Sexual Harassment: It’s about power, not lust and When saying ‘Yes’ is easier than saying ‘No’ share a few key themes around consent, power dynamics, and the societal pressures that influence women’s sexual experiences. Both of these articles examine how women may navigate sexual encounters, often feeling trapped in situations where they may not fully desire the interaction, yet feel compelled to proceed due to external factors. In the theme of consent in these two articles, they both address the nuanced gray area of consent. In the “It’s about power, not lust”, it focuses on the way sexual harassment operas within power structures where women are outnumbered and in positions where they feel unable to say no. In “When saying ‘Yes’ is easier than saying ‘No’, the author uses the term “gray zone”, explaining this is where women may say “yes” but feel uncomfortable or even coerced into doing so because of societal pressures. Another thing both these articles do is they critique the cultural forces that shape how women navigate these situations and explore the emotional consequences of interactions that may not align with their true desires. This covers a lot of the #MeToo movement that we have talked about in class, especially the conversation around consent.
Month: November 2024
Serano discusses something called “the predator/prey mindset” in men and woman. What I believe the predator mindset is, is that men have this sort of power over woman and consistently try to hold it over them. Like an example Serano used, men often objectify woman sexually and make sexual advances towards them. The prey mindset is about woman. I feel as a woman, we are often walking on eggshells with our actions. This is because a lot of times it feels like men have this power over us, like I said before. The prey mindset is often about how no matter what a woman does, she will always be objectified, and viewed as a sex symbol by men. Often times the prey stereotype leads to discussions like “oh well what was she wearing”, or “she was asking for it”, or even just the negative stereotype of woman being “whores”. The predator stereotype can be negative, because not all men are like that, but as human we group all men like that, because of how many men are like that. This binds the nice guy/asshole stereotype she discusses later. Nice guys don’t get attention from girls, and are often over looked. The assholes are guys who always get female attention, and are never overlooked. I think that part of this is because of how we grew up, and we are so used to unsolicited male comments, so it’s almost weird if a guy is to nice.
