I did a little experiment where I got some people, and when they were looking in the mirror, I told them how good they looked.
They would be unsure of themselves and talk about their flaws
I said, “Can I see a picture of your mum? Your mum looks just like you; she’s so beautiful”
They will respond to me by saying, “Yes.”
I say, “Then why do you think you are unattractive?”
Most people say, “I don’t know.”

There is a classic case where it says, “A white woman looks in the mirror and says, “I see a woman, a black woman looks in the mirror and says I see a black woman, and a white man looks in the mirror and says I see a human being.”

The mirror, a mysterious and psychedelic image, was also once a symbol of patriarchal structures. The value of her looks could never match the social value of a woman. Male society only recognizes the importance of women’s looks, and women are susceptible to the marks of time and destiny in their changing appearance. Men act, women, perform. Men hold the mirror and construct a more complex discourse than the mirror, while women are illuminated by the mirror, disciplined and punished in a patriarchal discourse.

When a woman looks in the mirror, the “looked at” woman becomes the woman who “looks at” herself.

The mirror shatters, the process of looking is forced to end, and with it the emptiness of the subject, which returns to the woman herself when she no longer affirms her existence.

Growing up, we would prefer to be in an environment where we get more recognition, where recognition is like a mirror that allows us to find our true selves.”

I have made a tiny observation that many images of women are often shot from the bottom up, lingering a little more on the legs and chest. Could our approach to women be more diverse? Fair skin like porcelain is beautiful, but can we also appreciate the beauty of pimples and wrinkles?

Growing up, we would prefer to be in an environment where we get more recognition, and recognition is like a mirror that allows us to find our true selves.”

The aim is not to provide answers, but to generate discussion on the subject, just as ‘room’ is defined differently for different people, for me its meaning is twofold: firstly, women need an independent, self-contained, private space; secondly, ‘room’ is also a personal narrative A symbol of imagery.”

Every woman should have her room, a spiritual space for self-examination and identity. Each work here represents the creator’s room, a private brew of her own emotions and perspective on the world.

How do environmental causes affect you?

I chose this theme because, when I looked at my journey from a self-perspective, I found that for a long time, I was in a state of self-imposed isolation, partly due to my environment and partly due to myself. When I was in China, I found that I wore suspenders and might have been advised by my parents to change into a more conservative dress. Whereas in London, women are entirely free to change into suspenders or go bra-less, dye their hair colored and make decisions about their bodies, whether to add tattoos or not. When I was in China, my relatives and friends would always ask me when I could dye my hair back to its original black color, rather than asking me what color I preferred, and this is not just the case with women; it’s just far more inclusive at men than women.

The role and position of women when it comes to the context of the family. I find that there is an inevitable weakening of female subjectivity and independence in the family context. In this context, the most important thing is unity, harmony, and a happy atmosphere. Still, in this harmony, women sacrifice a lot of their subjectivity and are more submissive and bound.

Today, the assumptions about women’s bodies are often unclean, for example, that women’s menstruation or the exposure of their bodies is considered sexualized and cheap. Usually, society requires women to be clean and therefore needs women’s bodies to be perfect; for example, they want women to have smooth skin, and they don’t want women to show their bodies; it’s all a form of control.

And this situation, and when I felt that I got relief from going to the hospital instead, because I also often had body anxiety, and when I got to the hospital and faced the doctors naked, I realized that they measured my body by a different standard. If your body is functioning well and helping you to do your daily life, it’s a sound body. It gives me a sense of confidence, and I want to pass on that confidence and my perception of my body.

For example, if I have cellulite on my body, I might have very low self-esteem, but if people see a jar with uneven texture, they might think it’s rich and beautiful.

The logic is different, but social conventions about the female body form this logic. So I just wanted to pass this on in a kind of play to make more people think if you put all these prejudices and original assumptions aside and re-examine your own body and others’ bodies, would you still feel the same as before?

After all, our society is male-dominated. This has many implications, such as women having menstrual shame and why everyone has to cover up when they change their sanitary napkins. But growing up, I realized that people would think that menstrual blood was filthy. But if you don’t start with how to say no or less exposure to social views or constructions of gender, the fact is that everyone will have their ideas. Still, the prevailing linguistic framework also broadly interfered with them, which comes from our social environment.

Engster did some research on matriarchal clans. Although I think he was a rather conservative person regarding gender, he put forward a hypothesis about what a male-dominated society is built on. When one day men discovered the relationship between sexual intercourse and procreation, and they discovered that the male was also an inevitable part of procreation, coupled with the so-called private ownership of property and inheritance relations, they began to realize the need to raise the next generation of children with the support of the bloodline as a way of securing the status of him being my child, no longer the mother’s child, but the father’s child. It’s just hypothetical, but I find it interesting. Because if you look at it this way, you see that the “purification” was done a long time ago. But when it comes to the beginning of alienation, when did this alienation or objectification of women begin?

The existence of matrilineal societies and matrilineal cultures is closely linked to labor’s biological and social division because reproduction was essential in primitive societies. When you have the right to reproduce, the life conceived in your womb can reflect that reproduction is a mysterious and sublime thing. In such a structure, because of the biological system of the woman, it was possible to ensure the copy of the clan and, therefore, to have a more stable social division of labor within the economic or social structure.

