event 2

Event- meeting for IWiN (International Women in Need)
Place-The Women’s Center
Time-Monday, December 3rd 7:00

This event was an informational meeting about IWiN. It was about this year’s project in which VT and its community will be helping to raise money for the women in a village in Kenya. This money will go towards a power mill that can grind corn mechanically. The women of Kenya are not appreciated at all and have to depend on the males. Therefore, their lives are very hard. Getting this mill will help the women make some money and make them more independent.

The connections that this event/meeting has with this course is how we are looking and trying to help less fortunate women. This whole course has been about gender equality and informing us about the problems that there are in our society today. This is just one of the few, and it is giving us an opportunity to help out.

I believe that the information given during this meeting makes you really realize how bad these issues are in other countries. I believe that giving money to this cause is a great investment. Not only will it immediately help out, but it will also set the stage for many years to come and continue to help this country by building a good source of jobs for generations to come.

event 1

Event- Through Feminist Eyes
Dr. Ilja Luciak
Place- 223 Engel Hall
Time- Tuesday, November 27th 7:00

This event was a presentation by Dr. Ilja Luciak who is a professor and the Chair of Political Science here at Virginia Tech. He studied in Vienna and holds a Ph. D. from the University of Iowa. He has been in Latin America for many years studying the society there and focused on gender equality. He has written two books from his travels. His studies found that women in Latin America are not appreciated and do not have equal rights or they are not allowed to hold leadership roles. Therefore this problem will not change unless there are women in those high up positions.

The connection this event has to our course is that the information that Dr. Ilja Luciak presented was information about how women do not have equal rights in Latin America and Cuba. This information is just one lecture of many about countries who still have very big gender inequality.

This lecture is another very good informational session in which people are being educated about our society and how, contrary to popular belief, women are still not treated the same as men in many places. I am glad I attended this event and feel that I have learned more about the problems in our world today.

CRJ #11

CRJ #11

After reading the last chapter and completing this class, my views on feminists are very different from when I first started. I now know that a feminist is a female who wants equal rights for all genders, men and women alike. This equality ranges from sexual equality to voting equality and equality in the work force to amount of salary. A profeminist man is a male who agrees with making equal rights for women and supports the laws and acts that are made to ensure that all genders are treated the same in every aspect of society. After studying more into these issues and getting more facts, I would label myself as a feminist, because I believe that everyone should be treated as an equal no matter what the gender.

I believe that being in this class has made an impact on me because it informed me more about problems in our society having to do with gender equality. Though in this country gender equality isn’t as big of an issue, there are still some problems that many people do not know about. Then there are other countries in which genders are certainly not treated the same at all, and it is obvious. It is sad to hear about some of the things that go on in other countries that I feel, if more people were educated about it, it could get fixed. Not only is being educated what is needed to change laws and countries, but it is also what is needed to change some peoples’ views of whether or not they are a feminist and what a feminist really is, like how it did with me.

The things I will take away from this are the bits of information in which I can spread the word as to what is actually happening in this world having to do with gender inequality. None of the topics relate to my major but I am certainly glad I took this class because I think the information that I learned is very valuable.

CRJ #10

The first passage I read was “Constitutional Argument” by Susan B. Anthony that war written in 1898. This reading is the argument for women having to do with voting and the constitutional amendment that states that “All men are created equal…” Anthony argues that the constitution says that we are all equal and all have the right to vote as stated in the amendment. For that reason, if women are denied that right they are not living by the laws that our founders set out for us. I believe this is a wonderful argument that started much of the women’s rights era. Anthony explains herself very well and makes amazing points that are hard to ignore in a court of law. Thought we have made great strides since then, I believe that someone today could still make an argument about gender wages and how women are looked upon in society with this same constitutional amendment.


The second passage I read was “Unequal” by Jessica Neuwirth. This reading examined laws and acts that have been made in different countries around the world and how women’s equality is moving forward in each country. She starts with saying that there are many laws here to enforce women’s equality but in many different countries women still get treated very bad. Some countries don’t give any rights to women at all. The biggest problem though is with family situations regarding women and how men usually have the upper hand in the family and can tell or make his wife do anything he wants and she is the one that gets in trouble, not him. As Neuwirth points out at the end when she mentions a few countries who are finally taking a stand and changing some of these laws to ensure women’s rights, some of these changes are being made at a snail pace when it should be a drastic change that needs to be made immediately. I feel bad for many other countries and how they are being run because women are not getting the respect that they deserve. And though I am happy that some things are getting changed, I hope that many more things keep happening and each change in a law has a domino effect on another.


The third passage I read was “The Postwar Moment” by Cynthia Cockburn. This passage talks about how after wars there is a specific time in which the government starts to rebuild itself. The whole country’s policies have a chance to transform. Most of the time this rebuilding is for the good but sometimes there are certain things that are omitted from the policies that should not be, one very important one being gender issues. The one we have learned most from is in Bosnia. After finally reaching peace with Herzegovina their country had to rebuild. It failed to have anything concerning gender rights on its new policies and many things have gone wrong because of that in the recent years. To fix this problem, women need to be in the discussion and in the new policy making events so that in order to get what those gender rights, women are rightly represented in the making of them. I did not at all know this all was going on in countries around the world and I do not believe others do either. I think if you inform and educate more people about it, then it is something that, in time, we can fix so that everyone, no matter the gender, is represented and respected equally in this world

Extra Credit C

Extra Credit C

The film “Born Into Brothels” is a documentary that explores the lives of children who live and who’s families live in brothels in India. It started out as being just a documentary about women in the brothels but turned into more of the children’s perspective. The writer of this film, Zana Briski, lives and teaches in Calcutta, India. She has a photography class and gets to teach the kids that live in the Red Light District. She forms relationships with them and gets to know each and everyone of them and starts to care for them all. She eventually tries to find a way to get all of them out this district and into good schools so that they eventually may end up making something of their lives.

