ES 4-5

What strikes me the most after reading chapters 4-5 is the impossible balancing act that women are forced to perform their whole lives. Before this class, I have almost been blind to all of the minute efforts that I make in order to fit in or be thought of in a certain way by my peers. In chapter 4, Douglas states that "Martians (a.k.a men) value power, competency, efficiency, and achievement [and are] concerned with outdoor activities [and less concerned with] people and feelings", while "Venusians (a.k.a women) value "love, communication, beauty and relationships [and] to share their personal feelings is much more important than achieving goals and success". I believe that all of these things describe me, but I would prefer to identify with the "Venusians" because I would like to appear more feminine. While reading these chapters, I realized that the reason I didn't get made fun of for being a lacrosse goalie in high school was because I was also a cheerleader. On page 103, Douglas says that "women could be legal equally but they had better be visually feminine." I can relate to this because while fighting against the objectification of women internally, I have always put on an appearance of femininity and of what I am expected to look and act like as a lady.