Muckraking

"Slowing the momentum for women's rights"

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”  Chapter 3 in Mightier than the Sword, “slowing the momentum for women’s rights”, is all about the woman’s movement and their struggle throughout history to be treated as equals. For hundreds of years women have yearned to have as much a part in society as men have, and finally in 1848 their struggle towards demanding that equality began. Chapter 3 is all about the battle women went through in order to have that equality noticed by society. In 1848, a group of colonists devoted to the women’s rights cause demanded that women be treated as equals. People like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth C. Stanton devoted their lives trying to get society and the government to acknowledge women. It wasn’t an easy fight, especially with the media fighting against their cause. As history has time and time again proven is that with the media on your side anything is possible. However, the media wasn’t on their side. The media fought to make people such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth C. Stanton look like insignificant nobody’s to the public. Even in the midst of all that bad publicity, they believed that any publicity, even if bad, would help draw attention to their cause. Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony actually founded their own newspaper, “The Revolution”.  Unfortunately because of all the controversy over the women’s rights movement, the media could not financially sustain itself and it eventually crumbled. Finally in the 20^th century, women’s equality was finally acknowledged. This chapter conveys the message that if only the news media had supported women’s fight toward equality, it wouldn’t have taken them as long to finally become acknowledged as something more than just a housewife. Thankfully, women such as Elizabeth C. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony persevered and paved the way for the media to ultimately acknowledge women and for women to become successful and appreciated members of society.

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                I chose this chapter because as I was reading the book and trying to decide which chapter I would most like to write about, my little sister came in the room and turned on a movie. That movie was "She’s the Man" starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. It is an inspiring movie about a girl who loves playing soccer and wants to try out for the boys team after her school cut the girls soccer team. In the movie, Amanda Bynes impersonates her brother at his high school and tries out for the boys’ soccer team. After weeks of practice she finally makes first string on the team. The first game, coincidently, is against her high schools boys’ soccer team. In the end she beats the other team and reveals her true identity. The coach at her brothers’ school is so impressed with her talent that he keeps her on the team. This movie helped me to choose chapter 3 on women’s right as the chapter for my first blog project because like the women in history fighting to be acknowledged, in the movie Amanda Bynes struggles to prove that she is as good as the boys, and ultimately both succeed.

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