After reading Audre’s essay, I totally agree with her statement. Women were already facing the challenges thrown at them from male dominancy and the fact that we have to deal with the difference and challenges created within our own sex/gender is beyond exhausting. the fact that we have to educate our own kind(women) to equality and to have feels for poor, POC, and lesbians is sad and overwhelming. “survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths.” This is my favorite quote from the essay. According to my understanding of the quote and the message shared here is that survival is about taking your differences and making them your strengths. This allows us to beat the stereotypes and make a difference but when we will actually be able to make a genuine difference? the society needs to change it’s own self a bit and look within ourselves and ponder upon actions we take that can cause harm (mental, physical) to other. A strong community is when we all stand together and respect each other’s choices and boundaries with no judgements.
Category: Posts
The bridge Poem
As I was reading “This bridge called my back” and came across the bridge poem, I felt as i was talking to myself. I can totally relate to rushing as she talks about being the bridge and the translator. Being an immigrant and a female, it’s a lot of responsibility to teach your family the new culture and to make them understand the new normal they have to learn in a different country. It’s definitely tiring and can be very overwhelming sometimes. As I learn new things myself I have to make sure to pass them on to my family.
The burden of being a bridge and the weight put on the bridge can be very tiresome. it takes your focus off from your own self as you focus on how to be a good and solid bridge for others. As they walk and stand and go over you you feel the weight every time.
the poem is very powerful for those who go through this and for others as well who can learn the lesson to be their own burden.
Annotated Bibliography
D. (2016, March 1). Women’s Studies, Gender Studies and Feminism. Discover Society. https://archive.discoversociety.org/2016/03/01/womens-studies-gender-studies-and-feminism/
My first Bibliography is about the basic understanding of Women’s and Gender’s studies and feminism. I used this source in my final project to create the syllabus to give a basic idea of the students to familiarize themselves with the subject.
Perrone, K. M., Wright, S. L., & Jackson, Z. V. (2009). Traditional and Nontraditional Gender Roles and Work—Family Interface for Men and Women. Journal of Career Development, 36(1), 8–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845308327736
My second Bibliography goes in depth of the traditional and non traditional career paths for both men and women. This article relates to my topic because it sheds light on the standards and expectations set by society on how certain career paths such as construction work is not suitable for women and how nursing is not considered manly enough for males.
UtahCTE. (2011, January 6). Nontraditional Careers — Break Free of the Barriers That Limit Your Career Choices[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHXnM_RS_qM
TheBermanGrp. (2012, June 20). Non-Traditional Employment for Women (NEW) – 2010 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXDtbLdYCXk
I chose these youtube videos for my final project(syllabus) to inspire the students and to motivate them so that they will not limit themselves in future with the barriers that are put up by the society. I want to let people to know that it’s okey to break stereotypes and be a strong and passionated individual when it comes to deciding your career. it’s okey to be different and your own self.
Writers, S. (2020, November 17). Non Traditional Employment for Women: Expert Career Advice. LearnHowToBecome.Org. https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/career-resource-center/underrepresented-careers-for-women/
The article talks in depth about the challenges facing women who may seek non-traditional employment opportunities vary depending on the job, field and sector. Although it is true that women are under-represented in computer science, engineering, and other STEM sectors of the economy, there are other areas in which women have already made significant inroads such as finance managers and medical scientists.
Gender, Identity, and Intersectionality
By Zara
When we are born, it’s usually declared that we are either a boy or girl. As the time goes by and we start to feel and see things according to our own perspective and have our own opinion that’s when we actually get to know our identity. Often we are told to wear certain clothing and colors and styles that people think will look “good” on us. For instance, If a girl starts to dress more in sweats and baggy clothing they are often told to act more lady like and wear dresses. Same thing goes for a guy when he starts to wear certain bright colors or does something which according to the society is very feminine they are often told to change it and be more masculine.
It’s very easy for others to tell us what we should or shouldn’t wear, how we should or shouldn’t behave and etc. People who are overly concerned with the impression they make, or who feel a core aspect of themselves, such as gender or sexuality, is not being expressed, can struggle acutely with their identity.
Post 6: Bibliography
This site relates to my topic on wage gap since it shows statistics on wage gap between women of all ethnicity compared to white men. It even gives information on the cause of gender wage gap.
This site gives an incite on how wage gap has barely shrunk in a 25 years and ways that we can shrink the gap even more.
This site shows wage gap in sports and compares top paid athletes male vs female.
This site is a scholarly source showing a more depth explanation on gender wage gap, the trends and the reasons as to why it is the way it is.
This site is another scholarly source that shows analysis on wage gap and how its related to the labor market.
PSA: Men Have Feelings Too! (Final Project pt1)
The topic of empathy and compassion being a key difference in the male and female sexes has been an accepted stereotype passed down from generation. But this notion has led to men being emotionally shut down in their adult life’s and contribuitng to issues in society like toxic masculinity and even domestic abuse.
The childish phrase boys are stronger, girls are smarter seems to me a perfect reflection of the way society sees gender roles. Boys and me are expected to be strong and not show emotions in difficult times and thus not appear to portray empathy in times of distress and girls are conditioned from an early age to be open and emotionally intelligent, meaning they are to be receptive to the feelings and pain of others.
