Hegemonic Masculinity

Do you ever wonder why your parents never make your sister cut the lawn or maybe if you are a female, your parents automatically make you wash dishes?

Moms get their girls ears pierced at age two yet will not let their sons get their ears pierced until they are out of the house. What gives? These are examples of how decisions are based on whether you are male or female, otherwise known as gender bias. Because of their sex, people do not get jobs they are well qualified for, are paid lower wages, and are overlooked for job promotions and many other opportunities. Gender discrimination is all around us; you can find it everywhere. Gender discrimination is an ongoing problem in the Fox Valley, the state of Wisconsin, and the United States.

Samantha Miller and Mark Dagostino report an example of this discrimination at Boston College. They explain that for the past twenty-five years, Mary Daly, 70, has barred men from her classes, insisting that her female students learn better without male distractions. “The point of my class is that there be a space where women can create our thoughts and our own philosophy, unencumbered by patriarchal invasions,” Daly stated. “It”s not about discrimination at all.”

Boston College recently fired Daly when she rejected the school”s ultimatum to admit men after a male student threatened to sue the school claiming Daly was violating federal law. Boston College officials maintain Daly”s stance violated the landmark 1972 Title IX legislation that bars gender discrimination at schools receiving federal funds. She may have good reasons for wanting an all-female class, but the law states everybody is entitled to an equal opportunity for education.

Gender discrimination dates back as far as Adam and Eve. Can you imagine the world starting out with a woman in control? As gender discrimination continued to invade all aspects of life, the government began to step in. Laws were passed so women could vote and become public officials. President Richard M. Nixon signed Title IX of the Federal Education Law in 1972 that banned gender discrimination in classes.

Barbara Bitters reports there are schools in Wisconsin that are not complying with the law because they still have separate boys” and girls” choirs. Little Chute High School, a small community located in northeastern Wisconsin, has a women”s” choir. Are they in compliance? Jean Beschta, an Appleton high school guidance counselor, remembers when the law was passed in the seventies. “There were a lot of nervous fathers who were worried what would happen to their boys if someone introduced them to cookbooks, recipes, and dish towels.”

Some of Wisconsin”s well-known colleges are also battling with gender bias. Julie Sneider from the Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee reported a study done in 1998 that shows only twenty-five percent of Marquette”s full-time tenure track faculty are women, and only six of the school”s one hundred and fourteen faculty members with full professor status are women. The federal government has criticized UW-Madison for not bringing the number of female faculty closer to the number of female students who constitute more than half of the student body. Gwen Carleton from the Capital Times reports part of the problem is that many of the deans and administrators making hiring decisions continue to believe women are unqualified or uninterested in faculty positions.

How are we doing as a nation?

The Capital Times, cites a study released by the AFL-CIO, indicating that Wisconsin is among the worst states for a gender pay gap among full-time workers. “Across the nation, women earn 74 cents for every dollar earned by men. A typical woman in Wisconsin earns 69 cents for every man”s dollar, or $193 less per week,”. U.S. President Bill Clinton said, “Equal pay is not a political issue. It is not even a gender issue. It is, at heart, a national issue, a family issue, and a matter of principal – a question of what kind of country we want America to be today, and in the twenty-first century,”.

If our own president thinks equal pay among both sexes isn’t a political problem, whose problem is it? Gender bias is seen at all levels but without the support of laws to enforce equality between the sexes, what can be done? Each of us as individuals needs to do our part. Vote to keep politicians in office that favor equality for men and women in all aspects of their lives – equal employment opportunity, equal rights to a good education, equal pay for the same job, and so on. Support schools that offer equal opportunities for their teachers and students regardless of their gender. Teach your children to keep open minds and not judge people and their capabilities by whether they are male or female. Most importantly, base your decisions without letting bias interfere with your outcome.

Introduction Women in society are viewed as subordinates to men. Women are expected to listen, sit and wait for the men. There are examples of the subordination of women everywhere you look. In literature, the media and different societies all over the globe, women are portrayed as lesser than men. In the past, many Eastern and Western societies did not allow women to be educated due to the fact that men thought women should not have the knowledge and be able to use their knowledge in any way. Men treated women in such a primitive manner.

All the females needed to know were the basics of keeping house, raising children, and following their husband’s orders. In section 2, I will describe two dominant imageries of women. I will provide modern day examples of these two dominant images which I chose to discuss. I will discuss how these images co-play with the mechanisms of gender construction. There will be a feed-back loop on the effects of expectations of women due to these 2 types of imagery. 2. Women as Sex Objects Women are often viewed as sex objects.

One reason why men view women as sex objects is because men use women to reproduce and without women, there will be no way to have more children. Another reason why men view women as sex objects is because it makes them feel more superior to women. This is especially true in the porn industry. Pornography constructs women as what men want sexually. Pornography is the answer to the fantasies of men. Women are constantly being dominated by men and used to satisfy the men’s desires. In many cases, women who are perceived as “dangerous” are often made to appear less threatening, more childlike.

