3000 word essay

Adele Pierce
OUIL 501 Context of Practice
3000 word essay

‘Is modern culture welcoming a gap in gender equality?’

On the forefront it may appear as if we have progressed hugely throughout decades in the fight for equality in gender roles; with waves of feminism, movements into equal rights, equality within the workplace, female masculinity and the birth of Androgynous dress. However, it can be argued that with new cultures and trends escalating we may be going back over; eliminating the fight for equality with such things as ‘Lad Culture’, nude photo leaks, social media trends and the pressure to conform to specific gender roles - opening up a division once again. As a culture are we welcoming and accepting this behaviour because we know no different or have we lost the fight? This essay will explore how gender equality may be in a constant battle against culture and trends.

Perhaps the focus should be on equality rather than feminism as men can often feel that feminists are women that are trying to dominate men and fight for their own rights. As Emma Watson spoke in her ‘HeforShe’ campaign, feminism is a word that seems to scare off the male population; viewed as a negative one, she invites males to also share these views and fight for equal gender.  She commented: “The more I spoke about feminism, the more I realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”

The real drive behind Emma’s speech could be that the word ‘feminism’ is often viewed as an attack on men and she is trying to highlight, rather, that it is about having the right to be equal in all aspects.  Similar to the celebrity nude leaks, job roles within society and politics, Emma’s speech sums up that it boils down to respect. Women having the right to the same amount of respect for men. Watson added: “I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.” She invites men to take part in the fight for equality rather than attacking them. This contrasts to the rising trends of ‘Lads’ uniting together against women. “Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too.”

Men are also often under pressure to conform to society by becoming the more dominant gender. Masculinity is interesting because it is not definitive yet as a culture we strive for it as a source of power. Judith Halberstam questions: “What is masculinity?” In Female Masculinity (1998), which is an interesting question; how do you categorize what makes you masculine? “If masculinity is not the social and cultural and indeed political expression of maleness, then what is it?" The word ‘masculinity’ in itself and what it entails suggests male gender because in Ferdenand De Saussere terms, as a society, we have come to a ‘shared cultural understanding’ that it is.
Halberstam wrote: "Female masculinity has been blatantly ignored, both in the culture at large and within academic studies of masculinity. The widespread indifference to female masculinity, it can be suggested, has clearly ideological motivations and had sustained the complex social structures that wed masculinity to maleness and to power and domination." Halberstam is arguing here that we understand masculinity to be a male representation because we ignore any time a female takes on this role, or shut it down. Female masculinity takes place in a separate category and females are seen to be trying to emulate the characteristics of a male, rather than powerful females. This notion is echoed by Watson within her ‘HeforShe’ speech, she claimed: “We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are, and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.” Watson is arguing that society needs to free the barriers of what it means to be a certain gender, what roles we have to adhere to.

To be a female you are expected to be powerful and classy with strong messages delivered to us from the female music industry such as Beyoncé, yet apparently seen and not heard according to men. If you dare to speak up you will then be subject to sexual scrutiny and a victim of rape threats like Olympic medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill when she spoke out against the rape charges of Ched Evans. If you are a female in the limelight you can expect to be stripped bare by the media – sometimes literally. For example, the actress Jennifer Lawrence was a victim the 2014 Celebrity Nude photo leak, where 26 celebrities faced their naked bodies posted all over the internet - much against their will. This intrusion of privacy stirred many debates into whether celebrities should expect to be subject of this treatment purely based on their celebrity status and choice to be constantly in the public eye. The Guardian journalist Roxane Gay felt that the 2014 Celebrity nude photo leak was ‘just the beginning’ of this unspoken divide and degrading of women in power. She wrote: "Don’t get too high and mighty, ladies. Don’t step out of line. Don’t do anything to upset or disappoint men who feel entitled to your time, bodies, affection or attention. Your bared body can always be used as a weapon against you.” Watson supports this within her speech by adding: “Apparently, I’m among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.” She too, is under scrutiny for expressing her values. This raises the view that our gender roles should not affect our choice of behaviour and whether we wish to be portrayed in a sexual manner. Illustrator Carole Rossetti explores these notions in her artwork delivering a more positive attitude towards women being sexual beings. She challenges the ideologies of what it is to be a woman and the female role within society. One of her pieces includes the quote, ‘gender does not define clothing, everyone can and should wear whatever fits best their own identity.’

