Well Behaved Women

Knowing Religion around the world

danetra — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:39:05 +0000

The following video was recorded during the round table discussion on The View. It’s a discussion about a British women who is teaching in a Sudanese country. She had her students bring in teddy bears to school, and had each student name their teddy bear. One student named theirs Muhammad. Now Sudanese authorities are trying to stone the women and give her harsh punishments leading to death. Should the women be stoned though? Even though it is apart of their religion, and Muhammad are people not objects, is it right to stone a women to death. Do you think the same out come would of came about if it was a man put in this situation?

Barbie

danetra — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:13:37 +0000

The following link is a youtube video about Barbie having a negative impact on girls. It shows how girls try to go through the stages of anorexia along with depression just so they can look like Barbie, “THIN.” It’s sad that we have this issue, and young girls find themselves depressed and sick. In the video they show a positive view of being yourself, and how one could never be an image of Barbie. Barbie is plastic and made up! Watch the short video and tell me your opinion and thoughts on how we can help young girls with self image.

Has The Media Failed Us?

Y.R. Murray — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:56:08 +0000

Surprisingly enough, I had some well-deserved down time; free of my studies and relieved of several other research projects which were due on April 1^st. I spent this time with some of my college buddies and several other individuals; whom I consider mere acquaintances. After I took a much needed shower and walked the long mile to my house – just on the edge of Edinboro Lake – we ventured off to Millcreek Mall for an afternoon of spending money; none of which either of us had. Our first and last stop, partly due to my usual procrastination, was a used video store. Because I am older than my friends and come from an earlier generation – most of them consider me to be ‘old school’…am I really that old? – so I was naturally inclined to purchase several rap CDs and television sitcoms from the ninety’s. The most interesting purchase was the first season of Living Single. Although I had watched the show innumerable times, several discussions in a course I had been enrolled in since January allowed me to view the show from a different perspective. I was inclined, somewhat trained, to pinpoint various elements of how women are portrayed in the media. I was astonished at how, fresh out of the fermenting feminists movement of the 70s and 80s, a woman could produce a show that still depict women in such a stereotypical fashion. The only exception was Khadijah and Maxine; the former was a hard-working editor and publisher of her own monthly magazine; the latter was a successful lawyer. The other two, Synclaire and Regina, were very unsettling – although one could argue they bring balance to what would be dubbed an otherwise liberal feminist television show. Synclaire is an aspiring actress, obsessed with Troll Dolls, and, if she were white, what some would stereotype as ‘dumb blonde.’ Regine is an image-conscious boutique buyer who is in constant, of not obsessive, search for a well-to-do man to spend her life with, and has a fondness for gossip and wigs. She often refers to this potential man as her ‘Ken’ – need I say more? Although Sylclair displeases me, I must say that Regina downright disgusts me. She is the ideal-type of how the media – one of the major agents of socialization in American culture – portrays women in popular culture; almost entirely in a negative fashion. Yes, the show portrays women this way. However, one must consider further the social reality that the media is received by the masses – hence mass media – and this means that this idea is perpetuated, even proliferated, throughout America. Several negative themes immediately come to mind: the media teaches women that they have be sexy to impress men; it teaches women that an acceptable form of sexuality in society is to have ‘casual’ sex; and finally, it that severs the connection between sex and intimacy for women and reduces to it mere economic gain. Even though the sitcom is full of jokes and comic sketches, the leaders of the feminist movement hardly crack a smile.

The College Lesbian: A Brief Account

Y.R. Murray — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:55:10 +0000

After a long day of mining the Edinboro microfilms for colonial American newspapers, I received an unexpected call from a childhood friend. Her name is **** and she had been attending **** just as long as I had been as Edinboro. The fact that she was my high-school sweetheart meant that we had discussed the usual overview of our personal relationships and significant others. It was only upon enrolling at **** that ****had begun dating women. I am sure, based on other talks, that she had definitively made that decision at ***. She was not merely ‘testing the waters.’ We had discussed her experiences with women, several which had developed into serious relationships. Her closest of friends was lesbians, and gay men, as well. She told me about the homosexual bars she went to, the LGBST events held on campus, several groups she had joined specifically for lesbians to come together and talk, and even the HBO series The L Word she frequently watched with her friends. ****told me how her family did not agree with her decision. Many of our high-school friends called her a ‘college lesbian.’ To them, it was as if the decision was driven by external rather than internal forces. They though she was just trying to fit into a new environment; an environment with a large homosexual population, and that was the determining factor. For ****it was not the environment. It was the culmination of several forces: negative experiences she had in relationships with men; personal and intimate emotions toward women she had been harboring for years; and how she simply appreciation and admired the woman body. I saw it as a combination of external and internal forces. The college environment – an open-minded environment that has always been a place where liberal individuals can go to develop and pursue their ideas – was a place for her to release and experience feelings she had always wanted to share with others. Although society accepts lesbian women more than gay men, she had always felt the need to arrest these feelings at the slightest temptation. The environment and organizations at ****did nothing more than allow her to be free, and nothing more.

