Throughout this course, I learned a great deal of invaluable information. Feminism, or shall I say, women’s studies, can be applicable to all majors, careers, personal lives, etc. It also intertwines with domains such as race, gender, religion, class, and sexuality. Feminism can be referenced through common stereotypes or misrepresentations, but overall, there have been several movements to challenge the notion of “anti-male” to “anti-sexism.” I hoped, in the beginning, to leave this course having explored a broad variety of issues and how feminism plays a crucial role in each of them. Fortunately, based on class discussion, the books we’ve read, and individual research I have done on my own, I feel as though I have succeeded in learning about the relevance of feminism with regard to several different and controversial topics. From writing my blogs and applying my knowledge, I feel as though I have challenged some of my own stereotypes and have become a more open-minded person.

Controversial topics have many foundations in science, religion, politics, etc. This is especially relevant in the pro-life vs. pro-choice argument. Feminists would argue that people are entitled to make their own choices, not only in this domain, but others as well. However, the media plays a huge role in promoting certain conceptualizations. Think about it: if weddings are not a viable and perfect option for everyone, then why are they still glamorized and praised in the media? If women’s sports are more common nowadays, why is there lack of coverage in the media for these sports? The media tends to hold on to traditional stereotypes and with relevance to the second question, assign less praise to women for their achievements. Another example is pornography, which may not typically be viewed for any other reason than sexual pleasure, but subtleties about degradation of women are evident in these films. Overall, people and viewers tend to internalize certain messages and this further exacerbates the male domination problem.

Condescension of women happens also on reality shows such as the Jersey Shore. Such TV shows update beauty standards and increase anxiety about ideals of beauty. In one of my blogs, I wrote, “Either consciously, or unconsciously, we internalize certain ideas about objects, people, places, or conversations that we find unique or meaningful. We then find ourselves applying these concepts to the outside world.” This is a common problem in popular media and in our culture. We retrieve memories that are readily available and try to live up to other people’s standards. And if we don’t fit the norm, we are exploited on the media, and called things such as a “grenade.” Society appears to have a high tolerance for insensitivity and abuse, but in reality, each individual person dwells on criticism, isolation, and defeat especially when he or she is seen as a “victim.”

Along the same lines, I realized throughout this course that men are viewed as more capable of influencing women into becoming perfectionists, especially when they verbally or emotionally abuse women about their body image. This leads to a vicious cycle of eating disorders among other psychological illnesses. Men may belittle their partners to feel a sense of empowerment or control, and unfortunately, women may struggle with creating their own definitions of beauty. On a side note, however, most people tend to overlook the probability of eating disorders and domestic violence that occur and can negatively impact men and even children. Females are not the only victims these days. Bell Hooks taught me an important lesson: we need to change stereotypes that men are always the violent physical and emotional abusers and condemn female perpetrators as well.

Little education also contributes to the problem. Some people do not even see a clear division between men and women in the workforce today, mainly because this divide was more salient in the past. In addition, people of all genders neglect the idea that men and women still abide by appropriate social constructions that guide everyday life. For instance, some women believe that men are smarter than them in certain fields, and therefore, get discouraged early in life from entering into STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields. Or, they are inflicted by stereotype threat which causes anxiety about a negative stereotype (such as women being less intelligent or capable in STEM fields) that ultimately impacts their performance on a task.

Efforts to reduce these stereotypes, however, have been pronounced. For instance, cyberfeminism is a movement that tried to break these stereotypes while exploring female oppression in cyberspace. Feminists attempted to draw links between gender identity, culture, the body, and technology. They focused on the issue of women morphing into socially acceptable objects rather than maintaining their individualism. Feminist theorists, such as Virginia Woolf, also aimed to advocate for women in their respective career fields. She touched on how women writers have been impacted by prejudices and patriarchy. In this field and other fields, women tend to be seen as inferior even though they share the same brain structures as men. If our brains are all structured the same way, why can’t we eliminate gender biases and become more “androgynous”? In a perfect world, maybe this could happen, but I have learned that we can’t always eliminate societal values that have been shaped and constructed over time. We can only change them.

All in all, more education and awareness about inequality needs to be implemented in many parts of this world. We need to better advocate for a joint effort across all genders when raising children and trying to balance work as well. With parents or caregivers representing this shared balance in both public and private spheres, children can learn more feminist values at an early age. In the future, I still wish to become a licensed clinical psychologist after earning my Ph.D. in clinical psychology. I have studied in depth cognitive, behavioral, and emotional domains within people. This course allowed me to use what I have previously learned while also integrating much information derived from a more social and feminist perspective. Intertwining all of these areas has caused me to look at different issues from a more critical and multidimensional lens. I hope to continue to understand individual issues from this viewpoint and help others become more aware of present-day issues in comparison to the way I did in this course.

Pro-life vs. Pro-choice

So what is pro-life? All human life must be preserved across all circumstances and situations. Speaking in terms of abortion, undeveloped, small fetuses are sacred. Abortion is not an option.

So what is pro-choice? People have self-directed freedom to make their own choices. The government does not have any right to govern choices around whether or not to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

What about science? What does science tell us? Science does not provide any evidence for a soul’s existence. The only evidence that may come into play is the idea that emotion and cognition does not develop in neocortical areas until the late second or early third trimester of pregnancy. But those who identify as pro-life state that it is the presence of DNA or presence of life itself that defines a person.

According to a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, which is cited in Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries by Akinrinola Bankole, Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas…
*68% of women who have abortions in the United States say that they cannot afford to have children and 27% cite this as their primary reason for terminating the pregnancy.
*20% cite health reasons.
*8% are young women either hiding pregnancies from their parents, or ordered by their parents to terminate their pregnancies.

