Miscellaneous Post #1

Breast cancer awareness month kicked off this month. It's kind of cool to see the campus decorated in pink especially during diversity week. So while I was at work yesterday I finally got a chance to read The Anchor when I began to read an article about a fellow classmate of mine. Her Name is Sue-Ellen Jimenez and the article was about her brave battle with breast cancer.I was amazed yet proud of her for sharing her story to the thousands of students that read the school paper.  Her story was an eye opener making me realize that cancer has no name, age, or race. Now she is cancer free and enjoying her life as a college student as well as  actively participating in Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation. I applaud her for bravery as well as the millions of other women who have survived and lived to tell their stories.  

Here is the story :

http://www.theanchoronline.org/news/2012/10/02/student-beats-breast-cancer-ready-to-tackle-graduation/

Talking Point #5 ( LGBT/Rich)

Words I Looked Up:
Sadomasochism 
Abhorrent 
shoal 
deviant 

Rich defines Compulsory heterosexuality as the urge to validate your heterosexuality as a women. It's the only role that is mandatory for a women.Rich Argues that by being heterosexual everything is handed to you on a silver platter.

Ex. Preserve the sacredness of the home- the scientific romanticism of the home itself.
Ex. Women in every culture and throughout history have undertaken the task of independent , non-heterosexual to have done so.

Rich defines lesbian existence as  non-existent which is the least bit shocking to rich. Rich describes as a recreation of a mother daughter emotional relationship. Rich uses examples of lesbians being tortured as a way to demonstrate how horrible they are treated in the work place and by society.

Ex. " Women are "innately" sexually oriented only towards men, that the lesbian is simply acting out of her bitterness toward men ".
Ex. The choice of words used to describe a "lesbian" lesbianism, alternative lifestyle.
Ex. The death penalty for lesbians ( 1656) , attacks against unmarried women from aspersion and mocking to deliberate genocide, the burning/torture of widows,spinsters(during witch persecution )
Ex. "Treatment" torture of lesbians by the medical profession ( 1656)

Compulsory heterosexuality is a part of SCWAAP (the dominant ideology).

Talking point #4 (Economic Justice/People Like Us)

Center For Working –Class Studies has a lot of important, helpful information but I was unsure what the website was actually used for.

PEOPLE LIKE US- Illustrates the life choices of others to show how education, family background, social class, ethnicity, and income contributes to how the world chooses to view you. These contributing factors can either give you a major boost in the form of making more money (if you’re a man) or the difference between barely surviving from month to month.

-I liked the different stories …shows you the harsh reality of life and i commend the brave participants for sharing their lives with the world.    

Economic inequity is a feminist issue due to the oppression women face in the work place. Economic inequity is a feminist issue because it is a sexist view of the work place as well as women. Economic inequity puts women in an unfair advantage especially if a woman is preforming the same job as a man. Feminist fight for equality for all oppressed groups by campaigning for better equal or better pay for women. Feminist understand the struggle and have the tools to help against the unjust treatment of women in the workforce. 

-Video On Social Class in the professional world and how your upbringing as a child can effect the way you interact with people as an adult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR_O309A1BI


* This connects back to the video "People Like Us" where they show the separation of class, how to belong to another class, and real life stories from blue collar, white collar, middle class, and lower class participants. 

Talking Point # 3 (Voting for Justice)

Obama
LGBT Issues

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-berry-head-of-opm-and-openly-gay-helps-obama-reach-out-to-gay-community/2012/09/18/3f0b8316-a453-11e1-9e73-f4e3879b34a3_story.html

