Gender Injustice TodayMake it Go Away

Writtenby:ArianaAleman,JesusLino,AnaRodriguez,andLeonardoSerrano
February22,2016
Editor:JesusLinoandAnaRodriguez
1stEdition

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Portrayal of Women In the Media 3. Discrimination in the

Workplace

4. Victim Blaming 5. Abortion 6. Nipple Equality

7. Rape Culture 8. Artists Sexually Assaulted 9. Sexual Abuse

10. Conclusion 11. Polls

Introduction:byJesusLinoandAnaRodriguez
Over the past decades, there have been many advances in achieving gender
equalityfrom receiving the right to vote in 1920, to the ratification of the Violence Against
Women Act. Due to the injustices that all women faced before receiving rights, women had to
stand together and fight for what they deserve; equality. This movement is called feminism: the
idea that women should be treated equal in society like: earning the same amount of money for
doing the same job as men, having the opportunity to hold power like men, and overall stop
being oppressed by society. FEMINISM is NOT hating men, feminism is coming together; both
men and women to work and fight for equality. All in all, feminism has come a long way in
opening the eyes in our society about the daily struggles women face day to day. However,
violence against women continues to persist in our contemporary society. Moreover, many
people are not aware that the everlasting effects continue to torment women all over the world
today. In this newsletter we want to examine violence against women from a variety of
perspectives.
PortrayalofWomenintheMedia:byJesusLino,ArianaAleman
andAnaRodriguez
Most of us have seen a wide variety
of commercials throughout our life, but do
you ever stop and look at the number of
women in commercials? Sure, there is no
doubt that men also come out in these
advertisements, but think about how
women, specifically, are portrayed.
Whether it is advertising a beauty product,
magazines, movies, television or simply a
burger, most of these commercials
emphasize the body image of women.
Image
by article THE PERFECT BODY...

Have you ever seen a Carl's Jr.

commercial? Have you noticed that hot
models are mostly in all their ads. When you
see a Carl's Jr. commercial you see a women
wearing revealing clothing or almost no
clothing at all. These commercials are very
provocative. They use sexual content to sell
their product, objectifying these women to
sell their burgers.We believe in putting hot
models in our commercials, because ugly
ones dont sell burgers, Carls Jr. stated in a
press release on its website dated April 27,
2011.
Image by Fox News

This is just offending for women who don't set these expectations of an ideal body in
society and the media that portrays. Society seeks for the perfect body and is very judgemental
on what it's considered. The media is generalizing women setting a misconception of what is
perfect and making women believe they have to become that person.
 Another big issue that women are portrayed is photoshop. There is a lot of photoshop
going on in this generation. We all are aware that women in magazines are always photoshopped
and that's not how they really look, it's virtually fake. Magazines are manipulating the photo to
the desired image of flawless. Making some women believe that's how they should look. This
leads to women having to seek for that perfect body in an unhealthy way: eating disorders.

As a female, I find myself constantly feeling self-conscious of myself after viewing these
commercials. This isnt a surprise though, as it is a fact that women, especially teenagers, who
are exposed to perfect body images in advertising often become less satisfied with their
personal appearance (Hill, 2006). Did you know that the average size of the perfect woman has
gotten thinner and is now at 13-19% below healthy weight?

Personally, I believe that this is something that needs to addressed. It is never okay for
the media to use a womans, or maybe even a mans, image just to make business. It is precisely
images like the one shown above that make some women feel like they have to live up to some
standard; the expectation of being beautiful. Unfortunately, what many women do not realize is
that they are beautiful the way they are.

DiscriminationintheWorkplace:JesusLino
Discrimination against women in the workplace has reduced throughout time, but, sadly,
women earn only
it still occurs. For instance,

77.5 cents for every dollar that men

earn, according to the 2003 census. Moreover,
women earned less money than men in 99% of
job occupations. Imagine the feeling that women
get from working the same jobs as men, and
possibly even more hours, only to find out that
they got paid less than men. I am pretty positive
that no man would tolerate this injustice, while
women have been tolerating this for quite a long
time now.
http://whhsenglish1.blogspot.com/2015/03/does-gender-discrimination-still-exists.html
It is not only regular women who get discriminated in the workplace; its celebrities as
well. Did you know that Angelina Jolie, the highest paid movie star, makes the same per
movie as the two lowest paid male stars (Alter, 2014)? After seeing this, I realized how no
matter how famous you are, you are still going to get discriminated against in the workplace if
you are a woman. This aggravates me because it isnt fair for a person to get paid less than
someone else simply because of their gender.

