Class Presentations
The first group is presenting on sexual violence. Domestic violence - 85% of reports are from women. The spouse still feels love for their partner, hopes for a change, fears for their life, or doesn't even realize abuse is occurring - that is why they stay. Control of a relationship is why most domestic abuse occurs. Among black marital partners, wives were just about as likely to murder their husbands as husbands were to murder their wives: 47% of the victims of a spouse were husbands and 53% were wives. The family court for abused victims has the power to order temporary child support. Criminal court only has the power to send the abuser to jail permanently or issue a temporary restraining order. Family court cannot accept any case because the abuser and the victim must be together, but where is the line? A minor of 16 or older can make an appeal on their own behalf against a spouse or former spouse, or a person with whom the minor has a child with, if the court determines that the minor has enough maturity and judgment and that it is in the best interest of the minor. Rape is defined as vaginal, oral, or anal penetration by the penis or any other object without consent of the other person. This definition can vary based on the person's viewpoint. 22% of all rapes occcur before age 12 and more than half occur before age 18. Accordign to "Fraternities and Rape on Campus" by Martin and Hummer (Feminsit Frontiers, pgs. 417-424), fraternities stratigically use alcohol to "get laid." A person can be raped or assaulted by his or her partner or spouse. 10-14% of married women are raped by their partners during the marriage. In Minnesota State Law there are certain allowances under which men can rape their wives legally or with minimal consequence. Gender role binaries, the construction of power within the society and the patriarchal family structure are potential causes for marital rape and domestic violence. "Prostitution in and of itself is an abuse of a woman's body...that is the essence and the meaning of male dominance" (Andrea Dworkin). The average age of entry into prostitution in the US is 14 years old. Most prostitutes are non white or women of low socio-economic status (or both), experienced incest or other child-sexual abuse before becoming prostitutes, or experience high rates of physical and sexual violence in prostitution and want to find a way out of it. Prostitution is, at least according to feminist theorists: an extreme form of men's control and violence of women, children and sexual minorities & inherently abusive and oppressive, at least in the way it is rune in the last two hundred years or so.
The second group focused on Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: gendered positions (secretaries), equal pay for equal work, glass-ceiling effects (Title VII), effects of women's traditional roles at home (pregnancy discrimination act), and affirmative action. Discrimination in the Twin Cities: Sennewald v. UofM - full time status awarded to men's gymnastics coach but not women's softball coach; ruled in favor of U of M on premise that it was based on budgeting decisions at the time of request for full-time status. Women in engineering and science fields: women are minority in academia; women are minority of engineers in the corporate world; number of women is increasing, but there's still a long way to go. There are few women who are professors or professors of color. Departments at the University of Minnesota - In the Chemical Engineering Department, there are three female professors and 35+ male professors; the office is full of female secretaries. These patters are consistent with "Sex Segregation in the US Labor Force" article by Christin E. Bose and Rachel Bridges Whaley: "Indeed, only a fraction of women work in occupations that are dominated by men (Draut and Luna 1992). Encouragement to Involve Women: national science foundation provides grants that help fund the labs at the U and ask how many women work in the lab; Charfac just aplied for a renewal on their 5 year grant and had to list the amoung of women who use the lab, what lab has done to promote amount of women using the lab. UofM has a Society of Women Engineers chapter. Despite having a womens studies program at the University of Minnesota, we still have other departments that practice male dominance. The institute of Technology is an example because the majority of professors and graduate students are males. Women and Animals: there have always been more men than women involved in the vet school here at the U; lately, the amount of women has increased, and the amount of men has decreased. There is a larger percentage of women in Animal Science classes. The head vet at Research Animal Resources is a woman. Gender equality in sports: the number of sports, coach's pay, scholarship funding, facilities for athletes and fan base. Number of sports: 12 male and female sports at the U; Title IX helps; 3 female pro sports in Minnesota & 13 male pro sports in Minnesota. Coach's Pay for Basketball: Tubby Smith - $1.75 million a year; Pam Borton - $150,000 a year. Scholarship funding: men still get more and specific sports can add to the funding (men do more). Facilities: women share stadiums with men, if they have their own stadium, it is smaller than the men's. Fan Base - attendance at men's games are greater and the media promotes men's sports more. Conclusion: gender and other forms of discrimination are present here in the Twin Cities.
The third group focused on: Socializing the Individual - Deconstructing Sexuality & Gender. Video Clip of Girls vs. Boys - Girls have long hair and Boys have short hair; Girls like barbies, unicorns, makeup, princesses and Boys like video games, star wars, computers; Girls should help animals and Boys should build houses and go to outer space. Transgender Clarified: a broad term used to encompass all manifestations of cross gender barriers; it includes all who cross dress or otherwise transgress gender norms, and all others who wish to belong; the Minnesota Human Rights Act includes transgender people. "Labeling someone a man or a woman is a social decision. We may use scientific knowledge to help us make the decision, but only our beliefs about gender - not science - can define our sex. Furthermore, our beliefs about gender affect what kinds of knowledge scientists produce about sex in the first place" (Ann Fausto-Sterling). Paris is Burning: gender performance and cues, realness and passing, is drag subversive? "Butler claims that gender is disciplined: 'in the interested on the heterosexual construction and regulation of sexuality within the reproductive domain' (500)." Butler questions whether drag questions and reaffirms the normalization of gender. Androgen Insensitivity: Maria Patino, 1988 Olympics; spain's top woman hurdler; required sex testing for the olympics; she had a Y chromosome and no ovaries or uterus, her cells couldn't detect testosterone. 'First we sex the body then we gender it.' Intersexes: preferred term to encompass a variety of syndromes previously classified on basis of gonadel history as true hermaphroditism; on having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made. Girl or Boy? - physical appearance-phallus length of less than 2 cm; hormonal contributions; nature vs. nurture; societal pressures. Implications for Gender Assignment: reproductive potential, sexual function, minimization of medical procedures, gender-appropriate appearance, stable gender identity, psychosocial well-being. Medicine & Feminist Ties: Concealment-Centered Model: abnormality, nurture, medical problem, "normalize" genitalia; Patient-Centered Model: anatomical variation, nature/nurture, psychosocial support, right to self determination, autonomy, supported by activists, historians, LGBT community and feminists. Long Term Outcomes: Medical outcomes are non-life threatening, Psychosocial aspects: sexual identity, 'niche-searching', and quality of life. Local Activism - Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition, Gender Education Center, and OutFront Minnesota. Sexing the Body by Anne Fausto-Sterling.
If anyone is experiencing what they feel may be domestic violence, be it emotion, verbal, or physical, PLEASE visit the Aurora Center website. Feel free to e-mail me if you have questions, I will be more than happy to try and answer them or refer you to proper resources. My e-mail: englu057@umn.edu