In her address, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House (1979), Audre Lorde exposes racism and classism within the feminist movement. As a result of feminists adopting the same method used by our patriarchal society of separating women by their differences, or ignoring them altogether, they were in reality perpetuating oppression and failing to promote and accomplish change. While Lorde’s analysis was correct at that time, today her vision “Define and conquer in our world must become define and empower” (p.27) is coming to fruition. If want to initiate change however, our focus needs to shift away from exploiting our past inadequacies and focus instead on our strides toward unity and inclusion.…
Being feminist means to achieve the goal of women empowerment and that is to control our own lives not just as women but also as an individual no matter what the society and other people think. In the article My Hips, My Caderas by Alisa Valdes, the author feels empowered as a woman when she refused to dance with men who she says are only drawn by her body as she says, “they ask me to dance, and I often say “no” because I can.”…
Sara M. Evans' Born for Liberty is the book that deciphers the real, previously obscured meaning of the role of women in America. It is more than obvious that women were the "men's pleasure " only, and before they were referred as the ignorant part of the world. The vision people, usually men, had about women was one that expressed lucidly that women lacked a kind of intelligence and ability to do something politically or manly done. What I believe Sara M. Evans is trying to imply through her introduction part of the book is that no matter how unfair it might have been to be considered that way, it is time for us, as women, to prove them wrong, and we have actually done a lot of work to do that, but we haven't had the opportunity to prove that yet! So, through this book Evans would want all of us to understand that at the same time men were making profound differences to this world, women were doing the same thing, but in a more hidden way, and actually much more effective in other ways!…
Women struggle daily in order to meet the unrealistic standards of beauty. In the beginning of the music video, Beyonce and the other women are seen doing their hair and makeup and choosing their outfits. In the article, “No More Miss America,” feminists protest that, “women…
“Feminist criticism derives from a critique of a history of oppression, in this case the history of women’s inequality” (Mays 2347). Women have always been second to men in mostly everything they are competing in. Even if the man and woman have the exact same job, the man is probably making more money just because he is a man. Women barely got the chance to vote less than fifty years ago! Women still have a long way to go to catch up where the men are, because men have always had a say in how to do things, and the woman would just agree about what he had said. Feminist are here to change all of that though. With protests showing women are equally compatible to do the same thing as men can do. “One of the first disciplines…
For hundreds of years women have strived to gain equality with men. They have been held back and had opportunities taken away from them due to the fact that they are women. Feminism is beneficial to both men and women to have an equal opportunity in life without any discrimination based on their gender. Both men and women should receive the same opportunities and privileges that are being offered in life. Therefore, feminist movements help women to accomplish the task of equality. With the help of feminist movements women will be able to climb the corporate ladder in ways they were never able to before.…
Maya Angelou is another example of a woman who expresses the power that females possess in a male-dominated society. In her poem “Phenomenal Woman,” she speaks about how the “span of [her] hips/ [and] the stride of [her] step” (Angelou 7-8) makes her a phenomenal woman who, like Clifton, uses imagery of female features to express the pride of being a woman. They both use the same simple words such as “hips” to express the strong nature of a woman and how these hips can even “put a spell on a man and/ spin him like a top” (Clifton14-15). Stating that her hips can even place a spell on a male and spin him like a top is giving the impression that by only moving her hips in a certain way like the stride in Angelou’s step, can make that male or any male, do whatever she wants him to…
It also is set at the Gatsby’s Party – as the song was written for The Great Gatsby Soundtrack. In the opening lines, Fergie is saying that it is okay to take advantage of what is in front of you and it wouldn’t hurt anyone at all. Later in the song, Q- tip says that everyone is drunk and if you are lucky, you could ‘get laid’. He also mentions women are bragging about how wealthy they are making things up along the way to look better-off. The song depends on large amounts of repetition throughout…
A women’s life is centered around her reproductiveness and ability to be a caregiver. For example, there are significantly more women in elementary education than there are in higher education. In contrast, since men are unable to bare children, they have time after time been responsible for providing the necessary for the his family, while “their” women stay at home carrying over the children, maintaining a clean household, and being responsible for all their needs. Since men tend to be stronger and bigger than women, this ultimately has lead society to believe that men are more dominant than women; hence, women are often portrayed as weak and vulnerable. These biological characteristics translate to cultural myths about what a man or women can or cannot do; therefore, discriminating gender. This male dominance and privilege has contributed to the notion that men hold more power roles than women. In addition, being naturally more violent and at higher rates than women has contributed to the myth that men are better leaders. Today, men are in charge of significantly close to most if not all of the largest corporations. If a women happens to be part of the leading group of one of these corporations, it leads to question whether she has the position in order to increase diversity or because she deserves and worked hard to be there. It is is unfortunate that society promotes that women are simply not good enough for the…
