Reading the articles "The Great Lawsuit" and "If Men Could Menstruate" brought two very similar viewpoints to the table in two very different ways. Gloria Steinem who wrote the second article seemed to rant. Once she brought up the point about men menstruating, she went on about how it would suddenly be enviable and a precious event. Her rant, although taken into very unlikely extremes at times held much substance. What men do is often looked on as the most glorious right. Men have a certain power in our society which can date back to basically the earth's existence.
Margaret Fuller, the author of "The Great Lawsuit", talked about how the only way we could reach true equality is with a full spiritual awakening. This goes not only for Man vs. Woman, but for Black vs. White, Rich vs. Poor, and Western World vs. Eastern World. I have often said on my blogs that people act this way and treat each other these ways because that is how it has always been. Many people won't even stand up for themselves because they know no other way. When the events of society unfold, people may question why we do something a certain way. When your only answer is, "I don't know, that's just how it has always been." You know that it's time for a change. Things don't need to stay the same just to make us feel comfortable. Stooping down to levels of intolerance and inequality is nothing to envy.
Although these articles revolved around women, it is relatable to all points of our life. It is obvious that men have oppressed women for years. It is still going on today with the equal pay problems. Women with very similiar jobs to men make significantly less than them. We obviously haven't moved on as a society from the 1960's. We can still change though. There is no sense in dwelling on our wrongdoings when we can still move on and do what we know we have to do.
I enjoyed reading your response to these articles.The idea that you brought forth in the end of the second paragraph was a terrific connection. Although both articles were about women being oppressed, I envied how you brought up the thought of how it connects to all of society. I fully agree that when the only answer is, as you put it, "I don't know, that's just how it has always been." that change needs to occur. I believe you did a fine job connecting the first and last paragraphs as well. Steinem focused solely on women being oppressed by men. I thought the example you brought up in the last paragraph about how women often times get payed less than men in the same position was a fitting piece to clinching your article response. The final aspect I enjoyed was how you finished off the article. The positive note stuck in my mind the most, even though both articles were about the oppression of women.
ReplyDelete