       Gay Marriage is one of the many issues that both political parties are going to have to tackle this presidential election. Although gay marriage is recognized many people are still against the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.  Couples have to cross over into bordering states in order to get married. Same sex couples who are married are looked over since their marriage isn't legal in their town they have no benefits. This year president Obama said that he supports the LGBT community as well as promising the equality if he is re-elected.  Obama is reaching out to the LGBT community with the help of his campaign fundraiser John Berry who is also openly gay.  John berry decided to lend a hand in the campaign once he heard the president’s pledge on equality and his support for the LGBT community.  With Berry now working with the president is proof that being openly gay in the workplace is just as acceptable as being a straight male.  
    The issue at hand is LGBT issues such as adoption restrictions, work place harassment, and marriage. Heterosexual males and females reap all the benefits that come with being straight in society. While the LGBT Community has to fight for the right to be married to their partner. The LGBT community is suffering because they are simply being looked over, ignored, not mention, some act like they do not exists. With the support of the president not only is he a potential ally, he is shedding a new light on a community that is not backing down.  


Here Is the video of  President Obama appointing the first openly gay social secretary Jeremy Bernard right after abolishing  " don't ask , don't tell ". 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njLADeBCBDs  

* This post connects back to the analysis of  the speeches that both Michelle Obama and Ann Romney gave at the Democratic National Convention. Each women spoke briefly on important issues such as the LGBT community, equal pay,education,student loans, and the military.  

Talking Point #1 (Rowe-Finkbeiner)

The F- Word : Feminism In Jeopardy Women, Politics, and the Future
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner

    A Tsunami In History made me think of my mother and the countless pieces of jewelry she gave me as a child. I regret losing a few bracelets, rings, and ear rings that she gave me now I see the importance of gifts but as a child I wanted to wear the jewelry to show off. I really wanted to call my mother and ask her to recite the story behind every ring and bracelet she gave me. I wanted to learn the history of each piece maybe she got it from my father, maybe she bought it, maybe it was given to her by her mother and it was time to pass it along to her child. But each story was not as exciting as the story told by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. This reading really made me want to start a tradition of my own so that my children and their children can talk about how I made a difference something that could be proud to retell the story. 
   
After re-reading the Rowe-Finkbeiner article after fourteen weeks of class I have a better understanding of the context. The F word other wise know as feminism is in jeopardy to women because of the backlash associated with the word. Women are afraid to be called " The f-word" fearing that they will become unattractive to men or even worse be labeled as lesbian.Feminism is in jeopardy in politics because their are not enough women. We need more women to help make decisions for the sake of women. Women are not as active as they were in the first two waves ,  since politics are dominated by men the consequences of going against societal norms is much to fearful to women. Future feminist should fear feminism with open arms while challenging culture, institutions, behaviors. Feminism is bold, empowering, political, battle that improve thyself as well as relationships, it's complex, intelligence and humor. In the words of Lisa M Hogeland " Of Course young women are afraid of feminism-shouldn't they be? "
  

Talking Point #1 ( Hogeland)

Fear of Feminism
Lisa Maria Hogeland
ARGUMENT

Lisa M. Hogeland the author of Fear of Feminism argues that women get the willies from feminism when the distinction between gender consciousness and feminist consciousness is blurred. Lisa argues that women do not know how to distinguish the two different forms of gender consciousness which are awareness of women vulnerability and celebration of women. She argues that older women are less likely to become feminist, while younger women are more likely to become feminist. Lisa also argues that fear, violence, and vulnerability is the main reason why women fear feminism.

Hogeland is stating that people in general but mostly women do not the difference between being conscious of your gender and being feminist conscious. Since a lot of women cannot differentiate the difference it causes confusion about feminism. Hogeland talks about how older and younger feminist view issues like for example older feminist view the backlash as changeable while younger feminist view the backlash as unchangeable and how it has to be. She states that fear is another reason why women don’t want to be associated as a feminist. Fear of violence plays on the fears of millions of vulnerable women that can be used as an anti-feminist campaign. 

* This all ties back to the discussion we had in class about what is feminism ? and it touches base on what Chris said in class about people being afraid of being called a feminist. 

Gender and Society Fall 2012: Welcome to this Women's Studies blogging adventure...

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