EXCERPTS FROM FULLER, WOLLSTONECRAFT, AND STEINEM: ARE WE EQUAL?

Are we equal? When reading each of these excerpts I kept thinking to myself about those stupid, unfortunately common phrases often said by immature high school boys, "Why aren't you in the kitchen?" or "Go make me a sandwich." I find it quite sad that this is what I first thought of when reading these articles.

Equality is something we strive for and have been striving for, forever. Whether it is gay rights, African American's rights, or women's rights - they are all generally the same. To be completely honest the first two articles I read were extremely difficult to understand. Maybe it's the time period or my lack of a rich vocabulary...or both. Either way I only understood bits and pieces from each excerpt.

The one excerpt that I completely understood and actually laughed at (SURPRISE, SURPRISE!) was If Men Could Menstruate by Gloria Steinem. In this altered universe that she created through her writing everything made sense. She started off by saying something along the lines that if men could menstruate it would become a masculine event. Sadly, this is probably true. I can definatly see a group of guys sitting around bragging about how much Midol they didn't take, because they could stand the pain. I also couldn't help but chuckle about all of these feminine, oops i mean masculine products that would be sold at every Walgreen's across America. The other thing that I found to be completely true, and not so much funny, is the religion portion of this blessed event. When Jesus died on the cross, men would use the "He gave this blood for our sins," speech.

So why isn't this true when women have their monthly gift? Is it because we are lesser? No. Is it because we aren't men? Maybe. I loved the way Steinem ended her essay, so I am going to do the same as she did. Just let this sink in.

"The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on."