Kathy (Kaiyi Qian)

Dr. J. Marquardt

ENG 1430 W10

April 3, 2015

Word Count: 302

Response to Why Women Smile

The article, Why Women Smile, talks about reasons why women always smile and the history of what smiles mean developing. The author, Amy Cunningham, actually wanted to appeal for the human rights and feminism.

At the first paragraph, the author pointed out that she wanted lower the wattage of smiling so brilliantly, or even quit smiling. As Cunningham said in her article, “the Smiling Woman has become a peculiarly American archetype”. Smiling is constructed and reinforced by society and world though women sometimes actually didn’t want. Smiles are not so innocuous and innocent as they seem to be. What are women really on our minds and real emotions are hiding in smiles. This means women’s rights were limited and they couldn’t act what she really wanted, even in nowadays. That’s why feminism is needed.

Not long ago, Emma Watson delivered a speech in UN, talking about feminism. She gave the definition of it, “For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.” Women should protect their own rights in emotion. Women should express their feelings, thoughts even if these true emotions seem too strong, or aggressive. This behavior is better than hiding true emotions under smiles and pretend friendly and gentle. Smile is not a tool to cater to society.

At the end of Cunningham’s article, she wrote: Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in The Journal of My Other Self, "Her smile was not meant to be seen by anyone and served its whole purpose in being smiled." If this can be completed, women started to be equal with men.