Ms. Vagina

           

            She often wonders how her perception of women would've been, had she been born a few centuries earlier, or a few hundred years forward. "She would have been, in the first place, dark like Lady Bexborough, with a skin of crumpled leather and beautiful eyes."(7MD) That would really make her stand out, and be different.  In reality though, Ms. Vagina is happy that she is living in this 21st century, the here and now; this century that is full of innovations, life, and color and relative freedom.  She is lucky to be European, lucky enough to choose whom she wants to marry and not be forced into an arranged one.  In the old days, most women were just mothers and wives and did the basic house chores.  Their judgment was not taken into account.  Their education was neglected and they were taught from a young age that they need to give undivided attention and serve those around them, and then they will be rewarded with a "good" man; meaning a husband.  After acquiring the husband, they would've had reached their goal. Some like Miss Havisham in the novel 'Great Expectation' by Charles Dickens couldn't start their life again after being rejected by the suitor.  She sat around in her old age still dressed in the bridal gown waiting and waiting and waiting.  Ms. Vagina is different, she doesn't need a man; she would like one in her life to share her joys and to also take away some of her loneliness, but she doesn't need one; her survival doesn't depend on her having a permanent man beside her. She passes by Daunt bookshop on Marylebone high street and smiles to herself.  She sees various books displayed in the window from different authors, all relating to women; from past 'A vindication Of the Rights of Woman', to the recent ' The Vagina Monologues'.  Ms. Vagina is pleased to see the world slowly changing around her; books are being written by women for women.  Literature finally stressing the importance of women voicing their thoughts, their expectations, and their needs. As she looks at the display with sheer pride, she acknowledges the academic gap between men and women getting smaller; women’s intellect is gaining power, their minds sharpened; thanks to education, and a small minority of men.  For a fraction of a second she questions in her mind the saying, "it's a man's world".  She immediately realizes that the battle is not over, and the show must go on. Women like her all over the world have to still establish their firm position in life based on their principles, virtues and ethics; not on their beauty.  

            Ms. Vagina insists on being called 'Ms.', as she never wants anyone to know whether she is married or single. "I know what I don't want to become."(5J). She is beautiful in her own way.  Her complexion is like an "English rose", she even smells like one; but she doesn't dress like one.  Ms. vagina doesn't want to give things away; she will say only what she wants you to know, but she doesn't allow acquaintances to delve into her privacy.  She dresses conservatively because she doesn't want to be judged by the way she looks; she wants men to listen to her and not be distracted by her beautiful cleavage.  So yes, she might be financially independent, but she is not free to wear what she wants and say what she wants when she wants.  If Ms. Vagina did that, she will be scorned, judged by her peers and society as whole.  She has worked hard to avoid oppression at home, and even harder at keeping her soul intact.  It is not an easy matter integrating your believes and principles with the necessities of such a fast moving world.  Ms.vagina always remembers her mother's advise, which she never really took notice of.  What does her mother know of what she really wants?  Conversation with her mother was always like a "psychodrama" class. (124TBM) Should she feel shame that she wasn't able to fit into society the way her mother wanted her to?  Ms. Vagina shakes her head disapprovingly.  Of course, she is her own person, her own self; she will not be a slave to any man, not even her father.   Even if she were to listen to her mother for an instance, she would be leading her to the most expensive plastic surgeons on Harley Street; She hisses in an almost audible voice, that there is nothing wrong with slight imperfections.  She knows that "women are being 'eroded' by 'lifestyle variations'."(115TBM) Why can't her mum understand that? Why can't her friends and colleagues understand that? It's not just holding out on to your individuality, it's holding on to your self.  It takes a strong character not be pulled in with the tide; to be a slave to fashion and be botoxed at every occasion.  She doesn't want to grow old alone but she doesn't want to succumb to what they call this "beauty myth".  What would great writers like Margaret Atwood, or Virginia Woolf make of her life?  She smiles again at the thought; at the scene when she told her parents that she was changing her name from Ms. Smith to Ms. Vagina.  Her mother kept wringing her hands together as if she was" washing her hands" from her daughter; very much like Lady MaCbeth and her obsession with washing the blood away. "Out, damned spot! Out I say!".  Out, Out damned daughter, Out I say.  Her mother, however, remained calm, like is expected of a lady.  Her dad took the decision to disown her.  He couldn't see why his daughter wanted a name change; didn't understand the decision.  She didn't understand why they didn't understand; "I can't bear it, to have been erased like that."(240THT).  When she didn't budge from her decision to name herself Ms. Vagina, "her father was no longer looking at her.  In his eyes she had become a used, finished woman." (99TVM) Ms. Vagina didn't really want to upset her father, but she wanted to give her vagina an identity. "If your vagina could talk, what would it say, in two words." (19TVM) She knows what hers would say.

Setting The Stage For Moving On Part II (based on 'a Vindication of the Rights of Women'

