Yea for the people. Nay for the gender roles.
Song of Solomon creates a story filled with gender roles. Women are at home, and men are at work. Men are abusive and cruel, while women are submissive. Even Corinthians, who is educated, is confined into a role of a maid. The only person who doesn’t follow such roles is Pilate, and that’s what makes her stand out so much.Although our society is changing and has improved, people are still experiencing gender stereotypes. “Women should be in the kitchen!” and “Men should be earning all the money!” phrases are slowly diminishing. However, this form of discrimination is still clearly present in our society.
A new word, “mansplain,” was added to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary on March 2018. Mansplain is defined as “when a man talks condescendingly to someone (especially a woman) about something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he's talking to does.” Basically, it’s when some man just assumes a woman is ignorant and talks without knowing what he’s talking about. What’s worse is that people that mansplain aren’t aware of it, and think they’re actually doing women a favor. I cringe thinking about the number of times I’ve seen angry women attacking an arrogant man trying to defend himself online. There are still people that regard women as unintelligent, and it’s sad to see a word such as “mansplain” exist.
K-pop, or Korean pop music, is increasing in popularity around the world. Male singers, often called idols, appear on stage with eye makeup and tight jeans. Does that take away from their masculinity? People assert that men should not wear makeup or dye their hair because it’s not “masculine.” Does that mean women should not be mechanics because the job isn’t feminine enough? People are enforcing things that men and women can’t do by these statements, and later complaining about gender roles. It seems so hypocritical. Before you criticizes others, you should look at yourself. Are you sure you’re not just lacking confidence in yourself? Why does it matter to you how people act?
Pilate is definitely the only person I can think of in Song of Solomon that refutes gender roles and isn't easily bent by others opinions. I also like how you tied "mansplaining" into your post and current pop stars and how gender roles effect them.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you connected to k pop. I do think it's interesting how we a say that we should get rid of these gender roles and stereotypes, yet many people I know believe that k pop was weird because they look like women and not men at all. This includes myself. I'm sure nobody intends it that way, these stereotypes are internalized because they have been around for so long.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you ended your blog with rhetorical questions. I also really like how you connected the dictionary word "mansplain." I also think that Pilate is the only women in the book who is mature and knowledgeable in the book. I think she is the only one who is breaking the stereotypes during that time. I also agree with your argument about gender roles.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think about how even though our culture is making a lot of improvements with how we view gender roles, there are still some ideas that it seems to be unable to let go of. I really like how you connected Song of Solomon to the rising popularity of K-pop because it really demonstrates how some stereotypes remain in our society, even though we'd like to think enough time has passed for them to have changed. I completely agree with you about the hypocrisy present throughout our society today. Great post!
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