Hello everyone! In this post I would like to go back and further analyze one of the topics that I recently went into. I have had some further time to process the matter, along with an addition of a few things that have made me want to dwelve deeper into it's substance. The matter at hand is women's career opportunities and their lives in general.
I recently came across an article written by a woman who was deeply involved in U.S. politics. When I say deeply, I mean she went from teaching to Universities all the way to becoming a secretary to senator Clinton. It was a very long article mind you, but what really glued me to it was the fact that she stated that, in her early career, she was the one spurring women on to pursue careers as prosperous as men's. She would give lectures about how women "could have it all". A career and a family. But, after going to D.C. she would speak to other women who had to eventually make choices. Either follow the dream of a career or sacrifice the dream so they could be with their families.
The author herself was having trouble since she had two young boys of her own. They were practically growing up with their father, as she could only be with them on weekends or on holidays and she was starting to see the difficulties of trying to juggle too many things at once. She was beginning to realize that what she had been giving lectures about sometimes can't be done. There truly is a time when a woman must choose.
And letting children grow up without one of their parents is an issue which I personally think I have addressed enough in previous posts. They begin to develop trust issues with their parents at first and then find it difficult to open up to others, eventually making all the wrong choices in life. So, a mother's love is irreplaceable for a child, especially at a young age.
But does all this necessarily mean that women can't afford to have careers? Well, there are a lot of women who have had a lot of success on a professional level and quite a respectable household. But still, that doesn't mean that they were always around when their children were in need of them. That doesn't mean that some foster parent or nanny wasn't there looking after the children most of the time, because the mother was simply too busy. But there's simply no right choice in this situation. These women owe it not only to themselves, but to women of previous generations that didn't have the same opportunities, to pursue as bigger a career as possible.
Which brings me to my other topic. The continuing exploitation of women, to their own consent. Recently I happened to be one of the many spectators of the 70th Golden Globe Awards. Many Hollywood stars were present and many were awarded for their contributions to the movie and tv-series making industry. Among them was a young girl. A girl by the name of Lena Dunham. She was awarded Golden Globe for Best Performance In A Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Actress) and the show which she herself created was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Series (Musical or Comedy). Quite an admirable feat for a first-timer.
So, this of course turned my attention to the brand new series. It's only in it's second season and it's already an award winner, it should be pretty good, I thought to myself. Well, I didn't get a chance to watch it. After a few minutes I was forced to turn it off. The high level of nudity (even in unnecessary scenes), vulgarity and rawness of this show immediately made me want to turn it off. Supposedly it's goal was to depict the "hardships of a girl's life" and how they look at things such as sex, work and their relationships with other people.
I suppose it has a bit of Sex and the City in it, but without the glamour and sprinkles. But, why would anyone promote this, much less give an award to something like this? This is not even good enough to be porn, it just imitates real life sex, with all it's uncomfortableness. Why would someone lower the bar not only for women, but for the world in general by giving awards to this?
Sure, I totally get where this show is coming from. The world needs to see itself through a woman's eyes. Women have a lot of problems and this show is a fun way to address them. But it could've been done in a much more tasteful way. In a way that protects women, rather than exposing them. Instead of watching two girls talking about their sex lives while being naked in the bathtub and eating cupcakes, I dunno, maybe they could be out in the living room!
Call me old fashioned but, as I stated in a previous post, there were women who fought and died so they could be taken seriously. So they could be given opportunities equal to those of men out in the business world. And so they could be viewed as more than just house-cleaners and sex-objects. It's proving to be quite a task, as some women are finding out, but continuously throwing to waste what their ancestors fought so hard to obtain, that isn't a solution either.
I recently came across an article written by a woman who was deeply involved in U.S. politics. When I say deeply, I mean she went from teaching to Universities all the way to becoming a secretary to senator Clinton. It was a very long article mind you, but what really glued me to it was the fact that she stated that, in her early career, she was the one spurring women on to pursue careers as prosperous as men's. She would give lectures about how women "could have it all". A career and a family. But, after going to D.C. she would speak to other women who had to eventually make choices. Either follow the dream of a career or sacrifice the dream so they could be with their families.
The author herself was having trouble since she had two young boys of her own. They were practically growing up with their father, as she could only be with them on weekends or on holidays and she was starting to see the difficulties of trying to juggle too many things at once. She was beginning to realize that what she had been giving lectures about sometimes can't be done. There truly is a time when a woman must choose.
And letting children grow up without one of their parents is an issue which I personally think I have addressed enough in previous posts. They begin to develop trust issues with their parents at first and then find it difficult to open up to others, eventually making all the wrong choices in life. So, a mother's love is irreplaceable for a child, especially at a young age.
But does all this necessarily mean that women can't afford to have careers? Well, there are a lot of women who have had a lot of success on a professional level and quite a respectable household. But still, that doesn't mean that they were always around when their children were in need of them. That doesn't mean that some foster parent or nanny wasn't there looking after the children most of the time, because the mother was simply too busy. But there's simply no right choice in this situation. These women owe it not only to themselves, but to women of previous generations that didn't have the same opportunities, to pursue as bigger a career as possible.
Which brings me to my other topic. The continuing exploitation of women, to their own consent. Recently I happened to be one of the many spectators of the 70th Golden Globe Awards. Many Hollywood stars were present and many were awarded for their contributions to the movie and tv-series making industry. Among them was a young girl. A girl by the name of Lena Dunham. She was awarded Golden Globe for Best Performance In A Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Actress) and the show which she herself created was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Series (Musical or Comedy). Quite an admirable feat for a first-timer.
So, this of course turned my attention to the brand new series. It's only in it's second season and it's already an award winner, it should be pretty good, I thought to myself. Well, I didn't get a chance to watch it. After a few minutes I was forced to turn it off. The high level of nudity (even in unnecessary scenes), vulgarity and rawness of this show immediately made me want to turn it off. Supposedly it's goal was to depict the "hardships of a girl's life" and how they look at things such as sex, work and their relationships with other people.
I suppose it has a bit of Sex and the City in it, but without the glamour and sprinkles. But, why would anyone promote this, much less give an award to something like this? This is not even good enough to be porn, it just imitates real life sex, with all it's uncomfortableness. Why would someone lower the bar not only for women, but for the world in general by giving awards to this?
Sure, I totally get where this show is coming from. The world needs to see itself through a woman's eyes. Women have a lot of problems and this show is a fun way to address them. But it could've been done in a much more tasteful way. In a way that protects women, rather than exposing them. Instead of watching two girls talking about their sex lives while being naked in the bathtub and eating cupcakes, I dunno, maybe they could be out in the living room!
Call me old fashioned but, as I stated in a previous post, there were women who fought and died so they could be taken seriously. So they could be given opportunities equal to those of men out in the business world. And so they could be viewed as more than just house-cleaners and sex-objects. It's proving to be quite a task, as some women are finding out, but continuously throwing to waste what their ancestors fought so hard to obtain, that isn't a solution either.
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