Women who are perceived to be too pure are portrayed to be more “bad”. Many antipornography feminists protest against pornography because it degrades women and promotes violence against women. Overall, pornography radiates a bad image of women to the world. As a result of women being viewed as sex objects, men acquire a certain expectation from women to act and behave the way women are portrayed in pornography. Sometimes, men take pornography scenes too literally and are tempted to re-enact the scenes out, giving life to these fantasies. In MacKinnon’s, Pornography, Civil Rights, and “Speech”: The books that were ound with this man were: Violent Stories of Kinky Humiliation, Violent Stories of Dominance and Submission – you think feminists made up these words? – Bizarre Sex Crimes, Shamed Victims, and Water Sports Fetish, Enemas and Golden Showers. The Minnesota Supreme Court said, “It appears that in committing these various acts, the defendant was giving life to some stories he had read in various pornographic books. ”(1993: 379). Women as Earth Mothers Ever since ancient times, women have been viewed as earth mothers because they are considered to be closer to nature.

Staying at home, having kids, raising the kids, teaching, cooking and cleaning – these are all the things that are expected naturally from women. According to anthropologist Sherry Ortner: Women are universally devalued and this is tied to the symbolic association of women and “nature”. (1974: 29). She argued nature is controlled by culture by means of symbol and artifacts. In her sense, “culture” is associated with human consciousness and the products of humans, such as technology and thoughts which humans use to control “nature”.

This means that culture is superior to nature because it can form and shape nature any way it wants to shape it according to the needs or wishes of humans. As earth mothers, women are associated with “nature” and men have been associated with “culture”; so therefore, men are seen as superior to women and men can easily control women. Women are considered closer to nature in 3 ways. One is due to their ability to bear children. To be able to reproduce makes women a step closer to nature than men. Another reason is based on the fact that women are caretakers or infants and children.

They are nurturing individuals who take care of children who are too young to acquire cultural values so this makes children closer to nature. The women are viewed as even closer to nature because they are taking care of these young children who have yet to acquire culture. The third way women are seen as earth mothers is because women deal with more concrete issues such as taking care of the children, taking care of her husband, and housework. As a result of women being viewed as earth mothers, the women act the role while the men expect the women to have kids and nurture the family.

If this standard expectation is not followed, society will criticize the individuals. 3. Conclusion There are many dominant images of women. The main ones I chose to discuss are women portrayed as subordinate sex objects and women portrayed as nurturing earth mothers. The world is still filled with the idea that women are subordinates compared to men and it will be a tough fight for feminists; but little by little, progress is being made. Soon, not only women are going to be viewed as the caretakers of the family – men are slowly adopting the roles women are currently playing. Society is gradually changing.

Globally, there has been a alteration in the tendency of infection among the sexes. Initially at the oncoming of the disease, the prevalence of the disease was higher among the males than the females due to the fact that the disease was concentrated among homophiles and drug users. However as the cuticular continues to turn there has been a progressive displacement to heterosexual transmittal with an addition in the figure of females being infected.

The planetary pandemic of HIV/AIDS is now in its 3rd decennary, with adult females now at the epicenter of the pandemic, globally accounting for about 50 % of all HIV instances aged 15 and older, including about 60 % of all grownups populating with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the figure of females populating with the disease in every part of the universe continue to increase. ( UNAIDS, 2009 )

The feminization of the pandemic is precipitated by biological and socio-cultural factors ; However although adult females are more vulnerable to the disease because of their biological makeup, there is grounds that gender norms play an built-in portion in act uponing an person ‘s exposure to the infection, entree to wellness attention services, sexual behavior and attitude, every bit good as entree to intervention and support when infected. ( WHO, 2003 )

The present tendency of the disease transmittal reveals that the epidermic is being aggravated by gender based exposures, stressing the importance of mainstreaming gender into HIV/AIDS programmes as an built-in effort to commanding farther spread of the disease. ( UNFPA, 2008 )

The Importance of Gender on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic:

In most communities, gender determines how much information males and females are expected to hold approximately sexual affairs. Females are supposed to be nescient about sexual affairs as a mark of celibacy ; therefore doing them nescient about preventative schemes and doing it hard for them to be proactive in negociating safer sex. Different set of cultural norms apply to the males, they are frequently expected to hold more information and cognition about sexual affairs, be expericienced, and led as determination shapers in sexual issues. These make them vulnerable to being infected, prevents them from seeking information or acknowledging their limited information about sexual affairs. ( Carovano, 1992 ) .

Social norms of virginity for single adult females besides increase her exposure ; it besides limits her information about sexual affairs to avoid being thought of as being sexually active. Puting her at a hazard of colza and sexual coercion. Research has besides shown that these immature misss practise other sexual behaviors such as anal sex, therefore increasing their hazard of undertaking the disease. ( Weiss et al.,2000 ) .

