A Rose by Other Name: Attitudes Towards Feminism as a Function of Its Label - Article Review Example

The article by Marsha on A Rose By Other Name talks about labeling of social economic rights in relation to feminist movements or terms empowering women. Some of these labels include Equal rights for women, Feminism, Womens liberation and Womens Lib. Due to the difference in connotations, people are seen to have different reactions towards the terms. Consequently, this shapes their attitudes towards the given terms. The Magazine is funded by the University of Dayton. The article tries to prove to the audience that the different connotations refer to the same thing, and does not necessarily mean something negative; thus manipulating their perceptions and thus their cultural values.

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The cultural relevance of the article is to assess ideologies surrounding womens political and socio-economic rights. It attempts to change the attitudes of the audience in regards to feminist connotations. The author uses children experiment, and most of them liked the term which was associated with winning. The term associated with loosing was the least liked. The other experiment was based on how the concept is presented to the audience. According to the author how the concepts are presented affect how the audience perceive the connotations. Some of the audience associated some of the connotations with the origin; those written by Thomas Jefferson were taken to mean something positive and peaceful.

The political biases of the article is that it creates a sexist bias. We see the article advocating more of feminist and how we need to see such feminist connotations positively. This leaves the audience wondering what about the men or the other sex not discusses. Historically, despite of the positive feminist intentions, it creates a situation, to some extent where the males are labeled negatively. The feminist perspectives view men as being on top of the society. However, this perspective is biased because some men are at the bottom like criminals. There is an over presentation of men being at the top, therefore, forgetting others who may also need affirmative action. Also, this poses another problem, where feminist only fight for their problem, forgetting that some men would be facing similar problems they are going through. This tends to create a notion that the males are more privileged than the females. Therefore, there is a lot of anti- male biasness surrounding feminism concepts and even the definitions of feminism (Hooks 2000).

The author uses the title to show that the importance of a thing is not dependent on what they are called. Therefore, the author attempts to put worth to the different connotations and wants the audience to view the terms in relation to their importance and not how negative or positive the connotations could mean. The article wants the audience to view the connotations for what they really are and not by their labels. Labels are just there to distinguish the possible meanings.

The writers message to the audience is that the ideologies they may have created in regards to feminist connotations, do not necessarily connote negative. Therefore, the author focuses on changing the attitudes of people in relation to the concepts. The article brings to the attention of the readers that if one views Equal rights for women as being positive, there is no reason they shouldnt see Feminism or Womens Liberation negatively. This is because they all connote the same thing with a difference in the wording. The author asserts that the concepts with similar levels of meanings can take different attitudes depending on the tone. The author assesses the different ideologies on word having the same connotations. According to the article, women readily accept the feminist connotations as opposed to men.

In the experiment there were mixed attitudes and feelings towards the terms used in womens socio- political and economic rights. On one hand, they are perceived as positive and good, on the other hand they are related to hostility, biasness and cold.

According to the author, the mixed feelings can be attributed to lack of sufficient knowledge thus making definite opinions. Secondly, the subjects could have been introduced to conflicting opinions in regards to feminism, thus the mixed feelings. The mixed feelings are also attributed to lacking clear views in regards to the same, some proponents view it negatively while others have a positive opinion. There is no clear way to look at feminism to everyone, thus the mixed feelings.

The magazine makes an impact on popular culture because it challenges the attitudes and ideologies in relation to the different feminist connotations. The article makes the audience realize that it is unreasonable to view one connotation as rational, feminine and good while viewing the other as hostile, biased and radical. Ultimately the author attempts to tell the readers that they all carry similar meaning and should have similar perceptions either positive or negative. Therefore the author impacts on popular culture because it accounts for the mixed feeling surrounding connotations. At the same time trying to expel the negative attitudes associated with the feminist connotations.

References

Haddock, G., & Zanna, M. P. (1994). Preferring housewives to feminists. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18(1), 25-52.Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Pluto Press.

Jacobson, M. B. (1979). A rose by any other name: Attitudes toward feminism as a function of its label. Sex Roles, 5(3), 365-371.

Morgan, B. L. (1996). Putting the feminism into feminism scales: Introduction of a Liberal Feminist Attitude and Ideology Scale (LFAIS). Sex roles, 34(5-6), 359-390.