Blog #12 The Dove Self-Esteem Fund

The topic I chose that was most interesting to me was self-esteem. It is important to me that all people regardless of their gender, age, out side appearance or whatever to have high self esteem and know that they are beautiful just exactly the way that they are. I found an organization that is actively trying to make girls have high self esteem. The organization is called the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. They create thought-provoking ads, confidence-building programs and messages that embrace all definitions of beauty. They even donate a dollar to a charity of your choice by entering your dove UPC number at their website. They are most famous for their commercials and advertisements with pictures of women of all different shapes and sizes in their bras and panties saying that they are beautiful. The society has so many assumptions as to what is beauty. It can really hurt one's self esteem. By showing all different types of women that are average and are not famous saying that they are beautiful, shows that real beauty is in the inside and is not what society makes it seem like. The Dove self esteem fund provides products to make us feel even better about ourselves and know that we are all beautiful. On their webpage they have picturs of little girls saying "i know my hair is beautiful" and it is fizzy, a little girl with freckles saying " i know my freckles are beutiful". The dove campaign has helped girls everywhere realize that they are beutiful just the way that they are.

Paper #2 The Kabul Beauty School Film

A main issue that Deborah Rodriguez addresses in the film The Kabul Beauty School is that women are inferior to men. No man seemed to really want to support the beauty school. As american women went around Kabul telling people what they were doing, men just laughed in their faces. Women do not drive in Kabul. Only men do. When the American woman drove around in her car everyone just stared at her. Men would look back at her and put their hands up at her and point and laugh. Men walking in the streets would not move out of her way , they just would stand their and shake their heads. The women are not allowed to show too much skin. When the Tailiban was there, they were only allowed to show their eyes. If they were too revealing they would get beat up. For years Kabul was under attacks from the war. It was bombed daily. Many of the women in Kabul felt depressed and hopeless. Doing their hair and makeup was the only way to keep their spirits up and feel good about themselves. That is why the Kabul Beauty School was opened.
Women would have salons secretly during the war. Most of the time their husbands did not want anything to do with it for fear of being exposed and harmed by the Tailban. Nafisa, which ran a salon in her home said that women would come all the time to her house to get their hair and makeup done. Even the Taliban’s wives would come. But after they got their hair done, they would just cover up their faces anyway with a veil. They were not allowed to feel good about themselves and show off what they had. Only men could show some skin and their faces.
In Kabul, being born a male made you very powerful. Women were just expected to take care of the house and the children. They are not allowed to make their own decisions. Men do not look at them as being attracted or anything like that, it seems they only wanted women to bear their children and take care of them. Some men even live double lives with more than one wife and several children with each wife. Women could barely even run a salon. There is not was that it would even be possible for a woman to live a double life. They have absolutely no freedom .
The Kabul Beauty School was just a place where the women could gather around and give them more self esteem and be able to be themselves and not just be a person to take care of the house and their husband. Being at that school gave them a sense worth. It also helped to give understanding of the similarities that us as women, regarless of our religious backgrounds or where we are from, have. Gender inequality needs to end. It should not matter what gender you are. We are all people and should be treated equally.

Blog #11 International Council of Women

There are many issues out there are are centered around women. For instance abortion rights. Rather a person is for or against abortion, having the choice to have it done legally or not touches on the freedom that women have to make choices about their own bodies. The International Council of Women also known as ICW, is a worldwide federation of National Councils of Women, which work together on international issues of concern specific only to women. International council of Women is an umbrella organization whose membership consists of National Councils of Women from many nations. This organizaions promotes equal rights and responsiblities for all people regardless of their sex. The elimanation of all forms of discriminations is the ultimate goal. Back in the older days, men had all the power. Women's issues were put aside. Many women's organizations were founded in order to promote peace internationally, general well-being and the right of vote for women. ICW just tries to save the progress that those women have made and make the pain they went through worth while.

