book reviews
Must-read books for and about women, including thought-provoking novels, business books, memoirs and feminist histories.
Gender Criticism of Junot Diaz's 'The Cheater's Guide to Love'
In today's society, gender plays an important role in almost every aspect of our lives. Much like racism, and religious intolerance, sexism is a learned behavior. It is prevalent in many cultures, including our own. For example, in our last presidential election, the objectification of women became a key narrative. At that time, candidate Donald Trump was secretly recorded speaking vulgarly about touching women’s body parts with Entertainment Tonight's correspondent Billy Bush. He later justified it, by saying it was only “locker room” talk. Despite this, Donald Trump still became president. What does that say about our culture? It says that, when it comes to gender roles, we have not made much progress. Generally speaking, so called "locker room" talk is common among most men in our country. It is obvious that there are still many elements of sexism left in our culture. Dominican author Junot Diaz's touches on this, in his short story, "The Cheater's Guide to Love," which is the culmination of a collection of short stories called "This Is How You Lose Her." In the story, there is no question that the narrator, Yunior, is a womanizing sexist. However, some gender based critics contend that even though Yunior is a sexist, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the story is sexist.
By Wilson Geraldo9 years ago in Viva
Best Books about Overlooked Women in History. Top Story - August 2017.
Rosa Parks. Amelia Earhart. Cleopatra. Jackie Kennedy. Joan of Arc. These are just a few names on the long list of women who have unequivocally changed the course of history through their work, talent, beauty, or courage. And yet, this long list of names is immeasurably shorter than its male-centric counterpart. Over time society has been and continues to work toward gender equality; still, there are too many stories of feminine fierceness untold. While the world was busy lauding history's great men, there were women reaching equally laudable achievements, but the world wasn't ready to listen. It's time to give the long overdue recognition to some of the many women overlooked by history.
By Rachel G. David9 years ago in Viva
