Feminism is a lucid and, hopefully, free flowing concept that the US has struggled for generations to define and enact. The ability for the definition of feminism to change is part of the appeal of its fight, as well as a disadvantage because at this point in our culture everything is about speed and efficiency so if there isn’t a catch-phrase or slogan associated with a cause it’s more difficult to attract volunteers and advocates. My personal definition of feminism is: an advocate for equal rights.
In the beginning or the “first wave” of feminism it was all about the legality of the vote. Those original women were idealists who thought that as soon as women had a role in politics their role in all other aspects of life would become better. The issue is that women have taken the two rights of going to work, the battle of the second wave, and voting and have accepted them as all they’re able to get. This is in large part due to the Equal Rights Amendment continually failing in Congress, during both the first and second wave.
I do find myself a feminist, but I don’t think it means much until the third wave either begins, or if it has already begun that it gains some notoriety. The battle of gay rights is a large step for equal rights, but there is a lot more ground to cover and few finding the advantage of taking part.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Final: Part One
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher, Ph.D. Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She Is Changing the World by Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., and The Eternal Feminine by Rosario Castellanos were the most touching readings of the semester. They all emphasized the importance of a girl or woman’s confidence and its role in her empowerment personally, which reflects culturally and thus globally. Before a woman can take a role in politics or even in an environment as small as her community she has to believe that she can make a difference and create a support system that allows her to continue believing that regardless of adversity, which is what these readings tell the world.
To begin with Faludi tells us that the our culture is against us, not to defeat women or feminism, but to make women aware of the subtext of the media and how it treats women as a whole and how that effects each woman’s psyche individually. To be forewarned is to be forearmed and to begin a semester of Women’s Studies with this reading is incredibly effective, because it begins with a moral outrage and the following readings turn that moral outrage into a cause that this generation is desperately in need of.
Baumgardner and Richards Manifesta even the small bit given to the class underlines the importance of creating a community of women within the larger community in which those women live and work. There is no doubt that these women faced a lot getting to the high ranked positions they were in at the time this was written, but having one another’s support has everything to do with why they didn’t give up, which encourages this next level of women to do the same.
Mary Pipher takes us back to before these women were exploited in the media, or banded together to overcome these underminings into the importance of development in who a woman will become. Pipher reminds us that regardless of how sullen and moody a teenage girl may be she has a potential that needs to be encouraged rather than stifled by the common conceptions of who or what she should be, because at the point she starts making choices based on brand names and how she’s supposed to appear she becomes a what rather than a who.
Kindlon gives us the other side of that argument in that some girls develop beautifully on their own. That they are not as easily influenced by the media and culture as Pipher seems to think, but both perspectives are true in that there is no formula for a girls adolescence. She may walk in to the world confident and determined to change injustices, but on the same token she may not understand they there are injustices or more importantly that she has the power to change them.
The Eternal Feminine by Rosario Castellanos gives the image of what could be. The reading is a bit more user-friendly in that it isn’t facts and graphs, but a play and thus entertainment by definition. Having a wide rather of options to access the information is important. This also broadens our Women’s Studies’ horizons past that of just the U.S. and our history, but that of other women, and how other cultures have treated their citizens, their life force, without the reverence and respect each individual human deserves. Castellanos gives an outline of what each woman can be: a revolutionary, someone who works within the system but still tries to create change, a wife, a mother, a lover and so on.
All of these make me realize that while I may never run for office I can make a difference by giving girls an outlet, so when I can I will open teen writing workshops and create an internship role when I’m working on my novels that involve research. I also intend to write about strong women, both recreating history and establishing new images of the anti-damsel in distress.
To begin with Faludi tells us that the our culture is against us, not to defeat women or feminism, but to make women aware of the subtext of the media and how it treats women as a whole and how that effects each woman’s psyche individually. To be forewarned is to be forearmed and to begin a semester of Women’s Studies with this reading is incredibly effective, because it begins with a moral outrage and the following readings turn that moral outrage into a cause that this generation is desperately in need of.
Baumgardner and Richards Manifesta even the small bit given to the class underlines the importance of creating a community of women within the larger community in which those women live and work. There is no doubt that these women faced a lot getting to the high ranked positions they were in at the time this was written, but having one another’s support has everything to do with why they didn’t give up, which encourages this next level of women to do the same.
