From Jezebel: Sexism Fatigue...

[alcibiades_mystery]

Full title being Sexism Fatigue: When Seth MacFarlane Is a Complete Ass and You Don’t Even Notice

I am tired of being called a shrieking harridan for pointing out inequalities so tangible and blatant that they are regularly codified into law. I am tired of being told to provide documentation of inequality in the comments sections of a website where a staff of smart women documents inequality as fast as our fingers can move. Like, you might as well write me a note on a banana peel demanding that I prove to you that bananas exist. I am tired of being asked to "cite sources" proving that sexism is real (that RAPE is real, even!), because there is no way to concisely cite decades and decades of rigorous academia. Allow me to point at the fucking library. We can't cite "everything," and our challengers know that. It's an insulting diversionary tactic, it's an attempt to drag us all backwards, and fuck it. Do your own research like the rest of the grown-ups.

What are you supposed to do when someone asks you to "prove" that feminism isn't a massive conspiracy theory in a country where we've only had 39 female senators in the nation's entire history, and 20 of them are serving right now? What kind of a stupid fucking question is that? What are you supposed to say when the 8,000th faux-incredulous jackass throws you the same argument about the wage gap or the draft or bumbling dads in Tide commercials—as though holding each of their hands individually through the empirical facts of the world around us is a worthwhile use of my time. As though feminist academics haven't filled books (decades of books) with answers to that shit already. As though they believe that if they can keep you occupied refuting their flimsy trump cards over and over forever, they can stave off any changes to the culture that keeps them on top. I am so fucking fatigued by this anti-intellectual repetitive shell game that all I could do on Sunday night was write jokes about Barbra Streisand's hella goth choker.

For fucking REAL. Great read.

More: http://jezebel.com/5987118/sexism-fatigue-when-seth-macfarlane-is-a-complete-ass-and-you-dont-even-notice

[niyad]

2. k and r

[redqueen]

3. "39 female senators in the nation's entire history, and 20 of them are serving right now"

Anyone who thinks this fact is in no way related to the constant degradation of women using common language and stupid ideas which denigrate women as being less-than is kidding themselves.

[KitSileya]

11. Indeed. As well as poc senators, and governors as well.

I remember checking out how many female and non-white governors there had been on Wikipedia (about 30 women total, over 5 of them serving right now, and even fewer persons of color - only 4 black governors total.) And people think sexism and racism is done with? Are they living in the real world?

[redqueen]

13. Yep.

Maybe they're living in the world imagined in that book The Secret. However you imagine reality to be, that's how it is! Manifest it! Just ignore all the racism and misogyny and it will simply fade away, like a bad dream.

[KitSileya]

14. Well, if they didn't experience it, then it must not exist, doncha know?

Is that what we encounter on most of these threads - men refusing to believe women's own words because they haven't seen any instances of sexism? Because, of course, no experience is valid unless it gets the male seal of approval.

[redqueen]

16. Oh so very well said.

That phenomenon is so depressingly common.

[LiberalLoner]

52. +1

[BlancheSplanchnik]

58. + a bajillion. that type of man doesn't see women as having any validity.

Precisely because they cannot relate to a different perspective.

Ugh. Stuck at a toddler's emotional level.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

51. lol! you got that right.

[tabbycat31]

22. there's potential to be one more female governor this year

But she has a very uphill battle.

[KitSileya]

40. Who would that be?

I admit I don't pay as much attention to the governors as the senators. It really, really shocked me to learn that there'd only been 4 African American governors, tho' - this was in December, when it was 140 years since Governor Pinchback was the first, serving for 35 days. That there'd been only 3 since was eye-opening.

Currently, 5 of the serving Governors are non-Hispanic Whites, according to Wikipedia, and only one is black. So the numbers are atrocious.

20% of senators are women, and for the first time ever they have 2! African Americans serving at the same time. 10% of Governors are persons of color, 14% are women, and I don't even want to start with sexual orientation minorities - there's been what, one openly gay senator, no transgender ones.

All in all, while there's been progress, there's a looooong way to go with regards to minorities in power.

[tabbycat31]

63. Barbara Buono

Taking on the challenge of running against Chris "noun, verb, Sandy" Christie.

[MattBaggins]

26. Some one needs to do the math on this.

How many total Senators has our country had?

[KitSileya]

41. According to wikipedia, 1,931 members, as of 2012.

So, all told, just about 2% of all senators have been women.... and I'm sure if we get to counting years served, the math will be even worse. 8 of those 1,931 were African American.

