CRJ #11

A feminist is a person who believes that women and others should be treated with the same respect and given the same rights as every other person on the planet. A person who believes women can hold corporate positions, a person that understands a woman's right to choose, and most importantly a person who feels that there are no boundaries when it comes to equality. I don't mean no boundaries as in they can do anything and get away with it, but that they will go as far as they need to go to say what is needed to be said. A pro-feminist man is a man who agrees with feminism. "They support women's equality by changing their lives at home and work all while transforming the definition of masculinity."(722) A man cannot be a feminist because he does not have the feeling of being unequal since he is in fact a man. I still do not consider myself a feminist. I do believe in equality, but not enough to label myself anything. I do not pay much attention to politics and do not really put enough thought into the matter. So, for me to claim either a political title or a title as feminist just does not feel right.

My experience with this course has shown me that there are a lot of different perspectives. This is one thing I have always been aware of, but my life has been slightly sheltered. Being raised in a Christian home with very conservative parents has not allowed me to experience new ideas. I do however claim to be the most liberal person in my family and I think I have the most open-minded opinion. With that said, I have allowed myself to not look blindly at the topic of feminism anymore, but instead embrace the differences.

As for taking what I have learned from this class, I almost seemed to have stated that before. I want to be known as the person who doesn't look blindly at a situation anymore. I would rather be educated in what the other person believes and then decide whether I accept it or reject it for myself, while at the same time allowing that person to live their life how they choose. This is similar to the relationship I have with my best friend from high school. She is a lesbian, and I found that out after we had become very close. She knows that I am a Christian and we both respect each other's decisions. She has visited my church before and I have gone to a gay bar with her. Things like this I will take from this class. The idea of open-mindedness and respect for other people, cultures, decisions and lifestyles. I don't want to be and I am not the judge of someone else's life.

I still don't know what I want to do with my life. I'm an English major, so I may wind up being a writer or an advertiser or a critic; I don't know. So I don't feel I can effectively answer this question about how this course could or could not relate. I do know that all the writing has allowed me to see what kind of a writer I am and that I could have a career with something similar to the types of posts we make.

Thank you for an interesting semester. It was a journey outside of my comfort zone and there were times when this was the last thing I wanted to think of. But I persevered and your comments and words of encouragement helped me get through this. I doubt I will ever take another course like this one, it was a bit overwhelming, but overall I think I wound up enjoying it in the end.

Activity #10

Constitutional Argument

This is Susan B. Anthony's address in 1898 to her fellow Americans and judicial review about how she took a stand a voted in the Presidential election. At this point in time women did not have the lawful right to vote. Anthony stated that she did not commit a crime and only exercised her right as a citizen that is stated in the Constitution. She was one of the first women to take a stand and say what she believes- which is that all men are to be created equal, like stated in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

Unequal

One of the points made in unequal reminds me of an event that I attended. It was about marriage and divorce in Iran. In this article it was talking about "wife obedience" and how a woman has limited rights within relationships. On the flipside, this article points out that in the United States, if a child is born to a U.S. mother and non U.S. father, the child obtains citizenship, but if the child is born to a U.S. father and non U.S. mother, then it must take the steps to acquire this citizenship. Which I feel can be contributed to how they gave children born to slave mothers rights. If a slave had a child, the child did not belong to the mother but to the master of the mother. To me this seems to be kind of the same situation.

She Who Believes in Freedom

Right now more money is being spent on prison systems than K-12 education. There are some disturbing numbers. There is a program being started to help some of the people that are incarcerated for non-violent actions by giving them access to schools and jobs and not to punish them for their living conditions or societal status. There are over 2 million people are in jail and we spend $41 billion dollars to house them. I think, we could compromise and allow some of the less severe crimes out for behavior or for schooling. But one thing I've learned from a relative is we can also start using the death penalty for more severe crimes. I think, if you are going to be jailed for life, then why do we need to spend our tax dollars to let someone sit in jail and have television and meals and basketball and whatnot. As for women's prisons it is also disturbing to read that we had 5 prisons for women by 1950 and then 30 years later there were 34 more added! We, as a country and community, need to help these at risk people to improve their lives before being put in a situation that would convict them to jail time.

Event 2

For the Bible Tells Me So
November 29,2007
Lyric Theater

This was a documentary written by Daniel Karslake about homosexuality and its relation to the Bible.

There were about 4 or 5 families interviewed as well as other people within churches and other religious organizations. Being a Christian, I was very interested to see the point of views that would be made and the correlation between them.

The main point that was shared by the Christian group is that homosexuality is an abomination. The only other abomination mentioned on any parallel to homosexuality is suicide. Taking one's own life, a life that God made and put on the earth for a reason.

Bishop Robinson was a gay man married to a straight woman. This was before he admitted to himself that he was gay. And they knew something wasn't right, but they wanted it to work. They wanted straight love to triumph over homosexuality. Bishop Robinson finally accepted his homosexuality and he and his wife released their vows. She remarried another man and he found love with another man. This was not the last we were going to hear about Bishop Robinson. After all, he wasn't perceived to be a bishop the whole movie. He was the first person to run for a bishop position or a leadership position in the church as an openly gay man. He had many death threats and had to wear a bullet proof vest when he was being sworn in.

Another story that was told that really touched me was the story of the Reitan family. They had 4 children. 3 boys and a girl. But the youngest in the family, a boy named Jake came out to his parents at the age of 16. Being Lutheran, they were not sure how to accept him and were more worried about him contracting AIDS and how their family would be perceived by the community. This story also has a happy ending. Jake's parents studied the Bible and upon their studies they were able to read that the interpretation can vary. They realized that as parents they would do anything to protect their child and that they have an unconditional love for him just as God has for the entire population of the world. Jake and his parents started the soul force program where they traveled to visit Focus on the Family's main headquarters to protest what Dr. Dobson is preaching and telling parents about raising their children.

I know a lot of people that relay on Dr. Dobson's works of literature. I've never been a fan of him but at the same time I've never had anything against him either. But one of the things I learned he teaches is: do not accept [your child/friend/co-worker/relative] if they are gay. If you do then maybe that person will think it is okay and be less likely to decide to become straight.

I think one of the biggest points made was that the Bible does not necessarily read the same way now as it did when it was written. I have been one to understand this well. I have two tattoos. In the Old Testament it says to not put markings on your body. In this same scripture is also says to not cut the hair on the sides of your head or to clip your beard. There are Old Testament laws which we are not bound to and then there are New Testament laws which we are bound to. I had to make this argument to my dad when he found out about my memorial tattoo i got over the summer.

It was also mentioned that going to church may change someones sexual conduct but most likely will not change their sexual identity. One thing that I was glad to hear was that as Christians we are supposed to love and accept everyone, regardless of skin color, sexual orientation, height, etc. God does not judge us and we should not judge others. We all do it on a daily basis, but it isn't something that can't be changed. I know my God is a forgiving and loving God. My only concern with the topic of homosexuality and the Bible is that these perspectives, which I believe as well, are true in God's eyes. When I heard that a certain person was killed on April 16, all I could think was, I hope he knew God. I knew he was gay and I still loved him to pieces. Now he is gone and I do not know where he is now, and that breaks my heart. When I went home I talked to my youth pastor about how I was feeling about the situation. He gave me some comforting advice. But I still worry. I would tell you what he said, but I don't remember the exact words.

