Brief Summary Of The Book 'The Female Man'
Sinead McCarron
Ms. Muller
Period 2
21 March 2013
The Never-Changing View on Women For centuries, stereotypes about women have been injected in the heads of people around the world through media sources. In movies, books, articles, the list goes on of places we see women being portrayed as inferior characters. In modern times there has been improvements and room for the improvement to grow into something more. Advances in science, art, literature, and much more regarding the female gender has been documented. Since the beginning of societies, all forms of media have shaped ways and characteristics of the role of women.
Since the beginning of time the stereotype of inferior women began and has not come to an end. One major influence …show more content…
to this mindset during the 1800s is Charles Darwin’s thoughts. He lived from 1809 to 1882 and was a very respected and well-known man during his time because of his evolution ideas. Darwin published many books during his lifetime, which affected all of his readers. Since he was very educated, he was seen as correct in all of his published statements. A quote from one of his many books includes him discussing that if he was a married man he would be a “poor slave...worse than a Negro” (Darwin 234). He taught that women were biologically inferior to men, which had a major impact on the thoughts that society had.
A major effect that this stereotype makes is usually in the younger generation. In 1937 Disney released the movie “Snow White and the 7 Dwarves” in theaters which gave new and old stereotypes a new name. With its wide range of viewers, mostly under the age of 12, showed young girls this stereotype. Snow White, the main character, played the role of a vulnerable and obedient housemaid (Maio). She was the first major “heroine” which is the most important character in the plot, who was a female. Throughout the movie her entire life revolved around meeting and getting the perfect man. Is the “perfect man” really out there? In this film, and many more, the answer is yes. After Snow White is put into a coma by eating a poisonous apple, she needed a man to keep living. The only way for her to be saved was to get kissed by the perfect “prince.” Any girl today who sees this and a range of other movies will be sucked into the belief of having the perfect man.
Joanna Russ is the author of “The Female Man” which was published in 1975.
Its fictional content focuses on the different lives of women. There are multiple parallel universes throughout the book, all with focuses on the role of women. One “world” or society that is described in the book similar to the actual Earth in 1970 while another is a utopian world where the men died from a gender specific-plague (Russ). Another that is a dystopia where men and women are always in battle against one another. The characters during the book all travel to each other’s worlds and experience the equality/inequality. This is a book that uses the real world and a fictional world to show the problems and inequality in the modern world. Russ uses allusions in her work that refer to major previous differences in gender such as the Bible, the feminist movement, and the Great Depression.
Another Disney movie which soon turned into a TV show, The Little Mermaid, also has sent a message to the girls watching it. Instead of princesses and crowns, this plot is based in an underwater world with the main character Ariel. She wears a revealing bikini and has long red hair. Disney tends to base its plots and messages on the female craving and needing a man, which is shown perfectly …show more content…
here. At one scene in the movie Ariel even gives up her voice to get rid of her mermaid tail in order to have legs and be sexy for a human man she had met. This is giving the message of “keep quiet and be beautiful” (Maio). Just one of the messages through multiple movies that some critics seem is absurd. The author Kathy Maio uses the point that Ariel eventually gets her voice back, but leaves home for this perfect “human” boy. Giving the idea to the viewers that it’s okay to be someone you are not. The main idea pulled from The Little Mermaid is shown again, vulnerability and dependence on men.
Ariel is always dreaming about the man she is going to fall in love with and marry. This should not be the way the female gender should be portrayed, women can be independent and still be strong, and most importantly, happy.
The last Disney movie to be discussed is “Beauty and the Beast” which was in theaters in 1991 and included improvements. This movie’s main idea is the fact that the “beast” is not perfect. Not all men are perfect in the real world, and movies should portray this in some way. Not all movies show, or even have male characters with any flaws(Maio). During this movie, the idea that is given out to viewers is mostly positive. Men and human beings are not perfect. In order to be happy, we must accept the flaws and mistakes of others and ourselves. The “beauty” in this movie is not only beautiful, but also likes to read. This little improvement makes a big difference. It shows the younger viewers that they shouldn 't only strive to look perfect and beautiful, but also be educated. Being educated is a major part of life and should not be taken lightly, especially as
women.