Art can also often pose a significant threat to gender. The ‘Guerrilla Girls’ are a group of feminist women artists that claim to ‘reveal the understory, the subtext, the overlooked’ within art as they experience it first hand; and are looking for gender reassignment. One of their billboard posters features statistics about nudes in art galleries. It reads: ‘Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.’ This is a comment on how women artists are not being taken seriously within the ‘art world’ as credible artists; there are such a low number featured within galleries yet their naked bodies are considered a thing of art. It could be argued that the real battle within today’s society is not being categorised into certain genders, but gender roles, and what it entails to be a female and equally to be a male. How you dress, act, and represent yourself is under much scrutiny whether it be in the public eye or daily in youth culture, social networking. For example to be a man you must dress a certain way, be successful, and have a certain hairstyle, a beard and act like a ‘Lad.’ If you do not conform to this cult you face backlash from websites such as ‘Ladbible’ and ‘Thebeardly.com’ who pressurise men into growing a beard in order to become more masculine. It features quotes such as: "I see you've shaved, sorry the weight of manhood was just too much." "Shaving says a lot about a man, like I'm not one."

It can be argued that advertisement also plays a huge role in gender segregation with biased products for example the 1940’s ‘Nestle’ adverts for chocolate titled ‘Fighting food’ for soldiers of the war. ‘Yorkie’ chocolate bars for men, ‘Snickers – get some nuts’. There also seems to be a divide in skincare products such as ‘Nivea for men’ and ‘Dove for women’ – do we not all have skin? What is the real difference? A similar technique is that of the ‘male gaze’ in advertisement; whereby women are viewed enticing and luring in the male viewer to buying products. Equally, the same can be seen with males in underwear adverts using their sexuality as a tool to sell. They lure us into thinking that if we buy these products we will immediately attract the opposite sex and become irresistible, giving us a sense of power. However, The Guardian wrote: “Eva Herzigova's traffic-stopping billboard for Wonderbra has been declared the most eye-catching advert of the past few decades. The image, part of the lingerie company's 'Hello Boys' campaign, featured a huge photo of Eva's cleavage.” The roadside poster caused a real stir back in 1994 when it was said to be the cause for stopping traffic thus causing accidents, once again negatively showing women’s sexuality to be dangerous compared to advertisements of men.  

In addition to advertised products, there are also subtle hints at gender segregation poured out to children in fairy tales and in toys. For example; in the Argos catalogue one of the biggest stores in the UK for children’s toys; children’s ironing boards are manufactured in pink, and advertised with females using it. The same with pretend cookers and baking toys, all advertised with use of little girls because these are household appliances stereotypically viewed to be feminine. Do men not iron or cook? It echoes sexist jokes made by Lad Culture that women are made to stay at the sink and cook. These are the messages given out subconsciously to children from a young age that go unnoticed, colour association. Toys ‘R’ Us in Stockholm, Sweden, picked up on this and decided to manufacture ‘gender neutral’ toys. They claimed, 'Children are not coded to blue for boys and pink for girls – they should be free to choose what they want to play with' similar to artist Rossetti’s message that we should be able to shop in the male section of a clothing store if we are female and vice versa.

Some women grow up choosing the sex industry as their career path; pornstars, glamour models and pin up girls. Feminists appear to battle against this, which can be argued to be wrong, as it is the individual’s choice. An interesting argument is the loss of Page 3 in the Sun. The women featured may have differing views to the feminists such as MP Caroline Lucas battling for the ban it as it was their choice to face the opinions of men who read; but it could also be argued that including this category of sexualised females seems irrelevant within a daily newspaper and should perhaps be kept in those specific genre of magazines such as ‘Zoo’ and that way boils down to choice of the material you read, rather than an argument of feminism. Similarly to this argument, ‘Bad girls and dirty pictures - The challenge to reclaim feminism’ by Alison Assiter and Avedon Carol explores females taking on powerful sexual roles and the consequences of this. It states: “Many anti-porn feminists seem to feel that there is no middle ground between a ban on photography and open, uncritical acceptance of it.” Once again though the women standing up for these abolishment’s and reaching for equality were under scrutiny; such as Lucy-Ann Holmes who founded a campaign to end the publication of the topless page three girls and received death threats. Assiter and Carol add: "In the dominant culture, women are so aware of being judged sexually in inappropriate circumstances that we feel we must go out of our way to supress any sexual thought or expression."

