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Right. Welcome to week one episode one of yo, is this intersectional?
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I'm Jess I'll be your host. And with me We have two guests over here we have Mira and Amber.
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Mira.
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And okay, so like I said this week, we're talking about intersection ality. If you don't know what that is. Just
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get out of here. We don't want you here yeah get out turn all right we're just we're just messing with you. You don't know what that means you're in the right place because we're going to tell you all about what intersection ality is.
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So, most of us have actually probably already experienced this. But just never really had the worst just read what it is. And so intersection ality is basically how each of us have multiple different identities that intersect, these identities determine
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our positions in society and the advantages and disadvantages we go through. And we each have multiple different identities. So for example, We all might have different religious beliefs, education, gender, well, nationality, ethnicity, and goes on and
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on to language high occupation, even age.
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So a good example of this is because of someone's intersecting identities, they might experience advantages based on, for example like education and wealth, but they can also experience oppression due to something such as like their age or religion or
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gender. And so I just want to take a second to focus on how we view these advantages and disadvantages, and how we use intersection ality to interpret other people's realities and even our own.
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So as you guys can see we have this photo and on the left side we have a woman, and basically a bikini wearing nothing else but sunglasses. And on the right hand side, we have another woman who's wearing a burka and like a face covering, and they both
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have completely different perspectives of each other.
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And I'll just read it off to you and the girl on the left hand is looking at your own right and she's like, everything is covered but her eyes. What a cruel male dominated culture.
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But the woman on the right says nothing is covered but her eyes. What a cruel male dominated culture. So I just wanted to get your guys's perspectives on this and how each of them view each other as having a restriction on their on their freedoms because
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they have different intersecting identities. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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This is definitely something in our culture where we tend to judge other people based on what we feel like is normal for our culture.
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So I've heard the term used ethnocentrism where it's pretty much like your, your ethnicity or your culture you think is the most right and is better than another culture and I feel like this is what's happening here to where they're looking at each other's
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cultures and they think their own cultures better because that's the only norm, they've experienced.
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What do you think Amber. Yeah.
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You can agree with that.
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living in like a totally different culture and knew how you would just.
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If you were just totally to be a different person or whatever, like, and how that would change you.
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Yeah, like like when you
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go on, like,
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like mission strip or simple like that you would end
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up being something like you're, you're a totally out of your element, and yeah, yeah and then you really, it, you make the choice to, like,
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really, it's either it's going to change you are you're just gonna be stubborn enough to like, I'm not being willing to accept what it could teach you.
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Yeah, yeah. Dang that was fire.
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That's pretty dope. I like how you said how you can really learn something from this because yes these are both females but you can see how they probably have different nationalities, you're going to religious beliefs, and we really use those things like
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marginalize each other, and interpret each other.
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And I think a good instance of systemic injustice that deals with intersecting identities is recently with the banning of the burka and just other Facebook groups in Sri Lanka.
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And this is said to be so they can have more national security because was believed that the burka was being seen as a sign of religious extreme ism.
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And I really love with the vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka has to say about this.
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And he claims that no matter what someone's faith. Faith is they should have the right to wear face covering.
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And that's because the matter should be viewed in the context of whether or not a face covering is something they have the right to do instead of always being viewed and more of a religious context.
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And so I think this goes right along with like the intersecting identities of being female and Muslim.
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And it's kind of forces them to become what's known as other because they're being marginalized by their identities.
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And beyond that, even further marginalized because within this group is broken up to two smaller groups between those who support banning the burgers because they believe that have more freedom from that.
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Or another group who also believe they have more freedom by not wearing a burka is because they believe that they should at least have that right to do it if they want to.
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Yeah, that makes sense. It's like an issue of power.
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It's kind of like how you and me are both girls just but you ride your bike and I don't
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like man likes because I'm like, Why Why are you riding your bike when you could just drive.
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And why do you have your bike in the middle of the living room like. Run along. Like the systems of power. Yeah, how these intersecting identities, can cause us to have like different access to systems of power, for example, if, like our wealth can relate
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to our education and how much education we can receive nothing to bring under that like that or if you're Muslim or Jewish you might not be allowed into a Christian school so our faith can determine what education and therefore what other systems of power.
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We have access to. Yeah.
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Yeah, I mean I feel like I even saw this in a.
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It was this case like a, maybe a couple years ago, of this black boy who went to it was either a high school or college, but either way he had, he had braids and his hair, and they wouldn't let him graduate they wouldn't let him walk on stage, because
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of his grades, because that like didn't fit their school I mean it was, it was racism isn't it Yeah, sure, but it's it's a very similar thing of like they're banning the Burke other banning the braids.
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They have this norm that they want everybody else to assimilate to.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. So do you guys.
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I'm curious what your guys's thoughts are of, if you think the burka is a sign of religious extremism, and whether or not they should have the right to make that choice of whether or not they can wear it.
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Well, the thing is like, I, I've heard or have been like friends with people that like would be wearing a burka with people would be associated them with like being Muslim or having that like religious faith.
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In reality, they would just not have any association with it.
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So, so I think it's just more like the personal.
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Yeah, person's personal belief like would not necessarily be related with what they're wearing like their clothing.
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Yeah, and we easily interpret people and judge them based on their clothing, but we'll get more into that next week so that's all we have time for us, sir.
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Stay tuned.
Yo, Is This Racist？—Asian Americans—Hengyuan Chang
0:00
Welcome to Hengyuan Chang’s channel. My name is Chang Hengyuan. My major is Financial Mathematics. I am an international student from China. I moved back to China in 2020 due to COVID-19, and I’m likely to return to the US this summer. Today I’m going to talk about ‘Yo, is this racisit? ‘Podcast, and I’m going to focus on examples of discrimination against Asian-Americans. I’m going to summarize some examples of racism that I’ve seen and that have happened to me to help you better understand today’s topic. I believe most people have probably heard or encountered some examples of racial discrimination. But racial discrimination against Asian-Americans has been a neglected topic in the United States until recently. OK, so what is racial discrimination?
1:00
I believe that everyone has different views on racial discrimination. To me, the definition of racial discrimination means that all members of a race are treated differently because some of them do something that is not acceptable to the majority. As a result, the vast majority of people in the race are treated unfairly and irrationally. This kind of unfair treatment has a very bad negative impact on the discriminated race, including physical injury and mental injury.
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Returning to our topic, I want to tell you today the story of racial discrimination against Asians in the United States. Because this topic is very hot recently, and as an Asian I should raise more voices for my ethnic group to get more people’s attention. I hope you can enjoy my sharing.
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First of all I want to give you a little bit of history and some basic information about Asian Americans in the United States before I give you my example. Asians in the United States are actually called the immigrant paradigm. Asians are among the most educated and high-income groups compared to other immigrant groups and have the lowest crime rates. And in the United States, people tend to think of Asian-Americans as hardworking, friendly, intelligent, and so on. But none of this has helped protect Asians from racial discrimination. ‘‘Statistics show that there were more than 3,800 incidents of racial discrimination against Asians last year.’’（Yam， 2021） I will also use the examples I mentioned in Dariy of Systemic Injustice to help you understand how Asian Americans and Asians in the United States suffer from racial Injustice.
3:14
The first is the case of an Asian-American NBA basketball player who was subjected to racial discrimination. Lin was born in 1988 in California and graduated from Harvard University. Lin won the NBA championship with the Raptors in 2019. On February 25, 2021, Lin posted on Facebook that despite being a nine-year NBA veteran, it didn’t help that he wasn’t being called COVID-19. I think Jeremy Lin’s case is a very typical example of Asian-Americans being discriminated against. There are a lot of Asian Americans who may have emigrated to the United States for two or three generations, but many people think they are not American because they are Asian faces.
4:23
Since the COVID-19 outbreak started in China, many Western media have referred to COVID-19 as either the Asian virus or the Chinese virus. Although the World Health Organization’s investigation after the outbreak confirmed that COVID-19 did not originate in China, or Asia, these media misreports and some politicians’ misphrasings have led to a large number of Americans believing that Asians brought COVID-19 to the world. So Lin was discriminated against on the court. As a result of these inaccurate reports, a large number of Americans have become what we have recently learned to be fundamentalists. Asian Americans are perceived as Asian rather than American just because of their Asian appearance or some people will treat these Asian Americans differently.
4:35
Some Americans began to think that Asians were to blame for the outbreak, and this led to more and more incidents of discrimination against Asians. In fact, I think the fact that Asian-Americans like Jeremy Lin are referred to as COVID-19 must be a racist incident, and it pains me that this phenomenon is prevalent in our society today. This is very similar to the racial discrimination and discrimination against Muslims and Pakistanis that began in the aftermath of 9/11. Because of the deep damage COVID-19 has done to society, Asian-Americans are also being attacked and discriminated against by ‘fundamentalists’ today. Another example is something that happened to me.
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In October 2019, my Chinese roommate and I want to buy a car to help us solve the problem of daily travel. At first, we searched the price and configuration of a Ford car on the Internet and then went to the nearest dealership. But in the end, the salesperson told us the price of the car that day was 20 percent higher than what we had seen on the Internet. We really don’t understand why we want to know. The salesman just told us that the price was the same and he didn’t know why the price was different. And he says you can buy it online if it’s cheaper. Although there was nothing wrong with what he said, it still gave us a sense of malice in his language. Then my roommate and I told the salesman that we wanted to call our parents to discuss the price and whether we could buy it. The salesperson grimaced at us and said, “Do you Asians need to consult with your parents when you buy something?”
