Don't be Shy…Read My Post

It did not strike me that all three articles we read for Monday’s class were by women until I came to the line “‘Many of us, especially women, resign ourselves to the idea that if we don’t feel powerful, we can’t act that way’” (Carpenter).  I do not usually draw parallels between women and introversion, stage fright, or confidence, but as I read this line I realized all the ways I was relating to these articles was through my own experiences and the experiences of my female peers.  The articles never once dredged up a memory of one of my brothers or male friends.  Instead, all I could think of were the instances of my female friends being too afraid to speak up or not wanting to appear bossy.  While I do not want to argue that confidence in oneself is a gender relations issue, I can’t help but notice there is a seemingly direct correlation.  Is this because as a female most of my experiences and closest friends’ experiences are through a female lens?  Maybe, or maybe there is an inherent belief that women possess that we are not good enough or smart enough thus we are more introverted and timid. 

I will not argue though this is at the fault of our male counterparts, and once again, I realize the articles were not meant as an examination of how women, specifically, carry themselves in social settings, but I cannot help but to draw some parallels.  While reading, I was reminded of Simone de Beauvoir’s piece “The Woman as the Other.”  In it, she argues that women will always remain “the other,” meaning we will always take a second, differential seat to men so long as we continue to take no action in being recognized as equals.  Her argument reminds me of Molina’s when Molina states “People with my fear have to decide for themselves what it’s costing them if they can’t overcome it.”  Essentially, it is up to women to change their circumstances and have inherent confidence in themselves.  Many women are afraid of being labeled crazy feminists   There are even all the feminist jokes out there that suggest the feminist movement is a pointless one such as:

How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?

Trick Question: feminists can’t change anything.     

But in reality, this is not an issue of feminism.  Feminist or not, women must rid themselves of the mindset that we are not confident enough to succeed.