What is "Rape Culture"?
- Thread starter Bowser
- Start date
It is necessary to give some thought to this to see the connection with America's rape culture, but it's there...
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/kenya-abortion/
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/kenya-abortion/
I have to deal with a nosy sexist landlord right now because I can't move right at the moment. There's a disrespectful, sly, even spiteful (and I haven't done anything to him or the ex), sexist tone and attitude. If anyone was wronged, it was me. This sob knowing I'm alone seems to bolster his ease in asking me personal invasive questions or comments every time he picks up rent. He either makes a comment about the ex who moved out like its his business to make sure he and the ex to lord over me for his sake? I'm the one paying the rent and the tenant. He has this unmistakable stench about him as if he's doing me a favor. What? This pretense that i need looking after or somehow this is not my place really since the ex moved out even though its my place, lease, deposit and rent!! Like its some warped boys club.
Today he asked me if I had a new boyfriend and what I've been up to like its any of his business. It just disgusts me how bad people are. He sometimes brings and parades his 'young enough to be his daughter' mistress over here with him when he does his business. I've also met his wife. One time he actually referred to me as 'baby'. This fuker is way out of line and he's letting his professionalism slide in this case. See how people are when they feel they can be opportunistic? It may not be physical rape but its invasive.
There is a sexist, demeaning or disempowering culture when it comes to women and especially toward single women and it should die but it hasn't.
Having to deal with bullshit from people is never ending. Most humans are definitely not superior. They can be as low as crud. Humans may dominate this planet but that's just what it is and all it is.
Today he asked me if I had a new boyfriend and what I've been up to like its any of his business. It just disgusts me how bad people are. He sometimes brings and parades his 'young enough to be his daughter' mistress over here with him when he does his business. I've also met his wife. One time he actually referred to me as 'baby'. This fuker is way out of line and he's letting his professionalism slide in this case. See how people are when they feel they can be opportunistic? It may not be physical rape but its invasive.
There is a sexist, demeaning or disempowering culture when it comes to women and especially toward single women and it should die but it hasn't.
Having to deal with bullshit from people is never ending. Most humans are definitely not superior. They can be as low as crud. Humans may dominate this planet but that's just what it is and all it is.
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Move to a dorm?
Students are so open minded it's like a different culture on campus.
Students are so open minded it's like a different culture on campus.
Secular Sanity
Registered Senior Member
I'm a little confused, Randwolf. Help me out with this.
Didn’t President Obama reinstated funding for UNFPA, reversing the prior administration’s policy of withholding funding based on false claims of complicity in coercive abortion and forced sterilization?
Leahy Amendment (1994) The Leahy amendment said:
Isn’t abortion still illegal in Kenya?
"...unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law."
The article that you linked stated that until 2010, the procedure was essentially illegal except to save the life of the mother.
I think that it was illegal and in 2010 this provision was added.
Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 26(4)
Article 26(4). Right to Life
Abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law.
http://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/con...and-fundamental-freedoms/192-26-right-to-life
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I'm not entirely sure what you're questioning here. If you are implying that US policy does not prevent American aid from being used to pay for abortions then there are a lot of confused senators as well. This is from October 22, 2015:
Blumenthal, 27 Senate Colleagues Implore President Obama to Correct Improper Implementation of Helms Amendment, Reduce Barriers to Safe Abortion for Women and Girls in Conflict-Affected Regions
“If the U.S. does not work to increase access to reproductive healthcare for vulnerable populations, particularly safe abortion services, there will be negative, long-term consequences.”
“We cannot be bystanders to such gross violations of the human dignity of these women and girls.”
(Washington, DC) - Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) led a letter with 27 of his Senate colleagues urging President Obama to ensure the United States is adequately supporting the reproductive health needs for women and girls in conflict-affected zones by removing unnecessary barriers to safe abortion. This action is desperately needed because of the increased use of rape as a tool of warfare perpetrated by Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq on women and girls, as detailed by The New York Times in “Boko Haram Militants Raped Hundreds of Female Captives in Nigeria” and “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape.” The senators implored the President to improve efforts to support the reproductive healthcare needs of survivors of sexual assault in conflict-affected zones as a part of the United States’ strategy to combat these terror organizations.