Blog #10 Masculinity

In today's society men fell like they have to be strong, independent, and violent in order to be respected. If they are not then they are considered to be a wuss, weak, and get picked on. If men put on a "tough guise" they benefit very much from it. They are socially liked and have much popularity. Perhaps the media can be blamed for this portral of men. In all kinds of movies, even little kids movies, the muscular, violent, stron man is shown as the leader and well respected. The weaker men are used as servants and beat up all the time. People say it is bashing men by saying they are the violent ones, but its true and they learn it through society. It seems to be a cultural norm. This view of men makes it harder on men of color. Ther are already so many stereotypes of people of color. The men of color already feel like outsiders and not respected because of their race. So, it seems like they have to be violent to be a man. Asians are linked to being martial art fighters. Latinos are associated with fighting. So, seeing these men of color engaging in such violent sports, it makes the sterotypes even worse and formulate even more. The combination of those things make the white majority see men of color as the ones to commit crimes and resposible for all of the violence. It makes the white majority to be reserved about being associated with men of color and increases discrimination.

Blog #9 Women and the Work force

People are pretty split on how they feel about Belkin's essay. The sides to the arguement is whether moms should work when they have kids or have no job and stay at home with their children. Those who choose not to work are simply opting out. They want to stay at home to experience every little detail of their childs life and not put them in the hands of other people to take care of while they are working.
I personally think that women should definetly work. Even if it is just a part time job. It is hard to get back into the work force once one has decided to get out of it. Staying at home puts stress on a person. Me personally, I would go insane with boredom and get tired of looking at all the things in my house. And I do not like to cook and clean that much. If I stayed at home then my husband would probably expect me to cook everynight because he worked all day. I do not want that for me. I want it to be 50/50 and both of us contribute to chores in the house and raising our child. And if divorce happens then the woman is left to fend for herself. She becomes very vunerable. Women in our history worked very hard to earn rights for us. By staying at home to become the traditional house wife make me think that we are saying that how women were treated back in day was ok.

Blog #8 Single Parent Income

A full time workin single parent with 3 children who make 1048 dollars a month after taxes has a very difficult time makin it through each month. The cheapest place I could find was a 2 bedroom 1 bath apt that was $340 a month plus the cost of utilities. It was not in too good of a shape. After just the rent on a place leaves $703. I found a daycare from a woman who does it in her own home. It would be #300 for all the kids becase the 5 and 6 year olds would be in school most of the day. This would leave $403 for the rest of the month. A church offers Angel food. $28 for for 2 weeks worth of food. It has ramen noodles, hamburger helper, and hamburger meat. Theat leaves $347. If the church runs out of food it would cost more for food at the store. The rest of the money would have to be used sparingly because most of the remaining #347 would be used for utilities. It is just not very possible to live on this income. Something would have to be donw without to provide for the necessitites or late payments probably accumulate on bills. If something unexpected happens like a flat tire, then there definetly will not be enough money.

Blog #7 Privileges

McIntosh describes some pretty big things that I have never even thought of. I did not realize that people still had so many problems with their race in todays society. I knew in the past there were issues but didnt think it carried over in todays society. I guess there are the older generation that still remembers being segragated and things like that that still hold the same views about race as they did in the past. Some privaleges of being white would be having no one look at you and think of so many bad stereotypes. Even on the video when they interviewed people about some stereotypes about people, they had so many bad things to say about people of color without even thinking about it. But when they had to think of something to say about white people they were like ummm..... didnt have too much to say. Except that whites are rich and the leaders, but even then they had to like a little while before coming up with that. Another perk of being white is that there are more whites around you so you dont have to be lonely and considered an outcast. You are around people mostly the same color as you. Some privelages of being female is that if you do not like working (which I totally do, I would never do this) you can stay at home and not work and no one will really be tough on you and say you do not amount to anything like they would a guy, because it is ok and "normal" if women decide to stay at home as with a guy, it is not so heard of and normal. Most of the time on dates, guys want to be a "gentlemen" so they pay for the date, open your car door, and just treat you soo nice just to impress you. And women do not have to do the nasty dirty work if she does not want to because "its the mans job" so to say. Middleclass you do not have to worry and stress over coming up with money just for simple necessaties such as a roof over your head, food on table, and you can even have extra money to be able to afford to go out to a movie or buy yourself a new outfit or something like that. Being young means that you can have your parents pay for everything. They provide you with a place to live, utilies, and food. Well most of the time, if you have parents that care about you and stay around. You have no bills to pay. And even when you are old enough to drive, you can get a job and just blow all your money and still have no bills, just to put gas in your car and go have fun. You do not have much responsiblities.

