The Luxurious Aunt Flow Cult And The Oppression Of Women

In “The Cult of True Womanhood” by: Barbara Walters, she explains how women of the reform era were expected to submit totally to their husbands and societal pressures to gain a high level of respect while women that fell short of nearly unattainable standards were publicly ostracized. During this period in America women were finally being recognized as important members of society, and on a more personal level men were recognizing that women had emotional qualities that also held value. Women were seen as more naturally pure and moral in this era. On top of moral obligations the mother of a family had many worldly responsibilities. Women were expected to serve as nurse to the family, a sexual and moral companion to the husband, and a spiritual figure within the community. On top of their worldly duties women were also expected to be dainty, but not high maintenance, and submissive, but not mindless. The reading of books was encouraged for maintaining a sharp mind, but not books that were highly educated either, so the Bible became a constant source of knowledge and moral guidance.

Throughout history there has been a strong hold on women to adhere to the culture of domesticity. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this value system was engrained in the class system in the United States. According to Barbara Welter in her article The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860 this system of values defined a woman’s role in regards to the virtues of her actions within the family system. A woman was to be submissive, pure, and pious. She also had to fulfill her domestic duties to the family and community. The women of a community were the connections to faith and family. They had to uphold the standards of their religion and be steadfast in their faith. Having a pious presence in her family and community also built up a woman’s self-worth as she was an active member with the church. Her Christianity offered her praise and respect from her fellow citizens and her family. This social order is presented in Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter written in 1850. Hester Prynne, the heroine of the novel could possibly be viewed as one of the very first feminist in literature. She defies the power of the Puritan society and from her rebellious actions; the reader can see an emerging feminist consciousness within Hester, which is then passed along to her daughter Pearl.

The Changing Role of Womanhood: From True Woman to New Woman: Men took advantage of women that subjected and silenced them. Many cults came about from this such as the Cult of True Womanhood, the Cult of Domesticity. and the Cult of Purity. Domesticity and Purity were the central tenets.

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

The 19th century in the American West encompassed a time of expansionist ideals, both in territories and public conceptions. Various factions that had hereto been silenced experienced heightened opportunities in this venture out west. Notably, among these groups that gained freedoms were women, specifically those of the Caucasian ethnicity. As pioneers moved west, the idea of women’s domesticity begun to diminish by virtue of laxed social regulations coupled with the substitution of the brick and mortar home with the covered wagon. This withdrawal from the stringent systems enforced by the patriarchy of the day would allow the women’s development both within and without the spheres previously barred from their reach.

Women during this period of time played many roles in taking care of the household, husbands, and children. However, women did not have the same rights as men, Females did not have the right to vote, could not own property, nor allowed to attend school and have a job other than taking care of the household. Therefore, women could not continue like this and was known as “The Cult of Domesticity.”

While reading the tale of The Wife of Bath I experienced a feeling of trepidation and a great deal of unforeseen turn outs. Going back to look over the prologue and fully rereading the tale, extracting and researching every unfamiliar sentence or key term. I was able to understand much more of this selection. Coming to the conclusion of the belief that The Wife of Bath was an early feminist instead of an anti-feminist like many others debated over.

The tips provided in the latter part of the pamphlet attempt to dispel earlier false, preconceived notions of menstruation yet they adhere to the dominant ideologies of femininity. This is emphasized through images which specifically place the female character in the home and ultimately illustrate that marriage and reproduction are necessary highlights in a successful lady’s timeline (or lifeline?). The booklet maintains menstruation as a “new set of problems” that young women must now learn to cope with and in order to do so, Kotex will lead the way. Much like learning how to properly curl your hair or learning to allow a gentleman to pay for the date, Kotex was now the answer for being “in the know” when it comes to menstrual

The Revolt of Mother highlights the historical inequities between men and women and it suggests solutions for them as well. The movie introduces two main characters named Adam and Sarah Penn. They are a married couple that had many comparisons and contrast when it came to the two individual. The movie setting takes place on a farm in rural New England in the spring and summer of a year in the late nineteenth century. Just from the setting, a reader or viewer can understand the roles of both the man and the woman at the time. In those days, women had little to no rights whereas men had every right. A women’s role was just to stay in the house, cook and clean for the man and their children, and most importantly, know her place when it came to certain affairs that women were not deemed to. Although this was the norm for this time period, there were women despite of how society told them they should be that challenged these norms. Sarah in the movie The Revolt of Mother is one of these women. Ergo the reason why this movie is called The Revolt of Mother.