“We write to express our deep concern for the reproductive health of women and girls who are kidnapped, enslaved, tortured, raped, and impregnated in conflict-affected zones worldwide,” the senators wrote. “Rape is increasingly used as a tool of warfare to destabilize communities, exert control over women and girls, and in some cases purposely impregnate them, as executed by Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria and Iraq. Survivors are forced to carry pregnancies to full term because access to reproductive healthcare is not available following their assault. We cannot be bystanders to such gross violations of the human dignity of these women and girls.”
In the letter, the senators requested three specific actions by President Obama:
“If the U.S. does not work to increase access to reproductive healthcare for vulnerable populations, particularly safe abortion services, there will be negative, long-term consequences.”
“We cannot be bystanders to such gross violations of the human dignity of these women and girls.”
(Washington, DC) - Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) led a letter with 27 of his Senate colleagues urging President Obama to ensure the United States is adequately supporting the reproductive health needs for women and girls in conflict-affected zones by removing unnecessary barriers to safe abortion. This action is desperately needed because of the increased use of rape as a tool of warfare perpetrated by Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq on women and girls, as detailed by The New York Times in “Boko Haram Militants Raped Hundreds of Female Captives in Nigeria” and “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape.” The senators implored the President to improve efforts to support the reproductive healthcare needs of survivors of sexual assault in conflict-affected zones as a part of the United States’ strategy to combat these terror organizations.
“We write to express our deep concern for the reproductive health of women and girls who are kidnapped, enslaved, tortured, raped, and impregnated in conflict-affected zones worldwide,” the senators wrote. “Rape is increasingly used as a tool of warfare to destabilize communities, exert control over women and girls, and in some cases purposely impregnate them, as executed by Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria and Iraq. Survivors are forced to carry pregnancies to full term because access to reproductive healthcare is not available following their assault. We cannot be bystanders to such gross violations of the human dignity of these women and girls.”
In the letter, the senators requested three specific actions by President Obama:
- Issue guidance to relevant government agencies, allowing them to support safe abortion services in at least the limited circumstances of rape, incest, or life endangerment to correct the overly constrained implementation of the Helms Amendment which serves as a critical barrier to safe abortion, particularly impacting women and girls fleeing conflict;
- Exercise existing authority to ensure policies on U.S. foreign aid do not stand in the way of women and girls fleeing conflict who seek abortion services, particularly in countries where abortion is permissible by local law; and
- Strengthen actions taken under the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security implementation plan, as well as provide an assessment of how the relevant agencies are fulfilling their respective duties to provide access to the full range of reproductive healthcare.
Joining Senator Blumenthal as co-signers of the letter are U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
The letter can be viewed in full here
Pro-Life is a misnomer. Pro-Birth is a much better descriptor of the Right's position, they don't seem to care much about life after a child is born.I admit, between my politics and your preface, all I needed was the title.
Pro-Life, Boko Haram style: Jen Sorensen, Daily Kos Comics, 26 May 2015
Secular Sanity
Registered Senior Member
Well, I don't know what to tell you. From what I gather, they’re just wanting him to clarify that the Helms amendment does not ban U.S. foreign aid related abortions because it’s being incorrectly construed as an outright ban.
Here's a list of all the congressional action.
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/birth-control-family-planning-unfpa.pdf
You didn't address the fact that it is still illegal in Kenya.
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Quote:
Obama could simply issue an executive order clarifying that the law has exceptions—the same exceptions that already exist domestically—or he could publicly direct the head of the USAID to start writing the exceptions into its contracts.... In August, 81 Democrats in Congress wrote urging Obama to take this step. A group of 28 senators followed suit in October with a strongly worded letter about women raped in conflict.
hmmm Obama = rape advocate... who knew...
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Nonetheless, rape is a big problem on university campuses. Apparently it has a lot to do with the enormous quantities of alcohol that are consumed on university campuses. Who'da thunk there might be a connection there?
