Truth and Breaking down the Myths: Sexism in America and Women Struggle for Equality

"BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL" was a truly revolutionary slogan. >

It's interesting to observe the cooptation of that very radical and courageous thought by the machinery of the American media. Massive pressure from many sides forced the white media to introduce token Third World personnel into visible positions, starting in the middle and late 60's; the fashion and beauty market was not exempt.

But the media managed the change without any real alteration of its established Beauty Standard. Third World women, especially (women always have to be more beautiful) were selected for their closeness to Caucasian features; they had to show just enough 'color' to show their ethnicity, but the general effect was that of white women painted brown (or yellow, or . . .). This is true particularly of romantic figures and fashion models (supposed to be beautiful, therefore must be close to white); clown characters and villains can be as ethnic as they please--the more the better. The most ludicrous example of this was probably Mattel, Inc.'s 'Black Barbie,' a Barbie doll made out of brown plastic (instead of 'flesh'--whose flesh?--color).

This is not history. Only last year a Black newswoman on local TV was threatened with dismissal for wearing her hair in traditional 'cornrow' braids. Apparently that was just a little too ethnic!

There is another item to document in the interaction between racism and beauty, and that is the use of Third World women's bodies in pornography and the fashion industry. (The line between the two is getting thinner all the time.)

Institutionalized racism of the past and present is a favorite theme of modern pornographers. There is a delicate imbalance between the evidence of a Third World woman's race that is "too" evident, that triggers the racist reflex of "nonwhite, therefore ugly," and the evidence that is just sufficient to be "exotic."

I suggest that the appeal of the exotic in female beauty, in fashion and in pornography, has its roots deep in colonial violence against Third World women. When femininity is the same as powerlessness, what could be more feminine that the enslaved and raped daughter of the invaded and pillaged nation? The imagery of rape is doubled: the rapist/invader violates both the woman and the whole people whom he despises. It is fairly common to find photoessays (in fairly mainstream porn) dwelling on the binding, beating, torturing, and raping--by white men--of Black women, Asian women (echoes of the atrocity of Vietnam!), Chicana women, Native American women, and (yes, they don't miss a beat) Jewish women.

The "exotic" Third World woman in porn, like the bizarre "lesbian" scenarios and the child models, appeals precisely because she is powerless. In all three cases, the reader is effectively told, "Here is a body you can do anything to; a thing, someone you know has no power compared to yours."

The propaganda of woman-hatred and of race-hatred mesh neatly on the glossy pages of our brothers' and fathers' favorite porn magazines. The much-mythologized scenario in which a Black man rapes a white woman resounds with the complexities of the two. It is an ideal pornographic fantasy because the woman (as the reader projects his racism onto her) must hate this rape more than any other kind--which makes her, like a lesbian, a better victim. It emphasizes the passivity of their beauty; permits the reader to claim she needs his protection (masculinity proven!) from someone other than himself. It caters to his hostility and fear around the Black man's race, tells him his obsessive sexual cruelty towards Black men is justified (to stop them from raping) and that his obsessive sexual cruelty to women is justified (to enforce his control, to prevent 'unapproved' breeding). And so much more.

We have not really wandered from the theme. The interaction of racism and beauty is woven into our media, from Seventeen magazine to Penthouse. The woman who tries hard to be the DREAM GIRL displays her loyalty topatriarchal images of woman; the woman who lightens her skin and straightens her hair displays her loyalty to the essential racist ethic: white is good, black is bad. The men who own the cosmetics industry make a good deal of money off both of them.

He: Can I come home with you tonight?
She: No, I need my beauty sleep.
He: That's all right, I'm not interested in any part of you that's beautiful.

--Joke from Playboy magazine

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I think these entries will suffice as a good way to end this journey into racial intolerance, discrimination, and others form prejudices meant of mentally and emotionally debilitate minority women as depicted above and by shown by my own experiences. This has been Reflections on Truth and Breaking down the Myths: Sexism in America and Women Struggle for Equality.