Mary Pipher takes us back to before these women were exploited in the media, or banded together to overcome these underminings into the importance of development in who a woman will become. Pipher reminds us that regardless of how sullen and moody a teenage girl may be she has a potential that needs to be encouraged rather than stifled by the common conceptions of who or what she should be, because at the point she starts making choices based on brand names and how she’s supposed to appear she becomes a what rather than a who.
Kindlon gives us the other side of that argument in that some girls develop beautifully on their own. That they are not as easily influenced by the media and culture as Pipher seems to think, but both perspectives are true in that there is no formula for a girls adolescence. She may walk in to the world confident and determined to change injustices, but on the same token she may not understand they there are injustices or more importantly that she has the power to change them.
The Eternal Feminine by Rosario Castellanos gives the image of what could be. The reading is a bit more user-friendly in that it isn’t facts and graphs, but a play and thus entertainment by definition. Having a wide rather of options to access the information is important. This also broadens our Women’s Studies’ horizons past that of just the U.S. and our history, but that of other women, and how other cultures have treated their citizens, their life force, without the reverence and respect each individual human deserves. Castellanos gives an outline of what each woman can be: a revolutionary, someone who works within the system but still tries to create change, a wife, a mother, a lover and so on.
All of these make me realize that while I may never run for office I can make a difference by giving girls an outlet, so when I can I will open teen writing workshops and create an internship role when I’m working on my novels that involve research. I also intend to write about strong women, both recreating history and establishing new images of the anti-damsel in distress.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Reading Gender
I am regretfully behind in most of my courses at this point, I'm not sure how I let it happen, but I have, so here is the beginning of my paper so that you know I'm working on it and I will continue to revise.
"The Eternal Feminine" by Rosario Castellanos
The most poignant scene for a modern American/Western woman in this work is that of the Apotheosis, which opens with Lupita being pleased with her choices of getting rid of her husband and children and enjoying her life of solitude. In this scene Lupita, our protagonist and representative of what women should be, dreams that she's won a sweepstakes providing her with all of the appliances a woman should need. The image of a woman's worth being measured, not by her own satisfaction, but by that of the household/personal goods she has accumulated is common and discouraging to women searching for a fulfilled existence. The irony comes when Lupita awakens and says "What a horrible nightmare! I never would have believed it..." because this is to be believed and still happens over thirty years after the publication and in a completely different country ("The Eternal Feminine" 296). While this scene is short and seemingly bizarre it portrays a lot of what women are fed and led to believe by the media and modern society. Castellanos makes a lot of points about how poorly historical images of women are portrayed, which is true, but unless we address how modern women are portrayed we will never be given the credibility to set history straight and will have a further laundry list of images to modify. Lupita in her “disguise as a white-haired old lady” is contented with her life, but is told that because she is a mother and the image of a perfect woman she “deserves” and must have appliances to make her life easier, while she has no desire for such.
"The Eternal Feminine" by Rosario Castellanos
The most poignant scene for a modern American/Western woman in this work is that of the Apotheosis, which opens with Lupita being pleased with her choices of getting rid of her husband and children and enjoying her life of solitude. In this scene Lupita, our protagonist and representative of what women should be, dreams that she's won a sweepstakes providing her with all of the appliances a woman should need. The image of a woman's worth being measured, not by her own satisfaction, but by that of the household/personal goods she has accumulated is common and discouraging to women searching for a fulfilled existence. The irony comes when Lupita awakens and says "What a horrible nightmare! I never would have believed it..." because this is to be believed and still happens over thirty years after the publication and in a completely different country ("The Eternal Feminine" 296). While this scene is short and seemingly bizarre it portrays a lot of what women are fed and led to believe by the media and modern society. Castellanos makes a lot of points about how poorly historical images of women are portrayed, which is true, but unless we address how modern women are portrayed we will never be given the credibility to set history straight and will have a further laundry list of images to modify. Lupita in her “disguise as a white-haired old lady” is contented with her life, but is told that because she is a mother and the image of a perfect woman she “deserves” and must have appliances to make her life easier, while she has no desire for such.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
NGO Articles and Responses
"The Globe Trotting Sneaker" by Cynthia Enloe
Years ago a teacher mentioned what these companies were doing and I was outraged. An outraged twelve year old only got laughed at and made fun of. Instead of encouraging me to think about it and work through in my mind how to solve these problems I was told that they weren't my problems to solve. Even my neo-hippie parents just rolled their eyes and figured I'd lose interest, which I did, but not before I learned that apathy is contagious and one of the most dangerous afflictions threatening the world at large, if we can't make people care about other people regardless of the country in which they had the fortune or more importantly misfortune to be born how will positive change ever be enacted? (I suppose I'm realizing it isn't the questions that upset me, but the lack of answers)
"Understanding the other sister: The case of Arab feminism" by Susan Muaddi Darraj
There is so much work and research to be done before I feel like I can even comment on the issues of Arabian women. I love that I now have the titles of some works that I can look up. I've always been interested in cultures and their interactions because I don't have a positive definition of culture to associate with my American Caucasian-ness because it is such a stigma to be white, not that is shouldn't be because we have enacted so many injustices, but it is most definitely discouraging trying to figure a way out of the ignorance associated with our identities as white Americans.
