Today, as I finished I Am An Emotional Creature, before anything else, I started to think over the title first. By discussing a woman's typically thought of emotional stature in a novel celebrating femininity, I had to question if Ensler had accidentally generalized and illuminated an oppressive cliche towards women. With PMS and a history of being considered frail and inferior to men, the title almost helps support this offensive belief. As an obvious and influential activist in the feminist movement, Ensler, in my opinion, wouldn't have purposely fed into that train of thought but it can't be denied that it wouldn't be hard for someone with a preconceived misogynist to come up with such an idea and be counter productive to Ensler's celebration.
As a male, the title also sparked thoughts that perhaps Ensler wasn't drawing light to women's oversensitivity but to insensitivity of men. Its common for oppressed groups of people to take what they are discriminated against, such as a woman's mood swing, and juxtapose it in such a way that it becomes less powerful. The example of Zora Neale Hurston who found being white "pale and boring" and black to be more powerful came to mind as I analyzed this thought. The same is also found in the black community with their use of the N word, a word that used to be used against them. Ensler has shown that she refrains from male bashing, and I would believe she does well, but it was worth entertaining and considering the thought.
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