I found chapter 12 difficult for me to read as it talked in-depth about rape. Like Newman says, it "is the most personal of all violent crimes." I know a lot of woman (family and friends) that have been raped, and a lot of them went unreported for the exact reasons stated in our textbook. As hard as it was to read, I know that the first step in changing these characteristics of our society is through awareness and education, so I continued. I strongly agree with Newman's idea that "as long as we live in a culture that objectifies women and glorifies male assertiveness, we will continue to have sexual violence." This, however, is going to be a lot harder to overcome than some assume.
For example, my boyfriend is one of the least sexist men I have met and would never ever commit rape, but I have noticed that even he has old gender customs built into his thinking. Normally he is about two or three inches taller than me, but when I wear high heels, I am taller than him. He loves the way I look in heels, but because of our society's idea that males should have this physical assertiveness (such as height) over woman, it makes him uncomfortable to stand next to me when I am taller than him. He admits that it makes him think that other people will think of him as "less manly," making him self-conscious about his height. He would have no problem having a wife that made more money than him, but gets sensitive about his height in comparison to woman. Over time I am sure that I could "break" him of this way of thinking, but it just goes to show that there are still many many gender norms prevalent in our society that most people probably don't even realize are sexist.
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