Regards to Women

Gentleman, take your hats off for the women around you and thank them for all they put up with.  Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit" and Gloria Steinem's "If Men Could Menstruate" opened my eyes to the fact that women are oppressed and most people don't even realize it.  Many of the points brought up in both essays were thoughts that anyone could think of, but most people wouldn't realize that they were points made to let people know that women are treated differently than men.  Both articles compared black people being treated differently to white people to women being treated differently than men.  This comparison made a lot of sense in my mind because there was such an uproar regarding segregation and society was able to change that, so why can't society change the way people regard women as well?  People are people.  Race, religion, gender, and anything else that should put them apart from others shouldn't have anything to do with the way they are treated.

The first essay I read was an excerpt from "The Great Lawsuit" and I found that it was difficult to understand because it was written in 1843 and the way Fuller wrote was hard to comprehend; yet, the message was very clear.  One statement I found interesting in this essay was, "All men are privately influenced by women."  This statement reigns true in my mind because men have to be influenced by some woman in their life, whether it be a sister, mother, wife, or friend, but they just won't admit it.  Why not acknowledge how important those women in your life are to you?  Would that show signs of weakness?  Women know what they do for men; yet, they don't ask for anything in return.  That in itself takes a great deal of strength.

The second essay I read was "If Men Could Menstruate" and it made me chuckle to myself multiple different times not only because the entire idea of men menstruating is funny, but because everything that was mentioned could easily be true.  Knowing that women menstruate seemingly does nothing to how they are treated, but if roles were reversed, men would be treated like kings.  Men would spin what is happening with them around and make it seem like it is an unnatural phenomenon and women don't do that at all.  Girls don't brag about getting their period, but would men?  Although this essay took a serious topic and turned it into something funny, it still made me realize that women go through a lot for society as a whole and they don't particularly request any special treatment in return.  Women deserve a great round of applause for all that they do and that should only be the beginning of the gracious thank yous that are owed to them.