Blog 12

I was recently listening to Fresh Air on NPR and they were talking with a feminist writer named Katha Pollit about her new book of essays. One part of the interview struck me the most. She talked about the state of feminism today.

She began with an anecdote about how her daughter, in a college class, was one of only two people that identified themselves as feminists. Then she went on to discuss how the younger generation feels feminism has completed its mission – that it’s no longer needed. Then she discusses why feminism is still needed. She brought up body image, eating disorders, etc. saying that they are feminist issues even though many people don’t look at them that way. She remarks about how sites like Facebook illustrate the negative gender divisions. So many young women have lots of pictures that show themselves in a sexual manner while most young men look like slobs.

At one point, she was talking about how some people say there is no need for feminism because women are now free to “choose” whatever they want. When asked why she puts quotations around the word choose, she said something very important. She talked about how a woman might “choose” to have a breast enhancement, but there is a reason that she feels that a better body image would do her more good than something else. Social conditioning still tells women that they are more accomplished if they have a “perfect” body. Instead of choosing to do something productive, women choose to do what is rewarded by society.

She discusses many other things on the show so here is a link to the show online:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16112223

Blog 11

Recently, I heard a news story on the radio about how in Seoul, South Korea there are going to be new women only subway cars starting in 2008. When you first hear that, you probably automatically think it sounds incredibly sexist, but not according to government officials there. They say it is to protect women. Why do women need this protection, you might ask. Well, because it is apparently fairly common for women to be groped or accosted by males on the subway so they need this type of “protection.”

I don’t really think this can be considered protection – and neither do many of the women in Seoul. This separate subway cars thing is pretty controversial because many women, and I think rightly so, think that to separate women is discrimination. I have to wonder how anyone can think that the solution to the problem would be to segregate women. Why not go after the men who commit the crimes? By separating women from the men, it’s as if they’re blaming the women. It’s like saying men can’t help themselves because women are somehow provoking the men.

What makes the whole thing particularly interesting is that in Seoul there is a law that says women are equal and have to be treated so, but yet, this is going to happen. I’ve done some searching online to find out more details because I wonder about something. I wonder if it will be mandatory or voluntary to ride in these cars. Either way though, I don’t think it should be happening. Officials should be cracking down on this crime by going after the perpetrators so that the men are held accountable for their criminal actions.

Blog 10

This past weekend I went to a soccer tournament with my boyfriend who referees games on the weekends. After he was done for the day, I told him how I had overheard, for the first time, a parent tell her daughter to “play hard.” It’s something that I’ve heard quite a lot, but it’s almost always directed to boys. I’ve been to many of these tournaments now and each time I’m at them I inevitably start thinking about how girls and boys sports are viewed so differently.

One thing I’ve always wondered is why I so often hear people speaking derisively of the girl’s teams? I constantly hear people say that the girl’s games are “boring” compared to the boy’s games, and it seems that the only reason for this attitude is that the girl’s are less aggressive in their playing. I understand that there can be that difference, but I have to ask how anyone can reason that girl’s sports are inferior because of this. It seems absurd to me to complain that girl’s aren’t “aggressive” like boys when society continually tells them it is improper to be anything but polite. And why is aggressive behavior so valued? Sure it might make for a better time if you’re a spectator, but I don’t really find it entertaining to see boys being reaffirmed that being aggressive is what matters in life. Why don’t we value skill? I’m far more impressed when someone uses his or her mind to come up with some kind of clever maneuver.

Probably what bugs me the most though is that people constantly say sports are great because they “build character,” but the only thing I see it doing is cementing gender stereotypes.

Blog 9

This past Friday, when I was on lunch break at work, my female co-workers and I were chatting about all sorts of topics as we always do, but then one woman brought up something she had read about in the paper. She had read about a local woman who had given birth at 50 years old. I kind of just smiled said, “Well, yeah?” Her feeling was that it was “just gross.” Then my other co-workers started talking about it. The general consensus amongst them is that no woman that old should be having kids.

After they talked for a bit, I decided I would share my own thoughts on the matter. First, I told them that it is pretty common and it’s not a big deal. To which, they replied that it may happen, but “that doesn’t change the fact that she would probably die before her child even completed high school or college. When I pointed out that women live longer than men generally, they had no reply. Which then led into me asking them it is okay when a man has kids with a younger woman when he is older. One woman said, “Well, men do that because they want to feel like they’re young.” Then I started talking about how that’s ridiculous to say it’s natural for men to have kids when they’re older but not women. Why should men get to “feel young” while women just “get older?”