Many works have been written about women and their place in society.  Women are given the most sacred job in the world, being mothers, giving birth and rearing children, yet when it comes to giving them authority outside this domain, they are regarded with skepticism.  In society they remain the weaker sex, dependant either on their fathers or their husbands.  This seems to be a universal outlook on women, although it is more deeply rooted in different societies.  Mary Wollstonecraft argues in her book 'A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman’, that the perception of women would change with education. She stresses the importance of educating women not just for improving their status in society, but as a necessity for the progress of civilization. For as women sharpen their mind, their bodies will get stronger, and this will result in creating a healthier and a smarter women; a friend to her husband rather than "the humble dependent of her husband". (25). However this progress is halted by the educational system and books written for women by men.  They portray them as creatures "only anxious to inspire love" when as Wollstonecraft continues, " they ought to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect."(2) If women were to have a better education and the same civil opportunities as men, then most likely they will become less emotional, instead of being "degraded by being made subservient to love or lust."(21) Women are capable (and have risen) of rising to the same intellect as men, which is more important to the growth of society than being emotional and dependent.  They can be either a slave or a tyrant, and with a "mistaken education", women tend to play on their weaknesses and become manipulative. (27)"Women, deluded by these sentiments, sometimes boast of their weakness, cunningly obtaining power by playing on the weakness of men; and they may well glory in their illicit sway, for, like Turkish bashes, they have more real power than their masters..."(41) It seems the men accept manipulative women, because they can understand her weaknesses, but are at a loss when confronted with a strong woman who can argue her case logically and intellectually.  Such a woman doesn't fit the stereotypical image, and therefore are shunned.  It is essential for men to understand that hard working intellectual women does not mean that these women have rejected their feminine virtues.  

Setting The Stage For Moving On (based on 'a Vindication of the Rights of Women'

It seems that despite all the progress we have accomplished in technology, society is still behind on how they perceive women.  It allows the man to be promiscuous but not the women.  In Genesis 2:22, it states "Then the LORD God made woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man."  This attitude of bringing the woman to the man has prevailed till now.  Women are "made slaves", (p68), and on questioning why they were created, the conclusion becomes "to enable man to acquire the noble privilege of reason, the power of discerning good from evil, whilst we lie down in the dust from whence we were taken, never to rise again."  Women in general have to multi task; be a wife, a friend, a housekeeper, a lover and a mother while also holding out a career.  This is why they often don't have the time to "rise" especially the girls who "have been weakly educated...and are left by their parents without any provision.."  This automatically puts the wife on an unequal footing in the relationship, and may result in her harboring bitter feelings towards the husband, as she feels controlled and dependent on him.  Ultimately, it is every person's dream, man or women, to feel financially independent.  With financial independence, confidence grows, and with that more achievements are reached. "How much more respectable a woman who earns her own bread by fulfilling any duty, than the most accomplished beauty", (103).   However, in the work place, we find that many women earn less than their men counterparts, although they might be doing a better job. Is it because subconsciously, even women, feel they need to be taken care of by men?  If this is all they have ever known, then it will take "some time to convince women that they act contrary to their real interest on an enlarged scale..(49).  Time has shown us that it has been a continuous and unending struggle for women to break free from the "rooted prejudices" that chain them.  They also need to believe that there is a higher calling than marriage, and once married, the marriage should be based on her personal growth as well not just her husband's.  This idea will eventually sink in the minds of women, as long as they continue to be "rationally educated." (41)

Appreciation For The Vagina

Women's vaginas want to be heard, acknowledged and respected.  It seems that in the man's world, it is harder for vaginas to be understood.  Men in general don't separate the vagina from the one.  If a woman is attractive, they presume that's what counts.  They will look at all her body and how they can use it to please themselves and not necessarily how they can please the women in her most private and intimate part.  Most men get on with the pleasurable part of sex, without looking at the vagina.  Going back to the witch's trial back in 1593, the married lawyer investigating the case, "discovered a clitoris for the first time; identified it as a devil's teat, sure proof of the witch's guilt."(31) It is astonishing that he has not looked closely at his wife, and if he had, would he also label her as a witch?  While interviewing women between the age group of 65 and 75, Eve Ensler realized that with regards to vaginas not much has changed since the 1550's for these women.  She concludes that "..most women in this age group had very little conscious relationship to their vaginas."(23) This is why, it is important for women to speak more about their vaginas, to say the word out loud, although vagina "never sounds like a word you want to say. It's totally ridiculous, completely unsexy word."(5) During sex it is not mentioned, but other words like "cunt" and "pussy" are acceptable and there mention sometimes arouses men.  This is perhaps that these words invoke sex and are a bit derogatory, and in a bizarre way they put back the women in a place where she is looked at solely for sexual pleasure.  This relates to the women whose husband wanted her to shave her vagina hair.  She didn't like doing it because it made her feel like a little girl and yet the husband insisted on it.  He had "screwed around" because he was looking at the vagina just to satisfy his needs and not admiring it for what it was or for whom it belonged to.  Eventually, when the wife agreed to have him shave the hair, he did it in a very inconsiderate manner, and did not notice that he made her bleed and feel uncomfortable.  It also did not stop him from cheating on her.  Most women are uncomfortable talking about vaginas, so men are not made aware that they need to be sensitive in attacking this issue.  "Andy drove me home and he never said another word and when I got out and closed his car door, I closed the whole store. Locked it. Never opened for business again."(28) Women need to overcome their issues and concerns about the vagina, and must not think that because it is hidden inside their bodies, it should remain hidden.  The more the vagina is discussed out in the open, society will find "alternatives to the old patriarchal dualism of feminine/masculine, body/mind, and sexual/spiritual that is rooted in the division of our physical selves into the 'the part we talk about' and the 'part we don't'."(Xvi)

