May 2011 Archives

While this course has been my first official foray into the GWSS department, feminism and gender politics have always been a pet project of mine. This class provided a much-needed platform from which to articulate new ideas and refine existing ones. The readings and class discussions helped me to bring my already-formed viewpoints into dialogue with new perspectives, and to approach familiar issues from different angles. For me, this course has emphasized that there is no finality to an issue, but a multiplicity of discourses that interact and sometimes oppose one another.

The class blog has been a mostly useful way to exchange ideas and promote discussion, both online and in class. Often, posts people have made on the blog sparked interesting conversations in class, and vice versa. Also, posting one's thoughts in written form can provide the illusion of a safe distance, perhaps making it more comfortable for people to express their opinions without the terror and pressure of public speaking. However, the relative anonymity provided by an online medium, where some of us choose to be identified by an alias or x500, also provides an easy out, excusing one from taking responsibility for one's thoughts and writings. While this has not been a problem in our class, and the exchanges here have been entirely civil, I think there is value in publicly declaring oneself, and allowing one's body as well as one's name to be associated with one's attitudes. This is not so much a critique of the class, but of our generation and of cyberculture as a whole. How is the internet changing how we communicate with each other? How does it change how we form and per-form our identities?

I also question the format of obligatory participation that frames our engagement with this medium and with each other. Because the blog is assigned, not optional, something feels inherently forced and, in a way, false about interacting with each other because we have been told to. Ideally, these conversations would be self-motivated, self-directed and would happen organically. However, I understand that this is problematic because we are all students and, thus, are unfathomably busy all the time; doubtlessly, without some compulsory mechanism in place to keep us on track, the blog would sit empty most of the time. I don't have any good suggestions to improve this.

ALSO. For the record, I hate Twitter. I don't understand how it is useful. The structure of a blog enables and encourages commenting and constructive conversation, which is awesome. Twitter, however, has a character limit that makes any kind of detailed critique or complex analysis impossible. It might be a useful exercise in brevity, but ultimately its limitations are too constrictive. Furthermore, it doesn't allow for comments. If someone posts a tweet that you like or want to respond to, you can do the little "@such-and-so" hashtag thing, but those tweets are uploaded independently and are not attached to the original tweet they are attempting to reply to. The result is a cess pool of random, isolated virtual sound bites that are ejaculated into the ether, encouraging everyone to participate in a self-indulgent and masturbatory barrage of discourse. Fuck that.

La Colectiva has a few conflicting messages. While their Bill of Rights demands improved conditions to empower workers and "level the playing field," their advertising is still steeped in the language of bourgeois capitalism. Despite labeling themselves as a progressive, labor-oriented organization, the first slogan that appears on their web site is: "you can call us your Fairy Godmothers." Invoking this fairy tale image doesn't do them any favors. A fairy godmother is a mythical creature endowed with special cleaning powers, whose sole purpose is to benevolently take care of people's chores. A fairy godmother doesn't have a family of her own to support, nor a personal life outside of her job - her entire identity is encompassed by her function. This completely negates La Colectiva's mission, which claims to be worker-driven.

Also, the idea of fairy godmother implies the presence of magic, which perpetuates the marginalization and invisibility of domestic labor. It promotes the notion that domestic work is not 'real' work, and erases the difficulty and toil endured by domestic workers every day. If a fairy godmother can solve all your household problems with a smile, a wave of her wand and a snap of her delicate fingers, she obviously can't be working very hard. So why should she be recognized or compensated for her labor?

Despite certain questionable instances of rhetoric, La Colectiva mostly has an effective grasp of internet media. The web site's layout is clean, attractive and easy to navigate. Its "About Us" section is clear and informative, but brief and to the point. It provides a quick and focused understanding of the organization's purpose and activities, and also has a number of links to related labor organizations that encourage visitors to learn more about workers' rights. The numerous videos and photographs in the gallery are compelling and provide a window into domestic workers' lives. While La Colectiva's image provides the stability and reliability of a large organization, it always emphasizes the humanity and individuality of the women who comprise it.

Since our classmates' informative and compelling blog about the perfume industry has made fragrances something of a hot-ticket item, you all might find this new development amusing - or disturbing. (Or both!) A German company recently came out with a fragrance that claims to smell like a woman's genitalia. Its name? Vulva.

I found a few different articles with some compelling and pithy commentaries:
Jezebel
The Smoking Jacket
Some Dude On A Message Board
A video from Jezebel, comparing Vulva with Britney Spears' latest perfume

I especially recommend visiting Vulva's official web site, which boasts a video ad that is nothing short of jaw-dropping. The url alone is hilarious: www.smellmeand.com . But be warned! It's not work-safe!

I found a really brazen ad for used cars. There is so much going on in this single image that it boggles the mind. The model's sexualized gaze, the implication of her role as the slut or temptress, the underlying assumption that a woman's value is determined by her virginity/chastity, the reduction of women's bodies to products and property to be possessed like one would own a car...Yowza!

Last month, a group of men in Anchorage walked in high heels for "Walk A Mile In Her Shoes", an event to raise money and awareness for sexual assault. Is this an effective strategy for raising awareness? While the element of crossdressing certainly adds humor and playfulness that could potentially be transformative, what kind of laughter is it encouraging? What does it mean to link tropes of gender identity with sexual violence?

