Analysis Of Taking Women Students Seriously

903 Words2 Pages

Ms. Understood Imagine living in a time when your only role is to get married, bear children, and take care of your house and husband. Adrienne Rich proposes an ulterior idea in her essay “Taking Women Students Seriously” Women should not only question the gender standards but discuss the gender norms that society has created; by discussion and attention to the matter we can eliminate it all together. Women are not represented in school curriculums enough and have a large misrepresentation in society. Rich draws attention to: What women have working against them in education, how women are perceived in the world by the media and advertising, and the gender roles that society pressures young children to contort to. By striking up a discussion …show more content…

“Women and men do not receive an equal education because outside of the classroom women are perceived not as sovereign beings but as prey” (Rich 446). Women already have this preconceived notion that they not only have to compete with men in school but the pressure that society puts on them to compete with other women every day. The body shaming epidemic going on now tells women that if they don’t have the right measurement then you are not considered attractive, it is another example of how women are viewed as a whole instead of as individuals. Adrienne Rich also discusses the obstacle that women face every day, but no one wants to talk about, rape. “How much of my working energy is drained by the subliminal knowledge that as a woman, I test my physical right to exist each time I go out alone?” What Rich is expressing is that women always have the unnecessary burden, of not only being considered the weaker sex in society but also physically being reminded that as women doing something as mundane as walking to your car you have to be conscious of the possibility of being raped. This is affecting women outside of the classroom setting, if women were represented more in mainstream curriculum there would not be such a conception about gender

Show More
Related

  • Good Guys Don T Rape: The Influence Of Gender According To Pascoe

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society, there is evidence that gender roles hold high standards in forming an identity, whether that gender is male or female. These standards put pressure on either gender to uphold them and commit to specific behaviors/actions that validate their very being. For men, this includes being considered masculine, or portraying the sense that they are authoritative over others, in which this includes displaying attitudes that contribute to female subordination. According to Pascoe (2016) in his article “Good Guys Don’t Rape” men are given the opportunity to challenge rape yet reinforce rape attitudes at the same time that are contained within rape culture and masculinity considered “norms.” Pascoe, illustrates that rape can be seen

    Read More

  • Elaine Hall And Marnie Salupo Rodriguez's Article: The Myth Of Antifeminism

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women’s issues are a huge concern to me as I transition into the adult world, especially when sexual assaults are associated with the college culture. From the streets of America to a child bride in Africa, women are suffering from abuse, harassment, and mistreatment. The feminist movement has enhanced life for women, but, in modern society, there are many areas that still need improvement. If we want to resolve issues over the treatment of women, we must tackle and overcome negative views of women, take preventive measures to ensure the safety of women, and bring attention to these injustices.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Sociologist And The Movie Man

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gerry Garibaldi, a high school teacher and Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology both explain how the consequences of the feminism movement are harming boys in school and later in life. Kimmel and Garibaldi present their views on the gender education problems in their articles “How The Schools Shortchange Boys” and “A War Against Boys”. Both make passionate arguments and prove that boys are at a disadvantage in modern feminized classrooms. Kimmel’s arguments about the problems boys face in the American educational system are more convincing than Garibaldi’s, because his style of argumentation is more objective, supported by more statistics, and provides unbiased restatement of opposing views.

    Read More

  • Rape Culture

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, lead us for better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world. Men are usually more aggressive, and women are seen as passive. (Vogelman) This socialization process is changing, but slowly.

    Read More

  • Women In Corporate America

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receive. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women posted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.