It is clearly evident that women, whether they work a low paying job or a high paying
job, will deal with discrimination in the workplace. This inequality will most likely continue
unless something is done about it.

VictimBlaming:AnaRodriguez
When a woman goes through any type of trauma, it is evident that the people she decides
to confide on and tell should love, support, and most importantly BELIEVE her. With such a
taboo topic like this, some victims/survivors
are blamed and shamed for being assaulted.
Some go years and even a lifetime without
coming out and having the opportunity to
heal from this traumatic experience.
Victim-blaming marginalizes them and
make it harder to report because there is a
persistent fear that people will say phrases
like She was asking for it or Why was
she alone at night?
(Illustration by Miles Huffman)

In my experience, I
was constantly
asked, Why didnt
you speak up
sooner? The
reason for this was
because there was a
fear that no one was
going to believe
me. After all, why
would my
step-father sexually
abuse me for years?
Some told me that
he couldnt do that
to me hes not that
type of guy. It is stated in the online article Stop it now You cannot pick out a sex offender in a
crowd.

The people around me engaged in victim blaming, they allowed my abuser to avoid
accountability for his actions. I found myself alone, fighting for my well-being. As a 10 year old
girl everyone blaming me made me feel like it was my fault, that maybe I shouldnt have had
spoken up. This just makes me realize that there has to be more women and girls out there that
have been through this and are silenced not only by their perpetrators but also by the people
around them.

Despite everything, one thing is for sure;

YOU ARE NEVER TO BLAME IF YOU ARE ASSAULTED OR ABUSED!

Abortion:byArianaAleman
What is abortion? Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most
often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Why is abortion still constructed as
something that is morally wrong, inappropriate, or malicious? Why do we think of this decision
to be mean, sinful, and cruel thing to do to an innocent baby when we think of abortion? Why do
we dehumanize women for choosing or needing to terminate pregnancies?
Women should have the power and the right to make their own decisions and to not be
judged by society, by their communities, by families, by the health system, nor by us. By talking
about abortion stigma we can recognize how it is created and perpetuated.
Were all guilty of stigmatizing women
who seek abortions. While asking classmates, some say Why would you kill a defenseless
baby? Its a gift from God. Many women face stigma despite the circumstances of why she got
pregnant. According to RAINN, it is estimated that there were 17,342 pregnancies due to rape
in 2012. Some religions who are against abortion are Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Judaism, and Islam. Religion believes, "Exodus 20-Thou Shall Not Kill," meaning that it is
considered sinful to kill an innocent baby and will for no doubt be punished. There are many anti
abortion movements that are mostly organized and led by religious groups.
 According to Our Bodies Ourselves, before Roe v. Wade as many as 5,000 American
women died annually as a direct result of unsafe abortions. Roe v. Wade is landmark
decision by the United States Supreme Court, making abortion services vastly safer and more
accessible to women. Meaning, before Roe v. Wade many women died for unsafe attempted
abortions. Women around the world try to end their pregnancies whether abortion is legal or not,
often jeopardizing their safety and health by seeking a dangerous illegal procedures. Why do we
legally deprive women of a health care service that could save their lives? In addition, today,
abortion is one of the most commonly performed clinical procedures in the United States. Some
women chose to do unsafe abortions knowing that it is dangerous without a proper procedure
because its a cheap performance. Every women should have the
confidence and ability to go to a clinic and choose abortion. I
strongly believe that we as women should have the right to
decide what to do with our bodies, it shouldnt be anyone else's
decision whether we should or should not keep a baby. It is time
to abort the stigma. (Illustration by Kevin Kidwell )

