Wonder Women - Debora L. Spar - Part 2

Wonder Women - Debora L. Spar

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 75

  March 16, 2017 

Book 24 - Wonder Women - Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection
by Debora L. Spar (2013)
 Part 2 - pages 53-102
Reading Time - 60 minutes

Sooo... we put a lot of pressure on our girl children apparently. Tell them that they can be anything - astronaut, architect, lawyer, doctor... and they are trained in the art of princess. Which is kind of a recipe for failure. No wonder so many girls are depressed. Impossible expectations are being placed upon them. It's all about how you look and who likes you. But don't forget you need to use your brains too.

Then we get into the Sex Contract chapter... which is kind of eye opening. It used to be... back in the olden days... that women got something for sex. If a guy wanted sex with a woman, and ongoing sex in particular, he'd have to marry her and support her and make a life-long commitment to her. Or he could go an use a prostitute. But on the whole, women held some power in withholding sex until marriage. But then came the sexual revolution. All of a sudden, women were like men. They could have sex when they wanted, with whom they wanted and have no fear of pregnancy. Thing was... women give away sex now and don't get much in return - no orgasm (for many young university women), no relationship. And studies of university women find that it leaves a lot of women feeling used. Which doesn't seem like it should be the outcome of a sexual revolution. Does it? It almost feels like men got the better deal. They can now have sex with whomever they want... no strings attached. They don't have to give away anything... no freedom, no promises.

Really makes me wonder... cause the truth is... women are the only ones who can have babies. And that's just a physical fact. But with that come some biological drives... the desire for children. The need to nurture those children. The next section of the book heads in this direction...