In large lecture Professor Putman said that there are many of us that are scared of the word feminist because of the stereotype it has received. So I have never considered myself a feminist, in fact I always figured I was quite the opposite. I believe that the woman does belong in the kitchen, I believe the woman makes the perfect homemaker, but I also believe that so does the man. I believe that as women we are to honor our husbands (or future husbands) but the key word being honor, not be a servant to. I think that women have roles in society and men have roles in society, sometimes those can be different and sometimes those can be the same. But as we are discussing what feminism is and what it looks like I am seeing that what role I see the women playing is not the complete opposite of what an “extreme feminist” sees. Feminism doesn’t always have to be burning bras and enlisting in the military or protesting. It can be simple as acknowledging that its ok for women to be in the work force the same amount as men. For standing up for yourself when someone sees you as less than because you are female. You can be feminist, stand up for your rights as a woman but still be a stay at home mom you can still respect and serve your husband.

This week in Class, professor spoke about the Barbie doll and how the image of her is unrealistic. This reminded me of the proportional Barbie doll created by Nickolay Lamm back last year in 2014. The artist took the average proportions of 19 year old girls and created a doll that portrayed those measurements. We see that she is much shorter,has more meat on her bones, and the aspect ratio all over her body is more realistic. I think its a pretty cool variation of the Barbie doll, but i can’t say i’m in support of it nor am i not in support of it.

But Personally, in some pictures such as these (which is supposedly the same doll) makes the accurate proportional Barbie to appear pretty Stubby.

-Nick Thips-

Earlier, this week my little brother sent me a Snapchat of a meal that he created with a caption that said, “This is so bomb!”  My first thought and response was, “Drop acid not bombs!” Obviously this is not good advice to tell your little brother, however, I then got to explain to him what we’ve been learning in large lecture about the feelings towards the Vietnam war.

U.S. soldiers fought in Vietnam from 1945-1975, however, protests about the war did not begin in America until around 1965 when America started bombing North Vietnam.  This was a problem because the damage being done in North Vietnam not only killed the Vietcong but the innocent Vietnamese people as well!  And also in the process young college-aged American soldiers were being murdered as well!  This sparked a lot of protesting in America.  American’s began protesting in the streets and movements began being made!  The hippie movement came out of the Vietnam war as well as many political movements on college campuses such as Berkley.  “Drop acid, not bombs,” was only one of the many slogans used to put an end to the Vietnam War.

On my way home class this week, I noticed a large gathering of people shouting and holding up signs, apparently protesting against something, so I decided to check it out.  “Lucha por 15”, their shirts and banners read, “Fight for 15”.  This is referring to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.  As I walked by I heard someone say, “This reminds me of the work MLK did!”  Whether I agree or disagree with this person’s statement, or the movement in general, I could not help but relate the protest to the civil rights movement as well.  Seeing hundreds of people united for a cause did in fact mirror several movements that we have studied in class including the civil rights movement, women’s rights movement, and the anti-war campaign.  Seeing people unified such as this reminded me how powerful a group of people can be when they put their heads together and fight for a cause.

JT

In my own words…I think feminism can be generally described as the equality of women’s rights in all aspects of life such as suffrage/political rights, social rights, occupational rights, etc. I also think it stretches out to strive for equality in more casual situations such as life at home and within relationships as well. I think primarily the focus of feminists is to liberate women from the popularly prevalent aura/notion of women being “lesser beings” and always being expected to serve/succumb to men’s desires in all aspects. 

On Wednesday Dr. Cobb gave a presentation on Alexander Hamilton and his impact on our nation and honestly until then I had never even taken the time to see that he was on the $10 bill. Hamilton was a key figure in helping to make what our government is today. From a young age he was set apart from his peers and eventually was put into positions under George Washington that set him up for success. Hamilton was a head strong man and saw that their needed to be changed and made it happen. Here is the $10 bill so now every time I see it I can be reminded of such an incredible man.

This week in lecture and small section we discussed feminism. One thing we talked about was how much of the feminism of the past was focused on white women rather than all women. For example, it is widely accepted that women gained the right to vote in 1920, however this was only true for white women. Native American women didn’t receive this right until 1924, Asian women in 1952, and black women were not allowed to vote until 1964. One thing I think the current wave of feminism does well is benefit a more wide-spread portion of society, even including men. I thought this picture was a good representation of the intersectionality of different groups that are included in the current push of feminism.

In section we were talking about how women are used in commercials and often depicted in a sexist way. Here is an add for a video game that is most likely geared toward teenage boys. They are using this attractive women with large boobs to catch the attention of the audience.

The orignal photo that was published on the cover of TIME LIFE magazine in 1945

The famous image recreated into a statue which is located in the harbor of San Diego, CA

This photo was taken on August 14, 1945 which is V-J Day and is truly an iconic picture of the ending of World War II. The image was originally taken by Alfred Eisentaedt and was published on the cover of TIME magazine. This image symbolizes this time period for many people today, the war was over and couples were reuniting together. This shows the excitement from triumph and victory that America had achieved over the Japanese after fighting for almost a half of a decade. Due to the excitement and happiness from the Japanese surrendering and the war coming to an end this couple celebrated by kissing in this very iconic photo. This photo was not taken with a purpose someone was just able to capture this moment which expressed so much more than just a kiss. It showed the true all American couple the nurse and the sailor expressing their excitement in a very personal manner. This picture was taken for the purpose of showing the true excitement for American. The image is only 1545 x 2048MB but has been reproduced countless number of times and is available in multiple sizes. The image possess a modern context of the war ending and reuniting loved ones. Today you can see it on many young military couple’s social media pages as it truly represents the young couple getting back together post war. One can now find young and old military couples reenacting this image in front of the statue in San Diego California.  I found this image on Google by searching for Time magazine sailor kissing nurse I knew I wanted to use this image because it is so iconic in the 20th century and it is an image that everyone has seen at least once. This image reminds me more than just the ending of World War II and couples and families being able to rejoice in the fact that their loved ones were coming home and the war was over. It truly reminds me of my own family my grandmother was a nurse and my grandfather a sailor who fought in World War II and the struggle my grandmother must have faced as her husband was gone to war and raising their children. It reminds me how I have felt in my past waiting for a friend or family member to return home from Afghanistan. This image is truly the image of homecoming and war ending and has been for the past seventy years. This image has tried to be replicated time and time again there are statues here in San Diego of this image but this image is truly historic and cannot be replaced. There has been a lot of historic events that have come after this one but none will truly compare to this day seventy years ago.

Today during large lecture and small section was all about feminism in the 60’s. As Professor Putnam was lecturing about The Feminine Mystique and since our group discussion question was about it, I decided to research a little bit more. I think that it’s very interesting how she write about sad women, and most other women agreed and felt the same. It was also really interesting how the book brought the women together. I ended up finsing this article on the book, 4 Big Problems with “The Feminine Mystique”. The first thing they addressed is how Friedan was racist. A black feminist actually wrote a book in response to Friedan’s book and the author of the book has a good point in saying that Friedan did not mention who the maids, babysitters, clerks, or factory workers would most likely be. There are several other problems that the author of this article saw, but I found the racism one to be most interesting since it was during the period of time where there was going to be change for women as well as black people. http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/4-big-problems-with-the-feminine-mystique/273069/