I got to the Whose University event after the play was performed. The audience got a chance to interact with the actors by stepping on stage and saying how they felt about the performance. One girl said that the message of the play touched her because her parents were going through a divorce, another said she appreciated the messages about body image that "you never hear about in school," and another audience member shared how her best friend committed suicide because of how people harassed him for being gay. I missed the play, but the play director summed up her message by saying, "I hope it leaves you always looking for ways to improve things for yourselves and others. [...] You should know that students just like you created the safe space for us to address these issues today." That is what I felt that the Whose University event was about. I stayed for an informational presentation about the campaign, addressing 3 questions:

Who has access to the University?
Who is supported?
Whose knowledge is valued?

It became clear after listening to students, faculty, and people who had not gotten into the U that these answers could not be found in the types of promotional pamphlets usually handed out to prospective students. The students started the presentation by talking about the 7 black students who took over Morill Hall in 1969 and demanded a campus that not only tolerated them, but provided a supportive and empowering environment for people of color. They welcomed a speaker from the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, who had national and state statistics showing age and racial disparities in test scores and academic progress. She said it was worthwhile to note that regardless of race, aspirations for higher education remained high for all groups and that is why we need to ask ourselves what we can do to increase access to higher education. Then, continuing to put the problem of access in historical context, students talked about the general college that was discontinued in 2005 and noted that some departments (mostly cultural studies) had budgets smaller than the refreshments stand at TFC, and smaller than some other departments' office supply budgets! That really surprised me.
"We offer a wide variety of programs," one Asian American student explained, "and when we talk about how we have classes on the Civil War, maybe we should start including slave experiences from the point of black people. Maybe when we talk about Vietnam, we could focus less on the Kennedy policies everyone knows about, and more on the Asian-American protests happening around the country." I looked at everyone nodding their head. We are obviously missing a very crucial voice by eliminating these points of view in our curriculums.
A graduating student of Chicano studies talked about why La Raza cultural center was so important to her. Nontraditional students have unique problems and experiences, and safe spaces are not just built into the plan, they are fought for and never permanently established in Coffman. She noted how the University liked to pay lip service to diversity by saying there's a place for everyone here, but the reality is that they are literally trying to push the programs that support diversity out of the common space, saying that they are trying to allocate the space fairly. "This is not just another club or student union," she pointed out. "We have always, always been marginalized and underrepresented." And that underrepresentation would continue if the cultural center closed.
The vice president of the black student union had a great way of putting it.
"The black student union completely transformed my experience here. Without these spaces, students of color will have a very hard time remaining on this campus and feeling like they can and should belong here."
The rhetoric the school is using does not align with the reality of the admissions process, which excludes a wide variety of talent. As the Vice President of the Black Student Union put it, "We cannot outsource our commitment to diversity to community colleges by blocking our point of entry."
The increasingly narrow criterion for admissions has a tendency to reflect an economic and social resemblance to whiteness. "Applying for admissions made me feel like a soldier in a battlefield," said one student who didn't initially get in. She talked about how her school was poor, did not encourage her to apply to colleges, and she had to go above and beyond what most high school seniors do in order to get into the U.
I'm glad I went to this event because it made me realize how important it is to speak up when an institution you pay for and attend is deliberately trying to remove cultural safe spaces from a student center. I knew they were debating space but wasn't very informed until I came to the event. I feel like I have a better understanding of what sorts of power operates in making these decisions and maybe I should get more involved in trying to help this campaign in its commitment to change.

Prompt 2
I think gender neutral child rearing is about being conscious of gender roles that other people deliberately put your child in. Maybe it means encouraging your children to do unconventional activities like nail painting for boys and playing trucks for girls. Maybe it means not picking out pink or blue clothes, and allowing the children to choose what they feel comfortable wearing. Or maybe, it means reading parenting books critically and asking why and how a child's gender influences the kind of advice the book is giving. What I got from Martin's reading is that she believes that second wave feminist thinking has made its way into some of the parenting advice books, in their push for gender-neutral child rearing. She believes that social issues are culturally understood, and gender has multiple locations in "identity, interaction, social structure and discourse" (457). She mentions that there is this heteronormative presumption, that children are inherently straight, and that limits the discourse and advocacy of gender-neutral parenting. I totally agree with that. Even the most liberal books she wrote about mentioned how there is "no harm" in having a gay child but there is absolutely no mention of the benefit of being gay either. Homosexuality is tolerated if you can't find any other explanation for nonconformative behavior, but the emphasis on finding alternate reasons for children not performing traditional gender roles is part of the reason it's still so hard to grow up being gay. She notes that "in many ways, this feminist push for gender-neutral parenting has been successful but we need a revolution that will take away the stigma of homosexuality. One of the biggest challenges is to change the institutional tendency to deliberately prevent development of gay people. How do we do that? Martin suggests that we stop seeing nonconformity as problematic. From what I understand of this reading, I completely agree.

