Traditional gender roles outdated
Too often you see people belittle women and make them out to be the weaker, inferior sex. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, as females are capable of doing what they please, just as males are.
History has always portrayed women as submissive, “perfect housewives.” While this isn’t as big of an issue as it may have been in the past, it’s still prevalent in today’s culture.
I think this idea is beyond outdated and should have been long gone by now. The “traditional roles” of a stay-at-home mother and bread-winning are still being drilled into some young people’s minds.
In many situations, this notion is obsolete and puts so many limits on the possibilities of young girls’ futures. They should be able to make their own decisions about what they want to do with their lives and not be pressured or forced into doing something they may regret later.
Many girls nowadays feel they need boyfriends or some kind of male companion to be whole. I feel like we should be teaching young girls how to be independent instead of instilling in them that they need a man to be relevant. Females should feel liberated and confident and they should know that they can do anything males can do just as well, contrary to popular belief.
Females deserve the same amount of respect as males do. I think people need to work together to end the idea that women are inferior and less capable than men and take a leap into the realm of equality.
17rbasso@usd489.com
Lexie Reinhardt • Oct 22, 2014 at 8:40 am
Raina’s opinion is her personal opinion, obviously. Also her opinion isn’t unintelligent, I mean women literally are treated unfairly they are paid WAY less than men still do this day. I have no idea how thats even legal considering it violates the 14th amendment. Also socially women are treated as less of a person for doing the same thing a man does, such as having tattoos, not being a virgin, smoking/drinking, partying, not caring/not showing emotions. If a woman does these things she is considered a “dirty, heartless slut”. If a man does this he is just being a man. “Boys will be boys” as they say… If a girl remains a virgin, or doesn’t ever want to go out and party, or shows her emotions shes deemed as an “uptight, dramatic prude”. Us woman will never be “right” to some people in society. If you still don’t think women are treated as less think of all the bad things you can call a man “girly, feminine, dramatic…”….notice all of those have something to do with a woman? So the worse thing a woman can be is infinite, the worse thing a man can be? A woman….
Garrett • Oct 24, 2014 at 9:46 am
Originally this was just posted on the front page, not stating it was an opinion very clearly. Now i understand that this is an opinion but there are still two major issues with it.
1. There is little to no research done on this, she’s basically restating a lot of feminist values and over all being a generic rant-ish opinion thrown out into the mix.
2. Her view on women’s duties are rather false on a macro level, i do not know what she has been exposed to when growing up but the way she sees women are just not factual. Women now a days have more freedom than ever, hence this article in general. This article seems to me, to just be influenced by Tumblr and a single mother.
I’d like to thank Jacob Balzer for defending me and he also stated something very prevalent, his entire comment concerning the society differences of Greece and modern America. Then his view on how Women are not told that Men are required for the ride of life.
As for Lexie, she did a great job supporting her opinion and im glad she did. She brought up very valid points that i would have liked to have seen on Raina’s side since this is her opinion article. Now i never said that women were not treated entirely fair i only said that women are not pushed to have men along side them 24/7. In fact I only disagree with one thing Lexie said and that is the portion concerning rape cases and abuse cases.
I understand that there are good and bad people, this is determined on how someone is raised and traditionally there are men who are raised poorly that turn to violence to solve their problems. I understand the violence portion as i used to get into fights to make myself feel better until i understood that, that was wrong. Now knowing that more men are violent because of the way they were raised than there are aggressive violent women you know that provocation is required. In Hays rape is in some ways a common thing, just people are dumb and hide the truth for fear of getting into more trouble. The trouble they are worried of getting in is what they were doing before hand most of the time. Not all the time, just most of it. Drinking is also a problem in Hays, Kansas. When you apply that to the equation then you can understand the rape subject. When a man sees a woman usually he sees her as just some person. Though if they dress appealingly they will become noticed, and if the woman is intoxicated that may trigger a primal sense of “Easy Prey.” Now normally a morally stable individual would not act on those thoughts and instead take care of them in private or forget them entirely. Though if the man is also intoxicated it’s harder to do so, as your brain isn’t really your own when your drunk. That is the case of many rape cases, and well if the girl hadn’t been drinking or dressed in “booty shorts” they probably wouldn’t have been targeted.
Yes there are cases where it’s different and that is usually because of the fact the rapist is a psychopath a very common mental disorder. In which cases the rapist would be sent to a mental facility for rehabilitation, and regarding psychopathy there is no rehabilitation. So therefore those are the cases you can fix, the ones you cant are the ones concerning alcohol. You can’t prevent human drives, you can only prevent drinking. So when there is a situation where alcohol and a poor childhood you can’t prevent that. You simply can prevent the alcohol, which unfortunately is impossible especially in this town. Now the only way that it could be possible is if we could outlaw alcohol in general, but knowing the fun-loving America it won’t happen.
Now for the Abusive Marriage thing, i have never heard of a case where a man was abused and the judge said “That can’t happen she is just a woman.” If you can back that up for me that would be lovely. Though in all reality, there is no reason a woman or man should stay in an abusive relationship. Yes the abuser may threaten the abusee but that does not mean that they will act on it, and if they do then that person will be held accountable for their crime. This subject hits home for me since i knew a girl who was in an abusive relationship. Women are naturally emotional creatures and therefore break easier under pressure (statistically) than men. This is also why more men are psychopaths than women. So when i knew this woman, she stayed because of threats and the fact that she had been emotionally scarred from this man, so she stayed to avoid anyone else getting hurt. Now the only reason that she got out of the relationship is because she told me and i gave her the courage to break up with him. Now he did act on those threats and he was held responsible, i just wish it had been by the judicial system instead of violence.
