Ain't I A Woman?

I have always enjoyed reading women empowering books, which make me feel proud to be a woman. I found Hooks take on how women were meant to be silent very interesting, for she explained that to be the causation of her desire to write. She describes how it was the mothers and sisters of her family that truly spoke with poetry and wit, rather than the male preachers that society were forced to listen to. Since Hooks got into trouble for saying what was on her mind, she decided to keep a diary, which was what sparked her love for writing.

She describes her path to becoming a writer, describing how speaking her mind was an act of courage and required her to overcome many criticism and claims to being mad. Her sense of passion was apparent when describing the power for the spirit of writing, and how dangerous oppression can be to the existence of creativity. It is those that have been oppressed who have something to say, and whose words are those that people should actually listen to. It is not the preachers’ words that one must listen to, but the words of a sassy grandmother that have something worthwhile to say and listen to.

She related everything back to the idea of ‘talking back’, which is something that our generation does most often. We do not think it is wrong or ‘insane’ for a girl to speak her mind, showing the relative improvement from people in the old days. There are millions of famous women authors, whose words have impacted the majority of our world. Although these standards have definitely improved, there are still traces of these old beliefs. Some men still prefer a quite woman, one they can dominate over, rather than a smart woman who speaks her mind. Although there are still traces of sexism in our society, especially for women in the workplace, perhaps eventually men and women will finally be seen as equals.

Similarly, Thao explains how her mother taught her the power in silence. The idea that women should keep quite and try and avoid trouble is not foreign, and still holds true in many cultures. When reading ‘Sins of Silence’ it reminded me a lot of Mulan. Mulan was meant to act as a proper girl so that she could find a husband; however, she chose to follow her own path instead. Even though this path was not the accepted path for women in her society, she ended up with great success. As Thao said, even though there are cases where silence is beneficial, it should not be at the cost of one’s rights.

I found many parallels within these essays and the treatment of Indian wives. I have read many books about the treatment of Indian wives, which is exactly as described in these essays, perhaps even worse. The wife is meant to do everything for her husband, whether it is fasting for his health, or jumping into a fire to defend his honor. I felt that this Hindu custom, 'Sati', illustrates how in certain cultures nowadays women are still completely disregarded for who they are. I found the custom of Sati to be quite horrific, and did some extra reading on it (http://adaniel.tripod.com/sati.htm). Although the origin of this custom is unknown, it is supposed to be based on a Hindu myth. The act of Sati was supposed to be a very courageous and dutiful to their husband, but more importantly, it was their choice. There have been, however, many cases where the woman is forced to kill herself to protect the honor of their husband. It is ironic how the common conception of marriage is 'till death do us part', not 'if I die you're coming with me...'. Although such customs are no longer quite popular, it is such customs that have created this inequality in the first place. Although standards are improving, this inequality is still existent and prevalent in many societies nowadays.