Our society politicizes art because it (culture) doesn’t want us to reintroduce the social relations behind the artwork, and it doesn’t want people to understand that artwork can also claim to express something and challenge the existing linguistic framework and social environment.

What do you think needs to change?

I have to mention the public arena, a male-centric arena, where women’s identities and voices are absent, extinguished, and muted.

For a long time in history, women have been trapped in domestic affairs and have found it difficult to enter the public sphere and participate in social affairs.
Now we see that women have more freedom and rights to work, participate in politics, and so on. But in public affairs, much of it is still dominated and served by men by default. For example, in many professions, uniforms are often made to fit men, and female firefighters and policewomen often face ill-fitting, oversized uniforms.
During an epidemic, all protective clothing is also cut to one standard size. And this standard was based on the male figure, with no consideration for the female figure. This resulted in many female health care workers, especially frontline staff, needing to use tape to tighten their garments for protection purposes.
Sanitary towels for women are not necessary when preparing supplies for epidemic preparedness. In many cases, female health workers are in short supply of sanitary towels, an essential household item for women.
This acquiescence to a male-dominated public arena and the neglect of women’s needs is also a symptom of a lack of equal treatment.

Why does this phenomenon occur in China?

From the ancient Confucian culture, there is an apparent division of gender hierarchy and moral constraints on women in the Chinese context.
For example, women were expected to obey their sons, husbands, and fathers; young women should not show their faces and should stop at the boudoir; women should keep to the ways of women and teach their children at home; widows should not remarry when their husbands are widowed and live under the deterrent of “chastity pagodas.”
This division of women into subservient positions within the family and the moral demand for ‘chaste and virtuous women’ is one of the historical sources of oppression of women in China.

In the modern Chinese context, since the New Culture Movement promoted equality between men and women and the revolutionary movement encouraged women to participate in social work and join the army, women’s rights were gradually enhanced. They slowly moved from the home into the social sphere.
In practice, however, women did not gain control and autonomy over their own identity. He Yinzhen, one of China’s earliest feminists (his mother’s surname was He and his father’s Yin, and he changed his name to He Yinzhen himself), argued that the slogan of female emancipation was only used as part of a display of male intellectuals’ closeness to Western civilization in the context of the New Culture Movement’s aim to strengthen the country.
Women’s participation in social affairs always served the larger goal of nation-strengthening, becoming a tool and vehicle for nation-building.
During the revolutionary era, women were allowed to join the army and participate in extreme activities (revolutionary women). Still, they also served the larger goal of the revolution, not as women in the revolutionary ranks but generally as ‘genderless’ revolutionaries.
Uniforms, discipline, comradeship, etc., were all ‘genderless’ during the revolution.
Women were forced into a position of subordination or detached from their femininity, whether by Confucian morality or as instruments and vehicles for nation-building.
She is the wife of her husband, the mother of her son, the exhibit of the cultural movement, and the comrade of the revolution, but never herself.
She is subordinated to her husband, her father, her son, the state, and a particular ideology of the times, but never to herself.
Women’s right to define their own identity, their right to express themselves vocally, their right to control their independent status are far from being returned to women themselves.

Gender refers to sociocultural norms, identities, and relations that: 1) structure societies and organizations; and 2) shape behaviors, products, technologies, environments, and knowledges (Schiebinger, 1999). Gender attitudes and behaviors are complex and change across time and place. Importantly, gender is multidimensional (Hyde et al., 2018) and intersects with other social categories, such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and ethnicity (see Intersectional Approaches). Gender is distinct from sex (Fausto-Sterling, 2012).

Three Related Dimensions of Gender:
As social beings, humans function through learned behaviors. How we speak, our mannerisms, the things we use, and our behaviors all signal who we are and establish rules for interaction. Gender is one such set of organizing principles that structure behaviors, attitudes, physical appearance, and habits.

1. Gender Norms are produced through social institutions (such as families, schools, workplaces, laboratories, universities or boardrooms), social interactions (such as between romantic partners, work colleagues, or family members), and wider cultural products (such as textbooks, literature, film and video games).

• ●  Gender norms refer to social and cultural attitudes and expectations about which behaviors, preferences, products, professions or knowledges are appropriate for women, men and gender-diverse individuals, and may influence the development of science and technology.
• ●   Gender norms draw upon and reinforce gender stereotypes about women, men and gender-diverse individuals.
• ● Gender norms may be reinforced by unequal distribution of resources and discrimination in the workplace, families and other institutions.
• ●   Gender norms are constantly in flux. They change by historical era, culture or location, such as the 1950s versus the 2020s, Korea versus Germany, or urban versus rural areas. Gender also differs by specific social contexts, such as work versus home.

2. Gender Identities refer to how individuals or groups perceive and present themselves in relation to gender norms. Gender identities may be context-specific and interact with other identities, such as ethnicity, class or cultural heritage.

3. Gender Relations refer to how we interact with people and institutions in the world around us, based on our sex and our gender identity. Gender relations encompass how gender shapes social interactions in families, schools, workplaces and public settings, for instance, the power relation between a man patient and woman physician.