This was probably one of the best events I have been to here at school. It opened my eyes to more possibilities and showed me that more people do have the same perspective that I do and that not all Christians are as close-minded as I thought.

Activity #10

The gender wage gap battle has been going on for a long time. Do men really get paid more than women? Is this a fair practice? These are some of the questions that come up when analyzing and debating this situation.
Some people feel that there is not a gap in salary, some people feel that there is and it is okay because of certain justifications, and some people feel that there is a gap and it is not an okay situation.
Women are seen as being the caretakers in a household. That is where their top priority lies. Then the next priority can be working. Once a women decides not to be a stay at home mom or a housewife she has the option of going into the work force, but how many hours a week will she work, what kind of job will she apply for or accept? These are some of the factors that are raised in the great debate.
In 1900 there were about 20% of women in the workforce. This number has risen throughout the years. In 1950 it had risen to 34% and then more recently in 2000 there were 60% of women in the workforce which is creeping close to the 71% of men.
The educational background of the applicants is not supposed to have a lot to do with the hiring process. If a man and a woman have the same educational background they should each have an equal chance of obtaining this job. However, the wage gap can be justified because statistically men are able to apply more time and energy to a job and also, women are less likely to continuously work after graduating school.
Also, in justifying the wage gap, some occupational influences that affect women are the hours per week they must work, the stress level of the job, and will she be able to take time off for emergency family situations. The basic summary of June O'Neill's essay was she showed that wages can be influenced by more than discriminatory factors, there are nondiscriminatory factors that we have to take into account. She also states that these factors are unlikely to change unless the roles of men and women in the household also change and level out to a more equal distribution.
The no side of this discussion, I found that men are more likely to earn an annual salary over $1 million (13:1) and the annual income doesn't level out until the $25,000-$30,000 range. A point that was made in this sections by Hilary Lips that bothered me and kept me from taking in the rest of the reading was her talk about hourly income. When looking at the wage gap the focus is more on annual income and not hourly rates. My argument is a woman could get paid more per hour and work less than a man but the man being able to work more could still earn more per year. She, to me, pointed this fact out, but not in the most blunt way. She spoke of overtime and bonuses which she believes men will make more per year than women and she also touched on that they will most likely earn more per year.
There is also the argument made about whether women want to have the same types of jobs and leadership positions that men hold. I think women are capable of these positions and I know plenty of women who are in these positions. I think partly it could also do with geographical locations and other factors, not just gender and age and education.
This was an interesting subject to read on. I agreed with some things and was put off by others. If asked my stance on the wage gap debate, I'd have to say that I don't believe there is much of one and if there is I think I would agree and say it is justified. I think if women ever want this to change, they need to be more assertive and show that they deserve what they deserve. I still don't know completely what it is I'm going to do with my life. I finally declared an English major and I can do just about anything with it. For most of high school I was set on going into advertising before a science teacher suggested I try engineering- I did, and it didn't work too well- but I know if I wanted to I could be a CEO in an advertising agency or I could be the coordinator for the next big campaign. The only thing that is stopping anyone from going up the corporate ladder is themselves. We can point fingers all we want and say that the system is lopsided and things like that. But I think when it's all said and done, we control our destiny. If you realize, "No matter what I do I will never advance in this job" then find another job where you can. We only live once and we need to go all out in the life we have.

Midterm II

Heteronormativity is the idea that heterosexuality is the norm within our culture and anything else is considered odd. We see this in movies and ads and for Valentine's Day. The entertainment industry "assumes" that everyone wants to see heterosexual couplings (172). We have a visual depiction of heterosexual attractions and those of homosexual attractions are kept invisible and under wraps.
With heteronormativy comes other issues. Health care is hard enough for straight couples to acquire. In order to get health care- you have to be healthy and you have to have the money to pay for it (301-303). For some heterosexual couples this isn't a hard thing to achieve. When you put two people's salaries together, things are easier to pay for. With homosexual couples or couples that live together but aren't married come more challenges. Since homosexuals don't always get the benefits from their work it is harder for them to get health insurance. There is also the issue that homosexuals have a higher rate of getting AIDS and with that it is impossible to get health insurance.
As far as touching on the topic of reproductive health, I don't know how it could be associated with anything other than heterosexuality. You need to have a man and a woman to reproduce. I suppose there is the sperm bank and things like that where you can reproduce through other means that aren't natural. There is also the aspect that women are responsible for themselves when they get pregnant and the man typically tries to stay out of that portion of the relationship. I will discuss this more in the next paragraph.
With heterosexual relationships come the dominant construction of masculinity. With relationships the men tend to be the domineer. Men try to dominate women's sexuality. There is also the case where it is okay for men to be sexually active and enjoy sex, but when women do it is not. There is a double standard. It is also hard to justify how they don't want to have any responsibility when they get a woman pregnant. It is then the woman's burden to carry and sometimes the man will help. It also seems that if a woman does get pregnant and whether she wants the baby or not- can be pressured into "fixing the problem" based on what her male partner wants.
Our bodies are the one thing that everyone sees. It can be a positive or negative view based on whose eyes are judging. The media is the worst at putting norms on the woman's body. These norms aren't normal. The average woman is not 100 pounds and 5'7". "What our bodies mean and how they are experienced is intimately connected to the meanings and practices of the society in which we reside" (229).
Tattoos and piercings are ways for each person to express themselves. I have multiple earrings and I have 2 tattoos. I would like more earrings, maybe an industrial and possibly my belly-button and I have wanted an eyebrow piercing but haven't gotten one yet. Now that I'm looking to graduate in a few years and I don't know what kind of occupation I'm going to have so I don't want to hurt that in any way. My tattoos are only visible when I choose for them to be. I have one on each shoulder blade. I'm considering more, maybe the back of the neck- except I wear my hair up a lot so that may not work, maybe one on the top of my foot and one on the inside of my ankle. These practices were "traditionally a masculine or an outlaw, rebellious act - is increasingly a form of self-expression for women" (231). So tattoos and piercings can be labeled as self-expression or in some cases mutilation. It is changing the natural body and either putting something permanent (tattoos) or temporary (piercings).
The female body is sometimes seen as taboo (232). We have a natural process we go through so we can have children later in life. I know that many people feel ashamed and bashful when they have their period, like they have to hide the fact so that no one else will know.
The four points of the beauty ideal: contemporary images of female beauty are changeable, the ideal reflects various relations of power in society, standards of beauty practices are enforced in complex ways, and it is a huge aspect of corporate capitalism and consumerism in the US (235-241). The media fastens close to these ideals and then pushes them harder than a normal person would toward their friends. The media says that you have to be a certain shape or height or skin tone or hair color. I love my natural hair color, I don't remember what it looks like anymore because I've been dying it since the 6th grade. I just have a tendency to get really bored with my hair. I have straight brown hair with some natural highlights. But now its straight and Egyptian Plum (which is a red/purple color and I love it!). It's semi-permanent, I want to get back to the natural color soon and I want to be able to perm my hair one day. I've always wanted to try out curly/ wavy hair. But I can't because of all the color chemicals that are in it right now.
I do not wear make-up. Even though the media suggests I should. I'll wear make-up for special occasions: weddings, funerals, dress events, sometimes at church- depending on my mood. Part of the reason I don't wear make-up is because I get fidgety and touch my face a lot and therefore smear/wipe off everything I put on and then when I do wear make-up everyone comments on the fact that I am wearing make-up and that gets annoying really quick.
We live in a culture of thinness and beauty and materialism. With these come more problems than any of us wish to have.