Why can’t people who are pro-life take individual stories and circumstances into careful consideration then? What is going on here? The reason they can’t is because they believe life begins at conception. Abortion, therefore, is murdering a helpless life full of sanctity. “Thou shall not kill,” according to the Ten Commandments in Christianity. Adoption is seen as an alternative to abortion. Even in cases of rape, the unborn child would not be punished and shouldn’t be because it is the perpetrator who committed the crime. Abortion can result in medical complications as well and 95% of women according to the pregnancy care center in the movie regret their abortion. Moreover, they carry the burden of killing an innocent life emotionally and psychologically for their rest of their lives.

But what does the other side argue for? A fetus is not a separate being because its health depends on the health of the mother when in the womb. Adoption is not a common alternative unless it is a woman’s choice. It is very difficult for women to give up their babies after they see them or hold them for the first time and after overcoming the whole pregnancy process. They also believe that abortion is safe and there are many cases where women’s abilities to give birth in the future have not been affected by deciding to abort previously. In cases of rape, the women would only suffer from greater psychological harm as well as her baby when he/she grows up. Most importantly, women have a right to have control over their bodies and overall reproductive systems. Abortion is also one of the medical services that is supported by taxpayer dollars.

Here are three arguments that I found on http://wholeworldinhishands.com/world/pro_life_vs_pro-choice_arguments.html that further emphasize the different arguments:

“Pro Choice:
The preborn child doesn’t have enough size, ability to feel pain, viability, self-awareness, etc. to be granted rights of personhood.
Pro-Life:
Such qualities develop over time. A newborn is smaller, less developed, less aware, and more dependent than a young adult, but that doesn’t make him less of a person.

Pro Choice:
Even if the preborn has an inherent right to life, this right is superceded by the mother’s right to autonomy.
Pro Life:
Nobody has an unconstrained right to autonomy. We require parents to use their bodies to care for their children. This responsibility lasts for 18 years.

Pro Choice:
If we end abortion, we’ll go back to thousands of women dying from back-alley abortions.
Pro Life:
In 1960, Planned Parenthood reported that 84% to 87% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians. In 1972, the year before Roe vs. Wade, 39 women died from illegal abortions. Each of those deaths was a tragedy, but every abortion is a tragedy, because it kills a living human being.”

I do not wish to advocate for any side, however, I am just writing this entry to further educate myself and others about the arguments after watching 12th and Delaware. This movie really inspired me to challenge my own thoughts and take careful consideration of both sides of the spectrum. Unfortunately, this issue is presented as very black and white. I really struggled with trying to take a neutral stance on this topic because there are so many foundations in science, religion, evolution, politics, etc. that further complicate the matter. However, I hope that I was able to offer some overall insight, and that you are able to critically think and evaluate your stance. What I do believe, is that you are entitled to choose how you feel about each side according to your thoughts, morals, and emotions. So I guess you can say I am “pro-choice” in this aspect.

Women…reduced to sex objects?

Does pornography reinforce male privilege? According to Shira Tarrant, “the vast majority of pornography depicts sex acts being done to women, women being on display for the pleasure of others, women depicted as deriving pleasure primarily by pleasing others. This is not a moral issue; it’s a political one… in mainstream porn, the viewer is usually assumed to be male, cruelty or degradation of women plays a central role, and women’s bodies exist mostly for men’s pleasure” (p. 102). It is interesting because people of all genders and sexual orientations watch porn, and therefore, a great amount of people learn about pleasure and sexuality through it. Since it is usually based on the heterogeneous male and female, there is not much diversity provided to the public. This could promote close-mindedness in a broader context, especially when thinking in terms of the LGBTQ population of people. Some people may argue that porn doesn’t serve a purpose to teach any lesson. However, it does have a huge effect on conceptualizations of real sex and pleasure. Males who watch porn may think it’s okay to degrade women and make them feel inferior. Women shouldn’t need pleasure in return right? It’s all about satisfying the men. Women, on the other hand, may cringe when seeing the degradation in some of these media portrayals. It could also be true that men and/or women do not consciously think about these issues because they are just focusing on “getting off.” Unconsciously, however, it is also true that people may internalize the messages and remember and possibly apply what they see to their own, personal sex lives. These messages and visualizations become readily available in their minds, and is there really anything wrong with it? Everyone is doing it in pornography, and apparently getting ultimate pleasure out of it. Why not imitate what is seen?

Women should experience pleasure, and should not be portrayed as the sole “pleasers” in the sexual relationship. Sex-positive feminism derived from a movement that was developed in the early 1980’s. It advocates for sexual freedom that is a crucial part of women’s freedom in general. People who refer to themselves as “sex-positive feminists” argue that sexual liberation and consent for both sexes is equally important. “They argue that the patriarchy limits sexual expression and are in favor of giving people of all genders more sexual opportunities, rather than restricting pornography” (Queen, 1996). Moreover, advocates reject the idea that sexual orientations are solely biological and “natural forces”. They believe that gender and sexual orientation are social constructions that are formed through society over time. Relating back to the concept of pornography, an anti-pornography ordinance was passed in 1983 and pornography was framed as including sexual discrimination against women. Other ordinances were passed soon after, however, they were later considered unconstitutional by a Federal Court. Again, critics argue and say that people in pornography are only actors who are portraying fantasies to the public. Sex-positive feminists continue to fight back and confirm that these so-called fantasies lead to the encouragement and application of these acts in real life. Encouraging violence against women is completely uncalled for and unfair, to say the least. We don’t want to physically or psychologically coerce women into doing anything, or do we? I know for a fact that sex-positive feminists strongly oppose this idea. How can women truly be enjoying themselves? They appear to be enjoying it, however, feminists believe performers are “brutalized” during the process.

