Changing a Privileged World

I apologize for the extreme delay with this post. We all know life gets in the way sometimes. My life has not been conducive for blogging as of late.

As a preface for this post, let me lend you a peek into my Tumblr blogging. I was recently asked if I ruled the world, what I would change. As you already know, I could probably write a book on said topic as to what is wrong in the world, what I would change, and why--I summed it up with no justification as:

"Everyone pays the same taxes, everyone makes the same amount of money on a liveable wage, there would be equal rights [regardless of] gender, race, history. There would be no lying in politics, the media would not have as much control as it does, nobody would care what Anthony Wiener does in his free time because his penis isn't going to be making any mayoral decisions, and college would be cheaper." -Me. http://rainvictoria.tumblr.com

To which a follower replied, "I think you should rule the world."


This blog post has very little to do with my Tumblr quote, except to further show my view on equal rights in society. Spring quarter 2013 at Western Washington University, I took a Sociology class on Gender and Society instructed by Dr. Jen Lois. This class was to fulfill a graduation requirement, and was by far the most educational college class I have taken. This 8:30 am class, three times per week, is from which I draw many of my facts and conclusions from.

Privilege, in sociological ideas, is defined as unearned advantage, allowing some to take the "path of least resistance." Having privilege allows you to not see it and when pointed out, we feel guilty and defensive because of the meritocracy and privilege contradiction (achieved status vs. unearned advantage). We hear jokes about "white privilege," but you would be naive to believe these examples are merely there for humor with no societal bases.
The most prevalent occurrences of privilege happen in the workplace. Personally, I think we deserve equal rights in the public sector and leave it up to individuals in the private sector. We see gendered jobs as being common. Only recently have we seen nursing wage increases due to more men entering the nursing occupation. We can see the "feminine" jobs are "less prestigious" and have lower pay. We also see that the occupation crossover from a gendered standpoint is one-sided with more men entering the traditionally more women-dominated fields. This varying based on blue vs. white collar status. We also see a gendered wage gap where still, women are paid 77 cents to a man's dollar. Don't even ask the numbers for when women have children. Well, I'll tell you anyway: single mothers on average only see 52 cents to a man's dollar. Anyone else appalled as I am? I can hear those in favor of the Feminist Theory having a field day with that statement.

Before all the men out there start tearing into me about feeding them to the female wolves with these numbers, I'll throw them a bone.
The root of how there are unequal rights and treatment is social construction. This idea emphasizes that society and social phenomena are produced by people. This unequal treatment is a product of human creation. Because we make these idea have meaning, they become real and have real consequences. Because we act like it's real, it is, and we are to blame.
Since we make these socially constructed ideas a reality, the class ceiling and glass escalator phenomena are real things.

Note: "glass ceiling" refers to an invisible ceiling that makes it so women are unable to get all the way to the top of a company. "Glass escalator" refers to a phenomena where men in female dominated companies more easily rise to the top.

 Obviously these social phenomena are not applicable in all cases. Think about it for a second though, between one and four percent of CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies are women. And this is an improvement from the time where the legal status of married women was "civil death" because women had no rights. This being in the time of witch hunts (literally) when "non-traditional" women "threatened" society and rebelled against it. These same women were coerced into confessing to witch crimes they never committed. In the industrial era, we developed the traditional, root ideas of masculinity and femininity.

As a side note, let me clarify that masculine and feminine ideology are social constructions and performances to the biological male/female sex.

I can feel that this is heading into a different topic about society. This is where I will stop, as Rome wasn't built in a day; I'll save my gendered media post for another day.
Why should we allow one person from too many years ago define our society today? We shouldn't. These socially constructed ideas have real consequences because we make them so.

Paternal Responsibility Lost in Society

This article about Prince William taking two weeks paternity leave inspired this post. The link can be found here: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/prince-william-weeks-paternity-leave-19709303

Now, normally I try to avoid reading from domestic news outlets, because I feel as though they're not as trustworthy, but I did decide to read this article from ABC News and the Associated Press.

My Freshman year of college, I took a Sociology class about Gender and Society. This class is where I have derived many opinions I have regarding gender roles.


Here we go...
First off, let me state that I am very happy to read that Prince William is taking having a child to heart and is utilizing the leave from the Royal Air Force, that he is entitled to as a new father. What gets my goat is not directly related to the article in question, but I take a step back and ask: Why am I surprised that a father is taking the responsibility of having a child seriously?
In America, we hear a lot about dead-beat-dads, men who don't support the mother and children, so on and so forth. And while this happens, not all men deserve the bad rap. That's right men, I'm siding with you on this one!
The root of the matter is not taking responsibility of life decisions, but on how boys and girls are raised into adults; becoming the future population. We can see, from the moment a child's sex is determined, that boys and girls are treated and raised inherently different. We want equality today, yet we do not raise children as equals, as much as we try. I think we can all agree that attempting to bring up children in a gender-neutral environment can prove to be quite difficult (and filled with a lot of yellow and green!) In our world focusing so much on appearance, focusing on "white-male privilege" (yeah, I said it), and where men are still paid more than women, both genders aren't looking too appealing.
The "Feminine" box is growing larger to extend to "tomboy": matters of working on cars, having short hair, and not being obsessed with Barbie, while the "Masculine" box is becoming smaller making "feminine" and "gay" becoming more controversial. Did I mention that the ideas of what is "masculine" and what is "feminine" are all socially constructed?
Yes, I said it. All of the stereotypes, all of what society thinks is "appropriate," is all made up. In layman's terms: one person thought they had a good idea and convinced their easily-persuaded friends that it was a good idea too. That, my friends, is how we got here, to our society as we know it.

Now, as time has gone on, women have taken on the nurturing role, while men are still seen as the breadwinners (to at least a certain degree). In American society, if a single father is taking care of his child, he is seen as being a good dad. But if a married man is the more nurturing type, he is immediately emasculated and is belittled. "A recent study by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto found that men who take on caregiving duties at home receive more abuse at work than men who stick to conventional gender roles," (Lawless, 2). There you have it ladies and gents. Obviously there is more to it than just what is here in black in white, but for time-sake, just trust me.
This double standard shouldn't take anyone by surprise. We come in contact with this on a daily basis: A man sleeps around? He's got game. A woman sleeps around? She's a slut. Okay, maybe that wasn't a great example, but you get the picture.

Why am I surprised that a man is taking responsibility for his child? Because society has taught me that men are not dependable, not involved, and emotionally distant as a whole. Boys are primarily taught (intentions aside) that anger is an OK emotion, and all others are "feminine." We learn about stereotypes. While stereotypes exist for some reason, they don't have to apply to everyone. We have the ability to see past stereotyping and societal standards (that are all made up, by the way) to see people as just people: individuals. But if society is the problem, to change society, we must first change ourselves.