• ●Social divisions of labor are another important aspect of gender relations, where women and men are concentrated in different types of (paid or unpaid) activities. One consequence of such gender segregation is that particular occupations or disciplines become marked symbolically with the (presumed) gender category of the larger group: for example, nursing is seen as a female profession, engineering as male.

Rerference

Aultman, B. (2014). Cisgender. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 1 (1-2), 61-62.

Fausto-Sterling, A. (2012). The Dynamic Development of Gender Variability. Journal of Homosexuality, 59, 398-421.

Fausto-Sterling, A. (2012). Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World. New York: Routledge.

Hyde, J. S., Bigler, R. S., Joel, D., Tate, C. C., & van Anders, S. M. (2018). The future of sex and gender in psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary. American Psychologist, 74(2), 171-193.

Kessler, S. (1990). The Medical Construction of Gender: Case Management of Intersexed Infants. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 16 (1), 3-25.

Marshall, Z., Welch, V., Minichiello, A., Swab, M., Brunger, F., & Kaposy, C. (2019). Documenting Research with Transgender, Nonbinary, and Other Gender Diverse (Trans) Individuals and Communities: Introducing the Global Trans Research Evidence Map. Transgender health, 4(1), 68-80.

Nielsen, M.W., Peragine, D., Neilands, T. B., Stefanick, M.L., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Pilote, L., Prochaska, J. J., Cullen, M. R., Einstein, G., Klinge, I., LeBlanc, H., Paik, H. Y., Risvedt, S., & Schiebinger, L. (2020), Gender-Related Variables for Health Research, in press.

Ridgeway, Cecilia L., & Correll, Shelley J. (2004). Unpacking the gender system: a theoretical perspective on gender beliefs and social relations. Gender & Society, 18. 510-5.

Scandurra, C., Mezza, F., Maldonato, N. M., Bottone, M., Bochicchio, V., Valerio, P., & Vitelli, R. (2019). Health of non-binary and genderqueer people: A systematic review. Frontiers in psychology, 10.

Schiebinger, L. (1999). Has Feminism Changed Science? Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Occupation & Income Status

A person’s occupation and income status are social environment factors that can weigh heavily on an individual.

A person that has a low-income occupation may not be able to afford certain aspects that keep an individual healthy. This may include clean housing and nutritious foods that are typically more costly.

Unfortunately, many people have defined themselves around the type of job they have or how much money they make. For example, some may believe that the higher your salary, the higher your level of importance is.

On top of this, those that tend to have higher salaries only surround themselves with people that have a similar income. The same is true for the person that has a lower income. We tend to surround ourselves with others that are on the same playing field as us.

Therefore, our diversification is limited. This creates a culture that can be closed-minded and limits our social relationships to a certain type of people.

Our limited diversification and closed-mindedness then bleed into other aspects of our social environment. Eventually, this can lead to the development of a whole community that has a low-income status.

Education

Living in areas where the social climate is not healthy can lead to a decline in literacy. The school systems may not be structured well, or the classroom environment may not be conducive to learning. Government funding for the school may also be limited, which limits educational resources the school has to offer. This, ultimately, leads to a lack of education.

One of the problems with poor social environments is that the factors tend to be interconnected and related. For example, a poor school system that is not doing well at educating students results in a lack of ability to acquire a well-paying career. Students may not receive a quality life-skill, resulting in a low-income occupation.

Family & Friends

One’s family and friends are other factors that play into social environment and health.

The people that we are surrounded by often define the culture that we are raised in. Our culture often determines our mindset, and in turn, our futures. A poor home environment can have serious long-term effects on a child.

Social Environment and Weight Gain

Study’s have found that obesity is more prevalent among lower-income communities. There are a few reasons to back this claim up.

The first being that those in these lower-income neighborhoods cannot purchase nutritious foods. Healthier foods typically cost more than foods that have low quality. Therefore, fast food may be the only viable option for some families.

Fast foods are, generally, high in carbs, sodium, and unhealthy fats while not containing the proper amount of protein. 

The second potential reason social environment factors affect health through weight gain is the access to parks and recreational facilities.

Social Environment and Mental Health

Social Environment and Disease Onset

Research culled from its database of 17,000 people’s behavioral competencies in 2012 found that women showed more skills than men when it came to empathy, influence, and the ability to manage executive-level conflict. Specifically, women were more likely to use empathy as a strength, show strong competence in conflict management, demonstrate skill in influence and be self-aware.

“I think women leaders do have to manage the female stereotype of being more relationship focused, softer or nicer,” says Malloy. “Behaviors associated with strong leadership tend to be more consistent with the masculine stereotype.” “Women face the double-bind when taking on leadership positions. If their behavior is too feminine they are seen as too soft and incompetent, however if their behavior is too masculine they are perceived negatively.”

So why, despite these strengths, don’t we see more women in senior management? The reasons are complicated, even for ambitious, highly skilled women. One reason may be that successful women managers must demonstrate more leadership skills. According to Malloy, “Research the Hay Group conduced on outstanding women leaders found that they navigate this double-bind by using a combination of both stereotypically masculine leadership styles (e.g., being Authoritative or Visionary) and feminine leadership styles (e.g., being more Affiliative or Participative).” Men by contrast only need to demonstrate the “masculine” leadership styles.

I researched issues related to women in the workplace and concluded that women’s femininity has unique advantages, but stereotype bias also exists.