According to Wikipedia, “Anti-pornography feminists hold the view that pornography contributes to sexism, arguing that in pornographic performances, the actresses are reduced to mere receptacles—objects—for sexual use and abuse by men. They argue that the narrative is usually formed around men's pleasure as the only goal of sexual activity, and that the women are shown in a subordinate role. Some opponents believe pornographic films tend to show women as being extremely passive, or that the acts which are performed on the women are typically abusive and solely for the pleasure of their sex partner. On-face ejaculation and anal rape are increasingly popular among men, following trends in porn. MacKinnon and Dworkin defined pornography as ‘the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures or words.’”

Can pornography go so far as to crystallize and “eroticize” male domination and reinforce attitudes consistent with rape and sexual harassment? I certainly believe that this could be true. But what about women-centered pornography? Some feminists are supporting ideas of reformation regarding this production of pornography. It is also interesting to note that whether or not pornographic actresses see themselves as victims of sexism, they generally earn more money than males. Does this aftermath compensate for their subservient role? And going back to feminist pornography that has indeed been produced…is it successful in its feminist efforts? Most people say yes. In fact, more women contribute to the films and take on a producer, writer, or director role. In addition, GENUINE female pleasure is pronounced and exaggerated. More importantly, these films challenge mainstream porn and the stereotypes behind it.

Got benefits?

“Institutional practices and ideological beliefs about masculine superiority seem so normal or natural that we’ve learned not to notice when a man’s opinion is taken more seriously than a women’s or that calling a boy a ‘girl’ is considered an insult” (Tarrant, p. 89). I think this is an interesting point that Shira Tarrant makes in her book, Men and Feminism. There are many notions that go unnoticed, simply because we are not looking for discrepancies between women and men as much as we used to in the past, when there was a clearer divide between sexes in the public and private spheres. If we are not consciously aware of the same past issues that still occur in today’s society, we have a greater tendency to ignore the “unearned benefits” of being a present day male. So… what are these benefits (according to Peggy McIntosh)?

1. I can be pretty sure that when I walk down the street, nobody will yell at me about my body or tell me what they want to do with me sexually.

2. I generally feel safe when walking to my car by myself at night, hiking alone in the woods or the mountains, or walking on the beach.

3. I can dress how I want, without people assuming I want to have sex with them.

So how valid are these statements? Do all men REALLY feel this way? Probably not, but I think these are interesting representations of benefits that could be generalized within the male domain. An interesting way to look at these benefits involves applying these statements as if they were directed to women. So, when I relate to these statements, I automatically “disagree” because I have experienced all of these circumstances or been criticized according to these claims. For instance, for number 1, I have probably been yelled at 50+ times throughout my whole life. It’s embarrassing for me, as a woman, to say that. Regarding number 2, I generally don’t feel safe when doing these things, especially walking to my car by myself at night. I rarely feel very confident in my ability to physically defend myself especially when I am alone. And unfortunately, when I am speed-walking to my car, the worst and most automatic thing I can thing I can think of is a man appearing out of nowhere and attacking me…a man. Isn’t that sad? As far as number 3, I struggle with dressing in a way that is appropriate and flattering at times. I don’t want to be called a “slut” or anything of that nature, but dressing very conservatively isn’t my style either. It’s upsetting that women do have to think a lot and even worry about how to be “classy” in their mannerisms, clothing styles, and the like. But what about men…do they have to worry about how they dress in the same sense girls do? Usually they don’t as much as women do.

So I think the best way to describe these three representations of “unearned male benefits” is to say that the frequency in which males have to think or worry about these ideas is less in comparison to women. This doesn’t mean they don’t think about these things in relation to themselves, it just means that these worries may not be as salient to most men as they are to women. And of course there are exceptions for men of different age cohorts, races, sexual orientations, etc.! For instance, I asked a male friend and an older (more father-like) figure about how they felt about these statements. The older person told me a story about how when he was little, an older neighbor tried to coerce him into entering his second-floor apartment and asked him “to watch naked ladies having sex with sexy naked men.” He was barely a teenager when this happened, but was smart enough to deny this man and ran away. But this story affected his response to the first statement. He told me that ever since that occurrence, sometimes he thinks about what would have happened if he went upstairs to the man’s apartment. He said “sexy naked men,” which implies that he could have taken advantage of my friend if he complied with this man’s demands. Scary. My friend also brought up a great point about the little boys who are sexually abused and who do comply with stranger’s demands. These little boys then grow up NOT being “pretty sure” about statement 1. Instead of being “pretty sure,” now, they are SCARED that these things could possibly happen again or that no one would believe their side of the story. Silly children don’t know anything right? WRONG. When asking my younger male friend about the second statement, he said he actually does not feel safe half the time especially when he is home in New York City. “The dangers of walking alone are much greater in a huge city. You never know what will happen to you. You could turn around and have a knife in your face. But in Ithaca, I definitely feel safer doing things by myself.” For statement three, both of my friends admitted that they never really worried about this or could remember a time where they consciously did. This goes to show the variability of responses in only TWO males to only THREE statements! So maybe it’s true… these aren’t really benefits. Maybe they are just common social constructions that are believed to be true. Or are they benefits? What do you think?

So, tell me what a "cyborg" is?

History also includes “herstory.” In the early 1990’s, people started to use the term “cyberfeminism.” I decided to search online and learn more about it. The term was coined by VNS Matrix (Australian artist group who were active from 1991 to 1997). They aimed to investigate male domination in cyberspace, and link this with female oppression. Apparently they were very explicit in their quotes about their goals, one of which reads, "to insert women, bodily fluids and political consciousness into electronic spaces."

