Blog Post #4

This weeks reading, “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory,” and movie, “Frida,” focused on the aspect of disability. The reading discussed the similarities between disability and feminism. In society, women are seen as inferior and so are the disabled. They’re both seen as “not normal.” Women are even often sometimes considered “disabled” due to their gender. Towards the beginning of the article, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson mentions that “disability studies can benefit from feminist theory and feminist theory can benefit from disability studies.”

            The premise of the feminist disability theory is that “disability, like femaleness, is not a natural state of corporeal inferiority, inadequacy, excess, or a stroke of misfortune.” In simpler terms, the premise of the theory basically states that being a woman or being disabled is not a misfortune. Everyone is different and we need to learn to live with who we are and embrace our unique qualities. Aristotle actually defined women as “mutilated males.” I think this statement is harsh and extremely untrue. As a woman, I don’t understand why we are always compared to men. The article also states that, “women and the disabled are portrayed as helpless, dependent, weak, vulnerable and incapable bodies.” I also find this portrayal to be completely inaccurate. When I think of women and the disabled, I think of adjectives such as strong and powerful. For example, later in the article, Garland-Thomson focuses on Aimee Mullins. Mullins is a fashion model, celebrity, champion runner, a Georgetown University student and a double amputee. Mullins is a woman and she is disabled and I would never consider her to be weak, helpless and incapable. In fact, I would consider her to be the complete opposite. I believe she is an inspiration to many due to her determination, strength and perseverance. Another example that really stuck out to me was the woman who had to get one breast removed due to breast cancer. How could anyone in society say that she is weak and helpless? Fighting a battle such as cancer is an extremely difficult process and I believe that anyone who deals with something of that sort should be considered extremely strong. These examples prove that both women and the disabled are not inferior.

            The article also focuses on the appearance and the desire to produce unmarked bodies. Garland-Thomson admits, “what is imagined as excess body fat, the effects of aging, marks of ethnicity such as supposedly Jewish noses, bodily particularities thought of as blemishes or deformities and marks of history such as scaring and impairments are now expected to be surgically erased to produce an unmarked body.”  These efforts are done in order to look “normal” and “not disabled.” However, like I mentioned earlier, we should embrace these qualities. It’s very rare to see a man getting a nose job or removing body fat, so why is that necessary for women? She mentions that the women and the disabled should be able to use medicine to improve their lives and their bodies to function more fully. However, it’s unnecessary to just change a body part because it doesn’t look “normal.” What really is considered to be “normal?”

            In the movie, “Frida,” Frida Kahlo is a woman and disabled. Similar to the reading, the movie focuses on the idea that women and the disabled are not inferior. When she was a teenager, Kahlo was in an accident that resulted in lifelong health problems. However, these health problems actually influenced Kahlo’s artwork for the better. The movie showed Kahlo right after her accident in a full body cast. Despite her lover Alex leaving for Paris and the excruciating pain due to the accident, Kahlo painted bright butterflies all over her cast. I think this shows her strength and optimism even in a time of sadness and pain. The brightly colored butterflies are full of life; Kahlo is determined to feel that way again as well. Once her cast was filled with artwork, her father got her a canvas. Kahlo began to paint daily. Since Kahlo was so isolated in the beginning because of her injuries, she began painting self-portraits. Despite the isolation, she displayed strength by continuing to create artwork. She then asked the muralist, Diego, for advice in order to improve her art. Later on in the movie, Trotsky admitted that he loved Kahlo’s work because of what it expressed. Her paintings expressed what everyone feels in life at some point: alone and in pain. Similar to the woman with breast cancer and the double amputee, Kahlo was determined and strong. These examples prove that women and the disabled should not be considered inferior. 

Blog Post #3

This week, the lecture focused on class; class divides and ranks members of society. I thought it was extremely interesting that in the United States, “we now have the highest income inequality among first world nations and it’s increasing sharply.” By learning about historical examples relating to class, it’s easy to grasp the concept and understand how much class impacts society.

