Essay #2
The first day of class I remember we were asked to write down what feminism means to us and I remember I had no a clue what to write. Throughout the semester we were continually asked what feminism means and were asked to write things on the board that came to mind when we heard the word, and of course all the stereotypically words were what came to my mind. I believe that I grew a little bit more every day in this class and I know have my own definition of what feminism is and it is the work women do to influence the issues concerning all women in hopes that it will create a better future for all the women of the world in all generations. Every day in this class I was able to build on my definition and make it a word that really means something to me. Though I really do like the quote by Cheris Kramerae from The F-Word which is “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” I was able to come up with my definition from all the course readings, the history of feminism and all the in class discussions. This class really opened up my mind, as I am sure it opened up many others, to the knowledge of all the struggles women went through in the past to get us to the place we are today as women.
The history of feminism is basically broken down into three different waves. The first wave which occurred between 1790 and 1920 was headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The movie Iron Jawed Angles which we watched in class really helped me understand what exactly women had to go through to get us the right to vote. Those women were put under so much ridicule and oppression but they continued to fight of what they believed in and were able to get us that right. The second wave took place between 1950 and 980 this wave addressed the social divisions among women based on race and gender. The second wave was the wave that gave feminism its negative reputation. This wave was directed at giving women equality in the workforce and in politics. The third wave began in 1980 and is still continuing today has not really as much progress as the other two waves. Many people would argue that women in the third wave do not care about women’s rights and that they are just taking the rights that the past waves gave them for granted. I think though personally that women in the third wave are still practicing the rights that the past women got for us through going and still voting. Also in this wave was had two ladies make history by being the first woman to run for President and Vice President. This just shows that women in our wave are still trying to make progress not only in our third wave but they are continuing the rights that were given to us in the second wave. Through this wave many articles have been written in response to what most people think about this wave such as Lisa Belkin’s book called The Opt-Out Revolution and many other numerous articles that are still trying to define the word feminism. Everyone in this wave has a different opinion of what the word really means, and I think that is ok because I do not think there is just one set definition.
This class I think was connected to feminism in numerous ways. Every day we had a new topic that made me think a little differently about what feminism really is every time. Some of the topics that really intersected with what feminism is were the topics of work, politics and activism. The topic of work I found to be really interesting because for me my major is going to take more than the normal four years to get. Being a pharmacy major it will take around seven years for me to get my doctorate in pharmacy. Before this class I did not know that women were not paid as much as men for the exact same job. This issue is something that I find should be taken care of as soon as it can. Also before this class I did not realize how much I would be giving up to purse my career. Though pharmacy once you get your degree you get paid very well and you only have to work about three days a week, getting to that point is going to be very time consuming. I just always thought that it’s just seven years that will not be any time at all but after this class I realized how much I really am giving up such as; being able to start a family when most people my age will be and then being able to find a husband and get married at a decent time in my life. I am actually very scared and nervous now that I will not have time for all the things I want to do in my life, even thought I am just nineteen and I should not be worried yet about this stuff this class has really made me start thinking even more about my future.
This class has also put into perspective something really big that I got to be a part of this year. This election was the first election I have had the opportunity to vote in and when I went to vote in November I honestly just thought “ok I went to vote no big deal” and I continued to think that until I got into this class. Then on the third day of class we watch the movie Iron Jawed Angles and honestly I got chill bumps from this movie because I finally realized that something I thought of as not a big deal was a huge deal. I had never really thought about what the women in the first wave had to go through to give me the right to vote. After we finished the movie I was saddened as to how foolish I was to not think that voting was a big deal. I am very glad that we were able to watch this movie because it really changed my perspective of the privileges that I have today as a women. It also made me very aware of what all the women in the first wave had to go through to get the women today to the point that we are. I am very thankful for the women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton who was not afraid to stand up for what she believed in for women for all generations. I think the third wave could get a lot more accomplished if we had women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. There are many things that women in the third wave can get accomplished if we just had to motivation and will power that Elizabeth had.