But cyberfeminism is an actual movement, aimed at displaying feminist ideals and criticizing online art and interactions. Because there still is no rigid definition of this movement, people seem to be confused as to what is the history of it, what are its goals, and why does it exist.

“If feminism is to be adequate to its cyberpotential then it must mutate to keep up with the shifting complexities of social realities and life conditions as they are changed by the profound impact communications technologies and techno science have on all our lives. It is up to cyberfeminists to use feminist theoretical insights and strategic tools and join them with cybertechniques to battle the very real sexism, racism, and militarism encoded in the software and hardware of the Net, thus politicizing this environment.” –F. Wilding

Cyberfeminists attempt to examine issues through a feminist lens. Many cyberfeminists are both artists and theorists. They helped to develop a strong connection between women and technology. More specifically, they have focused on contemporary technologies, examining the intersections between gender identity, the body, culture and technology. They have collaborated to fight against preferred patriarchal technology methods. Cyberfeminism is different in that when it first originated, followers developed 100 anti-theses defining what cyberfeminism IS NOT in order to reflect their fluid and diverse viewpoints. Instead of being a strict, structured movement, it is seen as more of an active and serious but fun and playful movement. Nonetheless, it existed as a movement against the masculine ‘toys for boys’ motto that new Internet technologies adopted. Emphasis is on theory and engagement.

Unfortunately, due to a recent reduction in cyberfeminist literature, the movement tends to be undermined. Recent artworks, however, include Evelin Stermitz’s World of Female Avatars. This project attempts to expand women’s understanding of their relation to their body. An artistic survey is taken and quotes and images from women over the world are collected. The pictures are used to create new bodies or avatars (cyborgs) of the female body. Women can be positively or negatively connected to their body due to societal changes that affect and change the body’s natural state. The body over time becomes morphed into a more cultural object. This project aims to show people how they are constantly creating new self-representations, but if we all were able to eliminate gender biases, we would be “androgynus equals” in cyberspace and reach an optimal level of feminism.

“There are also a lot of other gendered people who are suppressed or marginalized or are suffering from social exclusion or are under social pressure. So of course, all this comes together and is important. I think our society should become very vivid and open to all kind of gender theories or sexes or whatever.” –Evelin Stermitz

According to the youtube clip, the cyborg is postgender, pansexualized and asexualized, masculine, and feminine. WATCH IT! I promise it'll spark your interest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrgez-z1-uQ

Even beyonce dressed like a cyborg during one of her prime performances! Interesting attempt to make cyborgs seem real, no?

Stereotype...Threat

I am particularly interested in this topic because I've studied it in my psychology classes and we spoke about it in our class the other day. Stereotype threat includes preconceived notions about a subset of the population. These notions then affect one's performance, but may not be an accurate representation of the construct that is supposed to be measured. For example, stereotype threat can lower the performance of African-Americans taking the SAT, due to the stereotype that African-Americans are not as intelligent than other groups. Even if one just tells this group that they must fill out demographic information on an intelligence test, cultural norms will influence performance. In intelligence testing which I am particularly interested in, this can increase test bias. Are we really getting at a person's true score? The answer is no. The experience of anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype relative to one's social group can cause one's true ability to be undermined.

The same effect could occur when the situation is based on gender stereotypes. For instance, we talked about typically seeing science, technology, engineering, and math career fields as male-dominated. A scientist is usually visualized in a biased way as a white male with a lab coat on (who maybe has glasses or is bald). Women may be just as intelligent as men in these areas, but aren't acknowledged, are seen as less capable, and are stuck at entry rank.

Here's to the common stereotype, even portrayed in comics!

Psychologist Janet Hyde explains, "One reason I am still spending time on this is because parents and teachers continue to hold stereotypes that boys are better in math, and that can have a tremendous impact on individual girls who are told to stay away from engineering or the physical sciences because ‘Girls can’t do the math.’ There is lots of evidence that what we call ‘stereotype threat’ can hold women back in math. If, before a test, you imply that the women should expect to do a little worse than the men, that hurts performance. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy." However, if a woman (for the purposes of this example) was either unaware of the stereotype or thought of it as inaccurate, then she has better chances of performing better.

Many other examples have been scientifically tested. One includes a female administrator or a male administrator who distributed a math/science test to two different groups of examinees. Results showed that women performed as well as men when a female administrator was present. In contrast, they performed progressively worse than men when a male administrator distributed the test. This goes to show that when being faced by an authoritative figure who is more likely to agree with and confirm an already existing negative stereotype about another group to which they don't belong to, participants get worried and self-conscious about their performance in the way beginning. What about the way the test is presented? Two different modes of administration were given to an experimental and control group of examinees. In the experimental group, participants were told by an administrator that the test had previously shown gender differences among test takers in the past. In the control group, participants were told that the test revealed no gender differences in the past. Random administrators were assigned to each condition. At the end of the study, women who were in the control group had higher scores than women who were in the experimental group. But what do you think would happen if a female administrator was assigned to the experimental group? Would women still do worse than women in the control group? Since the administrator could mediate stereotype effects because of her gender, would this matter? Or would she equally enhance stereotype threat as a male administrator would (as shown in the other study)? Thoughts?

