Why Some Feminists Give The Movement A Bad Rap

People believe that marriage is easy and is the key to love and happiness, but in reality marriage is harder than it looks. Everyone marries for different reasons, for good or for bad. People today don’t understand the meaning of marriage; it is more than just money and appearance. Seeing today’s world of marriage is being influenced by media shows like Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, and Murray makes you realize how society today identifies marriage different. Couples who live unmarried will be happier and have more choices than those that are married in agreement with Catherine Newman’s essay called I Do. Not.: Why I Won’t Marry in the book “Acting Out Culture: Reading and Writing “, by: James S. Miller. Catherine Newman is a writer and an author

Patriarchy is a social system in which males holds power and predominate major political roles and leadership, authority and privilege. In the family, fathers and grandparents holds the power to control over women and children. Most patriarchal society is patrilineal that the authority is automatically passed down from father to son, and the cycle continues on without any female interference. Patriarchal society has predominated most societies in history.

If one were to read any article by the average woman in the media – and some males for that matter – regarding the declining state of marriage rates today. One could reasonably think that the reason marriages are on the decline is that women are choosing not to get married or some other such tripe that ineffectively attempts to hide the truth of the matter. (Ayanna, G. 2010), (Dewitt.1992), (Rosenbloom, 2006), (Campbell, 2001)

The feminist argues according to the book “Feminists have long argued that a system of rigid gender categories and roles serves male-dominated society; because men have more influence over social rules, they set the standards to serve their interests” (Cohen 164). This quote says that men set the standard for whatever way makes them happy, which is sort of true if you look at what goes on in these music videos and in other areas of daily entertainment. The men treat women however they want because they think they are the ones who are supposed to be in control and tell a woman what to do. This brings me to my first point about how this affects people looking for a spouse. For example, a man will go on a date and most of the time his only intentions are to have sex with the women and leave after, this is probably because he heard it in a song or seen his favorite celebrity do it in his music video. Therefore, this type of attitude towards women makes them feel degraded and to think that every man only wants one thing, which isn’t the case for all men. Next, this makes it hard for both men and women to find spouses because the women become stuck up and the men become dogs, making a lot of relationships today not work

An average, women during the 1960’s were held accountable for many responsibilities. Women led very different lives during this time period. Punctual, responsible, and reliable were just some of the many standards that were expected from society. At the age of twenty women were expected to be married; soon after they would become pregnant. Raising a family and devoting their lives to be the best housewives possible. Legally women made no earnings or any income for that matter. Child care and in vigorous chores were a part of their daily routine. Women had no say financially. Women had one duty, and that was to be a housewife. Men had all the control in marriages; after all they were the bread winners. Women were stuck in a vicious cycle of controlling and power hungry men. Comparing women from the 10960’s to the women in today’s generation is quite astonishing. The women’s rights movement fought for women to be free. Women no longer need to be chained to such degrading and depressing circumstances. Raising a family and having a husband is a beautiful goal most women dream of. However, we should also have the right to decide when we want to marry and to whom we believe is the right candidate. “Why I Want a Wife” written by Judy Brady raises a powerful message on women in the 1960’s. Judy touches upon the idea that women had constantly been expected to be in confined and submissive relationships. Brady perfectly depicts the

In “About Love”, by Danielle Crittenden, she argues that women can only be happy in a marriage, if they set aside what she sees as misleading feminist ideas about having equal rights like man do, yet still being married to a man. I agree with the author that misleading ideas of feminism can cause a doubt about getting married too early or too late. A few reason that women are not sure about being married and still claim to be feminist is due to the worrying about being lonely, feeling that she will be looked down upon by her peers, and are trying to do things that could have been done far too later in her life.

He claims that he does not save the enough money to support the family. He told her he is under pressure, and do not want to be forced to get married. In reply, the author told her although the economic market crashed recently, many couples still manage to get married. She must figure out he more cares about her, or more concerned with his own bank accounts. As a grown man, I enjoy the author’s reply and cannot agree with her boyfriend’s behavior. As for me, I will try to give my girlfriend a wedding as good as possible. Maybe it is not the best one, but it is definitely the most precious memory for the bride. Money is not the standard to judge the marriage, and rich is not equal the happiness. All the couples need is love.

I agree with this definition of patriarchy, but like another definition which is, that patriarchy is a social structure in which individuals create and reproduce inequalities linked to sex, race, class, religion and any other differences. Sociologists see patriarchy as that cultural system that is based on the values of control and domination, in this system white men are the only full humans, while other men from different race and eventually other women are not full humans; they must seek to get the privileges of white women. Allan Johnson describes patriarchy as “a system what fuels competition, aggression and oppression, is a dynamic relationship between control and fear.” Johnson emphasis that we live in patriarchal social systems of group-based oppression, there are different grounds of oppression which lead to the separation of this society between people who are privileged because of this oppression and others who are unprivileged. In some cases, white women are considered to be privileged because of their color, while they are unprivileged because of their gender that they are oppressed by white

But even in today’s world, many researchers and professors still see some sort of link between marriage and the oppression of women. An article from Psychology Today, written by Professor Noam Shpancer Ph.D. uses modern data to demonstrate the argument that Stetson made well over one hundred years ago. Shpancer’s article, titled Is Marriage Worth the Trouble for Women?, is best summarized as extending Stetson’s arguments of marriage being oppressive in nature, while also bringing new information about the inherent fact that benefits to marriage like “increases in health, wealth, and happiness that are often associated with the status—go disproportionately to men,” (Shpancer 1). Shpancer’s article also provides clear indication about whether or not marriage is oppressive, and it “appears to provide support for the notion that women experience the institution of marriage as oppressive, in large part because it emerged from and still carries the imprint of a system of female subjugation,” (Shpancer 1). Shpancer’s work provides excellent insight for the topic areas of marriage, oppression, and so

In past years, women were viewed as property. Women weren’t meant to make their own decisions including those of dating and marriage. In fact, families would arrange marriages for their daughters

The concept of a traditional American family has been profoundly changed over the last 100 years. Fewer marriages are forming, divorce rates are higher than ever, and childlessness is much more common. The decline of marriage and family life seems to be the inevitable product of progressive ideas and modern socio-political conditions. Feminist and contemporary liberal critics of marriage and family life appeal to individual rights, liberty, consent, equality, and love as they seek to dismantle and undermine commitment to marriage and family life. However, some scholars would propose that the actions and words of America’s Founders show how to reconcile marriage and family life with the same modern ideas of equality, individual rights, and

Moreover, patriarchy causes women to suffer greatly which is why feminists challenge patriarchy as the default system. Patriarchy is defined as “social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the

Warner contends that the institutional system of marriage implicates couples who are not married as being “less worthy” than their married counterparts, not just through the tangible benefits of marriage but through the

As America became established, the development of intimate parts of a companionship was sustained by their personal agricultural labors. Now further and further into present day mother and father roles are becoming separated within the family. “The thought that biologically, men and women were created different and are not equally privileged” (White, Klein, 2002, p. 187) creates segregation within marriage, and eventually will take away its sole meaning. Fathers work outside of the home and women were limited inside the home to be responsible for supervision of the children and do the household work. Traditionally, matrimony in American culture have noticeably distinct male and female positions. These old-fashioned duties came with the settlers as they started their lives in the New

The definition of the word “patriarchy” as stated in the Oxford dictionary is the following: “A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line; A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.” Throughout the novel Adichie highlights the negative effects that patriarchal control can have on others within the family mentioned in the novel. Patriarchal control can be seen throughout the entire novel, in situations regarding religion, gender roles and family roles.