Ruminations, Menstrations, and Celebrations
I really enjoyed reading about Alisa Valdes and her experiences in “Ruminations of a Feminist Fitness Instructor”. Alisa Valdes, a “musician/writer/social critic”, gives her tale of being conflicted over success within our patriarchal society and struggling to make a living out of the society. The chapter was well written and her genuineness really helped me understand what a woman in her situation was facing. Valdes was similar to many woman who had to choose whether to take the path of least or most resistance. In her case, while trying to make money to pay for her college, she started a whole other career. This happens to plenty of people who originally just need a means to a good end. I think her story shows how our society can manipulate and mold good people into lesser ones. Valdes consciously knew that even though she was fueling exactly what she was against, she says she betrayed herself. Similar to an addiction, Valdes even quit for a while, only to take it back up when she started struggling financially. Fortunately for Valdes, she started her business at a young age so by 23 she realized debt was worth being who she really wanted to be. I thought her story really just showed me how easy it is to get caught up in society and being “kept from the real business of our lives”. It is good to hear from a successful feminist who had to work from the bottom up. The only sad thing is most girls in her same situation probably won’t have the privilege to read this article.When I first saw the title of Anne Sexton’s “In Celebration of My Uterus”, I was actually pretty excited to read it. I was only largely disappointed when it was a poem bringing me back to American Literature and poem analysis. The short preface really was a lifesaver and I could understand the poem and its meaning much more. Sexton celebrates her uterus amongst other things about being a woman. The poem itself could be written by someone today and I think that what is so significant about it. As the preface says Sexton’s writing didn’t really get good reviews. Writing about these subjects during that time was pretty bold to say the least and I have to give her respect. Not only was she outraging the male critics, she was inspiring women.Reading Sterling’s article “Hormonal Hurricanes” was definitely a learning experience for me. Having a sister 21 months younger than me I remember her stressing out about the whole thing. I always tried to stay as far away as possible from the subject. The whole thing was always like an urban myth or something when I was younger. I remember my friends and I talking about girls who would be a little moody and instantly suggesting they were “PMSing”. Reading about how menstruation affected the lives of women in the past was really interesting. I feel like the ignorance of me as well as other young boys can almost be paralleled with the men from the past Sterling talks about. Reading this article really humbled me about my pubescent changes in comparison to those of females.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Newsflash: Working within the system may actually work
We have started this decade off like no other in U.S. history. With the inauguration of 44th president Barack Obama, a black man is leading America for the first time in history. With the rise of a minority to a position such as president, Obama really does give hope for anyone other than a wealthy white male. Obama’s opposing democratic candidate Hilary Clinton has also been an inspiration to women, being so successful in a male dominated government. The last few years have been all about change and hope for American citizens. One such as Betty Friedan might be excited about the future of minorities including women. Some feminists on the other hand might not be so optimistic, and for good reason.Perhaps Hillary Clinton was a part of 2nd wave feminism. After all she started her career in the late 1960s being the first student to give the commencement speech at Wellesley College. Following with Yale Law School she then became an important political figure in Arkansas. Going from First Lady of Arkansas to presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton surely has made her mark on politics as a female. What she has accomplished as a person is amazing, but has she dismantled the master’s house with the master’s tools?In Betty Friedan’s chapter she limits her audience to middle class white women. Hillary Clinton certainly fits the mold. She worked in a patriarchal society and became successful within that system. Now she along with a black president is at the top of the U.S. Government. It can only be expected that female and black citizens start to see a more equal system. The first law to help that cause was signed by Obama over a year ago, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.In 1998 Lilly Ledbetter tried suing Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for pay discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her