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Sunday, 25 November 2007

Ahhh, a day with feminism...

I am pretty sure that every woman who reads the first paragraph of "A Day with Feminism" would say "hell yeah!". It's just absolutely silly to me that things aren't this way now, however, I will agree that we as both men and women have come a very, very long way from our lifestyles even 20 years ago. Throughout the reading so many things the author mentions just seem so easy and commonsense. Essentially, if everybody wanted this, they could. People, I believe, are just very misinformed on what it means to a feminist. Starting out in this class, I did not call myself a feminist because I don't agree with everything that feminist are for. However, after studying and reading the material feminity and masculinity are just terms that need to be done away with. Issues that present themselves should be dealt with but it doesn't mean that you have to be the textbook definition of feminist. The very meaning of feminist is to break away from the norm, not to conform to what people have done for years or how they have treated people for years. In other words, feminist movements are solely to see the strength and beauty in women as Humans, not as just the weaker species. So whatever you want to achieve as a feminist, aim for it. It doesn't mean you have to agree with someone else's view. But this world is coming to a place where feminism is just normal. Eventually we will see it I believe. Equal rights for everyone is fast approaching...
Women around the world

Reading the text on the islamic bill for women, I have to admit that I was somewhat shocked. Here most people believe, whether its due to American media or not, that women especially in middle eastern countries are far more impoverished of rights and let alone respect. So, reading this showed that many people of different denominations and religions notice that there are differences in how we treat and mistreat women. It's good to see that people are trying to make a difference even if that difference is virtually none. I do believe that it is harder to change a religious sect than it is to change society. Religions really don't like to veer from the traditionally norms especially those like Islam, and some sorts of Christianity. Even though these women did not have good conditions they still chose to live the Muslim lifestyle. I find it hard for me to even think of being under those conditions and still having faith in what I was doing. So, in turn that does show that some women under whatever conditions are strong. So why does everyone want them, us, to just kinda be a shadow to the rest of the world? We definitley do struggle as a gender, whether its because we get paid less, we get discriminated against due to our size and gender, or because we have to worship the god of our choice in a urinal the point is that we still need to stay strong as our gender because letting anyone tell us that we are less that what we were intended for is an unjust and inhuman thing to do anyone.
We want to ask how, but it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Domestic violence is an interesting topic. It seems that everyone just wants to say leave! get out! but if someone actually is in the situation it's much harder than one assumes. Neither me nor my friends have ever been in a physically violent relationship, but myself and a few of my friends have been with people who were emotionally and verbally abusive. I think it works the same way as a physical relationship and I would say taht any time you are with someone who is abusive it alters your perception of what is right and wrong. It makes that glass foggy and it's hard to see out the right way and to see that there is a lot better out there. Typically relationships that are abusive don't really start out that way, but kinda throw some warning signs in the beginning. It's hard to see them too because a lot of times we want to think that the person we are with is trustwothy and respectful. So we kind of put ourselves into denial which is the real danger. Instead of getting out when we need to we just hold on to the thought that he really loves me and he's not really hurting me and so forth. Domestic violence is very sad and I do believe that even in some cases the reasons that they don't get out is because they believe that their partner is handling it the right way, by yelling at them, or hitting them. It completely demolishes your self worth and value and even if he's NOT threatening to kill you, you have no confidence to get out there on your own again and start all over. It's really a very messy and sad thing to get yourself involved in. I don't think that enough support and education is out there for women. Not necessarily for women who are involved in the bad relationships, but even the younger women need to be taught how to maintain their self respect and be taught to know when someone is crossing your boundaries and defacing the person that you've become. More knowledge needs to be available so that women and men can see that relationship violence is actually out there and they need to know what to do if they see someone and they themselves or family gets involved with someone dangerous.
General Information on what makes me cringe

Not necessarily related to any specific reading, but I have been thinking a lot lately how men and women both rag on the other gender for their differences and short comings. Women like to tell men that they are pigs, have no emotion, liers, can't communicate and so forth. Men like to say women are whiney, emotional, weak, and everything has to be blamed on the period. "what? is it that time of month for you or something?" grr. I have been seeing many bumper stickers that have a picture of Hilary Clinton that say "Life's a bitch, don't vote for one" as if every woman who has some authoritative or powerful stature has to be the worst woman to ever stuck in a room alone with, because we all know she will definitely eat you alive. Cause that's what we do, strong women...scare the shit out of people.
I truly admire strong women, I definitley see myself being that way one day as well. However, it kills me that some people, women in particular, cannot stand up for themselves. It's like they have no voice. A few of my friends still don't know how to say no to somebody or how to confront somebody so they just avoid it altogether. One thing that my dad actually taught me growing up was that I always needed to look somebody in the eye and give a firm handshake when I first meet someone. That little bit of extra confidence can do so much for someone. It was later confirmed how good of a quality that is when I started debate in high school. A judge once told me and an opponent that if we don't have a firm handshake, people call it a cold fish and disregard you as weak. So I guess in conclusion to my rant is thatt no matter what, you should always be strong. Even if it is awkward, at some point it will become second nature and then people will start to take you more seriously. Definitely an issue among most women I would say.
The media: How it "broadens" our perception of women.

Haha. Yeah, right. The media might actually be able to give someone the worst definition of what it means to be a woman. Our media shows us television shows such as Desparate Housewives, where women are perfectly skinny, married, jobless, able to stay home with the kids, naturally. I guess you can say every man's "ideal" woman. It's funny though, I was actually sitting with my 10 year old nephew the other day and we were watching a tv show, where this girl came on, she was beautiful, skinny and all the guys were after her. I had this compelling need to tell my nephew that he should never go after a girl because of how she looks. That most women who actually have brains aren't necessarily the most beautiful or skinny. And most importantly that he should not be tempted by the superficial or physical things, rather be engaged in finding someone confident, smart and challenging. However, I decided against telling him because after all he is only ten. I have a feeling it might come up someday down the road and I will definitely do everything I can to help him see that real women don't always fit into these commercialized norms.