Current thoughts about Women and Power

 

*for the purposes of this blog I have used the binary gender system

 

Women have been taught to be meager and coy. We have been positioned to be weak from culture, society, and history alike.

From the earliest tales of Greece to the most recent power struggle between Trump and Clinton, women have been viewed with the inability to lead or do the things that men can do.

As Mary Beard’s in depth analysis of women and power in history in her new book Women & Power explain the relationship between the historical significance of the “weak woman” and how it is still ingrained in Western Culture today. She cites references from the Greco-Roman era that are influences not only on men and how they interact with women, but on women themselves. How Maesia successfully defended herself in court only because she spoke with such strength and effectiveness, which were considered more masculine traits. Beard urges us not to see this “muteness” simply as a reflection of women’s more general dis empowerment in the classical world. Their voices were subversive, a threat to the state. Thus was the idea of gendered speech established. If the ancients disliked the sound of the female voice, so high-pitched and strident, in the 21st century terms such as “whine” still tend to be reserved for women.In more recent times Margaret Thatcher did this as well. Similar stories are told for dressing as a man, the modern day pantsuit to dress down one’s femininity in a male dominated field.

It is common place to talk about mansplaining or manspreading when we talk about everyday sexism that women are constantly fighting against. But like every marginalized group throughout history there are taught behaviors to both sexes that we must unlearn before there will be true equality among the sexes.  

The main one we are hearing is teaching girls how to act and avoid getting raped instead of teaching boys not to rape. The classic case of Helen of Troy, she was so beautiful she was kidnapped, if she was not so beautiful maybe she would not have cause the war in the first place. As we all know, this was not Helen’s fault nor is it ever the victims. We have the ingrained behaviours in Western Culture to think this. Instead of blaming the victim, it should always be the perpetrator’s fault for the crime. There is not another crime in our society where the victim is to blame, murder, theft, or kidnapping are never the victim’s fault. Why is rape different?

Breaking gender roles and stereotypes. With same-sex couples many people will want to know, “which is the boy and which is the girl”, but what they are really asking is who is the more dominant personality. This can be said of opposite sex couples as well. As we are now in a world of strong women and strong men, who are not ‘intimidated’ by being with a strong women and sharing the power or giving it over to their partner at times. In the past, relationships were 100% male dominated to the point where the man legally owned his wife the same way one does a pet cat. But with the hard work from women that came before this has changed and with it so has the balance of power in relationships. Women are looking for a partner someone to share the responsibilities with, not someone to take care of them. We are not a burden to bare. While there may be a more dominant person in the relationship, it does not have to be the man and women easily fall into this role.

Women are not a piece of property like a house or an item that can simply discarded when their usefulness has passed. Women have had to fight for their equality and to no longer be treated like an item. However, full equality with white cis men has not happened yet. Yes, women no longer need the support of their father to either get married or divorced. Yes, it is no longer common place for men to simply throw women out when they want a divorce – there are more formal proceedings now. However, the pay is not equal and there are extreme disparities between people of color and white cis men.

In 2018, you are either a feminist or you are not. You either fight for equality between the sexes or you do not. This is not a world where you can say, “I believe in equality, but I am not a feminist” or “I am a woman and I do not need feminism”. Feminism IS the equality between the sexes, that is the definition. Your right to work, vote, own property, etc. were all fought for by feminists. If you think you do not deserve a $1 for your male co-workers $1 than do not go to work because $0.77 is not okay with me. I am not 77% of a person. I am a whole person. You are too.