RAD Workshops

By: Grace Edra

A woman’s self defense classes are becoming more in demand with the increasing numbers of women getting attacked and also the rise of rapes attacks.  During our Women Studies 323 class, we had the opportunity to take RAD Workshop (The Rape Awareness Defense).  At first when I saw that the RAD workshop was a part of the class schedule, I thought that it was a random workshop to be taught in a Women Studies movement class and that my peers would have not taken the workshop seriously. But, as the instructors talked more about the program and how these classes saved plenty of women life’s in hazardous situation, the class including I took this workshop very seriously.  I work at a nightclub in downtown San Diego, and there are plenty of nights when I am petrified walking alone to my car after my shift, which can be more than 3 blocks away.  The RAD Workshop had given me plenty of tips and moves that I can use to save myself in a really bad situation.  This is such a practical workshop that I have planned for my female coworkers and I to take a women’s self-defense class. Some women may not have time or have the money to attend these classes, but they do have instructional videos on YouTube and eHow.com that teaches women the basic defense moves that they can learn for free. (http://www.ehow.com/video_4949014_womens-self-defense-neck-break.html)

Women are becoming the subject of attacks and abuse, both physically and verbally, and “Taking Back the Night” is an amazing event for women who are survivors of attacks and abuse, and they all come together to have a voice.  Survivors tell their story and how it affected their life’s, and to also help others survive an attack or on how to leave an abusive relationship.  In the Vagina Monologue, the monologue,” My Vagina Was My Village” is a story about a women who survived a rape camp in Bosnia, and she also tells her story and also how this event affected her life and her future.

Acid Attack on Women

by: Sojung Hargis

“All the girls we have seen how have disguised themselves as boys have done it to protect themselves…When they’re on the streets as girls, men cause problems.” This is a quote from Girls Find Safety Posing as Boys on Tehran’s Mean Streets. From reading this article, it reminded me of the “acid attack”. Many people are not familiar with acid violence on women. Acid violence happens in a lot of the countries, especially in Third World nations, as a trend in sexual predation. In Bangladesh, women are usually the targets in this violence that are led by men with a purpose to humiliate women by destroying their physical appearance, therefore destroying their sexuality, chances for another marriage, and et cetera. More detail on acid violence against women can be found in this video. Acid violence should be categorized as sexual offense just like how rape and child molestation are, but because most societies do not consider this as a priority due to the fact that most corrupted authorities are consisted of men, women just have to live in fear of getting acid attacked. And because most authority figures such as the police are men, the victims of the acid attack are in fear to even ask for help. Due to lack of polices and laws for this violence, even when the perpetrators are caught, they are given the choice of paying fine in exchange for their release which puts women in a situation where there is nothing they can do about the acid violence. This will only increase the trend of acid violence women, eventually becoming normalized in some cultures.

So to change this, many victims of acid violence from Bangladesh seek help and change through nongovernmental organizations, and this activism led to the Acid Survivors Foundation in the 90s, donated by Dhaka Medical College hospital, that brought a change and development for women’s rights. More acid victims have been given the opportunity to become survivors and to live new hopeful lives due to the support and help from many nongovernmental organizations from the world. But most importantly, WE need to pay more attention to this terrible violence so that proper policies and laws can be created for the victims, the survivors, and the future victims. Without our attention and support, the acid attack against women will continue on. 

NO MORE!

by: Marlene Marin

NO MORE!

No more for women walking in the dark being afraid that they will be assaulted or worse raped. No more to women being afraid of taking an elevator. No more to women always having to be watching their backs and their surroundings, no more to women being afraid that they can be assaulted at any hour, any time, any day, no more to violence against women! In 2005 1,181 women were murdered by an intimate partner that is 3 women a day for a year. “According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year.4 Less than 20 percent of battered women sought medical treatment following an injury” (NOW 2012). “According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes crimes that were not reported to the police, 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006” (NOW 2012). That’s over 600 women a day! Women who are targeted the most are minorities, low income, young women. Women under the age of 24 suffer the most from rape. I was honestly happy that we had the opportunity to have a workshop about the Rape Awareness Defense course; I truly believe that this course can make the difference between life and death. If you know the proper skills to defend yourself and escape from an aggressor you are more likely to be a survivor. I have taken this course and I always encourage people to take this course, I will be taking my sister to take the course because I want her to know what to do if she ever were to be put in a situation like that. It is not only to protect you against unknown aggressors but it can also work to protect yourself from a boyfriend or a date. The RAD course I believe is a course that empowers women to stand up for their life and shows them exactly how to do it with easy to do techniques. Also having the chance to put everything you have learned into action. With this we say no to violence against women and rape!