This in turn puts men all over under a tremendous amount of pressure and when they enter a relationship, it is hard for them to open up to their partner and get in touch with their feelings. Thus they don’t always know how and if their actions can and are being perceived by their partner as offensive and hurtful. This issue can also contribute to mental breakdowns and illnesses in men’s later life’s, leading to substances abuse and that leads to domestic violence and abuse of millions of women all over the world. All of these issues that cause both men and women serious distress and pain and suffering can all be traced back to societies interpretation and stgimitaion of men’s feelings and how they should or should not be allowed to express or voice them openly for fear of being labeled weak and ridiculed.
As emotionally intelligence is proven to be amongst the highest indicators of success in many fields across life, the fact that society expects women to be more empathetic and receptive to other people’s feelings explains that notion we all internalize as children that girls are smarter and since boys don’t show weakness and emotion, they must be inherently stronger. This line of thinking produces a multitude of problems in society, such as toxic masculinity, gender stereotypes and wage gaps along with much, much more.
The only way for society to move past these issues regarding both men and women is to finally open up a direct dialogue between men and women about the subject of opening up and getting in touch with ones own feelings.
THE STIGMA BEHIND MENS FEELINGS AND THEM BEING OPENLY VAUNARABLE AND OPENMING UP MUST GO AWAY FOR REAL CHANGE/ PROGRESS TO BE MADE!
Gender + Identity
It’s hard to know really how many aspects of your identity you get to choose when you’re raised by people who are making decisions for you through your formative years. The movies you watch, the music that plays around you, your personality in response to your setting. Obviously as you grow older you get to choose more and more things for yourself, but now with social media and the constant image based content of sales being shoved in your face it almost makes identity even more confusing. I think the biggest factor in identity is capitalism because we are essentially being grouped into demographics (Gender being the first way to divide us into two groups upon birth) in order to be marketed to and this shapes our identity whether we actively notice it or not. Obviously the ones who are most benefitting from capitalism are white men, so white men have a lot of say as to what our identities are, which is obviously completely screwed up because that means when you start to form your own identity you have to rid yourself of all these preconceived notions of what your former self was or should be. It’s like starting out with a form of debt. …(I used the picture of Scully and Mulder because the stereotypical gender traits were swapped – Scully the skeptic and scientist – Mulder the believer).
Master’s Tools Response
I kind of agree with this statement because I am both a pessimist and a purest. So when I think of dismantling a system I think of abolishing it, not reforming it. I think that the ideal would be to completely wipe something out and start over because if you have any bit of the original version left, I think it will return to its original form. And if you try to dismantle it with its own ways it can figure out your next move. I agree with the statement, but if your role is being an activist and trying to get people to join you, most people just aren’t that radical, and if you are trying to take something established down you need numbers. There was a line that Corey Booker said during a democratic debate a few years back “We cannot sacrifice progress on the altar of purity,” and as much as I HATE to agree with him because this line was used against my favorite progressive candidates (Bernie and Warren) about universal health care… He did have a point. At that time republicans were the majority in the Senate and held the office of president, and this was pre-pandemic, so things were different, and there wasn’t much of a chance. I do however think that there would be more of a chance had those primaries happened after the first part of lockdown, but still I’m not hopeful because our way of voting by electoral college is so conservative and racist that unless we abolish that too we won’t get what we want.
Anyways my point is I like the way Audre thinks in theory and I do agree with her, but I don’t think that much progress will be made if it’s an all or nothing ideal and to be able to even suggest that, is a privileged stance (and by privilege here I mean she is an artist and writer- she was able to transcend her role in the universal world in order to become her authentic self, and in doing so she can make these statements that other women of color who maintain regular jobs and normal lives would not be able to make and stand by without repercussion). Audre’s way of thinking is great on an individual level as an artist, but I just dont think it will work itself out to be the universal. Also all of these systems were built on the back of other systems that we would need to abolish. Like above when I mentioned healthcare and the electoral college, you’d need to get into a near infinite regress in order to properly dismantle the system and the systems they were built on. Otherwise everything “fixed” within these systems will just be topical. That is why though I like what she says and agree with the statement I just don’t see it as ever working out. Personally I just don’t think much change will ever be made in regards to anything progressive whether it’s her all or nothing approach or Booker’s small steps approach. Excuse my language but I think we’re all fucked and will continue to get more fucked.
Presentation Scavenger Hunt
I found this activity really educational and interesting. I was able to learn a lot more on certain topics that I haven’t research much about myself. It was a great way to start my own journey on educating myself more on important social topics. I also enjoyed how people had many different topics and different information and facts to reinforce their claims.
Post 11 : Research Summary
My project topic was toxic masculinity, a set of behaviors that men follow that are a harm to themselves and society. Toxic masculinity has a few crucial elements, and the most important one is believing and proving that they are the dominant gender. Men have always been told that they need to be breadwinners, tough, strong, aggressive, womanizing, muscular, and not anything that remotely resembles femininity. Toxic masculinity is men taking these stereotypes and labels that have been given to them by society and taking it to the extreme. These men will demonstrate their power through violence, whether the is towards women or other men who are a threat to their dominance, being sexist and inappropriate towards women which includes sexual harassment and rape, disrespect towards women, making themselves muscular and fit, and engaging in “manly” activities like sports and drinking beers with their guy friends. This is very harmful to women and society. My project, however, focuses on toxic masculinity and why it occurs. I believe that the societal norms have pushed men to take on forced identities, and their resentment and anger on not being able to be themselves causes this aggression or pressures them into being this masculine.
