Until the 1970s, it was lawful for a man to force sex on his wife even if she did not want it.
Activists in the 1970s demanded the recognition of forced sex within marriage as rape. It finally achieved the status of a crime in all 50 states in 1993.
Activists at the time also called for police to intervene in cases of domestic violence as, historically, it was thought of as a "private matter" and officers were not required or instructed to respond.
And activists brought attention to sexual harassment in the workplace, which was seen all too often as normal.
In fact, all of these were often justified on the basis of being "only natural", until they were socially and publicly problematized.
Recent research suggests that today, 1 in 3 American women will experience physical violence in her lifetime, typically at the hands of an intimate partner. And battery is THE leading cause of injury for women between the ages of 15 and 45.
2017 saw an apparent public re-awakening to the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. A widespread, #Metoo social media movement appeared amid high-status cases of alleged abuse, reminding the public of the persistence and pervasiveness of harassment and the threat of violence in womens' everyday lives.
But is this a veritable moment of cultural change?
As we rightly examine the behavior of individuals today in relation to alleged cases of harassment and abuse, let's also turn attention to the broader, more fundamental context of such behavior. We can seek justice in individual cases and seek to stop the silencing of allegations of abuse or sexual assault, and we should, but these are just some important steps in changing the cultural and material landscape in which women become "naturalized" targets of sexual violence.
Above are some ads my students found as they explored the concept of gender roles this past semester.
These images reflect more than just the individuals involved in creating and producing them. Images like these reflect cultural ideas. They are illustrations of masculinity and femininity in our particular society. These cultural patterns of representation that have been identified and studied by sociologists, linguists, and, really, anyone paying attention.
What does each picture tell us about ideas of femininity and masculinity?
Sex (male, female) refers to biological, but gender is symbolic. Despite being "imagined", ideas about gender are taught and learned as if they are the truth, as if certain social dispositions, personalities emerge from the natural differences between men and women.
Boys and girls are both put into boxes and expected to live up. Boys have it really bad in this sense, as many male readers can probably relate: they are bullied or ridiculed by peers or even chastised by adults when they step out of the gender line-- So while boys have the capacity to be emotional, they are taught (by peers and others) not to be. Fortunately, in recent years there has been more attention to the study of boys' and men's experiences in the gender literature. Great examples, both aptly titled, are Jonathan Katz's Tough Guise documentaries and C.J. Pascoe's Dude, Your a Fag.
Gender ideas are reinforced, performed, taught and learned, like any other cultural idea. They are socialized and naturalized, positively and negatively reinforced, in everyday interactions and relations. They have real consequence, as they exist and persist within our institutions, and our material world.
Media advertising is perhaps our most "colorful" source when studying gender, illustrating to us those familiar-- if ridiculous-- ideals of femininity and masculinity persisting in society today.