http://www.now.org/

It's Time We Kick Ass.

by: Junemy Pantig


It's Time We Kick Ass. The Rape Awareness Defense Workshop during class was not only very informative, but very helpful to our lives. I am very glad that there are self defense workshops for women because we don’t deserve to be abused in any way by anyone. And because of these classes, many lives are saved and crimes become less accomplished. Whenever I go out with friends at clubs or bars, you will always come across a drunk and rude man who wants to approach you. I am a very petite person and it really irks me when they feel that they can take control of you because of you don’t look as “aggressive” due to your size. What they don’t know is that I have a voice and I’m not afraid to use it. Approach me once, I will politely ask you to stop and go away. Approach me again, I will definitely yell at you. No shame on that either. Cathy advised that we should be loud enough to scare off people who try to harass us. She’s right. Having a loud, strong voice definitely throws people off and makes them think twice. The story that I found very moving was in The Vagina Monologues. It was called “Say It.” These untold storied were about “comfort women.” They were women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during WWII. They were either abducted or given a “promise” to have an opportunity to work, when in fact, they didn’t know they were working off their innocent bodies to men. Rape has existed for many years and it’s upsetting to know that it still occurs until this day. Every day women are attacked verbally and/or physically. It breaks my heart knowing that women who were victims of assault, live each day in trauma. These comfort women have built strength, heart, and courage to finally tell these stories and live each day of their lives knowing that it has become part of history in their lives. “What we want: Now soon... Before we’re gone... And our stories leave this world, leave our heads... Japanese government... Say it... Please... We are sorry, Comfort Women... Say it to me... We are sorry to me...” (pg. 165). A few movies & a song that relate well to violence against women:  The Joy Luck Club, Boys Don’t Cry, & Love is Blind by: Eve.

Third Wave Madres

by: Sheilah Dasher 


Third Wave Feminism, gave a voice to me. She gave a voice to women with skin like mine, eyes that burned like coals instead of midday sky’s, she gave a voice to the madres that bent over tomatoes groves the brown, red, and black women whose bridges no longer would be their backs the red light district women, and the mail order brides of every western man’s dreams, the women that love other women, or the one’s not born female. Third wave feminism announced “I am here, I exist!” I am not “The Feminine Mystic,” “The Problem Which Has No Name,” I am the wet nurse that fed First and Second Waves children while she was dreaming, I am the woman that cleaned her floors, the woman that was bought on that business trip by her husband I am the one that fought not to be sterilized while she wanted contraception. Third Wave proclaimed we are not all equal in the eyes of men I am the daughter of Third Wave Feminism. A decade ago, I bought the book Colonize This. The white queer grrl’s in the feminist movement that I had adopted had introduced me to the works of Lourde and Anzaluda. These white grrl’s that screamed like me out of the constraints of pretty girl gender performance, like me were also getting beat up by the racist skinhead white boys at punk rocks shows. My riot grrl sisters were the one’s that taught me their was a name for my mothers experiences. These gracious grrls over a decade ago reminded me of a past I had forgotten through whitewashed junior high and high school literature. Reading these works were like reading my life. My introduction to feminism was always inclusive not exclusive and had a growling guitar vocalist. Feminism to me wasn’t academic, or didn’t look white and middle class. Much like the reading by Adriana Lopez, In Praise of Difficult Chicas, she spoke of the strong mothers she had around her as her first feminist examples. “Education in American schools and universities, I recognized the legacy of white feminist like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer. Though at times their styles were overheated, they were crusaders for equal rights, bra burning privileged white women who took on a firestorm,” but these women didn’t represent herstory. Feminism to me was my mother and my aunts that left the reservation to attend college. All having children of various racial backgrounds, teaching us our language and matrilineal histories. All independent yet interdependent on one another. I didn’t grow up playing barbie or bridesmaids because that wasn’t my culture. I grew up not having my gender hinder what choices I made because we were all taught to work hard equally men and women. My feminism was my grandmother that went to library classes to learn to read and write in English after raising ten children. I grew up realizing women always had the right to own their sexuality, to marry or divorce, wedlock or not. I grew up with a grandmother that said get an education and use birth control because she knew it would give me the access she did not have. In Colonize This When Cristina Tzintzun speaks of her mothers wishes for her daughters, saying “she could not have hoped for more feisty, self-assured daughters.” I see my own mother, not wanting me to be afraid to speak in front of foreigners and not be as naive as she was. Much like the Third Wave warriors of various backgrounds our stories are interwoven and political no matter how personal. 

