Contemporary Issues Essay

            The media tends to paint a rather negative image of women. Advertisements over-sexualize women in attempts to attract male attention and get more people to buy the products. Techniques like segmentation and subjugation only serve to further diminish a woman’s image, since they advocate that a woman’s worth is determined solely by her body. The subjugation of women, consequently, gives control over to men. Women taking back control of their own lives and bodies was a concept present in the Gloria Steinem’s discussion as well as in the Vagina Monologues.

            Gloria Steinem focused specifically on how society attempts to control reproduction, and thus control women’s bodies. Products like the pill and other methods of birth control usually put pressure on a woman to control their reproductive systems, while men are generally free to do as they please. Old cultures, like that of the Native Americans, did not discriminate between men and women. In fact, the Native Americans did not even have separate pronouns for the different genders. When the Europeans conquered the Americas, they brought over a culture in which women were considered lesser humans. The woman’s purpose in a family was to produce children, to take care of the children, and to maintain the house. The man was in complete charge of the family and was responsible for providing for the family, as well as ensuring the family name survives. Steinem advocated that women defy these gender roles that have plagued our country for centuries. We should strive for a gender neutral society, where every person has complete control over his or her life. The advertisements that subjugate women should be removed, although doing so will require significant changes in the advertising industries. The films, TV shows, magazine articles, new reports, and other forms of media that portray women as lesser than men should be phased out in favor of media that makes no assumptions and displays gender equality. Essentially, Ms. Steinem wants a culture in which women have control over themselves and their bodies.

            Of the many messages and issues presented in the Vagina Monologues, one topic was how women reclaimed control over their own bodies and lives. In general, the Vagina Monologues consisted of a series of monologues by different students, each telling a real life experience of another woman’s story and self-discovery. These monologues breached a wide range of issues, including rape, sexual harassment, female empowerment, and the media’s oppression of women. Society largely demands that women repress their sexuality, and, as a result, many women disregard their own desires completely. The monologue “The Flood” told of an older woman who, after one experience, never thought about her vagina again. Another, “Because He Liked To Look At It,” described one woman’s experience with a man who showed just how beautiful she truly was. These monologues, and others, describe society’s oppression of women and some stories of overcoming that oppression. It was an empowering experience for women, and was an event that showed how women can take back control of their own lives and bodies.