Bell Hooks Women's Rights Analysis

Thousands of women have screamed at the top of their lungs, clawed at the patriarchy, and tirelessly fought for their rights as citizens of the United States of America. From the beginning of mankind, women have been labeled as inferior to men not only physically, but mentally and intellectually as well. Only in 1920 did women gain the right to voice their opinions in government elections while wealthy white men received the expected right since the creation of the United States. A pioneer in women’s suffrage, Susan B. Anthony publicly spoke out against this hypocrisy in a time when women were only seen as child bearers and household keepers. Using the United State’s very own Constitution and Declaration as ammunition, Anthony wrote countless

History has shown that cruelty against women has been a long time fight that has grown over the years. The way men treat women has become a very pressing matter and is affecting women all around the world. Women have fought this fight for generations and generations to come will have the same fight until men change their ways. For example, women fought for their right to vote for years. Eventually women won the fight and life for women has become more equal. The fight against cruelty towards women is now the pressing issue. Jose Saramago’s Blindness and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale both present different causes of cruelty against women, but readers may debate whether or not they are the most prominent causes. However, they both show

In nearly all historical societies, sexism was prevalent. Power struggles between genders mostly ended in men being the dominant force in society, leaving women on a lower rung of the social ladder. However, this does not always mean that women have a harder existence in society. Scott Russell Sanders faces a moral dilemma in “The Men We Carry in Our Minds.” In the beginning, Sanders feels that women have a harder time in society today than men do. As the story progresses, he begins to understand why he thinks in the manner that he does. Sanders does an excellent job of showing how his thinking changes as the text progresses. He does this through his brilliant use of interior monologue and personal anecdotes.

Rhetorical strategies are a variety of parts that make up an essay. The strategies include everything from explaining a process, to structure of writing. Whether the author 's purpose is to entertain, inform, or persuade, ultimately these strategies will strengthen not only the author’s purpose, but also the writing itsef. Typically when authors use these strategies, they are very precise to how they use them, and when deeply analysing a piece of writing, this is very clear. In Bell Hooks’ “Understanding Patriarchy”, she used rhetorical strategies to convey her purpose. Bell Hooks, is Gloria Jean’s pen name. Bell Hooks is an American author, socialist, and feminist. Her rhetorical purposes, are to inform and persuade. In her essay she is informing her audience about patriarchy.The definition of patriarchy is “a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line” (Dictionary). Hooks explains everything about patriarchy, she explains a religious perspective, a feminist perspective, and even a personal experience with patriarchy. To strengthen this, hook uses numerous rhetorical strategies. Hooks’ use of structure, tone, personal experience, logos, and variety of perspectives, support her purpose and strengthen her essay.

For many centuries in our society women have been confined into a stereotypical idea of a patriarchal society. In today 's society the idea isn’t as much viewed upon with all the rights women have been given, but the concept still lingers in some of men 's minds. More so, than today, in the 19th century women were obligated to abide to the principle of gender roles and a male dominated culture. Women were seen as to be a slave and to act a certain way towards men as well as be able to gratify man 's lust of expectations of a perfect woman. These presumptions of women had been very much portrayed in short story , The Chaser by John Collier, in which a boy name Alan Austen seeks for a love potion from an old man, for a girl he likes name Diana. The short story really showed the judgement of men’s egotistical minds and also their lust in which clearly stated the true colors of what men really think of women. This establishes the stereotypical image of a woman becoming a man’s puppet, and having no voice in what occurs, but to only be there for an egotistical lust of love in a submissive form to fulfill a man 's desire.

During this week, we have covered numerous topics, none more prominent than the oppression of women. Everyone had different opinions, allowing me to take into account different views on the issue. In one of the texts we examined, “Oppression”, Marilyn Frye, a philosopher, debates the subjugation of women. She states the cultural customs that causes oppression of women. I do agree with her view that women are oppressed, but I do not agree that it is just women. I believe that men as a gender are also oppressed.

