Boo ya.

This is what I wrote as a part of my women's lit final, which is due tomorrow morning at eight o'clock:

A further women’s issue that modern women’s literature especially needs to explore is the issue of female objectification by men as well as male objectification by women. Today’s pop culture especially tends towards objectifying women, from advertisements to tabloids to movies. Furthermore, current fads such as the Twilight and Gossip Girl series depict objectified men, adding to a culture where the sexes view each other merely as objects to be used. Meaningful, important women’s literature of today often addresses the problem of failing to see members of the opposite sex as real individuals, such as Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “Sexy,” in which a woman objectifies herself in an attempt to find meaningful connections, but realizes that objectification can never be the basis of a real relationship. Lahiri’s story demonstrates that stories and novels by women exploring the devastating social, psychological, and emotional consequences of objectification are crucial topics to discuss for female empowerment into the coming decades. By emphasizing both that neither women nor men should allow themselves to be objectified, nor should they buy into the idea that objectification is in some way “sexy,” as Lahiri says, or at all desirable, women’s literature empowers both sexes. Furthermore, exemplary and important woman’s literature presents alternatives to objectification, like Marilynne Robinson’s Home, which realistically portrays both men and women and explores meaningful relationships between the two, founded not on objectification but on real understanding.

I feel empowered.