I found “Your not the type” to be a page turner. I was amazed at the thought process of Laurel Gilbert and her lover Kris. I would have never thought that two people would be able to express their love for one another through another person. While we live in a more accepting society today I still believe many would consider this taboo. Going back to the invisible knapsack that we discussed in class, heterosexual people definitely have privileges that they do not realize and that they take for granite. In an ideal world Kris and Laurel would be able to be together and have their own kids instead of having babies with two different guys. However I have to give Laurel a lot of credit because she went on to get her PhD and be very successful. Teenage pregnancy is a growing epidemic filled with problem after problem for the parties involved. These problems can be chronicled on the Mtv show “Teenage Mom”. Somehow Laurel was able to persist despite the odds being stacked against her. She should be a role model for young teenage girls. Just because you get yourself in a bad situation does not mean that your life has to be over.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Response 10/6
I found all of this class’ readings different and somewhat captivating in their own senses. However, it was Adrienne Rich’s “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” that really caught my attention.
I agree with Rich in that the characteristics of male power include the power of men denying women sexuality, forcing male sexuality upon them, commanding/exploiting their labor for control, etc. I strongly feel that all 8 aspects of Rich’s feelings regarding this are valid. I find it difficult though to agree with her “consideration that all women- from the infant suckling at her mother’s breast, to the grown woman experiencing orgasmic sensations while suckling her own child… to two women, like Virginia Woolf’s Chloe and Olivia, who share a laboratory, to the women dying at ninety, touched and handled by women—exist on a lesbian continuum” (page 319).
She feels that everyone, whether or not they identify as lesbian, fall on somewhere along this continuum. In connecting women who choose and/or enjoy being sexually with other women, to “intimate girl friendships of eight or nine year olds”, and women who are clearly happy involved in heterosexual relationships or marriage, I think she is making a huge claim. I know for a fact that some people do fall along this continuum, and they are certainly more than welcome to act as they please. However, I still do not believe that women who believe that men are oppressive and feel powerless should be considered lesbians just because they feel this way. Nor should women who have female friends be considered in the same way as women who feel attracted sexually to other women. I personally have many friends that are female and also feel that women are placed lower in society than men in many regards, and yet I don't consider myself lesbian at all.
Similarly, I know that many lesbians face enormous difficulties in their lives, and I agree that sexuality should not be a defining factor of treatment or opportunities. I understand what Rich says about “women who do not attach their primary intensity to men must be, in functional terms, condemned to an even more devastating outsiderhood than their outsiderhood as women” (page 323) and it is not too surprising to me that lesbians are more hidden of a population than male homosexuals. I think that it is somewhat outrageous of Rich to claim that all women are lesbians. There are people that fall along a continuum of sexuality and that is all fine and no two people should be alike, but I honestly don't think that Rich can generalize and/or truly believe that every woman who has other female friends has some type of sexual feeling towards them. I really just don't think that this can hold true for ALL women.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Response 10/4
Monday, October 4, 2010
Response 10/4
The readings for class on October 4th I found to, strangely, relate to my French seminar, Libertine Fiction of the 18th Century. This type of novel concentrates on at least one or more characters that are lacking in morality, basically to the point where they ignore all virtues, etc. We are currently reading a novel by Crébillon fils entitled “Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit” which literally means “the wanderings of the heart and mind”, and today in class we made a chart depicting the difference between the two female characters whom the main male character, Melicour, is trying to decide. One, referred to as “the unknown” is young, naïve, inexperienced when it comes to men, mysterious, just left a convent and thus believes in and follows rules, and their future together is more of an uncertainty in general. The other, known as “Madame de Lursay” is old, rich, more experienced and educates Melicour (sexually and otherwise), and hopes to maintain a reputation of virtue and prudeness, where in reality she is not at all prude and rather manipulatively wishes to appear this way, to save her name. Madame de Lursay feels that she will be the greater prize to Melicour because “la conquete d’un prude” translated as “the conquering of a prude” is a greater triumph than having sex with someone who is not as virtuous as a prude. In reality though, she is just pretending to be this way.
