{"id":963,"date":"2011-10-26T18:45:01","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T01:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hotpepper.ca\/?p=963"},"modified":"2020-04-03T14:32:32","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T20:32:32","slug":"facebook-memes-and-sexism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2011\/10\/26\/facebook-memes-and-sexism\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook memes and sexism"},"content":{"rendered":"

I like to think I have been sensitive to gender equality, violence against women and the like for some time, but I have to say that the women studies course I took this past semester hammered a lot of things home.<\/p>\n

I see sexism and discrimination against women in places I previously would have overlooked and in things I\u00a0previously\u00a0would have found funny.<\/p>\n

This past week has been pretty hard for me. I have seen many of my friends participating in Facebook memes that denigrate and objectify women. When I do try to stand up against such, I am the one labelled as being insensitive and told I should lighten up.<\/p>\n

I am very fed up this week and I am disgusted more each day that goes by to the point I feel sick to my stomach and my hands shake.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the images my friends have posted:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

This one tries to make light violence against women. Strictly speaking it\u2019s spousal abuse period, but since I am a man and the friend who posted it is a man, I saw this as directed at women. Besides, as the saying goes, it\u2019s a dog is man\u2019s best friend, not human\u2019s best friend. It is never okay to laugh at the idea of stuffing one\u2019s own spouse into the trunk of a car.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is sexist in several ways. First it treats men as prizes (You\u2019re all mine if you plan to marry in the temple. It treats women as objects of desire (if you aren\u2019t going to get married in the temple, you don\u2019t get me). It trivializes the sacredness of temple ordinances.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

This perpetuates the stereotypes of women being emotionally unstable, and it ties so-called manhood to men being accepting of emotional abuse.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

This objectifies women and glamorizes sodomization, both of which together promote sexual violence against women.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Yet another one objectifying women. This one goes even further by presenting women as objects that can be eaten. And why is it women have to wait for men to come along; why can\u2019t they initiate relationships?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Finally, this one is sexist on several fronts. First, it promotes emotional instability in relationships. Second, it promotes the idea of women being owned by men. Finally, notice how the male progresses from boy to gentleman, but the female in the relationship remains a girl? Also, notice the female in the relationship is a girl, but the females outside of the relationship are women.<\/p>\n

What disturbs me the most is that those who post these images are completely oblivious to the sexism contained within them.<\/p>\n

And the sexism isn\u2019t confined to just these images either. Every day, it seems, someone I know posts similar photos. New photos. The cycle continues: Someone promotes violence and sexism in their images and other perpetuate their messages by sharing them.<\/p>\n

In all sincerity, what is there that can be done?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like to think I have been sensitive to gender equality, violence against women and the like for some time, but I have to say that the women studies course I took this past semester hammered a lot of things home. I see sexism and discrimination against women in places I previously would have overlooked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sexism-and-women-studies","tag-sexism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4NkW7-fx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2857,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2015\/01\/10\/maybe-its-time-to-rally-women-instead-of-divide-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":0},"title":"Maybe it\u2019s time to rally women instead of divide them","author":"Kim Siever","date":"10 January 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever noticed that our society loves to pit women against each other (especially mothers)? It seems to focus on creating binary realities in which women take one side and judge the women on the other side. For example, consider these examples: breastfeeding bottlefeeding assisted\u00a0birth natural birth stay-at-home mum\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sexism and women studies"","block_context":{"text":"Sexism and women studies","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/sexism-and-women-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/01\/mom-and-baby-having-fun.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/01\/mom-and-baby-having-fun.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/01\/mom-and-baby-having-fun.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/01\/mom-and-baby-having-fun.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/01\/mom-and-baby-having-fun.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2823,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2014\/07\/08\/like-a-girl\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":1},"title":"Like a girl","author":"Kim Siever","date":"8 July 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's seems to be trendy to create viral videos with messages designed to empower women. The most recent video was produced by Always: http:\/\/youtu.be\/XjJQBjWYDTs It's a great message, one that touches me as a father of 3 girls. The downside to the video is that the message of empowerment has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sexism and women studies"","block_context":{"text":"Sexism and women studies","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/sexism-and-women-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/XjJQBjWYDTs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":982,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2012\/03\/03\/lethbridge-needs-to-abandon-alderman-for-councillor\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":2},"title":"Lethbridge needs to abandon \u201calderman\u201d for \u201ccouncillor\u201d","author":"Kim Siever","date":"3 March 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"{EAV:bfe22a5c2d268e2c} A group of citizens will present to Lethbridge City Council this Monday, advocating for changing the usage of \u201calderman\u201d as a term for city council members to \u201ccouncillor\u201d. I support this change. The equality of women has become more important to me as I have been back in school.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sexism and women studies"","block_context":{"text":"Sexism and women studies","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/sexism-and-women-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3920,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/10\/12\/ram-the-daughter-dodge-the-father\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":3},"title":"Ram the daughter. Dodge the father.","author":"Kim Siever","date":"12 October 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In my neighbourhood, there\u2019s a truck that has a decal on its rear window that says, \u201cRam the daughter, Dodge the father.\u201d Does anyone else find this super gross?","rel":"","context":"In "Sexism and women studies"","block_context":{"text":"Sexism and women studies","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/sexism-and-women-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/challenger-2020071_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/challenger-2020071_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/challenger-2020071_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/challenger-2020071_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/challenger-2020071_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3800,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/09\/21\/for-capitalism-to-succeed-it-must-divide-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":4},"title":"For capitalism to succeed, it must divide us","author":"Kim Siever","date":"21 September 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Capitalism is at the root of all that divides us as a society. Capitalism depends on our being divided; division is built into capitalism. It\u2019s what helps it survive.","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/broken-216728.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/broken-216728.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/broken-216728.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/broken-216728.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/broken-216728.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3782,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/09\/18\/why-mothers-shouldnt-have-to-stay-at-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":963,"position":5},"title":"Why mothers shouldn\u2019t have to stay at home","author":"Kim Siever","date":"18 September 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The idea that men should provide financially for the family and that women should stay home to care for the home and the family is problematic. There are multiple reasons why it\u2019s problematic, but one reason has been on my mind recently. This arrangement keeps women unskilled and uneducated. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/shutterstock_1076550983.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/shutterstock_1076550983.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/shutterstock_1076550983.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/shutterstock_1076550983.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4476,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions\/4476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}