Men, Media, and the Oppression of Women

1681 Words4 Pages

Beginning before America was even a nation, women struggled to understand their roles in society along with what rights they are entitled to. America, being built on immigrants desire to live the American Dream, yet the American Dream can only be accomplished if one has a wife to stay at home and create a strong family. Men live the American Dream through restricting women’s rights to tending to their family and house so that a strong family will be established. Although, this excuse men create, which keep women inside to take care of their family was truly because men, see women as a threat to their profession and personal social status. Because men believe that their personal power is built upon family strength, they demand their wives to raise their future generations. This alone proves that men do not truly see their wives as idiotic considering they trust them to create a strong family and future generation. Men in the 1800’s would enable the rights of women, allowing them to only be good for to raise a family, by the way they treated their wives but as generations and years have progressed, women have continuously been brought down by men but also through the use of female roles in media. Beginning in the early 1800’s men, their wives and children made the voyage across to America, yet women might as well have been viewed as not a wife but another piece of land, just in a new country considering women’s duties were the same in both the east and the west. In both locations men and women were believed to be apart of “different spheres.” Barbara Welter elaborates on these spheres through her essay “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860” (1966). Welters describes the male sphere was focused around the world of the work force, ... ... middle of paper ... ...e successful along with the fear men have of the power women have. American men having such negative attitude and comments about the possibility of the nation being ran by a female president proves that it is impossible to think that a women is not still viewed as inferior to men and believed to be destined to raise a strong family to strengthen our male-ran country. Works Cited Hymowitz, Carol, and Michaele Weissman. A History of Women in America. New York: Bantam, 1978. Print. Lambert, Miranda. ""Mama's Broken Heart" Lyrics." A-Z Lyrics. Musix Match, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Rich, Michaele. "TV Families of the Fifties." Fifties Web. N.p., 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. Rolling Stones. "Mother's Little Helper Lyrics." Lyrics Freak. MTV Network, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860." N.p., 1966. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

Open Document