During the Great Depression and even wars, women have been seen as stay-at-home mothers. The media has been fixed on ancient stereotypes that should be left behind. In a magazine article titled “Female Power” it states, “Only 2% of the bosses of Fortune 500 companies and five of those in the FTSE 100 stock market index are women. Women make up less than 13% of board members in America” (Bertrand). There are countless examples of women being underrepresented in the past, such as the privilege to serve in combat, war, voting and the government. This magazine article focuses on positivity women are getting in the workforce in modern times, “THE economic empowerment of women across the rich world is one of the most remarkable revolutions of the past 50 years. It is remarkable because of the extent of the change” (Bertrand).
One last modern representation that shows the archetype of women underrepresentation is a journal article evaluating why women are still lacking rights. This article states that, “as late as 1970, only 10 women served in the United States Congress” (Lawless and Pearson 67). Research shows the reason for women’s exclusion from politics is due to over bias against women candidates. If a women ever ran for president in the twenty-first century the entire world would be astonished and more importantly, majorly bias against women.
Since the beginning of societies, all forms of media have shaped ways and characteristics of the role of women. In modern times there has been improvements and room for the improvement to grow into something more. Advances in science, art, literature, and much more regarding the female gender has been documented. The role of women has grown from early times as inferiorities to more important figures not only in the household, but in the business world and beyond. Many media sources such as films and books dating back centuries to the books we see on the shelves today portray women in such ways. This women inferiority archetype has gone into many hands and shaped by societies ' ways throughout the beginning of time. Women of all ages go through hardships everyday and throughout life because of the thought that women are inferior to men. Women have made a giant step in to the right direction of shaking off the stereotype and working for equality. They are being empowered throughout the world and proving the stereotype wrong.
Works Cited
Bergman, Jerry. "Darwin 's Teaching of Women 's Inferiority." Institute for Creation Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
Bertrand, Marianne. "Female Power." The Economist 30 Dec. 2009: n. pag. Print.
Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1998. Print.
Holmlund, Christine. "Tots to Tanks: Walt Disney Presents Feminism for the Family." Social Text 2 (1979): 122-32. Print. 20 Mar. 2013.
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Kathryn Pearson. "The Primary Reason for Women 's Underrepresentation? Reevaluating the Conventional Wisdom." The Journal of Politics 70.1 (2008): 67-82. Print.
Maio, Kathy. "Disney 's Dolls." New Internationalist Dec. 1998: n. pag. Print.
Russ, Joanna. The Female Man. Boston: Beacon, 1986. Print.
Ms. Muller
Period 2
21 March 2013
The Never-Changing View on Women For centuries, stereotypes about women have been injected in the heads of people around the world through media sources. In movies, books, articles, the list goes on of places we see women being portrayed as inferior characters. In modern times there has been improvements and room for the improvement to grow into something more. Advances in science, art, literature, and much more regarding the female gender has been documented. Since the beginning of societies, all forms of media have shaped ways and characteristics of the role of women.
Since the beginning of time the stereotype of inferior women began and has not come to an end. One major influence …show more content…
to this mindset during the 1800s is Charles Darwin’s thoughts. He lived from 1809 to 1882 and was a very respected and well-known man during his time because of his evolution ideas. Darwin published many books during his lifetime, which affected all of his readers. Since he was very educated, he was seen as correct in all of his published statements. A quote from one of his many books includes him discussing that if he was a married man he would be a “poor slave...worse than a Negro” (Darwin 234). He taught that women were biologically inferior to men, which had a major impact on the thoughts that society had.
A major effect that this stereotype makes is usually in the younger generation. In 1937 Disney released the movie “Snow White and the 7 Dwarves” in theaters which gave new and old stereotypes a new name. With its wide range of viewers, mostly under the age of 12, showed young girls this stereotype. Snow White, the main character, played the role of a vulnerable and obedient housemaid (Maio). She was the first major “heroine” which is the most important character in the plot, who was a female. Throughout the movie her entire life revolved around meeting and getting the perfect man. Is the “perfect man” really out there? In this film, and many more, the answer is yes. After Snow White is put into a coma by eating a poisonous apple, she needed a man to keep living. The only way for her to be saved was to get kissed by the perfect “prince.” Any girl today who sees this and a range of other movies will be sucked into the belief of having the perfect man.
Joanna Russ is the author of “The Female Man” which was published in 1975.
Its fictional content focuses on the different lives of women. There are multiple parallel universes throughout the book, all with focuses on the role of women. One “world” or society that is described in the book similar to the actual Earth in 1970 while another is a utopian world where the men died from a gender specific-plague (Russ). Another that is a dystopia where men and women are always in battle against one another. The characters during the book all travel to each other’s worlds and experience the equality/inequality. This is a book that uses the real world and a fictional world to show the problems and inequality in the modern world. Russ uses allusions in her work that refer to major previous differences in gender such as the Bible, the feminist movement, and the Great Depression.
