Bordo- The slender Body

In the lecture slide 12 Bordo- The Slender Body was a great example. I am athletic and go to the gym 4 times a week. I think everyone should be in control of their body, which means taking care of it. The picture of the over weight women eating is sad. But unless they have a health issue then their is no excuse for people to be that over weight. Yes genes and family traits are carried out but you can keep your body healthy. Im not the skinniest person but I'm happy with my body because I do whats good for it. I eat healthy, work out, and take time for myself.

To many women want to look like the air brushed picture they see in magazines, but its not reality. I think it was Brittany Spears who actually had a magazine photograph her with an airbrush shot and then a photo shoot of her not air brushed and it was amazing.

Second Wave Feminism

The feminine Mystique as mentioned in the lecture is more of a formal publication. Betty Friedan was very smart for getting a survey going of how women feel. It surprised me that the women magazines wouldn't even publish her essay because it turned away from the ideal female. That female was to be attractive find a husband, get married and create children. All women are suppose to be happy being a mother, and a spouse but what Betty Friedan found was many women were very unhappy.

I think in today's society women are much more different but once again we do have in the back of minds, find a husband, have children, and do the house wife thing. (Not saying for all of us) but our parents did it and they want grandkids, and it still is a cultural thing. Im from the south and its like a status thing to have a family and a job, if you don't its almost looked down upon or your life is not complete.

First Wave Feminism

When listening to the lecture I found that it was very neat that two women in New York met for tea and started talking about how they were being treated unfairly. The fact that these two women took it upon themselves to stand up for the rest of the women during this time period is amazing. I think that if women tried to do that today it could be done but then again many people have good idea's but just don't know how to get them out there.

I do believe that racism and classism divides us today but not from the feminist movements. I think we are all out their for ourselves and people forget to help other people. The fact that these two women had these feelings and started small to see how other women felt mad a big difference. People today I feel like if they get what they want they don't care about anything else. A lot of us women take women's suffrage for granite and it wasn't even that long ago. Some countries are still fighting for the right to vote.

This reminds me of a few years ago when gays were trying to get their right to be married. They had to fight for their right to be like everyone else and I didn't really understand that till after this lecture.

I am lucky to live in this century and not have to fight for my rights because of the first wave feminist! But as women living in this world today we still have a lot left to do to really make women equal to men.

Theorizing Public Policy: Why does it matter for Women

After learning about Equal Rights Amendment and that men and women hold equal rights guaranteed by the constitution, I have a question for you all.

I am working for a baseball team and we have to sign a contract not to fraternize with the players, which when working with sports is expected. It's my job to work with them but no outside relations. However, out of the 8 interns, only three ladies had to sign the contract. We have boys as well as two other girls working with us that did not have to sign it? What does that mean?

My boss didn't have to sign it and he has come out and met us out at a bar why isn't that fraternizing. I just feel that some people at work because we are lets say pretty girls have different rights and feel being treated unfairly.

If you look at women in the work force it makes you wonder. Yes, we finally get equal rights and equal pay but their is still a lot of unequal things going on inside many work places. It's like when people say "she slept her way to the top, just because she might have a pretty face. Women have talent and just because our looks shouldn't treat us unequal.

Feminist Theory

As mentioned in the lecture most women in the second wave were more liberal feminist. I think I would be apart of this liberal feminism because their theory seems to fit me as a women and what I believe. Women to this day are still unequal in the public eye. Most women are still below men in the work force. If you look at the women today they stand behind their men and watch them in the public eye. When I think of this the image of the wife standing behind her husband during an election or in other public events. When can we as women stand up in the public eye and be a leader.

Now I do believe the work force for women is changing. We see more women on ESPN then before and we see more women becoming car mechanics and wearing tool belts then ever. Time are defiantly changing for us women. But as women we are still stereotyped and if we work a job outside the home we need to go home and do more work like the cooking and cleaning.

What is a women

Reading "X: A fabulous Child's Story", really opened my eyes to how our society sees men and women, or boys and girls. That X child really had the best of both worlds. I found that in that story it was funny how the sales person at the toy store or clothes store couldn't help the family out because the child was neither a boy or girl.
In the U.S you walk into a toy stores and from a young age you see barbie dolls and pink and then in another section of the store you see the color blue, trucks and footballs. We have created this society that gender has to be male or female. If a girl plays with Lego's or trucks they are to masculine.
I feel our society is forcing us to be one or the other. I never really saw it that way till after listening to our lecture. You can even see it on tv with commericals they target women and men for different things. The media is a big cause of our gender problem, and once people see a certain thing a certain way its hard to change their mind or perspective.

Understanding Women Studies vs Feminist

So I have decided that if I lived in the 1960's I would have been apart of the second wave of the feminist movement. That wave was all about commitment to personal change and commitment to social transformation. I am always questioning why I can't do certain things because I am a women.

For example when I was young, around the age of 11 my mom and dad did not let me ride my bike to 7-11 in the summer time for a slupee, but my brother who was 8 got to ride his bike to the 7-11 all the time. Was it because I was a girl? What about playing football? Why cant girls play football? The boys wear pads that fit their bodies, make pads that fit for girls?

The fact that I have all these questions I feel makes me somewhat of a feminist. I want to be treated equal just like my brother. As I mentioned earlier I would've been apart of this movement because if it wasn't for this movement us women still wouldn't have equal pay or opportunity.