Friday, July 23, 2010

Feminist Integrity

Integrity is an important thing to have in all aspects of your life. If you have integrity I think you can make it big in life. Integrity is knowing the differenced between right and wrong, sort of like having morals. Integrity also deals with acting out what we believe and attempt to live our ideals. Integrity relates with knowledge and all knowledge is associated with power. Knowledge arises from your background and where you’ve been. Traveling around the world gives you more resources and understandings of the world.
Integrity can be enacted in any group, including feminism. One way to live with feminist integrity is to set feminist priorities and stick with them. Feminist integrity requires advocating a sustainable physical environment. A peaceful and sustainable future celebrates difference and diversity, but you need to know diversity doesn’t always imply equality. Just because there is a bountiful amount of races in a group doesn’t necessarily mean everyone will be treated equally. I think that is wrong and people really shouldn’t racial profile or judge a book by its cover.
The last component of living with feminist integrity is to have a sense of humor. If you can’t laugh at yourself you won’t get far. Sense of humor is by far one of my best characteristics. I love laughing and I am probably one of the clumsiest people I know, so of course if I couldn’t laugh at myself I would seem stuck up. I love to laugh, at myself, and with other people. You only live once, so why not laugh it up?

Pro-life vs. Pro- choice

Pro- life verse pro- choice has become an increasing battle. Many people vote pro- life because they think a fetus is a person and they don’t want the mother to kill their own child. Many people also vote pro- life because they think couples and intimate partners should know the consequences to having sex, and being pregnant is one of the major side effects. However, many people vote pro- choice because they don’t think anyone should be able to control anyone’s body but their own. I myself definitely vote pro- choice. For those of you who have read any of my other blogs, you know I am a firm believer in knowing you are the only person in charge of your body. No one else has the right to say what anyone can and can’t do with their body.
I don’t think it’s fair to be forced to have an unwanted child. It won’t only be bad for the mother, but the child will grow up in a horrible household. What if a prostitute gets pregnant? She’s supposed to raise a child under those circumstances? She might not even know who the father is. Clearly if she’s a prostitute she struggles to make money for herself, so how is she supposed to add another mouth to feed? I think it’s unrealistic and the child might God forbid end up in a dumpster.
If a woman doesn’t think having a child at the time she is pregnant is a good idea, she shouldn’t be forced to have one. I think in the long run if a woman has an abortion she has a good reason. It’s no one else’s business but hers and it’s only her decision to make.

Rape and Sexual Assault

Have you ever been a victim of rape or sexual assault? A sexual assault including rape occurs about every two minutes in the United States. This is a scary but well known fact. Rape and sexual assault does not only occur in the U.S., it is a persistent global problem. You can never be too careful when you go to a party, out with friends, or on a date with an unfamiliar person. Rape and sexual assault vary in a few different ways. Rape is when the other person does not give consent to having intercourse, while sexual assault is when the other person not only doesn’t give consent, but they are physically forced to have intercourse.
Most rapes occur within racial groups, so black males will primarily rape black females. This may happen because women of color are especially vulnerable as victims of violence because of their marginalized status. Women of color are more common victims to rape and sexual assault which could be the reason men of color accused of rape or sexual assault are more likely to get convicted and receive longer sentences. I don’t think it’s fair to racial profile and automatically assume a man of color is guilty, but when the statistics have proven that men of color are mainly guilty it’s hard not think an accused man of color is.
I’m not sure if I believe a woman can be raped by her husband. Rape is not giving consent to sexual intercourse, but why wouldn’t you want to have sexual intercourse with your husband? The only reason I can think someone wouldn’t want to have sex with their husband is if he were drunk, but if he were drunk and the woman said no, I would imagine he would use force to make it a sexual assault rather than a rape. I don’t know the situation thought because I haven’t been married. All together, I think rape and sexual assault are major crimes and shouldn’t be over looked.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Hegemony

