Is Survivor Sexist?

Back in May I watched about five seasons of Survivor over a period of two weeks. I was visiting a friend and we had nothing else to do. It is one of my favorite shows and I could watch another five seasons in the next two weeks if I wanted to. It's exciting, intriguing, and funny.

But is it sexist? There are more older men than older women, men's age and experiences are appreciated more, most of the women are thin while the men's builds have more diversity. In the season that is on now there is more blatant sexism than there has been before. Almost every episode, the fact that older women with children are being made fun. 

During Redemption Island, a place where players voted out of the game have a chance to go back into the game, the winner of the challenge is allowed to give a hidden immunity idol clue to a player still in the game. Candace, with malice toward Brad Culpepper for voting her husband out of the game, has the clue given to Brad's wife Monica. As soon as Monica receives the clue, Brad tells her three times to throw the clue into the fire. Earlier, Candace told her husband, John, that they should give the immunity idol clue to Monica. Jeff, the host of Survivor, made fun of John for listening to his wife, which is obviously weak. Right afterward Brad yelled at his wife to throw the clue away. Candace says to Monica, "Are you going to listen to that," which is what Jeff said to John when he listened to his wife. Jeff retorted, "That's the first time that's ever happened." This implies that women never listen to their husbands, making them seem like bitches.

Of course this could be edited this way or done on purpose to add a little drama, but why is that even okay? I still enjoy this show and I know that comments like that aren't okay, but there are still people out there agree with it/think it's funny.

I saw this on Facebook and the first thought I had was: "This is ridiculous." First of all, it's obviously made for Girls Only (see the top left corner). The little girl in the bottom right looks Hispanic, which could be considered racist. I honestly would have really enjoyed this as a child; it's along the same line as play kitchens. The problem I have with it is that it is not gender neutral. It's sexist to assume only girls want to lean how to clean/push around a fake cleaning trolley.

Then I found this with a simple Google search and I feel much better. It has gender neutral colors and it shows a boy, the non-traditional sex, playing with the toy.

Women have been taught that they are not meant to be pleasured during sex. We didn't even know that a woman could even have an orgasm for the longest time. Some women today don't even know how to give themselves orgasms and are taught that masturbating and figuring out what their bodies can do themselves is wrong and even perverse.  Our husbands are the ones who are supposed to give us the orgasms and we are supposed to sit back and let them figure it out themselves. Only about 30% of women can have an orgasm from penetration, leaving the other 70% to rely on oral sex or some other type of stimulation. Of course this is a perfectly fine way for women to get an orgasm, but a guy isn't "obligated" to please his woman once he has had his orgasm (so get yours first, ladies). In porn women moan and groan and scream and cry at the slightest touch, and this is highly unrealistic. Of course, women make noises, but usually not as much or not as loud (and not as fake...) in real life. In class we talked about why a woman would do this. We said that she would do it to please her partner so he feels good about himself during sex. But wouldn't it make him feel worse if he knew that he wasn't pleasing her the right way?
In magazines like Cosmo, there are a ton of articles about how to please your man. These aren't all sexual (and not horrible) but they reminded me of a 1950's "housewife guide."

I started listening to Lorde not to long ago and I've enjoyed pretty much everything I've heard. I love her music, the lyrics, her voice, her style, her hair... overall she's pretty awesome. And she's 16. I was surprised because I thought she was in her 20's. She looks and sounds like it at least. I'm not complaining; she still dresses and acts appropriately for her age and she is very talented and not overtly sexual. 

She just seems to be your average (besides the fact that she is world-famous...), awkward 16 year old. I like that she isn't drop dead gorgeous either. She is very very uniquely pretty, but not your typical magazine-bombshell. Her music is a little different from most of the stuff we hear on the radio today too. I highly recommend her for people looking for some new music to listen to.