Misogyny and Sexism in media

submitted by TalkToTheVoid from self.GenderCritical

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[–]VioletRemi 10 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I read a comment from another reader and it mentioned "A Clockwork Orange" and the attitudes of men in it seeming monstrous and misogynistic.

The book is there to show how misogynistic and monstrous society is and what some men would be doing if they will get the power and rights to do that (we can see this nowadays on abusers of self-ID laws, translesbians and other trans-rapists).

So book is created to be misogynistic and sexist. I would not reccomend you to read it, tho. It is very cruel and triggering. However, unlike majority of other works, it is not glorifying abuse and rape as something good or sexual.

About other points, especiall if we are reading older literature (before women gained any rights) - they all almost always casually sexist (or intentionally sexist, like religious books), as people writing how they are used to be or to see surroundings, so that is "normal" to them.

I have a good example of one asian girl and one japanese man, I was studying with in university. Man was trying to be feminist and was listening to me a lot and trying to do the best to become a good man. However, he was still doing sometimes or saying sometimes extremely sexist stuff, and when I was pointing out on that, he was surprised, was thinking about that and agreeing that it is very sexist. When I was asking him why he is doing that, he was saying that it is just automatic, it is normal in Japan, it is normal to assume things like that in Japan, so they all just became automatic, and he is doing them because he is used to, not because he want to - the opposite was true, he really wanted to not do such things, and was always grateful to me for showing him his wrongdoings (he actually was trying to never repeat such things again, and even if he did, he was realizing that he did and instantly apologizing). Society is still very strongly misogynic, sexist and homophobic - so people unconciously are making sexist jokes, writing sexist books and saying sexist things, just because it is the norm around, they grow up with this being around, they do not even realizing that it is harmful in any way, majority of people would not even understand why it is sexism even if you explain them.

[–]MarkTwainiac 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think I might have been the one who made the comment about "A Clockwork Orange" that OP mentioned.

If that's the case, I want to clarify that I specifically said it was the 1971 movie of "A Clockwork Orange" shown/seen in a movie theater (on a huge widescreen) that I found to be monstrous and misogynistic, not necessarily the novel on which the movie was based. The experience of seeing and hearing acts described in a book acted out on a huge, much larger-than-life screen is, to me, different to reading about those acts with no pictures or sound effects.

[–]diapason 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, I got that impression from A Clockwork Orange (the book, I haven't seen the movie) too—the violence was portrayed in a pretty blunt and graphic light and I got the impression it was a condemnation of that sort of brutality, not a glorification of it. Especially with how it's hyperviolent gangs of (male) youths running around causing havok while the rest of society is petrified—hardly could be considered a favorable portrayal of those running around beating and raping people. It's pretty horrid to read though, definitely not for anyone with a weak stomach

[–]MarkTwainiac 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, it's a picture of a very dystopian future where male youth violence has run amok and the whole society is cowed. Sorta like "The Purge" 365 days a year.

But as you say, it's still pretty horrid to read - especially for young females who know we'd never have a chance against these male thugs.