Event 1

On November 6, I went to the film "Divorce Iranian Style" in Torg 1060.

This film was set in the capital city Tehran at the divorce court. This film was made in 1998 and its theme was to debunk stereotypes. When I chose to go to this film and when I told some of my friends I was going to see this film, the first thought that came to my mind and the first thing my friends would say was, "The can get divorced in Iran?"

In Iran men are allowed to request divorce but the wives are assumed to want to stay in the marriage so they are not welcomed when they do go in to request a divorce. They expect the women to compromise to what their husband likes. One of the quotes I wrote down from the movie was "If he is applying for divorce, he has the right to take her back".

There are three different reasons that women are allowed to apply for divorce: if the husband is unable to father a child, if there was deception or insanity at the time of marriage (which can be seen in arranged marriage- the example from the film), or if the man has more than one wife. That last one is actually confusing. In Iran, a man is allowed to have more than one wife if the first wife agrees. But the two wives are not allowed to live in the same house.

The legal age a girl can be married in Iran is when she reaches puberty. This could be as early as nine years old.

If a woman has had children from one marriage, and divorces that husband, there can be a custody battle for the children. If she acquires the children and then gets remarried later, the ex-husband has the choice to take the children away from her. Essentially she risks having to give away her children. "You're a mother. You must sacrifice everything." " You remarried. When you remarry you lose your child."

These laws aren't fair. One of the cases when the wife was trying to keep her children, she was forced to give them up. The judge even know the children's grades were better when she lived with her mom than her dad and he knew the dad didn't believe school was important. This same child was at the age when she was legally allowed to choose which parent she wanted to live with, but wasn't given that opportunity because she would have chosen the mother.

Activity #9

Should the opportunity for all individuals to be married exist? We allow same-race marriage, bi-racial marriage, same-religion marriage, bi-religious marriage, but we do not allow same sex-marriage. Should this change? Is this the right choice?
Sometimes I happen to be a bit on the fence about this topic, but for this discussion I will state that same-sex marriage should not be allowed. I can start quoting the Bible for you, but instead I will just summarize. Marriage is a legal union between a male and a woman. We find that in the Bible, we find it in nature, with animals and plants, and I think I can even go as far to say that magnets agree- the opposite charges attract each other and then belong.
I've heard the argument that gay and lesbian couples should have the same opportunity to be as miserable in their relationship as any heterosexual couple. I find that statement amusing and I can see the point they are making. But I still have to stand firm on what I was raised to believe and what I know to be truth from my religious background. God did not create man to be homosexual. When Satan was kicked out of heaven he became evil and then started tempting people and that is where things started happening. There are also other stories in the Bible about where God had to destroy cities because of homosexuality and other things.
I don't necessarily believe the things that some other people say who are opposed to same-sex marriage. It almost seems as though they are trying to come up with more excuses than are needed. I don't know the laws regarding hospital visitation and predecessor rights, but I thought that the person that was being hospitalized was allowed to allow the visitors they wished or the one writing the will was allowed to leave their possessions to the persons of their choice. And the acquisition of social security benefits is a joke. Even heterosexual couples can't collect social security anymore because there's barely any to be collected. The social security system has gone downhill since it's establishment. And like the article said, social security is for a family and the children within the family. In both articles they kept speaking in terms of same-sex couples not having children and the statistics for the ones who do have children in the household were under 50%.
As far as health benefits are concerned its hard enough for any American to try to get health benefits. And recently I've learned that heterosexual couples who aren't married and are living together are also either trying to or have already been able to use each other's benefits. This I believe is completely wrong in all aspects of the word. They are not in a "committed" relationship and things can go sour so easily.
Now I'm going to play devil's advocate and state why some sort of union or marriage between gay men or lesbians could be a good thing. They, like everyone else, can make good parents. One of my best friend's mom was once married to her father and then they divorced and now she is committed to her partner. They are two of the sweetest women I have met and I love them dearly and she and her partner love their children from each of their previous marriages and would do anything any other parent would do for them. I also have a best friend who is a bisexual (her status is somewhat confusing), but she still says that she will marry a man one day. I'm saying this because I want every person, no matter what group or groups they identify with, to be happy. But I can't go against my beliefs. So in my mind I almost feel as though I'm a hypocrite on the subject.
What I don't understand about the side that said same-sex marriage should be legalized is that all the argument seemed to be between same-sex couples without children and heterosexual couples with children. Am I the only one that finds this odd? These are two different groups of people in more ways than one. I think if they were to analyze these kinds of situations they should have done a survey or analysis on homosexual relationships with kids verses heterosexual relationships with kids and then homosexual relationships without kids verses heterosexual relationships without kids. I would have followed the discussion better had I not been sidetracked from this.

Activity #8

The connections between gender construction and sexual violence is an interesting topic to look at. We all know what we were raised on about this subject (its the man's fault/doing), and for the most part these same ideas that we were given when we were younger still stand to be truth while some may have been altered during the course of our lives or this class.

Sexual harassment has become an ever increasing issue in the United States and world wide. There are many different ways that this can be done. Some of which are in person, on the job, over the phone, in the car, and even online. These things can have effect on everyone not just women, not just homosexuals but everyone.
Some of the things we have learned throughout our lives are: men can be raped too, most rapes occur with someone the victim knows, don't talk to people you don't know online because they may not be who they say they are (aka don't talk to strangers), and if you or someone you know is involved in an abusive relationship get out or help the person get out of that relationship.
Some of those we are able to follow but you can't follow all those rules at all times.

Cyberstalking and many issues have been raised since communication online has become easy, constant, and effective. It's not a fun thing to have someone stalk you online. I have had some issues with this and then I increased my security settings on my AIM and Facebook and for the most part halted what was going on. Even if someone were to find him/herself in a situation like I did, it's pretty easy to fix. You have to make some changes in the way you communicate with people and a few changes you may not like right away- but in the long run they are the best way to solve this problem on your own. For example, I had issues with people on my AIM and I had to change my settings so if I do not have your screen name on my buddy list, then you can't even see that I am online. This is a hassle because I meet new people everyday (especially now that I"m pledging) and I want it to be easy for them to contact me, but I have to make that sacrifice. Cyberstalking can happen to both men and women, and statistically more men are responsible for cyberstalking than women.

Rape can be defined as "a crime of aggression because the focus is on hurting and dominating" (562). Sexual assault can be defined as "any sexual contact without consent and/or that involves the use of force. Like rape, sexual assault is an act of power, control, and domination" (563). "95% of reported sexual assaults are against females, half of all females raped are under the age of 18... 1 in 3 women will experience sexual assault (including rape) in her lifetime, and 1 in 4 college women experience sexual violence" (563). "Both women and men are raped, and... overwhelmingly is is a problem of men raping women and other men" (562).

So there are some ideas and statistics about sexual assault and so forth. The ongoing trend is that male dominance issues are what seem to drive men to commit sexual assault. With this being a women's studies class and having to debate the gender roles, that would also make me want to say that a female (biological) who associates herself with a male gender role could also be more prone to these male dominating tendencies. So with that said I must play devil's advocate and say that then a male who associates himself with female could be more passive and possibly a victim of assault- kind of similar to what we may see in a prison setting.

