Roshomon (a gender rant)
I watched the movie Roshomon tonight and it has really resonated with me. Maybe because I am also reading a 40 page article on it for Comp. Lit., but the message was just really cutting.
I have been thinking a lot about women and equality and all of that jazz. I've never been a hardcore feminist-- not a man-hating woman who thinks we can do better, but one who believes in apprecitiating our separate and shared gifts. I think I am really hypenated, like my last name. Each name has equal strength. I am not just Naomi Herman.
But recent work at Berkeley has made me flat-out resent men and the positions they have put us in.
Today in the hall there was a debate about who was the source of the most 'drama;' men or women. Though I do agree that women don't stop drama and actually continue it, I must say men are not completly innocent. I feel that in centruies past women were pitted up against eachother because they couldn't fight back at their oppressors (men). This is a vast generalization and I do not mean to claim that men are inherantly evil and that women are always victims. It's just an observation.
I am researching the relationship between American women and immigrant women in at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th and the primary negative energy between them is that American women thought that the sinful immigrant girls would seduce their husbands and sons. There, men are the source of the drama.
In the film Rosomon a woman is raped. She did not kill herself or her attacker before the act so she is portrayed as encouraging the act. Because she did not protect her chastity she turned herself into a common whore. In this equation, man, her raper, cannot be blamed for his animal instinct. It is woman's job to make sure she doesn't tempt man.
This is so disgusting to me. And I know it is an extreme example and not completly contemporary (the movie was made in the 50s) but there is something there. Sexism is deeply intrenched in our society.
I believe the real religious anti-abortion sentiment is not over loss of life but over the issue of Original Sin in the Bible. Women being allowed control over their sexuality and being spared the pain of childbirth is clearing her of the Original Sin she has walked around with, well, forever. That directly goes against God's orders for Eve's punishment when she ate the apple. It breaks lesson ..1 of the Judeo-Christian faith.
If woman owns her sexuality, she is only allowed to do it in one way. Through controlling and hiding it. Abortion SHOULD be a woman's choice because it is her reality. In society, when a single woman gets pregnant, she is often looked on in the same light as the raped woman. This pregnant woman was not able to put off sexual advances and let her guard down. The man can hardly be blamed for having sex with a willing partner; it is in his nature. The outwardness of man's sexual organs means he cannot control it, and naturally should be granted this right. Woman's sexual organs are kept on the inside and therefore, her sexuality should be kept on the inside and never shown to men willingly. Think about it. Women who have sex to early are pitied or looked down on. Men are revered. I don't free myself. I have looked down on my peers who started before I did. I pitied them, if it was very very early and seemingly against their will. Greg H. once quoted to me that "Pity is a quiet form of loathing."
Also, consider a girl getting ready for a party. If she puts too much energy into it, or dresses in a sexual way, she is often trying too hard or trying to get attention. But a girl who doesn't put any effort into her appearence is thought of as little more than dirt, unless she possesses some outrageous natural beauty. Make up your mind.
I don't know where I'm going with this. But women have a lot to deal with. We still haven't had suffrage for a full century. Most of our rights have come about in the last 50 or so years. Give us a break.
And this is not meant as an excuse. But I think it is valid. And I want you to appreciate us more.
I have been thinking a lot about women and equality and all of that jazz. I've never been a hardcore feminist-- not a man-hating woman who thinks we can do better, but one who believes in apprecitiating our separate and shared gifts. I think I am really hypenated, like my last name. Each name has equal strength. I am not just Naomi Herman.
But recent work at Berkeley has made me flat-out resent men and the positions they have put us in.
Today in the hall there was a debate about who was the source of the most 'drama;' men or women. Though I do agree that women don't stop drama and actually continue it, I must say men are not completly innocent. I feel that in centruies past women were pitted up against eachother because they couldn't fight back at their oppressors (men). This is a vast generalization and I do not mean to claim that men are inherantly evil and that women are always victims. It's just an observation.
I am researching the relationship between American women and immigrant women in at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th and the primary negative energy between them is that American women thought that the sinful immigrant girls would seduce their husbands and sons. There, men are the source of the drama.
In the film Rosomon a woman is raped. She did not kill herself or her attacker before the act so she is portrayed as encouraging the act. Because she did not protect her chastity she turned herself into a common whore. In this equation, man, her raper, cannot be blamed for his animal instinct. It is woman's job to make sure she doesn't tempt man.
This is so disgusting to me. And I know it is an extreme example and not completly contemporary (the movie was made in the 50s) but there is something there. Sexism is deeply intrenched in our society.
I believe the real religious anti-abortion sentiment is not over loss of life but over the issue of Original Sin in the Bible. Women being allowed control over their sexuality and being spared the pain of childbirth is clearing her of the Original Sin she has walked around with, well, forever. That directly goes against God's orders for Eve's punishment when she ate the apple. It breaks lesson ..1 of the Judeo-Christian faith.
If woman owns her sexuality, she is only allowed to do it in one way. Through controlling and hiding it. Abortion SHOULD be a woman's choice because it is her reality. In society, when a single woman gets pregnant, she is often looked on in the same light as the raped woman. This pregnant woman was not able to put off sexual advances and let her guard down. The man can hardly be blamed for having sex with a willing partner; it is in his nature. The outwardness of man's sexual organs means he cannot control it, and naturally should be granted this right. Woman's sexual organs are kept on the inside and therefore, her sexuality should be kept on the inside and never shown to men willingly. Think about it. Women who have sex to early are pitied or looked down on. Men are revered. I don't free myself. I have looked down on my peers who started before I did. I pitied them, if it was very very early and seemingly against their will. Greg H. once quoted to me that "Pity is a quiet form of loathing."
Also, consider a girl getting ready for a party. If she puts too much energy into it, or dresses in a sexual way, she is often trying too hard or trying to get attention. But a girl who doesn't put any effort into her appearence is thought of as little more than dirt, unless she possesses some outrageous natural beauty. Make up your mind.
I don't know where I'm going with this. But women have a lot to deal with. We still haven't had suffrage for a full century. Most of our rights have come about in the last 50 or so years. Give us a break.
And this is not meant as an excuse. But I think it is valid. And I want you to appreciate us more.