About our research program on self-awareness, one of the most common questions I get is whether we’ve found any gender differences.

First, the data: research has shown that women possess a slight self-awareness advantage over men. In one survey study of 275 people, we’ve found that women’s self-ratings of self-awareness are slightly (though not dramatically) higher than men’s. Other research has shown that women are rated slightly higher in self-awareness by direct reports, as well as managers and peers. Women are also better able to recognize the importance of self-awareness for their career success and advancement.

But despite these advantages, women continue to be underrepresented in senior leadership roles and are paid less than men. While gender inequity has wide-ranging causes, focusing on the role that self-awareness plays can give women, and those who champion them, tools to address some of these disparities.

So why aren’t women’s self-awareness advantages translating into better representation in senior leadership roles? Are there any lessons from the self-awareness literature that could help explain this persistent gap? And what can be done do to close it?

Lesson 1: Women underestimate themselves, but not in the way most people believe
It is often said that women are less self-confident than men — yet surprisingly, current findings do not support this idea. Though past researchers have documented differences in self-confidence between girls and boys, this gap shrinks dramatically by age 23. And where past research revealed gender differences in self-ratings of managerial effectiveness, more recent studies have shown that male and female leaders rate themselves similarly. As Sarah Green Carmichael aptly states, “Again and again, when we look at adult women, we don’t see a bunch of shrinking violets who could get ahead with just a little more moxie.”
Yet even though the average woman isn’t underestimating herself as a leader, she has a slightly more nuanced challenge: she may lack the confidence that others value her contributions. In one study, women and men’s self-ratings of emotional intelligence (EQ; a key leadership skill) did not differ. Yet when asked to predict how their supervisor would rate their EQ, women’s predictions were three times lower than men’s, despite being rated slightly higher by their boss than men were.

Why do women underestimate their true value? Researchers have suggested that persistent stereotypes about leadership being a male characteristic (whether implicit or explicit) can lead women to worry that they are validating negative stereotypes, which would cause coworkers to see them as less effective than they see themselves.

The ability to correctly predict how others see us, often called meta-perception, is an important aspect of self-awareness. And indeed, when women underestimate how others view their contributions, they may unintentionally hold themselves back. If a female leader believes that others don’t value her, she could be more cautious about applying for a job, putting herself forward for a promotion, or asking for a raise.

Therefore, to advance and thrive, women need to gain a more accurate picture of their contributions through the eyes of others. One approach for comparing our predictions with reality is the reflected best self-exercise (RBS). It is a powerful vehicle to discover our defining strengths as others see them.

A leader wishing to complete the RBS would identify at least eight people from different parts of her life — current or former colleagues, employees, supervisor, friends, family, etc. — and send them an email asking when they have seen her at her best, including a few specific examples. Once she receives the responses, she would review them to identify key themes and patterns. Finally, she would compose a self-portrait of who she is at her best through the eyes of others.

It is vital for women leaders to understand what others see as their defining strengths and contributions. It requires a bit of effort and an open mind, but in so doing, we can begin to remove any self-imposed constraints preventing us from putting ourselves forward for bigger, better opportunities.

Lesson 2: Women aren’t getting good feedback
Feedback is essential for a leader to understand her contributions, as well as the adjustments she can make to be more effective. And even though women ask for feedback as often as men, they are less likely to get it.

Giving honest feedback is notoriously difficult. It can become even more difficult when it crosses gender lines. Researchers have coined the phrase “benevolent sexism” to refer to behaviors that shield women from difficult information. In a work context, male bosses or colleagues may avoid giving women negative feedback because they don’t want to hurt or upset them.

When women do receive feedback, it’s typically less specific than feedback given to men. This has profound consequences: studies have shown that when women receive vague feedback, they’re more likely to be assigned lower performance ratings. Vague negative feedback tells a leader that her performance isn’t meeting expectations, but because it doesn’t identify the behaviors that aren’t serving her, she doesn’t know what to do differently.

A lack of specific positive feedback also puts leaders at a disadvantage. It suggests that she is doing well, but because it doesn’t point to the actions or results that are valued, she doesn’t know what to continue doing. And if she doesn’t have detailed, documented achievements, it’s more difficult to make the case for a promotion or raise. When women can solicit and record specific positive feedback, this has been shown to effectively eliminate men’s overrepresentation in top performance categories.

The question then becomes: how can women obtain more detailed feedback? In our research with highly self-aware men and women, we discovered an interesting pattern in how they got feedback: they turned to a relatively small circle, typically between three and five people, all of whom had an active interest in their success and a history of truth telling when it was difficult.

When it comes to the feedback conversations themselves, if they’re imperfect at first, it doesn’t mean they won’t be valuable. Business school professor Elle Bell Smith suggests that if feedback isn’t specific enough, women should ask follow-up questions like, “Can you give me an example [of] when I did that?” “What was the impact you saw [of that behavior]?” or “How often have you seen me doing this?”