How do we fix stereotype threat? Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly as many female mathematicians, scientists, or engineers as there are male figures for girls to admire and use as a positive example. But what we could do in society is raise awareness of the achievements that women have obtained within these STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). Early childhood education teachers can also encourage women that there abilities are just as great as men's abilities in the same fields. Also, in general, when taking a test, it would be ideal for the sex checkbox to be removed from the test, but since we are not anywhere near close to removing it, researchers should keep doing studies to ensure that ANY test is not biased on the basis of one's sex or gender. Also, if students ask about test difficulty, teachers should focus on other factors that can contribute to variability in final scores (i.e. such as not students not reading the whole textbook rather than focusing on gender differences). REINFORCE THAT STUDENTS ARE CAPABLE OF MEETING HIGH STANDARDS! Communicate high standards to both sexes. Unfortunately, in order to follow through with these ideas, perceptions across different cultures, age cohorts, and sexes need to change. In order for this to happen, more education and awareness about intelligence level and the consequences of socialization needs to be more prevalent in many parts of this world.

What is the PERFECT situation?

…speaking of Jersey Shore, of course. Warning: this topic could be QUITE controversial. What exactly is a grenade? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a grenade is defined as: a small missile that contains an explosive or a chemical agent (as tear gas, a flame producer, or a smoke producer) and that is thrown by hand or projected (as by a rifle or special launcher). According to the cast of the Jersey Shore, a grenade is defined as: a girl that quite frankly is not hot, the solitary ugly girl always found with a group of hotties (if the grenade doesn't get any action, then neither does anyone else). It’s quite obvious how similar these definitions are. It’s great how Jersey Shore just comes up with their own lingo to harshly criticize and belittle women of “ugly” status. But what do feminists have to say about this topic? How do you define “ugly” in this society? Obviously, what Jersey Shore says goes! Except not. Jersey shore is just feeding into already existing stereotypes by updating society’s norms about the condescension of women and announcing beauty (or shall I say ugly) standards on national TV. Now, all TV viewers and fans can willingly (or unwillingly) make reference to these new and improved terms while exploiting the women who are targeted on the show. It’s not right, and it’s not fair to the women who show their faces on Jersey Shore because these women only further perpetuate this anti-feminist cycle by serving as the perfect example of “ugly” or “hideous” or “girl to never get a boyfriend, or rather, in more sophisticated terms, to never get it innnn.” Why isn’t there a stereotypical term for males on the show though? Am I just missing something or do we just want to further degrade women and cause anxiety about fitting into the perfect beauty ideals? Or does this show just provide us with comic relief that we don’t take these terms seriously? I think the latter question is not applicable. Either consciously, or unconsciously, we internalize certain ideas about objects, people, places, or conversations that we find unique or meaningful. We then find ourselves applying these concepts to the outside world. Just randomly the other day, I referenced “grenade” without even planning to say it. I didn’t rehearse it over and over in my head, it just popped up in a conversation about boys and girls because of the availability of the word and the pervasive spread of it on TV, in the popular media, but more importantly, in our culture.

I could go on and on with examples that are not representative of contemporary feminist viewpoints. For one, remember that time when Snookie was punched at the bar because random guys starting stealing her drinks and she stood up for herself? Even though MTV didn’t showcase or zoom in on the actual punch and viewers could only hear it through audio, they did include a PSA statement following this segment that was certainly biased. It read: “Violence against women in any form is a crime. If someone you know is being abused by a boyfriend, family member, or total stranger, please call 911.” Now don’t you think this statement is quite narrow-minded? I understand Snookie, a woman, got punched. But to be less biased and more realistic, shouldn’t a statement read: “Violence against ANYONE is a crime, etc.” Males can be victims too. So can children! Anyone of any gender or sexual orientation! That statement is not a reflection of today’s reality; whoever decided to come up with the wording is only displaying their own ignorance on the subject matter, or insensitivity to violence against ANY person.

Another short example is when “The Situation” was trying to “hook up” with a girl at a club, who is described by his Jersey Shore family as “a tranny,” as in “transvestite.” They adamantly stated, “if you have to think about it, it’s a tranny. Stay away.” Later that evening, Ronnie is shown wearing a dress and poking fun at the “tranny” that Mike could have been having sexual relations with. This goes back to my earlier point about the degradation of women, or in this case, anyone who self-identifies with a specific gender or sexual orientation. LGBTQ issues are clearly evident in this episode. Why is there such exploitation of people that do not fit the “norm”? Why are new norms being created for these outsiders who apparently don’t deserve any positive commentary and are only worthy of these insensitive remarks that are clearly offensive. Well, at least MTV apologized and agreed to remove this material from the episode. Maybe MTV should just quit thinking about the millions of dollars they make off the show and start taking preventative measures and fix things before they further embarrass themselves. What do you think?

Well, if you’re not sure or just curious, you can go ahead and type in this link into your computer to watch a video clip of the “tranny situation."

http://www.queerty.com/mtv-plays-along-while-jersey-shore-bashes-trans-women-one-more-time-20101029/

Contributions of a Great Feminist Theorist

Virginia Woolf focused on how gender affects morals and values. Through her feminist writings, she aimed to increase women's education, advocate for women in the professions, encourage the importance of motherhood, and prevent war.

Woolf underwent different traumatic experiences during her youth. First, her half-brother, Gerald Duckworth sexually abused her. In 'Sketch of the Past' (1939) she wrote: "I can remember the feel of his hands going under my clothes; going firmly and steadily lower and lower, I remember how I hoped that he would stop; how I stiffened and wriggled as his hand approached my private parts. But he did not stop." Virginia felt numb to this experience. She felt powerless, helpless, weak, and subservient among all things. This event was significant enough that it led her to think about gender roles and power in a society later in her life.

