Cameron Our Daughters Ourselves Analysis

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The pressure from society to be open and accepting of others and to progress with true equality is a wonderful thought, however, there are stereotypes associated with different races, cultures and genders and these perceptions lead to injustice and put a hindrance on a truly equal future. In her article “Our Daughters, Ourselves” Cameron describes her life as a woman and a mother who at times feels alienated, and is often left feeling inferior to men. She spends a majority of the article referring to young women and how they will soon come to the realization that not all is equal between man and women. Cameron feels that throughout life men have certain advantages placed before them and that is what leads to their success, she shows this…show more content…
Much like Cameron’s article it is a story of a life filled with injustice and inequality, fueled by negative and erroneous stereotypes filtered down through our society. Staples makes several references of times he has felt alienated, one of which is when he says “Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence. Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that comes of being ever the suspect, against being set apart, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact” (178). This particular exert from the article provides an example of negative racial stereotypes. That no matter the quality of Staples character, his impressive educational background and his success, to strangers he is judged based on how he looks on the outside and he is often portrayed in a negative light. In the article Staples makes several references to a different article “My Negro Problem-And Ours” by Norman Podhoretz. In this article one line stuck out to me, “At the age of twelve, in my world it was the Whites, Italians and Jews, who feared the Negroes, not the other way around. The Negroes were tougher than we were, more ruthless, and on the whole they were better athletes.(N.Podhoretz)” This ties in well with what Cameron was saying, that all these stereotypes are taught at a young age and it carries on with us into adult

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