What It Feels Like For A Girl - Madonna

"Of course it's unfair. We're women" (quote from Titanic by Rose's mother)
This month we have been focusing on literature dealing with Gender Studies, mostly directed towards female issues. Our Socratic seminars and discussions revolved mostly around what the duties, responsibilities, and rights of women are, whether they are in America, Europe, fifty years ago, or today. Despite our belief that everyone should be 100 percent free, we still hold onto stereotypes that lock women into specific roles. For example in "A Doll House", Nora had her position as the faithful wife and the good mother, but she was more than that. She wanted to more than that. She had emotions and feelings that went beyond just being a mother or wife, just like Edna in the "Awakening". And I think that maybe it's hard for us, both males and females, in today's society to understand that because we aren't forced into that lifestyle. We are only getting a glimpse of it from the books we read and the movies we watch.

Something I found interesting during one of our discussions is that girls were dominantly answering the questions about how they felt about these stereotypes in regards to females. To me, it seemed like they were offended by them, but not in the sense that you would think. It didn't seem like they were offended that they felt they "HAD" to marry and have children, because most admitted that they wanted that anyway. I think they were more offended that it's what society wants from them too and its the pressure of it.

When the boys were asked the same questions about these female stereotypes, I don't think it was necessarily fair of us to ask them. We ask guys these questions, but we already have in our minds what we think they are going to say. They'll just agree with society's beliefs because they're men and they want us to just be wives so they can be strong and provide for us and all we have to worry about is having children, cooking, and cleaning. Not all men are like that, especially in today's society, but we assume that that's how they think because of tradition. Ryan said these kinds of stereotypes had been engrained in our minds since we came into this world, and it is so true.

I think Madonna's song "What It Feels Like For A Girl" strongly portrays the fact that men see women differently. Whether it be wife, mother, property, or companion, women generally have a different view then men. However in the beginning part of the song, it not only shed's truth on female issues, but male issues as well. Women aren't the only ones breaking from the traditional mold. Males are too, becoming stay at home dad's instead of working a trade or some other "manly" job to provide for the family.
Madonna's song starts off with "Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short. Wear shirts and boots 'cause its OK to be a boy." We call these girls "tomboys" and we often look up to these girls because they tend to be stronger, less emotional, and even more confident. In today's society, we don't think anything of this. "But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading." If we see a guy in a floral shirt and tight jeans, we bully them and label them. We as a society have not accepted this. We still hold onto the belief that men should dress as men but women can dress as a woman or man. Gender Studies does not focus on just the stereotypes of women, but men as well and I think that we need to get a new perspective.