yellowdaisy 4, cixous & butler

I found the Cixous and Butler reading about women and opposites in gender to be interesting yet quite confusing. Cixous begins by talking about binary oppositions then goes on to discuss bisexuality and femininity. I had a hard time figuring out what exactly she was arguing. I do agree with a lot of their views on feminism especially when Cixous talks about the femininity in writing and how it is much more difficult for women to speak up then for men. These readings made me think of a Christina Aguilera song called “Can’t Hold Us Down” in which she discusses the double standard of women not being able to stick up for themselves. The song is about how males get to speak out against someone or take a stand for something but when women do it, it’s a way bigger deal. Christina, in this particular song, was discussing how the media talks bad about her because she’s not afraid to write about or speak out against male artists.She sings lyrics like “so what am I not supposed to have an opinion? Should I be quiet just because I'm a woman? Call me a bitch cause I speak what's on my mind, guess it's easier for you to swallow if I sat and smiled. She puts herself out there and like Cixous says “for a woman speaking-even just opening her mouth-in public is something rash, a transgression.” To me, Christina Aguilera, in this song in particular, is a modern feminist because she is speaking out against ill treatment toward women. Today, it is still hard to believe there are problems because many women are gaining so many more opportunities then they once did in the past especially with women like Hilary Clinton even running for president. However, women are still stereotypically seen as bitches or divas if they take control like a man, sluts if they “get around” too much like a man, or masculine and inappropriate if they speak up against something like a man. Although these double standards are sad and not encouraging, women still need to fight until we are treated completely equal.