TEWWG

This week our readings have been focused on an incredible novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Let me first start off by saying this is hands down one of my favorite novels. The first time I read this book was my 9th grade year, and ever since I try to read it every other summer. 

I don't want to give too much away, but within the book there are many life lessons to take away. One thing I learned, in which we've previously discussed is people are going to have something to say about you regardless if it's positive or negative. Long as you love yourself, don't let the opinions of others get the best of you. And I think Janie has a way of letting others know their opinions don't matter, when she came back into town with her head high. 

Recollection of this week's readings

I have been thinking about the readings on "Their eyes were watching god" and the ending to Janie's relationship. I sat here thinking about relationships and to how easy it can become to get "used to" being with the person rather than keeping the romance alive over the years. I spoke to my aunt who is a widow and asked how she felt when her husband passed away. She was surprised about my question and felt quite offended that I would even ask. I had to explain to her what we were reading about and Janie's situation. She then told me that even though her husband had once become aggressive with her during the early stages of their marriage she never felt any grudges or anger towards him, but then again, his behavior changed and he only did it a couple of times (according to my aunt). I then proceeded to ask her how she felt. She said that it hurt and she felt rather lonely despite all her children staying at home with her and all. She also said that there were things that she didn't miss about her marriage. She didn't miss the yelling or commands to make dinner or wash this or even clean that. She said that had her husband been more understanding and appreciative of her work at home, maybe she wouldn't have anything to not miss. Nevertheless, she did mention how she has known people that were in unhealthy relationships that once their partner had died they felt free. Free from anger, free from resentment, and free from any ties. I thought about how sad and awful it must be to have to live through something like that for that long. She even said a friend of hers had wished death upon her husband because she was in a abusive relationship and was scared to leave it due to not having any family or support nearby. I cannot imagine the struggle of living through something like that everyday and having to stay due to fear.

I am right there with what Spencer said on his post from last week in that I am sad this is my last blog post I will be making this semester.  As of last week we began our reading of Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God."  In class on Monday we were discussing how Janie was finally able to be happy after Jody passed away and what I was impressed with was how she was happy for independence and not for things that people would maybe assume she would be happy for.  When a woman who is married to a wealthy individual loses her husband, one may assume that she could eventually become happy to inherit his wealth or to be able to "date" again.  Janie is a beautiful woman and she had all of the guys in the town chasing after her but did she care...? Nope.  Did she care that she inherited the wealth of Jody...? Nope again.  She was solely happy that she could now be independent and speak her mind without being silenced by Jody.  I think that there is a bad perception out there about some girls that they are only going to be happy if they meet a guy who has wealth.  Janie sets an incredible example for her readers that she in fact was not happy with the money and the relationship she had with Jody.  Her happiness came when she was alone and independent and I think this sends out a really positive message to people who may be down on themselves for not being in a relationship or having a spouse that your happiness is not dependent on another person, it is dependent on you and what you know you need in order to be happy.

Equal Pay Day

I learned today, April 12, that it is Equal Pay Day, a “non-holiday,” as the article I linked calls it. April 12 marks the day that white women have worked enough in 2015 and 2016 to earn as much money as white men earned in 2015. Of course, as the article explains, this is the worst case scenario. Equal Pay Day for mothers is June 4, for Native American women it’s September 13, for African American women it’s August 23, and for Latina women it’s November 1.

This may not be a happy holiday, but it’s important because it brings attention to the issue. Many companies that sell products for women are offering 21% off to account for the 21 cents women don’t get paid for each dollar a man does. This reminds me of bake sales that some people hold where men are charged $1 and women are charged roughly $.73.

