Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Activism: I am an Ally (Talking Point 12)

Although I have always believed myself to be somewhat of an ally to others, this class has really solidified that concept for me.  I remember back in grade school, around 6th or 7th grade, my class was asked to write a persuasive paper on any topic we wanted, and most kids chose topics like why they should get to stay up an hour later or why they shouldn't have to do homework.  What was my persuasive paper topic?  Why should gay marriage be legalized in the United States.  Even at an early age I felt like everybody should be treated the same no matter what.  My teacher, Mrs. Myers, took me aside when she found out what I wanted to do and tried to talk me into another topic but I was determined and she explained to me that it was going to be a challenge.  And it was.  But it was worth it...  I ended up writing this paper my Freshman year at RIC for writing 100 on same-sex marriage:




Noelle Patenaude

Professor Collins

Writing 100-08

3 December 2009

Gay Marriage:
Saying, “I do” to same-sex marriages

What would you say if you were denied the right to marry the person you fell in love with?  Well for at least ten percent of Americans across the United States this is a very real problem.  These people are being denied their right to marry because they are “different”, “unusual”, or “not the same” as those around them.  They are being denied their right to marry because they are gay.  Gay marriage should be accepted as legal unions nationally because everyone has the right to legitimize their relationships.  It gives same sex couples the legal rights they deserve, and it would increase tolerance towards gays in American society.
What does it mean to be gay?  According to MedicineNet.com the definition of gay or homosexual states that being gay is when someone is attracted to a person of the same sex.  It is more commonly referred to as being lesbian for females, and queer or homosexual for males. 
Many people who are against homosexual marriages argue that same-sex marriages would weaken the traditional definition and respect for marriage.  However, no matter what gender orientation an individual has, they have the right to legitimize their relationship and become a married couple.  The Google definition of marriage supports this by declaring that the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce); "a long and happy marriage"; and "God bless this union."  Shouldn’t gay couples have the right to legitimize their love for each other and be married? 
When these homosexual couples are together and not married, America’s society usually views them as just being short-term relationships.  To many people, it is seen as nothing more than a common high school relationship or “fling,” even though they could be living together, have a family together, and plan to be together for the rest of their lives.  If gay couples were allowed to marry these couples would be able to move beyond being viewed in short-term relationship and move to something more acceptable in American culture.  They would become something real and legitimate in the eyes of other Americans.  The couples would be able to move to a committed lifetime partner relationship in today’s society.
Not only are the gay couples being denied marriage but also they are being denied all the same legal rights that go along with marriage, which all heterosexual married couples have.  All in all gay couples that are not married do not have the same legal rights as a heterosexual married couple.  Unmarried gay couples do not have the same rights pertaining to property, visitations and major decision making in hospitals, taxes, money and financial issues, last will and testimonies, and health and medical care. One extreme case where unmarried gay couple’s rights were taken away happened on November 11th of this year, Governor Donald L. Carcieri of Rhode Island, vetoed gay couples the vital legal right to bury their partner.  From the Providence Journal: An opponent of same-sex marriage, Governor Carcieri has vetoed bill that would have added "domestic partners'' to the list of people authorized by law to make funeral arrangements for each other. In his veto message, Republican Carcieri said, "This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue."
Same-sex couples are not only being denied their marital rights but their own natural rights as U.S. citizens are also being violated.  They are being denied the right to marry whom they love.  Their right to the separation of church and state is also being infringed upon.  According to balancedpolitics.org the separation of church and state sets apart one’s own values of religion and the values of the government.  Some religions, including Islamic Sects and Christianity see homosexuality as unacceptable.
Some people who are against gay marriage because it is against their religion believe that homosexuality is a sin, and according to the bible and many religions, it is.  However over the years many situations that were once seen as sins in earlier years, have become a decent and regular part of America’s society today.  When before people who were different because of race, religion, ethnicity, pre-marital sex, and parental status were once utterly frowned upon, they are now seen as normal everyday occurrences.  We are now seeing interracial marriages, interethnic marriages, and many people having sex before marriage, and single parents by choice.
If every state in the United States were to allow same-sex marriage the tolerance towards these couples in society would be increased. One extreme example of the discrimination of homosexuals occurred in 2000.  The headline, “A 17-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy is suing a school district for failing to intervene with anti-gay harassment” which was said to have driven him to try to commit suicide. If same-sex marriages were legalized nationally, it would also lower the harassment and public humiliation that is normally seen towards these same-sex couples.  
As of 2009, up to six states have legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, Rhode Island has become an island of inequality surrounded by states that treat their gay and lesbian citizens with dignity and respect by affording them an equal right to marry.  Marriage is a significant social status and provides security that gay and lesbian Rhode Islanders deserve to have as human beings.
Having same-sex marriage illegal in the United States, goes against the words of our founding fathers.  The denial is in direct disobedience with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Declaration of Independence, the two documents that built and were foundations for our country.  When the Declaration was written, those men wanted our nation to not only follow but also live by the words they had written.  They foresaw a future where “all men are created equal” as well as being able to have the “pursuit of happiness”, whether that is being with a partner of the same sex or a different one.  They did not envision a country where our government does not allow people to marry and be happy in a lifelong partnership together just because they were different than those around them.  It counters the very words, “the land of the free,” as well as “with liberty and justice for all,” which as a nation we have striven to stand behind. 
Think back to your own wedding, or being a young child and envisioning your wedding day.  The bride would look beautiful in a stunning white gown while her soon to be husband in his handsome new tux.  Would it make the special day any less magical if it were two brides or two grooms?  Would they be any less in love?  So why does our government have the right to deny them the right to express their relationship and love for one another?  Shouldn’t they have the right to prove to the world they are truly committed to one another?