 

Evelyn out

Reflections on Truth and Breaking down The Myths:The Emotional Sources of Prejudice

Hello everyone,

 

Evelyn here,

 

Below is the conclusion on this basic study on racism. I must admit that I am very tolerance and sometimes blind to those around me. I am also sometime blind to their beliefs on the subject racism and sexism toward women (especially black women) might be and me. However, all I can say is that in my writing and the sources I select to backup my point of view, I am following the trend set by those who have gone out their way the harass, intimidate,  embarrass, manipulate, and as in the past caused physical harm to myself and others within my family.

 

I draw the line with these instigators threatening stop my family and me of obtaining a normal education as well as having the means of making a normal livelihood. Some individuals who object to what I entry here have never experience what we are going through and have been through in these past years.

 

So now, the conclusion of this study.

 

 

Emotional Sources of Prejudice

Author: Unknown

 

Frustration and Aggression: Scapegoating: Miller & Bugeleski: Measured men’s attitudes toward different racial groups. Men who had their attitudes measured after completing some grueling tests which interfered with their plans to attend the movies showed greater racial hostility than men who got to attend the movie.

Realistic Group Conflict Theory: States prejudice arises when different groups compete for the same resources.

 

Personality Dynamics which contribute to prejudice

 

Prejudice is the reward of a lazy thinker.

Need for Status: By putting others down, we boost our own ego.

Ethnocentrism: A belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group , and a disdain for all other groups.

Authoritarian tendencies have been associated with prejudice:

an intolerance for weakness, a punitive attitude, submissive respect for authority, and people who were harshly disciplined as children.

Different forms of prejudice seem to coexist within people.

 

Cognitive Sources of Prejudice

 

Categorization: The need to create order out of an unpredictable universe leads to the development of stereotypes. In other words, we want to group experiences we see as having common factors, otherwise we would never be able to generate expectations about what we thought was going to happen.

We often generalize from individual instances.

Fundamental Attribution Error: Because Race and Sex are obvious personal characteristics, we mistakenly attribute behavior to racial and gender factors.

 

Cultural Group Stereotype Prejudice Discriminatory practice

African-Americans Excel at Sports Undervalued in Inadequate funding

& music other career areas of schools

Native Americans Spiritually

Endowed

Jewish-Americans

 

Hispanic-Americans

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Next: Sexism in America and Women Struggle for Equality

 

Evelyn out.

 

Reflections on Truth and Breaking down The Myths: A Historic Take on Racism in America

Hello everyone,

 

Evelyn here,

 

Below is a continuation on the study of racism and it many form here in America. I have no words of my own to add this because to author as unknown he/she appears to be has expressed the subject that has oppress and unfortunately still oppressing many today.  

 

As an add note I believe that our local PD is appear of my venturing into this study. If so, I am not intimidated by their presence. Also, I  believed that those individuals, who some gone out of their way the harass me and my family these past years, could benefit from this study in that they will see the scope of the injustice they place d upon me, my family and this community as a whole through the blindness of their animosity. 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

A Historic Take on Racism in America

 

Author Unknown

 

Historically, racism and sexism in America has strongly influenced:

 

Economic and Educational Opportunities

Where one could live

Whom one could socialize with

Voting rights and political expression

Although obvious forms of discrimination have decreased over the last fifty years, subtle forms of prejudice and discrimination still exist.

 

Public sentiment and private behavior often conflict.

For example, Rogers & Prentice-Dunn (1981) had students in a behavior-modification experiment shock a confederate of the experimenter. The confederate was either Caucasian or African-American, and either acted pleasantly toward the subject or insulted them. The subjects in the experiment were all Caucasians.

When the confederate insulted the subject prior to the experiment, they "shocked" African-American confederates at a higher level than Caucasian confederated.

When the African-American confederate was not insulting, they were less aggressive toward them than a white confederate.

 

The Roots of Prejudice

Social Sources of Prejudice:

 

Unequal status breeds prejudice: prejudices are traditionally used to maintain the status quo.

Social Conflict (Wars & Economic Hardship) can breed prejudice. (Scapegoating)

 

The impact of Discrimination: A Self-fulfilling prophecy

 

Allport (1958) in his book, The Nature of Prejudice, identified two major responses of people who are victimized by discrimination:

 

1. They can blame external causes (hatred and racial intolerance) and promote self and group image.

2. They can blame themselves and their own group (internalizing the prejudice attitudes)

 

Word, Zunna, & Cooper (1974) experimented how self-fulfilling prophecy can contribute to discrimination.