I think Equal Pay Day is great, but it is a bit of white feminism. I’ve never heard of Equal Pay Day before today, but I doubt I’ll ever hear about Equal Pay Day for minority women. Those other Equal Pay Days should also be recognized.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/04/12/equal-pay-day-inequality-women-gender/82913078/

This other article has some nice graphs that show some of the qualities that a woman might posses that would lead her to be payed less. This, of course, includes race among other things.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/12/us/equal-pay-day/

I think a huge struggle we face as feminists is getting people to believe that the battle we are fighting is real. I've seen a few posts about Equal Pay Day of various social media platforms. Reading through comments on those posts is disheartening. I would say that a majority of the comments are calling the pay gap fake or something feminists made up. Seeing how many people don't believe in something so horrible is discouraging. I feel like I'm part of a fight that can never be won because no one believes it exists. However, I saw a quote from Ellen Page the other day that helped a little. "But how could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?"

There are people out there who hate the idea of a feminist. Our job is to convince those people to become feminist themselves. It's not an easy job, but if we don't do it we may never get anywhere.

Dress Code Sexism

I always had a problem with the dress code in my high school. Girls are told that we aren't allowed to wear certain things because they might distract boys. Laci Green has a video that talks about this and I watched it. She makes some great points that this objectifies and slut shames girls as well as teaches boys that they can do what every they want. This is something that can't be happening to young kids. If we perpetuate this than the slut shaming problem will continue to occur. If administration can help girls feel more comfortable in their own skin then boys won't feel like they can do whatever they want to girls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41J4XBjgOrw

"Why Do We Gossip?"

After talking about gossip today during our class discussion in relation to the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, I came across a video on YouTube called "Why Do We Gossip?" The video features several people, in which they are asked, "Why do we gossip?" One woman's response was that people gossip to feel better about themselves. These people also reflected on their own experiences of gossiping. One man said when he broke up with his girlfriend that people wanted to know why they broke up and people started gossiping, making up stories as to why they originally broke up. These people even reflect on how gossip affected their lives and their relationships with other people. One older man said gossiping is what ruined a deep relationship he had with another. After watching this video and having this class discussion, I did not realize how powerful gossiping could be. I think as humans we are the ones to blame, since we are the ones who can control whether we choose to gossip. After watching this video, I reflected on a time in middle school when people I went to school with were gossiping about me. I went to a pool party with friends and the guy I liked at the time was at the party. His best friend and him were in a room playing video games and he asked me to join in. Then he started touching me inappropriately, since he felt the need to with me being in a bikini. I decided to leave the room and eventually left the party. I found out my friends were spreading rumors about me, saying I had done something with the guy, when I didn't. I didn't know that the way people were gossiping about me would affect my reputation. I didn't like what people thought of me since they didn't know the truth. I think as humans it's part of human nature for us to gossip, but gossip can have some very damaging effects. It made me not trust some of my friends I considered close. This video is a perfect example on how gossiping has a negative effect on others by reflecting on individual experiences.

Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQx3ePgHuQ

Male vs. Female Bosses

Based on our class discussions this week and last week regarding employment and salaries, I decided to look up an article that mentioned the differences between having a female boss vs. a male boss. I have been interested in this topic because my mom voices her occasional struggles with having a male boss while she is a female in what is considered a "male occupation" -- chemistry/pharmaceutical. As I read this article that I found on this topic, I was interested in the statistics that were raised: there are only 24 women CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies and 27 in the Fortune 1000. I found this statistic interesting and it had me beg the question, are women less likely to be hired in such positions because there are simply not as many applying because it has been labeled by society as a "male position," or are very few women seen as "eligible" for the position on the employer's end based on the same notion? Also mentioned in the article is the fact that women appear to me more motivational bosses when they do posses a leadership position, whereas men are seen as more authoritative in the same position.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/52422/20150512/male-vs-female-boss-best-workplace-motivators-bosses.htm

xoxo gossip girl ;)

Today in class we talked about gossip and the role it will play in Their Eyes Were Watching God. The act of gossiping can be many things. It can be a source of information, a social practice, a cathartic act, a consolation for oneself, a bit of excitement to break up the mundane, more times than not it is an exaggeration, and often a condemnation. The word “gossip” elicits a thrill because it is human nature to want to be in the loop. Hearing gossip about someone else plays on both our need to connect and our need to feel superior to others. It is reassuring to hear of other's’ downfalls because we can be reminded that no matter how crummy our own situation is, at least we are not in that person’s shoes.  

