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.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Domestic Goddess or Revolutionary Diva?
"The Opt-Out Revolution" by Lisa Belkin
It's funny to read both this and "Reviving Ophelia" in the same week because they are what I'm stuck between, figuring out who I am and what I'll do with a degree... and then what I'll decide in regards to having a family. My aunt is the only person I know who has decided to quit or very high level marketing job to have children, she lives in Austin and I'm so proud of her, but it seems to far from a decision I'll ever have to make. I already know the advantages of my writing degree are that I have flexibility in the freelance world and if I want to write novels a lot of that can be done from home, but how do I get anyone to read my work. I want my children to know they can not just have successful jobs in a financial sense, but fulfilling in an emotional sense. The further I'm getting in this course the more I also want to help other women. I have another aunt whose on welfare whose significant other robbed a bank and left her with three daughters, the oldest of whom is making choices that lead her to early sexuality and apathy towards education. There is just too much.
"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Modern State of Motherhood"
While this brings light to a lot of issues I've had to question it comes down to basic choice. Where does a woman's ambition lie-- in the raising of children or the development of a career. My sister recently found out she was pregnant and is due in January. Due to some different choices she and I are both in the first semester's of our junior year, her at OSU Tulsa, myself here at OU. Comparing the choices we made when we found out we were pregnant is the backbone of the beginning of this issue. Whether or not she will finish her degree and when she does whether she'll be able to pursue a career in that feild are much larger question marks now that she will have a child in tow. I made the choice not to have a baby and to continue my education, which I feel puts a lot more pressure on me to succeed because I sacraficed a life for this. I always thought I'd be a "working Mom", but the older I get the more I hope I'm in a position to stay home when I begin my family. I don't feel that I missed anything having spent my childhood in dare-cares, but I wonder if my mom feels as if she did. I know she's proud that she kept us in clothes and fed, but I wonder if some of her pressure on my sister and I to give her grandchildren is the sense of a void because she didn't get to see a lot of our early years. More questions *sigh*
It's funny to read both this and "Reviving Ophelia" in the same week because they are what I'm stuck between, figuring out who I am and what I'll do with a degree... and then what I'll decide in regards to having a family. My aunt is the only person I know who has decided to quit or very high level marketing job to have children, she lives in Austin and I'm so proud of her, but it seems to far from a decision I'll ever have to make. I already know the advantages of my writing degree are that I have flexibility in the freelance world and if I want to write novels a lot of that can be done from home, but how do I get anyone to read my work. I want my children to know they can not just have successful jobs in a financial sense, but fulfilling in an emotional sense. The further I'm getting in this course the more I also want to help other women. I have another aunt whose on welfare whose significant other robbed a bank and left her with three daughters, the oldest of whom is making choices that lead her to early sexuality and apathy towards education. There is just too much.
"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Modern State of Motherhood"
While this brings light to a lot of issues I've had to question it comes down to basic choice. Where does a woman's ambition lie-- in the raising of children or the development of a career. My sister recently found out she was pregnant and is due in January. Due to some different choices she and I are both in the first semester's of our junior year, her at OSU Tulsa, myself here at OU. Comparing the choices we made when we found out we were pregnant is the backbone of the beginning of this issue. Whether or not she will finish her degree and when she does whether she'll be able to pursue a career in that feild are much larger question marks now that she will have a child in tow. I made the choice not to have a baby and to continue my education, which I feel puts a lot more pressure on me to succeed because I sacraficed a life for this. I always thought I'd be a "working Mom", but the older I get the more I hope I'm in a position to stay home when I begin my family. I don't feel that I missed anything having spent my childhood in dare-cares, but I wonder if my mom feels as if she did. I know she's proud that she kept us in clothes and fed, but I wonder if some of her pressure on my sister and I to give her grandchildren is the sense of a void because she didn't get to see a lot of our early years. More questions *sigh*
Sunday, September 28, 2008
"Reviving Ophelia"
"Reviving Ophelia" by Mary Pipher:
I connected with a lot of what Pipher was saying. It's nice to know that inside a lot of the girls I wanted to be were probably going through the same things as me. The issues either exemplified myself or my sister. Amanda was humiliated by our parents whereas I was mocked for my close relationship with our Mom. She was smart and never let anyone convince her she couldn't do well academically whereas I fell in to the humiliation of being the "smart girl" that occasionally screwed up so I stayed in the middle of the pack as far as class went so when I did fail no one would notice. I think I still do that. I hate that at twenty-one I'm still fighting my identity. I hate college because I don't like to drink as much as everyone else, and I don't have friends because I work so many hours I can't go to activity meetings that occur during work hours. I've been here for three years and I am still so utterly alone and I do feel a lot the same way that I did in early high school. I keep telling myself there will be a lightning flash and I'll realize who I am, but I know it takes more work than that. I think I'm going to buy this book and read the whole thing. Maybe start therapy for myself.