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Can’t you asians make your own decisions? My roommate and I were furious and told him I wanted to meet with your manager and tell him about the racist thing you just said to us. Another personal example is when I was a freshman I went to a club party. When we talked about me being from Asia, they asked me in a very exaggerated way why I didn’t wear Air Jordan, Supreme, off-white, etc. They say the Asian people they know all like the brands, and it’s like they only know the brands. Maybe it’s a joke, but for Asians it’s a kind of verbal sarcasm and hurtful. Both of these things are true stories that happened to me. I think they all show the image of fundamentalists very well. They hurt me and my roommates by stereotyping Asians.
9:35
Such behavior clearly falls within the scope of racial discrimination. I bring up these examples to show you that perhaps in the context of racism that we’re all concerned with, Asians have always been a very unobtruded subject. But this does not mean that Asians have not faced racial discrimination among ethnic minorities. In fact, we can only imagine how many incidents of racial discrimination Asian-Americans have experienced in the past year. Because COVID-19 Asians are double victims of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. On the one hand they have to physically protect themselves from COVID-19, on the other hand they are also suffering from the even crazier racism that COVID-19 gives them.
10：45
I’m sure you’re all wondering why the topic of Asian discrimination hasn’t been discussed until now. This is because the general cultural background of Asian people is not like to fight with others. In Asian cultures, if a little bit of hurt is the price of greater peace, then often people choose to take a little bit of hurt. Therefore, although Asians are often hurt by racial discrimination in American society, they often keep silent in the hope of exchanging future friendship with each other. But it is clear that in fact the future of friendship has not arrived, and has been replaced by greater harm. Because Asians do not resist when they are discriminated against, more and more racial discrimination occurs today.
11：55
I think we need to identify the problem as well as figure out how to solve it. First of all, we need to understand that silence is not a way to change. Asians are considered “Other” by some people in today’s American society. In this case, Asians will only be hurt more if they remain silent. So it’s a very good way for Asian people to demonstrate to more people the hurt and pain of Asian people. As Lin mentioned on Facebook, he is no longer willing to maintain the label that American society gives Asians as easy bullies. He hopes that more people will know that there are many Asians who are suffering from racial discrimination.
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He also said he hoped Asians would stop being silent and stand up and tell everyone what we think and what we suffer. That is why the great Dr. Martin Luther King and Louis used their stories to tell us the need for a truly fair approach and a way to end racial discrimination. At the same time, I believe we all know that there may be some small voice of racial discrimination, but this is not the reason for us to ignore it. Instead, we should pay more attention to these small noises to prevent more people from getting hurt in the future.
12:50
Finally, I hope all of you who can listen to this recording can want to share more about the racial discrimination of Asian people. Racial discrimination against Asians has been around for a long time, and it’s only today that people are talking about it. We need to pay attention to the harm that Asians suffer in America, and we also need to pay attention to the unfair treatment of all ethnic groups in America. But the most important thing is that we as individuals should be able to treat everyone and every group equally, regardless of their race or cultural background. Because when we’re all blindfolded and don’t look at skin color, we’re all a family. Although Asian Americans have an Asian face, they are also American citizens who were born in the United States and live and work in the United States.
15：10
I hope there will be no more racial discrimination in this world. That’s what we’ve been talking about today about Asian racism. Thank you for listening today and I hope everything goes well.
Citation：
Yam, K. (2021, March 19). There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in past year. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/there-were-3-800-anti-asian-racist-incidents-mostly-against-n1261257
Ellerbeck, A. (2020, May 11). Over 30 percent of Americans have witnessed COVID-19 bias against Asians, poll says. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/over-30-americans-have-witnessed-covid-19-bias-against-asians-n1193901
“Resist Reducing Them to Statistics:” Anti-Asian Violence in the Face of COVID-19. (2021, April 5). Columbia News. https://news.columbia.edu/news/resist-reducing-them-statistics-anti-asian-violence-face-covid-19
Hello, everyone! Today I will be talking about the systemic racial injustice that occurs in professional sports. Being a huge NFL and NBA fan, racial injustice is something that is rarely acknowledged by the sport industries. Racial injustice in the NFL first caught my attention when Collin Kaepernick went from being a starting Super Bowl quarterback, to having teams refuse to sign him because he kneeled during the national anthem. This explosion of media coverage and polarizing discourse about Kaepernick’s “right” to peacefully protest during a sports game shined a light on a grim reality for Black professional athletes: you are expected to provide entertainment, not political commentary. Coupled with this expectation is a lack of representation when it comes to these athletes’ management. In my Diary of Systemic Injustice, I wrote about the lack of diversity in coaches in the NFL, and how it is harder for African-American coaches to obtain and keep their jobs in the NFL. All of these professional sports leagues suffer from effects of the same racial injustice from top to bottom. From players to coaches to front office executives, the lack of support for African-American players, and the lack of diversity in the coaching and front office staff.
On Sept 1, 2016, Collin Kaepernick would take a knee that would change not only his own life, but the sports world as we knew it. Before Collin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem, he previously had sat on the bench during its playing, to protest the callous instances of police brutality and racial inequality that many Black people still face today. At first, no one even realized that Kaepernick was sitting during the national anthem, and there was no big deal made about it. Then, Kaepernick decided to take a knee, igniting a heated debate within the NFL fanbase (and eventually many around the world). Rather than view Kaepernick as someone using their First Amendment right to peacefully protest, he was painted by many as disrespectful towards the United States and the military. Taking a knee caused a lot of negative attention and pushback for Kaepernick, and he eventually ended his career in the NFL because of it. Although he was the one who opted out of his contract with the 49ers, the team’s general manager went on to confirm that even if he had not opted out, he would have been cut. Kaepernick was essentially tossed out of the NFL for protesting racial injustice in the United States. The worst part of the situation was the blatant refusal from the many to see the real problem. Collin Kaepernick put his career on the line to protest against police brutality and bring light to the racial discrimination Black people face, but he was portrayed to be someone disrespecting the United States and its armed forces. If Americans had accepted and been more willing to receive Kaepernick’s message, would there have been any police reform, less police brutality today, and would victims of police brutality like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor still be alive? Unfortunately, you cannot change the past, and because of America’s ignorance, police brutality and discrimination is still grossly rampant in the United States.
Minority players are often subject to more scrutiny and harsher criticism. One example of this today is with upcoming 2021 draft picks Justin Fields (Black) and Mac Jones (white). Being an Ohio State football super-fan, I will try to explain this with as little bias as possible. Justin Fields is a much more athletic quarterback and playmaker than Mac Jones, yet supposed character concerns have caused Fields’ stock to fall, all the while Mac Jones draft stock has slowly been rising. The “character flaws” Justin Fields faces are based off rumors about Fields not wanting to be friends with new teammates at Ohio State. Fields, the same guy who has an Instagram account for his dog, has faced much criticism because of supposed callousness, while Mac Jones, who has a DUI, is praised for his knowledge of the game. The inequality in treatment that white and minority players face in the NFL shows systemic racial injustice is present in the NFL. Another example of this is seen with the handling of white NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (accused of two counts of sexual assault) and Antonio Brown (Black, accused of sexual assault). Both players are accused of the same crime, yet only one was released from the team. Can you guess which one? If you guessed Antonio Brown, you are correct. Brown went from being one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, to struggling to find another team to play for because he was accused of sexual assault. On the other hand, Roethlisberger, who was accused of two sexual assaults, was not released from the team and received no punishment from the NFL. Roethlisberger still has his career and his status, while a Black man who faced the same charge saw his career become derailed.
Another problem with professional sports is the inequality in the amount of minority players and coaches. Below are two pictures displaying the amount of minority players and coaches in major American professional sports leagues.
73.2% of the NFL’s player base are minorities, while only 12.5% of coaches are minorities. What is the cause of this underrepresentation when comparing the players and coaches? One could attempt to argue that it could be due to a lack of available minority coaches in comparison to white coaches, or that less minorities want to coach in the NFL. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. More often than not, less experienced, white coaches are frequently given coaching jobs over more qualified people of color. The problem is simple and the racial inequality is not hard to miss. Many older white owners are seemingly afraid to give the power of their organization over to minorities. They have no problem making millions off the minorities that play in their leagues, but when it comes to handing over authority of their franchise to a minority, that’s where they draw the line. Now, I’m not saying that all team owners are racists, but I do believe that racism plays a huge factor in the amount of minority coaches and General Managers in these leagues. While the NFL has outwardly taken measures to combat this, such as the Rooney Rule (There must be at least one minority interviewed for a vacant head coach or General Manager), the necessary implementation of this rule shows that there is definitely evident prior discrimination in the hiring of General Managers and Head Coaches in the league.
Another league that has high inequality in the amount of minority Head Coaches and players is the NBA, with minority players making up 83.1% of the league and minority coaches only making up 26.6%. While this is better than the NFL, there are still improvements that need to be made when it comes to racial injustice. For example, in 2014, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers was caught saying racist remarks, and was fined and forced to sell his team. Racism is a huge factor in discrimination against minority Coaches and General Managers. Black players like Lebron James, who consistently speaks out against racial injustice, are met with this response: “Shut up and play.” This gross response show that racial discrimination occurs not only from the owners, but also the fans. Fortunately, the NBA is taking great strides and paving the way on how to handle racism, has taken police brutality and inequality head on, and has outwardly condemned it. A great showcase of this is the use of the NBA bubble that existed for the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Due to the pandemic, it was unsurprisingly that many players were weary about returning and joining the bubble in order to safely compete in the playoff games. However, others took this as a chance to show solidarity with Kaepernick and the Black community. In the opening game of the restart, the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans connected to make a stand that night, and they all kneeled around the Black Lives Matter wording in the center of the court during the anthem. Along with this, many activists and politicians participated in Zoom conferences and focused on using their influence to advocate for Black Americans like never before seen in a professional sport league.