NippleEquality:byArianaAleman

What's the difference between male nipples and women's nipples? Over 75 years ago it was
illegal in all 50 states of America for men to be SHIRTLESS on a beach. A small dedicated
group fought the puritanical status quo, the police and the courts. After several arrests and
protests men finally won their basic human right to be TOPLESS in public in 1936. What is
free the nipple? Free the nipple is a campaign that Lina Esco started in New York. In new york,
since 1992 it is legal for women to be topless but still get arrested but that's because police are
unaware of that right.This campaign is an equality movement, a mission to empower women
across the world who stand against female oppression and censorship. Now, this group is
fighting for the right to be topless like men did in the past, getting rid of the double
standard.These female activists supports feminine body equality, legal rights to breastfeed in
public. These women want to fight and change censorship in America. These women think it's
not fair that a male can be topless in public but
topless women get charged for indecent exposure
and can get locked up or pay fines.
Society has been oppressing women, making them
feel guilty for their actions and making them
believe they should act a certain way. These
women are starting a revolution, they want to
change the minds of the people. This campaign is
not telling all women should get topless, they want
women to have a choice and not discriminated by the right to have the equal opportunity that
men have.

Society thinks that women being topless is obscenity.Yet, so many women are objectified
and sexualized all over media.What would you do if you see a group of women being topless in
public? How would you react? What would you think? How would you feel? I asked these
questions to some of my classmates.Their response was, I would stare, wouldn't mind watching
a pair of women being topless It's distracting for men because they can't contain themselves
It's something rare but it's her decision to be nude, it shows she is comfortable with her body
It's scandalizing and crazy, no self respect toward their body.

Women have the right to breastfeed in public. Why do people still get disturbed
and think it's inappropriate? What's so wrong about women trying to feed their
newborn baby, if it's necessary ? Women have the right, they shouldn't feel ashamed or
care what other people think. Two of the remaining states South Dakota and Virginia
exempt breastfeeding moms from public indecency or nudity laws, and Idaho is the
only state that has yet to pass any similar laws. Why do peoplethink is lewd behavior.
RapeCulture:byAnaRodriguez
Rape Culture is an
environment in which rape is
prevalent and in which sexual
violence against women is
normalized and excused in the
media and popular culture.
Rape culture is perpetuated
through the use of misogynistic
language, the objectification of
womens bodies, and the
glamorization of sexual
violence, thereby creating a
society that
disregards womens rights and
safety.

Image: article by Sarah Jones

Dont leave your drinks unattended, Dont wear short dresses, Dont go out at night.
These are great tips but what about men? They dont get taught that there is not an excuse and
never an invitation to rape. Young boys get taught that they are supposed to be dominant, be
sexually active and aggressive hence the idea of manhood. Girls are taught to stay home, be a
housewife, stay pure until marriage but are called a tease when they dont want to have sex.

Like we previously stated there is inappropriate gendered violence in movies and

television. Blame the victim (She asked for it!) and excuse sexual assault (Boys will be
boys!). What do we think when we hear Approximately a 23 year old woman was raped at late
hours in the night? Shes easy perhaps? We assume that only easy women get raped. We
become so normalized to rape and sexual abuse that we dont even know how to distinguish it.
As I researched rape and rape culture I stumbled upon an online magazine called Everyday
Feminism. One of the many post that really shocked me is called 25 Everyday Examples of
RapeCulture by Shannon Ridgway she talks about how normal rape is she says, A university in
Canada that allows the following student orientation chant: Y is for your sister. O is for
oh-so-tight. U is for underage. N is for no consent. G is for grab that ass. This and 24 other
ways our 21st. century society has normalized this epidemic.

What about that catchy song

Blurred Lines by Robin
Thicke? In the article From the
Mouths of Rapists: The
Lyrics of Robin Thickes
Blurred Lines says and I
quote ThickesingsIknow
youwantit,aphrasethat
manysexualassaultsurvivors
reporttheirrapistssayingto
justifytheiractions. I know
you want it, but youre a good
girl, implicates that women
want sex but will stay quiet.

