Journal 5

How does gender fit in your utopia? Is Gilman’s vision compelling, or do you consider it dystopic? Feel free to use either Piercy’s or Atwood’s texts in coming up with your answer.


Gender roles in general are a controversial topic, let alone trying to implement them in my utopia. Though most of Americans today are beginning to look past the traditional gender roles that have been passed onto us I still find it hard to see male and females as equals. I DO NOT believe one is superior to the other but I feel that they are definitely not identical.

When I think of male gender roles I cant help but think of physical, tough, providing individuals. Every time I think about how I want to be seen as a man my father’s image pops in my head. Every morning I wake up he is outside plowing the garden or shoveling the drive. He never asks for help and even when I offer he usually puts me to shame. When I was in grade school our family had outgrown the house we were living in so we either had to move or renovate. My dad, being a carpenter, chose to renovate and ended up adding over 1500 sq ft on to our house. While all this was happening I cannot remember him not driving me and my brothers to and from practice as well as making breakfast and dinner for our family. He managed to always be there for us while growing up even though it seemed that he had to be at more than one place at a time to be accomplishing all that he was. He never needed his own space and is always putting someone else first.

Women gender roles on the other hand are a struggle for me. Growing up with a stepparent and never really feeling to have a mother has sort of pushed me towards the more traditional female gender roles. When I think of female gender roles I tend to look at my grandmothers. I think of them taking care of the kids, cooking the meals, cleaning, and doing laundry. I know this is a huge conflict because of the changes in today’s world but I feel that I need to be the one taking care of my family.

Focusing on the issues covered above none of these gender roles will come to play in my utopia. All these roles are too confusing to break down into categories so my utopia will be an enclave with a limited number of people that will not need to be work, prepare meals, or do any sort of cleaning. This will make it so that the only issue that needs to be focused on is raising children and this will be split much more evenly because neither parent needs to work.

Lastly I feel Gilman’s vision is very dystopic. I couldn’t imagine living with all girls because through my experiences most girls do not get along anyways for no reason at all.