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Feminism is a range of social movements aiming at advocating or supporting women’s rights and equality. Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign around the world. While women of different races and countries are fighting for their rights in various ways, have we ever stopped to think about its rationality? Are they “over-protesting”?
First, I would like to raise a question: How did the view that “ men are superior to women” emerge?
In the ancient matrilineal society, due to the ability to reproduce, women were in core position of a large family, playing a leading role in production and life. With the development of productive forces, agriculture and livestock husbandry were getting more and more important and became significant material resources in people’s life, which required a lot of heavy physical labors. Men, with their sturdy frames, gradually held the leading post in the financial life. Thus the patrilineal society with father and husband of a family in the dominant position came into being.
From then on, women’s rights have been restricted. On the one hand, they were forbidden to marry freely but“be married” to a husband they might not know, carrying on the family line and performing the duties of wives. On the other hand, they were not allowed to seek a job outside but could only be supported by their husbands.
However, in the long river of history, women have never stopped fighting for their rights. Take China as an example, earlier at the 1900s, Chinese women in Taibei already started raising a tidal wave of feet-liberating movements, whose aim was boycotting the cruel tradition of foot-binding. Then on March 8, 1907 Women’s education was legalized. Before the founding of the new China was declared in October, 1949 the first national-issued female publication Women of the New China came into being, on which there was an inscription written by Chairman Mao and General Zhu De. In the year of 1954, the first National People’s Congress(NPC) was held and the female deputies came upon the stage as the leaders of new China for the first time. And as the 20th century was near the end, there was a law passed in the Seventh NPC in 1992 to guarantee the rights and interests of Chinese women. With the long-time struggling women’s role has indeed improved a lot.
What about their status in modern society?
In the social division of labor women have many merits which make them more outstanding than men. Their sensitiveness, thoughtfulness and other sex characteristics make them competent to the job of teaching, nursing and offering nice services. Their carefulness, affinity and concentration enable them to be capable leaders. But apart from the strengths above they also suffer from a great deal of weakness. Bound by traditional ideas, women tend to be satisfied with things as they are thus their efficiency are not likely to grow as men do. Also, the employers offer less opportunity for female job seekers, especially in some specific professions such as the high-tech industry, in which women can always get a job no better than dealing with some trifles. Additionally, the marital matters will greatly distract women’s energy in work place, which results in the fact that with increasing age, their advantages are waning. These can be seen in many “want ads”, for example, “ Man Only” and “Unmarried First”.
Therefore, today women’s role in family-caring is still much more remarkable than in bread-earning. In other words, still there are not enough chances for them to show their abilities. Though their status has been improved substantially there might still be some overt or latent discriminations in our life. Through the mass media we can have some clues.
According to the report from Xinhua News Agency in 2005, the Association of Capital Female Journalists released a list of ads suspected of being involved in sexism after conducting a spot check on ads played on 10 channels including CCTV1. Among those ads there was one promoting the sale of Bubugao Electronic Dictionary. A girl was dancing to the music on the stage with skimpy dress. The camera lens merely focused on her sexy parts as well as provocative expression on her face, which had no relation to the product until it appeared in the last shot. It was criticized, for the girl was there only to arise the audience’s lust and she was just a sexy adornment of that E-dictionary. Such kind of ads was countless not only in the past but it is continuing in the current period. Another ad of blended oil also aroused controversy, in which a father and a son was shooting a video of a mother who was cooking with that oil. The wife prepared the meal for the son and husband and then the son bestowed a gold medal for her. The critics claimed that the ad emphasized a stereotype---the domestic wife and social husband. In it women were to satisfy her families while the men, acted as not only “enjoyers” but also reviewers, whose evaluation criterion was based on whether the woman had well finished the housework or not. A potato chip’s ad also had the honor to be on the list, though its plot was relatively simple. A female staff asked a male one for help because her computer crashed. After he managed to settle the problem he was attracted to the Lay’s chips on her desk, thus he installed a good many computer games for her until he finished off the chips. It seemed rather normal, right? Yet it suffered a pungent criticism that it held the prejudice against female workers. Not able to solve simple technical problems and only caring about snacks and computer games when working, the image of female staffs in people’s mind was not dedicated with low abilities, while the men were opposite.
Thanks to the journalists’ efforts we have the opportunity to notice those covert “discriminations”. Nevertheless, in the tide of feminist movements, we should try to stay sober and avoid being driven irrational. The following advertisements are modern yet controversy. After analyzing them calmly and objectively you may have new discoveries.
A popular chocolate bar called “Snickers”always wins people’s attention due to its creative ads. In order to show its power to “sweep away the hunger” the company invited the actor who had played the role of “Lin Daiyu”. In the ad she is playing football in a team and her sickly looking draws ridicules from her teammates. After eating a “Snickers” chocolate bar she suddenly turns into a robust and vigorous man. Many people appreciate its vividness and originality while others criticize it as an insult to women. Does it really aim to treat women with prejudice? Probably not. Try to be less sensitive and please focus on the seller’s real intension. Lin Daiyu is a household character in China who is famous for her fragile and sickish features, so it is nonsense to subjectively take her as a representative of Chinese women. There’s a more exaggerated case which makes people speechless. An ad of car in which the woman is sitting in the passenger seat has been sharply criticized because it indicates that women are secondary to men and serving as an ornament. Undoubtedly the critics are too touchy on this issue. Their sharp eyes are hunting for any sign of “possible sexism” as if suffering from Paranoia.
It’s true that now women are more likely to appear on advertisements of skin care products, cosmetics, bathroom goods or home furnishing while men are advertising high-grade commodities such as watches, cellphones, cars, etc. Meanwhile, they’re assailed by many people. “Women are acting as flatterers in those ads, just like an economic good”, ridiculed some activists. However, why can’t we just regard it as a normal value or an aesthetic pursuit? It shouldn’t be a strange thing for women, a group born with natural femininity, to show their inherent gender temperaments:elegance, confidence and even the sexuality. What’s wrong with their graceful figures and smooth skins on the screen? What’s the error of people who offer them a chance to show their charisma? Why should we consider showing women’s personal charm as an evil thing to criminate?(学生作文网 www.sanwen.com)
Can we reply with great confidence? Quite possibly not.
Another poster put up on Women’s Day has been stirring up controversy, too. It says:
Look like a Girl,
Act like a Lady;
Think like a Man,
Work like a Boss.
However gender-biased it is in some radicals’ eyes, we cannot deny that looking like a girl is not so bad, acting like a lady also seems very genteel. It would be better if we all can improve our thinking and make ourselves as ration as a steady man and as efficient as a boss. In this society both men and women are equal to switch on the charm so it’s of no necessity to make a fuss on everything concerning gender differences.
As a woman I don’t think I’ve suffered from any gender discrimination, nor have I ever felt such a kind of depression or inferiority. Many people think that men and women are generally equal except in some less-important aspects. It’s reasonable and important for women to protest when their rights are indeed infringed. However, the more important thing is to learn to wield the weapons of law effectively to protect themselves instead of staring at those trifles in life. This also requires that some relevant laws to be passed by the government.
Stop “over-protesting” and to be more rational! In modern society women are playing an irreplaceable role in family and society. I believe that by improving the self-cultivation, women can stay harmonious with men and bring their superiority into full play.