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

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.

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

Challenging Conformity

by: Kristi Reid 

If your son wanted to dress like a princess, would you let him? If your daughter wanted to cut her hair into a Mohawk, would you let her?

Gender identities have long been constructed to fit into a controlled box, and if anyone stepped outside the parameters would be ostracized. Under such conditions people may answer either questions with a no, or no to the initial and yes to the latter. Either way it is because some things are more or less accepted than others. Judith Butler calls attention to “sex, as a biological facticity, and gender as the cultural interpretation or signification of that facticity.” (394) By falling into this belief one sees how gender is constructed and made to fit in this box. Those who choose to allow their son or daughter to step outside the box are challenging conformity.

One parent who challenges conformity and allows his son to dress up as a princess declares “We are following his lead and supporting him for who he wants to be.” (Hoffman 1) Although they may be discriminated against because they allow their son to be his own person without any person telling him that’s wrong, they are changing the way gender roles are constituted. They are creating a world where everyone is accepted and no one gender is accepted. They are reconstructing what it means to have a gendered identity and breaking the historical idea.

How do you challenge conformity?

I would let my son dress as a princess and I would let my daughter sport a Mohawk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/fashion/new-challenge-for-parents-childrens-gender-roles.html?pagewanted=all

Body Image in the Media

By: Starr


During class, I realized how the media can create a negative impact on our society. The most obvious is by painting a perfect picture of what a woman’s face and body should look like. What I was moved by the most was the video we watched in class of the model, not only was she altered with styled hair and make-up, but also with computer software. I am totally aware that they use software in the business to alter the fairness of skin and adjust sizing of the body a bit, but never did I imagine them going to the extreme of extending the length of the neck or even the eyelids. This irritated me so much because how do we even know what is real!? The most terrible consequence I find out of this is the pressure that is created towards models to be thinner, which then influences the rest of our population.


One of my good friends in high school suffered from anorexia. Sadly, even after completing therapy she still claimed to be proud and happy of the decision that she made. She stated that if she hadn’t been anorexic she would still be fat and not have the gorgeous body she has today.  Truth is she was never fat! Yes, as mentioned in Susan Bordos, Never just pictures, clinicians link anorexia to psychological issues, but maybe if the media did not have an influence there would not be so much pressure to fit into this perfect category. Maybe the thought of being perfect and extremely skinny would not have crossed her mind. Today, I am happy to see Dove creating a movement and being honest with sharing reality that not all women are skinny and use everyday women in their advertisements. Have you or anyone you know been severely affected by fitting into a “perfect” mold?  This youtube clip is a great visual for the medias affects on body image. Check it out.