Misogyny and Sexism in the News

[Novelafemme]

Lately, I've found myself seriously disheartened at the misogyny in our culture, at the way our culture invalidates the stories and the experiences of women, and at the way sexism and violence against women is talked about either as a thing of the past or an inevitable part of life. It is not a thing of the past and it is not inevitable. We as a culture are constantly making choices that demean and denigrate women, that place us in harms way, that tell us we are "less than."

This is an important essay: http://therumpus.net/2012/08/explicit-violence/

[Kobi]

The following women are not attractive to Donald Trump: Angelina Jolie ("She's been with so many guys"), Cher ("bad plastic surgery"), Rosie O'Donnell ("big, fat pig"), and now, Arianna Huffington.

On Wednesday, Trump used his Twitter account to call the internet powerhouse "unattractive both inside and out." He went on to attack her marriage, which ended in an amicable divorce.

"I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man-he made a good decision," Trump added in less than 140 characters.

It's not the first time he's publicly judged a successful female media figure by her looks and intimate life, and it probably won't be the last.

Trump's world seems to be divided into three categories. Women he finds attractive. Women he doesn't find attractive. And Men. It's not so different from a Miss USA pageant, only "contestants" like Huffington don't ask to be entered.

It's unclear what exactly prompted Trump's alarmingly inappropriate personal attack. His rep told the Washington Post it stems from her largely op-ed driven publication's "massive and consistently inaccurate reporting on Mr. Trump."

Huffington smartly refused to take the bait and refrained from responding, possibly avoiding another drawn out Trump vs. Barbara Walters feud.

In the past, both male and female columnists at major media outlets have labeled Trump "a sexist dinosaur," with "a legacy of unapologetically gleeful misogyny." These days nobody's wasting words trying to prove that point, when Trump seems to do the job all on his own. Here are some of the gems from the mouth of a modern day caveman:

"All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected."
-From his book How to Get Rich.

"So when he had plenty of money, she liked him…But then after that, not as good, right?"
-In response to an Access Hollywood interview question on Anne Hathaway's split from her jailed ex-boyfriend.

"I'll send one of my friends to pick up her girlfriend and I think it would be very easy."
-On Rosie O'Donnell and his own mysteriously beguiling friends, as reported by The New York Daily News.

"She does have a very nice figure . . . if [she] weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her."
-On his daughter, Ivanka, during a interview on the The View.

"You look very good, Aubrey, I have to say, Do you mind if I say? Is that sexist?"
-On Aubrey O'Day's boardroom appearance during an episode of The Apprentice.

"Maybe [women] don't know him. Maybe they don't get what is going on."
-On Obama's popularity with women voters, in a recent Fox News interview.

"The early victories by women on The Apprentice were to a very large extent dependent on their sex appeal."
-On women's success on The Apprentice, from How to Get Rich.

"I believe we're all equal except women still have to try harder and they know it. They will do what they have to do to get the job done and will not necessarily be demure about it."
-More on women's success, from How to Get Rich.

"Often times when I was sleeping with one of the top women in the world I would say to myself, thinking about me as a boy from Queens, 'can you believe what I am getting?'"
-On former romantic partners, from Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life.

"Beauty and elegance, whether in a woman, a building, or a work of art is not just superficial or something pretty to see."
-On inanimate objects and women, from Trump 101: The Way to Success

"You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of [expletive]."
-On media zen and women's body parts, from a 1991 Esquire interview.


http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/do...192600474.html

[Martina]

Not misogyny or sexism but someone protecting his son from it and other miseries.

Dad Wears Dress in Solidarity with Dress-Loving Son

A German father said that he sometimes wears skirts to support his son, who also prefers to wear skirts and dresses.

Nils Pickert and his family moved from West Berlin to a more traditional village in southern Germany, Gawker reports. After Pickert's son expressed worries that other kids at school would mock him for wearing dresses, his father decided to also don a dress in solidarity.

"I didn't want to talk my son into not wearing dresses and skirts," he said. "He didn't make friends in doing that in Berlin already and after a lot of contemplation I had only one option left: To broaden my shoulders for my little buddy and dress in a skirt myself."