Activity #8

Its seems amazing how different people with different backgrounds seems to have somewhat of the same opinion on a particular topic. We have somewhat of the same knowledge from different sources in our lives that have told us some of the same information I shared with them from the RAINN website.
I have found that the four people I talked with, as well as myself, have all been educated with some of these rape stats. We know that most rape victims knew their attacker while very few were strangers.

There were also some issues that were evenly distributed between the four viewpoints. For example, 2 of the 4 people believe that education is a tool that education can be used to prevent violence in the future. Also, two people believe that the reason some of the stats are going down are because there are less reports, while another believes that they are generally going down, the fourth person didn't have much of an opinion on those particular stats.
So the stats that the first male I spoke with were focused on the rape/sexual assault reports decreasing since 1993. He thinks that the rates are still the same and have only decreased because fewer victims are reporting. He also had a viewpoint that as a society we have evolved in a way where we don't feel it is necessary to report assault, or that we don't even think its necessarily wrong anymore.
This same person spoke of knowing a couple rape victims. (The only one with a story to share.) He didn't want to give a lot of information, but mentioned that with each case the victim went to her (respective) parents and the parents did not believe her. When things like this happen, I, personally, think that that is one of the reasons why fewer victims report their attack- because fewer people believe them.
He said that he believes two of the causes of violence against women was resistance to male authority and the poor driving stereotype against women. I asked him to explain his stance on the bad driving and he actually had, what i consider to be, a good point. He said that if women drove better, then men, and other good drivers would have less road rage and then in turn be less likely to take out that sort of anger on either the driver in question or someone else.
As far as limiting or eliminating violence against women, he (who was the only one with this opinion) said that women/feminists should stop blaming men for bad things that may happen to women as a whole.

The second male I spoke with had a few different thoughts on the subject. Not only did have have some different opinions, he said less about it. As far as the statistics were concerned he truly believed that they were on a decline since 1993 and that it was not based one whether things were being reported or not. He had no personal stories of violence. As far as the cause of violence against women he believes that it is an outlet and makes the man feel better about himself or the situation that is occurring. As for eliminating violence against women he feels strongly that education on the topic is the best way to go. He also wants to see a worse penalty for someone who is convicted of sexual assault or rape. And lastly, he believes that girls and friends should be more supportive of people that they know how have been sexually assaulted and encourage them to seek help and report the situation.

As you can tell, the males didn't like to elaborate a lot on the topic. That was not the case for the females I talked with. The first female I spoke with when I asked about the statistics on the RAINN website she responded with, "I already knew all of this, except that there was a decline since 1993". She also said that she was very surprised about that statistic. And questioned if this means that reported cases are on decline or are less being reported?
She also had no stories. But she made up for the stories with the beliefs of the causes of violence against women. She believes that violence occurs because the man likes to take out his frustrations on what society sees as the weaker sex/species. Adding to that she said that men who may be at a dead end job or somewhere where they don't like their boss could take it out in a "home-type" setting because they can't take it out on their boss or superior because that would cost them their job and income. The last comment she had on this correlates to the last idea she had about being work-related. That a man could even feel inferior at work and then wants to feel dominant at home or with his female other which could then lead to sexual assault.
When it comes to how we can eliminate violence against women at first she had no idea. Then after pondering it for a while, she believes that therapy for the rapists or assaulter could help and that someone should raise awareness about the topic and help teach women that this is not a normal situation to be in.

The second female and last person I interviewed also had the same thoughts about the statistics where she wasn't surprised at all about them. She also didn't show too much interest in the decline since 1993. When I asked her what she thought the cause of violence against women may be she said it was because we seem like easy targets and seem as though we can't defend ourselves. As far as how we can eliminate violence against women she thinks that women as a whole need to be smarter and not put themselves into situations where something bad could happen. She also shared an agreement with the second male I interviewed when she said that laws should be made stricter against sex offenders and assaulters.

An interesting trend I found within all of my interviews is they all had the same viewpoint about the rapist and victim. With each individual the rapist or assaulter was male and the victim was female. There were no homosexual examples and there were no women assaulting men ideas. Well I suppose that last one may be thrown out since this was about violence against women, but its still surprising that no one brought up that viewpoint and say, "wait but it happens to them too!"
I actually believe and agree with a lot of the things that were said and don't have much else to say on the situation because I think that a few different view points were shared, there were many similarities and some differences.

CRJ 7

So as I was reading through the chapter, I was trying to decide what I wanted to focus this entry on. At first I thought of focusing on the health insurance. But I only wanted to contradict the text and say that even middle and upper-class women can have a hard time getting health insurance because of employment and other disadvantages they may find. My mom, for example, who owns her own business has had a hard time acquiring health insurance. Not only did she have the obstacle about finding a company that would work with her situation she also had the obstacle of past health related experiences she's had and the health insurance companies don't want to have you as a client if you've ever had a cold before.

Then I thought about focusing on the sterilization as birth control. This is a tough topic. I don't think that it should even be considered unless there were some outstanding need or reason for it. And that was when I got to the most controversial portion of this chapter. The topic which I always try to keep myself out of conversation with because of the red flags and feelings that get tossed around. There was the topic of abortion staring at me.

Originally I told myself I would approach this topic with an open mind. That lasted through the first 2 sentences and then went out the window as soon as I read the third sentence about pro-choice. "Pro-choice advocates believe abortion is women's choice, women should not be forced to have children against their will, a fertilized ovum should not have all the legal and moral rights of personhood, and all children should be wanted children." (325) As soon as I read that sentence I knew what I wanted to focus this paper around.

I have a very confusing stance on abortion. Sometimes I don't even know what it is that I believe. I like to lean more toward the Pro-Life end of the spectrum where even a fetus is a living organism and should have the right to continue to grow. So my opinion of pro-choice is that a woman should have the right to choose to practice safe sex and if she fails to do so then she should not have to take it out on the child- and I say child for a reason. Abortion cannot and should not ever be a form of birth control, and I think that is where our culture has taken it. The text also says that if a woman has the "unwanted child" that she is experiencing a moral responsibility. I think that is bull crap. If the woman has unprotected sex or doesn't take the necessary precautions that she should to try to avoid this kind of situation, then I think she should have the child and put him/her up for adoption. There are many families that cannot have children on their own or that would love to take in another child and care for this child as if it were there own.

This is where my view of abortion becomes hazy- rape cases. This is where my view-point on abortion goes from you are still killing someone to actual remorse and sorrow. This is a case where the woman was not given the choice to have sex, she was not giving the choice to have safe sex and there is nothing she can do. This is the time when I wish the law were still if a woman were raped they would immediate wipe her reproductive system clean and kill all sperm that may or may not have entered. If this were still practiced then there would be no need for abortion in these kinds of cases.

To be honest, if I were to become pregnant now- a 20 year old college student, my first thought would to abort the pregnancy. But at the same time I would have that guilt that I did not protect myself like I should have and that I am deciding the fate of my child. Deciding that this person that was supposed to grow inside me will never see the colors that I see, will never experience the sounds and smells and places that I have been, that it will never hear a name called to come to dinner. Pro-choice activists say that there is the moral issue of having a child they do not want. For pro-life activists there is the moral issue of deciding the life of a child that will never have an experience. For being a Christian there is the underlying sorrow, anger and repulsive feeling toward yourself for killing God's creation. In my opinion, as a Christian, I believe that each person becomes pregnant for a reason. Each time a child is conceived God had a plan for that child and He ordered that sperm to fertilize that egg and produce a baby.