“Don’t Hurt Yourself” was the type of song that could leave any true Beyoncé fan a bit shocked. Usually she is not so blatantly vulgar and instead keeps a cleaner image, but that all went south with this particular music video. In the “Anger” portion of Lemonade, Beyoncé allows herself to be genuinely angry in such an unapologetic way. For once, a black woman has let herself feel all of her rage from the lens of a black woman herself, instead of through the eyes of an onlooker who does not live the same experience. In the “Intuition” portion of of Lemonade before the song “Hold Up”, the poetic lines describe how, “In the tradition of men in my blood, you come home at 3 a.m. and lie to me. What are you hiding? The past and the future merge to meet us here. What luck. What a f*cking curse.” This prompted the discussion of the way that black love exists and functions for me. Due to the horrors of the past, the way we experience our love has been damaged and altered to such a point that we as black women feel as though we have to accept any type of treatment from the one we truly love. It has become such a deep…
Feminism is the movement that aims to gain a better understanding of gender inequality, politically and sexually. Feminist fight on issues such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination. Feminist also argues that they are treated unequally with issues that include stereotyping, oppression and patriarchy. When looking at pieces of literature such as Chopin “Story of an Hour,” Gilman “Yellow Wallpaper,” Williams “Streetcar Named Desire,” Henderson “Trifles,” and Mina Loy “Feminist Manifesto you see the actuality of how poorly women and even married women were treated throughout the years. Feminism represents the next step in the evolution of the feminist movement.…
To be a woman in America today is a lot different from being a woman during the twenties or thirties. Women have come far from where they use to be, from being able to vote, having lead roles in movies, to being CEO's in large companies. In my eyes, being a woman in today’s society means being independent, going for what you want and empowerment. I think more women are breaking down the stereotypes society has today than ever before. For instance, women are more likely to attend college and there are more women who are waiting to have children so that they can peruse their careers. However that doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. The way I see it is, there is always more that can be accomplished, however, I have a lot more freedom today than my…
Over the course of history, gender inequalities has been a prevalent amongst countries around the world. The notion, women are inferior to men has shaped the way they were treated in all aspects of life. Women were subjected to a patriarchal role in society, the men worked and women took care of domestics to some degree greater or lesser depending the country they resided in. In the late 19th and early 20th century women started rising up against male dominated societies in feminist movements. These movements were campaigns and reform plans to combat issues of equal pay, sexual violence, and denial of suffrage, reproductive rights, equal job opportunities and property rights. Looking at women in countries such as, USA, Great Britain and Saudi…
Beyonce once said that girls run the world, and Beyonce is never wrong. She means, generally, in patriarchal cultures, females play important roles in society, but their work is looked down upon or covered up by the patriarchy. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it seems that being a woman is not necessarily the optimal gender to be. Often times in Things Fall Apart, one sees that females and femininity, in general, are associated with weakness, and they are lesser than men. In, The Role of Women in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it states that under the surface, women truly have a prominent stance in Igbo society. Females in Igbo culture have major roles in caretaking, religion, and education. Yet, they are not treated as important members of Igbo culture because they are thought of as inferior to the men in their society's gender behavioral customs even though under all the…
She argues that to be a man or woman, are matters of societal reality. To be a member of a particular race or sex brings with it different opportunities, rights and constraints. In the society today, there varied manifestations of sexism cutting across different sectors. Areas like media, politics and even religion is full of varied manifestations of sexism. For example, in some religions, women still are not allowed to be ordained as bishops or church leaders. Furthermore, in extreme cases women are not even allowed to stand before congregations to speak especially if men are part of that congregation. In politics, both political leadership and the electorate demonstrate a level of this behavior. In the world today, it is a matter of record that there have been more men presidents and even prime ministers than women. Across the globe, feminist movements are calling on governments to adopt inclusivity in key government appointments, and include more women in public leadership. Most governments have gone further and adopted resolutions that dictate the number or percentages of women appointment to any position in comparison to that of men. These resolutions are also forming policies in the private sector where most women had been locked out of senior managerial…