My thoughts on this week’s readings, I was a bit shocked when reading “The myth of a Vaginal orgasm” because based on the statements that Freud has said and thought he was a femininst. Now he mentioned and I can’t believe he said that women’s “natural” role was to just have sex t satisfy the sexual needs of men. women aren’t sexual objects to be used only for sex, but actual human beings capable of doing the same things as men do. Another statement he made that I can’t believe he even related to a woman as being “frigid”  to having psychological problems. It’s absurd how to mean would tell a woman to seek psychiatric help just because they don’t make their sex enjoyable. overall this whole article as a whole seems to just emphasize the compliance of male interests during sexual intercourse. The physical superiority of males seems to have to be something women enjoy. Sexual intercourse often goes hand in hand with power. it just shows how men tend to see women as objects during sex making it okay to display acts of violence.

This week we covered the liberated women and Women’s Liberation, in addition to The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm. I thought these topics were really interesting to learn about, and I feel like I have seen examples of a lot of these values and perspectives in people I’ve met before. It’s so true that men are not used to doing a lot of the housework that we see people expect women to do, and I feel like that starts from a very young age. When I was a kid, I would help my sister with a lot of the housework as my mom would always assign things to her without assigning them to my brother and me. It was frustrating and unfair, and honestly, I feel like that’s the reason a lot of the men in my family don’t know how to do a lot of basic things, or at least not well. It’s unfortunate and I think it’s a great thing for women to bring up, especially when they are married. There is really no reason that their husbands shouldn’t be able to learn how to clean just as well as anyone else. I’ve also seen countless men talk about women and their orgasms as if they know their anatomy so well, which is just incredibly frustrating.

Reading “The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi helped me gain more knowledge about Liberated Women which is a topic that most people don’t have any insight on. My understanding of a liberated woman is someone who doesn’t go by what society labels women as or societies stereotypes based on women. A liberated woman is independent and doesn’t need approval from any gender especially men. Mainardi goes on to explain that there is a difference between liberated women and women’s liberation. “The first signals all kinds of goodies, to warm the hearts (not to mention other parts) of the most radical men. The other signals-HOUSEWORK”. Liberated women help other women who are stuck in a place of entrapment and help those women find their freedom and independency. Many women are scared to speak up for themselves, but we as women have to help each other get out of the “chokehold” that men have over us because we are our own person at the end of the day and shouldn’t be defined by another gender. All of the stereotypes that surround women were mostly created by men which is unfair because only we as women know how we really are and what we really want. Men have to stop trying to speak for us when we were all born with a mouth to defend ourselves. I hope one day, we are all liberated no matter what gender, race, ethnicity, or skin color. We should all be free to do what we please and not be controlled by anyone.

What great readings, both were familiar but shined light on these topics in greater detail for me.

I didn’t know the difference between the women’s liberation movement and a liberated woman. I also found it very interesting in “The Politics of Housework”, by Pat Mainardi, the explanations of the psychological reactions men have to taking on household duties. That in reality, they do suck, and they are not wrong to be able to identify that. But that as women, we totally have it engrained in us to try to “whistle while we work”. I do think there is some benefit to that mind set, because it is nice to be able to find peace in taking care of yourself and the things around you. However, not to the extent of brain washing ourselves into not noticing or caring that one half of society is not taking part.

Also, how it is broken down in this reading that the success of men requires the oppression of women. Men would never be where they are now if they had to do housework. That is so true, and I really relate, because there have been times in my life where I was in positions that I noticed these inequalities myself. Being in a relationship and sharing the household duties with a man who is programmed in the way this article outlines men’s reactions.

I would end up, just doing the work because it was easier than the constant pushing and prodding to get them to do it. As a result I did not have time to be reading, enjoying, developing my career in more dynamic ways, because I had to come home and clean.

Women are really pinned into a corner with the housework. This article goes really deep on it. Translating men’s disdain towards housework into a very manipulative tactic to keep power. 

I also found a similar thread in “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm”, by Anne Koedt. How men made sex about their pleasure. To the extent of developing an entire psychological theory around it, Freud made the woman wrong for not functioning in a way that works for men to have their needs met without having to do any extra leg work.

The idea that the woman should be able to orgasm in a way that happens simultaneously and in support of a man orgasming, gives the man another opportunity to do no work at all. If a woman can not achieve this, and expects to be pleasured outside the actions of the male orgasms functions, she is deemed a failure and mentally unwell. As it says in the article, “we have been defined sexually in terms of what pleases men”. Women have pretty much been gaslit for a very long time.

This is where the liberated woman and the women’s lib movement have cross over: We must discard the “normal”  concepts of sex and redefine it with new concepts that take into account enjoyment for both men and women. “While this is liberally applauded, it is not followed. We need to break down the standards: the positions and the ideas of how sex should look.”

Pretty much, it is going to take time, work, and loss of power for some. Privileges and comforts need to be adjusted, and that requires a time of discomfort for the 50% of the population that has had a privileged experience. Most of this work is for the men to do, which is where the crux in the system lies.

