone’s idea of “feminity”, those attacks strive to purge these qualities from the men that are being attacked and preclude them from being the complex and complete human beings they already are.
How can you then say that these attacks are not an attack on their manhood?
Are you implying that those particular qualities being attacked, are in fact not a part of the manhood in a complete and complex human being?
I think I like this video better, even though I don’t agree with all of the ones he lists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5H5p_dz_pc
“…..are we “okay” where we are, even with these types of comments that we ourselves perpetuate, sometimes unknowingly?” I don’t have an issue with most of these remarks. We have made progress in this gender matter and will continue to do so. What I find silly is this attempt at social engineering. Change occurs very slowly overt time. Sure, you can go for a revolution if you like. But, human history has shown that most revolutions are not revolution at all. Social engineering does not work. Why it is that so many people just cannot accept that men and women… Read more »
Hahaha, changes occur when we discuss and express our thoughts. Those videos are just that, too far from a “revolution”. Many women and men don’t appreciate when you assume they have “this” or “that” “natural” inclination just because of their sex. The developed world is trying to push for a “no harsh gender limitations” society. That is very healthy. Today and well, for a while now, women have been trying to scape the chains that kept them “in their place”, the place straight men wanted them to be, the way they wanted them to be. They aren’t becoming “just like… Read more »