Guest Speaker

The guest speaker from Thursday's class was definitely interesting and her line of work would be one to give you an interesting perspective on life. At first I was a little confused as to what her line of work was, but when she showed us the play on domestic violence in El Salvador it clicked. She was literally taking everything we have learned in our gender and conflict class and portraying it on stage. For example she showed scenes on domestic violence, males as aggressive beings, and conflict between being a father and living a tough life on the streets of Philadelphia. What the I thought was interesting was that she used the actual people involved in those real life situations and asked them to act out their life story on stage in front of an audience. My question throughout the class was how does she get people to come and watch a show like that? For example she did a story on a homeless man who would just get passed each and every day by the general public. But when she brought his story to life, the audience was filled with the same people who overstepped him while he lay on the ground in the park, and at the end of the show they were on their feet. Also where does the funding come from for something like that? The only aspect of the class that I did not agree with was when she showed the scene of the men in prison. The way she made it sound was that we were supposed to be sorry for those men in some way. I do not understand how I am supposed to be sorry for a man who killed someone. She was trying to justify this by saying how they come from tough and violent areas of a cities, but so do thousands of other people, but they are not killing people. I was by no means going to feel bad for those men in prison even if they were not the ones who pulled the trigger, they were still involved somehow. The most compelling story was the story of the young black girl whose father was in prison her entire life until he passed away. It was sad because she had no say in the situation and had to grow up without a father because of the situations he put himself in. She made a good point when she said "how am I supposed to grieve for a father I never knew?" She understood that yes he gave her life but he was never there for her when it matter most. Overall the guest speaker showed me something that I never have heard of before and I found her line of work interesting, but also very sad.

Gender Identity Presentation

The presentation today in class was informative but yet I felt as though it was a little sporadic. I liked that they made the difference between cross-dressing and trans-gendering clearer because I thought that if one cross-dressed, they were a transgender. A point was brought up in discussion today about men not having many options when it comes to dressing themselves. It is true that if a man is seen with a pink shirt on, people may look at him and question his sexuality. The area in which a person lives also plays a large role in those perceptions, for example what is socially unacceptable here in central PA, may be acceptable on the West coast. There are not very many articles of clothing, for men that are brightly colored because they are seen as flamboyant. It’s just the opposite for women, I feel as though I can wear a sweatshirt and sweatpants and still look feminine, and not have my sexuality questioned. This is probably because I generally wear makeup and earrings even if I am wearing sweats. I feel as though my gender identity was one for me to construct for myself growing up. My mother did not place a lot of restrictions or guidelines for me to follow when it came to dressing. She allowed me to be a tom-boy in middle school and then do a complete 180 going into high school. I feel so fortunate to have a mother who understood when it came to that stuff. To this day I still hate wearing a dress or high heels, because it is not comfortable to me.

Double Bind

The idea of oppression is most often heard about when talking about women, and their place in a society.  Women will say that they are "oppressed" and it is systematically against them to be better and do more than what they are doing.  I agree with this statement to a point because there are plenty of women throughout history who have been successful, regardless of women being in an oppressed state.  Marilyn Frye compares oppression of women to the situation of a bird in a cage.  She defines oppression as "living of one's life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction. It is the experience of being caged in: All avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby trapped" (Minas, 2000, p. 11-12).  The best example she provides is of women and their sexuality.  Younger women are in a double-bind whether they are sexual active or inactive.  For example of a heterosexual girl chooses to be sexual active, she runs the risk of being called "loose," or a "whore" (p. 12).  But guys can go around and sleep with whomever they desire, and they are called "stud," the "man".  If a young woman denies sexual activity, she can be called a "bitch," uptight or frigid. These criticisms are only ones typically being made by peers, and the parents are a completely different situation.  As a girl it is a juggling act what to say to her parents and how they will react to it.  Then the whole idea on women dressing themselves in a provocative way and then being raped; someone comes back and says, "oh she was asking for it".  They is probably one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard, just because as a woman I choose to wear a tight skirt and high heels, does not mean a man who can't control himself is able to come after me.  It is a double-edge sword that women have to deal with on a daily basis.  We are constantly being compared to men in anything we do, and it isn't fair.  I can't think of any situation involving a man and a woman, does the woman come out on top.

