As we discussed in lecture, the feminist movement gained considerable momentum during the 1960’s and 70’s, and as a result, women nationwide won a series of victories that brought them closer to true equality than ever before. With all these victories, one wonders how they have affected society today, and if true equality has been achieved. While there is indeed still a lot of work to be done in the area of women’s rights, there are some encouraging signs that progress is being made, slowly but surely. One example would be that Hillary Clinton has announced her candidacy for President of the United States. Say what you will about her politics, the fact that a woman is running as a viable option for the next leader of the free world is an encouraging sign for women everywhere that, while there is still much to be done, there is a bright future in store for women’s rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000003624500/hillary-clintons-announcement-video.html

After talking and listening to a lot of discussion regarding feminism in the 60’s today in class, I decided to do a little research on what feminism looks like today. I was pleasantly surprised to come across the Red Umbrella Fund website. Basically it is a global fund created by sex workers for sex workers with the goal to achieve the same rights as people who work in any other field. I recall Linnea saying something about how sex workers can also be feminists, that using your body as your empowerment does not mean you are degrading yourself. This fund also creates grants for organizations that seek the same equality with similar interests in helping sex workers. Its a great example of how far feminism has come and how it wont stop anytime soon. They also created an International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Its a day that is celebrated in memory of all the sex workers that have been murdered due to their profession. During this day many clinics hold workshops for self defense and survival.

http://www.redumbrellafund.org/

Nowadays, it is so easy to dismiss the need for feminist because all of the ‘big issues’ have been settled with, but there is still so much discrimination against women out there. Today in section Linnea brought up the idea of women, and what if that idea didn’t exist (the title). Yet- what if we just went by who we are not what we are. Since the 60’s women in America have been fighting to become equal, especially after decades of proving themselves of equal standards to men. However, I look around me today and wonder…is history unraveling itself? Do women still want these rights? The right to be more than a sex object. Instead of embracing our bodies as a sex tool we should be thankful. Because of the bra burning feminist fighting for rights we now get to enjoy the gains of the feminist movement. These include but are not limited to: women’s equal access to education, their increased participation in politics and the workplace, their access to abortion and birth control (Umm, hell yeah!), the existence of resources to aid domestic violence and rape victims, and the legal protection of women’s rights . While some of these are taken for granted, we should be grateful for our sisters in History!

Earth Day is an annual event that we celebrate April 22nd, which happens to be today. This day is dedicated to support and inform people about environmental protection. Earth Day began in 1970 and is now celebrated in over 192 countries. Although we celebrate this day every year there are still issues in our environment, a major one being pollution. To raise more awareness, today you may have seen “Earth Day” pop up on social media. I continued to see it on my snapchat today.

In lecture today we talked about the feminist movement and how women were adjusting to the idea that they should depend on financial independence rather than a husband and that sex without marriage was okay. Putman brought up the book of Sex and the Single Girl and how it was controversial, which led me to think of how much society has changed. Today books and films such as 50 shades of Grey become best sellers and some of the most popular movies. Sadly, these films and books devalue women and portray men to be the more powerful figures. Makes you wonder what the women who fought for so many rights would think of how women can be portrayed now, and how women of today support films and books such as this.

In lecture we discussed feminism in the 60s and 70s. When I go home and checked Facebook and was upset to see a post from a high school friend detailing two instances of sexual harassment that she had experienced today. It brought to mind that though we discussed a lot about misogyny at institutionalized levels, we didn’t really acknowledge the prominence of harassment both then and now.

 Today in large lecture, Professor Putman talked about the Chicano Movement. Here in San Diego we have our own Chicano Park in Barrio Logan by the Coronado Bridge. For this specific mural, the people living there wanted their neighborhood to be rezoned. The translation of “Varrio Si, Yonkes No!” is “Neighborhoods yes, junkyards no!” The people wanted the junkyards to be moved so they could keep their neighborhoods clean from car parts falling into their backyards.

Earth Day is today and across the globe we celebrate Mother Nature and are striving to find ways to better the earth. In 1970 Earth Day was celebrated for the very first time as a national holiday. Even after 45 years we are still encountering various environmental issues, excessive pollution, resource depletion, and climate change to name a few. We are making huge strides in protecting the earth however, the impact on the earth has not been big enough. Countries need to make Earth Day more than one day and start encouraging it as a lifestyle to live clean and protect the beautiful earth we live on.

Earth day was started in the 70s as a part of the environmental movement. This movement, along with other movements, grew out of the civil rights movement. One of these movements was the feminist movement. From these two movements, environmental and feminist, grew a new movement. Eco-feminism holds that in order to end female oppression and environmental degradation humans must reject traditional patriarchal values. Rather than gender defined identities, Eco-feminism asserts that we are all a combination of masculinity and femininity. Life can only exist in harmony with a balance between the two. Eco-feminism argues that humans and nature are not separate but actually one in the same. In order to sustain humans on earth we must learn to live with nature, not dominate it, and we must learn to embrace both our masculine and feminine sides.

JAH

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/sarah-palin-and-hillary-clinton-address-the-nation/n12287

This is a video of two of my favorite feminists, Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. In the skit, they display that there are many different forms of feminism, especially at 2:22. Here, Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) asks that the media stops using words that diminish them such as “pretty, attractive, and beautiful” and Hillary Clinton (Amy Pohler) asks the same thing and gives the examples “harpy, shrewd, and boner-shrinker.”