To think that we still live in a mysogynistic society?

[poshsinglemum]

Lots of things have got better for women over the years and at least we can now vote and work but I still think that there is a lot of room for improvemnt.

Especially since becoming a single mum. I have realised that society is largely mysogynistic.

Women are still judged largely on their appearnace. We are pressured into looking a certain way by magazines and the media. It gives us the message that appearance is more important than personality.

Magazines also promote the myth that we can ''have it all.'' putting lots of stress on us.

Motherhood isn't really respected as a worthy occupation. I felt ashamed when I became a single mum. Why? because socity expects me to be married and places my worth on having a man. Never mind the fact that I was left and wanted to settle down. The women get blamed for ills in socity and the man dosn't.

Equal pay is still a dream for many.

Lots of negative language is used to describe women;
bunny boilers, bitches, the horrid c word, bints etc, etc, etc.

Women who have a voice are labelled ''strident'' and told to shut up.

Feminism is still a dirty word.

Women sometimes join in and perpetuate the bad treatment that women get by tearing each other down.

Femininity should be celebrated not squashed.

I am glad I am a women in this country though and not in somewhere like Iran where dd's dad is from.

I could go on.

Yes. I Agree.

yanbu nut things are changing

"Women are still judged largely on their appearnace. We are pressured into looking a certain way by magazines and the media. It gives us the message that appearance is more important than personality."

I think this applies just as much to men in our society though, not just women.

I think that men are increasingly under pressure to look good but it not so important for them to look good in the eyes of society.
Men who are not adonises find it easier to forge a career on other merits such as their personailty such as Peter Kaye and
Bruce Forsythe!
Compare Bruse with the typically beautiful Tess Daly.
Which makes me think of the Arlene Philips case as another example. Ageism and sexism go hand in hand.

YANBU nicely put OP.

Although I think that there is a difference between true mysogeny and ordinary sexism. The first is abhorrant, the second is so pervasive in everything that people hardly even notice it at all.

Sorry about the bad spelling.

Ha I can't spell anything either

Maybe you can't spell because you are single mum and therefore bit thick innit

Yanbu

women are not a minority group, but they are still under-represented in pretty much every aspect of public life (even more true for over 50's)

women are still not seen as brilliant, the glass ceiling is a reality, and women without kis still earn less than men in the same qualification bracket.

I can't spell because i am SAHM and therefore have brain of mush and only interested in watching jeremy kyle and loose women. And thinking about shoes. Obviously.

Still pleased I'm not a "hard nosed career woman" who has done my level best to compete on terms with men (and yet they still all laugh about me behind my back).

Stereotypes are great aren't they.

Men don't have so many, they are not pigeonholed as women are. Women who are still described in the media in terms of how they look, while men are described in terms of what they have achieved (usually).

I think that the differences between the sexes should be celebrated and I don't find low-level sexism as offensive as some might.

I would hate us to live in an androgenous society where there were no differences between the sexes. At the same time if women want to embrace more 'male' occupations that should be embraced too. I guess I am a bit confused about my role as a woman nowadays.

I think that it is harder for women than men.

Although it must be very hard for the men who are encouraged not to display any emotions. I expect that tis is why there are so many male suicides among young men.

I find the hard-nosed career comment to be very odd. I work in an academic field where a generation ago everyone doing my job was male. Now there is an even split between men and women. Nobody is laughing at us and I don't do my job to prove myself as good as a man.

I do my job because I love it. Women with children are paid less compared to their skill and qualification level than any other minority group. It is hardly surprising that many women with children think of paid employment as some kind of horror, because they are frequently not doing the most rewarding jobs. Part of overcoming sexism is about trying to get a fair share of the most rewarding jobs (which are not always the best paid).

I think that people should be allowed to do what they want to do, and should be paid commensurate etc irrespective of gender.

When the "girls do this and boys do that" threads come along they make me feel sad, as many cite "majority of boys/girls" are like xyz, but never put a figure on this "majority". For every girl who is a pink princess there is another sitting at home with her lego and cars, and indeed many girls wearing their tiaras while playing with their cars

i think people should be given the room to be themselves.

I have worked in offices where I have seen the men sniggering at the successful women, or worse displaying open contempt, because despite their hard work and professional attitudes they invariably failed in some other area that the men thought v important. It is pathetic TBH. I think people's experiences on that score depend on the industries that they have worked in.

It is a stereotype I see bandied around in the press as well. Just because it doesn't fit one person's life experience doesn't mean it does not exist.

Agree. Its especially irritating when young women rail against feminism saying that there nothing left to fight for. There were several on a thread here a few months back saying how feminism was an embarassment and they didn't need it. Women can be more misogynistic than men at times.

I don't think anything is going to change anytime soon though.

I don't think that sexism always = misogyny.

If I saw a young lad buying a copy of nuts or one of those publications, I would think he was a twat, but I wouldn't think he hated all women.

I agree with the OP.

I agree with the point about women joining in - just need to see the recent thread about Hannah Waterman to prove that.

essentially still work to be done yes but good things too

women can and do go to uni
women entering professional jobs
some good female role models out there too

Society does still cling to stereotypes. I've been looking around car showrooms for myself, but if I walk in with DP the salesman will immediately home in on DP. On one occasion, I was still ignored by the salesman even after DP had pointed out that I was buying. As I hadn't seen anything I thought worth buying, I walked up to said salesman and told him he'd lost a sale due to his ignorant behaviour and started walking out. Turns out the manager had been watching.........had some offers thrown at me, but as I hadn't liked what I saw, I still walked away.

And then, the times I been in on my own to find a salesman trying to sell a car by it's looks, and clearly not listening when I'm asking about fuel consumption, running costs, tax brackets, the other sensible stuff. Many of them obviously think women have no idea about cars.