Female Dominance or Male Failure?
James Thurber illustrates the male species' status with respect to, “
Courtship Through The Ages” with a humorous and melancholic tone. He emphasizes the lack of success males experience through courtship rituals and the constant rejection we endure. Our determination of courting the female with all our “ love displays” may be pointless as it is evident in the repetitive failures of courtship by all male creatures. Thurber shares his problems with courtship and the role which men portray, he explores the relationship between nature and culture, and the demands culture places on men. Thurber's frustration with the female species is obvious and is reflected throughout his essay. The extremities males endure to obtain female attention become overwhelming and incomprehensible to Thurber, consequently conflicting with the myth and construction of the ideal of masculinity.
Thurber's frustrations with women are evident right from the start. He displaces male insubordination to the blueprint of nature and it's “complicated musical comedy.” (Rosengarten and Flick, 340) It's interesting that he attributes nature as a female creator and thus justifying the relationship that “ none of the females of any species she created cared very much for the males.”
(p 340)
Thurber compares the similarities of courtship to the complicated works of Encyclopedia Brittanica. A book which is full of wonders and within lies mysteries of the unknown and unpredictable. In comparison to the Encyclopedia
Brittanica the female is alike in many ways, such as its perfect construction and orderly appearance seeming as if they replicate one another like a clone. I believe Thurber views all female species as being similar to one another with respect to their character.
The author also associates courtship as a business, a show business. A world which is chaotic, disorderly and full of confusion much like nature. It is an aggressive competition between genders in which mother nature dominates.
He also attributes the similarity of constructed rules and regulations in need of much guidance with the help of a hand manual.
Culture also places demands on males. Males who are lacking in outer appearance and sexual appeal try to diminish their faults by acquiring gifts “to win her attention... and bring her candy, flowers, and the furs of animals” (p
340) for the lady in courting. Women's refusals became men's burden which laid heavily on their shoulders in the social relationship. “These 'love displays' were being constantly turned down, insulted, or thrown out of the house.” (p
340) This produced the evident exhaustion of the male species such as the “ fiddler crab who had been standing on tip-toe for eight or ten hours waving a
women were evil, existed because they were seen as a potential threat to the order of the
As modern society has begun to create complete equality between gender and race, women were still seen as second best, below their fellow man. As women of today, like the females of ancient times, still don’t have as much power as men, they’re blamed for wrong doings and untrustworthy, and their bodies are used as currency by men or are taken advantage off. Hopefully as the future progresses, these issues will be resolved and won’t continue for generations to come.
women faced many issues. They were seen as inferior to man. They did not have many
From The Flood, I say that from Ishtar’s saying “Alas, the days of old are turned to dust because I commanded evil; why did I command this evil in the council of all the gods? I commanded wars to destroy the people, but are they not my people, for I brought them forth? Now like the spawn of fish float in the ocean.”(Culture and Value. page 295), women strongly related to life because she says “not my people”, which means that she owns her human beings.
not only would men not take any interest in her, but also she had no
A society such as this, defined as having a basis on women, truely, does not.
Through Theogony and Works and Days, Hesiod expressed a hostility toward women that was endemic throughout Greek antiquity. His misogyny is best revealed through his story of Pandora, the creation of women. The very idea that women were created as an affliction for mankind proves that Hesiod looked down upon women with disdain. The depiction of Echidna as a beautiful woman and terrible beast represents his vision of the female race. His compassion for anti-feminist ethics and absolute distrust of women is present in both his books. His misogynistic random sucker-punches at the opposite sex were common belief in ancient Greece. "He who believes a woman, believes cheaters." His teachings of women were common belief in ancient Greece and his prejudices were completely misogynistic.
Women were treated as second class citizens. They were willfully ignored by members of the Christianity and Despite the patriarchal society from the biblical days, God is taught as being just as much a Mother as God is a Father (102). The willful ignorance of religious scholars of the time just show that they were making a conscious effort of trying to keep women from retaining any power that they had. This relegation of religious roles in an effort to keep Men in power is a poor example of how Christianity is a religion which promotes for the love and care of all people, no matter their status. The interpretation of God from these times clash severely with my notions of what is now considered to be an all-loving entity.
There are many different facets to the nature versus nurture argument that has been going on for decades. One of these, the influence of nature and nurture on gender roles and behaviors, is argued well by both Deborah Blum and Aaron Devor, both of whom believe that society plays a large role in determining gender. I, however, have a tendency to agree with Blum that biology and society both share responsibility for these behaviors. The real question is not whether gender expression is a result of nature or nurture, but how much of a role each of these plays.
As part of human survival instinct, we tend to judge and label other individuals based on their physical appearance and gestures. But to understand one’s identity and interior self, we need to look beyond these physical factors. One of the first things that we assume upon meeting someone for the first time is usually whether they are male or female. However, what we sometimes do not take into consideration is that sex and gender are not the same. Sex is determined by an individual’s biological characteristics. Gender, on the other hand, is acquired and constructed. Sex and gender cannot be separated because both the biological and social factors contribute to making a person who they are. But sex and gender can be distinguished
She even insults him by telling him that the only way he’ll be able to prove his manhood to her is to commit murder, since he hasn’t already proved it to her by “giving her a son.” That was a very, very harsh insult because in those times, males were everything. (p.9, The Follies of Power)
In the creation, Eve was creating from “the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man” (Genesis 2). From this context one can see that this society believes that males were created first and women are created from men. The writer of the creation also makes the women seem like the ignorant one since she is the one that is tricked by the snake to consume the forbidden fruit. Thus, we start to see a society that belittle women. This is confirm when God punish Even by stating, “yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3). Furthermore, this line directly tells all readers that the wife is submissive to the husband and the husband has control over his wife. The key component of Genesis is that it gives a religious reasoning to why women are less superior to men. Genesis tells the Hebrew society that women are not equal to men because they are made from men, therefore, they have to be controlled by their husband or else they will get tricked like Eve. This time period uses religion to give reasoning to certain societal
In the book “The Importance of Being Earnest” there were lots of stereotypes about gender. Certain woman were very rude like Lady Bracknell “Mr. Worthing! Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is the most indecorous”. She did not care if her comments affected person that she was directing them at.
My impressions of the opposite sex are diverse and have changed throughout my life. As a child born into a family of three girls, my exposure to the opposite sex was limited. The only real male in my life was my father. I never viewed him as the opposite sex because he was my dad. He was a strict, authoritative figure and a great protector. My early impressions of the opposite sex were that of great strength and security, both physically and emotionally.
Women are always expected to behave decently in our society because if they do any damaging act it will bring shame and dishonor to the male members of their family.