Caucasian Princeton males interviewed African-American and Caucasian applicants for a job:

 

When the job applicant was African-American:

Interviewers sat farther away (greater social distance)

Ended the interview 25% sooner (less social chit-chat)

Made 50% more speech errors (indicating nervousness)

Next, they trained other confederates to act similarly in job interviews with prospective Caucasian employees.

Those interviewed by these "specially trained" confederates reported that they felt the interview went poorly, and rated their chance of getting the job as being low.

 

Ingroup and Outgroup Effects

We are prone to like people who are similar to ourselves.

 

Ingroup : "US" Outgroup: "Them"

 

Conformity:

When a prejudice becomes established as a cultural norm, it takes a great amount of energy to dislodge it.

Conformity:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

When a prejudice becomes established as a cultural norm, it takes a great amount of energy to dislodge it. Both women’s fight for suffrage and the Civil Rights movement demonstrates how the status quo can only be changed by large scale involvement of a sizeable portion of the population.

 

The fight to eradicate racism and sexism is a long term struggle.

 

 

 

To continue.

 

Evelyn Out.

Reflections on Truth and Breaking down The Myths: Defining Intolerance

Hello everyone,

 

While searching for research material, I came across information that defines the difference forms of intolerance.  

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Defining Intolerance of Others

 

Author: unknown

 

stereotyping

prejudice

discrimination

negative Thoughts

negative attitudes 

negative behavior

 

 

Stereotyping: developing an association between the behavior of a single person and generalizing to an entire group of people who share some obvious dimension with that individual (gender, race, national origin, language, occupation, sexualorientation )

Stereotype : A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people based on singular experiences or passive adoption of other peoples attitudes.

Stereotypes are typically inaccurate over generalizations which are highly resistant to change

Stereotypical responses are often so automatic that their existence can be detected by simple response measures like the Implicit Association Task. (Greenwald 1991)

Prejudice : an unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group and its individual members based on stereotypes. These negative attitudes stem from emotional associations, negative beliefs, and the need to justify behavior. Prejudice is often reflected in speech.

Discrimination: Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Without doubt the two most common forms of discrimination within America are

Racism : Both an individuals prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people based on racial distinctions and institutional practices that discriminate against people of a particular race.

Sexism: Both an individuals prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given sex and institutional practices that discriminate against people of a particular sex.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

As informative as this list of definition is, it, like so many other definitions on racism and prejudices attitudes in America, has overlooked a hidden and little known form of racism of what I called, for the lack of better term, same-race racism or same race discrimination. A form of racism that I have only learned of in my years here. Before moving here, I could have never dreamt of such a thing existing.

 

Same Race Racism/ Same Race Discrimination. is a form of racial intdiscrimination or prejudice that a member or members of a racial group fostered against one of the same racial group. The methods of discrimination and the harmful acts of intolerance are no different from racism committed by a member one racial toward a member of a different racial group, and both form can lead to violence. Acts of same race discrimination is hard to detect because victim and the perpetrator are of the same race and some time gender. 

 

The factors for the existence of same-race racism or same race discrimination have it origins the same roots as others form of racial intolerance. 

Poverty

Gender and Sexism – where a woman is continually humiliated, harassed, and rejected for saying “NO” and maintaining her rights and beliefs reject unwanted advances.

Age

Education level

Lack of employment

Geographical location

Improper medical care

Illegal drug use

Etc.

 

These factors also increase crime, such black on black crime, domestic abuse, and illegal drug use to name a few.

 

Evelyn out!

Reflections on Truth and Breaking down The Myths: "On Racial Intolerance ..."

Below is a copy of a letter printed on a US college campus from back in January 2003. I have removed all references of the identity of the writer to protect to him.  Although he posted it on the web, I still feel that I must to protect my source due to the nature of the letter. Otherwise the letter is in its entirety. He wrote it two years ago.  I have found no follow up. Nevertheless, it is proof that racial intolerance in ugly business and dangerous if left unchecked. I concur with the writer.