Besides, because of the social norms of virginity accessing wellness installations for the intervention of sexually transmitted diseases is frequently stigmatising for both immature and big females. ( Weiss et al.,2000 ) .

In many societies, maternity, merely like virginity is seen as being ideal, therefore utilizing preventives or barrier methods to guarantee safer sex is seen as a important quandary for adult females. ( Heise and Elias, 1995 ) .

Research have shown that economic dependance of adult females increases their likeliness of interchanging sex for money, with no dialogue for safe sex, accompanied with their inability to go forth these dealingss even when they perceive them to be hazardous because of its fiscal additions. ( Heise and Elias,1995 ) .

A reappraisal of literature done by Heise et Al ( 1999 ) showed it was more likely for persons who had been sexually abused to hold multiple sex spouses, engage in insecure sex and exchange sex for money or favor.

Harmonizing to Societal norms, work forces are supposed to show their male power through force against adult females, lending both straight and indirectly to a adult female ‘s exposure to the disease. ( Heise and Elias, 1995 ) .

A survey conducted in a voluntary HIV guidance and proving Centre in Tanzania by Maman et Al ( 2000 ) suggested that adult females who expericienced sexual force were at a hazard of HIV/AIDS. It was noticed that those who were HIV positive were 2.6 times more likely to hold expericienced sexual force in an confidant relationship.

Social norms expect a adult male to hold several sexual spouses, for sufficient sexual release, herewith beliing the preventative message that emphasizes fidelity in relationships. ( Heise and Elias, 1995 ) .

Social norms of maleness, which affirm males holding sexual laterality over females, as a characteristic of manhood, frequently lead to stigmatisation of work forces who have sex with work forces, thereby taking to secrecy of their sexual behavior, increasing the exposure of their sexual spouses, both males and females. ( UNAIDS, 1999 ) .

Overall, the influence of social norms is frequently associated with addition in an person ‘s exposure of undertaking the disease. ( Courteney, 1998 )

Analysis of WHO ‘s Policy on Gender Mainstreaming in HIV/AIDS Programme:

The guidelines on gender mainstreaming resulted from a WHO ‘s meeting held in Geneva in 2002 on incorporating Gender into HIV/AIDS. The demand to bring forth guidelines was emphasized as a agency to guaranting realisation of set ends.

The present edition was developed by World Health Organization in concurrence with inputs from advisers peer reviewed by external referees, relevant proficient staff in the World Health Organization every bit good as research experience from old programmes that addressed the gender dimensions in HIV/AIDS and other wellness programmes.

The intent of the guidelines is to increase consciousness of how gender inequalities affects a adult female ‘s ability to entree HIV/AIDS programmes and services, it besides offers practical ways on how to integrate gender into assorted types of HIV/AIDS programmes and services. Four specific countries were covered HIV proving and reding, Prevention of female parent to child transmittal ( PMTCT ) , HIV intervention and Home based attention for people populating with HIV/AIDS.

The guidelines were formulated chiefly for programmes directors, wellness attention suppliers in the public and private sector involved in instituting, implementing or measuring HIIV/AIDS programmes.

The guidelines are consistent and reinforced through assorted international understandings and declarations such as Beijing declaration and platform for action of the 1995 Fourth World conference on adult females ( FWCW ) and 1994 International conference on population and development.

The United Nations General Assembly declarations of the committedness on HIV/AIDS besides emphasized the importance of turn toing gender equality as a agency to commanding the epidermic.

This policy compliments old attempts done on incorporating gender into HIV/AIDS programmes with the purpose of bettering entree, informing and authorising clients, and besides taking to wellness equity and societal justness.

However the guidelines focused chiefly on adult females.it did non offer equal chances to work forces, although the Beijing platform for action besides considered work forces ‘s concerns, guaranting that adult females and work forces benefit every bit from the ultimate end of accomplishing gender equality.

The guidelines did non besides see the multi-sectoral attack ; it focused chiefly on the wellness sector attack to cut downing gender inequality.

( Beginning: World Health Organization ‘s guidelines on intergrating gender into HIV/AIDS Programmes within the wellness sector, 2007 )

Measuring the execution of this policy at the international and national degree.

Following the 1995 United Nations conference on adult females, assorted developmental establishments, international organisations and states adopted the thought of gender mainstreaming. These International Organizations and development Institutions developed and endorsed gender mainstreaming Policies in HIV/AIDS ; nevertheless rating show restraints in execution, these policies have been slow in interpreting from policy into action. ( Moser, 2005 ) .

This can be attributed to the fact that some development practicians in NGO ‘s continue to see gender issues as a distraction to the developmental issues they have to turn to, accordingly those involved in gender cyclosis are non in places to do determinations and alterations to these programmes.

Since the Congress, gender mainstreaming in HIV/AIDS have been adopted and endorsed by assorted authoritiess, gender advocators in these states have successed in integrating gender issues into their national strategic programs for HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS programmes. The challenges in these states have been the execution of these policies and strategic programs at the territory degree.