On Abortion in Kenya
The thumbnail sketch:
There are myriad political considerations, some of which involve questions of a boxing match compared to chess, but there comes a point at which none of these really constitute any sort of proper excuse.
To wit, it is true that lifting this reservation could trigger a headline political fight that results not necesarily in the loss of the White House, but serious downticket effects resulting in a filibuster-proof Senate majority, in which case even greater disruption of American human aid can and would occur.
But this is still not an excuse; if one intends to wait for a clear winning apth, one will wait forever. If one chooses to wait on cynical politics, yes, there is a point at which we might attempt to argue we understand the logic but any time this question works its way to the public discourse is an even better reason than the everyday reason to start now.
And if cynical politics really are so influential, one can look ahead and see that Democrats have every reason to want this fight right now. That is, if we decide to go forward today, it's fair enough to wait until later to talk about why not yesterday. But with eighty-one House and twenty-eight Senate Democrats urging the president to take this step, Hillary Clinton as the leading Democratic candidate, and Bernie Sanders needing anything he can to steal an issue out from under the former Secretary of State, it is uncertain what President Obama needs the cards to say. If ever he can find a way to mark this one up in his win column, yes, now is the time.
This is the thing about journalism, too, because part of why not yesterday is the discourse itself. The proverbial stars are lining up, and the discourse has an opportunity to ask the president a particular question―Why not today?―in such a direct manner as to demand notice and assert priority.
As this article goes around, and even conservatives will be willing to push parts of it according to the idea that President Obama is the worst thing to happen to women since Eve, the question will become louder. Our political process is market-driven to an unhealthy degree.
Because there are times when doing the right thing will lose a greater sum in return; it is not simply a matter of the situation being unclear. Right now the elements are lining up about as favorably as the right thing can get in the United States. And it is easy enough to believe the president is aware of this. And it is easy enough to imagine the political calculations. The obvious problem of seeking the right moment is the damage occurring in all the other moments that aren't right. Republicans blithely corner themselves; as a general rule of thumb, though, politicians will act when cornered. Presiden Obama tends toward what seems to be acting when he can perceive the corner as inevitable.
Hillary Clinton needs to clear her throat. Bernie Sanders needs to try to steal her thunder. At that point President Obama will pretty much be cornered.
He has to see this coming; there is no way he can't.
So the question is what exactly he is waiting for.
And the answer is probably that none of his staff are putting it on his schedule.
And maybe this article, at this time, under these circumstances, will either remind them to, or else show President Obama the corner he's about to find himself trapped in.
Because the metrics are about to start describing the optics. Everybody knows the next thing that happens is that the GOP goes after American funding for UNFPA. Nightmare scenarios about a future unwrit, presumed according to perceptions of immediate circumstances in the political arena, can only suffice for so long as an excuse to not change the circumstances in the political arena.
Given the stakes, one wonders at the political macguffin.
And if the coldness of such political calculation and analysis seems unsettling, yes, that's part of the problem. This is the society we have made for ourselves, and right now it looks kind of like an editorial cartoon. To the one, it's hard to deny the politics. To the other, pretty much anyone can say we're long past the point that the politics can reasonably be held up as an excuse for not acting. But, to the beeblebrox, that the cynical political calculation should be necessary is also a powerful indictment of the voters who make it that way. So it's not just the Republicans in the cartoon; nor is it simply the Republicans and President Obama, or "both parties". It's Americans. This ridiculous demand is one our culture has fostered. Just saying no to rape survivors has, for the whole of my lifetime, been the societal zeitgeist.
I can only wish the president luck, but would also tap my foot impatiently and remind him to get the fuck on with it.
I get the politics. We all know they're bullshit. I would hope this occasion would be the one.
____________________
Notes:
Bassett, Laura. "Instruments of Oppression". Highline. 3 December 2015. Highline.HuffingtonPost.com. 4 December 2015. http://huff.to/1N6SlpA
The thumbnail sketch:
→ Abortion was illegal in Kenya with the exception of saving the mother's life until 2010.