Discovering The Vagina

The Vagina Monologues are a rare treat on the inner thoughts of women.  Things women would not have dreamt of saying out loud, come out in a series of interviews done by the author Eve Ensler.  The interviews are so intimate; it is as if speaking to the women's private parts, and the things they would say if they had a voice.  In these interviews, the vagina has a voice, and it speaks of all the different ordeals it is subjected to; genital mutilation, menstruation, rape and have happier experiences orgasms and births.  The words seem to flow as if "it was like this force of passion, this river of life just flooded out of me."(27).  Once the vaginas started talking they had so many stories to tell, and they camped together in solidarity to tell the world of all the things that happen to them.  In order to be heard the vagina "needed a context of other vaginas- a community, a culture of vaginas.  There's so much darkness and secrecy surrounding them...(5) the darkness started unfolding with the stories of the rape camp in Bosnia.  During the war, like most wars worldwide, men raped women, and sometimes many men raped the same women regardless of age.  The women felt shameful and scarred, they could scream, but how could their vagina scream? How can it say stop to such brutality, and how can women remain sane and controlled after such horrific ordeals?  "Women's sanity was saved by bringing these hidden experiences into the open, naming them, and turning our rage into positive action to reduce and heal violence."  (xv) Apart from the violence the vagina is subjected to, be it rape or genital mutilation, there is also the biological aspect of the menstrual cycle.  Tampons are hard to deal with and most women wonder why not lubricate them in a way that will make it easier on the women to insert it in their vagina's.  It's as harsh as the cold tools the gynecologists use when examining the vagina.  It seems that nobody up till now thought of the vagina or of its identity. Most men tend to think of the vagina as purely sexual, while Lesbians insist that it's not just sexual but deeper than that.  For when they are playing with each other's vaginas, it's like touching themselves, "We notice our own". (116) The author herself was completely shocked, when after interviewing women about all the different things vaginas want to say, she realized that the only time she really understood what they about was when her daughter in law gave birth. "If I was in awe of them before the birth of my granddaughter, Colette, I am certainly in deep worship now."   

Appreciation For The Little Things In Life/ Shifts In Perspectives Part 2

At Jezebel's one of the first things that Offred takes notice to is the way all the women present themselves. She recounts, "all wear makeup, and I realise how unaccustomed I've become to seeing it, on women because their eyes look to big to me, too dark and shimmering, their mouths too red, too wet, blood-dipped and glistening, or on the other hand too clownish"(247). I think if she were to look at such a scene during pre-Gilead times nothing would really stand out to her. However with the lack of freedom and the current subjugation to women in Gilead, her perspective of the past is once again altered. She begins to question, "is there joy in this?"(247). "All you have to do, I tell myself is keep your mouth shut and look stupid"(247). Atwood's tone during this scene is patronising. When she goes to the hotel room with the commander she is unable to feel any sort of romanticism, as Gilead outlaws the freedom essential to passion, she instead lies on the bed "like a dead bird"(267). 

Deep into Offred's and Nick's sexual relationship, Offred talking about Nick states the desire to "see what can be seen of him, take him in, memorise him, save him up so I can live on the image: later: the lines of his body, the texture of his flesh, the glisten of sweat on his pelt...(281). She is making the most of her sexual relationship with Nick so she can pleasure herself in the unpredictable future. She regrets not doing the same with Luke. "... I didn't and he's fading. Day by day, night by night he recedes, and I become more faithless"(281). She regrets not paying attention to every detail, to really take in time to appreciate every bit of making love, of the body and skin. With the oppressive totalitarian theocracy set in place, it encourages Offred to take the most of every chance of liberty and pleasure she receives, whether that is making love with Nick or playing scrabble. And with this new form of sponging up reality she becomes enlightened in the way that she develops opinions that differ from her life before the creation of Gilead. The more she exposes herself to the oppressive nature of Gilead, the more she tries to remember her past in order to justify the present. 

Making sense of it all: Grandmother Interview/ Reflection

My grandmother was born in Nablus, West Bank, in 1934.  She came from a family of 8, and she herself nurtured five children into this world.  Her childhood home was filled with delicious food aromas, and the family always united around the kitchen and food time.  Her mother never asked her for help and her job was never ending.  It was like she almost worked 24 hours a day.  No wonder that " 61 to 85 percent of women, a 1944 survey found, certainly did not want to go back to housework after the war". (63)  Housework never ended, whereas a job outside the house was regulated by fixed hours.  However, having a job outside the home, did not stop women from continuing to take care of their household.  They ended up working in the office during the day and at home in the evening.  "Housework totals forty billion hours of France's labour power.  Women volunteer work in the United States amount to 18 billion dollars a year....the economics of industrialised countries would collapse if women didn't do the work they do for free....". (23)

 Going back to my grandmother's childhood, it was spent doing simple things, like going to the cinema in secret, or singing and dancing with friends.  She had a uniform at her all girl's school, ( blue skirt and white shirt), so not much time was given on what to wear.  She never got into trouble although sometimes her own grandfather would tell her to wear a headscarf.  She never did, and her clothes outside school was casual, but trousers were never worn, despite the fact that she toured the farms with her family.  Often she used to help her seamstress aunt and create her own clothes.  There was not much exposure around, so she and her friends did not have a foreign figure to look up to.  My grandmother used to admire her Arabic teacher for her confidence and originality.   Women's magazines in Arabic were almost non existent.  "Women's magazines are the only products of popular culture that (unlike romances) change with women's reality and take women's concern seriously". (71) So current women concerns in the 1930's and 40's were not discussed.  Also there was no television, just BBC radio channel, that stimulated their visual imagination and increased my grandmother's interest in Politics.  To this day, she is an avid reader of newspapers and political magazines and have never seen her buy a Fashion magazine although she is up to date for fashion at her age.  

Times have really changed.  Emphasis has moved from the home to the outside world now.  In the old days (according to my grandmother), all women looked pretty and natural.  They didn't have to rush anywhere or aspire to look like anybody else.  Instead, to bring out their beauty, they highlighted their best assets and always had a relaxed aura about them.  Nowadays, women are stressed, overworked, pressured into things, and therefore their moral on tired days is down.  "The closer women come to power, the more physical self-consciousness and sacrifice are asked of them. "Beauty" becomes the condition for a women to take the next step". (28)  As a result of their exhaustion, women are continuously looking at products and ways to make them look less tired, younger, and eventually happier.  They are constantly reminded by shop windows, magazine covers, even pharmaceutical products of the importance of taking care of your looks.   Advertisements are geared toward making women feel that they are inadequate if they don't follow certain steps.  "In providing a dream language of meritocracy(get the body you deserve", "a gorgeous figure doesn't come without effort", entrepreneurial spirit "make the most of your natural assets",)....keep women consuming their advertisers' products in pursuit of the total personal transformation in status that the consumer society offers men in the form of money." (29)  It seems that one has to defy nature, and that if you are "worth it", as the L'Oreal add always suggest, then you should aim for the perfect body and the perfect hair and make up.  These adds work on women's low self esteem, that surfaces after seeing such ads over and over again.  Without these ads, women would probably still purchase certain products but not with such intensity.   

