If the author of "Novel Reading: A Cause of Female Depravity" was a male and was writing today I think he would focus on how women read novels and watch romantic movies and get the idea that their man should behave like the romantic men they see in them. I think the author would talk about how this gives women a false understanding of love and makes the man suffer and unable to achieve this high expectation. He would blame these romantic movies and novels and say that they corrupt the women. He would also focus on the definition of love is altered by reading or watching these things.
On the other hand, if it was a female author (and this might be a bit of a stretch) I think she would focus on magazines and how women get a corrupt idea of what beauty is. I think the author would focus on how magazines show these tall, skinny, gorgeous models and women are going to extremes to achieve this perfection with drastic things like plastic surgery or diets. She would say these magazines are corrupting women and before they mass produced these ideas the women were content with themselves. She would talk about how reading these magazines is dangerous for women and will ruin them. However, if a guy was talking about this idea he might think it's good because the women will try and look perfect.
I think the main subject matter would be the same, but more contemporary examples. I think the authors would still focus on how these novels or movies are corrupting women and giving them a false idea of love.
The subject would still be love, but I think a author writing today would relate it to movies and a female may even expand love by talking about loving yourself and how pictures in magazines can corrupt women and make them not love themselves for who they are.
6 comments:
I think your post was very interesting. Romantic movies could certainly be seen as dangerous- we can't have women expecting too much from their men! I am not sure I agree about fashion magazines. I think the woman may see the models as the epitome of womanhood and feminine beauty. The images in fashion magazines uphold the patriarchal culture because they make women fit into a mold (instead of a corset). So I think she might like them. But who knows! I liked your post!
I think your observation about the "dangers" of magazines is interesting. The author of the article this week was definitely concerned that novels were filling women's minds with unrealistic notions. Magazines often have the same effect, although I agree that you see it most in the way that beauty is portrayed. After all the digital tricks, the celebrities and models who grace the pages appear very different than they do in real life. So young women, in particular, are susceptible to unrealistic expectations that are almost impossible to live up to. Good post!
Good post! I definitely agree.. the subject would still be centered around love but probably also towards beauty and famous figures in our culture to be causes of female depravity as well.
I like it that you pointed out that the authors would think that the novels or movies, which ever the case might be, are corrupting the minds of women and how they view love. It would seem in our never ending search for fulfillment, a handsome hero that sweeps a young girl off her feet is a difficult story to ignore.
I think the purpose of the novel or magazine today is so different. Our author would have to change the motivation for his/her writing. What would the warning say? "There is no way you can ever look like this?"
i enjoyed reading your post and your views on how things would differ depending on the sex of the author. There's no doubt that they would be different.
I liked your post a lot. I definitely think fashion magazines and romance novels/movies are bad for girls' self-esteem and give them artificially inflated expectations about how they should look and behave. However, I don't know if the author would necessarily seize upon those as societies' evils - he or she seems to think everything is the women's fault. But low self-esteem can lead to "female depravity" in some cases, so that could definitely be an indirect cause.
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