When researching my word androcentrisim, the online dictionary defined it as, "centered on,
emphasizing, or dominated by male or masculine interest." This means that
in a society the male’s opinion and views are used to describe the overall
general populations. Their actions are also used to exemplify both the male and
female behavior. The way that this description is used is a way to separate men
from women, most time when the women’s behavior deviates from the males they
are viewed as being inferior and out of the ordinary.
In the world today there are many different examples of Americans living unconsciously in an androcentric view of the world. This can be seen on many of the street signs, where most of the signs that we see have cartoon drawn pictures of men plastered on them. Some
example of these pictures can be seen on cross walks, pedestrian signs, and the
default avatars. Though it was found truer in children’s stories and television shows (http://androcentricworld.wordpress.com/), it was also
found that they are more focused around male characters whether their character
is the dominate or not. It is found that girls take up 25% of all animations. Though it is not obvious I do believe that we the in certain, not all, aspects of life the world that we live in has unconscious androcentric views. However, at the same time I do not believe that it is as drastic as the articles I read are trying to make it seem.
I find it very intresting that America has these undercover forms of androcenticism since we consider ourselves a very forward and progressive nation. I wonder, however, if this is a problem. There are other nations in the world where androcenticism is a major problem, for example Afghanistan, where women are openly oppressed. Is this something that we here in America are comfortable living with since the women are not openly harmed?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that the only sign with a female symbol on it is for the restroom. Other than that it's male figures. Now that I think about it, it seems like the signs are making it seem like it is a "man's world".
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