"They presented male employers with identical job applicants—same experience, same qualifications, same resume—except one was named Dave and the other Diane. Then men in traditional marriages rated “Diane” significantly lower than Dave. Because, you know, vagina. Every woman has felt that—that moment when you can see a man’s engagement switch off, and realize that he will never take you as seriously as he would if you came back with a chest-merkin and a handlebar mustache. But it’s an almost impossible feeling to quantify, and an even harder one to communicate to people who have never felt it. An argument that can be vaporized with an emphatic enough “nu uh!” is a difficult argument to win."
—

That Condescending Feeling You Get From Dudes in the Office? Yeah, That’s Real. (via notemily)

Sums up my feelings just about every day after class this month, thanks to one single guy in there.

(via lostgrrrls)

Even in my female-dominated profession (counseling), the thoughts and opinions of male psychiatrists and peers are given more credence. And the dismissiveness with which those men treat our thoughts and opinions is palpable.  So yeah.

(via goddessdster)

20 years ago, 60 Minutes did a segment on the effect of race in the hiring process. They took the same resumes and put “ethnic” names on one set and “traditional” white names on the second set. In 8/10 instances, employers chose the candidate with the white sounding name. They did the same experiment about 5 years ago just before the 2008 recession hit and had similar results even against names like “Willow” and “Rainbow” - previously frowned upon as “Hippy” names.
And this is why both my girls have gender neutral (read: male) and race neutral (read: white) names.

(via generalbriefing)

swsmh: “One of the largest toy chains in Sweden published a gender-neutral Christmas catalogue, which pictured boys playing with dolls and girls holding toy machine guns. The move has reignited a debate in Sweden over the proper place of gender roles. Top Toy has produced children’s Christmas catalogues in Denmark and Sweden for both Toys R Us and BR. Though the catalogues’ page layouts are the same in both countries, the gender of the pictured kids is reversed in the Swedish edition. “With the new gender thinking, there is nothing that is right or wrong. It’s not a boy or a girl thing, it’s a toy for children,” Top Toy director of sales Jan Nyberg told TT news agency. The Danish catalogue showed a boy wielding a toy machine gun, which was replaced by a girl in the Swedish version. The “Hello Kitty” page of the Swedish catalogue also replaced a girl with a boy, and a one girl’s pink t-shirt was turned into light blue.” (via Swedish toymaker publishes ‘gender-neutral’ children’s Christmas catalogue — RT)

swsmh:


“One of the largest toy chains in Sweden published a gender-neutral Christmas catalogue, which pictured boys playing with dolls and girls holding toy machine guns. The move has reignited a debate in Sweden over the proper place of gender roles.

Top Toy has produced children’s Christmas catalogues in Denmark and Sweden for both Toys R Us and BR. Though the catalogues’ page layouts are the same in both countries, the gender of the pictured kids is reversed in the Swedish edition. “With the new gender thinking, there is nothing that is right or wrong. It’s not a boy or a girl thing, it’s a toy for children,” Top Toy director of sales Jan Nyberg told TT news agency.

The Danish catalogue showed a boy wielding a toy machine gun, which was replaced by a girl in the Swedish version. The “Hello Kitty” page of the Swedish catalogue also replaced a girl with a boy, and a one girl’s pink t-shirt was turned into light blue.” (via Swedish toymaker publishes ‘gender-neutral’ children’s Christmas catalogue — RT)

fuckyeahfeminists:

Geeks come in all genders, which is a fact many people have difficulty understanding. This comic is a good example of the inquisition that many feminine-presenting geeks and gamers face. This example would translate well to other male-dominated areas, as well.

Having to prove themselves as genuinely liking their interests is irritating, unnecessary, and problematic in many ways.  - FYF Jacquie

(Source: sailorswayze)

downlo:

When Men Are Too Emotional To Have A Rational Argument

I wish to dispel the notion that women are “more emotional.” I don’t think we are. I think that the emotions women stereotypically express are what men call “emotions,” and the emotions that men typically express are somehow considered by men to be something else.

This is incorrect. Anger? EMOTION. Hate? EMOTION. Resorting to violence? EMOTIONAL OUTBURST. An irrational need to be correct when all the evidence is against you? Pretty sure that’s an emotion. Resorting to shouting really loudly when you don’t like the other person’s point of view? That’s called “being too emotional to engage in a rational discussion.”

Not only do I think men are at least as emotional as women, I think that these stereotypically male emotions are more damaging to rational dialogue than are stereotypically female emotions. A hurt, crying person can still listen, think, and speak. A shouting, angry person? That person is crapping all over meaningful discourse.

