Womanhood in America

From the early days of colonization, America has been known as the land of greatness and freedom. "A City upon a hill", as Puritan leader John Winthrop called it, has been an analogy used to describe America for centuries. But the reality of life in America is that people are not free to do whatever they please or become whomever they want to become. The underlying cultural currents and ideas of gender dominate and shape our lives from the moment we are born. And the ideals that we like to believe about American womanhood and the reality of gender ideas are often in stark contrast.

Alexis Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" has been a dominant force in shaping our ideas of gender and freedom in America ever since its publication in the mid 19th century. Tocqueville asserts that women in America are more free than in any other nation. Released from the bonds of male dominated aristocracies, American women are educated and exposed to world their entire lives. This enables them to make rational choices in marriage, which contribute to the good morals of the country as a whole. Also this rationality disillusions them from the romantic ideals of marriage and love and allows them to persevere through any strain on their marriage. As a whole, America loves to celebrate the ideas of Tocqueville, commend ourselves on our gender equality, and respect the roles of our determined women.

But the reality of gender equality harshly contradicts Tocqueville's ideals, as Susan Faludi asserts in "The Terror Dream". Faludi asserts that in the aftermath of 9/11, feminists, female journalists, and women in general became a scapegoat for the media. Feminists were accused of feminizing our men, and that somehow equality of the sexes equaled vulnerability to terrorist plots. Journalists who spoke out against the overbearing media themes of masculine patriotism were subjugated to immense criticism and backlash, as in the case of Susan Sontag. And even if female journalists conformed to the media's message, their voices were slowly silenced, as was the case for many women in op-ed pieces.

So what does it mean to be a women in America? Like many other questions about human identity it is one that is too complex to ever be answered accurately or completely. American women are bombarded from every corner about the definition of womanhood. Tocqueville's assertions idealize democracy and equality in America, while the mass media often portray a much different image. Perhaps to answer this question, we must keep in mind that there is no absolute answer and we have be aware and differentiate between the stories we tell ourselves and the reality of life.

Works Cited:

Alexis Tocqueville's "Democracy in America"

Susan Faludi's "The Terror Dream"