Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960 - Essay Example

?Not June Cleaver Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960 Introduction The roles for American women significantly changed after World War II. Studies on women roles in the society in the post World War II era have generally inclined to the view that women activism never took a backstage. Women roles have been restricted to domesticity, suburbanization, and political complacency. In light of this interpretation, Joanne Meyorowitz with her contributors sets out to revisit the impact that women made in their capacities as mothers, activists, workers, and unionists. This paper explores women experiences and their contributions in the post-war American society by reviewing I Wanted the Whole World to See written by Ruth Feldstein and The Sexualized Woman written by Donna Penn. I Wanted the Whole World to See Ruth Feldstein tells the story of a young teenager who came face to face with the seriousness of racial segregation in Mississippi, in August 1955. Emmett Till was a bright and bold 14-year-old boy who met his death for flirting with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Although the boy and his peers seemed to care about the likely repercussions of flirting with a white woman, they immediately forgot about it, at least before his assailants caught up with him. Roy Bryant and John William Milam approached the boy in the company of Mose Wright and drove off with him. Three days later, the badly disfigured body of Emmett Till was found dumped in the Tallahatchie River.1 At first, the community was united, despite racial differences in expressing shock and condemned the heinous murder of the young boy. Bryant and Milam were apprehended for kidnapping soon after they drove away with the boy. In the verdict, it was argued that identity of the corpse could not be identified. Bryant and Milam also claimed that they had let Emmet Till free and did not kill him. Feldstein through this essay shows the challenges that women faced, especially African Americans. Emmett’s mother, Mamie Bradley, sought to nationalize her grief and therefore generally the challenges facing the African American women in the country. She did this by first making Till’s funeral service public. The service was conducted with an open casket shown. In this manner the world was able to see what had happened and equally significant the pain that African Americans experienced in Mississippi. The action of making the funeral service public and specifically the bold step of letting the casket remain open in the course of the funeral service had far reaching effect – it helped to tell the world, in the most powerful and persuasive way, the evils that were taking place in Mississippi against African Americans. Feldstein described the scenes of the savage repression of women, especially African American women, by the media. The story covered various scenes of pain and suffering that the boy and his mother went through as well as the shock and disbelief expressed by members of the society. Mourners from African descent saw the badly mutilated body of Emmett Till, and quickly recounted brutal repression which they had went through in the past.2 Additionally, it was evident from the story that many more African American women within the society had not yet come across such incidents or heard of them at all for that matter, because some of the regions in the United States like Chicago were more liberal compared to Mississippi.3 The discourse in the essay draw many similarities from June Cleaver’s scenario: for example, the suffering of black females as was the case for Mamie Bradley points to the fact that many African American women suffered in silence. The publication of pictures depicting various scenes in the murder of Emmett Till and his funeral touched the hearts of almost all members. Additionally, like the June Cleaver’s experiences, women still faced monumental resistance from men and agents of the status quo, despite a significant role of the media in highlighting the scenes of repression and the denial of their suffrage right before 1960s. The maltreatment of women in American as described by Ruth Feldstein sparked off a huge debate on the need for change in the society. The society in general was agitated to stand up against evils propagated against women and African Americans. The African Americans in the North saw the need to voice their views in favor of their brothers and sisters in the South. Human right activist groups were rejuvenated by the Emmett’s case and pressed even harder for equality in the society. The Sexualized Women Donna Penn authored this essay. She describes the kind of treatment that women who chose to adopt the lesbian or prostitute lifestyles were subjected to. The era of the 1950s was one that was not liberal enough to allow freedom of expression of views. Lesbianism and prostitution was viewed as deviant lifestyles which violated the norm. Whoever led these lifestyles was viewed as being against the society and therefore unacceptable in the society. Lesbians and prostitutes were therefore highly looked down upon by the society.4 In the 1950s, the society looked upon women to uphold morality and social order. Women were expected to undertake this by “limiting female sexuality in the home, within marriage, and attended by motherhood”.5 Therefore, the rising of lesbianism and prostitution was greeted with contempt. The media hit hard on those women who chose to express themselves in ways that the society did not approve. Newspaper articles associated lesbians and prostitutes with illicit drugs. They were said to be possessed with demons – “the purveyors of the dominant discourse painted a sinister association between the lesbian and the prostitute as sisters of the sexual underworld”6. Experts on sexuality issues likewise expressed their disappointment with lesbians and claimed that such lifestyles were prone to fail. Lesbians were viewed as people who pursued sexual gratification which could never be achieved because they mutually engaged in masturbation which was viewed as immature female sexuality. Despite much suppression and criticism, lesbians and prostitutes held strong to what they believed was their right. Womanhood proved its strength in perseverance against the wave of the society. It is the efforts of these women in the 1950s that women today have the freedom they enjoy in choosing whatever sexual lifestyle they want or desire. The home-making ideology played a pivotal role in dictating the standard explanation of women’s lives. But as an analysis of the popular culture of the 1950s reveals, the American society was treated to a competing interest between the forces in support of domestic values and those that supported individual achievement favoring non-domestic life, individual endeavors, civil service, and success in various professions. Additionally, this domestic role of women led to women being sexualized. In other words, men viewed women as objects that they could use as they deemed fit. Sexualization objectified women, and shoved them aside, hence denied them the opportunity to take part in important political decisions affecting them directly or the society in general. “The Sexualized Woman” portrays how feminine integrity and political roles were stripped away from them by men. As a result, women’s political values and contribution to society was reduced to pleasing men, regardless of the level of significance their ideologies or their potential accomplishments were.7 To some extent, the Penn agrees with June Cleaver’s experiences in the sense that women were partly to blame for being sexualized – many women knowingly contributed to their sexualization and marginalization from political spheres of influence. As a result, sexualization of women occasioned their vulnerability to repression. It is apparent that seeing someone as a lesser human being or object leads to dehumanization of such persons. In light of this, sexualized women were at a higher risk of rape, and other kinds of assault compared to their counterparts who opted to lead the society in various professional capacities. Conclusion The two essays offer great lessons on the experiences of women during the post-war period America. Motherhood formed a very important part in women history, especially because the value formed the basis upon which the role of women during the period was premised. In light of this, the essays in Meyerowitz’s volume expose the different types of women’s contributions and perceptions that greatly helped to fight the views that had been established in regard to women’s spheres of influence being restricted to domesticity, suburbanization and political complacency. Generally, the accounts of women who fervently supported their men through protest marches and peace rallies, especially when the men were serving on the battlefields; and at various forums seeking reproductive rights and often challenging male dominance in employment, and corridors of justice are revisited. The essays also provide modern and often disapproving portrayals of women as they struggled to assume new political roles. In a nutshell, the two essays have many similarities to Cleaver’s experiences in her effort to have a voice in the American society, especially in terms of ensuring justice for all women who had suffered entrenched repression in the society for a long time. Bibliography Feldstein, Ruth. “I wanted the Whole World to See: Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till.” In Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, edited by Joanne, Meyerowitz, 263-301. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994. Penn, Donna. “The Sexualized Woman: The Lesbian, the Prostitute, and the Containment of Female Sexuality in Postwar America.” In Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, edited by Joanne, Meyerowitz, 358-381. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994. Read More