This paper describes some personal aspects of human experience as I have seen it defined in several works of literature read throughout LIT 225. Sources used: Woman's Work by Alvarez, J.... A Work of Artifice by Piercy, M.... and Hamlet by Shakespeare, W.
What is sexism? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary sexism is 1: prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women. 2: behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex. Amazing how we can be in the twenty first century and still when you look up the definition of sexism it reflects on women. It seems from the beginning of time women have been looked at as the weaker sex, more sympathetic and tender than men. Granted we are no longer hit over the head and carried away by our hair but that is only due to the fact that we are now a "civilized" society.
Every society has some common beliefs regarding the ways each sex should behave. Men are regarded to as being more competitive, while woman are regarded to as being emotional. But what people are failing to realize is how women are becoming competitive not just amongst ourselves but with men.
There is one line from the play Hamlet that I can not get out of my head and supports my above statement, "Frailty, thy name is woman." (Page 919, act one, scene two, line 146) This quote from Shakespeare holds many of the same thoughts shared by men today. The battle of the sexes is normal everywhere and applies to anything. From sports (what football team has a female player) to the military (I do not recall seeing any women on the documentaries for the Navy Seals), men and women battle to beat the other, but I...
Well written
Why do feminist cling to the idea as woman as inferior to men as something to fight about? Women have not always been the submissive sex, the common attitude towards women was revived in the 1800's (Victorian era). History is littered with eras where women gained as much status as men, in some ancient civilisations, in Latin Palestine during the middle ages, and in the 1700's when the enlightenment saw that 'women were not thought to be the same as men they simply required that they be treated with deference and respect that was their due as women'. Perhaps if feminists were not so intent to crying about inferiority and demanding equality and accepted that they were 'different' not always better though not always inferior attitudes toward women would once again change.
Well written but there is so much more to consider.
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