This class has also changed the way that I think about women in politics. Before this class I had not really thought about what all women in politics go through to get where they are today but this class has really changed my mind set about that. In the book The F-Word in chapter ten, which is titled Women in Political Power, the chapter talks about what all women have to go through and how hard it is for them to get the positions that they want to get. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner used a statistic in the chapter that states “according to the Center for American Women and Politics Rutgers, as of January 2003, less than 2 percent of the 11,699 people who have ever served in the House or Senate have been women.” I find this just insane and if it had not been for this class I would have never really thought anything of it. This year has been the most influential presidential election in quite some time and it was a huge progression for the women in our country. Even though throughout the campaigning and early voting I really did not take into account what these women that were running for office were sacrificing. One day in class we discussed what all Sarah Plain had to give up to run for Vice-President and that day really made me think about that she was having to leave her kids and not getting to spend time with her family. I had realized that she was a woman and that her being picked was a huge deal but I have never really thought about what was going on behind the scenes with her and her family. From another discussion we had in class over this topic was how the media put Sarah Plain as a mother down and said that she was not a good mother because she left her family when they never said anything about Barack O’bama not being there for his two daughters. One quote I really liked from The F-Word in chapter ten was said by State Representative Cathy McMorris “one of the country commissioners in my district said, it will be a cold day in hell if that woman becomes a state legislator. After I won, my dad said, well I guess you are going to have to go buy him a coat.” I thought that this quote summed up what women are becoming in our nation due to women in the third wave that are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in.
Another way that this class has tied into feminism is before this class I never knew about the three waves much less knew that I was a part of a wave. I really thought that chapter six from The F-Word really helped me understand want I am really a part of. Chapter six is titled Signs of Times: Defining the Third Wave and it talks about all the issues that the third wave has to deal with. I really liked how Rowe-Finkbeiner described the third wave as any group of women can be a part of this wave and that there is no “party line”. I do agree on her though that third wave has to deal with more sexuality issues than the other two waves had to deal with. After this class I have now realized that I am a part of something that has the potential to be a huge wave.
Before taking this class I did not have the slightest idea as to what a feminist was and what their purpose was. From just after one semester of a Women’s Studies class I can honestly say that I am a lot more educated on this subject than I ever have been before. Though I am still very unsure on some of the issues that feminists are trying to accomplish and even though I do not agree on some of the issues I can say that I am becoming more of a feminist. I will say though that I am a very strong Christian and that some of the issues that we discussed in class I did not agree with at all and I thought were a little inappropriate. The majority though of the topics I did agree with and would love to see the outcome of if they ever do get fixed. This class has taught me a lot about all these topics and it has also taught me a lot of life lessons; like no everyone is just like me, everyone has their own opinion and that we should all respect what everyone has to say because at the end of the day we are all people and we all have feelings. I would have to say though that yes I am far more knowledgeable on the topic on feminism than I was the first day of class. I can also say that because of this class I now view things a lot differently than I did before and it has all changed for the better. It has just taken a total of four months for me see a wide variety of topics differently than I had before and because of that I would say yes I am a feminist.
Works Cited
Belkins, Lisa. "The Opt-Out Revolution." New York Times [New York] 26 Oct. 2003: 1-11.
Rowe-Finkbeiner, Kristin. The F-WORD Feminism in Jeopardy. Emeryville: Seal P, 2004.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Essay #1
Essay #1
This semester in Women’s Studies the class has discussed many topics that affect women. The topics we have discussed range in a wide variety from body image, politics, health, balancing, to the main topic of defining feminism and many more. The readings that have had the biggest impact on me this semester and the ones that I could best relate to were; The Opt -Out Revolution, Reviving Ophelia and the chapters four, five and six from The F-Word. Each of these readings are connected because they all have to do with either how the media shapes who we become and what we become shapes how we are when we get out on our own with college and then a job.
The article The Opt-Out Revolution by Lisa Belkin had a huge impact on me and how I view women that work and then the ones that stay at home. I honestly did not care for this article because I do not think this really shows how women are in the workplace. Belkin really put down my generation saying that we are becoming the women in the 1950’s, which is not at all true. I am here at OU to become a pharmacist and have had no thoughts of every giving up my job to stay at home. Though I do some day want a family I don’t think that I will have to give up my career to purse what I want. Belkin’s thesis in her article was that women are opting out to have kids and to get an easier life which is very much not true. Many news reports and journalist have showed Belkin’s thesis to be false. This essay fits into the topic that we talked about in class with the gender work roles. We had many discussions over why we thought more women are opting out and also what are some circumstances that are causing them too. We came up with a lot of conclusions and the one I thought fits best is that women have the choice to opt and stay at home. I think that a woman having the choice is good because that gives her some more power to do as she chooses.
