Growing up, I was told that beauty and brains do not go together and that I could only have one or the other. The idea of being both beautiful and smart was something unheard of. To me, this notion stems from stereotypes brought to life by the age-old misogynistic philosophy that women are very simple creatures and cannot possibly be more than just a pretty face or a bookworm. However as I got into the later parts of my childhood and the early pre-teen years, I began to see a shift. Suddenly I had all of these complex female role models who were beautiful, smart, witty, kind, and many more things all at once; girls like Rory Gilmore, Hermione Granger (and the actress who brought her to life, Emma Watson), Dr. Christina Yang, and Holly J. Sinclair. That's just the …show more content…
These women didn't ask to be respected, they demanded it, and they didn't care what people thought about them. It's women like them who have paved the way for girls like Amandla Stenberg, Malala Yousafzai, Maisie Williams; for girls like me. I've grappled with my own demons, with my own insecurities and inadequacies, but when I have women like them showing me that you can make it through anything, because if Hermione can pass all her OWL exams and help defeat Voldemort, then why can't I get a 30 on the ACT and look good while doing it? I am someone who won't accept failure and won't be told that I have to pick and choose what I can be when I know that I have the capacity to be anything I want. I'm not some vapid pretty face or a conventionally-ugly brain; I am studious like Rory, caring like Hermione, bold like Dr. Yang, and unapologetic like Holly J. I am among girls like Amandla, Malala, and Maisie, trying to make it as they are, letting their success motivate me. No longer do I sit here letting people tell me what my limits are; I have no limits, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't let them be determined by a sexist
know beauty in any form”(86). We are so conditioned to see female beauty as what men
“Blacks, women, and the lower classes were seen as having more ancestral brains than white males and they were said to have brains more equivalent to those of white male children rather than white male adults; that is, they were not considered to reach a fully developed state of intellect” (Kaplan and Rogers 35). According to this quote, there is no such thing as a smart woman. Society expected women to have no great intelligence. This goes back to the idea why women can’t be scientist due to their lack of intelligence.
... be viewed and represented. It is difficult to believe that they want to be understood as smart bright women when they appear so artificial and vain. Pretty looks can only take a woman so far before she must rely on her intelligence and skills. From their apparel to their body language to their facial expressions, women are constantly being examined by the public, and moreover by men. It is a cause and effect relationship since men looking at women makes women feel like objects, which in return makes them want to become like pieces of toys for men to stare at and play with. Sanders and Cunningham make it apparent that women are much more than their appearance, and have a lot more to offer than a provocative picture or a plastic smile. However, it is up to the women to change the way they portray themselves to the world if they want to be seen in a different light.
In the article, “The Princess Paradox” by James Poniewozik, he explains that beauty is just not enough anymore for a woman to be considered desirable. Poniewozik says “But to succeed on both the feminist and the fantasy level, the new Cinderella has developed rules and conventions as strict as a Joseph Campbell template.* She should be pretty, but in a class-president way, not a head-cheerleader way”(Poniewozik). This implies that being smart is now just as important as being pretty. Girls in today’s society are expected to be ambitious. They are expected to get good grades and go on to a job that they know they can do perfectly. In today’s society, girls feel that they need to prove themselves. They feel inadequate when they are not smart. In the movie Legally Blonde directed by Robert Luketic, Elle Woods is a beautiful girl. She was dating a man named Warner Huntington III. Elle has suspicions that Warner is going to propose to her, but instead, he says, “Proposing?! Elle, If I’m going to be a politician, I need to marry a Jackie, not a -- Marilyn” (Luketic). This implies that men in today’s society want a woman who is smart, a woman who is going to be successful. Although girls are expected to be educated and successful, they do not have the same expectations as boys. In the Ted Talk by Reshma Saujani, she says “We’re taught to smile pretty, play it safe, get all A’s”
Whatever they may decide to do, they are always judged by society. Women in history have proven that women deserve rights and play an important role in the modern world.
Women are only viewed by society as beautiful if they are tall enough, thin enough, have the right hair, wear the right things and act just the right way, and that’s how it has been for generations. Due to the way society has trained women they are raising their children to follow the standards that have been set instead of just allowing them to grow up and be themselves. Excellent examples of how these standards have influenced the way mothers raise their daughters are throughout the stories “The Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. Do this do that, never disobey in the introduction to “The Fat Girl” Louise’s mother explains to her nine year old daughter how she must act or else boys won’t like her; in comparison to how in the story “Girl” her mother gives exact instruction how she should live in order to prevent her from becoming a “slut.”
"For most of history, anonymous was a woman", quotes Virginia Woolf. (1) Throughout history, women’s lives were restricted to domesticity and family, and they were left oppressed and without political voice. Over the decades the roles of women have dramatically changed from chattels belonging to their husbands to gaining independence. Women became famous activists, thinkers, writers, and artists, like Frida Kahlo who was an important figure for women’s independence. The price women paid in their fight for equality was to die or be imprisoned along with men, and they were largely forgotten in written history. However, the roles they took on were wide-ranging which included working in factories, tending the troops, taking care of children and working at home. Frida Kahlo was a talented artist whose pride and self-determination has inspired feminists and many others. She was an important figure in the women’s movement not because she fought for women’s rights in an organized way, but because of the way she lived her life. “I suffered two grave accidents in my life. One in which a street car knocked me down, the other accident is Diego” (2), says Frida Kahlo. She was in a turbulent relationship with her husband Diego Rivera, but she claimed her independence from him. The experiences in her life shared with her nature and strength made her famous and well-known worldwide as a woman of independence, courage and nonconformity. Women like Frida Kahlo have fought for their independence and contrasting the modern-day women to the women in 1900s, we can see that their roles have changed and in return they received their independence. After centuries of conforming to female stereotypes, women are gradually taking control of their own image of...
