In her memoir, “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands,” written by Katie Beaton, she describes her journey working in the oil sands industry. This book illustrates how workplace dynamics can harm individuals’ perception of their environment. Inequality between men and women is a recurring theme throughout the narrative. The main concerns stressed in the text are the unsafe working conditions for women, the language used towards them, the objectification of women, and the stereotyping based on gender roles. Sexism is rooted in patriarchal societies where men held authority over women, which led to an imbalance of privilege. In most places, sexism is still prevalent and continues to shape workplace dynamics today. Inequality exists in many forms, …show more content…
Many women face different types of objectification, particularly due to their vulnerability in this industry, partly due to the fact that they are outnumbered. Sexual assault causes emotional repercussions for the victims. In the oil sands, Katie Beaton outlines two cases where she experienced sexual abuse. When she tells her male friends she was sexually assaulted, they dismiss her claims, saying “You were loaded, that’s not the same thing. That’s regret” (Beaton 205). This leads her to believe it is her fault because she was under the influence of alcohol and could have prevented it if she were in the right mind frame. Because of the common nature of this type of abuse, men often downplay the severity. Women are therefore manipulated into believing that they could have done more to prevent these incidents. Beaton’s narrative further conveys the difficulties in expressing boundaries and refusing unwelcome approaches. When Katie Beaton tells Lindsey about the incident, she says to her “I wasn’t scared of him”. I was scared of everyone else. He was leaving the house. If I could just endure it, he’d be gone” (Beaton 381). This quote signifies how difficult it is for women to say no. She was weighing her options. What would be easier, giving her body away, or having to endure the mens dismissive remarks? Ultimately, she chose to do the former as in her mind, that outweighed the latter. Although she sees this decision as logical, from an outside perspective it is troubling. Her way of viewing the situation may be influenced by the male-dominated environment. Though her choice was valid given the circumstances, she should have never been put in a position where she needed to choose. This is a fundamental example of how sexism changes your perspective, and can be mentally
Historically, women have had limited or no political influence, limited legal rights and their societal roles restricted to the home and upbringing of offspring or working in caretaking positions (The Robbins Collection). As Aristotle stated, "the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled" (qtd. in Politics book I). Thus, women have complied with the authority of the male dominion and kept within their societal roles or risked confrontation throughout centuries. In director Niki Caro's American film, North Country, released in 2005, women's futile attempt to belong to the male-dominate workplace is presented. However, their struggle to enhance their quality of life and willingness to belong subjected them to demeaning verbal abuse, sexual harassment and oppression within their society. The film is based on the book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law that illitrates the first sexual harassment class action lawsuit in the United Statesand and mirrors the patriachal social system of female suppression in a male-dominant workplace. This essay presents a socio-political feminist approach of the implication of domination to a marginalized workforce and the societal roles within it. Although the glass ceiling of gender ideology bars the passage to equality, women's diligence and endurance can overcome obstacles.