In this movie, there are many connections that can be made to our class. One very obvious one is how women are treated. They are not valued at all and the men have total control over women. They frequently get beaten and that is nothing that gets looked down upon. Emotional abuse is frequent as well. Also, girls are not very likely to get a good education. They are frequently put “into the line” and become prostitutes just like their mothers and grandmothers. It is highly unlikely that they make it out of their situations and make a name for themselves. All of the things that are shown in this movie are things that once- it is hard to believe- was how it was most everywhere in the world. Though our country has made great strides to overcome this equality issue, India still has a lot of work to do in women’s rights.

When I rented this film, I honestly did not think I would enjoy it at all. I thought it would be boring. As I watched the movie, though, I really started to feel for the kids that were born into this situation. The thing that really tore me apart was the fact that most of these kids understood how bad of a situation they were in and really truly wanted to get out and get a good education. Though they loved their family and stood by them, they really wanted to be better and do something with their lives. This really struck me and I really felt for each and every one of those kids.

Activity #10

The gender wage gap is a subject in which many people have may different opinions as to if it is justified or not. I had never really thought about the difference in wages among men and women before recently and had never heard both sides of this argument until reading this article. June O’Neill does believe that the gender wage gap is justified but Hilary Lips does not believe it is. Reading both of their sides gave me more insight and also more of an understanding for what I believe on this matter.
My opinion of this matter is that the gender wage gap is not justified, therefore I agree with Hilary Lips side of the issue. She explained that the reason that the gender gap is not as noticeable as it used to be and therefore looks like it is getting better is because most business use weekly and hourly rates for pay rather than using annual pay rates. With this system, men usually work more hours than women making the gap still a large one. The reason that men can work more hours is because of a few things. One is that if the woman does in fact have a family, then they may not be able to work all the hours that a man could due to family obligation. Also, some of the “extra” things that are offered at works for more pay may not be an option with a family because they are usually weird hours. Another thing that makes it hard for women to get as many hours as men is because with long hour jobs, something having to do with travel for example, men are more likely to have those jobs or positions because a lot of time women think about what if they started a family or being away from home too long. Therefore, they do not take jobs that may require that lengthy period of time away from home.
Another thing that makes the gender gap so big is the fact that they use men’s standard of working as the normal. This model does not include family and domestic issues that should be included due to women having to deal mostly with these issues.
Another thing that makes the gender gap so different is the “rumor” that it is just accidental that women and men choose different occupations in which men just happen to choose ones that pay more than women. This is defanantly false. The best example to back that up is how women and men are both teachers, but women teachers make 95% less money than men teachers. This shows that even though women typically are teachers more than men are, men still make the most money.
The writing about the gender gap being justified by June O’Neill makes a huge deal about how women choose to go into less important jobs due to the family. They choose occupations that work with the home, which is usually part time jobs, with less hours and lower pay. The things that O’Neill brought up in her paper all seemed to be things that, even though are true, are not necessarily women’s faults. Even though part time jobs maybe chosen by more women, the men that are in them as well still make more money than the women with the same job. This shows that the wages are still unfair and need to be examined more closely by our society to make a change.

Midterm 2

Heteronormativity is defined as the way heterosexuality is constructed as the norm. The way this is shown in our society is in places like advertisements and commercials, where heterosexual couples are the only sexual couples shown. Another place is in card stores in the “love” and “anniversary” sections where there are only cards made for the “normal” heterosexual couple. All these things show society and make knows to the world that only being heterosexual is normal and that all other sexual relations are not accepted.
The concept of heteronormativity defines and shapes every aspect of a relationship today. One way that it influences it is through the dominant construction of masculinity. In our society, the politics of sexuality come from the politics of the general world. When a man and a women come together in a relationship, it comes with strings attached. The man is automatically the dominant partner, as with males having most power in society. They make the money, have higher jobs, and are physically stronger. In the “ideal” family, the father figure is above all and the father has the say of what happens within the family. This is what is normalized in our society, therefore nothing else is accepted.
Another thing that is influenced by heteronormativity is the reproductive health. Since males are considered the dominant gender, when it comes to reproductive decisions and health, it used to be seen as the males decision and the female had no say. Recently thought, birth control, parenting options, and birth plans have become more and more centered around what the female wants. With this new development, it takes the male out of dominance and therefore, not making them as powerful, breaking the norm.
One more way to express how much power heteronormativity has had on our society is through gender divisions of labor. In our world today, women and men have very different job descriptions. Men usually have very high profile jobs, while women, on the other hand, usually have not as high profile jobs. On top of that, the jobs that they do have, even if they are very important, women do not get paid as much as men do. Also, there seems to be a big problem with horizontal segregation in the job force. This is where women are being segregated across jobs and being placed in certain fields. Women tend to have certain types of jobs like, clerical, retail, sales, and educational positions. All of these jobs are not seen as important as some that men tend to have.
In the last few weeks we have not only learned about heteronormality, but also how our bodies play a role in gender expression. How we look, what we wear, and how we portray ourselves all play a very big role in who we are and how we are looked upon. Our bodies not only define us, but also define society and the role of men and of women.
The things we wear and the things about us that the garment excentuates are something that every person has to realize tells everyone else a little about who you are. With the ideals of women today, we especially have to be aware of what we are putting on our bodies. For example, many shirts and bras today excentuate a women’s breasts. This is because our “ideal” women’s body is skinny with nice large breasts. This example of a body project is just one of the many things in which society must change to help us grow in how we look at each other and treat each other.
Not only does society have this underlying “ideal” body image, but media also does a great job of telling us what is good and bad. For one, cosmetic companies are always trying to sell the most “natural” makeup, but aren’t you ruining the actual natural look by adding something like makeup to your face? Also, media does a great job of putting ideas in peoples’ head about what your body should and shouldn’t look like. On most all advertisements, magazines, and billboards there are only skinny good looking people. Therefore, when anyone looks at it they assume they have to look like that person. The worst is having kids see that kind of stuff. If they are seeing it as young as they are in things in their lives, for example, Barbie, they assume they have to look like that and grow up thinking that. That’s why this is such a hard thing to stop, because it is everywhere and people start believing the media at such a young age.
Sexual violence is also something we should be concerned about and is connected to how we portray our bodies. Sexual violence is most of the time directed towards women. One way someone can be sexually violated is through rape. Women’s clothing and how we are suppose to look make things like sex and rape have a very big grey area. If women wear clothes that are “slutty” then a lot of guys say, “They are asking for it, “ and that the women wanted to have sex with him. In reality though, yea, maybe the clothing is a big advocate of personality, but it doesn’t matter when it comes to sex and sexual violence. People wonder how our societies sexual violence rate is so high in women, but maybe that issue can’t be fixed on the surface. Maybe its starts deep down, all the way down to how each one of us is taught to act and look like.

