She states that sexism comes from how women have been perceived sexually throughout history and that this heavily influences pornography. McClintock sets up this argument by saying “Women’s desire, by contrast, has been crimped and confined to history’s sad museum of corsets, chastity belts, the virginity cult and genital mutilation” (113). She is saying that women were never given the chance to define their sexual wants and sexual desires because they have always been decided for them. Her main argument is based on her belief that men and women have formed the way that women’s sexuality is portrayed, even before the porn industry existed. McClintock disputes that society wrongly accused women of not wanting to participate as sexual beings and therefore that assumption is why pornography is focused on satisfying the needs of men over the needs of
Another example of Huxley’s criticism of state control is through Feminism. This examination will show how the government takes complete control of the women in Brave New World and perceives them as objects. Sexuality in Brave New World is not complicated as it is in our society because in our society we have the need to label everything that seems different, labeling eases people. Citizens in Brave New World are forbidden to love anyone, they cannot become involved in a romantic or permanent relationship, and they must practice promiscuity and not monogamy. Promiscuity is still not accepted in our society but many people do practice it.
In any case of divorce, women had no legal rights to their children (Bonnie and Ruthsdotter). The institution of marriage stripped women of their rights. State property laws prohibiting women from owning property. Consequently, anything they owed were their husbands now, all earnings went to straight into their husbands pockets (Bonnie and Ruthsdotter). Besides from having no right in the eyes of the law, women also had many limitations regarding education and the workforce.
However, advertising in America has been trying to teach us, sex sells and the American woman is encouraged to show more and more of her body. They are learning the power of their sexuality and the power of it over men. American women enjoy the human rights that the Islamic and Chinese women we read about do not. Islamic women are treated like a slave in their own home, once they marry; their primary duty was to be obedient to their husband, until the day they die. If they received the full approval of her husband, she would find her place in paradise.
However, women were seen as perpetuators of men supremacy and are used in passing down the culture (borderland, 39). One common method used to enforce this was to ensure that women never spoke. Anzadula says that girls were not supposed to talk back to their parent. They were also expected not to be talkative. Similarly, in the woman warrior, “no name woman” bore the wrath of the villagers in silence without uttering the name of the man who sired her child.
In Romeo and Juliet, “Cultural production of the female body”, and Abigail Adams’ letter, women are degraded and objectified as well as are prohibited from exercising their freewill, especially in marital relationships. Women are often put in situations where their free will is compromised due to male superiority and social obligation. In Romeo and Juliet, conflict between social obligation and free will repeatedly occurs when it comes to marriage. In Act 2.4, Capulet states “But fettle your fine joints’ gainst Thursday next, To go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church, Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. Out, you green-sickness carion!
Antigone broke every rule in the book when it came to the way that women were supposed to behave in society back then. Women back then were either seen as slaves, mothers, or concubines, even Kreon told his son Haimon that, “when you lay yourself under a pleasure female the pleasure goes cold soon…and never never never let ourselves be bested by a woman” (lines 740-745 & 772-77), claiming that women are only good for one thing and even that is not enough to trust a woman. But Antigone was not seen as any of these things she believed in something and even though her sister told her not to do it, Antigone knew what was right and defended her beliefs. When Ismene said, “moreover we’re girls girls cannot force their way against men” (lines 70-72) it was obvious that this was one of the reasons that she did not want to help Antigone, she was raised to believe that women did not have the same strength that men have. Antigone defied all “rules” women were taught back then and made sure that not only would she be looked like as a martyr, but as a woman who was not afraid of any
The Scarlett Letter is based on false pretense and a woman giving her sex to someone that she is not married to. A practice common amongst men however when woman have sex for pleasure and pleasure only they are labeled as whores amongst other names to elaborate Hawthorne goes on to say, “Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion. Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin. And over her grave, the infamy that she must carry thither would be her only monument. ”(Hawthorne 118).
Chicana’s experienced machismo within the Chicano Movement because they were seen useful only to perform sexual activities or support the men. The third issue women dealt with was wanting to have access to free and safe abortions, free child care, and birth control. Chicana feminist’s challenged sexism and cultural nationalism by writing
The addition of “own” emphasizes the [wrongness] of what his wife did not just because she did it but because she did it as his wife. Wives should be faithful to their husbands, and while Bisclavret’s wife did not have to stay with him (because he is, after all, a monster), she has promised herself to another man and stripped Bisclavret of his title, his lands, his humanity, his
Ladies were limited by their family life and they had no legitimate right to any of their spouses ' profit or property, beside a restricted right to "appropriate bolster"; spouses, be that as it may, would control their wives ' property and earnings. If the marriage decayed, separation was hard to acquire, as "no-deficiency" separation was impossible, constraining ladies to demonstrate wrongdoing with respect to their spouses keeping in mind the end goal to get divorced. The 38 percent of American ladies who worked in 1960 were to a great extent constrained to employments as educator, medical attendant, or secretary. Friedan staggered the country by negating the acknowledged insight that housewives were substance to serve their families and by
Since the rights and duties of women and men were clearly distinguished in the past. Wives depended on husbands and did wifey duties like households, which was the long believed role for women. Husbands had the power to control over all property like money and family including what wives brought in after the marriage. Husbands could not even give their rights to wives because the court said, “this will presuppose her separate existence.” Furthermore, in the early 19th century, the common belief about women was “women needed to be under male authority because they were more prone to sexual passion and religious error than men” which Coontz found.
In the book “First Generations Women in Colonial America” by Carol Berkin explains to us how women back then were treated differently from now. They experienced awful situations. Carol explains that back then men thought that’s their wives were considered as their land. Men believed that once they married a woman that they could do anything to them and treat them the way they wanted. Men had no respect to women.
If you ask an American what it was like in the 1920’s I am sure you would get a completely different answer than if you asked an Immigrant. In School we are taught about the “Jazz Age.” We talk about the jazz music, movies, and flappers, but what people don't realize, is that there are two different ways people lived and acted during this time period. The “New Immigrants” who came from foreign countries such as Poland, Romania, and Italy did not have the same experiences as the Americans. These immigrants were treated differently because they spoke differently and had different religions and customs.
Women’s Rights in Modern Society Gender equality will not be eliminated until 2095 which is another 81 years, that women won’t be respected on the same level as men. This issue affects some women more than others to the point it has ruined their lives. Where the gender equality situation stands in society it is looked down on because this issue should be solved long before now. While “The Crucible” explores majority of minority of human nature, the issue of Women’s Rights in contemporary society illustrates we are still faced with this majority over minority through wage gaps, education, workforce. The issue of majority of minority through women's rights in society relates to The Crucible through this on going problem of men feeling a sense