Sexism and Racism in “The Color Purple”

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I feel every person should care about sexism and racism, because these two issues affect everyone. “The Color Purple” is a great film that focuses on the problems African American women faced during the early 1900s. "The Color Purple" provides a disturbing and realistic account into the life of Celie, a poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past and Sophia, another poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past. Sexism is a form of discrimination based on a person's sex, with such attitudes being based on beliefs in traditional stereotypes of different roles of the sexes. Sexism is not just a matter of individual attitudes; it is built into the institutions of society. In the film, Walker shows the difficult life of sexism for black women. For example, Celie was being raped by her stepfather at the age of fourteen. He takes her children away from her and then gives her away to a man to be married that she did not love or care for that she can only refer to him as mister. While living with him, she had to endure his beatings and take care of his children from another woman. During that time in the South, abuse from spouse was common, tolerated, and thought to be right. Men were the ones that worried about whether their actions or their behaviors are masculine enough. Take Harpo for an example, who found it hard to discipline his wife, Sofia. He asked, his father how he can get Sofia to listen to him. His father replies, “You ever hit her?” When Harpo says no, his father says, “Well how you expect to make her mind? Wives are like Sm... ... middle of paper ... ...ge® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 14 Mar. 2012. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/RACISM>. “The Color Purple news.” Web. 14 March 2012. http://www.movies.com/color-purple/color-purple-news/m38841 Kimmel, Michael and Michael Messner. 2007. Men's Lives. 7th edition. New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon. Espiritu. "All Men Are Not Created Equal". Pogrebin, Letty. 1997. "The Secret Fear that Keeps Us From Raising Free Children." Pp. 171- 176 in Feminist Frontiers, edited by Laurel Richardson, Verta Taylor, and Nancy Whittier. New York: McGraw Hill. http://www.answers.com/topic/racism

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