Blog #6 Gender in advertising

This ad is for selling shampoo. The target audience is for women. It is trying to sell the shampoo by suggesting that if you use the shampoo not only will your hair look this good but so will your body. We live in such a culture that magazines and tv try to make it seem like you are not good enough or pretty if you are not skinny or have big boobs. Most famous celebs have cosmetic surgeries to enhance their bodies like this model does to make themselves appear 'beautiful'. Women's bodies are shown off in many ads to promote their product. Why does it always have to be women who show off everything and why do we have to feel like we have to live up to the expectations of trying to look super model cute. Those people did not get that way on their own. It is impossible to look like the person in this ad by using the shampoo. Shampoo only works on your hair not your body.
Women exist for many more reasons than to just have a baby. Contraceptions should be an option, as well as abortion. Wether anyone does or does not believe in abortion, I think it should be kept legalized. Because if it is legal, it will be done unsafe and illegally anyway. And it also hinders women's choices they have over their own body. It would just be another way to try and control and put down women, just like in the old days when women were not allowed to have credit card or even money.

Blog #5 My Playlist

I chose the song S.E.X. by Lyfe Jennings because I think it sends out a message to women. In most of today's songs, they talk about girls being hos and putting it all out there and degrades women. In many rap songs as well as their videos, there are women in the video who are wearing barely anything. Women are the sex objects and it makes it seem like its ok to act like that and sleep with everyone. In S.E.X. it encourages women to not just sleep around. Think about it in depth before you sleep with someone. You do have a choice, regardless of what societal pressures are having on you. Mr. Mom was another really good song. It is about a guy who is doing what the sterotypical stay at home mom does. He thinks it is going to be a breeze and gets to stay at home doing nothing at all and sleeping in. Much to his suprise, he finds out it is really hard work. Prob even harder than working an actually paying job. If every man who thought that stay at home moms did nothing and should wait on them hand and foot cuz they have "worked" all day and is tired could experience what this Mr. mom did then I think alot of thinks would change in society, perhaps women would be respected more and be treated more equally with men. I'm still a guy makes it clear that despite what women think, he is still a guy. He is explaining that women see everything all cute and sweet, and fragile and he sees things down to the gore. Like a deer, he sees it as something he can kill and show off and a girl just sees it as Bambi. Well not all guys or girls see it that way. It does not matter your gender, we can see things the same way, it does not have to be seen differently because of our gender.
My music taste has changed quite a bit. I used to like the rap, hip hop, rock songs that mostly just degraded women, and hated the sappy country songs. I still like what i used to but look at it very differently and now lean towards listening to the sappy, "girly songs". I do not like songs that make men above women and women just something for them to use and put under the rug when they are done with them.

paper #1

Growing up I gender was never a big issue for me. I did not know that the traditional woman was stereotyped into staying at home taking care of the children, cooking, and cleaning house all day. My mom and dad both worked. They would take turns cooking and we all helped to keep the house clean. When I was too young to be in school, my grandmother would watch me. When I did start school, one of my parents were always off at a time where one or the other could come pick my sister and me up from school.
I grew up in a rather small town. So when I hear other people in class or any other places say they grew up in a small town and were raised or exposed to women staying and taking care of the home, it surprises me. My mother has always told me that I could do anything I wanted to. I do not think she ever had the expectations of me being a stay at home mother. She has always thought I would be a independent business woman because I always said I wanted to be a lawyer, but I have since changed my mind and want to be a radiologist. She taught me that I could do whatever I set my mind to, to follow my dreams, and do not let anyone stop me.
The first time that I realized that a lot of people had the idealization of the role that women and men should take on was a few years ago, after my sister married her husband. My sister married her husband a month after she graduated high school. She continued working at the job she had been working since she was 16. She chose not to attend college because she was tired of being in school and never could decide what type of field of study to go into. A couple of years after she was married she had her first child a boy. A third, named after his grandpa and his dad. She quit her job and chose to stay at home just to cut the cost of having a babysitter. Also , because she did not trust leaving her child with a stranger. There was no familly members able to watch her baby everyday while she worked. She liked staying at home with him. She developed a system of having dinner cooked when her husband got off work. After a while it was just expected of her to have dinner made. He would think something was wrong with her If she did not .
About 2 years later, she had another boy. For the first couple of months things were going good, but then she started getting tired of staying at home all the time. She stopped cooking dinner everynight and made her husband and start cooking too. He would always complain though. He would say “UGH, I am too tired. I worked all day and all you had to do was stay at home and do nothing.” So, after years of this going on, she has become very depressed and unhappy with her life. I have seen her husband standing right in front of the refridgerator and my sister sitting on the couch and he ask her to fix him a cup of water. And she does it!
I never said anything about it to him because I did not feel like it was my place to say anything about it. But one day we were watching tv and something brought up about how stay at home moms. He was saying that all women should stay at home and have the house cleaned and dinner cooked for when their husbands came home. I just had to say something about it. I explained to him how women and men are equal and men stay at home sometimes while women work. I told him that it is a 24 hour job that never ends. He is so tired when he gets off. But that’s the point he gets to come home and rest and ignore his kids like he does but my sister always is messing with them. She works all the time it is just not a paying job. He went off about how the bible says men are better than women and women should obey the men and whatever. I got so mad at him and still do not like to be around him sometimes for the way he acts. I have never had problems with gender or even realized that there were people in the world who thought this way until this.
That situaion has definetely opened my eyes to the way gender affects some people. I am sure things like this occur all around the world. Even in other countries where women are looked down upon. And in the old days where babies where left to die because they were not born a male. That is so sad. We all have the same oppurtunities given to us to make an impact on the world regardless of our gender. Gender to me should not affect anything. People should not be discrimminated against because of the gender they were given when they were born. I should be about what skills a person has and their personality, not their body parts.