            I believe that the lecture tied in well with the novel, Peyton Place, because social class was one of the main themes in the novel. The beginning of the novel focuses on the people in this “picturesque” town in New England. Members of the upper class, middle class, and lower class are discussed throughout the novel. Leslie Harrington, a mill owner, is an example of a member of the upper class. According to the novel, “Harrington, who was the owner of Cumberland Mills and a very rich man, was the chairman of the Peyton Place school board. The Harrington house, screened by the tall trees and wide lawns, was the largest in town.” Constance Mackenzie and Allison Mackenzie signify members of the middle class. Constance opened up a small apparel shop in town in order to provide for herself and her daughter. On the other hand, Selena and her family symbolize poverty and the lower class. Selena lives a completely different life than others in the novel and lives in a shack.

            Not only does the novel focus on class, but it also focuses on topics such as incest, rape, abortion, violence, and death. The first sentence in the novel signifies drama. The first sentence reads, “Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay.” The novel relies on controversial and scandalous topics that were seldom mentioned in prior novels due to the time period. Therefore, the novel was a bit of a shock to readers. When reading the novel, the first thing that came to my mind was the show “Desperate Housewives.” In both the novel and the show, a seemingly perfect town turns out to be not so perfect. Secrets and scandals lie behind closed doors. Scandals range from Constance’s affair with a married man, to Selena’s pregnancy with her stepfather’s baby, to Rodney’s death.

            The event that shocked me most in the novel was Selena’s pregnancy. Selena was raped by her stepfather, Lucas. It was apparent to me early in the novel that Lucas was an angry and violent man. In chapter 13, when Selena simply told Lucas to throw his trash away, he became violent. As the novel states, “Lucas Cross slapped his stepdaughter a stunning blow on the side of the head.” Was I surprised to read that Lucas raped Selena? I was not. However, I think it is awful. When Selena becomes pregnant, the doctor faces a tough decision. Should he take away a life or save Selena’s? Because of the circumstances, the doctor decides to save Selena’s. Abortion is an extremely controversial topic in our society. In high school, I took a class titled “Quest” that focused on issues in our society; issues that we continually focused on were rape and abortion. Should women be allowed to abort a child because she chose to have unprotected sex? Should a woman be allowed to abort a child if she was raped? After analyzing the history lecture, I think it’s amazing how far women have actually come. Because of Roe v. Wade, women now have the right to an abortion. Despite this right, whether an abortion is right or wrong is continually debated in society today. 

Blog Post #2

This week, I have come to realize the importance of history relating to the woman’s movement. Many people know and understand what the woman’s movement was (the vote, property rights, reproductive rights, educational rights etc) but I believe that many people don’t know the first women who fought for this movement. The article, “The Struggle for the Right to Speak,” included key women to the movement such as Maria Miller Stewart, Sojourner Truth, and the Grimke sisters. When reading this article, I was shocked to realize the limited amount of rights women really did have back in the day. These women didn’t even have the right to speak publically! The women focused on different aspects and goals, but they relied heavily on biblical material. I also find it amazing that Sojourner Truth was illiterate, yet was able to become a well renowned public speaker and activist. Through dedication and determination, these women paved the way for the fight for equality and propelled the start to the woman’s movement. Without these women and this movement, our lives would be extremely impacted today. Even though some issues relating to women are still floating around in today’s society, we have many more opportunities than they did back then. I am so grateful to be able to receive a college education, get a job, own a home, speak publically etc. Learning the foundation of the movement is so important to really understanding the significance of the movement and its ever-lasting impacts.

Last week, we discussed the standard of beauty in our society. When reading an expert from the “Feminine Mystique” I was very surprised to see the similarities between beauty in the past and beauty in present day society. After viewing the film, Still Killing us Softly 4, we discussed the idea that women believe they need to be perfect in order to be considered beautiful. They strive to be a size 0 and focus on looking like the photo-shopped women displayed in advertisements. In the 1900’s, women ate a chalk instead of food in order to become as slim as the models in advertisements. The article even states, “department store buyers reported that American women, since 1939, had become three and four sizes smaller.” Despite progressive change relating to women’s rights, it is evident that our standard of beauty has not changed much over time. Beauty was an issue in the past and it is still an extreme issue in our society today. We need to focus on improving this issue in order to create a better society.