Radical Individualism Among Women: A Disease

Y.R. Murray — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:52:59 +0000

There is a select group of my friends who I would expect to attend an academic event let alone have something insightful to say about it. However, there is one. Over the last several weeks **** has been asking some very engaging questions, which ultimately led to several fruitful discussions, about society, capitalism, politics, and, last but not least, African American women. Earlier today, we attended Edinboro University’s colloquium for graduate students. One of my peers, ****, presented an essay about the transformation of urban culture; including sections on music, religion, class, and politics. I was astonished and extremely pleased when my friend became involved in the discussion. Later on that evening while sitting by Edinboro Lake, we began another discussion – in my opinion, it was a culminating, if not synthesizing exchange that brought together several topics we had discussed in the previous weeks. Taking numerous history courses – which involved readings on Hegel, Marx, and my favorite, Bailyn – I am naturally inclined to synthesize just about anything I think about. That is, to bring loosely associated parts into a coherent whole. While we were involved in our usual debate – a credit to him for always displaying the intellectual capacity to not only disagree, but agree, and, furthermore, to understand complex sociological ideas, none of which had taken classes for in a formal educational environment – I proposed the idea of ‘radical individualism.’ I argued that radical individualism is the overarching idea, mindset, and attitude that African American women display in contemporary urban communities – especially African American locales. This is attitude is destroying the structure of the family and the community; eroding it from the inside out. Their attitude is radial: they hold the idea the idea that modern society is the product of patriarchal domination; they seek more than anything else economic dependence; rather than capitalism, men are the root of their oppression; and finally, to truly feel free they must eliminate male domination. This radical thought breeds individualism: they feel that the African American man has not lived up to his role; he has chose to populate prisons instead of universities; he chooses not to be a true father to his children; they think it is a sign of honor to be a single mother; and finally, they feel that they are better off by themselves rather than with a man. Although we disagreed on several aspects, we both felt that it summarized all of our previous discussions: the upsurge in lesbianism; African American women and the social welfare system; the criminal justice system; and American politics. There was consensus that this radical individualism is and erroneous ideology and that many African American display the symptoms. It will do nothing to rebuild the African American family or community, and that men, as well as women, played a major role in its construction.

The “Second-Shift”: False Consciousness or Social Reality?

Y.R. Murray — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:49:49 +0000

I have been conducting research on labor history, specifically in Pittsburgh Pa. Last week I read a monograph titled Shadow of the Mills that discussed the role of women in Pittsburgh during the first half of the twentieth century. The author argues that women held a unique role in the household. While the men went to work in the mills, the sole responsibility of the women was to take care of the household; which was an economy in and of itself, just as difficult to maintain as mill work. I would argue that the idea of the ‘second-shift’ that pervades American thought on women in the realms of the house and the workplace is structurally flawed; at best, it represents radical feminism. Women’s role in the family and the greater household economy began specifically in the house; they maintained the household. If anything, the jobs that they pursued outside of the home should be regarded as the second-shift.

IWS Final Exam Spring 2010

onewomanswork — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:19:42 +0000

Exam Questions

1. The role of gender in the social lives of the U.S. populace is culturally constructed. Using one of the feminist theories, explain & discuss the ways in which language both demonstrates and constructs gender, and thus, gendered interactions, in the United States.

2. It is often a misconception that oppression of marginalized groups centers on one social variable (i.e., gender, ethnicity, disability, etc.). The social reality indicates that oppression actually works in a much more complex way. Choosing two social variables, discuss the intersections of oppression that many women face. In your theoretical examination, explain the ways in which these forms of oppression work.

3. Thoroughly discuss least two feminist theories and how they shape your view of gendered social interactions.

4. Though Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article (and follow up) The Five Sexes, gives a tongue in cheek alternative to the binary discussion of gender in the U.S. She wrote the article to open up discussion on the subject. Discuss the diversity of sex and how our society has come to connect sex, gender, sexual expression and sexual orientation and what it means for our social interactions.

5. Choose one form of the objectification of women (sexual or familial) & its impact on the socialization of young adolescents.

6. In terms of gender, gender roles & gender socialization, the discussion, most commonly centers on the negative impact on women. However, from the standpoint of the sociological perspective, where groups are inextricably intertwined, what is bad for one group is generally bad for others. Weaving the work of Kimmel into your response, discuss the status quo of gender roles and gendered expectations and its impact on the lives of women and men.

7. When discussing the gendered wage gap in a classroom discussion, we found that wait staff make very little money. There appears to be a gendered pattern to this social interaction. Using the work of Ehrenreich as your platform, your task is to suggest three well thought out, workable solutions to the problem of the below average wages that most wait staff earn. Be mindful that you must give some background (including information about wages and the laws that surround them).

8. In class, a student brought to our attention a device called, “Rape aXe,” designed to injure and identify a man who rapes a woman who utilizes it. Developed by South African woman, Sonnet Ehlers, the device was the product of her work with survivors of sexual assault in an environment in which the culture of rape is much more open than it is in the U.S. Though it can be argued that rape in U.S. culture is rarely punished, (especially in relation to its actual incidence) it is rarely argued that it is acceptable. Discuss this statement, the culture of rape and how you think this product would be received in the United States.

http://www.antirape.co.za/index.htm

9. Explain the role of religion in the social control of women.

10. Explain three ways that we can fix this shit.

OUTSIDE EVENT

tracylynne3 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:08:50 +0000

Friday 23, 2010
11:30-3:30
Erie VA Medical Center – conference rooms 1, 2, & 3 on the second floor
135 East 38th Street
Erie, PA 16504

Awesome Girl Athlete

rz091287 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:48:23 +0000

This is a link to a news piece found through yahoo. Its about this 12 year old girl who plays baseball. The story focuses on how she plays and hopes to continue playing through high school and possibly college. Although I think this is wonderful, I honestly doubt that her chances are too good. Maybe I am wrong, but in my high school girls were allowed to play guys sports only if the equivalent girls sport was not offered. Then even if the girls sport wasnt offered there were some pretty tough physical requirements and tests that a girl would have to pass. Even if she managed to continue playing in high school I really doubt that she would continue on to play in college. What do you think?

Women, know your limits

hdevore — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 23:04:36 +0000

okay…im sorry..i cant even handle it…im not even sure what to say…

i dont know if i should laugh of be offended..ha…

sorry to say…im laughing, because this is ridiculous

ill let it speak for itself…really…check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/v/LS37SNYjg8w&hl=en_US&fs=1