[hfojvt]

33. that 20 are serving now

would seem to indicate that things are much better since 1993 than they were in the 1940s, 1960s, and 1970s in that regard.

Although, I might wish there were a few less. I could do without Kelly Ayotte and Deb Fischer.

In fact, if you figure that Olympia Snowe, Jean Carnahan, Hillary Clinton, Carol Mosely Braun, Blanche Lincoln, Elizabeth Dole, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson are all fairly current too. There's only about 12 who date from before 1992, and many of them served for a very short time. Even Gladys Pyle who went to my church when I was a kid was only a Senator for 55 days.

[countryjake]

4. Recommending & a thank you for sharing!

It is too fucking real.

[LittleBlue]

5. LOL, the boob thing again?

To put it simply, I AM TIRED OF TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS SHIT TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT.

It's not that we don't want to hear it, it's that most of us don't care. But please, do continue. The reaction is far more amusing than the joke itself.

[cali]

6. yes indeedy it's all about the boob number. Not.

[Sheldon Cooper]

8. Oh, we know that there are many that don't care.

They make it quite obvious - congratulations on your little club. You must be so proud.

[Quantess]

10. tsk tsk.

That was a dumb comment with all the depth of a puddle in the parking lot.

[MattBaggins]

27. Are we openly allowed to call people idiots on DU?

[LittleBlue]

30. You just did. But I won't alert.

Whatever you do, don't stop. Boobgate mustn't end.

[HangOnKids]

34. Did you read the OP?

It is a bit more complex than "boobgate" as you refer to it. Stuffing your face with popcorn is quite amusing.

[LittleBlue]

38. Yes, I read the entire article

It's a rant on various topics provoked by MacFarlane's jokes.

[HangOnKids]

39. Thank you for that insight

I can see you gleaned a great deal from the piece.

[dogknob]

47. "rant" is a handy little tool.

It ends a discussion and disparages the person you feel uncomfortable with.

[hfojvt]

35. it's not all about the boobs

the writer wants people to stop questioning the idea of a "gender wage gap" which she regards as settled fact, and I regard as a widely held false myth, or at least one that is typically over-stated and compares apples to oranges and then claims women are paid less for "the exact same job".

[redqueen]

46. "... claims women are paid less for "the exact same job"."

Wow.

Sad.

[myrna minx]

7. K&R. Thanks for posting. n/t

[Jamastiene]

9. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

12. k&r

[redqueen]

15. I love the excerpts she shared. Not sure how anyone could read this stuff and still think

that this is all meaningless.

From the Vulture:

Seth MacFarlane made a whole bunch of sexist, reductive jokes at the Oscars last night. It's frustrating enough to know that 77 percent of Academy voters are male. Or to watch 30 men and 9 women collect awards last night. But MacFarlane's boob song, the needless sexualization of a little girl, and the relentless commentary about how women look reinforced, over and over, that women somehow don't belong. They matter only insofar as they are beautiful or naked,or preferably both. This wasn't an awards ceremony so much as a black-tie celebration of the straight white male gaze.

And from Salon:

Johansson isn't even on MacFarlane'slist for a film she made. Instead, she made her way into the song because of a real-life invasion of privacy, where her nude photos were stolen from her phone and leaked to the Internet. That is an actual, not fictional violation, and MacFarlane played it for laughs.

[countryjake]

44. And the links which Ms West provided to each of those four articles...

gives a pretty clear picture of what went on Sunday night, to those of us who don't even watch the Oscars. Seems that boob song and dance was only the intro to all of the other bigoted and sexist shit that ABC provided for some 40 million viewers throughout the rest of the evening.

I liked the way Salon laid out some of the movies that MacFarlane chose for his little display, explaining the dire and violent circumstances portrayed in each scene by the people on his list. His supposed "parody" reminds me of a bunch of clueless little kids, paying no attention and goofing around while parents watch a movie at home, and they only stop playing long enough to go "Woo woo!" when nakedness appears on the screen.

[redqueen]

45. It is fantastic to know that it is all over the news in other countries.

People all over the world are getting fed up with this shit.

[countryjake]

48. The New Yorker had a few good pieces, besides the one she linked to.

And the Guardian, too. Here's one from them:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/26/seth-macfarlane-onion-oscars-misogyny

His targets over the course of the night were women and minorities, which was par for the course seeing as he told the New Yorker last year that mocking women and minorities is his "guilty pleasure" and that "some people say stereotypes exist for a reason". MacFarlane, for the record, is 39 years old.