The next reading that has greatly had an impact on me this semester was Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher. Reviving Ophelia is a book that really focuses on the true life of adolescent girls. Mary Pipher’s main point of her book is that girls’ attitudes and negative body image is the result of family, peers and the media. Pipher also has put together a video that we watched one day in class. This video is really what sold me over on Pipher’s idea that media really does shape how girls see themselves. She uses advertisements to show what little girls really see before they should even began to think about body image. She also tells about what kind of message these pictures are sending out to girls that if you aren’t skinny then you are not “beautiful”. When in all reality these women in the advertisements are stick thin and most have eating disorders. Pipher also uses statistics to show that teenage girls really do think more into advertisements then most people think. When the teenage girls see these ads the only thing valued to them is their sexuality. I really enjoyed reading Pipher’s article; I found it really interesting and very true of the society that we live in today. This article really fit in to the topics that we covered in class about body image and the effects that media plays. Also this article has now changed to way I view advertisements and television shows.
The third reading that I enjoyed and had an impact on me this semester was chapter four in The F-Word. This chapter impacted me because its main focus was college women and that’s what I am. The main point in this chapter was to find the reasons why women’s opinions are still not being heard today. The author of the F-Word Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner tries throughout this chapter to find the reasons why college women are kept so silent. She provides the reader with ideas throughout the chapter such as priority issues, gender equality, self identity and balance. She proves her points throughout the chapter by giving statistics from Harvard, Duke and the U.S. Bureau. Something that I found really strong about her findings was the interviews she conducted with college women. I found the interviews more interesting and they made the topic more real to me because it was something that people my age had said so I could relate more. This chapter really hit home to me because throughout college I have been trying to find balance in my life with school, family, friends and then have time for me. My favorite quote from this chapter was said by Hallie Flanagan “youth lives in an atmosphere of energy waiting to make contact”. The reason I liked this quote so much was because I do believe that while in college we have so much energy and want to do some many things but making our grades and getting into the schools we want is what is holding us all back. I believe our contact will come when we get out into the real world having our own families.
The next reading that has impacted me was chapter five in The F-Word. This chapter’s main focus was the women in the third wave and if there is even a third wave. This reading fell into the topic that we have been covering all semester and it’s the topic that the whole class is about and that’s the different waves and what they have accomplished. Rowe-Finkbeiner states in this chapter that “the first wave won the right to vote; the second wave won the right to enter the professional workforce and the third wave combines previous efforts”. She also provides information about how a lot of women think that the third wave does not even exist. I think that all these women are wrong because even though there have not been huge changes like the first and second wave gave us I do think that because of those two waves we are at the point we are today. I also think that we are building on to what they have created for us by going out to vote and moving up in the corporate ladder. Even though these may be gradual changes I do think the third wave is making progress. To prove my point Sarah Plain she was a women running for Vice-President and also Hilary Clinton was running for President if you cannot call that progress then I don’t know what progress is. Even though neither of these women made the position they were running for it gave some hope to many women in the United States. Also I think that if people really think that there is no third wave then maybe it’s because women today have lots of questions for the women of the first and second waves and these women should be willing to help us out and give is some advice.
The final reading that has impacted me this semester was the chapter six in The F-Word. This chapter’s main idea was the idea of post feminist in the areas of school, work and a nation in flux. This reading falls into the topic we discussed in class about the pay between men and women. The main reason that this chapter had an impact on me was because I am at a major university getting a higher education and also in a few years I will be out in the work force. Throughout this chapter Rowe-Finkbeiner used statistics from the SAT test that prove that girls are surpassing boys in test scores. Rowe-Finkbeiner states that “three-fifths of all high school National Honor Society members are girls and that girls outnumbered boys 124 to 100 in advance placement courses.” I really think that this is true because in my high school I was in the National Honor Society and the majority of the members were girls. She also states that “in America women now make up 47 percent of the paid labor force, with women aged twenty-five to thirty-four”. Rowe-Finkbeiner does also state that “these numbers give a false hope the women have won the war”. I do agree with her on that point because I do feel like women are making huge progress but there is still a lot of progress to be made. One area is in the workforce with the way women are paid compared to men. I think that it is just insane that men get paid more money for the exact same job. Though it may seem like we have made a lot of progress, the equality between women in race is nowhere close to being equal. Rowe-Finkbeiner states in this chapter that” in 2002 of the 32 percent of women that graduated college, 39 percent were white women, 18 percent was African-Americans and 10 percent was Hispanics”. This is nowhere close to being equal and the third wave of women should change that.
