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Feminism 101 - Basics, Discussion, Homework Help
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| About biological determinism |
[25 Nov 2009|10:42am] |
Hello,
Last weekend I got into a discussion with my father about what's considered typical female and male behaviour and whether it's determined by biology (that is, being of one gender or the other has natural, inescapable influence over your personality) or by society (that is, our society has established certain traits as male and female and most of us learn how to be that way since early childhood, which is the idea I was supporting). My father is a pretty intelligent and open-minded man, so of course he also thinks that society is a part of it, but he supported the idea that some traits really are biological, such as men being more aggressive. I countered it citing a text I read some time ago by Margareth Mead (forgot the title) in which she compares our society to a few others in which the expected and 'natural' behaviour for males and females is exactly the opposite of ours (for instance, females are more aggressive). I told him I would bring the text for him to read.
So now what I'm looking for are other texts that prove that the characteristics we consider typical male and female are not determined biologically. Alternatively, if I'm actually wrong I would like someone to tell me so before I make a fool of myself, becuase my dad always gets too smug when he wins an argument. Ideally, I'm looking for more serious, academic texts, with solid arguments. He's an intellectual guy, so language is not a problem. Is there anything like that out there? Also I just joined, so I don't know if I'm supposed to tag this. English is not my native language, so forgive any mistakes.
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| studies of women's rights & societal health |
[18 Nov 2009|02:05am] |
hi all. I'm in an online discussion with some non-feminist men regarding the validity of feminism. I brought up the point that over the years, numerous studies have been done that prove the correlation between women's rights and societal health - better mental health for women means a healthier, more functional society overall.
unfortunately, despite intense googling, I can't seem to find any actual evidence of studies or research. I'd like some reputable sources or some sort of data to back up my statement, but unfortunately I can't find anything at all. anyone have anything more solid regarding this?
thanks.
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| feminist symbol - where's it from? |
[05 Nov 2009|12:02am] |
What's the origin of this symbol? I came across it tonight while googling "feminist symbols", but none of the pages it shows up on leads to any answers, and I can't seem to zero in on a good descriptive search string to learn more about it.
( this here )
I've never seen it before. Is it new(ish)? Associated with any particular group or flavor of feminism?
For anyone who can't/doesn't want to view it: it's the standard Venus symbol, and a (nude?) woman's silhouette, from the waist up, is leaning out of the circle with one arm raised.
(And if there's a good resource out there indexing all kinds of female/women's/feminist symbols, icons, etc. and explaining their origins, I would really appreciate a link. So far all I can find are lists of queer symbols which include a few relevant feminist entries.)
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| Mini paper #1, Intro to Ethics. Read and Respond? |
[13 Sep 2009|03:15pm] |
What values were you taught at home (or at school, or church)? Do you have any doubts about the genuineness of any of these values? (My professor also said that we could write about values that differ within our culture or a way in which your own values differ from those of your peers.)
