Egalia's Daughters Analysis

Upon reading Egalia’s Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, it became more evident to me just how much more women are sexually oppressed in present day society. Brantenberg created this hypothetical town of Egalia where wom (women) and menwom (men) switched the roles we currently see as gender norms today. Overall, I thought she did a great job putting things into perspective in terms of views on sexual oppression. Although this satire portrayed a switch in gender roles, it felt as if the roles of menwom were not an accurate depiction of the sexual oppression women face. Not in any way am I disrespecting the idea behind Brantenberg’s satire, but to some extent it seemed that menwom were more celebrated in society, than women are overall today. As …show more content…
As women today are oppressed in the workforce, in Egalia Petronius’s mother, Ruth is a woman of status. Although, in America is may not seem too bad for women compared to the menwom of Egalia, that is not the case in many other countries around the world. Women have to struggle to have an education, let alone find a job. Women in America, however, are paid less than men and sacrifice a lot in the workforce. Conversely, men are usually higher up as well as paid more and have less to worry about, in general. One of my favorite TV shows is called Suits, and in the show the senior partner of a law first is an African America lady. Although the TV show is fictional, the fact that it is being watched by millions of people across the country inspires women of many backgrounds to reach high. In the book, Ruth was a woman status; unfortunately, she was too wrapped up in her status. At one point Petronius was gang raped by three women, but Ruth did not want anyone knowing. When her son got raped she was more concerned with how it would affect her stature more than how it has affected Petronius. Despite this sort of attitude, it is very common for men of status to be so involved in their work that family life becomes a chore. The portrayal was, pretty accurate, but at the same time also very extreme. I think now a days people want to address the rape culture and …show more content…
The menwom were characters of the book that are there when the wom came home drunk and wanted sex. They were the ones that took care of the baby after the wom gave labor. The occurrence was slightly odd to me because a mother and child have a relationship that is so different from all others, mainly because the mother carries the child for nine months. Despite the importance we give to the mother child relationship today, in the book the menwom were the caretakers of the baby after birth. It almost ruined the sacredness of the mother child relationship in a way that it was nonexistent. The fact the women still gave birth in the book was kind of interesting because all else changed about the gender roles, yet giving birth was something that was still the women’s