Activity #9

Activity #9
The issue of “Same Sex Marriages” is a very heated argument in our society today. The arguments for and against it both make very good points and have great facts to back up their position. This issue has been in all of the states of the United States court systems to try and legalize it or ban it from their state, along with many countries. The biggest of the arguments for and against this issue have to do with children and how this type of marriage affects them. Besides this, there are many other points that each side makes to ensure that their position is the better one.
For the side against same sex marriages, the readings for this activity gave some very good issues that help with this side of the debate. One of these arguments is defining the institution of marriage. When dealing with marriage, there are laws prohibiting marriage of a child and an adult, an adult and his/her parent, or to roommates with no sexual relationship. By allowing the few people who are the same sex to marry, it opens doors to many other sticky situations concerning the laws that I just mentioned. By allowing this one thing, many other issues could come up with marriages between other such “non man-women” marriages and could taint the long lived institution of marriage. Another argument against same sex marriages has to do with children. If you allow same sex marriages, it will start to become a problem with adoption. This will lead to more and more children growing up without a mother or father, due to the fact that, according to Peter Sprigg, most homosexual relationships do not last longer than 2 years. Therefore, when the couple splits, custody is an issue they have to now deal with. Also, of the relationships that do last, studies show that children raised by lesbians are less likely to fit in, more likely to become homosexuals themselves, and are more sexually adventurous. These arguments are some of the top arguments that are used by people against homosexual relationships that want to marry.
Though there are many arguments that are against same sex marriages, there was a huge study done by Lawrence A. Kurdek that made many important findings. He studied how homosexual couples and heterosexual couples stay together and why. He also studies both kinds of couples with children and without. In all of the broad topics that he studied his findings were clear. In lesbian and gay couples, there was no added stress in the relationship. There was also no difference of problem solving in their relationship then in a heterosexual relationship. The only study that had a difference in it from homo to heterosexuality was in that gay and lesbian couples got less support from their family. With this added conflict, some couples do not stay together as long.
My take on this issue is kind of split. I do believe that gay and lesbians should be able to live how they want. They should be able to express their love to whoever they want, and as we have studied in previous chapters, gender is just a perspective right? So I do believe any relationship is a valid one. But I do not believe that homosexuals should be able to marry. I understand some of the arguments given by Kurdek in his study but I also more strongly feel for the ones against such an act. I, imparticular, agree with the fact that not only is it hard for children who are adopted by gay or lesbian couples, but if such a relationship were to break up, it is so hard for children to overcome and cope with divorce. And since the “divorce” rate is higher in homosexuals, why make it legal for them to marry in the first place when most end in them splitting up?

CRJ #9

1) In the reading, “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros (#60), it gives an account of the author’s life, family situation, education, and career. Cisneros shares with us that she is an only daughter in a Mexican family. In her family, her dad actually believed that going to college was a good thing for her to do to get an education, but more importantly, to find a husband. When Cisneros finished her 6 years of college, she came away with an English major, but no husband, and to her father, it was as if she had wasted those 6 years. From then on, every book she wrote, article she published, and every class she taught she did to try and make her father proud of her. She didn’t want to be just another one of the “siete hijos” in which her father called his children to others. (This translated to seven sons). This reading not only showed how women are still looked at as being a home maker and that is it, but it also shares how having sons is more valued than daughters. Since men hold more power than women, fathers are always proud to have boys because they will grow up to be smart, have a family, and carry on the family name. They are the ones that carry the “power” down to generations to come.