These articles written by Pat Mainardi and Anne Koedt made me open my eyes more to how women are depicted throughout society and how much they are still oppressed till this day, this would also include me in this conversation. The fact that women’s voices are heard so low for so long goes to show that gender roles will always play a part throughout the world. The idea that women are still seen as vessels to give life and also take care of life without being seen or noticed for much else throughout their own life saddens me and honestly makes me angry. These articles also made me realize that women throughout history have continuously listened to societal norms and gender roles that were put in place by men in power not other women; men that can’t relate to even the idea of being a woman or the struggles that women go through on a daily basis. Another idea that stood out to me throughout these articles is the idea that women’s everyday struggles and issues are not seen as political but seen as just personal. If you think about it, society is basically saying that women’s issues are so minor they would never be discussed or brought up in a political manner. Women have not and continuously not taken seriously nor does society value women and their every day obstacles as much as society values men and their every day struggles. It’s almost as if society brushes women off to the side even knowing they are extremely important to the world as a whole.

Its evident that the U.S. woman won the right to vote a century ago, the fight to instill in the constitution equal rights regardless of sex is nearly as old. With Virginia legislative vote to ratify the ERA. I believe the big question is “Why has it taken so long?” We really should educate ourselves and learn more about the ERA and why its needed, act locally, although we’ve reached the 38 states threshold, it will be easier to convince Congress to enshrine this amendment in the U.S. Constitution if the remaining states get involved.

This week’s readings have concreted some of my vague knowledge about the power of gender oppression on private life. I often blamed the gender inequality at home on the individual men who “are too dumb to understand simple things like that.” But after reading both articles I realized how it is majorly the society itself that shaped this inequality. Men are often unaware of the problem and its roots. One part of “Politics of Housework” that I found very explanatory is this: “In a sense, all men everywhere are slightly schizoid-divorced from the reality of maintaining life. It is almost a cliché that women feel greater grief at sending a son off to a war or losing him to that war because they bore him, suckled him, and raised him. The men who foment those wars did none of those things and have a more superficial estimate of human life.” Such aspects, that further separate the mentality of genders, affect the creation of gender roles, in which women take care of “maintaining life,” a.k.a housework, while men get more time “to play with his mind.”

I kept connecting the themes of the articles with my personal experiences. When reading “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” by Koedt Anne, it became apparent to me that many women’s insecurities come from some sexual rules that were invented by men. I was surprised to learn that “women need no anesthesia inside the vagina during surgery, this pointing to the fact that the vagina is in fact not a highly sensitive area.” I think many women, including me, have thought that there is something wrong with them and many have lost interest in having sex simply because of the idea (powered by a male-dominated society) that their vagina is the ultimate center of pleasure. It was also relieving and empowering to see an about female sexuality that was written so long ago.

This week the readings made me think about how deep the oppression of women goes while I already knew it ran pretty deep the information gave me insight on to why even today we see some of the problems that were around many years ago in households and society are still here present day. Even with the progressive nature of the world many are still conditioned to think a specific way without even realizing it. It is disguised in excuses and reasons why it’s more feasible for a woman to handle a task or why a woman cannot achieve an orgasm. In all actuality it is the same oppressive behavior from years ago coming out in the form of excuses. Instead of assuming a woman who cannot achieve orgasms through “normal” vaginal stimulation is frigidity other possibilities should be considered since sex was originally geared towards only a man’s satisfaction and the same goes for housework while men will say they are willing to do the task it then becomes dreadful because there is a claim to be “no good at cleaning” but more helpful with utility work and etc. It is embedded in society even when it is not immediately recognizable!

this week’s readings have only proven my point on how men feel they know everything, and help with absolutely nothing. Have men really change? I mean back then they did not care if women felt anything really. The Fact that a guy came up with a theory about body parts he knows nothing about it crazy!! oh women who do not orgasm throw them into a mental institution. The housework thing has not changed too much, I know men who clean but dread cleaning maybe if they had a wife or girlfriend they would most likey have them do it. Which means men will only do things if they have no other choice.

Melissa Valle Reflection #8 

This week’s readings on the “The Politics of Housework” and “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” tells the facts about women on how they were oppressed in their own home and that the men played a big part in that oppression. At that time, the men thought it was the duty of the women to take care of the housework and they go to work. It is not hard for a man to help in the home. Why is it that so men who are asked to do something like wash dishes, mop the floor, clean the bathroom becomes a thing of masculinity, like if it makes them less of a man. Who made this up? Currently everyone in my home does some chores from smallest to oldest. There are no regulations regarding whether you are the (girl) or (mother) so you two must do everything in my home, everyone can cook and clean. I raised boys to help not to take advantage of anyone in any way. My boys help me and my daughter.  

In “The Myth of Vaginal Orgasm” the read explained how male did not allow the females to feel the same pleasure as them during intercourse. The men only cared about themselves being pleasured not focusing on the woman’s orgasm. It is sad to know that women had to fake orgasms, and some might fake it today.