Blog #4 Gender roles

I looked up the classes that are in the women studies department, and I noticed that some classes deal with gender and are not "women studies" courses. I would like to take Body Image vs. Reality sometime before I graduate. I would like to get a job as a radiologist after I graduate. I never really thought about the importance that my gender would have in the work place, but after taking this course, I have become very aware of gender remarks in my everyday life. I would like to think that my gender would not affect my job as a radiologist but I know that there will prob be some kind of situations that it will affect. I know right now with the job that I have women just do not do certain types of jobs. It is not a rule or anything , its just that women don't work in the back and the men don't work in the front. I never really thought anything about it untill this course. This course has opened my eyes to a lot of things I was never aware of. I am definetely going to be taking some more women studies courses at the university.

Blog #3 Iron Jawed Angles

I really liked the movie "Iron Jawed Angels." I learned alot about what women went through to get the right to vote. I really had no idea they went through such extremes to allow women to have a voice in politics. Not even just that but to be treated as equals among men. I must say that I will definetly register to vote and be voting in every election from now on. If I would have known how those women were treated then perhaps I would have been voting all along. Like hooks said in Feminism is for Everybody, if everyone was educated on feminism then everyone would support it. What suprised me most about the film was that women were rude to Alice Paul and the rest of the NWP as well as the men. I guess it was just so deeply embroided into their way of life they never thought of having a voice and was rude to them because the men were too. When Alice Paul got arrested she went on hunger strikes to prove that they were in there for committing no crime. She was forced fed raw eggs and threw up. I think that this is what ultimately gave women the right to vote.

Blog#2 Interview

I interviewed my grandmother. When she was little she was able to grow up spending lots of time with her mother because she stayed at home and took care of her children, as well as clean the house. Her father worked many hours so she did not see him much. As she grew up and got married, she played the same role as her mother. She stayed at home and took care of my mom and aunt. She liked doing that. She waited hand and foot on my grandpa. When they moved to Oklahoma she had to get a job. She was 30 when she had her first job. She told me that women should not have ever fought for equal rights because now women have to work. She enjoyed staying at home with her children. She would not have wanted it any other way.
Feminism is a fight to have women and men to be treated equal. I am conscious of my gender because of my brother-n-law. My sister is a stay at home mom and waits on her husbsand. He will be standing up closer to the refrigerator than her and ak her to fix him a glass of water, and she will. She sees noting wrong with it. I said something to him about it and he told me that in the bible it says women should obey men, and my boyfriend will have me trained. I told him we are equal regardless of race and I will not be "trained."
Women have worked far too hard in the past to have the same right as men to go to waste. If only all women could see they were as equal as men then perhaps the world would be different.

Blog #1 Introduction

Hello, my name is Casey Long. I am taking Women's Studies this semester to learn more about what impacts women have made in the world. What hardships have women have faced? Did women like staying at home living playing the sterotypical role that women play in society? How were they treated by other people? Who is responsible for allowing women to vote and what did they go through to achieve it? If one of these historical women figures were alive today what would they think of how our society views women today? These are 5 questions I would like to answer for myself this semester.