Monday, October 16, 2017
The Fall of Toxic Masculinity and the Rise of Feminine Consciousness
Chaz's Journal | Roger Ebert: WE WOULD ALL LIKE TO BELIEVE that the "casting couch" in Hollywood had vanished over time as a relic of a less-enlightened age. People in the entertainment industry, particularly certain men in power, minimized this tradition of abuse, likening it to a rite of passage. But as a former lawyer who has handled sexual harassment cases, I can affirm that this "ritual" of men in power taking advantage of the powerless and vulnerable with unwanted sexual advances or unpermitted touching and verbal and physical abuse is entirely unacceptable and illegal, and in some cases constitutes criminal sexual assault.
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I have a problem with this title. As a nonbinary person, I of course want the world described in the title. However that is not what we're seeing right now and this title makes it seem like this is easily achievable. The fact of the matter is that the system is stacked against females from the second they are born. Every interaction they have hinges heavily on the fact that they are female. Young females are abused at higher rates, discouraged from preforming well in certain classes, and socialized to accept the torments they face daily.
There is no way that the feminine consciousness can truly rise and dominate our society while the systems put in place by a ton of cis straight white men are still in place. The workspace, and most spaces in the world come to think of it, are not built for females, they were just ever so slightly adjusted after their creation to fit females.
The author makes good points in the article about the need for more space for females everywhere they go. However they fail to recognize that the system they want torn down isn't falling yet. In fact it isn't even crumbling.
And we all have a lot more work to do before it does.
This idea of the "death of toxic masculinity" seems to be extremely over simplified in this article, not to mention the almost mansplain-y voice of the author himself. Getting rid of toxic masculinity and everyday sexism and misogyny does not only come down to women speaking up for themselves when faced with micro-aggressions, it comes down instead to an extreme overturning of the sexist systems of work places, politics, etc. set in place that Joss spoke about in their comment. Before Carnegie Mellon, I went to an all-girls school for six years. Everyday I had conversations about sexism and overcoming misogyny, what it meant to be a creative, supportive, independent woman, and how women are great, smart people. And so, when talking about everyday sexism, I knew that it was real but I didn't find myself feeling the direct effects of it everyday. There has never been a question in my mind that I am lesser because I am female. Coming to a school that is more populated by men than women, however, has shown me the opposite. But why don't I stop at the sexist comments every time? Is it because I know that my yelling won't really get heard? Am I scared? These questions should be part of the conversation when we truly talk about overthrowing toxic masculinity.
The fact of the matter is that there are too many accounts of women being mistreated in the entertainment industry. The disrespect for women is blatantly apparent in the amount of money women receive in comparison to men. The discrepancy in income is stark, harassment occurs often, and language restrains women from moving up in the industry without being labeled “bossy” or “commanding.” Women do not deserve to be treated like objects nor do we deserve to be sexually harassed or threatened into doing sexual acts to improve our status in the workplace. Toxic Masculinity is an extremely apparent thing in our society and it deserves to fall. We need to revolutionize how women are perceived in the workplace. People like Casey Affleck, Bill Cosby, and Harvey Weinstein do not deserve fame or recognition. Men who disrespect women and expect them to do sexual favors for advancement in the industry need to be penalized for their actions.
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