(Image from the project http://projectunbreakable.tumblr.com/)

REMEMBER: CONSENT IS THE KEY. SILENCE DOESNT MEAN YES. AN AFFIRMATIVE

YES MEANS YES! Shocking right? This right here is the rape anthem weve learned to like.
ArtistsSexuallyAssaulted:byArianaAlemanandAnaRodriguez

There is a song called Till it Happens to You, produced and

performed by Lady Gaga. She co-wrote this song with Diane Warren.
The song contains a feminist perspective in popular rape culture by
Gaga and Warren for personal significance. Lady Gaga revealed in
2014, that she was raped at the age of nineteen. Diane Warren also
experienced sexual assault by being molested at age twelve. The two
artists were inspired to make this empowering song through their
horrific experience.

This song was written for the documentary of The Haunting

Ground. This documentary film alleged incidents of sexual assaults
on college campuses in the U.S. The documentary mainly focuses on
Andrea Pino and Annie E. Clark, these two former University of
North California students said they were raped while enrolled in school. In the film it states that
there are more than 16 percent of college women are sexually assaulted in college and 88 percent
of women do not report.

Bring back the song, You tell me it gets better, it gets better in time,You say I'll pull
myself together, pull it together, you'll be fine,Tell me, what the hell do you know? What do you
know? Tell me how the hell could you know? How could you know? - Till It Happens To You

This quote from the song means that society mentality towards rape victims is that they
have to stay strong and move on and that time will heal. But these are simply hard expectations
for them, they can't just forget this painful experience, these are traumatic events that cannot be
forgotten like nothing. Till you're standing in my shoes, I don't wanna hear a thing from you,
from you, from you, cause you don't know -Till It Happens To You

Meaning, that you don't know how it feels

till you have experienced it, so you can't just
tell a rape victim it will be fine when they
don't know what it feels to be in that
situation. The perpetrators don't know what
rape can lead for women. Women who are
raped can have post traumatic stress
disorder, depression, self-harm, sleep
disorders, and various other terrible side effects. Rape can destroy a persons emotional
conscience according to Rape, Abuse, and National Network. End of your rope, meaning that
rape can lead to suicide or attempted suicide. According to Suicide.org, 33% of rape victims
experience suicidal thoughts, and 13% actually attempt suicide.

The research ive done shocked me I didnt know Lady Gaga experienced sexual assault,
the footage of the video was traumatizing, the lyrics of the song send a very strong message
about rape victims who are expected to get better in time, the documentary of Diane Warren
shows that rape can happen anywhere by anyone and reflects the reality of whats happening in
college campuses. College only wants to protect the institution and its reputation to keep the
numbers of sexual assaults low to have a clean public record. It's crazy and scary to think you're
going to your dream school thinking it's a safe but rape is enormous in college but colleges only
care for their image, statically men in college can get away with it and can even do it repeatedly.
As I saw the film, it's so upsetting that there are many rape complaints of victims in college and
only as little as three or none get expelled but when it comes to cheating and other honor board
violations the number of expulsions is way higher.

A recent sexual abuse case

hearing took an emotionally turn
for the worst. Tik Tok singer,
KE$HA was in court on Friday,
February 19, 2016 for a hearing of
a lawsuit against Sony producer
Dr.Luke. Ke$ha was abused
mentally and physically by fim for
a decade. She agreed to sign a
contract with him when she was
just 18 years old. He forced her to
drop out of high school and in two
(reported) occasions raped her
when she was unconscious. At the
time when she first filed the civil
lawsuit against Luke on October
7th, 2014 she had nine singles (Image by article Repeat Vids)
(eight written and co-produced by him.)
 That Friday, the Manhattan Supreme court denied the lawsuit because she signed a
contract with Dr. Luke for six albums. That sparked indignation by all her fans, and even some
fellow singers like Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga. On Twitter and other social media platforms
people tweeted #FREEKESHA from Sony producer/company. Sony claims that they wont let
him work with her in the same room but thats just minimizing what Keshas doctors says about
her and I quote, continued involvement in her career would affect her physical well-being and
psychological safety.

