Sumblog 6: Charlotte Perkins Gillman

Charlotte Perkins Gillman was an utopian feminist who studied the relationship the sexuo-econicic.  She focussed on the macro levels within the home.  Her father, Fredrick, was a librarian, a writer, and a book editor. Gilman was reported to be the last of three pregnancies for Mary.  Upon Gilman’s birth, the doctors told Mary that another pregnancy would kill her.  Immediately after this announcement, Fredrick left the home. Gilman writes that she is unsure if the two events are related.  It was reported that Mary later gave birth to a fourth child, but that child also died. Mary raised her and her brother alone. They lived a lofe of poverty and frequent moves. After she had gotten married to her first husband, they had a little girl named Katherine   Gillman soon fell into a depression and could not get out of it. She then wrote the book The yellow Wallpaper.

The yellow Wallpaper is a short story about a woman and her husband, a doctor. They go to a somewhat abandoned mansion in the country to primary recover from what her husband describes as temporary depression and hysterical tendencies.  This hysteria  is associated the female reproductive parts. This husband whom doesn't seem to take this woman seriously, wants her to live in the domestic realm. Gillman's work focuses on sexuo-economic relations. The female value are determined by the roles the individual live inside and outside the house. They do have a huge role, yet they are dependent on the man in order to get what they want. Gillman then gave up her rights as a mother and a wife in 1894. Because of this many people did not take her work into credibility.  Gillman then remarried  in 1900. In 1935, she took her own life because she had breast cancer one year after her husband died. It is apparent that after she married her first husband, she could not adjust to the role of the traditional wife. She had battled depression for a long time. 

Even today there is gender inequality. The roles of the different sex's were socialy constructed. Females have way more rights the they did one-hundred years ago: Today females face identity issues because society makes them feel the need to be beautiful and sexy. There are many examples of gender roles in both male and females. Disney movies have always been exploiting sexuality to children.  Television, radio, everything today is based on sex.