Question 2

I think it's extremely important to ask oneself "what kind of moral education does one learn from being in a household in which one adult is so clearly subordinate to others?" When families make the decision to hire a nanny, it's easy to come up with reasons why having a nanny might make life easier for all family members or why they can't fulfill the responsibilities that they are hiring the nanny to perform. Feminists would see this as a critical issue because it is central to parenting, labor, and equality issues. In popular discourse, maids are supposed to fill a "wife" role without being a wife. In your blog, you compared it to the way in which the Brady household had Alice, and she was central to the family but never got the same rights or recognition as other household members. What came to mind for me was the 1940s version of Mary Poppins, where the cook and the nanny clean up and make sure Jane and Michael are behaving, while the father goes to work at the bank and the mother socializes with the Suffragettes (definitely an interesting feminist dynamic). I imagine it must be confusing for children growing up with a nanny or maid, seeing an adult who is supposed to care for them but who also is subordinate to the parents. Especially when the nanny is (insert ethnicity here), it creates the problem of people of color serving white people, and even if the parents are not racist, the implication is probably not discussed openly between the employer and their children. The moral education they should be receiving would expose them to concepts of justice and fairness in a professional environment, and to make work visible again. To show the children that work is necessary and not just reserved for second-class citizens is to instill a work ethic that will ensure that they value equal treatment as well. The issues of equal treatment, divided labor, visible work, and family dynamics are all things that can have a feminist spin.

As I was reading letters to the editor(Dr. Date type column) I noticed a brief paragraph explaining this new "Don't Say Gay Bill" being proposed in Tennessee by Senator Stacey Campfield. The bill would prohibit educators from "the teaching or furnishing of materials on human sexuality other than heterosexuality in public school grades K-8. I then decided to do some googling and found an article here summarizing the issue. I then read on another website that Senator Campfield doesn't believe that schools should be advocating for or against homosexuality. To me, this definitely sounds against homosexuality.

What do you think of this bill?

If this bill passes, how will it be detrimental to the well-being of the children in our school systems?

Shouldn't LGBT youth have a place within the school system to have open discussion concerning their own personal thoughts and/or issues?

What if there is a hate crime towards an LGBT youth, would this prohibit the teacher from discussing it with the child?

This reading makes me curious about how I will be as a father.

Will I allow my child to cross dress at a young age?

Will I choose to play catch if my child is a boy?

How will I interact about my daughter?

Why does Jackson refer to the deviance as "gender failure?"

I will be totally honest and answer any and all questions for my child, if it is through their own curiosity that they so discover things, I will ask them. I feel it is essential for child development.

I believe that feminists are responsible for "the nanny problem" but there is a large difference between attributing it to feminists and saying they are to blame for the problem.

Tronto questions to what extent a social movement can be to blame for the societal ills that are a byproduct of it. Because women were able to join the workforce along with their parnters they needed someone to take care of their children, so they brought domestic workers (or nannies) into their home.

An easy alternative to this would be sending them to childcare. This eliminates the ills of domestic labor and the strange congext of working in someone else's home for that person.

In the 3rd contention of "I want a wife" it outlines the creation of the dilema that tronto writes about. That the desire for economic independence, and joining the middle class have necessitated some form of child care.

Check out our blog here!

Part of the assignment was familiarizing ourselves with social media, blogs, and specifically word press. Now that we are relatively proficient making posts on wordpress, we can now explore more advanced user functions such as how people reach our blog and how many times a person views it. We are also interested in exploring ways to get others to engage with us. A constructive way to do this would be to introduce ourselves as the blog writers so readers can get more acquainted with us and our perceptions. By doing this it will allow viewers to see where these thoughts are coming from. Another way to increase awareness of our site is to create relationships with other feminist sites and blogs so we can get more traffic. Another idea we have is to develop a page of links to other feminist blogs and other sites related to feminism. We are going to find sites in which we can "broadcast" our site. We would like to make a facebook fan page for our site as well as add links on our own personal facebooks. We would also utilize other popular sites such as twitter and stumbleupon.

Hey

The event called "Whose University? A Day of Education", Wednesday, April 20th, was hosted by a group of University of Minnesota student who are dedicated to making the University more welcoming for students of diversity and to make the voices of those who do not usually get the attention that they deserve heard once again and to make it known that these students demand equality on campus. On April 20th, they had many different events going on that teach people from within as well as out of the University about things such as diversity and its importance, and about standing up for yourself, making your voice heard and demanding equality. The event that I was assigned to attend was about things like safe spaces and interacting with others. So, the first thing we did was play a simple game where everybody in the room walks around to find a spot the he/she feels most comfortable; whether it was by a door, by a computer or near an electrical outlet. I chose my "safe spot" to be on the couch because it made me feel at home. The main purpose of this activity was to demonstrate how people of diversity (ethnic, religious, sexual, etc.) feel when they first attend the University of Minnesota; that they need to find a place or person that they feel the most comfortable being around or at. Then, we moved on to doing many other activities which were meant to demonstrate how people at the University need to connect with each other and learn to work together and help each other out. After all the activities, the event hosted a rapper, whose name I cannot recall, to come to the University and rap about standing up making your voice heard, I found this to be very effective and entertaining. It was a very interesting overall event, with a very positive message.

In this course we have talked about how marketers tailor their ads to the demographic that shops the most. For example, the Kelly Ripa washer ad that shows her as a multi-taking mom, but is there some truth to that for marketers? Being in a marketing class as well as this course has made it clear that they do so. many. statistics. These stats show the actual percentages that influence their advertisements. See this article: http://news.cnet.com/Women-top-shoppers-online,-study-finds/2100-1017_3-241160.html. In it, Lance Rosenzweig, the CEO of PeopleSupport is quoted saying: "'Women have traditionally been responsible for 80 percent of household purchases," (http://news.cnet.com/Women-top-shoppers-online,-study-finds/2100-1017_3-241160.html). In addition, the article states that still women shop a lot: "60 percent of those who shop online are women,". My professor would say that this is obviously where we see commercials that are specific to women, because they do most of the shopping. Are these statistics drawing for the wrong examples? Should marketers be able to make their advertisements specific to women? Is this a feminist issue??

