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Social changes in the 1960's
Social changes in the 1960's
Theory of female leadership
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What would happen to the men when there were no women in the world? Philip Wylie's 1951 science-fiction novel, The Disappearance, addresses these fascinating questions. The answers show us how society has changed since the 1950s. According to Wylie, if men and women live in different worlds, the results would be a disaster. In Wylie's vision, men are too aggressive to survive on their own, and women are too helpless. If women didn't control them, men will start more wars. If men aren't there to pump gas and run the businesses, women wouldn't be able to manage. If Wylie is alive today, would he write the same novel? Today, a lot of men take care of their children, and a lot of women run businesses. In 1951, Wylie couldn't imagine these changes
Hey there grandson! I’ve noticed a lot of unusual and crazy event taking place in our society, and most of these events can be confusing to understand. I am writing you to insure that when you get older and go through society as an American citizen, you can fully understand the nation that you came from and form an economic and political opinion about your nation. And what better way to give you advice about your future than to reflect on part of our nation’s past.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
We Americans have a fondness of looking back to certain times with bouts of nostalgia, clutching closely the burred images of better off and more secure conditions. We seek to revive those past years, hoping to cure all of our current societal ills. Why cannot we bring them back? The economy was good, and the family was happy, we say.
1940s and its Influence Most of WWII took place half way through the 1940s, which had a reflective result on the majority of countries and citizens in Europe and Asia. The penalty of warfare lingered into the next part of the decade. Europe separated among the spheres of influence of the Soviet Union and the West foremost to the start of the Cold War. The 1940s also witnessed the premature early stages of new technologies including computers, nuclear power and jet propulsion, often first developed in tandem with the war effort, and later adapted and improved upon in the post-war era. The 1940s connects to the influence of contemporary America because it was the decade that changed so many things in life, not just the government.
The Gender roles of the 1900s were strictly defined in society, providing rigid boundaries for human existence and expression. Men were envisioned dominant and aggressive, and women were submissive. Male aggression was demonstrated through the playing of sports (Becker et Schirp). Society determined the role of the woman was to be a wife and a mother with little individuality. Jennifer Gray states, “The hegemonic institution of nineteenth-century society required women to be objects in marriage and in motherhood, existing as vessels of maternity and sexuality with little opportunity for individuality” (53). Women’s roles were strictly determined and any deviation from these roles could be grounds for isolation.
Ursula Le Guin’s novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, is set on a planet called Gethen where the inhabitants are androgynous, or in somer, until a period of time during the month where they become either male or female, or in kemmer. At this time, only one can become male and the other female and if one gets pregnant they remain female until they give birth. Because of this, Gethen is a world where gender has been removed or distributed so that it is no longer limited to some individuals and not others. Nevertheless, Joanna Russ argues that Gethen is just a “world of men” because the emphasis on politics, the lack of attention to family life, and the use of male pronouns for all characters. She claims that this reinforces our own gender norms and undermines our experiencing a “genderless” world.
Out of some of the most turbulent times in history have come the greatest ages of success and prosperity. The 1920’s and 1950’s are two eras that exemplify the spirit of triumph and wealth. In both decades, a nation thrilled by the victorious conclusion of war and the return of their loved ones from war entered into an age of capitalism and materialism, bolstering the economy and with it national pride. Some of features most common to the 20’s and 50’s were consumerism and the accompanying optimistic mindset, the extent to which new ideas entered society, and discrimination in terms of both sexism and racism.
There will be chaos, monarchy, reform and corruption amongst the women if all men perished. The majority of the government is run by men. The majority of the major leaders are men. Women don’t have an upper hand in running a government of as it is run today. As we can see in Y: The Last Man, there were only thirteen females in the senate and sixty in the house who were republicans. The republican lady’s thought that the democrats will eliminate the two party systems because they weren’t giving up their dead husbands seats. These republican ladies were power hungry so they violently ambushed the white house using gunfire. This disorder is an example of why women wouldn’t be successful in running a functioning government.
The novel is described as a feminist novel. Yet, this is not exactly acurate. The absence of men in the utopian society may seem extreme to some, and it is. This is how Gilman makes her point. She does not create a world without men because men are terrible creatures who have corrupted the world. The utopia which lacks men is a clean peaceful place, which surpasses in almost every way the competitive societies that we live in. But, it is neither the absence of men nor the presence of women that makes this to be the case. Gender, in this novel, is symbolic for the most part. Gilman does separate the two genders to destroy stereo types, but also to establish a concrete difference between the two worlds. The male world is not bad, and the female good is not good. The world in which people are defined by others and limited is bad, while the world in which people are free to grow without being defined or compared to others, and are able to see the unity of all people is good. Comparing Herland to the real world, Gilman begins destroying gender based stereotypes. Because there are no distinctions of gender in Herland, nor any superficial characteristics which accompany gender, Herland women take on the roles of all people without considering any limitations. These women are strong, agile, nurturing, intelligent, cooperative, and able to rely on themselves. They are not "typical" females. As Gilman explains through the male character Van, "Those 'feminine charms' we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere reflected masculinity developed to please us because they had to please us, and in no way essential to the real fulfillment of their great process" (p59). In the same way, stereotypes about men can be thrown up as well. Gilman shows the reader that if people stop basing their identities on what others want, they will no longer be slaves to limitations. They will be free to discover their true selves and will allow others to do the same. Gilman shows readers that men and women are distinct people, but reminds us that they are people first. This can be seen when one of women of Herland named Somel, questions the men by saying, "But surely there are characteristics enough which belong to People, aren't there?
