Lead by Example

- whats your agency?

In a previous blog I wrote about how identities influence ideologies. Well this works both ways because ideologies influence identities! I think this topic of ideologies is very interesting, so last week I approached this topic using the lens of people who are aware of their identity and so further have ideologies that influence them.

Now I want to explore how ideologies influence identities.

Using the Anita Hill story as an example, Anita Hill used for agency to provide visibility, and therefore forming and identity for her and for other victims of this tragic crime.

Anita Hill stepped forward to the stand to talk about the sexual harassment as she faced when she worked for Sen. Clarence Thomas.

Sexual harassment has been around for generations but there was nothing in policy until 1971. Even though there were policies it still happened in the workplace; because women rights weren’t as prevalent as they are nowadays it was not talked about until Anita Hill testified on behalf of herself.

When she expressed how uncomfortable she felt while working for Clarence Thomas, this gave others an idea of what is not okay, and a voice for similar experiences.

The behavior that Clarence Thomas performed was at that time (1980-1990) was then normalized. When things are normalized that makes issues and people invisible. Anita Hill used her agency to provide a visibility for her self and other women.

Since the Anita Hill incident the effect was an increase of women in the politics and the number of women that reported sexual harassment in their workplace.  Therefore showing how ideologies influence identities.

I would like to share an experience that I had this past week and I would like to grow from it. I realized what right culture is an previously I would never like to use that word because it makes us.

After deep discussions with the classmates I came to my senses that I participate in a culture with some of my ideas and beliefs. I thought it was very interesting that Prof. Justin Eckstein “hit the hammer on the head of a nail” when he said “those that individualize their self out of the rape culture, are the ones that participate in it”.

I thought that this made a lot of sense to me because I was took myself out of that culture and said I don't participate in it at all. When it comes to rape cases of sexual harassment I had the tendency to question and dismiss the trauma that one could possibly be feeling or felt.

I came to realization in this class that I only think this way because of how things are shaped in society and media. Also I have some previous biases that are seen from others in my life growing up.

Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture.

This is shaped from media and society associating the woman and object to work for or desire. In some cases this dehumanizes women!

I came to the website rantpolitical.com and they have a story covering the 15 real-life examples of rape culture in our society.

Some of the 15 examples that they listed were:

Objectifying and Sexualizing Women

Movies specifically “romantic comedies” are real good example of how the media justifies as sexualized as when. There is a common trope that two men compete for one woman and the winner gets the prize(woman). This is an disillusionment from how love stories really happen in real life. Although it is possible that it could happen because of the laws of attraction, this could give others an idea that the woman is a prize and you have to compete for her

in this clip from the movie "Sixteen Candles" a bunch of "geeks" are fantasizing over a girls panties. This type of ideology that "pantie sniffing and praising" is not cool. In this scene there are so many of these "geeks trying to get a feel and sniff. I think that it is quite disturbing but to someone who doesn't know might actually try this. Ideologies influence identities!

Media Perpetuating Myths

Mostly I can see this in music, the artist again uses women as object for sexual use

using the song “animals” by Maroon 5

“Baby, I’m preying on you tonight/ Hunt you down eat you alive,

Maybe you think that you can hide/ I can smell your scent for miles,”

For the right woman maybe this could be seductive but you can't just do this to any woman that you be at club or a woman of interest. Ideas as such that you can chase a woman down and hunt for her to eat her alive. To me this is supporting the rape culture because this isn’t always true in relationships. Now that maroon five say this could be an ideology that influences and identity

Victim Blaming

Using the Anita Hill story as an example the media framed her that she was just the liar trying to disrupt Clarence Thomas's nomination to the senate. Also they made it seem like working for him for so many years and not saying anything that she wasn't really affected and it was her fault.

Another example is how there's victim blaming you for being to drunk and getting raped. Someone who doesn't really believe the victim and when they find out that they were drunk is suddenly becomes their fault for being raped. This takes some of the responsibility off of the person who committed the assault, therefore this ideology influences the identity!

With the agency of this ideology this shapes and forms an identity that women are to blame for being raped.

Sympathy for the Rapist(because they’re famous or are rich)

Recently in the news there was a Stanford swimmer that was very good at his sport, he came from a great background of money, and he was white!

He was only sentenced to six months in jail and According to the judge the reason for such a short sentence was “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.” 

I find this very disturbing because I truly feel that race played a factor to the judge. This situation is interesting because with his new set of ideologies is going to be okay for people to get away with great that easily? I understand that young people make mistakes and this guy is really great at his skill but this rape is unacceptable. This judge did something that has never been done (possibly creating a new culture?) and I hope it does not become normalized to show sympathy for the rapists and gving short sentences.

With understanding how ideologies influence identity this leads me to the question 

What are you going to do with your agency?

A famous quote by Gandhi “be the change you wish to see”, is one of the best forms of agency that an individual can practice on a daily basis. Each and every person has a unique story to tell therefore using their visibility to presume an identity, this could be used as a resource for somebody else,  to provide opportunities too! I like the idea of thinking and it took the unusual story for me to realize what exactly agency is. She used her voice and the media as a resource, to give her visibility. 

This class gave me hope and drive to continue to express my great ideas to the world because my voice can provide visibility for others. Learning about how resource presumptions and opportunities all go together to analyze gender issues has really opened my eyes to understanding things.

Word count 1289