[Soon]

Campaigners in Egypt say the problem of sexual harassment is reaching epidemic proportions, with a rise in such incidents over the past three months. For many Egyptian women, sexual harassment - which sometimes turns into violent mob-style attacks - is a daily fact of life, reports the BBC's Bethany Bell in Cairo.

[Kobi]

A Boston University task force has concluded that the men’s hockey team is detached from the general campus and that a “culture of sexual entitlement” exists among some players, a mindset the college says contributed to two alleged sexual assaults on campus during the past season.

In unusually blunt fashion, the panel found that the university, from administrators to the coaching staff, did not adequately oversee the team, allowing the culture to flourish.

Oversight of the players was too often left to the coaching staff, the panel concluded, instead of university administrators. “The coaches became their own keepers,” Morrison said. “These should be university issues.”

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This report can be read Here

I cant decide if this report is unique in the way it is addressing systemic issues or if it is more of the same.

While there is recognition of "entitlement" on a sports teams, of how coaches are not the best supervisors of their players behavior, and how the culture of sports coupled with alcohol and sex can be problematic, it really side steps the misogyny and sexism behind the entire thing.

[Kobi]

Street harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of gender-based violence and one of the least legislated against. Comments from “You’d look good on me” to groping, flashing and assault are a daily, global reality for women and LGBTQ individuals. But it is rarely reported, and it’s culturally accepted as ‘the price you pay’ for being a woman or for being gay. At Hollaback!, we don’t buy it.

We believe that everyone has a right to feel safe and confident without being objectified. Sexual harassment is a gateway crime that creates a cultural environment that makes gender-based violence OK. There exists a clear legal framework to reproach sexual harassment and abuse in the home and at work, but when it comes to the streets—all bets are off. This gap isn’t because street harassment hurts any less, it’s because there hasn’t been a solution. Until now. The explosion of mobile technology has given us an unprecedented opportunity to end street harassment—and with it, the opportunity to take on one of the final new frontiers for women’s rights around the world.

By collecting women and LGBTQ folks’ stories and pictures in a safe and share-able way with our very own mobile phone applications, Hollaback! is creating a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment. Hollaback! breaks the silence that has perpetuated sexual violence internationally, asserts that any and all gender-based violence is unacceptable, and creates a world where we have an option—and, more importantly—a response.

At the core of our model lies the belief that movements start with people telling their stories – and they succeed with people taking action. Before the Internet age, there was only one mic, one podium, one speaker. But now, thanks to the proliferation of blogging and social media, it is no longer the loudest, wealthiest and most powerful who rule the airwaves: anyone with access to their local library’s internet portal can have a voice. At Hollaback!, we leverage technology to bring voice to an issue that historically has been silenced, and to build leadership within this movement to break the silence.

Break the silence: We work with women, girls, and LGBTQ individuals to document in words and pictures, and to literally indicate on a map, where they experienced harassment in public spaces. Doing this provides a forum for individuals to share their experiences and brings attention to this long-ignored issue.

Inspire international leadership: Much of Hollaback!’s power lies in its scalability. To scale effectively, we train young women and LGBTQ leaders throughout the world to use their skills to build a grassroots movement focused on ending street harassment. We train in the application of technology as we also work to ensure that their actions are strategic and high-impact.

Shift public opinion: Our broad-based campaign is designed to reach the public at large by inspiring individuals to take action. We provide educational workshops to schools, universities, and community groups, and engage citizens through traditional and social media.

Engage elected officials: We present collected and mapped data to elected officials and policymakers in areas experiencing high incidences of street harassment and will engage legislators to work with our trained leaders to address street harassment in their communities.


http://www.ihollaback.org/about/

[Martina]

Malala's classmate: 'Every girl in Swat is Malala. We will educate ourselves. We will win. They can't defeat us.'

First Libyan and now Pakistani regular folks are out in the streets calling for a stop to terrorist attacks in their countries. Heartening