Class 10_29

The article, “Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners, and the Power Within”, bu Inga Muscio discusses her experience going through three abortions-two done the traditional way, and one done naturally/organically. While I admire her choice not to parent a child, I do wonder about her being responsible. I would think that after getting pregnant once, or even twice, one would learn to use birth control more carefully and regularly. I feel for her though and I would never want to go through the pain of an abortion. I was also very interested in hearing about an organic abortion. I have never heard of them before, and I wonder about the validity of them, and whether they actually work all the time. If so, I would wonder why more people don’t use these instead of going through the pain of a traditional abortion.

Going into politics, I was not surprised when doing research on the presidential candidates’ stances on abortion. Barack Obama strongly supports the pro-choice movement and believes that it is a woman’s choice what to do with her body. Barack Obama’s website has a specific webpage dedicated to women and women’s issues. He also wants to make birth control more widespread and easily accessible in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. He also wants to promote sexual education and end discrimination preventing birth control. I strongly agree with Obama and believe that it is every woman’s choice. I see no problem with individual women being pro-life, but don’t take that choice and that option away from other women. It should not be anyone’s decision but a woman’s to have a baby.

On the other side of the road, McCain and Palin are staunchly against abortion. On their website, McCain pledges to nominate conservatives to the Supreme Court and overturn Roe v. Wade. He also wants to give funding and aid the pro-life supporters to continue to make abortion illegal. I cannot fully write how much this bothers me. Before last class I had no idea how strongly I believe in pro-choice. Now, reading McCain’s website makes me furious. The thought of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade and making abortion illegal is absolutely absurd. I think it is so unfair to promote something where a government has the right to make a decision for all women across the entire country. While I hope that it will never happen, it is such an unfair predicament. Again, while I can understand how people can be pro-life, there is no need to take away a woman’s choice. I cannot understand how it is fair to have the government decide women’s lives and health. In the end, I think we need to get past the dichotomy of pro-choice and pro-life. There needs to be another point of view, where people can be ok with women making decisions for themselves, while still not supporting abortion.

Class 10_27

The article, “And So I Chose” by Allison Crews discusses her choice to become a teenage mother. She also discusses how she felt growing up around her pro-life mother. One particular part of the article was especially interesting-Allison’s last protest she attended with her mother. I find this interesting because she says she remembers wishing that she could help the girl who was leaving the clinic. I found this different since she had grown up with a pro-life mother and was attending a pro-life rally, yet she felt for the girl having an abortion. I liked the fact that in the end she was pro-choice, not because she thought everyone should have an abortion-but because every woman should have a choice. Even though she decided to keep her baby, she is still pro-choice because she chose her future instead of letting society, her mother, or her friends sway her.

I found it hard however, the part where everyone was trying to make the decision for her. It was upsetting hearing how she spent so much of her time crying and upset, and how a couple had already been picked out to adopt her baby. “I was told, over and over again, that teenage girls are immature, they are selfish, they can’t possibly decide what is best, and so other must step in and make these choices for them”. I was bothered by this quote because I believe that girls are not always immature and that women should be able to choose for themselves whether to raise their children or not. I was disturbed at the fact that other people felt the need to take away that choice.

The other article, “Beyond Pro-Choice versus Pro-Life: Women of Color and Reproductive Justice”, by Andrea Smith discusses the dichotomy of the pro-choice and pro-life debate. I found it interesting how Smith found flaws in both sides of the debate, and proposed moving away from that dichotomy to something more encompassing. I was surprised by the argument against pro-life being the prison system. On my own, I have never heard the two compared, but when reading her argument, it made a lot of sense. I liked the connection between how pro-life supporters view abortion as a crime, and how punishment is incarceration. Therefore, one could say that pro-life supporters actually endorse the prison system. I also liked how she pointed out that, “Prisons simply are not only ineffective institutions for addressing social concerns, they drain resources from institutions that could be more effective”. I agree with this point in the sense that so much of our nation’s money goes to supporting and enlarging the prison system, yet that money could be spent on much more useful and helpful institutions.

The argument against pro-choice links to the title of the article, that pro-choice supporters aren’t necessarily providing the choice for poor women or women of color. Pro-choice really means that women who have enough economic resources or the availability have a choice in whether to abort their child or not. While I understand that many government policies make this situation worse, without them, abortion might be outlawed. I find these government policies almost a compromise; that abortion will be legal in this country, but the government will not assist people in having abortions. Therefore, without this legislation, abortion might not be allowed. I found this article very interesting and useful as it highlighted the issues with both sides of the dichotomy.

