Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!ora!ambar From: bfu@ifi.uio.no (Thomas Gramstad) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: Sexism (against women) Message-ID: Date: 7 Mar 91 20:49:11 GMT References: <513Go7_c@cs.psu.edu> <1991Feb8.165736.24726@aero.org> <1991Mar5.120658.7987@ora.com> Sender: ambar@ora.com (Jean Marie Diaz) Organization: O'Reilly and Associates Inc., Cambridge MA Lines: 24 Approved: ambar@ora.com In-Reply-To: mg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Paul Greelish)'s message of 5 Mar 91 12:06:58 GMT >How much sexism (against women) do people perceive there to be >nowadays? What form does it take? One still common form is the belief that women are "physically inferior" -- a phrase that may be found even occasionally in acadamic writing -- i.e. that they have to be smaller, weaker, slower, less enduring etc than males. Sex role stereotypes serve to maintain this view and even to give it some reality by such notions that certain occupations and certain sports are unsuitable for women because of their hard physical requirements. The bottom line of this is an image of women as physically inefficacious and helpless -- as passive objects and rape victims. Thus, physical empowerment of women is a very important goal. These issues have been treated by e.g. Helen Lenskij ("Out Of Bounds: Women, Sport and Sexuality"), K.F. Dyer ("Catching up the Men"), Nancy Theberge and others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thomas Gramstad bfu@ifi.uio.no ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Women's bodybuilding is one of the most revolutionary movements in the history of womankind, as it redefines what a woman is and can be. Right now it's still a frontier. But it's setting standards for what women will be tomorrow." -- The Valkyries