To be continued...
Years ago a teacher mentioned what these companies were doing and I was outraged. An outraged twelve year old only got laughed at and made fun of. Instead of encouraging me to think about it and work through in my mind how to solve these problems I was told that they weren't my problems to solve. Even my neo-hippie parents just rolled their eyes and figured I'd lose interest, which I did, but not before I learned that apathy is contagious and one of the most dangerous afflictions threatening the world at large, if we can't make people care about other people regardless of the country in which they had the fortune or more importantly misfortune to be born how will positive change ever be enacted? (I suppose I'm realizing it isn't the questions that upset me, but the lack of answers)
"Understanding the other sister: The case of Arab feminism" by Susan Muaddi Darraj
There is so much work and research to be done before I feel like I can even comment on the issues of Arabian women. I love that I now have the titles of some works that I can look up. I've always been interested in cultures and their interactions because I don't have a positive definition of culture to associate with my American Caucasian-ness because it is such a stigma to be white, not that is shouldn't be because we have enacted so many injustices, but it is most definitely discouraging trying to figure a way out of the ignorance associated with our identities as white Americans.
To be continued...
Reading Gender: "Billy Elliot"
The 2000 film "Billy Elliot" deals with the roles of men in many layers. The underlying purpose of the film is not merely the points of plot, which allow men to defy stereotypes, but also to expose the hypocrisy of people to desire change which benefits them, but not to accept change which they do not understand.
Hypocrisy is most clearly open to the viewer in the scene in which the dance teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson (played by Julia Walters), comes to the home of the Elliot family, and entreats Billie's father, Jackie (played by Gary Lewis), to allow his eleven year old son to audition for a place in the Royal Ballet School. This scene is the culmination of Billie's rebellion against social norms, in the same way that the scene in which the coal miners are running from the police is the culmination of the father and brother's characters rebellion against the social construct that as laborers, or blue collar workers, they have no right to complain. They work against this assumed role of subservience by going on strike, while Billie does so with his ballet training. The "discussion" that ensues is more of a yelling-match than anything else, between Mrs. Wilkinson's character and that of Billie's brother, Tony (played by Jamie Draven). At one point Tony puts Billie on the table and commands him to dance, this displays the powerlessness of Billie's position both as the youngest member of the household and more symbolically of his being placed in to a definition of a man by the society (rural, conservative, traditional England) he was born in to. The commandeering attitude of Tony's character exposes the hypocrisy of men fighting for change on their own terms, but not accepting that change in ways they are don't understand.
An interesting aspect of the film is the fear of Billy’s character becoming somehow soft or effeminate by becoming a dancer, when the very men that are in fear of this are subservient themselves. Tony and Jackie’s characters are subject to the whims and fluctuations of the coal mining industry and those who run it, which places them in the more traditionally viewed feminine role of taking orders rather than the traditional masculinity of being he who gives commands. Billy has also, inadvertently, placed himself in a position which allows him more freedom, and thus a higher status as a man by choosing a profession which allows him the choice of which roles to portray and what schedules to adhere to. This is shown quite subtly in the film by Billie: first dancing against a brick wall, then a wall of tin which is less rigid and easier to break through, to dancing in the street which represents the freedom his career will afford him.
Films must be read critically just as literature, and gender must be read critically as well. There are pages and pages of observations which could shed light on the roles of gender in the Western world inside the film “Billie Elliot” which will, no doubt, draw sympathy and attention to the plight of men imprisoned by gender roles.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
"Descent"
Better late than never (don't worry I don't expect full credit, and I wouldn't be shocked if you didn't accept this at all, but encase you do I will consider you a kind and benevolent leader :D).