2) In the reading, “The Myth of a Perfect Mother” by Judith Warner (#55), Warner gives a personal account of her life as a mom. She describes how as her daughter grew up she wanted (and was) the perfect mother to her; getting up early for feeding, giving praise, doing crafts, and the list goes on. She started to not be able to function at work as well because of her late nights and busy schedule, but that didn’t matter because she was the best mom ever. She finally realized that many other women today were going through the exact same thing. They were becoming obsessed with being the ideal mom and were not as concerned about how their own lives went. I believe that this account of her life and her talking to many other moms about the exact same thing happening to them, is kind of a wake up call to all women who want to pursue a life with a career, family, and being a mother. We have to learn to prioritize and make sure to not only be a good mother, but also know that we still have to make a good life for ourselves and not diminish our pride by becoming the “mom,” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we just have to make sure and keep our individual identities as well.


3) In the reading, “Marriage and Love” b y Emma Goldman (#53), marriage and love are described as being antagonistic. Goldman believes and writes about how love is possible in marriage, but marriage is just an economic bond that is society driven. It is what is expected to do if you do fall in love, when in reality, many people “in love” who get married just seem to “fall out of love” or grow farther apart when they do get married. Then she says that the ones who get married before falling in love do not ever actually fall in love, but rather get comfortable with the person enough to live with them. They get in a routine. I believe this reading to be very true. I do believe that marriage many times does make love harder due to the new economic dependencies and stressful situations that marriage entales, including things such as new bills, the power struggle between the husband and wife, the sexual side of marriage, and the children issue. All these things are what drive many marriages to divorce and though today, the divorce rate is as high as ever, I still believe that there are still marriages that do still include love and passion, as rare as it is to find it, I believe it is still out there.

CRJ #8

When you think of sexual violence, you first have to think about the construction of gender, because they go hand in hand. Gender is who you identify yourself as, feminine or masculent. Both of these come with different stereotypes and certain ways you are suppose to be. If you are male, you are suppose to be superior, strong, and more powerful than a women. If you are a female, you are suppose to be weaker and under the “power” of men. In terms of sexual violence, women are much more likely to become victims of this kind of harassment. From stalking to rape to physical abuse, women are continuously the primary victims across the board. This trend is due to power relationships. Due to the fact that male’s see themselves as more powerful than women, they believe that by committing acts of sexual violence on a women they have power over them and they enjoy the feeling of that power. They also have grown up in a society in which violence is made to be normal in the way that it is portrayed in video games and movies. Another reason is that men are taught to be tough and not show emotion. Not only does this make it understandable that men are the ones being violent because it is a sign of power and being strong, but it also bring up another problem. Even though statistics show that women have been and continue to be the victims in these kinds of violent acts, that doesn’t necessarily mean that that statistic is one hundred percent true. Since not showing emotion and not showing weakness is suppose to be masculent, it is also possible that if men were victims of violent sexual abuse, they probably would not report it or tell anyone about it. By doing this they are showing that they are weak and someone else had a power over them, and to a male, that is being defeated and they could be considered a “sissy.” Therefore, the statistic is higher on the women’s side because if a male was a victim of sexual violence, it is highly unlikely that they report it and instead, just keep it to themselves.

Activity #8

Activity #8

After first reading and then talking to people, I surprised me how much I, and the people that I talked to, didn’t know about violence against women. I always knew such violence existed but I never knew how prevalent it was. The statistics that were giving in the book were very surprising to me, and others. When starting my conversations with people, I shared with them the many statistics. A few such statistics were that ever 2 minutes in the U.S., a sexual assault is reported and “approximately 56 women are victimized in some why by an intimate partner every hour.” Another one is that one in five highschool girls report being sexually or physically abused by their boyfriend. I also told them that one in three women will experience sexual assault at one point in their life, and of the women who are sexually assaulted 9 in 10 knew their the person who assaulted them. When it comes to physical abuse, women are 5 to 8 times more likely to be a victim than men are.
After telling the people I was interviewing these things, I talked to them about how they thought about it. The overall response I got was that they did not know how bad this kind of violence really was today, especially the men that I interviewed. The women I spoke to I guess knew that kind of stuff goes on but the statistics surprised them. None of them had any personal stories to tell about this topic. They think the cause of violence against women is the fact that men are usually seen as the “dominant” gender and the reason violence against women is so much higher than against men is because violence and sexual assault is about being dominant over someone else and having power. Therefore, females are an easy target. The general response across the board to what we can do to help eliminate this is to inform people and educate people about it, then let people know where they can go to get help if they need it. Overall, my response is the same as everyone I interviewed: surprised by the statistics because I did not realize the severity of this problem today. I believe that this kind of information should be a lot more places so as to educate other people and to let people know that there is help out there. We need to bring this problem to a stop before it gets any worse.

CRJ #7

CRJ #7
When I read Margaret Sanger’s experience with Mrs. Sacks it really made me realize how hard it was back before women had many rights or contraceptive rights. Sanger was a nurse and one night was called in to take care of a patient at a house. The patient was Mrs. Sacks. She had tried to give herself an abortion and was found on the floor almost dead. After weeks of recovery, she finally became better. When she was able to talk to the doctor and Sanger when she was well she asked them what she could do to keep from getting pregnant again. The doctor, being a male, just laughed at her and told her all she could do was, “… Tell Jake to sleep on the roof!” This made her so upset and made Sanger realize how unfair not having the opportunity to choose to take contraceptives or not was. Months went by and Sanger received another phone call from the same family. She immediately went to their house only to find the same thing had happened, except this time, Mrs. Sacks had died. From that point on, Sanger vowed to stop being a nurse and stop curing “superficial things.” Instead, she was going to get the word out about women’s choices about contraceptives. She was going to get the information out there and make sure everyone women would one day have a choice in this matter. She wanted to make sure that incidents like what happened to Mrs. Sacks did not happen to anymore women and that no children were neglected due to overcrowded families. Sanger ended up being very successful in “being heard.” Today she is seen as one of the major feminists in the feminists movement. Today, I believe she would think that we have made great strides in contraceptive use and that women have much more say in how they chose to live sexually. Though I’m sure there are many more things to come, our society has virtually accepted the thought of contraceptive use and women’s rights.

