Marked Women By Deborah Tannen Summary

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It is disheartening to hear, that in this day and age, “it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are” (Cummings). As children of this world grow up, constantly being told what they can and cannot do, one may find it takes a toll on them. Trying to do their part to bring an end to these limits, authors Deborah Tannen and Iliana Magra are writing out to express their thoughts on the subject. While both Tannen’s “Marked Women” and Magra’s “Britain Cracking Down on Gender Stereotypes in Ads” demonstrate how the impacts of societies different expectations for men and women are felt using their experiences and outside sources, Tannen argues only women are oppressed by society's expectations of them, while Magra argues that all people experience the pressure of stereotypes. …show more content…

She notices how “each of the women…[have] to make decisions about hair, clothing, makeup and accessories, and each decision carries meaning. Every style available to [them is] marked” (Tannen 194). Delving further into how women are marked, Tannen uses specific examples from the women she observed at her conference. Describing the three women's clothing choices, she writes, “the first [woman wore] man-tailored suits... [The] second [woman wore] casual but stylish black T-shirts... The third [woman] wore a sexy jump suit” (Tannen 193). Tannen reaches the conclusion that only women are marked and therefore, only women must deal with the expectations put upon them and suffer the consequences. She sums up her thoughts on how men avoid the judgement by writing that they are, “in short, unmarked,” leaving the reader to deduce that they do not have to deal with the same consequences (Tannen

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