All in all, it is clear that racism in professional sports is present, and has existed since the founding of these major sports leagues. Despite how embedded in these industries racial injustice may be, many leagues are taking proactive steps to fight against further acts of injustice. With a major league like the NBA leading the way during such an irresolute time, one thing is clear. The players, league executives, and public are becoming less and less tolerant when it comes to racial injustice in these industries. Hopefully, as more players and coaches confront the racial issues present in these professional sports leagues, not only will it change discrimination in their league, but also throughout the country.
Works Cited
Bailey, Analis. “On This Day Four Years Ago, Colin Kaepernick Began His Peaceful Protests during the National Anthem.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 26 Aug. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2020/08/26/colin-kaepernick-started-protesting-day-2016/3440690001/.
Fletchpost. “’Dear Black Athlete’ Examines Issues of Race and Sports in This Moment of Protest.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 11 Apr. 2018, theundefeated.com/features/dear-black-athlete-issues-of-race-sports-birmingham/.
Jenkins, Sally. Perspective | This Is Why Colin Kaepernick Took a Knee. 30 May 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/05/30/this-is-why-colin-kaepernick-took-knee/.
mzenitz@al.com, Matt Zenitz |. “Alabama Reserve QB Mac Jones Arrested, Charged with DUI.” Al, 3 Nov. 2017, www.al.com/alabamafootball/2017/11/alabama_reserve_qb_arrested_fo.html.
Zucker, Joseph. “Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Banned for Life from NBA for Racist Remarks.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 26 Sept. 2017, bleacherreport.com/articles/2042902-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-banned-for-life-from-nba-for-racist-remarks.
Hello and welcome to our first episode of “Yo Is This Sexist?” For this podcast, I, Cameron Allen, will be your host and for today’s podcast I would like to discuss an issue that occurred just last month in South London’s Braxton Hill district. On March 3rd of 2021, when Sarah Everard was walking home from her friends house in Clapham Common, the trip did not go as planned. A journey that should have only taken 50 minutes ended up taking her entire life. Before leaving her friends house, Sarah called her boyfriend and had a 15 minute long conversation, she took the safest route home and did everything right by the book; however, she never made it home. This is unfortunately not a new story. This is a story experienced by billions of women around the world on a daily basis. This tragic narrative must change. When Sarah didn’t make it home that night her boyfriend filed a missing persons report to the London Metropolitan Police Force. Many events quickly unfolded as the hunt for Sarah began. On the 9th of March, a 48 year old London police officer by the name of Wayne Couzens was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping Sarah Everard. Later on the same day, the remains of Sarah were found in the woodland. A day later, Wayne was then arrested a second time on suspicion of murder due to the remains of the body being found. Three days later, on the 12th of March, the remains found were officially declared to be Sarah’s. The same day, Couzens was charged with kidnap and murder.
Even though Sarah did everything right, she still lost her life to a gruesome murderer. This could have happened to any female you know walking alone on the street, which is why drastic change is a necessity. Sarah was described by her mother as a shining example of what a strong, beautiful, and bright woman should be. She was a wonderful sister and daughter, and was further described as kind and thoughtful with a great sense of humor. In order to honor Sarah’s life, a public vigil was organized in London which was then canceled to conform to COVID safety laws; however, the laws were unclear on matters as important and grave as a public vigil. Because of the unclear laws regarding safety protocol, an unofficial vigil still took place where hundreds of people attended and mourned the loss of a still young and great soul. However, matters quickly took a turn for the worse due to the London Metropolitan Police being unsure of how to handle such large crowds along with being unsure of how to handle the new COVID regulations. The police were seen manhandling and confronting dozens of attendees at the vigil, which caused a great deal of controversy regarding the criminal justice system and how the police force handles safety, especially when it is in regards to women. Along with this, another debate was sparked revolving around the security of females around the world.
As a man, I recognize that I will never be able to understand how women still are unable to have their basic safety rights recognized in the year 2021. This narrative must change, we must hold each other accountable, we must hold men accountable for their words and actions. Even today, women are unable to walk home without the fear of being raped, murdered, or kidnapped. This is unacceptable. The way that women are treated daily, is a consequence of the idea that many people hold that men are superior to women. To these people, women are simply viewed for their reproductive capabilities and as a result, their basic rights are stripped from them. These prejudices, and in certain cases, outright discrimination is what makes the world so unsafe for women. You would think that things like this only happen in third world countries; however, even in a country as rich and safe as America, every 73 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. These statistics are disgusting, maddening, and aggravating because when I hear numbers like this, I think of the women in my life and cannot imagine something as awful as this happening to them. Likewise, even if you are not a female, you should think of the women that are close to you, the ones that inspire you, the ones that empower you, and even the ones that birthed you and feel motivated to create the change that is needed to make the world a better place for these women that are so important to us.
Knowing how vital these women are to us, how are we still able to commit these horrendous acts, how can we as men do better? When I asked the women in my life what they thought the answer to this important question is, they answered by offering a few trivial but essential things that we can do to make them feel safer and more secure. While I understand that these are not permanent solutions, or even a solution at all to the bigger problem, these ideas offer a feeling of security. As men, doing these small actions is our responsibility. The first idea that was discussed was to be walked home after dark. In many places, especially urban places such as a city or college campus, it is unsafe for women to walk alone. Even though this may seem like just a small gesture, it provides a great deal of much needed comfort and support to them. Another small action that was suggested was to maintain a reasonable distance behind them when walking, or if possible, to walk in front of them. When a man closely follows behind them it creates a perpetual and instinctual fear that they could suffer a fate similar to that of Sarah. While it shouldn’t have to be this way, after how many crimes have been committed, women unfortunately have to expect the worst at any given time from any man that they see walking at night. It is not a narrative that all men are rapists or sexual predators, but enough men have tainted the reputation of all men that this fear is innate in nearly all women. A third example that was offered by my female friends was to check in with them to make sure that they made it home safely. Simply calling or texting is enough as long as you are actively participating in making sure that they are secure and safe. These are all small actions, but they can make a massive difference in regards to their safety and wellbeing.
The bigger and more permanent solution to this modern day crisis is accountability. We as men should be holding each other accountable. The most important part of this is to not let each other fall into complacency and passively follow the previously ingrained path of patriarchy. In simple terms, don’t simply be a bystander. Simply saying and knowing that you aren’t a predator isn’t enough, you have to take responsibility for what happens behind the scenes. One key example of this is to not just be a bystander, if you witness something inherently sexist and morally wrong then you should make a point to talk about it, even if the conversation is uncomfortable. Every change starts with a conversation. For example, if you hear someone make an inappropriate sexual or misogynistic joke, you shouldn’t encourage them by laughing or adding on because this creates an environment where females don’t feel safe or comfortable with the men around them. Even if you think that the women around you are comfortable with them, these jokes often represent the internalized patriarchy that has been manifested throughout generations. Since the beginning, women have been oppressed and reduced to a status lower than men by the system perpetuated by structural injustice. The tragic death of Sarah and incredibly high statistics of rape and assault are consequences of generations of upheld structural injustices that must be overturned. This unrecognzed patriarchal mindset often contributes to the issue of rape culture and locker room talks. I understand that achieving full equality will not happen in a matter of days or months, but we must do better as men and as a society. What we are doing right now is not enough. It will take at least a few more decades to achieve true equality, but in the meantime, let’s do everything we can to make sure that women feel safe and protected. Let’s make sure that basic rights such as the feeling of safety are not optional and that men and women all over the world are able to be granted the same unalienable rights.
This concludes our first episode of “Yo Is This Sexist?” with your host Cameron Allen. Thank you for listening and tune in next week for our next episode. I hope that you were able to learn something important from today and that you can make a real and impactful change in the world around you.
Ethan: Hello and welcome to the Ethan Niemi show I’m here with a friend of mine who wont be named but we’re just going to get in some different topics
Friend: Hello
Ethan: Mostly we are going to try to touch on classism in the United States so our first topic will be my friend here real quick description of that
Friend: OK so food not bombs is a leftist organization dedicated to getting food to hungry people who wouldn’t necessarily be able to get that food we don’t have any formal leadership there is no hierarchy throughout the entire organization, there is no national chapter but there are plenty of of individual chapters in the United States and throughout the rest of the world and 65 different countries over 1000 cities have a chapter we protest war, poverty, and the destruction of the environment. We take food from grocery stores. We take donations from bakeries that would have to throw out because at the end of the day, we take donations from food banks and just normal people and we take those and share them with people no questions asked we don’t purity test if your hungry and you want food you can come and you can just get food. Food is a human right.
Ethan: Great so we can do our first topic during the winter storm in February there is an instance in Portland of a grocery store throwing out large sums of food they were lost in a power outage so in general our general first topic is going to be a grocery regulation United States so some some facts to pull up or the United States makes or sorry that the world makes enough food to feed 10 billion people and 11% of the United States is food insecure which is absolutely absurd especially in the country that we live in is crazy to think about. And a lot of that goes back to the grocery regulations.
Friend: Yeah like he said 11 percent of the united state population doesn’t know whether or not they are going to afford rent or groceries. they have to choose between one or the other and if they go with food they’re full but then they’re also potentially going to become homeless and if they go with rent well then you’re hungry neither of which should ever be a thing in the wealthiest country on the planet
Ethan: yeah so it’s definitely a hard topic to think about especially just with the wealth that me him and he knows and most people at Ohio State still been kind of born into sometimes hard to view what it would be like to be food insecure but you see regulations from the federal government forcing grocery store to throw out food and and what people try to go for that food you find problems coming in such as in Portland the police force stepping in and we see that they were stopping still going strong trying to get to the dumpsters when they’re hungry which just it’s it’s trash to the grocery store yet for some reason it’s such an injustice for people to be trying to find that food, even though it’s in the dumpsters.
