These three things are very touchy and controversial topics in today's society, and they come in all different forms - from songs to video clips and commercials. But one thing I noticed was that they weren't all necessarily new. The song "Holding Out for a Hero" is an '80's song (where a woman sings about how she need a "white knight upon a feisty steed" to come save her - a little dramatic if you ask me)...which coincidentally was the theme music for "The Dare" clip in Footloose. This scene is quite the manly one. It displays how men need to constantly prove their manliness to women...and other men. It is the whole idea of the "alpha male". Where did this come from? No matter where it did - this has been around for ages.
The issue of women and their roles in society has been a topic of question and debate for quite some time. Women have been pushed aside in society with men thinking that they run the place. Like I said, this is not a new issue. "The Wife of Bath" is a very old narrative poem that is a tale of a knight who takes advantage of a young maiden and his punishment (as ruled by the Queen) is to go find out what women most desire - he has a year to do it. And if he cannot complete this task then he gets the death penalty. Ultimately, he gets the answer from an old woman who he ends up having to marry (talk about role reversal - this was the time when arranged marriages were very common for women). She gives him an ultimatum saying that he can have her the way she, aged. But in return she will be a faithful wife. Or he can have a young and beautiful and unfaithful wife. Where the story takes a turn is when he lets her decide. This is the part where the reader is shocked. Because usually in today's society (although it is slowly changing) men are usually the ones who make all the decisions because they are the head of the household.
Like I said, times are changing. Typically, when we think of men and their roles we think of power or high status and women are less dominant. The parents of baby Storm (whose gender is unknown - even to him/her) are fighting against society's gender roles. They want their baby to find themselves on their own and NOT have their identity be defined by what others think is right. Personally, I feel this to be quite extreme. Why put your kid through that? Pretty much social suicide. I think that kids can break society rules and still be considered male or female. Just odd and I am not sure how effective that will be either. When we look at a diagram such as "Gingerbread Person v. 2.0" we can see how the roles of gender are becoming a blurred line. This diagram shows a gingerbread person with all the possible ways and degrees of identity, attraction, and sex. To me, it was a little complex and I would have never thought that some of these terms existed. Male and female are not so black and white anymore...there is a lot more gray area. For example, under the gender category a person can be considered: female, male, two-spirit, genderqueer, or genderless. My question is who came up with all these terms? And are the legit?
Despite these interesting terms of gender, it doesn't change the fact that women are still undermined in society. The work place for one. Sheryl Sandberg is trying to change that. She wants to start a social movement to create equality for men and women. I have to agree though when she says that we can not only blame society for this, but women as well. Women are so susceptible to falling under society's rules. Women need to stand up for themselves and be the change. Lyrics from Lorde's song, "Royals" can accompany this thought. I have heard this song a thousand times over but never took time to actually listen to the lyrics. This song suggests that the singer is talking about social status and how she is "not proud of her address"but she refuses to be labeled the way society claims to be. She wants to take a stand and rule in her own way..."you can call me queen bee". I now have a new appreciation for this song.
No comments:
Post a Comment