Not A Good Girl Essay

The social normality of the world is that men are required to be strong, determined and career driven, but for women, they ought to be weak, acquiescent to their male counterpart, and domestic. As of late, women have been acting against this stereotype. Rather than being complacent, women are beginning to stand in solidarity and dismantle the patriarchy that reigns over the nation. With this new-found empowerment for women, countless obstacles in the form of other social groups, particularly men, face them, working against women from allowing true equality to be achieved. Women in literature and media are beginning to be portrayed as women in power, something that was a rarity to previous generations. Contrary to traditional feminine gender

roles, the narrator in Klass's "Not a Good Girl" is powerful. In the 21st Century, women of power, such as Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, are relentlessly criticized for their noncompliance to traditional gender roles.
In terms of Perri Klass’s narrator in “Not a Good Girl,” she is a woman of power, someone who is highly intellectual and seemingly distant from her emotions, something that is more common, and most well received, in men. The narrator divulges her sex life, which normally calls upon shame on any woman who discusses that topic, saying “I went to bed with [a man] I had just met when I was up in Boston for two days,” and after disclosing that this action of lust is not a normality for her, she subsequently debates in her writing the proper and most grammatically correct way to phrase her actions. This simple action she makes further exemplifies her scholarly way of thinking, taking time out from informing the reader about her life to simply question her grammatical errors. As noted in the narrator’s monologue, she studies immunology, a highly regarded scientific field of study. The idea of a female scientist is, to some extent, rare. Researcher at Arizona State University, Lisa Garbrecht (2004), addresses this idea of enforced gender roles and how they affect which jobs each gender typically leans toward.
Throughout childhood, gender role socialization has a formative influence over what beliefs individuals have about their abilities, what interests and activities they engage in, what careers they perceive as viable options, and what roles they prioritize in their identities. Hence, gender roles play a critical role in the aspirations of adolescents (p.4).
Her research solidifies the idea that, owing to the fact that women are raised to be submissive and compliant, their careers tend to lean towards roles such as teacher or nurse, two professions that are seen as maternal. This idea of a woman being maternal and nurturing is also something the narrator does not fall in line with. After a one night stand turned into a two-night stand, the normal social construct would assume the woman would become emotionally invested in her male companion yet, the male would remain distant. In the narrator’s case, the opposite occurs, rather than becoming invested in Eric, she thinks about the learning possibilities this poses for her, stating “I was wondering what my two-night stand might teach me; in science, of course, you have to learn from your experiments… you can never control all the variables” (Klass, 1983, p. 379). With this research in mind, the narrator’s career is advanced for what is expected of her as a woman. A major factor of the story that does not occur, yet occurs daily for real women in power, is the criticism of their careers. The narrator does not experience this condemnation, or at least does not mention it to the readers, but in actuality, women are denounced by men, and even other women, for not complying with the traditional gender roles they try to enforce upon them.
Recently, Hillary Clinton has been a focal point in the media because of her campaign trail for the Presidency. A highly successful career woman running for the most powerful position in the United States of America seemingly does not resonate well with people whose minds are trapped in the 1700’s. Before her campaign trail, she accompanied her husband, Bill Clinton, on his campaign trail, from which her first public appearances became the downfall of her career. She separated herself from femininity in order to be seen as a powerful force for change, to be taken seriously, which only caused more harm than good. Not until her husband’s infidelity did people begin to respect her, but only in view of the fact that she is a woman, a victim and someone to be pitied. Seeing that people now associated her with the female species, all respects as a lawyer and politician, was lost (McGinley, 2009, p. 717). As she began her campaign for the Presidency, her past was brought back to the surface in order to discredit her achievements as best as the media could do. Her opposition, Donald Trump, although had numerous allegations brought against him, still won the hearts of millions owing to the fact that he was honest but more importantly, he was a man. The media, such as news outlets, journalists and American citizens, enjoyed calling Clinton a “bitch,” yet if the tables were turned and Clinton was a man, she would be seen as a leader, a boss and no one would have an issue with it.
Along with Hillary Clinton is Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, a prime example in the denouncement of nonconforming women.

She, like the narrator of Klass’s story, “Not a Good Girl,” is an intellectual, having attended both Princeton University and Harvard School of Law, but these prestigious schools so do not exempt her from the harsh criticism she endures. She is an advocate for the health of children, looking to end the obesity epidemic that plagues America, yet, critics can only seem to focus on her masculine stature, particularly her muscular biceps. This criticism stems from the idea that the First Lady is to be elegant and feminine, a trophy for the President to parade around, and the idea of Michelle Obama’s arms being too muscular and her skin being too dark, inhibits people from seeing her as a woman. Taking this all into consideration, the comparison between Hillary Clinton’s time as First Lady and Michelle Obama’s time as First Lady paints the image that women being in power are becoming a normalcy. During Barak Obama’s campaign trail, the criticism of Michelle’s career while also being a mother of two was less in focus while Hillary, on the other hand, was condemned by journalists and citizens of America for being such an independent woman, and somewhat emasculating to her husband, Bill Clinton (McGinley, 2009,

p.722).