Dear Emily, How can I Break Free?

This week, Emily addresses the concerns of a struggling member of the proletariat.

501 words.

Women are People, Too

I do not know if the age I grew up in, the family I was born to or the fact that I was just super sleepy after an intense workout, but while I was reading Herland, I just could not get into it. I'm three chapters in and it just does not really spark my interest.

You see, I may be the exception in the female population, but I just do not and probably will never buy into the whole need that women have to prove themselves as valuable members of society. I do not feel oppressed by being an American woman. I do not get offended when someone asks if I could make them a sandwich (hell, I probably make a better sandwich than 80% of the population, so I take that as a compliment). 

As an aside, "woman making sandwich" was the first suggestion on Google when I began searching for "woman making..."

Because of this attitude that I hold, I sometimes get irritated when women are all about female empowerment. Not to seem cold, I do support people who hold those views, but please do not thrust them in my face. Yes, there are things that women are put at a disadvantage to just because of what reproductive organs they have. But, there are also advantages to being a woman. You do not see American fathers getting paternity leave to spend those crucial months bonding with their newborn. You do not see women being stereotyped as scary when seen walking down the street alone at night. 

Image courtesy of google

Image courtesy of google

Now, you may be asking why I'm bringing these views up when (up until chapter 4) in Herland there is no portrayal of women being oppressed. Well, the fact that the author makes the three men so utterly shocked that the women are able to carry out a functional and advanced society with no men around raises the point of female oppression through the use of an opposite reality. By showing just how amazingly strong and powerful these women are, all I can think of is it being an alarm to how women of our time are not able to be strong and independent through the men's reactions. 

However, I'm going to try to keep an open mind through the rest of the book. Which probably will not be hard at all because women's brains are like sponges and just absorb and believe everything they are presented with...