→ Medical professionals can now invoke other circumstances.
→ Refugees from neighboring regions come to Kenya, including liberated sex slaves carrying pregnancies.
→ The UNFPA does not restrict abortion; on paper the United Nations considers self-governance and health care access fundamental rights.
→ From the Highline article↱: "President Barack Obama restored the funding in 2009, with the caveat that UNFPA would receive the money as long as it didn’t provide abortions." Also:
→ Medical professionals can now invoke other circumstances.
→ Refugees from neighboring regions come to Kenya, including liberated sex slaves carrying pregnancies.
→ The UNFPA does not restrict abortion; on paper the United Nations considers self-governance and health care access fundamental rights.
→ From the Highline article↱: "President Barack Obama restored the funding in 2009, with the caveat that UNFPA would receive the money as long as it didn’t provide abortions." Also:
This isn’t a situation where Congress has prevented the administration from acting. In fact, the solution is shockingly simple. The text of the Helms amendment only states that no U.S. foreign assistance money “may be used to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning.” Atwood says that “most legal scholars who have looked at this issue say it’s a wildly exaggerated interpretation of that law” to apply it to cases of rape, incest or life endangerment. Obama could simply issue an executive order clarifying that the law has exceptions—the same exceptions that already exist domestically—or he could publicly direct the head of the USAID to start writing the exceptions into its contracts.
∴ Yes, the Obama adminisration could lift its own reservation.
There are myriad political considerations, some of which involve questions of a boxing match compared to chess, but there comes a point at which none of these really constitute any sort of proper excuse.
To wit, it is true that lifting this reservation could trigger a headline political fight that results not necesarily in the loss of the White House, but serious downticket effects resulting in a filibuster-proof Senate majority, in which case even greater disruption of American human aid can and would occur.
But this is still not an excuse; if one intends to wait for a clear winning apth, one will wait forever. If one chooses to wait on cynical politics, yes, there is a point at which we might attempt to argue we understand the logic but any time this question works its way to the public discourse is an even better reason than the everyday reason to start now.
And if cynical politics really are so influential, one can look ahead and see that Democrats have every reason to want this fight right now. That is, if we decide to go forward today, it's fair enough to wait until later to talk about why not yesterday. But with eighty-one House and twenty-eight Senate Democrats urging the president to take this step, Hillary Clinton as the leading Democratic candidate, and Bernie Sanders needing anything he can to steal an issue out from under the former Secretary of State, it is uncertain what President Obama needs the cards to say. If ever he can find a way to mark this one up in his win column, yes, now is the time.
This is the thing about journalism, too, because part of why not yesterday is the discourse itself. The proverbial stars are lining up, and the discourse has an opportunity to ask the president a particular question―Why not today?―in such a direct manner as to demand notice and assert priority.
As this article goes around, and even conservatives will be willing to push parts of it according to the idea that President Obama is the worst thing to happen to women since Eve, the question will become louder. Our political process is market-driven to an unhealthy degree.
Because there are times when doing the right thing will lose a greater sum in return; it is not simply a matter of the situation being unclear. Right now the elements are lining up about as favorably as the right thing can get in the United States. And it is easy enough to believe the president is aware of this. And it is easy enough to imagine the political calculations. The obvious problem of seeking the right moment is the damage occurring in all the other moments that aren't right. Republicans blithely corner themselves; as a general rule of thumb, though, politicians will act when cornered. Presiden Obama tends toward what seems to be acting when he can perceive the corner as inevitable.
Hillary Clinton needs to clear her throat. Bernie Sanders needs to try to steal her thunder. At that point President Obama will pretty much be cornered.
He has to see this coming; there is no way he can't.
So the question is what exactly he is waiting for.
And the answer is probably that none of his staff are putting it on his schedule.
And maybe this article, at this time, under these circumstances, will either remind them to, or else show President Obama the corner he's about to find himself trapped in.