Stereotyping is an extensive part of sexism. Society believes that females should be doing what is “ladylike” and males should be doing “manly things.” In an interview, “Gabby Logan yesterday said that female TV sports presenters are treated like 'window dressing ' compared to their male counterparts” (Rice). Women are being judged based on their looks and not their talent while men are noticed for their talent rather than their appearances. Sexism is a major problem because if a girl gets raped or anything harmfully happens to them, people will blame the way they dressed or acted. They put all the blame on the victim rather than the suspect because if she didn’t want that to happen, then she should’ve dressed properly or covered up more. If a man shows more skin, it’s not taken seriously as when a woman shows skin. Moreover, when a man gets raped by a woman, instead of helping out, others judge him because he wasn’t strong enough to defend himself. This stereotyping affects people’s lives, especially women because it’s difficult for women to get jobs. For instance, “Women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, but their ubiquity doesn’t protect them from gendered discrimination and sexual harassment, especially in male-dominated work environments” (Adams). Discrimination does happen to both men and women, but it happens to be that it mainly affects the
Females from a young age are told that men are strong and women are weak and should just submit to their needs. Men are praised if they abuse and exploit women. The stereotypical female and male is something men strive for and women easily fall into. Women are influenced to be submissive and just to feel what the guy tells them to feel. Rape and sexual assault are deemed “cool” and the media influences women to be a submissive sex object. A woman 's body, the one thing she possesses in the most intimate form, is collateral damage (Katie J). Tristan Bridges, a writer for the Society Reflections, states “It 's not a new argument to suggest that many elements of what feminist scholars refer to as “rape culture” are embedded in seemingly pleasurable elements of pop
Jackson Katz gave a TEDtalk on violence against women, such as sexual assault and domestic violence, and began his talk with the statement “I'm going to argue that these are men's issues, first and foremost” (Katz). The way that violence against women is displayed is frequently in a way that makes it completely about women, rather than about the men who are incurring the violence. While he is not saying that it is not an issue for women as well, he is trying to dispel the misconception that men are not the issue. In society, one fact that is commonly misconstrued is that the decisions made by a woman are what caused her to get beaten or raped, such as what she was wearing, and the actual role of the perpetrator is downplayed. By raising awareness that it a man’s issue, he hopes that these types of negative circumstances become less and less due to attacking the problem from the root rather than taking the easy way out and blaming the woman.
Thus, relating to the characteristics of submissiveness and the weaknesses that are attributed towards rape victims, as opposed to the gender stereotypes concerning men, which focuses on the aggressiveness and dominance (Pino and Meier, 1999: p. 979; Davies and McCartney, 2003: p. 391). Similarly, to female rape victims, male victims fear the stigmatisation surrounded by rape. When male rape victims do report their rape, often they receive disbelief, and blame from the police, as well as, other services (Struckman-Johnson, 1992).
Almost every week, the news covers a story involving sexual harassment or sexual assault. Whether it is a group of fraternity members yelling slurs at a homosexual couple, President Donald Trump talking about the power he had over females because of his celebrity status, or a college athlete that rapes an unconscious girl at a party, these types of stories seem to have one one commonality: men are the perpetrators. Not to say that females do not participate in actions of sexual violence, just recognizing the fact that the majority of perpetrators of sexual assault are male (Greenfeld, 1997). In order to get a better understanding of why males tend to participate in sexual violence, this essay will examine the pressures put on males to prove their masculinity. This essay will detail the ways in which I have witnessed and even committed acts of sexual violence to prove masculinity; it will also display how I intend on erasing the idea that participating in sexual violence
Many excuses are made to defend rapists, abusers, or harassers, such as “she was dressed provocatively” or “she was under the influence and came onto me.” Most young girls think that being harassed, raped, or abused is something that everyone goes through. Heather Hlavka, a sociologist at Marquette University, analyzed interviews with 100 girls between ages three and seventeen who may have experienced sexual assault. The study identifies several common reasons why girls do not report their assaults, including shame, fear of retribution and distrust of authority. The most alarming conclusion, however, is that young women “regard sexual violence against them as normal.” Moreover, the girls interviewed believed that men “can’t help it” and perceived “everyday harassment and abuse as normal male behavior.” (Duberman 2014). Hlavka writes, “Objectification, sexual harassment, and abuse appear to be part of the fabric of young women’s lives. They had few available safe spaces; girls were harassed and assaulted at parties, in school, on the playground, on buses, and in cars. Overwhelmingly described as ‘normal stuff’ that ‘guys do’ or tolerating what ‘just happens’, young women’s sexual desire and consent are largely absent. Sex was understood as something done to them.” Actions like these drive young women to believe that men ‘can’t help it’. Younger women are taught
The fear of being presumed responsible or at fault for another’s actions prevents many women from reporting offences, and the fact that it is women being blamed, rather than the men who offend, shows the unequal power that men have over women in defining experiences. Thus rape culture silences women by endorsing attitudes that paint offender’s actions as natural, and victims as
It has become common knowledge that sexism affects women negatively in multiple ways. Experiencing sexism can lower their self-esteem, self image, makes them possible victims of abuse, and often makes them feel as if they are less than men, powerless, or unable to achieve what they want. However, these effects do not just happen when a woman is receiving the sexism directly. A study by Chaudoir & Quinn (2015) suggests that women who are around or serve as bystanders when a sexist incident happens are also affected by the comment, except that, in this case, what gets affected is women’s attitudes towards men in general. The study consisted of 114 undergraduate females that were shown a video of a man either making a sexist catcall and another one of a man simply greeting another woman.
