Monday, October 27, 2008
Mamas, Genies, and Witches
For this week's response, I'd like for you to choose one, specific part of either chapter ("Mama Said" or "Genies and Witches") by Douglas to engage with. Any of her ideas are fair game, so pick what interests you. What is she saying? What do you think about what she's saying? Why? Due by Friday at class time.
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What concerns me most about Susan Douglas’ chapter “Mama Said” is the back and forth, yo-yo effect that women encountered during and after the war era. It only seems natural that women would be needed in the workforce when the majority of the male population enlisted in the war effort. For so many women, the image of Rosie the Riveter brings a sense of pride because women were allowed to participate in the male world of industrialization. It does not seem too glamorous or exciting now to work in a factory, but during this time it meant much more than being a secretary. The media was able to tap into the underlying desires of women to gain equality with men, and with their war propaganda, they asked women for their help instead of demanding it. Unfortunately, women were only needed temporarily until the men returned from battle.
Immediately after the war ended, the media’s approach to woman’s roles made a complete 180 degree turn. Where it once rallied women’s passion and encouraged them to step up to the challenge, it now very forcefully told them to sit down. Nobody warned women that they were only being taken advantage of and that their new found sense of freedom would be taken away. The image that sticks with me is the Johnson and Johnson advertisements with the giant baby. The dialogue between the giant child and its miniature mother is absurd and degrading. “Whoa, mom! Can’t you take it?” For lack of more refined terminology, who the hell did they think they were, calling out women so blatantly? It was is they were saying thanks for helping keep the economy afloat, but now you need to return to being submissive. Just as Douglas mentioned, no wonder her mother was so angry.
Then, as if this radical change was not enough, the media realized that even though they were not allowed to bring in the money, women were the spenders in the household. They were the ones who looked at the advertisements and purchased the goods. It was now the media’s goal to encourage women to work just enough to buy those items that her husband would not allow her to buy with his money. For example a dishwasher, something not essential to a man, but a tool that makes life a little easier for a woman and a mother. The media was, and still is, using their images to manipulate women into spending their money. Again, women are essential to the economy. It is hard for me to grasp what it must feel like to be tricked into feeling needed, then being chastised for trying to perform the same actions only a few years later. How can women ever trust the media after a time such as this? Such stories make me question the underlying meaning of the images I see just a little bit more.
One part of Douglas’s chapter “Mama Said” that spoke to me was the contradictory messages that appeared in magazines between the editorials which encouraged women to gain autonomy, and the ads that relied on traditional women’s roles. Douglas explains that the mixed messages sent to women that they were superior and that they were inferior and full of flaws affected women of all ages in American culture.
The differences between the messages in the articles and ads represent the different messages the entire culture was sending to women about who they should be. Douglas refers to this as “postwar schizophrenia” following WWII and explains its appearance in magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal where editorials by Eleanor Roosevelt encouraging gender equality sat next to ads for products that would make the reader more appealing to her man.
Prior to reading this I had never thought about the disparities between articles and advertisements that still exist in magazines aimed at women. While some of these mixed messages from post-WII still exist, the differences in magazines today like Cosmo seem to be articles telling women to be happy the way they are, and ads for products to fix their physical appearance. I think it is very interesting that looking at the articles and advertisements in magazines can give such an accurate reflection of the society and the gender roles involved in the culture.
In the beginning part of the “Mama Said” chapter Douglas informs the reader that, “the desire to work outside the home, so healthy and welcome in 1944, was, just three years later, prima facie evidence that you were a neurotic, castrating hysteric.” Douglas used this chapter to express the internal conflict that she observed in women of her mother’s generation. This statement clearly reveals that women were ordered to take the persona of two contradictory roles, and completely change their mindset as soon as the war was over. Women were thought to have an “on/off” switch for their ambition. The women of the late 1940’s were supposed to resemble a ‘Stepford wife’ as opposed to a normal human being with the ability to have goals and ambitions that were external to the what was expected of them.
In an attempt to further suppress the ambitions of women ads began circulating that sent the message women cannot work and be real women. In order to be of worth as a woman you had to be the perfect wife and mother, with dinner on the table promptly at 7pm. The devaluing of women who failed to comply to this began with the ads similar to the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company ad that portrayed a bride with the headline “Lady, Do You Have a Job” and she begins to recite that her job is to love, honor, obey, sort laundry, take care of the children, and to be the doormat of everyone in the household. The ads by Johnson & Johnson instilled in women that they were especially the doormat of every male in the house, even the babies, by showing a picture of a tiny mother and a huge child. This was a visual portrayal of how the mother is inferior to the baby boy.
Douglas was correct in stating that “the contrast between Rosie the Riveter campaign and the virulent antifeminism that followed was so stark, it is easy to paint a black and white, before and after picture of this period.” She shows the reader how unreasonable it was for the expectation that women would all revert back to the way things were with the flick of a switch. It was particularly irrational to expect total compliance when women were not included in the decision making process.
