Saturday, April 14, 2012

Ideals for Women and Shaming and Blaming

            Different cultures (social, racial, religious, etc.) exist everywhere, each with different ideals.  It can get a bit iffy to deal with generalizations that are insensitive to different ideals, but it happens, and sometimes it makes me mad.
            The insensitivity that has upset me right now is related to this tweet by Gentlemenhood on Twitter:

 "Ladies, your body should be a gift to your husband, keep it wrapped up. No one wants an unwrapped gift that have been used by many everyone"

            If you know me, you might understand why tweets like these make me so upset
            The idea at work here is slut-shaming.  "Slut-shaming, also known as slut-bashing, is the idea of shaming and/or attacking a woman or a girl for being sexual, having one or more sexual partners, acknowledging sexual feelings, and/or acting on sexual feelings."  Simple examples are calling girls "easy" or "sluts" for having sex. 
            Slut-shaming is very prevalent -- especially in religious context.  I understand that the LDS faith values modesty and sexual purity very highly (as do many religions), and I respect this.  With a shared set of values and ideals between men and women, it is appropriate to want a modest, virgin wife (and modest, virgin husband).  But if someone does not follow these ideals, are they worth less as a person?

            Some common ideals for a woman:  Wear modest clothing, uphold your appearance, keep your virginity until marriage, have one sexual partner, desire children, do not gossip, etc.
            Some common ideals for a man:  Have a job that can support your family, protect women from harm, have sexual experience (in some cultures), have sons, etc.
            This tweet seems to claim, yes, a woman is worth less to a man if she does not dress modestly and keep her "sexual purity".  It's ironic that another tweet of his is, "Don't love a person for who they have potential to be, love them for who they are."
            This, to me, begs a question:  If you were completely in love with a woman, asked her to marry you, and she said yes, but admitted that she was not a virgin when you met, would you still marry her?  Would you still love her? 
            Well, you should still love her.  She is the same person that you fell in love with. 
            It is never okay to participate in slut-shaming.  A girl is not necessarily a bad person for wearing short shorts, getting pregnant, or for simply admitting that she has sexual feelings.  The same applies for men.  A man is not worth less for having sexual feelings. 

As I look through his tweets, here's another one that upsets me:
 "Ladies, why do you carry yourself like a piece of meat and expect men who are like dogs to stay away. Dogs adore meat, so dress better." 

            This tweet uses, to some extent, slut shaming, but it mainly uses victim blaming.  "Victim blaming is holding the victim responsible for what has happened to her/him," especially used in the case of rape or harassment. 
            If a woman is wearing a short skirt and a low-cut top, she may attract attention from men.  If a man is to rape her while she is wearing this, whose fault is it?  With victim blaming, people would claim that men can't help themselves, and a short skirt and revealing shirt is an invitation for sex.  This is wrong.  The rapist is always at fault.  There is absolutely no excuse for unwanted sexual advances -- I could go running naked through the streets, and sure, I'd be arrested, but I should not be held accountable if I was raped because of this.  
            In the situation that this tweet implies, the woman should not be blamed for being harassed because of her clothing.  Instead of trying to reform the woman, reform the dog.



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