Rebuttal to “Abolishing the Stereotypes of Feminism” by Irene Ripley, Laine City
By T.J., Letter to the Editor
6/24/2007
For anyone to claim that prejudice no longer exists is ignorant and misinformed. I too agree that America has a long way to go before we are all on an “equal” playing field both socially and professionally. There are many programs set up to counteract this problem, which help the problem get fixed. For instance, in 1963 the federal government passed The Equal Pay Act of 1969, effectively abolishing wage differences based on sex. By passing the EPA, Congress denounced sex discrimination for the following reasons:
- Sex discrimination depresses wages and living standards for employees necessary for their health and efficiency.
- It prevents the maximum utilization of the available labor resources.
- It tends to cause labor disputes, thereby burdening, affecting, and obstructing commerce.
- It constitutes an unfair method of competition.
Someone has made a bigger fuss; their name is The United States of America (obviously a slight oversight on Irene’s part). There at least 8-10 laws and executive orders banning the mistreatment of an employee based on their sex.
Let us move to the treatment of women in the media. I would like to preface this by saying that much of the treatment of women in the media is disgusting, but don’t you think it would happen less if there were less women willing to do it? Nobody is forcing them to act, dress, or carry themselves in a manner that is anything less than respectable. The problem that faces us now is not how men are treating them; it’s the image many women are willing to portray. Songs written that glorify calling women lewd names and generally degrading them are just as appalling to most educated men as they are women, but remember, most of these songs were written after women such as Madonna began to glorify degrading women in her own music. It’s ok for women to talk about “humiliating situations” but not for men?
Well, now we find ourselves walking the good old Double Standard Highway. The only reason stereotypes exist is because there are always groups of people who are willing to play into them. I’m sure everyone knows one feminist who frequently goes over the line with her opinions about why men shouldn’t buy dinner and open doors for them. As well, we all know sexist men who don’t believe a woman belongs anywhere other than the kitchen. Now, I’m not here to argue any extremist ideas, I very much value the Professional Work Woman and respect what she does for society. Sexist men need to be educated on the value of diversity (among many other things). Not very often do you hear feminists reigning in their extremist counterparts of ranting that everything we do, we do for dominance over the weaker race. It’s just not true. (We open doors and buy dinner, by the way not to exert our dominance, but to be courteous.)
So that begs the question, who will educate the sexist men, who will stand up for the Professional Woman? Well, look no further than Playboy, whose Chairman of the Board and CEO is in fact a woman. Her name is Christine Hefner. In 1988 she became Playboys CEO and was later elected chairmen of the board. In 2005 she was selected by Forbes as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in the World”. She hardly seems like a bad role model. The answer to the sexism problem is not how much we can debate about it, call each other names and accuse the other sex of being unjust, but rather to simply stop arguing, step back and wonder if being part of the argument, is really being part of the problem.