I find it interesting that Madame de Lursay feels that this is a positive thing, although I imagine that life was different back in the 1700’s. Nowadays, like Susan Douglas says in “Enlightened Sexism”, people are referred to as prude almost as a negative. For example, Charlotte in Sex and the City is described as “the prude who was, nonetheless sexually active and labeled by Carrie a ‘Park Avenue Pollyanna’” (page 172), perhaps because “Charlotte is shocked to learn that all three of the other women have a guy that they can call solely for sex with no other attachments or commitments” (page 173). Here, to me it seems that being labeled a prude is a terrible/negative thing. Though technically I believe that being labeled anything is a bad thing, being labeled a prude, personally, would be preferable to being called a slut. When you’re called a prude, it implies at the very least that you have some morality. In “Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit”, Madame de Lursay feigns having principles and morals, in order to win over the man. I cannot be certain in the world today whether or not being prude or being a slut is more likely to “win over the man”, and I am not sure whether or not Madame de Lursay succeeds as we have not yet finished the book (!), but the way the media is almost completely sexualized makes me feel that perhaps in the world today, being slutty is preferable (to most).
Friday, October 1, 2010
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/womens_sports_on_tv_news_scarce_and_growing_scarcer
Even though it is 2010 we still struggle with gender equality in today’s society. Women are often seen as inferior when compared to men. As we discussed this week in class gender is constructed both socially through social interactions as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences. Looking at gender through a biological lens. This distinction becomes even more evident in the world of sports. Looking at the article Women’s Sports on TV News: Scarce and Growing Scarcer this is apparent. Generally speaking men are bigger and stronger then women, many believe that this translates into men being better athletes. The battle of equality in male and female athletics has been a problem for years; men have been accused of receiving better recognition in the sports they play, having more playing opportunities, receiving higher salaries, and attracting extra media coverage. Over the past thirty years, the United States has come a long way in trying to make sports equal between men and women, but women still don’t receive all the benefits that men have
7 days a week 365 days a year it’s a pretty safe assumption that one would be able to turn the tv on an find some sort of men’s sporting event on whether that be basketball, football, baseball, or hockey the same cannot be said about women’s sports. According to ESPN “The “big three” sports — men’s basketball, football, and baseball — took up 72% of all airtime, and still commanded airtime out of season. Even the WNBA got only a fraction of the NBA’s coverage — during the WNBA season when the NBA season was over.” Why is this? This is due largely to the social framework in society today and the underlying belief that men are better then women. On the same station it was found, women’s sports garnered only “1.4% of airtime, down from 2.2% in 1999 and 2.1% in 2004. Much of this was part of a short March series, “Celebrating Women’s History Month: Her Triumph, Her Story,” rather than coverage of current events.” I am not a math major but 72 percent compared to 1.4 percent is a HUGE difference. The producers, editors, and commentators whom the researchers asked often pointed to viewer preferences and market forces to explain their emphasis on men. To blame it all on the market.” This is not right women are putting just as much time and effort into their sport as men yet they only receive a fraction of the recognition.
When I asked my teammates about Women’s sports have of them laughed and said it was a joke. One of my teammates that said it was a joke actually has two sisters one whom is a collegiate athlete and he still said that it was a joke. This shows how powerful the social framework of our society is to where someone with a sister who is an athlete still doesn’t respect women’s sports. The only stage where I believe women’s athletics is given the respect it deserves is in the Olympics. While this is good because it is the biggest stage this respect needs to somehow trickle its way down to women’s collegiate and high school athletics.
Allan G. Johnson would argue that this disparity is due to the fact that we live in a patriarchal society. Johnson states that patriarchy is not a system of individuals but we are in fact participating in something larger than ourselves, or any collection of us. We live in a male dominated society because patriarchal manliness and its related structures of control and dominance demand it. We perpetuate patriarchy by pushing boys at young ages to play sports and young girls to play with dolls. So from a young age children are taught that boys are suppose to play sports while girls should stay in the house. People often talk about how sports serves as a venue to get inner city boys into college but it also serves the same purpose for girls but people often forget about that.
