Iron Jawed Angels

“Iron Jawed Angels” is a film about the struggle for women’s suffrage. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns are two young women who decide to join in the fight for women’s right to vote. They are unaware, however, of the difficulties they are about to face. These two naïve, young women, learn what it is like to be discriminated and ridiculed against. They raise awareness to congressmen about the women’s suffrage, recruit other women to help them in the fight, and, most importantly, protest. They hold a parade which becomes disastrous with 200 women in the hospital from crowd riots. The result of another demonstration is a traffic violation in which the women, refusing to pay the ten dollar fee, must serve 60 days in jail. Here they are treated poorly, eating food with maggots, beaten, forced to stand naked in front of an officer, and required to do manual labor. At first, they try to fight for better treatment, but once they realize that their fight is hopeless, they begin to protest by starving themselves. This gains them attention and they are finally released. Finally at the end of their fight women gain the right to vote, and Paul and Burns become mature women who have endured much hardship.
This video highlights many aspects of Women’s Studies. Firstly, it demonstrates the fight for women’s rights. It portrays all of the aspects that women had to go through to gain the right to vote. For example, the petition started by Susan B. Anthony, signed by 10,000 signatures (Women’s Voices 6) was an idea that was represented by the movie. Furthermore, the idea of the “Anthony Amendment” (8) was also referred to in the movie. The film also demonstrates the unequal treatment of women at that time. The husband and congressman in the movie obviously had complete control of all monetary spending in the family. When he was informed that his wife was giving money to the women’s suffrage movement, he was very upset. Women’s voices were not respected before women’s suffrage. Also, a scene that shocked me was the one in front of the white house. Alice Paul is reading quotations by Wilson and throwing them into a fire pit. The police show up but when passers-by attack Paul and her fellow women demonstrators, nothing is done. This is a reflection of the attitude of many men throughout this time period. Their opinion was also demonstrated through the opinion of the voice in the video reading facts in the background. For example, “women’s brains are scientifically proven to be smaller than a man’s.” These examples are those of misogyny, “the hatred of women” (15). The men in the video may have no realized their feelings towards the women’s suffrage movement, but it was shown by their actions and words as they attacked the women on the street.
This movie was very informative to me. The hardships that the women in the video had to endure were shocking to me. One very shocking scene was the feeding tube scene. These women were so strong and I believe the movie was a great representation of what really happened during the women’s suffrage movement. The actresses and actors did a wonderful job portraying the time period and character of the real people behind the women’s suffrage movement. It is easy to read about women’s suffrage and the problems they faced; however, once it is portrayed to you through video or audio means, your whole perspective of the concept changes. I was appalled by the treatment of the women and can not even begin to think about how they lived their lives the way they did. I have so much respect for Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, and I can not express how thankful I am for the people they portray.

CR Journal #4

It is obvious that the differences between the sexes are phenomenal. Society has created two distinct roles that they wish women and men to play. Although there are aspects of these roles that may overlap, some actions might not be “acceptable” if performed by the wrong gender. Sport, for example, is an area that has been questioned in history.
Men and women’s bodies are equally capable of throwing a baseball or running a marathon. Why is it that more men play baseball and more women are dancers? Society has created a “social norm” for the sexes. Women could learn how to throw a ball the same way that men do (126). They are equally as capable but they are still underrepresented in sports. Furthermore, when women do start to show up in sports, their abilities are questioned. For example, in 1966 sex testing was required of women. Suspensions of men competing as women arose and a chromosomal test was mandatory (129). When women started to perform the same way men could perform, people were skeptical. They did not believe that it was possible for women to play basketball, run, or play other sports. This test was not necessary for men, however. This was probably due to the fact that society thought there would be no way a woman could compete among men. Therefore, they felt it unnecessary to test for women competing as men.
Another interesting subject in the role of gender is the topic of “intersex” children. In my biomedical ethics class we talked about the controversy behind choosing whether a child will be male or female. These ambiguous sex characteristics may be defining of the sex of a child, but in many cases they are not. How can you decide what sex a child will be? They have no say in their life when they are newborns. Health professionals must choose what they believe is best for the child. Hormone therapy and surgery can force the child to be of one sex; however, the body is more than hormones and body parts. The child may feel as if they are not in the right body. Their biology might be different that the sex that was chosen from them and when put into cultural gender influences, the child can acquire many complications (125). This idea of biological and cultural influences of gender proves that people are not only male or only female. We all have estrogen and we all have testosterone. We are biologically similar in many ways. Cultural influences cause us to sway one way or the other.
Gender and sex is a complicated area because it is not black and white. There are many overlaps and ambiguous parts to gender. Society creates “our understandings of femininity and masculinity” by providing different roles for each gender (124). However, we must fight to choose the characteristics of femininity and masculinity that we desire.