Preview

gender roles

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
458 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
gender roles
Gender Roles Essay 2: In The Combat Zone
In “In The Combat Zone,” Leslie Marmon Silko argues that women should know how to use a gun and arm their selves because women are most often the targets of crimes such as rape. Silko supports her claim by contrasting the lives of men and women. She provides several narratives to tell us about her personal experiences as well as others. Silko seeks to classify how different stereotypes and expectations of men and women portray females as weak. She also explains how being targets significantly effect the daily lives of women.
Leslie Marmon Silko defines being a woman originally as being vulnerable and defenseless, but then she tells us that this has to change because women are more than capable of being their own protector. Silko states that being a woman, according to mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, often means not learning how to use weapons or killing. As a child, Silko examined how guns are used to hunt and kill. She learned at a young age that guns can make woman feel just as strong as a man no matter what their size. She gives examples of rape cases and describes how one of the women, who lived alone, shot her predator in the chest four times with a .38 caliber revolver.
Fortunately, I have never been in a situation where I could have been potentially harmed by a man. But, I hope to have enough knowledge and resources to protect myself if I ever do happen to come across a situation like that. Watching the news and television shows on investigation discovery definitely made me aware of the insanity out in the world, so when im out with my friends or getting off of work late I’ve made it a habit to stay alert. My mother and grandmother have different views of women and weapons. My grandmother strongly disapproves of violence while mother suggests self-defense classes, pepper spray, and going to a gun range. Of course both my mother and grandmother have the same idea that women should be gentle and poise, but

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    “[Be] Ready for the increasing threat of women terrorists, we must recognize women as rational actors as opposed to emotional reactors of violence.”— Lisa Kruger…

    • 4944 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The film “Tough Guise 2” was very eye opening. I’ve always been aware of the stereotypes men are expected to uphold, but Jackson Katz put this into a whole new perspective for me. By showing me videos from years ago to our date today, I’ve learned this is a reoccurring problem that isn’t new, men have been acting in a violent manner for ages. The overwhelming statistic of crimes created by men are shocking to me. Over ninety percent of men create violent crimes, leaving the other ten percent to women. This statistic alarms me, and makes me think about gender role much more in depth.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gender Roles

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The main lesson Brym and Lie draw from the story of baby Bruce is that…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the world continues to grow and evolve, “women’s/feminized bodies often become a site of assertion of power”. The reason for this because, history has repeatedly shown that women’s/feminized bodies are seen as characterization of weakness and inferior. These characterizations are weapons that dominant groups (white men) use to control their power over subordinate groups (women and ethnic minorities). And while women’s/feminized bodies can become a site for power and control, it can also be observe as a site of resistances. There are three situations that women’s/feminized bodes can be seen and used as of control, power, resistance. Those three situations are, clothing/dress code, sexual terror, and women in the military. All three incidents…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    But in the past few years, violence has become a severe problem, with more cases popping up. Even with these laws in place, problems such as rape, assault, homicide, and abuse; they still exist. This article explains possible reasons to why these horrific things occur, but that still does not make it okay. Victims are the ones who suffer medical, behavioral, and psychological consequences in the end; not the assailant. The article then goes on to explain many different types of violence that women are put through, whether it be at home, work, or even in public. Oftentimes it goes unreported; and if it is reported, the case is just thrown aside like it means nothing to law…

    • 1640 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The dominant feminist description for men’s violence towards women is that it is “essential to a system of gender subordination” (MacKinnon, 1989). Feminists argue that sexual violence is a man’s way of preserving male dominance and female subordination, which are fundamental to the patriarchal social order (Stanko 1985). It is argued that a range of sexual violence outlines the everyday lives of women (Kelly, 1988), and similarly Stanko (1985) establishes that the appreciation of physical and sexual security by women is so firmly merged with their concern for sexual integrity as to “render the concept of safety problematic for women” (Stanko, 1985). It is argued that the safety which women do actually have is not used to their advantage and…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Feminism and the harassment of females have become more of a current situation in today’s time. “Five women a day are killed by guns in America. A woman's risk of being murdered increases 500% if a gun is present during a domestic dispute” (“Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?” 2015). With the help of gun control laws, we can reduce the amount of gun deaths in the U.S, and save many lives as a…