Within the past few years, there has been a steady increase in the push towards eating organic due to the supposed health benefits and environmental factors associated with organic food. Stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have popped up all over the place (even all across Minnesota) and it really causes me to question this whole organic food thing, even as a feminist issue. First of all, because feminism is usually about taking measures to protect and champion for marginalized individuals, and I would argue that the earth has been quite victimized. As a result, are organic foods really helpful towards decreasing one's negative impacts on the environment? Does it really mean eating healthier? And is it available for everyone?

Well... statistics say no. Organic food has not been proven to provide drastic health benefits, eating food produced locally, as opposed to organic food that potentially had a several thousand mile journey to your grocery store, is what will most effectively reduce one's carbon footprint, and that eating organic is mainly a trend among middle/upper class white people.

So, I question whether or not eating organic really is helpful for the consumer, the producer, and to the environment itself. Also, through organic food consumption, we can see a distinct pattern of socioeconomic statuses and races that do the consuming. So! Is this a feminist issue or do I just think too hard...?

As mother's day is quickly approaching this Sunday I ponder back to how we celebrated mother's day as children. My mother had always been the one doing the cooking and cleaning at dinner time. On Mother's Day my dad would contribute a lot more. He would typically be in charge of the grill as we always grilled out for her and help us take care of the cleaning so my mom did not have to do anything. This day was a very happy and loving day for mother's and where they truly see appreciation for all they do. This is one day of celebration though, I feel mother's deserve more praise. It is always an enjoyable and well deserving family day. Out of the 365 days a year should mothers deserve more than just one day devoted to their praise?? What are your thoughts on this?

While I was at Cub Foods this weekend, I noticed by all of the grocery carts in the entrance, there were a bunch of little grocery cart for kids to push around too. This, I have seen many times and was unalarmed by but what did strike me was the enormous flags sticking out of the carts stating "Customer in Training." I would have normally found this slightly unnecessary anyway but it definitely me of a discussion we had in class a few weeks ago about the connections between family values and capitalism. It makes sense to me that our society in essence raises a bunch of little capitalists to perpetuate our economic system and in turn our heteronormative family agenda. But it really did surprise me to see the "Customer in Training" cart at the local grocery store. To me, it seems like one of those things in our society that we all really know is there (our consumerism and materialism) but never something we want to acknowledge or discuss. Therefore, it took me aback to see that Cub Foods was blatant about their intentions of encouraging consumption among even the youngest of members of our capitalist society. And I know that it is obvious that we all need food, therefore children will probably walk around grocery stores pushing around a big grocery cart some day whether they pushed around the miniature one as a child or not. And I still feel conflicted over whether or not it's good to be blatant about our society's desires to continue cranking out consuming capitalists or whether it should be confronted, but not at our grocery stores...

The picture I took on my phone unfortunately did not save, but I luckily found a picture of the cart (in use even) on Google.

Perhaps like many young women, I grew up with a subscription to Seventeen Magazine. When I was younger, I could not wait for my magazine to come every month so I could look at the cute clothes and get ideas for what I needed to have for school the next year, just like I had seen my older sisters do when they were teenagers too. However, as I am now older (haven't been a teenager for a little over a month now!) and have not had a Seventeen subscription for many years, I begin to see how truly messed up of a publication it really is. I know that the media is general, however Seventeen has really begun to bother me. I remember from when I used to be a regular reader, and I'm guessing the format has not changed much, is that the magazine consists of a fashion section, a make-up section, a fitness/health section, information about college life, a dating/sex/boys section, a celebrity interview/photo spread, and there was always some horror story about a girl who thought she was dating a boy and it turned out to be a girl, or a young woman who had a stocker and how she handled the situation. Pretty much the rundown of every issue.

Boost your confidence! But feel pressured to dress like a celebrity and make your crush want you!:

I however have become troubled by the magazine as it claims to be about empowerment for young girls but simultaneously reminds them that they are not good enough, and that there is always room for improvement. Similarly, I now see that the magazine is certainly formulated for a particular kind of girl. First of all, heterosexuality is assumed, most of the women featured on the cover and in the pages are Caucasian, and a particular assumption about class is underlying as the whole magazine promotes consumption.

Dress for your body but don't forget to get amazing abs!:

Of the most disturbing of Seventeen's endeavors is perhaps The Seventeen Magazine Project in which girls are encouraged to "spend one month living according to the gospel of Seventeen Magazine."

Look pretty! And get your best butt:

What are your thoughts on the magazine itself, its message to girls, and the Seventeen Magazine Project?

Admittedly, I am a fan of the popular and iconic television series/movie franchise Sex and the City. I find the show to be funny, witty, oftentimes mindless entertainment, but that it does touch on important and current issues that women face. There are however many issues that I have with the show that I think could make it a feminist issue. Some include, but are not limited to:

+All of the women are white
+All live lavish lifestyles that most women could never afford
+For the most part, the men they date are white
+Two continuing gay male characters are immensely stereotypical
+Samantha, the most sexually active (for lack of a better term) never faces consequences for her frequent sexual encounters with many, many different men.
+Charlotte's greatest desires in life are to be a wife and mother, even declaring that all women just want to be saved
+All relationship story lines among the women (except for one brief plot line with Samantha) revolve around heterosexual relationships

This is a very brief list of issues that I see with Sex and the City, and if you've seen the second movie you know that the entire thing is flawed and filled with the above issues and some weird form of imperial feminism. (This article highlights imperial feminism more and is essentially the same situation that happens in the film).
As mentioned, I find Sex and the City valuable as demonstrated an open space for women to discuss issues that are normally discouraged conversation points in our society. However, the show/movies remain problematic. Thoughts?!

