Mr. Hawkes
History 1023-07
30 April 2013
Iron Jawed Angels – Extra Credit The film Iron Jawed Angels tells the story of the hard work and effort of the fight for women's suffrage. Alice Paul, along with fellow suffragists and many other courageous women, work long hours, are faced with all kinds of trials and troubles to fight for justice and equality. They endure public criticism and abuse from passers by during protests, arrests, a hunger strike, and many other harsh results of their brave efforts. However they remain persistent, never letting anything stand in their way of reaching their goal. With this courage, the women manage to carry out successful protests and parades, calling attention to the unfortunate situation and injustice acted upon the women in the early century. After hard work and determination, suffrage is granted, showing the results of their persistence, and fighting for justice.
This film portrays these women shopping for fashionable hats, smoking and lounging in their undergarments, and marching to a soundtrack of hip-hop rhythms. They are more than new women, they are 21st-century women in their casual manner, informal speech, and attitudes toward men. With this approach, the film modernizes political foremothers in an attempt to winning new audiences in a postfeminist age. In an age when most young women do not like the idea of the feminist label, the film invites them to connect with feminists who are single, young, determined, courageous, independent, fashionable, and physically attractive.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Heywood, Leslie, and Jennifer Drake. Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997. Print.…
- 662 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Although The Feminine Mystique is often hailed as the harbinger text of third-wave feminism, Stephanie Coontz is quick in the opening lines of her A Strange Stirring to revoke the piece of its grandiose status, instead affectionately remembering it as a “brilliant artifact— and not a timeless classic.” Published in 2011, Coontz’s A Strange Stirring was written in the challenge of the previously held notion that the feminist movement of the 50s and 60s had come about due to a national “dissatisfaction in domestic life” resulting from the “personal inadequacy” woman had felt during the previous decades. Her challenge to ideas that founded the basis of Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique feed her writing as she takes an equally controversial stance to Friedan’s book, raising the question of the validity of Feminine Mystique and its impact on the feminist movement when the piece itself neglected to narrate the struggle of women outside the wealthy and white bubble that could afford to read Friedan's book.…
- 746 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
It’s women like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns that had the determination and the strength to do what other women were afraid of doing, which was to voice their opinions in a society governed by men. They refused to work with the traditional system of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and calmly waited for the President, Wilson to decide that he wanted to support an amendment giving all American women the right to vote. Paul and Burns lead the National Woman's Party to picket in front of the white house from dusk ‘till dawn holding signs saying, “Mr. President how…
- 701 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Peggy Klaus, the author, is unable to forget her excitement for her first women’s conference; “the convention center was pulsing with estrogen, and it was exhilarating [for Peggy] to be a part of a like-minded sisterhood.” However, as Peggy continues to reflect on her experiences as a woman apart of the feminist movement, she notes that after some quarter of a century, many women among her ranks are changing their attitude towards the women-only events intended for the growth of the feminist movement. Where twenty-five years ago, women were in…
- 936 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
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…
- 1035 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
We as Americans reminisce on history to see and understand the advancements we have accomplished and the same can be said of not only the advancement of women but also the image of how women are portrayed. Although in today’s day and age, their figures and beauty are scrutinized but also exploited. For instance in both Tennessee Williams motion picture, “A Street Car Named Desire” and Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun you are able to see the evolution of the not only the portal of women but also the advancements they accomplish.…
- 508 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Film has proven to be a medium through which society frames its expectations of gender performance and derives its accepted societal norms. This paper will call attention to how “chick flicks”, and in particular how the sub-genre of makeover films influence how women are expected to portray their femininity. The Devil Wears Prada is a perfect example of a makeover film within the chick flick genre. The “chick flick” genre is often described as movies that are meant to serve as entertainment for women that examine independent and self-sufficient heroines that portray female empowerment. Within the “chick flick”…
- 1673 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The first way women’s roles changed were their sex lives and how they expressed their sexuality. Clara Bow was a role model to women across the country during the 1920’s. Bow, a silent film actress, was best known for her hair and her more revealing stage outfits. Clara Bow showed a very bold personality, pushing the envelope for women’s behaviors and what was socially acceptable for women. Her fans often mocked her clothing style and drastic hair changes, daring to be different. Because of the actions of Bow, a door was created for women everywhere to express themselves in a way that had never been expressed before. Women began to pursue this flapper self-image and refused to conform to the feminist advocacy because it was “old fashioned.” Women saw inspiration to change their lives and didn’t slow down from there, they “argued that they would be the first generation of women to have it all: education, career, marriage, and children.”(170) Because of these courageous women, men have accepted the “new woman.”…
