Asian Health Services Youth Program
Empower. Engage. Elevate.
Systemic Impacts
Systemic vs. Systematic Impacts
“Here’s the best way to keep it straight: Systemic is a part of the actual system (or body), systematic is the implementation of the system, and institutional is tied to an actual institution.”
- Robert Lee Brewer
Why are systemic impacts important?
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Impacts our daily lives
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Impacts the systems and structures that constitute our society: schools, churches, hospitals, government, etc.
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Impacts the cultures that surround us: the way you perceive your surroundings
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Systemic issues have played a huge role in historically suppressing marginalized communities based on race, class, gender, and more
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Ex: With the recent BLM protests, you may have heard of the term “systemic racism,” which is the concept that the system and all its working parts was built to oppress BIPOC, especially Black and Indigenous, communities
Culture & The Media
Given the place of men of color relative to white males in the United States’ social hierarchy, there is an added pressure to act hypermasculine so as to gain the dominance they feel they lack in society. Because men of color do not often have the same opportunities as white males, such as job prospects, they feel they lack control and must make up for this perceived loss of masculinity through exaggerated stereotypical masculine behavior.
Why the x in hxstory and womxn?
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Hxstory, hxtories, hxstorical
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Resistance to patriarchal society
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Shed light on the social injustices womxn and gender-noncorming individuals have and are currently facing
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In opposition to solely focusing on “his” story
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Stands for the many different identities, struggles, and intersectionalities
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Womxn
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Creates more gender-neutral language
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The letter X avoids the sexism suggested by “man”
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Offers greater inclusivity and fluidity to genders beyond the male/female binary, such as for trans women or others who identify as womxn
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How Gender and Sexuality is Portrayed in the Media
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Sex Work + Adult Entertainment
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There is a negative stigma surrounding these industries
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Stigmatization exists in video games, movies, shows, etc.
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Our culture is obsessed with the objectification, victimization, and silencing of sex workers
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Tends to sensationalize their lives, which invalidates their experiences
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Treated as “punching bags or punchlines” and lives are seen as “inevitable tragedies”
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They are often used for sex and comedic purposes, and after they are “disposable”
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Meliaa Gira Grant (Journalist, author, and former sex worker): “The majority of stories in the media about sex work are either stories of arrests or, unfortunately, of violence and death, and we very rarely get to hear from sex workers themselves”
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This stigma from the media translates to the experiences of these workers as it creates opportunities for violence where sex workers have to choose between safety and legality and, in turn, reduces the options for sex workers to turn to for support
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Develops structural barriers in healthcare, criminal justice system, and more
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Stigma itself can take a toll on these workers’ mental, physical, and emotional health
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Sex work is valid work!
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There is nothing wrong with folks who decide to go into these industries because that is their choice, and sometimes the best and most productive way of making money for them
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Shows/films that portrayed sex workers in a more accurate and humanizing manner (according to actual sex workers): Friday Night Lights, The Girlfriend Experience, Afternoon Delight, Harlots, Tangerine
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Impressions on Image and what is “sexy”
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Many media outlets portray “sexiness” as this unreasonable standard that is geared towards womxn
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The media tends to uphold womxn who fit into this small category that an incredibly small percentage of women fit into, making womxn and girls question if something is wrong with their bodies
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Body image is a multidimensional construct and it is the Western body image that dominates the media we consume
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Different cultures have different standards of what is considered a “normal” body image due to the genes that are prevalent within those communities
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Ex: Folks of Samoan descent genetically have more mesomorphic (muscular) body types which is different from the skinny figure that is portrayed in Western/American media
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BYOB = Be Your Own Boo
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Practice self love and self care because you deserve it
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Reminder: you are beautiful just the way you are <3
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Biases and stereotypes about different identities in regards to sex and how they tie to our hxstories
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Women
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Black - Hypersexual, Aggressive | Big Butt
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Latina - Hypersexual, Spunky/Sassy
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Asian - Submissive, Fetishized as “exotic” | “Tight” Vagina
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Men
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Black - Oversexualized, Aggressive | Big Dick
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Asian - Emasculated | Small Dick
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These stereotypes are a result of imperialism and colonialism
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The way in which Western colonizers viewed different BIPOC identities is the root cause of these biases today
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Compared to Western/white/European communities, BIPOC had different body types and standards of beauty— leading womxn especially to be overlysexualized because they are different and “foreign” and “exotic”
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Because of the difference in power dynamic between BIPOC men and the colonizers, insults to their sexual prowess were common
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Feminism & Toxic Masculinity
Feminism
What is feminism? → the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
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It does not mean that women > men, it is fighting so that women = men because currently there are numerous gender structural inequalities that cause women < men
Where can we see gender inequality today? Here are a few examples...
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Healthcare system
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Implicit biases combined with a lot of medical research literature mainly being centered around a white male body limit the ways in which doctors can diagnose and treat womxn, especially womxn of color
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Lack of representation in higher education, STEM field, the government, and other fields
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When these fields only have a male perspective, it is limiting and exclusionary
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Gender pay gap
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Violence against womxn, sexual assault, and rape
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Human and sex trafficking rates are higher among womxn
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Women of color and LGBTQ+ women especially face more drastic discrimination
Feminism is, and should always be intersectional!
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What do we mean by intersectionality?
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Intersectionality → the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression
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We must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.
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Takes into account people's overlapping identities and experiences in order to understand the complexity of prejudices they face
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Ex: Black and Trans womxn, BIPOC lower income womxn, etc.
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What do we mean by feminism should be intersectional?
