Semester Wrap up!

So firstly I would like to admit that I was one of those people who didn't think that the F word (Feminism) had a positive connotation, and I would have never wanted to be associated with that word before this class.  I definitely have a different view now.  I should be proud of how hard a lot of women have worked to get us to where we are now and I also need to continue the fight because there are definitely still existing problems.  Another serious issue that I learned is that men can too be feminists and that feminism means that we want men and women to have equal rights and opportunities not that feminism means women want more power than men.

Before reading "Feminism is for Everybody" I never realized the divide within the female community in the fight for equal rights.  "Even though individual black women were active in contemporary feminist movement from its inception, they were not individuals who became 'stars' of the movement, who attracted the attention of mass media." (Hooks, 3) I think I had never really thought about it because I am white and I have never really been pushed to have to think about it, so I am glad that Bell Hooks brought it to my attention because the different divides within the female community are extremely important to note because they all have different agendas (beyond the main one), they all have different experiences in the movement, and they are all given different privileges or lack their of, it shows the necessary complication of feminism.

Although I personally feel women should be able to have abortions if they wish, it was extremely interesting to watch that film about abortion.  It was interesting to see how strongly both sides of the argument feel about this issue and how complicated it can be to make this issue go away and have people agree upon one outcome.  I agree with Bell Hooks when she says "the anti-choice movement is fundamentally anti-feminist."  I do think personally it is that simple.

The next idea didn't surprise me, but is definitely worth mentioning is this idea that in our patriarchal society that still exists, "fathers who live with their children in the United States now spend more time on care taking than in the past, but given fathers' absence after divorce and separation, the overall tasks of parenting still fall primarily to mothers." (Freedman, 133)  I think this went back to women and what they want to peruse as a career too.  I know after doing self reflection on myself.  One of the reason why I chose to be a teacher is definitely because I want the opportunity to have children, and be a huge presence in thier lives.  The schedule of a teacher is definitely mother friendly.

I also think another thing that stuck out to me in this class was the topic of body image.  I know that personally I had read "Steam Room Revelations" which I will not ever forget for my presentation on a short story.  This was about a woman who went through a personal journey to become comfortable with her own body.  She also learned that beauty is subjective and socially constructed, because what most of us found as not attractive in these older woman she got to know, was actually natural beauty that she saw.  Body image also stood out to me again when we saw the timeline of the Ken doll through different decades.  It was amazing to watch the transformation of Ken depending on what was "hot," "masculine," "attractive," etc.

I do think that possibly making some sort of timeline while reading the history of feminism in many of the texts would have been helpful.  I think we touched up on a lot of the huge, important, and interesting topics, however I do feel like I could have learned a little more of the famous and important names or dates.  I personally am not a great reader and because of that I have a hard time reading and remembering/comprehending a lot of information at once and I think an activity as a class to understand some of the history would have been helpful.  But this definitely has been a great class, I learned a lot about the content and myself, and I  feel like it was a necessary journey for me to go through to become more of the woman I want to be in the future.

Apartment Search....even these are gendered!

I have been extremely busy and stressed out about finding an apartment for Ithaca Graduate School next year.  It is interesting how many land lords are men.  I did run into a couple women landlords looking to show their properties, but they were definitely not the majority by any means.  It was also interesting how by going through this journey, I started to notice the things the land lords focused on to spark interest for me in their properties.  For instance, I did not go into a single apartment without the land lord telling me and bragging about how safe their properties were.  I'm sure they say that to all potential clients, but I doubt that was the first thing they said to all of their male prospects.  The land lords felt that I needed to be protected and feel safe, so they almost every time initiated the tour by stating things about security, locks, and safety.  Another thing that was interesting was they usually directed me into the kitchen and told me a lot of specific things about the stove and such, which I also do not believe they would have done to college aged boys because most could care less if the stove works. I just find it extremely interesting how the landlords know how to market their properties accordingly based upon gender stereotypes.  Anyone else have similar or different experiences as they have toured properties?

Royal Wedding Buzz!

So although I don't really care much about the royal family and who the William and Kate are, I am a female, and I know I am clique, but I do dream about my future wedding like most girls do.  So as you could imagine I did watch some of the Royal Wedding because I was curious what their wedding might look like.  I had noticed however some interesting gender dynamics through this whole buzz and the wedding itself.  I found it very interesting that only Kate got a ring in the ceremony.  She had to promise her faithfulness and have it being represented through that ring.  Usually in our culture both man and woman receive rings and they are symbols of love and fidelity, but how come in this royal wedding where the male is clearly more valued did he not too have to show a symbol of his love and fidelity to Kate too?  I had sour feelings about that because it seemed like even though this wedding stands for changes occurring in the royal family's stiff history and practices (as Kate is a "commoner" - even though I don't like that term because it makes her seem poor, I think they should refer to her a "non-royal" but that is a whole different problem) but it still showed extreme tilts towards the male in this wedding being the one that is desired over the equality in the relationship.  Another gender dynamic that stood out to me was the fact that the queen who should have been beaming to watch her grandson get married did not seem to crack a smile all through the entire ceremony.  I realize that she needs to keep up her strong persona, but she is human and I know that my grandparents, who will not be able to attend my wedding because they have previously passed, would have loved to have seen me get married and would be ecstatic and proud.  She should have showed some joy and happiness, and I thought it was interesting because she is a woman in power, and thus she is not allowed to be emotional or show weakness because of the power that she holds.  There were others as well, such as the hand off of the hand from her father to William which was in itself awkward and off putting because it was as if she could do nothing herself, even though I understand the tradition the way the did it seemed off.  I just think in times like this it is interesting to dissect the differences and comparisons we see between genders and  try to think about why they are as they are.

