What’s behind a woman’s smile? Amy Cunningham analyzes the intentions behind a woman’s smile in her essay “Why Women Smile.” An individual’s facial expressions tell a lot about them and how they’re feeling, what they’re thinking, or what their personality is like. Culture has played a huge role in shaping individuals into what they believe, what they should like or don’t like, how things should – basically what’s “normal”. In the Western culture, smiling is prevalent; it has become a necessary factor in “quickly winning friends and influencing people,” as Cunningham states. As supported with the following example:
“Other counties have been somewhat reluctant to import our “Don’t worry, be happy” American smiles. When McDonald’s opened in
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The author touched up on the psychological, sociological, physiological, and even the historical aspects answering the question “why women smile.” Cunningham addresses the subject of smiling through a woman’s standpoint making the essay very feministic. Although she is right on some points, she appears to be biased on others. The first statement that hit me with a whiff of feminism “Despite all the work we American women have done to get and maintain full legal control of our bodies, not to mention our destinies, we still don’t seem to be fully in charge of a couple of small muscle groups in our faces.” How is the bolded statement only exclusive to women? Cunningham is found to be very inconsistent in terms of this one-sided gender issue making her argument somewhat ineffective at times. There are several other examples of statements that could be applied to both men and women …show more content…
The second definition found in Merriam-Webster is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities,” which corresponds to “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” (“Feminism | Definition of Feminism by Merriam-Webster”). The second definitions should be what it actually means, but for the most part, feminism has been gearing its interest only towards women and completely ignoring men in the equation. Emma Watson delivered a HeForShe speech back in September 20, 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. With the tag line “Gender equality is your issue too,” that would draw all of us in for a second until you realize that there aren’t any issues feminism has addressed for men; you may see a few here and there, but cases relating to men barely get any media attention. Real feminism is equality where the other gender is not ignored
Amy Cunningham, an editor and author from New York, wrote an article “Why Women Smile” to emphasize on how women are no longer smiling because it is a natural thing, but rather an everyday habit. Coupled with Cunningham’s supported reasons by using logos and ethos, she also uniquely brings in her personal experience by having ethos, making her argument more relatable. A long side with that, societies’ past and present impact on today’s world about women was also included as Cunningham put her own take into proving her point. Although this may be true, there were some fallacies found in her argument leading it to lack of fully portraying the audience.
Feminism, as defined in the dictionary, is “the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” This doesn’t mean that women are just a bit tired of earning 75% that a man does for the same job. This means that women are standing up for themselves and are trying to achieve rights that they should already have. We were all brought into this world by a woman, but they are still not a man’s equal. Why is that? Is it too much to ask for to not be raped or killed or cast aside simply because of gender? Why is it that there are men out there that believe feminism is a scourge upon this earth that must be wiped out? They feel that their power over women is being threatened.
The word feminism is sometimes misinterpreted and associated with female superiority and hatred of men, although most people probably agree that feminism can mean the desire for social and economic parity. There is so much baggage surrounding this term that clarification of what feminism is and is not, is essential. Indeed, the way feminism has developed has not been pretty. “Feminism over the years have [sic] evolved away from its noble purpose of creating awareness and defending women rights to creating new ridiculous ‘belief systems.’...feminism has become more like a medium for angry women to vent their hatred and frustration towards man”(“Feminism is Chauvinism”). This definition goes completely against the true meaning of what feminism entails. Feminism can be defined as a fundamental respect for others and the desire for equality between men and women.
Personally, I do not know how should I think about feminism appropriately or what is the ideal way to think about this word. Since there are no significant differences between male and female, except physical aspects, the inequality between females and male has remained for several thousand years. it is necessary for human beings in contemporary society to think about this issue seriously because females have to voice for themselves and discriminations have to be eliminated progressively.
“Feminism”, as defined today, is “1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” and “2: organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”2 Many critics claim that feminism has been active longer than the word itself has existed.3 The word, “feminist” was not in true use until the late 1800s and early 1900s, but activism for women’s rights was alive and well a...