The main value I was taught at home, school, and church, was the basic and all-encompassing acceptance and compassion for every person. I see now the holes of this lesson – how, in theory it makes sense but from my life experiences, I see those preaching it to also be those who act against it. People are not valued equally in my society. A white, clean-shaven male wearing a suit is valued greater than an African American woman in a mini skirt. Race, class, and sex all intercede for how we value human life. In this essay I will focus on sex. A few days ago I was studying in the lounge on my floor when I witnessed a conversation between two of my fellow floor mates and friends. They were discussing a lesbian wedding – who wore the dress, who wore the tux, which state it was held in, and what it would be like if they were a guest. One of them exclaimed that it would be very awkward to attend one, especially to witness the traditional kiss at the end of the ceremony. Listening to this talk, I felt like I was back in high school, walking down the halls of judgmental teenagers, hearing the terms “dyke,” and “lesbian,” in my wake. I saw how heterosexual couples could make out openly but the homosexual couples would be ostracized if they did as much as hold hands in public. This is because it makes people feel uncomfortable or “awkward.” But it shouldn't. If we all viewed each other as people first and then personality traits or some other characteristic second, as opposed to gender or sex, this “awkward” feeling would be avoided. Not wanting to cause any strife on my floor with these girls, I decided to ask them questions instead of lecturing them futilely. “Why would it be awkward to be at this wedding?” One of them replied that she personally didn't have have a problem with it, but because homosexuality is against her religion, she would feel as if she is condoning a sin. “What religion are you?” was my next question. She told me she is Lutheran. The second girl said she felt the same way, and that she is Catholic. The Lutheran one shocked me. At a Lutheran church in my hometown there is a very socially liberal emphasis, with a GLBT library and support group. I was raised Catholic, and I live with a Catholic mother and grandmother. Though their church doctrine does not condone homosexual practices, they disagree with their church doctrine. Both of them would support and love any of their children, or anyone else's children, regardless of their sexual orientation. My devout grandmother fumed when the Pope discounted AIDS and implied it was a “gay” disease. I wanted to tell them this. I wanted to share with them that it is possible to find your own values and then seek a religion which matches your own values, instead of trying to conform your own values to those of an organized religion. I wanted to tell them that the main message from Christianity that most perceive is “Love thy neighbor,” and that Jesus wouldn't care who loved who, as long as there was some more love in the world. I wanted to tell them that when I was in Sunday School I was taught to accept everyone equally, so why should it be different now? I didn't tell them this. I have found that when I am vocal about the rights and prejudices of minorities in their sexual orientation, I am condemned to being thought of as something just as bad - something sticky and smelly and best to be crumpled up and thrown into a drawer that closes immediately. My words don't matter if I am discounted as “one of them,” making my opinions seem invalid and biased. In high school I would refer to myself as an “ally,” the term widely used for heterosexual people sympathetic to the homosexual and trans cause. Though this was how I referred to myself, it was not how everyone saw me. The president of the Straight and Gay Alliance is commonly thought of as the latter in the title, especially if he or she does not fully fit in to his or her gender expectations. As an assertive, and sometimes aggressive female, choosing to mainly wear clothes that made me feel comfortable rather than sexually appealing, I definitely did not fall into place with my gender expectations in high school, and therefore was the common target for the negative terms like “dyke” or “lesbian.” (Why they are negative is beyond me.) But I didn't want these girls to think differently of me; I didn't want them to consider me a predator or something dirty, especially since I live with them. I cringe at my selfish behavior, reflecting on this now. Part of me feels like I should have defended the gay community, or at least shared my ideas about how to choose religions based on values. But at the same time, I know that I have to choose when and how I can most effectively share what I believe, if it's something I find important enough to condone the imparting of my opinions. I don't want to make people think the way I think, or share my values and opinions simply because they are mine. I want them to come to their own conclusions themselves, I just hope that they align with mine – with a universal acceptance for everyone. There are times where I feel obligated to be persuasive, however. My father was one of the primary teachers in my younger life that taught me to love everything and respect everything. He told me to act with compassion, not for personal gain; to root for the underdog because they need our support too; and to, of course, “love thy neighbor.” My father, however, is also slightly homophobic and extremely patriarchal. During my sophomore year in high school, when I suggested that I was thinking more about my sexual orientation, his initial attitude was accepting and rather neutral. It wasn't until the following months or even years that I noticed his homophobia. His lectures to my brother about what a man “should” be, his lesbian jokes he would share with my stepmom, the way they'd look at me differently when they laughed