I know I should have focused more on the text for this entry. But I really felt that this was a topic that I needed to speak on for myself. I never have the option to express myself in these kinds of situations. Either someone has made the decision for me or I just haven't had the opportunity. But I needed to really focus my opinion and write it down so I could see where I do or don't stand. I think I have found that I am a pro-lifer and until I find out otherwise I just need to accept myself and also accept other's opinions- even if it is really hard to do.

Killing Us Softly

Jean Kilbourne had many of the same facts that our text told us about. She dealt more with the advertising effect that is made on our culture. Teenagers are hyper-sexualized because of all the images we see. We think it's okay to be sexually explicit and that it's normal to be sexually active. It's not a teenagers world. Teenagers are not mature enough to handle that kind of situation or the possibilities that could result from making these adult decisions. Advertising portrays mens and women's bodies in sexual ideals. Partially clothed models or the hint of sex in that ad. We see 3000 ads per day, therefore it is impossible to escape that influence. We all pay attention to ads whether we realize it or not. Whether it's the clothes we wear or how we style our hair and many other images. We as a society no longer have a clear perspective on beauty or what should be "normal". Models can be seen as not even being real. It is impossible to be that perfect- airbrushing can do wonders.
One thing that really bothers me about the advertising aspect of beauty is that it causes us to worry too much about our appearance. I think as long as a person is clean, well-kept, and dressed then that person should be accepted by society. But I don't feel well saying that. Because someone who is poorer than another may not have the ability to be well-kept and clean. So I don't know how else to arrange that statement but I would hope you understand what I am trying to get across.

http://www.chevycollegead.com/

Some of my favorite commercials air during the Super Bowl. One from last year- the one which won the college challenge was one of my favorites (other than the rock, paper, scissors beer commercial). It is a commercial for the Chevy HHR and this car has about 3 or 4 girls sitting in it at a red light. A guy comes over and uses his jacket to wipe a dirt spot off of the car and then we hear Nelly's "Hot in Herre" playing in the background. They hand the man a dollar through the window and all of a sudden we have all kinds of men coming to the girl's car and stripping off their clothes and washing the car. Most all of these men are in good physical shape and are attractive. Then there's a random scrawny old man who joins the group and of course the first thing you do is burst into laughter!
I don't feel comfortable saying that they are trying to sell more than the car in this commercial. Because that is all I can think about when I see it. Guys like cars, guys like clean cars, guys do like girls and there are girls driving the car... So maybe they are selling that guys like girls too? I like this ad because it shows that women can drive a nice car and then be "rewarded" for it, in a way. I mean, they did get a very entertaining show. So it breaks down the barrier from what we see in other ads. Women are driving a car (usually a man's role) and men are the ones flaunting their bodies in front of the camera (usually a female's role). So it seems to reverse the stereotypes and in my opinion, poke fun at the situation.
This is quite possibly the most entertaining assignment I have done thus far. I love advertising- I wouldn't mind being an advertiser one day. So just knowing that I am able to sit down and analyze an ad makes me so happy! I have always noticed that women seem to be degraded in advertising for certain products and I hate to say it, but I don't know if that will change any time soon. Sex sells, whether we like it or not, and sadly, that's the maturity level of our society that we need to see butts, and breasts, and men without shirts to want to buy the product. Not because its a good product but because of how it is introduced.

CRJ #6

The ideal women's and men's bodies vary from culture to culture. In Western culture it seems that the ideal is to be thin, tall and without curves for a woman's body. For men it seems to be that they also need to be tall, fit, muscular and have good teeth (in my opinion). I, personally, think that women should be fit (even if they have some extra baggage), curvy- a woman's natural curves are beautiful, and height shouldn't have an effect on their appearance. I love to look into a crowd of people and see different body types and the people who have these body types feel good about themselves! Men have different body types, even in the Western culture. Some are strong, muscular and tall and others are smaller. This depends on what they do. Sports players will have a different body type than a skateboarder. These two groups are more respected than a "computer nerd". They are "unattractive" according to society. They are scrawny, usually have glasses and a pocket protector on hand.

I do not appreciate the societal aspect of women's bodies. It makes me feel extremely uncomfortable with myself. Even if I were a size 2, I'm sure I would still be uncomfortable with myself. When I see girls that are that small being so uncomfortable it makes me feel sick inside. I am not nearly that small. I would love to be a size 12 or 10 and I would be perfectly content with it. I used to play sports and was in very good shape, I wasn't skinny (size14) but I was healthy and that made me happy.

The beauty ideal has 4 parts to it. There is the contemporary images that society tells us to conform to. Then also we see the relation to power in society. Thirdly the beauty practices we have to go through to make ourself "presentable" to society. And finally corporate capitalism and the consumerism aspect of the spectrum. Society and corporate America have a large impact on the personal views that we carry within us. They are the ones who tell us what we need to look like and what we have to wear. Women need to wear make-up and men need to be fit and athletic. I never wear make-up except for the occasional wedding or special occasion. I don't even have any make-up with me here at school. One night when I was at work, I was talking with a co-worker of mine and she was telling me that in her sorority they had to wear make-up whenever they wore their letters. That baffled me beyond belief.

A "side-effect" of society's hand in the beauty industry is causing women and some men to be harmful to themselves. These side-effects are eating disorders. There are a few different eating disorders found today. These include anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive exercising to name a few. Women and men both take these matters into their own hands and it can turn out for the worst. It could result in death. 20 percent of people with serious eating disorders die because of the harm they have inflicted on their bodies (pg 244).

Media constructs the ideal female body in many ways. Advertising is the main source of this perspective on our bodies. Also, the fashion industry has a lot to add to what advertisers already promote. They show what they believe to be the ideal body type which in reality very very very few people can attain this body type. Only 5 percent of the female population has a fashion model's body (pg 229). Our views of women's bodies have been dominated by the male mind through the media. I mean, a male designed the first bra! That very well could be where the entire ordeal started... I don't know, but that's my guess.

The views we have on our own bodies and the bodies of those people around us that we compare ourselves to are developed from the media. We fail to make the connection that we can choose how we view things and not have to view them by society's standards. In my opinion we as a human being have enough things to stress over in our daily lives than how we measure up to society and our peers standards.

Tough Guise

Kimmel argues that masculinity is a socially constructible and historically shifting idea. This is a good thing because it allows men to have the ability and capacity to act. They have a sense of being able to replace the feeling of being overcome and discouraged and replace it with power and positive ideals.

Kimmel shows us that masculinity is basically a popularity contest. This in turn entails men constantly seeking the approval of other men in just about every facet of life. They don't want to be seen as "sissy" or not manly enough so they have to do all they can to disprove those two ideas. Whether its sleeping with as many women as they can, drinking a lot, driving fast, wearing certain clothes, being the strongest or fastest, or dating the hottest girl they know- all these lead to the race for the top, the award for being the most masculine. It's a giant competition between friends and strangers, there are no rules except to be the best and not be a sissy.

