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?