The excerpt from the article, “We Should All Be Feminists” goes on to delve deep into the fact that the societal construction of gender and its attribution to the two sexes has its consequences. As such, boys are expected to behave in a specific way so as to abide by the societal parameters of masculinity. This, indeed, might take a toll on the individual as he is unable to develop his own gender and ways of life under the onus of the society and culture. On the other hand, the women too are expected to abide by the parameters of correct femininity and they are subjected to a biased perspective by the society. (Adichie 1) Thus, the societal construction of gender has its negative effects on both boys and girls. Only feminism as a social movement can face the challenge of the social institutions and cultural markers that aim to ascribe gender to a sex.
Now, one can relate the subject matter of this article with that explicated by the eminent feminist film theorist, Laura Mulvey. Mulvey goes on to opine in her seminal work titled, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” that the women are objectified and commoditized in the films that are made. This is described to be a direct reflection of the patriarchal practices and the tendency of subjugating the women in the society. Mulvey talks about the omniscience of maze gaze when it comes to spectatorship- something that is a marker of the surmounting influence of patriarchy or male dominance. (Mulvey 833-844) Now, as pointed in Adichie’s work it is this patriarchal society that influences an individual right from a very tender age to imbibe a certain gender in accordance with the sexual identity. As such, it needs to be understood that the primary need is to thwart the omniscience and effect of the patriarchal practices that strip the females of their equal status and respect only to subjugate and commoditize them in the society and even in artwork. Even the males should join the feminist movement so as to establish a society with gender equality and respect for women.
Works Cited
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “We Should All Be Feminists.” Feminist.com.
feminist.com, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2016. <http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/adichie.html>
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In Leo Braudy and
Marshall Cohen. (eds). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford UP, 1975. pp. 833-44.