Xicanista

by: Alejandra Ramos

Womyn of color feminism has been placed under third wave feminist movement; the push and struggle of womyn of color to have their voices heard and their experiences validated by the white feminist movement is a continuous one. From Colonize This! a lense of womyn of color feminism is presented from perpective in which the experiences of womyn are intertwined initmately with colonization. Rehman and Hernandez state, 'colonize means "to create a settlement". It sounds simple and peaceful. We rewrote the defenition. To colonize is to strip a people of their culture, language, land, family structure, who they are as a person and as a people."...We can't have someone else defining our lives or our feminism." Feminism as taught in the academia continues to be from a very white-middle class persepective and as a womon of color I want to identify as a feminist but the fact that stories of womyn like myself are like chocolate sprinkles on vanilla ice cream makes it hard, but it continues to prove that my presence is necessary in these circles. The urgency and importance of womyn of color voices within this movement to end sexisim in our community will not come if we don't also eliminate racism and other forms of oppression too. As womyn of color redifining feminism and making it our own is essential. Redefining my identiy withing the White/Black spectrum of feminism is an act of resitance itself. Claming the identity of Xicanista as coined by Ana Castillo, refereing to her identity within the chicana feminist movement as an act of decolonization she states, “A crucial distinction between labels we have been given by officials of the state and our own self-naming process is that only doing the latter serves us.  The very act of self-definition is a rejection of colonization.” Rewriting our herstories  a nuestra manera, "...is our task as Xicanistas, to not only reclaim our indigenismo-but also to reinsert the forsaken feminine into our consciousness.”(Castillo). Not only is our task to reclaim or indigenous roots, but with that the feminine power within us from our abuelas, to bring forth the otrocities of what colonialism has done to ours spirits, memories and experiences.

http://web.utah.edu/venceremos/Xicanisma.html 

No Feminism, Just Colors

by: Zhiqi Zhou

In "Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism," the author not only depicts feminism but also feminism of colors which sparks my brain in a multi-racial way. We have been talking about feminism all along in this class, and I am not going to address feminism any more. I want to point out my concerns of racism on mass media nowadays. In 2010, US demographics census reports: Whites are 63.7%, Blacks are 12.2%, Hispanic or Latino are 16.3% of the US population. Now, let us move the focus of our eyes to the mass media, TV, advertisements, movies, newspaper. Generally, this demographic statistics tells us, for every 6 white people you see on mass media, there should be an appearance of a black person, or for every 4 white people, you should see a Hispanic person. Is it how things are in real life? My answers is no. To intuitively support my point of view, I want to use a Corona commercial as example. In the commercial, there are four people drinking on the beach, and three of them are white and one is black. The commercial majorly focus on a white couple flirting with each other and drinking corona. Surprisingly, the black person in the commercial only makes a "hard-to-see" appearance. What did I think when I saw the commercial? I thought the commercial maker didn't want the commercial to be too racist so he or she put a black clown there to make it appear less offensive. However, all of this seems to be so overly done that audience like me would obviously notice the commercial maker's intention and the black "clown."

Corona Commercial Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfsE-VMqQk    

Women’s Rights: Who Defines What Women’s Rights Are and What Is Feminism?

By: Stephanie C. Martyr

            Learning about third wave feminism is very interesting to me because it is so current and also is continuing to develop with our contributions added. Taking from the introduction in “Colonize This!”, Women who have been taught by “white feminism” in universities are now understanding their mothers’ choices for motherhood, and are currently carving out schools in feminism for particular sects for women belonging to certain races (Rehman & Hernandez xx-xxiv). What is I find striking is that while the current (third) wave of feminists are criticizing the second wave feminists for having a dominant voice (the white suburban housewife), the same group of women is now missing from the dominant message and literature. This message of stereotyping also pits women from different schools of feminist thought against one another, and could this approach be leaving some women (those who do not want to identify as a feminist) out of the feminist club entirely? I have observed that feminists use rhetoric such as “Are you a feminist? If not, you’re a bigot.” –Gloria Allred (from the youtube.com). These types of fallacies ultimately turn women off from identifying as feminists- when they should learn that as a woman you are a feminist because every woman has the basic right to be- like a citizenship to a country. Asking a woman what her ideas about feminism are should not always be reduced to a rhetorical question meant to trip one up and make an example out of. Are you a feminist? Yes. We all are, in fact. If I answer no, I understand that I still am because (Insert any reason here since it IS valid). Women need to be delicate in bringing resistant women into the sphere of knowledge feminists are aware of; this is not an arms race for which group privileged or not can get the most rights first- feminism is about empowering each other as women and seeing each other finding our own paths and succeeding.

