Terry Crews and Caitlin
Moran have quite a bit in common when it comes to feminism and how men and
women should act. First off, they don’t say, “Women are supposed to do this and
Men are supposed to do this.” They agree that it’s okay to have different
qualities than what the stereotypical woman should be or the stereotypical man.
In fact, both of them give an example. In the YouTube video, “Terry Crews:
Manhood, Feminism & the Mindset that Leads to Rape”, Terry Crews told a
story about his son being scared of a movie. They had gone to watch Iron Man 3
and his son was scared. Crews took his son out and asked him if he was scared.
He responded yes, and held his head down being ashamed. Men should be ashamed
about being scared. It is normal to be scared, it is normal for men to be
afraid of something and accept it. With Caitlin, she says that not every woman
will have a daughter at some point.
In her book, How to Be a Woman, Caitlin argued
that the reason men don’t get asked when they plan to have children is because they
can pretty much go on living there life as usual. Which is actually not true. With
this comment, Caitlin assigns roles to men and women. She’s basically saying
that women have the baby and do everything for it, while the men go to work,
eat, and sleep. She does say that some men do divide work 50/50 which is how it
should be, but generally it is the women who do everything. Crews differs a bit
from this role comment. His argument is Gender Purposes, not roles. No woman
should have the role of taking care of the kids and to be in the kitchen. It is
whoever is there at the moment. So no, men don’t really live on their life once
they have a kid. They are in the same situation with changes going on and
having a hard time as well concentrating not only on a career but essentially
another human being.
Both can agree that women
are treated differently. And men too, but in this case we’ll stick with women.
Women can be assaulted, harassed, raped and much more. Why? Because they are
seen as possession. They aren’t being respected. In fact the only time it seems
that women are respected is when they become elderly. Both Terry and Caitlin
argue that feminism isn’t for women to take the power, that isn’t feminism.
Terry says that feminism is for equality, which is true. Caitlin says that
feminism has to do with who we are and what we’re going to do, which is also
true! Feminism really can be taken the wrong way and not only do men mistake
it, but women do too. Some women take advantage of it by saying they shouldn’t do
something because it is a guy’s work. Which really isn’t that way. Men should
hold doors open for women, yeah they should. And women should hold doors open
for guys too. Its equality.
I really admire how down to earth your opinion is. How you describe equality at the end is pretty spot on, and I don't think people understand it. Some men hear the word feminism and they cringe, for a few reasons. One is they're afraid that it diminishes their masculinity, another could be that they just don't really believe in it, but there are so many excuses men conjure up to stand clear of feminism. Not all men do this, I want to make that super clear. But they aren't really grasping the concept of feminism, which is equality. I don't really think that women take it for granted though, but I haven't really encountered a situation where that has happened. I can see it maybe being more intensely followed through with, just because our societies equality is fragile in a variety of different aspects. I also think that id Crews and Moran sat down at the dinner table, it would include dynamic conversation and I think that is so important. But like I said, you did tie it up very well at the end and I admire your view on the subject at hand.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both speakers (Crews and Morgan) and that they both are saying the same basic thing. We need to let go of stereotypes of what each gender is supposed to do, how they do it, and when they do it. Because at the end of the day we are all completely different, we are all wired different and built different mentally and physically. Before civil and women’s rights came into affect in this nation we had extreme gender norms. Women stay home raising the kids and the men go out and bring home the bacon. But now since laws and regulations make everyone equal this is not the case anymore. We are in a changing society and both Crews and Morgan understand this and express it vividly and quite accurately. Crews says that men need to stop being “greater then the women” and that we are all the same and can do the same things. Caitlin argues that men don’t get asked when they are having children because “ they can pretty much live their lives as usual” which is party true because they don’t have to have maternity leave from work or go through the physical trials of birthing a child. Both authors are taking a stand that people need to open their minds and thing about gender “norms” and how they are not quite so normal in this day in age.
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