Azadeh Ahmed 21020428
Writing and Communication S5
Furrha Ahsan
18 April 2018
‘How The Superwoman Myth Puts Woman Down’ by Sylvia Rabiner
In 1970’s there emerged a phenomenon of a ‘Superwoman’ who achieves everything in life. The article by Sylvia Rabiner “How The Superwoman Myth Puts Woman Down’’ staunchly advocates against the superficial and unrealistic image of woman promoted in the media. Rabiner, born in 1939, suffered much during her life, which she considers as a reality faced by the majority of the women, who unlike the elite class go through hardships. Moreover, Rabiner is not only a freelance writer who has written in woman related magazines- Working Mother, The New Republic, and Mademoiselle- but is also a teacher; and has earned
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a degree from a reputable university-New York University. This article, which appeared in the Village Voice in 1970’s, is a bitter opposition to the promulgation of the superwoman image advertised to gain publicity in the name of feminism. The article also explores the themes of womanhood and jealousy and questions the expectation the society has from the women. The intended audience of the article are the middle class working women. Rabiner’s central claim is that the image of a woman who does everything is in fact far from reality- rather it is oppressive. Rabiner strengthens her claim by employing a personal anecdote, rhetorical questions, and analogies along with a sarcastic tone to convince the audience to her line of argumentation; however, her one-sided portrayal of the women and contradictory statements weaken the claim of the article. In the article, Rabiner thrusts upon the notion of the superwoman image popularized by the media of a woman who possesses everything from “brain, brawn, children, career, husband, respect, fame, and money” (Rabiner 584). She explains that the society has imposed a new model of success for the women in the form of a superwoman, a move away from the traditional thinking where the women were only judged by their marriage-for her, this new image is oppressive. She narrates her own story of hardship and struggle and juxtaposes it with the stories of the glamorous women published in renowned magazines; she states these stories inculcate a sense of inferiority among women. Finally, she blames the media for misusing the concept of feminism to elevate “an elite of upper-class women executives’’. Firstly, Rabiner presents a personal anecdote to strengthen her argument. Her personal story puts forward a reality relatable to the majority of the women, unlike the ones presented fancily over the covers of the magazines. By providing a stark contrast of the different stories of women to hers, Rabiner tactfully leaves the mark of her anguish feelings on the reader; she concludes by launching a broad attack on the elite narrow class society. This triggers the reader to realize the pronounced implications of the dichotomy presented in the newspapers: they make other woman feel inferior. Rabiner’s lucid narration of her past is well- structured that helps the reader to not lose focus; she delivers a long trail of hardships which she had to endure. Despite being a child of immigrant workers, going through a divorce, and struggling to get a decent job, Rabiner with her tenacious efforts was able to feed herself and her two children. She states “I never walked down a street, I ran I ate standing up. I screamed at my sons a lot’’ (Rabiner 586), adding credibility to her argument that her life stands in sharp contrast to those of others. This also manifests a frustrated and angry tone of the author. Rabiner further admits that she failed to compete in the superwoman model as she “didn’t have terrific career, and (her husband) didn’t have a terrific career’’(Rabiner 586) ; this underscores her argument as such short impactful sentences trigger the impetus for the reader to ponder deeply on the subject matter. By presenting a dichotomy between her life and that of Letty’s and Kanner’s, Rabiner with a stroke of brilliance has effectively persuaded her audience. The use of personal anecdote is effective because the audience is more engaged in the topic and even feels sympathetic towards the writer. Secondly, Rabiner underscores her argument through the use of rhetorical questions.