As an Irish-Native American woman, I enjoy having my individual story, and I agree with the authors in “Colonize This!” that there has been a white wash of culture in America, and as a result people have lost a sense of their identities and heritage. Feminist theory seeks to rectify this by establishing women as individuals, with their own struggles, stories, and rights. However, feminist theory also seeks to deconstruct gender, which tends to exclude issues such as labor and breastfeeding, a highly gendered womanly activity. Therefore, this “choice” (to be a mother or not, to be gay or straight, to abort or not, to use birth control or sterilization or not) suggests sexism is within the very content of feminism. I personally see this inner division of feminists into self-labels for the purpose of saying, “I’m not that kind of woman, I’m this kind of woman” and that should no longer be any kind of accepted form of feminist thought. Because third wave feminism is our generation, it is up to us to further women’s rights and power in society by defining what feminism is. I appreciate the women from the 1^st and 2^nd waves of feminism for fighting for the right to choose. I like how the 3^rd wave feminists are diverse, individualized, and fight for everybody’s rights. However, I am dropping the attitude that feminists are a separate group of women. All women are feminists whether they claim to be or not, all women have an equal voice- a woman’s right is to choose anything and it be allowed, and she will have her sisters to support her. Feminists should not criticize women who deny being feminist, since we know that society constructed them that way anyhow. When it comes to my understanding about the history of feminism, I know that all women were fighting for rights any way that worked and as long as we continue to have a history of pitting certain women against each other (mothers and non-mothers, white women and women of color, gay women and straight women), then it is impossible to achieve equality for all.

Works Cited:

Rehman, Bushra; & Hernandez, Daisy “Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism” Introduction. Seal Press

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dddgkEg2XSA&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Racism

by: Megan MacDonald

I don’t understand it. RACCCC-IIII-SSSSM. I try to sound it out with my mouth but it doesn’t make sense to me. When I see someone I see him or her as a human being, Not man or woman. Not black or brown or white. When I see someone I see him or her for the person I see portrayed through his or her actions. Color has never mattered to me. If someone has a positive outlook and a driven sense of accomplishment they are more than qualified to be my friend. I love every single person for the good qualities in them; if you consciously look for the good in people you will never be disappointed. When others allow racism and anti feminist philosophy to encourage the way they live their lives is when I know they are not fighting for what is right but what is known and of popular belief. When I am confronted with people of this nature I try to be as neutral as I can, however as a an independent accomplished, feminist woman it is hard for me to look back at the actions of these individuals and not argue. When judgment becomes based on color of skin instead of content of character is when I stop listening to mainstream media who views the value of an individual based on color and appearance instead of intelligence and talent. 

Carolee and interior knowledge

By: Nichole Jones

Carolee Second Wave Feminism flourished during the 1960’s and was a time when women really came together to strive for improvements in the treatment of women and the discrimination of women in the world. I recall my mother-in-law telling me that as a young mother of two boys, she found herself divorced and seeking her independence. She was no longer going to be the typical housewife and needed to find a job and make a living for herself as a single parent. She went to get car insurance and was told she needed to have a husband to sign the contracts. The 1960’s were fueled with anti-war demonstrations and civil right movements and women were a great part of that. I believe we are all familiar with the statement that it was a time when women burned their bras. However, women band together to protest the 1968 Miss America pageant by trashing their bras, girdles and nylons. They threw them away as a symbol of the binds that society has on women to look pretty. This is taken from an article written by Jone Johnson Lewis entitled, Bra Burning Feminists NOT. I read from our course reader and found myself bothered yet intrigued by the Carolee Schneemann piece, More than Meat Joy and the Interior Scroll selections. This woman seems very controversial and for some reason reminded me of Frida Kahlo, the famous female Mexican painter. She was something the world was not quite ready for during her lifetime. The photos of Carolee seemed strange and I found a youtube video of her from 2008 where she discusses where the idea of the scroll came from and why she choice to do the piece. Her work was on display in the Brooklyn Museum entitled “Burning Down the House” Building of Feminist Art Collection. Here is the link for the video, Carolee says that “the scroll represents interior knowledge” and it is represented by pulling the scroll out of her body and she reads what it written on it. One of the things on the scroll is the statement “Be prepared”. That sort of made me laugh, because that is the Boy Scout’s National Motto. Anyway, she did find that some viewers of her performance art found it very confusing and felt that it may have played into men’s fantasies of women. She saw it in a different light. She was a huge inspiration for our recent readings and classroom activities, the Vagina Monologues. 