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Feminism is not limited to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the 19th Amendment
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It encompasses ALL womxn - trans womxn, Black women, Indigenous women, POC women, disabled women, LGBTQ+ women, and the intersectionalities that lie between these and more
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BIPOC womxn have historically been excluded from the traditional “white” feminist narrative and any efforts they have made were often overshadowed and unnoticed
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HOW TO BE AN INTERSECTIONAL FEMINIST
1. USE YOUR PLATFORM TO SUPPORT THOSE WITH LESS PRIVILEGE
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For example, male allies can help girls be heard by raising their concerns both in places of power, and in the community.
2. LISTEN AND LEARN FROM DIVERSE GROUPS
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Talk to people, learn about their issues, find out what they need support on.
3. TAKE CRITICISM ONBOARD
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It can be hard to hear criticism, but if we don’t listen, we’re not truly helping those with less privilege. People’s lived experiences are more important than what you think you know.
4. CREATE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
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Support other groups to create a bigger community working towards social justice and equality for all.
5. SHARE IDEAS AND RESOURCES
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We’ll achieve gender equality sooner if we learn from other groups on what has worked.
Feminism is, and should be, for all womxn. It is okay to be actively learning! It is also important to recognize that because of intersectionality, each womxn’s experience is unique to themself, and feminism should be inclusive of all these different identities and lived experiences.
To access learning and other resources: https://wcc.stanford.edu/resources/feminist-websites-blogs-and-resources
What is toxic masculinity? → adherence to traditional male gender roles that consequently stigmatize and limit the emotions boys and men may comfortably express while elevating other emotions such as anger
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Manhood has to be earned and maintained in a way that womanhood is not
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A response to this is bullying men/boys who do not live up to these standards of “masculinity”
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Can lead to homophobia, misogyny, sexual harassment and murder, as violence becomes a channel through which to acquire control and establish dominance and a sense of self
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There are many different ways of being masculine - this physically strong, unsentimental, assertive standard is not the only form and has actually been proven to be harmful to many men’s mental health as they try to conform to that image in order to fit in
Further Resources:
https://www.apa.org/about/policy/boys-men-practice-guidelines.pdf
https://www.mentoring.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Masculinity-Guide-Final.pdf
Spectrums & Identity Expression
**FYI: Gender identity is a person’s innate identification and understanding of their own personal gender. Gender expression is how a person chooses to communicate their gender to others and express themselves through behavior, mannerisms, interests, physical characteristics, or appearance.
Our conceptualizations of identity expression are highly influenced by Western standards, the media, colonization, and societal norms. In modern-day society, while conversations about the spectrums of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression are becoming more normalized, popular media and societal norms often still propagate the gender binary. The male/female, masculine/feminine, man/woman binary is a heteronormative way to reinforce often oppressive gender roles systemically. In actuality, other gender expressions do exist, such as femme, masc, androgynous, neutral, nonconforming, and more.
Societal norms and popular media also create biases and stereotypes about different identities in regards to sex, and different identities’ hxstories of discrimination, imperialism, and colonialism have contributed to the enforcement of labels on different groups as well in the present-day. Throughout history and across the world, different cultures have had their own long-established traditions for identity expression that is inclusive of more than two genders.
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In the Philippines, prior to Spanish rule, Babaylans were shamans/healers with feminine presentations. While many of them were womxn, there were some who identified as men, who also dressed in the feminine look and spirit but were heterosexual outside of their Babaylan role.
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In native Hawaiian culture, mahu is a gender role that refers to people who exhibit both feminine and masculine traits. Before Hawaiians’ contact with outsiders, mahu were respected and revered, but as a result of settler colonialism, the term that was once used respectfully has been appropriated and displaced.
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In native Indigenous communities, Two Spirit people have both a male and female spirit within them and are blessed by their Creator to see life through the eyes of both genders. There are tribal-specific names as well that different nations have for their own Two Spirit people, such as winkte among the Lakota people and nadleeh among the Navajo people.
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Today, drag culture (dressing and performing in the attire of the opposite sex) is used as a form of expression, liberation, and protest, especially for the queer Black and Latino communities.
Relationships & Dating
It is important to reflect on how systemic impacts affect our own relationships. We must keep in mind the roles of feminism and toxic masculinity within our relationships, as well as understand love vs. lust and romantic vs. sexual in our perceptions of healthy relationships.
Modern-day culture and our own cultural heritages affect our perceptions of relationships and dating too. Today, it is common for people to meet others via mutual friends, blind dates, and dating apps and navigate a variety of relationships from casual hook-ups to serious dating to polygamy/polyamory. Culturally, different groups of people may form different boundaries and expectations of themselves and their partners due to their upbringing and hxstory.
While building our own relationships, it is important to keep in mind our own boundaries and expectations of ourselves and our partners while reflecting on how systemic impacts and societal/cultural norms impact our perceptions of healthy relationships.
Consent
The definition of consent is the permission and agreement for something to happen. Furthermore, consent is a matter of one’s own power, agency, and ability to control situations. In contextualizing consent within the systemic impacts we have outlined above, we come to understand the inherent power and agency behind consent. Consent is thus not just a means of permission, but a means of individual agency.
It is crucial to understand consent within this framework of systemic impacts because consent is a central action that contributes to other aspects of society. Without prioritization of consent, rape, assault, violence, coercion, and gaslighting become more frequent and normalized.
Rape: Sexual acts without consent.
Assault: Abuse (physical, verbal, psychological, etc.)
Violence: Causing harm to another person/people (physical, emotional, mental, etc.)
Coercion: Practice of persuading someone to do something by force, threats, and/or emotional manipulation
Gaslighting: Manipulating and influencing people to think that they are at fault (guilt-tripping)
We must value and prioritize consent in our everyday lives and all our relationships to not only maintain healthier relationships for ourselves, but also promote a healthier societal culture that values individual agency.