Thursday, October 17, 2013
In our society, we view women and men have specific duties that they perform. These duties have changed and developed over the years. In the early years, women were thought to only be in the kitchen and at home with the children while men were supposed to go to work and provide for his family. Now, women are able to have the same jobs that men can have while it is acceptable for a man to stay at home with his children. But, there are still very drastic views about men and women. For instance, a man can sleep with a lot of women and be considered "lucky" and a "stud." If a women were to sleep with a lot of men, she would be considered a "slut" and "loose." Are these generalizations correct? What other unfair comparisons do you notice in todays society? What gender rules are implied in The Handmaid's Tale?
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I believe that the roles of women have significantly changed after women wanted more rights and did not want to be discriminated against. Women usually have jobs and still take care of the family. Some families cannot rely on just the man's income; therefore, the women are required to work. In our society, the money required for everyday life has gone up. In the past, men always had to do a lot of hard labor that women were not able to do. Now, machines have taken over much of the hard labor. These made our lives increasingly easier. Women can now do these jobs with machines just as well as men can. The World Wars also required women to do more and more while their husbands were overseas fighting. I notice that whenever a women gets pregnant it is the women's fault not the man's in our society. In everyday life, I notice that many people believe that men have less resistance to sex than do women. Women are considered to have much more resistance to sex. This could be why a man can sleep with multiple women and be called a stud while a women who sleeps with many men is called a slut. Many years ago, it was also acceptable for a man to have multiple wives. This could still be influencing our society today.
ReplyDeleteI agree that society blames women for pregnancies. They force contraception methods upon women more than men. But wouldn't it make more sense to take the bullet out of the gun than to wear a bulletproof vest? Instead of blaming women, it would make more sense to blame men, or half and half. But your other point about men having multiple wives. Polygamy was not completely widespread. I think that it stems from women being taught by society that if they had sex before marriage they were to be shunned. It could also stem from society calling women "spinsters" if they were not married by a certain age, usually 16.
DeleteIt is very interesting to think about why there is such a different standard between men and women when it comes to sex and pregnancies. For pregnancy, it is obvious who the irresponsible mother was, so therefore, she takes a lot of the disapproval because it is obvious to see her mistake since she is constantly carrying the result around with her. It is not so obvious to see that the male has made a mistake because he does not carry the shame. Now in cases that don't result in pregnancy, it is not as easy to decipher the reasons for how men and women are viewed. The stereotypes are just so common that it is difficult to get them out of people's thoughts and words. Since women are naturally and historically a part of men, it is difficult for society to see them equal to men.
DeleteEven today, there is still gender discrimination throughout many aspects of life. Some employers will hire a man over a woman, believing that they will be able to do more work, while it is not always so. Many women, if they feel that they are discriminated against or are being looked down upon, will work harder just to show that they are capable. Women in traditionally male sports, for example. Some women play football while in middle school or high school, and are occasionally told that they cannot for fear of them getting hurt playing against larger boys. Some girls also wrestle, but there are few boys that weigh as much as a girl, so they do not participate in many matches. If a guy wants to play volleyball or soccer, they are occasionally looked down upon as not wanting to work for other sports. As far as sex goes, there are individuals that don't help the stereotype. There are men that brag about how many women they've slept with, and there are women that sleep with anything. Women are usually viewed as meant to stay abstinent, but there are few that do now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that some employers do discriminate against women. This could be due to the fact that women of child bearing age may take a maternity leave. This really influences employers. There are some sports that are aimed toward either men or women. This could be due to the fact that men are usually physically stronger than women. Men tend to play sports that are more aggressive than do women. I believe that with time the stereotypes of both men and women will change and become more similar.
DeleteI like how you mentioned sports as being discriminating. In our society it is more acceptable for a woman to play a man's sport than a man playing a woman's sport. Women work just as hard as men in the sports they play, so a man playing a woman's sport shouldn't be looked down upon. The reason they are though is because women are still seen as the weaker link.
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ReplyDeleteThere is the simple fact of life that men and women are different. The whole chemical, physical, and emotional make-up of males and females are different and that is .true for many reasons. It is ingrained into everyone's minds that the genders are so different that it is nearly impossible to treat them as equals. I think that it is just a natural mindset to hold women and men separately. Men have a different personality and disposition than women do and they go about their work differently also. Women are totally capable of working in the same fields as men, but they will do the job differently, not worse, but different. In _The Handmaid's Tale_ it makes sense with the roles they gave the women. In past societies, women had the role of being the home-maker and nothing else. All of the components of this were simply divided among all the women in Gilead and separated into different classes. The fact that women in Gilead only had to do a certain job in the home instead of all of them was another "perk" that the citizens were given, a freedom from taking on too many jobs.
ReplyDeleteMoriah, you are so correct that it is a "natural mindset to hold women and men separately." It is true that women will do a job differently than men, whether it be a better job or worse job than that of the man. This is partially dependent on the individual woman. Women are grown to be a certain way due to the society, just as men are also. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood takes the basic roles of women and amplifies them to become the main roles of women.
DeleteMen and women aren't so different. There are some jobs only a woman could do and some jobs only a man can do. For example only women can have children and only men can provide the sperm needed to fertilize the egg. To me that's the biggest difference. I don't see how one gender should rule over another. Both genders are needed to continue life, so both genders are equal. In _The Handmaid's Tale_ women and men aren't equal. Women are subordinate to men. They have one purpose and one purpose only, to procreate. If they are unable to have children then a women is brought in to have a child for them. A woman's status in _The Handmaid's Tale_ depends upon her job and/or her husband. In this novel women have no real value past their child baring years.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the society's views and acceptances about women have changed greatly over the years, there are definitely many generalizations and stereotypes that are still common among the society. Sarah's example is one generalization that I feel is not correct. Men and women are indeed very different. However, gender does not matter when it comes to choices and actions that we, as people, make. It is not fair to generalize males OR females, no matter their actions or choices. In today's society, women still face unfair stereotypes and unequal rights compared to men. Studies show that women get paid 77 cents for every dollar that men are paid. This is still true all over the world. Over the next years and years to come, women will most likely still face unfair comparisons to men, whether about income or about "sleeping around." This is because ever since the beginning, men have been viewed as superior.
ReplyDeleteVirginia, I love how you pointed out that women are still struggling with gender discrimination, even today. I agree that we should not take generalizations of either gender. I wonder if that will change in the years to come. What changes will we see in the role of women? Will they become the more powerful gender? Or will they stay under the shadow of men? Will they continue to earn respect in the business world? Or will they become the keeper's of the household? These questions can and will be answered only with the passage of time and the continual development of the society.
DeleteMen have long been seen as the superior gender because they are required to provide for the family. Due to this, the gender generalizations that we see are sadly wide spread. The Handmaid's tale takes us essentially backwards in the rights of women. They are no longer allow to read, write, or even leave the house unless permitted by the Commander. They are only valued while they can reproduce, when they can no longer, they are slaughtered just like livestock would be. They Handmaids are only there to create more men. Generalizations that appear in this story is that women are dumb, no more than significant than animals, and that men are all powerful. These are both proved wrong through out the novel, however they help develop the story. In fact Serena Joy is one of smartest characters in the book, influencing the entire household with just a few of her words. Also the Commander is discovered to have a weakness for Offred therefore making him more susceptible to her charms.
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