Door Holding Marilyn Frye

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Phil 221 Prof. Brixel Essay 1 In this essay, I will argue that while not necessarily offensive or harmful, the door-holding ritual’s role within the broader context of a patriarchal society serves as one of many vessels by which women are silenced, and their needs deemed irrelevant. I will demonstrate that despite the prevalent objection that Marilyn Frye’s door-holding analysis is not valid due to the helpful and universal nature of the act, it is still a manifestation of gender oppression in daily life. Then I will show that door-holding, in its dismissive nature, reinforces the existing cultural and social subjugation of women. While seemingly innocuous, the ritual of door-holding symbolically reinforces gender norms, perpetuating broader …show more content…

The fact that door-opening is a performance regardless of “convenience or grace” speaks to the dismissive nature of its employment in daily life. It is performed automatically and passively, which Frye cites as evidence of the ritual’s “detachment from the concrete realities” of daily life, specifically, women’s actual needs. Frye’s analysis here supports the claim that door-opening as a gendered ritual instills in participants a disregard for genuinely addressing the needs of women, which in turn reinforces the notion that women’s needs are irrelevant. Frye connects this detachment of women’s needs to broader patterns of silencing women and reinforcing subservient roles, drawing parallels to other forms of female gender socialization. In its dissemination as a rule and its dismissive nature, the practice reinforces a broader system of silencing women and their needs. Frye argues: “There is nothing but advice that women should stay indoors after dark, be chaperoned by a man, or when it comes down to it, ‘lie back and enjoy it’” (Frye 7). By making a connection between the subservient nature of the performance door-holding and the other roles that girls are taught to play from childhood, Frye conjures a powerful image of the demeaning narratives encompassed

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