blog 7

The last movie I saw was Revolutionary Road, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. The plot of the movie realistically showed how gender roles were seen in the late 1950’s. Women were supposed to stay at home while men worked. Kate Winslets character struggled to live in a mundane life. She was expected to stay at home to take care of the children, as well as clean and cook. This was hard for her because she so desperately wanted to travel and explore the world but was forced by society to push that idea out of her head. Leo also has issues with his gender role. As a man in the late 1950’s he was expected to be the provider for the family and work. It was funny to me to watch him on his way to work because every man had the same suit and tie with a hat and briefcase on the way to work. He was tired of having to work at a boring job and cheated on his wife because their marriage lost its passion. The movie trailers advertised their marriage as starting out well then turning into a bad relationship. Here is the youtube link for the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z6kDo1OFzE

In the F-word chapter 7, relationships are discussed and I found it interesting as she wrote about the housewife syndrome when housewives start to think, "is this all". I enjoyed reading about women who were okay with being single. Just because you are single doesn't mean you are lonely. The woman who realized you dont have to wait for a man to buy you the things you want, you should get it yourself really struck me. I think that is so true! I found it interesting that people are getting married later now and less people are choosing to get married. It is important to look at the divorce rate and make sure you make the right decision. Waiting until you are older is actually a good thing in my opinion because you are able to make sure you find the right guy. I do believe that marriage is sacred and should be between a man and a woman. In chapter 8 she talked about motherhood. I didn't know that studies show that after a couple has children, gender inequality is likely to occur. There is a large imbalance between careers and rasing children.
In the chapters we read in FIFE, Hooks discussed parenting, marriage and partnership, lesbianism, and love. Hooks seems to be a little to liberal for me and puts down Christain ideals in my opinion. She has good points when she speaks against abuse in parenting and for both parents taking responsibility in raising the children. It is important for children to have both parents involved because it allows them to learn from both sexes and creates cultural awareness. I do think that the some women in the femenist movement are crazy for thinking by marrying you are buying into the patriarchal society. Marriage is a wonderful thing and by getting married to the right guy, you won't see sexism in the marriage. Believe it or not there are good guys out there. Maybe I am biased because I have been blessed with two loving parents in a good relationship that supports eachother and divides the work. My father is a wonderful man and treats my mom well. She CHOOSES to stay home and raise us...whats so wrong with that? In chapter 15, I disagree with women having "sexual freedom", like that of the 60's-70's. By being promiscuous, you are telling the world you dont care about your body and you dont respect yourself. I think the total opposite of women who think "its my body so I am going to go out and sleep around". You are not respecting your body. I also disagree with the radical lesbians who encouraged women to not be heterosexual because that continued the patricarchal society. That idea is absurd. I find Hooks writing style to be highly offensive because she calls Christain fundalmentalism "narrowminded". Not everyone reading her material agrees with her and with sexuality being such a hot topic today, I feel readers would respond better without all of the attacks and namecalling.