This cartoon demonstrates some of the basic concepts behind mute group theory. The man is part of the dominant group and the female is not so she is silenced. Harassment is one of the processes of silencing that we learned about in class. In this example the silencing is done through sexual harassment. The man in the cartoon is letting the female character know that sexual harassment by upper level employees is alright and she should not complain about it. Harassment like this makes women feel as if they do not belong in the workplace. When sexual harassment occurs, it portrays the message that women are not real employees and are simply sex objects.
This cartoon also demonstrates one of the strategies for resistance to silence. By giving the harassment the title of "sexual harassment", women are preventing further harassment. If everybody knows that sexual harassment occurs and is not okay, it is far less likely to occur. Unfortunately for the women in this cartoon, men also control the subculture of the office. The person that the woman is supposed to go to if she is being sexually harassed is also a man. The man in the cartoon clearly sees no problem with harassment done by himself or by his superiors. This is definitely a huge problem for women because men not only are the dominant sex in our culture as a whole, but they also dominate smaller cultures like the office, the media, and the criminal justice system. That is why the silencing of women continues.
4 comments:
I think this cartoon is a perfect example of the muted group theory. The cartoon blatantly points out the masculine dominance in the workplace. I actually found Andrew's very last statement about how silencing continues because it is rooted in smaller cultures to be very revealing to me. When I viewed the cartoon, I did not originally think about how silencing not only exists in culture as a whole but how it exists in smaller sub-divisions of culture. In light of that, it seems that in order to decrease the silencing of women in our society, we must first stop the silencing of women in isolated parts of society such as the office.
Both the blog entry and the comment are wonderful in revealing the existence of silencing in a variety of subcultures.
This cartoon is a great example of Muted Group Theory. It portrays how women are the subordinates in our male dominated world. It also shows how women in society are always caught in a double bind. The woman in the cartoon is alowed to work but to keep her job she has to comply with her male boss's wishes. If she does give in, she can support her family and perhaps be seen as the office slut. If she does not, she keeps her dignity but has no way to her support her family. Women are put in a corner and our frustrated when they can not express their feelings. She must keep her head down and her mouth shut and just take it, well perhaps not in those terms.
I think that this is a great example of harassment in the workplace. It reminds me of a clip from a show that was shown to us in class. Sexual harassment is so prevalent in the workplace today and it goes unnoticed because the women like the one in the cartoon, are silenced are told that it is ok. Making them feel that they are less than a woman. It's a very sad reality.
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