Friend: Yeah the police do not protect or serve the people like a lot of people tend to believe its splattered on the cars and all over their iconic iconografie but there of been multiple different supreme court rulings that stated constitutionally they have no duty to protect and serve the population that’s why we see police guarding food when hungry people people that have the organization they have the infrastructure to take that food and get it to people that normally wouldn’t be able to get it they stop that. They serve the capital interests of the grocery stores they serve the interests of the individual states and the people that make the regulations if they were to serve people then why did they threaten to arrest anyone who got too close not even going to the dumpster but just questioning them getting too close
Ethan: yeah looking at it was kind of going on there to hear sort of the other side of the police station in the state Traffic control trying to stop a possible uprising in that area when it was just people trying to get the food they need it which is absolutely absurd, you think that other area of the individual to police the policeman there versus the police is a whole station and just the department going out those areas especially during the winter storm you think all of the police have to be doing all the traffic accident stuff like that that they should be regulating and and just the traffic problems, people are having accidents, people who may need help certain places are the elderly and some other homes might need some help stuff like that yet their most pressing matter is standing next to a dumpster making sure the hungry don’t get food which which leads kind of into our next topic which would be police mistreatment
Friend: United States so over the last year I would say there’s a huge topic to topic is sort of blown up just about George Floyd last year and a lot of people that don’t have regular run-ins with the police don’t live in underprivileged areas they don’t see that kind of treatment that poor people and minorities face on a day-to-day basis from the police. the only glimpse is they ever get are from the news videos they post on the Internet of police doing something wrong defunding the police does not mean taking the police away completely the police still would be there but the idea that the police have many many millions of dollars in their annual budget and their monthly budget to afford military equipment and wraps grenades drones body armor and then they going to take these toys or they get and or the cool thing wants to do they want to go use them and the only way to use them for those people article out and in the streets and stop protesting against their violence if they’re committing
Ethan: I feel like there is sometimes a misconception when people say defund the police and you see more reviews on saying like no we need a police don’t defund the police there their jobs
mandatory but let’s get rid of all the police officers
Friend: correct
Ethan: It doesn’t mean let’s take away all their protective wearing stuff like that it’s it’s defund them in the sense of the idea that some of the expenses that they have are not necessary for the job that they do and and the goal of defending them is not to make them more vulnerable it’s up to you to out them so they can’t do their job correctly us to enforce that they have only the equipment mandatory for the job they’re suited to do and it’s it it frustrates people when you get a chance. We are told to view the police as people that are there to protect us always and although that might be the big goal of the job as a whole that’s not always what you say especially the funny they have it’s not been given to them just for our protection.
Friend: no the goal of defunding the police is to take away the over bloated and unnecessary budgets that they get and take that money and put it in other areas that aren’t getting that money like healthcare mental health treatments addiction and overdose treatments as well as education about drugs decriminalizing drugs so that people aren’t being taken by the police to jail for 20 years for owning a plant stuff like that that isn’t being funded but the police are and they’re using those toys are they getting all these all these allowances that police unions help get them to do wrong by the people And like they have for you since the police were conception conception the first police were sleep catchers
Ethan: also another view is to continue our conversation that goes that the police are there just for our protection which will go into our next topic of guns and self protection on the idea of that and United States there’s a lot of debate on the legality or the regulations think I should have went very personal person for our topic will be talking about we’re talking
Friend: about the black panther party in the mulford act for that so a long time ago during the civil rights era the black panther party began to open carry firearms in their streets and in their neighborhoods to not literally fight back against the police but to fight back against Arresting them on phony bogus charges stopping them unconstitutionally and just generally being a menace as well as of course brutalizing them and beating them the black panther party decided that enough was enough and they decided we’re going to take our guns were going to go to police the police and it worked incredibly well the police were not able as able to get further and further into these neighborhoods they were not able to do what they were doing and like that and Ronald Reagan with full bipartisan support the Democratic Party the Republican Party and the NRA as governor of California at the time sign the Mulfurd act for that which essentially disarmed all of the black panther party they made open carry illegal and as retaliation the police were they able to go in uncontested and retaliate
Ethan: in my opinion People should have the right to use a sensitive topic the idea of being able to police the police and then where does the hierarchy and if a person is above all the people they’re going to feel less regulation on himself which in some senses can be a good thing the idea that we shouldn’t be able to be terrorized by the police in our communities but at the same time you have to understand that that doesn’t give an excuse for you to feel as though you have the same options see as it’s a hard topic to talk about the idea of that we’re not trying to to bolster attacks on police officers that step out of bounds any idea that they are jobs as citizens and civilians or stand up for communities in a way that the police are not in many instances but also the same time you don’t see people and you don’t see you call your neighbors when your house is getting intruded. The people in the community to be able to do some of the policing there is definitely people that should not be doing policing in those areas where I can read the future problems
Closing Ethan: Unfortunately that is all we have time for but thank you for listening
Jessica: Okay so I saw this video on youtube and it was about a year ago at the beginning of the pandemic and two black men were being escorted out of Walmart by the police for wearing face masks. They said it was against Walmart’s policy, but other customers were wearing them and they were just a simple surgical mask obviously for their safety. And they were forced out of the Walmart, but because they were black, I mean, other customers were wearing them too.
And I just thought that was an injustice, because a lot of black people are being targeted by the police and profiled, they weren’t doing anything suspicious or disruptive to other customers, or anyone’s safety. And I think that’s just happening a lot recently. A lot of people, innocent people, are, I mean they’re lucky, all that happened was that they were escorted out, you know, like there’s a lot of worse things happening, but it doesn’t make it okay, no matter what happens.
Jake: Yeah, and I remember seeing an article about around the same time when like mask mandates were starting to come out, with some African Americans voicing opposition to it because they were afraid of being targeted or seen as criminals, because of not showing their face.
Jane: Yeah, and it’s kind of, it kind of brings light to how the pandemic has brought out different forms of hate to minorities that we never thought that we would see before.
Jake: Yeah, because with that, there’s been a lot of targeting, like, Asians, for people who have blamed them for the pandemic, which is crazy, but I mean that goes all the way up to our former President calling it like, like the China virus and everything. And so this, this really is systemic because some of these things have been said by the leaders of the top, and if, if we’re going to change something, that can’t continue to happen.
Jessica: Yeah, I actually wrote about that too for one of my diary entries, and this whole idea that we’re using to blame, Asian Americans for the pandemic is when they started immigrating to the U.S in the 1800s and, you know all the people living there at the time said that they were stealing their jobs so then they started saying that they were dirty and diseased, to try and stop people from hiring them and we’ve kind of still just used that, you know, wrong idea. And we keep using it to progress discrimination against them.
Jane: Yeah, it was kind of, I was looking into the different excerpts that we’ve read over the course of the semester, and Hegel kind of talks about how like between like the master and the slave, and I saw that, I kind of thought it connects but what I was kind of more seeing, is he talks about how people think of themselves as how they want other people to think of themselves so it’s kind of like with Trump calling the Coronavirus the Chinese virus, it’s almost like he wanted to put our country and put him, like on a pedestal kind of, and just bring other people down, and it’s just crazy how we brought in, like we’ve found different forms, to like, hate, not us but people have found different forms to hate different groups throughout the pandemic in ways that we weren’t expecting before.
Jake: Yeah, I agree and I think that’s a good connection to Hegel because it’s it’s not, because when I read it, the big idea was just the master slave dialectic, but there was a lot of, little things about like how people create that relationship that I haven’t thought about as much, but you’re totally right, he’s just trying to distance, our country, from the like shifting the blame off of us to somebody else. But one of my diaries was about the vaccine rollout and some other stuff about the healthcare system in the United States. And so part of this goes back a long way to when we had very segregated cities and that was due to minorities grouping together for safety and realtors like not selling houses to different people. And so while these policies have been changed. The impacts are still here in our physical landscape. And so there’s a lot of areas that don’t have, like, the healthcare infrastructure, that other areas do just because of wealth, or because of just that’s just how it’s been, and that’s how our cities have been created. So with the vaccine rollout, in particular, there’s certain areas that might have a lot, a high minority population that just aren’t close enough to hospitals or infrastructure to distribute the vaccine. So, I was, I got my vaccine today and i’m very happy I was able to do that, but I mean I’m on campus, I walked to the Schottenstein Center to get my vaccine and not everyone can walk to hospital, or if they do have transportation, it might be harder to find a time and a place to do that. And so, when I was looking for a vaccine before I got mine scheduled at the Shott, I was looking at other places, and I couldn’t get there because I don’t have a car. And while I’m not a minority, other people have that issue.
Jessica: And also minorities work jobs that don’t give them sick time so they can’t take off, and they can’t afford to take off, to even go get the vaccine.
Jane: Yeah, especially dealing with the aftermath of the vaccine and the symptoms people have. Another thing that I was kind of thinking about. I was reading, I don’t know where I was reading this, but a lot of Ohio was doing the vaccine solely based on age, and there’s a lot of minorities who come into the country and they’re not treated the same as us and so they tend to have just generally speaking, some will have lower paying jobs, like, and Ohio was doing the vaccine solely based on age, but it wasn’t, they weren’t doing the jobs like grocery store workers and people that were even though they weren’t in like the medical professional field.
Jessica: Yeah, a lot of people and minorities are like essential workers like you said like grocery stores, And they have a lot of public contact, and they weren’t served for the vaccine like they should have been protected. And I think it gets kind of interesting because a lot of the times the US will intervene in other countries, but it’s always when we have our own personal interests. And so when it comes to helping these people for the greater good of just helping them, because it’s a horrible disease. We won’t intervene and we will prioritize ourselves only in cases like this.
