A brief example of social programming

taype · #1 1st-May-2007

Here are two extracts of an essay I wrote, literally only a few months ago:

“...Society was further divided along gender lines, where it continued to both serve and protect male interests at the expense of women. Although women could enjoy the varying pleasures of a class ridden society, their political and economic clout was generally so slight that they were usually rendered spectators to a male dominated, male influenced society”

Does that have a slightly feminist ring to it? Further:

“Whilst in employment, women continued to earn less than their male counterparts would have done, and they remained belittled by the media, still unsure about the virtues of female spending power.”

Of course, in my attempt to highlight the sexist nature of British society at that time, I neglected to point out that the reason so many employment vacancies existed was because much of the male workforce had been conscripted – forced to fight purely because of their gender. Surely, that was one of the most obvious forms of contemporary sexism? This thought never even entered my head.

When I re-read that particular essay again, I asked myself: why had I written those words? Why had I constructed that particular argument, when I know that had the genders been reversed, and it been women who were forced into conscription whilst men were largely excluded from employment, I would never have considered the latter’s situation as “oppression”. Instead, it would have formed the basis for another essay, also based on the inherently sexist nature of our society - forcing women into war, whilst men stayed at home, or reluctantly entered the workforce.

I came to the following conclusion:

As a society and as individuals we are trained nowadays, trained to seek out examples of anti-female sexism, whilst at the same time being instructed to gloss over the blatant sexism that affected, and still does affect men. We are programmed to regurgitate the pay gap, domestic violence, the glass ceiling and rape almost on command. These arguments roll of the tongues of so many people, even though these arguments are likely never internally criticised or questioned by those who spout them. Modern society’s golden rule: If an example of anti-male sexism is given, do not discuss or agree with the point, instead, blindly retaliate with examples of how women “have it worse”, even if the examples given happen to be pure fabrications.

For me personally, it is only with this hindsight, and a certain degree of introspection, that I can actually observe how deeply this social programming is entrenched.

More...

taype · #2 1st-May-2007

Here are two extracts of an essay I wrote, literally only a few months ago:

“...Society was further divided along gender lines, where it continued to both serve and protect male interests at the expense of women. Although women could enjoy the varying pleasures of a class ridden society, their political and economic clout was generally so slight that they were usually rendered spectators to a male dominated, male influenced society”

Does that have a slightly feminist ring to it? Further:

“Whilst in employment, women continued to earn less than their male counterparts would have done, and they remained belittled by the media, still unsure about the virtues of female spending power.”

Of course, in my attempt to highlight the sexist nature of British society at that time, I neglected to point out that the reason so many employment vacancies existed was because much of the male workforce had been conscripted – forced to fight purely because of their gender. Surely, that was one of the most obvious forms of contemporary sexism? This thought never even entered my head.

When I re-read that particular essay again, I asked myself: why had I written those words? Why had I constructed that particular argument, when I know that had the genders been reversed, and it been women who were forced into conscription whilst men were largely excluded from employment, I would never have considered the latter’s situation as “oppression”. Instead, it would have formed the basis for another essay, also based on the inherently sexist nature of our society - forcing women into war, whilst men stayed at home, or reluctantly entered the workforce.

I came to the following conclusion:

As a society and as individuals we are trained nowadays, trained to seek out examples of anti-female sexism, whilst at the same time being instructed to gloss over the blatant sexism that affected, and still does affect men. We are programmed to regurgitate the pay gap, domestic violence, the glass ceiling and rape almost on command. These arguments roll of the tongues of so many people, even though these arguments are likely never internally criticised or questioned by those who spout them. Modern society’s golden rule: If an example of anti-male sexism is given, do not discuss or agree with the point, instead, blindly retaliate with examples of how women “have it worse”, even if the examples given happen to be pure fabrications.

For me personally, it is only with this hindsight, and a certain degree of introspection, that I can actually observe how deeply this social programming is entrenched.

More...

taype · #3 1st-May-2007

Here are two extracts of an essay I wrote, literally only a few months ago:

“...Society was further divided along gender lines, where it continued to both serve and protect male interests at the expense of women. Although women could enjoy the varying pleasures of a class ridden society, their political and economic clout was generally so slight that they were usually rendered spectators to a male dominated, male influenced society”

Does that have a slightly feminist ring to it? Further:

“Whilst in employment, women continued to earn less than their male counterparts would have done, and they remained belittled by the media, still unsure about the virtues of female spending power.”

Of course, in my attempt to highlight the sexist nature of British society at that time, I neglected to point out that the reason so many employment vacancies existed was because much of the male workforce had been conscripted – forced to fight purely because of their gender. Surely, that was one of the most obvious forms of contemporary sexism? This thought never even entered my head.

When I re-read that particular essay again, I asked myself: why had I written those words? Why had I constructed that particular argument, when I know that had the genders been reversed, and it been women who were forced into conscription whilst men were largely excluded from employment, I would never have considered the latter’s situation as “oppression”. Instead, it would have formed the basis for another essay, also based on the inherently sexist nature of our society - forcing women into war, whilst men stayed at home, or reluctantly entered the workforce.

I came to the following conclusion:

As a society and as individuals we are trained nowadays, trained to seek out examples of anti-female sexism, whilst at the same time being instructed to gloss over the blatant sexism that affected, and still does affect men. We are programmed to regurgitate the pay gap, domestic violence, the glass ceiling and rape almost on command. These arguments roll of the tongues of so many people, even though these arguments are likely never internally criticised or questioned by those who spout them. Modern society’s golden rule: If an example of anti-male sexism is given, do not discuss or agree with the point, instead, blindly retaliate with examples of how women “have it worse”, even if the examples given happen to be pure fabrications.

For me personally, it is only with this hindsight, and a certain degree of introspection, that I can actually observe how deeply this social programming is entrenched.

More...

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
SC man who killed 3 social workers executed	outdoors	Chit chat (MAIN)	5	11th-June-2008 02:56 PM
Social Breakdown	pjanus	News Articles	6	24th-August-2007 08:20 PM
Hierarchy of the American social classes	bola	Illustrations	2	19th-June-2007 07:10 PM
Feminist utopia, social nightmare	bola	Chit chat (MAIN)	25	1st-November-2006 02:16 PM
is it biology or social factors?	mak2675	Chit chat (MAIN)	1	16th-October-2006 04:12 PM

A brief example of social programming

A brief example of social programming

Similar Threads