Charlotte, Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha-- the main cast of SatC

So, while I realize the issue for body hair for women is often taboo and somewhat of an uncomfortable subject but then I heard about a product line Nair is running called Nair Pretty. The product is aimed at girls starting at age 10. You can read more about it here:

http://gawker.com/#!299867/bring-on-the-smooth-young-girls

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/562895/nair_pretty_hair_removal_for_10_year.html?cat=25

I also thought this quote was particularly troubling: "When a girl removes hair for the first time, it's a life-changing moment," said Stacey Feldman, vice president for marketing at the women's health and personal care division of the Church & Dwight Company, which purchased Nair in 2001.

Call me ignorant but I never realized body hair removal has somehow become a right of passage for young ladies. If anything it's a chore that most women adhere to out of personal preference, hygienic reasons, or due to the social stigma that a woman would experience if she weren't to shave. I'm not against hair removal in general but I am troubled by these particular products aimed at girls staring when they're still children. Do ten year olds need to be concerned with their looks at such a young age that they'd be pushed into using a product like this?

Even more disturbing is the issue of the bikini wax. There has recently been laws passed to either ban girls under the age of 18 from being allowed to get one or if they're under such an age they must be accompanied by an adult. Is it just me or is anyone else disturbed at the thought of girls who are still minors going through such a procedure to remove hair from that area. It particularly doesn't help and seems even a more disturbing reality when socialite celebrities like Kim Kardashian reveal how, "Literally, at 12 years old I had a bikini wax. I had an appointment once a month on a specific day, like every Friday we'd go and get the inside of our brows waxed and a bikini wax," http://way2online.com/?p=133010

Does anyone else find this disturbing or am I just that out of touch here? Also, here's a video by Amanda Palmer that stands in solidarity for all the ladies out there that don't want to look like hairless plastic barbie dolls:

I found this while studying at Walter Library. I guess when Red Bull workers decided to handout free Red Bulls, they decided to hand out a message.
Yes, Red Bull apparently decided to throw itself in a feminist war. "If you see a woman doing a lot of work all at once, continuously, and tirelessly, you should give her a red bull so that she can do more work." I know that doesnt just sound wrong to me. Not, "you should help her to lessen the workload on her" or "find someone to help her" or "where is her husband?" rather "find a way she can do more work."
Feminist issue?

Our group decided to make a tumblr as our means of social media for Women in Hip Hop. Tumblr is a blogging website that is a bit different from others (e.g. wordpress or blogspot). It encourages interaction between blogs through following other blogs, reblogging posts, sending asks, and submitting content to other blogs. It has all of the benefit of the accessibility of other blog sites but with the addition of more interaction than just comments. However, tumblr does have some drawbacks as a platform. It is a relatively young website that often has server crashes and periods of inaccessibility, as well as some features that don't necessarily work all of the time. Also, because of the nature of the site as primarily a photoblogging website, it is not necessarily the place for wordy, in-depth analyses of things, as many people will skip over long text when it shows up on their dashboard. However, if you can pare your blog content down to a consumable length, it can really be a great way to engage people.
Social media is a very important and popular avenue for spreading information. People can not only learn but also engage with topics and other scholars on topics when they explore blogs, websites, tumblrs, etc. We plan on following other blogs and re-blogging information so that there can be one cohesive space where people can explore women in hip hop. We can also post the link to our facebook/twitter/myspace pages to attract more attention. Hip hop is such a popular aspect of pop culture today that by using tags relating to it, more people will stumble upon the page and information will get to more people. Spreading information on the web takes effort because people have to weed out all of the information that comes at them when they type one word into google or other search bars, but using social media is vital for feminism (any issue/movement for that matter).
Our tumblr can be found here. We have a lot of posts up so far, and more in tumblr's queue feature, which updates automatically, so there's even more content to come!

Maid in America was a very eye opening film. I had never thought about domestic workers in the U.S. as a feminist issue, but it really is. After seeing how painful it was for Judith to be away from her daughters, while taking care of someone else, and also being pregnant, it became clear how unique this situation is to a woman. It really reminded me of apartheid South Africa when black women would travel long distances to be nannies to white families, sometimes having to live near the house instead of their own home, and they were more mothers to someone else's children than their own. It is so frustrating to see that, but at the same time, the three women in the video were so hopeful. Eva is determined to be an accountant, what she studied, Judith wants to return to the U.S. with her daughters and Thelma is thankful for the family she is working for because she says they do treat her like family (she is basically the mother).
I feel compelled to really look more into this after seeing this movie. I didn't think I would be this interested in feminism in labor, but this topic really makes me want to do something.