I mentioned in class that gossip often says more about the gossipers than the subject of the gossip. An example from TEWWG would be the front porch sitters who were talking poorly about Janie. Another example that came to mind was from the Tina Fey reading where she relayed the story of her cousin judging all of the girls who walked by, saying their hips or nose or stomach was too big or too small. There are also modern examples that we see today. Besides gossiping with peers, which is something we have all done at one point or another, we also read magazines and gossip rags about our favorite celebrities. Famous people are not gossiped about because people really hate them, they are gossiped about because people are jealous of them. We always want what we don’t have, and when someone else has what we want it is easy to look for the negative aspects of that person’s situation. 

Deborah Tannen coined the phrase positive gossip, but I don't know if I believe in such a thing. I think gossip always has malicious undertones. To me, positive gossip is not gossip, it is having a normal conversation about another person who is not present where neither party talking has any jealousy or resentment or judgement aimed at the third party. Which, in my experience, does not happen often because, like I said, it's human nature.

Intersectionality and Women in Prison

Intersectionality is one of the most important concepts we have learned about this semester. It relates to every other concept we've learned about and has created the need for a "third wave" of feminism. In the article, "The Road to Prison is Paved with Trauma for Women and Girls", the connection between childhood trauma and incarceration of women of color is explored. As most of you know, the U.S. has the highest rate of incarcerated people in the world. Of these two million incarcerated Americans, there is a disproportionately high population of people in color in prison. Although most prisoners are men, the same is true for female prisoners. The article states that "African American women make up almost one-third of the female prison population and are incarcerated at three times the rate of white women." We've learned that a lot of this epidemic has to do with systems of privilege and oppression, and this article explores this in a new way. The article explores the idea of trauma, especially sexual trauma, being a leading cause for incarceration among women of color.

Women who end up in prison often are put into the criminal justice system at an early age. This is not because they are committing crimes, rather they are the victims of crime. According to the article, The ACLU reports that 92 percent of all women in California prisons have suffered physical or sexual trauma in their lifetimes. According to The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: A Girls’ Story, girls in juvenile justice are four times more likely to suffer from sexual abuse than boys.

So, if our justice system was to address this problem, would we see less incarcerated women in the future?

Here's the link to the article: http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/2016/04/the-road-to-prison-is-paved-with-trauma-for-women-and-girls/

Firing back at slut shamers

http://www.teenvogue.com/story/woman-calls-out-shirtless-men-slut-shaming-women-social-media

I some how came across this article that I thought was super important. My Outside of Class event was about the Unslut screening we went to and in my paper I talked about how women are being slut shamed and never the men. Usually men are praised for "being a slut." This article is about a women who found a twitter account of men slut shaming girls and her firing back. She calls out, in a kind of funny way, the men who pose shirtless or upload pictures of them shirtless. To me, this is super important because why are women the only ones being slut shamed? And more importantly, why are they being slut shamed at all? Slut shaming is so pointless to me because, for example, if you're calling a girl a slut because she sleeps with a lot of people who is that effecting? The girl is choosing to do that. Her body her choice. Why do people always point fingers towards women and never the men?

Ellen Degeneres Speaks Out About Mississippi "Religious Freedom" Bill

MUST WATCH!!! Ellen speaks out against anti-gay rights law

I have to admit, it makes me kind of sad knowing this will be my last blog post for this semester! I hope that even after this class is finished we have the ability to post, because lord knows we will always have something to write about! As much as I'm sad for this being the last post, it makes me a little bit happier knowing I'm going out with a bang--all thanks to Ellen DeGeneres!

For those of you who don't know, Mississippi just passed a "Religious Freedom Bill" in which the state of Mississippi promises that they, "will not punish people who refuse to provide services to people because of a religious opposition to same-sex marriage, extramarital sex or transgender people."