"Homophobia is a central organizing principle of our cultural definition of manhood." Essential homophobia can be seen as not being masculine or not being the most masculine. It's not being a "real man". It brings fear into the lives of men. I had never realized men were as self-conscious as they are. Women are always the ones who are worried about their appearance and what their friends or other girls will think of them. You never hear men talk about, "Oh, I can't go out of the house looking like this. People will judge me!" or "My muscles aren't as big as the guys sitting on the other side of the bar. Maybe I should work out more." But apparently they do. It's just a matter of it not being voiced- but the concern is still there.

Also, on topic of homosexuality, Kimmel brought up a very good point regarding how it is possible to tell whether or not a man is gay. It's mostly stereotypical answers that really don't define anything. I know people that "talk gay" and are straight. It's just the sound in their voice that may make you think they are gay. And also, I have quite a few gay friends, and I never actually knew they were gay until they told me. There are so many different typed of people in this world and I really hate the fact that we are so judgmental and want to label each person we come in contact with. I know I'm guilty of labeling people that I see, I just hate the fact that we do it.

Tough Guise is showing yourself only as what the dominant culture has defined as manly. Strong, independent, athletic, and tough to name a few. It defines manhood. So you have a lot of pressure to conform. The media constructs violent masculinity as a norm in our society. The stats that he showed during this video shows that between 85 and 99% of most violent activity is caused by males. It has to do with their emotional and relational lives of masculinity. It's okay to be emotional to a single girl or small group, but when lots of men are around they have to put up a front as a survival mechanism.

As a community or personally, we have to uncover the tough guise. Not only men have to uncover it. But we have to do something as well. Girls and women have to show they do not validate this behavior. Institutions need to break the monopoly of the media.

CRJ #5

Sexuality to me is a taboo topic, but at the same time it is very interesting for most to talk about and it is interesting to read about. The concepts of identity, attraction, practice, control, and power are all seen in human sexuality.

Being a woman it is hard to express sexual feelings and desires, because no matter what the answer is, it will always be turned against you. Either you are loose or prude there doesn't seem to be a healthy sexual appetite or desire for women, only men. If a woman openly admits she likes sex or wants to have sex, she's a slut and undesirable. If a woman chooses to not have sex or not have sex often, then she is uptight and prude and undesirable.

With the negativity toward women's sexuality, there is also negativity toward other people's sexuality and sexual choices. This is where sexual identity can be a fuzzy topic. Sexual identity is defined as a person's attraction or preference to someone of a certain gender. There are three main types of sexual identity. Heterosexuality is when a person is attracted to someone of the opposite sex. Homosexuality is when someone is attracted to another person of the same sex. And then finally Bisexuality is the attraction to either sex. And contrary to popular belief bisexuals do not have sex constantly and are not "greedy" and having sex with anyone they can.

I had never realized that politics had anything to do with sexuality. But after reading I realized that since society has a role in assigning power based on gender which gives it a political context. This can be seen in heterosexual relationships where men bring the power and dominance while women are more submissive and subservient. The text also mentioned that some heterosexual relationships can be unhealthy or unstable based on the unequal power within the relationship.

When it comes to the argument of homosexual couples and children, I think they should be allowed to raise children- their own or adopted- and still have a healthy family relationship. One of my best friend's parents got divorced and her mom decided she liked girls and is now in a partnership and they are the greatest people I know. They love all three of her mom's children and treat them amazingly. And there is no way that she or her partner would ever make the children or give them the idea that they too need to be in homosexual relationships. My best friend is now married to her husband and they are living in Phoenix, AZ where he has his job. Also, with regards to agreeing with the text, heterosexual males are the main predators of children. This can be seen everywhere research and news as well as other outlets of communication.

Even though I feel uncomfortable talking about sex and sexual ideas, I found this reading to be very interesting and eye-opening. Some of these ideas I have known about for a while, and at the same time, some of them were new to me and I enjoyed reading about it. Just don't ever expect to carry on a conversation with me about it- I will turn red and stutter.

CRJ #4

Biology shows the distinction between men and women as a being, while society gives the interpretation of feminine and masculine. For doing this, society leans on the nature and nurture hypothesis and ideas. We also give preconceptions to gender from a society standpoint. This is because we have preconceived notions of how little boys and little girls are supposed to act and then how they are then supposed to act when they grow older. For one, it is okay when children of both genders play with Barbies. But it is not okay for older boys to play with these Barbies, instead they should play with toy guns or G.I. Joes, or take up a sport. But at the same time, little girls and older girls are allowed to play with Barbies, toy guns, G.I. Joes and play sports.

But then after bringing up the idea of sports we can divide sports into masculine and feminine sports. For example, baseball, basketball, football and rugby can be seen as masculine sports because they need lots of strength and endurance. They are contact sports. More feminine sports would be gymnastics, figure skating, swimming, and cheerleading (depending on one's stance whether its a sport or not. But for argument's sake, we'll call it a sport). These need flexibility and smaller body structures.

"Gender is a process that involves multiple patterns of interaction and is created and re-created constantly in human interaction" (Women's Voices Feminist Visions, pg 126). This to me means that gender is a learned behavior and can be altered at times, depending on the situation someone is in or how they are feeling at one moment. It is something we do, it is in our culture; biology is something we have (Women's Voices Feminist Visions, pg 126-127).

Both masculinity and femininity have different adjectives that as a culture we apply toward them. They are completely opposite ideas and do not overlap at all. Masculinity can be described as intelligent, courageous, honest, sexual, violent tendencies, providing, ambitious, confident, competent, and strong (Women's Voices Feminist Visions, pg 130-132). But a masculine person can never be weak, soft, or vulnerable. Femininity is seen as soft, passive, domesitc, nurturing, emotional, dependent, sensitive, delicate, intuitive, fastidious, needy, and fearful (Women's Voices Feminist Visions, pg 133).

All of these ideas show how our culture perceives masculinity and femininity. I think it is safe to say that there is no one who is always masculine or always feminine. We all have moments where we feel stronger or weaker, courageous or scared, ambitious or timid. It is just part of our nature and varies from one situation to another. So I don't think it can be said that a person is or is not masculine or feminine. We have moments when we feel more one way than another. Some women can feel masculine but still be feminine, and some men can feel feminine but still be masculine and vice versa. Our culture seems to show that men=masculine and women=feminine and I tend to agree with this idea but still believe we have both inside of us regardless of our biological make-up.

Midterm

Gender, biology, masculinity, and femininity have many layers to them. All but biology have been influenced by society. Society’s role in each of our lives is more overpowering than I had ever realized before. There are different view points of sex being biological or sex being a means of reproduction. According to the text sex is biological and gender is the interpretation. And “gender is something that we ‘do’ rather than ‘have’.” (Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, 126) But in Bornstein’s “Solving the Gender Puzzle” sex was defined as the relations between two (or more) people for reproduction or sexual desires.

“There are ideas about placing the two-sex system with a five-sex system to reflect [the] diversity” (Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, 126) of the world we live in now. Where different sexes/genders can relate to either masculinity or femininity, whichever it is they feel most comfortable with.

