What an airy hairy sexist statement!

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On May 10, 2010

Nobody needs to demonize the police.

By Masterwordsmith

If not for ~Wits0~ who sent me the following article headlined Hisham in crosshairs for Mother’s Day insult, I would have missed it in the midst of hustle and bustle of Mothers’ Day celebrations. I could not believe my eyes when I read THIS ARTICLE which said:

Last night, Hishammuddin told students at the Malaysian Students Department in London that “chit-chat” among women have exaggerated the level of street crime in the country and caused fear among the public.

“Most victims are women. What do women do? They go to the hairdressers … they chit-chat and suddenly it is everywhere and cause people to fear,” Hishammuddin said.

I fully agree with LKS who said that Hishammuddin could be so irresponsible as to blame Malaysian women on Mother’s Day for the exaggeration of the endemic crime situation in the country.

The article said:

“Hishammuddin should apologise for his insult to Malaysian women on Mother’s Day and blaming women’s chattering for exaggerating the crime problem and demonizing the police,” he said in a press statement.

PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said the minister’s statement was an insult to women in the country.

“It really is very gender insensitive and again it is finger pointing by no other than a top minister. It showcases that government is at a loss of the real issue which is the problem of trigger happy police and structural reforms that needs to be implemented. These are serious issues which needs to be considered and is no joking matter.
…..

“Clearly, a public apology would only be the first step. He does not understand the real issue and reasons why public perception is so bad. Criticisms leveled against the police do not equate hatred but a real desire to see an improved service and level of security. If he fails to see this, we need a new minister,” said Nurul Izzah.

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said Hishammuddin was insensitive for joking about women.

“His statement is crazy and gender insensitive. He is running down and blaming women for being victims of crime. This statement shouldn’t have come out from the mouth of the Home Minister. He is the internal security minister and his job is devise ways to make the streets safer for Malaysians. Instead he takes this issue so lightly and even laughs at women and accused women of doing nothing. This is very irresponsible of him.

“This can make people ask him what has he done to reduce street crime for the public? Hishammuddin has a wife, daughter and mother who are women and subjected to street crime too,” she said. CLICK HERE FOR MORE…

I am a woman and I go to the hairdressers for practical reasons – and NOT TO CHIT CHAT!!!

How can he equate women’s chit-chat with amplication of crime and demonization of police?

Firstly, as the Home Minister, he should be in touch with all aspects of crime and national security as he is privy to all information, confidential or public.

Sociologists, criminologists, psychologists EXCEPT MISOGYNISTS would know that amplification of crime is NOT due to women but many other reasons. Check out this excellent lecture on Crime and the Media – The Moral Panic Argument.

Secondly, we must remember the meaning of status and prestige and realize the lack of logic in that claim. There are two types of status which I used to teach in detail in my Sociology courses:

According to Wikipedia:

Achieved status is a sociological term denoting a social position that a person can acquire on the basis of merit; it is a position that is earned or chosen. It is the opposite of ascribed status. It reflects personal skills, abilities, and efforts. Examples of achieved status are being an Olympic athlete, being a criminal, or being a college professor.

Status is important sociologically because it comes with a set of rights, obligations, behaviors, and duties that people occupying a certain position are expected or encouraged to perform. These expectations are referred to as roles. For instance, the role of a “professor” includes teaching students, answering their questions, being impartial, and dressing appropriately. Click HERE for more.

Nobody needs to demonize the police. We all know why and I will not elaborate. Individuals, including the police, have control over their achieved statuses via the things they do or they do not do.

According to Wikipedia:

Ascribed status is the social status a person is assigned at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life. It is a position that is neither earned nor chosen but assigned. These rigid social designators remain fixed throughout an individual’s life and are inseparable from the positive or negative stereotypes that are linked with one’s ascribed statuses.

The practice of assigning such statuses to individuals exists cross-culturally within all societies and is based on sex, gender, race, family origins, and ethnic backgrounds[2] For example, a person born into a wealthy family has a high ascribed status based solely on the social networks and economic advantages that one gains from being born into a family with more resources than others. CLICK HERE for more.

Bear in mind that status is also used as a synonym for honor or prestige, when social status denotes the relative position of a person on a publicly recognized scale or hierarchy of social worth. Status is CONFERRED on a person based on how we perceive the worth of that person or group.

We are no longer living in Neanderthal times and bashing women with clubs and demeaning statements. Yet, in this scenario, women are being pulled down by cultural, political, economical and religious prejudices, which undermine their full participation in the life of Malaysian society, which in turn deprives Malaysians of development in its fullest sense.