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.