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Showing posts with label Gender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gender. Show all posts

31 March 2008

Hillary Clinton: Sexist?

Hillary says that she won't be "bullied out" of the race for the White House, saying that the "big boys" - such as Senators Chris Dodd and Pat Leahy and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who are all key Obama allies - are trying to push her out of the Democratic race because she is a woman. But when asked whether Barak Obama could beat John McCain in the presidential election, she said:

I'm saying I have a better chance. You cannot as a Democrat win the White House without a very big women's vote. What I believe is that women will turn out for me.
So... she thinks that women would - or should - vote for her because she is a woman too? Rather patronising, really. Women, just like men, vote for someone because they like their policies. They're not going to vote for anyone just because they have a pair of tits and lack a penis, like they do.

Just think if a man was to say that, replacing the word "women" with "men". Or even if Obama was to say the same phrase just using the word "black" instead. There would immediately be an outcry against it. And the same should apply to Hillary Clinton over this.

I admire the way that Barack Obama has not playing the "I'm black, so vote for me" line. He has made it quite clear that he is about representing everyone who shares his views, not just his race or gender - but everyone.

With this phrase - and her continuous "mis-speaking" - Hillary Clinton has shown herself not fit to be a Presidential candidate.

05 January 2008

A Blogger? Male? You Could Be In Danger...


Hat-tip: Theo Spark at his new blog and Tom Paine

10 October 2007

Obsessed With Jacqui's Tits?

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's, that is. She is complaining about journalists being "obsessed" with her cleavage and has told them "to get over themselves". She says:

Honestly, the morning when I made the statement to the House about the terror incidents that I had faced on my first weekend... funnily enough the main thing on my mind when I got up was not: 'Is my top too low cut or not?'
I'm going to carry on concentrating on protecting the country's borders, securing us from counter terror and bringing down crime.
And I will try and think a bit about my clothes alongside that, but it is not my top priority and nor should it be for those journalists who have been obsessed with it. (BBC)
I think it is you who needs to get over yourself, Jacqui. Why would anyone be obsessed by your cleavage? You're not exactly the most attractive woman in the world ["face like a horses arse" is one way of describing it...], and your breasts are hardly huge. And neither are you exactly the first woman to be in high ministerial office in Britain - and they managed to get by without claiming that journalists were obsessed with their tits.

So why would anyone be especially interested in your cleavage? The sort of cleavage in that I will be posting tomorrow or regularly at display over at Theo Spark's, yes, but yours? Not a chance.

Source: BBC

23 September 2007

Pay Audits To Tackle Sex Discrimination?

Seems like a good idea...

Firms who lose wages tribunals would have to carry out a "pay audit" of all their staff under Tory plans to end sex discrimination at work.
Shadow minister Theresa May said the problem with the current system is that tribunals heard cases individually.
That meant firms found guilty of discrimination are not forced to do anything for other female employees. (BBC)
... but I'm wary of it.

If a company is not paying one woman the same wage as her equal male colleagues, it stands to reason that the same discrimination is likely to exist throughout the rest of the company structure. Whilst under the current system, only that one individual benefits from the tribunal's verdict if the company is deemed to have discriminated based on sex, under the system proposed by the Conservatives every woman in the company is going to be ensured that their pay is not defined by their gender.

In a way, I am a feminist. I believe that women should get treated in precisely the same way as men. If they have the same level of experience, skills, qualifications etc. and doing the same job, then they should the same level of pay, regardless of gender. Being a certain gender in itself should not cause you to get paid more or get paid less. Equality should exist.

I'm just not convinced whether a pay audit if a company lost a wage tribunal would really make that much of a difference to gender pay discrimination. It certainly seems like a logical and intelligent idea, but will it really work?

Image: Theresa May [she actually has a blog as well - but it hasn't been updated since July 6th, despite saying that it "will be updated on a regular basis" on her homepage]
Source: BBC

20 August 2007

Girls do prefer pink:
Parents who dress their boys in blue and girls in pink may not simply be following a tradition: new research has suggested that these are indeed the usual favourite colours of each sex.
The long-established idea that men and women differ in their choice of favourite colours has been confirmed by scientists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, who found that while both sexes like blue, women are also drawn towards pink.
When their overall preferences were averaged, the male favourite was a pale blue while the female favourite was a lilac shade of pink. (The Times)
But since this is a study taken place on adults, it's just as likely to be just a result of the traditional gender colour-related way in which kids are brought up, really...

16 August 2007

I was directed to this, the "Shewee", and I thought I'd share the pain...
Shewee is a molded plastic funnel that provides women with a simple, private and hygienic method of urinating without removing clothes whilst standing AND sitting.
When positioned securely under the crotch, and with underwear pushed to the side, Shewee directs urine away from the body to a suitable place, such as a toilet, a container or a conveniently located tree!
It could be because I am a man, but this just seems, well, wrong somehow...

25 June 2007

The Women-Only Beach

Gender-equality? Not in Italy, where a beach has now been declared "men free" - bar a hairdresser and a lifeguard:

"Italy’s long-standing tradition of male chauvinism has been delivered a bitter blow with the opening of the country’s first women-only beach.
Visitors to Beach no 134 on the 50-mile stretch of coastline linking Rimini to Riccione on the Adriatic coast are welcomed with a large sign of a macho man covered with a pink cross saying "No Men".
The sandy beach, which is also closed to children, has been dubbed the "Pink Beach"...
The man ban is accompanied by a restriction on loud disco music and traditional beach food such as deep-fried squid and chips. " (The Telegraph)
If a similar sort of area was declared "women free", complete with a sign with a cross over an image of a woman, the outcry would be huge. Gender equality, it seems, only goes one way.

This is an utterly revoting idea. Equality means equality, where people are treated the same, regardless of gender - the sort of thing which a women-only beach blatantly contravenes. Whilst I understand the idea and reasoning behind the idea, its execution is wrong. There should be no public area of this nature where sexual discrimination is practiced - for that is what this is.

Source: The Telegraph, The Times

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