In Hanna Rosin’s article, ‘‘the end of men”, the author begins by stating that women are taking over today’s society, while the position of men have become a thought of the past. The author recognizes the negativity of having girls as firstborns. In the article, the author states, “Many wives who failed to produce male heirs were abused and treated as domestic servants; while some families prayed to spirits to kill off girl children” (Rosin). In this article, the author gives light to how the preference of having males has decimated from the minds of people and how it has been erased from society. And, goes as far as insinuating that women have overtaken the place of men in today’s society and are seen as equal. However, I disagree because I believe that men just want to keep women down and it is demonstrated through discrimination at the workplace, depriving education, and violence towards women.
During the years between 1920 and 1960, America saw change in many aspects of life. The United States was a part of two major wars and a crash of the banking system that crippled the economy greater than ever seen in this country’s history. Also the country had new insecurities to tackle such as immigration and poor treatment of workers. These events led to the change of America lives socially, economically, and politically. The people of America changed their ideas of what the country’s place in the world should be. The issues challenging America led the country to change from isolation to war, depression to prosperity, and social change. The threats to American way of life, foreign and domestic, were the changing forces to the country in the twenties to the sixties.
Vroom!Rrrrrrrrr!POP! No way i'm actually here! Have you ever wanted to go back in time to enjoy a vacation you never got to go on or to see a certain concert with your friends but your parents didn't let you go, well If I time traveled I would go to 1950’s when girls wore poodle skirts, guys wore leather jackets and rock and roll was taking over the world.
The world of healthcare has changed drastically since the 1950’s. Reflecting upon how Mrs. Henrietta’s cervical cancer was treated it is apparent that treatment options for patients have came a very long way. However, it is not just the treatment of disease and cancer that have changed. Over the past few decades there has been a massive shift toward a more patient centered system. It was almost hard to fathom some of the examples of tests and treatments that were done with little to no communication with patients. Today every T must be crossed and I dotted when it comes to ensuring a patient’s understanding and willingness to undergo any treatment or test. Patient’s perceptions of physicians and others in the healthcare field have drastically changed as well. My grandparents for example take
Evolutionary gender determinism proves that men and women are different, not only in a physical way, but in a psychological way as well. As far as history can determine, men were always the hunters who were dominant and competitive. On the other hand, women were known as the gathers, who were cooperative and capable of doing several things at a time. Since men and women are different in their make up. It is a struggle for the two genders to live together and maintain equality and harmony without one gender dominating over the other. In The Gate to Womens Country, Sheri Tepper brings forth a solution that allows the two genders to coincide with each other. She gives a somewhat feminist view in her novel, which takes place some three hundred years into the future. She paints a picture stating that total control and dominance by men would wipe out the world. In order for all mankind to survive, the women and a few select men were forced to come together and make decisions that would change things forever. This novel is filled with situations where each gender takes advantage of the opposite and uses them to profit their own society; however, each gender not only took advantage of the opposite gender, but often their own gender as well.
Indisputably, roles and characteristics of opposite genders have been ubiquitous, since historical evidence proves so – dating back to when the practice of oral tradition was favored over written language. This historical evidence is especially apparent in literature from previous time periods. In these works of literature, men and women often have very different social and economic positions within society. Particular duties, or tasks, are practiced depending on the gender of these individuals. However, in the advancing world we are currently living in, these duties are beginning to intertwine in an effort to allow equal rights amongst opposite genders. This effort to break the sexist barrier, which encompasses our world, has already begun rattling the chains of politicians and the like. However, with the progressions made thus far in retaliation to sexism and unequal gender privileges, the United States of America is heading in a positive direction towards gender equality. Nonetheless, the female gender is perceived as a lesser entity in society while the male gender is dominant and controlling. The masculine individuals in literary works usually govern, or direct the feminine individuals. These characteristics are often evident in various literary works – including “Hills Like White Elephants,” and “A&P” written by Ernest Hemingway and John Updike, respectively. The slow and steady transformation from a sexist society to one that allows inferior genders to perform similar tasks, if not the same as their superior counterparts, may disturb the ideological mindset of figures with authority; however, it provides inferior genders with the opportunity to branch out socially, economically, and politically.