Friday, March 2, 2012
A woman's role
While reading Middlemarch it took awhile for me to get into it and to truly grasp the message of what it was trying to send to it's readers. I honestly didn't see the purpose of reading it, until recently, and from what I heard yesterday from one of my best friends it helped me understand the true meaning. I was talking to one of my friends and she told me that a girl from back home wrote a status on facebook that said, "vaginas learn your place in the household", in which 15 males liked the status. When she told me that I just looked at her with my jaw to the ground and just went off, because hearing that from a woman honestly disgusted me. The fact that this girl made a stereotype and expects women to only be useful in a domestic capacity is wrong. I'll admit I like to cook, bake, garden, clean, and hope to be married and raise a family one day, but there is more to me than that. The way she wrote her status is even condescending and seems to put a limit on what women can actually do. Don't even get me started on the fact that 15 males liked it, all I wanted to do was reach into the computer and pull them out by their ears and if possible just transform them into a woman and see how they like the stereotype and the criticism that is given to us. I also found a website that is called a The World of Letters, in this website it discusses topics of the book and what it means from it's readers, for example: "As such a wife, Rosamond is supposed to occupy her time with trifling pursuits such as needlework and music." which of course it's limiting what we as women are capable of doing, it shows that we only have one purpose and to not follow our dreams. Which in the end of the book, Dorothea does the opposite. I love how Dorothea follows her heart and dreams, and truly doesn't give a crap about what society thinks or how she is viewed by men. She took a stand and believed that she could achieve it and she has. I feel that hearing what the girl said on facebook, goes against everything that women have fought for and where we are today. We have women as CEO's, Lawyers, Teachers, Doctors, and we all can vote, is phenomenal and the fact that she said something that completely goes against what we have now is heart-breaking, and a kick in the face.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This reminds me of a t-shirt my friend has. She's a political science major. It says, "A woman's place is in the House... or the Senate." :) I think women of today should be a bit more like Dorothea in the sense that they should not care about what society, specifically men, think about them. Follow your dreams, and don't let anyone hold you back :)
ReplyDeleteNot to upset anything that women have worked for over hundreds of years, but what if certain women only dream to be a good wife and mother? Obviously, being a doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc. is important too, but in terms of following dreams, some women still want what women are so -called "born to do."
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand where your coming from Stephanie, and have kept that in my mind.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnd that dream can absolutely mean being a wife and mother! I was and still am a stay at home mom and now I am going to school because I want to. I am living my dream, I feel like I have been able to have it all! My choice, my way, no one told me I had to stay home. In fact, at one point my husband said you should really get a job. I laughed and started selling Mary Kay (which is a really fun job and I get to stay home, travel, etc.)! LOL! Lucky we have choices! Guess what, my kids are normal! Well, if a teenager can be considered "normal."
DeleteI like this positive reading of Dorothea's agency. No matter what we think of the choice she makes (whether she limits herself, settles for Will, etc.), she DOES make her OWN choice, regardless of what everyone else tells her to do.
ReplyDelete