Assignment #2: Feminist political theory in America Poli 344: American Political Thought Bruce Baum March 28, 2013 By: Nadine Burgess Feminist political theorists like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Betty Friedan experienced and analyzed very different eras in political feminism than the one that exists today. Despite contextualizing and directly addressing the cultural, social, and political issues women faced in their day, aspects of their ideas continue to be relevant in the 21st century. Gilman’s analyzed the economic dependence of women on their male counterparts and proposed solid reforms to spur a change in culture about how tasks in the home are completed. She touches on the balancing act women face when it comes to motherhood and other aspects of human life, a struggle women still face today. Friedan brings emotion and anger to the plight of women in her era of feminism, highlighting a political issue that remained out of the spotlight for far too long.
Jill Stark’s opinion article, appearing in The Age 19th Jan 2008, outlines in a concerned and direct fashion, that most stereotypes seen in glossy magazines have a negative and dangerous impact. She contends that there is a growing trend for woman to produce magazines, promoting healthy and realistic figures, empowering the female. The headline ‘Sick of impossible princesses, real girls fight back’, indicates to readers how fed up the author is with these unrealistic stereotypes. Stark informs the reader that the traditional content of glossy magazines, with “extreme dieting tips and air-brushed waifs in micro bikinis”, is being questioned by ‘real girls’ who are “fed up with images of emaciated models and a celebrity culture pushing them to be thin, sexy and silent.”. Confronted with these images, the reader is encouraged to sympathise with the author’s contention.
Society and pop culture is continuously changing, why shouldn’t the feminist movement do the same? Quindlen touches on the topic of college life for women within Duke University. Despite Duke being an exceptional college, women still find that being attractive to males is significantly more important than their education. This is an interesting study considering media claims that we are in a post-feminism era with no need for feminism anymore. Yet we see media encouraging the notion that you must be beautiful not smart to find a significant other.
Edgell says that women do most decision making frequently on a probably daily basis, but their decisions go unnoticed whereas men make fewer decisions more infrequently but they seem to be the more important decisions such as moving house or buying a car or other serious financial decisions. A radical feminist would say that Edgells study just outlines the fact that we are living in a patriarchal society and that men are viewed more highly and have more power and control in the relationship, and that women are just used for everyday menial tasks. In conclusion, there is much to y for both sides of the argument but it is difficult to decide either way. It appears that there is some equality but we have a long way to go before actual
Magazines are a large part of our society, whether it is when they are featured in commercials, seen in stores, or on social media including the magazine's website. This means that people, especially women, are exposed to images of women who are seen as perfect, women who are often photo shopped beyond recognition and realistic possibility. These magazines often offer beauty and fashion advice, and discuss celebrity gossip. However, magazines often depict unrealistic beauty standards and perpetuate double-standards between women and men, particularly regarding age. One magazine cover in particular, a People Magazine with Julia Roberts on the cover, discusses the concept of "staying forever young."
She knew that women who disguised their sexuality were likely to be promoted more readily than she, yet simultaneously she thought her sexuality was a trump card. Even as she saw how it worked against her, she valued it and sought to preserve it, and tried hard to outshine all young female incumbents. This cannot be a true picture of my mother, though it is as I saw her.” (Working Women Don’t Have Wives) Women executives are everywhere in corporate America, and they may actually be more effective managers then men. In fact, women managers consistently are rated higher than their male counterparts on 37 of 47 critical management qualities such as leadership, social skills, problem-solving and decision-making,
Focusing on at least 2 photographers, give an account on the relation between photography and fashion or photography and advertising. Since the invention/discovery of photography, fashion has always been a prominent area for photographers to shoot. With the popularity of fashion magazines and journals throughout the 20th century photographers could now capitalise on this market whilst also showing the public their artistic vision on a huge scale. Fashion is a form of conveying identity, what we wear indicates who we are as people, our personalities, where we stand in life, our social level. Although many may consider this extremely shallow, this is exactly what the fashion magazines are selling to us...identity.
Annie Lennox article analysis This extract is of an internet article explaining Annie Lennox’s point of view that music videos are turning more and more risqué. The intended audience is parents, possibly leaning to the female (mums) side, and the purpose is to provoke thought and to gain support for Lennox’s point of view here. Graphologically, one of the first features you notice on the extract is the bold title at the very top. The short, shocking declarative “pop videos have turned into porn” immediately makes the context of the article obvious and begins provoking thought straight away. This means the reader has an opinion on the topic before they read the article, and it can either change or be made stronger as they read on.
Changes in gender roles English 201 Monday May 16th My Abstract The topic will be about changes in gender roles within families. In my opinion those changes are good for the evolution of a modern family. We are no longer in presence of traditional families. Working women are more and more present, in addition to gay couples with marriage and adoption. To present the topic an support my focus I’ve used for my essay articles from the Idebate.org website, from the About.com website.
In recent years, the gender gap between men and women in leadership roles are decreasing. This creates the need to redefine effective leadership in terms of gender, stereotyping and role expectations. This research paper will discuss the perception of differences in leadership as it relates to gender. Leadership has been defined as the process in which an individual influence and motivate a group towards the achievement of common goals and objectives. (Lussier, Achua) In many societies, men have been the dominant gender in leadership positions.