the “proper role” for a woman

By: Malynn Robbinson

In the reading The Problem that has No Name by Betty Friedan, the author entertains her readers by pulling them through the emotions that many housewives of the 20th century were experiencing. The emotion of emptiness and dissatisfaction was actually the result of a woman who has experienced the thirst of knowledge and want more. These women have been to college and dreamt of becoming something and being someone but are forced to face the bitter reality that the “proper role” for a woman is to take care of the house. This “problem that has no name”, is the outcome of their restlessness and their yearning to grow more. These women did not realize that was what they wanted because society had told them that this was their dream life and that was the best thing for them. 

Many people already know about the controversy about Rush Limbaugh media broadcast concern women’s contraceptives. I believe that it relates to the reading assignment The Problem that has No Name because in that article society was telling women that they should be happy and this is the life they should want while Limbaugh was saying women shouldn’t use contraceptives to sleep around (although he completely ignored the context of stance the college student was making). There is a similar theme of society (male) control over women and they are both coming from a male perspective.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke-a-slut-and-prostitute/ 

 Friedan, Betty. "The Problem that has No Name." Issues in Feminism. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1999. Print.

Limbaugh, R. (Actor). (2012). Rush Limbaugh Doubles Down On Sandra Flu [Motion picture]. ABC news.

Those "ridiculous" anti-housewife thoughts..

By: Caroline Crandall

My understanding about The Problem That Has No Name by Betty Friedan is that the problem is the fact that women in the 1950’s and early 60’s had no say in how they wanted to live out their lives. The purpose of a woman’s being then was to get married, have children and then do all housing tasks.  They really had no choice and if they did begin to question why their life was the way that it was or if that was what they really wanted, they would be frowned upon.  The article stated that in that time period, if a woman was feeling unhappy with her life, it was commonly thought that there must have been problems in her marriage or that she had something wrong with her. This caused Women to feel confused and alone, even though there was a large number of women who felt the exact same way. People who were against these ideas of women being something other than a house wife tried to come up with excuses as to why women could be having these “ridiculous” anti-housewife thoughts. The article said that women being educating was causing ideas to be put in their head. It also said, “ the problem was dismissed by telling the house wife how luck she is-her own boss, no time clock, no junior executive gunning for her job. “  First of all, she is not her own boss because she has to take commands form her husband and cater to her children. Second, she does have to follow a time clock because she has a time schedule to get all her daily house chores done. And third, she doesn’t have a junior executive gunning for her job, because no one else wants to have her job!

I enjoyed this quote that I found that pretty much sums up this problem that has no name.

“It is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities - is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=EZiKAskjPF8&feature=endscreenZ

Wake Up in the Morning

by: Lindsey Ritter

Wake up in the morning go wake up the kids.

Make sure the kids are fed and clothed.

Take out the dogs.

Make sure that their lunches are prepared and packed.

Take the kids to school make sure you are on time!

Hope the kids are on time for school that way you can go to class on time.

Go to class then go to work.

(Make sure work and school fit around the kids schedule in order to pick up the kids for practices and school)

Leave work and pick up the kids.

Take one kid to his baseball practice tonight and then remember tomorrow it is wrestling, then again baseball game and then wrestling match!

Get home and cook a healthy dinner. Because we all know we don’t want our kids to be unhealthy or obese, so something with chicken…I wonder when the kids will get tired of chicken?

Make sure the kids do their homework and then it is off to a shower, brush teeth and BED!

Take out the dogs.

Kids are in bed. Time to go for a run

All sweaty and icky so shower time a must!

Homework time,

Goodnight!

OHH no only 4 hours of sleep AGAIN??