* I don't know why this wasn't showing up on the blog, I had it saved as a word doc so I really did write it back in March

One of the main focuses of feminism is to secure women (and all genders) a safe place in the workplace as far as sufficient wages and a harassment-free environment/gender neutral environment. But what about self-made women that have been mothers throughout their entrepreneurial success? In the Forbes.com blog about "The World's Richest Moms," they mention Diane Hendricks, a self-made billionaire who started the company ABC supply (one of the most popular roofing/siding wholesaler companies in the U.S.) with her husband. She was running the business when her children were growing up and she was a widow. In the article, she is quoted saying, "'Women may get tired before the men...'because that responsibility of raising a family still falls heavily on the female,'" (Says Hendricks on ForbesWoman by Jenna Goudreau: http://blogs.forbes.com/jennagoudreau/2011/05/03/worlds-richest-moms-wealth-billionaire-mothers-day/ ). Later in the article it states that Hendricks would not have been able to do it without a nanny, but she also believed that, "Pursuing college or a career was never proposed or encouraged, and she believed a woman's role was at home with the family," (http://blogs.forbes.com/jennagoudreau/2011/05/03/worlds-richest-moms-wealth-billionaire-mothers-day/ ). Is a full-time mother and career woman an impossible feat? Do mothers have an advantage in the workplace because they know what it takes to juggle everything including family, or is it a hindrance? Are the world's richest mothers a feminist issue? Does the workplace provide available resources to full-time mothers (daycare/etc)? What I would want to ask these women is the advice they would give when they look back to raising their family. Do you think this is a feminist issue? What provokes your thoughts?

My interest in the "sexting" epidemic was sparked when I heard of young girls in the neighborhood getting in trouble for it. My reaction to "sexting?" What the hell! The stuff that goes on with kids these days makes me scared to ever have a child. What is driving these girls to do this? Is it just their insecurities or is there an underlying issue here? For those of you who don't know exactly what "sexting" is... it's short for "sexy texting." This can be done either by risky pictures or sending promiscuous text messages. I have heard of 11 or 12 year old girls getting grounded and having their phones taken away because of sending inappropriate messages...that is WAY too young in my opinion. Is it the standards that us girls have to deal with that's driving people to "sext" or is it the readily available access to technology that is the issue? Would these girls or boys act as promiscuous when face to face?

I know we've all heard the quote, "history is her story too," and when we look up the origin of the word, history, its greek root really has nothing to do with being male dominated, however; when looking back at what many would deem the history they learned in High School, how much of it is feminine history? How much documentation has been focused on historical events revolving around men and patriarchy? I understand that years ago, women were not equal and were socially stigmatized into certain roles attributed to motherhood and marriage, but I've read so much history about men and very little archived about women. How as the "herstory" movement changed people's view of history itself? And how could it be better applied in feminist pedagogy in education to raise more positive awareness about feminist ideals?

With all the breaking news about the war in Iraq, and the finding, and ultimately the killing, of Osama Bin Laden I've started to wonder how these things apply to my own beliefs as a world citizen and a feminist. I'll be the first to admit, that like many people (young and old) I haven't done very much research into the war after the first few years passed by. I don't have any family or close friends over seas, however; I'm very grateful to those men and women who've gone and are gone.

Anyway, until last night when I read that Bin Laden had been killed, I hadn't given the war much thought recently. I certainly thought that since we hadn't caught Bin Laden yet, we probably never would. Overall my interest in the "War on Terror" hasn't spread much past analyzing the Patriot Act, and researching the infringements on American citizen's constitutional rights that have happened since September 11th, 2001. Overall the "War on Terror," has been the center of many controversies within the government to budget cuts and body counts and issues of America's safety. I myself feel like a bit of a government conspiracy nut with my research into the Church Committee, and the far reaching lessons its findings have to teach American's today.

I know this may not really count as....This is a feminist issue because...
But I hope it does because I have these and many more questions in need of discussion, and I hope it gets some before class ends.

Was the killing of Osama Bin Laden justified? Does his numerous terrorist acts constitute a contract out on his life?

From a global feminist perspective, is war ever okay?

From a curious citizen perspective, the government has stated so many reasons for this war, over and over again they've made it into issues of national security on all the main media news networks/speeches by its officials, but is it really just that? What other variables are a part of it? And who's job is it to suss out the truth, when reporters and main news stations are in the pocket of governmental bodies?

What about the people of Iraq? How does American treatment of prisoners of war in the past and possibly the present affect the world?

So, I went on a date the other night with a guy..that I turned out not to be that into. But, as I was explaining what happened to friends of mine, I started thinking. At the end of the conversation, they asked "well did he pay for the drinks?" I told them yes and they were like, well you should go out on one more date with him then.

A few thoughts came to mind after this...first, would it have been so bad if I had paid for my own drinks? Is this still something that needs to happen? Maybe I'm too upset about this, but I think that a girl buying her own drinks does not scream "oh what a jerk." We're all poor college students right?

The other thought that came to mind was, why did him buying my drinks make him a gentleman? So he bought me a beer, what did that really say? Dating in general is an exciting yet frustrating time and to say because a guy bought you alcohol is a good sign is slightly skewed if you ask me.

The story and the way my friends reacted just made me think about dating as a feminist issue in general, but because of stigmas on all sides of the gender web.

