Stop Oppressing Me !

in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich

Phyllis Schlafly, a strong, very verbal anti-feminist, once said, “Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.” Pop culture likes to paint the sixties and seventies as a time where all women were devout, bra burning feminist. However, there are two sides to every story. Just as there were women who were extremely passionate about achieving equal rights and advancements for women, there were also women who were perfectly content with being strictly wives and felt that the women’s liberation movement attacked their life styles. Women who were not apart of the women’s liberation movement felt that women already had a good deal by being housewives and could not quite understand what more

First Generations: Women of Colonial America, written by Carol Berkin, is a novel that took ten years to make. Carol Berkin received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has worked as a consultant on PBS and History Channel documentaries. Berkin has written several books on the topic of women in America. Some of her publications include: Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (2004) and Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant (2009). The prejudice that the author brings forward strongly is the notion of feminism.

Taylor Swift has been marked by her many fans as an icon of feminism and empowerment. Inspiring girls on how their own experiences and personal truths are something worth singing about. Illustrating what she claims to be female empowerment through ‘squads’ and award speeches. With the rapidly increasing influence of mainstream media, it is imperative to highlight how big icons such as Taylor Swift are manipulating and being manipulated by the masses, society and the market itself for profit and personal gains.

In these two scenes and in many other scenes and quotes throughout the book beauty is portrayed in a way that does not solely depend on outward appearance and is not defined by normative standards of class, sex, gender, sexuality, and femininity. Simone de Beauvoir’s thoughts in “The Second Sex” also agree with these statements by reiterating the fact that the “feminine woman” is a social construct and that society has controlled how people are supposed to think about normative beauty and women. Beauty cannot be defined. A woman cannot be defined. Beauty is an intersectional concept that includes all identities and all people regardless of outward appearance or what society says is beautiful. Women are not characterized as sexual objects, and do not have to identify as feminine, sexual, high class, normatively beautiful, attractive to men, or any other identities, if one feels they are a woman then they are a

Women was regarded as being the inferior gender and it should not be acceptable to blame her for neither accepting her inferiority nor for fighting for her freedom. Futhermore, Le Guin states that “people is power are better fed, better armed, and better educated and therefore better able to stay that way” (215). He claims that the system that constitutes society is designed to benefit the superiors and that is what de France also discussed in “Bisclavret.” Men are the ones is power and society is designed to benefit them and that was exactly what happened when the King found that bisclavret was a man “the king ran up to the bed, to embrace his man, kiss him, and hundred times and more;” he didn’t ask questions or analyze the case to see who was at fault, he simply empowered him (the superior class) without giving a chance to her (inferior class) to defend herself. Hence, both authors discuss how society is designed to benefit the privileged to keep the inferior in that same position. Moreover, this text also relates to our class themes “mutual obligation” since it also examines human interaction and how it is one is society expects

Throughout history there has been a huge conflict concerning the role of men and women; especially in the 19th century. In the 19th century majority of the population was ran by men because they were seen as the dominant gender in many different aspects such as knowledge, strength, being independent, and working; women on the hand was seen as the more weaker and more fragile gender such as needing a man to depend on, being very emotional/ hormonal, and supposedly couldn’t handle workloads like the men could. These stereotypes and mindset were so common most men and even women thought this was true; which lead very few women to stand out from the rest to show that women could handle Just as much as a man. In the novel “Serena”, there is a different side in how gender is looked upon; the novel shows how women could be just as dominant as the men, and how they are Just as knowledgeable, resourceful, and demanding.

Whenever the slightest portrayal of sexism is seen, feminists are quick to react and correct what is wrong. The solution to sexism is not to blatantly ignore it and say it does not exist anywhere; the solution is to stand up for what is right and implement the actions that need to take place. In “Bad Feminists” by Roxane Gay, it was stated that “[her] favorite definition of a feminist is one offered by Su, an Australian woman who...described them simply as ‘women who don't want to be treated like shit’” (Gay 169). That is basically essential for all bad feminists. In relation to that, the women in the article “Female Chauvinist Pigs” use that approach to feminism to define different aspects of life. More so than not wanting to be treated like shit, they just want to be recognized by their male counterparts to even get a start. Based solely on their gender, women are already placed at a disadvantage in the workplace

Throughout decades the roles of women in society constantly evolves. However, society continues to limit the natural progression of women, who want more for themselves. In “Why Women Smile” by Amy Cunningham and in “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan, both discuss how the majority of time, women are always expected to act on the role given to them by society. Due to these notions that are set by society, the social roles of women have not progressed to their full potential.

With The Second Sex, Beauvoir wrote what is now considered to be the bible for second wave feminism, introducing revolutionary ideas that spurred on feminists for generations to come. Beauvoir draws parallels with oppressions of blacks and jews, with a significant difference: women struggle to create solidarity or separatist groups due to the vastness of their issue, and yet depend on men for a sense of accomplishment, companionship, and economic stability, under concepts created by the patriarchy.“One is not born but becomes a woman” She was the first to say on a broad scale that physical differences don’t explain social differences when it pertains to gender, something that is an integral and base platform for all feminism since

Women became the Other as to what de Beauvoir said in her book The Second Sex because

I’ve chosen this philosopher because there are a few philosophers who are, from the earliest starting point, clearly distinguished as philosophers (e.g., Plato). There are others whose philosophical place is everlastingly challenged (e.g., Nietzsche); and there are the individuals who have bit by bit won the privilege to be yield into the philosophical crease. Simone de Beauvoir is one of these recognized philosophers. Recognizing herself as a author as opposed to as a philosopher and calling herself the midwife assistant of Sartre 's existential morals instead of a mastermind in her own right, Beauvoir 's place in philosophy must be won against her word.

In this book, many of Derrida’s works have been interpreted by female theorists along with his interpretations own interpretations, and a crossing over between the two perspectives. The gender has been deconstructed and his works regarding gender has been analysed and broken down with respect to feminist paradigms.

This thesis consists of Hanif’s portrait of women and their marginalized positions in the society and economic, social and religious pride and prejudices towards women in Pakistani society which is an important theme of his novels. He belongs to those who are proof of that some people can tell the truth more comprehensively and authentically with fiction than facts. In his second novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2012), he discusses the battle and determination of a woman fitting in with minority goes out in a patriarchal society and endures accordingly.

This paper will examine the question, “what is a woman?” utilizing readings from Beauvoir and Butler. Woman is not definable because woman is not just one thing. One is not born a woman or made a woman rather, one becomes woman. Once one has become woman she defines for herself what that means for her own life and future. She gets to do so because her experience differs from man, and from any other woman, same race or otherwise. Woman is ever evolving and will defy definition as time passes.