Is Women's Studies Still Relevant?
Reading the Women’s Press that we were given in class a few weeks ago I feel that the main articles in the paper point heavily toward a need to continue our women studying.
Reading the Women’s Press that we were given in class a few weeks ago I feel that the main articles in the paper point heavily toward a need to continue our women studying.
I'd like to further add to this confusion.
to the author of "today," I'd like to ask you about your comment on R.S's blog post.
This is not about content of arguments anymore. This is about discussion, respectful discussion.
R.S composed an argument, an intelligible, respectful, supported argument. This person read and sought to engage with your writing.
The least you could do is return the favor.
Though you claim, your response is "not a personal attack,� I would ask you to reread some of your statements and question whether this is truly the case.
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Examples from your comment:
"That being said, if you have such a problem with the way this country functions LEAVE!!!"
"However, you think women are treated and portrayed poorly in this country, you're in for a rude awakening sweetheart."
Instead of education, do you think illiteracy is more ideal? How would you suggest that our country survives on us all living in shacks and sleeping on the dirt ground. There are plenty of places on this earth where that is the living conditions, I'm sure you could make yourself at home."
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Your comments are condescending and rude. I respect whatever points you choose to argue. However, I will NEVER respect an argument that seeks to personally attack, belittle, and silence. That is what you have presented.
May I also suggest use of a less fallacious argument? I am uncomfortable with hypothetical examples of how I should be indebted to society because at least I’m not in
a
“war zone where your being abducted into sex-slave service while your 9year old brother is beaten and then drafted into the Rebel army to fight in combat to kill your best friends mom in the nearby village. Is advertising as bad as that?!?!(RowGophs)�
Thank you.
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bell hooks, on the formation of a new social order:
“New social orders are established gradually. This is hard for individuals in the United States to accept. We have either been socialized to believe that revolutions are always characterized by extreme violence between the oppressed and their oppressors or that revolutions happen quickly. We have also been taught to crave immediate gratification of our desires and swift responses to our demands.“The formation of an oppositional world view is necessary for feminist struggle. This means that the world we have most intimately known, the world in which we feel “safe� (even if such feelings are based on illusions), must be radically changed.�
“Those revolutionary impulses must freely inform our theory and practice if feminist movement to end existing oppression is to progress, if we are to transform our present reality.�
Just for the record, I would like to offer the possibility of a working definition of feminism. In my digestion of several posts on the concept of "Feminist media" I noticed several confusing and contradicting statements. My main concern is the lack of clarity on the goal of feminist media. Women artists and not inherently feminist, women on screen are not inherently feminist, discussion regarding sex, power, race, or class are NOT INHERENTLY feminist. Also, can we clarify the difference between watching "feminist media" and analyzing media through a "feminist lense"? Because these are two very different events. It is incorrect to operate under the assumption that all of the films screened in class are inherently "feminist" because they were viewed in a feminist film context. Not the same. Not the same at all. Rachel never said to my knowlede that these were all feminist films, they were films we were instructed to analyze under a feminist lense.
Ex) The Piano. Not a feminist film. If you disagree with me, please! tell me! engage with me! tell me your arguement. I would love to discuss, mostly because I feel so strongly about this subject. When feminist tropes are mistaken for feminism, the result is a devestating landslide of destructive, unintentional ignorance.
I feel its safe to use bell hooks definition of feminism. That won't get me into too much trouble right? She is a highly respected scholar and writer and she seems credible enough to avoid conflict..
“Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression�
So,
can we start over now?
where do we go from here?
Also,
I'm done with equality. We've all "agreed" on equlity, we've "done that."
I want more. I want liberation.
"If equality means entitlement to an equal share of the profits of economic tyranny, it is irreconcilable with liberation. Freedom in an unfree world is merely licence to exploit." (greer)
I just finished taking a really interesting theatre history course this semester. In preparation for the final class, we were asked to pick a topic of interest from the breadth of material covered in the course and review our notes for an in-class discussion. Throughout the semester, we had touched upon the role of women in theatre, on the stage, and as playwrights. Unfortunately, for the most part this was always an extra side note, never anything we explored in-depth. That is, until we reached the Restoration period of the 18th century (the first time a woman’s body was seen on stage). Instead, the class was structured around the various transitions in modes of thinking and knowledge production. “Identity is constituted ‘not outside but within representation’ and invites us to see film ‘not as a second-order mirror held up to reflect what already exists, but as that form of representation which is able to constitute us as new kinds of subjects and thereby enable us to discover who we are’� (hooks 213). Although hooks is speaking specifically about film, I think these ideas about representation apply to the theatre as well. All semester I thought there were these huge shifts throughout history that altered all aspects of representation. After reviewing my notes, I began to realize some interesting “side-notes� I had never pieced together before.
