MEDIA RELEASE: The New Agenda Gears Up for 2012 Election with “Sexism Ed”
September 16, 2010 by The New Agenda
The following media release is being sent out today to announce our video series, Searching for Sexism.
MEDIA RELEASE
September 16, 2010
media@thenewagenda.net
The New Agenda Gears Up for 2012 Election with “Sexism Ed”
The New Agenda, a non-partisan national movement advocating for women, today launches a video series: Searching for Sexism. The New Agenda believes the 2012 presidential race will include at least two women candidates. Women candidates also running in House and Senate races could deliver a significant shift in power.
The New Agenda hopes “Sexism Ed” will raise awareness and create a more even playing field for women candidates of all political parties.
For two years, The New Agenda and its national members have been speaking out when sexism occurs; but, The New Agenda acknowledges that speaking out alone will not be eradicate sexism.
The New Agenda’s President Amy Siskind said: “Today we take action on a second front. Sexism Ed is about changing culture by encouraging discussions about what sexism is and why it hurts our country. ”
Siskind lamented: “We have our work cut out for us.” Highlights from Searching for Sexism: Episode 1:
- More than half could not define sexism;
- 1 in 3 thought some women deserve sexist treatment.
Siskind added: “How can we hope to eradicate sexism when half our country doesn’t understand what it is? Our hope in launching Searching for Sexism is to deliver the notion of sexism in a digestible form which will lead to discussions around water coolers, kitchen tables, board rooms, and election war rooms.”
Amy,
Great idea for exposing how integral sexism has become over the centuries into the psyche of the masses, both male and female.
What I saw was men are conditioned from birth to not take women seriously and women from birth are taught that they don’t deserve to be taken seriously, appears to be the core for the ignorance of what sexism is.
I’ve always asserted that when sexism is brought front and center and talked about with the same passion and consistency it has been in the talk and printed media, we will not see any real progress in eradicating sexism. Moreover, I also believe that the majority of men will have to be dragged kicking and screaming in acknowledging that sexism exists because once they acknowledge that it does exist, they will have to change their behavior and why should they when they’ve got it so good with all the entitlements and free passes given to them by keeping sexism in the public venacular!
This is why many of us have consistently requested that we focus on educating women first because until the majority of women are educated and onboard in eradicating sexsim, it ain’t going to happen.
I left out “talked about with the same passion and consistency as racism has been…”
Brilliant work, Amy and film crew! I found myself laughing but then wincing and shaking my head. We have a lot of work to do. I was especially sad at the hip young guy saying that the sexist moniker for Sarah Palin was ‘not that far out’. That attitude is most worrisome for the future. I think you should come on up to Alaska to film a segment!
I recently had a young female neighbor who while working as a chef, the master chef (male), in reply to her concerns about the menu which she didn’t agree on, he asked her if she was having that time of month?
I told her to file a complaint with Dept. of Labor…….she was afraid she’d lose her job…….and three months later she ended up quitting.
How do we bring the age old sexism regarding menustrating as being that time of month, that women are viewed as being cranky and unreasonable. As though we need mental therapy?
Tina, are you Alaskan?
Yes I agree. We need to call out the hostilities of men, rather than type-cast the reactions of each particular woman, who have the same needs and wants as human beings that men do. For instance, they need to make money, and not be expected to work for men’s needs. All too often women are treated as if they have no needs at all. They are AI programs that walk on invisible ATM’s. We need respect from other human beings, both men and women, who among many things that men need, need to be treated with dignity and respect, and not bitter hostilities.
Not that I’m denying that the “hostilities of men” exist, but I think what that video definitively proved is the fact that some people just GET IT, and some people just DON’T. There were two older men in particular that I thought had an Excellent grasp on the topic. Some of the older women were also pretty well spoken. But excepting that one young woman, most of the middle aged and younger folks seemed either oblivious to or actively in favor of sexism. I don’t think the divide is so gender based as I do think it’s a cohort effect thing. People of a certain generation know Feminism because they lived through the revolution. The rest of us are playing catch-up.