Because the metrics are about to start describing the optics. Everybody knows the next thing that happens is that the GOP goes after American funding for UNFPA. Nightmare scenarios about a future unwrit, presumed according to perceptions of immediate circumstances in the political arena, can only suffice for so long as an excuse to not change the circumstances in the political arena.
Given the stakes, one wonders at the political macguffin.
And if the coldness of such political calculation and analysis seems unsettling, yes, that's part of the problem. This is the society we have made for ourselves, and right now it looks kind of like an editorial cartoon. To the one, it's hard to deny the politics. To the other, pretty much anyone can say we're long past the point that the politics can reasonably be held up as an excuse for not acting. But, to the beeblebrox, that the cynical political calculation should be necessary is also a powerful indictment of the voters who make it that way. So it's not just the Republicans in the cartoon; nor is it simply the Republicans and President Obama, or "both parties". It's Americans. This ridiculous demand is one our culture has fostered. Just saying no to rape survivors has, for the whole of my lifetime, been the societal zeitgeist.
I can only wish the president luck, but would also tap my foot impatiently and remind him to get the fuck on with it.
I get the politics. We all know they're bullshit. I would hope this occasion would be the one.
____________________
Notes:
Bassett, Laura. "Instruments of Oppression". Highline. 3 December 2015. Highline.HuffingtonPost.com. 4 December 2015. http://huff.to/1N6SlpA
How old are you and do you treat women with respect regardless of how drunk you are?
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Do you think alcohol is an excuse?
Bowser said:
It has to do with empowering the effects of rape by preventing survivors their full range of address.
Here's an American iteration of the idea: A bill in Texas that would provide a religious freedom exemption to state-certified agents who deny health care access to sexually abused minors, even to the effect of forcing raped children to carry pregnancies.
Yes, really↱.
The good news is that the bill appears to have stalled in April, after passing the Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee.
The bad news is that it even made it through Committee. The bad news is that nine legislators decided it worth the time and effort to scrap this bill together in the first place.
As the Bassett↱ article notes:
To end unwanted pregnancies, women would insert poisonous herbs into their vaginas, drink crushed glass or visit “quack doctors,” whose methods were little better. One woman arrived at a Marie Stopes clinic after putting an unknown chemical reactive in her vagina. Local health workers described it as a “bomb,” because it had exploded. “We couldn’t put a speculum inside her. She was screaming,” says Faustina Fynn-Nyame, the country director for Marie Stopes Kenya. “The girl will never have a normal sexual life.”
The most vulnerable were young teenage girls, who are more likely than adults to experience complications from unsafe abortions because their reproductive organs are still developing. Often, these girls were the victims of rape and incest: Nearly 1 in 3 girls in Kenya experience some kind of sexual violence by the age of 18. One nurse at a health clinic in Bungoma told me that she sees the most cases of terminations gone wrong in January and February, when schools are on their winter break. “Most people who come in are school-going kids,” she says.
The most vulnerable were young teenage girls, who are more likely than adults to experience complications from unsafe abortions because their reproductive organs are still developing. Often, these girls were the victims of rape and incest: Nearly 1 in 3 girls in Kenya experience some kind of sexual violence by the age of 18. One nurse at a health clinic in Bungoma told me that she sees the most cases of terminations gone wrong in January and February, when schools are on their winter break. “Most people who come in are school-going kids,” she says.
I would ask you to please consider a very ugly phrase: Being raped is enough; the rest is just piling on.
Because in what world is, "Being raped is enough", remotely acceptable for any kind of standard or argument?
But you don't see the connection?
• There are physical effects from the rape.
• There are psychological effects from the rape.
• There are societal consequences for rape survivors; it is easy enough to offer up whatever platitudes we will about how this needs to change.
• There are further societal consequences for rape survivors bearing the children of their rapists; again, something about easy platitudes and change goes here.
• Bearing a child alters the course of a woman's life.
• Bearing a child against her will is ... I mean, what do you want me to say here? Really? What can I possibly say here? And accounting for, what, shall we call it the rape coefficient, or is it perhaps an exponent? No, really, this part ought to be self-evident; I am uncertain what to tell you because I can't figure out how you can't see the connection. I mean, really? Is there anything more specific you can tell us about what's not coming through?
