Last semester, I took an introduction to Women’s Studies, where we interpreted and tried to understand the wide definition to feminism. I remember listening to a TED Talk lecture by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, where she proclaimed that a feminist is “someone who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” (you may have heard this quote in Beyoncé’s song “Flawless,” which is why I have incorporated a picture of her proclaiming herself as a feminist below.) Somehow, from that simple definition, feminism is misconceived as the radical hate for men and the subordination of patriarchy in our society. To me, feminism is more about standing up for yourself as a woman, and rather than diminishing men, empowering yourself with confidence to be whoever you want to be, without worrying about the judgement or oppression by men. Rather than fighting to dominate men or the concept of the patriarchy, to me feminism is about equality.

In this week’s lecture we discussed feminism and a large topic within feminism is reproductive rights. I am taking a Women’s Studies class this semester and we recently went over this topic. My teacher had us watch The Abortion Diaries which is a 30 minute long documentary in which 12 every day women discuss their personal experiences with abortion. Each woman had their own reasons for why they decided to get an abortion whether it was social pressure, or even life or death. It is a short yet powerful documentary that discusses the reality of abortion and the stigma around it.

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.