Intertextuality in As With Most Men by Mark Gonzales and It’s a Men’s Issue by Jackson Kitz

In analyzing portrayals of women, it is appropriate to begin with the character of Margarita. For, within the text, she embodies the traditionally masculine traits of bravery, resilience, and violence as a means of liberating herself from an existence of abuse and victimhood. Even more, the woman plays upon stereotypes of femininity in order to mask her true nature. The reader witnesses this clever deception in a scene where the character endures a “wholesome thrashing” from her huge, violent, and grizzly bear-like husband, Guerra (81). Although Margarita “[submits] to the infliction with great apparent humility,” her husband is found “stone-dead” the next morning (81). Here, diction such as “submits” and “humility” relate to the traits of weakness, subservience and inferiority that are so commonly expected of women, especially in their relationships with men. Yet, when one

Masculinity in "Men Should Weep" by Ena Lamont Stewart and "Perfect Days" by Liz Lochead

For many years women have been forced with unequal and oppressive “community” by men. This article highlights the reason as to why women were oppressed and why “gender Blindness” exists and how it only occurs due to manipulation of women’s daily lives (Hayden, P). In this text she references government documents such as the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. She highlights the fact that Gender Blindness has been occurring way before 1979 and still persists.

According to Victor, since the 1960s the challenges of feminism made men feel uneasy and confused about their power and identity. Women insisted that men had also to be more emotionally involved in relationship and take greater responsibility for domestic work and childcare. There have been many compromises in renegotiating more equal gender contracts. However men had great difficulties in accepting the loss of power and status that has gone

Based on Cisneros’ works of literature, gender roles in a Hispanic culture revolves around patriarchal rule. The repercussions of a patriarchal rule includes the limitations of female liberation and development. Cleofilas’ abusive situation exemplifies the limitations of her independence and development as she can not make her own decisions and has to solely depend on her husband. This situation is illustrated when Cleofilas explains that the towns are “built so that you have to depend on husbands... You can drive only if you’re rich enough to own and drive an own car. There is no place to go” (Cisneros 628). Cleofilas reveals that men are the dominant gender and have more authority, and that women are compelled to depend on them in her society. It is an exceptionally rare case that a woman can afford her own car, for the men usually control the finances in a household. Additionally, Cleofilas has nowhere to seek refuge from her husband. Although she yearns to return to her father’s home, she decides not to due to the social standards imposed on her. In her society, the act of returning home after marriage is socially unacceptable. She understands that her family will be viewed in a negative light if she were to return home, as seen when Cleofilas refers to her town as a “town of gossips” (627). Similar to other men in the society, Juan Pedro’s authority is shown through his abuse. Cleofilas recalls, “He slapped her once, and then again, and again; until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood” (626).

In “Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Transvestite in the New World” by Catalina de Erauso, a female-born transvestite conquers the Spanish World on her journey to disguise herself as a man and inflicts violence both on and off the battlefield. Catalina discovers her hidden role in society as she compares herself to her brothers advantage in life, as they are granted money and freedom in living their own lives. Erauso decides to take action of this act of inequality by forming a rebellion, as she pledges to threaten the social order.The gender roles allotted to both men and women in the Spanish world represent the significance of societal expectations in order to identify the importance of gender in determining one’s position in the social order in the Spanish World.

Machismo, or male chauvinism, is a concept that characterizes many Latin American male behaviors, most importantly those associated with masculinity and pride. This concept, most likely introduced to New Spain by Spanish conquistadors who embodied these traits, was then adopted and integrated as a part of Mexican culture going forward. Because of male masculinity prevailing over feminine traits during the 17th century, misogyny and the oppression of women became a norm in Mexican culture. Struggling to be valued in Mexico, women turned to literature and art to voice their opinions and expose the machismo in Mexican culture. Through literature and art, is where feminism in Mexico arose and is continually strengthen in. This paper will discuss the ways in which Mexican feminist literature and art over time have exposed and challenged machismo, misogyny, and the Mexican patriarchy since the Spanish Conquest.

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the reader gets a sense of what the expectations are of Dominican men and women. Junot Díaz uses Oscar in contrast to the other male characters to present the expectations of the Dominican male. On the other hand, Díaz presents the women in the text, especially Belicia, La Inca, Lola, and Jenni, as strong characters in their own rights, but the male characters, with the exception of Oscar, have a desire to display their masculinity to maintain power over these women. It would be unfair to say that the women bring the abuse unto themselves, but rather it is their culture that makes the abuse acceptable and almost to a certain extent—expected.