[…]

Many feminists have posited that we need to break free of the idea that male behavior is the default to which women should aspire.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, in Why Women Still Can’t Have It All, wrote:

I continually push the young women in my classes to speak more. They must gain the confidence to value their own insights and questions, and to present them readily. My husband agrees, but he actually tries to get the young men in his classes to act more like the women—to speak less and listen more. If women are ever to achieve real equality as leaders, then we have to stop accepting male behavior and male choices as the default and the ideal.

I want a model of discourse in which we all behave like adults: mostly calm, as rational as possible, and informed but not controlled by our emotions. I would like a model of discourse in which stereotypically female emotions are less stigmatized, and stereotypically male emotions — especially destructive ones — are not given a free pass. I’d like us to acknowledge that we’re all emotional beings, and if Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh get national airtime to completely give in to those emotions, there’s no argument to be made anymore that women “too emotional” for anything…

I bet a lot of women have had the unpleasant experience of being shouted down by an angry male during a supposedly rational debate about something or other. I suggest checking out the whole article to see specific examples of the kind of emotional outbursts that men regularly get away with and how such behavior is inimical to actual discussion.

flapjackstate:

**Trigger warning for rape culture** [animated GIF of a very young boy continually trying to put his hands around a girl of the same age, despite her pushing him away several times].

sanityscraps:

nessfraserloves:

goaquatic:

sourcedumal:

toptumbles:

Rejection

Um. So I’m probably one of the few folks who doesn’t think this is adorable. At all.

I think it’s fucking scary how this little boy keep pushing himself on her after she CLEARLY doesn’t want to be bothered with his ass.

And the adult behind the camera doesn’t intervene at all because it’s ‘cute.’

And how analogous it is to when grown ass men don’t take fucking no for an answer, no matter how much we push and shove and say no.

This is not cute. This is an absolute disregard of this little girl’s boundaries.

In the very bottom left gif you can see he’s smiling/laughing. Like this is some kind of game.

I would bet money that the person filming this is laughing and encouraging him.

This is how we teach boys not to respect women’s spaces.

^^^^^^^

Yes, ALL OF THIS COMMENTARY. It’s so hard to believe how we encourage this disgusting behavior in babies now. What. The. Fuck.

I wasn’t sure whether a trigger warning would be necessary, but I thought the image description might be triggering.

All of this commentary is spot on.

fuckyeahfeminists:

Sad news: Whendon’s Avengers didn’t pass the Bechdel test

But, and fuck if there isn’t always a but, it also underscored one of the continuing and institutional problems with the big summer blockbuster. And that is they almost never pass the Bechdel Test, “The Avengers” sadly included. While the movie passes the first crucial test: Yes there are more than two named female characters. “The Avengers” has three: Black Widow, Agent Maria Hill and Pepper Potts. But then it fails the last two tests. They never talk to each other, about a man or anything else for that matter. 

Of course, this isn’t to say that female representation is terrible in “The Avengers.” Quite the opposite, really. None of them are damsels in distress. One could argue that Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper is a standard-issue superhero girlfriend, but given her backstory in two previous solo “Iron Man” films makes her more than mere arm candy. Plus she’s about the only person who can cut cocksure Tony Stark down to size. Sure, Cobie Smulders’ Agent Hill mostly just looks stoic (also hot, so hot) in her SHIELD uniform while providing exposition. But she also battles her own brainwashed agents with heroism and flare. And then there’s Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow who is not only integral to the plot, she nicely turns some female tropes (she’s weakened by her apparent love for a man) on their head. All these women are strong and smart and so much more than action movie T&A. This is Joss, after all. 

read the entire blog at the source.

C - who’s alltime favorite comic is Captain America & therefore knows his Avengers storylines really well - complained that Captain Marvel (apparently a female counterpart to Captain America?) is an original Avenger but wasn’t in the film. When I said to him, of course not, I mean God forbid that there is an action movie with more than one woman superhero at a time he totally agreed with me that (1) people would have complained about the “girlifying” of the movie had there been even 1 more woman and (2) that is ridiculous. 

It seems that Avengers is getting mostly a lot of positive “yay good female  portrayal” press. I think it was okay in this regard yet had so much more potential*, but that it’s just so much better at portraying women in action than almost every other film**, that people are jumping up and down about it. 

*I have read somewhere that the Black Widow storyline from the comics was very accurately portrayed within the film, so there is the fact they are working with limitations of existing characters

**Hit Girl from KickAss jumps immediately to mind. 

Tags | media | movies | gender | sex | avengers |
fuckyeahfeminists: What if the male #Avengers posed like the female ones? I will always reblog photos comparing male vs. female action figure poses. 

fuckyeahfeminists:

What if the male #Avengers posed like the female ones?

