Manmmadurai 1

Sathyaraj Manmmadurai
ENG4U Period 6
MS. Sommerauer
10th February 2010

Men are Equivalent to Women

“Just a Girl” is a song written by Gwen Stefani for No Doubt’s third album Tragic

Kingdom which was released in 1995.This song portrays the relationship between men and

women. Under Marxist criticism which is the lens that I had used to analyze this song, it is

clearly shown that there is discrimination between men and women which leads to gender

inequality in this song. Moreover, the assumption that women are weak and have to be

protected by men is also portrayed in this song. Furthermore, women are often described as

slaves which makes men to constantly overrule them. This is not the way women are

supposed to be treated. Hence, the song “Just a Girl” shows that girls and women are not

weak and there is no necessity for men to overrule them in the mask of protecting them.

First of all, both men and women have equal rights to live with freedom in this world.

So, men should not claim their status quo on women. For example, “This world is forcing

me/ To hold your hand /cause I’m just a girl”( No Doubt, line 6-8). This line tells that women

are forced to accept the leadership of men. Men think that they are better than women in all

aspects, thus this lead to a conventional thinking that is the ruling power should be in their

hand rather than women’s hand. This status quo of men has made men the ultimate leader in

almost all aspects such as the head of family, nation’s leader. For example, almost all nations’

leaders are men not women. This is a social injustice because it seems that men are those one

who monopolize the nation’s leadership without giving any chance to women to gain control

over a nation.

Furthermore, women are not weak human beings as described in this song. For

example, “Cause I’m just a girl/ I’d rather not be/ ’Cause they won’t let me drive/ Late at
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night” (No Doubt, line 20-24).The singer tells that women’s freedom are being controlled by

men in the name of providing protection to women who are ‘’weak” in the eye of men. Once

again the status quo of men shows up here where man think that they are strong in their

physical state while women are weak, so men think that by controlling or restricting women’s

freedom, they can assure their safety. Another example which portrays the weakness of

women are “Oh, I’m just a girl/Guess I’m some kind of freak/ ‘Cause they all sit and

stare’(No Doubt, line 30-31). The singer tells that men are looking awkwardly towards

women even though women are also human being just as men. This means that men who are

arrogant with their superiority are looking down at women as if they are weak species. This

perception of men towards women has lead men to abuse women. This status quo of men has

caused them to abuse women either sexually or physically. Women are not weak because

physical ability is something that can be developed over a period of time. Hence, if women

have been trained to protect themselves from being abused by men, the status quo of men that

is men are greater than women shall fall.

Nevertheless, women are able stand on their own feet which mean that women can be

independent without any help from men. This statement contradicts which the concept which

already exist in this world. Men think that women are unable to live without the help from

them. For example “This world is forcing me/ To hold your hand /cause I’m just a girl”( No

Doubt, line 6-8). This line means that a girl is forced against her will to accept a man’s

security in her life. This clearly shows that women do not want to rely on someone because

this might affect their self-dignity as woman. Moreover, the line “ Take a good look at me/

Just your typical prototype/ Oh…I’ve had it up to here!” (No Doubt, line 29-31) mean that

women also have the same ability as men to stand on their own leg. Women also have

typical characteristics possessed by men which are bravery and ability to protect themselves.

For example, in this world, there are lots of woman without any aid from men and one great

example is Mother Teresa (motherteresa). She was not only able to stand on her own feet but
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by she helped a lot of people to be independent. This proves that there are some woman in

this world who resist the status quo of men that is women must dependent on me.

As a conclusion, every human being on Earth has equal rights without taking their

gender into consideration. According to Karl Marx, men and women have equal rights to

determine theirs live and do what they want, thus resisting the status quo of man which has

been existing for a long time. Nevertheless, men and women completes each other rather one

become dominant than other, Moreover, women know how to protect themselves from

danger of this world such as by learning martial arts. By doing this, the mask which men

wore in the name of protecting women will be torn. Finally, girls and women are not a

symbol of weakness and men are not required to have control over women in the name of

providing protection.

(845 words)