Because my co-workers are mostly female and we’re all pretty close, we tend to share our ideas, and often, I’m the only one who brings up the feminist side of anything. It’s kind of disheartening when week after week I hear that reaffirming sexist thinking and trying to justify it even when given a different perspective. Maybe after a while, they’ll begin to see things differently.

Blog 8

I was really excited when I got Newsweek in the mail last week because the cover proclaimed that the main story of the issue was “Women and Power.” There a lot of stories covered in the issue so I haven’t been able to read all of them, but those that I have read are very interesting and speak a lot about some of the same issues that I’ve read about for this class.

What one might term the “preface” to the articles was a short description of some of the most famous female rulers in history. It was nice to read about some exceedingly powerful women, and have their abilities spoken of as equal to men and at times superior.

After that there is a long section of short “Oral Histories” from lots of different women who are leaders. The women that they had write these essays are in varied professions such as writers, CEO of music and television companies, public officials, designers, and scientists. All of them were really interesting. Some women spoke about the obstacles they faced as women. One woman wrote how she thinks many women are afraid to become powerful because they’ve been taught it’s not something they’re supposed to do.

The one thing almost all of the women discussed was failure and determination. It was inspiring to hear the stories of women who worked hard to achieve their goals even if they failed many times along the way. The single most inspiring thing was to hear so many women speak about how they were confident and determined no matter what problems they faced during their journey to success.

Blog 7

Lately the news has been all about the presidential campaign, and this time it’s kind of exciting because of Hillary Clinton. It’s cool to see a woman running for president especially considering how strong her chances are. While it’s awesome that there is a woman running, it’s great that she can’t be reduced to just “the woman” running for president. She’s got ideas and intelligence as well as popularity for a host of other reasons. One thing that concerns me though is that many people seem to absolutely loathe her without much reason, which makes me think it is based in sexism.

Whenever I have asked people why they hate Hillary so much, they never are able to give me a definite reason. It’s always rather vague with phrases like “I just don’t like her,” “she rubs me the wrong way,” or other various nonspecific things. Those who actually give me a definite reason are most assuredly sexist. I’ve had several people, male and female, who have told me that they don’t think she should be the president, or any other woman for that matter, because if a woman were to be president the rest of the world would not respect the United States. They say it’s not in woman’s nature to be leaders (they say they aren’t sexist though because they think women can be leaders on a small scale). It’s an asinine argument. Not only have there been many female presidents and prime ministers throughout the world, there is also the basic principal behind that argument that is totally flawed. To say that a woman can’t be president because others would not respect her, gives power to that sentiment. It endorses it and perpetuates that idea.

Whether someone wants to vote Democratic or Republican doesn’t really matter, but to not vote for someone based upon their sex is a shame.

Blog 6

So I was listening to a mixed cd in the car today, and this old 80’s song came on. It was Sheena Easton’s song “Morning Train” and it made me start thinking about women and music. The song is about a woman who loves her man who goes to work everyday and provides for her. It’s just a lovely little pop ditty. It would be easy to just say it is music so who cares, but I do care. Music does have power. Almost everyone listens to music on a regular basis, and there is always some kind of story or message in a song. That song was a perfect example of art that, at best, fails to recognize what kind of stereotypes it reinforces, or worse, it purposely means to convey a woman’s happiness being dependent upon a man who is a provider.

While listening to that song, I started to think about other artists that I enjoy, and what their music has to say. I have a strong affinity for Helen Reddy. Her song “I Am Woman” is great although almost cliché at this point, but its intent is great, as are many of her other songs. She uses her music to present complex independent women. The song “Best Friend” is all about learning love yourself and recognize your own worth as a person, not as someone’s spouse or partner. Another person I really admire is Nina Simone. She has so many beautiful songs, but her most powerful are forms of protest. She often used her music as a way to combat racism.

I can understand that people just want a catchy tune, and I certainly don’t think that music needs to be didactic; however, that doesn’t mean songs that reinforce patriarchy ought to be what we deem valuable. Below are some lyrics I believe represent art with political consciousness.


"I wish I could share
All the love that's in my heart
Remove all the bars
That keep us apart
I wish you could know
What it means to be me
Then you'd seeAnd agree
That every man should be free"

- Nina Simone, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”