I know, I know, my jaw was just as far down to the floor as yours probably is at this time! Can you believe in todays society something like this passed?!?

Luckily the world has people like Ellen, herself gay, to speak out on the public stage for what's right! Ellen closes her monologue by saying that ,"we all need to remember that we are more similar then we are different, and we all want the same things--love, acceptance, and kindness." She even mentions many of the struggles we have talked about in our class recently dealing with the gender pay gap, women's rights, and racism.

Ellen takes her ability to speak in front of a large audience and runs with it...ITS A MUST SEE!!!!!!

Thanks for a great semester of blogging!!!

Hollywood is Hard on Pretty Actresses

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/charlize-theron-beauty

I recently saw this published Vanity Fair article and thought it related class, particularly when we discussed how women are often not given deep, gritty roles in movies or TV. In this article, Charlize Theron explains how Hollywood often treats her unfairly because she is both a women and pretty. She explains that she constantly gets turned down for being a beautiful women because directors don't think she looks the  part of a gritty, meaty character. She often is in roles that are below her skill level. Charlize has however won an Oscar for a staring role in the movie Monster, which she was cast by a female director.

Charlize also said “We live in a society where women wilt and men age like fine wine. And, for a long time, women accepted it. We were waiting for society to change, but now we’re taking leadership. It would be a lie to say there is less worry for women as they get older than there is for men. . . . It feels there’s this unrealistic standard of what a woman is supposed to look like when she’s over 40.” She explains how Hollywood and society set unrealistic standards that limit women's careers as they get older and it can be a struggle no matter how talented the actress is.

I thought this was an interesting read from a women who we would all deem successful on gender issues that affect her career.

The Pay Gap

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/basketballs-gender-wage-gap-is-even-worse-than-you-think


Recently we have talked a lot about the pay gap and how women get the short end of the stick when it comes to receiving a paycheck. As an athlete, I have always been aware of the difference in pay between men and women's basketball, because that is the sport that I have played my whole life, and was hoping to play professionally. However, as I grew older and started looking into the pay that a professional women's basketball player would receive, I decided that I would not pursue it professionally because the pay was not enough unless you are like the Michael Jordan of women's basketball. In this article, it says that statistically, the league minimum for women is $75,000 and the minimum for men is $490,180. How can that even be a thing? That is almost SIX times the pay! Not only does this happen in basketball, but the difference is evident in every sport that both men and women play. For the most part, the reasoning behind it is that women do not draw as much attention as men do, which affects attendance numbers, merchandise sales, etc. Is it fair to pay women athletes far less even though they have to do the same amount of work and training as men?

UnSlut

Attending the outside event unsult this week I had no idea what to expect. One thing that I can honestly say is it exceeded my expectations. I won't go into immense detail of the whole documentary, but I will tell you some of the things that really stood out to me. Starting off, I found it very interesting  the documentary showed the true lives of those who have been bullied, disowned, and shamed. It was very heartbreaking  to see young girls  go through that. 

One girl was in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, and decided to send him a nude picture after a break up. Little did she know the next day she would be The laughingstock of the school. Her boyfriend decided to show one of his team mates  the picture, and from then is when it spread like a wildfire. She moved from her original high school to a new one, and still was a laughing stock. The sad part about this whole entire thing is a camera phone.

Overall, one of the main things I can take away from the documentary is to never judge someone. If you haven't seen this documentary I highly recommend you look into it. It is guaranteed to change your perspective on a lot of different things! 

Working in a "man's world"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reba-mcentire/woman-in-mans-world-my-secrets-success_b_9581542.html?utm_hp_ref=women&ir=Women

I found this interesting post coming from Reba McEntire.  I am pretty sure that even if you don't really know who she is, you have come across her face sometime on TV. Anyway, she made a great article where she gives advice on how to be successful in the work field living in a "man's world". While I do not necessarily agree with the term "man's world" because it isn't such a thing unless the whole world agrees on this term, it is inclined toward certain occupations being expected to be a man's job. While I like the article and the empowerment it gives women, there is a part that I did not really like. Under the sub header, accept and move on, she made this particular comment that although she is attempting to be empowering, in my eyes it was almost like a slap in the face. 

