In our society, we generally witness
equality between men and women. We can get the same jobs among other
things, and women except as much respect as men do. Yet, there are
still gender roles ingrained in most of us, and at times, it seems
like we may never get these judgements out of our heads. I think they
are a sign that we haven't fully eradicated the attitude that men are
the superior gender. This is explored in Atwood's novel, where we see
that when a society falls apart, and becomes much more violent and
less law-abiding, we revert again to male dominance, despite the fact
that the novel is set in the future.
In our first reading from Year of the
Flood, the society is mostly dominated by crooked thugs that are
physically powerful and, needless to say, have a penchant for dominance.
The government isn't there to help the citizens, but control them and
to sentence them to death. We see that Toby is really on her own,
with no support system, because of the fact that her parents are
dead. This is why Blanco can completely take advantage of her,
because there is simply no one to stop him. He and his cronies use
and abuse the girls who work for him: “But he figured the girls
were his perks. He had two pals, ex-bouncers like himself, who acted
as his bodyguards , and they got the leavings” (Atwood 36). The
horrible situation shows how, when faced with no opposition and a
corrupt government, those are completely selfish and vile get the
upper hand.
I'd like to know what you believe are some gender roles that we are faced with today. Also, do you believe that attempted rape can ever be forgiven? Why or why not? What do you think is the main difference between the way that Blanco abuses women, and the way that Mugi the Muscle does?
Works Cited:
Image 1: "My first Fanfict: Sorry Another Xmen". 9 Sept, 2009. CommicBookmovie.com. Website. April 19, 2014
Image 2: Exterior: "Awesome Rooftop Garden Landscape Design With Stone Path And Angle Sculpture Surrounded Colorful Floral Decoration" Orsito.com. Website. April 19, 2014.
Atwood, Margaret. Year of the Flood. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2009. Print.
(Abby is Gabrielle)
From a male perspective, I totally get where you are coming from. It seems that even in our highly publicized "new age", the male sex are presented with more opportunities than their female counterparts. In the business world, there is a growing mentality that men are the CEOs and heads of large corporations, leaving many women with positions under male authority. The media and many television shows and films portray women as the stay at home mom or the housekeeper and when it is decided to give the women a job, it is more often than not a teacher or a nurse, This is preposterous to me and not right. Women deserve equal opportunities to succeed and flourish in their respective fields.
ReplyDeleteIt sickens me to read or hear about men continuing to abuse and violently rape women. These sexual predators should never be forgiven for their actions and I would go as far as to require a death penalty for those who commit such disturbing offences. If someone is willing to ruin a person's life by inflicting psychological, physical and emotional pain, they deserve to suffer just as much as the victim.
I think that as is the case in The Year of the Flood, certain men are cognizant of the situation and can truly comprehend the ramifications of their actions while others may not be able to quite grasp what is going on. Blanco is a vile and repulsive person who takes advantage of women on multiple occasions while Mugi may not realize what he is doing or the hurt it causes. Although not pardonable, it is less severe than Blanco's manner.
In my opinion, attempted rape cannot, in any case, be forgiven. Why forgive someone who tries to violate you in the worst conceivable way? The fact remains that attempted rape and rape are committed with the same intentions. Whether they succeeded in getting what they want or not does not matter. It makes no difference if the rape was only attempted and not "completed", because the damage is already done. I don't believe that anyone accused of attempted rape should be forgiven or given a second chance, because who's to say they won't try again? If they weren't satisfied the first time, they are most likely to go looking for another round, and that is just horrific. It is far easier for the jury or anyone who has not been the victim of rape to be able to forgive an attempted rapist.
ReplyDeleteCan attempted rape ever be forgiven? No, never.