The Gilded Society Vs. The Beauty Myth

After reading 6 headings (chapters) of Naomi Wolf’s “Beauty Myth”, I have come to understand the purpose behind writing Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”. In the society of Gilead, a totalitarian regime is established in which the aim seems to prosecute women specifically. In the Beauty Myth or I could say the society we live in, men “use women’s “beauty” as a form of currency in circulation among men, ideas about “beauty” have evolved since the Industrial evolution side by side with ideas about money, so that the two are virtually parallels in our consumer economy” (20). The way women are looked upon in today’s society is an exaggeration in the way women are looked upon in the society of Gilead. In Gilead, Women are reduced to different roles some of which like the Handmaids-to a mere procreational function. This is like many cultures of our society such as the music industry and huge beauty corporations that make it look like the only way to make it in the world is through your appearance, which demotes women to no better than sex objects.

In the ‘Handmaids tale’ the women are forced to suffer the limitations placed upon them, which try to isolate the women by hindering communication between them. They are isolated in the same way “middle class women have been sequestered from the world, isolated from one another, and their heritage submerged with each generation, they are more dependent than men are on cultural models on offer bad they are more likely to be imprinted by them”(58). ‘The goal of all this is too highlights the way in which the mores of contemporary society suggest ultimately repressive views when taken to their logical extremes’. I think Atwood wrote “The Handmaid’s Tale”, in order to show how ridiculous and sexist society is towards women. In my opinion, Atwood is saying that under all the camouflaged reasons for why the beauty myth originated, women are being treated today in a totalitarian manner. The extremes that are presented in “The Handmaids Tale” are present today but are disguised in such a way that women do not notice. Wolf even goes on to say, “many [women] are ashamed to admit that such trivial concerns- to do with physical appearance, bodies, faces, hair clothes- matter so much” (9). Unfortunately in reality they do. Women in our society put themselves through pain in order to increase their beauty, very much like the “the high-heeled shoes…with their straps attached to the feet like delicate instruments of torture”(Atwood 38). In the “Handmaid’s Tale”, the women are being watched all the time. What does this constant surveillance do to women? Wolf say’s “an enforced lack of privacy strips dignity and breaks resistance”(99). The two investigations into the struggle of Women’s equality hint at the same obstacles that restrain women’s freedom and techniques used by external forces to subjugate women in all facets of their existence. 

Both authors are trying to illustrate the current situation of women through different diverse subjects and functions (no matter what the input is the output will be the same),  and in making the world aware of what they are not aware of, trying to make a difference. For me "to live in fear of one's body and one's life is not to live at all". 

Who's 'Killing Me Softly'?

"“In providing a dream language of meritocracy (“get the body you deserve”, “a gorgeous figure doesn’t come without effort”, entrepreneurial spirit (“make the most of your natural assets”)…keep women consuming their advertisers’ products in pursuit of the total personal transformation in status that the consumer society offers men in the form of money” (29).

 After watching ‘Killing me Softly”, narrated by 
Jean Kilbourne, I was shocked that their were was no higher authority that could do something about how women are being degraded in pop culture today. Moreover, the advertisements that she explores reinforce ‘unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality’. Contemporary pop culture has augmented and strengthened the beauty myth and installed it into the minds of children at a dangerously young age. “Women’s magazines for over a century have been one of the most powerful agents for changing the women’s roles, and throughout that time-today more than ever- they have consistently glamorized whatever the economy, their advertisers, and, during the wartime, the government, needed at that moment from women”(64). It makes me feel frightened that people who we are supposed to trust control women for economic reasons. There’s a lot to say about advertisers and pop culture these days, and looking into the future it doesn’t look like the beauty myth will last a very long time. Since 1991 clubs have been using a certain method to employ waitresses. “The club’s employment standards ranked waitresses on the following scale”:

1.     A flawless beauty (face, figure, and grooming)

2.     An exceptional beautiful girl

3.     Marginal (is aging or has developed a correctable appearance problem)

4.     Has lost Bunny Image (either through aging or an uncorrectale appearance problem)

Sadly, not much has changed today. Whether you are looking through magazines, dining at fancy restaurants, or even strolling through an office building, you will see that the women who are usually standing on the front desk, or waitressing tables all try to reach this flawless beauty’ that is sold to women through cosmetics, which in the end are unattainable. Scarily, some women “…will buy more things if they are kept in the self- hating, ever-failing, and sexually insecure state of being aspiring beauties” (66). The figures speak for themselves: “in 1988 skin care grossed 3 billion in the United States alone, 337 million pounds in the United Kingdom, 8.9 trillion lire in Italy, and 69.2 million guilders in the Netherlands, up from 18.3 million in 1978”(109). The amount of products sold to women is increasing annually, as well as the amount of women going out to get facial, body and breast surgery. “…95% of enrolees in weight loss programs are women” (94).

 

This system and the existence of the beauty currently remain intact because these magazines “offer women power” and in return “promote masochism” (77).