at my objections. My father has huge generalizations about sexes that I am glad I didn't realize when I was younger and more impressionable. He has told me, in all seriousness, that he does not believe that men and women can ever be “just friends” and that the man is always looking for sex and the woman for love. The exception, of course, is if the woman is fat or ugly. Few men would want to be her “friend” then. One of my very close male friends, Christian, and I attended an open house for one of our family friends. We saw my dad and his wife there, and made the usual small talk. A few weeks later as I'm driving with my dad to his house to spend the night, he asks nonchalantly, “So, how are things going with Christian?” Bearing in mind my father's generalizations on male/female relationships, I warily replied, “We're doing well.” The rest of the conversation went as follows: “That's good, Anne. I'm happy for you. What grade is he in school?” “He's unschooled. He doesn't really have a grade, because he creates his own curriculum, but he's sixteen.... He's letting me tutor him in literature; I'm pretty excited,” I offered him a smile and a change of subject. My dad snorted at this, “What? Is that like teaching with benefits?” “Excuse me?” I felt very taken aback at this presumption, and still do. “Oh, you know. Like 'friends with benefits,'” he grins at his own ingenuity. “Dad, Christian and I are friends.” “Sure,” he still was not swayed. “This is similar to how I am friends with John or Elise or Madeline or Chris. We're friends,” I felt like I was sounding patronizing, but I really didn't know how else to treat the situation. Noticing his remaining disbelief, I added truthfully, “Christian's homosexual. Does that help?” To this my father swallows the air and squeaks out an, “Oh...oh,” as he's seriously dumbfounded. To try to bring him back, and to get back at him, I add, “We have a very beautiful friendship.” My father could not handle this. He said snidely and sarcastically, “Oh of course you do,” and then, in a heavier and conspiratorial tone, “Who is his partner?” This should not have shocked me. My father believes that for a man to be gay that he regularly sodomizes, even though for a man to be straight, he can just get by with an attraction to the opposite sex. When I told him years before that I thought I was bisexual, he asked me who my girlfriend was. Still, I struggled for words. “Uhm... he's sixteen. He... he doesn't currently have a partner?” I stumbled over the unfamiliar lingo. Switching back to something more comfortable, I clarified, “He's single at the moment, I believe.” Unable to criticize my friend's sexual attractions or practices, without sounding prejudicial and nonsupporting, he grumbled under his breath about how barbaric Christian's “unschooling” is and how negligent his mother and father are for not giving him a “real” education. I abstained from correcting him in that Christian lives with his two moms. I found these discussions hurtful, because I find the attitude presented in it hurtful and hypocritical. Our society preaches acceptance for everyone, as if that is our main, core value. At the same time, we categorize people into different levels of importance, which undermines our main value. I try not to objectify people; I try consciously to withhold prejudices; I am actively working on treating everyone as People, regardless of their age, sex, class, or physical distinction. In a society which does not actually value this, I feel like I am swimming against a cultural current.
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| A Quote |
[07 Sep 2009|06:50pm] |
I read this paragraph today and said to myself, "yes, this." I thought I would share with you all.
Feminism is the only philosophical and political movement to challenge the legitimacy not of a particular elite but of elitehood itself - the idea of superiority. Male rebellions always challenge the supremacy of a particular class or group. The rebels insist they are equal or morally superior to an elite (of state or church) and therefore deserve rights and privileges. Many men think feminism is another movement of this kind - that it asserts that women are equal (or superior) to men and deserve the same rights. When men accept women in colleges, well-paid jobs, or professions, they feel they have responded to feminist demands: they are assimilating women, just as earlier elites assimilated earlier waves of the disenfranchised. Bewildered that feminists still protest, they ask: What do women want?
- French, Marilyn. From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. IV: Revolutions and the Struggles for Justice in the 20th Century. The Feminist Press at the City University of New York: NY, 2002. Pg 379.
(I am pleased to say that after a year and a half, I am finally finished reading this series. It took her ten years to write it. It's truly epic. Moreover, the language is very accessible, even for those reading feminist theory at a 101 level. It even covers intersectionality - although not indepth as other writers, since this is a review of an entirety of women's history.)
Feel free to discuss, rant, question.
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| Issue in a Women's studies class |
[06 Sep 2009|09:02am] |
I am taking my first women's studies course this semester, and so far it's been real fun. However, the last couple class periods, the small 4-5 discussions in my group are taking a turn that I'm pretty uncomfortable with (I'm a guy). Basically, the issue has been women around the world, and several women in the class have made comments like (and this is verbatim):
It goes beyond simple oppression though. Brown guys [their words] come to the US to study, enjoy sexual freedoms with white women, and then go back and oppress their women. They can't control themselves here, as they'd rather be with western women anyway.