Another Disney movie which soon turned into a TV show, The Little Mermaid, also has sent a message to the girls watching it. Instead of princesses and crowns, this plot is based in an underwater world with the main character Ariel. She wears a revealing bikini and has long red hair. Disney tends to base its plots and messages on the female craving and needing a man, which is shown perfectly …show more content…
here. At one scene in the movie Ariel even gives up her voice to get rid of her mermaid tail in order to have legs and be sexy for a human man she had met. This is giving the message of “keep quiet and be beautiful” (Maio). Just one of the messages through multiple movies that some critics seem is absurd. The author Kathy Maio uses the point that Ariel eventually gets her voice back, but leaves home for this perfect “human” boy. Giving the idea to the viewers that it’s okay to be someone you are not. The main idea pulled from The Little Mermaid is shown again, vulnerability and dependence on men.
Ariel is always dreaming about the man she is going to fall in love with and marry. This should not be the way the female gender should be portrayed, women can be independent and still be strong, and most importantly, happy.
The last Disney movie to be discussed is “Beauty and the Beast” which was in theaters in 1991 and included improvements. This movie’s main idea is the fact that the “beast” is not perfect. Not all men are perfect in the real world, and movies should portray this in some way. Not all movies show, or even have male characters with any flaws(Maio). During this movie, the idea that is given out to viewers is mostly positive. Men and human beings are not perfect. In order to be happy, we must accept the flaws and mistakes of others and ourselves. The “beauty” in this movie is not only beautiful, but also likes to read. This little improvement makes a big difference. It shows the younger viewers that they shouldn 't only strive to look perfect and beautiful, but also be educated. Being educated is a major part of life and should not be taken lightly, especially as
women.
During the Great Depression and even wars, women have been seen as stay-at-home mothers. The media has been fixed on ancient stereotypes that should be left behind. In a magazine article titled “Female Power” it states, “Only 2% of the bosses of Fortune 500 companies and five of those in the FTSE 100 stock market index are women. Women make up less than 13% of board members in America” (Bertrand). There are countless examples of women being underrepresented in the past, such as the privilege to serve in combat, war, voting and the government. This magazine article focuses on positivity women are getting in the workforce in modern times, “THE economic empowerment of women across the rich world is one of the most remarkable revolutions of the past 50 years. It is remarkable because of the extent of the change” (Bertrand).
One last modern representation that shows the archetype of women underrepresentation is a journal article evaluating why women are still lacking rights. This article states that, “as late as 1970, only 10 women served in the United States Congress” (Lawless and Pearson 67). Research shows the reason for women’s exclusion from politics is due to over bias against women candidates. If a women ever ran for president in the twenty-first century the entire world would be astonished and more importantly, majorly bias against women.
Since the beginning of societies, all forms of media have shaped ways and characteristics of the role of women. In modern times there has been improvements and room for the improvement to grow into something more. Advances in science, art, literature, and much more regarding the female gender has been documented. The role of women has grown from early times as inferiorities to more important figures not only in the household, but in the business world and beyond. Many media sources such as films and books dating back centuries to the books we see on the shelves today portray women in such ways. This women inferiority archetype has gone into many hands and shaped by societies ' ways throughout the beginning of time. Women of all ages go through hardships everyday and throughout life because of the thought that women are inferior to men. Women have made a giant step in to the right direction of shaking off the stereotype and working for equality. They are being empowered throughout the world and proving the stereotype wrong.
Works Cited
Bergman, Jerry. "Darwin 's Teaching of Women 's Inferiority." Institute for Creation Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
Bertrand, Marianne. "Female Power." The Economist 30 Dec. 2009: n. pag. Print.
Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1998. Print.
Holmlund, Christine. "Tots to Tanks: Walt Disney Presents Feminism for the Family." Social Text 2 (1979): 122-32. Print. 20 Mar. 2013.
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Kathryn Pearson. "The Primary Reason for Women 's Underrepresentation? Reevaluating the Conventional Wisdom." The Journal of Politics 70.1 (2008): 67-82. Print.
Maio, Kathy. "Disney 's Dolls." New Internationalist Dec. 1998: n. pag. Print.
Russ, Joanna. The Female Man. Boston: Beacon, 1986. Print.