Therefore when “our eyes are trained to see time as a flaw on a women’s faces where it is a mark of character on a men’s” the myth lives on (94). In a world where “beauty is heaven or a state of grace; the skin or fat cell count is the soul; ugliness is hell” and “the beauty product is her mediator: healer, angel or spiritual guide”, women are forced into buying and doing what the advertisers want them to do. In killing me softly women are go through extreme diets that make them loose weight at the expense of their health. If you …”tell a women she is ugly [that] can make her feel ugly, act ugly, and, as far as her experience is concerned, be ugly, in the place where feeling beautiful keeps her whole” (36). Advertisers, fashion designers and the whole beauty industry rely on women’s submissiveness and credulousness to survive. 

Hip- Hop Culture

Originating in the Bronx and spreading around the world as a multi- billion-dollar business, “hip-hop has created a culture and spawned a lifestyle that incorporates politics, style, art and technology”. However even though Hip Hop has affected many, influenced and inspired generations of people to create better circumstances for themselves it has also been charged with praising violence, misogyny and homophobia. In the Hip Hop world women are seen merely as objects, put into music videos where they are the majority and made to look sexy in order to increase the masculinity of the male performer. A common music video these days would have a female to male ratio of around 10 to 1, and these completely naked women would be huddled around the performer, as if they were servants or “whores” ready to heed to his very command. However looking at it in a different perspective these men only show that they are incredibly insecure, and need to where flashy objects and have women around them all the time in order to feel confident of themselves. In the Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf argues“... Women must make their beauty glitter as a bid for attention that is otherwise grudgingly given” (106). “Men who glitter, on the other hand, are either low –status or not real men: gold teeth, flashy jewellery, ice skaters, Liberace. Real men are matte”(106). With this said, men in hip-hop videos have been sucked into this culture that is fake and superficial. By wearing chains and expensive clothes, these men like women are trying to breach a higher status. However in the Hip Hop culture these women are referring to as bitches’, ‘hoes’, adding to their image of being nothing but eye candy. This culture however is not different from the rest of American culture where female bodies are objectified in magazines, movies, advertisements, and TV shows. As a result the only way men can make a connection to women in popular culture is through sexuality. This why “a girl learns that stories happen to ‘beautiful’ women, whether they are interesting or not, stories do not happen to women who are not beautiful” (61).

With Hip Hop culture objectifying women’s bodies, creating them to be sex objects it is even more horrifying to find out that it is that kind of talk that will get you signed as an artist. I cannot think of a case where an artist has made it in the industry without referring to a woman as a “bitch”. In this culture “Beauty is a currency system like the gold standard.” (12). The beauty ‘myth’ may appear to audiences out their to be about ‘intimacy and sex and life, a celebration of women” when it is actually “composed of emotional distance, politics, finance, and sexual repression”(13). Therefore even in the Hip Hop world “it is about men’s institutions and institutional power”(13).  

Cultural Mutation Part II

Upon visiting the Dominican Republic on my ‘service’ alternative, I was shocked at the varying roles women and men play in contrast to other cultures around the world. On the second day of the trip, we took a three-hour bus ride to one of the main agricultural villages in the DR. After arriving, we were split into groups of three, each with a Spanish speaker in at least on of the groups and sent to work at an ordinary village family’s house. At first it all seemed very bizarre that families that live in poverty and suffer the harsh practises of cultivating land in the tropics made us guests. They were all really happy to see us, a different culture altogether. The first thing I noticed was that when the travelling company asked for the families to take care of us, it was almost every time a female that took care of us and made the food for us.

On our second day we took a hike through the forests with our caretakers, who held a huge machete in one hand and guided the way. She seemed to know where everything was, not only where we were on a map, but were different kinds of plants grew and were the herds of killer ants hung out. It was amazing to see such awareness. With her machete she knocked down banana trees, dug out vegetables from beneath the earths soil and cut down coconuts for us whenever we were thirsty. When we got back, she made the food for us, set it out on the table and watched us eat. I kept trying to tell her to sit down with us, but she kept on refusing. However after we got to know each other well, at the expense of her mocking my poor Spanish accent, I managed through translation to ask her questions about her family, her husband and children. She told me that she had 5 children and a husband. The next day while we were in the forest she introduced me to her husband who was drenched in sweat, picking cocoa beans off the towering trees. I noticed that these men stayed out in the forest all day, and only came back to their homes for lunch and dinner in which our guides, who all had husbands working in the fields, made food for them. The Women’s role was sort of similar to that of housewives, but their conditions were indeed a lot harder.

On our last day, after being in the forest for three days, I snuck out of my group to spend some time with the men. These men were just clipping off cacao beans from the trees all day, and it occurred to me that the women’s job was much more strenuous and she executed all her duties with all her effort. On the other hand the men would cut a couple cocoa beans off then rest on the porch cutting them up. The women had a much harder job then the men, and what struck me was that Wolfs statement that “Women work hard- twice as hard as men” (22). Compared to the women around the world, it is still the same situation where “housework totals forty billion hours of France’s labour power. Women volunteer work in the United States amounts to $18 billion a year…the economics of industrialised countries would collapse if women didn’t do the work they do for free…” (23). After some more research I tried to find a correlation in the responsibilities and lifestyle of the women in the Dominican Republican compared to other third world countries like “ Kenya [in that] given unequal agriculture resources, women’s harvests equalled men’s; given equal resources, they produced bigger harvests more efficiently” (24). This seems to support many claims that were made in “it is the end of men”, where Rosin argues that “women are programmed to find good providers and to care for their offspring, and that is manifested in more- nurturing and more- flexible behaviour, ordaining them to domesticity” (4). 

