Analysis Of Sarah Vaughan Snyder's 'Raising A Feminist'

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

The most prevalent and popular stereotype of the post World war II era in America is one filled with women abandoning their wartimes jobs and retreating into the home to fulfill their womanly duties. In Joanne Meyerowitz’s Beyond the Feminine Mystique: A reassessment of Postwar Mass Culture, she shows how far women departed from this one dimensional image. While Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is reflexive and focused on the mainstream, Meyerowitz’s analysis is a broader and more inclusive exploration of media, as she draws upon multiple sources. Although Friedan effectively unveiled the thought process and reasoning behind society's belief that the message of media was to make women think that their place was to be the happy housewife, Meyerowitz expanded her media archives and found a differing message in analyzing both female responses to media and exploring their stories.

Women have been downgraded and mistreated because of their gender. From birth, Women and Men grew up with very different rules to follow. Men were raised to be the head of the house and do work for a living. Growing up as little girls, women were taught to raise their kids and make food for their families. “Strong family structures were necessary because the family was the basis for all other institutions. The government, church, and community all worked through the nuclear family unit.”(“Gender and

Another interesting statement I would like to bring to the surface is Alvarez writes in her book that “boys are born men but girls turn into women” (72). This made me think of the BBC YouTube clip we watched in class. Within this video a mother, father, and daughter are getting prepared for their daughters sweet fifteen. One of the first things I recognized in this film was that the father a male was speaking about and for the females when they were in the same room as them listening to what he had to say. This is a problem in itself as the male voices his and silences the women, in addition, he is speaking on a subject that he does not even fully understand, women. For arguments sake a women would never speak about a man and what it means to be one. This power dynamic within this family is troubling and shows the dominance of one gender over

The roles of masculinity and femininity dominate our society, and remind us that while we may place ourselves into certain boxes, life is not always black and white. When thinking of genders, we associate certain things underneath being male and female. When we think of women, we picture a loving, caring individual. One who is responsible for the household in addition to keeping her husband happy. When we think of men, we picture a strong individual who is fearless. One who is powerful and brave who is also capable of providing for his family. As a cause of centuries of conformity to these assigned gender roles, we have been taught to believe that a brave woman has no place in our society,

Margaret Wente’s July 2015 Globe and Mail article, “What Women Can Learn From Men” addresses a common phenomenon, the comparison: between men and women. With her article, she hopes to advise women on how they can improve themselves and their lives with simple changes. Furthermore, she wisely chooses to avoid a sexist approach by commending men on their behavioral traits despite her gender. Infact, using logical implications, she portrayed herself as an example rather than offend her audience. Additionally, through evidence, figures, facts and a link, she skillfully supports her theories thus making her article significantly factual and effective. Although Margaret starts by stereotypically generalising men, she depicts some of their great qualities that women can truly learn from. Using different approaches, she portrays women and their thoughts then skillfully explains how they can better themselves by “thinking” like men. Despite how she initially condemned men, she concludes by logically beseeching that man-shaming “has gone far enough” and should stop.

While sexism is no longer as overt a practice as in the past, it is arguably just as pervasive. bell hooks’ life as an academic has been spent trying to breakdown the existent sexist barriers, which have prohibited women from achieving equality with men.

Women are treated differently for many reasons such as stereotypes and perceptions. (Modaff, Butler, Dewine, 2012) In the boys and girls episode a women’s seminar is being held in the office. First, I will be talking about the behaviors presented in the seminar.

“I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?” (Sojourner Truth) Truer words were never spoken in 1851 and in 2016 as well. Gender should not affect the way others view women, but in a city like Chicago, where 87% of women between the ages of 16-64 have personally experienced sexual harassment by a male stranger, sexism is still clearly an issue today. Our research and classic readings in our HWOC class suggest that women are often perceived as being lesser and are treated differently than men in the arts, in sports, at the office, and on the streets. This cultural mindset needs to change if sexism is to remain only on the pages of classic literature and be erased from local communities and modern society.

To return for a moment to "Snow White," the fact that women are presented so often as the oppressors of other women (or girls) is an essential aspect of fairytales, for it is an essential aspect of any patriarchal culture. One of the great questions for contemporary feminist scholars has always been, if women do not want to live in a sexist world, then why do they not raise their sons differently? Given that women are in almost all cases the primary caretakers of both sons and daughters, surely a determined generation of mothers could raise up an entire generation of sons who would behave very differently than their fathers had done in terms of treating

The difference in attitude and treatment towards men and women from society is shown in “Young Goodman Brown”,in this case, I am going to analyze the anti-feminist side. There are multiple points in this short story that aid my point. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne may have written this based on his time when differences towards genders occurred. Women are portrayed as powerless but rather innocent victims while men are seen as the more powerful individuals, making all the decisions for them and their families. If people do not follow the roles their gender associate with, the conflicts between them and society may uprise with it.

All men and women are created equal and deserve fair treatment from the opposite sex. However, since the beginning of history, sexual equality has not been a virtue that was closely followed. Men tend to falsely assume that since they are physically more capable than women, they are inherently also more important. Obviously that is not the case and this sexism tends to create a powerful barrier between males and females. Thankfully, modern day culture has vastly diminished the discrimination of women while resorting to more politically correct viewpoints. Though in the early 1900s when “A Rose for Emily” was set, the Deep South still considered women as major inferiorities to men, which is made

Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender. Carol Gilligan argued that

Catharine MacKinnon, in her book Feminism Unmodified, takes a unique approach to the problem of gender inequality in America. She claims that pornography defines the way in which America’s patriarchal society perpetuates male dominance, and attacks traditional liberal methods that defend pornography on the basis of the first amendment’s right to free speech. According to MacKinnon, pornography is not an example of speech but rather an act. She proposes that this act discriminates against women as a class, and therefore violates their civil rights and should be outlawed. MacKinnon’s critics may think her argument is excessively radical, and contemporary society may not embrace the

Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.