Unprecedented Sexualization of Women : week of 2.21
Bring us back to the beginning of this week I wanted to touch on a topic that really grinds my gears. The unneeded and unprecedented sexualization of females in history and in media. The example that Professor Stark had shown of the sexualized image of female soldiers during the rebellion really solidified my opinion on how I felt women were being treated during this week's reading. The women in the towns that the underdogs had visited were seen as nothing but cooks and sex objects for the men. Doing "no good" if they didn't provide certain services for the men, and even if the women refused the men would simply just take it. I feel that Latin American women in today's society feel a constant stigma that they are supposed to be provocative and act a certain way, just because the media loves to sexualize anything that a Latin woman does. This is a pressure that is simply not needed and ridiculous to expect from women of any culture.
Hey Illy! I completely agree with you. The way "The Underdogs" portrays women is disgusting. I think that Azuela was trying to show how horribly women were treated during the revolution, and I notice that he is the only historical writer we have read so far who has given women a voice in his writing. We got to hear from Camila, about her feelings and experiences, rather than her just being there as an object that we hear about from the men's perspective. It is so upsetting that the sexualization and objectification of Latin American women is still so prevalent.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Illy, for the blog. I appreciate your reaction to the depiction of women in the book and the sexualization of the soldaderas. However, instead of focusing on the bad why not discuss the ways in which women in the Mexican Revolution challenged or undermined societal expectations of women. We see this briefly in the film and also in the novel; can you recall these moments or scenes?
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