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Sexism

Diversity

Sex Discrimination and Equality...

There is no society where men and women are ranked equally, treated equally or perform equal functions.  All societies have some form of gender inequity and most, discriminate against women.  Women are at a basic disadvantage:
 
1. In the workplace
2. At home
3. In education
4. In the public sphere

One major disadvantage for women is the way we are pressured to become preoccupied with society's idea of "ideal beauty."  If we do not meet the standards for ideal beauty (which are generally thin and white with small features, long hair and perfectly unblemished skin) we often hate ourselves and our bodies.  But is ideal beauty even attainable?  Only 5% of the world's women are actually built as naturally tall and thin as supermodels - and many supermodels are starving themselves to maintain that thinness anyway.  Additionally, make up and technology have allowed the ad industry to alter images of women to fit this ideal.  (See link below)  So next time you are feeling like you aren't perfect, remember, no one else is either...

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Beauty Evolution

View this link, an excerpt from Jean Kilbourne's "Still Killing us Softly" a film about the influence media has on our self esteem, values, concepts of romance and normalcy.

View this link to find out more about society's messages to men about who they should be...

View this link to learn more about media's power to tell us who we are or who we should be through Disney films...

This link will take you to a clip from the documentary "Dreamworlds" which assesses the use of female sexuality and male fantasy to sell music videos.

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Executive Cow

Thoughts are powerful.  Check out the above link for a wonderful promo that illustrates the way women are treated unfairly at work.  It's a sort of "what men are really thinking" concept.

Median Earnings by Men
Median Earnings by Women
Physicians   $140,000
Physicians    $88,000
Lawyers    $90,000
Lawyers    $66,000
Dentists    $110,000
Dentists    $68,000
Judges    $88,000
Judges    $50,000
Chief Executives    $95,000
Chief Executives    $60,000
Economists    $73,000
Economists    $58,000
Chemical Engineers    $70,000
Chemical Engineers    $56,000
Air Traffic Controllers    $67,000
Air Traffic Controllers    $56,000
Engineers    $80,000
Engineers    $75,000

This link will take you to the homepage for NOW - the National Organization for Women

Use this link to vist a great blog by feminist author and activist Jessica Valenti http://www.feministing.com/

This link will take you to Ms. Magazine's webpage which has a lot of great content on current issues facing women all over the world.

One of the biggest indicators of how sexism is still a dangerous and thriving institution is violence against women - particularly sexual violence which keeps women living on "A Rape Scedule."  That is, we don't go out of the house at certain times, we stay out of certain neighborhoods or bars, we wear clothes to cover our bodies and not look too sexy and we refrain from drinking at times when we don't feel safe.  The fact is, the first questions a woman or girl are asked when she is raped or sexually assaulted are:
 
1. Why were you out so late?
2. Were you drinking?
3. What were you wearing?
4. Did you know him?
5. Why were you in that neighborhood?

Eve Ensler on teen sex

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