I have always felt like people shouldn't have to hide who they are and that is one of the reasons who I am studying to be a social worker.  


It's stories like this that are just horrifying.  I wonder now, if this boy had an ally, just one friend to stand up with him, would he still be here?  

Feminists & Their Hair Continued...

So I had written a random post about women and how much their hair means to them back in October and this weekend I saw this video and it really did make me so proud.


I think it is so great that they were willing to do this for their coach and to raise money for leukemia research!!

On a side note a little girl, about 9 came into T's (the restaurant I work at) wearing a cancer scarf on Saturday with her mom and her sister, and I have no problem telling my story to people.  So I went up to the table and asked her where she got her beautiful scarf and at first her mom was really taken aback and wasn't sure what to make of the situation but the little girl was explained that she had Leukemia and I could find them online if I googled BeauBeau.  I then explained to her and her family that I had a bunch of them at home but none of them were pink like the one she was wearing and it was my favorite color and I was super jealous!!  The little girl must have gone on for about twenty minutes after that about how her grandmother had learned to take apart the scarf and had made a sewing pattern and designed scarves just for her!!  In the end I told her that I was going to look online that night and find a pink scarf and buy it so that we could be twins!!!  I think that made her day.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Boys being brides

I was at work yesterday and there was a little boy maybe 5 years old who came in and was sitting in a booth with three other women.  I assume one was his mom and I'm not sure who the other women were.  And every time I walked by the table they were in hysterics because of what the little boy was saying.  He kept saying how he wanted to be a beautiful bride and have his dad be his Prince Charming.  I immediately thought of this class.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Vocabulary, what you say hurts

There are a few words that when people use them, if I hear it I will stop and confront the conversation because it's just not right in my opinion.  After this last surgery there were multiple severe complications that could have left me mentally handicapped so this one above all hits close to home...



Rich (Talking Point 5)

So I know this is late but at the time I read this I really wasn't too sure of myself.  So I waited and now I've gone back and reread it and I'm taking another shot at it.

The phrases "compulsory heterosexuality" and "lesbian existence" were foreign to me before reading this piece by Adrienne Rich, and like I said I really wasn't sure what to make of it at first.  So I looked up the definitions of the words in the titles:

Compulsory: Required by law or a rule; obligatory.

Heterosexuality: A sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the opposite sex.

Lesbian: A homosexual woman.

Existence: The fact or state of living or having objective reality.

It is obvious that society is pressuring us to be heterosexual, whether we believe it or not, through media, news, "straightness" is everywhere.


