Calling All Humans
Both genders are being called upon to balance and develop their masculine and feminine energies. A man used to be the sole provider and protector which was a strong and definite role. The old masculine models no longer apply in our society, and new ones have not yet been created. The result is often men don't know who their role models should be and vice versa.
Something as subtle as facial hair can be referred to as unsightly due to the nature and predetermined attribute it carries with it. Women are supposed to shave, wax and pluck to be viewed as feminine whereas men who do the same will be more than likely referred to as gay. In bitchfest we are informed that, “ forty million American women between the ages of fifteen and seventy four have removed unwanted facial hair within the past six months, and approximately twenty-two million American women remove facial hair at least once a week” (pg 276).
Ignorance plays a huge part in how we explain this phenomenon of facial hair, but most of the time we blame it on excessive hormones. Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith carefully analyze what we fail to realize is that, “ there are three hormones [ estrogen, testosterone and progesterone] and both men and women have all three of them, so there are really only ‘people’ hormones” (pg 34).
Me vs Me
A more serious danger is also facing the masculinization of women; other women. Instead of having a truce or a secret code of sisterhood, women have this “you must kill off your female competition” mentality. Mutual support and unity are completely non-existent; the instinct of competing becomes an extension of a woman’s innate sense of being. It’s hard to understand and accept how far behind we’ve trailed from our hard earned women’s rights. Men have never had a problem admiring and supporting each other, perhaps we can learn something from them in that aspect.
Women forget that only as recently as the 20th century did Latin America give women the right to vote. These countries include Ecuador, Brazil, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Argentina. Even men notice how women treat and view each other. They comment on the fact that women often treat other women as rivals, continuously criticizing other women’s dresses, shoes and handbags instead of encouraging and supporting each other in matters that truly matter.
The F Word
Feminism has always been about the masculinization of women coupled with the simultaneous feminization of men. But how does a girl acting like a boy serve the cause of feminism? Because secretly it is about the coveting of power in feminism; taking into account that they do not want to celebrate femininity; rather, they want to deprive men of their perceived power by taking it for themselves. Society is a lot worse off because of that. The same is true about sexual attitudes. Instead of women serving as a counter-balance to the sometimes crude behavior of men, feminism encourages women to act in just as crude a manner, if not more so.
So where’s the happy median?
A very brute and urban friend of mine named Chris Grayson III wasn’t afraid to admit that, “men are just as sensitive as women, perhaps even more so” he said with a confident and prominent tone in his voice. “Men are conditioned to avoid emotions at all costs because it makes you look sensitive, but what few people don’t understand is that those bottled emotions surface only with a different intention. Anger and violence usually take center stage and inflict mayhem on unsuspecting victims which usually end up being ourselves anyway” ( Personal interview).
Even Freud who in an article named, “Why Was Sigmund Freud Unable to Understand Women?” admitted in a letter to his wife Martha that, “I really think I have always loved you much more than you me. . . . I forced myself upon you and you accepted me without any great affection". In a later letter, Freud complained to Martha that he had no control over her, saying that "I found you so fully matured and every corner in you occupied, and you were hard and reserved and I had no power over you".
Works Cited
- Jervis, Lisa. Zeisler, Andi. bitchfest. New York: Straus and Giroux. 2006. Print
- Grayson III, Chris. Personal interview. 16 Nov. 2011.
- “Why Was Sigmund Freud Unable to Understand Women?”. The McGraw-Hill Companies., n.d. Web.
Ingrid Calderon - Guilty of contributing Jazz and Rock 'n' Roll articles for Muzikreviews.com , Examiner.com.
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