- 603 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
When she tells the audience her grandmother was born just three years after women won the right to vote and that she herself was born only because Roe v. Wade was not yet decided (para. 2), she reminds readers that women have only recently earned the right to equality and the ability to make choices regarding their own bodies. Several times she suggests that a female president is what all generations of women have dreamed of and it is the next step to “laying dynamite on centuries of white patriarchy” (para. 8). By bringing up feminist ideas such as these, she evokes emotion in the audience and makes it seem as if a woman is the only hope to continue making change. From there she builds on the feeling of American pride and patriotism to give the idea that it would be great not just for women but America in…
- 801 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
One frigid January morning, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children gathered together to participate in one of the most influential protest of all time- The Women's March. This event, which took place in a multiplicity of locations across the globe, was subsequently held the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. A flurry of lively marchers swarmed the streets with swift legs, bedazzled signs, fuchsia hats, and passionate hearts. They longed for equality, change, and tolerance. With every chant, with every cheer, with every clap, and every step, the protesters marched closer to their goal. Once the dust and confetti had settled and the crowds has dispersed, it was realized that a feminist genie hadn't granted these…
- 678 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Despite the fact that there was a newfound sense of self-expression among a major group of women, there were still some women who wanted to fight for more; to fight for full rights to their lives. It is important to remember that often times, racist policies kept African-American women out of the suffragist movement, resulting in masses of women feeling unhappy with what was supposed to be “social progress”. Consequentially, these large groups of women who were left unsatisfied with the limited progression began to to get involved with the advocacy for the advancement of women’s rights. “many suffrage advocates presented their views in terms of ‘natural rights,’ arguing that women deserved the same rights as men” (Brinkley). Among those advocates was the “exuberant” and “outspoken” Alice Paul, who led the National Women’s…
- 751 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Although the vast majority of American women were homemakers in 1950s and early 1960s, the rising tempo of activism in the 1960s also stirred new self-awareness and dissatisfaction among educated women. Dismayed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s reluctance to enforce the ban on sex discrimination, these women formed the national Organization for Women (NOW), which is a leading feminist group. NOW’s popularity owed much to the publication by Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, where she wanted women to “establish goals that will permit them to find their own identity” (pg 678). These women activists gained confidence in their own potential and they also became conscious of their second-class status, as they were sexually exploited and relegated to menial jobs by male…
- 1254 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
Feminism: a topic of discussion in many homes and classrooms, which asserts the utmost attention amongst its listeners. A crazy ideal that believes women hold fundamental rights among men, and deserve the same treatment, the same opportunities. Feminism has grown since its conception in the early 20th century, and has catapulted upward in a grand and illustrious fashion, clinging to the souls of women who will no longer be oppressed by an abusive patriarchy. However, in this decade, feminism has become the topic of crude humor, has been made the punchline of jokes directed toward women. Feminism has become merely a way to generalize women as “crazy, hormonal monsters” who should never have a say in democracy because their “time of…
- 562 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Thus, in an attempt to further promote equal opportunity between men and women, a second wave of feminism emerged between 1968 and the 1980’s, which can be best characterized by women’s refusal to acclimate to society’s rigid belief of what an ideal woman should be or act like (Mancia, Class, 12/2). This problem is perfectly illustrated in the Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan, in which Friedan discussed the unhappiness of many young women in the 1950’s and early 1960’s despite many of them being married and having children, living the life a woman is “supposed” to have. Furthermore, Friedan complained of young women who were being taught that “truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights” (Friedan, p. 271). Instead, they were being taught that it was a woman’s “job” to essentially be a housewife (i.e. stay home, clean the house, make food for her family, take care of the kids, etc...) (Friedan, p. 273). However, Friedan largely opposed this view and believed that it embodied the false prototypical stereotype about women. Rather, Friedan believed that a truly feminine woman would do just the exact opposite and does aim for a career, higher education, and political rights in the same way that a man would (Mancia, Class,…
- 738 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Post-feminism endorses rejection of practices that identify the differences between male and female. For example, the recent movements to refuse to shave legs or underarms as well as cosmetics. Post-feminism re-evaluates the relation between femininity and feminism, establishing a new subjective space for women. While there is a constant struggle to establish a cultural idea of femininity, fashion has a huge impact in bewilderment of this image. As McRobbie argues: ‘’Fashion is a tool of post-feminism for gender re-positioning. This is carried out through the idea of what she calls ’post-feminist masquerade’. This kind of ’re-positioning’…
- 238 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays