Becoming a Feminist

Before coming into this class, like many others, I viewed feminists as women who were looking to become the dominant sex and oppress men the way they feel they have been oppressed for many years. I was sorely mistaken, I am glad I chose to take this class. It just so happened that this was the same time as my Intro to Theatre class, which I withdrew from, but maybe it was meant to be, maybe I was destined to find my inner feminist.

Anyway, what I have learned in this class will better suit me for my chosen field of study (journalism) because it is going to allow me to write with a more open mind, and a better knowledge of yet another group's goal. Feminists are like most other groups, we just want equality. 

Being exposed to the hardships that women endure on a daily basis also opened my eyes a bit. I have always been one to respect women, I really hate when guys go out of their way to treat girls poorly because "all girls love ass holes." Treat them as people, not a sub-group of people. I'm all for fun and games, which could mean poking fun at a girl every now and then, but ultimately, respect should be shown equally amongst men and women.

I'm glad I hated Intro to Theatre enough to take this class, because I came into this class not expecting much, but I have left with a great understanding of feminism and I am grateful for that. I enjoyed every day that we were in class together.

Thank you to everyone involved with the class for making this an unforgettable experience.

Women in James Bond

A few friends and I decided to watch a James Bond movie the other night and I noticed there were at least 10 women portrayed as objects in the movie. This has been a trend in the entire James Bond series, one manly secret agent goes around killing terrorists, all while sleeping with 6 or 7 different women. These movies have portrayed women as interchangeable objects, most are not even given a name in the movie. I wonder what the advertisement says to Hollywood's young actresses, "new part in James Band: Quantum of Solace. Sex Partners #3-6 still needed." While the movies are entertaining, they have done an injustice to women in making them seem like objects.

Afraid to Speak Up

There was recently an argument in my dorm between 3 boys and 2 girls about feminism. The girls stated that feminists only want equal rights and they certainly do not have them. The boys said that women have equal rights and all they want to do is complain until they are the "superior sex." While this class has done me a world of good as far as opening my eyes and mind, I found myself listening to this argument and knowing that the boys were wrong, but I did not speak my mind. I sat there and did not say a word, I'm disappointed in myself because I was ready to whip out all the information I had learned in class about what feminists really want, which is just equal opportunity. Could it be that I am still a slave to what society has told me about gender?
I'll be sure to speak up next time that argument takes place.

Animal Activists

In my personal essay class this morning, we discussed an essay we were assigned to read and the main topic of the essay involved thinking about where your food has been before you eat it. For example, the focus of the piece was lobsters. Our teacher asked if we had ever really thought about how the lobsters were cooked and where they were kept before we ate them. They were kept in a tank with many other lobsters, their claws were stuck together due to the rubber band put around them, and then they were thrown in boiling water while they were still alive. When asked what we thought about all of that, there was a trend that consisted of guys in the class not really caring about the preparation process, while most of the girls in the class said they were vegetarians and they are totally against eating animals that were once living.
I thought to myself, "how bad has this stereotype gotten?" It's like all of the guys were afraid to say that they like animals, the chances that every guy in the class couldn't care less about boiling living lobsters is highly unlikely. Getting away from the class, I believe it has become "whimpy" for a guy to say he cares about animals because it may show his sensitive side and that would take away from his masculinity.
I was surprised at how far we have come, a guy can't even care about animals anymore. SAD!

Woodstock

Today in my academic writing class we were assigned to make a presentation pertaining to the topic of our research paper. One girl in the class decided to do her paper on the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969, one of the most influential gatherings of it's time. She went on to mention artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and the Grateful Dead. While in class, I wondered if any women had performed at Woodstock. After researching, I found that many had played at Woodstock in 1969, including such names as Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane, whose lead singer was female. I thought it was odd how a girl who considers herself knowledgeable on the subject failed to mention these very popular female artists. She overlooked them and only mentioned the influential male artists of that era.

Mid-Life Crisis

My mother is approaching 50 years of age and she recently purchased a Volvo convertible, she claims she's  going through her "Mid-Life Crisis." She went on to say that she believes women go through a much harsher time during their late 40s into their 50s than men because they are held to a higher standard of aesthetic acceptability. She didn't quite use those terms, but that's what she was getting at. After thinking about it, I understood what she was saying. There are more men with grey hair and older looking faces who are considered "beautiful" and "handsome." They can more often get away with the "experienced" look. There are many fewer women who are still considered "sexy" once they are approaching 40 years old. This double standard is not fair to women. I believe it's attributing to more eating disorders and increasing the number of surgeries to female physiques.

A Clinger

I have often found that when my friends are talking about a girl who is "clingy", it is always in a negative fashion. Guys claim that girls are clingers when they won't leave their boyfriend alone, they are attached at the hip. In certain cases, when guys play the role of "clinger", girls will call it cute and love the fact that a guy is willing to devote so much attention towards a girl. Are girls being held to a higher standard than guys to be better spouses?