The excerpt from the “Feminine Mystique” focuses on the “problem that has no name.” As a typical housewife’s life progressed, she seemed to continually question, “Is this all?” She might also express emptiness and a feeling as if she doesn’t exist. Because women were born and raised to become housewives, they believed that this problem related to something wrong with her marriage or herself. This problem was dismissed and Newsweek mentioned, “this is what being a woman means and what is wrong with American women that they can’t accept their role gratefully?” I think the past represents ignorance. Just because someone is a woman doesn’t mean she’s born to become a housewife. Everyone is different and different things in life will make different people happy. While some may be happy staying at home raising their children, others may want to go to work and provide for their family. My mom has never been a stay at home mom. She’s a full time lawyer and works 5 a week. Despite this, she still found the time to raise my sister and I while she and my dad provided for our family. I am grateful that women in today’s society are able to pick a career that’s right for them.

Despite all of the progression made during this era, white heterosexual concerns predominated. The article, "Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory” focuses on the idea that Fredian only described white women in the “Feminine Mystique.” Even though this time period was marked by change, there was a lot that still needed to be changed. It surprised me that even though all women were fighting for the same rights, that they excluded others due to one's race. Racism was an extreme problem in the past and it's still a problem (though not as extreme) in our society today. We have progressed but not fully. 

Blog Post #1

One term that we primarily focused on this week is masculinity. Before taking this class, I believed that masculinity simply meant the characteristics of a man. Upon reading the documents, I have realized that masculinity can be defined in many ways and can have a negative connotation in certain aspects. Sex and the City is one of my favorite shows, however I have never examined the specific traits of the male characters in the series. The series demonstrates the “masculine ideal.” The show ranks men based on “money, class, race, physicality, sexuality, and sexual prowess, and [demonstrates] the ways in which they fail to live up to the masculine ideal.” Two of the main characters, Big and Steve, “open up extremely complex issues of men’s changing gender roles.” Big and Steve’s differing roles create a “crisis of masculinity.” Big is seen as a sexual conqueror and “a man from the past” while Steve is seen as a caring and emotional “man of the future.” Despite the women’s differing ideas of desire, masculinity is represented in the show as a “lack and failure to live up to its ideal form.” What really is the masculine ideal? Is it a bad thing that we have different types of men in our society? 

Masculinity is also represented in the post titled “Why don’t we talk about violence and masculinity in America?” In the article, masculinity is paired with violence. Guns are extremely available in our society and are mainly owned by men. I was shocked to learn that 46% of American men own guns. As stated in the article, “There is, sadly, nothing unique about men with guns in this country killing people everyday.” In our society, unstable boys believe that they will become “men” by using violence. When thinking about this, I have come to realize that boys are introduced to violence at such an early age. Boys are taught to be tough from the start and possess control. A boy will resort to violence whereas a girl will become emotional. A boy believes that getting into a fight is more “manly” or “masculine” than crying to their mother. From the lecture, I learned that our society usually categorizes the white man as a hero and the black man as a criminal. However, this article also focused on the aspect of the angry white man. Adam Lanza, the shooter in Newtown, Connecticut, “shifted his propensity into violent activity.” Lanza killed his mother and then “[went] into a school where women overwhelmingly have control and nurture and kills small children before they grow up.” Was Lanza trying to express his masculinity and control over women? Our society needs to address the issue of male violence or else incidents like this will continue occurring. 

Deviating away from masculinity, I also have a new understanding of the term oppression. Oppression involves disadvantages in society that affect certain groups of people. Oppression usually occurs due to race, class, sexuality, gender etc. I think it’s extremely unfortunate that our society treats people poorly based on certain aspects. According to the article “Latino Stereotypes Thrive in the Media, Negative Attitudes Dominate,” our society categorizes Latinos as illegal and/or gangsters and criminals. This dehumanizes Latinos and encourages people to treat them unjustly. As evident, our society is still filled with racial inequities and injustice. We need to stop judging people and treating people unfairly due to aspects like race, class, sexuality, gender etc.