ENG121 Week 5 - Discussion 1- Response to Reading Communication/Speaking Out

For this discussion, the article I decided to reflect on is “The Audacity of Voice”.  The article gives a review of a girl named Lena Dunham who talks about the atrocities committed against women and she is capable of taking bold risks (Gay,2014). In a society where the voices of women are rarely listened to, Lena Dunham considers herself the voice for this generation. In order to air her position, she shares experiences that show her boldness. For instance, she shares an experience of a sexual encounter with a rapist in campus (Gay, 2014). By sharing this experience, she is critical of the challenges that women face in modern day. In the article, Dunham presents herself in a way that she deserves to be heard. She thus inspires other women to tell their stories too. As such, the article reviews the need for women in the society to take a stand and speak on the challenges that they face (Gay, 2014). The parts of the SQ3R process that helped me are reading, reciting and reviewing.  I read through the article while highlighting the parts that looked important. I then silently recited to myself what I had read. Finally, I reviewed the most important information by going back and looking over what I had highlighted.

This story reminds me of my mother from the stories she has always told me when growing up. My mother has always believed that being bold means being ready to face any situation individually and collectively which comes in her live. She believes that women need to stand firm on the way they want to be treated by the society. Being raised in a society which has always hesitated to respect women and realize women’s worth and hearing all those pitiful stories from her mother, my mother has always been determined to live the life of no fear, abuse and regret. Now what she feels, about being bold is accepting the possible risk, taking responsibilities, giving herself that energy and power so that she can develop herself in a strong and optimistic way. The ability to be confident enough to grand herself the respect she deserves is now the must quality in order to empower herself in several fields. She believes that doing so will definitely bring changes in the mentality of each woman. It will make them aware about the importance and role of each other to develop the peaceful society. As a result, it will create a more gender-inclusive world.

Am curious to know whether all women are actually ready to air the challenges they face in a bold manner with the criticism that is likely to come with it. In the article, Dunham inspires women to boldly air the challenges they face (Gay,2014). Dunham is able to air these challenges even by showing nudity. Despite the fact that she is aware of what she does and say, she does not stop voicing whatever she feels is important (Gay,2014). However, it is not clear whether all women can be bold enough to withstand all the criticism that is associated with them sharing the challenges they face. For instance, with the current social media platforms such as Twitter, any woman expects to face a lot of criticism if she attempts to air challenges faced such as rape. Moreover, in the modern society, the voices of women are not listened to as those of men.  The women airing their challenges also face some resistance from men and even fellow women. For example, any person airing the challenges that women face is branded as being a feminist. The challenges are thus not taken seriously since it is assumed that a feminist will always favor women. Therefore, not all women can be bold enough to speak out the challenges they face.

Reference

Gay, R. (2014). The audacity of voice. Time, 184(13), 50-51. Retrieved from http://time.com/