Culture & Identity

Sexism still permeates culture through the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes as well as misogynistic, negative and violent imagery in mass media. Perceptions of identity and gender roles are influenced, reflected and reinforced through myths, narratives and stories. Cultural cues about appropriate gender roles can have a negative and harmful impact by, for example, defining strength and rationalism as ”masculine” and submissiveness and emotionalism as ”feminine.” NCRW and its members are promoting awareness through research and critical analysis that uncover the tensions and assumptions involved in identity and gender roles.

Recent Generations Focus More on Fame, Money Than Giving Back

Teaser:

Young Adults Less Interested in Community Issues, Politics and Environment, Finds New Research

Editorial:

From the press release:

The times are changing, and not necessarily for the better when it comes to giving back to society, according to 40 years of research on 9 million young adults. Since the baby boomer generation, there has been a significant decline among young Americans in political participation, concern for others and interest in saving the environment, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

“Popular views of the millennial generation, born in the 1980s and 1990s, as more caring, community-oriented and politically engaged than previous generations are largely incorrect, particularly when compared to baby boomers and Generation X at the same age,” said the study’s lead author, Jean Twenge, PhD, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of the book, “Generation Me.” “These data show that recent generations are less likely to embrace community mindedness and are focusing more on money, image and fame.” The study was published online this month in APA’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The findings did show that millennials were more likely than baby boomers or Generation Xers to volunteer during high school and to say that they intend to participate in community service in college. However, the authors contend that this trend is most likely related to schools’ requiring community service for graduation, which has been cited in numerous studies. The desire to save the environment, an area considered to be of particular concern to millennials, showed some of the largest declines, with three times as many millennials as baby boomers at the same age saying they made no personal effort to help the environment. Fifty-one percent of millennials said they made an effort to cut down on electricity use to save energy, compared to 68 percent of boomers in the 1970s.

Twenge and her colleagues analyzed data from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study of high school seniors, conducted continuously since 1975, and the American Freshman survey by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute of entering college students since 1966. Both surveys included items on life goals, concern for others, and civic and community involvement.

[...]

Source:

Newswise

URL:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/recent-generations-focus-more-on-fame-money-than-giving-back?ret=/articles/list&category=life&page=1&search%5Bstatus%5D=3&search%5Bsort%5D=date+desc&search%5Bsection%5D=30&search%5Bhas_multimedia%5D=

Date:

March 15, 2012

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Sex, lies and media: New wave of activists challenge notions of beauty

Teaser:

The reality: Women make up 51% of the United States yet only 17% of seats in the House of Representatives. They're 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 7% of directors in the top 250 grossing films.

Editorial:

From CNN:

What's the connection? We live in a sexualized society where the gap between fantasy and reality is vast and harmful.

"Women are aspiring to do great things in leadership, yet the glass ceiling is still there because of the way media depict women," director and activist Jennifer Siebel-Newsom said. "It influences our culture and dictates our gender norms and values."

Siebel-Newsom's documentary, Miss Representation, is the latest cinematic foray in the movement to challenge portrayals of beauty in "the media," a term used to describe all forms of mass communication, from the internet, TV, film, magazines, radio and advertising.

[...]

Source:

CNN

URL:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/09/living/beauty-media-miss-representation/?hpt=ibu_bn3

Date:

March 13, 2012

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Republican Party in need of prominent spokeswomen

Teaser:

A week ago, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, went on Meet the Press, the top-rated Sunday talk show, to press the case that Republican opposition to insurance coverage of contraception is part of a broader GOP "war on women."

The Republican counterpoint was given by a man.

Editorial:

From USA Today:

Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, argued on the program that the issue was one of religious freedom, not one of denying access to health care.

Republicans had been criticized 10 days earlier for holding a hearing on contraceptive coverage that lacked any women testifying. Yet there were no elected Republican women appearing on the political shows that Sunday to support the party'sposition. In politics, that's called "bad optics."

To be sure, the networks, not the parties, select guests for Sunday shows, and women of any political persuasion are underrepresented: They generally make up about one-fifth of guests. On Sunday, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., appeared as part of the NBC program's roundtable discussion.

Last week's disparity illustrates a challenge the GOP faces in the "war on women" controversy and, come fall, in combating President Obama's strength among female voters: The party is in something of a rebuilding season for its roster of prominent spokeswomen.

[...]

Source:

USA Today

URL:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-03-08/gop-republican-party-women-spokeswomen/53491306/1

Date:

March 12, 2012

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HIV Rates for U.S. Urban Black Women Five Times Higher than Previously Estimated

Teaser:

AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins say they are surprised and dismayed by results of their latest multicenter study showing that the yearly number of new cases of HIV infection among black women in Baltimore and other cities is five times higher than previously thought. The data show that infection rates for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among this population are much higher than the overall incidence rates in the United States for African-American adolescents and African-American women.

Editorial:

From the news release:

The data come from an ongoing, larger series of studies supported by the HIV Prevention Trials Network, and reflect testing and analysis of at-risk women in six urban areas in the northeastern and southeastern United States hardest hit by the global AIDS epidemic. The so-called “hotspots” are Baltimore; Atlanta; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; Newark, N.J.; and New York City. Researchers plan to present their findings March 8 at the 19th annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle.

Specifically, the team found that among 2,099 women ages 18 to 44, 88 percent of whom were black, 1.5 percent (32 women) tested positive at the outset of the study, even though they all thought they were negative. Among those who initially tested negative for HIV, the rate of new infections was 0.24 percent within a year after joining the study. Some 215 study participants came from Baltimore.

Experts say this rate of infection, or seroconversion, is five times previous estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overall for African-American women.

[...]

