"We're all equal."


              The fight for equality is done, at least that’s what society is trying to make us believe. A herstory by Alicia Garza points out the notion that the fight for equality is not over and discusses “deadly oppression”. Susan Douglas writes about how more women are going to college and how they are gaining more jobs, leading to the belief that women are surpassing men. Even though the majority of the jobs women have aren’t CEOs or hedge fund managers and the fact that men can earn a full dollar while women make no more than three-fourths of that, the idea that women are equal to men is being pushed. The media is representing sexual equality between men and women leading to a belief of enlightened sexism.

              Enlightened sexism is a term used by Douglas to help support the belief that “women have made plenty of progress because of feminism… so now it’s okay… to resurrect sexist stereotypes of girls and women.” Enlightened sexism is basically telling women and girls alike that they are now equal to men and now they can relax, focusing on other things. This form of sexism encourages females to be objects, “focus[ing] the bulk of their time and energy on their appearance, pleasing men, being hot, competing with other women, and shopping” (Douglas). It’s taking the progress made by feminists and returning the women back to her rightful place in the house because it scares the men that women might actually be equal to them.

              As enlightened sexism becomes popular so does the objectification of women “because it’s liberating” (Douglas). Instead of continuing to push the feminine personality traits, enlightened feminism is pushing physical “hyperfeminine” traits as a distraction. The idea of having big breasts, pouty lips, thin waist with large hips, wearing provocative clothing or whatever else makes a man think a woman is beautiful is now being pushed through the media. When women start embracing these hyperfeminine traits it’s okay because the fight of feminist is over; we’re all equal.
 
Gender Equality
 
-Tatiana F.

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 6, 2017 at 9:47 AM

    Wow Tati, this is so true. The media constructs a totally different concept of equality than what women actually strive for. We want pay equality and job equity; however, we're told that since men are not outwardly oppressive to us and worship women sexually, we should be happy with this "equality." Just because men are often the ones seeking out women, for sexual reasons primarily, there is the idea that we are above them socially that allows them to let themselves off the hook for the real, institutional inequality that still occurs in America.

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