Friday, February 13, 2009

I Can't Believe I Actually Have To Say This...

Women are not trash.

Seriously, why is depicting a woman thrown upside down into a trash can okay?

Hm. I guess because women are disposable.
Maybe because we're not actually humans, just objects to be dumped when the maintenance becomes too expensive (like in these trying economic times).
Or maybe because its been done before.

I'll say it one more time. I, a woman, am not an object. You can't throw me away or ignore me away when I become annoying, abrasive, inconvenient, argumentative, opinionated, or actualized.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but um...

You being a woman doesn't mean I'm not allowed to ignore you. Or anything else.

In fact, it almost sounds like you're saying that because you have a vag, that it means that everything you say is valid and no one has the right to ignore you, or go away from you. All because of your gender.

Which is a bizarre thing to think.

ANYONE in my life, and yes, this includes women, can and will be removed from my personal sphere if they become annoying, abrasive, inconvenient, etcetera.

Why would I want to keep someone around who was those things?

Being a woman doesn't automatically give you license to irritate the piss out of someone, and say "You have to put up with this, because I'm a woman!".

You have every right to your opinions, and anyone you know has every right to tell you to shove off, at any time, for any reason, even if it IS those opinions.

zooey said...

Details is relentlessly misogynistic... women in trash cans is the tip of the iceberg.

I am almost more disturbed by the fact that at least *three more* of the photos in that slide show implied violence against women -- the one with the poor girl climbing the ladder in the weird bondage shoes, in particular, looked like something out of a serial killer fantasy. Ick.

*Incidentally, Anonymous, you're a prick. I wouldn't put my name to the shit you wrote either*

Amelia said...

I believe that the point that Kate was trying to make in this post (and I hope that she will correct/clarify if I miss it) is that as human beings, women have rights. We are not trash. These depictions strip women of their personhood and place them in the same realm as a discarded scrap of food, a broken appliane, trash, and women most certainly are not trash.

I think Anon. got a little hung up on specific wordings and missed the larger message of this post.

Sure, you can choose which people to include or not include in your personal life, and as long as you don't begin thinking of the women you decide not to include as objects to be thrown away, that's perfectly okay.

The point of this post, though, is that just because a woman may be "annoying, abrasive, inconvenient, argumentative, opinionated, or actualized" does not make her trash.

Russell said...

Although, I agree with every fiber of my being with your conclusion (that women are not trash and have full rights as human beings), it always bothers me when I see things I could have done called misogynistic or sexist. Maybe the context makes the picture sexist, but just portraying a female figure thrown in the trash isn't inherently sexist. If you saw the same picture but titles "American Society," one would never contend that it was sexist.

I guess instead of decrying the piece, we should decry the author, point to their history and raise the piece as an example of their sexism.