Upon reading these two very opinionated and controversial essays I have been questioning why in our society men and women are regarded so differently. Perhaps the nuances are notable in the physiological aspect, but not in the personality traits of each person. Every single individual has a unique personality to him or herself. There are men that are very soft and cry easily and women that are incredibly tough and enroll in the military or do "manly" things like fighting (prime example is UFC fighter Ronda Rousey), therefore, I strongly believe that all the wrong assumptions made about each gender are extremely out of place and should be disregarded. You need to be happy and to achieve this you need to be free to be the person you want to be.
Going back to the essays, I am going to start with "The Great Lawsuit" by Margaret Fuller. Beautifully written and with a very strong argument, Fuller addresses various issues with sexism in her era. The language employed is appropriate to the seriousness of the topic, and quite old school, but this is obvious considering this was written over 170 years ago. It is inspiring to me that despite all the judgement she knew she was going to get, she published her works in which she strongly believed. That is one of the components that makes a literary piece good. If the author is passionate about the topic, the piece will certainly reflect that and be more engaging with the reader. The way the essay ended was remarkable, I loved how Fuller combined the topic of sexism and God together to prove her point.
To be frank, "If Men Could Menstruate" was not appealing to me in any way. I found myself very uncomfortable throughout the three pages that seemed an eternity to read through. At the beginning I thought all the sarcastic regards towards menstruation and men being proud of it were hilarious, but later on I thought it was too overdone, and although her argument was stated, she failed to back it up, in fact, I thought it was totally invalid. I agreed with her up until the fourth paragraph, then it went down hill. I highly doubt any females like menstruating, for all I have heard, it's awful, and I know for a fact that that feeling towards it would not change if roles changed between men and women. Steinem failed to mention all the symptoms and after effects of menstruating like cramps and mood swings. She portrayed the whole process as painless and barely noticeable, when in reality it is not, and even me, being a guy know that. I can personally say that if I started menstruating all of the sudden, I would not be happy about it.
I agree with your confusion as to why men and women are treated so differently when there are only a couple notable physical inconsistencies; however, centuries ago that great divide between the genders was forged because of the tasks given to each gender group. A man took on the tougher role because he was expected to hunt and lead, so women took on the role of child rearing and gathering rather than other activities that were deemed dangerous. Women were given the second hand unappreciated tasks making it hard to rise to a powerful social position. The world is stuck in a rut of social norms and gender roles;the only way to change that is to break the "norm".
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. You made excellent points and you addressed all the issues at hand. I also agree that there should not be such difference in the regard society has for men versus women. As Bailey explains above, naturally the men took on the roles that required more strength, and naturally the women took on the job that required more nurturing attitude. It would not have become a stereotype, however, if society had not made it one. Which is the sad part. It was the early beginnings of specialization, but it became the beginnings of sexism. I really enjoyed your point that everyone should, and deserves, to be happy with who they are. They shouldn't have to be concerned about what people are going to say about them. They should be free to do what they like, or what they are best at, even if it goes against said "norms".
ReplyDeleteI thought you made a very interesting point in your first paragraph about how some men can be soft and women can be tough. I agree with you that the gender assumptions or stereotypes should be disregarded. I also didn't read this article so it was interesting to read about it in your post.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the points and arguments you brought up in this post were extremely valid and thought- provoking. Your point about how men can me soft and cry and women can be tough brings up a very good point. Everyone one is unique in their own way, so why should men and women be restricted to their own gender stereotypes? Many of these stereotypes were created in the early days of society, but that certainly doesn't mean that they should prevail in our society today.
ReplyDeleteYour reasoning behind the two authors points in these essays really helped me to understand the males view on them. When I read them I thought the same about "The Great Lawsuit," how it was a beautiful piece showing how women, especially her, felt about women power in the past. I also loved how she published it without caring what people thought of it. The other essay I had a different opinion. I thought it was very thought provoking and I really connected to it. Yes, it was a little over done but the author did get her point across, even though it made you uncomfortable.
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