Women's Bodies By Rose Weitz: An Analysis

Growing up, I never felt segregated based on my gender. I was always treated the same and given the same options as the boys were. It wasn’t until later in high school and college where I started noticing gender differences within society. The “glass ceiling” was clearly evident in the business world, but I’m not fully exposed to that, being that I’m still in school. The history of gender inequality, on the other hand, was something I was completely unfamiliar with. The class discussion on October 15th, 2015 about the history of women’s bodies was one of the most intense, eye-opening, and heart-breaking discussions I have ever been apart of. Many feelings whirled around inside of me; I felt disturbed and angered, yet determined and challenged. I was reading “A History of Women’s Bodies” by Rose Weitz, essay 28 in The Matrix Reader, while my boyfriend was watching television. My very audible comments, such as “Holy cow!” and “Unbelievable!” made him pause the show and ask what I was reading. I explained several sections, and he was speechless. He asked how I was feeling, and I said disturbed. He contributed saying I even looked angry. I agreed; learning about the history of treatment for both the white and colored women was absolutely …show more content…
(pp.281) This classified their bodies as “dirty,” and “because Indian bodies are “dirty,” they are considered violable and “rapable.” (pp. 282) I believe a concept such as this should not be considered valid or even exist. I find the claim behind this statement to be ludicrous and invalid; only a body that is “pure” can be violated, and raping a “dirty” body doesn’t count. This is possibly Christopher Columbus’s reasoning for his actions and the actions of his men. There is a small part of me that is ashamed of what Americans have done, and also hid, to create the history of our “great”