Transgender issues

Recently in the news, they reported a story of a division 1 basketball player at George Washington University who was born female and doing her best to make the transition to becoming a man. She has not had surgery to scientifically become a man, but she does want to be referred to as a man. She has changed her name from Kiara to Kye. Through her teen years, she made the transition to dressing more masculine, admitting she was lesbian, and then decided to go through with surgery once her career as a basketball player for the women's team at her college was over. Is she contradicting herself by wanting to be considered a man and playing on the women's basketball team?

Motherly Matters

I recently noticed the lack of respect my mom sometimes gets from my family. It does not compare to the amount my father receives. I don't believe it is because he is the "breadwinner" in the family or because we do not see him as much. I get this vibe from many other families as well. It seems as if children are always more afraid to answer to what their father has to say as opposed to their mother. Since noticing this, I have tried to show my mom a little more respect over the phone. I don't think I have ever been spiteful just for the sake of being spiteful, I'm just going to try to be a little nicer to mom from now on.
Does anyone else see this trend in their family or families they know?

Just a quick thought... Has anyone ever hear of someone filling out a women's NCAA March Madness bracket? It seems as if almost every channel has a small portion of programming dedicated to whose Men's Final Four bracket is still intact. I just thought that it was interesting how women receive little to no attention during the most important and intense portions of their athletic careers.

Spring Break in Miami

While in Miami over spring break, I attended a Miami Heat basketball game with my family. At halftime they brought out the cheerleaders and they performed their routine and were applauded when they were done. After they finished, they brought out a group of 15 old women to do the exact same routine as the much younger group which preceded them. They were celebrated much more loudly with a huge roar and greater applause. Were they being mocked because they were old, out of shape women? Or were there dance moves truly better than that of the previous group? I thought it was odd to see that. I wanted to hear what everyone else thought of what this.

Spring Breakdown

The movie we watched today in class was pretty interesting. As cliche as it was, with the whole "remember who your friends are". But it also added the image of celebrity's children. They included the element of being the daughter of someone famous, where you must constantly behave properly or it will be caught on camera and all over the news. There are fewer stories involving the sons of celebrities. They are more likely to be excused from not behaving up to the public's standards of living.

Nursing

While chatting with my girlfriend last night, she told me she was given grief from her roommates for her dad being a male nurse. Her father is a retired fireman whose second career is in the field of nursing. She didn't say why that topic of discussion came up with her roommates but even I noticed that I have poked fun at her father's profession in the past. The male nurse jokes really took off when the Meet the Parents movies were released. After sitting through many discussions in class and seeing things through a new prism, I viewed my actions as childish and unnecessarily mean. My girlfriend, Kerry, claims she was used to getting grief for it so it never really bothered her but I couldn't help but feel guilty.
Taking this class has really opened up my mind and erased the notion that gender plays a part in which career you can or cannot take up.

Presentations

After listening to all the presentations in class and hearing all the different issues women go through, I was shocked to hear the various different things women go through on a daily basis. Even in my assigned passage on women in the media, it was interesting to learn that there was, and is, actually a bias against the reporting of women in the media. These presentations have been fun to listen to and pretty informative.

Forgiving of Abusive Men

Why is it that men like Tiger Woods and Ben Roethlisberger are almost immediately forgiven after abusing their wives or other young women but women such as Left Eye from the musical group TLC will always be regarded as a crazy woman? I just find it odd how women have grudges held against them by the public and the media much longer than male icons do.

Female Athletes

I was speaking to my girlfriend this past weekend and she said a few of the girls on her field hockey team at Geneseo State were scarred this past weekend due to ridicule from sororities at their school. From what she told me, the sorority called a bunch of the girls on the team "dykes" and "fat bitches", and the girls who  these comments were aimed towards felt terrible. My girlfriend claims field hockey and most other female athletes receive many negative comments about their "lack of feminine qualities".  I was always aware of the fact that female athletes received more negative comments than males but I thought that would all be gone with once college started. It's a shame things like that still have to happen.

I believe men in a relationship are put in a tough spot in today's society. If they cater to their spouses they are strengthening their relationship but often ridiculed by their male friends. Where is the line drawn? I believe I have found a happy medium but there are often times when I receive complaints from both my girlfriend and male friends. Other friends of mine who are girls claim it's "adorable" and "so sweet" but seldom hear anything positive from my male friends. I guess the comments I'm expecting are on finding the happy medium between friends and spouses.

Image of Men in the media?

Why is it that men such as Barry White and hip hop artist Rick Ross can portray the image of a heavily set man but still attract the women wanted by all men? The easy answer for Rick Ross is that he throws money and a lavish lifestyle at women and attracts them. Did Barry White do it with his seductive voice or was there something behind the way he treated women? When was the last time an overweight woman was pictured with men crawling all over her? Just a question to think about.

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