Not surprisingly most of the sports commentators are men, 97% to be exact. “When women were discussed, they were often presented in their roles as mothers, girlfriends, or wives.” This, of course, devalues their accomplishments. Male commentators often use different language when they talk about female athletes. Where men are described as "big," "strong," and "aggressive," women are more often referred to as "weary," "fatigued," "frustrated," "panicked," "vulnerable" and "choking." Commentators are also twice as likely to call men by their last names only, and three times as likely to call women by their first names only as if to reduce them to children. Douglas talks about how men are often Intimidated by powerful women so they either sexualize them or belittle them to cancel out their power. A key Example she used was Janet Reno; she is a prominent women figure who is powerful in the public eye. Douglas would argue that the male commentators refer to female athletes as mothers, girlfriends, or wives to take away from their athletic achievement and reduce their power. Even when I googled women athletes the first thing that popped up was a link to the top 15 sexiest women. I laughed but at the same time that just shows how our society is set up. This has nothing to do with athletic ability but is based purely on looks as if to say we don’t care about you as an athlete we just care what you look like. When u scroll down a little you see a link to the top 10 greatest female athletes I expected something like this to come up first. I believe that the hyper sexualized portrayal of female athletes in the media contributes to the lack of respect women’s athletics receives. Anna Kornakova is an athlete and one of the premiere tennis players but she receives more attention for her looks then her actual ability. While male sports starts are often seen in the media in action photos female athletes are often seen like this.
Few steps have been taken in order to close the gap between men and women’s athletics. Title IX was one of those steps taken to close this gap it states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. Even with Title IX playing a role in athletics, men still obtain more playing opportunities than women. Title IX however has also caused controversy in order to create balance existing men’s programs are cancelled to create room for new women’s programs. There are now women’s football leagues, pretty much any sport a man can play a women can now play too just on a lesser scale.
The article ends by listing a few ideas on how we can begin to fix this problem: “The mass media can develop and support more women sports reporters and commentators. Sports organizations can provide the sports media with more and better information about women athletes. Viewers can ask producers of sports programs for more and better coverage of women’s sports and complain about sexist treatment of women in sports news and highlights shows.” I think this is a good list with media coverage being the front-runner in changing this culture. However changing this problem cannot be solely left on the shoulders of men women also have to contribute. Women can start to change this stereotype by demanding more respect in advertisements, cutting down on sexual poses. If women begin to demand more respect for themselves in the media I think they will slowly begin to gain respect for their respective sports. Reading this article has also made me examine my own views. Prior to taking this course I had little concern for women’s rights let alone women’s athletics. People rarely take time to think about issues that do not directly affect them or anyone close to them. This is the case with me and women’s athletics I had to take a step back and realize that I am in fact part of the problem. I also think that if people knew the extent of the gap between men and women’s athletics they would begin to do something about it. The first part of correcting a problem is realizing that a problem exists.
Works Cited
"Women's Sports on TV News: Scarce and Growing Scarcer." Women's Rights | Change.org. Web. 01 Oct. 2010.
Newsflash: Bryn Mawr Making Strides for Women Worldwide
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/conference/?scp=3&sq=women&st=cse
Although there are many recent news stories relevant to Intro to Women’s Studies, I found the review of the discussion between Jacques Steinberg, a New York Times education writer, and Jane Dammen McAuliffe, the president of Bryn Mawr College, particularly interesting and relevant. “The Choice” is a blog-like venue, on which writers from the New York Times discuss all things college related, and readers are strongly encouraged to comment. As a female senior here at Colgate, gender/sex issues are quite obvious to me. As a beginner to the world of feminism, I am fascinated by what steps other colleges are taking regarding gender differences and stereotypes and how they are exploring women’s studies. Bryn Mawr College has made a name for itself as a progressive and powerful institution, one which looks to educate and raise consciousness about important issues, including the fight for women’s rights and equality. Bryn Mawr’s accomplishments, open-mindedness and general ambitiousness in facing towards the future place it, despite being 66 years younger than Colgate, a much more progessive and sophisticated institution and perhaps one that we can learn from.
