Many women seek equality, yet they find difficulty in achieving it due to the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes. The idea that “a girl should be a damsel in distress” or that a girl must “look pretty for men” still lingers around in today’s society. From a young age, little girls are indoctrinated into playing with dolls, makeup, baking cupcakes, and wearing flowery dresses. Girls are expected to sit still and listen; subservience is emphasized for girls, while disobedience is expected by boys. And for the girls that don’t follow the stereotypes, well, they are either chastised and forced to —at least in some fashion— follow these stereotypes, or live in constant rebellion against the norms of the status quo. And even as these little girls,
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As humans, our initial reaction is to conform and adapt because this is our fundamental instinct. However, the author uses Winnie to demonstrate her empowering figure, learning that she must change her ideas about women. At first, her ideas of women were the same as society—weak, frail, household figures; she eventually reforms her own ideas about women, thus making her stronger and healthier. This is Tan’s message to readers: a woman must first change her ideas about women before transforming society’s stereotypes about women. Societal change comes from …show more content…
The repulsive images should make viewers feel a sense of disgust. In addition, it depicts an example of women’s struggle during the time. Footbinding was prominent up until the 1900s because women used it to achieve society’s ideal female —frail and tiny. However, there is a painful consequence conveyed by the deformed bones in the feet: the physical element. To achieve this womanly figure society created, females chose to bind their feet despite it crushing bones and blistering skin. As a result, women that experienced this hellish ordeal will never walk the same. Maybe they did become a womanly figure, but they definitely struggled physically to achieve this. In order to achieve the past ideal figure, many of these women conformed to society for acceptance, much like today. Ironically, it creates an ultimate consequence, bringing no alteration to society. That’s why Tan stresses to female readers about why they should change their own ideas of women, inspiring them to proceed to prevent these painful experiences. Tan’s lesson is still applicable today as girls and women crave to shape their body into what is ideal. Maybe they starve themselves to acquire a skinnier body; maybe they undertake plastic surgery to reform their natural visage. As they struggle to achieve society’s idea, they become increasingly blind to the fact that they can already be beautiful. They need to understand what Tan’s
As humans, our initial reaction is to conform and adapt because this is our fundamental instinct. However, the author uses Winnie to demonstrate her empowering figure, learning that she must change her ideas about women. At first, her ideas of women were the same as society—weak, frail, household figures; she eventually reforms her own ideas about women, thus making her stronger and healthier. This is Tan’s message to readers: a woman must first change her ideas about women before transforming society’s stereotypes about women. Societal change comes from …show more content…
The repulsive images should make viewers feel a sense of disgust. In addition, it depicts an example of women’s struggle during the time. Footbinding was prominent up until the 1900s because women used it to achieve society’s ideal female —frail and tiny. However, there is a painful consequence conveyed by the deformed bones in the feet: the physical element. To achieve this womanly figure society created, females chose to bind their feet despite it crushing bones and blistering skin. As a result, women that experienced this hellish ordeal will never walk the same. Maybe they did become a womanly figure, but they definitely struggled physically to achieve this. In order to achieve the past ideal figure, many of these women conformed to society for acceptance, much like today. Ironically, it creates an ultimate consequence, bringing no alteration to society. That’s why Tan stresses to female readers about why they should change their own ideas of women, inspiring them to proceed to prevent these painful experiences. Tan’s lesson is still applicable today as girls and women crave to shape their body into what is ideal. Maybe they starve themselves to acquire a skinnier body; maybe they undertake plastic surgery to reform their natural visage. As they struggle to achieve society’s idea, they become increasingly blind to the fact that they can already be beautiful. They need to understand what Tan’s