I will make this admission: I . . . read feminist blogs.
No, no, it’s true. I mean it. And though some people may argue that it’s impossible to be a Christian and a feminist, let me tell you, I’ve found a way to manage it. The secret is that you must take one of them a la carte, which is what I’ve done with the latter. I suppose I would have to say I fit in best with the motives of a first wave feminist, even though that movement seems to have died out sometime around the time the Suffragettes ripped the vote out the clutches of the patriarchy with their bare teeth (a feat that, when I think of it, still instantly jellies my knees). But forget first waves and second waves and any other allusions to the sea.
The reason I am interested in so called “feminism” (though some of you may think that I misuse the term to characterize myself by it (and depending on who says it, I might even take it as a compliment )), is because I think that there issues that face women that, if not brought to the forefront and altered, will be issues for a long time to come. I believe in bringing those issues to light. I believe in a dialogue. I believe in equal pay for equal work, being aware of issues that face disenfranchised people, taking steps to assist victims of rape, incest, and domestic violence, ending the slave trade known as sex work, and changing the current socialization process that is injurious to both men and women.
As any feminist worth her weight will notice, those are only a cordoned off portion of the agenda laid out by most feminist groups. But there you have it. These colors don’t run but they’re more of the pastel pink variety.
What all this roundabout expositing has really been getting at is that I just happened to be reading such a blog earlier today and in it I found a tidbit I felt I should not ignore.
First, I should say that the Curvature has very often held my interest to varying degree, crippling my work ethic on many occassions and providing me with an imaginary outraged feminist sidekick I never had. Of course, we don’t always see eye to eye, especially when it comes to issues that don’t include those I’ve mentioned above. But usually, when it gets down to a good old fashioned social commentary, I enjoy the righteous rancor.
But in this entry about a scientific study that claims that men see women as objects, literally, the blogger at the Curvature chalks up these articles (also found here and here) to the mere repitition of “sexist [men] are sexist” and an attempt at a mass manipulation that men are the way they are and can’t be changed-it’s science! But when I read these articles, what stuck out to me was that the woman who actually conducted the survey, Susan Fiske, is stating that men see women as objects because women are consistently shown to be objects.
Of course, there is a problem with one half of the population seeing the other half as not fully human. Of course, it’s a terribly undermining feeling when a woman considers the ramifications of truly being a sexual object. But what is at the heart of the problem is what allows this perception to exist in the first place.
I would venture to attribute this to the mainstreaming that pornography is currently enjoying. I would venture to attribute this to the supposed liberation that women are supposed to feel when they pose sexually or nude in a magazine, the image of which is then consumed by millions of people. I would venture attribute this to the scores of women who work in strip clubs and topless bars and the men who pay for the service. None of these women are “fully human” to the people who consume them. These women have no personhood. None of these women have ideas, or substance, or agency, or goals. They are objects. They’re live dolls, to be dressed or undressed, to be put into certain positions and photographed, to be used and then discarded when one bores of them.
And this brings me to perhaps the most important point of all: Who’s going to change it?
Who will say enough is enough? Who will hold themselves to a higher standard? Who will hold themselves to a higher worth? Women, what does a man have to do to be able to lay claim to your body and your sexuality? Plunk down three ninety five on a newstand counter? Men, what does it take to satiate you sexually? Watching a strange man doing sex to someone he just met? Why are these things seen as valid costs to place on oneself?
So, again I ask: Who’s going to change it?
Tags: feminism, pornified culture, sexuality