Female celebrities are becoming more sexualised, promoting themselves as sexual beings, especially within the music industry with more provocative music videos and sexual lyrics, is it necessary? It can be seen as promoting the wrong message to the youth of today of sexualising yourself for power. Who is to blame for the constant divide between the genders? A lack of modern male feminists? The media? Social networks?  Art? Or is it culture in general? Perhaps social networking and modern trends could be welcoming more movements such as ‘The Everyday Sexism Project’ as a site for discussion rather than the ‘LadBible’? A YouTube video by The Guardian on everyday sexism called ‘Get your arse out mate’ shows a young woman in stereotypically ‘male’ circumstances hurling sexist remarks at men - a metaphor of how females daily receive this kind of treatment. Comments such as: “I really like your trousers, they’d look better on my bedroom floor.” The reaction of the men proves to be shocking as it highlights the situation is not the norm, women are not expected to speak to men in such a manner. Again, hearing a woman speak about sex so openly is viewed as shocking. ‘Gender and Genius’ by Christine Battersby in 1989 explores the Gender Revolution. It states:“ In the 19^th Century middle-class ideology made believe that nice girls didn’t sleep around because they didn’t have sexual appetites.”

In 1970, Shulamith Firestone produced The Dialectic of Sex, one of the seminal works of second-wave feminism. In chapter seven "The Culture of Romance," Firestone asserts that Romanticism ensures women’s position in society as second-class citizens. Romanticism, she asserts, is comprised of 'Eroticism,' 'Sex-privatization' and 'The Beauty Ideal.' Romanticism combined asserts the male desire to play the gentleman, giving women a sense of false-flattery, encourage women to become individuals; paradoxically by doing what makes her the same as every other girl and discourage women from developing real character - thus making men appear more irreplaceable. 'The Beauty Ideal' has one specific purpose: 'it is designed to keep the majority out.' Firestone asserts that just when women begin to achieve the ideal, the beauty ideal changes (to a naturally unattainable figure) to maintain the system. It can be argued this notion of ‘ideal beauty’ is still apparent today influencing how women should react within society and their role as sexual beings. Women are to be in constant reach of a higher femininity.

 Women taking on masculine powerful roles in today’s culture would often be perceived either as a ‘tomboy’ or a ‘lesbian’. This is fostered by what can be argued to be an uneducated and narrow-minded attitude towards equality. Anna Coote gave guidance to women about equality within the workplace and knowing their rights in her book “Equal at work?” 1979. This gave women a chance to see outside of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and ‘attempt to show up the unwritten rules about what is suitable work for women ’ uniting the workforce. It reads: “Today there are still girls who grow up believing that the biggest events of their lives will be getting married and having children.” In a certain respect we have came a long way from this with more women of power and women taking on more ‘masculine’ job roles but it can be said that we are far from equal yet. Once again it boils down to being viewed as your gender and the role you are to adhere to according to society, rather than who you are as a human being. In support of this Emma Watson commented: “If we stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer, and this is what ‘HeForShe’ is about. It’s about freedom.”

In modern culture today there is a huge following of cults such as ‘Ladbible’ promoting the degrading of women. Comedian Daniel O’Reilly better known as ‘Dapper Laughs’ received an on-going following of young males from his uploaded videos of sexual advice for men and offensive ‘jokes’ towards women that resulted in an ITV show. He referenced rape, and advice on how to ‘pull birds’ depicting harassment of women. The show was later cancelled after 60,000 people signed a petition to say it promoted sexism, and O’Reilly featured in an interview apologising about his behaviour. These are the role models of today’s society that feminists are up against in the fight for equality. This type of ‘Lad’ culture whereby men use sex as a weapon for dominance echoes a quote from ‘Bad girls and dirty pictures’ about men being the voice of sex and women the mute. Assiter and Avendon state: “In most cases it would have seemed incredible to consult a woman on the subject of sex – decent women were deemed never to think of the subject at all.” Hopefully the axe in this type of sexist behaviour from upcoming social trends will highlight it as an issue and not the norm, encouraging young males to think differently about how they treat others; not just women but themselves. Perhaps it is the majority of women fighting for equality and both genders should be welcomed into the fight as stated by Emma Watson. Perhaps it should be celebrated more within modern culture. Watson commented: “You might be thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing speaking at the UN?” And, it’s a really good question. I’ve been asking myself the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem, and I want to make it better. And, having seen what I’ve seen, and given the chance, I feel it is my responsibility to say something.” If more people that are not viewed as stereotypical feminists step out and support equality and target men in a positive light it may persuade them to get involved more rather than partaking in degrading women in these new social trends.