CRJ #6

#3. I believe that the sexualization of women’s bodies does vary by race. In white women, being rail thin with large breasts is desired. With African American women, a lot of times curves and thicker women with large buttocks are desired. Girls who are white have a very distorted body image and it was thought that African American and Latino women did not have those same problems. In recent studies though, it was found that African American women’s purging and laxative use is related very closely with white women, but that Latino’s still had a much better beauty aesthetic than did any other race. My experience with the politics of beauty is that there is much more out there that can possibly distort a white women’s view of her body. There is some for African Americans and not as much for Latinos. I believe that it is a very good clue as to why Latinos do not have as much of a distorted image as whites do and I think that should be a good hint for society and we should strive to fix this major problem.

#1. Disciplinary beauty practices are trivial routines, rules, and practices that we engage in to maintain our body. A few examples are shaving legs, applying makeup, and curling/straightening/coloring hair. The media does a great job of constructing the female body by using perfect women in their ads and even digitally altering them at times to make them look even more perfect. I believe that the possible consequences for women of reality shows is that seeing as that they are on tv, they feel like they have to always look perfect and be perfect. They have all of their disciplinary practices shown on tv and have to make sure they are always looking good. This is related to the development of consumerism and global capitalism because I’m sure the products and things that these women use on the show has a higher sell rate at stores due to the fact that they are publisized and used by these reality show women.

#2. I think the ideal woman’s body is skinny, large breasts, tall, tan, perfect skin, and long legs. I think the ideal man’s body is tall, muscular, and tan. Power relations are reflected and reinforced in beauty and body norms in the fact that most world leader and big people in media are somewhat attractive and have a “normal” body. I believe that beauty and body norms affect men and women differently because even though men have body norms, I believe that they are usually still accepted even if they are somewhat not the norm where as women who don’t match it are immediately looked at differently. It makes me look at my body differently because it makes me feel like I have to have a perfect body to be successful in society.

"Killing us softly"

Killing Us Softly Response:
Not only do advertisements sell products but according to the speaker, they also sell value, images, concepts of love and sexuality, romance, success, and normalcy (who we are and who we should be). Advertisements tell us how we should look as a women including being flawless, beautiful, and skinny. They speaker says we should care about gender messaging because if we do not then we loose our ability to have authentic and freely chosen lives because we are so caught up in what we are “suppose” to look like or “suppose” to do.

Dove Response:
The films’ message about the feminine beauty idea is that our idea of what beauty is is very distorted because all the women that we look at in ads and such have all had un natural things done. Whether it be plastic surgery, an eating disorder, or even computer alterations after a photo, these are not the pictures and women that we should strive to look like. The reason our ideas have indeed become distorted is because the media do not tell us that these women are not “real” or natural. We believe that they are just born that way and ask ourselves why we cant be like that and then begin to actually think we can by telling ourselves, “well if she can do it, then so can I.”

Choose an AD:
I chose an ad that I found online. It is a beautiful women on a silk bed dressed in a tiny beautiful dress. She has a bullet hole in her head and the caption above her says “Beautifully Executed.” This advertisement is selling a game called “Hit Man- Blood Money” for the gaming systems. Not only is this selling the product but it is also downplaying women. It is once again showing the ideal beauty and how women should look all the time. Also, it is showing women being worth less than men because to me, since they chose a women for the ad to be the one that got shot, it makes me believe that they think that women aren’t as strong as men and are more of damsels in distress, as do many other video games.

Personal Response:
I believe that after seeing these films and looking up ads it brings my attention to what all ads do also sell. I think we become very desensitized to this because we see it so often. I didn’t even realize how bad it was until these films point it out, along with looking at studying other ads that I found.

Activity #6

I agree with Kimmel in his argument that masculinity is socially constructed and historically shifts because I believe that masculinity is defined by our society and is passed down in history. There wouldn’t be a defined “who is more man than another” unless society so names what it means to be a man. Masculinity is also somewhat of a competition between men to see who is stronger and tougher. I believe that every man is afraid of being a sissy in front of other men, yet when in the presence of only women sometimes they show their “softer” side. Due to this fact homophobia is very prevalent among men because they do not want to be seen or be friends with someone who is considered a “fag” or “sissy.”
According to Jackson Katz, the “tough guise” is the front that men put on in front of large groups as being a real man: tough, strong, wise, and powerful. It is the front that makes them masculint. He believes that men should shop putting this front on and loosen up a bit, show some of their softer side and even look down upon men who do put on the tough guy attitude. He believes that by hiding all this emotion, they are messing with their true personality and mental wellness. They should let those emotions out, instead of letting them get bottled up inside.