Beauty and the Beast

There are many expressions relating to beauty, such as "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and "beauty is only skin deep".  How true these statements are is to be questioned.  There is a universal par for physical beauty; foundations that people seem to agree on.  So when beauty pageants are held, either for Miss World or Miss Universe, there are basic elements that the world, (including the different judges) agree on.  Beauty is not a myth, but rather it should be regarded as an admirable quality like courage, honesty, intelligence and dignity.  Some women and also men decide to use their beauty as a "means to an end", and this is when it becomes a bad quality to have.  For these shallow people, "Beauty is a currency system like the gold standard. (12)"  And once they grow old or loose their beauty, they realize they don't have much to be proud of. 

These days there is an acute pressure not just on women but also on men, to be fit, thin, and fashionable.  The percentage of men doing cosmetic surgery has risen, perhaps as a direct result of women wanting to stay young.  The Media, fashion and fashion magazines, TV programmers such as celebrity news, and music clips, all highlight the importance of looking good.  It's as if they're saying "this is what you have to look like" to have fun and be successful."  Our generation has grown up with different values than our parents, who learned to admire the good qualities in people, and if these people were also good looking, it was a bonus.  Our generation looks good at the "feel good factor", the healthy trim body with the perfect hairstyle.  There is a lot of emphasis on looks that have become easy to perfect with airbrush and Photoshop.  So now, when flicking through the magazine, the reader sees perfect bodies, and flawless faces, whereas before, faults were allowed to show.  These perfect images work on the subconscious, and the psyche becomes geared towards achieving better looks.  Without even given it much consideration, people head out to the plastic surgeons, to the shops, and to the dentist for that perfect white smile they see on models.  And they do this because they can.  Nowadays, if you don't like your nose, you change it.  If your face is too thin, then you use fillers.  If you don’t have cheekbones, then you take out your bad teeth.  "The newly made up or coiffed or thin women, the women with surgically new face, celebrates her identity and returns to take up what she does hope will be an improved status... (101)” ere is something to be done for the tiniest imperfections.  We are lost for choice, and all the choices are geared towards beautifying one's self.  We are surrounded by the choice, that at the end one succumbs to it.

Duty Vs. Desire

Throughout Bharati Mukherjee's novel, Jasmine contemplates whether to give in to duty or desire. The Indian principles that she grew up with, concretized by Dida, advocates duty. The Western standards symbolized by Taylor and Wylie promotes desire. Jasmines life becomes very much a pursuit of freedom, as she undergoes individual transformations and metaphorical rebirths. She flees from the duties that society inflicted upon her as in the end her desire managed to subdue her duty. As early as when Jasmine is taken in by Professorji she has already “ accustomed [herself] to American clothes”. She goes onto say that “American clothes disguised my widowhood…I wanted to distance myself from everything Indian, everything Jyoti-like” (145). She begins her journey as a “speck of dust in the solar system”, in which her life had already been determined (3). In addition the structure of society in Punjab is far from being liberated. She says that she wants to “go away and have a real life. I’ve had it up to here with backward, corrupt, mediocre fools” (81). In my opinion, Jasmine’s pursuit for desire stems from her prejudiced and cruel background. Her transformations in America seem to be carried out in an effort to distance herself away from Hasnaspur and her previous life of duty. Her craving for adventure and discovery make her a woman of courage and admiration at a time in which young brides would quiver under the command of a groom’s mother. She felt that America gave purpose to her life. She says that “I felt lucky…America may be fluid and built on flimsy, invisible lines of weak gravity, but I was a dense object, I had landed and was getting rooted… everyday I was being paid for something new…” (179). Furthermore it was her desire to want a green card “more than anything else in the world, that a green card was freedom” (149) that seemed to signify her a person.

However with desire came disillusion, selfishness and loss of character. Throughout the novel Jasmine becomes different people, experiencing different things, and creating her own luck. She creates herself to be a very passive character jumping at every opportunity to escape. With Bud she seems unhappy compared to her life with Taylor. With Bud she constantly had to look after him. Her purpose in life was very much centered around the household. On the other hand the first day she saw Taylor she falls “in love with his world, its ease, its careless confidence and graceful self-absorption. I wanted to become the person they thought they saw: humorous, intelligent, refined, affectionate” (171). Her desire to put herself out their, to make the most of every opportunity she was given gave her “life a new fullness and chargedness to it. Everyday I made discoveries about the city, and in the evenings, when I listed my discoveries to Taylor he listened carefully as though I were describing an unmapped exotic metropolis” (184). She began to become increasingly more selfish and individualistic. She ran away from the duties that society inflicted upon her as in the end her desire managed to suppress her duty. Her desire for power, new experiences and happiness very much led to her alternations shifts in identity. When she decides to leave Bud she explains that “It isn’t guilt that I feel, it’s relief. I realize I have already stopped thinking of myself as Jane” (240). And her justification for such an impactful decision can be summarized in one line that I feel highlights her motivation throughout the novel: “I am not choosing between men. I am caught between the promise of America and old-world dutifulness” (240). And in the end Jasmine chooses desire, a choice that would have been admired by many women at the time. She gains freedom and has made the opportunity for prosperity and success available to her. She has managed to gain all this regardless of what her horoscope tells her, her social class and most of all her circumstances of birth. Although she can be viewed as many as a widow escaping her predetermined life of dutifulness through hurtful and selfish actions, she is very much a women to be admired because of her courage to submerge herself in a reality that is unknown to her in the promise and pursuit of opportunity and happiness.   

