Appreciate it

One of the most controversial topics is how gender roles affect people. These roles have been established long ago, and throughout history have been changed into the way men and women are perceived today. One side effect is oppression, which sadly is a high outcome of gender discrimination. In almost all parts of the world women have been the major targets of oppression. I find it so sad that some parts of the world just completely stayed the same throughout generations, maybe even worsened. Girls and women are born into the world and are automatically taught that they will not have any affect on anyone by speaking up. It is best to just get by though life in silence. It's heartbreaking to think that here we are in America with women assuming governmental positions, which somehow indirectly affect our very own lives. While women in a place like the Middle East or Guatemala are being constantly neglected and abused, most commonly by males. I appreciate the place I live in every time I think about that. I realize that even in the U.S, women struggle with the double standard or the frowned upon act when a woman chooses to do something more "masculine", like joining the military, but this is not comparable to other parts of the world.

I Don't Fit the Stereotype

These past few weeks, our class has mainly discussed the topic of equality. This was viewed from the perspective of women, African-Americans, homosexuals, a combination of the three, and men who are considered to be feminine because of their interests and style. In most, if not all, of these articles, the antagonists were either men in general, white men, or men who were seen by the general public as 'masculine'. Being a white man that fits the stereotypical description of a man, I get mixed feelings from reading these texts.

First off, I understand in full why these different groups of society are saying what they're saying and why they're saying it. Since the Stone Age, white men have oppressed hundreds, if not thousands, of different groups of people; furthermore, it's because of this that equality is even an issue in the world today, so the reasoning behind these arguments seems completely valid. But if someone were to read  all of these articles with no bias whatsoever, they would probably get the impression that white men are discriminatory a-holes. Whether these authors are trying to say this or not, anyone who read these articles would see that the general view towards white men is negative, and I am insulted by this. Even though I'm a white male of the middle class who thoroughly enjoys sports and other 'masculine' things, I am in no way discriminatory. I treat everybody exactly the same no matter their race, religion, or sexuality. Incidentally,  I was put in quite a complicated position when forced to respond to these articles. If I agreed with them, I would be basically insulting myself, but if I disagreed, I would look like I was one of these discriminatory a-hole's the authors are talking about. 

All in all, I value equality with extreme significance in my life and believe that it plays a vital role in the success of our country; however, it was very unfair and very agitating to be compelled to discuss this topic for the entire month of February.

Vagina

Why does having something different between your legs have to define your life. ever since man cease to existed woman have been repeatedly shunned by men . Not defining that men today are like that but, back then is what started it all. Started all the gender separation, gender roles are the socially expected way of being for an average man and woman. Their was no speaking your mind if you were other than white or female back then. Thankfully, since times have changed I am almost positive it is still like this today to the point of having the women clean the house, cook, feed, and take care of children " women's work" and "men's work", having to go to work to bring food and money to the table. While finally coming home to cooked food taking a shower and going to bed, not helping his wife with anything. This is mostly played out by older couples today. For example a very traditional Mexican household is like this today. Usually, the man is taking care of work, truck driving or mechanical work while the wife at the same time is taking care of the children plus cleaning, making food for everyone, basic stuff that everyone should know how to do not only women. It has been this way for years because of the same gender teaching the younger generation how a girl acts and a boy acts. Usually, theses roles are being careful or proper for a girl and rambunctious or strongly courageous for a boy. In my life time I have always been the 'tom girl' in my family, my mother loved me for it because she never got the chance to be that way during her childhood. On the other hand my grandmother did not like the way I was acting. She would argue to my mother about letting me out to play with my neighbors, which were boys. Instead of being inside playing with dollies. I couldn't bear playing with dolls , I wanted to go outside running around until I fell and hurt my knee. Little by little I know the world of gender roles are changing because our generation and new generations are wanting to be opened minded about everything and everyone's personality.  In 10 to 20 years I can see woman finally being paid financially  the same as men, being free from judgment about their appearance. The same goes to men being socially acceptable to let out emotions, being open to themselves and others around them. As of today, women are still fighting for our equal rights and old men are lowering their heads around feministic topics.

We Need Feminism

"I'm not a feminist," I heard a guy in one of my classes say. After that one statement was said, others in the discussion began to agree with him, unaware of what the word "feminist" actually meant.

Just because the prefix "fem-" is found in the word feminism does not entail that females are superior in any way to men. This may be one of the reasons why people are offended by the word because they think the word means a woman who wants to achieve greater status than man, so she shames him. The feminism movement isn't one that hates on men. If you look up the word feminism in the dictionary, it is the advocacy of women's rights on the groups of political, social, and economic equality to men. Maybe people believed that the word meant, "I'm a woman who supports women," rather than, "I'm a person who supports women."

So why do we need feminism? Why do I need feminism?

We need feminism because girls shouldn't feel afraid to walk home alone. We need feminism because I'm tired of hearing how girls shouldn't be good at science or math because it's a man's subject. We need feminism because guys shouldn't be the only ones subject to chivalry and good manners. We need feminism because guys can also be subjected to domestic violence, but won't be taken as seriously.

African American Women

For the essay I am in a group with Bree, Michelle and Adara. In our group essay our topic is black girl stereotypes. Some black girl stereotypes are that we have bad attitudes, more natural defined hair,  uneducated etc. There are many successful black women. Back when slavery was alive African American women weren't even viewed as humans. Recently, Zendaya wore braids to the oscars and there was so much talk about her saying that the hairstyle was not fit enough for the oscars. Who are those people to say what is fit for the oscars? Little do we know racism and people's perception on black people is still alive. Now that we have a black president things are a little better but still a lot of haters. I know plenty of black independent strong women.

Speaking of strong black independent women Ms. Fletcher showed us a video in class by Ernestine Johnson. She performed a video of 'The Average Black Girl.' Talking proper and being well spoken is not usually how the 'average black girl' is. More and more young African American ladies are graduating and going to college.

Woman

In Ms. Fletcher's class the articles we have read really open my mind. In this generation we tend to make fun of people who don't quite fit the ideal image. In Judith Butler's article phylosophe a boy got killed because he was a boy that walked with a swish. Thinking about it why did the boys that did this care that much that they had to kill him? Doesn't that make them weird? Don't judge anyone because you never know what anyone is going through. For some reason the suicide rate is going up and it's actially quite sad. It's like that person couldn't go to anyone to talk to? What made them think that suicide was the answer? This world is really cruel, but that's the extreme.

Also in another article called His Politeness Is Her Powerlessness men and women's place in society are different. Why is it that a man and a woman can do the same exact thing and get different feedback from it. It's said that indirectness is more of a woman thing and directness is for men. Sensitivity and not saying exactly what you want is not bad in my opinion. Even though being direct could get you exactly what you want, woman like to think that people are mind readers and want to see that extra push to figure out what we really want.

Double Standards

Double standards: The worst thing you can do to your children of different genders.

My older brother is 3 years older than me and has the more freedom than I will ever get until I move out of our house. As I got older and into my teenage years, I noticed that my brother wouldn't get a curfew and my curfew would be very early. Now, I get it.. I'm only 17 and he's 20, but does that mean that I should get an earlier curfew just because I'm a girl and I'm younger? Why are these standards of being less able to be take care of themselves set on girls just because they're girls?

Personally, I believe that double standards are just another term that women are supposed to fit into. The image of being perfect is extremely unrealistic and impossible to achieve. How can one woman or man fit into this mold that society has built with their image of "perfect"?