After doing the reading on second wave feminism I started to think to myself is this all for me as well? Now I love my life but constantly feel that I am moving and going this was my week with the kids, I do have help from my significant other but only during the night. The women during the break between the first and second wave were caught in a state of confusion about why they were feeling like something was missing in their lives. That was the freedom of being able to be someone besides a housewife and feeling like there was no choice but to be a housewife. I am not saying there is anything wrong with being a housewife but as we read in the readings “The Problem That Has No Name” women were feeling that something was missing or something was wrong and they were unsure what it was and I believe that most had to do with not having their freedom and not understanding or remembering that women were fighting for their rights and fighting for equality before and that “the chains that bind her in her trap are chains in her own mind and spirit. They are chains made up of mistaken ideas and misinterpreted facts, of incomplete truths and unreal choices,” (290).  If we as women have been told something by the dominating society and Capitalism they want us to continue feeling trapped and put under his thumb, the problem is seeing past those lines and seeing the truth, not feeling tied down in chains or wondering is this it? I also question where we are with society today since women have taken on more roles and many still believe should be the main house keeper and take care of the children. Women now have a job because it is difficult to maintain life without two incomes and many women have to still come home and cook or clean. I am lucky and have a significant other who does help me out (when I ask for it because I am very stubborn and feel that I can take on the world…because I am after all a woman and am very proud!).  However, most men still have the ideology that women need to come home and clean, cook, and take care of the children even after being at work.  So my question then is have we come far enough as some would say we have?

I like to take the example of the original stepford wives because it brought the “concerns and ideologies of second-wave feminism to popular culture, particularly, a woman’s control over her own body,” (Silver, 2002). When Friedan wrote about the women in “the Problem That Has No Name” those concerns that were expressed are replicated in Forbes The Stepford Wives by the two main characters who are fighting Stepford and fighting their inner feelings and their confusion about their town, and the literally interpretation of “fetishizing housework turns women from individuals with goals and ambitions into cleaning appliances: robots,” (Silver, 26).

The original stepford wives trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zUWOeNfa6Y

The original stepford wives entire movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuG8D8oUn_8

The Flip Side

Last week we talked about a film called "The Flip Side", if anyone is interested, here's a link to it on youtube. Thanks for the contribution Jesse. 

Ballet and its American Icon

By: Annika Wiesemann

Women and men are still not always treated equal in our society related to their job positions or their different roles in the family. Referring to the article “Balanchine women” from Ann Daly (2002) Ballet and its American icon (The Ballerina) supports this unequally image of women and men.  “The girl is like an instrument” (Page 280) and is directed by the man. The men manipulate and assist the dance of the woman so that women don't make any movements without the initiation of them. They are the doers and prevent women power and ballet supports the men´s leadership. The image of men and women are shown in a conservative way in ballet and it´s not easy to rebuild it. I think a beginning would be to let men and women do the same movements and to let women also support the men while dancing. Anyway women are shown as light weighted figures in Ballet and they’re attracting the audience by their look. It’s all about the beauty and the perfectness of a ballerina. This New York Times article discusses how “Ballet demands sacrifice in its pursuit of widely accepted ideals of beauty”.

It’s not just that sacrifice. It’s also the women’s acceptance to be lower status and be constructed to be looked at. Men are represented powerful.

I don't like that they are not shown equally but I can also not imagine women to lead the men. That shows that I am already influenced by the way women and men (genders) are shown in our cultural mediums like on TV, theatre, books, movies… 

Women's Agency

by: Lisa Gloff
The readings for this topic begin with an entry from Sojourner Truth, a female slave in the late 1800s, and end with a discussion on the role of female ballerinas in George Balanchine's ballet "The Four Temperaments." The piece from Sojourner Truth is entitled "Ain't I a Woman?" A hard-working but uneducated slave woman wonders why some men are saying that women are frail and need help getting into carriages, while another man says that woman don't have the same rights as men because Christ wasn't a woman. I love her simple logic that states, "Where did Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman!" She knows she is strong and as capable as any man, and has endured beatings and the births 13 children. In her mind, she deserves the same rights as men, and as White women. The website, womenshistory.about.com/od/sojournertruth, states that Sojourner Truth name means 'traveling preacher' and she in fact did travel and became a part of the suffrage movement and gave that speech in 1851 at a women's convention in Ohio. The next piece, “The Freedom of Woman” challenges Puritan views that the female body should be concealed, either completely or partially. The speaker is a dancer that feels that exposing her body is art, that it is ‘real, true, untrammeled.’ The article about Balanchine, “The Balanchine Woman,” goes into depth about how the female ballerina is portrayed in his ballets; there are conflicting views that feel that the ballerina is being 'manipulated' vs. 'supported' by the more powerful man. “If Balanchine did ‘glorify Woman’ the question remains: whose idea of Woman is she?” (p. 280) The point about the female being displayed, which is passive, vs. the male, who performs the action, was interesting to me. As I have watched numerous ballets over the years, I have always felt that the ballerina is a strong, powerful, graceful athlete. I felt that the male’s role was to highlight the ballerina, not control her. This article makes the point that Balanchine created his ballets for the male point of view, and “denies women their own agency.” See for yourself by viewing a live performance of Balanchine’s ‘The Four Temperaments” on YouTube

