Tough Guise

One of the most interesting documentaries I’ve watched while at school is called Hip-Hop: Beyond the Beats and Rhymes. This is an in-depth look at the hip-hop culture and the gender roles created by it. Some of the most interesting parts of the film were the interviews with Jackson Katz describing the ways, in which gender roles affect males, especially in pop culture and the media. These themes are discussed to a greater extent in Katz’ film Tough Guise. By discussing the ways in which gender roles are even more restricting for males than they are for females Katz is able to draw a conclusion about the ways men are negatively socialized.
I thought this gave an interesting perspective toward gender. Usually in a Women’s Studies class we spend very little time studying how males are socialized, unless it is directly in comparison to women. In reality the variety of ways that men are portrayed in the media is very slim and results in a need for men to maintain a tough and violent personality to be considered masculine in this society. With the ways that men are told to act it can often times result in incidences of violence and will continue to until there is a movement to address the negative affects. As Jackson Katz points out when violence is committed the gender of the perpetrator is very seldom addressed when boys are involved but when a female is involved the reasons for her to do so are analyzed in terms of her gender very often. It is important for us as a society to realize that until the social issue of the ways that boys are being told they have to act there will continue to be a perpetual cycle of a narrow set of character traits expectable for men.

tough guise

Watching this film brought me right back to high school and middle school--where I thought that I had to be more masculine to prove to the other boys my age that I was cool. When I was eleven and starting middle school, I was chubby, I didn't do any sports and I was far from masculine. People made fun of me for being gay when I was unable to do sports in gym, and I constantly felt like I had to change in order to fit in. However, I was too lazy to change, so I continued to be called the fag.
I'm really happy that this film was made, because I had always just assumed that men were supposed to act certain ways, and that if one didn't conform, than he was just lesser of a man. The film helped me realize that there are different types of men, and they do not have to exert violence or sexism to be socially acceptable or man enough. It was the first time I had heard someone other than close friends speak about this subject as a social problem. I really appreciate how the film illustrates the problems that men face, because although women's issues are incredibly important, many people don't understand the pressure that men face in our society.

Blog for Choice

If you're looking for some pro-choice action visit this NARAL blog!

http://www.blogforchoice.com/

Masculinity

Just found this and thought it was interesting considering what we talked about today in class.

Killing Us Softly &Tough Guise

Watching these films was very hard, because it is such a horrible feeling to know that that is how your own society and culture view and value you. Killing Us Softly was particularly interesting to me, because the media's portrayal of women in ads has always bothered me, and I have seen its impact on women's bodies. The fact that the behaviors expected of women, to be submissive and 'below' men, is seen in ads with children, was very disturbing. I never really thought about just how much of an impact ads and the media have on people until I really thought about it after watching this. I liked how the media in Killing Us Softly linked into the portrayal of violence and masculinity in Tough Guise. It was very interesting to see how young men were describing masculinity, especially the independence factor. I have always thought that women included independence in their descriptions of a woman, much the way the men in the film were, but clearly, according to the film, two independent people of opposite sexes would not be a good idea. Women simply are not portrayed this way, and since these are the messages that people are getting about being a man or a woman, independence is not one that women are shown as having. Being a woman is all about being submissive and pleasing the men, according to the media, which is really quite sad. Being such a 'progressive' country, I would hope that our media would take that as well, and give alternate portrayals of women and men, but unfortunately, these images play into a fairy tale life that many young girls dream of. Much as I love Disney movies, they too play into the submissive, man-pleasing ways of the more recent media productions.

