Now, it’s taken some time but I want to finally address the title of the blog. The reason I went for Women’s Social Revolution, is because I view history in a way that puts women in a constant state of revolution. They are the one group of people who have been constantly, throughout history, oppressed. All major societies have been patriarchal from the beginning leading to this phenomena, and women have fought for their power and voice throughout (especially in western cultures).
So, what is it I’m trying to get at?
I want to know whether you think women have progressed enough for the revolution to be over. Is the revolutions still going on?
Let’s take a look at what we have so far. We know that in Moliere’s time that the model woman was one like his Mariane, the opposite of Dorine and Elmire. They were tame and timid, objects to be seen and not heard. They were dependent children who couldn’t think for themselves. However, because of the characters Dorine and Elmire, we know that at least some people held opposing views of this ideal. It was a tiny minority, but some people did believe women to be capable of the same logical reasoning as men of the enlightenment. This is proof that the revolution has been going on since, latest, the 16 hundreds.
Jumping to Sor Juana, we can see that men are still holding enough social power to force an ideal on women. They are strong enough to shift their behavior to match their wishes. At this point we are introduced to another imbalance; men hold the social power as well as the intellectual and political power. They have such great influence that they are able to get away with the same sins that women are stigmatized for committing, without anyone question them or calling them out for their hypocrisy.
Now, if we skip a few dozen years and look at the women found in Sealed Off and The Perforated Sheet, we can compare societies beyond time.In both works, the women are acting out the roles given to them by society’s pressures. Now what do these roles tell us? Women are still viewed as beings meant to be ruled by men, that they must listen to the will of their father. That their most important duty is to be a “good daughter” which means remaining keeping chaste, keeping face in public, and most importantly marrying up. They are still tools for the meant to be abused however they wish. Between the four works, it doesn’t seem any progress has been made at all except for the exception of education in one example. However, even with an education the woman is still not respected by the people around her.
Finally let’s move on to the current day. I want to leave out the Beyond, and Mononoke bits for now. They represent a more realistic image of women than what society perceives. It is true that women, now, are more respected, have equal education chances, and other equivalent rights. However, what about socially. Have we made any social progress? The double standard Sor Juana speaks about still exists today, even stronger today. What’s worse is that some of these women are smart enough to recognize the existence of it, but choose not to act in an attempt to rectify it; they accept it and move on. Of course the minority that now view women in ways that Jodie and Mononoke are portrayed have increased, but the social ideal remains wholly unchanged; only the smallest details are different. All this can be attributed to the deep ingraining of feminine ideals from generations and societies long past. However, these ideals are constantly being upheld and strengthened by the media, whether it is the sexualization of models and actresses, or the photoshopped pictures surrounding us at every corner.
The Revolution continues, no?