Summary Of Hard To Get: Twenty-Something Woman And The Paradox Of Sexual Freedom

The Sex Goddess. Here we are given the Latina perspective, but more specifically the female perspective on sex as she grows and transitions from childhood to adulthood. Cisneros states “So much guilt, so much silence, and such a yearning to be loved: no wonder young women find themselves having sex while they are still children, having sex without sexual protection, too ashamed to confined their feelings and fear to anyone” (Cisneros44-45). Her culture as well as her upbringing has kept her and fellow Latinas in an ignorant state of mind.

This narrative speaks volumes about the author’s culture, which describes her religion, as well as the lifestyle of typical Hispanic families. In Latino or Chicano culture, we find that gender as well as religion plays a huge role in the lives of many individuals, causing them to shape a stereotypical kind of culture. Catholicism is one of the major forms of religion in Hispanic and Latin countries due to the influence from the Europeans. This made many of the Latin American Countries adopt this religious practice regardless of their belief. To this day, many practice Catholicism as a way to appeal to cultural norms. We see the importance of religion to the girl’s family, especially her father. Throughout the story we see the girl’s search for her own religious relationship through her abuela instead of the one forced upon her by her parents. The other influence that culture has is on gender roles within the family dynamic. Throughout the story we see the girl made fun of for her hands and for being different. This is because in latin culture girls are supposed to be dainty and gentle. They were not meant to be violent or rash, like the young teenage girl was. The gender roles constructed by culture were what her father tried to assign her into, and her mother enforcing them,

Throughout every society’s history, there has been a prevalent inequality between the females and males of that population. Women have been considered slaves or property belonging to men; thus they have been viewed as second-class citizens and intellectual inferior. Most prominent is the idea that a women’s purpose in life was to remain in the domestic sphere. This meant their interactions and occupations within the public sphere was severely limited. This preconceived bias towards women’s only job to be a wife remained constant through centuries although the degrees of pressure on women varied. As decades progressed into the late 1800s to present time, a women’s occupational world had a chance grow outside their domestic sphere. Although

Identity plays a huge role in female sexuality because it allows females to figure out what type of woman they are. Identity is a person’s expression or conception of their own self. It is very important for woman to find their identity, to find their drive for their female sexuality. Throughout her whole essay “Selections from Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom,” twenty something woman are defied with the battles of being a lady in this day and age acknowledging they are being pushed to act in a manner suitable enough for men and the standards of society. The author utilizes the idea of sex and love to express the way these ladies feel utilizing the word "splitting" to categorize the instability and concern

Linda Hirshman’s book, Get to Work… And Get a Life Before It’s Too Late, opens up to debate the role that women should have in society. She theorizes her ideas based on the experiences of women in American society and what she believes they should be established with. She puts in a plan on how women should approach higher education and marriage in which they can keep their success. Hirshman wants to emphasize that in American society women have been facing gender stereotypes in their homes and in public.

Women were expected to marry at very early ages, usually between 17 and 20 and they were still to slave at home for their husbands and children. Women previously had fought for higher education, but suddenly they were going to college to meet a husband, or they were not going to college at all, as they feared higher education would make marriage more difficult (Friedan, 1963). Women were gladly conforming to these expectations as they all aimed to have four or five kids, live in a suburban neighborhood where they could kiss their husband goodbye as they left for work and they could cook and clean while their children were at school. Many women even turned down job opportunities and claimed it was because all they ever wanted was to be a housewife (Friedan, 1963). However, women slowly began to realize their conformity was not what they wanted for themselves at all. In the 1960’s, many housewives reported that they had felt there was no point in their day to day routines, they had felt depressed in their own homes without a clue why, and getting so angry with their children it scared them. These women were afraid to admit that they wanted more for themselves besides their husband and children (Friedan, 1963). However, women were able to fight this expectation through the sexual liberation movement. The women were empowered by this movement because it gave them more freedom to do what they wanted to

As longs as humans have existed, women have been oppressed. Men were generally seen as the breadwinner, the man in the relationship, the man of the house. This theory, or belief further lead to what was known as the retro-era. The retro-era, around the 1950’s, was the epitome of gender-based stereotypes, where women were only valuable to household skills such as cooking, cleaning and housework. In more modern times, women gradually received more rights to pursue careers men would stereotypically take over. Pursuing “manly” careers, which include lawyers, actors, politicians and anything that requires exceeding cognitive function, as a woman elicits criticism. It’s clear to see women have much more limitations, restrictions and expectations than