As the only guy (and the only 'brown' guy), I feel pretty uncomfortable with that generalization. Especially as a) Many people (like me) were born here and not going 'back' anywhere, and b) this stereotype isn't true from my anecdotal experience with other guys who come here to study. I am not sure about the proper way to bring this up in a constructive manner though. Am I being too sensitive about this? I think it's a very unfair generalization, and it's been going on for a couple class periods from more than one person in my group.
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[02 Sep 2009|10:37pm] |
Hello All!
I am trying to expand my feminist horizons to include being versed in Gender studies. I have a copy of the book "Gender: Psychological Perspectives" by Linda Brannon.
My Google Fu has failed, and I can't find any information about whether she is considered a good source for progressive and feminist thought, or if I should stay far away. Does anyone have experience with this book? Is it something I should consider a good introductory source?
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| Serious question |
[18 Aug 2009|01:24pm] |
I need to know if anyone has done volunteer work in clinic defense (escorting women into/out of clinics that perform abortions to help block the actions of/ease the stress from protesters trying to intimidate them).
I'll have Saturday mornings open this semester and I would like to help if any clinics in my area (Sacramento, CA, U.S.) are in need of volunteers, but after a decent amount of Googleing I still can't find an organization in my city aimed at this type of work. Does anyone happen to know the most efficient way to go about this?
If this is too off topic I'll gladly delete, and thanks in advance.
x-posted to everywhere this could relate/ that doesn't have restrictions on post content
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[10 Aug 2009|11:57pm] |
At what age did you first think of yourself as a feminist?
I'm in desperate need of answers right now, as I'm gathering data for a statistics course I'm in right now... and have had a very hard time finding enough people to respond to this question. If you can help, I would really, really appreciate it.
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[05 Aug 2009|02:06pm] |
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Anyone know any good feminist podcasts?
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| Reproductive justice: Sterilisation, abortion, child removal |
[31 Jul 2009|12:44pm] |
Hey,
I'm currently doing some research around alternatives to adoption.
I'm looking for any literature that discusses the crossovers between the demographics of women that have historically been forced into/coerced into sterilisation, abortion and unhealthy/untested birth control and women who are most likely to have their children removed
I'm assuming there are really strong connections here because attitudes to Class and Race affect who society thinks is capable and deserving of being mothers.
So if you know any literature that talks about these issues I'd be really grateful
Thanks
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[08 Jul 2009|06:54pm] |
Hi all, I was wondering if someone had some literature suggestions on a topic I'm looking into. I'm big on Socialist- and Marxist-feminism and hope to do an independent study on it at my university this year. I've read a good deal of the "canonical" writings in Socialist Feminism Jaggar/Hartmann/Young/Rubin/Wittig, but nothing seems to address how class affects women's experiences of patriarchy and their own relationship to their gender. Most of what I've found
I'm interested in integrating Socialist feminism with postmodern feminism a la Judith Butler (I'm a lit person so I'm interested in creating a framework that can help my investigation of, say, working-class women's literature). Obviously pomo feminism has emphasized the plurality of female experiences women's experiences, and I'm particularly interested in class as the "difference." Any suggestions for articles or books? Whether it's sociology, anthropology, literary theory, what have you.
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[18 Jun 2009|07:20pm] |
So I recently had the chance to sit on a Gender Studies class dealing specifically with feminism and "media image". The prof. showed us this video:
This video was used as an example of "how women are being objectified by the mass media". Frankly, I don't quite understand how this video demonstrates women being "objectified". What are your thoughts?
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[14 Jun 2009|07:21am] |
Does anyone know of any good online feminist forums? I've got a good list of blogs, but I was hoping for a more message board kind of layout. I can't go over to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) feminist, I've applied 4 times and apparently I'm too stupid to get in. So if someone could point me in the direction of a feminist environment more accepting, that'd be great.