Women have expectations. Society wants women to act appropriately. Women stereotypically do not speak their minds. Poet, Ana Castillo, uses her poem “Women Don’t Riot” to showcase her frustration towards women who continue to stay silent about harm brought onto them. For example, “raped, / beaten, / harassed, / … / won’t ever rise up in arms” (Castillo 26-32), displaying her frustration towards women who continuously listen to a society that says to stay quiet. Castillo develops anger towards the women who bow down to ridiculous expectations. She believes that if women stand united and fight together, society’s ignorance might fade, leading to a lower risk of sex crime. The world wants women to keep being afraid of

And some women feel free to blame individual men for patriarchy simply because [they’re] men.”-Patriarchy the System by Allan Johnson. This is how Nachos parents would have reacted if somebody told them they were afraid of their son being feminine. They would have accepted the fact of a steady job painting houses, however; his passion was with painting murals. “He informed his parents via a letter that he proposed to paint which was well and good, until his family found out that he intended to paint murals, not houses” (Viramontes, p 71.). This is how a lot of men act before it is put into words. When the topic of oppression of women is discussed they get angry that it was directed towards them, a male. To further the feeling of guilt is the phrase “boys will be boys” which is essentially what is said in the second sentence of the aforementioned quote. Men will fight their whole lives stating that not all men partake in such behaviors. Of course not all men act in such a way, but those that do need to live up to their actions and make an effort to change the way that they behave. This book shows men how to become better people by making them walk a mile in a female’s shoes. Men will never be able to fully understand what kind of harassment that women go through, but this novel has given them a taste of that type of

In the piece of literature named “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros, one of the major types of literary conflicts is person vs. society regarding the main protagonist and society’s expectations of her. To elaborate, the protagonist Cleofilas Hernandez, does not have a strong female role model in her life and is living in a patriarchal society that leaves her and other woman like her unaware of their potential. An example of this unawareness caused by society is when Cleofilas is saved from her abusive relationship by a strong, independent woman named Felice who gave Cleofilas a glimpse of the life that she may achieve one day. A quotation by the narrator states, “Everything about this woman, this Felice, amazed Cleofilas. The fact that she drove a pickup. A pick up, mind you, but when Cleofilas asked if it was her husbands, she said she didn't have a husband” (220 Cisneros). An analysis this quote clearly illustrates to the reader that Cleofilas obviously did not have any knowledge of a woman being able to have her own car, inevitably leading the reader into wondering what else society does not want her to know. Furthermore, this quotation suggests that this society does not have independent women due to Cleofilas surprising reaction to just the simple thought of a woman having a car. This proves that the literary conflict of person vs society is evidently present in this short story because Cleofilas is unmistakably placed in a society who did not support or have empowering women figures like Felice. Ultimately, with Cleofilas not knowing her self worth or having a female role model in her life, it leads to her forgiving her husband for his abusive nature. With this visible fact, a major theme within the boundaries of societal expectation and discrimination of women in “Woman Hollering Creek” is domestic abuse. In the short story, Cleofilas is involved in an abusive marriage in which her husband emotionally and physically attacks her daily because she has no means to protect

The conflict of this poem is male authority and control versus the right of a

The plague of male dominancy and female oppression has spread throughout time and cultures like a pandemic infection, targeting women. Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Janice Mirikitani’s “Suicide Note,” show the struggle and pain that oppressive forces perpetrated on women. Although, both speakers are oppressed the way they end the oppression and the cause of it are very different. Patriarchy has always existed, and it affects women all over the world. For example, banned bride abductions in Central Asia have continued to occur, and the women who resist abduction, risk death, or becoming ostracized from their country (Werner 2).

This article is about a documentary. The components are based on the premise that violence against women is a direct consequence of patriarchal institutions that empower and privilege men over women. This was made to make visible the intimate violence and abuse that had been

Moreover, Butler’s literature review is based on philosophers and social theorists such as, Foucault and Nietzsche. The author attempts to analyze some of the attributes and variables in the society such as sex variable and the gender identity characteristics. She depicts gender in queer theories in media in a critical manner that makes her work a valuable contribution to the field of gender studies. The book would assist my paper, by providing insights into the idea of gender being negotiated through discourse and performance of gender in everyday interaction, and how identity is a performativity and it is constituted by expression. Butler’s views on gender challenges the cultural norms and gender categories. Therefore, she brought a creative chaos to the people about their sexual instincts and the establishment of the marriage agency. The book lacks empirical studies, quantitative researches. However, as my research relays on the literature review and secondary materials, this book would provide my paper with a deep insight into the queer theories.