Thursday, February 11, 2010
Some call it confidence
2 comments
By: Anonymous - from the series of guest posts written by Dr. Baldwin's students at Michigan State University.
During the 2009 election we had three strong but very diverse candidates. We had the old-timer, the minority and the female dog. Unfortunately she didn't get a very good reputation. Hillary Clinton is seen as an over empowering woman. She is a threat to men in the government and throughout the world. But what is wrong with a little confidence? In today's society it is a positive thing for a man to be confident. Confidence in a man is sexy and shows power. Women are taken as aggressive and atrocious. That if we come off as too confident or secure men are turned away and view that woman as stuck up. Why can't a woman be confident and proud of herself without being called out on it? Women and men should be see as equal when they are looked at for what they have accomplished or how they perceive themselves.
During the 2009 election we had three strong but very diverse candidates. We had the old-timer, the minority and the female dog. Unfortunately she didn't get a very good reputation. Hillary Clinton is seen as an over empowering woman. She is a threat to men in the government and throughout the world. But what is wrong with a little confidence? In today's society it is a positive thing for a man to be confident. Confidence in a man is sexy and shows power. Women are taken as aggressive and atrocious. That if we come off as too confident or secure men are turned away and view that woman as stuck up. Why can't a woman be confident and proud of herself without being called out on it? Women and men should be see as equal when they are looked at for what they have accomplished or how they perceive themselves.
Posts
February 28, 2010 at 3:22 PM
I think its sad that women with confidence and power are viewed as a threat. Its time that women stopped taking a back seat and start sharing the power that men have in society. This is what Mrs. Clinton and several like her were trying to accomplish but society still tries to hold them back by portraying their actions as aggressive. I think there is nothing wrong with a women being confident, especially since men are never ridiculed for their confidence. However, women don't only get criticism when they're confident, they also get called out for showing emotion which is thought to indicate weakness. I remember hearing in the news that Hilary Clinton had cried during a speech and some people were saying maybe she was too emotional, relating that to the fact that she is a women. Women get criticized for being confident and then called weak when they show emotion. Personally I think society is just looking for ways to keep women from getting any real power.
March 2, 2010 at 11:19 AM
I absolutely hate this connotation that women who are confident are stuck up or arrogant. I have had to deal with this problem since i was in high school. I always found it so frustrating that when I was running for positions on boards and making attempts to get involved and become a leader, my male competition never failed to put me down or try to belittle me. They say we are to weak and to emotional, or we are cold and harsh. Neither is ever right, both are a weakness that society says only women posses. Society as a whole needs to change and hopefully soon there will no longer be such a large presence of a negative view on women who hold leadership positions an posses power. Hillary Clinton being in the final 3 of a Presidential election campaign was a huge stride forward.