"It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." (pg 12)
The one thing that really struck me was that "efface" means to erase and "ministering" (in this case) means to serve to the needs of someone. So basically, that last sentence is saying these women thought it was a holy privilege to erase themselves and become ideal people who's only job is to serve you.
Also, the use of all the religious language makes me think that maybe religion influenced this gender stereotype.
This makes me sad... I wish gender stereotypes had never begun. Who woke up one morning and decided that guys were better than girls at some things? But I guess it ties back to fact, opinion, and faith like we talked about in The Crucible. There's no way to prove to someone that their faith is wrong and there's no way to prove to someone that their faith is right. So it's just what they believe... and no one dares to question it.
ReplyDelete