Friday, November 14, 2008
Men as Gatekeepers (ch. 35)
Women have been excluded from society for many many years. Feminist Dorothy Smith blames this on men's "closed-circuit scholarship." She claims that the reason why men have kept women out of the loop was because for the longest time they only talked to men about things men would only either understand or care about. Because of women's long-term role as the housewife, they assumed they just automatically cut women out because what they discussed never fell under the umbrella of what women were supposed to care about. Obviously nowadays, things are rapidly changing in our society. Women are no longer kept out of the loop (well not as much) because you now see them taking more high profile jobs, more masculine responsibilities on top of their feminine responsibilities. I think because of our rapidly changing society, a lot of the theories presented within this chapter are either outdated or finding a way to adapt to this rapid change. Men are no longer the "gatekeepers of comunication." Communication between genders is now open for everyone.
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2 comments:
I thought that the books mention of men as gatekeepers was interesting as well. I think that women were a muted group for a very long time, but in our day and age we have been able to make a voice for ourselves that is heard around the globe. I also thought that their theories were out of date because I dont think that they apply so much to the twenty first century woman. Women take jobs that men work in and have made names for themselves. A women even ran for president and was widly accepted. I think that although men and women will continue to communicate differently, we are able to find some common ground.
I found your post very interesting. I would absolutely agree with you that communication nowadays is now open for everyone, not just men. I also definitely agree with you in the sense that women are not kept out of the loop as much anymore as women are now taking on more masculine responsibilities, such as examples as Hillary Clinton running for President and Sarah Palin running as Vice President. I think that it is about time that women are given more opportunities in not only political positions, but high-powered white collar positions as well, such as the position of CEO at a large national corporation.
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