Gift Giving

    Within all of the topics covered in discussion this week, the subject of women being the gifts for men made me contemplate even more on gender roles, both in American culture and cultures where arranged marriages are still prominent. Gayle Rubin's "The Traffic of Women" defines the roots of gender inequalities on more than just the economy, as so clearly demonstrated in "The Unhappy Marriage Between Marxism and Feminism," but within the very traditional kinship system. This system of control by men centered around the idea of gift giving  to expand social relations outside of the family, with women being the quintessential gift. In terms of arranged marriages, women are less than a gift, they are simply objects gambled and exchanged, bought and sold, used and abused, etc. They do not have a say in the matter and they do not benefit from this exchange.

     While sympathizing for women born in this societal arrangement, I then just become angry. How could women allow this cruel, unjust, disenfranchising system of which they are only commodities? Somebody needs to slap some common sense to them; somebody, anybody, needs to educate these women of something called "civil rights." But then again, women within in the United States also subject to a form of gift giving. Besides the fact that this form of gift exchange is not as degrading as in arranged marriages and besides the fact that American women express their disagreements to the gendered system more openly than in other countries, American women subject to gift giving because women think they are the beneficiaries. The pink bouquet, the chocolate boxes, the expensive jewelry, and every other thoughtful gesture by a male sways a woman straight into the arms of her gendered counterpart. But these gifts are only a part of the male game-plan. The gift is the cheese in the mouse trap that appears so delightful, but is strategically placed there to lure the mouse, or in this case female, to the real beneficiary, the male.

      Regardless of the form of gift exchange, all women capitulate to men. If not too scared and submissive to stand up for their rights, as in women of arranged marriages, then they appear brainless and gullible to any "nice" gender from the opposite sex. Undoubtably, social structures are deeply set into the culture, and therefore, change to the system seems an impossible task. Yet, so was slavery. Women need to gain awareness of the issue at hand, unite, and successfully fight for their innate rights.