________________________________________________________________________

Letter: Cartoonist against racial intolerance

Posted: 1/31/03

 

 

This past week I ran a series of comic strips dealing with the issues of intolerance and stereotyping. For those who missed out on them, the plot was, loosely, that the main character       had a (questionably) "intolerant" thought, and was whisked away to "stereotype land," an obviously fictional locale where various groups of people exhibited the behaviors that have been attributed to them via stereotyping. I won't elaborate on or rehash the particular stereotypes that I dealt with, but few people, if anyone, were spared by the parody. The point of the strips was to illuminate the absurdity of such sweeping generalizations, and this point was driven home by punchlines like the one in Thursday's comic, where in it was implied that the prejudices concerning homosexuals and African-Americans were shared by people like deposed Senate majority leader Trent Lott. As with most comedy, the humor was apparently lost on some people. As of early Thursday afternoon, I have received voice-mail from both the head of the Asian-American Cultural Center and the head of the               Center, requesting to speak with me concerning this week's strips. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those and all other cultural organizations on campus, but I have not heeded their requests at this point, opting instead to explain myself once in this forum. Stereotypes and generalizations are a dire matter; when they are taken seriously they can lead to the dehumanization of the afflicted groups, setting the stage for something as horribly grand as the Holocaust, or the lesser-scale, but just as serious, attacks on innocent Muslims immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One way to combat stereotypes is to show, in this case through satire, how ridiculous they are. Regular readers of "              " (of which there are probably fewer of than I'd like to think) know that I routinely employ satire and parody to get my various points across. I have a nagging feeling that this week's uproar was partially caused by those who saw words or images that offended them, without fully considering or understanding the context in which they were created. I will not make an apology on behalf of myself or The                 , for I don't feel that I have done anything to warrant an apology. I do feel badly that misunderstandings were made and that feelings were hurt, and I hope the campus community as a whole can continue to work towards being a diverse, safe and tolerant place for people of all cultures, ethnicities and orientations. If anyone would like to contact me further about the matter, feel free to email me at                                      .

 

 

More to follow.

Evelyn out.

Good Job!

Hello every,

Evelyn here,

but just briefly to give a thank you the the city's street cleaners for the great job they did on our avenue. 

So again, Thank you!

Reflections on Truth and Breaking down The Myths

Hello everyone,

 

Evelyn here,

 

It may appear that I have gotten off the central theme of this blog. However, the “Woman Within’ is right on target. The topics and events I have entered here are important to women, and have origins based on fact. My one wish is for all my women readers to find something of value from the entries here. However, what the reader takes away from is based on the reader understanding of what is written. This is why I present my entries as raw and open as possible. Perhaps, I am not as raw as I could be, but my readers will find truth.

 

When this blog was only an idea, I was aware of the fact that some people do not like, will not like, and would object to some of what I write. I expected it, and  I still committed myself to presenting a truthful and informative blog.  I do not believe it is good for me as a writer to let the dislikes and objections of some readers to detour me from writing on topics that make them uncomfortable and/or angry. When confronted with open objection, distortion of what is plainly written, and other display of disapproval I feel affirmed that I on the right track and have done a good job of it.

 

However, I want it known that I have dislikes and objections of my own that stem from people open display of intolerant and prejudice. I believe such people to be naïve, insecure, and in much need of either more social enlightenment as to where we are trying to go today as a people, or as resulting from some examples presented to me, in need of psychological help. 

 

Nevertheless, as a woman and an intelligent woman within the working community, there is couple of topics that I hoped that I would never have to touch. The first topic that I speak of is the prejudices that falls in the ranges of gender, age, and sex. The second topic is about maintaining truth, and integrity in the work place and what happens when these two factors break down.

 

As in my narration of Doris in “A Little Nickel Bag”, the topics I will present within the following entries will take time, as I do not want to hurry the writing and lose the essence of the topics with unnecessary emotions. I try to will present the topics from the most objective point of view that I possess. 

 

In closing, I invite all readers with similar views and/or experiences to share their thoughts and email me at a special email address I have created just for these upcoming entries. All submissions that I post will be treated as anonymous to protect those senders wishing it.   I can be emailed at reflections589@yahoo.com.

 

Evelyn out!