Class 10_15

Today’s article, “Hormonal Hurricanes” by Anne Fausto-Sterling shocked me at the lack of intelligence so called “physicians” had in the early 20th century. I still can’t believe that women were though incapable of doing certain tasks because of their biological nature. I think this definitely has something to say about our society today and how women are treated as incapable. I think this stereotype has festered for years and now it is growing harder to overcome. I found it interesting, and related back to our class discussions, the fact that men are “normal” and anything different from men (i.e. women) are abnormal and thus deviant. Also relating back to class, I was struck by the double bind that women are placed in in today’s society. “Caught in her hormonal windstorm, she strives to attain normality but can do so only by rejecting her biological uniqueness, for that too is essentially deformed: a double bind indeed”. I found this extremely interesting how women are treated as being abnormal and not qualified to hold positions of power because they have menstrual cycles and menopause, yet we receive no credit for being the child bearers. We have a unique biology and create humankind, but yet we are not capable of a task such as serving as President. This relates back to the double bind discussed earlier of sexually active women: how if a girl has sex at a young age she is called a slut and worries about her parents finding out, but if a girl resists sex then she is seen as a prude or a lesbian. I think women are constantly put into double binds, and this might be a reason why women are never happy with who they are in society today.

The other article, “Loose Lips Sink Ships” discusses the relatively new procedure of vaginal plastic surgery. Referring back to our class discussion of advertising, I think this plays a large part in how women view themselves. The article discusses how women look at other women in Playboy and wish that their vagina would look similar. I think this is yet another extreme way that American women transform their bodies to fit this impossible mold that is pressed onto us. Where the article discussed intersexed surgery I was again reminded of our reading of Middlesex and how culture dominates sex. As a surgeon quotes, “It’s easier to poke a hole than build a pole”. I think this says a lot about our culture taking the easy route out, as well as saying something about our culture. We are quick to turn to surgery because intersexed condition is “threatening to the infant’s culture”, but we don’t consider the ramifications on that person’s livelihood once they grow up. I enjoyed the end of the article discussing how instead of turning to surgery we should turn to self admiration. I think so many women in this country need to learn to love their bodies how they are without the quick fix of plastic surgery. I think the self esteem level of women has gotten so low, and it needs to be raised up.

Class 10_13

The field trip this past weekend was definitely a great insight into how women’s rights came about, as well a great bonding day for our class. I especially enjoyed going to the Women’s Rights museum and seeing all the exhibits. I liked the chart that showed which professions are “women’s” versus which are male dominated. It was also interesting learning about the different fashions that women wore. I thought it was disgusting how corsets could alter and harm a woman’s body so much. Seeing the picture of a woman’s body after wearing a corset was incredible: their ribs were squished together and pushed downward, their waist actually narrowed, and all their internal organs compressed. I can’t believe that women would actually want to wear that in order to look pretty. I also found it interesting seeing how different men’s and women’s wages were in all different occupations; there is quite a wage gap in our country.

This is also related to Valdés’ article, “Ruminations of a Feminist Fitness Instructor”. It was sad to read that she couldn’t pursue her dreams in life because she would be incredibly in debt. Although she says she felt empowered and earned fame and recognition as a fitness instructor, that was not what she wanted to do in life. I was happy that at the end of the article she was able to live with her debt and be happy pursuing her career. One question I had though was why she was not able to be a writer and a fitness instructor; this would allow her to follow her dreams as well as earning some money so she didn’t fall too far into debt. This relates to a couple class discussions we have had in which women are either not hired in certain fields, or if they are, they receive much lower wages. I find this so discriminatory and I wish we could live in world with total equality for the sexes.

I also thoroughly enjoyed reading Chernik’s article, “The Body Politic”. While I found it sad reading about her living 5 years of her life with anorexia, I think it sends a good message to society. Today, women feel incredible pressure to look a certain way. We use words like “muffin top” or “fat rolls”, which in reality don’t even exist. I think this is enhanced by advertising as well as celebrities. We constantly hear stories of how certain actresses are told to lose weight in order to keep their jobs. I think this is a horrible aspect of our society. We are also a comparative society; we compare our bodies to those of other people with different body dimensions. For example, we might be 5’4” and criticize ourselves for how much heavier we are than a model who is 5’10”. We grew up on barbies and dolls who have “perfect” bodies and faces, when in reality this is unattainable. I think there are certain good and bad aspects about everyone’s body and we need to realize that it might not always be greener on the other side. Everyone wants what they don’t have. Women should be able to be happy in their own skin without other people calling them fat or worrying about losing their jobs. I also think this is incredibly prevalent on our campus. So many women at Colgate are always on diets or worrying about what they look like that many of them turn anorexic. It worries me a lot, especially since most of them resist help. I wish everyone would be able to eat and respect their bodies the way we should.