Do you think ruling by ideas is cheaper and easier than ruling by force? I do, and I think it is a much more effective way of gaining control. This idea is known as hegemony, when a dominant group gets and keeps power by persuading subordinate groups to rule by ideas. Power is a word that has a lot of meaning. If someone or a group holds too much power, things can get ugly. Take a look at Hitler, he had way too much power and it went to his head in a disastrous way. In America we have something called the separation of powers so that no one group of government can hold too much power or more power than the other.
I think that the hegemonic way of thinking is a good way. It has also been incorporated with feminism. Hegemonic feminism relates to the dominance of the western world assumptions about what it means to be a feminist and how women need to be liberated. I think this is important because women always need to be liberated and have motivation to express how important women are. Feminism has many different groups and it’s cool how many things can be incorporated into feminism.
All together I really like the hegemonic way of thinking. I’m sure ruling by ideas is much easier and cheaper than going to war or using force. War has become a second nature to most countries in today’s society and I hope one day everyone can be at peace. I don’t necessarily see that happening but I hope it will be able to.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Welfare

Poverty has always been an on going dilemma dealing in most countries. I’m not sure if there are any countries that have not undergone poverty. Especially now during the recession many people have been laid off and are unemployed. The amount of single mothers has increased leaving many more empty stomachs. Marriages really need to pull through during hard times, not separate and move on. I really feel like marriages will help decrease poverty because then spouses will be extra motivated to work and put food on the table. It’s hard during these times though because landing a job is ridiculously hard right now, especially if you need to provide for a family.
Food stamps and welfare are a form of money for people with no to little money so they will be able to eat. They have to have a certain low percentage of income to apply and receive welfare. I think our government did a great job with designing the welfare system so hopefully America won’t have a poverty problem. Unfortunately, poverty will remain an issue for an unknown amount of years. It is an unhealthy epidemic and hopefully other countries will be able to rid their poverty problem as well.
Luckily, there are donation funds to give money to countries with major poverty problems. An adoption system is also set up, so people not living with poverty problems can give good lives to the children. Many celebrities do both of these things. You always hear in the media how another celebrity is adopting a child from a different country. Look at Angelina and Brad, they have a child from just about every race, I’m glad they are color blind when it comes to race.

Mom's Work

Do you even realize how much women do in terms of household work? Do you know how much your mom does? Women do over 2/3 of the household work. Statistically, women do as much a 14 hours of household work during the week, while men do a mere 90 minutes. After a couple is married, the woman does twice the household work of the man. I think this is absurd. Men pretend they want women to do the majority of household work because they are better at it, fact is, women are only better because they’ve had more practice.
Statistics say that men who do more house and child work have a better sex life with their wives. I completely agree with that. Women who already have a full time job have to come home to cook, clean, and take care of the children. That’s a lot of work, a full time job plus an extra 14 hours of house and child work. I don’t blame women for being too tired to have sex after that much work. Of course it would be helpful and make women more willing to make love to their husbands if they are helping.
All my life I’ve wanted to have a family, I want to be a stay at home mom and raise my children. I love children as it is, and if they are my own I can only imagine how much I will love them. Cooking and cleaning however are not my best areas. I hope my husband will be rich so we can hire a cook and a maid. I’m sure I’d be able to adapt to learning how to cook and clean, but maybe my husband could help out. If he cooked I’d gladly take care of the children and clean.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sexual Identity

Heterosexuality, homosexuality, bi sexual, what is the proper sexual identity?? Of course in today’s society, heterosexuality is the “norm.” However, homosexuality is beginning to become more normal. In some states, homosexuals are allowed to get married. I’m not homophobic at all, but I would prefer no PDA, although, I don’t like seeing PDA from heterosexuals either. All together, I prefer what couples do with each other to be concealed behind closed doors.
Is bi sexual really a sexual identity? Sure I see girls make out with each other when their drunk, but does that necessarily mean they are into each other? How can you not know your own sexual orientation? You either like girls or boys; I just don’t understand how you can’t know. Can’t it be unhealthy to go from a boy to a girl? I would think you’re more prone to have an STI or giving one to your partner. I’ve never known a bi sexual, the closest I’ve come to one would probably be drunk girls, or the TV show Tila Tequila was on where she chose from a group of boys and girls to find “love.” That was probably a publicity stunt, so I don’t know what to think of bi sexuals.
I also hate the mean words associated with homosexuals. A lot of people use the word “gay” to describe a shirt looking bad or funny, but that can be really hurtful to someone who has a gay sexual identity. I used to use the word gay, but after I realized its various terms I stopped. “Butch” and “dike” are words primarily associated with lesbians and neither of those words are nice. I hope one day people won’t be judge mental and everyone will be accepted for who they are.