Tiffannie Boyd Topic Proposal English 112 June 15, 2016 Victim Blaming is Never an Answer Victim blaming: Victim blaming is a devaluing act where the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment is held as wholly or partially responsible for the wrongful conduct committed against them (USLegal, 2001). For this assignment I am planning to research and gather multiple issues of the cause and ways to help either eliminate or fix the problem. In this writing project I plan to show different sides of the issue at hand and not just when it comes to rape but, sexual assault also.
Although rape culture does contain a large social component, politics also play a role in the blaming of women when they are sexually assaulted. In the U.S, as recently as forty years ago, a woman’s “impure behavior”—from having an affair to the use of birth control— could be used to detract from her credibility as the complainant in a rape case. In addition to this, a woman’s failure to fight back against her rapist was not uncommonly treated as consent to sex (Young 42). These absurd practices show prejudices towards women, and while these practices were more common before the height of second wave feminism — which brought attention to issues such as domestic violence and marital rape — they are still used in ways that may be imperceptible (Rampton). An example of this is seen when religious institutions and college athletics hold respect for authority over the worth of victims by allowing sexual abuse to go unchecked, unpunished, or insufficiently punished (Young 42).
For example, it has been argued that by focusing on the existence of a rape culture and viewing all men as rapists, it is harder to stop sexual coercion because it removes the focus from the individual who is at fault (McElroy, 2016). The treatment of sexual coercion needs to expand from the assumption of feminist orthodoxy that views sexual coercion as an expression of culture and towards holding the individuals involved, accountable for their actions (McElroy, 2016). Other feminists advocate for an alternative way of conceptualizing sexual coercion to take into account the sexual victimisation of both men and women (Turchik et al. , 2016).For example, it has been argued that a “gender-specific conceptualization of sexual violence, aids in obscuring the assault experiences that are not male to female” (Turchik et al., 2016, p.133). In addition, some researchers have suggested that focusing predominantly on the notion of male to female victimisation discourages research on the higher prevalence rates of sexual of assault on gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals (Rothman et al.,
With the escalating rise of rape culture, women are often viewed as sex objects rather than living individuals. Similar to that of movies, women are viewed only as possible love interests to men, rather than as intelligent, living beings with human dignity. Furthermore, women are frequently objectified in the media, from advertisements and magazines to film and television, and even in the workplace. Women are told to ‘sleep their way to the top’ and sell themselves out in order to further their success. This proves society’s perception of women as simply sexual objects rather than individuals.
As a result of this, feminist workings attempts to disprove rape myths and remove the stigma that surrounds them. It has been suggested that in accordance to public perceptions some sexual assaults do not class as “real rape” (Estrich, 1986). Brownmiller (1975) implies there are 4 fundamental rape myths which consist of; all women want to be raped, no woman can be raped against her will, she was asking for it and if you are going to be raped you might as well enjoy it. Due to these myths women are often blamed for their experiences of rape however there is still this underlying notion that men can achieve sexual gratification from rape and women become the means to achieve this (Ward, 1995a). This is supported by the results of a dated study conducted by Feild (1978) which investigated 400 university student’s perceptions of rape.
This attitude begins to tread on catastrophic territory if not accounted for accordingly. Rape culture is an excellent example of this occurrence. As defined by the Women’s Center, rape culture is violence perpetuated against women that is normalized and dismissed by mainstream media and pop culture. Rape culture has been dragged on through the use of misogynistic language, objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, causing society to turn a blind eye to the violence women endure. Rape culture is another way men can project a problem to the other party, instead of reflecting on why the problem is occurring on a wider spectrum.