Wednesday, April 25, 2012
As it is my facilitation day tomorrow, I will try to condense my Blog questions and thoughts because we will hopefully be discussing them in class Thurs. I found the Intro very interesting. I am specifically interested in the implications of the unique relationship women have with men. Beauvoir highlights this "bond that unites her to her oppressors is not comparable to any other" I agree with this. Men and women are completely tied to each other in this society, and in many cases men and women depend on each other. Beauvoir relates the subordination of women to that of the master and slave, saying they are both "united by a reciprocal need". How can women change their status in our society while they are continually dependent on men and immersed with them within our society? While Beauvoir suggests declining to be the other, she also states that this would mean women would have to "renounce all the advantages conferred upon them by their alliance with the superior caste." Is this even possible in our society? Could women completely separate from men and would that have any beneficial effects? Another extremely vital point Beauvoir makes is that many women are "often very well pleased with her role as the Other." While I think many women would not say they were necessarily subordinate to men, or that they were the other, I do believe that there is a general feeling of contentment from women in our society. If there wasn't, how could something like the War on Women be taking place in 2012? How could women currently be, time and time again, subordinate to men made clear by our politics and mainstream media if this wasnt the case?
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It's interesting how you were talking about how women were pleased with their role. It reminds me of this news report I heard one time, it was from the 1970's, I think, when some regions of Switzerland were finally giving women the right to vote. The reporter asked one woman if she wanted the right to vote, to which she answered with an indignant "NEIN!" I don't remember if she explained why at all, but the memory has always stuck in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I agree with the idea that the role between men and women can be compared to the role of master and slave. It seems a tad extreme to draw that conclusion to me. I know that in many societies and in many measurable ways women are subordinate to men but my personal life experiences have also shaped the way I see the world. It was not until college that I really learned that "men and women aren't equal". Until then, I had never even considered that anything would hold me back from doing anything I that I wanted to do. I played the sports I wanted to play, studied the subjects I wanted to study, and considered every career under the sun. Nothing ever seemed limited to me.
ReplyDeleteI understand that my experience does not speak for all women by any means. I have also been fortunate to grow up in a community that allows me this freedom of feeling like I can do anything and for that I am grateful. I can only base my feelings about the world on my experiences in it.
I can't wait to defend this point tomorrow ^^ :[
ReplyDeleteWell spoken Sara. I also really enjoyed listening to your points in class on Thursday, whether it was during the discussion, the point you made during the break, or a more detailed statement of the argument above before class. I agree with you. I particularly agreed with your comments about the wage gap. I had studied the reasons for that in microeconomics and the answer was the exact same one that you gave. Very little has to do with conscious gender discrimination, which since the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Act of 2009 is illegal. I'm amused by all the questioning of why it sill exists when the answers are out there and make a great deal of sense.
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