Hotspots.

While reading Real Men Don't: Anti-Male Bias in English, the first hotspot I found was on page 130. It reads: "Gender feminist groups lobbied successfully in Congress for a Violence Against Women Act, even though American males are almost twice as likely as females to be victims of violent crimes (even when rape is included in the tally)..." This particular statement shocked me a little bit. I had never really thought about why there is not an act called Violence against Men Act. There never will be such a thing. I do not believe that it is wrong to have an act to help stop the violence against women, but I do not understand why there is only one for women, and not one for men. It does not seem fair, especially when more violent crimes are against men than women. Another hot spot that I found in this section appears on page 137. It reads: "When sexism is defined as "contempt for women" -as if there were no such thing as contempt for men- the definition of sexism itself is sexist." This is another statement that I have never really thought about in-depth. Whenever I have heard the word "sexist," I always think of it meaning sexism against women. I never realized that even me thinking that, is sexist. Sexism is not about women being victimized. It is about an inequality between men and women. Who said that it is always the men's fault? I am sure that a lot of people think of sexism as being geared toward a man insulting a woman. Well that is not how it always is.

While reading There Is No Unmarked Woman, the first hotspot that I found was on page 142. It reads: "Although no man wore makeup, you couldn't say the men didn't wear makeup in the sense that you could say a woman didn't wear makeup. For men, no makeup is unmarked." When I read this part of the book, I knew exactly what Deborah Tannen was talking about. When I wake up in the morning for class, I have to choose whether or not I want to wear makeup. Men do not have to make this decision. If a woman decides, for what ever reason, to not wear makeup one day, she may be viewed as "lazy" or "unkempt." There is not an option that a woman can choose that will be viewed as unmarked. Another hotspot that I found in this section is on page 143. It reads: "All married women's surnames are marked." I also agree with this. In almost all cases, the man just keeps his last name and nothing changes. There is nothing about the man's name that would communicate any information about his relationship status to anyone. While if a woman changes her last name she is judged, if she does not change her last name she is judged, and if she combines the two last names, she is judged. Any and all things that women do is judged. Maybe it is just the nature of the women. I do believe that I judge other people, and I believe that other people judge me. It is unfair though, that there is not much that we can do about it. The way we do our hair, the clothes we wear, the makeup we wear, all say something about our personality, even if we don't want them to. I believe that if there was a way that it would be possible, many women would chose to be unmarked.