"The first thing you’ve got to do is accept that you are a woman in a man’s world. And then, you’ve got to work harder and longer hours and dedicate yourself to being the best at what you’re doing. Give it your all. Be a self-starter."  

She states that we should accept it and work harder and longer hours just to be better or how I took it, competitive enough. While I love the idea of being a hard worker and dedicated, I do not necessarily agree with having to work twice as hard just to be in line with a male counterpart. I believe that women can certainly be as good with working just the same amount of hours as men. I also do not believe in accepting this is a man's working world because although society frames it as such, ultimately it is up to us to make those changes and accepting this is almost as though we are giving them the power to decide for us, always. 

Pay Gap

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/14/five-facts-about-gender-pay-gap

This article talks about the pay gap like other articles we read for class. I think it addresses an interesting point about the different jobs that men and women usually end up in. There are certain jobs that men do and others that usually women do. The jobs women tend to get are in the arts and humanities fields. These jobs are then more low paying. I think its interesting to notice that women keep going into the same fields. I think a reason for this is that women are more or less forced into these roles by society. Men dominant certain fields and some women might not want to take that challenge to break into a male field. There are a lot of things to overcome for women in a male dominant job and most women haven't seen a need to do so.

Slut Shaming

When I sat down to write this blog I knew right away that I wanted to touch on the subject of slut shaming. Slut shaming is something that I have felt very strongly about for a while now. Nothing infuriates me more than a woman being shamed and degraded for merely living her life the way she so pleases. I get especially perturbed when what a woman is being shamed about is something that men can do and get praised for. For example, usually a guy who is known to hook up with a lot of girls is seen a "cool" or "the man" by his friends, however, if a girl is known to hook up with many different guys then she is simply just known as a slut. Like why? I'm not saying I agree with hookup culture, or the idea of sleeping around, but there should be no double standard. If a guy gets praised for doing something why does a girl get shamed for participating in the same action?

Before writing this blog post I typed "slut shaming" into YouTube and found a social experiment that someone had conducted over slut shaming. Basically a girl dressed in tight pants, heels, and a tight crop top stood on a street and awaited a passerby to make some type of comment. The video only shows two encounters she had with two very vocal men who definitely had some comments to make over her choice of clothing and assumed lifestyle. 

If you want to check the video out here's the link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiIA0FTt9PU  

Lots of Feminism

I’ve found myself collecting a few links over the past couple of weeks so here are a few different articles covering different topics but all relating to Gender Studies:

This one is my favorite because I think it is such a beautiful act that really made a bigger point than anyone could ever make just by talking. It was in the news a couple of weeks ago. The airline Royal Brunei introduces an all-female flight crew last month and they shared a picture of that crew after a flight to Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive. It is really miraculous that, although the women there are not believed to be able to properly operate a car, they are more than capable of landing a plane. Maybe they’ve made enough of a statement to get some things changed or fire some people up.

Here is that article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/03/15/an-all-female-crew-lands-a-plane-in-saudi-arabia-but-they-cant-drive-from-the-airport/

After we watched the poem “Feminism” towards the beginning of the semester, I’ve realized that poetry can make a great point. I like this poem by Blythe Baird called “Pocket-Sized Feminism.” I didn’t get to go to the UnSlut screening, but from out discussion today, I think this may cover some of the same points. It talks about how people stay silent about sexual assault, even feminists and victims. I know that I have been guilty of not speaking up outside of the Women and Gender Studies classroom, but maybe that’s not okay. She points out everything we do to prevent rape, like inventing nail polish that changes color in a drink that had been drugs. I know that when I left for college, my mother told me I need to take a self-defense class and never put my drink down and never walk alone at night and just be careful and be aware. She will never have to tell my brother that.

