Political commentator, author, and professor, Melissa Harris-Perry combines her academic perspective with seemingly universal life lessons of black womanhood, to present Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Woman in America. Sister Citizen follows in the footsteps of her first work, Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, to discuss the political socialization of African Americans. This time with a concentration on the interplay of the lives of African American women and their sense of citizenship. Harris-Perry’s grounding in African American politics and unique perspective as a woman of color, allow her the creative license to lean on the literary expertise of other authors that identify as women…
Staples’ essay effectively connects problems between ethnic and racial groups to societal issues through his personal experiences, while Ehrenreich's essay makes the connection to modern gender issues irrelevant by mocking the male sex. Staples’ scenes of racism and stereotyping eerily resembles the issue of police brutality, for unarmed young black males are often seen as threats by white police officers as well as white females. Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black man, was killed after being put in an illegal chokehold by a New York police officer while being arrested for suspicion of selling loose cigarettes. Eric Garner was a describes as a gentle and loving father of six children and three grandchildren, yet his killer, Officer Daniel…
Did you know that the first computer was invented by a group of six female mathematicians? Unfortunately, this unfamiliar fact demonstrates that women’s success stories often aren’t told. However, this is only one of the many issues that are addressed in the sarcastic and hilarious essay, Stephen Colbert Shares Why He Thinks Women Should Be in Charge of Everything, in which Stephen Colbert reveals his dislike for the sexist society of today’s world. Colbert, a male comedian who uses humor to attack controversial issues, takes a powerful and convincing stand on the touchy subject of feminism and women’s role in society. While this is a current issue for many feminists today, Colbert’s immediate response is triggered when he notices that mostly…
Throughout America’s history, women have been fervently oppressed and labeled as inferior to men. The initial view of women were sources of lust and sin. Their attempts to speak their minds and act as independent figures almost always seem to be repudiated. Although the ideals of American womanhood during this time period moved positively up the scale, women were still identified as subordinate and did not receive the credit and rights they contested for.…
During the civil war and reconstruction eras, America’s main concern was giving rights to people of color. In the chaos the country forgot that women need rights too. In today’s society, women and people of color have the same rights as white men, but unfortunately there is still an issue of equality and justice. In theory we are all the same, but in practice, white men still have all the power. This is why literature concerning these issues is as relevant today as it was in the mid-1800s.…
Catherine Rampell, a respected journalist for The Washington Post, wrote an article titled, “Be Pretty, But Not Too Pretty: Why Women Can’t Just Win.” This article talks about how women in the work place are ridiculed for how they look and how they act in corporate and political America. Women are struck with different stereotypes in the work place on a daily basis.…
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina have been strong competitors in the 2016 president campaign. Despite their wide media coverage and strong base of supporters, there are many Americans who doubt either candidate will succeed to win the election. This perspective of the female political underdog derives from the archaic ideals of sexism. It’s because of this sexisms that female presidential candidates must be ultra strategical with their rhetoric and communication. Despite the strong sexism in politics, female presidential candidates should use their femininity as an asset to their campaign strategy.…
Female Oppression Women, labeled as domestic servants to work solely in the home, possessed very little power up until the late 1950’s. Society placed restrictions on them simply due to their gender by limiting their self-expression and opportunities in careers and pastimes. In her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Gilman demonstrates this sexist confinement of women through the life of an aspiring woman writer driven to insanity from societal restrictions. The narrator views her marriage as a typical relationship of “mere ordinary people” (478), in which her husband John “laughs at [her]” (478) and “scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (478).…
Many have heard the century old saying, “behind every great man is a great woman” at least a thousand times in their lifetime. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the phrase is used commonly to showcase the contribution women have made alongside men. However, women have been able to show otherwise their accomplishments and do so without having to hide behind the shadow of a man. Through endless criticisms from men on how to live their lives, women have persevered through it all. Today more women graduate from high school and college, earn more degrees than men, and are even owning more businesses on their own.…
Starting with “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female”, author Frances M. Beal, says that, “the black woman in America can justly be described as a ‘slave of a slave’” (Beal, 385). When we think about it, black women endure a lot of suffering throughout history. Not only does the color of their skin put them in the position to receive discrimination, but also on top of that they are female, which reduces their rights to even less. Beal points out that when it comes to the white women’s movement, a majority of the women fighting for their rights come from the middle class.…
The 2016 Presidential Election is upon us, making it up to the citizens of the United States of America to decide the future President. Hillary Clinton is running for the Democrats while Donald Trump is for Republicans. While there are multiple campaign dynamics that are affecting the outcome of this Presidential Election, an important one is gender. Gender is important in this Presidential Election because one of the two front running nominees is female, something which has not been accomplished in previous elections. Within the current United States Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton’s use of identity politics, specifically the tactic of positively highlighting her gender, helps further political representation and participation due to…
As a middle class, heterosexual, white female there are certain privileges that I have grown accustomed to. My life has been lived from the point of remote feminism, I have sprinkled my services as the privileged protector across the realm of the marginalized only when it has been convenient to do so. However, the time in which remote feminism is acceptable has now come to an end. Donald Trump has been elected to the presidency. The reality of this election cycle and its myriad of radiating implications have shown that there is change brewing in America.…
In the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller and the novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are many common themes expressed. The authors used the internal and external conflicts of the characters to develop the overall message of the story. The actions of the character along with the beliefs of their communities led to similar conflicts and themes to be interpreted. Throughout the “The Crucible” and “The Scarlet Letter” the authors expand on the topics of sin and reputation, sexism against women in the early Puritan Era, Puritanism, and good versus evil to create common themes in each story.…
Stephen Covey once said, “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” In this quotation, Covey explains that once you determine your beliefs and what you stand for, use your voice to inspire others to do the same. The same concept applies in the two works “Ain’t I A Woman” by Sojourner Truth and “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou. The main focus of these pieces is about women taking action and using the power of their voice to change the living for women and the levels of society. Analyzing these two works reveals a message that a woman’s voice is strong enough to raise the moral standards of how society views women.…
Capitalism has managed, using modern advertising and marketing tactics, to maintain a strict hold on sexuality and gender in order to facilitate the exchanging of commodities; though social progress has allowed for the inclusion of more diversified gender and sexuality spectrums into the mainstream, these spectrums are still defined by Capitalist enterprise, and our social, sexual and gender based ideologies are given definition by the advertising Capitalism uses to provide commodities with use-value. By examining several forms of modern advertising across various mediums such as television and print media, it can be better understood how Capitalism not only manages to encode gender conformity into our society despite social progress, but also…