Changing roles of women

Honey, I’m Home

“Honey, I’m Home” now doesn’t even have a gender orientation to it, but only 30 years ago it referred to the “bread-winner” (the man of the house) coming home after a long day of work greeting his wife. This idea of male dominance is shown in the text Mirror on America, in the picture where the groom is holding his wife who is drastically smaller than him, showing some sort of dominance a male has over a female (63). It is also shown in the picture where the man looks like he came home from a long day of work and waiting for his wife to serve him dinner (62). Nowadays it’s a little different most women are employed full-time and have to come home to clean and cook for their families. Unfortunately, things are almost exactly the same the if not harder for women because now they not only have to cook and clean, but they also have to work.

Dave Barry, the author of the essay “The Ugly Truth about Beauty”, in the text Mirror on America believes women are too concerned with the way they look. He implies that women are never satisfied with their look, while all men “think of themselves as average looking” (35) . Women feel they have to strive to enhance their looks because the image society portrays of “beauty” is far from the average woman’s features. The author relays this message when he talks about supermodel Cindy Crawford giving out makeup tips:

Cindy had all these middle-aged women applying beauty products to their faces; she stressed how important it was to apply them in a certain way, using the tips of their fingers. All the women dutifully did this, even though it was obvious to any sane observer that, no matter how carefully they applied these products, they would never look remotely like Cindy Crawford, who is some kind of genetic mutation. (35)

Unfortunately, everyone even me has been affected by society’s view on beauty. I believe my view on “beauty” is very similar to that of most men. I believe a person’s beauty is easily enhanced by their personality.

The character and personality of a person is determined by their experience, background and childhood. Children are influenced greatly by their surroundings as well as their role models whether they are good or bad role models to have. The insecurities women have about their looks are due to their upbringing.