Here is the article and video: http://mic.com/articles/136304/slam-poet-blythe-baird-has-a-powerful-message-about-rape-culture-all-women-need-to-hear?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social#.eicFMi8BJ

Finally, I have a piece of satire. It’s kinda lighthearted but it’s kinda not. What I mean by that is, although it is ridiculous and clearly satirical, it’s not all that far from reality. Texans seem to be strongly against women in general. They claim they are protecting women, but they are actually hurting women by not taking good care of their sexual health. The article also references Wendy Davis’ filibuster and pretty much sums up some people’s reactions to it. I reminded me of the Texas Monthly "Bum Steer Award" cover with Wendy Davis.

Anyway, here it is: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/texas-weighs-ban-on-women?intcid=mod-most-popular

Gross Disparity of Wages for Women Players

http://www.businessinsider.com/uswnt-files-wage-discrimination-complaint-against-us-soccer-federation-2016-3

When scrolling through Business Insider yesterday, I came across this article that perfectly applied to our conversation in class regarding men and women having the same job yet men being paid more.  In this article they focus in on the US men's and women's soccer teams.  For soccer teams, especially at the Olympic Team level, both squads put in equal amounts of work yet there work is valued differently.  Four women on the US women's team including goal keeper Hope Solo are filing lawsuits claiming gross disparity of wages.  There is a significant quote in this article saying that "last season, the women's team generated nearly $20 million more in revenue than the men's national team."  Ok.  So if the women are generating more money for the US and being more successful in the actual World Cup, why are they still being paid significantly less than the mediocre men's team?  I think that this is a really interesting article because the women are constantly being asked to prove themselves in society because men seem reluctant to help and in terms of the soccer world, these women through World Cup medals and much more have definitely proven themselves and then some, yet they still do not receive fair pay.  I remember the YouTube video we watched in class where the man challenges women to provide all of these answers and facts as to why women are not being paid fairly and that is outrageous to me.  He is saying that women deserve to be in the position that they are in and it is there responsibility to climb out of this hole where in reality, it is the mans responsibility to present these issues at hand and do what they can to help this very prevalent issue.  I definitely recommend a read of this article, very interesting.

New anti-abortion bill in Indiana

The article, The Crazy New Ways Indiana Will Restrict Abortion, talks about the new anti-abortion law that will greatly affect women. Governor Mike Pence signed this bill into law that will place even more restrictions on abortion, even though Indiana tightly regulates abortion already. The legislation prohibits women from having an abortion based on the fetuses' gender and also prohibits women from having an abortion based on the fetus having genetic abnormalities, such as Down Syndrome, etc. This legislation also places strict regulations on abortion doctors, requiring them to obtain "admitting privileges." It also requires for the remains of a miscarriage or an abortion to be buried or cremated and does not allow for the donation of fetal tissue, which is used for medical research. Indiana has even charged women for "feticide laws" for allegedly harming their unborn babies, in which major health groups oppose because it deters women from seeking medical attention based on the arrest of pregnant women who seek to not have their baby. It even amazes me that these "fetal homicide" laws are put in place to punish women who end up having miscarriages or stillbirths. I am not aware of the statistics of miscarriages or stillbirths that occur, but I thought most miscarriages and stillbirths happen unexpectedly and are not planned. I'm interested in researching more into it. A close relative of mine had a miscarriage unexpected and it would outrage me if she charged under a feticide law that made it out for her to be a murderer. How do political figures have the authority and power to restrict such harsh laws on women? I watched this show called Born This Way, which is about adults with Down Syndrome. During an episode, one of the mothers brought up the topic on how they debated getting an abortion when their doctor told her that her child had Down Syndrome. I'm not saying it's right or wrong if this mother chose to have the abortion or not due to her child's genetic abnormalities, but I strongly believe women should have the right to choose.