case was thrown out because of a small rule saying employers cannot sue after 180 days. Ledbetter had worked at a plant in Alabama for 19 years and was one of four area managers. Just before she retired she received an anonymous letter informing her of the other three male managers. Each one was making a considerable amount more than her. Ten years later the act was finally introduced and subsequently signed into law.Recent 2008 statistics show that women are only making about 77 percent of what men make. It gets worse for black women at 68 percent and even worse for Hispanic women at 58 percent. What really makes these numbers look bad is that they all went down from the previous year. Now a year later, I am very anxious to see if all that work within the system will pay off. Ledbetter worked within the system and didn’t even receive money from the government or Goodyear, just the new bill in her name. She is currently still working within the system rallying for new bills such as the Paycheck Fairness Act that would further strengthen equal pay rights.Now obviously I am fully aware of how long it takes for a president to instill his policies upon his people. There are still many promises to be kept and people to make happy. Still, in a decade full of “firsts”, for the first time ever women might actually make just as much as men. System or no system, with two people who are not white males at the top of the government there is no telling what changes we will see.http://www.ajc.com/opinion/women-still-seek-paycheck-292576.html
We have started this decade off like no other in U.S. history. With the inauguration of 44th president Barack Obama, a black man is leading America for the first time in history. With the rise of a minority to a position such as president, Obama really does give hope for anyone other than a wealthy white male. Obama’s opposing democratic candidate Hilary Clinton has also been an inspiration to women, being so successful in a male dominated government. The last few years have been all about change and hope for American citizens. One such as Betty Friedan might be excited about the future of minorities including women. Some feminists on the other hand might not be so optimistic, and for good reason.Perhaps Hillary Clinton was a part of 2nd wave feminism. After all she started her career in the late 1960s being the first student to give the commencement speech at Wellesley College. Following with Yale Law School she then became an important political figure in Arkansas. Going from First Lady of Arkansas to presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton surely has made her mark on politics as a female. What she has accomplished as a person is amazing, but has she dismantled the master’s house with the master’s tools?In Betty Friedan’s chapter she limits her audience to middle class white women. Hillary Clinton certainly fits the mold. She worked in a patriarchal society and became successful within that system. Now she along with a black president is at the top of the U.S. Government. It can only be expected that female and black citizens start to see a more equal system. The first law to help that cause was signed by Obama over a year ago, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.In 1998 Lilly Ledbetter tried suing Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for pay discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her case was thrown out because of a small rule saying employers cannot sue after 180 days. Ledbetter had worked at a plant in Alabama for 19 years and was one of four area managers. Just before she retired she received an anonymous letter informing her of the other three male managers. Each one was making a considerable amount more than her. Ten years later the act was finally introduced and subsequently signed into law.Recent 2008 statistics show that women are only making about 77 percent of what men make. It gets worse for black women at 68 percent and even worse for Hispanic women at 58 percent. What really makes these numbers look bad is that they all went down from the previous year. Now a year later, I am very anxious to see if all that work within the system will pay off. Ledbetter worked within the system and didn’t even receive money from the government or Goodyear, just the new bill in her name. She is currently still working within the system rallying for new bills such as the Paycheck Fairness Act that would further strengthen equal pay rights.Now obviously I am fully aware of how long it takes for a president to instill his policies upon his people. There are still many promises to be kept and people to make happy. Still, in a decade full of “firsts”, for the first time ever women might actually make just as much as men. System or no system, with two people who are not white males at the top of the government there is no telling what changes we will see.http://www.ajc.com/opinion/women-still-seek-paycheck-292576.html
Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah! Roma-Roma-ma-ah!