    • 1669 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The British Crime Survey (BCS) provides evidence on victimisation experienced by men and women. They have identified that men are at greater risk of victimisation than women, according to victim surveys, in 2004/5 the BCS reported that women aged 16-24 had a 6.3% chance of becoming a victim of violence compared with a 14.6% chance for men of the same age (Jansson 2007 as cited by Newburn 2007). However, it has been found that ‘domestic violence’ is the only category of violence that women are at a 0.5% greater risk than men (Nicholas et al 2005 as cited by Newburn 2007). Although victims of ‘stranger violence’ were found to be 2.3% of males in comparison to 0.6% females, this range of statistics suggests that perhaps men and women fall victim to specific types of crimes based on the social stereotypes and…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Roles

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Today’s television shows have made an effort to stray from the classic American family and the gender roles within it. While gender roles aren’t as evident as they use to be, that’s not to say they do not exist. The Brady Bunch is a perfect example of gender roles existing even in a non-traditional family in the 1970’s. In a more current show, Full House, we also see a non-traditional family without a mother, but after looking closer I found that gender roles are still there.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gendered Intersections

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Both in the past and present, for many different reasons violence towards women has been a concerning issue for the safety of females in private and public life. Although my grandmother never experienced this type of male domination, she agrees that violence has always been apparent in the lives of females and its effects on the female both physically and mentally are detrimental. Joanna Harris writes in one of her sections of “Gendered Intersections: An Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies” about violence against women. She writes, “It is seen as ‘essential to the struggle to restore dignity to disempowered women’ and ‘necessary conditions to self-empowerment in a socio-economic and cultural context where access to and mobility within public space is still largely controlled by men and where women’s roles and opportunity are frequently defined against their own interests’” (Harris 465). Violence towards women stems from many different areas of society and for many different reasons. Violence towards women in the past was never as much of an issue as it seems to be today and that is reflective on some of the rights women have gained in society that men do not necessarily agree with, an example of this is violence towards women in the…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Role

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages

    * Refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that within a specific culture, are widely considered to be socially appropriate for individual of a specific gender.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Assault On Campus

    • 1466 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Learning self defense allows women to be independent. Women and girls are taught how to avoid assault, but not how to confront it. Women , are often warned to avoid alcohol, and if they do have a drink they must , to closely monitor their beverages, and to be aware that men might seek to intoxicate them in order to gain sexual access to them. Women are also told to dress modestly, avoid certain places at certain times, don’t go alone, and to modify social norms. Not only is the completely inconvenient it encourages the mindset that women are easily overpowered, weak, and should not have all the freedom’s a man has. However, statistics show that these tactics are not reliable. Immediately after taking a self-defense class, women stated they felt decreased levels of fear and greater confidence in their ability to defend themselves These feelings were reported by previous victims of sexual assault and women who had never experienced violence (Hollander, J. A.).…

    • 1466 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Roles

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Lewis, K. (24, November 2013). Gender Roles Change at Work and Home. Retrieved from http://workingmoms.about.com/od/workingmomsresearch/a/GenderRoles.htm…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gender Role

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Through human culture, we can see how life chances (political theory of the opportunities each individual has to improve his or her quality of life) and the life experiences of a human being are a mere social construction according to their sex, gender identity and role they play in society. This creates inequality between people in society. ‘Sex depends on whether you were born with distinct male or female genitals and a genetic program that released either male or female hormones to stimulate the development of your reproductive system. Gender is your sense of being male or female and your playing masculine and feminine roles in ways defined as appropriate by your culture and society. Gender identity is one’s identification with, or sense of belonging to, a particular sex – biologically, psychologically and socially. And gender roles are widely shared expectations about how males and females are supposed to act’ (Kirkman, Alison 2012, p.354). Knowing this, how does gender affect someone’s life chances and life experiences? Depending on the way individuals present themselves to society!…

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Female Offenders

    • 2569 Words
    • 11 Pages

    People have recently started paying much more attention to women who commit violent crimes. Women most times have a plan and a target when committing a crime like murder. The target is usually someone very close to them such as a spouse or their children. The reasons for committing the murder range from jealously to self defense. The female usually has been a target of violence somewhere in her past as well. Research that has been done shows that a female who commits murder tends to be older than a one who commits a petty crime. The Bureau of Justice Statistics indicated that most women who commit such a crime as murder did so while they were alone with the victim. Only…

    • 2569 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays