Beauvoir takes on not only the issue of male superiority in our society, but also tries to explain the cause of this discrepancy. I thought she made several interesting suggestions, and presented them in a cool, collected manner. Some of the issues she talks about affect more than just women, such as the identities, which one must choose from to define yourself. She offers women the choice between being the evil woman or the beautiful idolized woman. She can be the Praying Mantis or the conniving woman who seeks to lie, cheat, and steal in order to get her way. Or she can be the innocent, dumb, yet adorable goddess and mother figure. I find neither of these roles to be flattering or positive for women. Either she has no brain, or she uses her brain to manipulate. Other groups are given certain archetypes, which they may fill, be it the hard working migrant worker/illegal immigrant or the mafia member who has little explanation for where his fortunes come from. While I think this classification is changing and more and more people are breaking the stereotype, it is frustrating that such classifications are placed on each other because of our prejudices brought on by different appearances.
Beauvoir attributes the subordinance of women as being at the fault of men, but it is also partly the women’s fault as well because they accept this role until they do not even recognize themselves in the body they fill. Men always speak of the mysteriousness of women, which in many cases makes women even more desirable to men. I think this is because of the satisfaction that comes from dominating an unknown. Men do not make the effort to understand women, because it is not necessary to them. It is easier to dominate and makes laws that do not benefit, and may even harm, women if you can claim ignorance. Because of this, a slave-master complex has been formed. The ego of the male has been raised so high to consider themselves a gift to women. It is the man who grants the woman time, money, etc. for he is more busy and is the provider. Women have become dependent on men for this reason, and in the time this was written, there was no option but to be dependent on men. The conniving woman needs the man to manipulate and the goddess woman needs the man to take care of her because she is helpless to herself. It is amazing how long this complex has been continued and supported by society.
Finally, women are becoming more independent and capable without men. However there is still a dependence that many women seem unable to escape, such as those who remain in abusive relationships. Fear of the man and dependence on the income and stability he brings keeps women in situations that are inhumane. Woolf points out that the little that is written about women of the medieval age is that they were often beat by their husbands. It was acceptable to treat other fellow human beings as less than that, which has occurred throughout history with various groups. However women are the largest group that has been oppressed for the longest time in history. Beavoir solidifies this idea when she explains that the mysteriousness of women comes from the slave-master complex that has existed throughout history.
Is this oppression still accepted in our society to an extent? How is it that we have abolished slavery and yet women, who are a majority, are still under some oppression?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I do believe that women are still mildly oppressed today. If you just look at average wages of men and women you can see that males tend to make a little more than females. Also, when looking for a career, men are more likely to be hired over women for two reasons. The first reason is down the road if a woman wants to have a family, then she will be taking a lot of time off work. Another reason is that men are supposable more capable of doing the job. I do believe that women and men are slowly becoming more and more equal everyday and the rumors and myths are finally dieing out. But one thing I do not understand is how women could still be or ever was oppressed in the first place. Since half the population consists of women, how could so many rumors that men are superior to women take place and thought to be true?
I agree that women today are still oppressed but it is not as bad as in the past. I think this has a lot to do with the role of women in society. Decades ago, a woman’s job was to stay home and take care of the children and the house. I think that this is changing for two reasons. The first is that later generations, like ours, never really had the mindset that women can only stay home. I know that my mother has always worked and most of my friend’s mothers did to. Women are being looked as more than just mothers and homemakers; they are becoming business-women, leaders, and are still able to have a family. The second reason why I think women are becoming less oppressed is because today it is hard for a family to live on one income. The woman of the family is going to work to help support the family. This is traditionally been the man’s role and in some cases the woman has more earning potential than the man does. Many men are afraid to have a spouse who can earn more money and become more successful than them. I think that this is causing more women to remain single longer; they want to show that they do not need a man and can support themselves. Women are making great strides to becoming equal with men. Women are even being elected in political positions of power. The Chancellor of Germany, the Vice Premier of China, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand are all women. I think the oppression of women will soon become something of the past, as soon as the wage gap between the sexes is corrected.
Post a Comment