Dominance is considered to be someone who has power over a certain grouped of people, someone who can be feared or looked up to. Society usually illustrates a white male with dominance in high corporate positions. Women, on the other hand are not seen by society to be dominated and leading people. Our society already views males as a dominated gender and their power as normal or even masculine. In Johnson’s article, he states that the prime minister of Great Britain was called the “Iron Lady” for her dominance and leadership. This statement illustrates greatly that society does not see a women as dominated or even sees a woman in that nature as a leader, and therefore must prove herself worthy to society that she as a women can hold dominance

For many years women have battled for their place in society to have the same equal rights as men. Although women have made it very far in their quest for equal rights, there are still issues today that remain unresolved. The “perfect” female standard set by society is an ongoing issue that women face everyday. Women are brainwashed by society to have to constantly live up to their standards for what they see as the “ideal” woman, and if women deviate or act differently from these standards, then there will be consequences that follow. Women have to live up to these perfect ideals that society expects from them, such as: perfect breasts, no menstruation, and unsuitable child bearing body types.

The female body is highly misunderstood. Men as well as some women do not understand how the body fully works. This understanding however, allows for individuals to fully empathize for the functions that their body undergoes. When an individual is put in a position where they do not understand something fully, they usually result to judgment first. By looking at Aretxaga’s work we can see, when one scrutinizes menstruation, they are not only judging the process but they are also being passive towards the entire female sector. Not only do those who do not fully understand the idea of menstruation belittle females, but so does the government when they placed a tampon tax on sanitary necessities. It is upsetting to hear the attempt to validate

Gloria Jean Watkins, known by her pen name Bell Hooks (the name of her great grandmother), was born September 25, 1952. She grew up to be the author of more than three dozen books, the topics of which range from gender, race, and class, to spirituality, and contemporary media. Hooks attended Stanford University, The University of Wisconsin, and The University of California, Santa Cruz, eventually earning her P.h.D. In her article, “Understanding Patriarchy,” Hooks argues that patriarchy isn’t only harmful to women, it’s harmful to men as well, in different ways. Patriarchy sets rigid gender roles that say women are to be docile, obedient, and nurturing, while men should be violent, dominating, and aggressive. This ideal greatly emotionally stunts men, and makes it so that they cannot express themselves in any way other than aggression. In this article, Hooks was very effective in explaining and giving examples as to why the patriarchy negatively affects both men and women, and that it is up to both to break free from these constraints and work together to end the patriarchy.

Girls, young women, and mature mothers. Society has consistently given women strict guidelines, rules and principles on how to be an appropriate member of a man’s society. These rules are set at a young age and enforced thoroughly into adulthood. When not followed accordingly, women often times too many face reprimanding through means of verbal abuse, physical abuse, or social exile. In the midst of all these strict guidelines and social etiquette for girls, a social rebellion started among girls and women and gender roles were broken, however the social rebellion did not and does not affect all girls and women. For instance, in less socially developed places, young girls on the brink of womanhood are still strongly persuaded to be a man’s idea of a “woman”.

Compare the predicament of women in society as described in Cousin Kate and The Seduction. How far do you sympathise with them? ‘The Seduction’ and ‘Cousin Kate’ are similarly concerned with the predicament of women in society. They are both poems which end up in a negative position, and are following the trails of a young girl, wanting to be loved, in some way.