Rabiner after narrating Letty Cottin’s successful story asks the readers “Now where does that leave me?’’(Rabiner 585)-at this stage the reader foreshadows that the writer is not affected by the jubilant story because it is least relatable. Another rhetorical question is poised to the readers after Rabiner finishes the narration of her own story- “Now I ask you- do I need to read about the triumphant lives of Helen Gurley Brown or Mary Wells Lawrence?’’(Rabiner 587); this underpins the irony presented by the author that the stories of illustrious women projected in the media are far from reality. These rhetorical questions are directly addressed to the audience, and hence sound natural to the article. The audience is able to think while concurrently transitioning smoothly to another thought efficaciously presented by Rabiner. Furthermore, the writer after giving a detailed list of achievements by women asks “If they can do it, how about you?’’(Rabiner 585), and follows by a number of dashes to create a hasty breathlessness. This craft of involving the readers directly to her argument and evoking their expressions adds to the fact that these strategies have been effectively used. The diction employed the writer is simple and comprehensible for the intended audience coupled with the short and few long sentences. Therefore, the use of rhetorical questions helps Rabiner cement her
argument. Thirdly, through several analogies and a sarcastic tone Rabiner effectively adds depth and feeling to her argument and persuades the reader. She points out that for the majority of women like her conforming to the superwoman “is as oppressive a role model as the airbrushed Bunny in the Playboy centerfold, or That Cosmopolitan Girl’’ (Rabiner 587); this manifests the author’s claim that the media purports unattainable achievements for the women. Moreover, displaying farcical images of these women as Rabiner puts “is like holding Sammy Davis, Jr., up as a model to a junior high school class…’’(Rabiner 587) - in short they fail to put up a realistic inspiration for the woman who read these magazines. This adds to the strength of the article as the audience can relate to these analogies and fit them to a bigger picture. Furthermore, Rabiner’s sarcastic tone amuse the readers as can be gauged from her abrupt phrases like “another afternoon ruined”(585), “errors in judgement”(587) and with referring to Letty Collin as “embodiment of success game” (Rabiner 585). This ingenious use of a sardonic tone compels the audience to impulsively smile generating an impact on them. It is also thought provoking as the irony inherent in the issue is exposed leaving the reader to continue their chain of thoughts mentally. Therefore, the use of analogies and sarcastic tone serve to assist Rabiner in strengthening her argument. The language and tone of the article shifts at this point as the audience reads on; the tone becomes more serious while the language changes to formal in the last two paragraphs, in order to emphasize the gravity of the subject matter and explicitly state the issue. This is a powerful tool used by Rabiner to make her argument credible and compelling by joining the loose strings in the conclusion. Hence, the analogies and sarcastic tone aids Rabiner to persuade her audience effectively. However, the article possesses substantial weakness since it condones how much these successful women worked hard to get where they are despite the inequality present in the corporate world. The entire article has reeks of agitation which makes Rabiner biased towards these women because she envies them- instead of getting inspired from their stories. As Rabiner clearly states ‘I am a six year old child once again, listening while my mother compares me to one of my flawless cousins’ (Rabiner 584), this evinces that she is being irrational in judging the stories of the successful women she reads about. The writer feels the need to discredit the efforts of Ms.Kannner, Letty, Helen, and Mary in order to make herself better. She also fails to realize that these renowned newspapers are celebrating the triumph of women in achieving their goals. Furthermore, she uses a derisive tone to address Collin’s advice that “she doesn’t hesitate to tell her readers that she’s a woman to emulate” (Rabiner 585). This could cause the readers to be not persuaded by her argument as this shows her utter neglect and unwillingness to appreciate the hard work of others. This constricts the audience’s views to think broadly about the matter confining them to a parochial assessment of the issue. Furthermore, Rabiner presents a paradox in her article contradicting herself. She admits that “women are self-critical creatures’’ (Rabiner 587); this underlines the fact that Rabiner herself believes that women can never be delighted with whatever they achieve. Not only is this a generalization but is also a contradiction to the writer’s argument.-similar claims that “we always find ways to hate ourselves” (Rabiner 587) rather confines Rabiner from exploring a far-fetching analysis of breaking the superwoman myth, instead she discredits the works of others that is unbecoming of the author. Her unbounded assumptions are not explained causing the argument to weaken. The article is also devoid of credible sources as the mere mention that 7.2 million families are headed by women is not backed by any evidence. Had Rabiner not overlooked the hard work of all the successful women she mentions in the article, her argument would have sought more credibility. Another oversight by Rabiner is that she fails to acknowledge the other side of the debate; the fact that Women’s Movement helped a number of women as well-the picture is not as crude as painted by Rabiner. This leaves the reader perplexed as they might be getting inspiration from the stories of these women instead of vying for power in order to be equal to them. Rabiner’s article fails to holds utility as it asserts certain bias and is not applicable in different contexts. The argument could be over-arching if there was no slant in opinion against the successful woman. In summation, Rabiner effectively convinces the readers that the “Superwoman” is not representative of the women at large-contrary to what is projected in media- and the article emanates that by adding glamour to these stories the real essence of feminism has been exploited. She employs several effective techniques such as a personal anecdote, rhetorical questions and analogies along with a sarcastic tone in order to strengthen the argument. These strategies are also useful in creating an impact on the readers in persuading them. However, despite the strengths of these strategies in the article the reliability of the argument is called into question because the author holds bias against these successful women due to her own struggles in life. Furthermore, the tone is derisive which fails to neither convince the reader nor achieve its purpose. She is also silenced on several pertinent issues that women are confronted with. Nevertheless, Rabiner highlights an important issue and through her article she achieves her aim because it is thought provoking. All in all, the article does achieve its aim in highlighting the “Superwoman Myth”. Word Count 1880 Works Cited Rabiner, Sylvia. 2018. Web. 16 Apr. 2018.
