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.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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).
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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*
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