female power

Chapter 5 of "Alice Doesn't" by de Lauretis left me with many mixed emotions. I felt that the reading was very confusing, in the sense taht it seemed to jump from topic to topic in an incoherent way at some points. It also left me with clarity on certain issues. for starters, in the beginning of the chapter, the issue of historical context is heavily stressed. in my opionion, I think this is why so many women take offense to Freud's theories and the male domination of society. In history, this is what life was like! Today women dont like being viewed as the submissive sex, but i feel that this comparision leaves room for improvement and change. As is later discussed, narrative and text are circular and rhythemic, not linear. man and woman will go through this cyclical changes over the course of history. One of the things that I found to be empowering to women was this idea of fairly tales and the power women had in them. women were representative of the "matriarchial system" and males "heroes" were representative of the "patriarchial system". In this reading, men had to win the woman, often proving themselves worthy of the female in order to marry her and ultimately inhert the throne. In essence, women had control during these stories and ultimately made the decision of who was "manly" enough. This is empowering to women because man was now defined according to women and the womens power.