{"id":116483,"date":"2016-01-28T11:45:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T11:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/01\/28\/nemmica-commieradscum-terfriffic\/"},"modified":"2016-01-28T11:45:59","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T11:45:59","slug":"nemmica-commieradscum-terfriffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/01\/28\/nemmica-commieradscum-terfriffic\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

nemmica<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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commieradscum<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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terfriffic<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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perf-terf<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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the-deep-woods<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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So I just read this article about how people end up fucking up whatever task they\u2019re doing when they feel like they\u2019re being watched. \u00a0Scientists have discovered that the sense of being observed actually SHUTS OFF a part of the brain,\u00a0the inferior parietal cortex.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Given the fact that women are constantly watched in our society, and we are constantly REMINDED that we are being watched by people making fun of fat, \u201cugly\u201d, or gender-nonconforming women, it makes me wonder how many women have messed up important tasks or projects or just day-to-day activities because A PART OF OUR BRAIN is permanently being deactivated?<\/p>\n

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Like talk about a fucking handicap.<\/p>\n

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Women are constantly held under the microscope- whether we are attractive or unattractive, the gaze of patriarchy never ends.<\/p>\n

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Just last week I was walking my dog and bent over to literally pick up poop. \u00a0Suddenly I heard whistling and looked up cause I knew I was the only person around. \u00a0Sure enough, about 300 feet away, some construction worker was perched on top of a building, grinning at me and calling out stuff I luckily couldn\u2019t hear because he was so goddamn far away.<\/p>\n

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I wonder what it does to women to have this constant source of stress hanging over us, each and every day, knowing we are being scrutinized and examined no matter what we\u2019re doing. \u00a0I wonder how many more accomplishments, life-changing discoveries, inventions, etc would have been achieved by women if we didn\u2019t have this constant brain-handicap imposed on us by men.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hey this is actually a really well-documented sociological phenomenon known as \u2018stereotype threat\u2019, you\u2019re 100% right! A really interesting book that discusses it is \u2018Delusions of Gender\u2019 by Cordelia Fine (i s2g i feel like i should be being paid to advertise that book, it feels like i\u2019m constantly promoting it, but it\u2019s just SO GOOD). I have the ebook if you\u2019d like the file? She has a chapter on it in one of her other books too, \u2018A Mind of its Own.\u2019<\/p>\n

Like here\u2019s an example of stereotype threat – being reminded of gender stereotypes before a math test (like watching a movie with strong depictions of gender roles, or reading a made-up article asserting women\u2019s so-called inferiority) can make women\u2019s scores lower, especially if they have to check a box that reads \u2018female\u2019, since it reinforces their fears of that negative stereotype with themselves. (Obviously the book goes into more detail, and has concrete examples\/sources). And the same pattern holds true for racial stereotypes. It\u2019s really really scary, obviously, considering how much depictions in pop culture tend to trump up those harmful stereotypes. :-\/<\/p>\n

ETA: I just realized it might not be -immediately- obvious how that\u2019s related to your post, and I\u2019m paranoid now, LOL – my point was that being made aware that we\u2019re women and have certain expectations put on us not only makes us more likely to follow those expectations (a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy), it makes us hypernervous, thus impeding our ability to perform. Cordelia Fine brought up a more specific point\/explanation – energy we\u2018re devoting to worrying, even subconsciously, is brain power we\u2019re forced to sacrifice from using on the task at hand. :-\/ More great news, LOL.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is so true. The first time I pursued an engineering degree I ended up performing terribly and switching out because I was in the minority as a woman and had no confidence and was always treated like I was inferior and every move I made was heavily watched and critiqued. Flash forward 5 years and I\u2019m back getting a second degree – pursuing science again – and I give so much less of a shit how I\u2019m perceived, my appearance, etc and have resolutely decided to believe in myself. All these years I thought I was \u201cbad\u201d at math? I\u2019m not. Chemistry used to be French to me? It\u2019s now my favorite subject. It\u2019s amazing how much this shit affects us. And even despite that we are outperforming men in college. Imagine how amazing we could be if we truly realized our potential – every single one of us.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Reasons why I quit after two courses in automotive mechanics was because I was the only female student, the other males either were too awkward to talk to me or patronized me, and I had a constant feeling of having to prove myself by being better than them but most of them had knowledge of cars they recieved from their dads that I was never given the privilege of getting. I felt like I wasn\u2019t getting any of it, and gave up thinking I was wasting my time. <\/p>\n

I bet if I went back I could ace the fucking course because I absolutely give no shits now. But I don\u2019t care for that stuff anymore and will probably pursue something in the sciences.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Also related: self-objectification and habitual body monitoring. Women are watched and judged so much that even when we\u2019re not being watched, we\u2019re watching ourselves, consciously and subconsciously. Monitoring ourselves for conformity to beauty standards, making sure we\u2019re not acting too \u2018manly\u2019, making sure we\u2019re not acting too \u2018girly\u2019, etc. <\/p>\n

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You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur. -Margaret Atwood<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even when we\u2019re alone, we self-objectify and self-judge and engage in habitual body monitoring, because it\u2019s how we\u2019ve been taught to survive in a world full of men scrutinizing us. It literally makes us throw poorly, and get bad scores on tests, and very probably holds us back significantly in most other areas of life as well.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if this and the social phenomenon in the OP (which I didn\u2019t know about, thanks for the info and excellent analysis!) do similar things in the brain, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

nemmica: commieradscum: terfriffic: perf-terf: the-deep-woods: So I just read this article about how people end up fucking up whatever task they\u2019re doing when they feel like they\u2019re being watched. \u00a0Scientists have discovered that the sense of being observed actually SHUTS OFF a part of the brain,\u00a0the inferior parietal cortex.\u00a0 Given the fact that women are … <\/p>\n

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