In a survey done in Botswana, it was observed that although gender had been incorporated into its national response to HIV/AIDS, with purposes to authorising the adult females, therefore cut downing the exposure of females in undertaking the disease, the intercessions focused on adult females, pretermiting the work forces, therefore gestating gender as a adult female ‘s issue.

In Malawi, important efforts have been made, assorted programmes have been formed, and the National HIV/AIDS policy recognized that gender issues had to be considered, to guarantee effectual response to HIV/AIDS intercessions. However on rating it was noticed that bulk of the staffs in the NGO ‘s understood the construct in the European context, which was non applicable to their ain cultural norms and values, furthermore, the exposure of work forces was non considered sabotaging the proportion of drug users and homophiles in the population.

The Zimbabwe ‘s national Aids Policy, showed committedness to gender inequality, acknowledging that adult females were more vulnerable, and prosecuting authorization of adult females as a agency to undertaking gender inequality, it besides developed schemes to guarantee the engagement of work forces in gender affairs. However rating showed that despite these schemes nidation of these policies at the grass-root degree have been impossible. ( Boom et al. , 2000 )

The national strategic program of South-Africa accepted adult females, and work forces who have sex with work forces, as portion of those who were vulnerable to the disease, and provided assorted intercessions to turn to gender related causes of exposure.

It emphasized the difference in the prevalence of the disease in the age groups ( 20-29 ) , saying that adult females were more vulnerable due to social norms. Acknowledging that really small attending had been given to work forces who have sex with work forces, and drug users. It emphasized that the execution of these schemes were to suit both the demands of adult females and work forces. Evaluation nevertheless noted that commercial sex workers were discriminated and that gender force played an built-in portion in adult females ‘s exposure in South-Africa was non addressed therefore haltering the execution of these schemes.

The Multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS strategic program of Switzerland recognized that harmful gender norms played a function in fuelling the cuticular, and that to guarantee long -term effects in schemes aimed at commanding the disease gender inequality had to be considered. This led to the National Emergency Response Council, developing schemes to steer the execution of these HIV/AIDS programmes.

However it was noticed that gender was conceptualized as biological sex instead than gender, and its programmes were targeted at adult females, pretermiting work forces who had sex with work forces and other vulnerable groups such as drug users. On rating an addition in the incidence of mew infections was noticed among homophiles, showing that these groups played an of import function in commanding the disease.

Discussion:

Assorted International Organizations and Countries have integrated gender into their assorted policies, schemes and HIV/AIDS Programmes. The inquiry arising is why are these policies, schemes and plans non being implemented at the grass root degree?

Decision:

Gender norms influence an person ‘s exposure to undertaking the disease, therefore stressing the importance of Gender mainstreaming and adult females authorization in commanding the spread of the disease. Gender mainstreaming intercessions in assorted degree should acknowledge the functions work forces play in adult females ‘s expericiences, therefore gender related restraints of both males and females should be considered in HIV/AIDS Programmes.

Training and support should be offered to HIV/AIDS programme directors and their staffs about gender issues to enable them implement policies turn toing gender inequality and HIV/AIDS.

I chose to write Toulmin Essay proposal about gender inequality in the work place. The Toulmin Essay next week will be about gender inequality in society. Gender inequality in the work place is a small component of the larger picture of . There are several ways in which women have been discriminated against in the workplace over the years. From the very start of the hiring process women have had to face animosity and repression in the corporate world.

Women had to have more experience and better credentials than equivalent male applicants if they hoped to even get a second glance. And though there has been significant improvement in some areas, the job market still remains prejudice toward women in various forms. One of the things that have changed some since women first became part of the work force is the willingness of employers to hire female employees. Women used to have to fight much harder to prove their competence, and, even then they rarely secured high level positions.

It is becoming more common to see women in some of these high level positions now, but they still have to sacrifice much more than the men do to get to the top and have to work harder to stay there. The most predominate way in which women feel the inequality of gender discrimination is the gross difference in the pay they receive compared to men. Women in every industrialized society around the world are paid far less for performing the same tasks as their male counterparts. The gap is profound –“on average, women in the United States earn only 68% of what men are paid (206),” and that number has remained consistent throughout the years.

Although some of the gap is due to the type of fields’ men and women choose to pursue, discrimination also plays a huge role. It used to be societies view that men should support their families and women should be at home care for the house and the kids. That concept carries over into the business world in a few ways. Employers feared hiring women for long term positions out of fear they would leave once they got married and had children, or the affect that caring for children would have on job performance (“the child penalty)”.

Because of these outside responsibilities women were seen as being less committed to their careers, so employers saw them as more of a liability to the company than an asset. This, along with the idea that men have better leadership skills, and women were better in “support services like human resources or public relations,” women were rarely offered promotions to top ranking positions (especially those positions like sales and marketing that affect the bottom line and are stereotypically male).