I will always reblog photos comparing male vs. female action figure poses. 

typingfrantically: Let me talk to you about books. Specifically, one book. This book. This book should be a best seller. This book should be required reading for graduating from high school. Before you get that diploma, you read this book. This book deals with debunking “Neurosexism,” which is a very fancy term for all of that evolutionary psychology bullshit that people spill about those “brain differences” between boys and girls. This book debunks such myths as: Boys are better at math than girls Women make crappy lawyers/business CEOs/etc, as their brains are not cut out for aggression. Men make crappy counselors/primary school teachers/primary parents/etc, as their brains are not cut out for empathy. MEN ARE BUILT FOR GOING OUT AND HUNTING WHILE WOMEN ARE BUILT FOR STAYING HOME AND BABYMAKING IT’S NOT SEXISM IT’S JUST BIOLOGY And many other such myths. Furthermore, this book covers topics such as:  Neurosexism and gender perceptions in multiple races (as this is not a singularly white experience, just as the western world isn’t a singularly white experience) Sex discrimination in the workplace, and how women are (or, more often, are not) allowed to behave How science is used (badly) to support many of these claims Experiences of trans* people, both through interviews and empirical studies. AND FINALLY - It is all brilliantly researched, cited, compiled - and it’s easy to read! Cordelia Fine actually manages to be funny while writing this, which I think is important, because it makes all of this information infinitely accessible. Delusions of Gender has reinforced what Oberlin taught me: The gender binary is stupid and arbitrary, and dangerous. And it is a self-perpetuating bias that needs to be addressed to be overcome.

typingfrantically:

Let me talk to you about books.

Specifically, one book. This book.

This book should be a best seller. This book should be required reading for graduating from high school. Before you get that diploma, you read this book.

This book deals with debunking “Neurosexism,” which is a very fancy term for all of that evolutionary psychology bullshit that people spill about those “brain differences” between boys and girls.

This book debunks such myths as:

  • Boys are better at math than girls
  • Women make crappy lawyers/business CEOs/etc, as their brains are not cut out for aggression.
  • Men make crappy counselors/primary school teachers/primary parents/etc, as their brains are not cut out for empathy.
  • MEN ARE BUILT FOR GOING OUT AND HUNTING WHILE WOMEN ARE BUILT FOR STAYING HOME AND BABYMAKING IT’S NOT SEXISM IT’S JUST BIOLOGY
  • And many other such myths.

Furthermore, this book covers topics such as: 

  • Neurosexism and gender perceptions in multiple races (as this is not a singularly white experience, just as the western world isn’t a singularly white experience)
  • Sex discrimination in the workplace, and how women are (or, more often, are not) allowed to behave
  • How science is used (badly) to support many of these claims
  • Experiences of trans* people, both through interviews and empirical studies.

AND FINALLY - It is all brilliantly researched, cited, compiled - and it’s easy to read! Cordelia Fine actually manages to be funny while writing this, which I think is important, because it makes all of this information infinitely accessible.

Delusions of Gender has reinforced what Oberlin taught me: The gender binary is stupid and arbitrary, and dangerous. And it is a self-perpetuating bias that needs to be addressed to be overcome.

(Source: faetrouble)

Reading about Myers Briggs types & Gender

Specifically I’m reading about the differences perceived in girls & boys who have Thinking or Feeling types. (Here’s one of the articles I read. I also skimmed through some discussions on a couple message boards that came up in a search.)

Unsurprisingly, the discussions basically revolve around our perceived gender roles. I.E. - girls have traits that are most aligned with Feeling types, boys have traits that are most aligned with Thinking types. 

What I’m finding disturbing is how all of the discussions are about how it’s abnormal for girls to be Thinkers and boys to be Feelers. And while none of them come out and say one is better than the other, it’s sort of quietly implied that Thinking (the perceived ‘masculine’ trait) is better/more active/more LEADERSHIP-y in a lot of the writing.

Women talk about how they “soften” they’re Thinking (especially around other women to make friends, sometimes around men to be less intimidating). Men talk about how they hide their Feeling because other people perceive them as less manly.

The fact that there are women, men, trans* people of all these types should just be another indicator that we as a society are completely wrong when we say “women are just like this” or “men are just like this”. If we put less emphasis on how girls and boys are “supposed” to act and relate to the world they would be more comfortable being themselves. 

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