How Our Society Is Still Disjoined | Teen Ink

How Our Society Is Still Disjoined

May 16, 2015
By HJourdan BRONZE, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
HJourdan BRONZE, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“Everybody thinks that equality comes from identifying people, and that’s not where equality comes from. Equality comes from treating everybody the same regardless of who they are” this quote by Matthew Bomer shows and understanding of how people should be treated and recognized in the world around us. Since the civil rights movement, apartheid between racial groups has depreciated. Although, it is certain that there is still a meager dissolution between common racial groups. Women in society today are looked at as objects and sights to flatter men. Women are don’t get the equivalent salary and opportunities as men. People who have a selective sexual orientation are segregated in the workforce and in everyday life. Countless people are biased against them based on their religious and personal beliefs. People in our society today are not being treated fairly based upon their appearances, people are treated differently because of their race, gender, and sexual orientation. People in our society today are not being treated fairly based upon their racial identity.

 

In our society there is a lot of indirect isolation between common racial groups. Many racial groups are put into social classes based upon their racial and cultural differences. In the article “Getting beyond race” it states “If more widely embraced, Kennedy’s views would have important implications for the higher education landscape--for the future of policies that sanction separation on the assumption that all blacks belong to a culturally distinctive group, as well as admissions policies that give significant weight to racial identity.”(Getting Beyond Race). The previous quote supports my claim because many people don’t realize it but everyone had indirectly separate groups based upon racial identity. In our world today it is my belief that we need to learn to stop our assumptions that based upon one’s culture that they belong to a specific group. We need to learn to look at everyone as part of one group of individuals. In our political society, voters are very biased on who they vote for to be politicians to lead the country, govern the state, or work in any political office. People base who they vote for on their visual description and not based on their well thought out ideas and ways to improve our public. “Certainly “sleeping white” is evidence of collaboration with the enemy--although Frederick Douglass himself had a white (second) wife. In Obama’s case, marrying a white woman would have been politically problematic. A substantial number of black voters would likely have stuck with their first choice: Hillary.”(Getting Beyond Race). The political world in our society is not giving enough freedom to our politicians because they are fundamentally controlling their right of happiness. In the quote stated previously stated it gives information supporting the statement that people in the political world are not supporting interracial relationships.

 

I strongly belief that politicians should support interracial relationships because I do not think that it in any way will cause damage to our society. It is clear, we should fix the ways that we separate racial groups into social classes and try to become more accepting to everyone in our community. Women in today’s world are still not being treated as equal as men. Women are seen as objects and not as human beings with the same opportunities as men. Gender segregation is also causing women to see themselves as objects of visions as a sight to flatter men. In the journal “The self-defeating nature of ‘modesty’ --based gender segregation” it states that “Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relations of women to themselves. The surveyor woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object--and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.(29) Women are depicted in a quite different way from men--not because the feminine is different from the masculine--but because the “ideal” spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him. (30)”(The self-defeating nature of “modesty” --based gender segregation). The previous quote justifies my statement because women being seen as sights and objects to flatter men is a common controversy in our society. Due to this deposition women have limited opportunities and self-confidence in their everyday lives. Women should not be demoted to being an object and definitely not a to please the opposite gender. Women are not being treated the same and are not being paid the same as men in the workforce today. “On average, full-time working women earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. This significant gap is more than a statistic -- it has real life consequences. When women, who make up nearly half the workforce, bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families, and over a lifetime of work, far less savings for retirement.”(https://www.whitehouse.gov). The fact that women do not get paid the same wages as men do is a degradation. Women who are working the same jobs and being paid less are not bringing well-worked for and necessary funds home their families. This fact once again provides an example of how women can very easily become dependent upon men and be seen as objects. As you can see, women in our world today are not being treated fairly and haven’t been given the same opportunities at success based on their gender. People who address themselves as having a different sexual orientation than liking the opposing gender or being “Straight” are are being discriminated against everyday. People who are homosexual and striving for the legalization of same-sex marriage are wrongly thought to have chosen what they believe in and who they love. It states in the article “The Same-Sex Marriage 'Debate' Is Based Upon Ignorance and Inaccurate Information” that “The prejudice against same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general is the result of ignorance or incorrect information. Generally speaking, those who oppose same-sex marriage wrongly believe that homosexuality is a "lifestyle choice." Let me be very clear, homosexuality is no more a "lifestyle choice" than is heterosexuality.”(Baer,1). The previous quotation supports my assertion because people in our society today believe that people who are homosexual, or love other gender besides the opposite gender have chosen who they love. I believe that people who are homosexual have not chosen that “lifestyle choice” but they have just simply followed what ever makes them happy. The gay and lesbian community is discriminated against in our society today. They are discriminating against the gay and lesbian community by denying benefits for them and making it illegal in most states to have a same-sex marriage. It states on a credible website that “The other source of confusion lies in the distinction between a religious marriage and a civil marriage. In 2009, the New York Times determined that the lifetime value of civil benefits received by married couples ranged from $41,196 to $467,562. The discrimination against same-sex marriage essentially causes the gay and lesbian community to pay higher taxes because the taxes that they do pay are used in part to provide such civil benefits to the heterosexual community and they are simultaneously denied access to those benefits.”(Baer, 1). My assertion previously stated is supported by the quote because equality and civil benefits are not given by our society to the gay and lesbian community. People who are choosing to love and be with who they want to be with in life are being essentially penalized by an increase in taxes and other social disadvantages. It is clear, that people who are in relation to the gay and lesbian community are indirectly and directly discriminated against in our society.

 

People in our society today are not being treated fairly based upon their appearances, people are treated differently because of their race, gender, and sexual orientation. Since the civil rights movement, apartheid between racial groups has depreciated. Although, it is certain that there is still a meager dissolution between common racial groups. Women in society today are looked at as objects and sights to flatter men. Women are don’t get the equivalent salary and opportunities as men. People who have a selective sexual orientation are segregated in the workforce and in everyday life. Countless people are biased against them based on their religious and personal beliefs. Our society being separated into groups of race, gender, and sexual orientation is not acceptable. I actively believe that there should be no social groups that are based on one’s race, gender, or sexual orientation but based on effort and skill. Many people overlook how people other than themselves are looked at and treated by the people around them. I anticipate that one day people will be separated into social classes based on things they are born with and have no control over. All in all, I believe that as one society we can learn to accept everyone for who they are and treat people based on who they are as a person rather than based upon their physical appearances.

 

Works Cited Baer, Mark. “The Same-Sex Marriage ‘Debate’ Is Based upon Ignorance and Inaccurate Information.”

 

www.huffingtonpost.com. N.p., 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 15 May 2015. . News LinQ, Matthew Bomer. “20 Inspiring Quotes from Celebrities.” www.newslinq.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2015. . Obama, President Barack. “Did You Know That Women Are Still Paid Less than Men?” www.whitehouse.gov/. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015. . Studies, Israel. “The Self-defeating Nature of ‘modesty’--based Gender Segregation.” Israel Studies: n. pag. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 12 May 2015. . Thernstrom, Abigail. “Getting beyond Race.” Gale Databases: 1/7-7/7. Print.



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