• Look at this abortion market: Pussy Bomb is not the name of my next band.
• There are psychological effects from the rape.
• There are societal consequences for rape survivors; it is easy enough to offer up whatever platitudes we will about how this needs to change.
• There are further societal consequences for rape survivors bearing the children of their rapists; again, something about easy platitudes and change goes here.
• Bearing a child alters the course of a woman's life.
• Bearing a child against her will is ... I mean, what do you want me to say here? Really? What can I possibly say here? And accounting for, what, shall we call it the rape coefficient, or is it perhaps an exponent? No, really, this part ought to be self-evident; I am uncertain what to tell you because I can't figure out how you can't see the connection. I mean, really? Is there anything more specific you can tell us about what's not coming through?
• Look at this abortion market: Pussy Bomb is not the name of my next band.
There is a human disaster taking place. We can help allieviate at least some part of the damage but won't for cynical political reasons derived from American cultural neurotic complexes disdaining the fact that women are human beings.
Rape will always exist in some form. And it will exist as a weapon of war as long as there are wars. Exactly nobody owes anything that our moral duty should be to lend a hand to rape or its effects.
President Obama's signature won't erase or solve the problem. It will simply remove from the field one of our deliberate obstacles by which we make the situation worse.
As a human rights question, there really is no alternative; nor is there any justification for inaction. It would be best if he sat down and signed the order right fucking now, but owing to more (ahem!) "realistic" and (cough!) "practical" considerations, he could make my day by simply walking out in front of the press and saying, "By the way, this is coming. Start yelling if you want, but we're just running our numbers so I can tell you what what it means on paper, and we're doing this in a matter of days."
Because my sentiments be damned; every day that he doesn't is a problem, full stop.
Well, okay, there is an if, and, or but.
That is to say, it's a problem unless we care to acknowledge that we have no moral qualms about empowering the damage rape causes.
Which, in turn, is the connection.
____________________
Notes:
Bassett, Laura. "Instruments of Oppression. Highline. 3 December 2015. Highline.HuffingtonPost.com. 4 December 2015. http://huff.to/1N6SlpA
See Also:
Liebelson, Dana. "Texas Bill Could Protect Welfare Providers Who Force Kids Into Gay Conversion Therapy". The Huffington Post. 13 May 2015. HuffingtonPost.com. 4 December 2015. http://huff.to/1RUM6ds
Edit note: Clarify vague sentence ("lend a hand …").
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Secular Sanity
Registered Senior Member
Are you saying that even though it's illegal in Kenya that medical professionals can still preform an abortion in cases of rape and incest?
Secular Sanity
Registered Senior Member
What if Mrs. Sommers is right? What if the statics are based on a flawed study?
"The important and intriguing story they tell about unreliable advocacy statistics is overshadowed by the even more important discoveries they made about the morally indefensible way that public funds for combating rape are being allocated.
Across the nation, public universities are spending millions of dollars a year on rapidly growing programs to combat rape. Videos, self-defense classes, and full-time rape educators are commonplace. . . . But the new spending comes at a time when community rape programs—also dependent on tax dollars—are desperately scrambling for money to help populations at much higher risk than college students."
http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/3925/Readings/RapeCultureSummers.pdf
A sexist or exploitive culture is not just an american issue, of course. There are varying degrees of it in any culture. It depends on the laws and how well it is enforced.
This is another anecdote but its revealing. We all know how women are the target of more shafts when purchasing a vehicle without a male but once I decided to purchase a new phone at a local mom and pop kiosk. I never did that before (never again) and since they were licensed, I figured give it a try.
I saw an advertisement from a cell phone company for a particular phone. The man tells me the price is incorrect and the promotion is no longer in effect. I told him that it states clearly when it expires. He told me he has a direct vendor line to the company and that isn't the case. I asked him to call to verify this. He appears to call and tell me that the phone costs more but he will throw in a twenty dollar case for five instead. He is taking me for a fool and I go along with this for now as my remedy will have much more decisive, important and just outcome. He disables my old phone and sets up the new one. When its time for payment, another employee steps in and states he was mistaken and the case is ten, not five and lamely throws in a dove bar for free which I didn't even ask for as if it was supposed to placate or distract me from noticing I'm being cheated besides the fact its condescending.
