The topic of gender and equality in
context with a power paradigm in our country is very interesting me.
Essentially it is my understanding is that the current power paradigm allows the
control of the economy and our political system to reside in the hands of a
generally privileged population of white males. This privileged group makes up
the small portion of a pyramid and are at the top while vast numbers of non-white
non male and non-heterosexual demographics make up the remaining tiers of the pyramid.
In a basic sense many people have to confront the social confines of heteronormativity
and patriarchy that have dominated history for thousands of years.
In today's “modern era” many people feel like
white male privilege has lessened and been made more equal with other social
demographics such as women, people of color, homosexual identities, trans-denies,
or those whose do not wish to subscribe to any form of binary. I disagree with many people who say that the
paradigm of our countries power module has greatly shifted and I side with the
reading sighting the internet as proof of such stagnation in social hierarchy when
it states, “despite all the hype…these new technologies…do not negate
hierarchy, history, privilege, power.” I think that though equal rights exist
for some, as they may not have in the past i.e., marriage equality, our heavy reliance
on social media and our consumption of media images and advertisements as user’s
in the digital age far overwhelms our eyes and minds with images, ideas, and
social interaction which still subjugates women, (and many others) as less than men.
The article referenced online harassment
of women and I found the quote published in the
New Yorker cartoon to be very telling stating,” ‘But sometimes the folks on
the internet discover you are a dog.’”.
A simple scroll through Instagram’s most popular photos will tell a
viewer what is still controlling our society.
Overwhelming I see messages of
patriarchy and domination for men and images of women as subjects. Women who
objectify their bodies to endorse a product on Instagram are making money but in what context are they doing so? Whose rules
are they playing by? I don’t think I have ever seen a computer programming photo
of a young lady and especially not on social media.
So when we examine our representations of
women in social media and digital platforms one can’t help but ask what social
model supports such a narrow view of women? And how do implicit and explicit
messages regarding gender, equality, and function in our society shape what
options women believe they have? I side with the reading when it stated, “Now
more than ever, I think we need to be louder and clearer about what we want education
technology to do for us and with us not simply to us.”.