I now this is a kind of goofy video but I though it was funny.

Personally I was raised with an open mind.  And I have always fought for gay rights.  Ronie said it best when she said in her blog, "The fact of the matter is that lesbianism does exist. Women who are lesbian are no less than women who are straight. When people say that they want to be a feminist and fight social injustice and issues, they have to face the fact that inequality to lesbians, AND GAYS, is a feminist issue. They are people, with emotions, feelings, rights, opinions, and thought. We should treat them like we treat every other human being."  

Monday, November 12, 2012

Media

I found these videos on Croteau's Media and Ideology:


In the second video they begin to talk about media representations and Kayli related it to Cinderella Ate My Daughter in her blog.  Television and media directly advertises to the different sexes.  For females especially, society has unwritten rules for what is deemed beautiful, classy, sophisticated, acceptable, etc.  From young ages girls are bombarded with pictures in the media that tell them, "in order to fit in, you need to look like this".

I completely agree with Kayli that women and girls need to learn to be comfortable in their own skin because we are all beautiful.  Media and advertising can be used as both a weapon and a source of knowledge.  It really depends on how we use it.  When we create media that is violent and destructive like Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP, we create violence, see Mike's blog.  However, I believe we can also create advertisement that is good for society.  Like Dove's Real Beauty Campaign.  

Friday, November 9, 2012

Mitt Romney and the KKK?

So I was on facebook today and this came up on my newsfeed and I found it really interesting that nobody mentioned it until after the election was over.



I feel as though if this had been more publicized maybe more people would have voted against Romney and it wouldn't have been such a tight race.  Who knows?

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Election: Talking Point #10



So I voted this year for the second time!!!  But the same thing happened this year that happened last time.  I voted with my mom and before we go to vote we make me a little "cheat sheet" because I can't remember anybody's names... short term memory loss sucks.  But after I voted, I was telling her who I voted for and everything, and she said, "It didn't matter this year because you were voting for all democrats anyways, but try to remember for next year not to put that your a democrat at the beginning."  Because apparently if you do that it automatically put a vote for all the democrats.

I watched the polls unfold along with my mom, stepdad, boyfriend, Matthew, and his brother, Andrew.  Honestly, I was slightly irked with Matt and Andrew for not using their right to vote. I didn't care who they voted for, even though I would have preferred it be Obama, as long as he voted but they were adamant about not voting.

I was very happy about Sheldon Whitehouse being elected.  During his re-election speech he spoke a lot about the families he had met through the new health care act.  One family in particular importance to me being the Burns, who's son Finn, would have benefitted greatly from the health care act.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Cole Grace

Sunday October 28th, was a sad day.

Cole Grace is a 10 year old boy from West Warwick who was diagnosed with a Grade IV Glioblastoma (a rare cancerous brain tumor) on January 27, 2012.  He was Rock n Roll Royalty after he met and skyped with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and they sang "Walk This Way" together.


I knew Cole through his mother Jen and his aunt Jaimie who both worked at T's with me.  And after he was diagnosed I did everything in my power to help them.  T's in East Greenwich put on "Caring for Cole" events like a wine tasting and donate a table day, where each server donated the tips collected from the entire day from a designated table to Cole.  After having a brain tumor myself, I wanted to help the Grace family.  Cole Grace was has been in hospice and passed away Sunday morning.  He will be remembered by so many, by his smile, his laugh, and his love for rock n' roll.  (and of course his name on the Pink Heals Rescue)


Rest in Peace Buddy.  <3



Monday, October 29, 2012

Talking Post 9: Sex Positive

To be perfectly honest in high school I was a prude (dictionary.com - A person who is or claims to be easily shocked by matters relating to sex or nudity.)  Within my group of friends I was the last to have sex, and they always poked fun at me because of it.  But I was raised on the mindset that I should wait until I'm married to have sex, and can only have sex with one person in my lifetime, and I obviously cannot talk to anyone about sex.  But thankfully my mindset has changed over time.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who sleeps around, but I am someone who believes that it is healthy to have sex as long as you're smart about it.