For the past couple of centuries, from since the moment that educated and informed women stood up for their human rights in the 1840’s to the modern day where women are more liberated than ever before, female persons generally have gained more and more independence from the United States of America’s male-dominated society and the pressures of being seen as a minority, despite being over roughly half of the entire population. Women have more choices in how to live now in the twenty-first century than they have had ever before because women particularly have more civil rights and more of an opportunity to choose what to do on their own terms without needing permission from anyone in any capacity. Women of any age may be intellectuals, businesspersons,

As a woman, Angela Vicario is the epitome of a traditional Colombian woman. A traditional Colombian woman is expected to be virgins when they get married; but Vicario defys this social custom causing Vicario to get “softly pushed his wife into [her house] without speaking,” (46). These details emphasize the idea that women are given different standards than men. The details help highlight Marquez’s criticism of how the traditional Colombian woman is treated as and thought of as. From a very young age Vicario and her sisters were taught “how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements,” (31). These skills were taught to better prepare the girls for marriage; displaying the difference in gender roles. Marquez uses parallel structure to emphasize the amount of skills one has to learn before they can be considered as good and pure. Many years after Bayardo San Román returns Vicario she still does “machine embroidery with her friends just as before she had made cloth tulips and paper birds, but when her mother went to bed she would stay in her room until dawn writing letters with no future,” (93). The diction of the words “no future” and “still” suggest that Vicario’s life is stuck in

In previous decades, women have lived under the specific expectations: women would have children; they would raise the kids, complete the daily task, take care of the household and achieve daily tasks of housekeeping. A women’s life was, in fact limited to only do these functions. Sadly, today some members of the society still recognize women as individuals operating under these same limited expectations. Women continue to be exaggerated by these stereotypes concerning motherhood, careers, and self image every day.

Not only are woman subjected to society norms based on their personality characteristics, but also on their life choices and “domestic responsibilities” questions arise for woman like “who will care for you children and husband”. Montague Kern and Paige P. Edley state that women will continue to be “criticized for abandoning their traditional family roles” (1). This topic is not something that is brought up to their male counterparts. I don’t believe I have ever heard a man be questioned on who was going to assume the responsibility of raising their children. So until society genuinely accepts that raising children and other domestic issues are shared endeavors, then women will continue to face this barrier. (Robson, 208)

Boccaccio’s stories often depict women as being very devoted, and able to endure hardships in ways that men often would not, and in ways that men do not believe them to be capable. When Tancredi discovers that his daughter is having a sexual relationship outside of marriage,

This drives clever and enthusiastic people straight into the work force instead of education. Ruth Conniff argues that women are losing their jobs not because of wrong doing, but because of the desire of a family. This isn't only sad, but also inhuman, I agree that the women are losing ground at work. In my opinion, women serve to work in quality, without having to worry about getting fired if they’re pregnant or if their child gets sick. It makes me furious to know that some women have to worry about telling their boss that they’re pregnant. I hope that society will become a better place in the future. I will defiantly do my best to ensure that everyone gets treated equally regardless of race, social class and gender. I will do my best to ensure that people will not be segregated when it comes to selecting classes and counseling students to further their career. Hopefully my dream of becoming a doctor of medicine will become true, so i can try to better the limitations for students with needy families by providing scholarships. If I can’t afford it, I will do my best to help needy students with whatever I can help

In the 21st century, many people believe that we have overcome the obstacle of gender inequality and evolved into a society of fairness and righteousness. As many know, females can be just as proficient and qualified as males at any task. Though some efforts to off-set this gender imbalance is in place, it is still commonly acknowledged that many careers are stated to be a male job such as lawyers, and female jobs such as secretaries. Gender inequality is a visible fact in our society and in this essay, I hypothesize that gender inequality still exists as a result of factors such as post-secondary education differences of the two genders, role of females in families, female objectification, career choice differences of the two genders, and

Modern women are bringing down the standards and stereotypes that are put upon them by society; but their success in breaking the stereotype and living freely in their human state is not something that can be handed to them that easily. Women are born into a world which subordinate them to men, making it as though their ultimate goal and destination should be marriage, which makes it important to study their journey deliberately.