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

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.

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.