To conclude, Marcel Danesi wrote: ‘Representation in visual culture is inevitably bound up with ideology. Representation both reveals ideological belief but, it could also be said that representation in visual culture informs and constructs our beliefs and ideas on society.’ How we perceive gender is through codes used within art, film, books and the media. How we represent ourselves, and our gender, is how society reacts and represents us on a whole, thus creating an ideology of what our gender should entail. If more women are free to be outspoken and dominant and more males free to be sensitive and passive, without negative connotations and scrutiny, we could possibly become more of a unity and equal. However it can be said that modern culture is hindering that process. Social networking is used to perpetuate the male gaze and the gaze of the media. It plays on teenagers being body conscious and have those perceptions about life, how they should act due to their gender. As Emma Watson said in her ‘HeforShe’ speech: “It is time we see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.” In order to end the battle between conforming to a cult and culture; viewing feminism as a negative attack on men; we should perhaps be celebrating equality more through art, media, fashion and other factors. Women should be entitled to celebrate their sexuality equally as men as a matter of choice. This new wave of Lad Culture is an attack on females of power and if society accepts this culture as the norm; it will be undoing decades of hard work to fight for equality. It stems back to the suffragette movements, the push for equality in the workplace, women’s right to vote, the androgynous dress; not just basic human rights but how gender should be perceived and what we should be accepting.

Bibliography

ASSITER, A. & AVENDON, C. (1993) Bad girls and dirty pictures – The challenge to reclaim feminism. London: Pluto Press.

BATTERSBY, C. (1989) Gender and genius. London: The Women’s Press Ltd.

COOTE, A. (1979) Equal at work? Women in men’s jobs. Glasgow and London: Collins.

DANESI, M. (1999) Of cigarettes, high heels, and other interesting things: an introduction to Semiotics. New York: St Martin’s Press.

DAVIS, F. (1992) Fashion, culture and identity. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

FIRESTONE, S. (1970) The Dialect of Sex: The case for Feminist Revolution. United States: Farrah, Straus and Geraux.

HALBERSTAM, J. (1998) Female Masculinity. Durham and London: Durham University Press.

Website Bibliography

COLE, N. (2015). ‘Full Transcript Of Emma Watson’s Speech On Gender Equality At The UN.’ Available from:
http://sociology.about.com/od/Current-Events-in-Sociological-Context/fl/Full-Transcript-of-Emma-Watsons-Speech-on-Gender-Equality-at-the-UN.htm

CONLAN, T. (2015). 'ITV Drops Dapper Laughs After Criticism Of Daniel O’Reilly Misogyny'. The Guardian. Available from:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/10/itv-drops-dapper-laughs-criticism-daniel-oreilly-misogyny

CROUCH, D. (2013). 'Toys R Us's Stockholm Superstore Goes Gender Neutral'. The Guardian. Available from:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/toys-r-us-stockholm-gender-neutral

FACEBOOK. (2015) 'The LAD Bible.’ Available from:
https://www.facebook.com/LADbible?_ft_=fbid.256403254373024&filter=3

GAY, R. (2014) 'The Great Naked Celebrity Photo Leak Of 2014 Is Just The Beginning.’ The Guardian. Available from:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/01/celebrity-naked-photo-leak-2014-nude-women

GUERILLA GIRLS, Inc. (2015) 'GUERRILLAGIRLS: Fighting Discrimination With Facts, Humor And Fake Fur.’ Available from:
http://www.guerrillagirls.com/

MAIL ONLINE. (2015) ''Hello Boys' Wonderbra Billboards Voted Britain's Most Iconic Advert Of All Time'. Available from:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371800/Wonderbra-Hello-Boys-advert-voted-iconic-time.html

THEBEARDLY.COM. (2015) 'The Beardly.’ Available from:
http://www.thebeardly.com/

YOUTUBE. (2015) ‘Get Your Arse Out, Mate': We Turn The Tables On Everyday Sexism.’ Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pulwi5dw0Wc