Lesson 3: Women tend to take feedback to heart
Of course, no one should take every piece of feedback at face value, nor should they over-rely on others’ views to construct their self-concept. In general, there are three types of information we use to form a picture of who we are: how we see ourselves, how others see us, and comparisons we make with others. While men place more importance on their self-views and social comparisons, women tend to be more focused on how others see them. What’s more, even though men and women possess similar views of their performance in the absence of feedback, women are more likely than men to modify their self-views in the presence of it.
Granted, it isn’t adaptive to ignore feedback from others, but by that same token, it can be just as dangerous to discount our self-views. Placing greater importance on others’ evaluations of our performance can cause us to ignore our own standards and goals, which could make our behavior less consistent with our values. When we become over-reliant on others’ approval, we may ruminate more on our fears.

Finally, I am very interested in the RBS approach and afterwards I would like to put this approach into my intervention experiments.

I searched for examples of ” female community” in different cultures and regions to show the courage, wisdom, and passion of women who have embodied the “female cohabitation” model of life. They found that the common pursuit of equity and good life naturally connects women of different ethnicities, classes, and identities into exclusive female living communities.

When women can participate more fully in economic, political, and civic life, the benefits extend to their families, communities, and nations. However, progress in these areas has been relatively slow. Rising levels of education have not allowed women to make significant gains in the economic sphere. Gender disparities perpetuate economic dislocation, including female segregation in certain occupations, income gaps, women taking on more household chores and caring for family members, and unequal access to assets and resources. Economic constraints, including poverty, also contribute to gender inequality. Prejudice limits women’s ability to express political views and assume leadership roles in the private and public spheres. Both contribute to and contribute to social norms, reflected in girls’ and women’s expectations and the opportunities open to them in the home, school, work, and community.

The concept of ” care group” first emerged in Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s. Instead of relying on their children and relatives, older people with similar needs chose to live in a senior community with friends who shared similar philosophies of living, set the rules for how the community operated and supported each other through their old age. In Europe and the United States, which are at the forefront of the aging process, the “shared living” model is becoming more mature. In “shared living” communities, residents hold regular communal activities such as shared meals, parties, discussion groups, etc. Residents also build mutual support relationships: from hospitalization, significant property damage to air travel, or pet ownership, the elderly can receive support from the community’s ta residents. Because women make up the majority of the aging population, many shared living communities for older women have sprung up in European and American countries mentioned above. However, this female cohousing model of living is not purely a modern product.

What Women Want: To Keep Wearing Masks to Thwart the Male Gaze

UN Women raises awareness of the shadow pandemic of violence against women during COVID-19

New York, 27 May, 2020– UN Women, the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, today launched the Shadow Pandemic public awareness campaign, focusing on the global increase in domestic violence amid the COVID-19 health crisis. The Shadow Pandemic public service announcement is a sixty-second film narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Kate Winslet, who has championed many humanitarian causes. The video highlights the alarming upsurge in domestic violence during COVID-19 and delivers a vital message urging people to act to support women if they know or suspect someone is experiencing violence.

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/5/press-release-the-shadow-pandemic-of-violence-against-women-during-covid-19

Some women mask up to deflect attention, but what we really want is freedom

One image of the pandemic that will stay with me forever is a photograph of an unmasked woman standing in front of a Baskin Robbins during a lockdown protest in April 2020, holding a sign that reads “Give me liberty or give me death.” The photo was universally mocked and memeified in my neighborhood of the Internet: This was an archetypal “Karen,” a White woman who wants to speak to the manager of the lockdown. She was protesting a restriction of her freedoms, just like liberal women do when they march with “My body, my choice” signs — the obvious difference being that the pandemic lockdowns were not only about the right to choose what to do with one’s own body but the responsibilities and trade-offs that come with being a member of a society. Still, even while I disagreed with the target of this woman’s protest, I recognized her anger.

I wonder if feminists’ true desire is not actually public privacy, but something more akin to freedom: freedom from impossible beauty standards, freedom from judgment, freedom from the expectation that as women we exist to please. But continuing to mask up — to hide our faces from the world — will not bring us any closer to those freedoms.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/05/20/voluntary-masking-women-privacy/

The Bandari women of the Persian Gulf have worn the niqāb for centuries, a mask that is said to have been first worn to escape the leery gaze of slave masters. The only part of the face it reveals is the eyes.

In Korea over the summer of 2018, women were chanting, holding signs, and wearing masks for personal security and safety. Many passersby, especially men, were attempting to take photographs of the faces of protestors, so wearing a mask or sunglasses to protect ourselves from being attacked in the media was essential. This seemingly absurd, extra step for protection is of course unheard of in peaceful feminist marches in Western countries such as the Global Women’s March where women feel safe, welcomed, and empowered without the concern of being assaulted.

Feminism in the East: Why We Wear Masks

An Egyptian woman’s rights activist is taking advantage of the fact that face masks are likely here to stay. 

Hadia Abdel Fattah decided that if she was going to wear a mask every day to protect herself and others from COVID-19, she was also going to use it to make a statement.

Abdel Fattah recently launched an initiative called Kemama Naswaya, which translates to “feminist mask,” according to Daily News Egypt. She’s been affixing phrases and photos that champion women’s rights on masks that meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health standards and wearing them to raise awareness.

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/rights-advocate-creates-feminist-masks-egypt/

More women want to be able to wear a mask outside, even though science has declared it no longer medically necessary.a mask has become a handy device when it comes to deflecting unwanted attention — which men, in particular, have a reputation for doling out. As one woman told the Guardian, “It’s almost like taking away the male gaze. There’s freedom in taking that power back.”