Jake: Yeah and I think that relates to the self from the other article that we read, And so we are kind of like a wealthy country prioritizing itself over other people. And so I think that that really relates to that article and so, so does, the rest of the issues we’re talking about.
Jane: And going off of what Jessica said kind of in a broad perspective. A lot of the time people will say like, go back to your own country, like when they see something that they don’t agree with in the US but a lot of the time, they’re here because they can’t be in their country because of what the US is going in for their own interests
Jake: In talking about the medical system in general, there’s like a large distrust of the medical system, among certain minority groups. And also, like, with, with people who have less money, they can’t always afford health care, since our country doesn’t have free healthcare for everybody like some other countries do. And so I read an article talking about how a lot of African Americans will not get tested for cancer, because they don’t, they can’t afford to get treated anyway. They don’t want to even know. And therefore, they’re are much higher rates of cancer in those communities that usually progress farther before it is found. There’ve been a lot of recent events like the shootings in Atlanta that I think are things really similar to some of the events in The Leavers with her at the nail salon getting brought back to Asia from there, And there is, if I remember correctly, it was not a very peaceful event.
When that happened, and so I think and we ended up reading that the same week that the Atlanta shootings occurred and I thought that it was really interesting.
Jessica: I kind of feel like all of these minorities that are underrepresented in healthcare are kind of like the Subaltern, because we can. We like all we just talked about all the ways that they are not being like, cared for and given the same treatment, but it doesn’t really seem like anyone’s doing anything to bridge the gap.
Jane: Connecting back to the leavers, and how, like with identities and leaving places, and keeping your identity. I wonder how it must feel for Asian Americans right now with all the hate crimes going on because like, obviously, like you can’t really change the way you look, but like in like things that you do and things that you practice if you want. Like you don’t like, I wonder if they still feel safe doing things that they identify with, and that they bring from their culture, because it almost makes them involved in our culture, which could cause more hate towards them. If that makes sense.
Jake: Yeah, and I remember a part in the book where they were, like she was talking about getting a waitressing job in Florida, and her boyfriend was like no, you might get shot like this one person got shot. Being like working at a restaurant. And so, and this book was set in, like, in what like the late 90s, early 2000s So, like this isn’t something new. But now, like, if that story were to take place now during the pandemic. Just imagine how many more obstacles, there would be for her, and like, how much more hate could be directed at her, which is not good, and to think that we’ve gone backwards. Since then, it is really frustrating.
Jane: And I remember, if I remember correctly, the hate crime that recently happened in Florida was at, it was at like a spa or something, where many like Asian Americans work there, which kind of singled them out which you don’t know if you want to still be going to work like being such as like, you know, in a place where a lot of people would like traditionally be Asian, if that makes sense. I don’t, I don’t mean to sound politically incorrect.
Jake: No, I think that’s correct. And, like, Pelean worked at a nail salon too. and in the story like most of her coworkers were Asian Americans. And so, yeah, yeah. And I think that goes back to the can the Subaltern Speak Like especially with an increase in hate crimes. And even when, if your president is, is, is participating in a little bit of that hate towards your culture and your group. What can you say and what can you do, and who’s going to listen.
21:08:40 Alright listeners we’re coming at you live on April, the fifth, a little after 9pm.
21:08:49 Um, my name is Jake Schott with me is my co host TJ or, you probably all know him as Trey Hartman.
21:08:58 And we’re here to hit you with yo is this, and then today we’re talking about sexism podcasts so got a couple couple key points will hit today, um, one of the first things is pretty relevant, actually, will be talking about sexism in NCAA basketball and
21:09:22 I know everybody’s probably getting pumped up for tonight’s game that starts in about 15 minutes now and, and that’ll be the, the championship round so winner takes all, but will be focusing on women’s basketball today right tj.
21:09:38 You got that right, Jake, so I am TJ Hartman you guys all know me as Trey Hartman.
21:09:45 And, you know, today is it’s a huge day in sports you know today is the end of March Madness for the NCAA men’s basketball.
21:09:54 But, you know, like Jake said that’s not really what we’re going to talk about today we’re going to actually talk about the women’s NCAA side.
21:10:02 Just be and how they have been treated, probably for the past decade or at least my lifetime but it’s never really been brought to our attention. Up until recently with all of the different you know social media platforms and you know everybody has their
21:10:16 iPhones or smartphones where they can you know snap a picture of instant rather than having you know like the old disposable cameras like we used to carry around.
21:10:26 Yeah. So, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t really know there was a women’s NCAA Tournament.
21:10:36 Like the men’s, um, and I guess this instance we’re going to talk about today this sort of brought it to my attention.
21:10:46 And that’s a problem.
21:10:48 Like I follow basketball I’m not a huge basketball fan but I normally participate in March Madness my ex coworkers and, and some family members we normally make a bracket and do a little pool but I’ve never been aware of the women’s tournament, and I
21:11:05 think that’s an issue. Um, it’s not that.
21:11:09 Not that I’m like naive to women playing basketball or anything it’s just it’s not really something that makes the news, I guess, exactly and piggybacking off of that the NCAA, I mean, up until this year I don’t think I’ve really seen their march madness
21:11:27 tournament really advertised anywhere in like, and this year they at least advertise that I know they were pushing it you know a couple weeks prior like you know hey you know the women’s tournament as just as big as a men’s.
21:11:43 But, um, yeah you know I think it’s something that people were unaware of simply because the NC double a failed to broadcast that and advertise it such like they do the men’s you know they’re talking about the men’s.
21:11:57 As soon as the season starts you’re like oh you know, Ohio State’s going to be one of the top contenders in this year’s tournament. But you never really hear about the women’s side, you know, and that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about because the
21:12:11 way that they did you know with coven 19.
21:12:18 All of the games were played in Indianapolis this your other rather than, you know, all across the country.
21:12:24 And it was brought to our attention by a member of the Oregon Ducks female basketball team that you know they were treated, not a little but rather largely unfair when it comes to the equipment that they’re giving given to prepare for this tournament.
21:12:43 Oh, for sure. Definitely.
21:12:48 I’m really unfair is it actually you know fired.
21:12:52 Got me pretty fired up.
21:12:53 When I saw these, these posts from the women on on social media, and it was pretty sad like the women’s tournament wasn’t even, it took a couple couple girls from the ducks team to make it advertise it it’s not like the NCAA or ESPN or sports center or
21:13:11 whatever. It’s not like they advertised the women’s.
21:13:28 And to me that’s really sad.
21:13:28 I know, so I guess the picture and the posts and stuff will be talking about. You can see we’ll link a picture here in this blog post.
21:13:38 Of the two weight rooms, is that is exactly, but, um, you know, like what Jake said, if these women didn’t make a stand and bring it to all of our attention.
21:13:52 Then the NCAA would have just, you know, gone away they would have, you know, turned a blind eye, they wouldn’t have brought it to our attention and this we would never have known about this if it wasn’t for these brave females on the women’s basketball
21:14:05 team.
21:14:06 And you know, not only were they treated unfairly in the, the weight room and you know the training facility department they were also treated unfairly with the items that they received I mean, the men’s basketball team it.
21:14:23 If you looked at this picture which I will try to find a link below.
21:14:29 It would almost look like the men’s basketball team, every member of each team was sponsored by Powerade they would have been sponsored by these different supplement companies Under Armour, you know i mean they got probably about 50 to 60 items, whereas
21:14:46 the women’s basketball team. I think they got a Powerade water bottle and maybe some shorts and a T shirt and I think maybe they got a stick of deodorant too, but I mean that does not compare at all to what the men’s received, and I did it.
21:15:01 The men’s tournament brings in a lot of revenue in comparison to the females. But still, these women are dedicating the same amount of time, the same amount of, you know, mental and physical strength to prepare for these tournaments and should be treated
21:15:19 equally as the men’s teams, and when did you agree, Jake. Oh, 100%. It’s definitely, definitely something that deserves the attention that it’s getting in an even more in that respect.
21:15:34 But I also go back to the that picture, the main one, the one was most eye opening for me anyway was comparing the two weight rooms. Practice facilities.
21:15:48 And really, the men’s weight room, you could see was just full of exercise equipment training bicycles.
21:15:58 Squat racks bench presses dumbbells, you name it.
21:16:04 Basically, if it had to do with exercise they had it, I mean they had it all.
21:16:08 Enough for 3040 guys probably, and then you turn to the women’s, and the women’s teams and what they got was literally one rack of dumbbells. Exactly and a couple of yoga mats Yeah, which I don’t know about you guys but when I go to the gym, I’m not really
21:16:29 going to be able to get a full workout with six sets of dumbbells and a single yoga mat. Yeah, especially split but between a whole team or multiple teams.
21:16:38 It was really just depressing. Exactly and the NCAA what they told the women’s basketball teams, was that they didn’t have enough space to dedicate to the women’s facility.
21:16:53 But the lady from Oregon actually updated us with another photo that it was basically an empty. It almost looked like a warehouse that they were at. Yeah, and it had countless an endless amount of room to where you could at least get some equipment there,
21:17:12 you know, and I mean, after she posted this you had like some of the top basketball athletes in the world, as well as Dick’s Sporting Goods which I’m sure you guys all know i mean they have workout equipment, they were offering to load a truck up and
21:17:29 ship it down there. By the end of the day, so all the NCAA had to do was just reach out to people which they failed to do.
21:17:39 And it’s just it’s sickening i mean it’s it’s a terrible thing that’s going on in the world today and I don’t think it should be going on, and it needs to be brought to everybody’s attention.
21:17:49 Yeah, so just to wrap that instance up really what happened was the NCAA recognize the issue.