Stephen Gould in “Women’s Brains” discusses the previous misconceptions about the intelligence of women based misinformed data. Gould uses a lot of references of leading scientific minds from the late 19th century to show the extreme example of prejudice against women’s intelligence. The major focus is on Paul Broca and his disciples. One of Broca’s followers, Gustave Le Bon, writes about how women’s brains are more similar to a gorilla’s than a man’s. He further writes that the existence of intelligent women “are as exceptional as the birth of any monstrosity, as, for example, of a gorilla with two heads; consequently, we may neglect them entirely” (711). In human history women were considered inferior to men. They are supposed to be brainless
Women have a role to fulfill in society. From the 1600s to now there have been gender roles in place for men and women. These roles were supposed to be followed, especially by women, to be accepted in society. Women with less rights were seen as traditional and people felt bad for the independent women, but it became more acceptable over time.
I work at “ World Famous Tommy’s Hamburgers “ and I’m assistant manager / crew leader and my position requires to be in charge and responsible for everything that happens at work. I am not the only one with the same position there are some women who work the same position as I do. The employees respect me and follow my every order but when I see the women in charge try to enforce authority they either get laugh at or just won’t be respected. That really bothers me because some of these women have been working there way longer than I have and still they don’t get respected by the employees. I’m really against that so at work I tell my employees that the women in charge and whoever that may be needs to respected and acknowledge when demonstrating assertiveness. If the employees do not respect the women in charge how will the work will get done if the women aren’t able to perform their job. I believe that we should stop singling out women from being in charge because they have the same amount of knowledge and power as men do to be in charge in a
Author and feminist Alix Kates Shulman said once: “Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see, you think it’s just reality” (McEneany). That quote sums up perfectly the way our society runs. There is no class teaching children how to act according the their gender. Yet little boys and little girls learn at a very young age what is expected of them. They get ideas about their gender roles from their parents, their school teachers and subconsciously from the toys they play with and the television shows they watch.
Changes in society have brought issues regarding gender stereotype. Gender roles are shifting in the US. Influences of women’s movement (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006) and gender equality movement (e.g., Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)) have contributed to expanding social roles for both genders. Nevertheless, gender stereotypes, thus gender stereotype roles continue to exist in the society (Skelly & Johnson, 2011; Wood & Eagly, 2010). With changes in gender roles, pervasiveness of gender stereotype results in a sense of guilt, resentment, and anger when people are not living up to traditional social expectations (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006). Furthermore, people can hold gender stereotype in pre-reflective level that they may
This idea should promote women, yet Disney managed to mess that up. Now, most would argue that it is a tale of a man that found inner beauty with the help of an independent woman, which would be a factor that empowers the female image. However, the method it was acheived is a different matter entirely. A woman with beauty seemed to be the only one who could do it, yet ideals of intelligence had been looked down upon. Towbin and company wrote on page 30 of “Images of Gender, Race, Age, and Sexual Orientation in Disney Feature-Length AnimatedFilms”, “A woman’s appearance is valued more than her intellect. In 15 movies (Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Alice, Peter, Lady, Sleeping, Dalmatians, Jungle, Aristocats, Robin, Oliver, Hunchback, Hercules, and Emperor), a woman’s value was determined by her appearance rather than her abilities or intellect… Beauty is a case in point: Belle loves to read and is portrayed as independent. Her beauty is celebrated (“It’s no wonder her name means beauty–her looks have no parallel.”) but her intellect ridiculed.” As mentioned in the writing, Belle was praised for her beauty. Heck, her name means beauty. But, she was ridiculed for her intellect. What message does that portray to young women? The film implies that if you are not beautiful, the chance of the world applauding or praising you is little to none. This idea of beauty being worth more than anything in the life of a female is one that objectifies women and harms self esteem. When large media companies, namely Disney, have this type of influence on the world’s views, it plays a role with how women are treated, whether purposefully or
You are at an interview, the interviewer says that you are not qualified for the job because of your gender. What would you say? Sexism has caused stereotypes, and harassment in the workforce, and professional sports, therefore people should know more about sexism. Media is a powerful tool of communication, it produces both negative and positive impacts on society.
I would like to begin with the fact that women have always been known to dedicate their time to beauty. Those who are devoted to their appearance most often believe that beauty brings power, popularity, and success. Women believe this, because they grow up reading magazines that picture beautiful women in successful environments; not to mention they are popular models and world famous individuals. Beautiful women are no longer just a priority for most advertising, but we have become a walking target for the working class employers. It is documented that better-looking attorneys earn more than others after five years of practice, which was an effect that grew with experience (Biddle, 172). We cannot overlook the fact that it is always the most popular and most beautiful girl who becomes homecoming-queen or prom-queen. While these are possible positive effects of the "beauty myth," the negative results of female devotion to beauty undercut this value. These effects are that it costs a lot of money, it costs a lot of time, and in the long run, it costs a lot of pain.