CRJ #5

CRJ #5
Emma Goldman was considered, by J. Edgar Hoover, to be one of the most dangerous women in America. This “title” was given to her, I believe, due to the fact that at the time it was given to her, women did not have many (or any at all) rights. As a man, J. Edgar Hoover saw Goldman as a threat. With her very tactic feminist efforts she successfully made many speeches and enlightened many people about the problems in America. She made a clear point to make sure women started to value themselves and know that they are equal to men, especially sexually. She thought that a women should have the right as to what she wanted to do with her body and should not have to have sex or have babies if she did not want to. She succeeded in all of these areas and influenced many feminists, including Margaret Sanger. Throughout Goldman’s life she went though and witnessed many things and this is why, I believe, she was able to be so strong and stand against issues she believed in so well.
In her life not only was she named “most dangerous women in America” but she was also named on of the greatest living women. I believe that this was due to the fact that she did eventually get a lot of recognition for her work and not only helped women with value issues, but also helped men as well. She was all about helping the person who needed help the most, not necessarily just women. I believe that this, the action of caring for the welfare of others over herself, made her get named one of the greatest living women in America.
Women like Goldman really did help pave the way for many feminists today. Her actions, so long ago, make me realize that this person that I am reading about in a book, in a class, in college, actually helped me to be reading this book at college by taking a stand for women and starting a revolution that eventually allowed women, like me, to go to college and get an education. The more I think about that and understand it, the more amazed I am and proud I am to be a women.

Midterm 1

Midterm 1

Sex and gender are two very tricky concepts and are not always black and white. Sex is defined as the body that you are in biologically speaking. In “Women’s Voices Feminist’s Visions,” they say that sex is something you “have.” It is essentially what you are biologically born with. Gender on the other hand is culturally defined. In the book it is said that it is something you “do” rather than “have.” It is your sexual identity in regard to society and culture, and there are many ways in which gender can be explained theologically. Three different theories about gender are Bornstein’s model, social construction, and the integrative perspective.
The first theory about gender is Bornstein’s idea. This theory explains how gender is in somewhat of a pyramid, much like the food pyramid. The area at the top is needed in moderation and as you go down you need more and more or there are more and more. In her model, the top was, in brief, a powerful, white male. As you go down the pyramid, though, the criteria get less and less specific. For example, in the middle is where most people would probably be. This area might be the males who are in touch with their sensitive side, who are classified as “sissy” males. Along side which you would have the women who are classified as “tom boys.” This theory of gender is not a very cut and dry theory but rather has much grey area.
The next theory of gender is social construction. This framework of looking at gender is basically that we learning gender through our society. There are certain ideas of how a female and male should be in this society. Females are suppose to be passive, dependent, and emotional, and males are suppose to be strong, independent, and in control. These criteria of how we are “supposed to be” is set by society. When you are trying to figure out your gender, society rewards certain behaviors that are seen as appropriate to your gender. We, in essence, learn to “perform behaviors that are socially expected of us.” (Shaw and Lee)
One more framework for gender is the integrative perspective. This approach is a mix of the biological factors and sociological factors. This theory pays attention to the biological aspect of gender, but states that it is only the framework and basic outline for gender. In this perspective, you also have to look at sociological factors like social sexual influence and family environment. The integrative approach believes that the world and society have just as much effect on people and their gender as does your biology.
In our society, though many people hate to admit it, gender does shape science and technology. When you think of certain genders, for example, males, you automatically think of them being successful in the science and technology field. Women on the other hand are seen more as the homemakers and mothers and should not at all be associated with the technological part of society.
Science and technology defiantly shape our understanding of gender in our society today. One way that science shapes gender is the fact that all throughout history, men have dominated the field of science. Science is seen as a hard field and you have to be a strong and smart person to succeed in this field. Since men are more successful in this field, or have been in the past, it makes them seem as if they are the stronger gender. Technology also shapes gender as well. One way it does this is that technology is quickly growing in our world with more Internet websites, video games, and more specialized electronics. In all of these aspects, men seem to be the dominant gender. They understand it more and seem to know more about all these things. In video games you never see females in them and if you do it is usually the person you are trying to save. (aka. The damsel in distress) This puts a negative light on women and defiantly shapes how women are looked upon in this society.
Women’s studies scholars seem to think that science and technology are an important aspect in gender because they both make males look dominant and stronger than females. In this way, feminists study this aspect because they are trying to make this stereotype change. Just because in the past men have succeeded in these fields of study doesn’t mean that women cannot just as easily succeed.

Activity #5

Activity 5
Kate Bornstein wrote “My Gender Workbook.” She discusses and analyzes the concept of gender and what gender really is. Kate understands gender and discusses it as being a pyramid kind of like the food pyramid, with the things on top (or the gender on top) being the least important and only being needed in moderation. She describes this gender as being a white, heterosexual, well-educated, wealthy, attractive, male, with power. (shorter list)
After taking the Gender Aptitude test I was little surprised by the results. I have always thought of there being two distinct genders. After reading Kate’s Gender Workbook, I realized that many other people do not see it that way. The test made me realize this. I believe that this test was made to do exactly that, to make people aware that gender is not something distinct and black and white, but there is some grey. I believe it can help us understand more of who we really are, and more aware of the other people around us. In the section of “Who’s on Top” where it talks about gender being pure and simple if you are pure and simple explains that gender can be very simple only if you know who you are and you are pure with your identity and know who you are and are comfortable with it. Kate says, “Pure identities are valuable things,” and I believe this is the most eye opening quote in the whole writing.