The differences between masculinity and femininity are quite polar opposites. They each have a different set of characteristics. Masculinity is usually defined or seen as being “intelligent, courageous and honest, sexual, violent, providing, ambitious, confident, competent and strong” (Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, 130-132). Feminism is quite the opposite. Femininity is seen as “soft, passive, domestic, nurturing, emotional, dependent, sensitive, delicate, intuitive, fastidious, needy, and fearful” (Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, 133). They are also seen to be subordinate. Both masculinity and femininity have varied opinions in different cultural settings. Those were some of the characteristics of masculinity and femininity in North America.

Technology has always been seen as male dominated. It was noted in the “Technology as Masculine Culture” reading that “we tend to think about technology in terms of industrial machinery and cars.” Which everyone associates cars and machinery to men and masculinity. And then there is the concept of “women’s technologies”. These technologies can include horticulture cooking and childcare which then reproduces the stereotype of women as technologically ignorant and incapable.” There are some people that may think that masculinity is “resulted from historical and cultural construction of gender” (Technology as Masculine Culture).

The idea that men’s and women’s technologies are different seems to tie in with masculinity and femininity and what one is physically and mentally capable of accomplishing. Even though we know that men and women are capable of achieving the same goals, it isn’t always seen. For one example, women are social creatures. We like to talk and be around other people. Men, on the other hand, seem to be more self-contained. It almost seems as though some men use technology as a substitute for a social life. Why would they have to go out and meet people, when they can log on a computer and find other people that way?

Another good point this article brought up was that men have an “intense need to master things. They don’t have an addiction to computer programming but to playing with the issue of control. It is about exerting power and domination within the unambiguous world of machinery”. To me this quote ties into the characteristics of masculinity.

Ideas of gender shapes the scientific field by saying men are more mathematically and scientifically inclined than women. Which, as we all know, is a false statement. Women are just as capable of succeeding in scientific fields but are affected by the social factors that fall into play. A study at Harvard showed “that reasons fewer women than men succeed in science and math may be more related to innate differences than to socialization or discrimination” (Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, Women in Science and Engineering, 66. There are many women who acquire degrees in these types of fields, it’s the social factors that seem to discourage them from pursuing what they went to school for.

Science and technology shapes our ideas of gender by putting up the persona that it is a masculine field. Cars and machinery, tools and strength are what seem to be associated with it. Computer programming and hacking are seen as male-dominated fields. Like I stated before, it seems that men and women have different technologies based on what they are supposed to do. Like the women’s technology is domesticated and men’s technology is corporate.

Gender Aptitude Test

Gender and sex have completely different meanings. Gender is an adjective and sex is a verb. Even though most all of us use the two interchangeably. One thing Kate was speaking about in the readings was that there are more than one form of gender. A man can be female, a man can be male, a woman can be male, or a woman can be female. She also noted that gender can change from moment to moment- sometimes you feel more masculine and sometimes you feel more feminine. I don't particularly agree with this perspective, and am one of the people she was speaking of that believes gender is assigned at birth and gender is essentially based on the genitalia, chromosomes, and hormones.
Kate is an author, playwright and performance artist. I cannot completely tell who "she" is within the gender spectrum- being referred to as "ze" and "hir". I wouldn't say I was surprised by the questions on the gender aptitude test. I was simply more unaware and confused on how to answer them. After doing the reading, those are the kinds of questions I was expecting to see. I didn't feel that what I wanted my answer to be was an option. It made me feel uncomfortable. But also in the same instant made me more aware of my surroundings and the fact that people think differently than I do.

CRJ #3

Nature is a constant state of the unchanging natural world. Culture is the constant changing of humans and other aspects of the world.

Saying that gender and sexuality are social as opposed to natural I believe is quite accurate. Although I don't believe certain aspects of sexuality and gender are appropriate, they are a part of our time period and I have to learn to accept them the way they are. Back when our parents were younger, there was no tolerance of homosexuality, bi-racial couples, and trans gendered individuals. Those are a few examples of gender and sexuality being a social construction. If it were natural then there would be no change and no variation from past generations. All couples would be male and female. All couples would be of the same race. Those are the 'traditional' modes I believe the author is referring to.
Another aspect in reference to gender is the fact that women now have more abilities, powers, ideas, and objectives. We can own our own business, run for President, raise a family, be a doctor or a lawyer; there are very few limitations now. Had the role of gender been a natural truth, then we would only be allowed to marry a man and then raise his family (depending on how far back in history we travel).

We can look into different perspectives about this issue. The essentialist's perspective states that a person's sexual desires and needs are innate (chapter 4 pg 186) and that social impact has very little to do with it.
The social constructionist view was also explained in the same section of reading and was seen within the biological desire and evolutionary understanding of biological adaptations. This is saying that the ideas of male and female are based on culture.


As seen in the previous section of my journal, I had to go to the text to find out more information on this topic. I didn't really find these readings to be helpful. They were bland and boring and I can't say that I agree with most that were in them. Some of the ideas seemed to be a bit outrageous to me and others seemed to be more commonsense. The idea of "biopower" threw me for a loop. Looking back over the reading now, I believe it is in reference to women being involved in the medical and science fields. But originally, all I could think of was: where do these people come up with this stuff? There were women arrested for wanting other women to have birth control and equality. There are still women (and doctors) being arrested now for wanting the freedom to have (perform) an abortion- which is a completely different topic and I will not go into this because I'll write more than you want to read.
Women should have the right to the birth control and other contraceptives they may need but sometimes things get taken too far. I think abortion is wrong and should only be used in rape cases. And even with rape cases I think they should bring back the law which will allow a woman to be "cleaned" after a rape so that way there is no chance of her becoming pregnant from it.

CRJ #2

The bootstrap myth is concerned with economic success. If you work hard you prosper and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. If you cannot provide for your family and don’t work hard or are not able to provide for their family, then they will not prosper. Many people disagree with the bootstrap myth and are not socially accepted.

Internalizing oppression means that someone is having an issue, but refuses to bring it to the surface. They keep the anger and frustration inside and don’t allow a venting. By doing this one can encourage or justify hostility against another group. Marilyn Frye talks of how women can be oppressed by networks of force and barriers that expose one to penalty, whether or not they are heterosexual, have children, are married etc. By being oppressed the person seems to live in a box and is confined by all of the previously mentioned notions.

Homophobia is the irrational fear and hatred of those who love and sexually desire those of the same sex. Sexism is a system that shoes privilege and inequality based on gender. Compulsory heterosexuality is the assumption men and women are attracted to each other emotionally and sexually. It also believes that heterosexuality is normal and universal.

Lesbian is a word that carries threat of loss of power and privilege according to Pharr. It can mean that the person has been abandoned and cut from society. Some people associate lesbians as women who believe they don’t need a man to survive and prosper or even against men. Heterosexual women can see lesbians as women who stand in contradiction to the sacrifices the rest of the female population has made to conform to compulsory heterosexuality. Lesbians are established as a threat to the status quo. Lesbianism threatens all women because they step out of the box, out of the norm. There is no way a woman can defend herself in regards to her sexuality, there is no clear cut definition or specific look a lesbian has- therefore it makes it impossible to defend ones self. Lesbianism and feminism can be tied together because a lesbian is a woman who steps out of the box and a feminist steps out of the box. They both want more rights and privileges and are able to live normal lives with the same types of rights that the “normal” American has.