Once they reach a particular point on the corporate ladder they hit the glass ceiling and are stuck where as the men seem to have no limits whatsoever. More frustrating than the limitations women face in the “male” job market is the biased treatment they receive even within the fields that are considered to be famine (such as nursing, teachers, librarian, etc. ) When men pursue careers in these types of areas, they are not met with a criticizing stigma,and their capabilities are not questioned like women’s are.

Men never experience hitting the glass ceiling whatever their career choice might be. In fact, they experience the exact opposite! Even in traditionally female dominated jobs, men are shown favoritism. They get more offers for higher level positions and higher salaries to start, and they are given better benefits, hours, and work assignments, and they move up the lines faster than their women coworkers on what is called the glass escalator. Even though the inequality between genders is gradually decreasing, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

Women are becoming the sole source of income in many homes because of the dynamics of the changing society. Shrinking the wage gap and continue to dispel the stereotypes that surround women is necessary. Encouraging our young women to pursue education and training is one solution. By encouraging our young people to do this, and the more qualified females there are out in the job market to fill these high level positions, the more pressure employers will feel to hire them and society’s views and beliefs will slowly begin to evolve with the times.

Introduction

The purpose of this investigation is to understand what are the color stereotypes for females, how they contrast with color stereotypes for males, how these stereotypes have come about and how they are reinforced. 2 Body 1: b discuss what is currently accepted as “femanine colors/femanine quality of colors” c lean more towards the quality of color: how the color is softer, lighter, with more variety of shade. the reason for this could be due to scientific reasons. d Femanine colors are generally seen as softer, lighter, more variety in shade. A possible reason for this characterization could be due to how the perception of color is different for females than it is for males. females have a wider range of color perception than males. (refer to diagram) (females can more easily percieve more subtle shades of color than males can. because of this refinement these kinds of “softer colors” with “off-primary shades” are precieved as more femanine like. this scientific reason could be why colors are precieved this way. e why have these qualities been ascribed to females

Body

Contrasting evidence also suggests that certain femanine colors are seen this way due to baby gender identification and due to advertsing g Advertising: strong evidence suggests that advertising plays a large role in determining these kinds of color stereotyping. ii show articles displaying this kind of advertising. iii explain that in the past color stereotypes were actually reversed: pink was considered a boys color and blue was considered a girl color. iv when advertisers changed their minds about this stereotyping in the 1920s people began to dress differently.

This mindset has continued into today. But this change in thought suggests that advertising plays a significant role in what people consider a “boy’s color” and a “girls color” Robert Pietrzak2/27/13 Female Gender Stereotypes in color: What they are, how they came about and what they mean. There have been a of scientific studies that have looked for how gender affects color disposition and how colors relate to gender. While they have looked at different factors and come to different conclusions, there has been a consensus that color stereotypes exist and for females differ from those of men.

These can be attributed to physiological color dispositions that differ between genders due to evolutionary reasons. While there may be a color disposition the existance of stereotypes have its roots in other factors such as the influence of media upon what is accepted as a stereotype, the actions of gender identification by consumers, and the influence of gender disposition from a young age. In their preliminary research Hurbert and Ling stated that within the “long history of color preference studeis… here is a definite predisposition for certain colors that differs across genders” (Hurlbert and Ling). Hurlbert and Ling were two social scientists that attempted to more accurately determine what these color dispositions were. They conducted a multi-step experiment to try to find out what kinds of colors were favored by males and females. They found that females prefered soft, bright colors such as pink, yellow, and purple. Males prefered darker, harder colors such as red, blue, and green. Females additionally gravitated towards more non-primary colors with variety in shade than males (Hurbert and Ling).

This disposition was attributed to a physiological reason: that it has to do with how the two genders perceive color differently. Females are able to better detect and identify a more wide range of colors than males can. Due to this they gravitate towards colors with more variety than males do. (Hurbert and Ling) Additionally it was suggested in their research that females possibly have this color disposition due to evolutionary reasons. Females, being the primary caregivers, needed to be able to detect if their was something wrong with her baby by detecting hues of red better than males do (Hurbert and Ling).

Additionally society for humans was originally set up as hunter gatherers. Due to this females were given the role of gathering while the males hunted. Being able to pick up on a variety of soft, bright hues could possibly have helped with gathering berries and other foods in the wild (Hurlbert and Ling). Other research has looked at the issue from a different angle: if color is associated with gender stereotypes. Most color studies have looked towards the stereotype of “pink being a girl’s color and blue being a boy’s color”. (Hurbert and Ling).

This stereotype is seen in many examples of advertising. Paoletti gives many examples of this in her novel. One such example is a big magazine article labeled for “babies” that only sells clothes in pink and blue for the respective genders. She states that advertisers stressed that new born boys “be given blue shirts, hats, cribs, etc. ” while girls were to be dressed in pink (Paoletti). Especially prevalent in the baby boomer generation, pink was predominantly used with girls associated with feminine qualities and is given this characteristic in modern day society. DeLoache and LoBlue). A recent study done by Andree Pomerleau, Daniel Bolduc, Gerard Malcuit, and Louise Cossette discusses how from a very early age there are drastic color differences between the two genders that stay relatively constant for their early years of development: “Girls… wore pink and multicolored clothes more often, had more pink pacifiers and jewelry. Boys wore more blue, red and white clothing. They had more blue pacifiers. Yellow bedding was more frequently observed in the girls’ rooms, while blue bedding and curtains were more prevalent in the boys’ rooms.