While graphic clothing can’t solve human rights issues on its own, experts say it can spark important conversations, which are an important first step toward creating change.

Research Purpose.
Regardless of where they are born and raised, women and girls should pursue the lives they want. It is hoped that this can be achieved as a vision.

Research Question.
How can the social environment, an essential factor behind the influence of female consciousness, break down the old barriers and create the establishment and reshaping of a new social culture?

Numerous domestic and international studies have shown that in the special gender relationship of couples, women’s and men’s perceptions of gender roles can significantly affect the equal distribution of domestic work and household power between the couple, which in turn affects the satisfaction and stability the marriage.

Because of the repressive social environment resulting in lower female consciousness, then in the last decade, gender roles and perceptions have changed. Have Chinese people’s perceptions of gender role division become more modernized between 2010-2020? Is the ideal gender-equal society closer to us?

Research Background.
Gender perceptions, fully known as gender-role attitudes, are people’s attitudes and perceptions toward gender-related social norms and social role division, reflecting the degree of gender equality in society.

• 

• 

Studies on the changes in Chinese gender perceptions have been conducted.

A study by Yang Juhua et al. combining data from three phases of the Chinese Women’s Social Status Survey found that Chinese people’s gender division of labor concepts such as “male outside and female inside” and “male dominant and female subordinate” tended to return to tradition. In contrast, cultural regulations such as children’s surnames and property inheritance gradually tended to be equal 1.

Yunzhu Jia and Dongling Ma also studied the changing status of Chinese urban women’s perceptions of the gender division of labor as “male heads the household and female heads the household” from multiple perspectives, including age and generation, using data from three phases of the Chinese Women’s Social Status Survey 2.

Using data from the Third World Values Survey in 1995, 2001, and 2007, Shu et al. found significant intergenerational and period differences in Chinese perceptions about gender equality. However, perceptions about the division of labor between men and women have not changed significantly over time 3.

Gu Hui instead explored the reasons for the return of gender perceptions to tradition in recent years from the macro perspective of state systems and market transformation 4.

On the other hand, in studying the heterogeneity of gender perception changes, the following results were obtained by analyzing descriptive statistics on the trends of gender perception changes in different populations differentiated by ‘generation,’ ‘gender,’ ‘urban-rural, ‘education level,’ and ‘occupation.’
The trends of change are the same: gender perceptions of all groups are returning to tradition.

Different rates of change: the rate of return to traditional gender attitudes –
a. Younger generations are faster than older generations
b. Females are faster than males
c. Rural residents are faster than urban residents (some rural residents move to cities, so this difference in speed of change may be underestimated)
d. more educated people are faster than less educated people (some of the less educated people have upgraded their education, so this difference in the rate of change may be overestimated)

Conclusion.
In China, the phenomenon of “a natural shift from traditional to modern perceptions of gender roles in the modernization process of society” predicted by modernization theory has not occurred as expected. There is a clear tendency for Chinese people to return to traditional gender concepts. This trend stems mainly from cohort change, i.e., significant regression in the gender perceptions of the same cohort of Chinese people over ten years; this regression is partially compensated by a generational turnover effect, i.e., an increase in the proportion of younger generations in the sample with more modern gender perceptions, resulting in a more modern gender perception in the sample as a whole. However, the exact generational change is the dominant force in determining the direction of gender perception change.

The tendency of gender perceptions to return to tradition is not a specific phenomenon limited to one population group but a general phenomenon applicable to all groups. However, there is heterogeneity in the rate of change. Multiple regression analysis shows that younger generations, women, those living in rural areas, and those with higher education levels have a faster return to traditional gender attitudes. In comparison, older generations, men, those living in urban areas, and those with lower education levels have a slower return to traditional attitudes. At the same time, marriage and childbearing are important reasons for the difference in the rate of change in gender perceptions across generations, but not the whole reason; among them, those who are married and divorced are more traditional than those who are unmarried, and the more children they have, the more traditional their gender perceptions are.

The spread of gender equality concepts is not an inevitable consequence of social development, nor does it occur naturally with increased social modernization. Active promotion by the state and society remains indispensable in protecting women’s rights and interests and improving women’s status, thus requiring the inclusion of a gender perspective in the formulation of legal policies to create conditions for women’s participation in social development; it also requires recognition of women’s economic contributions and dedication to their families to help them better balance family and work.

Reference.
[1] Yang JH, Li HJ, Zhu G. Analysis of Chinese people’s gender perceptions trends and characteristics in the past 20 years[J]. Women’s Studies Series, 2014,(6).
[2] Jia Yunzhu, Ma Dongling. A multi-perspective consideration of the change of gender concept: the example of “male domination and female domination”[J]. Women’s Studies Series,2015,(3).
[3] Shu, Xiaoling and Yifei Zhu. Uneven Transitions: Period and Cohort Related Changes in Gender Attitudes in China, 1995-2007[J]. Social Science Research, 2012,41(5).
[4] Gu Hui. The State, the Market, and the Return of Traditional Gender Attitudes[J]. Academic, 2013,(6).
[5] Yang Juhua. The continuity and change of Chinese gender concepts in the past 20 years[J]. Shandong Social Science, 2017 (11): 60-71.