"Alpha Girls" by Dan Kindlon
He has obviously never been a teenage girl. Yes, he interviewed a lot of very successful girls, and they seemed perfectly adjusted. But they all (with the exception of one) were upper class from families with education and resources, he was studying class not feminism. Of course these girls are confident they've gone to largely all-girl school which of course harbor more confidence and self sufficiency for women. He's a jackass. Those girls weren't going to tell him their problems in one interview, they don't trust adults, especially male adults, that much. He's clueless.
Soundtrack
"Mary Jane" by Alanis Morisette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvu-ZvzJjFw
"She Talks to Angels" by The Black Crowes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a76FeV2-Dw
"Wasted" by Carrie Underwood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeavmGw2GUQ
"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSG4Cml7HXs
"Give It Up or Let Me Go" by the Dixie Chicks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITAdd5a7pDs
"Wide Open Space" by the Dixie Chicks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlDPPu53V80
"Call Me When You're Sober" by Evanescence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEoP43Pv57k
"Where is Your Boy Tonight" by Fall Out Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qGUVwUxmbY&feature=related
"Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWhMrLae-7Y
"Take me or Leave me" from RENT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CukH2QM7Ni8
"Virginia Woolf" by The Indigo Girls (no link available)
"Wonder" by Natalie Merchant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vx3ndjsalw
"Date Rape" by Sublime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtb73qp0mmc
I connected with a lot of what Pipher was saying. It's nice to know that inside a lot of the girls I wanted to be were probably going through the same things as me. The issues either exemplified myself or my sister. Amanda was humiliated by our parents whereas I was mocked for my close relationship with our Mom. She was smart and never let anyone convince her she couldn't do well academically whereas I fell in to the humiliation of being the "smart girl" that occasionally screwed up so I stayed in the middle of the pack as far as class went so when I did fail no one would notice. I think I still do that. I hate that at twenty-one I'm still fighting my identity. I hate college because I don't like to drink as much as everyone else, and I don't have friends because I work so many hours I can't go to activity meetings that occur during work hours. I've been here for three years and I am still so utterly alone and I do feel a lot the same way that I did in early high school. I keep telling myself there will be a lightning flash and I'll realize who I am, but I know it takes more work than that. I think I'm going to buy this book and read the whole thing. Maybe start therapy for myself.
"Alpha Girls" by Dan Kindlon
He has obviously never been a teenage girl. Yes, he interviewed a lot of very successful girls, and they seemed perfectly adjusted. But they all (with the exception of one) were upper class from families with education and resources, he was studying class not feminism. Of course these girls are confident they've gone to largely all-girl school which of course harbor more confidence and self sufficiency for women. He's a jackass. Those girls weren't going to tell him their problems in one interview, they don't trust adults, especially male adults, that much. He's clueless.
Soundtrack
"Mary Jane" by Alanis Morisette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvu-ZvzJjFw
"She Talks to Angels" by The Black Crowes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a76FeV2-Dw
"Wasted" by Carrie Underwood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeavmGw2GUQ
"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSG4Cml7HXs
"Give It Up or Let Me Go" by the Dixie Chicks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITAdd5a7pDs
"Wide Open Space" by the Dixie Chicks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlDPPu53V80
"Call Me When You're Sober" by Evanescence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEoP43Pv57k
"Where is Your Boy Tonight" by Fall Out Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qGUVwUxmbY&feature=related
"Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWhMrLae-7Y
"Take me or Leave me" from RENT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CukH2QM7Ni8
"Virginia Woolf" by The Indigo Girls (no link available)
"Wonder" by Natalie Merchant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vx3ndjsalw
"Date Rape" by Sublime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtb73qp0mmc
Sunday, September 21, 2008
"Are We Postfeminist? Education, Work, and a Nation in Flux?"
Basically what Rowe-Finkbeiner is saying is that progress is being made, but slowly, and disproportionately. The question is, as a the third wave, are we satisfied with the rate at which changes are happening and with the advantage being towards white, educated women. The optimistic hope would be that as educated white women come to power that they will advocate for their "colored" peers, but I can see how that wouldn't be enough for those peers. I'm not sure if, being in the disadvantaged, I would trust that advocacy would eventually happen.
Then there's the Mom issue. I want to be a mother, but having grown up as poor as I did, maybe it would be better to leave that to women with money and to eventually adopt. It's amazing that women disclose anything in job interviews.