I had no idea this guy was even that old; what could possibly be his excuse? He actually thinks that insensitivity and outright idiocy is cutting edge? I've not watched any of those cartoon shows since I was acquainted with a man who turned out to be sex offender...that was ALL that he watched on tv. Turned me off, totally, to such gratuitous humor.

It only embarrasses me that the world sees the lows our nation has reached in garnering respect toward minorities. This is the example we now provide of a country which has long battled for "equality"? Is this what we fought so hard for, when we struggled for women's liberation, freedom of speech, civil rights?

[redqueen]

49. And a handful of people here are laboring under the delusion that he is being ironic.

Many others just don't like it when people complain about any feminist issues they personally have no problem with. It's tiresome, you'd think they'd just ignore the threads if they're not interested, but no.

[countryjake]

50. Don't forget, that's age-old conservative tactic...

remember back during the Clinton campaign of the early nineties, when they all claimed how they "loved baking cookies" to go after Hillary, totally and concertedly misconstruing her original point. I've never even liked her much, but I did have to give her plus points back then for plugging women's lib. The vengeance with which the right knocked her down after that cookie comment was the same strategy they've always used to hold women's movements back, turning equality around to insinuate less freedom for others, we're just seeing the newer, improved version of it now. As tho we're the ones who are the prudes, that feminists can't handle any nakedness, that somehow we're restricting "choice" by condemning blatant misogynist kerap.

[KitSileya]

64. If we give equal rights to women, there's less rights for men, right?

It's like that research that shows that, if in a group, women speak close to 50% of the time, the men feel like women have dominated the conversation totally and that the men have been denied their right to speak.

[countryjake]

65. Yup, also, all those poor employers who might go out of business...

if they were forced to pay a decent wage for "women's work". Corporations have rights, too, don't ya know? Back in my day, they called it "pin money", which is how the bastards got away with running their sweatshops, claiming they just couldn't afford to give us enough to actually live off of. During the early seventies, one of the small plants I worked for put out leaflets saying that us wild women's libbers were trying to shut the factory down, simply because we were striking for Union recognition (and a ten-cent raise). Of course, that's not all that they called us on those flyers.

Then, there's all of those sublimely satisfied women who somehow manage to sit so comfortably in their subjugation, proclaiming that they're in control, got it good, couldn't be happier, but who will throw a shit-fit, shivering and shaking, at the mere mention that other women might see a need to upset the fruit basket.

And always, there's that simmering supreme infraction that women who struggle for equality are accused of, where conservatives claim we are snatching the very rights of the "unborn" out of our own uteri.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

53. his film "Knocked Up" knocked me out with its sexism.

And I've got such Sexism Fatigue trying to make retrograde men see from a woman's perspective that I can't say anymore....I'm talked out.

I so totally got the article. She was El. O. Quent.


ETA. Ok I got mixed up. Confused Seth Rogen, who starred in KU

KU is still incredibly sexist, though.

[redqueen]

55. Hopefully you'll feel recharged and reasy to fight some more soon.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

57. :)

Thanks redqueen! I needed that! ha, I've done so many deconstructions of Knocked Up, I could puke!

I got a rebuttal thread locked and moved to meta yesterday....so I'm just feeling worn down in the consciousness raising efforts. Ha I gotta find a good smiley for that.

[leftstreet]

17. DURec

[OceanEcosystem]

18. What does she imply by "bumbling dads in Tide commercials"

Is that point not valid - that men are being made to look ridiculous in many TV commercials?

[Sheldon Cooper]

21. Seriously.

WHAT ABOUT THE MEN???!?!?

[OceanEcosystem]

23. You haven't answered the question. n/t.

[MattBaggins]

29. That is a poke at the Men's Rights Groups

who claim that everything is A-OK because of commercials that show men as bumbling nincompoops.

[OceanEcosystem]

32. I don't think they're saying that everything is ok, but rather, that both are wrong.

That it's equally wrong for men to be unfairly portrayed as bumbling fools, just like it's wrong for women to be at a disadvantage.

[HangOnKids]

36. Men in a commercial equals female disandvantage?

LOL!

[Sheldon Cooper]

31. Oh, but I have.

[HangOnKids]

37. ^^^^^THIS^^^^^

I am still laughing over this exchange!