Soon after, Virginia experienced the sudden death of her mother in 1895, when she was 13, and her half-sister Stella's death two years later. These events also led to Virginia's emotional breakdowns. Moreover, her father died in 1904, and this fully exacerbated her mental illness and led to her brief institutionalization. At this point in time, she was experiencing severe depression, mood swings, headaches, physical ailments, and other symptoms.

Her writings reflected her inner conflicts so to speak. Woolf attemped to relay very important messages about women's experiences and men's domination in a patriarchal society. She believed that "as women entered the public sphere, they should not forget the lessons forged within the private home, where they had learned to fight patriarchy" (Freedman, p. 70). Another goal of hers was to work further to unsilence sexual abuse and the manipulation associated with it. She didn’t want to feel suffocated anymore by hiding from the reality of the abuse even though she knew that regardless of admitting her sexual abuse, she would be affected by it for the rest of her life (along with her other early childhood experiences). Unfortunately, Woolf committed suicide due to her unbearable internal pain. She loaded her pockets with many stones and drowned herself in the River Ouse on March 28, 1941.

Woolf's feminist ideas are most evident in A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN (1929). One of her most famous quotes exists in this book: "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." In her book, Woolf touched the on obstacles and prejudices that have women writers have faced and have struggled to overcome. For instance, most men wrote books for their own needs and their own uses. Women were usually the inferior objects in these books. In her book, she made a clear distinction between women as certain objects of representation and women as authors of representation and was adamant about a change that had to be made in literature to reflect this distinction. In the last chapter of her book, Woolf spoke of the possibility of an androgynous mind (The definition of androgygnous according to Merriam-Webster dictionary reads: 1 : having the characteristics or nature of both male and female, 2 a : neither specifically feminine nor masculine, b : suitable to or for either sex, 3 : having traditional male and female roles obscured or reversed). Woolf referred to a great mind as being androgynous and having reached its fullest potential.

Here are some of her most famous quotes. How do you think they relate to her personal experiences and her messages conveyed in her professional writing?

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."

 

"All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority belong to the private-school stage of human existence where there are sides, and it is necessary for one side to beat another side."

"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size."

"As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world."

The Perfect Wedding

I am very interested in the way the media portrays stereotypes and “rights” and “wrongs” in society. For instance, on one of the web links on our Blackboard page, I clicked on an article called Lifetime's royal made-for-TV fairy tale: "William and Kate.” The caption underneath it reads, “Everybody wants a piece of the royal action. Lifetime makes a movie. Murdoch considers airing the wedding in 3-D.” I think from just reading these last two sentences, you can probably guess what I am going to say next: This is pretty ridiculous. I mean the movie could be cute and sweet, but a wedding in 3-D?! This seems a little much; these producers and Amy Steinberg (author of the article) seem like they are trying to lure people in and believe that weddings are amazing and perfect for everyone. In reality, this is not true at all. A few weeks ago I remember I asked a question in class that involved the question of, “How many of you want to get married? If you don’t want to, how many of you want to have children?” The number of people who still raised their hand to my second question was surprising. Contemporary thoughts and feelings on the topic are obviously changing, but why isn’t the media reflecting this change in thought? Why are movies like this one trying to convince people to get married through their luxurious 3-D images of beautiful and flawless bridal dresses and weddings cakes and decorations galore? Again, it’s as if we didn’t already get the point of the movie the first time. WE GET IT. We don’t need 3-D images to changes our minds if we’re not totally fans of the traditional, classic wedding picture. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to get married someday, but this is just a bit silly in my opinion. It’s sad that other people unlike myself and probably unlike you (who is a well-educated student engaged in a Women’s Studies class at the moment) would fall into the media’s traps and actually believe that a wedding is just full of utmost and pure joy, beauty, and happiness. It’s sad that still so many girls even our age already have their dress picked out or at least have elaborate ideas of the perfect dress. If marriage isn’t always about glamor and perfection, why do we as a society try to portray it that way? Why can’t there be movies of people who get married, but choose not to have extravagant weddings, or of those who don’t get married, but are happy with their children? Let’s go back to this question from before: Why can’t these ideas be more prevalent in the media if our thoughts are changing anyway? What do you think?

I'll leave you with a final quote from the article, "If you don't make the royal guest list and you miss the Lifetime original movie -- which will no doubt air at least 50 times between now and the nuptials -- you still may be able to catch a 3-D broadcast of the wedding  from your very own living room. According to one report, Robert Murdoch is considering airing the April 29 event in 3-D, "a medium usually reserved for premium soccer, ATP tennis finals and avatars."

On that note, you better not miss out on this life-changing premier! :P

Women in Sport

I just read an article called "Women's Sports Coverage Still Lacking" by Jose Alfredo Flores. It reconnected me with the discussion we had the other day in class about women in sport. In this article, it touches on the increase of popularity in women's sports, but the lack of coverage on tv, in magazines, on the internet, etc. "Many female sports writers say editors who oversee their work tend not to cover women's athletics because the majority of their readers are businessmen, who have only recently shown any interest in these stories," says Flores. So the question is: why are more men interested in reading about or watching men's sports? Does anyone beg to differ and say that men are just as interested in women's sports as well? I guess it depends on the individual, but generally, I believe it is true that men are interested in men's sports more than women's sports. How about women? Are they more interested in women's sports too? This is more questionable because many women like myself routinely watch men's basketball, football, soccer, baseball, etc. They may indeed watch women's sports more than men watch women's sports; however, the emphasis is on MEN IN SPORTS for both sexes. That is what is covered in the media, and this is what is popular. 