Questions, questions, questions, I just feel like that's all we get. There are no answers, there is probably an argument that it is our job that we answer these questions, but it seems so... pointless. Change is going at the pace that it will, so why keep questioning it? But then if we don't question will the change slow or overturn itself.
"The Politics of Black Women's Studies"
An Introduction to All Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave"
Basically what Rowe-Finkbeiner is saying is that progress is being made, but slowly, and disproportionately. The question is, as a the third wave, are we satisfied with the rate at which changes are happening and with the advantage being towards white, educated women. The optimistic hope would be that as educated white women come to power that they will advocate for their "colored" peers, but I can see how that wouldn't be enough for those peers. I'm not sure if, being in the disadvantaged, I would trust that advocacy would eventually happen.
Then there's the Mom issue. I want to be a mother, but having grown up as poor as I did, maybe it would be better to leave that to women with money and to eventually adopt. It's amazing that women disclose anything in job interviews.
Questions, questions, questions, I just feel like that's all we get. There are no answers, there is probably an argument that it is our job that we answer these questions, but it seems so... pointless. Change is going at the pace that it will, so why keep questioning it? But then if we don't question will the change slow or overturn itself.
"The Politics of Black Women's Studies"
An Introduction to All Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave"
I feel strange writing about the politics of Black women's studies. I mean I'm not black, and I've known few Black people and those that I do know I've never spoken with about how they feel about how they are presented, or that they're not presented in education. Reading this makes me want to call my manager Rita and ask her about all of these things, but I don't know if it would be a sore subject, or what I would do with the knowledge once I had it. A part of me thinks that of course there needs to be a Black women's studies class, but then I wander at what point do we stop specializing I mean with mix races and sexual/gender identities being what they are will we have to one day have a Native-African-Hispanic-Asian women's studies course as well. I mean I realize that it seems a bit out of the realm of what will come to be, but then again... not so much. I think the emphasis should be on balancing what already exists rather than further segregating and specializing things. When a course only appeals to one group others get lost, and interest usually doesn't sustain to keep the course going. I understand that concept that a white professor shouldn't necessarily be teaching about African American anything, but there are always panels and guest speaking that can be done. The reading moved me and I loved that it was more answers and definitives than questions, but I'm just not sure of the practicality of the assertions.
Academic Future:
I'm an English-Writing student and I think an important part of being involved in an artistic community, such as writing, is to be open to diversity and to be willing to learn about everything, yes I picked women's studies because it is more personal, but that doesn't keep me from being interested in Native/Aboriginal studies as well. I'm not sure if I'm going to go ahead with the Women's Studies minor as I had intended because I find myself more and more frustrated with the class and it's lack of action and continuing questions. I'm not sure if the idea is to inspire us to answer questions, but it is hard to effect change without a place to start other than questions.
Academic Future:
I'm an English-Writing student and I think an important part of being involved in an artistic community, such as writing, is to be open to diversity and to be willing to learn about everything, yes I picked women's studies because it is more personal, but that doesn't keep me from being interested in Native/Aboriginal studies as well. I'm not sure if I'm going to go ahead with the Women's Studies minor as I had intended because I find myself more and more frustrated with the class and it's lack of action and continuing questions. I'm not sure if the idea is to inspire us to answer questions, but it is hard to effect change without a place to start other than questions.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Past Presents
"Iron Jawed Angels"
I first saw this film when it premiered on HBO. I was thirteen at the time and searching for my place in the world. I went through my political idealism phase very young and it was during that part of my adolescence that I first encountered the concept of feminism. After the film I started looking around and seeing all the injustices of gender. Growing up in a trailer park outside of a suburban Oklahoma town there was a lot to see. Over the years I've mellowed and have realized change comes with time, but watching "Iron Jawed Angels" again, got me just as fired up as the first time I saw it. We owe so much to these women and to ignore it seem to be taking it for granted, but then I realize all things have cycles, after great activism there is generally a decline in public involvement until a time when resources can be replenished and a new fight can begin, I think my age group is on the edge of such a decline. We (as women) have been backstage laying ground work for awhile, but I think as we come in to our own, get our degrees and go out in to the world we are going to be stretching limits and creating foundations for younger generations to built on, whether we take center stage or continue a more quiet fight.