Women were the predominant providers of toys for children. It thus seems that, nowadays, very early in their development, girls and boys already experience environments which are dissimilar. ” Brooks also states that this color stereotype is attributed to the influence of the media upon the population (Brooks). However this has not always been the case. In fact this stereotype used to be completely flipped around. In the Early 1900s pink was actually considered a masculine color while blue was considered feminine. Paoletti…has documented that the North American tradition of dressing infant boys in blue and infant girls in pink began the 1920s. Prior to that decade, Paoletti…noted that the sex-dimorphic color coding of pink and blue was inverted, i. e. , infant boys were dressed in pink and infant girls were dressed in blue…. At one point, pink was considered more of a boy’s color, as a watered-down, bold, dramatic red, which is a fierce color. Instead, blue was considered more for girls. ” (Del Giudice) David Brooks highlights this by quoting a 1918 article in Ladies Home Journal.

It advised: “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl. ” (Brooks) This trend began to change around the 1920s. As portrayed in a Time Magazine chart, advertisers in this time period began to change what was an accepted “girl” color and “boy” color through their advertising (Advertiser Advocation for Different Color Stereotypes in 1927).

Jo Paolettti points out in her research that these influences were picked up by the baby boomer generation in response to continued media advertisement. The research does not necessarily answer why the media reversed this stereotype but it does show the power media has upon accepted stereotypes, public thought, and accepted social norms. It was able to completely reverse and change an accepted stereotype in the public mind simply through its influence. Additional research into the subject of media and color genderization has found that color stereotypes are additionally reinforced by social means.

Jo Paoletti explains in her book how the prevalence of this media influence was strengthened by a desire to be able to tell the gender apart from another child to be an expectation as to what the child should wear and what people should buy for the child. People would go out and buy gender oriented clothing for the new baby. The new baby would then wear this gifted clothing further cementing the stereotype (Paoletti). Different research has looked into this issue from a social standpoint but looking towards how gender conflict can influence and support accepted stereotypes.

LoBlue and DeLoache conducted a large cross sectional study which contained children aged 7 months to 5 years. The Children “were offered eight pairs of objects and asked to choose one. In every pair, one of the objects was always pink. By the age of 2, girls chose pink objects more often than boys did, and by the age of 2. 5, they had a significant preference for the colour pink over other colours. At the same time, boys showed an increasing avoidance of pink. ” The researchers were especially fascinated with was the avoidance of pink by the boys. They concluded that “… hese results thus reveal that sex differences in young children’s preference for the colour pink involves both an increasing attraction to pink by young girls and a growing avoidance of pink by boys. ” As both genders gravitate towards their gender stereotyped color avoidance had just as big of an impact as the stereotype does. As girls associate with pink, the boys feel pressured by themselves to not associate with pink, thus propagating the stereotype. (LoBlue and DeLoache). This highlights how powerful gender “conflict” that occurs at a young age can influence and propagate gender stereotypization.

Female color stereotypization can be attributed to multiple possible sources and comes about for different possible reasons. A scientific reason as to why some color qualities are perceived as more feminine could be due to how females and males perceive color. On the other hand additional color stereotypes came about as the result of advertising and the influence of the media upon public opinion. This influence would be strengthened if the color genderization before the 1920s was different than what it currently is today.

This would suggest, according to Paoletti, that the media have a profound, changeable effect on what the public stereotypization encompasses. However the changability of this stereotype could also highlight something else. David Brooks states in his article that this shift could also highlight the weakness such stereotypes have and how subject to change they could have: “The fascinating thing is how slippery the color-gender link is. It seems so hard-wired, but the link between pink and femininity may be just a cultural construct. The LoBlue and DeLoache research offers another possible conclusion: that the existence of such stereotypes creates tendencies within populations to follow those stereotypes which in turn strengthen the stereotype itself through psychosocial means.

Works Cited

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2. Paoletti, Jo Barraclough. Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2012. Print.
3. LoBue, Vanessa and Judy S. DeLoache. “Pretty In Pink: The Early Development Of Gender-Stereotyped Colour Preferences. ” British Journal Of Developmental Psychology 29. 3 (2011): 656-667. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
4.  Del Giudice, Marco. “The Twentieth Century Reversal Of Pink-Blue Gender Coding: A Scientific Urban Legend?. ” Archives Of Sexual Behavior 41. 6 (2012): 1321-1323. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
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Sex and Desire The nexus of gender, desire and sexuality have long been a source of considerable interest, but no more so than in the plays of William Shakespeare. Specifically, in their original production and for some time afterwards, common practice dictated certain roles for women and men. Analysis of these roles yields interesting insights regarding the value of women and how the relative devaluing of women shaped sexual desire and normal gender roles. In this paper, I will attempt to illuminate several features of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that have bearing on human desire.