Feminism. What does it actually mean? Many categorize feminists as hairy, bra burners that hate men, but are they? Does feminism actually comply with its stereotypes or are there a rotten few that spoil it for the rest? By google definition feminism means "the advocacy of woman 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men". I personally find this definition to be flawed in the way that it includes the word "men". To convince individuals of the real definition of feminism, they need to know it is not about the women or the men, it is about the equality. People get caught up in the thought that feminism (equality) Bell Hooks has a definition that I think pinpoints the meaning of feminism perfectly, she states in her book Feminism is for EVERYBODY, "Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression" (Hooks viii). This definition is perfect due to
Man-hating and unhygienic are the words typically used to describe a modern-day feminist, but the words that should be used are passionate and righteous. Incomprehension of the meaning of feminism leads to a lack of necessary female empowerment. Feminism, by definition, is the belief in social, political, and economic equality of the sexes (Issitt). When women participate in feminism, instead of working against it, they can tackle the everyday issues that try to silence women in society. Women were finally given the right to vote in 1919 and have gained more prominence in society today.
In the article “Why Women Smile”, Cunningham evaluates on how societal expectation and personal goal evolves women’s daily behavior; particularly she focuses on the women’s smile. It’s for the better, women weaponize their smile There are too many good examples of female protagonists in the article, one of the best samples- Cunningham cites: “In Japan, for instance, a smile is often used to hide pain or sorrow” (371). The society loyally favors in a “happy” protagonist more than a frowning one. Believe it or not, women are highly intelligent because they manage to cover their true feeling for the societal need-
Akst emphasizes how women take superficial looks more into an account than men which reveals his bitter emotions directed towards women. Akst also provides no evidence for the circumstances of this research study which leaves readers with no evidence to back up his claim. He is so bitter towards women’s obsession with beauty that he tries make a correlation that may not even be
Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. In simple terms, it is the ideology of women being equal to men and it is often misinterpreted as the belief of women being above them. Feminists believe in diminishing patriarchy which is a system of society and or government in which men are considered more powerful than women. When people are against feminism they are supporting sexism which is why it is important to educate ourselves on the matter and to understand why we need it.
Feminism, in its simplest definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. (Webster) Feminists fight for equality for women to men socially, politically, and economically. At the peak of feminist discourse is equality for men and women in education and in employment. However, feminism also focuses on more than issues regarding the rights of women in relation to men. Issues of gender equality and women’s right to control their sexuality are also at the core of feminist theory. A key argument made by many feminists is how women have very little control over their sexuality, mainly being defined and controlled by men. T...
Carlson, Margaret. “That Killer Smile.” Time 143.6 (1994): 76. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
This campaign may have a reverse effect on these types of women. By hearing the responses from the women, they may feel that being confident is not something that is considered normal. This would be a constraint that this campaign and specific short-film could give. Another constraint would be men. Although Dove is a company that aims towards women, there are men that struggle with the same self-esteem problems that could also benefit from this same mission. By letting know that not only women, but also humans as a whole, should believe they are beautiful could change the impact of the message. The last thing that could pose a problem is the fact that the reveal, one picture is supposed to represent unattractiveness and one is representing beauty. You hear comments from the women mentioning crow’s feet or circles under their eyes weren’t in the second picture. So do these tiny things change the definition of beauty? Is the youthful looking picture supposed to be the only way to achieve this? In today’s society, we are taught that beauty is within certain constraints and this is something that is around us every day. Beauty and perfection surrounds us in so many aspects of life on a daily basis and this is what is making women so self-conscious. Society is measuring peoples worth by their outside appearance instead if their inner thoughts
In "A Woman's Beauty: Put-down or Power Source," Susan Sontag portrays how a woman's beauty has been degraded while being called beautiful and how that conceives their true identity as it seems to portray innocence and honesty while hiding the ugliness of the truth. Over the years, women have being classified as the gentler sex and regarded as the fairer gender. Sontag uses narrative structure to express the conventional attitude, which defines beauty as a concept applied today only to women and their outward appearance. She accomplishes this by using the technique of contrast to distinguish the beauty between men and women and establishing a variation in her essay, by using effective language.
Feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. It began as an organized activity on behalf of women?s rights and interests. This concept was developed to help women earn a place in a predominantly male society. Unfortunately over the years, the intentions of feminism have become distorted, not only by anti-feminists, but also by the feminists themselves. The principle of equality for women and men has turned into a fight in which feminists wish to be better than men. Feminism has been twisted and misunderstood so much that it has become a harmful idea.