Socially Constructed Again

After our discussion about living in a patriarchal society and especially our viewing of the movie Fire it is becoming easier to notice that women aren’t necessarily on the same “level” as men. Again, like we’ve seen with gender and sexuality, homophobia and particularly sexism are in large part socially constructed issues that are fueled by stereotypes and quite possibly, which in my mind is a more important cause, fear. There are two quotes about fear that come to mind and they correlate well with this idea of socially constructed thoughts and feelings about sexism and homophobia. First, there is a Japanese Proverb that says “Fear is only as deep as the mind allows,” and furthermore, a quote that many of us have heard before, “Fear is the root of all evil.” It is my belief that we are all creatures of habit and society has conditioned us in a way that we are scared to venture outside “the box” for fear of ridicule and even loss of privilege. Credibility is something people take very seriously and for that credibility to questioned and challenged is uncomfortable and threatening for people. For the majority of men in our country the thought of a woman coming into power, standing up for herself, and taking the reigns of what has always been a man’s duty, which been definition varies depending on the individual, is threatening and may cause a reaction seemingly uncharacteristic of their personality. I like what Johnson said in his article “Patriarchy.” “We cling to the illusion that everything is basically all right, that bad things don’t happen to good people, that good people can’t participate in the production of evil, and that if we only leave things alone they’ll stay pretty much as they are and, we often like to think, always have been” (158). My question then is what happens when the so-called “good people” do participate in the production of evil? This is a complex and difficult question to answer because I’m sure a lot of us up to this point in our lives have ever thought about issues of not only sexism and homosexuality, but also other societal issues that stir-the-pot of normalcy, because we haven’t seen first-hand the ripple-effect it can have. Pharr, in his article “Homophobia as a Weapon of Sexism” hit the nail on the head by saying, “Fear often now so commonplace that it is unacknowledged shapes our lives, reducing our freedom” (165).


Building off of that last quote, Fire was a great example of what happens when that fear becomes a reality and is acknowledged. For the men in this film, they are seeing a different side of women that is out-of-place and out of context. Personally, I liked seeing the reaction on the faces of the men when they realized what was happening; they were losing control over the women in their lives. However, I’m going to point out that because of society’s influence some women have been manipulated past the point-of-no-return that when the actions of another women come full circle they become upset and side with the man. For instance, when BeeGee spit in the face of Raja she was expressing her displeasure for her actions. I believe BeeGee has known nothing but tending to her mans every need that seeing another woman stand up for herself was like committing a crime. Like many other social issues we face today I’m still convinced that it is going to take quite some time for things to turn around where people are viewed and treated like equals. In my opinion, I think that sexism and homophobia are a little closer to a turn around than say racism and gender acceptance are, but in no way are we close to where we should be. We’re all held accountable for our own actions and with that being said we need to face whatever consequences stem from those actions.


Brian Pullyblank