Chauvinists, Sexists, Misogynists (Hillary Clinton REMIX)

Chauvinists, Sexists and Misogynists

Apparently, this is the 'cause' of Hillary Clinton losing the election in 2016.  

Here is what I have had to say on Google+:

Without trying to be too 'political', I have also had my fair share of both sexism and 'able-ism' - but unlike any of these 'elite' feminists, us ordinary women have to bear the brunt of 'toxic masculinity' via catcalls, wolf-whistling, or snide remarks. And some others endure much worse than just that.

And unlike the 'SJWs' I often hear about, I am finding that men (overall) are starting to improve and I am experiencing 'street harassment' (as well as workplace harassment) less than before.

Of course, it doesn't make it right that they continue to do it, though sometimes you have to pick your battles wisely.

You can see some art work I put up on my 'A Piece of my Art' blog here: https://sedgieart.blogspot.com.au/2018/05/throwback-thursday-chauvinists-sexists.html

It was done in response to the 'Nobody Thinks Big of You' ad back in 2007 (just over 10 years' ago) as well as the street harassment I had experienced more of when I was much younger.  Most of these people were what we (in Australia) call 'car hoons'.

There was also a world wide movement titled 'Hollaback', which was aimed to combat and prevent street harassment and create equal access to public spaces (especially) for women and (more recently) LGBT+ persons.

More recently, however, has been the rise of a new movement titled 120 Decibels: this has begun in Germany following mass sexual assaults on New Years' Eve (Cologne).  The reason behind it was that mass migration (particularly from developing countries) has coincided and correlated with a rise in crime in Europe (particularly in Germany, and many other Western European countries).  Here is the reason behind it:

120 decibel is the sound volume of pocket alarms. The risen demand of these pocket alarms and their availability in more and more shops is a clear sign for the increasing number of women who don’t feel safe any more in public space. Pocket alarms trigger a loud sound which should attract attention of other pedestrians and rout out any attackers. Like this device, #120db was created to attract attention – in this case to the immediate consequences of wrong immigration policy on girls and women!

Hollaback points out one way this myth can be perpetuated:

IT’S A CULTURAL/RACIAL THING.

Street harassers occupy the full spectrum of class, race, and nationality. Sexual and gender-based harassment, and street harassment specifically, affects people around the globe. And across the world, there is resistance. Hollaback! has sites in over thirty countries and receives emails of support and solidarity from even more countries from every continent. And in New York City, where we have the longest history of posts with pictures, the racial breakdown of harassers perfectly mirrors the racial breakdown of the city itself. Harassment happens in all social cultures and demographics.

In the U.S., as in other countries with long and continuing histories of racial oppression, there are racialized myths about perpetrators and victims of gender-based violence. Initiatives combating gender-based violence continually struggle against the perpetuation of racist stereotypes, in particular the presumption that men of color are more likely to be sexual predators.

Because of the complexity of institutional and socially ingrained prejudices, Hollaback! is devoted to resisting the reinforcement of social hierarchies, whether done directly, subconsciously, or unintentionally. We highlight the interrelations between sexism, racism, and other forms of bias and violence.

I hope the same is true in Sydney as it is in New York.  The sad consequence of this kind of sexual/street harassment, however, is that there are many good men 'of colour' or who may be migrants from 3rd world countries or non-English speaking backgrounds.  I lived in a suburb which had many people from Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern and Pacific Islander backgrounds.  A few of them annoyed me, and while I don't want to be seen as 'racist' just because I am not interested in them, I also feel it is my right *not* to be interested in them.  Likewise, there are alot of white males I am not interested in either

And I also have a feeling that this is why the women behind 120 Decibels might disagree with the women behind Hollaback.  The 'Hollaback' women may accuse 120 Decibels movement of being 'racist' because many of the targets of this harassment (and even sexual assault, rape and murder) have been white females.   But this doesn't mean that the victims are 'racist'? 120 Decibels has this to say in their FAQ:

This is a false accusation. We cannot allow the voices of victims to be suppressed only because the perpetrators were migrants. We will not bow to a false song of political correctness. In Germany, you will find many statistics, which show you how there is a clear connection between increasing migration and increasing reports of sexual assault. These assaults are not caused because of the biological or racial make-up of migrants, they are caused by the misogynistic cultural-conditioning that migrants inherit from majority-Muslim countries where in many cases women are treated like second-class citizens.

Hence, it shows that 'white privilege' had not protected these women from such crime (even really heinous sex crimes which have resulted in severe injuries) - and worse still, the most vulnerable women have been subjected to it (i.e. very young girls, and sometimes even young boys; the elderly and even disabled).  And the 'accused' have been from what Trump would call 'shit-hole countries' (not all of them but alot of them are).  It is enough to make you where are the 'feminists' when you do need them?

I therefore think it is important to attack the problem, rather than the person: for women not to have to put up with harassment, to stand up for themselves and teach the offender their behaviour is not welcome; as well as take steps to prevent it from happening in the first place.  This should happen regardless of the race, religion or social backgrounds of both the offender and target.

And the focus - first and foremost - should be on behaviour and how it can be corrected, not for people to 'learn the hard way' in hindsight.

cheers (and Peace Out),

Colleen ☮