History has repeatedly given men privilege due to their physical advantages; yet it is these same advantages that have developed into “rules” or expectations that all men should conform to in order to prove their manhood. Michael Kimmel’s essay, “‘Bros Before Hos': The Guy Code” outlines the “rules” where men are expected to never show any emotions, be brave, act knowledgeable, be risk takers, be in control, act reliable, and be competitive, otherwise they would be showing weakness which is analogous to women. It is humiliating that men associate weakness with women; they should focus on the potential of the individual rather than their gender. Most insults toward men attack their masculinity because society finds it shameful for men to be

Susan S. Lanser’s “Feminist Criticism, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ and the politics of color in America” examines the impacts “The Yellow Wallpaper” had on feminist writing styles and critiques. Lanser writes that the story helps to analyze the reading trough “the lens of a female consciousness” and apply the knowledge gained from a female perspective onto other literature (418). The transition that the narrator displays from being dependent on John to becoming independent reflects the feminist movement and challenges the “male dominance” that currently takes precedence in society (418). The “patriarchal prisonhouse” that is society controls the narrator and oppresses women not only in “The Yellow Wallpaper” but in real life as well (419). The

The feminist theory is based on finding and exposing negative attitudes toward women in literature. Their goal is to reveal the reality of how women get portrayed in literature due to the fact that most literature presents an inaccurate view of women and are most of the time minimized. In the Catcher in the Rye there is a few female characters such as Sunny, the girls at the club, and Sally who are put in situations that show nothing but stereotypes and puts them in a bad spot throughout the novel. J.D Salinger decides to put some of the female characters in situations that can cause those who read this novel to think bad or leave readers with a bad image of women. This bad image on women is due to the fact that he decided to portray some of

Despite what some may think, women today are still not fully equal to men. In a post on nobullying.com discussing the history of discrimination against women in developing nations, it says that young girls account for “6o percent of the out-of-school population of children”(Discrimination Against Women). Women are expected to be a supporter of the breadwinner role of men, to stay at home and raise the children. But whoever came up with that stereotype? The answer is simple: men. Men have given the media this unrealistic image that women cannot fend for themselves, cannot do hard jobs, or cannot get as far in life as a man. Even in jobs, though a woman and a man may be in the same position, women “earn just 74 cents for every $1 a man earns” (CNNMoney). This is truly unfair, yet men today still say that women are “equal,” though it is obviously false. Women today, though they have more rights than in the 1800’s, are still not in the place we need to be in ranking with men. Women are still abused, sexually harassed and mistreated more than men because of their sex. They are seen as lesser, despite making up 51 percent of America’s population. And the misogyny and discrimination is not just in the United States; it happens in many other countries as well. Girls, underage and innocent, can be married off to an older man without their consent in Iraq since child marriage has been legalized in October of 2013

In Robert Jensen’s article “The High Cost of Manliness”, he states that the idea of masculinity is a bad thing and they should get rid of it. This article debates on the common stereotypes of men, as he states:

“Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!”

For long, women were considered inferior to men. Before the start of the women’s rights movement, people thought that females were destined for a life of cleaning, taking care of kids, and being a good; submissive wife. They couldn’t own property, couldn’t vote, couldn’t attend school nor college, couldn’t work, couldn’t even take care of their own money; it was as if they were objects, destined for reproduction. In medieval times, women were even considered the devil’s work. This was such a common belief that even St. Jerome (who was a saint) once said: Women is the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of serpent, in a word a perilous object”. It took women, a long time before they finally had

Jackson Katz’s deficient diction portrays a fallacious idea that the majority of the victims of domestic violence are women with ideas that it’s a “men’s issue, and we are at fault” and “men are broken and need to be leaders, receive leadership training, and not sensitivity training.” Multiple empirical studies conclude that ¼ of all relationships have violence, and nonreciprocal violence in a relationship was more than 70%, initiated by females, and only less than 30%, initiated by male. People say that females are more affected as the statistics show that women get the brunt of the damage, but that 's because men are usually stronger and have the ability to inflict that much damage. From this, we can assume that the stereotype that women are

“Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors,” -Evelyn Cunningham. During the early 20th century, society’s expectations of women were tremendously different than how they are currently in the 21st century. Women were expected to be submissive to the men around them and had to listen, obey, and serve them. Prominent examples were represented in Ernest Hemingway’s stories, “Cat in the Rain” and “Hills like White Elephants.” Both of the well-known short stories were written in the 1920s and depict the mistreatment of women. Hemingway wrote, “Cat in the Rain” and “Hills like White Elephants” which characterized and represented women as silent, submissive victims who were oppressed