Racism and sexism continue to generate controversial debates with a historical perspective, especially on race and gender relations in the United States. Racism may not belong to a popular culture as sexism. However, the two share a common trend; they are becoming pervasive across the country and perhaps around different parts of the world (Anyangwe, 2015). In this paper, the article discusses the pervasiveness of racism and sexism. The article then outlines strategies to combat the situation.
Racism
Racism continues to be common in society today as demonstrated in popular culture through mass media outlets, political discourses, and commercial platforms. In her article, Lisa Nakamura (2014) dissects the racism and sexism as portrayed by video games and online content. The author demonstrates that sexism and racism have found a place on the Internet. While the Internet is a powerful tool in spreading democratic ideals and fairness, the tool has also been used simultaneously to propagate racism and sexism. Of particular concern is the use of online gaming that depicts characters in a way to promote sexism and racism. The author notes that different studies have demonstrated that African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans males are well represented in the gaming arena than their white counterparts (Nakamura, 2014). Further, non-white youth are likely to spend more time playing video games. While these observations may originate from research studies without any racial hind sight or motive, they propagate a racial discourse that cannot be ignored. Again, in these video games, blacks and brown bodies are predominantly used to represent criminals, gangsters and sportsmen. In addition, the representation of blacks as drug dealers, evil doers and criminals reinforces some of the racial images found in other media platforms, like movies and television series like Roots or 12 Years a Slave (Marche, 2013). Conversely, the exclusion of these images and colored characters, especially blacks, from fantasy games like World Warcraft amounts to the perpetuation of artificially created “white fantasy” where blackness is abhorred (Nakamura, 2014). Therefore, racist representation has become so pervasive in online gaming of every genre
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In other discourses, racism appears through political talk and democratic ideals propagated with the aim of securing a political message. In recent times, the United States has had to deal with racist events involving police shootings of African-Americans through police stops. Further, the Obama campaigns in 2008 reflected the racist way that the mainstream could communicate to the public about how extraordinary Obama was as a black American (Kendi, 2017). Media editors and reporters advanced the concept that Obama was an extraordinary African American. In fact, these outlets questioned his “true blackness”. The historical background of racism speaks volumes through slavery period, the abolitionist movement and even the formation of Ku Klux Klan to propagate white supremacy and consider slaves as not humans. These popular cultures over time have been used effectively to spread racism and make it pervasive. The historical creation and maintenance of racist iconography demonstrates that racism has existed for centuries in the country and may not go away soon (Dirks & Mueller, 2011). It has become a popular culture advanced and maintained through online gaming sites, movies in Hollywood where directors make movies to highlight historical struggles from a racial perspective.
Sexism
Sexism is a pervasive popular culture that advances the idea that a particular gender has certain characteristics that define their appeal for commercial purposes. Many believe that sexism has been perfected through racism where African-American women and Hispanic women are depicted from a sexist perspective. The production of movies that propagates male culture which conditions boys and men to disrespect and dehumanize women is common (Anyangwe, 2015). Media forms are saturated with sexism, right from movies, music and video games that glamorize misogyny. For instance, the mainstream media and feminists have largely ignored any prejudice against black women. The commercialization of women images through advertisement of products and their portrayal in movies reinforces the sexist approach pervasive in both mainstream and online media platforms. For instance, comedies routinely make fun of sexual assault while obscene scenes in pornography emphasize the brutalization of women through sex (Marche, 2013). Men comedies and magazines routinely promote the reactionary myths about manhood and their ability to emerge victorious in sexual discourses. Online gaming, as posited by Nakamura (2011) continue to use derogatory communication making sexism commonplace. Online gamers continue to create content aimed at promoting and making a case for sexism with depiction of characters that communicate vulgarly becoming an acceptable practice.
Dealing with Racism and Sexism
Addressing the issues of racism and sexism is fundamental the good social order in society. Racism and sexism can be addressed when all people irrespective of their race and gender shall stand up and use their intelligent self-interest to challenge these popular cultures (Kendi, 2017). Supporting any form of these bigotries in America is disadvantaging particular people. Proponents should use educational persuasion to end racism while advancing gender issues from a neutral position is essential in addressing sexism and racism. Creating content; either video games, movies, and any other form of media, needs to consider the ethical and moral if not the political implications the content (Kendi, 2017). The content must be devoid of racism and sexism.
Conclusion
Racism and sexism are pervasive in society today in different areas promoted and advanced by popular cultures and political persuasion. Historical account demonstrates that sexism and racism have existed in our social fabric with the intent to advance sectarian socio-cultural, political and economic goals and objectives.
References
Anyangwe, E. (2015). “Misogynoir: where racism and sexism meet” Accessed from
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/05/what-is-misogynoir
Dirks, D. & Mueller, J.C. (2011). Chapter: Racism and Popular Culture. Accessed from
http://davidmcnally.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dirks___Mueller__2007_1.pdf
Kendi, B. (2017, July). “What will it take for the US to eradicate racist ideas?” Accessed from
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/04/what-will-it-take-for-the-us-to-eradicate-racist-ideas
Marche, S. (2013). “How Did Racism Get to Be So Popular?” Accessed from
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a26162/how-did-racism-get-popular-1213/ Nakamura, L. (2014). “Gender and Race Online”. Accessed from
https://lnakamur.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/nakamura-dutton-internet-and-society-anthology-chapter.pdf
Stein, J. (2016). “How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet” Accessed from
http://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/