Reproductive Rights for Women

While looking through a few posts on feministing.com I came across one that particularly interested me. I have been looking into reproductive rights for women, and recently was surprised to find that the US House of Representative recently voted in favor of health care reform that included an abortion ban. So much for reproductive rights for women. The fact that there is still a problem with the lack of separation between church and state continues to bother me and I am even more surprised that people are still having trouble considering abortion services as health services. The interesting part about this post was not the fact that the blogger was as shocked and upset as I was when I heard the news but the fact that she believed that this ban could be a “movement win.” She believes that since there has been an uproar in the community and an increase in activism against this ban, it may help in the end bring women more reproductive rights. People have become recommitted to reproductive justice and more people have come to realize what a huge topic it really is. Women’s health needs to be protected and access needs to be expanded. People have had the wrong idea that electing Democrats into office and having a Democratic majority in the house also means that we are electing pro-choice majorities and that reproductive choice is safe. It is clear that this is untrue and more needs to be done on a government level to prevent more rights being taken from women. So I hope that this blogger is right and we can all be inspired and come together as a united movement.

sexist hair salon?

So I noticed that one of these hair salons is opening in Mansfield Crossing. Its called knockouts and the idea is that its like hooters but for haircuts. I was watching a local news channel and some people were complaining because they thought it was sexist an inappropriate, especially because it is opening next to Friendly's which is a kids/family restaurant. I was really torn about the sexist part. At first I didn't think it was such a big deal because it shouldn't matter what women want to wear while they are cutting a man's hair. But then I thought, well, there probably isn't a hair salon where women can go and get their haircut by men walking around in speedos. I also thought about the fact that most men who go there will most likely go to see their hairdresser walking around in a tight cropped shirt, rather than because she gives a really good haircut. Not only does this play into the whole "sex sells" idea, but it puts looks and sex appeal before skills. I know that giving a haircut might not be the biggest deal in the world, but using sex appeal to sell it sends a really bad message about women's ability to do something besides dress in skimpy clothing and look hot. I think that this idea can connect to many professions and can also show that something that may seem innocent could have a lot of deeper issues behind it.

Opting Out

I am not a working mother. And my own mother only worked for part of my childhood. However, I am a college aged young woman who is pursuing hire education while planning to raise a family someday so there were ways in which I could relate to the Opting Out article and other things that struck me as interesting. I do hope that the titles of optional up and coming articles such as “Gen X Men Crave Work/Life Balance Too” and
"Stay at Home Moms By Default, not Design” do surface in the publishing world in the upcoming future. I really wish I had the time to read the original article because I am curious to see this manifesto that sparked such a strong reaction. Hewett touches upon some of the other great writing there is about the modern working/mother/housewife living embodiment of yesterday and today. And one thing that is so great is she mentions how humorous motherhood autobiographical can be, and I think I have mentioned this before, humor stands out. Humor makes a point that statistics and scary seriousness sometimes falls short from. Hewett and Hochschild both look into this world that is so often mentioned but rarely studied. How is the modern day woman doing it all? Has any progress been made? If not, why not? Hewett and Hochschild both share in the belief that motherhood only deepened their sense of self as feminists, it added to, it did not take away.

Hewett and Belkin do serve a somewhat limited perspective focusing on the highly educated working woman who “opted out” but did they really? This idea of being “pushed out” is one that is recurring throughout the different texts in class and it sparks my interest because I wonder if women were surveyed would they say they opted out or were pushed out… and if they say they opted out is that just something they tell themselves? Are all women pressured to choose between home and career? I believe the answer is yes. Even if the woman herself denies this, I believe that they unknowingly are constantly being challenged to stay or go and the consequences of either with surface eventually.

A Conversation about Black Feminisms

Attending the informal talk with Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Paul Gidding's "A Conversation about Black Feminisms" was very interesting and thought provoking. Sheftall and Gidding’s had a conversation with each other to start off the discussion before taking questions from the students Sheftall was the discussion leader within the talking in asking Gidding’s about her new book IDA: A Sword Among Lions. This book is about Ida B. Wells and her contributions to the feminist movement and how her childhood played a huge role in her life.
I really enjoyed when both of these women had a chance to speak since Gidding’s was doing a huge chunk of the talking about her book previous to the discussion. My favorite part of the night was when Sheftall expressed how much of an activist she really is by talking about how she balances the life of an activist to her academic side. She stated that she has and will in the future put her job on the line if necessary so that she can stay true to her activist self. It is phenomenal that she can go to that extent just to make sure she keeps her two selves equal.

