Misogyne
America's first great sexual revolution took place in the early decades of the twentieth century. This critical event signaled the decline of Victorian ideals. During these times women tried, fought, and thought that they were assuring themselves the freedom to express themselves as equals against men. While these times in history did bring about some necessary, positive change, these revolutions did not solve all of the American gender problems (Brumberg 172). Today there are even more gender issues to be faced. With the constant bombardment of misogynist attitudes in popular culture today, men often view women as unequal. Although America has developed more equality for women through the years, attitudes such as those portrayed by rapper Eminem in is song, kill you, the view of Jack Nicholson's character in, As Good as it Gets, and William Faulkner's novel Light in August, still exist and are a detriment to the furtherment of equality for women.Long have women in classic literature been portrayed as weak and submissive male playthings who lead futile and meaningless lives. Faulkner characterizes women as weak and simple who must please men's sexual desires. One of the first female characters met in the story, M
Besides the general sexism that exists in America where, "girls come of age in a misogynistic culture in which men have more the upper hand in many forms of popular culture"(Pipher 40), there is an additional burden for women to bear. Women are going to need to rise about the misogynist views and put a stop to the hate crimes of people like Eminem and stop misogyny in all forms from popular culture. In film, misogynist views are often seen either by a male character in the movie, or with how the director casts the women of the movie. In the movie As Good as it Gets, Melvin, a highly successful romance novelist, lives to insult people and with his own bit of equal opportunity, he manages to be obnoxious to everyone with the same fervor. He deals with the contemptible world around him in the only way it deserves to be dealt with, and people always cringe when they see him enter their space (As Good as It Gets). Fawning over him, the receptionist at his publishers asks him, "How do you write women so well?" With a sneer he retorts, "I think of men, and I take away reason and accountability(Brooks)." Melvin not only insults the women he doesn't like, but, one women whom he sees as essential in his daily life, his waitress, can barely tolerate him or his rudeness towards her and others. When she is out sick, he tells the new girl, "Go away elephant girl(Brooks)." Melvin also extends his hate of women to his neighbor, because Melvin views him as feminine, he has no problem insulting him (The Green Hartnett). However, his neighbor's friend sees his behavior, and when confronted by another male, Melvin hides in the corner and yells loudly for help. When the cleaning lady goes to ask Melvin for help when his neighbor is badly beaten, he gets upset over being interrupted, and tells her "Go sell crazy someplace else, were all stocked up here, (Brooks)" he says this because of her comment asking him to open the curtains so he can see Gods wond
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1317
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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