Teachers are often unaware of the gender distribution of talk in their classrooms. They usually consider that they give equal amounts of attention to girls and boys, and it is only when they make a tape recording that they realize that boys are dominating the interactions. Dale Spender, an Australian feminist who has been a strong advocate of female rights in this area, noted that teachers who tried to restore the balance by deliberately ‘favouring’ the girls were astounded to find that despite their efforts they continued to devote more time to the boys in their classrooms. Another study reported that a male science teacher who managed to create an atmosphere in which girls and boys contributed more equally to discussion felt that he was devoting 90 per cent of his attention to the girls. And so did his male pupils. They complained vociferously that the girls were getting too much talking time.

In other public contexts, too, such as seminars and debates, when women and men are deliberately given an equal amount of the highly valued talking time, there is often a perception that they are getting more than their fair share. Dale Spender explains this as follows:

“The talkativeness of women has been gauged in comparison not with men but with silence. Women have not been judged on the grounds of whether they talk more than men, but of whether they talk more than silent women.”

In other words, if women talk at all, this may be perceived as ‘too much’ by men who expect them to provide a silent, decorative background in many social contexts.

PBS: Language as Prejudice – Myth #6: Women Talk Too Much (via anneboleyns)

poetessinthepit:

PSA: Big corporations putting feel good feminist messages in their advertisements wont result in women’s liberation as much as it will result in goading liberal minded folks to buy more shampoo or whatever. There’s no point in fawning over these commercials.

Friendly reminder that the company that owns Dove

is the same company that owns Axe.

beeishappy:

_{TCR | 2014.07.31}

exgynocraticgrrl-archive-deacti:

Tony Porter: A Call To Men
"Tony is the original visionary and co-founder behind A CALL TO MEN: The 
National Association of Men and Women Committed to Ending Violence 
Against Women. He is the author of "Well Meaning Men...Breaking Out of 
the Man Box - Ending Violence Against Women" and the visionary for the 
book, NFL Dads Dedicated to Daughters. 

Tony's message of accountability is welcome and supported by many 
grassroots and established organizations. He’s currently working with 
numerous domestic and sexual violence programs, the National Football 
League, the National Basketball Association, colleges and universities 
around the country. He has worked with the United States Military 
Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Tony is an international lecturer for the U.S. State Department having 
worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Kingdom and 
Brazil. In addition, he has been a guest presenter for the United 
Nations' Commission on the Status of Women and has been a script 
consultant for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." - (x)

The frightening thing is that, like most of their other campaigns against women, they see themselves as just warriors fighting for what’s right. This is primarily because they firmly believe that any woman who speaks up on women’s issues is completely disingenuous and only doing it for the purposes of self-promotion, and that any man who does is looking to get laid, because they actually cannot possibly imagine a scenario in which someone would genuinely give a shit about women.

Members of this board, as well as “Men’s Rights Activists” in general, tend to go apoplectic at even the most mild implications that women might be human beings. For them, this is simply “not allowed” and must be punished swiftly and severely, as they appear to believe that feminism is the one obstacle in the way of all these pathetic neckbeards getting their pick of supermodel girlfriends who obey their every whim. The goal is to make it as uncomfortable to speak out about misogyny and women’s issues as possible, which is why they go to the wall in terms of harassing women like Emma Watson. At the end of the day, this is the crux of it. It would be sad if it weren’t so vile.

Emma Watson threatened with nude photo leak over UN speech on gender equality

Because of course she was.

(via wilwheaton)

Some Handy Examples of How Non-Sex Working Feminists Can Aid in Critiquing the Sex Industry

Your women’s studies prof: Class, do you think pornography enables male entitlement?
You: Well, according to this essay I read by someone who does porn, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to just critique it as a piece of media + not a site + product of highly stigmatized labor. So, yes, it does, but that may largely be beside the point of where and how male violence occurs in relation to pornography.
That lady at your local NOW chapter: It is WRONG for men to purchase sex, therefore we must make it illegal.
You: I agree that capitalist conditions create coercive and abusive situations for those in the sex industry, but carceral solutions don’t address that underlying issue.
Your younger sister: *points at a Maxim magazine cover* Isn’t it wrong that there are all these sexualized pictures of women everywhere?
You: It’s wrong that the male gaze is all-pervasive and our idea of the ideal woman is profoundly racist, sizeist, ableist, and cissexist. It’s also wrong that these images exist within the context of a violent patriarchal culture, but the images themselves are not wrong.
Some rando in your ask box: How do we end the abuse of people in the sex industries?
You: Let me link you to this blog by sex workers advocating for workers’ rights.
Your boyfriend: Why is there so much bad sex in porn?
You: Let me show you this essay on porn by a sex worker.
Your girlfriend: Stripping is exploitative.
You: Let me show you this academic article written by a stripper.
Your aunt: Dominatrices probably think they’re empowered but really–
You: Here’s a thing written by a sex worker.
Your grandpa: Prostitution–
You: Here’s a thing written by a sex worker.
Your cat:
You: Good point, let me read you this issue of Prose & Lore out loud.
You: *signal boosts our words + shows up at rallies + emails legislators + gives orgs like Abeni + Sex Workers Project all your damn money*