Lawrence Summers

I have been reading many resources for a paper that I am writing on women in math.  For those of you who don't know who Lawrence Summers is, he was the President of Harvard University and he had stated that women are biologically not created to be as strong as men in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).  He wasn't saying that all men were better than all women although many do believe he did, he was saying that if you compare the top men and the top women in STEM fields, then the men are naturally better by creation.  There are a couple of things that really upset me both in class with our speaker and in the resources.  First of all, the fact that someone who is in an extremely powerful position to help and solve this problem is saying that it is a problem that is mainly out of his control.  He didn't want to say anything that would put his college in a bad situation, so in this moment he was playing the politician for the school, but not for women and his students.  Another thing that bothered me is how even if there is some evidence to prove that in some ways this might be true, why would he feel that he was in the right to say it to the public with such little evidence.  I also truly believe that because he was a president at one of the most prestigious college, the blow to women was even worse.  Someone who deals with the most capable and intelligent young adults in the country believes that even though both women and men got into his college, they are simply not on the same level there. Anyone else enraged by this??  Because I would love to hear what you guys think!

Prostitution

This past week we read some information about prostitution in "No Turning Back."  The book claims that prostitution is "according to the concept of 'necessary evil,' society had to tolerate the existence of prostitutes because they siphoned off male lust."  They then go on to states that Brothels are " 'necessary in ministering to the passions of men who otherwise would be tempted to seduce young ladies of their acquaintance.'"  This makes men seem as though they are not human, they need sex, and they are not held responsible for their actions if they go after a women because of the NEED for sex.  This just is not a reality!  This justification to me seems ridiculous.  On another note, I went to Aruba this winter where prostitution is absolutely legal and it is not seen in the same light as we do.  They have specific institutions set up for the business.  They also have laws stating that the prostitutes have to get regular check ups for diseases and if they do not pass then they can no longer proceed with the business until they are completely cleared by medical personnel.  This goes back to what we talked about in class about choice.  These women are not looked down upon like they are in the united states for making the choice, mainly because it is a legal business and they cannot be arrested for doing it.  Just thought that it was some food for thought to think about how different places view this issue, job, profession, or whatever you would like to call it, because it is not the same everywhere around the world.

Metro-sexual..or..Gay?--why is that always the progression?

So last week I was watching Kourtney and Kim take New York (judge me if you want haha) and I couldn't believe that one of the main story lines in thier newest episode dealt with Kim mistaking a straight "metro-sexual" man for gay.  She then proceeded to try and set him up with her other gay friend.  Because she thought that he was gay she let him see her in the dressing room and he helped her dress.  She based her idea that he was gay based on nothing but stereotypes!  And then from there is got even more awkward when to guy had to tell Kim that he wasn't gay and she was shocked.  It is crazy how the crap that is on television (yes it is crap even though I do watch it) perpetuates societal problems on a daily basis.  Why does that guy have to feel guilty and feel like he needs to justify why he spends a bunch of time on himself and why he takes pride in how he presents himself. Who decided that it wasn't "masculine."  Just thought I would bring this up with the idea that we shouldn't take what we see on television as strictly entertainment, we should think about it in other peoples perspectives and be critical of what we are seeing.

Reflection on Presentations

I thought that for the most part all of the Presentation topics have been very interesting.  The one that stood out to me however, probably because of the vivid quotes that were extracted, was the one on the topic of incest.  This is a very taboo topic in our society.  It is funny, even if someone says that they are going out with their 16th cousin, we are quick to judge and think it is disgusting.  Years ago it was more than acceptable to marry a cousin, but we couldn't even imagine that being acceptable now a days.  It was very interesting when we brought up the fact that people could fall in love and not even know they were related until it was to late and the feelings were to strong.  I want to say that it should be acceptable, but because I have been socialized to think it is wrong, I guess I can't look past it.  However in today's society between adoption, loss of family closeness, or any other reasons, it may not be as easy as it sounds to know ones whole family tree.  For instance I was watching the top chef the other night and there were five people left, and they found out their family history, and two of the five people who were left were actually cousins and they didn't even know it.  So it is definitely possible, and I as well as others need to start pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable, I guess.