https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICS2uUGvTE
I just stumbled upon this video that VICE News uploaded during the election last year interviewing three of the female Democratic senators (I believe 2 still currently serving) and Minority Leader Pelosi. What they are describing demonstrates that the prejudices against women in politics persisting today aren't even permutations of old-fashioned views, but instead literally the exact same overt arguments and perceptions. It is pretty remarkable to me that they have survived for so long and can be made so explicit without anyone blinking twice. And while ideas of this nature certainly are less vocalized than they were in the '20s, there are still instances where it is made very much public and explicit - I at least would expect that we would pretend to not be sexist by now...?
This video contains senators divulging stories of their colleagues calling them "just a pretty face" in election races, grabbing their waists from behind in the office, and suggesting them to "get on their knees" to push their bill through committee, yet it only has 58.5k views. These stories aren't even sensationalized.
To top it off, I did some searching, and when you lookup "female politicians of America" in YouTube, you'll notice the second video that comes up after VICE's: the same amount of time ago (a year ago), TheRichest.com uploaded a video titled "10 Of The Sexiest Women in Politics," which has since acquired almost 20 million views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBOwWw7wlg8). Gah.
Jess,
ReplyDeleteThis is a shocking reality! I agree with your point that it's very hard to believe how direct these sentiments are expressed. I also find your investigation of highest viewed Youtube videos on women in politics to be fascinating. I think looking at modern day content like these pieces is very relevant to putting our understanding of women's progress into perspective. It particularly makes me think about all of the figures we have seen work so hard to bring various types of equality to women's place in politics, yet there is so much more to be done. After so many years of bringing awareness and reform to gender equality and rights, I struggle to think of what our society can do differently to change these sentiments.
Caroline,
DeleteThanks for your comment! It is incredible that after so long we still bear witness to patterns that have persisted for decades. Many times I find those more resistant to progressive movements argue that they agree with the motives behind public demonstrations, but don't agree with the "overly public" or "loud and aggressive" actions taken to bring attention to them. But if we can't engage in public displays of outrage like marches or protests, we don't reach the people that need to be reached: we're left with videos that go unwatched or events whose attendance only consist of self-selecting persons, rather than those who actually contribute to these problems. It's a catch 22 really.
I found this to be very disturbing. The overt sexism and biases that were blatantly expressed were ones that I hoped by today would have changed or were no longer so normalized.
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