Let's talk about the construction of gender and gender relations here, now, in the twenty-first century.
Actually, let's talk about the shit still associated with being a woman in the 21st century. 100 years ago, women were fighting for the right to vote. 40 years ago, women were fighting for the right to have abortions. Now, we can vote, and we can have abortions. (sort of.) Right now, it seems that we're winning another right: the right to be treated as objects. This fight has been pretty easy, possibly because of the mass of women behind this cause. It's amazing what sheer numbers can accomplish.
So if it is twenty-first century America and we're all enlightened and free, why do I still have to wonder whether or not I am viewed and respected as a human? When a teenage boy yells at a woman on a bike "I have a banana seat you can ride," or when a man yells out his window at a woman in a skirt "make it a little shorter, desperate," or when a she politely asks a man to stop making offensive jokes and is then told that he'll wait till she's not around because women need to be protected, and then is identified by men as a man-hating "feminazi" for voicing her non-acceptance of these instances, women are not seen as human beings, let alone equals.
Yes, I have a "rack," we all do. Is this what is standing in the way of being treated as an equal? Women and men are biologically unique, and many experts make a strong case for innate psychological differences as well. But I still don't think that should excuse males from acting as unperceptive idiots seemingly incapable of acting like they have the capability for rational thought, whether breasts are involved or not.
Or should it? Does the media fuel this behavior by presenting women as simple and wanting nothing more than male attention? Can you blame a man when he thinks a woman is running in a tank top for his pleasure when that's what they do in the movies?
At what point do we stop acting within our biological roles (nature)and start acting how we thing we're supposed to, ie how we see ourselves portrayed in the almighty media (culture)?
This topic, while largely left unexplored outside the realm of universities womens' studies classes and downplayed elsewhere, has so many implications and and avenues to explore that it's virtually impossible to come to a concrete answer: women should not use their sexuality to get what they want, it objectifies them and degrades them. That is not power or progress, patriarchy by another name. OR, men are stupid, ie easily swayed by a little cleavage, so why not use it to get what you want? That's power. Men and women are not biological equals, and should not be treated as such. OR, we are both humans capable of rational thought, therefore deserve equal treatment.
This argument is so old it seems cliche, and it wouldn't be relevant were objectification of women not now more the norm than ever.