Since we started reading Levy’s book I have thought about any and every girl I know who take part in the Raunch Culture. All I had to do was log onto Facebook and take a look at some photo albums. Why do these girls dress the way they do? Why do they act the way they act? I actually came across a picture of three girls doing the whole peace sign below the mouth deal. Underneath the picture a comment from one of the girls saying… “wow drunk, classy, hoes…enough said. lol”. So why do girls do stuff like this? Why do they like showing off their tits and asses? For attention? For power? For sexual liberation? Christie Hefner would probably say something along the lines of they are just having fun and “taking control of how I look” instead of looking embarrassed. Levy of course would just call it pathetic. I kept searching though; I still wanted to find a girl in the Raunch Culture who Levy might actually think twice about whether she was indeed a Female Chauvinist Pig.Christina Aguilera, Pamela Anderson, Debbie Cope, and Jenna Jameson. All of these women are definitely in Ariel Levy’s eyes apart of the problematic Raunch Culture. Each have used the Raunch Culture for their benefit or pleasure. For power, liberation, whatever it may be they are all guilty. Recently however there has been a new name who has risen to the top of the so called Raunch Culture. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born and raised in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1986. A very talented musician having learned piano by ear at the age of 4, she attended Tisch at the age of 17. After withdrawing to pursue her music career, she moved to the Lower East Side where she started performing in clubs. Shortly after, the artist now known as Lady Gaga had become the first artist to ever have four number one hits on a debut album. As all of you know Lady Gaga has used her appearance to gain success, or at least be noticed. However, while I would agree that she is similar to the women afore mentioned, I am reluctant to put her in the same category.When I first saw Lady Gaga she struck me as a very interesting character. She definitely fits the frame of a Female Chauvinist Pig embracing Raunch Culture. Extremely high heels, lots of skin and cleavage, she is pretty sexual to say the least in her music videos. She definitely doesn’t have hairy legs, I doubt she burns her bras, and after the Grammy’s the other night I would make an educated guess that she may have once or twice had a bikini wax. On the surface Lady Gaga is just another pop princess who knows how to strut her stuff and get any man’s, or woman’s for that matter undivided attention. However, Lady Gaga doesn’t just use her tits to be successful, I believe she uses her mind even more.I mainly focused on Lady Gaga’s music video for her song “Bad Romance”. If anyone has seen the video then they know how extremely bizarre it is. In the video Gaga wears a total of about 12 different outfits, all in six inch heels or bigger, ranging from total nudity to showing nothing but her mouth. If I had to describe the video I would probably say it was a strange mix between Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” video and Nine Inch Nails’ Closer music video. There are definitely pieces of choreography where she is doing the whole “take my clothes off and degrade my body”. But then there are others like as when she is doing the “Thriller” move with her entire body covered. The video has a pretty straight narrative and basically Gaga along with other women are slaves who perform for a group of men. Throughout the entire video we see her dancing, stripping, etc. for some weird looking dudes. We also hear in the song her saying the line “I’m a free bitch, baby”. And then of course the finale where she walks in wearing lingerie with a big polar bear fur thing over her and sets a guy on fire. At the very end she is smoking a cigarette on a burnt bed next to the skeleton. She is wearing some nice black lingerie with fire sparking out of her bra. Now I’m not sure if Levy would like all the outfits and sexual choreography, but I’m pretty sure she’d get a kick out of the outcome.Even the outfits that do show off some skin aren’t exactly the stereotypical pop princess slutty costumes. Everyone has seen videos or pictures of the stuff she wears to events such as the Grammy’s or the VMA’s. It isn’t something you see walking down the street even in New York City. Gaga has a unique style that while sometimes may show off her ass and tits, it always seems that she is making a statement. She has said in several interviews that her reasoning behind all the outlandish and controversial stuff she wears is to expand the standards for beauty . In high school Gaga felt like a freak and now she says she wants to help anyone who feels like she did.In Levy’s book she criticizes these women who put on a show and act differently for satisfaction or to impress a man. Gaga differs from that because she isn’t putting on an act. She is different and it shows in the way she dresses and performs. She isn’t acting like a man or dressing slutty for liberation and empowerment. Gaga does the things she does because she is an artist and it is who she is. I would like to think that Levy would appreciate this and see Gaga doing everything for her own pleasure and not for some guy’s.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I
