After having completed the reading for this week I found myself questioning gender roles in today’s society and whether the roles described in Pyke’s research and Hochschild article are still apparent in today’s society. In Hochschild’s chapter in was stated that, “man is to woman as parent is to child” (45). Maybe in the 1950’s it was the role of the man to “take” care of his wife but I wonder if this is still so in present day society. I would like to think not but then again when you think about it women in the media are still portrayed as needing protection or to be cared for by men. For example, in a horror movie it is always the man in the relationship that goes to inspect the suspicious sound. Even romance movies depict the need for a man to take care of a woman because the female characters are always searching for the man that will sweep her off her feet and take care of her for the rest of their lives so they can live happily ever after. So, it would appear that even though I kind of wish it were not true it appears that society in ways still depicts woman as needing to be taken care of by a man. I also believe that women as described by the “feeling rules” still feel the need to pretend everything is “perfect” even when it isn’t and men do not usually feel this need to pretend quite so much. For example, when a woman is sick, especially a mother I think they feel the need to try not to show how bad they are feeling or worry anyone about it. This certainly is not true with most of the men I know who act as if they are dying if they have a simple code and expect to be taken care of by the female in their life. I do however, wonder why this is still so in today’s society.
In Pyke’s article, I found it interesting when he was discussing males and how they can be divided into two separate classes. These were working class men and men who were considered to be part of the upper class. According to Pyke, men who are from the upper class are able to provide for thei famirly and it is this that gives them power. However, it is a struggle for working class men to provide for their families and this effects their masculinity in that they have to prove they have power and are masculine in other ways such as fighting and or abusing their wives. I do not think this to be true in today’s society because I know many men who are from the middle class and they do not seem to feel the need to prove their masculinity. In contrast, I also know a few men who are from the upper class and they seem to be always trying to attain more as if what they have is not enough. They seem to be chasing a sense of power that is elusive to them because they want more and are constantly trying to have more.
1) Do you believe as described by Pyke that men from high classes attain a sense of power that middle class men have to prove in other ways because they can easily provide for their families?
2) In Hochschild’s article, she quoted Morgan’s advice, “If you put others before you, they are often quite happy to move forward and leave you behind” (p.56). Do you agree with this statement? Do you think this applies to women in society more then men?
3) Do you believe women in today’s society still use feminine wiles in order to get things that they have been thus far denied?
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