21:17:58 And then failed to do anything about it and to me that’s pretty sad.
21:18:03 Especially because we all know the NCAA has plenty of money, they’re making insane profits off of these games, and they have all the means to treat every one of their players equally and they really just refused, sort of, I mean we’ll call it what it
21:18:20 is is they refused.
21:18:23 This that’s very irritating so I guess we’ll move on to one other instance of sexism there’s an endless amount of topic topics to talk about. And we’ll hit on this one briefly.
21:18:37 It’s really just a small instance and involves TJ his girlfriend and instance that she had at autism. So tj.
21:18:47 So yeah, a couple of weeks ago my girlfriend and I made a trip up to Auto Zone up in northwestern Ohio, cuz I was gonna repair the brakes on my truck because you know they’re getting old.
21:19:00 You know, I just wanted to do it myself save a couple bucks here and there. So I brought my girlfriend with me, and I go to the counter I tell him what I get, or what I need.
21:19:10 He brings out the parts and my girlfriend goes out, and she needed some windshield wiper blades for car. So she picks those out post them on the counter.
21:19:20 And well, and then I check out first and the man behind the counter asked me for like my loyalty number.
21:19:25 So you know I give it to him so I could save a couple points, you know, get some, some bonus money so I could go back and give it back to them.
21:19:33 And so while I check out.
21:19:36 Once I checked out, I should say, I take my part and I’m going outside, you know, put them back in the car and then you know he’s going to check out herself.
21:19:45 Well, the man behind the counter failed to ask my girlfriend, if she had you know like a loyalty ID and stuff like that. And, you know, her being her she didn’t want to make a big scene so she didn’t say anything at the time, but once you got out of the
21:20:01 car you know she was, she was very upset with this you know like it just didn’t sit well with her that she saw him asked me for my phone number so I could get some rewards points, but he failed to ask her if you know she had an account linked to autism.
21:20:20 And she was very determined that this was you know another form of social injustice just because you, I mean I’m a man and she’s a female and he just failed to ask her, I mean it was terrible.
21:20:35 Yeah. In, and I think this is one of those classic examples where the age old stereotype of men doing things with their hands and women,
21:20:53 not doing things with their hands or, you know, staying in the house, men working on vehicles women not.
21:21:01 I think this is a classic stereotype of that example. And it’s far less severe than the NCAA Tournament like I don’t think this guy deserves like to be reprimanded or fired or anything like that, like, maybe, you know, just a little education or like
21:21:25 a heads up on you know what he did and it could have just been a simple mistake of him forgetting to ask.
21:21:34 It’s really not something like I think this is not really a systemic issue but I do think it’s a classic example of an age old stereotype.
21:21:45 It was that way your takeaway was yeah I have to agree with you, Jake, I’m not saying that it was his fault. I’m not saying, you know, it’s the most severe problem that’s going on but I think it’s something that happens on, you know, a daily occasion,
21:22:00 you know, whether it’s him just you know slipping up or, you know, I mean we could we’re just assuming all of these things and maybe you know he actually believes that women don’t work on vehicles and they never come to Auto Zone unless their boyfriend
21:22:15 or husband take them there. I mean, he could be a terrible guy.
21:22:20 These are all assumptions that we’re making so he could be terribly sexist. We’re giving him the benefit of the doubt here. I like to do that with people I typically a positive guy like to like to always get people that that benefit but exactly, um, it
21:22:35 didn’t really, I mean I know Maddie was upset about I’m not trying to discredit her obsessiveness if you will but it definitely doesn’t seem as serious as what the women in the tournament tournament is going, Yeah, um, but the bigger picture that we
21:22:51 Um, but the bigger picture that we really want to talk about and make sure we hit on before we’re done here is throughout this class that teaching are taken comparative studies.
21:23:02 We’ve learned about many different things but one of those that really applies to these situations is the master slave dialect, so just real quickly if you’re not familiar with the master slave dialect.
21:23:17 Basically, you have the overbearing figure being the master in these subordinate class of people that that respond to the Masters, I’m using finger quotations obviously you can’t see that but the subordinate class of people.
21:23:37 They think they’re subordinate but they’re really not because the masters are overbearing. And I think this issue of sexism in general is really something that falls under that category because after years and decades, centuries even of, sort of, of women
21:23:56 being oppressed under men.
21:24:00 You know eventually that wears on their on their brains and in their mental stability and it breaks them down into thinking that they’re beneath men somehow.
21:24:12 And that’s really not the case. I mean, countless women have proved that they are equally capable of doing everything men can do. But there’s really these stereotypes and these injustices that still are, are systemic and happening in society that that
21:24:28 people like you and I are trapped trying to bring light to ugly and that’s exactly what we need to do is whenever, even if it no matter how large the problem is, I think, it always needs to be brought to everyone’s attention.
21:24:44 That way, a change can be made. And I’m not saying this stuff is going to happen overnight. obviously with, you know, these things that are happening around the globe.
21:24:55 It’s very hard, it’s going to take time to be able to heal and to be able to make a change, but I think our generation will be able to make that change to where everybody is treated equally.
21:25:10 There is nobody that is really treated unfairly.
21:25:14 And I think we just have to use our voices and, you know, get these actions in motion. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re, we’re not naive here we understand that.
21:25:26 We’re not going to solve, sexism, we’re not gonna, you know, make this disappear I mean, heck, the people that are going to listen to this podcast are already well aware of these issues.
21:25:37 But it is important that you know little things like this, speaking out and bringing awareness.
21:25:44 If everybody around the world does that, then, you know, stuff is going to happen, people in power will take notice and and change will occur.
21:25:56 And that’s really, you know, the big takeaway here is if you’re sitting at home and you’re like man I want to do something about this.
21:26:04 Just speak out you know we’re not asking you to go stand up on a stage or, or, you know, hold a rally or anything like that but when you’re given the opportunity to say something.
21:26:15 It’s really that simple it’s, you know, not being silent and making your voice heard.
21:26:23 So with that, you know, we’ll go ahead and wrap things up, I know everybody’s probably ain’t just to watch.
21:26:30 March Madness tonight, and I’m, I’m rooting for Gonzaga I don’t know about you TJ but there, they were my number one pick for the bracket so yeah I think Baylor’s got this one tonight.
21:26:42 I don’t know man. Hopefully not. But, you know, we’ll see. And, and congrats to Stanford women’s champs, maybe, Arizona. Yep. Third national championship in school history.
21:26:55 Yeah, it’s impressive. I mean, I was really hoping Arizona was going to get their first one in school history but you know, it was it was a tight game there’s a one point game at the end.
Justin: Hi, my name is Justin and we are here to talk about classism in different regions in Ohio and across the United States. So, Nathanael and Cambria, what are your hometowns like?
Nathanael: I come from a small town in Southeast Ohio of around 10,000 people. My hometown is part of the rust belt, where the average per capita income is $25,000. Making it $9,000 below the national average of $34,000.
Cambria: I come from a very similar town in Northeast Ohio! Classism is very present where I am from, but before we talk more about it, Nathanael, do you want to talk about what classism is and how it starts?
Nathanael: Yeah! Classism is in its most basic a form of discrimination based on the class of an individual. Classism can be seen in cities, towns, and even places so small that they’re classified as villages. As many of us are aware of, the United States is in a time of great economic inequality, this economic inequality is the main component for classism to occur. Tensions tend to be created when a small amount of the population holds most of the money within a nation. A great example of this can be seen in my aforementioned hometown of Logan. Logan is a small town that was part of the booming rust belt and heavily relied on factories and their means of production. Ever since the decline of factories in the United States, starting in the mid seventies. Logan has experienced a similar and constant deprecation. With the well of jobs drying up, many were forced to leave Logan for new work, or create new work for themselves in Logan.
Cambria: Yeah, so we have heard about the decline in the rust belt, but how does it relate to classism?
Nathanael: Well, a pocket of people within Logan were able to keep their jobs, such as doctors, dentists, and company owners. They would do this by working at the small amount of local or offices, or take long commutes to jobs that paid a decent amount. This led to an environment where very few had a significant amount of money, and very many were at or below the poverty line and left wanting. This discrepancy in socio-economic class led to a divide throughout the entire town, ultimately dissolving the middle class and forming an environment where a select few had money and many simply did not. This has gradually grown ever since its inception, forming a tense community where the few elite hold almost all the power in the community.
Cambria: I also have what is to be considered ‘elites’ within my town. They have a lot of control over what goes on behind the scenes.
Nathanael: Yeah same here. These elites have control over the town on what local officials get elected, what areas are restored, and what businesses survive. These immense powers led to tension and a discriminatory treatment of those who belong to the lower class. This story is all too common in the rust belt area and with small towns across the U.S., helping us better understand the current socio economic division of our current nation. Too many families have been seen as less, just for being born into a family that does not possess generous amounts of wealth.
With all that being said, I believe that Justin can tell us more about classism and its effect on people?
Justin: Classism is the idea of discriminating against a group of people who are a part of another, usually lower, social status. It is a version of systematic oppression that weakens a social class while simultaneously strengthening another. This usually leads to significant wealth inequality. The wealthy are making money at the expense of the lower class. The lower class will sometimes give in and accept their place in society, which basically leads to a social status that they can never escape.
Cambria: Yes, this explains social class and status so well. Are there examples of this within society today, especially with the current state our country is in due to the pandemic?
Justin: Yeah! Recently, the economic downturn from the coronavirus has led to a “k” shape recovery. This means the wealthy became more wealthy, while the lower class suffered from closures and restrictions. Unemployment rose to one of the highest levels in history in April 2020 at 14.7%. The lower class lost the majority of these jobs as businesses shut down and production slowed. Meanwhile, the upper class were able to retain their work. So, wealth equality grew even further apart.