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| Women in journalism |
[07 Jun 2009|05:07pm] |
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mood |
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thinking/freaking out |
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Hi everyone,
I'm doing an essay on women in journalism. The central argument is that more women than men are journalism graduates, but men dominate the industry, and how this negatively affects women (e.g. sexist portrayal of women, omission of women from important news stories, etc), but I need one or two counter-arguments also.
The only point that I can come up with at the moment is that women journalists aren't necessarily non-sexist i.e more women journalists would not guarantee a more fair portrayal of women in the mass media.
Anything else?
I'm doing some readings right now, but I would appreciate if you could contribute a point or two. Thank you!
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[23 May 2009|01:48pm] |
I'm doing an IB oral presentation on the play Death and the Maiden, and analyzing it from a feminist point of view. I have a few things I'd like to ask your opinion on:
- the main character Paulina's husband, Gerardo, through out the play, shortens Paulina's name from "Paulina" to "Paulie" to "Paul" to "Pau" by the end. this is obviously a huge symbol, but I've been analyzing it as someone's name is their identity, and by Gerardo denying Paulina her name, it's a symbol of her having lost her identity to him. comments/concerns/questions?
- Paulina references an inability to have children, we assume because of the torture she's been put through. this is de-feminizing, but it could it be spun in a way that perhaps it shows, power has no gender? she's been associated with "taking" power in contrast to the power that was exerted over her years ago by a male. I might need help developing this idea, though.
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| women & electronic music |
[28 Apr 2009|11:00am] |
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mood |
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music |
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ladytron - commodore rock |
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Hi there!
I'm writing a paper (or trying to anyway...) about women and electronic/dance music and I'm having some trouble coming up with any good sources about this.
I don't expect to be able to find very much by the way of actual discussion of electro as a genre but I was hoping some of you might be able to direct me to writing about any of the following:
-Male dominance in the music industry (focus on pop, obviously)
-Occurrence of violence against women in nightclubs
-The images women in pop music as either "tough girl" or "super-sexy"
Most of the stuff that I've found has been about folk or rock and roll (I could swing rock and roll but I have a hard time comparing Ani DiFranco with some of the bands I'm talking about in the paper).
Anything you can do to help would be appreciated!
Now don't mind me, I'll just be over here with my headphones on and my nose in a book...
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| New Community |
[26 Apr 2009|02:17pm] |
If this is not allowed, please let me know and I will happily take the post down.
I wanted to let you all know about the community I have just created -- </a></font></b></a>reclaiming_sex . The focus is on people who come from a sexually detrimental religious set of beliefs who are reclaiming a healthy idea of sex. All are welcome, regardless of current or past religious beliefs. If you have been hurt by sexual repression, abuse, the exgay movement, or hate from within a religious idea, or simply want to cultivate or help others cultivate a healthier incorporation of sex into one's life, please join and share your journey with others.
On a personal note, I am a former evangelical christian, though currently highly spiritual person, who once believed that lustful thoughts, masturbation, pornography, homosexuality, etc. were all sinful especially outside of marriage. As someone who was strongly devoted to her faith throughout the teenaged and sexually developmental years, I am still feeling the repurcussions of sexual repression even now, three and a half years into my marriage. My intellectual ideas of sex have changed greatly, but my psychological and emotional responses can still hold on to old habits. I know that I can't be the only one who experiences this, so I am reaching out to the greater livejournal community to hopefully create a network of support for myself and for those like me.
I am aware that this can be a touchy issue. Though tolerance and respect for others, regardless of their beliefs, is expected, you do not have to believe that sex outside of marriage is okay, or support homosexuality in order to join. Maybe you are currently a strong Christian and waited until marriage to have sex, only to discover that years of sexual repression is still interfering with your marital life, even though sex is supposed to be okay now. Whatever the case may be, if you believe you have something to contribute to the community or would appreciate the support of others, please join and spread the word.
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