Gender in Athletics

This topic hits close to home being a female college athlete, as well as being on a team that is currently not one of the most winning teams on campus.  I thought the presentation on Thursday was very insightful for those who are unaware of the issues surrounding women in the sports world.  Not only are women's sports not played on the major sports networks, there aren't very many female commentators on the networks.  I watch ESPN daily and follow the progress of the show on a very detailed level, because I was upset at the fact that there were not more women commentators on the show.  I noticed that up until about 2 years ago, ESPN had one female broadcaster on the mainstream show.  There were females as co-anchors for the branch channels, but as far as reporting on ESPN SportsCenter, there was one.  As of this year there has been an increase in the number of female broadcasters, both on SportsCenter and as reporters.  This move against the norm of women not knowing sports was bold on the behalf of ESPN.  What also is fantastic is the women are not wearing low cut blouses or tight clothing while reporting.  Most of the women wear pants and a shirt that covers their cleavage.  I think it's great what they did and I find it great that women are able to stand up to the stereotype placed against them when it comes to sports.  I don't know for sure if this brought along the airing of more women's sports, but that would be interesting to find out.  I doubt that is the case, but hopefully women's sports teams will find a larger audience and be more appreciated because there is no doubt they are just as good as men.

Reproductive Rights for Women

I thought the presentation on Tuesday was in perfect timing especially with the new presidential election.  There are many issues surrounding women's reproductive rights and what they really are.  Many of the rights to women come along with a social stigma, for example, abortion.  I thought the group did a nice job at mediating the discussion because of how controversial abortion is between groups of people.  The only thing that I thought could have made the presentation more in-depth was to look at not only abortion, but also how reproductive rights are for women laid out in the law.  For example the Affordable Care Act proposed by President Obama does provide some avenues for women to receive contraceptives and well-woman visits to their doctors at little or no charge.  I would like to learn more about this and feel as though it is much gendered, and in this time in favor of women.  I think for those who are grounded in their religion and believe that women should not be on any form of birth control, will find issues with the act.  The majority of women, including myself and my friends, find the access to contraceptives for free and doctor's visits to be free a great resource.  Throughout the discussion on Tuesday it was concluded that many factors come into play when talking about abortions, but the big one was health education.  I know in my high school we were taught abstinence rather than what should be done if a person chooses to become sexually active.  By that point in time, about 25% of the girls in my class were pregnant, and I'm sure many students had already had sex.

Politics Presentation

Overall I feel as though our presentation went well today, I felt as though the class got involved which was really great.  I enjoyed listening to Dr. Plane talk during our presentation because he further solidified what our presentation was about.  He highlighted the main points that we wanted our presentation to focus on the stereotypes those women in the political arena face.  I think doing the box exercise showed that for women who are trying to obtain power; it is based a lot on their appearance, and maybe not so much on their credibility.  It is a shame to me to see Mrs. Obama downgrade from such a powerful position such as a lawyer, to the wife of the president, where yes she does have respect, but she is not known for being a high-power lawyer.  She is now known for being a mother and an advocate for childhood obesity.  I'm not saying that identity isn't a good one; it is just shows how most first ladies had to give up their careers to become the wife of the president.  I know we never got to the question as to why feminists were not fans of Hillary Clinton, but I do not think I know that answer to that question.  It would make sense to say that they are 100% in favor of Hillary Clinton because she advocates for equality for women, in a sense, because she is fighting every day to be recognized for her abilities, rather than her being a woman.  She is finally giving women a voice in politics, and then many feminists want to say they don't support her, I just don't understand.

Liberia Presentation

I found the presentation today on Liberia to be very interesting and informative.  Generally speaking I know that woman in different countries and cultures have treated much differently than women in the United States.   I had no idea to what extent and was unaware of the gender issues going on in Liberia.  The horror that those woman went through was terrible and it was very uncomfortable to me to read/hear their confessions.  Even though in this class we talk about woman being degraded and still having inequalities; it is nothing compared to what those women went through everyday during the various wars.  What we do have in common with the woman of Liberia are that we are degraded by men, in ways such as rape and violence, because that is the way men show dominance.  I thought it was fantastic that the women of Liberia stood up for themselves and armed themselves to level out the playing field.  I don't believe it should have been something that was portrayed as being negative it was just against the norm of what is expected of woman.  I believe that the woman bared arms not only to protect themselves, but as a sign to the men saying that yes we can do exactly what you are doing.  The gender issues that many countries face is sad and it really makes me appreciate the life I have as a woman in America.  While I still have small battles and inequalities to face, it is nothing compared to what the women of Liberia went through during the war.