Cambria: This reminds me of Amazon and how much money they got during the pandemic since people did not leave their houses. It’s crazy they grew in the midst of COVID19.
Nathanael: Wow Justin, that is a staggeringly high percentage for unemployment in 2020. I’m sure the pandemic spiked those numbers exponentially. Returning to classism, can you tell us some more about classism in America?
Justin: Yeah, I can. Classism is arguably the worst it has ever been in America. However, there are some arguments against it. Wealth inequality is a result of the free market. America’s foundation was built strongly on capitalism and free markets. Currently, The United States boasts the largest GDP in the world while having more than a billion people less than China and India. So, capitalism and free markets have been a massive part of a growing economy in The United States. Unfortunately, this can lead to some negative effects like classism.
Cambria: Did you guys know social class is also linked to anxiety and depression? According to a study posted by the National library of Medicine, not only does the lower class acknowledge classism more often, but they experience the poor health due to the inferiority they feel.
Nathanael: No, I did not know that. I read an article about this phenomenon occurring with race, but I wasn’t aware it occurred with the lower class too. It really seems like discrimination has a heavy toll on people, not just in an emotional sense, but also in a mental and physical way as well.
Cambria: Yes! I also read an article that focused on single mothers and how they have increased stress levels compared to those in a higher class.
Cambria: A small town, such as my hometown, can easily be affected by classism too. Corruption within the school system and local government can occur due to the large impact those in the upper class have on the town. For example, after I graduated from my high school, the head football coach was fired due to a disagreement he had with a parent on the team. This parent, though not on the school board, has many connections on the board and was able to get this coach fired even though he did nothing wrong. This only happened because of the socioeconomic status of the father, it makes me think of the people we learned about in U.S. history class called ‘fat cats’, similar to what Nathanael was referring to before as the elites. Fat cats are considered rich political donors and they are very present in my town. What is worrisome to me is how strong their voice is within our community. They overshadow minorities and or lower income families! These are people that need the most help from their community and yet their voice/vote can be overturned by the ‘fat cats’. This creates a divide within the town which I believe is a catalyst for the creation of ‘self’ and ‘other’. Do you guys believe the idea of ‘self’ and ‘other’ can be a result of classism?
Nathanael: Absolutely, so many people I know are eager to categorize themselves as this or that, and the profoundness of classism lets this be an easy way to do that. Classism cannot even be escaped by those who do not like being categorized themselves, I often find that if you don’t do it someone else will do it for you. There is no doubt in my mind that this difference in socioeconomic class leads to a community where the elites view themselves as one group and the lower class as the others. I’m sure this can be applied in the reverse manner as well, these attitudes only lead to polarized communities that exert a great amount of discrimination. Leading to the previously mentioned stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by the oppressed population, in this case the lower class.
Justin: Adding to that point, people are becoming more and more judgmental as social media takes over our lives. A lot of young people look up to their favorite celebrities and influencers. They have unreasonable expectations on how they should live. This leads to people spending money on unnecessary items to try to fit in with others. I think people should worry more about themselves and not so much about others.
Cambria: That is a good point Justin, social media impacts so many. I also agree that social class is just one more way to categorize yourself in this country and cause divides. The ‘self’ and ‘other’ roles can be reversed based on perspective, but it is so common to relate yourself to those who you share common ground with, like that of social class. Therefore, ‘self’ and ‘other’ impact social class and in retrospect, human relationships.
Nathanael: I really enjoyed discussing this topic with you all! It was interesting to hear about your hometown and the effects of classism. I hope that you the reader do as well, I think it is an important subject to understand in the world we live in.
Cambria: I really enjoyed discussing this tool! Honestly, I learned a lot about classism and how it causes social injustice.
Justin: I also enjoyed discussing this topic. I hope you all learned something about classism and how it relates to our class’s readings.
Works Cited
Eaton, William W., et al. “Socioeconomic Stratification and Mental Disorder (Chapter 12) – A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, www.cambridge.org/core/books/handbook-for-the-study-of-mental-health/socioeconomic-stratification-and-mental-disorder/489F45A7827D9D30FE2CE8432BAF2B76.
“Logan, OH.” Data USA, datausa.io/profile/geo/logan-oh/#about.
Simons, Audrey M W, et al. “Perceived Classism and Its Relation with Socioeconomic Status, Health, Health Behaviours and Perceived Inferiority: the Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) Panel.” International Journal of Public Health, Springer International Publishing, May 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5397436/.
Woods, Hiatt. “How Billionaires Saw Their Net Worth Increase by Half a Trillion Dollars during the Pandemic.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Oct. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-net-worth-increases-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-7.
Hello everyone! My name is Makenna and I would like to welcome you to, “Yo, is this rebranding necessary?”. Today I would like to talk about a few things I have seen in the media, that seemed to gain a lot of negative feedback. Now I’m sure you are aware of the “Karen” stereotypes that seem to plague social media like Facebook and TikTok. While I was scrolling through my social media, I couldn’t help but notice the backlash brands and companies like Aunt Jemima, Hasbro, sports teams, etc. were getting for changing their branding. There is a lot of people complaining about how rebranding wasn’t necessary and “cancel culture” is taking away childhood staples and memories. In many instances of rebranding, the previous branding or product may have either included racist imagery or was not inclusive to all groups within society today. While there are very legitimate reasons behind these rebrandings, many people within society only choose to view surface-level facts and share their opinions based on what they saw within the media or what they heard from others. By educating the public about the motivations behind these rebrandings, we can hopefully avoid the uproar these previous situations have brought and can become more understanding of the groups that have been hurt in these situations. To dive deeper into this topic, I am going to explain the history of brands and/or the motivations behind some of these rebrandings and expand on why the changes were necessary.
To start, let’s talk about something pretty close to home. Now if you are from Ohio and you are familiar with baseball, you know of the Cleveland Indians. You also may have noticed that this MLB team has done away with their logo Chief Wahoo. Chief Wahoo is depicted as a caricature cartoon of a Native American that had been pointed out as offensive and racist for many years. Many efforts have been made over the years by the Native American community and after about fifty years, progress has been made to remove the offensive imagery from being displayed on uniforms, merchandise, and much of the things associated with the Cleveland team. Although they have done away with Chief Wahoo, there are still more improvements that can be made within the team. It was declared in December 2020, that the Cleveland team will be retiring the name “Cleveland Indians” and would be looking for a replacement name for the team. Now many fans may wonder, why Chief Wahoo and the Indians’ name needed to be removed? It is no secret that Native Americans have been the minority group for the entirety of our nation’s existence and have struggled to get equal representation like many other minority groups in America. When using Native American caricatures in sports teams, it makes it “more difficult to instruct about the history and plight of Native Americans” (Dator). The imagery used masks the history of Native American culture, as these logos and mascots become everyday symbols of Native Americans. It is unacceptable to use cartoons like Chief Wahoo and even the Indians’ name due to the reasons Native Americans have been voicing for years. Now that change is on its way within sports, people need to be respectful of these changes. Injustice has been rooted within sports teams for many years through caricatures and team names, so the changes promised need to continue to fix this cycle of injustice and oppression.
Moving on to another racially motivated rebranding, Aunt Jemima. Aunt Jemima seems like a wholesome woman that resides on syrup bottles and pancake mix boxes, but her history is not so wholesome. Aunt Jemima was presented as a character in the 19th century that was featured in minstrel shows. Her character was often performed by white people in blackface that depicted Aunt Jemima as a “slave mammy of the Plantation South” (Doneghy et al.). The Mammy was stated to be “created by white Southerners to redeem the relationship between black women and white men within slave society”(Doneghy et al.). They were pictured as subservient women that were often disrespected by white men. By using an image of Aunt Jemima on syrup bottles and pancake mix, it allows for the continuation of the use of the Mammy. Despite Davis Milling Company, which was later acquired by Quaker Oats Company, promoting Aunt Jemima through women like Nancy Green and Anna Robinson, they were still promoting the obedient woman there to wait on you hand and foot. By promoting an idea that formed near the time of slavery many years after the creation of the product, the company is continuing to enforce a character that is rooted in injustice. She is a symbol of a time where many black women were treated with little respect, seen as property, and had little to no rights within society. The character serves as a reminder of the injustice black people have faced in the presence of white people and needed to be removed. By removing Aunt Jemima, the constant reminder is diminished, but the history is still present. It is still extremely important to understand the reasoning behind the removal of Aunt Jemima because she represents some of the times in America where systemic racism plagued our society.
Next up is a toy that has been around for decades and even starred as characters in the Toy Story movies. You guessed it…Potato Head. Growing up, I always knew the brand as Mr. Potato Head, but recently they have revealed that they are dropping the “Mr.” in their name. They are doing this in hopes of catering to more children and becoming more inclusive with their product, especially with their family sets. Under the Potato Head branding, Hasbro will be releasing a family set that allows the making of a family with gender-neutral potatoes. Kids can create mom and mom, dad and dad, mom and dad, and other parent-parent combinations. This allows for children to better express their family situation within their play and not be limited to the typical family model that may have been used previously. Before the introduction of the gender-neutral brand, the LGBTQ+ community was not included as part of the brand. With constant changes within our society focusing around gender and marriage norms, it is important to make more toys like this and rebrand to accommodate these changes. The injustice within this example can be set within the fact that the LGBTQ+ community was not represented within the Mr. Potato Head brand. This exclusion needed to be discontinued as society changed and the Potato Head branding allows for more inclusion within the toy world.