Before identifying significant features of Shakespeare’s plays in general and Twelfth Night in particular that have bearing on the question of gender roles and the shaping of desire, it will important to remind ourselves about the cultural limitations for women of sixteenth century England. Callaghan reminds us that woman had no public life. Even in the home, they could rarely manifest characteristics that are not consistent with the virtues: obedience, silence, sexual chastity, piety, humility, constancy, and patience. Those virtues taught women to not think for their selves, to not be agents in their world.

In fact, educationalists in this time said that women were too cognitively limited to get a full education and too likely to be led by their own emotions than to think rationally. Tears were called “women’s weapons”, yet, in the right situation, it was perfectly acceptable for men to cry. However, it is interesting to note that in a lot of Shakespeare’s plays explore men’s insecurities about women. It shows that men fear losing control. In most of the heroines of his comedies, while they might have turned to their feminine roles in the end, they achieved a type of empowerment.

In general it seems clear that women’s roles were severely limited inside and outside the home. How is this domestication of women revealed in Shakespearian theatre? In the Twelfth Night? First, what is the significance of Shakespearian practice of allowing men to play the roles of women? In her criticism, Callaghan argues that Shakespeare is mocking women in Twelfth Night. She argues that Shakespeare specifically inserted a transvestite role to show that no matter what women do, they will eventually submit to a man. However, in my view, Shakespeare had none of this in mind when he placed that role in his play.

He uses plot of gender confusion to cause chaos for his characters through love triangles, homosexuality, and “role switching. ”     Second, how are we to understand Shakespeare’s plot twists that problematize gender roles? For examples, Viola washes up in Illyria after a ship wreck that she thinks took her brother’s life. She discovers Orsino is the authority in the land. After this discovery, she says to the captain: Conceal me what I am, and be my aid. For such disguise as haply shall become the form of my intent. I’ll serve this duke. Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him.

It may be worth thy pains, for I can sing and speak to him in many sorts of music (1. 2, 51-56) She is saying that she wants the captain to help her pass as a man. However, she knows that she cannot fully pass as a man so she must at least pass as a eunuch. This sets off a series of events that throws the characters into multiple love triangles and gender switching. For a while Orsino has been wooing Olivia by sending her notes, tokens, and sonnets. His subjects see him as flighty, soft, and slightly feminine. However, it seems like Curio is trying to turn it into a manly game by referring to it as a “hunt” (1. , 16). This is relevant because usually the theatrics are reserved for the women and their “women weapons”. Some time after this, when Viola has been introduced as “Cesario,” Orsino sends him (her) to, yet again, try to woo Olivia. However, none of them saw Olivia falling in love with Viola’s masculine character. Olivia experiences a gender switch when she steps into the usually masculine role of wooer in attempt to win Cesario’s heart. Perhaps the biggest thing that would have upset a traditional structure is the fact that Olivia might actually be in love with a women.

Of course, Shakespeare tries to make an excuse for this by having Olivia ignorant to Viola/Cesario’s real gender. However, in Olivia’s first encounter with Viola/Cesario she remarks upon the typical feminine qualities. In Act three, scene one Olivia says: O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and anger of his lip! A murderous guilt shows not itself more soon than love that would seem hid. Love’s night is noon-” These words allow the audience to suspect but not assume that she knows of Viola’s true gender but chooses to love her anyway.

In fact, her talk of guilt has the audience questioning whether or not she is feeling guilty of her homosexual feelings for another woman. Even though Shakespeare does not openly express the plot as a homosexual scenario, there is much evidence to back up that it is the case. For example, Olivia says “I woo” when addressing Viola as Cesario. The way she speaks to Cesario mimics the contemporary traditions perfectly. The audience may see a man dressed as a girl that is pretending to be a man as Shakespeare mocking woman; However, this is not so.

The fact that Viola can successfully pull off the switch is tribute to that. It can’t be simple to pretend to be a man, even one that is a eunuch. It shows that she is a strong female character. All of these examples show that the play is full of strong female characters who are able to successfully switch roles. Even though Olivia’s “role” is switched back with the appearance of Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian, she is still left with a feeling of empowerment by the experience. Shakespeare never really solves any of these issues. Rather, he lets them open and ends the play with humor, rather than confusion. Mistal

Introduction

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which eventually develops into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a devastating disease that has reached pandemic levels, affecting all populations worldwide. Since the first reported case of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS has become one of the leading causes of mortality across the globe in the history of mankind (U. S. Global Health Policy [USGHP], 2010). While HIV/AIDS has contributed significantly to the global burden of disease; amongst those living with HIV/AIDS, it has had devastating impacts on women and girls. Amid 40 million people living with HIVAIDS globally, virtually half of them are women (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005). In addition, new infection rates have been escalating dramatically worldwide, with most centralized in developing countries (The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS [GCWA], n. d. ).

