Essay on Barbara Ehrenreichs The Hearts of Men - 947 Words

Barbara Ehrenreichs The Hearts of Men Barbara Ehrenreich, in The Hearts Of Men, illustrates how gender roles have highly constricted men, not just women, and therefore have inhibited American society from developing its full potential. She deviates from conventional wisdom, which says that gender roles have been largely detrimental to only half the population, which is simultaneously confined to working in the domestic sphere and prevented from participating in the public realm. Her theory says that Americans subscribe to a sexuo-economic system which reduces men to mere earning mechanisms and forces women to become parasitic wives (6, 4). As she explains, members of both sexes adhere to a system which forces them to succumb to†¦show more content†¦Ehrenreich understands that Americans are most motivated by money and concludes that men have denied aspects of their personalities to compensate for their role as economic provider. Ehrenreich demonstrates how men have suffered from being the family breadwinner. Men are less healthy than women, from both physical and mental standpoints, because they bare the majority of economic responsibility for their family. Despite the growing number of women who have joined the labor force in recent years, men are paid almost forty percent more, which makes their salary more valuable to a family than a womans. A family must retain a man as their beast of burden because America places increasing emphasis on the value of its citizens through their material possessions. This makes many men feel that their role unduly taxes their resources. Perhaps men will live longer (and more enjoyable lives) in America when women carry more of the burden of the battle with the world, instead of being a burden themselves (102). Ehrenreich identifies another male role, besides that of breadwinner, as one who does not show emotion, caring or sensitivity. A man might be highly unhappy but was not supposed to voice his frustration. If he did he would be thought of as weak, or worse, a homosexual. This threatened many men into silent subservience to the system which made them work harder for more material gain and lessShow MoreRelated Appearance-Based Discrimination in Corporate America Essay2012 Words   |  9 Pagesseems, it is arguable that the most important aspect of job seeking and interviewing is not a person’s comprehensive checklist of qualifications, but rather their physical appearance. Throughout the duration of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Bait and Switch, it becomes quite clear that Ehrenreich’s physical presentation often times serve as a hindrance rather than an enhancement. At one point, Ehrenreich finds herself face to face with Prescott, her image management consultant. I mmediately diagnosing herRead MoreAnalysis Of Upton Sinclair s The Grapes Of Wrath 3839 Words   |  16 Pagesmuckraker Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The quandaries that plague the characters of the aforementioned novels parallel that of modern day exposà ©s, such as Class Matters, by Bill Keller, Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, and Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, all of which harness and expose the falsehood of The American Dream as a result of wage slavery, class separation, and monopolization of major industries. The delineations that exist between theRead MoreBarbara Ehrenreich, The Author Of The Novel Nickeled And1310 Words   |  6 PagesBarbara Ehrenreich, the author of the novel Nickeled and Dimed on (Not) Getting by in America, family had achieved middle class, as she was fulfilling her Bachelor’s degree in physics. As time proceeds, she attended Graduate school to pursue her master’s degr ee in cell biology. Ehrenreich became involved with a woman s health movement, and also became a teacher at Old Westbury, in New York. With her activism in the women’s movement, she began to write about feminism and the myth regarding it beingRead More Feminism Essays3962 Words   |  16 Pagesdespite their views of difference feminism, hold varying expectations for the behavior of women. In her article What Abu Ghraib Taught Me, Barbara Ehrenreich recounts her the process by which she became disillusioned with the notion of female moral superiority. Despite claiming that she never believed that women were inherently gentler and less aggressive than men, Ehrenreich divulges her shock at the images of Spc.s Megan Ambuhl, Sabrina Harman, and Lynndie England, stating secretly, I hoped that