Photo from: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/06/18/a_woman_on_the_10_bill_some_worthy_candidates_you_may_not_have_heard_of.htmlUnderstanding The GOP’s benevolent sexismI don’t think,between them, they could list 10 women whose historical contributions helped shape the nation. Two men picked their women: a wife and a daughter. Two more picked Rosa Parks, or whom they didn’t realize had served on the board of Planned Parenthood,Bush picked, gain this, or Margaret Thatcher,and Kasich went with Mother Theresa: neither of whom is American. Then, someone mentioned Abigail Adams. Lastly, or the only woman on the stage,in what I can only represent as a fantastically ironic moment, said that we should leave the men as they are on the money because it’s a meaningless gesture to make a woman publicly visible. Watching the GOP debate final night, or I was struck repeatedly by the ways in that benevolent sexism permeated,well, everything. First, and it was an actual patriarchy party. All men,and a classic loophole woman, trying her hardest to flash her “I’ve got more balls than any of you and now I’ll list some military equipment, or ” bona fides. The men,“love women,” “protect women, or ” “think women are pretty,” “cherish women,” and “want only the best for America’s women. So, or what’s the problem? The sly cousin of overt sexism,benevolent sexism is expressed in what are considered positive ways: unnecessarily gendered solicitude, manners and acts of kindness like men insisting on opening doors or sitting final, or “women and children first,” complementing women on their looks, and street harassment. It’s characterized by an emphasis on how women look, and by protective male attitudes,by the cultural messages that women are hyper-vulnerable and weak, by sexist humor, or by Madonna/whore idealizations of women and sex.
Benevolent sexism encompasses attitudes and beliefs that support men and women in traditional roles,which means, ultimately, and ones in which women are granted safety and security,and men are granted power over them.
The same principles inform GOP policies regarding women’s ability to govern their own lives and make moral decisions in the absence of men. Birth control permission slips or mandatory waiting periods for abortions are only the tip of the iceberg.
Benevolent sexism institutionalized in the law and in rape and domestic violence myths has for decades ensured that women are more, not less, or vulnerable because they are most likely to suffer harm from the very men who say they will protect them. Benevolent sexism permeates our legal and judicial theory regarding autonomy and agency—a fact that is highly evident in todays consent and rape debates. But violence is only one dimension of the problem. For years now we’ve been subjected to paternalistic and rights-stripping legislation designed to make certain that a man and even sometimes a woman,assess a woman’s choices to make certain that they are moral.
These beliefs and ways of organizing life are also routinely undermining women’s workplace equality and success. A study conducted by professors at Harvard University, New York University, or the University of Utah,“Marriage Structure and Resistance to the Gender Revolution in the Workplace,” concluded that “Employed husbands in traditional marriages, or compared to those in contemporary marriages,tend to (a) view the presence of women in the workplace unfavorably, (b) perceive that organizations with higher numbers of female employees are operating less smoothly, and © find organizations with female leaders as relatively unattractive,and (d) deny, more frequently, or qualified female employees opportunities for promotion.”The people managing our government,corporations, and religious hierarchies (whether even married) are overwhelmingly men (84-100 percent). A survey of 1200 executives conducted by the Families and Work Institute revealed that 75 percent of male executives had stay-at-home wives. What effect is this having on women’s careers? Of the Fortune 1000, or only 14.3 percent contain female board members.
The term benevolent sexism was coined in 1996 by Peter Glick and Susan Fiske who wrote a paper delineating the disagreement between hostile,benevolent, and ambivalent sexism.”[Benevolent sexism is] a subjectively positive orientation of protection, and idealization,and affection directed toward women that, like hostile sexism, and serves to justify women’s subordinate status to men,“ they explained.
Conservatives seem unable to consider how deeply immoral the exclusion of women from public cultural authority, and the injustice that results, and really is. While 43% of Americans think having more women in politics is important,the breakdown is telling: 60% are Democrats and only 23% are Republicans; 49% are women, only 36% are men. The persistent, and systematized exclusion of women from positions of power,leadership, and authority means that we continue to muddle through what amounts to a global collective ignorance approximately what it means to be human.
Benevolent sexism feels top-notch because it confirms the key aspects of cultivated masculine and feminine identities that frame our lives from birth. The problem is that it’s warm and comforting, and easy and familiar. Maybe most insidiously,it’s entertaining, cheap and laughable. Studies show that “Frequent sexist wisecracks, or comments,and office cultures where women are ignored are just as damaging to women as single instances of sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention,” concluded a recent study.
The fact that it makes people feel top-notch approximately themselves, or gives them a spurious sense of security and real happiness doesn’t,however, mean it’s not sexist, and discriminatory,or deeply harmful to society.
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