However, we cannot completely assume this article is going to persuade all women to progress beyond these issues by uniting and devoting themselves to these underlying conflicts. Some readers may fear the impossible of completing such a great task as this because this problem has continued to linger from the 70’s into now. Overall, Laurie has accomplished a great task in showing her dedication to women’s rights and their future by delivering the problems and also giving the readers insight on how to solve them. In detail, Laurie not only explains the issues she has seen, but also she explains her personal experiences so the readers can better relate to the message she is trying to
In the article “Wonder Woman” Gloria Steinem expresses that the making of female super-heroes empowers females by reducing the fixed theme of a Caucasian male saving an inferior female. She displays this by showing how inferior women were before in male super-hero comic books, compares what it was like personally reading female super-hero comics to male super-hero comics as a child, the fight with other women to have the original Wonder Woman published in Ms. Magazine and how even males were changed by the making of Wonder Woman.
By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
The contrast between how She sees herself and how the rest of the world sees Her can create extreme emotional strain; add on the fact that She hails from the early 1900s and it becomes evident that, though her mental construct is not necessarily prepared to understand the full breach against Her, She is still capable of some iota of realization. The discrimination encountered by a female during this time period is great and unceasing.
Knowing this you would think women would portray themselves more seriously, but the exact opposite is happening. These continuous loops of failure have severely weakened women’s physical presence, and because of this, are continuously singled out in world discussions on topics such as war or threats to national security, and are constantly burdened with tasks regarding health and family life. In my research I read many books from the nineteenth-century onwards, such as, Stuart Mill’s book ‘The Subjection of Women’ (1869) to Butler’s ‘Gender Troubles’ (1990), both of these and many more books has helped in my quest to conjure up a personal concept of women, but out of all of them I found Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ the most fruitful in terms of a literal explanation of women.
After all, a late grant has modified that detailing by uncovering a great record of female activism. The assignment is to depict and celebrate as well as to contextualize and along these lines to get it. Also, the structure of the work power and the business, the worldwide strengths that encroached on nearby occasions these particularities of time and place adapted ladies ' decisions and molded their personalities. Similarly, vital was a private world customarily pushed to the edges of work history. Female relationships and genders, between generations and class collisions, held the fuse of new shopper wishes into an element territorial culture stimulated ladies ' support. Ladies thusly were authentic subjects, making the circumstances from which the strik...
Kaufman, Debra R. and Richardson, Barbara L. Achievement and Women, Challenging the Assumptions: The Free Press, New York 1982
Over time, a women’s identity has been seen as powerless and incompetent to achieve anything. This image of women is being created at a young age at young age. For instance, little
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
As a woman born in the early 17th century, Anne Bradstreet was naturally destined to a life lived underneath the shadow of the men around her, as were most women of that era; however, Bradstreet had been born into a family that supported her education and learning. While at first glance Bradstreet’s work seems to portray a woman who is highly self-deprecating, her writing style and knowledge of literature and culture beg to differ. In the poem, “The Prologue,” Bradstreet uses literary devices and figurative language to combat the sea of masculine voices surrounding the women of that day. Throughout “The Prologue,” Bradstreet shows a mastery of figurative language and literary devices that contrasts her claims of inferiority, creating a poem that dares to ask for some small recognition of women writers as a whole.
These highly regarded and well-respected female authors are showing that women can and do hold power in our society. These authors send the message to readers that women throughout time have been and still are fully capable of thinking for themselves. They can hold their own ground without having to subject themselves to the dominance of the males, be it in writing novels, raising a family, working in a factory, or pursuing a singing career. Thus, they as all women, deserve to be held in respect for their achievements and deserve equality.
Contemporary Women’s Issues (December 1998). Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. University at Albany Library, Albany. 11 November 2002.
As women, those of us who identify as feminists have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at what cost do these advances come with?... ... middle of paper ... ... Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.htm Bidgood, J. 2014, April 8 -.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.