Imitation and Transformation
On a regular weekday, I was in class listening to a group of women presenting on some topic I couldn’t recall. After their presentation, the instructor, also a woman, told the presenters to stop “uptalking” in the future because their speech pattern can make them sound high-pitched, unconfident, and unprofessional. The class, including myself, silently accepted the instructor’s advice; however, I thought the instructor was trying to tell presenters that they need to imitate the speech pattern of men if they want to be taken seriously. In short, there is this idea that the only way to gain achieve equality in society is to imitate those in positions of dominance, specifically white cisgender heterosexual bourgeoisie …show more content…
Many feminists believe that because women do not have the same values as men, women would use their power to create positive changes (hooks 85). As Bell hooks pointed out, “women, though assigned different roles to play in society based on sex, are not taught a different value system” (hooks 87). Women, just like men, equates power with dominance since same value system influences both men and women. When women take over position traditionally held by men, they often end up imitating men’s notion of …show more content…
Feminists that are part of the sexual liberation movement urged women to be more sexually active and positive (hooks 148). This, again, is problematic since “it was essentially an inversion of the male notion of sexual liberation,” and the sexual liberation fails to deconstruct the power dynamics between men and women (hooks 148-149). In other words, women want sexual liberation because historically men are glorified, not shamed, in the realm of sex. Women see sexual liberation as a mean to equate their status with men. Yet, women who advocate for sexual liberation is reinforcing and imitating the sex normative society which sees sex as a positive thing that everyone must participate in instead of a personal choice. Consequently, individuals who are abstinent and celibate are still excluded, stigmatized, and oppressed. Advocating for sexual liberation does not provide a solution to women sexual oppression, it merely reinforces the dominance of sex normativity. We must construct a new notion of sex that allows everyone to choose
On a regular weekday, I was in class listening to a group of women presenting on some topic I couldn’t recall. After their presentation, the instructor, also a woman, told the presenters to stop “uptalking” in the future because their speech pattern can make them sound high-pitched, unconfident, and unprofessional. The class, including myself, silently accepted the instructor’s advice; however, I thought the instructor was trying to tell presenters that they need to imitate the speech pattern of men if they want to be taken seriously. In short, there is this idea that the only way to gain achieve equality in society is to imitate those in positions of dominance, specifically white cisgender heterosexual bourgeoisie …show more content…
Many feminists believe that because women do not have the same values as men, women would use their power to create positive changes (hooks 85). As Bell hooks pointed out, “women, though assigned different roles to play in society based on sex, are not taught a different value system” (hooks 87). Women, just like men, equates power with dominance since same value system influences both men and women. When women take over position traditionally held by men, they often end up imitating men’s notion of …show more content…
Feminists that are part of the sexual liberation movement urged women to be more sexually active and positive (hooks 148). This, again, is problematic since “it was essentially an inversion of the male notion of sexual liberation,” and the sexual liberation fails to deconstruct the power dynamics between men and women (hooks 148-149). In other words, women want sexual liberation because historically men are glorified, not shamed, in the realm of sex. Women see sexual liberation as a mean to equate their status with men. Yet, women who advocate for sexual liberation is reinforcing and imitating the sex normative society which sees sex as a positive thing that everyone must participate in instead of a personal choice. Consequently, individuals who are abstinent and celibate are still excluded, stigmatized, and oppressed. Advocating for sexual liberation does not provide a solution to women sexual oppression, it merely reinforces the dominance of sex normativity. We must construct a new notion of sex that allows everyone to choose