Calm down dear – it’s the same old sexism

The highest profile sexism case this week was David Cameron’s ‘calm down dear remark’ to shadow treasury secretary Angela Eagle – Simon Hoggart in The Guardian made the point that this is merely the ‘male locker-room atmosphere’ of the commons making a rare appearance in public –  I always thought that it was odd that there are so few female MPs – I mean 1/6 is too low a number to be explained away by the fact that women aren’t as interested in ‘politics’ as men, or because their political careers are stunted by being the primary child carers – admittedly these factors are important in explaining the political gender gap – but the fact that the way politics is constructed – as an upper middle class male domain – is probably the final straw for those women who do try to break into this difficult territory. Come to think of it, perhaps the lack of females in politics is because females are generally less selfish than males – socialised more into their caring role – and given that British politics is so much about ego and self-gain – I guess it really isn’t that feminine.

Slut March – challenging or perpetuating gender stereotypes?

ALeqM5hWbnoTRJSXBcq8TpOUqTYIwBz7qwA Toronto police officer recently told students at a law school that they could reduce their chances of being raped if they avoided dressing like sluts – this has prompted a series of  ‘slut marches’ across America where women dress like like ‘sluts’ to highlight this police stereotype – the argument is that comments like this perpetuate the stereotype that women who are raped must have done something to  deserve it (i.e. – dressed like sluts) – which is basically victim blaming – the slut marchers’ point being that most women who are raped aren’t raped because they dress like sluts (90% of cases of rape take place in domestic settings – and as one placard holder’s sign said – 14 years old, Xmas 1985, bundled in layers, was I ‘asking for it’? ) – and even if you could isolate it as a causal factor, it still doesn’t excuse the rapists’ actions.

There’s a nice little article here outlining the view of some of the slut marchers –  one of the most interesting points being that it’s this kind of stereotypical attitude held by the police that prevents them from investigating rape cases seriously.

As a means of theatre that draws attention to sexist police stereotypes – these slut marches I think are quite effective, but once the media pick up on them, do these marches just end up perpetuating the stereotypes they seek to challenge?

Also, are they that that noble in their cause? They seem to consist of young women (well I guess they are college students) saying ‘I want the right to do what I want and everyone else can just lump it’ –  I mean sure you should have the freedom to dress like sluts – but, rape risk or not aside, surely you should ask ‘is dressing like a slut a positive course of action’? It strikes me that dressing like a slut can empower certain individual women – especially attractive ones in certain ways – it can bring them  money and – but are there any wider social benefits of dressing like a slut, or does dressing in this way just send out the message that it’s good to establish and expressive identity whereby you seek to encourage others to judge you by your looks?

This also got me thinking about the ‘semiotics of sluttery’ – there’s a whole debate to be had there – I wonder if there’s time to do this in a future lesson? I get the  feeling the ‘is she dressed like a slut’ game might be quite fun – fishnets, leather, mini skirt, bra on show – would probably get a ‘yes’ vote’ – nice little summer dress, probably not – but then there’s everything in between – I wonder where the consensus on where the slut line fall would actually be – I don’t know….

One thing I do know – and that’s that the idea that women who dress ‘like sluts’ must be ‘gagging for it’ is quite a generalisation – if I’m honest I have to say that I have no idea why women who ‘dress like sluts’ do so  – I mean it may just be a fashion thing – there may be no sexual intention in the slutty dress at all, even if the social meaning of the dress code says ‘slut’ (in which case is the slut label fair?) ; it could because they’re insecure and that they just desire male attention, but have no actual sexual desire; they may hate men and just want to wind them up; or it may be that they are ‘gagging for it’ and that they need it – in which case they’d  still probably rather not be violently raped down an alleyway.

Is the planet overpopulated?

overpopulationNice 5 minute skit on the today programme looking at the ‘overpopulation debate’ – do check out the links below – they take you to the web sites associated with both sides of the arguement

  • Roger Martin, chairman of population matters points out that world population is set to reach 7 billion by autumn this year and 10 billion by the end of the century – he sounds almost malthusian when he cites evidence of a ‘perfect storm’ heading our way – of increasing numbers and increasingly expensive food and oil meaning that we will very soon reach the planets limits to population growth – his perferred solution – radical family planning to bring down the birth rate

 

  • Brendan O Neil, of spiked, on the other hand, takes a very radical line and argues that the concerns about overpopulation are just part of the ‘politics of fear’ – he says we need to stop worrying about it, that there are no limits to how many people our planet can sustain, and we should focus on economic growth and development to eradicate poverty – his main criticism of the ‘overpopulation argument’ is that you can go all the way back to Malthus in 1798 – who was doom-mongering when the world population stood at under one billion – and trace similar panicky voices – but non of their predictions of doom have ever come true – we have always managed to find technological solutions to feeding an icreasing population size.

Britain’s Fascist Police State?

I think we’ve reached the point in Britain where police power is now so excessive that we can legitimately argue that Britain is drifting towards a Fascist Police State – where state violence is now used systematically to prevent freedom of association and speech.

Unbelievably shocking footage of plain clothes police thugs attacking a peaceful protester on the day of the royal wedding in Soho Square – For more details read the video author’s blog who outlines his awful day as a victim of illegal state activity.

Also, check this out – from 2 mins 30 in – Bill Maher on America and Royalty. Thanks to Brian for the links!

Libya – another war for oil?

libya_war_for_oil-300x185BBC breakfast’s Sussanna Reid needs a bit more practise at faking it – it was painfully obvious that she’d just been told to wrap an interview up early when a pesky guest on Saturday’s breakfast show dared raise the point that the only thing that can explain why we’ve invaded Libya to protect democracy protesters but not, for example, Syria, is that Libya has oil and Syria doesn’t!

Of course Allied troops claim to have gone into Libya to prevent Gaddafi massacring pro-democracy protesters, but this clearly cannot be the only reason for this invasion – if it were, then there would at least be some of kind motion towards going into Syria – where more than 500 people have been killed in similar protests against the president there.