My baby sister just ended the Ayres prom sequence over this past weekend and it brought a feminist issue to my attention: is prom a feminist issue? I'm going to play 21 questions in this entry, but there truly are millions of ways to think about it. A few issues that I could think of were in the following groups:

--The Prom Dress. Why a dress? I think sometimes this is where the Disney Princess and Barbie fallacy comes in... and (stay tuned on Wed for our presentation on Feminism and Toys) can this be tied to body image issues?
I came across a blog titled, thefbomb.org, that goes into detail about prom and these issues. The posts date back to 2010, but I believe these issues still occur. Laura H. posts on 4/28/2010 in a post, "Prom, Dresses, and Body Image." Her personal prom story reminds me of the issues that erupt around prom time: "Most of the time I manage to push all of this negative stuff aside and the things I know in my head win through. I'll eat what I like, thank you very much; and I'll have you know, little voice, that I'm happy with my body the way it is. So there. I think most girls feel like this sometimes. That little niggling voice is a universal problem. It's to do with social expectations and cultural aesthetic norms, and it plays on the insecurity of all girls going through a very difficult stage in their life. It doesn't matter how feminist or body-confident you are, it's still there... This, I suppose, comes back to my loathing of the concept of prom." (Laura H., ) http://thefbomb.org/2010/04/prom-dresses-and-body-image-issues/

--The Prom Date. Who can go with who? Who is going stag and why isn't it more common? I remember back last year when a senior girl, Constance McMillen, received a massive surge of press when she was going to bring her girlfriend to prom in Mississippi and the school board claimed to shut the entire dance down http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20000321-504083.html .

--The Amount of Money for Prom. Who buys the ticket? Is a limo necessary, and who pays for it? My sister just lucked out for her dress, she did her own hair/makeup/nails... (why is this even necessary to some people in the first place) but I remember when I was in high school many girls dropped around $200 for a dress, $60 for hair, $30 for nails, and $30 for makeup. Is this a feminist issue? For some girls they feel it is something they need to do.

My last question, who Goes to Prom? There are obvious costs involved... is Prom a socioeconomic privilege?

Dressing a certain way or covering up as a feminist issue......

I was at a restaurant the other day and heard someone tell their friend or possibly significant other that they were dressed like a whore. It made me think about this class and how dressing a certain way can either be perceived either negatively or positively. I thought about how a girl wearing to little is asked to cover up or called names because of their lack of clothing, and how a woman completely covered up could be perceived as a prude or uptight. It made me curious about who decides what is appropriate dress and why are these boundaries of dress defined and how they marginalize certain women.

Some thoughts......
Who decides what's appropriate clothing for a woman to wear?
What is sexy and what is slutty?
Who makes up these rules that control the way women dress?
What are some assumptions that people reach about others, specifically based on clothing?
What are some mixed messages given to women in relation to their dress?

Our groups decided to do a website on weebly.com where we could put up information about how toys and other popular products for children can be gendered and the possible affects these products may have on children.

We decided to focus mainly on toys, but also looked at comic books, and different aspects of the media and the different gendered messages that are being sent out to children via these products. There are many products that are specifically geared toward girls and other products specifically geared toward boys, and we were curious about how these products and the way they are advertised can create different gender identities and negative stereotypes. Toys and other children's products are available in many different spaces in advertisements, stores commercials, etc. and we wanted to create a website that would take a critical glance into what exactly these product advertisements and products themselves are saying to the youth in our society. We wanted a space where people could see specific gendered toys and products and offer an explanation of what affects these products could possibly have. We also added a contact page so that people viewing the website can offer suggestions, opinions, and other examples of products perpetuating negative gender roles and children.

Social media like our website offers any person with Internet access the opportunity to become curious and take a critical eye into the children's product industry. By raising questions and offering research on our website we can start a discussion about these products and learn even more from other people who have access to our website. We could get the word out about our website by linking it with information on facebook or twitter and leading people to our website. By linking our website with other popular social media we could have a better chance at getting people curious and starting critical discussions and insights into the issue we are looking into.

Carly, Kim, Jen, Serena, Hannah

Within all of the movements addressed within a 'Feminist Critique of Priorities in Academia', social media often played a larger role in publicity and mobilization of the projects. As was made evident within the Put This On The Map project, the Whose University project, and the Campaign for Non-Violent Schools these movements have made use of video footage, blogging, Facebook, texting and Twitter. All of these social media outlets have been used to spread awareness about issues concerning who's knowledge is valued, who is supported within academia and the ways in which funding reflects who/what is prioritized. Not only were these organizations creating their own social media projects by creating Facebook, Twitter and You Tube accounts, but their movements also were further publicized by the media through such means.
While these social media outlets are very beneficial to these movements, when looking at accessibility it's important to remember that these movements were focused around academia. Because of the location of these movements within university and high school systems the populations mobilizing within these movements were all likely to have equal access to the necessary technology. Given the priority of internet access within academia as a whole, we must remember that social media is accessible to these specific populations but still remains limited to the larger world.
In this sense we can understand social media as being beneficial within academic circles as it allows for a spread of consciousness and exchange of ideas surrounding feminist issues. Ideally when individuals develop awareness around issues, they and are provided with a critical exchange of feminist ideas which have the potential to spark feminist curiosity.