Each of these five readings are connected to each other in that they all have to do with how the media and society effect what kind of person women become. I believe that it all begins with the media and that why I chose Reviving Ophelia. Then women begin to move out on their own and the first step is college so that is why I chose chapter four of The F-Word. After college comes the workforce and that is why I picked Opting Out and chapter six from The F-Word. Finally all these readings tie into the big picture which is the all the different waves and the current wave that we are in now and that is why I chose chapter six of The F-Word. I think that these readings where the best choices for my theme because it is kind of the time line of a women’s life and each of these books depict all the facts that shape us along the way.
Since reading these articles I am now more aware of what is happening around me and what some of the factors were that shaped who I am today and what I will become in the future. One question I do have is why have Americans let the advertisements become so provocative and why hasn’t anyone done anything about them? It does not take a rocket scientist to tell that the way women are portrayed in them is wrong so why have so many people let it go by unnoticed? Another question is why in the world are women stilled paid less than men for working the exact same job? I honestly think that this should be the third waves biggest challenge is getting that changed. This is impacting all women not just a select few and this is going to greatly affect me here in a few years when I am out on my own working. I think that we should all get together and get that changed because who does not want more money or women will never be equal to men until that gets changed.
Works Cited
Belkins, Lisa. "The Opt-Out Revolution." New York Times [New York] 26 Oct. 2003: 1-11.
EditDelete
Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia. New York: G.P Putmans Sons.
Rowe-Finkbeiner, Kristin. The F-WORD Feminism in Jeopardy. Emeryville: Seal P, 2004.
Belkins, Lisa. "The Opt-Out Revolution." New York Times [New York] 26 Oct. 2003: 1-11.
This semester in Women’s Studies the class has discussed many topics that affect women. The topics we have discussed range in a wide variety from body image, politics, health, balancing, to the main topic of defining feminism and many more. The readings that have had the biggest impact on me this semester and the ones that I could best relate to were; The Opt -Out Revolution, Reviving Ophelia and the chapters four, five and six from The F-Word. Each of these readings are connected because they all have to do with either how the media shapes who we become and what we become shapes how we are when we get out on our own with college and then a job.
The article The Opt-Out Revolution by Lisa Belkin had a huge impact on me and how I view women that work and then the ones that stay at home. I honestly did not care for this article because I do not think this really shows how women are in the workplace. Belkin really put down my generation saying that we are becoming the women in the 1950’s, which is not at all true. I am here at OU to become a pharmacist and have had no thoughts of every giving up my job to stay at home. Though I do some day want a family I don’t think that I will have to give up my career to purse what I want. Belkin’s thesis in her article was that women are opting out to have kids and to get an easier life which is very much not true. Many news reports and journalist have showed Belkin’s thesis to be false. This essay fits into the topic that we talked about in class with the gender work roles. We had many discussions over why we thought more women are opting out and also what are some circumstances that are causing them too. We came up with a lot of conclusions and the one I thought fits best is that women have the choice to opt and stay at home. I think that a woman having the choice is good because that gives her some more power to do as she chooses.
The next reading that has greatly had an impact on me this semester was Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher. Reviving Ophelia is a book that really focuses on the true life of adolescent girls. Mary Pipher’s main point of her book is that girls’ attitudes and negative body image is the result of family, peers and the media. Pipher also has put together a video that we watched one day in class. This video is really what sold me over on Pipher’s idea that media really does shape how girls see themselves. She uses advertisements to show what little girls really see before they should even began to think about body image. She also tells about what kind of message these pictures are sending out to girls that if you aren’t skinny then you are not “beautiful”. When in all reality these women in the advertisements are stick thin and most have eating disorders. Pipher also uses statistics to show that teenage girls really do think more into advertisements then most people think. When the teenage girls see these ads the only thing valued to them is their sexuality. I really enjoyed reading Pipher’s article; I found it really interesting and very true of the society that we live in today. This article really fit in to the topics that we covered in class about body image and the effects that media plays. Also this article has now changed to way I view advertisements and television shows.
The third reading that I enjoyed and had an impact on me this semester was chapter four in The F-Word. This chapter impacted me because its main focus was college women and that’s what I am. The main point in this chapter was to find the reasons why women’s opinions are still not being heard today. The author of the F-Word Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner tries throughout this chapter to find the reasons why college women are kept so silent. She provides the reader with ideas throughout the chapter such as priority issues, gender equality, self identity and balance. She proves her points throughout the chapter by giving statistics from Harvard, Duke and the U.S. Bureau. Something that I found really strong about her findings was the interviews she conducted with college women. I found the interviews more interesting and they made the topic more real to me because it was something that people my age had said so I could relate more. This chapter really hit home to me because throughout college I have been trying to find balance in my life with school, family, friends and then have time for me. My favorite quote from this chapter was said by Hallie Flanagan “youth lives in an atmosphere of energy waiting to make contact”. The reason I liked this quote so much was because I do believe that while in college we have so much energy and want to do some many things but making our grades and getting into the schools we want is what is holding us all back. I believe our contact will come when we get out into the real world having our own families.