This is why I thought Rachel Rabbit White's: 8 Ways To Be Positive You're Sex Positive was a perfect example of why sex is ok.  Right off the bat she says, "Having sex is healthy, but so is NOT HAVING SEX!!!"  Sex positivity has long been about "owning our desires" but it should also be about owning our lack of desires too.  And for me at least I wanted to wait until I was married or to know that I was with someone who wasn't going to break my heart after I gave them everything.   


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saying "Girls" vs. "Ladies"

So we were talking on Thursday about how it isn't appropriate to call women, girls.  And I have been dealing with this at my job for years.  I work at T's restaurant in East Greenwich as the greeter and hostess since they opened in 2008.  Since I've been there for so long I've seen both sides of the story:

On one hand there are the older women who get really offended if I call them "girls".  And I've been told off once by a woman who got really angry about it because she thought I was being totally disrespectful all because I didn't call her a lady.

But then on the other hand, there are so many more women who are so flattered to hear me call them girls.  It literally makes their entire day, because they feel get to feel young again and they get this huge smile on their face.

So I totally understand the whole concept of saying "ladies" instead of "girls", but it really does depend on who is walking through my door.  But I can usually tell at this point who is the type of person who would get annoyed by me calling them a girl and I can usually catch myself before it slips out.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I am a Princess

I Am A Princess:
Disney's Press release on the "new image of princesses"


I think this is such a great start in changing how little girls view princesses, the whole "damsel in distress, prince charming needs to come save me" thing.  But it's interesting I found the video on YouTube and I was expecting there to be a lot of support for the video and there was a bunch of comments saying how people liked the new image of princesses, and yet there were still some that were saying that we weren't doing enough for the boys.  I have no problem if a guy wants to be a Princess, I say go for it.  But I think that idea is a little extreme for Disney, especially for a commercial.  It's baby steps.  I am so excited about this Press Release!!!  It makes me want to be a Princess again!!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Generation M: Misogyny and Media Culture

The last reading, Cinderella ate my Daughter by Peggy Orenstein went hand in hand with the film, I saw Generation M: Misogyny and Media Culture.  Ronnie and I were the only ones at the film so we had a lot of fun and were able to make a lot of references and connections with the media culture they were showing.


I was going to write about the whole Barbie thing in this blog, but that was before I read the piece by So thOrenstein, but anyways.  I have always had a problem with the media because of the "neat little boxes" they put genders into.  Why do we always depict boys in the media as playing in the mud and girls playing house?

Although, I love the pink room, it's so ridiculous!

So what does this stuff mean?  What is Media?  According to dictionary.com they say Media is the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, internet, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely.  

And Misogyny?  Noun - hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.  

So someone's hatred, dislike, and mistrust of women is being depicted in the media that is being seen and heard by millions and billion of people every day... cool.

Did you know that every second, 3 Barbies are sold?  And did you know that there is a lingerie Barbie?  I don't know about you but my favorite part about my Barbies was dressing them up, so why am I going to pay to get a Barbie that doesn't even come with a real outfit?  


The film believes that society is defining femininity in a bad way.  Although it is a great thing that there is female empowerment happening all across the world, it may not always be the best thing for females overall.  The movie classified it as a growing hatred of women because of our growing empowerment.  And therefore we have become sexual objects, second class citizens, and there is an increase in violence against women.  The movie says women are empowering themselves through sex, which in turn is causing them to loose their power later on.  It is evident in music videos like:


Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland

And of course another obvious song: Don't cha by the Pussy Cat Dolls.  (Side-note:  Ronnie and I felt as though their name brings a reputation to girls too, we think they should just change it to 'feline mannequins')

 Now notice how there are no girls everyday average girls in these videos.  And why is that?  Because these girls are the epitome of perfection.  They are what every guy wants, and what every girl wants to be.  Throughout school all most girls want is to fit in.  That's what I wanted and I would do almost anything to get it.  But looking back at it, I was crazy!  Society is crazy for putting these thoughts into young girls minds.  Thoughts about being a size 2, about having sex with boys to be popular, about shopping being better than studying.  And Pink realized that.