The Power Behind Words

Gilead has turned a blind eye to reality and has created its own language and terminology in order to subjugate its occupants. Firstly, every class is given its own name. Females can either be Handmaids, Wives, Daughters, Aunts, Marthas and Econowives. Men on the other hand are designated professions  that have to do with military position. With such a system of naming combined with how a handmaid is named after her commander is symbolic in depriving someone of their liberty, rights and identity. When Offred is waiting for what she thinks is her Ofglen to arrive in order to go shopping she realises that this is a new handmaid and says that "I never did know her real name. That is how you can get lost, in a sea of names"(295). Furthermore sterile women and feminists are called 'Unwomen' and babies that are born physically deformed are called Unbabies. Gilead uses this to naming system purely to segregate and isolate them from the rest of the community.

Furthermore, stipulations exist for meeting other members of Gilead's society. When Offred is meeting Ofglen for the first time, "blessed be the fruit she says. Straight-faced, straight laced. May the Lord open"Offred replies. (294) This makes it really hard to share real emotions, and even Offred replies without showing surprise. And throughout the novel, names are created for Gileads different ceremonies such as 'Salvagins', 'prayvaganzas' and 'Particutions'. With this creation of such a vocabulary, Gilead is able to take over their minds, erase their past and make its occupants think that the situation in Gilead is normal.

The commander lures Offred into his office because he tempts her with the game of scrabble, which"is as if he's offered her drugs", Offred remarks. It is symbolic that they are playing scrabble as they compete for the construction of words. In Gilead its whoever has authority over language that controls society. Handmaids for goodness sake aren't even allowed to read and write! While Offred examine her room she finds an engraving carved in latin into the woodwork by the prior Handmaid. 'Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Although Offred does not know what it means, it serves as a symbol of her resistance to Gilead, as well as a connection between her and the previous Handmaid. Although the phrase does loose meaning to Offred in the end, the phrase once held the 'magical power' to create a rebel out of Offred.

When Offred is contemplating how Luke was able to kill the cat before they're attempted escape, Luke refers to the cat as an 'it'. Offred acknowledges that "you have to create an it, where non was before. You do that first, in your head, and then you make it real".(202) With changing 'her' to an 'it', Luke is now able to devaluate the significance of a cat as being alive, to simply an object. This symbolises the power of words, and how words can transform our thinking, alter our human nature and transform our emotional sentiments. With Gilead "they force you to kill, within yourself"(203). Gilead uses the power of language to subjugate society to meet the requirements of the elite, this means deceiving women into thinking of themeselves as objects, made to do what society requires them to do. 

Lotso From Toy story 3 Vs. Gilead

Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (the strawberry scented bear, determined to keep full control of the Sunnyside Daycare center) shares some common interests with many totalitarian leaders throughout history' and his actions are similar to those of the highest command in Gilead. Lotso perpetually has other toys, his underlings, monitoring aisles and hallways night and day. Such proceedings illustrate to the other toys that he was monitoring their every move and that if they were to break the law they would be brutally punished. These other toys serve the role of   secret police for Lotso very much like the Eyes and the Guardians. The Guardians who are used for "routine policing and other menial functions and the eyes that are essentially the internal intelligence agency (30). 

In Gilead those who break the law are sent to the colonies where they most probably will starve to death. In Toy Story 3, if you break the law you are sent to a sandbox, where you remain in isolation. In Gilead the fear of action is predominately prevalent. In Off red’s and Nick's initial encounters, when Nick winks at Offred, Offred simply "drops [her] head and turns so that the white wings hide [her] face..."(28). When contemplating her decision afterwards she thinks it was "perhaps a test, to see what I would do. Perhaps he is an eye"(28). In Toy Story 3, the toys display great fear when approached by Lotso's toys, or are even seen by one of his toys.

Furthermore the act of brainwashing takes place in both stories. In Toy Story 3, Lotso persuades two other characters that their owner replaced them and that he was not the only one. However this is not true. In contrast, Offred was pulled apart from her husband and daughter and was sent to a brainwashing centre where she is trained to become a Handmaid. Aunt Lydia reminds me of Lotso in the way that she gives advice to the Handmaids. "Sometimes the movie she showed would be an old porno film, from the seventies or eighties...Women tied up or chained or with dog collars around their necks...women being raped...(128)". Then she would ask the Handmaids to "consider the alternatives"(128). When Offred is contemplating the effects of an autonomous society, "does each of us have the same print the same chair, the same white curtains, I wonder? Government issue" (17)? Aunt Lydia replies by telling them to "think of it as being in the army"(17). Throughout the novel Aunt Lydia seems to give comforting remarks and advice to the Handmaids despite the stern and oppressive circumstances they are in. "Where I am is not a prison but a privilege", Aunt Lydia said. When confronted with any kind of dilemma, whether from the past or present, Aunt Lydia always seems to use words to ameliorate it. When Offered talks about women who where allowed to make up their minds in the past, she recalls Aunt Lydia saying, "We were a society dying of too much choice"(35). This proves that she has been brainwashed to think of the favorable conditions that this cruel and subjective society holds. 

Appreciation For The Little Things In Life/ Shifts In Perspectives

With the restrictions that come with a totalitarian theocracy, one begins to appreciate even the nuisances that once proved to be a hassle. Its sort of like fasting, when you restrain from eating food from dusk to dawn, you become grateful for what you have on your plate, and everything that was taking for granted before has now subdued into admiration. Such feelings increase your awareness of what it means to be human at a very basic level. Through various incidents in 'The Handmaid's Tale', Offred recognises the norms of pre- Gilead times and compares them to the norms of her society she lives in and at times images, words and actions are powerful enough to changes her perspective on the past.