I was quite impressed with the Whose University program. I was able to attend from about 1:00 to the end. The initial, "Because Knowledge is Power" program was quite powerful, if not moving. I walked in about a half hour after the program had started, so the atmosphere had already started to set in. There were college and high school students, faculty, and interestingly some outside people all packed into the Great Hall of Coffman Union for the Day of Education.
Students shared their stories about their experiences in higher education. One of our classmates spoke about his activism for immigrant students, and greater immigration reform. He cited the Dream Act as a feasible option for granting decreased tuition for immigrant students if they had lived in the United States for 5 years or more, and chose to serve in the military. Another one of our classmates also shared her experience with General College in her first year at the University of Minnesota. We had talked about this before in class, but it was still a sad reminder of the systematic elimination of opportunities for less privileged individuals.
The most striking testimony though, came from an individual who was denied from the University of Minnesota. He spoke to how he could not get into the U of M, despite having average grades and the minimum ACT score. He isolated his feeling of disenfranchisement because he felt only like a number in such a large school. Getting denied form the U didn't end his academic pursuits though; he met with a recruiter from Hamline, who offered him a full ride scholarship and he is now a top student majoring in mathematics.
Another surprise happened when I went to the Faculty Panel on Ethnic Studies, and my African Studies Professor, Dr. Rose Marie Brewer was actually the moderator of the forum. She gave a great overview of the situation with ethnic studies within the liberal education experience, and each department was able to field her questions, and questions from students.
Initially, I was surprised to learn that the College of Liberal Arts offered an Asian American Studies degree. Despite it making a lot of sense to have one, I didn't really think of it as something you could major in before... and I still don't because with funding getting cut for the university, one of the first places that cuts are being dolled down in is CLA, and that prevents the Asian American Studies minor to not be able to grow to become anything larger than it already is. Also our Chicano Studies department only has two professors, and they have both a major and a minor (though Graduate Classes have since been cut).
To end the Day of Education, Whose University brought in a few groups of artists to display their talents. My favorite, hands down, was Poetry Assassins. It was way more powerful than any rap, and despite not having a beat, I felt the flow was still there, but the words were more meaningful and easier to listen to because there was no beat and no hook to distract you from the song's meaning. I also enjoyed the Chicano dancers that were at the very end as well.

BONUS EASTER EGGS:
-I saw the vlogger we featured in class on April 4th. He was filming some of the event, though he was fitting the normative constraints of wearing a shirt.

I was in Victoria's Secret recently and to my surprise saw two very young girls around the ages of 11 or 12 browsing through the underwear and bra collection. I found myself a little taken aback because I know that I did not wear thongs or padded bras at such a young age, much less shop at a store that has such a sexual image/message. What do you guys think about young teens shopping at places like Victoria's Secret? What age do you guys think is appropriate for such transitions?

Here's a picture of one of their recent ads.

One of the most talked about shows on television is Jersey Shore. This show portrays eight east coast "drunks" living under one roof. The males in this show are all about getting girls to come back to their place after a night of clubbing is over, which is just about every night. Does this whole idea seem degrading towards women? I know I watch this show every week along with millions of other people for its entertainment but they really do not show any respect for women. The guys act as if these girls are property when they take them home at the end of the night. What are your thoughts on this show.> Is it a feminist issue?

We decided to create our own blog where we could post any and all questions or observations we've had about perfume and cologne ads:

Gender Scents Blog

We focused on the different marketing strategies that are meant to appeal to men, women, or both by using the widely popular "sex sells" formula as well as others. We had many curiosities about the gender division of scents and the way in which advertisements perpetuate traditional gender identities. There was also the question about why it is specifically fragrance products that so often use sex and gender as marketing strategies.

While perfume and cologne advertisements are found in many public spaces: billboards, magazines, television, etc. these spaces do not allow for comparing and discussion. Taking these images and putting them all together on a blog on the internet provides a forum of discussion for literally anyone with access to the internet. Finding them all in one place presented in such a way that invokes curiosity (like the way we have, posing questions and our own curiosities) opens up discussion. Social media such as this is a way to share information because it allows individuals to come across perspectives and insights that they may not have otherwise. This accessibility that the internet provides is what we had in mind for our project as a feminist issue. The more accessible information is made, the more knowledge people can gain. Our blog can be even more accessible through linking to popular social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Courtney, Thanh, Meghan, Madeleine, Jordan

Our media project consisted of creating a PSA spoof advertisement about the issues concerning unwed mothers. In particular our video was looking to debunk specific myths, rhetoric, and ideologies that are popularized and used to stereotype and demean a specific group of women without any concrete facts or basis for their criticisms. We used xtranormal.com as a host/program for creating our video and from that we're able to host and share it via YouTube, facebook, twitter, etc... What's nice about these social media platforms is that they can be utilized to spread various sites, videos, and information with friends and family. Through social networking videos like ours are easily spread throughout cyberspace just through linking it. The idea to do create a video via this platform has been popularized through adverts like Gieco and other YouTube videos spoofing popular PSA's and political commercials like NOM's "The Gathering Storm." Many times these videos are picked up by television hosts like John Stuart and others that highlight them in their shows and use it as a means of informative entertainment.

In particular though, curiosity and issues concerning feminism can be raised via social media by spreading the word through as many different sites as possible. This method is somewhat limited due to needing to shore up interest and sensationalism to get people to view these different resources, but I think it's arguable to say that any issue that is made relevant via news and media will be sought after and spread as a means of raising awareness. What we can do is continue to make these issues relevant and spread them as much as possible through social network sharing; the internet as a broad system is an excellent platform for advancing issues and questions surrounding us. While there is an understanding that not everyone has access to a resource like the internet it still remains one of the primary if not the number one method of spreading news and information. By creating YouTube videos, blogs, and different websites the information will at least become available and accessible to a wide ranging audience that connects to the web every day.