OPPapers.com Essay Index >> Social Issues >> Womans Liberation Issues
We have many free term papers and essays on Womans Liberation Issues. We also have a wide variety of research papers and book reports available to you for free. You can browse our collection of term papers or use our search engine.
Womans Liberation Issues The gender role given to women was one of the pretty, clean-cut, stay-at-home moms who always had dinner on the table when her husband walked
Submitted by gery77 on June 17, 2008
Category: Social Issues
Words: 1661 | Pages: 7
Views: 99
Popularity Rank: 105,871
Average Member Grade: N/A (Add a Comment / Grade this Paper)
The gender role given to women was one of the pretty, clean-cut, stay-at-home moms who always had dinner on the table when her husband walked through the white picket fence on the way home from work. Women were nice nurses or simply mothers; however, always submissive and eager to please their husbands.
Throughout most of history, the notion of women and sex was simply unheard of. Women were forbidden to demonstrate a sexual prowess and sexual oppression took many forms from female circumcision to society-issued gender roles. In the last twenty-five years or so, women have started their own sexual liberation. However, women are still living a double standard when it comes to issues relating to sex. I feel that sexual liberation and equality is extremely important for both men and women and unfortunately, there is still an inequality. Until recently in our history, the words women and sexual beings did not belong in the same sentence.
In early American culture, especially that of Christianity, women were to engage in intercourse with their husbands for the sole purposes of procreation and pleasing their mate. Women were viewed as the weaker sex and they were supposed to uphold the ideals of Christian morals (O’Neill, 1972). They were also expected to save themselves for marriage (Fisher, 1999). In the mid 1800’s, William Hammond, the surgeon-general of the United States, wrote: “The belief that women had a sexual appetite was a vile aspersion. Nine-tenths of the time decent women felt not the slightest pleasure in sexual experience (Colton, 1971). Charles Kligerman, and American psychoanalyst, stated: “Procreation in marriage was the only excuse for sexual activity and engaging in it for any other purpose-even as an act of love-was sinful (Swerdloff, 1975).” In both instances, it is obvious that women were definitely not to enjoy sexual experiences.
Luckily, there has been a strong movement for female sexual liberation. Peter...
You must Login to view the entire paper.
If you are not a member yet, Sign Up for free!