Manifesta's Dinner Party:
This article, well book introduction really, makes me want to start an organization here on campus. It creates the urge to form a bond and start discussion. I had an abortion earlier this year. I haven't told anyone, except my mom and my sister. I probably wouldn't post it here if I thought anyone would really read it besides Dr. Pendly and Yaisa, plus there are forty people in class and none of them know me. I'm ashamed and it's hard. I would love to have a group to talk to, a "judgment free zone" so to speak, but I don't trust that to be possible here in the bible belt, maybe it isn't possible anywhere. It's encouraging to know that there are amazing strong women getting together though, even if they're not raising revolutionary flags or leading protests, just to know that personal progress can be made and maintained and sympathized with.
I first saw this film when it premiered on HBO. I was thirteen at the time and searching for my place in the world. I went through my political idealism phase very young and it was during that part of my adolescence that I first encountered the concept of feminism. After the film I started looking around and seeing all the injustices of gender. Growing up in a trailer park outside of a suburban Oklahoma town there was a lot to see. Over the years I've mellowed and have realized change comes with time, but watching "Iron Jawed Angels" again, got me just as fired up as the first time I saw it. We owe so much to these women and to ignore it seem to be taking it for granted, but then I realize all things have cycles, after great activism there is generally a decline in public involvement until a time when resources can be replenished and a new fight can begin, I think my age group is on the edge of such a decline. We (as women) have been backstage laying ground work for awhile, but I think as we come in to our own, get our degrees and go out in to the world we are going to be stretching limits and creating foundations for younger generations to built on, whether we take center stage or continue a more quiet fight.
Manifesta's Dinner Party:
This article, well book introduction really, makes me want to start an organization here on campus. It creates the urge to form a bond and start discussion. I had an abortion earlier this year. I haven't told anyone, except my mom and my sister. I probably wouldn't post it here if I thought anyone would really read it besides Dr. Pendly and Yaisa, plus there are forty people in class and none of them know me. I'm ashamed and it's hard. I would love to have a group to talk to, a "judgment free zone" so to speak, but I don't trust that to be possible here in the bible belt, maybe it isn't possible anywhere. It's encouraging to know that there are amazing strong women getting together though, even if they're not raising revolutionary flags or leading protests, just to know that personal progress can be made and maintained and sympathized with.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Statistics: Media Rage
Okay, so first of all, note to anyone: Don't interview people just after reading disturbing statistics and being pissed off at the media, because it will only lead your older interviewee to chuckle and look at you as if you were a child learning to walk.
Pearly is the woman I interviewed. She is much past forty-five, but with mischief in her eyes wouldn't tell me how much past. She is the mother of my manager at Lane Bryant and an African American. She worked to support her family through several deadbeat male significant others at a time when women "just didn't do that sort of thing" she was fighting multiple oppression due to her gender and her race, but she didn't have the option of doing anything else. She constantly had to ignore men's ignorance and rude behavior from downright cruelty and sexual harassment, to the discourtesy of not even saying her name properly, but through this she has not become bitter. She is a loving caring, active member of her community. She has decided, however, that though she will vote, the fights of feminism are for the young. She claims to have fought her battles and has encouraged myself and her daughter (who is in her forties) that it is now our burden to bear and the future of respect for our gender (and their race) is up to us.
After the doing the reading I quoted her some of the arguments against feminism, those of our inability to cope with the responsibilities we fought for, and what the media had to say and while she couldn't recall having read a lot of them at the time, she said she wasn't surprised. She said of course the media and government want us to believe that the fight is over because they don't want to change. They don't want harder competition and the like.
Personally, I'm angry that I didn't realize these things were said. I'm angry that our budgets keep getting smaller and smaller. And I'm angry that I've let myself be duped in to thinking we're almost to equality when we're still so far from it.
Pearly is the woman I interviewed. She is much past forty-five, but with mischief in her eyes wouldn't tell me how much past. She is the mother of my manager at Lane Bryant and an African American. She worked to support her family through several deadbeat male significant others at a time when women "just didn't do that sort of thing" she was fighting multiple oppression due to her gender and her race, but she didn't have the option of doing anything else. She constantly had to ignore men's ignorance and rude behavior from downright cruelty and sexual harassment, to the discourtesy of not even saying her name properly, but through this she has not become bitter. She is a loving caring, active member of her community. She has decided, however, that though she will vote, the fights of feminism are for the young. She claims to have fought her battles and has encouraged myself and her daughter (who is in her forties) that it is now our burden to bear and the future of respect for our gender (and their race) is up to us.
After the doing the reading I quoted her some of the arguments against feminism, those of our inability to cope with the responsibilities we fought for, and what the media had to say and while she couldn't recall having read a lot of them at the time, she said she wasn't surprised. She said of course the media and government want us to believe that the fight is over because they don't want to change. They don't want harder competition and the like.
