Nichole April 24

What did this exercise teach us? That I’m glad I didn’t go to an all girls school. I think, not so much the men in class, but more so the uneducated and other men in society, would say that they wouldn’t mind taking the back seat to women who wants to work in the corporate world, but that most of them really would mind. However, I do not agree that this is because of society and has more to do with the way that one is raised and the level of confidence bestowed upon them. My boyfriend, for example wears more pink than I do (ever hear the saying, only a real man can wear pink?) and has no problem getting the occasional pedicure with me (without polish of course). I think that the line between masculine and feminine is coming to an end. I wear blazers and vests confidently all the time and am not made fun of for it or called a feminist, and I know women that only shop at Dior Homme. Like Liza said, and I know her brother too, it’s no longer what someone HAS to do in life as much as what people WANT to do. I think he is confident enough in himself that he can pursue a career in teaching if that was his passion and not be discouraged if his future wife made more money. I don’t think a REAL man, one with confidence and happiness for his wife, should be humbled if she makes more than him. And in the end, who really cares what career you have as long as you are happy doing it… that to me is the point of life.

If a woman wants a career in a major corporation, she has obvious set backs and uneducated people might set her on a lower platform and might not offer her the job with the same credentials as a man, but she can rightfully pursue that career and I think that is what’s important here. I think we have all experienced the notion of “penis envy” that Iragaray writes about and that is because as aforementioned, a woman might not get the same job with the same credentials as a person of the opposite gender. Thus, if women had different sexual organs, she would get the job she wasn’t offered before and that is what Iragaray refers to in the essay.