Monday, May 4, 2015

It's a Man's World After All

            Hanna Rosin’s largest fault in her argument for “The End of Men” is her oversimplification of an extremely convoluted topic – feminism and the role of women. The majority of Rosin’s arguments, in my opinion, sound like lofty statistics showing a weak movement away from gender stereotypes rather than addressing the actual changes taking place. Men once dominated women because, no matter how intelligent, talented, or ambitious they might have been, they were not male. Now, women are rising to the same level as men, and finally it is because we deserve it, not because we magically changed sex.
            Rosin seems to make light of all the positive changes we have made, and attributes our success as a sex to the destruction of another. “The End of Men” seems to be synonymous with “The Beginning of Women,” implying that our sexes are simply incapable of coexisting. To go along with this theme, I thought the question Mr. Ogden asked was extremely enlightening: why is feminism and female power looked at so negatively? Why do we criticize what we have yet to accomplished rather than celebrating what we have? It is important to note all the negativity surrounding gender inequality. Yes, we have a long way to go and a lot to overcome before we can really say we have attained gender equality, but I prefer to motivate my own fight by reminding myself of all the obstacles women before me have tackled and conquered.

            Equal pay, however, is always an issue that will always anger me. As the daughter of a working single mom, it is incredibly difficult to watch her work as hard as she does and as often as she does with very little reward. The men in her industry will forever overpower her because, in her words, she “took the mommy track.” It is normal for my mom to be working under men that are half her age and have half the experience she has worked so tirelessly to procure just because she took the time to properly raise a daughter. As John Oliver would say, someone took a very large “dump” on my mother’s desk and she is still has no way of removing it.

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