Monday, December 6, 2010
Response 12/7
Enloe's introduction chapter, "Being Curious about our Lack of Feminist Curiosity," really hit home for me. I think it is definitely true that words such as "tradition," "always," or "natural" have become cues in our society not to question what is being said and just accept it for what it is. Enloe claims that, as a result, "we can just feel sympathy with women working in sweatshops, for instance, without bothering to figure out how they got there or what they think about being women sewing there" (1). After reading this, I realized that before taking Women's Studies, I never, for example, thought about why women were raped. I obviously knew rape was a huge problem and is extremely prevalent everywhere, even at "safe" places like Colgate, but I never thought to look behind the statistics and think about what sort of society creates such a prevalence of rape and sexual assault.
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I agree in that I feel like as the course comes full circle with these readings, I have learned to question many different things. While I personally had a teacher in high school for Health class that took it upon herself to share horrifying stories from the time she spent working at a Women's Clinic as well as a Women's Crisis Center, I feel that the readings in this course have tied in how and why things are the way they are. I think I have learned to question and even accept things from why some women are willing to work for barely any money in Asian sweatshops to how holding the door open for a woman is an unfair act of oppression.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Olivia said about the importance of us asking why things happen rather than just knowing that they are bad. When I was reading Enloe's chapters, the part about women sympathizing with women in poor conditions also stood out to me. Just because we say that we feel bad for them does not mean that we are acting as a feminist. Our role in society, actually whether we are feminist or not, it to not only acknowledge oppressive situations for women, but to actively work to better them. Enloe is not demanding that we seek immediate change, but I think more so that we are all aware of what our passive actions are implying and what they are preventing us from accomplishing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that "tradition" is something engraved in our society. We accept words like these everyday. I always hear "it's a tradition to do such and such" around our campus when it comes to fraternities and sororities and their initiation "rituals." But why don't we question these "traditions" if they can be potentially harmful to students? As Emily stated above, we need to be aware of what our passive actions can imply.
ReplyDeleteIt agree that by saying that it is "tradition" women are limiting themselves and continue to fall under the silence of oppression. Many of the traditions instilled in societies in the majority of cultures are centered upon patriarchal beliefs. After reading these chapters in Enloe's book, it was a wake-up call which motivates me to break out of my shell and conquer my fears of speaking out. For years I have been taught to remain quiet both in school and even in my own culture the man is seen as the one who makes the decisions. Taking this course has opened y eyes in so many ways that it has given me the strength to challenge myself and take my curiosity to the next level. Being given the opportunity of an elite education is definitely a good start in further developing my curiosity not only in the feminist field, but as an individual as well.
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