Wednesday, November 16, 2016

IRB Intro Post #2: Bad Feminist

I chose to read Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay as my next IRB because I feel as though it is a good transition between 20th-century ideas of The Feminine Mystique and the issues going on currently related to feminism and women's rights in our political climate. The book is a 2014 collection of essays that were written by feminist writer, professor, and activist Roxane Gay, who uses her experiences as a Haitian-American growing up in the late 20th-century to shape her essay. I am very excited to begin reading this book and see how the philosophies it calls into question differ from or are similar to my own.


Sunday, November 13, 2016

TOW #9: Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech

This week has been incredibly difficult for me, and at times seemingly insurmountable, after I heard the results of the presidential election. However, some small things have comforted me (the latest Saturday Night Live episode being one) and helped me realize that the world truly is not as harsh and terrible as it sometimes appears. Reading and watching Hillary Clinton deliver her concession speech has also been comforting, although it left me incredibly emotional.

Clinton is incredibly clear and direct while addressing her audience, which is incredibly wide-reaching and varied. She devotes different parts of her speech to different audiences, addressing leaders like Barack and Michelle Obama and her running mate Tim Kaine directly. Clinton talks to other groups in a broad sense, as she addresses "young people", "all the women", or "all the little girls". Her intentions are clear through this broad and diverse audience: she wants to unite the American people, Democrats and Republicans both, and move forward as gracefully into the future as possible.

Her use of collective pronouns in her speech is indicative and supportive of her main purpose, which is to unite the American people after the incredibly divisive and hateful election season. By including viewers through saying things like "we are stronger together and we will go forward together", Clinton not only engages her audience, but attempts to show them that she is on their side. It is incredibly powerful, and the use of collective pronouns is a tool used by nearly every politician to create a bond with their supporters and even those who do not support them.

I think her purpose is incredibly admirable. Not only is Clinton admitting her defeat with honor and grace, she is encouraging her supporters and other upset Americans to do the same, no matter the circumstances. She describes her "successes and setbacks" to young voters, encouraging them to "never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it". This line struck a chord with me -- even while Clinton vies for a peaceful and democratic society, she encourages people to fight back if the society they live in is not fair or just. It is incredibly humbling to think that the first female presidential candidate has had an incredible number of setbacks in her life, and yet has not given up for fighting for what she believes is right. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not giving up, and neither should we.


Sunday, November 6, 2016

TOW #8: "The Feminine Mystique" (IRB)

What I find most interesting about the way Betty Friedan structures her arguments is her ability to utilize a Rogerian-esque approach when citing controversial data or relaying stories of real women that may anger or upset male readers. Although her audience is primarily women, specifically mothers and housewives, Friedan recognizes that she will undoubtedly receive male readers as well. She prepares for the inevitable cultural backlash by softening the blows of her argument. She does not sugarcoat anything; however she appeals to her hypothetical opponents by revealing extensive research and statistics to help support her argument.

In the chapter "Progressive Dehumanization", Friedan discusses how unrealistic ideals are pushed onto girls at an early age by not only quoting several anecdotes from real women, but also including definitions and components of important terms. She draws from psychology, saying, "The term 'acting out' is used in psychotherapy to describe the behavior of a patient which is not in accord with the reality of a given situation" (346). By combining concrete definitions with more editorial-style writing, Friedan is able to appeal to both pathos and logos to justify her argument to her audience.

Additionally, Friedan's use of metaphors like that of a pendulum which "has begun to swing in the opposite direction" (337), according to some, connects abstract concepts like gender, social roles, and expectations, to concrete and more 'solid' ideas like a pendulum. Such metaphors are recurrent throughout the novel, and highlight her ability to take what some might believe to be imaginary or fictional and place it within very real parameters. Her metaphors highlight the intricacies of our society, and reveal just how much within our culture is fabricated. Friedan is able to show audiences how the feminine mystique pervades all aspects of society, and the harsh realities women encounter when dealing with these perpetuated beliefs.


Wednesday, November 2, 2016

TOW #7: "It's a Woman's World'

Eavan Boland, born in 1944, is a Irish poet and writer whose work deals with Irish culture, politics, and religion, as well as relationships between the sexes and women. She has been active as a writer since the 1960s, a time where many people began acknowledging the merits of women's rights movements. Second-wave feminism, as it is now called, got its start in the early 1960s in the United States and much of the Western world.

Boland's argument in her poem "It's a Woman's World", written in 1982, connects to how feminism is perceived and interpreted in society. It takes traditional roles of women and juxtaposes them with those of men in an attempt to show readers the disparity between the two. Through lines like "So when the king's head / gored its basket-- / grim harvest-- / we were gristing bread", Boland contrasts the two expected roles in history. It is clear she feels as though women are not, and have not been, treated equally in their 'assigned' roles and expectations.

However, through her use of harsh, almost violent diction in this stanza, it could also be interpreted differently. "Gristing" is a very harsh word used to describe the action of grinding meal or flour for bread. Her use of alliteration highlights these similarities, in the use of words like "gored", "grim" and "gristing" in succession to compare each of the actions' violent nature.

Boland also makes the argument that women's important roles have typically been overlooked in society, in her lines "who milestone / our lives / with oversights-- / living by the lights / of the loaf left / by the cash register". These lines stood out to me, because it highlights how oftentimes the work women do goes unnoticed by others until they do something wrong (like forgetting a loaf of bread or leaving the wash wet). I believe Boland makes the argument in these lines that domestic work is just as important, and not valued as much as it should be by society.

Overall, Boland's arguments leave much to be discussed about the way women are perceived and have historically been perceived. The differences in the viewpoint she is coming from in the 1980s and perhaps the viewpoint of 2016, when we have a woman running for president, are also an important point to note. Perhaps it is becoming a woman's world after all.