Margaret Atwood’s speech “Spotty Handed Villainesses” explores Patriarchy, feminism and “bad” women in literature. She uses wit and humour to disarm the audience and often uses anti-climatic statements to grab the audience’s attention. Margaret Atwood’s speech resonates through time with her critical study of feminism in a social context and the impact that feminism has had on literature. In the speech Atwood explores the moral dichotomy that exists in Women at the time. She shows how women can only be categorised as either an angel or a whore.
Last year, in my senior A.P. Composition and Literature class, we focused on a lot of fictional literature dealing with the same kind of societal issues. The Awakening by Kate Chopin as well as Daisy Miller by Henry James were both novels that showcase the oppression of women and evils of social hierarchy. These novels display the limitations and expectations that society pins onto women. Other novels I read include The Dead by James Joyce and Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, both of which addressed the theme of materialism and wealth as factors to being regarded highly in society, and how this way of functioning in society leads people away from living a true and happy life.
Question 'The most salient and peculiar point in our social life', James decided before writing The Bostonians, was 'the decline in the sentiment of sex'. Explain what you think he means by this phrase, and analyse his treatment of the idea in the novel. ‘The Bostonians’ by Henry James addresses an issue that was and indeed still is, of critical importance in society, the decline in the sentiment of sex. The novel addresses the rise of the feminist movement and, in such, the decline in specific gender roles. These gender roles once were the societal standards and expectations that a young man or woman aimed to live by.
In this novel, Julia Alvarez manages to capture and express the true feelings of women which deconstructs the stereotypes through Yo. Feminism is defined as “a political movement that works to achieve equal rights for women and men” (Hirsch 113). For the past ages, women were seen in the society as inferior to men and were greatly excluded from education and the right to property ownership. A British feminist named Mary Wollstonecraft argues, “educational restrictions keep women in a state of ignorance and slavish dependence” (Blake 117). The shattering of classifications and stereotypes, and the subversion of traditional gender roles, and the concept of sisterhood or unity among women are among the main tenets of feminist criticism.
Colorism, or “racism within a race,” has become a bigger problem in recent years then in the past. There are many different motives that can relate to colorism. Jealously, background, and envy seem to be the main causes for this problem. Jealously is something most people are common with and have experienced in their lifetime. Racism within a race can be centered on jealously.
Furthermore, women gained support for the feminist movement through the social media. Betty Freidman’s, The Feminine Mystique, described the melancholy lives and dissatisfaction that women led because of the restrictions put on them by the male-dominated community. Friedman says, “A woman is handicapped by her sex, and handicaps society, either by slavishly copying the pattern of man's advance in the professions, or by refusing to compete with man at all.” (Friedman 56). This means that women gave up the fight before they even gave it a chance and men took advantage of that. This acclaimed book ignited a dormant fire inside the oppressed women and feminism swept the nation during the 1960s.
Is class identity gendered? During the late 20th century there has been a heated debate about relationship between class and gender, one of the major criticisms of class analysis were that women have been marginalized. Joan Acker claims that the marginalization of women in class analysis is due to ‘’intellectual sexism’’ (Acker, 1973 cited in Morgan, 166). As a result of mainly focusing on the invisibility of women in traditional class analysis the position of men within class analysis was unspoken of, however ‘’a moment’s thought would seem to suggest that men and masculinity were heavily implicated in class analysis’’ (Morgan 166) there is an assumption that class is male which is why women were neglected previously in class analysis. Morgan argues that men are ‘’holders of class power’’ (Morgan 168) this is because men can be found at the top of the social hierarchy whether it is in political, economic, educational or cultural organizations; due to this men are largely involved in class practices as ‘’individual or collective class actors’’ (Morgan 168) along with this, men may also be seen dominating the discourses of class.
Among hundreds of countries and therefore in thousands societies are normal partly to create and produce this phenomenon, but does not negate the fact that with the current proceedings of the century we live in is totally unfair to segregate and degrade our gender. Mainly economic interests hide and stakes behind gender inequality, with the result human rights of either racial groups being ignored and controverted. The production of gender inequality mainly starts from, simple gender discrimination, the economic capacity of each individual, social status, culture and the civilization. Moreover globalization, ’’the masculine world’’, capitalism, poverty and misery from the human sex in certain third world countries, racism, religion and the upsurge of feminism the last two centuries composers production system of gender inequality. The main difference and inequality created between the genders, is the different biological structure and different genetic characteristics of a men and women.
Social inequality and social stratification, according to this view, lead to a meritocracy based on ability. Conflict theorists, on the other hand, view inequality as resulting from groups with power dominating less powerful groups. They believe that social inequality prevents and hinders societal progress as those in power repress the powerless people in order to maintain the status quo. Positions are important so long as those in power consider them to be significant. Gender is seen closely related to the roles and behavior assigned to women and men based on their sexual differences.
Social Inequality Paper Inequality: the condition of being unequal; lack of equality; social disparity. According to the dictionary, the overall definition of social inequality would mean individuals do not have equal social status or reputation. The article, ‘Opinion: There’s More to the Pay Gap Story’, written by Laura Vanderkam and dated September 1, 2010, discussed the wage gap for male and female citizens of the United States. Vanderkam stated that while there are types of discrimination in the workplace resulting unequal salaries, a typical salary for an American worker is now based on how individuals spend their time. The main goal of Vanderkam’s article was to eliminate the social inequality assumption that men make more money than women, and also, that women are no longer going to be considered a minority in the workforce.