Battle of the Sexes

The treatment of women in the modern world for my first blog post may be a little heavy - but when have I ever been one to hold back on how I feel?

Misogyny - the hatred or dislike of women or girls. 

Blurred Lines: The New Battle of the Sexes - a recent documentary if you like aired on BBC 2 questioning if our sexually explicit culture is opening the doors for age old hostilities towards women. 
The real question is whether we have a new, and altogether frightening (for me, at least) acceptance of jokes and even acts against women, or whether we have crossed the line into misogyny.

My experiences...

Myself, at only 19 years old have already seen first hand what I would define as misogynistic behaviour, towards me personally and women in general. 
I study politics. Prior to going to university I had never studied politics (either at A level or in high school) - so in honesty had no real clue of what I was getting myself in to. Maybe just through ignorance on my behalf, I never realised what a male dominated world politics is - even at a university level. I could count on my hands the number of females in my lectures. We are clearly outnumbered by our male counterparts. For me, I personally do not mind this (and still do not) and for the first few weeks, maybe even months it never really mattered. This was until I began to notice comments made by males in the class, jokes that were tossed around and a general disregard for anything said by females. Now please don't take me wrong and let me lead you to believe that this comes from every male. In fact it's a handful who make these comments and jokes, however I have noticed these jokes have opened a doorway, in which others in the class feel it is okay to laugh, and 'banter' back. 

Regardless of my own experiences - there are many examples in which we find it okay to make fun out of women.

Technology...

Growing up in such a technologically advanced world makes it all to easy for young people to access porn, sexually explicit images and video games in which they are learning  what they think - and what is portrayed to them - as the correct way to treat women. All you need to do is type 'Porn' into any search engine and instantly you have thousands of videos, images and even stories portraying females (mostly) at the mercy of men. The words 'teen', 'rape' and 'rough' instantly pop up alongside the videos and the content is usually even more shocking. 
We more and more have a culture where rape is down played, and some even say 'women ask for it' either by the way they dress or their actions. 

A shocking case - that I had never come across, from what I can only imagine to be lack of reporting - and uncovered to me by the BBC 2 programme took place in Steubenville, a small town in Ohio. A drunken high school girl was publicly and repeatedly raped at a party, with much of it being documented and placed on social networking sites. The two boys, the main perpetrators, 16 at the time, were found guilty of rape of a minor - with the judge commenting that it was some what the young girls fault (due to her being intoxicated).

This obviously is not the first, or the last we will see of this sort of behaviour amongst young people. I personally feel as the cyber world grows - incidents such as the one in Steubenville will only grow with it and if possible, they will become more sinister unless the issue of misogyny is dealt with head on. 

Pop Culture...

It is not only porn that is creating this portrayal. Since the early 90's to current day, music and magazines have increasingly been testing the barriers of what is and what isn't acceptable. 
Most recently - and maybe most shockingly was Robin Thicke's hit 'Blurred Lines' an altogether sexually explicit song, and that is not just the lyrics.
The accompanying video shows three scantily clad models prancing about, looking like meat to the three male singers who appear on the song. 

However this was only the PG13 version of the video, made suitable for TV viewing. By simply typing in the name of the song - the real video emerges. Three women topless, with nothing but nude thongs and heels to cover what dignity they had left.

Not only are we saying to young males that it is okay for this sort of behaviour, we are also doing the same to young women. The message we send that is by stripping off and showing your body (which must be a perfectly toned size 0, but that is another topic for another day) you can achieve fame, for one, and the attention of men (although, this is not the attention I personally would like to receive, as it would certainly not be for your intelligence or wit). 

What is really going on here?

After the programme I really had to ask myself, is it just the fault of men 'objectifying' us, or are we ourselves, as women adding to our own mistreatment? Is it due to pop culture - women in the limelight acting a certain way (erotic music videos and sex tapes), is it because as women when we hear these jokes and comments, we just laugh along and refuse to stand up for ourselves. Or is it because a handful of women go to clubs and pubs and 'misbehave' creating an image for all women, held by all men, thinking they can have their way with any woman as and when they please. 

Don't get me wrong, there are misogynistic men who will not agree, like or applaud anything a woman does, simply for the fact that she is a woman, or God forbid a feminist. However, their are also women out there, parading themselves in a way that they objectify themselves and hand whatever it is they are offering to men on a silver platter - and in all honesty, why should men turn that down?

In my own opinion, I think as women, we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and blaming everything on men. I agree the battle is on going. Pop culture, technology and the changing attitudes of some men have hindered our quest for total equality and in some cases, yes it will hinder it for years if we continue to allow porn to be so easily accessible and have no real guidelines on what is, and what isn't acceptable for a pop music video (sorry Robin, it's a no from me). I also think there's a massive need to educate young people, male and female, on the dangers of what the internet and games can allow us to think is okay.
Kids need to be told that porn isn't real (if you slap your wife, or girlfriend, have sex (consent or no consent) with a minor or 'rape' someone, there's a strong possibility you'll go to jail... for a long time) and to make sure parents keep children (who are, funnily enough, impressionable) away from consoles and games that they are not old enough to play. Especially the ones in which you can have sex with a prostitute and then kill her to get your money back...?!?!

Small steps can create big changes, although obviously more will need to be done to combat the problem altogether. By practising what we preach we can influence a generation - and hope that more equality will be a by-product of that.