One out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime(“Children and Teens Statistics”). Sexual assault is any sexual crime such as rape and any other acts of sexual abuse on a man, woman, or child(Golden 68). The United States still struggles with staggeringly high rates of domestic violence perpetrated against women(“Women’s Rights and Sexual Harassment”).
Although the rights of women have come a long way, men and women are not totally equal. Women are taught that reporting sexual assault makes them weak. In the workplace, women are often paid less than men and often have to take and ignore any advances made by men who have higher up positions make. Men are still taught that aggression towards women is an okay thing and that it shows masculinity.
Women are taught that reporting sexual assault makes them weak. “As horrifying as the allegations against Weinstein have been, more appalling still is the sense that his behavior isn’t uncommon,” journalist Sophie Gilbert wrote in the Atlantic in October 2017. “That in industries across the world, from media to music to modeling to academia, women have encountered their own Weinsteins and have deduced, for whatever reason, that nothing could be done about it and nobody cared.
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The power of #MeToo, though, is that it takes something that women had long kept quiet about and transforms it into a movement” (“Women’s Rights and Sexaul Harassment”). These women who were sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein waited years to say anything. They feared losing their jobs. Fewer than 40% of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police(Golden 68). Women are afraid of being portrayed as weak.
Only 6 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison(“Children and Teens Statistics”). Women don’t want the men that they accused that didn’t go to prison to come after them again. Women are not only taught that sexual assault is just part of being a woman but they have to deal with it all the time.
In the workplace, women are often paid less than men and often have to take and ignore any advances made by men who have higher up positions. “They speak of challenging institutional cultures, with workplaces dominated by men who openly engage in lewd “locker- room conversation” or exclude them from all-male social events, leaving them without allies in whom to confide after suffering an indignity or a crime”(Jagsi).
In the workplace women are often spoken of like property or in a nasty manner. “Overall, women earn 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families, with black women earning 63 cents and Latinas earning 54 cents,” journalist Alia Dastagir wrote in USA Today in March 2017. “Female doctors, for example, are paid about $20,000 less a year than male doctors” (“Women’s Rights and Sexaul Harassment”).
The wage gap has decreased over time but women are still not getting paid as much as men for greater or equal work. Men are often taught early on in their lives that they are superior to women in the workplace and in everyday life.
Men are still taught that aggression towards women is an okay thing and that it shows masculinity. “In most cultures, aggression is encouraged. For example, to elevate their status, males are encouraged to act tough, take risks, strive for control, and exhibit power. They are discouraged from showing their emotions or appearing weak” (Golden 72).
Men don’t want to seem inferior so they have to make up for it in other ways and are taught that aggression is a way to show that they are superior. “Even though women have served in the armed forces, held administrative positions, acted as government officials, and supported their families, the idea of male dominance has been continually reinforced”(Golden 97). Early on in their lives men are taught that women are the inferior gender even if they can do the same job equally or better. “On the recording, Trump can be heard describing how he is “automatically attracted to beautiful” women. “I just start kissing them,” he said. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.
And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything…. Grab ’em by the [genitalia]. You can do anything.” The tape sparked widespread anger, as many characterized the comments as Trump boasting about sexual assault. Trump himself dismissed the recording as “locker room talk” (“Women’s Rights and Sexaul Harassment”). “Locker room talk” is not an excuse for sexual assault. Men and women have come a far way in achieving equality, but we haven’t reached it yet.
Equality between men and women in the U.S. has been reached. “The majority of women in the workplace are not tender creatures and are largely adept at dealing with all varieties of uncomfortable or hostile situations,” commentator Katie Roiphe wrote in the New York Times in November 2011. “Show me a smart, competent young professional woman who is utterly derailed by a verbal unwanted sexual advance or an inappropriate comment about her appearance, and I will show you a rare spotted owl”(“Women’s Rights and Sexaul Harassment”). Women tend to have a stronger exterior when it comes to lewd comments. “Where men once went to college in proportions far higher than women-58 percent to 42 percent as recently as the 1970s the ratio has now almost exactly reversed” (“Women’s Rights and Sexaul Harassment”).
Women are more than equal with men because they are going to college more than men are. If a woman is competent, she is not warm. If a woman is respected and dependable, she is not competent(“Women’s Rights and Sexual Harassment”). Women must be competent, but also respected and dependable which is very hard to achieve in the U.S. The highest-earning executives at successful American companies are still mostly male(“Women’s Rights and Sexual Harassment”). Men don’t have to go to college to start their own business or take over one.
Women and men in the United States are not equal. Women are taught that they are the inferior gender, while men are taught that they are the superior gender. This is important in society today because the current administration believes that women and men are equal, but women are still paid less and are sexually assaulted more often than men. Sexual assault is not something that can just be blown off.
