Analysis Of Marked Woman Unmarked Men

In “Marked Woman, Unmarked Men”, Deborah Tannen argues many points about how women are targeted based on their style choices, such as makeup, clothing and hair, as well as their last names, and titles they choose to take on. Tannen argues her stance when she says, “Each of the women at the conference had to make decisions about hair, clothing, makeup and accessories…. Men can choose styles that are marked, but they don 't have to… . Unlike the women, they had the option of being unmarked.” here you can clearly see that Tannen is illustrating her point by showing the difference in how men are looked at compared to women. She clearly believes that men don’t have to take their style, and lack of makeup, into consideration. In other words, this is a perfect representation of her argument in “Marked Women, Unmarked Men” Tannen also points out that

One aspect that I believe is a perfect example of this is the whole style, makeup, and hairdo point she makes. In her essay, Tannen is the one “marking” women, making judgments on their appearance, or style choices, while she comments that the men seem not to care. Yes, women’s appearances are criticized more often than men, but who is the one criticizing women? In my experiences, I rarely see males making comments on what a female is wearing. The majority of the time, it’s women criticizing other women based on what brands they’re wearing, the makeup they have on, and hairstyle they choose. In other words, I don’t see how, nor do I think its fair for Tannen to blame this on men. Yes, as she points out men can choose to dress “targeted” by wearing certain styles, such as hair, clothing, and footwear, but often choose not to. In this case, again, I rarely see a man commenting on another mans appearance, or marking men. It’s often women critiquing men or other