Ain't I a Woman

By: Brenna Norris

This wasn’t the first time I have read Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” and it definitely won’t be the last time.  This speech is so powerful for multiple reasons.  Women had finally started breaking the gender norms and began speaking out about inequality.  Sojourner Truth’s courage and determination is so powerful because not only is she making a very strong statement as a woman, but also as an African American. 

She is making a statement to society saying that if men think that women should get special privileges, that ALL women deserve those privileges.  She gives power to women as a whole saying even though we worship Christ, who is a man, without God and A WOMAN there would be no Christ.  She calls to women saying that if the first woman that God created was able to “turn the world upside down,” then so can we. Her speech isn’t just about being treated like “a woman,” but about stopping the inequality within the sexes.  Her speech, or performance, is so powerful and inspiring that we are still acknowledging, respecting and learning about it today.

Feminism has come such a long way since Sojourner Truth’s performance and this courage that she displayed has given other women courage to follow in her footsteps.  The feminist movement has been such a public outcry full of different forms of public performances, and these performances have slowly started breaking down social gender norms and stereotypes.

Below is a video of a woman named Alice Walker performing Sojourner Truth’s speech.  Watching someone else perform her same speech gives a new understanding and sense of power that continues to inspire women to continue to fight for change today.

Check out Alice Walkers reading here

We are all women,

we all deserve respect,

and we all deserve equal rights.

Together we are powerful.

First Wave Feminism

by: Norma Sevilla


Throughout time, women's feminist movements for social justice and equality have been divided into three waves. First-Wave feminism, which is our main focus for this week, flourished during the mid 19th and early 20th century. Their main focus during that time was women's emancipation from political restrictions, such as women's suffrage (women's right to vote).The reading that stood out to me the most from this week was "The Freedom of Woman" by Isadora Duncan. I really liked her interpretation of the body and I liked how she sees it as something beautiful and pure. She goes on to explain how exposing one’s body, while performing, is beautiful and pure. Throughout time people have created social taboos against women’s bodies so I think it’s crucial to have articles like “The Freedom of Woman” that tell us that bodies are beautiful and they are nothing to be ashamed of. As Duncan puts it herself, “the body is beautiful; it’s real, true, untrammeled. It should arouse not horror, but reverence” (Duncan 1992, 48-49). As I was reading "The Freedom of Woman," it reminded me of Pina Bausch's "Cafe Muller" (1978) and the trailer from the documentary "Pina Bausch: Dancing Dreams" we saw in class. Duncan's and Bausch's choreography is so different from the kind of dances I’m used to seeing but they are so unique and fascinating. I love how their choreography isn't just simply dance but art, theater, and different representations of life

My Granny

by: Jasmine Morrow

This past week, my granny passed away. This entire week has been extremely difficult for me, but I am trying to find ways to remember the great things about her life and how she has impacted mine. When I was younger I was the ultimate “tom boy”. I wanted to do everything the boys did. I wanted to play football, skateboard, climb trees, play video games, everything. I can remember one time I was sitting, slouched over, legs open and my granny hollered at me. She told me that I was a young lady and ladies don’t sit and act like little boys. I remember crying to my mom and my granny told me that I would thank her later.

Well that later has come. I am still a “tom boy” at heart, but I have learned throughout my life what my granny was really trying to tell me. She was born during a time where people of color were not allowed to do much of anything. She grew up in the country of Georgia. She has seen Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. She was able to grow up in a time when she was able to see real change taking place. She wanted me to understand that as a Black woman in this country we at one point were the lowest of the low. She wanted me to understand just how much oppression Black women have endured so that in my lifetime I could continue to make a change.

My granny is the reason why I am the feminist I am today. That is why the monologue about the woman who had a good experience with a man reminds me so much of her. When I was reading that monologue, Because He Liked to Look at It, I was instantly touched. This woman did not truly understand her worth as a woman. She did not see her true beauty within herself. Although I am sad it took a man to be able to open her eyes, I am happy she was finally able to see. My granny wanted me to always understand that I was beautiful and strong. She wanted me to understand to that I could do anything because I was a woman.