Pink - Stupid Girls 

Dove Soap - Real Beauty 

The movie said that happiness is linked to how we look.  Which I completely agree with.  Which is why with all these images in the media of how girls "should be", it is easy for them to be depressed, anxious, or have lower self-body images.  It's how we've been socialized, for example in the 1990s, there was a study done in Fiji, where tv drastically altered their views of bodies.  Where once they had healthy body weights and sizes and saw nothing wrong with them, as soon as the tv was brought in, they began saying they were "too fat" and stopped eating.  It's commercials like the Victoria Secret commercial, that ask women, what is sexy?  And give them the idealized beauty with no room for imperfections.  

Society has created a "perfect" idea of what a women should be and the "perfect" idea of what a man should be.  So while women are forever on a quest for beauty perfection, men have to put on their "tough guise" in order to fit their roles.  They must be aggressive and competitive, play video games like grand theft auto, like having sex with girls, and not care about their feelings.  Guys "need to look tough to impress girls by wearing baggy pants and hoodies."  Which is weird because I was talking to my boyfriend after we were watching "Breaking Bad" one night and the history of baggy pants came from a prison.  

For all that enjoy wearing their pants below their butts... This trend was born in United States Jails.  Prisoners who were willing to have sex with other prisoners needed to invent a signal, that would go unnoticed by guards, so they wouldn't suffer consequences.  By partially showing their butts, they showed they were available to be penetrated by other inmates.  


Ronie and I also noted that it's not right that the "N" word is so horrible, but rappers can say "bitch" is every other lyric and it's socially acceptable.  We've made great strides in race but not in gender.  Men like Rush Limbaugh, and movies like Borat put women in a roll that are almost impossible to get out of.  

The movie closes with boys and girls are just different - that's the way it is.  It's in the genes.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Talking Point 8: Cinderella ate my Daughter

Argument:

I should start off by saying I am completely and totally bias on this subject... And that is because I totally was "that little girl", that was swallowed up by Cinderella.  Literally, I loved her, adored her!  I had Cinderella themed birthday parties, I had Cinderella bedding, I had Cinderella backpacks, I was even Cinderella for Halloween... for three years in a row.  My mom says I could watch the movie a million times and never get sick of it.  
Me as Cinderella and my brother as an Army Man Halloween 1994

The author argues that we are not teaching girls the true importance of being a girl.  Orenstein begins by saying that through all of the fairy tales and "pinkification" we have taught girls that:
  • They must be feminine and wear dresses ("As for Mulan, when she does show up, it's in a kimono-like hanfu, the one that makes her miserable in the movie, rather than in her warrior's gear.")
  • They must live out the "princess fantasy".
  • They must have the perfect body, clothes, hair, jewelry, makeup, etc.
  • They must get the man --> the handsome prince
The list goes on and on.  It's just ridiculous.  It is because of this princess phenominon that girls no longer consider themselves as beautiful no matter what.  I find it ironic that as an earlier post, I posted a video about Pantene Beautiful Lengths and how women shouldn't have to buy wigs after battling for their lives.  They should know that they are beautiful even without their hair, but the Disney Princesses would disagree.  We have yet to see a bald Princess, however Disney released a princess with short hair in 2010... well technically, she starts with long hair and in the end, the Prince has to cut it to save her.

My question is when are they going to come out with a Princess that isn't a size 0, because she would definitely be a princess I would look up to.  And Pleasant Rowland knew that when she created the American girl line.  Giving them, "notably realistic, childlike proportions - no Barbie bosoms here"!!!  Thank God!  

But still the royalty of a princess is what catches little girls eyes.  Peggy argues that girls are loosing their creativity and imagination by linking their identity purely to their appearance because of the consumerism of Princesses and in a sense it's true.
"I despaired at the singular lack of imagination about girls' lives and interests, at the rows and rows of make-your-own jewelry/lip gloss/nail polish/fashion show craft kits at the drumbeat of the consumer feminine."


It's like asking a girl, "what do you want to be for Halloween?"  The imagination is gone.  I now ask my younger customers to choose for me, last year myself and my manager were Tinkerbell the fairy Vidia, per our customers request.  She was 7 last year.  So I asked her last week what she wanted me to be this year and now it's "a snow fairy or a snow princess"... Original.  (So if anyone knows where to get a costume for a snow fairy/princess let me know)

The author argues that "girls' attraction to pink may seem unavoidable, somehow encoded in their DNA".  And I would agree to some extent.  I myself am a pink fanatic.  I just completely love the color, I always have and I probably always will.  I just think it's a "happy" color, because it just bright and cheerful to look at.