So a summary on my opinions for Lexie’s comment is simply put as, the one way to prevent the only form of preventable rape is to outlaw alcohol which won’t happen any time soon. Then for the abuse is to simply tell someone and if that person is responsible they will do what they can to help the person in need.
I’d also like to apologize to Raina for being a little harsh in my original comment, I’m sure you can do much better than what you’ve written. The only thing you have to do is provide research to back up your opinion and if you state both sides of an opinion more people will actually think about what you have said.
Lexie Reinhardt • Oct 21, 2014 at 11:28 am
Raina’s opinion isn’t uneducated? Women are still considered inferior to men. Women still get a LOT less than men for doing the same job. And in society they are looked down upon for doing the same thing as men too, having tattoos, not being a virgin, drinking, partying, etc. They are looked at as “dirty sluts” if they do some of these things. Guys have to do things women are not required to do though such as enlisting in the army, and socially they are only looked down upon if they partake in cooking or baking or sewing. BUT if they do these things, they are called “girly”….they are literally using our gender as an insult! Think of all the insulting things you can call a man sissy, girly, p*ssy, slut? I can’t say all of them since this is a school website, but notice how these are all referring to woman. According to society The worst thing a woman in the world can be is endless, the worst thing a man can be? A woman. If that doesn’t make you feel like there is a double standard when it comes to gender, nothing else will.
I do not mind not having the same right’s as men though to be completely honest. I know it may be wrong, but I still sort of live by like the 50s standard of a woman. BUT if a woman wants to be treated equal? By all means she should have the right to be treated that way.
I have no idea how it is legally “right” for woman to be paid less than men though, like does that not violate the 14th amendment?
Also I forgot to mention this earlier, but if women were not looked down upon, maybe rape cases would be taken more seriously…Have you noticed when a woman is raped they ask what she was wearing? Or what she was doing there? And when a woman stays in an abusive relationship they ask why she stayed? Yet they never ask the attacker why he abuses and manipulates someone he “loves”. I understand women can abuse men too, and when they are abused the courts say “That can’t happen she is just a woman”. Like all in all people should be treated equally, because if they were, these problems would all be solved on both sides….
Krissy T • Oct 6, 2014 at 7:50 am
I think Raina is perfect and this article was fantastic. Good job.
Jacob Balzer • Sep 16, 2014 at 10:37 am
Few things here!
– I respect your opinion and I’m not trying to belittle you, I’d just like to offer some of my input on your article and offer my opinion!
-You contradicted the entire point of your article in the first paragraph. You spent the whole article talking about “women’s inferiority” but ended your first paragraph with, “This couldn’t be farther from the truth, as females are capable of doing what they please, just as males are.” Is this not proving true the thing you wish to work toward?
– I can assure you, women have been prevalent in history. While, yes, men were the “superior gender” in ancient Rome or Greece, comparing these two cultures and this generation of men is nearly impossible. The men of those days had grown up in a day and age without the technology we have, where the social stigma was that women were inferior. The women of those times did not have the opportunities to excel, to be educated like today, due to technology not being advanced enough.
-“I feel like we should be teaching young girls how to be independent instead of instilling in them that they need a man to be relevant.” Who is doing the teaching? I know not of a single man or woman who “teaches” young women that they need a man to be relevant. What a woman does with her life, how she forms her opinions, is her decision. It is her responsibility to become independent, and it is her choice should she form a relationship with a man. No one, at least as far as I’ve observed, has ever told a young woman that they need a man.
Anyhow, cool article! No offense meant, just my opinions.
Hannah Norris • Sep 22, 2014 at 2:00 pm
As far as teaching girls that they can be independent and don’t need a man to be relevant, it is still happening today, even if it’s not obvious. I know that older generations sometimes still have this viewpoint. Gender inequality in the workplace and the idea that men need to “control their wives” should be proof enough that this thought process is still currently happening.
Mkilar Otte • Sep 13, 2014 at 11:06 pm
Tis an opinion broseph.
Garrett • Sep 10, 2014 at 10:14 am
I can assure you history has not always portrayed women as submissive and feeble whether in mythology or history. Women have always been to their own liberties. They are human beings after all so they do what they feel is right. This is extremely feminist and one sided. Women are not pushed to have boyfriends especially now a days. Maybe in the fifteen hundreds they had to but now a days they don’t and a lot of the time they don’t even strive for that. I find this to be a very unintelligent document and am rather upset that this is what my fellow class mates are reading.
Madison Crees • Sep 13, 2014 at 11:04 pm
Remember that this is in the opinion column. Where we state our opinions, our one-sided, personal opinions. So it would make sense for her to be feminist and once again, opinionated on it. As it is an opinion.
Jacob Balzer • Sep 16, 2014 at 10:38 am
Is this man not entitled to a disagreeing opinion? It is an opinion section, where everyone can expect to state their opinion.
Madison Crees • Sep 17, 2014 at 10:14 am
Yes but he said it shouldn’t be so one-sided. Which is the point of an opinion.