Our Bodies Ourselves

By: Yussett Navarrete
In the vagina monologues they have what they call, “vagina fact.” I was reading them and I came across the topic of genital mutilation. According to these vagina facts genital mutilation is when a girl gets her clitoris cut or removed then gets part or all of her labia sewn together.  It also says, “Genital mutilation has been inflicted on 80 to 100 million girls and young women.”  I was in total shock of the amount of girls and young women that are forced to undergo this procedure. Reading this made me think of labiaplasty. According to the book,Our bodies, ourselves labiaplasty is a surgery that some women undergo in which, their inner vaginal lips are cut and shortened to make them smaller or more symmetrical. In Our bodies, ourselves they also mention that some men are pressuring their female partners to have surgery so they more closely resemble the women in pornographic movies. This made me realize that the media has a lot to do with what we think of our body images. Every single part of our body no matter how hidden it may be can’t escape the criticism of society. According to www.ourbodiesourselves.org  “Every part of the female body is picked apart and scrutinized, with most articles telling us outright which products we should buy to fix--or at least camouflage--our numerous "flaws."” Women are pressured into looking like the supermodels in the magazines, the women in pornographic movies, and the women we see on television etc. Reality is that those women we see in the magazines or on television don’t really look like that in real life. They use photoshop to make them look skinnier with a smaller chin, no blemishes, longer legs, nicer lips, young, etc. Many are airbrushed and have had plastic surgery. In the article provided by www.Ourbodiesourselves.org they say, “Real women with pubic hair and breasts that aren’t perfect round orbs begin to seem unnatural compared to the altered images we see in the media.” This proves that we are brainwashed by the media to believe that to be beautiful you need to look like the supermodel in a magazine when in reality that supermodel doesn’t even look like that herself. Many women that are in the pornographic business have undergone labiaplasty to make themselves look more appealing and beautiful to the viewer. Then the viewer perceives this image of how a woman’s vulva “should” look like to be sexy and attractive. I believe that this is a trend that will always continue but, we need to learn to appreciate and love every part of our body just the way it is because no one is the same. We are each one of a kind.

I was there in the room

By: Patrisha Wright 

While reading The Vagina Monologues, the monologue that struck me the most: “I Was There in The Room” because it accentuated a birthing video called Lady Giving Birth. When I saw the vagina giving birth to a baby, I asked myself why in the world I started watching it. I threw my hands up in the air and asked aloud “why are there videos like this on Youtube?” I felt a little disgusted as I trudged on with the clip and horrified at the thought of scissors cutting at the vagina. I shiver at the thought and am amazed at the woman giving birth, because afterwards, her vagina will be in enormous pain. I hope someday I will never need to experience an abnormal birth, because in the clip, her baby is facing downwards when it should be up, hence, the need for cutting the vagina. At the end of the clip, she delivers a healthy baby. Eve Ensler points out that she saw her all spread out, “mutilated, swollen and torn, bleeding all over the doctor’s hands that was calmly sewing up her vagina” (Ensler 121-125). Ensler illustrates the abuse that a woman’s body is inundated with during child birth but also the beautiful blessings bestowed upon them. The vagina is a powerful thing because it is capable of giving life, and men are unwilling to understand, appreciate, and demonstrate respect towards women’s bodies. As a result, they take women for granted-turn them into objects, and playthings without any regard to the consequences women will face. Women sacrifice their vaginas to bring life into the world. The vagina needs love. There are women who are victims of rape and their vaginas should never need to tell a story of violence. This monologue is empowering to women’s vaginas and also voices a demand that women be respected. 

I Call it CUNT

By: Krista Ahlgrim

I am rejecting the negative connotations you have put on it and reclaiming it for the sexual, powerful, vital, word that it is. CUNT. It is beautiful really. I don't know why in hell anyone would use it in a negative manner. Everyone likes them. Boys are fascinated by them, men cant get enough of them, women spend a good amount of time with it. I like to call it "me" time. Cunt Time. Personal time with me, myself, and my cunt.

When I hear the word thrown around in such a horrible way I always think to myself,

has a cunt really ever done anything bad?

What did a cunt ever do to you besides give you extreme pleasure, warmth, electricity through your entire body, love, tingling sensations..... hmmm now I am confused.

Maybe your missing the cunt?

Not getting the cunt?

Jealous of the cunt?

Abusing the cunt?

Hiding from the cunt? (you scared, scared thing)

Go ahead, call me a cunt. I like the word.

C U N T

cunt.

Found this video of this monologue and I fell in love with her. Enjoy Friends