November 26, 2012
Jean Kilbourne
1234 Kilbourn Ln.
Jeantowne, MI 11111
Dear Ms. Kilbourne:
It’s true that all
throughout human’s civilization, at least in the majority of western culture,
females have been the underdog of society. This is a tragedy to say the least;
the influence that women could’ve generated all throughout the progression of human
civilization could have been not only a positive one, but it could have also
prevented some of the great tragedies throughout our history or it could have
caused some new eras of transgression or achievement that we haven’t already
achieved as the human race. For women to have only just recently been bestowed
with the power to influence society and to and make choices that are their own
is indeed something that would make sense for every woman to feel unjustified
and infuriated. Any person who had been put through so much injustification
would not be wrong in feeling anger and frustration towards those who caused
them said injustification. But at what point in time have arguments that were
lead by anger and frustration been the correct and appropriate way of dealing
with a heated issue or a problem, or, at least, when has been the best way in
which neither parties were left disadvantaged or hurt.
In the struggle regarding women’s rights, it’s important
to realize that it’s not just women who have been disadvantaged by the struggle
for power and equality between the sexes, and the disadvantage that has been
endured by our male counterparts should not just conveniently be glazed over.
It’s true that by stamping out a woman’s voice, any and all of her opinion goes
left disregarded, unacknowledged, and void of having the ability to take
control over her own life, but to counter that argument, what if your voice not
only spoke for your own personal well being, but also spoke for the well being
of those that you cared about and all of their futures and the future all those
to follow you. Even more so, what if your significant other, the person that a
one typically becomes closest to in their life, isn’t someone that can be depended
upon to assist as an equal during hardships and failures or as someone who can support
you when times are hard, but is instead a dependent of whom you are responsible
for along with yourself and all others you might take care of. Any failure that
you make is not just your own, but is also a failure for those around and those
you care for, and to deprive one’s self of such a responsibility, would be to
deprive one’s self of some of the most gratifying and happiest aspects of one’s
life.
In
Joan Morgan’s piece, From Fly-Girls to
Bitches and Hos some of these points are more heavily touched upon. Although
veered more towards the black community and the struggles encountered by black
males in the rap industry, Morgan argues that to counter the injustices and misogyny
directed at women in rap music, us females cannot simply point the finger and
say “What you’re doing is bad! You can’t say those things or us women we’ll
condemn you and hate you!”, no, Morgan states that to deal with such misogyny
we have to do what our opposition not; we have to learn to understand them. We
have to learn to view our male counterparts as more than just the generalized
other and the demon that feminism
sometimes seems to preaches them to be, but we have to view our fathers and
brothers and friends, that the male race tends to be in our day to day life, as
being just as dispositioned as us women have been, to be to act and think a certain
way in which society has lead them to believe is an alright and acceptable way for
them to be. Who’s to say that any of our male counterparts wanted to be thrust
into a position of power and dominance in which they have to be completely
responsible for those they care for and love? I don’t think it’s just by chance
that the rate of male suicides in the US alone is 1 to 4 with males taking the
lead, and yet we women preach that we've had a difficult time with our societal pressures, by these statistics I think
it’s safe to assume that were not the only ones who are being potentially
cheated by our society. The fact that this argument has been going on for as
long as it has is another clear indication too, that something in the struggle
between male and female equality isn't working out quite right. If females are
still arguing for their equality and finding injustifications within the media,
news, and the regulations that are constricting them, and then, on the other
side of the argument, the male portion of our society is killing themselves at
four times the rate of the females, then what about this argument isn't working?
The
fact that this argument for equality is even just that, an argument, is
probably the best place to start in terms of find a solution for that equality.
How can equality be found when each side of the struggle is pointing fingers
and making accusations?
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