CRJ #4

CRJ #4
Are men overall predominantly stronger than women? The “answers” are everywhere, or at least what our society thinks are the answers to that question. When it comes to which gender is preferred over another, is it male or female? Our society would also agree that being a male is much more preferred, because you have more respect, you aren’t a sissy, and you have more opportunities. But does all this apply anymore? Are women still the weaker, less respected gender? Specifically, when it comes to sports, are men better than women?
When it comes to men and women athletes, men are always looked at as better. Though at first glance, every observation points at that answer, the further you look into it, the more you begin to see that that is not at all true. Being a female student athlete myself, I know the things people say about women and sports: “Men are better athletes.” “A girl could never play that.” Or “ Oh, it’s because she’s a girl.” To be honest, it gets rather annoying to hear those things come out of peoples’ mouths. I do not at all believe that women are worse athletes than men. Though there are some sports that women do not play, I believe that a woman could do and succeed in any sport she wanted to.
There is recent evidence out that suggests that one day in the future, women will surpass men in sports. These conclusions, that are told in Nelson’s writing, are based upon the statistics that women are increasingly improving times and stats and men have come to a level in which they are not improving at as fast a rate. These findings are due to many things. Nelson points out that women did not start competing in sports are early as men did. We are relatively new to the athletic world, therefore, have not had as much time to train, get the technique, or get in the kind of shape we need to be in, as Nelson points out with her story about the Lanes in swimming. There are already stats out that show that women are better at marathon events and other events that do not require upper body strength. As time goes on though, women will get better and better at each sport we play and someday, maybe we will be respected as the individual athlete that we are instead of whether we are male or female.

CRJ #3

CRJ # 3
When Carole Vance presents the idea of gender and sexuality not being understood as “natural” or unchanging “truths” but as “social constructions,” she is going against many people and taking a stand against how she thinks society should be. Gender and sexuality has always been looked at as the “natural” and unchanging “truths,” and she says that it should be looked at as “social constructions” which is being more “fluid and changeable and the production of human action and history.”(29) Which means, Vance believes that when you are born there should not me a set way in which you are to live your life sexually. You should be able to change what kind of person you are sexually attracted too, whether that is a male or female. Essentialism is the belief that your human behavior is indeed biological and that you can not change it under any circumstances. Biological determinism is the predisposition to see women only by their reproductive and biological selves and nothing else. This biological determinism sees women one certain way and leaves no room for any change. Which leads to the social constructionist view, in which women go against the “biological determinism” view and may change their sexual identity. Being lesbian or gay is considered to be socially constructed, because people do not believe it to be real, therefore, constructed and unreal.
Historically, men have had all the rights and have held the upper hand in society. When we talk about women starting to get rights and become equal to them, men do not realize how bad our situation really is. The quote, “the fish is the last to discover the ocean” by Kimmel, is referring to this problem. They have not discovered how we feel in society because they have always lived one way and don’t notice it. They take the life they have for granted and don’t realize anyone else has a problem because they have never walked in our shoes. Therefore, I believe, not only do feminists have to try and get women more rights and become more equal, but should also strive to inform and help men understand where we are coming from so they appreciate what we are trying to do more.

CRJ #2

After finishing the readings for this week, I started thinking about many things concerning privilege in our society today. In the article “White Privilege and Male Privilege,” McIntosh points out some very interesting ideas. She says that it is easier to grant others having a disadvantage than it is to say that we are overprivileged. In the matter of female and male privileges, males are definintely more privileged than females. Society tries to fix that problem, but instead of lessening male privilege and saying they are way to over privileged, they only point out how under privileged females are. In this way, it doesn’t at all make a male feel bad for being who he is. It protects them from having to give up their rank in society or to face reality.
The same principle of white being over privileged goes for your race. In our society today, white’s still have more privileges than African Americans. Although, some are not very obvious, under the surface, African Americans are still judged and looked down upon by many people. I have not personally felt like I had more privileges than an African American, but I do understand that the problem is still out there. When McIntosh talks of the white privilege being an “invisible package” she means exactly that. Many white people do not think they have more privileges than others, but if you really look and examine our society, you will see that there are still stereotypes and prejudice against African Americans and other races that white people never have to experience.
In the readings, they explain the bootstrap myth. It is the myth that if you can not provide for your family and pull yourself up by your bootstraps then you are not smart and have certain deficiencies. To be honest, I wasn’t really completely sure what this myth really meant and how it had to do with feminism, but I think I may have an idea. If men usually have the income of the family (go to work) and women are the home makers, what the bootstrap myth is saying is that women are deficient and aren’t as smart and successful as men are. The effects of this myth are that feminism is stronger and there is just one more thing for antifeminists can point out as to why men are better than women.
The relationship between homophobia and sexism is not a very good one. It has a very negative effect on feminism because of the stereotype that feminists are all lesbians. Homophobia is the fear and hatred towards gays and lesbians. Therefore homophobics do not like feminists. Since this dislike is so strong, they make sure that feminists are put down and not made anything in society. In reality, feminists do not have to be lesbians. In fact, most “lesbians” are not lesbians at all. They are just perceived to be one because, according to Pharr, they do not have to be sexually or economically dependent on a male As soon as this society can stop judging people and having a “normal” then I think we will have made a step towards having everyone become equal in this world.

