Blog #14

Textbook: Chapter 10
1. Their were various reasons why feminism had its revival or its second wave during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The National Organization for Women was first introduced in which they would push for women’s equality and a change in the culture. The belief that people were able to practice safe sex because of birth control pills had allowed more people to be involved in sexual intercourse more freely. A new culture, known as a counterculture, had existed at this time. Another source of the second wave of feminism was the civil rights movement. African Americans began fighting for their own equality rights during the movement where they would go against the white Americans. The war in Vietnam also had an impact because many women had served at Vietnam. Women also had their own protests against the war making sure that their voices and opinions were heard throughout the nation.

2. The protest at the Miss America pageant shows us that women were not only looking for their equality rights politically, but socially and culturally as well. Women felt as if they were only being seen as objects which they felt was extremely degrading. Women had enough strength and confidence to go to a large event in order to get their word out about women’s liberation. They wanted to spread the word on how women should be as equal as men and not controlled by men. These women had made a lot of points regarding the issue and felt strongly about what they believed in.

3. The war of the sexes is one that has lasted for quite a while and it is a war that will exist throughout our history. Every time an issue is brought up regarding the equal opportunity to achieve something, different gender roles are brought up in order to question whether or not a women is capable of carrying out her duties in a certain job. An example of this today is with Hillary Clinton. Even though she has lived a life of politics and has the right credentials to become the President of the United States, many people in our nation question whether she is able to fight certain issues such as the war in Iraq because she is a women. Women have come a long way in order to have their voices heard and now have high positions in our government such as secretary of state Condoleeza Rice and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi who is third in line to the presidency if anything were to happen to the president or vice president. Women have definitely done a lot to get to where they are. They still have a fight ahead of them because some still criticize whether they could handle some issues. Although, they will have to fight against those who criticize, their fight will not be as long as it was in past years.

Source Interpretation
Textbook document
4. During the 1970’s, Mary Tyler Moore had an impact on the changed culture in the United States. She was able to show women throughout the nation that every woman was capable of being her own independent person, taking care of her own independent responsibilities. She showed that she did not need a man to take care of her needs and was able to take on a career in the television industry as a producer, which was mostly a male-dominated career. She was a single women who took care of herself and her own issues that took place. The Mary Tyler Moore Show is compared to Sex and the City in that the women in both television shows had their own careers in the city and would constantly look for men to date. Through this, they showed that they were liberated. These women were capable of making their own choices.

5. I would expect Walker to agree with Orenstein at some points of the article. These points would include the parts in which Orenstein talks about the women’s own independence and how these women are able to make their own choices. The parts in which Walker would disagree with Orenstein is when Orenstein talks about how women should not focus on just sex and also on their families and their careers. Walker’s article mostly talks about sexual liberation and on how women should be able to express and use their bodies in order for them to develop and grow. Orenstein does not see sex as important in developing and argues that a women’s family and her career is what truly makes her develop into the sexy women that she is.

6. There are some cases in women’s lives in which they do live their lives like the women in Sex and the City. These women usually live in more rich areas in which they revolve their lives around materialistic consumerism. These women have their own idea of independence which usually involves having sexual intercourse with any man they are sexually attracted to. Perhaps these women are controlled by these television shows and believe that being promiscuous is normal in our modern day society, since “Carrie” and “Miranda” are doing it. Although, most women in the United States do not live a life as the women in the television show. There are women that hold on to their morals and have enough respect for themselves to know the true meaning of independence, which does not involve sleeping around with a different man every week. Sexual liberty has not gained enough ground for all young women to be involved in sexual intercourse because even though sexual partners use condoms or birth control pills, a promiscuous young women is still not safe from sexually transmitted disease, even if “Carrie” believes she is. Although sexual liberty has not gained its ground, many young women continue to involve themselves in sexual intercourse because of their exposure to television and movies, which causes curiosity to occur in the lives of many young women.