Throw back Monday to our discussion of Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" and specifically to our discussion of Shakespeare's sister.
3 disgusting ways independent, talkative women were tortured and shamed in Shakespeare's England
This article gives a little more insight in to how Shakespeare's sister would have suffered for expressing the same creativity and independence of thought as Shakespeare during this era. This article also points out the irony of how this harsh repression took place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a revolutionary, unmarried, independent, and outspoken woman.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI found this article fascinating and intriguing at the same time. After reading it, I still have one question: have things really changed? Obviously we do not have harsh of punishments or the laws that they did, but have conditions changed for women that much? Women still make less. Women still get stereotyped in business with regards to their leadership (i.e. a man is strong and a woman is a *not appropriate word*). Women still receive harsh double standards. Yes, the laws have changed, but have the cultural expectations? Thoughts?
In regard to your question, have things changed, I believe that they have. However, that does not mean that things are or should be done changing. While historically women have faced more oppression than men, I think that in modern times men face as many harsh standards as women being stereotyped and having cultural expectations. While women are still expected and portrayed as needing to be beautiful, wear makeup and dress nice yet still sexy without being slutty, men are similarly portrayed and socially expected to be strong, muscular, 'hot' and be the money maker. Women are looked down on for being slutty but men are almost pushed to be sexually active in our culture. These expectations and stereotypes are stressful and unfair for both genders. Everyday more and more people breach what is expected to be normal for both men and women, things have and are changing. Women statistically do make less, but the percentage of women with college degrees and in the work force is continually rising. And the number of men that end up staying at home and taking care of kids is also increasing. Most of what I have mentioned is with regards to typical first world western cultures, I do not know enough to speak for all cultures. But from this point of view, I think that things have changed dramatically.
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