    Read More

  • Pledge Of Allegiance Analysis

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    For instance, women were not afforded the right to vote until 1920 with the 19th Amendment – over 150 years since the creation of the United States ("19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution"). The women’s rights movement began with the country’s inception, but suppressive gender roles confined women in the home as wives and mothers. In spite of numerous developments over time, as a woman today, I have a fear of rape that hangs over me as I anticipate entering college. I am not alone in this fear, knowing that one in five women will be sexually assaulted while in college (The Hunting Ground). The problems caused by sexual assault are violations of Title IX, as the lack of safety inhibits a woman’s participation in her education (“Title IX and Sex Discrimination”). When over half of America feels – and has always felt – that they have less freedom due to their gender, there cannot be

    Read More

  • The Second Wave Of Feminism

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin with, the second wave of feminism helped being equality to women in the areas of education, work and pay. Women’s education level has increased dramatically over the last few decades. Just over fifty years from today, there was a smaller percentage of women compared to men who were educated. In the twenty-first century, education indicators show that there is a greater rate of educated women than men. Before the second wave, girls were often bullied and treated unequally for attending school. Girls were expected to follow their mother’s footsteps and practice cooking, cleaning, gardening and other chores performed by the mother. The Title IX of the Education Amendment Act of 1972 was created to “forbid gender discrimination in schools and universities, and also addressed equity in sports.” Equality to girls was not given in school bu...

    Read More

  • Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    Feminism is a word that is stock-full of implications, and has many misconceptions. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti attempts to give a broad overview of what feminism is, and how you should feel about it (hint: it’s positively). The book is directed primarily towards the younger generation, and talks about a variety of issues relevant to the feminist movement today and in history. The weaknesses of the book include the casual writing, the assumptions Valenti makes, and the contradictory statements that are consistently made. The strengths include providing an entertaining, broad overview of feminism, and discussing ways to contribute to gender equality. Overall, the book is more likely to be a positive experience for high-schoolers that identify as women then college-aged individuals looking for a critical analysis of issues society faces in regards to gender inequality.

    Read More

  • The Social Construction of Rape

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.

    Read More

  • Women and Gender Studies

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    This course of women and gender studies, as would all courses, have produced awareness by coherently explaining the situations women are facing in the world today. One may not know of theses situations until taught. By learning of these occurrences, one can properly act upon them. Many women and men have taken the opportunity to attend classes on women’s and gender studies and have since then made strides to make a difference in the unjust society that must be faced.

    Read More

  • Second Class Citizenship Essay

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thompson, A. (2003). Caring in context: Four feminist theories on gender and education. Curriculum Inquiry, 33,

    Read More

  • The History of Women in Education

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    The right for women to be educated has been long sought after. The history of women education started the beginning of feminism. Education, over the last two hundred years, has changed women lives in America according to Barbara M. Solomon. In the early years of American history women were discouraged from getting a higher education it would be considered unnatural for women to be educated, and women were only taught domestic skills such as sewing, cooking and child-rearing. American women began to seek opportunities for further education, as well as equal rights. The history of women’s education has evolved through events that have shaped the culture of America today. To better understand the women’s education movement, it is important to know the background of its history.

    Read More

  • The Objectification of Women

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of time, women have always been seen as things purely for the pleasure and benefit of men. Women have always been objectified. Objectification is seeing and treating a person as if they did not have thoughts and feelings, as if they had the status of an object.{1} Only in recent years have they begun to be seen as individuals of equal intelligence and ability. You may think, ”Women have had equal rights for a while. I do not see how this is a problem.” It may not seem like women were given their rights recently, but in our history, women have been treated objectively for thousands of years, even dating back to biblical times. Still, even when women have the same rights, opportunities, and responsibility as men, women can be found almost everywhere being treated as though they were incompetent and lesser human beings.{4}

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Society

    374 Words  | 1 Pages

    The role women play in today’s society is a drastic change from the previous role. Women used to be confined to the superiority of the man. Physically, mentally, and emotionally abused, belittled, embarrassed, and silenced. These are just a few examples of the emotion from the isolated treatment of the past. A woman’s role in today’s society is more valued than ever before.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality: The Allocation of Household Chores

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Minas, A. (2000). Gender basics: Feminist perspective on women and men.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Taking Women Students Seriously

Open Document