Like I said earlier, there is a lot of controversy revolving around some rebrandings. A lot of people believe that “everything offends everyone nowadays” but that is simply not true. For many years before these recent changes in brands, systemic injustices have been rooted within everyday things within our society. There are bigger examples of systemic injustices that many people face every day, but these little things like brand logos or names contribute to these larger issues. The fight to correct these injustices did not just start recently, disputing the fact that many state “people are more easily offended nowadays”. These groups that have been facing injustices for many years are just now gaining traction within the world of the products and sports team I mentioned previously. The Cleveland Indians had previously not been respectful of the culture and the wishes of the Native American community by the continued use of Chief Wahoo and the Indians’ name. Aunt Jemima had a very racist history that was being displayed on the shelves and in media for many years. Potato Head was not inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community before their rebranding. These changes the brands have made were necessary to make progress against the injustice these groups face on the regular within our society. It is these small changes that are going to allow our society to see the larger changes that need to be made to be respectful and considerate to all groups seen in our world today. As perspective views of society grow and change, these brands need to keep up. It is not just people “getting offended easier”, it’s undergoing the changes that need to be made within our society to take the next step towards understanding how to create an equal and cohesive world. Groups have faced struggles that many of us will never experience, so it is important to recognize and understand that these rebrandings were not just to keep the company from being canceled, but to set reminders to the public that our world is changing little by little and everyday brands need to represent that. It is obvious that these companies’ rebranding is not gonna solve all injustices groups face, but they may lead to the education of the public on these issues. These things gain a lot of attraction in the media and can help spread the message as to why previous brandings are not acceptable. I know what you all are thinking, not everyone is going to learn the history of these groups or understand the rebrandings, but talking about issues helps to gain traction for change. Through the education to the public on why rebrandings are necessary and informing people on the struggles these groups face, society can put more effort towards righting these injustices through small and large actions. I hope this discussion helped you better understand the motivations behind these rebrandings (Yes, I am talking to all the “Karens” out there) and can help avoid backlash on something that doesn’t deserve such negative feedback. So to answer the question, yes, these rebrandings were necessary.
Works Cited
Dator, James. “What Made the Cleveland Indians Finally Change Their Name?” SBNation.com, SBNation.com, 15 Dec. 2020, www.sbnation.com/mlb/22176074/cleveland-baseball-team-name-change.
Doneghy, Sarah, and View all. Aunt JEMIMA: It Was Never About the Pancakes. 16 July 2020, blackexcellence.com/aunt-jemima-never-pancakes/.
Segran, Elizabeth. “The Iconic Mr. Potato Head Gets a 21st-Century Rebrand.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 26 Feb. 2021, www.fastcompany.com/90607931/the-iconic-mr-potato-head-gets-a-21st-century-rebrand.
Hi everybody! Welcome to my column where I will today be discussing an issue that affects everybody; whether they want to admit it or not. This topic is sexism. Sexism is one of the most prevalent issues in society that dates back thousands of years. It is still very much alive today in so many aspects of our world. The word sexism is defined as “discrimination based on sex or gender or the belief that men are superior to women”. Since there are so many different situations and places where sexism takes place, I am going to talk about multiple situations that are sexist; some obvious and some not so obvious, to really open your eyes on the sexism that takes place all around us every single day.
The biggest issue with sexism is that while a lot of people partake in being sexist consciously, there are also a lot of people who may partake in sexist actions or make sexist comments subconsciously. This is due to the fact that sexism has been ingrained in people’s brains for years and has been made to seem “normal”, so some may not even know that what they are saying or even thinking is sexist. For example, when a male professional may be seen as speaking “passionately”, a woman professional doing or saying the same exact things could be described as “bossy”, or even “bitchy”. In a study done by New York Times, people are much more likely to listen to male authority figures because they subconsciously associate deep voices with authority; yeah, I know, absolutely ridiculous. So now the question arises; should women try to sound more masculine to be taken seriously? If your answer to this question is yes, I’m asking you kindly to say that out loud to see how it sounds. Did you say it? Did you hear how extremely sexist you sounded? This situation quite literally aligns with the actual definition of sexism; in this case, men are superior to women authoritatively, so instead of people thinking “Hey, maybe we should just respect women in positions of authority the same way we do with men”, people are saying, “Well, if women in positions of authority acted or sounded manlier I would respect them more”.
Another example of subconscious sexism I’m going to talk about is something that I am sure a lot of women reading this can say that they either personally experienced, or have seen it happen to others. This is school dress code. Most high schools had some type of dress code policy, consisting of essentially the same rules about the appropriateness of clothing that the students were allowed to wear. From what I have personally heard from school officials over the years while discussing dress code, was that the dress code was put into place so that no students would be distracted from learning. But, oddly enough, throughout four years of high school I watched a countless number of women be sent to the principles for their clothing, some forced to change into raggedy old T-shirts, and some even told to go home because their outfit “wasn’t appropriate” (talk about disrupting the learning process); but I never once saw one of my male classmates be sent to the office for their clothing options. Is this sexist? The obvious answer is yes. Teachers would see a woman wearing a tank top that didn’t look like it fit the “two finger rule” (ugh) and automatically deem it as inappropriate and distracting, when a ton of guys wore literal string strap tank tops to school without even receiving a second look from teachers. If a man in my class cannot focus on his work because my shoulder is showing, then he needs to be the one having a discussion with an adult instead of the girl trying to be comfortable and learn. This stems from an even deeper systemic issue of men not being held accountable for their actions or thoughts because it’s a “woman’s fault” that they are acting or thinking that certain way. It also comes from the internal subconscious thought (I say this lightly, because there are most definitely people who do this consciously) that women are sexual objects and nothing more than that. How dare women not cover up in long sleeves and coats when it’s 80 degrees out! Below is a poster made by a 15 year old high school student whose school banned women from wearing leggings. She points out that the same type of clothing for men is deemed as “perfectly okay”, but for women it is distracting. She explains that this dress code promotes rape culture, which is what I was touching on earlier when I said that dress codes align with the idea that women are sexual objects.
Sexism is also extremely prevalent in the workplace. Even though gender-based pay discrimination has been illegal since the year of 1963, it is still a very wide spread practice. It is a statistically proven fact that women are still paid less than men; in 2021 so far, women are making 82 cents to every dollar a man makes (which is up one whole cent from last year!). There are ways that jobs can discriminate against women without it being obvious so that they cannot get in trouble with the law. These include punishing or threatening the jobs of women who must take time off for things that do not affect men as much, such as childbirth. While there used to be an argument that women were paid less because they were “less educated” (women enrollment in colleges and universities used to be much lower), that can no longer be used. Women now statistically receive more college degrees than men, and currently make up more than 56% of college students nationwide. Yet they still continue to earn considerably less than men. In addition to earning less than their male counterparts, there are countless other ways that women can be discriminated against in the workplace. These include things like discrimination during hiring, not being put up for promotions that you are qualified for, getting laid off before a man when they do the job just as well, not receiving the same benefits, stereotypes due to their sex, and sexual harassment. In a survey conducted by Pew Research center, four-in-ten working women (42%) in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender. They experienced things like earning less than male counterparts for doing the same job, being looked over for important assignments, or being treated as if they were incompetent. According to Forbes, if we continue at the rate we are going now, the pay gap will not close until the year 2059.
The final example of sexism I am going to be talking about is something that should outrage everybody in my opinion. This is the inequality of the roles between men and women in the home. Women, who work the same long and grueling work days as their husbands, come home to a whole other job; childcare and cleaning. Women doing most of the work at home may seem like a very outdated, old fashioned notion, but the belief that these things are a womens job is still very alive today; which is sexism at its finest. Research shows that even though many women fully support the idea of equal parenting, they also feel pressures from family, friends, and others to be the primary caretaker of their kids and keeper of their homes. For some cases, women with children may feel the pressure to keep the home clean and the children taken care of because that is what their own mother did while raising them. Many people, just as they do with gender inequality in the workplace, decide to turn a blind eye and act like women are “over exaggerating” when it comes to this situation (again, sexism). But this is not an exaggeration. In the US, on average, the time mothers spend on childcare is twice as much as is expended by fathers: 15 hours a week compared to 7 hours. Also, in a Harvard Business Review article about Harvard Business School graduates, they found that over 75% of the men interviewed believed their wife would take on most of the responsibility of the role as caregiver (…. yeah, I’m thinking the same thing). This ties in to what I talked about in the beginning of our discussion; sexism has been ingrained or embedded into our brains for so long that that is what people just simply expect. We have seen women being the ones who cook, clean, and take care of the children for so long that people expect that to just be the way of life. We’ve seen it in TV shows, movies, other media outlets, and the worst part is most of us have seen this in real life. I have seen countless situations, including some friends and family, where the woman of the house does all of the work while the man sits on his ass. Is this sexist? Yes. Believing that all of these things are the jobs of a woman is extremely harmful to society. This leads to so many other things that I can’t even get into today, like absentee/unnurturing fathers and extremely burned out mothers.
If I had to relate this back to one thing I have learned in my Comparative Studies course, it would be that the sexism in our world is trying to fit women into a box; it is trying to force us women to have a single story. For so long, women were seen as nothing but someone who had a man’s babies and someone who cooked and cleaned. I am so grateful that women in history decided to stand up to this because we actually have come a long way. As a female who grew up as an athlete, my own grandma always told me how cool it was that girls could now play sports. She explained to me that when she grew up, no women were allowed to play sports because that was a “mans thing”. Not only do we now have female athletes in every single sport, we now have female doctors, lawyers, scientists, politicians, etc. Even though we have made this progress, the fight for gender equality is SO far from over. I encourage everybody who read my column to stop and think of all of the examples of sexism I explained to you, and I also encourage you to look within yourself to identify either the sexism you have experienced personally or the sexism you have presented somebody else with. The fight to end sexism is something that needs everybody’s support.