Like in the two comments above, I also share the opinion that attempted rape can never be forgiven. If someone is attempting rape, they are without a doubt attempting to harm someone both physically and mentally. Just because someone like Mugi doesn't get to finish what they started doesn't mean that he wasn't attempting to commit a crime and to harm someone from the start. In my opinion, he is just as guilty as Blanco, because despite never being able to complete his attempts, he still did attempt to rape someone and did mean to harm them. His own personal intentions don't matter, even when compared to Blanco's need for dominance, because in the end they share the same goal and are attempting the same crime. They both seek to use women in the most disrespectful and hurtful manner and the way they go about it or the way the act ends doesn't change the original intentions. I do not see a difference between Mugi and Blanco's acts and behavior towards women and to think that Mugi was repeatedly forgiven by the Gardeners is sickening. In my opinion, both are in the wrong and both should pay for their harmful acts and intentions.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I don't believe that rape, let alone attempted rape, should ever be forgiven. It isn't something that can be forgiven because the intentions are just wrong. Rape has nothing to do with feeling, it is only about the need to dominate, it is an act of violence and violence is a crime. I don't believe that the Gardeners should've been lenient on Mugi because in the end, his intentions were pretty clear to begin with since he has tried to touch many women in the Gardeners. Pilar tells Toby that the Gardeners don't make a fuss over "such" things, so I'm guessing that to them, attempted rape is completely normal and fine, but we know it's not. The only difference between Blanco and Mugi is that Blanco succeeded in raping many women while Mugi has only tried to. One was successful, the other wasn't, and I believe that they are both disgusting and disrespectful for that fact alone. Attempted rape, I believe, shouldn't be taken as a joke. It's an attempt at the actual action which is horrible and degrading. If a person doesn't succeed, they will try and try again until they are able to get what they want and in Mugi's case, that's exactly what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe rape or attempted rape should ever be forgiven. This being said, I don't like the tone of absolute certainty that that statement is typed with. I feel like there may be some instances where it is debatable whether the title of "rape" should be used, and though their is usually still a perpetrator in these circumstances, I don't want to sound like I have a "pointe finale" attitude when I say that I would never forgive an individual for rape or attempted rape.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Mugi the Muscle should be condemned for his actions. Contrary to Blanco, Mugi the Muscle doesn't seem to have this violent and aggressive personality, but he tried to sexually assault a woman nonetheless. If it were in his nature to be aggressive, the result would be a situation similar to those concerning Blanco. Perhaps his lack of aggression may just be who he is, in other words he isn't failing to act aggressively out of morality, but rather he is incapable of doing so. If this is the case then he is almost equally at fault as Blanco. I think that this is the case. Maybe Mugi even wishes he could exert more control over women, but he just cant, due to a possible lack of self-confidence or some personality trait of the sort. Blanco's self-assurance is key in his sexual pursuits. If he lacked in this area then his ties with women would probably only amount to attempts, like Mugi's.
Although Blanco may possess more blatant negative qualities, Mugi commits the same crime as Blanco (setting aside the verbal and physical abuse that accompanies Blanco's rapes).
I think it would have been really interesting if one of the female characters had sexually assaulted one of the males. I know that this would have totally shifted one of the main messages Atwood portrays in the novel, that of a male dominated society, but I don't recall having ever read, in a literary work, of a female raping a male. I am aware that this is a reality and wish that this side of the traumatic experience of rape would be shown more.
It is definitely unsettling that although this novel is set in the future, women are still faced to fulfill an inferior position alongside men. I find that this is the most obvious when we see that even the gardeners are led by a man. In fact, there is no group that is lead by a woman. Rape should never be excused and it is excused twice in the novel: once with blanco (however, Toby does murder the bastard) and once at the end of the novel when Toby and Ren do not kill the men who raped Amanda. However, if we look at the ultimate message of the gardeners, they encourage in all of their teachings the power of forgiveness and that to not forgive is to suffer. Therefore it's hard to say whether I feel like this novel is offensive towards women, or if the ultimate message goes beyond gender ideologies.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTwo points: "I wash, you dry" & "You be ready for 5. I'll pick you up then."
ReplyDeleteGender roles are not all bad. I think that a man is better looked upon if he walks a woman to the bus stop in the middle of the night and in mid-afternoon too. It's liked that on the first date a man makes a gesture to pay; that he brings you flowers sometimes, or gives you chocolate when you're on your period. Just the same as a man likes it when a woman makes him a sandwich while he watches the 7th hockey game in the series; knows how to compliment him, and likes a good glass of grapes of the fermented sorts. These types of gender roles when it comes to love or romance, are things that become charming pleasures. But, on the other hand, gender roles can be, well, fucking irrelevant. For instance, in terms of survival. I kinda felt like in Atwood's book, Toby, Ren and Amanda were meant to shine and survive to prove that women CAN take care of themselves and each other. I think too that the choice for Scales and Tails, the "dancing" that the female characters participate in, is to show that women can be both warriors and still appeal to a man when their primary goals are to survive.
That said, gender roles can be really nice and make both sexes feel good or they can have a reverse effect -- much like most things -- and make us feel largely disrespected and undervalued.
Concerning gender roles, I cannot speak from other than what I have seen and been a part of and personally I think gender roles or stereotypes are on the decline. I think the very overt and oppressive gender roles are next done. As for gender roles that we are still faced there are still things like clothing, speech patterns and mannerisms that are very gender role divided. I just wonder if that is such a bad thing, If anything I think we need more could make things way more interesting, difference is the spice of life.
ReplyDeleteAs for the question of rape, let me say that any act between a consenting and a non-consenting person is just plane wrong, sexual or not. That said, in the case Mugi the Muscle, I am not sure how wrong I think it is. I mean there are elements to his technique that could be refined. But, what if that is his way of picking up women. What if that is what you are into and that is how you want to meet your life partner. Who am I to say that is the wrong way to court a lady. I can only really say I think there are ways with higher rates of success than pounce on girl while she is working out. More to the point, of course Mugi should not have reached up and fondled her but there is a huge difference between what Blanco did and what Mugi did.
For one Blanco actually commits the act, where as Mugi does not. And, Blanco uses his power of authority as a manager to dominate her. Also, Blanco has her say she loves him and what not. That is so much worse than what Mugi did. Blanco violates every aspect of her person. Mugi is just pathetic.