In sub-Saharan Africa, women account for almost 60% of all infected adults, while girls account for approximately 75% of all infected young people between ages of 15 and 24 (Brijnath, 2007; Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005). In developing countries such as sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of women infected with HIV/AIDS is also on the rise, for every ten men infected with HIV/AIDS, 13 women are diagnosed HIV-positive (Brijnath, 2007). In developed countries such as United States, the incidence of HIV/AIDS had increased by 15% compared with 1% that of men from 1999 to 2003 (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005).

These alarming statistics imply an ominous future for women and girls affected by the disease – feminization of HIV/AIDS. This paper will highlight the burden of disease implications on gender inequality in developing nations. Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 2 Feminization of HIV/AIDS When HIV/AIDS cases were first reported, it was viewed that HIV/AIDS was a disease amongst homosexual men, and the main modes of transmission were through men who have sex with men (MSM).

Presently, however, 80% of infections were contracted through heterosexual sex while 19% were through drug injections (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005). It is evident that women and girls are bearing a hefty portion of the burden of HIV/AIDS. Women and girls are socially, physically, and biologically more vulnerable to HIV/AIDs transmissions and stigma associated with the disease. On the societal level, women in developing countries are perceived as being inferior, which is the root cause of gender profiling and stigma towards this group (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005).

The society have set the stage for women and girls to be more susceptible to means for HIV/AIDS transmission; furthermore infringing on their freedom of choice. Due to cultural structure and gender norms, women and girls are deprived of education, thus they grow to be economically dependent on men. This limits their autonomy to refuse sexual liaisons with their intimate partner. For instance, the practice of safe sex through condom usage is mainly the males’ choices, while women have restricted negotiation power (Mulligan, 2006). The minority status of women in developing countries thus exposes them to high rates of HIV/AIDS infections.

Gender norms impacts of HIV/AIDS are discerning and even more harmful towards women and girls because they face stigmatization and discrimination on a greater magnitude than men. An ethnographic study conducted by Carr et al. (2004) reported that women were more concerned about the psychosocial insinuations affiliated with being HIV-positive, rather Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 3 than the adverse health outcomes of the disease. The fear of stigmatization accompanying disclosure of HIV-positive status has hindered women from reaching out for appropriate and necessary medical and mental support.

Stigma and discrimination have shown to have negative effects on women’s mental and physical wellbeing because they suffer from social isolation and low self-esteem (Carr & Gramling, 2004). This has not only resulted in the under-representation of HIV-positive women, it has also created barriers for women to attain better health (Carr & Gramling, 2004). Being physically inferior to men, women are prone to be coerced and being victims of sexual violence. These factors contribute to escalating infection rates because there is an increasing likelihood for survival sex work (Brijnath, 2007).

Attributable to poverty and lack of education, women resolve to prostitution for survival. The combination of lack of knowledge regarding practices of safe sex and frequent encounters of sexual partners further enhance women and girls’ vulnerabilities to contracting the disease. Sexual violence is also a common theme among women living with HIV/AIDS (Rountree & Mulraney, 2008). Moreover, it has also been suggested that women are biologically more susceptible to disease progression of HIV/AIDS when taking hormonal contraceptives (Quinn & Overbaugh, 2005).

The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS The feminization of HIV/AIDS is evident, and requires serious attention. Gender inequality in developing countries has placed significant burden of disease on women, and has been the propelling force for feminization of HIV/AIDS pandemic. In recognizing and fully comprehending the severity of this pandemic, The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (GCWA) has taken initiative towards fighting for a brighter future for women on a national level. Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 4

GCWA is an UNAIDS collaborative effort, which involves diverse networks of organizations and political bodies to alleviate this burden of disease on women and girls (GCWA, n. d. ). The objectives of GCWA are to provide necessary medical attention to those in need, raising awareness, mitigate violence against women, and promote gender equality. GCWA tackles issues concerned with gender inequality and the adverse impacts it has had on women. Public Health Intervention Recommendation Gender inequality and inferiority are the undertow that has deteriorated the feminization trend of HIV/AIDS.

Public health initiatives should focus on empowering women and improving their independence. This can be achieved through specialized support systems that educate and raise public awareness of the roots and gravity of the situations. Furthermore, this should be complemented with employment referencing and acquisition support programs to enrich their economic autonomy. Conclusion HIV/AIDS has become a feminizing pandemic, resulting in disproportionate burden of disease on women and girls. Traditional subordination of women as minorities has exacerbated the severity of the issues.

Global Coalition on Women and AIDs is a comprehensive initiative that targets the root of this problem. Future initiatives for decreasing this gap of gender inequality should emphasize on empowering women and promoting their autonomy. Running Head: Face of AIDS: Gender Inequality and HIV/AIDS 5

References

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