In our dominant US society, “Real Women” are categorized as
sexy, demure, appealing, appeasing, maternal, eccentric, and slender but with a
thick form in certain parts of the body, creative, artistic creatures. If you
notice, some of those words are contradictory.
This is because women are supposed to be the right amount of public
beauty with the right amount of bedroom fun for their husbands or male lover. Because
they have to be married, which speaks to the fact that they have to have
children as well, and if not yet married they should show interest in men and
be actively seeking their male mate. All these “have-tos” and “do’s and don’ts”
are part of the unrealistic characteristics that make a “perfect” woman.
Showing emotion is expected, but annoying and generally unwanted in
conversations with a man, but is also looked down on or seen as inferior when it’s “girl-talk.”
This first song demonstrates and makes fun of the "norms" that have dominated country music recently.
The second song, while I personally like it, feeds in to the aforementioned stereotypes.
I think a “Real Woman” is someone who follows her passions
in life. Whether she wants to join the Army, or be an Air Force wife, or even be
a man. I think that people in general should take responsibility for their
actions. This includes but is not limited to: raising children that you birth
or making sure that they are taken care of elsewhere, speaking your mind and
loving whoever you so choose and not keeping quiet for fear that you’ll be
rejected by society. As far as challenging the status quo, I think the show
Orange is The New Black is perfect because it shows so many variations of
women. Between their passions, backgrounds, lifestyles, and past and present
experiences, the writer’s of this show made a point of including every type of
“Real Woman” that they could with all different choices and directions in life.
In my life, the women that I think of as “Real Women” vary incredibly. My 10th
grade Humanities teacher that came to America when she was 5-years-old, joined
the Air Force and then got married and had two kids, my best friend who moved
out of her hometown of Lodi to Monterey with 5 dollars and is now living with
her boyfriend and expecting her first child and is financially independent from
even her roommate-boyfriend, my Great-Aunt who was in Hells Angels with her
husband of forty years and never had kids, my sister who is a lesbian and lives
with her girlfriend, and my mother who raised me being both the dad and the mom
in our household.
This song is also a country song that I think perfectly explains being yourself that I agree with when I think of a "Real Woman."
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Great job examining the differences between societies ideals and your own. Also those were really great examples.
~Brittainy