Personally, I'm angry that I didn't realize these things were said. I'm angry that our budgets keep getting smaller and smaller. And I'm angry that I've let myself be duped in to thinking we're almost to equality when we're still so far from it.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Voting Interview
Susan
She votes in every election-- local, state or national. She registered to vote the day she turned eighteen. She is also active in the military which I think adds motivation to vote because she interacts with choices that are made on a daily basis on a more personal level than the rest of us.
Rita
She hasn't voted since she was young. She thinks that the men in Washington are going to do as they please regardless of her vote. Since moving back to Oklahoma, three years ago, she hasn't even re-registered.
Lana
She votes in National Elections if she has the time, but otherwise feels that she doesn't have the time to do the research to make a truly informed decision and thus shouldn't vote.
LaDonna
Claims to have voted in every election, but has never mentioned politics and knows very little about local, state or national campaigns.
TJ
Votes often locally, state and nationally, but feels that is a private matter.
Rose
Has never voted. She moved to this country from Africa and doesn't feel very invested in politics.
Joyce
Votes in every election. Especially locally because she has six children who have gone through the public school system and works for the state as a counselor.
Bre, Rebecca, and Jamiece
Registered in high school, but haven't voted.
She votes in every election-- local, state or national. She registered to vote the day she turned eighteen. She is also active in the military which I think adds motivation to vote because she interacts with choices that are made on a daily basis on a more personal level than the rest of us.
Rita
She hasn't voted since she was young. She thinks that the men in Washington are going to do as they please regardless of her vote. Since moving back to Oklahoma, three years ago, she hasn't even re-registered.
Lana
She votes in National Elections if she has the time, but otherwise feels that she doesn't have the time to do the research to make a truly informed decision and thus shouldn't vote.
LaDonna
Claims to have voted in every election, but has never mentioned politics and knows very little about local, state or national campaigns.
TJ
Votes often locally, state and nationally, but feels that is a private matter.
Rose
Has never voted. She moved to this country from Africa and doesn't feel very invested in politics.
Joyce
Votes in every election. Especially locally because she has six children who have gone through the public school system and works for the state as a counselor.
Bre, Rebecca, and Jamiece
Registered in high school, but haven't voted.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Bio Blog: The Beginning
Hi.
My name is Brittany and I'm a student the University of Oklahoma. This blog is part of the Introduction to Women's Studies course I'm taking this semester. On the off chance someone besides my instructor/TA end up on here and have any suggestions, questions, comments or resources I should make myself aware of during this episode of learning, please feel free to let me know.
Women's Studies is not my major. I'm at OU for the English-Writing program, but I think that women and their role in the world can effect any art form, especially writing. Knowing how women have become active and continue to make changes in the world is encouraging on a personal level for me to break in to the literary world. Another reason I decided to try to introduce myself to Women's Studies is that my family has instilled on me the responsibility of becoming active in the world and to do that at this point in history you have to pick a cause and I could easily see myself as an advocate for women's rights in my writing and in my life.
The questions I’d like to answer for myself this semester are:
How can I become involved on a local and global level for women’s rights?
How can I use my writing (fiction and nonfiction) to make positive statements for women and for change to better women’s roles in society?
Is the third wave of feminism something that I want to associate myself with on a personal and professional level? And do I have perspective that can help to further current and past postive changes for women?
How can changes be made supporting women in the political and personal arenas?
What will I teach my future children about the women in history and where women are going in society?
My name is Brittany and I'm a student the University of Oklahoma. This blog is part of the Introduction to Women's Studies course I'm taking this semester. On the off chance someone besides my instructor/TA end up on here and have any suggestions, questions, comments or resources I should make myself aware of during this episode of learning, please feel free to let me know.
Women's Studies is not my major. I'm at OU for the English-Writing program, but I think that women and their role in the world can effect any art form, especially writing. Knowing how women have become active and continue to make changes in the world is encouraging on a personal level for me to break in to the literary world. Another reason I decided to try to introduce myself to Women's Studies is that my family has instilled on me the responsibility of becoming active in the world and to do that at this point in history you have to pick a cause and I could easily see myself as an advocate for women's rights in my writing and in my life.
The questions I’d like to answer for myself this semester are:
How can I become involved on a local and global level for women’s rights?
How can I use my writing (fiction and nonfiction) to make positive statements for women and for change to better women’s roles in society?
Is the third wave of feminism something that I want to associate myself with on a personal and professional level? And do I have perspective that can help to further current and past postive changes for women?
How can changes be made supporting women in the political and personal arenas?
What will I teach my future children about the women in history and where women are going in society?
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