My "Princess" picture: Senior Prom 2009:

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Racism - why is your skin so dirty?

So I was skyping with my best friend, Gerianne, who is Haitian, from high school the other night and it reminded me of our conversations of racism and my article.  My group kind of talked about how white women just don't understand black women, the article by Smith says, "It's not white women's fault that they have been raised, for the most part, not knowing how to talk to Black women, not knowing how to look us in the eye and laugh with us."  (page 26)  Anyways, to get to the point about talking with my my friend, growing up we lived in East Greenwich, a predominantly white community, and I think she was the only black kid in our graduating class.  But we were best friends from the time I moved to East Greenwich, and her dad was my neurologist when I was diagnosed in 2008, so she is more of a sister, and her family is like another family to me.

When she was younger she had a girl come to her at elementary school or whatever and ask:
"Why is your skin so dirty?"

Monday, October 15, 2012

Feminists & their hair

Ok so I got an email with this video this morning and I thought I would share because it kind of makes me upset and I'll tell you why.

When I was diagnosed with Timmy the Tumor in 2008, I had had really long hair all my life.  I had really never cut my hair, it had always been long.  It was something I was proud of.  And my first neurosurgeon loved my hair, she was pregnant at the time with a baby girl and refused to shave my head, instead she only shaved the sections that she needed.  This was awesome because I could keep my hair, but it was also most likely the reason why I contracted a 1-in-1,000 brain infection after my first surgery.  She left Hasbro Hospital, and my last surgery was done by Dr. Petra Klinger, the leading shunt specialist in the world!!  She is from germany, she is fantastic, I love her, and frankly she didn't give a crap about my hair, she cared about my health.  So off went my hair.  So I was bald.

My most recent scar - it looks like a candy cane
My hair after the surgery - I donated it to Locks of Love - it was over a foot long


But afterwards my hair was saved and everyone asked me, "so do you want us to make you a wig out of the hair we saved?" And I declined.  It was summer, so it wasn't that cold.  My friends and family bought me hats to cover the scars so I could go in the sun.  And even though I was so proud of my hair, I found that I didn't need to hide behind it anymore.  Now don't get me wrong, I think it is great that people donate their hair, hell I did too.  But after losing all my hair I want girls and women to know that they don't need it to be beautiful.  


Saturday, October 13, 2012

The "F-Word" (Talking Point 1) - Take 2

So I realized I had rewritten my blog on Rowe-Finkbeiner's "A Tsunami in History" and Hogeland's "Fear of Feminism", but had never posted it.  So here goes.

Extended Comments with thanks to Felicia Gminski's blog post.

Felicia says:
"As far as I remember, all my lady friends also voted. We all thought it was an honor and a duty. We felt responsible for helping to decide who ran our country."(pg. 24). I thought this was an interesting quote to bring to attention merely because it shows how active and willing to participate these women were once they received the right to do something we may take for granted today. Women in history have fought for decades for something that seems like such a common right today when in actuality, this was once considered a huge privilege. 

I complete agree with Felicia.  I personally think it's really interesting how back in the day women fought so hard to even get the right to vote and yet now, more often than not, many adolescence (of both genders) would rather leave the responsibility and decision making up to their parents.  Today, society takes so much for granted without even realizing it.  

Felicia says:
I consider this quote to be a great segway into another quote I came across while reading the same passage. As stated by Marybeth, a 45 year old family therapist -- "We dealt with work-and-family balancing acts and rising divorce, and ended up with women working both inside and outside the home. Many young women are rejecting that struggle and saying they want to have more fun. We were so serious. So, there's some jealousy of younger women there. They get to be hip, sexy, and cool, and we didn't get to do that. But it's also great to see younger women standing on the shoulders of the second wave enjoying life." (pg. 31). I felt that this was yet another important quote to bring to attention because it brings to mind the hardships women in the first wave faced in trying to secure equal rights and now where are we? Are we taking for granted the struggle our elders faced prior and not helping the cause? Or are we gratefully enjoying the perks while still working in a more leisurely manner to allow others the same benefits in the future? Are we in continuous support of this movement if it means having to put in the work that's required to gain change?

