I thought it was interesting to read that the first female writers were limited to “expressing their opinions on the ‘woman question’ and in exclusively feminine journals (Chambers 229). I was just watching the Oscars and I cannot remember who, but one woman introducing an award made a joke about the winner gets yada yada and the loser has to spend an eternity getting asked what it is like to be a woman in the film industry… That is what immediately popped into my head when I read the “woman problem.” And although it is not my first time hearing about the “woman problem,” for whatever reason it struck me in that moment that we are still dealing with those kinds of questions–with what people like to consider the woman problem. And although being a woman in the industry I’m sure is drastically different from a man’s we still are treating it as the “woman problem”. Female actors are actresses and they have to compete against other women instead of everybody. Could we have a joint group in the Oscars: Best Actor. Period. And all the nominated actors (men and women) get to be in the same category. May the best actor win.
I liked reading Rebecca Earle and how she incorporated primary texts from women’s recordings during war time into her overall text. We really cannot underestimate the importance of primary sources when considering not only what happened but what was it like. What was going through the people’s minds, how did the stress of war differ from male to female.
RachelH 