Looking At Women by Scott Russell Sanders - Essay Example

?[Your full full October 02, Looking At Women In ‘Looking at women’, which is an essay written by Scott Russell Sanders, the author has described how men usually look at women and how they perceive them. The essay speaks about the mentality of men and describes their way of looking towards women. Sanders do not agree with the perception of men although he is also from the same gender. He believes that men should not perceive women as objects; rather they should give respect to the women, which they deserve. He believes that a woman is also an integral part of a society and she should be respected and valued for her role in the society. In the essay, Sanders describes the negative perceptions of men about women. He uses different factors to describe the issue. Classification of men is one of those factors, which he uses to describe the mentality of men. He believes that men having negative perceptions about women generally fall into three main categories, which include construction men, adolescents, and writers. He speaks about construction men as how they perceive women. He states that construction men usually spend most of their time working in hot weather, lifting heavy objects and operative heavy machinery and there is no concept of women working in those areas where they work. Therefore, when they see a woman in those areas by chance, they cannot stop themselves from staring at the woman. For such men, atmosphere changes when a woman arrives in their work area and almost all of them start perceiving that woman as an entertaining object. Sanders do not like this mindset of construction men and wants them to respect women because their mothers, daughters, and sisters also belong to the same gender. Sanders also describes how adolescents view women living around them. He speaks about the mentality of his roommate regarding women. Adolescence is a stage of life in which men perceive women as sexual objects and always think of them as sources of getting sexual satisfaction. Sanders did not like the viewpoint of his roommate who believed women to be the sources of entertainment. In the essay, Sanders wrote that whenever his friend passed by a poster of a woman, he used to observe the body of that woman from every angle. Sanders opposes the mentality of his roommate and tries to explain that women are not to be perceived as objects; rather men should give them their due respect. The mother of his friend, Norman, also played a considerable role in shaping his viewpoint regarding women. Norman’s mother taught Sanders that women are not to be viewed as objects as they also have feelings and emotions and it is the responsibility of every individual to respect the dignity of women. She told Sanders to think from the women’s perspective for a while in order to understand how a woman feels when she receives embarrassing comments from men. This question of Norman’s mother made Sanders consider the emotional wellbeing of women. The viewpoint of feminist writers also played a considerable role in shaping the personal viewpoint of Sanders. Feminist writers used to portray a positive image of women in their novels and stories, which positively influenced the viewpoint of Sanders. Feminist writers appreciated the role of women in a society and tried to eradicate the negative concept of women from the minds of men. This attitude of writers really helped Sanders construct a positive picture of women in his mind. In the essay, Sanders quotes feminist viewpoints several times, which shows his personal viewpoint regarding women. The cause and effect relationship has been also shown in the essay by the author. Sanders describes how women feel when men look at them and convey awkward signals to them. In the essay, it is shown that women do not feel comfortable when men stare at them. Sanders tries to think about the feelings of women being stared by men. The author illustrates that women start feeling like pieces of meat or sex objects when men stare at them. He believes that women’s perspective about themselves is affected by the negative assumptions of men about women. Sanders always seems to be stressing on his viewpoint that all men and women are equal and there should not be any kind of difference between them. He believes that women are a respectable part of society and no one has the right to play with their dignity by passing negative comments to them. Sanders is against the general mindset of men regarding women. “If men have been brutal toward women, that doesn’t mean we have to continue being brutal” (Sanders). He believes in the importance of women in a society. He appreciates the role, which women play for the upbringing of their children. He is against the mentality of those men who have little or no respect for women. Sanders believes that women also have self-respect and dignity and no one has the right to spoil their dignity by passing negative comments to them. In the essay, Sanders seems to be opposing the viewpoints and mentality of different groups of people. He seems to be shaping his viewpoint in accordance with the analysis of different viewpoints of other groups of men. The viewpoint and teachings of Norman’s mother influenced the personal viewpoint of Sanders more than any other viewpoint or his own personal experiences. Sanders provides the viewpoints of different types of people about women in the essay and describes the effects of viewing women as objects. In the whole essay, Sanders seems to be questioning how men should look at women and how should they perceive them. Sanders has left it up to the readers to shape their personal viewpoints about women. If readers feel that public’s viewpoint is true about women, they can support it whereas if they feel the way Sanders feels about women, they can easily find the answer that men should stop viewing women as objects and should give them their deserved status in the society. Works Cited Sanders, Scott. “Interview of Scott Russell Sanders by Bill Tydeman.” Scottrussellsanders.com. Iron Horse review, 2001. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. Read More