I read the chapter “Genies and Witches” twice just to make sure I understood what she was trying to say. In this chapter she writes a lot about the 1960’s women’s movement and how they should not go down without a fight. Some women were beginning to become comfortable with being the doormat, while others were prepared to fight for their rights. At this day in age young Susan wasn’t really affected or worried about the women’s movement and such. She as a young teen had more important things to worry about, like the Beatles and such. I was very interested in Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique. I loved how she talked about women still being used as doormats, and stop settling for low-paying dead end jobs. She suggested to every woman in America to stand up and fight for their right of equality. Paul Foley also interests me with his statistics of the women vs. men ration in U.S. governmental positions, “Only two U.S. senators and 11 of 435 members of the House of Reps were women. Only 3 of the 422 federal judges were female.” When I read those numbers I could not believe what I was seeing. While reading she mentioned two famous yet different TV shows to help explain what America was going through during this time. She named Bewitched and I Dream of Genie as the two most popular TV series since I Love Lucy. Bewitched was such a huge hit because the lead role was finally a woman in a powerful position. Samantha was not your normal house wife; she was very unique and different from other suburban wives. TV producers created a show that showed a woman finally having control over the man. Bewitched was one of the highest rated TV show of its time. I Dream of Genie was completely different from Bewitched. This TV show showed how even though this young lady had powers the male still dominated her. Douglas described Jeannie as, “dumb, shapely, ditzy blonde with too much power, in which she often used impetuously.” When I read that, it took me awhile to realize that she was right. Jeannie is the complete opposite of Samantha from Bewitched, but the producers of I Dream of Genie wanted to show that males still dominate. What I got from this chapter was that women want a fight. They were sick of being under payed and underappreciated. It was nice to see that some TV shows were willing to put themselves on the line and try to push the right for equality between women and men. Unfortunately, women fought for rights then and are still fighting today.
Susan Douglas’ chapter “Mama Said” was a real eye-opener for me. Douglas states that women today face the same dilemma that they did thirty years ago. Due to the economic demands placed on families today, majority of households have two working parents. Unfortunately, women shoulder most of the parental responsibility from cleaning and cooking, being a chauffeur from morning till night, and staying on top of everyone’s homework. Women must wear many hats on a daily basis and it is an absolute necessity for women to be able to multi-task.
Sadly, many men just do not get it. They are oblivious to everything that goes in to being a terrific mom, and the articles says many women do not feel justified in asking for their husband’s help. Douglas also states that women in the work force today continue to feel somehow delinquent, just as women many years ago. They feel guilty for having to enter the work force, even though it is usually mandatory for families to meet their financial responsibilities. Regrettably, some successful career women were blamed for high divorce rates and neglecting their children which lead to delinquent behavior.
I was amazed that women’s roles in the work force were so undervalued many years ago. It is appalling that women and men performing the same job rarely received equal pay back then, and I am not sure if it is significantly better today. Douglas states that during the war the media portrayed women as significant in the work force, and after the war, women were told they were inferior and should be kept in their proper place – the home. The women of that generation learned they should not be argumentative and basically be a “yes” robot. All the articles in the Ladies Home Journal alluded to the fact that “the happiness of the marriage and the home depends primarily on her – the wife.” It did not matter what the husband was like, the women were solely responsible for marital success. They had to keep themselves beautiful, be good cooks, and be submissive while the males could do no wrong.
Furthermore, Douglas alludes to the fact that thirty years ago the media courted women because they were the major consumers. Advertisements consisted of cleaning products, appliances and other household products that reinforced the image of women as stay at home moms. Today the media is still influential in the roles of women, but majority of the advertisements consist of clothing, beauty products, and body images. All of these advertisements have a common goal; they try to influence women to buy their products by emphasizing that this is the image that society expects of them.
Nancy G
These two chapters got me thinking about the role of “mother.” I am a new mother I have a son who is 1 (20 months). But I also was my sister’s “mother” when I became her guardian after my parents died. Both times that I became a “mother” I was filled with various emotions, one of the strongest ones being, scared. Can I do this? How can I do this? Now the first time I became a “mother,” I moved back to my parents home, my sister was 15, the only products I felt compelled to buy were necessities such as: food, clothes, and medical care. The second time, I became a mother; I was bombarded with advertisements & products that took advantage of my emotional state claiming that they would help me be a better mother. Susan Douglas touches on this topic, that advertisers target mothers, playing off mothers’ guilt and desire to be the very best mother they can be. I whole-heartedly agree and I must say I find it appalling. The newly pregnant woman knows she needs a few key items; a crib, car seat, diapers, clothes. So she being the good mom-to-be goes and gets a pregnancy planner, in which she finds a list of items “needed,” good idea right? Here you go, a list of every thing you need, no need to stress about not knowing… very helpful. However the list is like 4 pages long. I don’t know how many times I had to stop and say to myself, “Cave women had babies, they did just fine, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, and they did not have ‘bouncy seats’.” Or matching ‘pack-n-play’, stroller, car seat, and diaper bag. And it hasn’t gotten any better as my son has gotten older. “Gerber Graduates” toddler foods, like cereal puffs and crackers, tell me that they are more nutritious and contain extra things like DHA (which every good mom knows, boosts brain development). However they aren’t that different nutritionally from “Cheerios” and they cost twice as much. So I get a guilt trip every time I go to the grocery store and my wallet pays for it. I realize this is problem, but I don’t know how to fix it. I realize that advertisers have a role in this society, and some of the products really are useful. (God bless the ‘Boppy’ inventor!) However the whole process seems… unethical. The role of mother is complicated enough.
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