Friday, December 17, 2010

Oppression!

Another example: It is common in the United States that women, especially younger women, are in a bind where neither sexual activity nor sexual inactivity is all right. If she is heterosexually active, a woman is open to censure and punishment for being loose, unprincipled, or a whore. The "punishment" comes in the form of criticism, snide and embarrassing remarks, being treated as an easy lay by men, scorn from her more restrained female friends. She may have to lie and hide her behavior from her parents. She must juggle the risks of unwanted pregnancy and dangerous contraceptives. On the other hand, if she refrains from heterosexual activity, she is fairly constantly harassed by men who try to persuade her into it
and pressure her to "relax" and "let her hair down"; she is threatened with labels like "frigid," "uptight," "manhater," "bitch," and "cocktease." The same parents who would be disapproving of her sexual activity may be worried by her inactivity because it suggests she is not or will not be popular, or is not sexually normal. She may be charged with lesbianism. If a woman is raped, then if she has been heterosexually active she is subject to the presumption that she liked it (since her activity is presumed to show that she likes sex), and if she has not been heterosexually active, she is subject to the presumption that she liked it (since she is supposedly "repressed and frustrated"). Both heterosexual activity and heterosexual nonactivity are likely to be taken as proof that you wanted to be raped, and hence, of course, weren't really raped at all. You can't win. You are caught in a bind, caught between systematically related pressures. (Gender Basics: Feminist Perspectives on Women and Men, 2nd Ed. Minas, Anne. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. 2000 pp 10-16.
 When I was reading this, I was disappointed, at the same time I am infuriated that I cannot disagree. This not only applies to women, but men as well. Our society is full of this kinda of 'assumptions' and norms. But if we really look into this deeply, everyone should find this kind of assumptions very stupid. So you can't have too much sex, too less sex, or have wild sex? But at the same time, there is no a universal definition of 'too much' 'too less' or 'too wild'. Why judge? we are all living in a post-postmodern society.

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