In the image that was given to us basically show that if a women strays from what is expected of her as a female; she will raise her children in poverty and work miserably as a domestic or tavern work, selling in the street, and prostituting herself to soldiers. Then inside a triangle it shows a well-dressed, happy looking woman depicted next to flower and a large home.
The image shows that if a woman did not behave as they were supposed to according to society then they would end up in prostitution and living in poverty. Society wanted women to act prim and proper and to believe that they were property of the male figures in their lives.
Gender roles are not as strict as they use to be but they still have a strong influence in our society. Women are still expected to take care of the family and the household work even if they do have jobs outside of the home. Women nowadays are privileged that they could now apply for the same positions as men and even get the job. Women over the years have become more independent. They do not need to rely on men any longer.
Men on the other hand have been somewhat changing roles. Men are still more dominating in our society but I think that that is mainly due to our society putting the pressure on men to be masculine and sometimes to the extreme. Mea are expected to be the bread-winners, tough, and outspoken just to name a few. But nowadays men are able to switch roles in a sense without being looked down on. For example, men that are staying at home taking care of the children and the house. Even with the “approval” form some of the society there are also some the ridicule. Like if a man decides to stay home or is force to through some unfortunate problems, to care for their family may be given grief from their peers about taking the more feminine role in the relationship.
In my opinion the gender that has the problems in our society are the men. Men are forced to be the stereotypical image of what a man is supposed to be. If they deviate from that traditional view the men will most likely face more ridicule than acceptance.
I mean;if you think about it- we are all forced to conform to certain ideals. Whether a one sex is subject to more societal pressures than the other is irrelevant and often a technique used to disguise and distract those sharing their observations. In 2010, there are still many pressures put on women as well as men regarding what roles they should play within society-- what post-feminists like to rhetorically indulge in is the idea that "you are either oppressed or not oppressed--if one sex is oppressed than the other one isn't."
ReplyDeleteNow I am not pointing fingers to any one group, its a common fallacy many engage in, the mutually exclusiveness of the oppressor and the oppressed. The them versus us mentality. Since when did feminism become synonymous with a battle of the sexes?
Our enemies are imposed boxes of behavior. We should try to suspend conceptualized limits imposed on everyone. This practically seems like an uphill battle--and it is, but so are most things worth acheiving.