I was disappointed to read...

       
    I was disappointed to read that Romans felt silk clothing was too revealing of women. During the first century C.E. Seneca the Younger wrote about how strangers on the street were seeing as much of a woman’s body as her own husband (Strayer, 2016, p. 287). It also makes me think back to reading about the caste system in India, where women of lower castes were not allowed to cover their breasts in the presence of members of higher castes as a sign of subordination (Strayer, 2011, p. 202). 
            It is not really either of the above examples that disappoints me. It is this idea that I had that the sexualization of the female form and condemnation of clothing was because of the puritanical roots of the society. Reading Strayer has made it abundantly clear that women have been shamed because of their bodies, and turned into sexual objects from a relatively early point in the history of civilization. 
           
 Certainly our global civilization has made great strides in women’s rights, we really haven’t come far enough. I can look at myself and see that I am doing very well, not for a woman but for anyone. I have an excellent job. I am the breadwinner in my home. I have a husband that cares for the children, and the home. His invisible labor supports my endeavors at work and in school, but I’m just one woman. It is disappointing to look at the timeline of civilization and see that in the end, most women are still looking around to see if they’re allowed to cover up their breasts.  

Comments

  1. Oliver Q.June 6, 2020 at 7:27 PM

    Thanks for sharing these sad but informative historical facts about how women were portrayed and is very disappointing to hear, see, and imagine what women even still have to go through today. I appreciate your strengths and your family is I'm sure grateful for your perseverance for all you've done. I too agree that women's rights is still an uphill battle til this day and actions need to take place for all women to have equality they deserve. I grew up with powerful women in my life, so I understand the struggles, hard work, and dedication many women must go through in their lives as i want my daughters to be able to achieve equal success as men do too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oliver, I challenge you!

Image
Oliver, I challenge you! This makes me feel a little bit like  Pokemon trainer.  The period of rebirth in China from approximately 1000 to 1500 A.D. was not as significant as the Renaissance period in Europe. This is not to say that this referenced period of time in China was not significant. It is difficult to stand up to the many leaps in knowledge, art and generally the humanities that occurred in Europe. In particular, the major productions of art standout to me, such as: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling Raphael’s Frescos  The Last Supper The Mona Lisa These works of art are still inspiring people today. The Vitruvian Man, while not specifically meant as art became a great model for proportion in art and architecture. Until this day, it is still considered a great artistic achievement to create with these proportions.  Art was not just a pastime for the elite in the Renaissance. Look at Da Vinci. He was the illegitimate son of a lawye
Read more

Timeline

Cosmic Period : This period starts 13.8 billion years ago when all matter came into existence. This is accepted scientific timeline.  Paleolithic Period : 2.5 million years - 10,000 BCE  https://www.history.com/news/prehistoric-ages-timeline Neolithic Period : This period starts between 10,000 and 8,000 BCE This 2,000 year span is sometimes recognized as a transition period between The Old Stone age and The New Stone age. The period lasted until around 3500 BCE.  https://www.ancient.eu/Neolithic/ Ancient Period : 3500 BCE- 0-500 CE http://www.essential-humanities.net/history-overview/world-history-timeline/ Classical Period : The commonly accepted timeline of the Classical Period is 500-1500 CE Modern Period - 1500 CE to present eras of time classical time period after ancient Ecozoic Period - This era has just started, and falls the geologic time period Cenozoic Era which started 66 million years ago.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10
Read more