Last week in my American Literature class, we had to read passages from Sarah Margaret Fuller and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. To
me, the most shocking realization while reading Woman in the Nineteenth Century is that many of the issues Fuller
discusses are still important today. While we have made significant
achievements for women, we still struggle for equality on many levels. During their lifetime, women experienced more extreme examples of
discrimination. Not only were women less important than men, but they also
lacked the power of autonomy- to own property, divorce, control their bodies,
etc. For women to openly denounce these flawed societal expectations is
incredibly brave.
I
stumbled upon a few quotations that depressed me. Though Fuller wrote this
piece over 100 years ago, the statements are unfortunately applicable to our
current culture. For example, Fuller writes, “Such duties are inconsistent with
those of a mother; and then we have ludicrous pictures of ladies in hysterics
at the polls, and senate chambers filled with cradles” (1828). Immediately, I
thought of every male I’ve heard make the claim that a woman would find
difficulty being both a politician and mother. I remember during the 2008 presidential
election, so many conversations I heard about Sarah Plain revolved around her
questionable capability of leading the country while mothering five children,
not her politics. These structured gender stereotypes are ingrained in us from
birth. Honestly, do we ever hear of a man’s questionable ability in a role of
power while also juggling fatherhood?
Another interesting quote I found said, “But early I perceived that men never, in any extreme of despair, wished to be women. On the contrary they were ever ready to taunt one another, at any sign of weakness, with, ‘Art thou not like the women, who’“. Last year, Karla Fonner from SRU’s Women’s Center came to talk with my Intercultural Communication class. In an exercise, she explained that the vast majority of the insults we use in our society are pejorative words for gay people and women. It was shocking to realize that most insults are merely subtle ways to demean minorities. At least in my opinion, it’s much more accepted for women to enjoy aspects of masculinity than for men to embrace their feminine side. This is because women are still in many ways view as second class citizens.
Another interesting quote I found said, “But early I perceived that men never, in any extreme of despair, wished to be women. On the contrary they were ever ready to taunt one another, at any sign of weakness, with, ‘Art thou not like the women, who’“. Last year, Karla Fonner from SRU’s Women’s Center came to talk with my Intercultural Communication class. In an exercise, she explained that the vast majority of the insults we use in our society are pejorative words for gay people and women. It was shocking to realize that most insults are merely subtle ways to demean minorities. At least in my opinion, it’s much more accepted for women to enjoy aspects of masculinity than for men to embrace their feminine side. This is because women are still in many ways view as second class citizens.
As
I read more diverse literature in my college courses, I’m finally realizing how
limited my high school literature curriculum was. Off hand, I can only name one
or two females authors we covered in class. I'm an active member of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance on campus, so women's rights are really close to my heart. I have such a great respect for these women for giving a great big middle finger to every man who told her that being a women made her less worthy. As a future teacher, I believe
incorporating more literature by women into the curriculum will help the
inequality we still face today. It's important to expose students to literature written by all minorities that are typically excluded from the overwhelmingly white male canon.