At this point I make the purchase as the phone has already been processed and my old phone is dead but because I know what my next plan of action will be since I've been watching them not only patronize but also dig themselves in a hole.
As soon as I leave the premises, I call the cell company directly explaining everything that occurred as well as them confirming the advertisement is correct. Of course it is. A national company is not going to send out official advertising fliers nationwide without honoring it unless they want a bad rep and go under.
I demand the difference where I was overcharged but also received another month worth of service for free after a bit of convincing considering the hassle and shaft I was put through.
I also found out shortly thereafter that this business was arbitrarily (not from corporate directly) setting prices depending on the customers appearance and gender. A male was actually charged less than the sale price of a much more expensive phone. Not only was it a better phone but even less than the advertised price. If it was a customer who appeared to have more money, docile, naive, female but especially not 'street smart', they would really try the most implausible and obvious scam. But fools get caught at their own ill game by shallowly stereotyping too much since appearances are deceiving. I'm not made of money and neither am I a fool even if I appear calm and generally easygoing.
Not only does corporate investigate their business practices by sending in 'anonymous' customers as part of their investigation but they also were fined.
You do have to fight for your rights but that also has a ripple and shockwave effect. It makes it better for others. It can only be effective if you have people backing your pursuit of justice, males and females. No one should be taken advantage of or cheated even if they don't know what's going on, male or female. There's enough distrust and animosity in society. It needs more honor and trust.
This is another anecdote but its revealing. We all know how women are the target of more shafts when purchasing a vehicle without a male but once I decided to purchase a new phone at a local mom and pop kiosk. I never did that before (never again) and since they were licensed, I figured give it a try.
I saw an advertisement from a cell phone company for a particular phone. The man tells me the price is incorrect and the promotion is no longer in effect. I told him that it states clearly when it expires. He told me he has a direct vendor line to the company and that isn't the case. I asked him to call to verify this. He appears to call and tell me that the phone costs more but he will throw in a twenty dollar case for five instead. He is taking me for a fool and I go along with this for now as my remedy will have much more decisive, important and just outcome. He disables my old phone and sets up the new one. When its time for payment, another employee steps in and states he was mistaken and the case is ten, not five and lamely throws in a dove bar for free which I didn't even ask for as if it was supposed to placate or distract me from noticing I'm being cheated besides the fact its condescending.
At this point I make the purchase as the phone has already been processed and my old phone is dead but because I know what my next plan of action will be since I've been watching them not only patronize but also dig themselves in a hole.
As soon as I leave the premises, I call the cell company directly explaining everything that occurred as well as them confirming the advertisement is correct. Of course it is. A national company is not going to send out official advertising fliers nationwide without honoring it unless they want a bad rep and go under.
I demand the difference where I was overcharged but also received another month worth of service for free after a bit of convincing considering the hassle and shaft I was put through.
I also found out shortly thereafter that this business was arbitrarily (not from corporate directly) setting prices depending on the customers appearance and gender. A male was actually charged less than the sale price of a much more expensive phone. Not only was it a better phone but even less than the advertised price. If it was a customer who appeared to have more money, docile, naive, female but especially not 'street smart', they would really try the most implausible and obvious scam. But fools get caught at their own ill game by shallowly stereotyping too much since appearances are deceiving. I'm not made of money and neither am I a fool even if I appear calm and generally easygoing.
Not only does corporate investigate their business practices by sending in 'anonymous' customers as part of their investigation but they also were fined.
You do have to fight for your rights but that also has a ripple and shockwave effect. It makes it better for others. It can only be effective if you have people backing your pursuit of justice, males and females. No one should be taken advantage of or cheated even if they don't know what's going on, male or female. There's enough distrust and animosity in society. It needs more honor and trust.
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