Man and Woman Analysis

Man and Woman by the now Senator and Presidential candidate Bernard Sanders certainly has an attention grabbing opening. The description of male fantasies of raping and of female fantasies of being raped has become somewhat of a controversy now that Sanders is a player on the national stage. However, while the graphic and rather extreme description of these fantasies may offend some, they certainly accomplish their task of drawing the reader in and ensuring that they are likely to continue reading. I feel like they serve a secondary purpose as well, which is to state Sanders point about traditional gender roles and the unconscious conditioning we have about them. The female fantasy is one of submission to males, while the male’s is one of domination over women. I believe that what Sanders real purpose with these passages was was to underline how deeply ingrained traditional gender roles were and to a degree still are in our unconscious mind by showing how they creep into our most intimate, personal, and private thoughts.

Sanders’ view on gender roles as causing a state of “slavishness” and “pigness” show an interesting perspective on gender politics. The “slavishness” of the traditional position of women is a very standard, though by no means incorrect, viewpoint. What is less standard and more interesting is the idea of gender stereotypes and roles creating the slavishness v. pigness dichotomy. While women are certainly the greater victims of gender inequality, it is rare and refreshing to see the perspective that men are made worse people by gender roles. Once one considers this position however, it seems obvious. Men who benefit from gender roles and inequality are obviously doing something morally wrong and “backwards” if gender equality is considered the ideal. Gender roles impose a “pigness” on men which, though at times it has been socially acceptable, is not ideal.

The way in which gender roles force men to be pig-like and women to be slavish in Sanders’ view shows a deeper and even more interesting concept of gender inequality. The implication is that, in many cases, men and women do not try to enforce gender roles or be sexist, but have the pre-existing roles forced on them. He argues that most men are not trying to be oppressive to women and most women are not trying to be submissive to men, but rather that traditional roles that may have made sense hundreds or even thousands of years ago have been needlessly maintained and changed and that they exist in a self perpetuating manner. I believe that this is true in many cases, as most men would not want to think of themselves as oppressors and do not wish to be oppressive, while women do not wish to be oppressed. It would be exceedingly strange to find an individual who acknowledges gender inequality as negative but still wishes to enforce gender roles and stereotypes. However, traditional gender roles have, in a way, forced their hands by permeating their society and influencing them towards specific behaviors their whole lives. Someone who is sexist or does believe that people should abide by set gender roles is most likely ignorant or has not recognized the negative role of their conditioned unconscious mind.

The issue I have with this viewpoint is that, while I do believe that gender roles are 

often unconsciously reinforced, it feels almost like a cop-out. It removes all blame and 

responsibility from anyone concerning the perpetuation of gender roles, instead assigning 

blame to society as a whole and the gender roles themselves. I believe that we as people, 

especially men, as women cannot simply decide to stop being oppressed, have a 

responsibility to consciously consider our gender politics and to overcome our unconscious 

impulses or ingrained beliefs. Stating that gender roles are entirely unconscious and 

ingrained is a somewhat defeatist viewpoint, and resigning to what one may perceive as 

uncontrollable gender inequalities and differences is counterproductive. However, though 

he never states it explicitly in Man and Woman, I believe that Sanders does not adopt this 

defeatist viewpoint, and instead believes that the way forward is a conscious effort from all 

genders and affected groups to dismantle leftover gender roles and stereotypes that have 

no place in the modern world.