plain jane



While reading There Is No Unmarked Woman, I noticed that Tannen described one women as “a cross between Cleopatra and Plain Jane.” I had no idea who Plain Jane was, but after some research, I found that Plain Jane is a plain, ordinary and unremarkable woman. This is interesting because Plain Jane is usually used an insult. So if being referred to as an “unmarked women” is insulting, then all women are “marked, which is the “social norm”. This goes in hand with Tannen’s beliefs because she views “marked women” as a trapping mentality that society enforces onto women. Being “marked” seems to be synonymous with being judged, but I feel that being judged is something that exists in someone’s head. People can beat the system simply by taking the power back in their hands and doing things for themselves rather than for society. Tannen places too much power in other people’s eyes and that just hurts the individual feelings. Of course, it’s hard not to care about what other people think and it’s not good to always ignore other people’s feelings, but letting others control the life that you lead isn’t acceptable either. It’s important to keep a balance between your own thoughts and other people’s opinions of yourself. I looked to see if there were other examples of calling someone as average and there were: Average Joe, Joe Lunchbucket, ordinary Joe, ordinary Jane, average Jane. So this is not just a problem concerned with women; it’s insulting for a person to simply be “ordinary”. So in that sense, being “unmarked” seems to be an insult while a “marked” person is preferred.


Comments

  1. I found your post about Plain Janes very intriguing and interesting. I love how you distinguish between marked and unmarked as well.

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  2. Hey Megan, I really enjoyed this deep analysis of the word "marked" and how being "marked" is actually cooler. Since our views on being "marked" are all unique to ourselves, we might as well all be unique in our own ways. That definitely makes the world diverse . Live más! :')

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