And again I agree.  My mom and dad got divorced when I was 10 years old and my brother and I lived with a single mom for years.  She was my hero for being able to face all the struggles that were in front of her.  Without the first wave feminists fighting for equal rights, my mom would never have been able to have kept the house we live in, work at the job she loves (and get paid as much as a man), and enjoy her life (i.e. find my step-dad).

Felicias says:
Transitioning into my last quote pulled from Fear of Feminism, I find it important to point out Lisa Marie Hogeland's statement of "Young women may believe that a feminist identity puts them out of the pool for many men, limits the options of who they might become with a partner, how they might decide to live. They may not be wrong either: how many young men feminists or feminist sympathizers do you know?" (pg. 20). I think this quote is imperative to bring up alongside the other quotes mentioned in this post because I feel with good reason that they go hand-in-hand. Women of the first and maybe even second wave may look to the waves following and wonder why there are still women that either are unsupportive or take neither side in the stand for equality. Maybe we can say the second wave had an excuse... maybe. Perhaps they were reaping the benefits the first wave had brought on and that's all fine and dandy... they still continued to fight, right? Right. And now here we are with our newest generation in what could be considered the third wave and yet to this day, we are still facing these challenges with some who are still unsupportive or inactive. Is it because we have accepted these benefits and don't feel the need to continue on or is it that we are too afraid to be unaccepted as willingly as one who doesn't fight for themselves/others? After all, who wants a trouble maker, eh?

Who wouldn't want to be a trouble maker if our rights are in jeopardy?  I feel as though this generation doesn't realize that there was a time when women didn't have all the rights we have now, they weren't just handed to us, we had to fight for them.  

I did find another blog that tells women why there's no reason to fear feminism that I thought is pretty interesting.

What Are Little Boys Made Of? (Talking Point 7)

Reflection & Quotes.

Honestly, I really liked the article What Are Little Boys Made Of? by Michael Kimmel.  Growing up I was always around "the boys"... not only did I idolize my big brother (Bubba), but I remember much of childhood being spent with him and a group of his friends that I now call my, "other brothers", as they killed hundreds of people in online battles, or spent what seemed like forever at soccer tournaments at first and then later airsoft tournaments.  I watched them grow up and in my mind become stereotypical boys, especially my brother who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2009, created an airsoft league at the Academy, and is now stationed at Almendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage Alaska and owns more guns than pairs of shoes.



"Gurian argues that our educational system forces naturally rambunctious boys to conform to a regime of obedience." (157)
I do agree with that statement, because there are always the classes in schools where  rowdy boys are placed in order to be kept away from the other students.

Then when I was 15, my now step-dad and his son (Aaron) moved in with my mom and I.  Now Aaron was completely different from my older brother because he LOVES playing violent video games.  Now, don't get me wrong, Bubba does too, but Aaron can play for hours.  Which in why I was reminded of him when I was reading:
"From an early age, boys learn that violence is not only an acceptable form of conflict resolution, but one that is admired.  Four times more teenage boys than teenage girls think fighting is appropriate when someone cuts into the front of a line.  Half of all teenage boys get into a physical fight each year."  (159)
 And then when I was 17, I started dating my boyfriend Matthew, who is the opposite of both of my brothers in the sense that he is not violent what so ever.  Maybe it is because he had a rough childhood, and lost his father at a young age, I'm not sure.  But just because he isn't violent, does that not make him a man?


"The belief that violence is manly is not carried on any chromosome, not soldered into the wiring of the right or left hemisphere, not juiced by testosterone.  (Half of all boys don't fight, most don't carry weapons, and almost all don't kill: are they not boys?)" (159)

One quote that also really sticks out to me was:
"I'd rather be wanted for murder than not wanted at all" (159)
And I'm still not sure what to make out of it but it was one of those things that really struck me as interesting while reading this piece.