The next reading that has impacted me was chapter five in The F-Word. This chapter’s main focus was the women in the third wave and if there is even a third wave. This reading fell into the topic that we have been covering all semester and it’s the topic that the whole class is about and that’s the different waves and what they have accomplished. Rowe-Finkbeiner states in this chapter that “the first wave won the right to vote; the second wave won the right to enter the professional workforce and the third wave combines previous efforts”. She also provides information about how a lot of women think that the third wave does not even exist. I think that all these women are wrong because even though there have not been huge changes like the first and second wave gave us I do think that because of those two waves we are at the point we are today. I also think that we are building on to what they have created for us by going out to vote and moving up in the corporate ladder. Even though these may be gradual changes I do think the third wave is making progress. To prove my point Sarah Plain she was a women running for Vice-President and also Hilary Clinton was running for President if you cannot call that progress then I don’t know what progress is. Even though neither of these women made the position they were running for it gave some hope to many women in the United States. Also I think that if people really think that there is no third wave then maybe it’s because women today have lots of questions for the women of the first and second waves and these women should be willing to help us out and give is some advice.
The final reading that has impacted me this semester was the chapter six in The F-Word. This chapter’s main idea was the idea of post feminist in the areas of school, work and a nation in flux. This reading falls into the topic we discussed in class about the pay between men and women. The main reason that this chapter had an impact on me was because I am at a major university getting a higher education and also in a few years I will be out in the work force. Throughout this chapter Rowe-Finkbeiner used statistics from the SAT test that prove that girls are surpassing boys in test scores. Rowe-Finkbeiner states that “three-fifths of all high school National Honor Society members are girls and that girls outnumbered boys 124 to 100 in advance placement courses.” I really think that this is true because in my high school I was in the National Honor Society and the majority of the members were girls. She also states that “in America women now make up 47 percent of the paid labor force, with women aged twenty-five to thirty-four”. Rowe-Finkbeiner does also state that “these numbers give a false hope the women have won the war”. I do agree with her on that point because I do feel like women are making huge progress but there is still a lot of progress to be made. One area is in the workforce with the way women are paid compared to men. I think that it is just insane that men get paid more money for the exact same job. Though it may seem like we have made a lot of progress, the equality between women in race is nowhere close to being equal. Rowe-Finkbeiner states in this chapter that” in 2002 of the 32 percent of women that graduated college, 39 percent were white women, 18 percent was African-Americans and 10 percent was Hispanics”. This is nowhere close to being equal and the third wave of women should change that.
Each of these five readings are connected to each other in that they all have to do with how the media and society effect what kind of person women become. I believe that it all begins with the media and that why I chose Reviving Ophelia. Then women begin to move out on their own and the first step is college so that is why I chose chapter four of The F-Word. After college comes the workforce and that is why I picked Opting Out and chapter six from The F-Word. Finally all these readings tie into the big picture which is the all the different waves and the current wave that we are in now and that is why I chose chapter six of The F-Word. I think that these readings where the best choices for my theme because it is kind of the time line of a women’s life and each of these books depict all the facts that shape us along the way.
Since reading these articles I am now more aware of what is happening around me and what some of the factors were that shaped who I am today and what I will become in the future. One question I do have is why have Americans let the advertisements become so provocative and why hasn’t anyone done anything about them? It does not take a rocket scientist to tell that the way women are portrayed in them is wrong so why have so many people let it go by unnoticed? Another question is why in the world are women stilled paid less than men for working the exact same job? I honestly think that this should be the third waves biggest challenge is getting that changed. This is impacting all women not just a select few and this is going to greatly affect me here in a few years when I am out on my own working. I think that we should all get together and get that changed because who does not want more money or women will never be equal to men until that gets changed.
Works Cited
Belkins, Lisa. "The Opt-Out Revolution." New York Times [New York] 26 Oct. 2003: 1-11.
EditDelete
Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia. New York: G.P Putmans Sons.
Rowe-Finkbeiner, Kristin. The F-WORD Feminism in Jeopardy. Emeryville: Seal P, 2004.
Belkins, Lisa. "The Opt-Out Revolution." New York Times [New York] 26 Oct. 2003: 1-11.
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