Food Shaming: Changing How We Talk About Food

What is food shaming?

The act of food shaming is to judge someone’s food choices and comment on them, making them feel ashamed of said choices.

It’s similar to body shaming which is the act of humiliating someone by making mocking or critical comments about their body shape or size, but with regards to food choices or eating habits.

Food shaming doesn’t always come from an intentionally hurtful place. In fact, friends and family members may often feel they are helping you out by reminding you that the donut you’re about to eat will go straight to your hips. In reality, it’s not the intention behind these comments that matters, it’s the impact that they make.

Examples of Food Shaming

“You’re going to eat ALL of that?”

“Don’t you know how many carbs that has?” (Or in place of carbs, it could be calories, grams of sugar, grams of fat, etc.)

“Really? That’s all you’re going to eat? You really should have more.”

“I thought you were on a diet?”

“A moment on the lips, forever on the hips!”

“Wow, someone’s hungry today!” or “You’re eating AGAIN?”

“Oh my gosh, I could NEVER eat that.”

Our Relationship with Food

Food is important, but we also need to juggle lifestyles, health goals, and mental health.

There are so many factors that influence our food choices, and you cannot see those factors by just glancing at a plate. Food is an important part of our lives, and it can have so many meanings to different people. It can mean health, love, sense of community, or pleasure, but for others, especially people with diabetes, it might cause feelings of anxiety and fear. 

Rethink the Role of Food and Your Health

Instead of thinking of food as “good” or “bad,” or judging people (or yourself) by the way you eat, picture food and eating as being neutral and adopt a non-judgmental way of thinking. The food you put on your plate, is just food that will provide energy and nutrients to fuel your body. 

Unlearning what we have been exposed to takes time but being aware of those negative thoughts is a start. 

Instead of thinking of food as “good” or “bad,” picture food and eating as being neutral.

Is Bra bondage for women, or a liberation?

First of all if you think about it from a health perspective. Compared to the obvious health damage caused by high heels and tight corsets, here’s the problem: wearing a bra correctly will certainly be beneficial to your health. Although, not wearing a bra correctly can be more harmful than not wearing one at all. But not wearing a bra is certainly more harmful than wearing it correctly. Bras act as support and protection, and their positive effects on breast health are immeasurable. And, of course, shaping. This brings us back to the “philosophical question”. Feminists will jump in and say: “It’s a straitjacket for women.

Clothing can become a form of power, and even underwear can become an instrument of oppression. — ‘Lingerie: A Cultural History’ Steele

There are a couple of myths about going braless that do not have any scientific backing:

Millennial women appear to be ditching the traditional bra by purchasing wireless bralettes or not wearing the undergarment at all.

Retailers such as Victoria’s Secret are reporting declining sales for bras, according to an article in USA Today.

There was even a national No Bra Day last week.

The growing trend has renewed debate over whether losing the bra has any health effects.

The answer appears to be that, as far as health goes, it doesn’t appear to make much difference whether you wear a bra or not.

“We don’t have any evidence that says going braless hurts you,” Patricia Geraghty, a nurse practitioner in California who specializes in women’s health, told Healthline.

Not much research

One of the few research projects to provide any kind of conclusion was a 15-year study completed in 2013 by Jean-Denis Rouillon, a professor in France.

In his research, he concluded bras provide no benefits to women and might actually be harmful to breasts over time.

Rouillon said his study involving 300 women ages 18 to 35 showed that women who did not wear bras developed more muscle tissue to provide natural support.

He added that the restrictive material of bras prevents tissue from growing and may actually encourage breasts to sag.

Rouillon did caution women who have worn bras for decades not to throw out their undergarments. He said they would not benefit from taking off their bras at this juncture.

Otherwise, there isn’t any substantial research either way on bras and breast health.

The American Cancer Society states there is no scientific evidence to show that wearing a bra increases or decreases the risk of breast cancer.

In 1999, there was a studyTrusted Source in Australia on breast pain and breast movement involving women who wore fashion bras, sports bras, crop tops, and no bras.

However, that study dealt more with comfort than any health effects.

Geraghty said one problem is that it’s difficult to do long-term studies on the topic.

She said researchers would have to follow women for decades who wore bras and ones who didn’t.

Even interviewing older women about their personal histories would require taking other potential risk conditions into account.

Drooping, fashion, and freedom

In the 1960s, some researchers coined the term “Cooper’s droop” for the sagging of the breasts they said occurred when women went braless for an extended period of time.

The name came from the Cooper’s ligaments that help hold up the breast.

The research coincided with a campaign by women’s rights activists for women to go braless. That movement, however, was politically motivated as opposed to health related.

The Cooper’s droop theory has fallen out of favor.

In fact, Geraghty said, research has shown that sagging breasts in older age don’t appear to be linked to bras or even breast-feeding.

She said it’s probably more closely linked to the number of pregnancies a woman has and how far apart those births were.

Geraghty said going braless is really more a fashion statement than a health matter. She noted that the restrictive clothing of the 1800s was probably more harmful to health.

“Fashion doesn’t much have a basis in health,” she said.

Magazine articles this year have touted the benefits of not wearing a bra. However, the reasons don’t have anything to do with health.

A Good Housekeeping article in June listed 12 reasons for going braless.