Activity #4

Activity #4


After viewing “A Girl Like Me” and reading, I came to a very harsh realization: In society today, the way we look and our ethnicity make a great deal of influence on how we are seen by others. When it comes to race, it can either hurt or help us. I believe that the concept of race in African American’s decreases self-worth. When watching “A Girl Like Me” during the part when they had the children pick which baby they would rather play with, most all of them chose the white doll. I think the reason that they did that was because they have grown up thinking that white people always have the upper hand in society. It is discouraging because it may make them believe that they can’t succeed as well as a white person. When it comes to white people though, I think the concept of race neither enhances nor decreases self-worth in a child. A white child has never known being “less” than anyone else so there is no decreasing or enhancing.
I believe when it comes to the issue of skin color and hair texture in valuing a person, I don’t believe there should be a reason for a stereotype for who is valued more than someone else. Society on the other hand has made it clear that there is something that is considered “normal” or “better.” In our society, light skin is much preferred over dark skin. Not only is being “white” supposed to be better but also among African Americans, they believe they will be given more respect if their skin is as light as possible. Being lighter skinned is much preferred and found to be much more desirable. I never realized this until after watching the film clip. Though, I believe different skin color is valued more than others traits, I do not believe that a person’s hair texture is. In the film clip it says that “wild and untamed” hair was not desired at all, though I do not see our society judging hair texture at all, and if it does, I have missed it.
Is there really such thing as a mythical norm? In “Women’s Voices, Feminist’s Visions” it states that a mythical norm for women is middle class, white, heterosexual, thin, young, and able. Is this really true? Are women really judged in society by those criteria? The film that I watched talks about how lighter skin females are more desirable and are considered better than darker skinned females. I think this shows that even still in society today, white women still have privilege over dark skinned women. The mythical norm states that you have to white, and in the film, the African American women all wanted to get as close to “white” as possible. Some of them even going as far as bleaching their skin to be more appreciated in society. I do not believe that skin color should be a judgment of character at all and I think it is a shame that this society still has a stereotype for what a “normal” women should be.

Activity #3

I have just completed the IATs and reading the hidden bias tutorial. After taking the tests I was a bit surprised by the results. Though I kind of have opinions and tend to sway one way or another when it comes to my opinion of differnt types of people, I did not expect for a test like that to pick it up. I believe this assignment and these tests were a good way to open up discussion to how society today really infuences how we think, whether we realize it or not. I think we can learn from these tests that even if we act like we have no prejudice and we think we don't make stereotypes, we do and we need to start changing that. I think it is important to start thinking about biases and prejudices because if we are aware of where we have biases, then we now what areas to work on changing that bias. After taking the gender test, I also chose the sexuality test (gay vs. straight) and the weight test (fat vs. thin). I chose those tests because I did not think that I had strong biases towards any of those groups or liked/disliked one more than the other. Come to find out, in my unconcious thoughts I DID have a bias towards one. These biases that I have I beleive come from society and like the "Hidden Bias" article says, though I dont know it, I am conforming to what society wants me to be and wants me to beleive even if i dont realize it.

CRJ #1

CRJ # 1
It’s crazy to think that only forty years ago women and men were treated so unequally. It is amazing to think how much equality women have gained in such a short amount of time. In Reading Two, “A Day Without Feminism,” it explains how things were for women in 1970. It’s so hard to believe that we had so few rights then. The way we live today has no comparison to how women used to live. Things like magazine articles, popular novels, and who can and can’t take certain classes never crossed my mind as something that women should have equality issues with. We live in a day where women have more rights then we ever did, but the reading also pointed out things that I never really thought about that still are very sexist. Things like whether your teacher is a male or female, whether or not a women can be in the religious front, and losing a spot on the National Honor Society because of a pregnancy are all issues that females still have to deal with today. Therefore, not only are feminists still out there, but also they need to be, due to the fact that there are still problems with our society today with equality for women.
The feminists these days are very different, or at least are seen very differently, than they were back when feminism started. There are many stereotypes and myths about feminists. One big stereotype is that if you are a feminist, you are a lesbian. This assumption is definitely not true at all. The reason this is a common idea in society is because of the idea that feminist also hate men. It is thought that lesbians, since they love women, hate men, which is not true at all. A feminist can be either a heterosexual or a homosexual. People need to get this stereotype out of their heads. A myth people often have of feminists is that they want to be like men. Instead, people should start thinking of feminists as women who want to be valued for whom they are. Though I am not sure if I am a feminist myself, I do believe that women should be valued the same as a man, and with each day that passes more and more efforts are taking place to make sure that it happens.

Activity 2

I interviewed three people about Women’s Studies and what they thought of feminism. I talked to my best girl friend, a guy friend from home, and my mom. My mom and my girl friend’s answers were about the same and then my guy friend’s answers were totally the different. In the first question when asked what they reaction to me being in Women’s Studies was, my mom and my girl friend were both glad for me and happy I was in it. In fact, my girl friend thinks more people should take it. My guy friend though just thought of it as another class to fill a requirement to graduate. In the second question, both the women I interviewed thought of someone who wants equal rights for women when I asked what they though a feminist was. My guy friend said it was crap and is obviously not for it at all. Though he said that he said if I were to become one he would respect me for being one. My girl friend and mom both said if I was a feminist they would support me, and my friend said this because she is kind of a feminist as well.
When I first signed up for this course, I thought of it as just a way to fill my requirements for my major, but the more I talked to my friends and family and thought about it the more interested I became in learning about it. I don’t think I would call my self a “full blown” feminist, but I do believe women and men should be treated equally and women should have the same opportunities as men do.

Assignment 1-introduction

Hi! My name is Sara Shapiro and I am from Nashville, Tennessee. I am a sophmore majoring in Psychology. I am currently in Blacksburg taking this class. I chose this class because I need it to fill one of my area requirements and I chose it over other classes because I have had a friend take it and she found it intersting. I have never taken a WS class before. I am not really sure what I want to be when I grow up, maybe something with . I am currently on the VT Swim and Dive team. I dont know what to expect in this course so I really dont look forward to covering anything. I dont have any reservations about this course. I also dont relly know much about women studies so i dont really know/have any stereotypes. My aim screen name is saras1052.