[gollygee]

24. The suggestion

that men can't handle laundry so women will keep having to do all of it isn't great for women either. And the suggestion that a few commercials with men who are shown to have trouble with housework or parenting (thereby reinforcing that those things are women's work) doesn't erase the sexism women are faced with. It's a false equivalency.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

56. well said. There's an ad about toilet cleaning that is breathtaking....

Guy's toilet is mega-scummy. He can't handle it. His sister (!) magically appears and cleans it for him.

But it's OK!, because she enjoyed the opportunity to feel smugly superior to him. In a lovingly amused way, of course.

[spooky3]

61. And, looking only at commercials,

Any one can see that for every ad that portrays a man as bumbling, there are five that show very clearly that it is the woman's job to use (and be thrilled and fulfilled by) the right kind of mop and cleaner, to get the kids to eat breakfast or take the right medicine, to keep track of where the keys are, etc. And all the while, looking young and attractive, even if hubby is an average Joe.

On edit: and, how about the ad that has Sis visiting Sis and making fun of her spots on her dishwashing detergent and her less than spotless windows? What ad parallels that with men in the lead roles, and when have you EVER witnessed a scene anything like that in real life, involving any women you know? I never have.

[spooky3]

69. You must not watch any live sports.

[redqueen]

19. I also love her closing paragraphs:

But. I couldn't quit doing this any more than my cells could "quit" processing oxygen (or whatever cells do! Us girls aren't so good in the sciences!). I'm not a feminist by choice, I'm a feminist because thisis the world. And if my fatigue sounds defeatist, it isn't. It'sthe opposite. It's an internal rallying cry that reminds me how bad things are. If you pay attention to and comment on everyday inequalities—immense and tiny—if you let all of it filter through you and you hop around and eyeroll and groan and drive your boyfriend crazy because he just wants to watch the IT Crowd but you NEED to talk about what Pat Robertson said today,this is what happens. Seth MacFarlane will go on the televisionand make a joke about George Clooney having sex with a 9-year-old girl who is sitting right there, and your first reaction will be, "Well. At least he didn't literally say she should get raped. Pass the cheese."

That's bad. A famous man making sexist jokes on a primetime awards show watched by millions of people is so banal and status-quo in our culture, that to me—a woman professionally committed to detecting and calling bullshit on sexism—it just feels like a drop in the bucket. Luckily, there's nothing better than a depressing dose of apathy to remind you to FUCK THE BUCKET. If I'm not fatigued, I'm not caring enough. So fuck that stupid bucket.

[KitSileya]

43. Yeah, some of those jokes referred to had me gaping, especially the Quvenzhané Wallis one.

Apparently, he joked about a May/December romance between her and George Clooney that just had me vomiting in my mouth a little. How disgusting! He couldn't have turned it around and joked about say Emmanuelle Riva (the oldest nominee) and someone of legal age? If what McFarlane was trying to do was be all critical of established Hollywood and all, as I've seen people defending him claim, that would have worked just as well (or better, because let's face it, he was joking about romancing a 9-year old....with said 9-year old in the audience!) There are some limits you don't cross, regardless of how shocking you want to be.

[Beacool]

20. It's very simple.

Let's imagine if a female host had sang the same song, but about about men and switching the word "boobs" with "balls".

[AngryAmish]

25. This.

[redqueen]

28. Did you read the article?

At first I was like


Then I realized the title and opening paragraphs could easily be misconstrued.

[gaspee]

42. Amen

I am so sick and tired of it that I don't say much on DU. How many times do women have to ask people (men and women) not to use sexist language when talking about women (even conservative ones.) I've decided they enjoy it and I'm not about to get onto that merry go round.

[LiberalLoner]

54. +1 so darn tired

[BlancheSplanchnik]

60. they enjoy it. Teasing the girls is FUN.

Why, in India, that's the men's euphemism for sexual harrassment to sexual assault to rape! "Eve Teasing"

Because sexually overpowering women is FUN. Seeing women Get Upset is even funnerer!
(Like little boys in grade school punching girls and sneaking looks up their skirts, and laughing when she cries)

Makes them get all tingly and funny down there.

[freshwest]

71. A good right punch took the fun right out of it, LOL.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

72. kick to the shin 'll do that too. :)

And If it's at the pool, a good chomp in the shoulder will turn that frown upside down. yours, that is.

[Luminous Animal]

59. There were some good comments, too.

[Matariki]

62. "Asking people to think critically about some hacky jokes from a dancing cartoonist?"

'You might as well wear a sandwich board that says, "Yell at Me With Bad Grammar."'