In “Why Do We Make So Much of Gender,” Allan G. Johnson argues against patriarchal beliefs as well as gender profiling. He begins by proving that religion and history play a key role in how cultural expectations develop. Johnson follows by giving examples that support the fact that gender profiling still exists to this day and proves that the mistreatment of women is more than a biological issue, but social as well. Johnson, with samples from other authors, proves the irony between how men and women are supposed to be portrayed. Throughout the article, Johnson makes some strong points on the issue, but also includes weak ones as well.…
Ella Cara Deloria’s novel Waterlily tells a story of a fictitious Dakota girl named Waterlily, and the lives and customs of women in Dakota community. Deloria describes a detailed premises of the camp in which the Dakota life was based and the kinship defining the role of the women through the life experience of two generation women, Waterlily and her mother. The story follows the journey of Waterlily from birth (6) to her grandmother’s death (141) through her adulthood, to her marriage (160) and remarriage (220), during the time of happiness and sadness, until she finally found the true love. The main character of this novel is Waterlily.…
Rape is a powerful word that can cause a lot of pain to a victim. The thought of being categorized as a “victim”, is not what one may hope for. Yet, there is always a possibility that the victim may not report this horrific crime. In the book Missoula, we hear the stories of brave young women who came forward to tell their stories. Yet,what makes these cases so appalling is how they were handled.…
We have all the time in the world meaning we can achieve anything we wish. With twenty-four hours in a day, any woman or man could accomplish amazing feats. But whether we look to our past or present there is always something that we do to limit the genders. We have denied other genders and yet we have described ourselves, Australians, as accepting and kind? We have laws to prevent discrimination, and days to celebrate the forgotten, but this is not enough.…
In West Side Story there was discrimination and differences between cultures. Differences that were shown in West Side Story were between genders. At the dance, the American boys treated the girls with disrespect whereas the Latin boys treated their girls with manners. This was proven when they were dancing. When the Latin boys wanted to dance with their girls, they motioned the girls with a polite hand.…
Through the eyes of society, to be a mother is to be perfection. Perfection in your children’s eyes, your husband’s eyes, your family, friends. To be seen as the perfect mother is the envy of mothers in today’s age. Women have certain expectations in Society. They are to be the mother, the caregiver, the maid.…
An easy way to see the underrepresentation of female directors is within the number of female directors. As Smith’s study made clear, there are many more male directors than female. Another interesting thing that came out of that study is that most female directors tend to direct only one or two films, yet men seem to direct way more. Eliana Dockterman of TIME makes a point that more if Hollywood hired more female directors, this could lead to more females in other behind the scenes roles.…
As gender appears more and more in the news headlines, and the idea of social oppression of those who question gender become more of a hot topic, it is no doubt that people will turn to other areas for support. One of these areas that some people have turned to have been well respected authors and idols. While Hemingway may not be the author who comes to mind when thinking of who might one turn to, his novel The Sun Also Rises has what, some claim to be, underlying arguments about gender being a social construction, and even challenging this idea with his characters. The themes of gender fluency and androgyny are prominent throughout the novel.…
Sheryl Sandberg talks about how a woman should be heard and respected more in the workplace. Gender roles often put woman as the one who has to stay home and take care of the children. Sandberg gives advice for woman to make themselves more known. In my opinion, I view her as an informational leader, someone is knowledge about their skill and uses it to provide for others. She exemplifies this when she presents her three keys to remain in the workforce from her talk titled, Why we have too few woman leaders “One, sit at the table.…
Hannah Webster Foster elaborates on gender expectations in her novel, “The Coquette”. The main characters Eliza Wharton and Major Sanford are examples of how society is very strict on gender norms. For example, from birth society is quick to picture an infant male with the color blue and a female infant with the color pink. This shows how men and women are socialized from birth. The novel also explains how men and women have double standards.…
Gender inequality is an issue that has been happening for thousands of years, affecting cultures from all around the world. Women have endured since ancient times the title as the inferior being, the “other” gender besides the man, the weaker and less valuable specimen. This gender inequality created a huge difference between men and women, placing women’s rights under men’s jurisdiction, which dictated what women were and were not allowed to do. This issue was analyzed by the French and feminist supporter and writer Simone de Beauvoir in her text, “Woman as Other.” In her essay de Beauvoir explains the entire concept of women being considered the “other” gender apart from the men.…
Movies are beautiful pieces of moving art that bring people together, regardless of gender, age, or skin color. The vast majority of these masterpieces just happen to be made by straight, white, rich, males over the age of forty. Hollywood’s diversity problem is allowing for an unbalanced ratio of women in the industry, as well as inaccurate minority representation, and the use of white actors for a racially ambiguous role. The gender discrepancy in the film industry, to no one person's surprise, massively favors males over females.…
In Nella Larsen’s novel, “Passing” she tells the story of a two mixed race friends, Irene and Clare, one of which accepts her heritage while the other hides it by passing as a white woman. Throughout their conversation, they discuss their lives, but most importantly Clare’s descent to passing as a white woman in society. Their differences in lifestyle choices are clearly displayed, the lives they lead completely different than the other and by showing this comparison Larsen’s tries to show to cultural appropriation of women in the 1920’s. There are many factors as to why someone would make the choice to claim a better livelihood, and in this novel Larsen explores the differences that both women experience in their communities and the lives…
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” While this definition should be the goal for humankind, feminism also encompasses many other problems with society that cannot be explained through one simple definition. One of these problems happens to be the stereotypes associated with women. For example, in the American 1950’s, an almost normal way of treating women was simply by brushing them off in intellectual conversation, believing women were only valued for their maternal instinct. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden reaffirms similar stereotypes to this, including weakness, stupidity, and the objectification of a woman’s body for sexual…
In Alice Munro’s short story, “Boys and Girls”, gender roles are observed through the symbolic reoccurrence of being either inside or outside of the fences that barricade the farm. Munro creates this gender divide by specifying being trapped inside the barricade of the fences as female, and being outside the confines of the fences as male. For the girl in the story the fences symbolize the captivity she feels from antiquated gender roles forced upon her, and can also be seen through the roles played by her father and mother, Flora, and through the foxes. The fences surrounding the farm also elaborate the feelings of confinement that gender roles bring upon the girl. Juxtaposing the girl’s restrictions is the male’s ability to leave the farm-…