The Oppressed Majority: A Review

If there is one video you watch today, please let it be The Oppressed Majority.

Time and time again I hear complaints from female peers about the male perspective on women’s rights and feminism. Some men, especially those in powerful, decision-making positions, are accused of not “getting it” – of not understanding what it is like to be a woman and thus not acting with  females’ best interests in mind. It is almost impossible to understand the fine intricacies of the female experience in this day and age unless you are, well, female. And that’s why I have so much gratitude for this video. From the ironically truthful title to the reverse sexism throughout, it attempts (and successfully manages) to convey the plight of womanhood in the 21^st century to those who are inherently, by virtue of their gender, less able to “get it.”

The video raises a plethora of significant issues, but a few stand out:

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment can be defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. And as the video demonstrates, sexual harassment occurs incredibly often.  In public. In broad daylight. And especially in the workplace. There is a common misconception that remarks are only classified as sexual harassment when they are explicitly and overtly sexual, but even “subtle” comments to a woman about her appearance can create a hostile environment for an employee and thus also constitute sexual harassment.

Approximately 46% of working women consider themselves victims of sexual harassment. Only 5-15% of victims file reports against their harassers, largely due to fear of losing a job, being looked down upon by other employees or otherwise negatively impacting their own careers. (Male victims are even less likely to report harassment as society’s propagation of the masculine stereotype encourages men to welcome all sexual advances, lest their sexual orientation be called into question.)

Feminism, the notion that women should be held equal to men, often goes unnoticed in terms of its power to create positive change for everyone involved. Studies show that sexual harassment can lower employee productivity, cause employees to take more time off, hurt company reputation, decrease teamwork and damage morale, not to mention the obvious legal cost if the incident is reported. If society, as a whole, were to become more women’s-rights-friendly, we could decrease, and perhaps even avoid, many of these harmful repercussions.

Sexual Assault

In the video, Pierre is cornered in an alley and sexually assaulted violently by a group of women because he responded to their comments. Reverse the genders, and this is not an uncommon practice. Research suggests that one in three American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. That’s a huge number. Let me demonstrate just how huge. If you are a male reading this article, imagine three women you deeply care about. Mother, sister, significant other, cousin, best friend, etc. Pick one. She’s now a victim of sexual assault. How does that feel?

Victim Blaming

Pierre’s wife tells him not to complain about the situation. She insinuates that he should have expected it given his attire. Shocking, but all too real for every woman on this planet. Putting the blame onto a woman for something like sexual assault is problematic because it propagates the idea that women can somehow control the actions of rapists after saying no. Personal anecdotes aside, I would like to point you towards a recent example in the media.

Criminal Defense Attorney Joseph DiBenedetto went on national TV and made some hefty proclamations in regard to the sexual assault of a 14-year-old female.

“I’m not saying she deserved to be raped, but knowing the facts as we do here … this case is going nowhere … When you look at the finer details, there are telltale signs of this girl actually lying. She is leaving her home at 1 a.m. in the morning and nobody forced her to drink. And what happens? She gets caught by her mom, she’s embarrassed and the easy way out here is, ‘Mom, someone took advantage of me.’”

This one quotation exemplifies so much of what is unequal and unjust in this society. Women are blamed for their rape, then they aren’t believed and then they are made out to be the bad guys.

John Rawls once proposed a veil of ignorance when creating a society – we must design a system blindly, without knowing where we lie, to ensure that said system benefits the least well-off group. When it comes to the matters discussed above, women are the least well-off. Men have designed a system in which both genders coexist, but without the Rawlsian constraint in place. Women are not benefitting from the system. If you are a male, if you “don’t get it,” I would encourage you to try to “get it.” Rawls might even tell you that the creation of a just society depends on it.