Class 10_8

The article, “Lusting for Freedom” by Rebecca Walker, discusses sex as a means of pleasure rather than procreation. She discusses how she put on a different persona with each man she was sexually involved with. I admired her honesty with how young she was the first time she had sex. At the same time I think she is incredibly lucky that she didn’t wind up with a bad man who didn’t want to let her go. Although she says there was something inside her that kept her safe, and that her knowledge kept her from harm, she could have wound up with a man who wanted to abuse her, etc. This article also relates back to our discussion in class about the division between sexual acts for pleasure and for procreation. We discussed how heterosexuality has become compulsory because of the need to reproduce. This article takes a different route: she is involved in heterosexual relationships for pleasure. He has no intention of getting pregnant or starting a family, she has sex to discover herself and to gain knowledge. While I agree with her that women should “live free of shame, that my body is not my enemy and that pleasure is my friend and my right”, I also think that women need to be careful. I don’t think that women should just have sex to experience pleasure at a young age. I think there are so many dangers with that, such as pregnancy, abusive relationships, or sexually transmitted diseases that women need to be aware and careful of. Most women are not aware of these dangers when they are young, so I don’t advocate for young women to have sex.

The other article, “Tight Jeans and Chania Chorris”, by Sonia Shah discusses sexuality and feminism intertwined with culture. Sonia comes to a realization that when discussing her feminist viewpoints and sexuality with her parents, she needs to put a cultural spin on it. She tries to stop her sister from dressing provocatively and being so caught up with boys, and also tries to explain to her father why she likes ungendered nouns and stops shaving her legs and armpits. However, neither of her parents can understand because it is all through a western viewpoint. It is only after her sister goes to India that she understands she needs to communicate through Indian culture. This shows how different sexuality and sex is viewed in our country versus how it may be viewed in other parts of the world. I think this is important to note because we discuss heterosexuality and feminism strictly in a Western viewpoint, and I’d be interested to see how it is viewed in other parts of the world. For example how we were discussing in class what it would be like if our world was primarily homosexual. I’m sure that somewhere in the world this is the case, and it would be interesting to read about.

Class 10_6

I found Adrienne Rich’s, “Compulsory Heterosexuality” especially interesting given the recent events with the economy. Rich argues that because of external influences (such as fairy tales, television, or books), women feel inferior to men, and thus need to be heterosexual in order to survive in today’s economy. For example, she discusses a woman’s place in the workplace, and how no matter what job it is, women are always at the bottom of the ladder. She says that women must accept this sexual harassment or be called “dried up” or “lesbian”. Because of this economic separation, many women are forced to be heterosexual, or at least to marry a man, for financial stability. Also, she argues that a woman’s job depends on her pretending to be heterosexual, or attractive to males. I think this type of thinking is so unfair in today’s world. I think that women should be able to obtain the best job they can and be able to be self-sufficient. Women should not need to be married in order to live on our own, or conduct our own affairs; we should not be dependent

I also found the report from Norway ridiculous, that a woman was not allowed to be a lesbian. I found it incredibly cruel that a doctor would not allow her to be a lesbian, but instead subjected her to six months of rape, and she was not allowed to leave. This is also similar to the history surrounding lesbians. As Rich says, lesbians were given the death penalty, “witches” and widows were burned or tortured, and even today close friendships among women are looked down upon (Rich, 14-15). I find it incredible that these people were subjected to punishment solely based upon the fact that they were close with other women. I find it ridiculous that so many people would agree that there was something “wrong” with these women and they needed to be killed; this definitely says something about our “system” in society, and how patriarchy can be taken to an extreme.

I also found Gilbert’s article, “You’re not the Type” very interesting. I think it’s so true that today, if a friend got pregnant, your reaction would be to think that they weren’t the “type”, without actually thinking about what type that is. I think we are quick to judge others without really analyzing the situation. As she says, many people probably that she was “too smart” or “too sophisticated” to get pregnant at such a young age. People don’t get the full story before judging them. She is also extremely looked down upon in our society because she is a lesbian, a feminist, and a single mother. As she says, statistically, she was not meant to succeed. I admire her devotion to completing school and managing a career, all while raising a child; in reality, it is not an easy thing to accomplish. I think this is a view point that needs to be changed in our society however. People shouldn’t look down upon young mothers and assume that they will never amount to anything in life. I think people should spend more time helping these women, rather than degrading them. I admire her art teacher, for treating her like a normal person and not excusing her because of her “handicap”. I think there should be more people like that in today’s world that will encourage young mothers, or feminists, or lesbians to achieve greatness in the world, and not look down upon them for their convictions or decisions.