Since we started reading Levy’s book I have thought about any and every girl I know who take part in the Raunch Culture. All I had to do was log onto Facebook and take a look at some photo albums. Why do these girls dress the way they do? Why do they act the way they act? I actually came across a picture of three girls doing the whole peace sign below the mouth deal. Underneath the picture a comment from one of the girls saying… “wow drunk, classy, hoes…enough said. lol”. So why do girls do stuff like this? Why do they like showing off their tits and asses? For attention? For power? For sexual liberation? Christie Hefner would probably say something along the lines of they are just having fun and “taking control of how I look” instead of looking embarrassed. Levy of course would just call it pathetic. I kept searching though; I still wanted to find a girl in the Raunch Culture who Levy might actually think twice about whether she was indeed a Female Chauvinist Pig.Christina Aguilera, Pamela Anderson, Debbie Cope, and Jenna Jameson. All of these women are definitely in Ariel Levy’s eyes apart of the problematic Raunch Culture. Each have used the Raunch Culture for their benefit or pleasure. For power, liberation, whatever it may be they are all guilty. Recently however there has been a new name who has risen to the top of the so called Raunch Culture. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born and raised in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1986. A very talented musician having learned piano by ear at the age of 4, she attended Tisch at the age of 17. After withdrawing to pursue her music career, she moved to the Lower East Side where she started performing in clubs. Shortly after, the artist now known as Lady Gaga had become the first artist to ever have four number one hits on a debut album. As all of you know Lady Gaga has used her appearance to gain success, or at least be noticed. However, while I would agree that she is similar to the women afore mentioned, I am reluctant to put her in the same category.When I first saw Lady Gaga she struck me as a very interesting character. She definitely fits the frame of a Female Chauvinist Pig embracing Raunch Culture. Extremely high heels, lots of skin and cleavage, she is pretty sexual to say the least in her music videos. She definitely doesn’t have hairy legs, I doubt she burns her bras, and after the Grammy’s the other night I would make an educated guess that she may have once or twice had a bikini wax. On the surface Lady Gaga is just another pop princess who knows how to strut her stuff and get any man’s, or woman’s for that matter undivided attention. However, Lady Gaga doesn’t just use her tits to be successful, I believe she uses her mind even more.I mainly focused on Lady Gaga’s music video for her song “Bad Romance”. If anyone has seen the video then they know how extremely bizarre it is. In the video Gaga wears a total of about 12 different outfits, all in six inch heels or bigger, ranging from total nudity to showing nothing but her mouth. If I had to describe the video I would probably say it was a strange mix between Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” video and Nine Inch Nails’ Closer music video. There are definitely pieces of choreography where she is doing the whole “take my clothes off and degrade my body”. But then there are others like as when she is doing the “Thriller” move with her entire body covered. The video has a pretty straight narrative and basically Gaga along with other women are slaves who perform for a group of men. Throughout the entire video we see her dancing, stripping, etc. for some weird looking dudes. We also hear in the song her saying the line “I’m a free bitch, baby”. And then of course the finale where she walks in wearing lingerie with a big polar bear fur thing over her and sets a guy on fire. At the very end she is smoking a cigarette on a burnt bed next to the skeleton. She is wearing some nice black lingerie with fire sparking out of her bra. Now I’m not sure if Levy would like all the outfits and sexual choreography, but I’m pretty sure she’d get a kick out of the outcome.Even the outfits that do show off some skin aren’t exactly the stereotypical pop princess slutty costumes. Everyone has seen videos or pictures of the stuff she wears to events such as the Grammy’s or the VMA’s. It isn’t something you see walking down the street even in New York City. Gaga has a unique style that while sometimes may show off her ass and tits, it always seems that she is making a statement. She has said in several interviews that her reasoning behind all the outlandish and controversial stuff she wears is to expand the standards for beauty . In high school Gaga felt like a freak and now she says she wants to help anyone who feels like she did.In Levy’s book she criticizes these women who put on a show and act differently for satisfaction or to impress a man. Gaga differs from that because she isn’t putting on an act. She is different and it shows in the way she dresses and performs. She isn’t acting like a man or dressing slutty for liberation and empowerment. Gaga does the things she does because she is an artist and it is who she is. I would like to think that Levy would appreciate this and see Gaga doing everything for her own pleasure and not for some guy’s.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I
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