Offred listening outside closed doors to try and hear what Rita and Cora are saying is something she "never would have done in the time before"(20). The sheer isolation of Offred to the world is too large to be ever ignored. Later on Offred describes her conversations with Cora and Rita. "We could nod our heads as punctuation to each other's voices...We would exchange remedies and try to outdo each other in the recital of our physical miseries; gently we would complain, our voices soft and minor-key and mournful as pigeons in the eaves troughs. I know what you mean, we'd say. Or, a quaint expression you sometimes hear, still, from older people: I hear where you're coming from, as If the voice itself was a traveller..."(20). Offred goes on to say that she "used to despise such talk. Now I long for it. At least it was talk. An exchange, of sorts"(21). The lack of communication in Gilead's society has debased the quality and value of conversations, and has reduced the individual to a mere object, where talking about each others physical miseries is regarded as casual  conversation. 

Whilst coming back from a shopping trip Offred encounters tourists from Japan. She recalls that "it's been a long time since Iv seen skirts that short on women. The skirts reach just below the knee and the legs come out from beneath them, nearly naked in their thin stockings, blatant, the high-heeled shoes with their straps attached to the feet like delicate instruments of torture...We are fascinated but also repelled. They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds about things like this"(38). Offred's reaction to such an image illustrates the power of isolation. Offred even says "I used to dress like that", and now she considers the way the female tourists were dressed as repulsive. This proves Gilead has power over Offred's thoughts, and the more she is living in the present the more she forgets the norms of her past. 

Definition of Love in the Handmaids Tale

            Defining Love in words is hard, as is always the case when talking about emotions.  Emotions are felt, sensed and acted upon, but not physically touched.  Love adds purpose to one's life and in some cases it defines somebody's life.  For example, parent’s lives and their children are defined by how much love they give and receive.  When a person feels love and is loved in return, it means they are adding enjoyment to the source of love. They are contributing into each other's lives and their happiness.  Love is a powerful feeling that has seen the destruction of great men and women alike, as witnessed from the legendary story of Cleopatra, to the modern day stories such as King Edward, who gave up the throne to be with his love Wallis Simpson. Many confuse love for lust, which is defined as having a ‘strong sexual desire for someone’ (OED). Some even mistake love for fear or even envy. However, Love is none of those things, but more of a powerful spiritual affair that allows us to reach divine nature. With this in mind I would like to define love in terms of what is established between Nicks and Offreds relationship.

            Through Offred’s eyes the theme of love is illustrated through segments of Offreds memories of Luke. "I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable" (127). This sense of attachment to Luke is what gives her an identity and more importantly a motive to keep living.  Now that Luke is not part of her life anymore, Love is now remembered rather than pursued. Offred’s liaisons with the commander have nothing to do with love. Her encounters with the Commander are purely to satisfy individual desires. For the commander it is to satisfy him sexually and for Offred it’s to gain information of what is actually happening in Gilead. She even has to remind herself when she is at Jezebels with the commander that “he is not an unkind man; that, under some circumstances [she] actually likes him” (266). And with this lack of romanticism, it is evident how Gilead outlaws the liberty crucial to passion. In my opinion, Offred’s relationship with Nick is the closest she comes to love. “With the commander I close my eyes, even when I am kissing him goodnight…but now here each time, I keep my eyes open” (281). “Time after time” she goes back to see Nick, and it is established between them that “it is never too late” to see each other. Although they don’t talk a lot, I sense there exists a deep internal connection between them. It is established that she has fallen into the state which love puts you through in which she becomes increasingly more reckless in taking “stupid chances” to see Nick. One might also conclude that Nick is merely a replacement of Luke, however Nick shows his love to Offred in unconditional terms when he sends after the guardians to rescue Offred. In addition when Serana is talking to Offred about her recently discovered outing with the commander, she gets an irritable urge to run back to Nick and “throw [her] hands around him”(299). I think Offred’s relationship with Nick is powerful as she favors to stay rather than flee Gilead. Although critics can say that Nick is merely a replacement for Luke, I think their relationship has redefined the way Offred looks into the past for joy and their experiences under the patriarchal society of Gilead makes their relationship ever more significant. 

The fight for womanhood

A jury of her peers", by Susan Glaspell is a compelling short story, that causes the reader through contemplation and inspection of Glaspell's perspective on sexual injustice to profoundly develop ones cultural understanding. Compared to "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston, many striking similarities are evident. Firstly Delia's competence in overcoming her husband's wicked nature is illustrated in her accomplishment to endure and resist her husband's abuse and preserve her Ethical certitude by means of her work and her faith. In the same way that the men find no evidence that Mrs. Wright killed her husband and in the end the women essentially act as the 'jury' in not giving the clues that prove Mrs. Wright of murder away. More significantly the men in the story also regard their wives as the 'weaker sex', only beneficial as workers of the household sector; a sector that the men view as trivial. However in the end "whatever goes over the Devil's back is got to come under his belly".

What really had an affect on me was the fact that Mr. Peter and Mr. Hale were completely oblivious to the little details of the house, which compromised of all the little clues that would solve the case.

In "A jury of her peers", when the sheriff was asked if there were any evidence in the kitchen, the Sheriff simply looked around assuming "nothing here but kitchen things" with a little laugh of the insignificance of kitchen things. In "Sweat", he only takes Skye’s lack of sympathy towards the wretchedness and terrors his wife encounters, as a sport. He does not seem to care about all the "work and sweat..." that Delia has been through after the marriage. Her domestic life to Skyke's is completely insignificant. When Delia challenges Sykes's abuse, "seizing the iron skillet from the stove and (striking) a defense pose", Sykes is a "little awed by this new Delia" and as a result tries to get rid of her with the snake. It saddens me to think of women as nothing more but objects to the cruel and powering men standing above them. Both stories still contain stereotypes that to this day prevail, however I think that the two stories represent a turning point in the 20th Century when women began to stand up for their equality. Whether it is keeping quite as Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hales did in a "jury of her peers" or defending yourself against an abusive husband, a transformation of power and the initiative spirit to fight for their individual female right is confirmed through the endings of the two short stories.