Friday, May 29, 2009
Week #2- Eureka moment
My second Eureka moment occurred when I read the knowledge check to chapter 5. The four statements in the beginning of the chapter literally made me laugh out loud. "I now pronounce you man and wife." I never took the time to notice how society truly does designate a man as an individual while a woman is only seen by her relationship to the man. This sentence never seemed off to me until Wood brought it to my attention in the text. I think that now, it is becoming more common to say "husband and wife," but I just thought it was interesting to see that "man and wife" never sounded wrong to me until it was pointed out. The same goes for terms such as freshmen, policemen, and firemen. Sure, fireman sounds better than fire-person, which just sounds like some sort of mutant, but why hasn't the term always been firefighter, or police officer, rather than designating the position to a man only?
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Hi Rhiannon-
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your comment on my post! I also liked your post on the ludicrousness of society's understanding between men and women. I particularly enjoyed how you pointed out that men are seen as independent, while women are traditionally seen as more dependent. Through our recent readings in the text, I realized how popular it is for a woman to be seen as empty or not complete, without a relationship to a man. Our text pointed out how even the strong independent women shown in movies will still value a relationship with a man over every other relationship. The examples noted in the text were Rose in the Titanic, and Charlie's Angels. Both had their romantic ties. In the case of Rose she was empty and a bit broken until she found Jack (DiCaprio) who opened her eyes to a new way of living. This can seep into our very beings as female viewers of these movies, and us believe that no matter how successful and healthy we are, as women we are meant to be in relationships with men as to be better human beings. That could be why many women commit too easily in relationships at a young age. I wrote a lot on this on the blog for my literary journal called HerStory. I think you would dig it. Go here to read it: http://herstoryjournal.blogspot.com