Since I am interested in the representations of women in theatre, I decided to go through the plays we read and make an outline detailing these representations. Here are some of the thoughts I gathered and some interesting connections I am in the process of working through.
Women's Press that was handed out in class was very, very interesting to me because it presented such a wide array of topics and stories within it. This newspaper focused on women's issues and where we've come from and where we need to go academically. The article about whether women's studies is still relevant was written very well and I feel like it told the direction we need to take our issues as women. It told the story of how women's studies has become a large study group within college campuses in such a short time period and appeals to a lot of different cultures and genders. Women's studies I feel has liberated women and has encouraged women to be their own people whether they support the first woman president or stand up against domestic violence. Therefore women's studies has opened the door to involve gender issues, sexualtiy issues, and racism. It's to the point now I feel like that women have gained everyone's attention and can start to bring up more serious issues that are still being surpressed. This newspaper provided ways in which women could get involved in women studies programs, research, stories of struggle from all races, rape, good books to read, weight solutions, and many other sections that make women's studies still relevant. Overall a good tool and best of all, it was free! A good source to see what is going on around us in the world of women. So the short answer is Yes, it's relevant because we have so much further to go but we can't get there without remembering where we came from.
SInce the first wave of the women's movement feminists have come a long way. The problem is that now we are in a bit of a rut. This article about women's studies touches on the many issues that are slowing the feminist movement.
Many students see female senators and hear about courses such as Feminist Film Studies and they think the women's movement is done. So many students especially females are not getting as involved as past classes. I think students learn about the great things that the first and second wave feminists accomplished, and believe that their work is done. We are forgetting that there are still issues that we must fight for. This is why I believe that the introduction of new programs like "gender studies" and "sexuality studies" are crucial for the women's movement to continue. In this article they argue that by combining these its making women's studies less relevant, but that is exactly the opposite. It is opening up women's studies for new ideas, opinions, and people to get involved. I think many good things are to come by studying intersectionality and thinking of a larger picture, instead of just one thing like gender. So is women's studies still important? Of course, but now we have to look beyond just women and get more people involved.
I find myself being asked this question frequently. From my advisor to my friends, they all are curious why I am doing a major that, to them, doesn't fit with my major, Advertising. To me it is clear, the reasonings couldn't be more apparent. But to them it seems be disconnected.
Continue reading "Minnesota Women's Press: Is Women's Studies Still Relevant?" »
Today we watched the film Hip Hop: More then Beats and Rhymes, what I really noticed about our discussion as well as what we watched, was the fact that everyone involved wanted to point blame one someone else. Even in class, as, generally, white middle class college students, even we were pointing to who was thinking the wrong thing, when we have no idea. It's difficult for us to analyze Hip Hop and what was covered in this film, when we've never experienced that culture, or life style. While I do agree that the media has almost encouraged these behaviors, it seems that it's mostly the white men and women who help keep the stereotype alive; as well as the those who live those lives that choose not to address the deeper issues. When addressed, those living on both sides of the spectrum seem to always divert the issue to another issue. It's easy. This is the simplest way to avoid a problem...just hope it goes away. As I said, I've never lived a life like this, and maybe to some it's not worth the time or trouble to deal with the bad messages sent in mainstream media (because there is true hip hop out there...just not as visible). However, I think the finger pointing and blame game is what got us to the mainstream media that is today, and the reason we can't get out of it. What's hard is knowing that change won't happen in a day, it's paitience and taking responsibility that will create positive change. Even as I write this, I'm not different then anyone else in the film because all I'm doing is blaming things on those in the video. I recognize that I'm blaming, but I just hope that someone, not even necessarily in this class, will take the blame on themselves and change the mainstream.
I got this from a CSCL class that I dropped...it's kinda relevant and funny. Check it out!
http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/steinem.menstruate.html
Or just go to Google:
Search If Men Could Menstruate
then click on the Second link