Women's Rights
Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...
Sexism does still exist in this world. Feminism is a dirty word, to the
point where some people are afraid to call themselves one out of fear of being
sent death threats, rape threats, threats of being doxxed, or “just” being sent
pictures of male genitalia.
Admittedly, feminism isn’t without unpleasant people. If you’ve ever
heard the word TERF, it stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist,
basically someone who refuses to include non-binary women and accuses them of being
men trying to infiltrate female spaces (they’re not). These types also tend to
be dismissive of the problems of POC and anyone on the Queer spectrum. They’re
horrible people. But they shouldn’t be the reason to hate every feminist any
more than the Westboro Baptist Church is an excuse to hate every Christian.
Feminism is about the equality taken away by sexism. The wage
gap exists; women really do make less than men for the same amount of work,
and for women of color, the gap is much bigger. Men have
no idea how periods work to the point of thinking women
can “hold it in”, and that’s why tampons
are a luxury item.
And while once women were always given child custody in divorces, since
the seventies, it’s no longer the case. These days, fathers are given far
more preference than mothers. To the point where women in some states have
to share custody with their rapists.
Even the medical world is effect by sexism. Endemetriosis, menorrhagia,
polycystic ovary syndrome and fibroids, all female only conditions that can
cause chronic pain, all have unknown causes and none have cures. Let’s not
forget that women are
often not included in clinical trials and dosages of medicine can
be quite different for them. Some conditions, like autism, are so
male-focused that girls
aren’t diagnosed because they display different symptoms. Then there’s the fact
that the male birth control study was ended because some
men reported depression. Despite the fact that female birth control has the
same side effect. In greater percentages.
I could go on. It doesn’t matter that we live in a privileged society.
If we’re not all treated with the same consideration, how privileged is it
really?
The world has changed since I was a child, before "Women's Lib" sought equality in the workplace. Our society has changed a lot since then, but still has far to go.
ReplyDeleteIt's like anything else, it seems. Since we've gotten something, the power structure assumes it's enough. Someday we'll get there, though.
DeleteIt's too bad that so many women have bought into the Patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm angry that our first woman Presidential candidate lost BECAUSE she's a woman.
It's been so ingrained that women somehow think that women can't lead. It's like the elephant who pulls out and puts in his own stake--the stake that keeps him chained up.
DeleteI'm 64, and I've seen the world change so tremendously. We've moved from help wanted ads being put into Male or Female categories (and guess what jobs made it into the F category) and being told in a college typing class that the class could help with skills needed to become an executive secretary (as opposed to being a typist) because being an executive secretary was the pinnacle of what women could aspire to (and yes, the instructor was a woman). The year I started college was also the year women were first admitted to the University of Virginia. But we still have a long way to go. My husband, whose heart is in the right place, talked the other day about his mother's doctor - a "woman doctor". And he didn't mean a gyn! Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteIt's so great that you've seen how far we've come. There are those that think that we've finished the race. It's good to remember that even though we've still got a ways to go, we have made progress. That's something.
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