Source:

Johns Hopkins Medicine News and Publications

URL:

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/hiv_rates_for_us_urban_black_women_five_times_higher_than_previously_estimated

Date:

March 10, 2012

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They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve

Teaser:

From Valley Girls to the Kardashians, young women have long been mocked for the way they talk.

Editorial:

From The New York Times:

Whether it be uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions? Like this?), creating slang words like “bitchin’ ” and “ridic,” or the incessant use of “like” as a conversation filler, vocal trends associated with young women are often seen as markers of immaturity or even stupidity.

Right?

But linguists — many of whom once promoted theories consistent with that attitude — now say such thinking is outmoded. Girls and women in their teens and 20s deserve credit for pioneering vocal trends and popular slang, they say, adding that young women use these embellishments in much more sophisticated ways than people tend to realize.

[...]

Source:

The New York Times

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/science/young-women-often-trendsetters-in-vocal-patterns.html

Date:

February 28, 2012

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

Au Revoir ‘Mademoiselle’

Teaser:

Farewell to lovesick maidens and damsels in distress. Farewell to discrimination and sexism — well, at least on French forms.

Editorial:

From ABC News:

French Prime Minister François Fillon ordered Tuesday that the term “mademoiselle” be removed from all official forms and registries after months of campaigning by two feminist organizations, Osez le Féminisme (Dare to be feminist) and Les Chiennes de Garde (The Watchdogs).

The decision marks a great victory for French feminists who say the use of “mademoiselle” is demeaning to women, insisting that their marital status need not be known every time they sign a form. Men in France are referred to as “monsieur” regardless of marital status.

[...]

Source:

ABC News

URL:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/02/au-revoir-mademoiselle/

Date:

February 24, 2012

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

Black Women and Organizations

Teaser:

The real untold story of Black History Month is the story of the organizations that have made a real difference in the advancement of African American people.

Editorial:

From Black Voice News:

The NAACP, founded in 1909, and the National Urban League, founded in xxx are the most visible organizations, but in 1935 both the National Council of Negro Women (led by Dr. Height from 1957 to her death in 2010) and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs were founded. Even earlier, in 1896, the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs was established. Mary Church Terrell was the organization’s first president and this group, still operating, is the oldest organization that works for the benefit of black women and families.

Until 1960, most African American women worked as maids, domestics, or private household workers. The National Domestic Workers Union was founded in 1968 by Dorothy Lee Bolden, who started working at age 12 for about $1.50 a week. The organization was dedicated to professionalize domestic work, providing training and advocating for fair working conditions. This was yet another example of African American women coming together to improve their lives and those of their families.

There is a rich history of African American sororities and fraternities. Among the sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded at Howard University in 1908. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated was also founded at Howard in 1913 by women who broke off from AKA to emphasize their commitment to scholarship, service, and sisterhood. Delta women marched in the Women’s Suffrage March in 1913, despite discouragement from white women who did not want to mix race matters with suffrage issues. (Full disclosure – I’m a Delta). Two other black women’s sororities, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho, are organizations that also focus on service. All of the black women’s sororities are committed to uplifting the community and to providing scholarship assistance to students.

Source:

Black Voice News

URL:

http://www.blackvoicenews.com/commentary/231-julianne-malveaux/47464-black-women-and-organizations.html

Date:

February 17, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

An Upside to the ‘Angry Black Woman’ Stereotype?

Teaser:

For centuries, the angry black female has been a pervasive stereotype in the United States.

Editorial:

From The Washington Post:

I’ll admit it may seem odd that being labeled “angry” could serve any black person well. Let’s face it, leaders of the Civil Rights movement likely adopted a non-violent stance for both moral and practical reasons.

But in a recent study I conducted with Robert Livingston and Ella Washington of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, we found that black women leaders who displayed dominant behavior when interacting with subordinates got more favorable reviews than their white female or black male counterparts who behaved the same way. In fact, black women were evaluated comparably to white male leaders who displayed similarly dominant and assertive behavior.

Existing studies have shown that professional white men have been granted greater status and power when they’ve expressed anger rather than sadness. Our findings suggest that black women may benefit from such expressions, too. In other words, because assertiveness and dominance are stereotypical characteristics for black women, they may not provoke the same backlash as they would for white women and black men.

[...]

Source:

The Washington Post

URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-angry-black-woman-is-there-an-upside-to-the-stereotype/2012/02/15/gIQAuz5mHR_story.html

Date:

February 17, 2012

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

Remembering the Women During Black History Month

Submitted by asklar on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:42am

Selection of posts from the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation Young Women Misbehavin blog.

URL:

http://youngwomenmisbehavin.com/category/black-history-month/

African American women see their own challenges mirrored in Michelle Obama’s

Teaser:

As black women watch Michelle Obama on the national stage, they search — sometimes nervously — for nuances often lost on the larger culture. How she handles criticism, how she raises her children, even her style of dress, has the potential to counter negative stereotypes.

Editorial:

From the Washington Post:

In a nationwide survey conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, black women described themselves as relating to Michelle Obama and sensing that she understands them. Nearly eight out of 10 black women say they personally identify with the first lady, and when asked to give a one-word description of Obama, among the words most commonly used were “intelligent,” “strong” and “classy.”

In follow-up interviews, black women say the first lady’s racial and gender identity are essential to the deep connection they feel they have to her. They call her a role model, someone familiar to them — like a sister or aunt.

That emotional stake makes watching Obama navigate the world stage both “thrilling and terrifying,” says Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor of political science at Tulane University who has written aboutthe first lady’s impact on black women.

[...]

Source:

Washington Post

URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/african-american-women-see-their-own-struggles-mirrored-in-michelle-obamas/2012/01/19/gIQA5k4DMQ_story.html?hpid=z4

Date:

January 25, 2012

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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