I’ve never really paid attention to the advantages given to me being a white woman. Being a woman and being involved in sports hasn’t given me much of an advantage. The only advantage I can think of being involved in sports is that I played co-ed sports so I had the advantage in being in a competitive atmosphere. I went to a private school until 10^th grade and I never really experienced privilege of any sort. They treated us all the same. It’s easier to show someone else’s disadvantage than you’re over privilege. This is what it means to me, not necessarily to the author. When you put down someone else to show their disadvantage you are giving yourself a bit more of a boost. But if you were to accept the fact that you are over privileged, its still giving yourself a boost, but its negative in the sense that you are saying you are better than someone else. As opposed to saying someone is less than you. There is a status issue when it comes to privilege for example how you will be treated in court.

A Girl Like Me

When the Brown vs. Board of Education test was done over, I thought that more of the children would choose the black doll because it was what they are. But it turns out that they still preferred the white doll and the white doll was “good” and the black doll was “bad”. It broke my heart a bit when the little girl said this and then was asked to hand the doll that looked like her to Kiri. She stopped and looked at both of the dolls and then preceded to hand the “bad” doll to Kiri.

Within the black community, there seems to be a lot of discrepancies about skin color and hair types. I’ve known about these for a long time. I’ve had a lot of black friends and they have shared with me their concerns. I would say that I’m sick of my boring, straight, brown hair and would like curly hair. And they would convince me that I didn’t because it’s much harder to take care of. I have also known about the skin color issue. There is supposedly something beautiful about light skin and something ugly about dark skin. I don’t remember the name of the dark-skinned girl in the documentary, but she was gorgeous! And I didn’t think she looked that dark. I don’t think it’s fair to say that skin tone and hair texture determine value in the world, but sadly it seems to be that way. Even in the white community it’s the same thing. Pale skin is looked down upon and tan skin is adored. Straight hair is loved and curly hair is despised

The mythical norm is “a white, middle-class, heterosexual, abled, thin, and young adult”. But then the book goes into saying that there are different classes of normal based on who you are talking to. Because each person you ask what is normal or what is different from normal, will give you a different answer.

As I was reading the text, I’m not sure exactly what the author is conveying in one part. She speaks of Susan Wendell and her “The Social Construction of Disability” and the idea of ableism. It was in context of lesbianism and that ableism is “discrimination against the mentally and physically disabled. When they put lesbianism and ableism together, it seems as though she is saying lesbianism is being mentally disabled? I really hope I am reading this wrong and you are able to correct my mistake.

Activity #3 Tolerance

Some of the article I can agree with, such as we don’t always know we have prejudices based on how we were raised. But at the same time, I do not believe the IATs were at all accurate. When I took the tests, I noticed the pattern they gave and the order in which they were training your fingers to react. When taking the family/career-gender test they trained you first to relate women and home and men with career. Then after your body and brain said when I see this I use this hand and when I see that I use that hand, it switched and your brain didn’t always pick up on the change. They said you weren’t allowed to go too slow with the test. Which gave no time to realize which hand you were supposed to use, so your brain said to do it they way it had been doing it for the past couple minutes.

I do understand what they are trying to achieve by telling about hidden biases. No one knows how they are reacting at all times. We do have a tendency as human beings to falter and not realize how we act to every situation.

Part of the reading spoke of how an African-American male can dine at a fancy, high-class restraint and then not be able to get a taxi or how a female student may not excel in math because most people don’t think of women as being good at math and science. Ideas like these bother me. I can’t say I disagree with them, because I know there still is a state of prejudice in our country. I would like to say since our parent’s generation started the idea and once that generation has passed, the prejudice they brought will also pass.

Basically I think that as long as my generation has a positive outlook on life and other people, then we can change the course that we are on now. We can push the prejudice aside. Maybe that’s too far from possible, maybe it’s not. I have faith that society and people can change. We just have to start teaching our children at an early age and then they will live that way and pass it on to their children. I don’t think world peace will ever be established, but I think we’ll be able to live happier lives.

CRJ #1

Women’s studies is recognizing the achievements of women and acknowledging their place in society. This is also seen in regards to the women’s movement. The women’s movement is about commitment to personal change as well as social transformation. This was used to help establish the study of women’s studies in higher education.

Once higher education allowed women’s studies to be taught in the classroom they set goals and objectives such as learning about a woman’s status in society- housewives to businesswomen and the social ladder in regards to how women are perceived.

Feminism in today’s culture, especially the youth has not been a glorious one. When we think of feminism and feminists we think of hard-headed lesbians who over react and over exaggerate women’s issues. Feminism wants all women to have equal rights and not be outshined by the male population, but have equal rights for all of the population- men and women. Not to mention recognizing the similarities in women’s status worldwide.

There are different types of feminism, but all of them focus on equality and celebrating the achievements of women. One misconception of feminism is that men are allowed to be feminists too. Liberal feminists use the present system of government to improve education and employment. Radical feminists are looking to change certain laws such as marriage (with lesbian feminists).

Feminism has many parts to it. There seems to be some truth to the ideas the youth has on feminism but at the same time there is so much more to it. After Reading farther into this, I have realized I am not a feminist. I sometimes agree with equal rights and sometimes I don't. But to make things easier, we'll say I don't. I'm glad I was able to find more information on feminism so I wouldn't continue living with a single idea. It's almost as though you are living a lie.

Assignment 1- Feminism Viewpoints

When I think of feminism, I think of a female who is overly into rights and equality. I think of someone who constantly petitions for rights that the rest of the population may not be completely happy with having. I was able to find some different view points on feminism from some of my friends. They all tend to have the same idea, from what culture and our age group has taught us- which of course, may not be true.

At the beginning of the school year, everyone talks with their friends about the classes they are taking. I rattle of my four English classes and then my two electives, Intro to Sociology and Intro to Women’s Studies. When they hear Women’s studies, they in a way question my choice of class. Except for one of my previous roommates that already took the course and gave me some pointers. My friend Dzu thought I was weird for taking the class. Two of my roommates Ryann and Torria both thought it was a good experience for me and thought it was a decent decision.

I asked these same people what they thought of when they heard the word feminism. There were slightly varying responses, but at the same time, they were the same. Dzu described a feminist as a crazy non-feminine woman. He also thinks that a feminist searches for things that are their rights and then goes around and exploits them. Torria said she thought of an extreme female activist. While Ryann pictures a head-strong yet close-minded woman.

I am not a feminist. I do believe that there are rights that should be shared with everyone, but at the same time, I do not go out and protest or make a big deal if a man has more rights than I do. If I hypothetically told my friends I wanted to become a feminist, I would have gotten some pretty interesting responses. Ryann said she would ask what happened to me and then smile and nod. Torria said she would tell me I was lying to her and that I was really confused because to her a feminist equals an angry lesbian- which I am not. Dzu didn’t want to comment on how he would perceive me if I were to become a feminist.

So, in conclusion, it seems that my age group has about the same view on feminism. Hopefully with this course I will be able to dispel that stereotype and educate my peers on the issue.

Me in a nutshell

Hi. My name is Kara, and my major is still undeclared but I'm working towards English. I'm a Junior from Richmond, VA and am taking this course in Blacksburg. I'm taking this class for the requirement and because I've heard it was entertaining. I have not taken a Women's Studies course before, and this will most likely be the only one. I have no idea what I want to do after I get out of school. I work at Cold Stone, so I may work my way up that ladder. I am not too particularly fond of this course being online, but I didn't want to sit through another lecture. So I suppose that is me in a nutshell.