More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Studies show that when girls are taught to place too much value their physical appearance and sexual identity, they’re also being taught to neglect other qualities that are seen as “incompatible with sexiness.”
Despite a shift towards feel-good rhetoric and “girl power,” the social message girls continue to get is that sex appeal is valued above all else.
Katherine Burgess always found media coverage of her female athlete inspirations to be lacking, to say the least. So she decided to call it out.
Burgess, who is a graphic designer, has created a series of visual representations of this gender disparity in sports reporting, which she’s shared on social media.
From September 18, the day Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, through September 29, weekday cable news hosted overwhelmingly white and primarily male guests to discuss her legacy and President Donald Trump’s September 26 nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. 76% of the guests on weekday cable news were white and 62% were men.
Would Rep. Yoho have had the confidence to speak to AOC as he did if he knew he’d be challenged on it by other men? Would Yaser Said’s son and brother have been able to keep him hidden for 12 years if they weren’t safe in their masculine circumstance? Would ICE have turned one of its detention centers into “an experimental concentration camp” if they thought they’d face consequences?
We need men to practice allyship by unlearning toxic behaviors and speaking out against those who make degrading comments about women.
Women are subject to objectification, and in particular, sexual objectification, at significantly higher rates than men.
Objectification is just one strategy used to devalue and undermine women in politics. However, psychology research teaches us that these tactics can be particularly insidious not only for women candidates, but for women in the electorate too.
As the U.S. celebrates Women’s Equality Day, it’s time to take a deeper look into sexist stereotypes, why female names are used when describing negative personality traits and, more broadly, why the language we use to refer to women is often derogatory.
Despite educators’ tendency to discourage students from using Wikipedia, Wikipedia is so much more than a source or a final destination. It’s a portal into other sources. Adding to and enhancing that portal to include knowledge and perspectives hitherto suppressed or marginalized is an important political project.
Join the Women in Science Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Monday, Aug. 31, from 12p.m.-2p.m. ET—part of an effort to increase the representation of women on Wikipedia and to close the editor and content based gender gaps on the site.
Nicole Tersigni’s new book, “Men to Avoid in Art and Life,” explores the different “types” of men women encounter through a humorous combination of art history and social media.
An excerpt from “Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different” (August 2020), by Linda Selin Davis:
“When each tomboy heyday ended, childhood became gendered as never before.”
In preparation for the inevitable media frenzy surrounding Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick, a group of powerful women activists and leaders has a warning for media covering this “historic moment”: Avoid sexist and racist stereotypes.
When Biden announces his VP pick—likely this week—will the media heed this warning and “have her back”? Only time will tell.
