Ayleen Zapata Reflection #8

In “The Politics of Housework,” Pat Mainardi distinguishes between the Liberated Woman and Women’s Liberation. She believes that the Liberated Woman is sexually active and has a job, whereas Women’s Liberation is concerned with domestic sharing. Mainardi demonstrates throughout the piece that “the personal is political,” that is, the expectation of women to perform all of the housekeeping demonstrates how our society undervalues women’s work. She spends the most of this essay debating her husband’s reluctance to share seemingly insignificant home responsibilities. Mainardi illustrates how men are entitled by a personal example. I believe that many women face similar situations and tolerate it because they are being duped. Men utilize quotes from Mainardi, such as “housework is too trivial to even discuss” or “We used to be so happy!” To make their partner believe they are supposed to perform housekeeping. Women are more likely to fall for it, perpetuating the cycle of traditional roles. Anne Koedt deconstructs the false dichotomy between vaginal and clitoral orgasms in “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm.” She says that the vaginas are not particularly sensitive and do not permit women to orgasm, whereas the clitoris is the tissue that permits female-bodied persons to orgasm. She debunks the myth that women who cannot have vaginal orgasms are frigid, whereas the truth is that standard heterosexual sexual positions do not effectively stimulate clitoral tissue. The idea that matures female orgasms are vaginal is evidence that sex has been defined as heterosexual and as what men find delightful, rather than what women find pleasurable. Koedt urges women to redefine sexual pleasure so that it is delightful for both men and women. Koedt attributes the myth of vaginal orgasm to Freud, despite the fact that Freud did not examine female anatomy. Instead, Freud’s theory of adult vaginal orgasms was based on his assumption that women were inferior to men. Koedt then delves into the anatomy of the clitoris and vagina. She closes this post by describing why some women claim to have vaginal orgasms and why males perpetuate the vaginal orgasm myth in society.

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