"What many editors don't realize is that girls are interested in sports, and if they can't read about the WNBA or the U.S. women's soccer team in the newspaper, they'll find that information on the Web or elsewhere. In a time of dwindling circulation, newspapers cannot lose these potential readers," says Susan Bischoff (deputy managing editor of the Houston Chronicle). So then how can we change the media to support and act on more feminist viewpoints? I definitely think polls should be taken and interviews should be completed in order to see what society really wants to read or watch in the media. If media coverage was more split between sexes, maybe more males would be more interested in female sports and vice versa. But this is difficult to process (as spoken about in class) due to the idea that sports were originally male-dominated and male-played. It was hard to break the trend and allow women on the athletic grounds. I feel like society has came a long way, but more opinions need to be addressed on the subject matter. For society to become more feministic in its thinking, it needs to start giving more credit and coverage to women, applauding them for their hard work and achievements. But let's face it, even at IC, more men and women go to men's basketball games than women's. They are just a bigger hype and advertised ALL over the place. Advertisements, as we all know, can convince people to unconsciously or consciously make favorable decisions about certain people, things, and situations. Therefore, if more advertisements were used for women's sports, maybe both men AND women would be more interested in succumbing to the general "right" thing to do, which is support women and watch/read about more of their achievements. But we NEED to make a much greater effort to ask for more women's coverage in sports or else it sadly just won't happen.

A Memoir of a Strange Girl

Is she really strange? I think not. Eating disorders are so pervasive nowadays. It is not ABNORMAL to have one (given the cut-throat beauty guidelines and restrictions that society provides us with). What really caught my attention about Stacey is after everything she has experienced and internalized, she can still write about her experiences and channel her negative energy into positive energy through her books. When she said it was frightening to tell her story, I definitely couldn't understand exactly what she was feeling, but I could imagine how hard it would be for me if I were in her shoes. It's amazing how one boyfriend or male figure can affect someone's cognitive processes and perceived body image that much. It only takes one person. People completely underestimate the consequences of their words, let alone their actions. Maybe men say cruel things to feel a sense of empowerment, but do you think their thought processes are conscious or more unconscious? Do you think they know that their words will cause women to change and develop unhealthy eating patterns? Do they know that they are instilling perfectionism in women? What is the definition of perfect anyway? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, three definitions of perfect include...  a : being entirely without fault or defect : flawless <a perfect diamond> b : satisfying all requirements : accurate c : corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept <a perfect gentleman>. Nowadays, so many women are sensitive to body image because of being socialized to think that way or because they are belittled by their partners. You have to have the perfect BMI, the perfect skin-bone-muscle ratio, the perfect skinny body. In relation to the definition, you HAVE to meet your partner's requirements for body image or society's, not yours. You can't create your own definition of flawlessness or your own requirements because society doesn't allow you to. What if flawlessness to you meant looking healthy and feeling healthy regardless of weight? What if you just wanted to be in between what we call skinny and fat, which are two black and white terms? Sometimes I wish the media didn't have such of an impact on defining what's "right" and "wrong" or respectively, "skinny" and "fat." We constantly have people judging us for our looks, but what ever happened to talking about the meaning behind our looks, our personalities, our belief systems? People are always going to judge. But judge after you know the full story. I'm sure people were judging Stacey because of all her tattoos and piercings and her general unique look. But we knew what she was planning on talking about and therefore, we were more open-minded and more willing to listen. But what if we saw her on the street, how do you think you would judge her then? Maybe differently? Probably. It's not fair. Get to know a person before you assume that they are "strange" or "weird." Everyone has their weaknesses and flaws, and everyone has different experiences including traumatic and life-changing ones. Stacey empowered me to understand her story, to understand the meaning behind it, and respect her for it. She is not perfect, but neither is anyone else. We all have different coping mechanisms and ways of dealing with the problems that come our way. I am glad that she is on a healthy road to recovery because she has a lot going for her at this moment in her life. For whoever is reading this, I hope that the next time you try to be "perfect," you realize that there is no real definition of perfect, only you can create your own. And when you do create your own standards/goals, I hope they are realistic, healthy, positive, and flexible.

I found this article interesting...I suggest you read it too. Good food for thought.

Perfectionism and Eating Disorders (The Many Faces of Perfectionism):

http://www.bulimia.com/client/client_pages/newsletteredt8.cfm 

Ending Violence

Ending Violence is one of my favorite chapters in Feminism is for Everybody. Hooks touches on important points of how to create cultural awareness of domestic violence that is more pervasive then we think. On page 61, she states that patriarchal violence is defined as a more powerful individual who controls others "through various forms of coercive force... male violence against women, same-sex violence, and adult violence against children." I think that it is obvious that this definition is somewhat sexist in itself. And, in general, most people who are sexist in thinking overlook the domestic violence that occurs between people of the same-sex and parents and children. A lot of people tend to only victimize females. But nowadays in society, more children are actually victimized and physically or emotionally abused by male AND female parents. This is even worse, in my eyes, because children are more helpless and tend to have less rights in this society. If they are very young, they sometimes don't have a voice to stand up for themselves or have enough courage and support to do so. They also may still be forming conclusions about the distinctions between "right" and "wrong." There are so many other reasons as well, which contribute to their powerlessness.

I love that Hooks stated that we need to change stereotypes that MEN are always abusers and WOMEN are always nonviolent victims. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Even though statistics may show that male violent acts are more common than female violent acts, we should not underestimate female violence. Women can and should learn to exercise authority without using violence, and men in turn should learn how to treat their women as equals and not try to dominate them or suppress them through violence. Men should also learn how to exercise authority to their children without using violence! But what about women using violence to dominate men? Does that happen often? Maybe it doesn't appear to, but I know women who emotionally abuse men just to get their point across. They belittle their husbands, maybe hit them once and awhile, and try to show them that they are dominant and what they say is right. I am not saying this happens all the time, but it is very likely for women to do this. I feel like the common stereotype is women who emotionally abuse, and men who physically abuse, but the opposite for each sex can be true as well.