Last week the Norman Women's Collective watched the movie "Descent" starring Rosario Dawson and Chad Faust. The plot of the movie is that a college girl is raped by a guy she has met at a party and then goes on a date with. After the rape (which she doesn't tell anyone about) she stays in her college town rather than going home for the summer and starts hanging out with the wrong crowd (as an after school special might say). In this crowd she feels as if she gains some power by experimenting with drugs and promiscous sex on her own terms, which aren't really her own because they are greatly influenced by a local DJ who leads this den of debauchery. When the summer comes to a close the new Maya (Rosario Dawson's character, and our protaganist) becomes a teaching assistant in a class which her rapist is taking. After calling the student out on cheating during the mid-term he proposes that she did so only to hang out with him again. She uses this opportunity to invite him to her appartment and enact her revenge by having the club DJ rape the rapist.
The honesty of the film is not only in the plot, but in the way it is depicted. There are few fancy or unrealisitc settings and even the characters looks as if they dressed themselves, we aren't watching the rich and famous play; this could very easily be any one of us. It was interesting talking to the girls in the Collective about this because we all thought that this would have turned out so differently had she had a support system. Maya doesn't go to a counsellor she doesn't tell her mother, she didn't even tell her best friend. She descends inside of her own mind, where the observer is left with the conclusion that she is depressed and feeling a certain amount of guilt. The insult of the injury is even worse in that Maya's first instinct was to walk away from Jared (her rapist) when he approaches her at the party and before her violates her she lets him in on intimate details of her childhood and the pain she felt losing her boyfriend before coming to school.
The final scene is the most poigniant in that Maya's character cries watching Jared be hurt. There is no consolation in her vengence.
Last week the Norman Women's Collective watched the movie "Descent" starring Rosario Dawson and Chad Faust. The plot of the movie is that a college girl is raped by a guy she has met at a party and then goes on a date with. After the rape (which she doesn't tell anyone about) she stays in her college town rather than going home for the summer and starts hanging out with the wrong crowd (as an after school special might say). In this crowd she feels as if she gains some power by experimenting with drugs and promiscous sex on her own terms, which aren't really her own because they are greatly influenced by a local DJ who leads this den of debauchery. When the summer comes to a close the new Maya (Rosario Dawson's character, and our protaganist) becomes a teaching assistant in a class which her rapist is taking. After calling the student out on cheating during the mid-term he proposes that she did so only to hang out with him again. She uses this opportunity to invite him to her appartment and enact her revenge by having the club DJ rape the rapist.
The honesty of the film is not only in the plot, but in the way it is depicted. There are few fancy or unrealisitc settings and even the characters looks as if they dressed themselves, we aren't watching the rich and famous play; this could very easily be any one of us. It was interesting talking to the girls in the Collective about this because we all thought that this would have turned out so differently had she had a support system. Maya doesn't go to a counsellor she doesn't tell her mother, she didn't even tell her best friend. She descends inside of her own mind, where the observer is left with the conclusion that she is depressed and feeling a certain amount of guilt. The insult of the injury is even worse in that Maya's first instinct was to walk away from Jared (her rapist) when he approaches her at the party and before her violates her she lets him in on intimate details of her childhood and the pain she felt losing her boyfriend before coming to school.
The final scene is the most poigniant in that Maya's character cries watching Jared be hurt. There is no consolation in her vengence.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Beast of Beauty
"The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women" by Naomi Wolf
There is a gap between beauty and feminism that needs to be addressed. While beauty may "be in the eye of the beholder" the beholder is influenced largely by what they are shown. When I went through my staunch Feminist (capitalized for inflection) phase I was very anti-"beauty" I shunned cosmetics and wore gender neutral clothes. As I've grown older I have softened and fallen in to the ideas of associating myself more fully with the feminine, but I do so more to fit in than to stand out as being female. I do feel that more judgment comes from women than from men as far as appearance goes. Yes, heterosexual men appreciate a well (or scantily) clad woman, they tend not to think less of one that is dressed more gender neutrally, whereas women are quick to throw terms like "dike" out in to the world. Beauty needs to become a choice and there need to be more qualifiers for it. Just as in other languages there are more terms for love than the one in English, I'm sure there are more concepts of beauty. I think that a large part of our infatuation with the physical is the relative youth of the United States as a nation and, though tragic, some of the issues of eating disorders and self-mutilation are just a growing pain of a developing society.
"Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism" by Linda M. Scott
This article is much more effective in keeping the readers' attention and giving clear images and examples of the "beauty" concept. Knowing that women have struggled against their nature to adorn themselves as society sees fit, or not, gives us third-wavers freedom to change at will, but I hope it inspired others, as it has myself to accept the differences of others. I know I'm prone to thinking that girls who spend a lot of time on their appearance are more likely to let themselves be objectified and to allow their self-worth to be established based on the physical desirability, but I also have to realize that they are only reacting to what they see, and my own personal challenge has to be to reshape the value system that women grade themselves on. Being overweight I spent a lot of time feeling less than because I wasn't desired, so I placed sex as my number one priority and wasted a lot of time figuring out how to be wanted. Now that I have so engrained in to myself the flirtation of sexuality I'm balancing the act by trying to figure out how to make men realize I am more than the sum of my anatomy. While I am still not the physical ideal I have let myself portray that I will let myself be seen as a sex object, and that has got to stop. While I think the media allows the modern American a time of casual sex without much reproach, that period however brief can and does cause longterm damage to the psyche (for both genders though it is more apparent in women).
Advertisement
The Desperate Housewives (Season 5) Promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPL5NeYgAFo
Having these women dressed in red playing with apples is indicative of so many stereotypes. We are to equate women, no matter how socially contrained (as housewives are traditionally thought to be) with temptation and the distruction of the garden of Eden of Christian mythology. These women are to be the downfall of humanity. How so? Well they backstab, lie, cheat and decieve, as well as place premiums of appearance over reality (mostly Bre). Their main concern is not that of their impact on the world at large, but that of keeping their man and making their kids the envy of others. No wonder progress seems to be stalling, this is one of the top rated shows on television right now.
There is a gap between beauty and feminism that needs to be addressed. While beauty may "be in the eye of the beholder" the beholder is influenced largely by what they are shown. When I went through my staunch Feminist (capitalized for inflection) phase I was very anti-"beauty" I shunned cosmetics and wore gender neutral clothes. As I've grown older I have softened and fallen in to the ideas of associating myself more fully with the feminine, but I do so more to fit in than to stand out as being female. I do feel that more judgment comes from women than from men as far as appearance goes. Yes, heterosexual men appreciate a well (or scantily) clad woman, they tend not to think less of one that is dressed more gender neutrally, whereas women are quick to throw terms like "dike" out in to the world. Beauty needs to become a choice and there need to be more qualifiers for it. Just as in other languages there are more terms for love than the one in English, I'm sure there are more concepts of beauty. I think that a large part of our infatuation with the physical is the relative youth of the United States as a nation and, though tragic, some of the issues of eating disorders and self-mutilation are just a growing pain of a developing society.
"Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism" by Linda M. Scott
This article is much more effective in keeping the readers' attention and giving clear images and examples of the "beauty" concept. Knowing that women have struggled against their nature to adorn themselves as society sees fit, or not, gives us third-wavers freedom to change at will, but I hope it inspired others, as it has myself to accept the differences of others. I know I'm prone to thinking that girls who spend a lot of time on their appearance are more likely to let themselves be objectified and to allow their self-worth to be established based on the physical desirability, but I also have to realize that they are only reacting to what they see, and my own personal challenge has to be to reshape the value system that women grade themselves on. Being overweight I spent a lot of time feeling less than because I wasn't desired, so I placed sex as my number one priority and wasted a lot of time figuring out how to be wanted. Now that I have so engrained in to myself the flirtation of sexuality I'm balancing the act by trying to figure out how to make men realize I am more than the sum of my anatomy. While I am still not the physical ideal I have let myself portray that I will let myself be seen as a sex object, and that has got to stop. While I think the media allows the modern American a time of casual sex without much reproach, that period however brief can and does cause longterm damage to the psyche (for both genders though it is more apparent in women).
Advertisement
The Desperate Housewives (Season 5) Promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPL5NeYgAFo
Having these women dressed in red playing with apples is indicative of so many stereotypes. We are to equate women, no matter how socially contrained (as housewives are traditionally thought to be) with temptation and the distruction of the garden of Eden of Christian mythology. These women are to be the downfall of humanity. How so? Well they backstab, lie, cheat and decieve, as well as place premiums of appearance over reality (mostly Bre). Their main concern is not that of their impact on the world at large, but that of keeping their man and making their kids the envy of others. No wonder progress seems to be stalling, this is one of the top rated shows on television right now.
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