On Wednesday February, 2016 Kesha wrote a heartfelt message on her facebook she said:

I'm so, so beyond humbled and thankful for all of the support I've
received from everyone. All I ever wanted was to be able to make music without
being afraid, scared, or abused. I think about young girls today I don't want my
future daughter or your daughter or any person to be afraid that they will be
punished if they speak out about being abused, especially if their abuser is in
a position of power. Unfortunately I don't think that my case is giving people who
have been abused confidence that they can speak out, and that's a problem.

This case spoke to me because I feel like Kesha was such brave individual to come out
and speak out knowing that shes in the public's eye. As the strong feminist that she is she will
get through this obstacle and help many people in the way. I believe that this case is opening the
eyes of many in regards to how our justice system works. No one should ever be forced to work
with their abusers. She will come out stronger from this experience, and hopefully our society
realizes that this is once again another example of the rape culture we live in.

SexualAbuse:byLeonardoSerrano
Why is it that we live in the 21st century era and there is still an increasing number of
rape cases in Los Angeles? According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the percentage of
reported rapes have increased by 21%. They think that the increase reflects an increase in
reporting instead of an increase of incidents. Just last year, 2015, the number increased; rape
16%, attempted rape 33%, and unlawful sexual intercourse 11%.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/01/13/49249/why-are-reported-rapes-up-21-percent-in-los-angele/

Year Average rape cases

1960-1969 4,146

1970-1979 8,808

1980-1989 12,300

1990-1999 11,023

2000-2009 9,479

2010-2014 8,039
all information taken from Disaster Center.com

Photography by: KuarLife

It is estimated that 1 in every 5

girls are sexually abused by
the time they reach adulthood
-Center for Sex Offender Management
Fact sheet.
 It is likely to say that one of the people who you know or live with, either young or old,
could be or was a victim of sexual abuse (aka molestation), but what is sexual abuse exactly?
Sexual abuse is unwanted sexual contact between two or more adults or two or more minors, any
sexual contact between an adult and a minor, any unwanted sexual contact initiated by a youth to
an adult, or sexual contact between two minors with a significant age difference between them.

-photograph taken from InjuryLawyers

1 out of 6 women has been the victim of an attempted or

completed rape in her lifetime - Rape Abuse & Incest National Network

Furthermore, nearly 1 in 2 women have experienced sexual violence other than rape at
some point in their lives. This equates to more than 53 million women in the U.S.
http://www.rrsonline.org/?page_id=944

However, molestation not only involves contact from the sex offender to the victim, if the
a person engages any sexual behavior (looking, showing, or self-touching) with a child to meet
the adults needs it is considered molestation.


Conclusion:(JesusLino)
Whether it is dealing with violence or receiving less money than men, it is pretty clear
that women still experience inequality today. Gender inequality is not an issue that should only
concern women; it is an issue that should concern men as well. This issue has an impact on
everyones life. Unless we do not do anything about this issue, nothing will really change. Men,
do not think that it is okay to treat a woman differently only because of their gender. Women, do
not let any man limit your power or make you feel oppressed in any way. You must collaborate
with each other, along with men, to fight for equality. This is everyones issue, which means men
should cooperate with women to fix one of the major problems in this country. The time to act is
not later; it is now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT. FIGHT FOR GENDER EQUALITY. ONE SMALL
STEP CAN LEAD TO PROGRESS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Polls:byAnaRodriguezandJesusLino
Want to know other peoples thoughts about the following questions? Take our polls to express
how you feel about these questions or see how other people feel. Please answer these truthfully.
It will help many people see what society thinks about women. Your opinion matters.

Should women seek one-night stands? Answer by clicking this link: http://goo.gl/ih4sDv

Do you think women are portrayed unfairly by the media? Answer by clicking this link:
http://goo.gl/3oavyj

Do you think women are considered hoes based on the way they are dressed? Answer by clicking
this link: http://goo.gl/dz1MYc
If a woman is wearing a short dress, is it her fault if she gets raped? Answer by clicking this link:
http://goo.gl/liqbuA

For men: Do you constantly have to worry about being sexually assaulted? Answer by clicking
this link: http://goo.gl/vNVF1z

For women: Do you constantly have to worry about being sexually assaulted? Answer by
clicking this link: http://goo.gl/vNVF1z