Since the beginning of this patriarchal society in the United States the rise of sex and gender norms have been put in place. In Media in Society, “visual codes in a variety of media texts draw upon gender norms, relegating women to objectivity or passivity, and men to subjectivity and activity” (Campbell et al., 2014, p. 225). Why are things like this you may ask? Well, in short it is to keep control. The hegemonic elite who are typically old, white, heterosexual males use various tactics to maintain control. Some of these tactics are: misogyny, racism, white supremacy, homophobia, etc. One must think critically about these issues that continue to be present in our society in order to make change happen. If we take a look at The Walt Disney Company, the largest media conglomerate in the world, “stories of male heroism, female dependency, heterosexual norms, the power of whites in society,” and gender norms have been found throughout all of their movies (Campbell et al., 2014, p. 223). I’ll spare you a critique of each Disney movie made, but the structure is there. Look at how women are depicted to ‘need’ a man to save them from a dragon or evil villain. The damsel in distress some say, but why is this a thing? Society has taught us that women are described as weak, subordinate, emotional, vulnerable, petite, white fair skin, to create women to fit into this box of expectations and ‘how it should be.’ Men are depicted to be these strong beings, fit, handsome, charming, heroic, brave, show no emotion, etc. Again, society has created boxes to fit us into expectations, when in reality women can save themselves, women can be strong, women can be stern, women can have different body types, women can still have fair skin and not be white. Same goes for men. Men do not have to be strong, men do not have to be brave, heroic, emotionless, fit, etc. There comes a time where we must realize the difference between expectations and reality. Not everyone is going to conform down to a box. Some argue that women have equal rights by law. I challenge you to think about that statement. When you think of equality, what do you think of? Do you think of proportion? Balanced? Equal? You see, these are the words that come to mind when we think about equality, but why do we as a society use the definition of equality to describe equality in the occupational field? How many of the women reading this have felt subordinate when a male was present? What about without a male present? You see it wasn’t until the 1960s when women were seen acceptable to work outside the home. With the help of feminist movements women were able to break the barriers of the sex and gender norms of working. Before it was the male to provide for his family, while the woman stayed home, cleans the house, took care of the children, and in some cases ' sat still and looked pretty.’ “Women are depicted in a quite different way from men - not because the feminine is different from the masculine, but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him” (Campbell et al., 2014, p. 225). A woman should not be forced to settle as just an object, therefore she is not an object (Wojtyla,p. 24). When we look at this situation from a political point of view, Hillary Clinton was a front-runner in the 2016 Democratic primary (Maillé, 2015). What is rather interesting about this is that Hillary Clinton was the first female running for president in a major party. If you look at other nations we can see that “American women are still vastly underrepresented in elected offices all across the nation and losing ground when compared to other nations” (Maillé, 2015). However the representation of women in the political setting is still underrepresented in other nations also. Take Canada for an example, “women’s political status in Canada is arguably on a rocky path, and likely jolting backward in reverse gear. Boldly stated, the prospects for Canadian women who seek careers in public life seem to be getting worse, not better” (Maillé, 2015). While still looking at the political perspective there is light. Another female represented in the political sphere, Kamala Harris. Harris and Biden won the presidential election in 2020 by a long shot. She has become a symbol of hopes and dreams for many. Being a woman and a woman of color at that, the battle against intersectionality has not stopped her. Kimberle Crenshaw gives a great speech about what exactly intersectionality is and to sum it up, it is the overlapping of social justice problems (TedTalk). Kamala Harris is no doubt a minority. From the color of her skin and being a woman she has at some point experienced some form of oppression. Defying all that she encountered she managed to not sit there and allow it to stop her for persevering. She became the first woman in office while also being the first woman of color in office as vice president. Resources: Maillé, C. (2015). Feminist interventions in political representation in the united states and canada: Training programs and legal quotas. European Journal of American Studies, 10(1) doi:http://gold.worcester.edu:2090/10.4000/ejas.10502TedTalk, T. (2016, December 07). The urgency of intersectionality | Kimberlé Crenshaw. Retrieved November 1, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o Wojtyla, K. Love and Responsibility https://community.worcester.edu/bbcswebdav/pid- 1936659-dt-content-rid-25516775_1/courses/PH152_OL_FA_2020/Wojtyla %281%29.pdf
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