A Place for Women In A Man's World

                     Since the beginning of time there has always been man and woman. Written in the one of the oldest, most universal books all time, it says that woman is made from man's rib. Already, we're taught that man is first. That women come second. Men are the dominant sex and women are the other sex. History has shown us that across time, in most civilizations men have been the dominant sex among humans. It was man who wrote the many different bibles, our religions follow today. In fact, in the Bible, God, the creator of everything, is said to be a male. It's easy for a woman to feel like the other, when the religion they follow, tells them they are. So when societies began to form and structures were made, men were the dominant figures in those situations. The educated controlled the ignorant. For a long time, women weren't allowed to read. The educated race will dominant the uneducated race. Women have become an oppressed group. In Simone De Beauvoir's, The Second Sex, she talks about the slave and the master. It says, "Master and slave,also, are united by reciprocal need, in this case economic, which does not liberate the slave. In relation of master to the slave the master does not make a point of the need that he has for the other [...]; whereas the slave, in his dependent condition, his hope and fear, is quite conscious of the need he has for his master. [...] It always works in favor of the oppressor and against the oppressed. That has been why the liberation of the working class has been slow." In comparison to men being the oppressor, women the oppressed,  the female is like the slave. She is dependent on the male to survive. It's embedded in her mind that she can't live without a man, that she can't have thoughts of her own. She's unaware of the power she possesses. The master needs the slave to make his product and the slave needs the master for shelter, survival. Just like the master needs the slave, the man needs the woman. They need each other. In a biological sense, they need each so humanity can continue.  In modern times, oppression is in the form of a set of standards. Although they have changed throughout the centuries, women have always had a set of standards. From the time we're learning to walk and talk, we're taught to look, act, to be a certain way. Little boys are taught to be a certain way also, but something totally different than the girl. From the beginning we're not equal. A great example if this, my mother raised four boys and me, one girl. I was treated totally different than my brothers. When we were teenagers my brothers had a later curfew than I did. I wasn't allowed to go any on my own. When they'd get in trouble at school they'd get sort of a slap on the wrist. My mom kind of had the attitude that boys will be boys. If I did the same, I'd get the 'I'm disappointed in you' lecture. So growing with four brothers, I became a tomboy. So I was not ladylike at all. My mother would get upset if I ever did anything unladylike, like burp, sit with my legs uncross, or simply wear what I wanted (which wasn't dresses) I'd get an upset look from her. She'd always say and she still says it to this day that it's just different for girls and that as a girl/woman you put in work, double compared to a man, to be successful.

Here is a description of the superhero

The superhero I’ve created is a women. Her name is Spero Armstrong. Her parents gave her

a Latin name, meaning hope. She was born a woman and she identifies as a women. She was

born in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States of America. On July 4, 1954 she was born into a family

of civil rights activists. At a young age her mother was killed during a protest. Her mother used

her powers against a squad policemen abusing innocent civilians. In school she was a loner and

kept to herself, for fear of hurting anyone with her ability. Her super ability is that she has

telepathic powers. She can move things with her mind. She can also see into the minds of

others. She was born with this super ability. It’s a genetic ability she received from her mother.

Her father will not allow her to use her powers. He doesn’t want her to have the same fate her

mother had. After growing up and moving out, she begins to secretly use her powers to help the

weak. Her limitation is that she doesn’t have full control of her power yet. She has a scar under

her left eye, from when she got in the way of her parents during a protest. An army guard cut her

when going for her father. She tries to protect those that are weak and that can’t protect

themselves. The guard that killed her mother and gave her the scar, who is now the Secretary of

Defense for the United States of America. Leaders of the country define superheros as

troublemakers, people that get in the way of real justice. They implement this idea into the minds

of society. A superhero in her world is perceived unnecessary, but is very much needed. The

fear of the unknown is what could hinder her acceptance among her society. She has an ability

that can seem deadly to someone that has an ignorance of the ability. She’s necessary,

because the people of her world need her to protect them from a civilization under tyranny. They

can also relate to her, she’s a woman her grow up on the same or similar streets as they have.

She has the relatable problems that she’s trying to fix for everyone and herself. Innocent civilians

that have an ignorance of the corruption that goes on in their towns, homes, and community. The

corruption that is brought on by the authority figures among them. In identifying who she is the

fact that she comes from a family of civil rights activists suggests that she comes from a low to

low-middle class, yet educated. She’s a half AfricanAmerican, Caucasian female that stands up

for those that are wronged.

I've created a fictional super hero

The Elephant Man and Essentialism

John Merrick known as The Elephant Man in the play, The Elephant Man. He was a man that had physical deformities. Deformities that deemed him different than the society around him. Labeled as a "freak." He made a living traveling with the Circus in the Freak Show. Frederick Treves a surgical doctor takes Merrick in to study his condition. It's there, at hospital, that Merrick is finds his sense of self. Up until then everyone sort of viewed him as inferior to them. Based solely on his looks. His story is put in the Times magazine. Patrons send him money to keep him at the hospital, as a way of showing they care for him, yet only a few actually visit him. Which in the their minds, they still feel superior to him. Even though the contribution looks as if they sympathize with him. The only people that can sympathize with Merrick are the few people that got to know him. In the story those that are closest to him talk about how they see themselves in John Merrick. He is just as normal as anyone else, he has dreams, desires, morals, intelligence, and aspirations. Everything that any human being would have. Yet, he is still sort of viewed as spectacle. It seems as though, no matter how similar Merrick's mentality is to society's, he is always going to be shown as a "freak of nature." All because his appearance is way different than the norm. He would end his letters with the same poem each time:

Tis true my form is something odd,

But blaming me is blaming God;

Could I create myself anew

I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole

Or grasp the ocean with a span,

I would be measured by the soul;

The mind's the standard of the man.

All he ever wanted was to be normal, and had no explanation for why he wasn't. Yet, he still went on with life with optimism. At the end of the play Merrick dies in his sleep, trying sleep like a normal person. Before he'd sleep with his head on his knees, so that he wouldn't suffocate. 

Throughout this story Merrick tries to be a normal person. He's trying to find what his true self is. It's hard for him to see his that, because of what he sees and what society shows him. He doesn't physically look like anyone else at the time, so he's left to wonder who he really is with no one to relate to. 

Just like the then in the Victorian Era,  society still gives their attention to "freak shows" or "train wrecks." It's just in media form now. If you read the news now, the headlines read things like "Man with No Face," "Boy with 8 Limbs," "The Tree Man." It's all over the internet; news programs will cover stories like this.  Society will watch or read about it, probably feeling sorry for the person in the story. But at the same time, in a selfish way, feel better about themselves. It's kind of weird combination of feelings. They usually feel bad for the person in the story and also feel good about themselves, and can make them appreciate what they have or how they are. Society always has and maybe always will want to have something to look at, that isn't themselves. And in that, they can find something that is normal to them. When they find that normal, they find themselves. Essentially their true identity.

First time blogger here. I'll be discussing and sharing my thoughts, ideas, and experiences in pop culture.