Susan J. Douglas begins her introduction to Enlightened Sexism by discussing feminism in the world today and the ways that it has evolved throughout the years. She gives many examples of current pop culture icons and how they have had an effect on feminism. In one particular example, Douglas says, “Despite their Wonderbras, bare thighs, pouty lips, and top-of-the-head ponytails…, the Spice Girls nonetheless advocated ‘girl power’” (Douglas, 2010, 1-2). Douglas discusses how there are many authors and celebrities who have differing opinions and views on sexism and feminism. But Douglas says that she views the way that TV and popular culture show females is distorted and has led us to believe that females have found equality to men when in reality, she thinks, there is still much to do. Douglas also talks about what she sees as issues for girls around our age when she says, “While they are the ‘girl power’ generation, the bill of goods they are repeatedly sold is that true power comes from shopping, having the right logos, and being ‘hot.’ Power also comes from judging, dissing, and competing with other girls, especially over guys” (Douglas, 2010, 6-7). Douglas then tells us that her point in writing this book is to study how the media has altered feminism for the worse and also how the resulting world has reverted back into sexism against women. She discusses the way feminist are viewed as we had in class and comes up with similarly negative results and says “the attitudes about women that infuriated feminists in the 1960s and 1970s are pushed to new, even more degrading levels, except that its all done with a wink - or, even better, for the girls’ own good” (Douglas, 2010, 13). Douglas sums up some of her views when she says, “Girls and women are pulled in opposite directions, between wanting serious success and respect, and wanting acceptance, approval and love; between wanting power and dreading power” (Douglas, 16). She continues discussing how this dilemma women have has helped increase sexism from an earlier generation and how women today are in a tough spot. She even comments that women are still “second-class citizens” (Douglas, 2010, 17). Douglas concludes by telling us that her book is meant to help us be careful of the media and of their ability to shield us from the real ways of feminism in America and the real ways that sexism against women still prevail. She talks about the trade off that women face in their lives between being strong or being sexy and how women have less self confidence because of the way that the media portrays them. She ends by saying “Girls, there is plenty of unfinished business at hand” (Douglas, 2010, 22,). (Douglas, 2010, 1-22)
Adrienne Rich discusses women and college educations in Claiming an Education. Rich speaks about how young girls must embrace their education and then also see how their education has lacked a women’s perspective in some ways because of the lack of women as higher educators and in high-level authority jobs. Rich says that the education that we have comes from a view of the past that we need to see as warped by the white males who have had control over our world. Rich says “Our upbringing as women has so often told us that this should come second to our relationships and responsibilities to other people”(Rich, 1977, 3). She follows that up by saying “Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. It means that you do not treat your body as a commodity with which to purchase superficial intimacy or economic security; for our bodies to be treated as objects, our minds are in mortal danger. It means insisting that those to whom you give your friendship and love are able to respect your mind.” (Rich, 1977, 3-4). She continues to speak on how women must be able to do things for themselves and to do things that will help them reach their full potential not the things that are necessarily expected of them. Rich goes on to talk about the teachers of women and how they must be able to teach women as equals to men be able to get everything from their female students while female students must require this from their teachers and must be involved in their learning at all times (Rich, 1977, 1-6).
These two reading have different subjects but some related conclusions in that they both see that women must be aware of what they are doing, hearing, seeing, and learning because there are many things in this world that make it seem to be okay to have women taken for granted or not treated as equals or respected.
Douglas’ introduction to her book opened my eyes to some of the ways that girls behave and some of the ways that the media does portray women and the effects it has on the way that people think of women. It was especially interesting when she mentions how this is affected my generation of women.
Rich’s speech was also of interest to me because of how she talk about the woman student which I am and bring up points of behaviors that I could see in myself that make you think about if you should change your way of thinking so that you are aware of what you are learning and taking everything with a grain of salt. Rich also was harshly critical of some types of women who do not do everything they can to maximize their potential and in her eyes their life. Both these women had strong points of view that definitely are worth reading, respecting and thinking about.
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