Is power and masculinity correlated with violence also? Hooks says it is. So if your wife has a stable job and you are unemployed, you are more likely to exercise domination through abuse. I can see how this is true, but for men who are feminist thinkers, they most likely support their wives and are grateful that they are accomplished human beings who can put food on the table for two, or for a whole family. I think Hooks ends the chapter with a great quote and this is how I will end my blog also: "Feminist efforts to end male violence against women must be expanded into a movement to end all forms of violence. And it is especially vital that parents learn to parent in nonviolent ways" (p. 66).

Who Does She Think She Is?

Who does she think she is? Giving up her family life to chase after her dreams. Giving up doing laundry and cooking food for a few hours to go to work. Giving up her family's needs for her own needs. Being SO SELFISH. Who does she think she is?! A hypocrite. Choosing to get married and promising to take care of the family. But now, because her needs and desires changed, she is doomed. Her husband leaves her, her family members look down upon her, she feels horribly guilty herself. An actress, an aspiring artist, a woman in all the sense of the word. Why can't she just follow her dreams, help around the house, and be a loving parent and wife at the same time? Why is this so condemned in society? This view of "selflessless" and giving everything to your family and kids even if it means losing yourself is, of course, perfectly fine. NOT. The imbalance associated with this way of thinking takes precedence over anything else. It is not healthy for any human being, whether a person be male or female, to dedicate their whole life to someone else and leave no time for themselves. We all have a potential to explore our interests, grow, and thrive as individuals. Giving yourself up for another person means losing that ability to explore, grow, and thrive because you are just helping others explore, grow, and thrive. Levels of satisfaction decrease, and people compensate in other ways. I know a hardworking, driven woman who does EVERYTHING for her children. And now, it seems as though she lost her sense of self. In order to temporarily feel "happy," she shops until she fills her void. But this has just led to an unhealthy shopping addiction. Her husband works a full-time job, her kids go to school, and she does all of the house work and rarely receives help from anyone. So where does the "me" time come in? Shopping is where she is happy. And that is just sad. So how can we prevent this from happening? How can we prevent the women in the video from feeling guilty and selfish? How can we teach family members and partners to be more understanding in general? The one woman in the video changed her studio hours to nighttime so she could devote herself to her children during the day when they needed her. She only gets three hours of sleep. And her husband STILL left her. The men need to step up and realize that they, too, can pitch in and give a helping hand. They should share the joy and struggles of raising the kids, cleaning the house, preparing food, etc. It should be a "joint" effort. It shouldn't always be a competition of who does what, who reciprocates what, and who puts more effort in. Everyone needs to adopt a feminist viewpoint and everyone needs to be more willing to understand. Everyone deserves to thrive and be their own person. Children deserve to have two parents that raise them, not one. They deserve to see the balance so they, too, can grow up and maintain this balance with their future partners. Bell Hooks touched on this a lot. The idea of educating children early so they are alert and aware to the problems in a society which appears to be more anti-feminist than feminist. Just as little girls play with dollhouses and cook the meals, little boys can do the same. I intern at a preschool with children who have special needs, and here, we try and deemphasize gender roles and stereotypes and replace them with more neutral and balanced ways of thinking. Even just doing this during playtime can influence children's viewpoints. You'd be suprised.

Beauty Within and Without

As I listened to our conversation in class on Thursday, I had so many thoughts racing through my head that I found it difficult to process all of them. I find it extremely interesting that sexism can even be applied to eating disorders let alone body image. Because I am a Psychology major, I study eating disorders a lot from a cognitive/emotional/behavioral viewpoint. I have indeed looked into the social aspects of eating disorders; however, yesterday’s class helped me to incorporate sexism into my already acquired knowledge. We have spoken a lot about male domination and the patriarchal society. But what is the correlation between female beauty and male exertion of control? In other words, to what degree do females look “good” for themselves and to what degree is this influenced by how men judge them? I’ve heard that females feel as though they absolutely NEED to look beautiful and perfect for their male partners or else they feel as though they will leave them. I’ve also heard of men actually threatening to leave if their female partners do not start losing weight, taking care of themselves, and the like. This exacerbates the problem of the perfect “beauty ideal” and directly results in more severe psychological disorders, whether it be eating disorders, anxiety, depression, paranoia, etc. Female standards of beauty are so cut-throat that women have been left feeling worthless, hideous, and helpless. But can this truly be attributed to the pressure of male partners in their lives? My answer is absolutely. Other factors obviously contribute to the overall change in mental state; however, women have been deprived of their sense of true comfort because of men and THEIR standards for women. It’s all about exercising control at times. And then women gain that control back by starving themselves, exercising profusely, or binge-eating and vomiting. On page 35, Hooks states, “All females no matter their age are being socialized wither consciously or unconsciously to have anxiety about their body, to see flesh as problematic.” But what about males? Are they socialized less than girls to have perfect bodies? Or do they just not admit it as a problem while girls do? The general population of men who have eating disorders in actuality is very underestimated. I’m starting to think that if they feel emasculated, they may eat less as a matter of gaining back that control that defines masculinity in our society. But if they admit that they have these problems, this may suggest that they are “weak” and have lost control even though they see the opposite (eating less is gaining back their control). So what’s the correct answer? There’s so many factors involved, but when it comes to sexism, we need to look at eating disorders from a female AND male point of view, and keep in mind that many men have eating disorders, but are just less willing to admit it.