Final Paper #1

There are many readings that have impacted my life, and have opened my eyes to new things that I had never realized before. The five readings that I have chosen to talk about include; “Taking Sides” by White, “The Eternal Feminine” by Castellanos, “Opt Out” by Belkin, “He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut” by Valentti, and “Beauty Myth” by Wolf. Each of these essays has impacted the way I think considerably, and they have taught me a lot about our society today. They have also put many questions and thoughts into my mind that have caused me to think about women’s issues today. The theme that I have seen in each of these readings is that women are still being restrained. They are still being held back by society and men. Our world might not realize it, but women are still treated unequally. Because of this issue, women will never fully be able to reach their full potential. All five of the readings that I have chosen to write about are connected in the sense that, in every reading it shows how women are constantly being controlled in some way. Whether or not they are successful, our society is constantly trying to put restraints on women. This is why I chose these readings, because until reading these I never really realized how often we as women are held back.
The first article that I want to take a look at is called “Taking Sides”. In this article, the author explains how our society is constantly trying to show how unequal we are to men, whether it is biologically or socially constructed. Even as young children we are treated differently by our sex. In school boys are treated like they will be better at math and science, and as for girls, they are pushed more towards being successful in English and reading. It almost makes girls feel like they should not even try to be smarter than boys in math and science. This article then goes on to argue about how different males and females in many different aspects. However, after reading this article it makes you wonder if men and women really are as different as we seem to think. Biologically it is clear that men are different than women, yet this shouldn’t influence how each of the sexes are treated. Just because women are more emotional and lack penis’s does not make them any less of a human. We should all be treated equal through our differences. We all know that men and women have differences, but those differences should not hold us back or keep us from being successful.
In the “Eternal Feminine”, it is very easy to pick out how women are controlled. At the beginning of the reading the author discusses how the men want the women to be obsessed with their beauty instead of using their minds. Since the women would spend many days at the beauty shop, the men realized that they may become bored. Which would, in return, possibly cause them to start thinking on their own? Therefore they even come up with something that goes in the hair driers to cause them to sleep instead of think while they are waiting for their hair to be done. This is outrageous to me. To think that men are so threatened by women, that they want to control their minds from thinking outside of the box. Throughout the play it is also very interesting to me how Castellanos goes back in history to many important women and uses them as an example. She also shows how things could have been if women would have used their minds. It also makes me think about how things would be today if all women spent more time using their minds, instead of worrying about their outward appearance. Would our world be any different? Surely if women in the beginning would have been encouraged to use their minds, our world would be a different place.
The second article that I would like to discuss is “The Beauty Myth”. This article gives example after example as to how women are controlled in everyday society. It is obvious in our world today that society is completely obsessed with beauty. It is a constant worry on women’s minds today. What is the perfect weight? What is the perfect height? We worry about perfect clothes, and perfect hair. Women are constantly reminded by the media just how “imperfect” we are. In this article the author talks about women and beauty. It shows that there really is not a perfect size or shape. The reading also shows how media does not portray the image of the whole population very well. For example, take a look at today’s models. The average model is nowhere near what the average person looks like. This article not only shows us how ridiculous our society judge’s beauty, but it also shows us how the beauty myth controls us and is used against us. “The beauty myth is not about women at all. It is about men’s institutions and institutional power” (Wolf). Women are compared based on beauty therefore causing competition between women. This causes women to be divided and powerless. This is another way that women are controlled.
In the third reading, “He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut”, the author talks about how differently society judges men and women. Women are significantly held to a higher standard. One way I which the reading points this out is by mentioning how there is not even an equivalent “slut” word for men. One reason that I liked this article is because it did a good job at showing the way we as women are held back, strictly because we are judged and held to a higher standard. In general women are not allowed to express themselves sexually, because that would make them a slut. However, men are encouraged to be more sexual and society sees nothing wrong with a man being more sexually active. They are praised for how many women they have slept with, yet women are put down and viewed as trash. This inequality between men and women does not only pertain to how sexually active someone is, but it also includes the differences between single men and women. Men are bachelors and women are spinsters. In our society it is not highly praised for a woman to be single, but if a man is single he is considered hot stuff and desirable. For a man to be single means that he is in control, he is independent. There are so many ways that men and women are judged differently. Because of this negative view that society has on single women, they are once again pushed back from being whom and what they want to be.
The last reading that I chose was an article titled “Opt Out”, by Belkin. This article talks about how women who are very successful leave the workplace to have a family. Naturally women are created to reproduce, which in return sometimes places a burden on them. All women want to be successful and have the same opportunities as men, this is no secret. However, when the time comes to have children they also fulfill the motherly role. This is not a bad thing, but when intelligent women who are very capable go into the work force looking for a high management jobs, they are less likely to be given the job, simply because they have the option of having children. Most companies do not want the hassle of having to lose a worker because they are pregnant. They realize that women do have this choice to reproduce and leave work to raise the family. This is also a negative setback for women because they cannot always reach their potential. Each of these articles has been important in my understanding of women’s studies in more than one way. This is just what stood out the most to me. These articles, along with class discussion, have taught me that women are not equal, and that we are constantly being set back because of the way society portrays us. I have never really thought about feminism or women’s rights until I took this class and read these articles. Now I am convinced that our fight as women is not over just because we can vote and work. We still have a long way to go to reach the point where women are completely equal to men in all aspects of our lives.
From what I’ve learned in these readings I have realized that we are very much still in the feminist movement. We as women should still be fighting everyday to become more and more equal in our world. Each of these articles portrays different parts to this whole of how women are still kept restrained. Even our money system shows us how women and men are not equal. Women still make seventy-seven cents to a man’s dollar! This shows us that women today have got to become more involved in political issues and things as simple as voting. Just because we get to enjoy many freedoms today, does not mean that we should settle for what we have. We should all be working everyday to improve conditions for women. These articles have taught me a lot just because I never really thought about these issues and how they affect women. Now that I have thought about these things and how women are still undermined, I start to wonder about what is going on in our world to solve these problems? Is there something that can be done to create equality between men and women, or will there always be this mindset that we are different? Is it possible to lose the stereotype that women are less than men? After thinking about these questions and issues I’ve come to realize that we are ultimately humans. We are not perfect, and we never will be. We have just got to do the best we can to make the best out of every situation. Ultimately we should all just follow the “golden rule”, which is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”


Works Cited
“Opt Out” by Lisa Belkin
“The Eternal Feminism” by Castellanos
“Taking Sides” by Jaquelyn W. White
“The Beauty Myth” by Naomi Wolf
“He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut” by Valentti