The Role Of Women In The Naked Citadel, By Susan Faludi

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In the Naked Citadel by Susan Faludi, we are taken into the notorious Citadel were the halls are lined with depictions of stern-faced generals, and where young boys are merely unrecognizable as college students. Where they appear as mere boys dressed in professional cadet attire. Men that have been ruthlessly broken down, and stripped of their egos, by not only their upper class mates, but by faculty. In a relentless manner that was sought by generations of citadel loyalist and alumni in order to shape them into their man hood. However, in the year 1994 not a single female was allowed to attend at least not as a Citadel in uniform. And it would take a strong willed woman to break the long standing traditions and join in an all-male military-type …show more content…

Susan Faludi, a resolute feminist who is concerned with defending the rights of women with in the citadel sees the men in this citadel as oppressors of not only women, and of themselves within a male dominate society, were the disempowerment crosses the gender lines.
Susan Faludi unfolds a world of male domination and its interrelationships within its confines and places women in the center of her story. Indeed it truly took an extremely self-confident woman to even entertain the idea of entering an all-male academic college like the Citadel, whose front gate practically reads like that of a young boys fort that makes the bold statement, “No girls allowed they have coodies.” Shannon Falkner was a strong willed woman with an immense amount of confidence to completely omit her gender on the Citadel application to enter this college. As if gender was not an issue, or should have never been an issue in …show more content…

These cadet’s moral issues against women and them self’s steamed from the oppression that they suffered at the hands of the college’s relentless ego shattering and extreme hazing that would come from the seniors to the knobs. Right from the start of their schooling these men are subjected to horrendous prolonged unjust treat meant where they are told that masculinity is now a way of life. Treatment that was so unforgiving that these men could not even walk away with a clear really of who they were any more instead they would pay attention to the social cues around them and as a result they conform, and obey there male dominating leaders. Then with some hope of regaining some control in their lives they lash out to other class mates this motivational treatment affects any one around them regardless of gender as long as they were seen as weaker. These men were forced to not only play the role of the female, but also that of male causing gender confusion for many of these cadets. By forcing these young men to not only shower together in non-stalled showers and to relay on each other to dress each other with the proper shirt tuck and do all the domestic house work it at times even being dresses as women during etiquette-training, created a highly dysfunctional reality for these young men that they should

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