Among the benefits were showing off your natural chest, saving money by not buying bras, the absence of bra “pressure lines,” and that “just took my bra off” feeling you can have all day long.

Myth 1: Going braless promotes sagging

One myth about going braless is that the breasts will sag without a bra for support.

Many factors can lead to sagging breasts, including:

• genetics
• weight
• the natural aging process

However, there is not enough scientific evidence to suggest that going braless will cause the breasts to sag.

Myth 2: Going braless reduces the risk of breast cancer

Another myth about going braless is that it could reduce a person’s risk of developing breast cancer.

This myth is based on the idea that wearing a bra affects lymphatic drainage, which is the process that helps remove toxins and waste products from the body. A problem with lymphatic drainage can cause these substances to accumulate in the bloodstream, potentially increasing a person’s risk of developing cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, there is no scientific evidence to associate wearing a bra with breast cancer. They note that a 2014 studyTrusted Source of 1,513 postmenopausal women found no link between wearing a bra and breast cancer risk.

This myth may stem from the fact that people with overweight tend to have larger breasts and are, therefore, more likely to wear a bra. Having overweight or obesity is a known risk factor for developing breast cancer.

Wearing a bra at night

According to an older study from 2000, wearing a bra or other tight fitting garment at night could affect a person’s sleep-wake cycle.

The researchers found that nighttime pressure from tight fitting garments caused an increase in core body temperature and a decrease in melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle. A decrease in melatonin can affect sleep quality.

This small scale study monitored 10 participants over a 58-hour period. Further research involving more participants and a longer study duration is necessary to support the findings.

Wearing a bra during the day

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that wearing a correctly fitting bra during the day has any negative effects on health.

However, a bra that does not fit properly can cause pain in the neck and the chest muscles.

Excessively tight shoulder straps may also affect the shoulders. In those who wear a bra, the shoulder straps are one of the main supports for the breasts. Over several years, this tension may cause a permanent groove in the soft tissue of the shoulders.

There may also be a link between wearing a badly fitting bra and seeking breast reduction surgery. A 2003 study found that of 102 females undergoing this procedure, all of them had been wearing the wrong size of bra. Wearing a badly fitting bra may worsen the symptoms that cause people to seek breast reduction surgery.

The researchers concluded that people should ensure that they are wearing a correctly fitting bra before considering getting surgery to reduce the size of their breasts.

Wearing a sports bra

Going braless or wearing the wrong size of bra may be a barrier to exercise for some people. A lack of exercise can cause a range of health issues.

In a 2013 survey of 249 females, 17% reported that their breasts were a barrier to exercise. Some of the key reasons for this included:

• embarrassment over excessive breast movement
• being unable to find the right sports bra
• increase in breast pain due to vigorous exercise and a lack of adequate breast support

The researchers noted that better knowledge of breast health led to increased use of a sports bra, resulting in increased exercise levels among the participants.

When choosing a sports bra, people should look for options that provide the greatest support. A 2015 studyTrusted Source investigated the effects of wearing a sports bra during running. The findings suggest that sports bras that offer a high level of support can reduce breast pain, particularly for people with larger breasts.

Do bras promote or prevent sagging? 

Sports medicine specialist Prof. Jean-Denis Rouillon carried out a 15-year study to assess whether bras cause sagging. The study involved 330 females aged 15–35 years.

Rouillon’s findings suggested that wearing a bra can weaken the chest muscles, thereby promoting sagging. Rouillon concluded that going braless encourages the chest muscles to work harder to elevate the breasts.

There is no official published study of Rouillon’s findings and no peer review. As such, it is not possible to evaluate the validity of the research.

Marco Klinger, Head of the Operating Unit of Plastic Surgery at Humanitas Research Hospital in Italy, states that the study is too small to be an accurate representation of breast sagging in the general population.

According to Klinger, a wide range of variables are likely to affect breast sagging. These include:

• aging
• genetics
• changes in weight
• normal hormonal phases
• pregnancy

Overall, there is not enough scientific evidence to suggest that either wearing a bra or going braless has any effect on sagging.

However, for people with larger breasts, supporting the connective tissues of the breasts by wearing a bra may help reduce the rate of sagging.

Can bras ease back pain? 

According to a 2013 study, large breasts are associated with the following symptoms:

• neck and back pain
• headaches
• nerve irritation

Many people with large breasts claim that their breasts are the cause of their back pain. However, according to the Women’s Health Research Institute of Northwestern University, even large breasts are rarely the primary cause of back pain.

Instead, back pain may be due to:

• wearing a badly fitting bra
• having overweight or obesity
• injury to the back muscles
• irritation of the spinal nerves
• osteoporosis, or weakening of the spine
• pregnancy

Wearing a correctly fitting bra may help improve posture and prevent back pain, particularly for people with larger breasts.

People who continue to experience back pain should see a doctor. Chronic back pain could indicate an underlying health issue.

Summary

There is not enough scientific evidence to confirm whether or not wearing a bra or going braless can cause the breasts to sag or change shape.

There is also insufficient evidence to suggest that wearing a correctly fitting bra has negative effects on health. In fact, people with larger breasts may find that wearing a correctly fitting bra improves their posture and reduces back pain. In contrast, wearing the wrong size of bra may cause pain and discomfort.