"Telling it like it is: Rewriting the "opting out" narrative" (optional post)

After reading the piece written by Heather Hewett and finishing up The Second Shift I really started to think about the word "choice" and what it means when we apply it to women and motherhood. Hewett talks about whether or not this idea of "opting out" is truly a choice or if it is the impact of "greater forces that often compel us to make certain choices." When a woman becomes a mother (now this is assuming the woman chose to have a child) she is taking on a huge responsibility- a life! Like The Second Shift talked about, the workforce has yet to fully accommodate those workers who have obligations to their children at home. Now this is where the word "choice" comes in: work or kids. Seems pretty simple right? Of course that is an impossible decision to make and a lot of the time there is not even the option of "choosing" to opt-out. In my optimistic mind I want to believe that it is fully possible to be a successful worker (by working I mean parent AND paid employee.) When I think about The Second Shift and Hewett's article a question comes to mind: what happens if a woman is single or in a relationship but has nobody to share the house/child care with? If she neglects the second shift is she a bad mother? If she neglects her work is she a weak female? There are endless labels women are given when it comes to work/life and the "choices" they make. Like Hewett mentions, it is important to remember that these decisions are not always real choices and are often a bigger systemic problem. Which is when the "personal is political" comes into play. When woman do find themselves having to leave the workforce to better things at home it is sometimes a political issue and not necessarily a personal choice. I have been told many times "you can't have the best of both worlds" but in this case I believe we should be able to have the best of both worlds. Actually I believe there should be only ONE world. Family life and work life need to work together!

reading my high school newspaper with a new feminist perspective

One of my favorite parts of my high school was my student newspaper, Inklings. I occasionally wrote for the paper, and now my little brother has joined the newspaper staff. He always emails me his articles, and once in a while one that he thinks I may find interesting, usually something about an old teacher I had or a club I was a part of. Last week, he emailed me this article about a tradition with the cheer leading squad. Football is a huge deal in my town, everybody goes to the games and the school is extremely supportive of the team. The article talks about a tradition where each cheerleader is assigned to a varsity football player who they bake for the night before a game, along with putting up a good luck poster in the cafeteria the Friday before a fame. The article discusses this tradition as sexist, because even though it is not required, there is the "everybody does it" idea that forces the cheerleaders to participate. The response to this article was mostly negative. Students claimed that it was not a big deal and could not see how it was sexist. What the article does not mention, however, is that it goes way beyond baking and signs in the cafeteria. At least while I was in high school, cheerleaders would often do their players laundry, carry their books the day before a game, bring them their lunch to their table, run errands for them after school, was their cars, pretty much become their personal assistant. I never really though of this as sexist while I was in high school, but looking back on it the entire thing seems absurd. What worries me most is not that this is happening, but the response that the students have to this "tradition". I was always very interested in women's rights, but never really considered myself a feminist until I went to college, when it was too late to be able to fix this and many other issues of sexism in my high school. I was curious to see what other women's studies students would think of this article and see if anybody who identifies as a feminist had any similar thoughts when they look back on their high school experiences.

feministing response

When I found out that the editors of feministing.com were coming to Wheaton, I visited the blog for the first time, and continued to read it once in a while when I had time to kill and was near my laptop. I never realized that having the editors come speak would be such an inspiring event. As a women's studies major, I always have trouble getting my point across to people (both on and off campus) that I am doing something worthwhile with my time at college. After hearing the editors speak in class, I felt much better equipped to go home for Thanksgiving break and give people examples of what I can do with my degree in women's studies. Later that night, I had dinner with the editors and sat next to Miriam. I also have an interest in women's health care, so I told her that I am really interested in what she does. My conversation with her opened up many new doors for me, and made me realize that I can do what I am passionate about and make changes in the world the way I want to. I was expecting to go to the lecture and just learn about feminist issues and what it is like to write for a feminist blog. Although I did learn all of those things, this event also helped me see what I am studying and where I am going with my life very differently. Since the editors have come to campus, I have been reading feministing almost every day and have a new outlooks on what my college education will lead me to later in life. THANK YOU FEMINISTING!!!!!