This question and answer session, which took place on September 22nd, 2010, specifically addresses the celebration Bryn Mawr will be holding in honor of their 125th birthday. The conference, beginning on September 23rd, explored the role of women’s colleges in helping to improve women’s lives all around the world. One topic that was addressed was a response to the fact that Bryn Mawr College believes and looks to “prepare students to respond to the abuses and violence that many women endure, not just here in the United States but abroad”. President McAuliffe reiterated that it is disconcerting that even in the world today, in the 21st century, women still suffer from oppression, prejudice, and violence, just for being female. As Anne Fausto-Sterling wrote in “Sexing the Body”, “in some parts of the world, we have even altered the sex ratio by selectively aborting female fetuses…” (page 54). It is amazing that females are “less desired” in our world, especially considering that we are the ones who are vital to population growth and making families. It is disconcerting that some of our newer medical technologies such as fetal ultrasound and amniocentesis can be used for gender selection and could work against making the world a more equal place. As McAuliffe said, “young women are still forced into sexual slavery, subjected to genital mutilation and murdered to save the family ‘honor’. It is astonishing that these practices continue on today. The fact that in some underdeveloped countries, women still “die in childbirth at rates that rival those in the Middle Ages,” suggests that not enough resources are being spent to preserve and ensure women’s health; perhaps this is because women are not considered a priority.
Despite this, Bryn Mawr feels that their role as one of the leading women’s colleges, one that has been empowering women for so long, is beginning to move things in the right direction. With a heavy emphasis on “service learning”, a diverse student body, and a larger selection of “Fields of Study” than even Colgate offers (including “Gender and Sexuality” as a major: http://www.brynmawr.edu/academics/), McAuliffe feels that conferences like this are important to bring about partnerships, awareness, and progress. She feels that her students “can be agents of change in addressing this worldwide challenge of women’s oppression… whether they become doctors, lawyers, chemists, artists, or C.E.O’s”. It appears to me that the students and faculty of Bryn Mawr College are looking to make an impact on the lives of women worldwide, and to me their efforts seem more respectable that they do not have the benefit of millions of dollars or, per se, a nationally televised television show.
As someone who vehemently refused to consider attending an all women’s college, I can’t help but marvel at the advances women’s colleges have contributed to our society and their hope to continue that in the future. McAuliffe states while there are only approximately 60 exclusively women’s colleges, the alumni of these schools are often more qualified and excel at a higher level after their undergraduate years, pursue graduate school degrees more frequently, and in science, technology, mathematics and engineering, surpass those women who attended co-ed universities. These facts highlight why “women’s colleges remain a vitally important part of our higher education system”. Bryn Mawr’s president also feels encouraged that women’s colleges are developing all around the world. New institutions created exclusively for women include Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, Effat College in Saudi Arabia, Kiriri Women’s University in Kenya, among others.
As McAuliffe reiterates how positive the existence and contributions of these institutions are, it makes me reflect about some of my experiences here at Colgate. At the brown bag lunches I have attended, I noticed that the number of males in the room was, as expected, incredibly small. Our women’s studies class is comprised of around 20 females and just 2 males. In the Western Traditions course that I took sophomore year, I felt that my male teacher displayed unfair favoritism towards the male students, almost uncomfortably. I unfortunately feel that if such a conference were held here, highlighting and activating for the betterment of women’s lives worldwide, it would (generally) not be received positively. The students and faculty of Bryn Mawr College are proud, powerful, and ambitious. As a Colgate student for the past three years, I have observed my fair share of less than positive experiences and attitudes towards women in general. I sense an overall expectation of females here at Colgate, and regrettably, many go along with and propagate it. Women at Colgate are expected to be smart, but not too smart, etc. At Colgate, we have a college gossip website www.collegeacb.com/sb/Colgate, where students can write in about a variety of subjects, and others can comment. On this website, one girl, ‘anonymous’ writes, “what can we do as girls to show guys that we want more than just a one night stand?” A boy also named ‘anonymous’ replied, “Don't be prude. Have fun, but don't be a whore… Make an effort to look good all the time, not just when going out…” To me this illustrates the negative attitude the Colgate men have of women here. I find it embarrassing, that at a respected place of higher education like Colgate, a bridge still exists between the attitudes of males and females. Both the male and female students at Colgate needed to have demonstrated high intelligence and well-rounded personality skills in order to be accepted at this school. Now that we are all here, it is time that the men of Colgate treat the women students with more equality and respect.
References:
Bryn Mawr College. www.brynmawr.edu
Douglas, Susan J. Enlightened Sexism. Copyright 2010. Times Books.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Sexing the Body. Copyright 2000. Best Books.
Steinberg, Jacques. “A Women’s College That Wants to Change the World”. September 22, 2010. New York Times Online. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/conference/?scp=3&sq=women&st=cse