A Fat Rant

Being overweight is becoming a “norm.” Obesity is becoming an epidemic. I think if you are comfortable in your own skin that’s all that matters. I watched a YouTube video call “A Fat Rant,” it was a documentary about a woman who weighed about 227 pounds. She seemed so comfortable in her own skin. I don’t think you should ever be ashamed of your weight and I feel like if you had a real problem with it, you’d try to fix it. However, she is a 227 pound young woman and she couldn’t have seemed happier.
Obviously many factors occur to make people overweight such as eating too many sweets, or not getting rid of baby fat, but she made it clear that it’s just a number and nobody other than you should worry about what it is. If you have to shop at a clothing store that goes up to size 5x, who cares?? I’ve always thought that getting a size that fits is better than getting a size that looks skin tight, even if the one you have to get seems bigger than u expected.
The media has had a huge part on how women are supposed to look. The fact is, everyone is different with different bodies and different body types and nobody should look the same. How weird would that be, if everyone looked the same? I’m so glad this brave woman could post this and be comfortable in her own skin. I’m really impressed with how she publically broadcasted her feelings toward being overweight. She is a role model for many young overweight girls.

White Privilege part 2

Apparently no matter what color you are, black, red, orange, or yellow, you will always believe that “white privilege” exists. The only group of people who may never believe that term is true are white people; however, every white person has experienced “white privilege” at least once in their life. My blog entry below goes more into detail about this term and my thoughts. Can it really be true that all other races want to be white? I find it rather humorous because white people are always trying to look dark. You always see white people laying out at the beach and obsessively going to the tanning beds.
What if a young white man grows up in the projects, do u still think he will get the “normal” “white privilege” white people get if they are from a rich neighborhood? I’m not sure I think so. Perhaps if it’s a white man verse a black man on a crime, do you think the judge and/or jury would automatically racial profile their opinion? They might do that. I feel like color is overrated and I just wish everyone were completely color blind so no one felt the need to be judge mental.
When I go out on the weekends, one of my favorite things to do is meet new people. I don’t care what color anyone is, I’ll go up to anyone and introduce myself. I think everyone needs to look beyond the surface and use the cliché sentence of you cant judge a book by its cover. Many people thought that after we had a black president a lot of racism would change; however, in a way I think it’s gotten worse. I sincerely hope one day America will rise above color and treat everyone with the same privileges.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

White Privilege

I feel like being white definitely gives me certain privileges in life, politically, socially and economically. Being young, tall, blonde and female give me even more privilege. The amount of disciplinary action I have encountered at school and with the police are lesser than those of my colored counterparts, especially males. Women, especially white women are able to flirt their way out of speeding tickets, gain sympathy and privilege from men and use their sexuality to gain access to what they want. When it comes to employment and opportunities in the labor market, I have never been turned down at a job interview and I have always gotten hired on the spot. Even when I attended high school, no matter how poorly I did on tests or quizzes, I always passed my classes. I would classify all of these examples as white privilege.
I’m sure that if you are of color, you are prone to encounter much more social inequality throughout the course of your life. Hailing a cab, for instance, seems like a miniscule effort to a white person, but can be an arduous task to a colored person because of socially constructed fear that a cab driver may perceive when passing by a colored person. Similarly, with age, drivers purposely don’t stop for elderly people, maybe because they fear if they have places to go that the elderly person could be immobile and take too long to cross the street. Getting hired on the spot at any job is tricky for anyone. I have been blessed throughout my life to not only be hired everywhere I’ve applied, but I’ve been hired on the spot. Unfortunately, I’m sure that many people that were equally suitable for the position were turned down because of their perceived race or ethnicity. For all of the above reasons, I feel that being white has privileged me as a young woman throughout my short life.

Relationships

Ever since I was young I always watched how well my mom and dad got along. They are not only romantic, but they are best friends. When it came to my sister and I dating, we were always taught that we shouldn’t label a boy as being a boyfriend unless he was husband material. Neither of us had a boyfriend during high school partially because the only options were young and immature.
Growing up in this structured household really limited all of my dating choices. Another reason I didn’t have a boyfriend during high school was because I watched my best friend go through endless boyfriends; they all treated her horribly. Watching her experiences made me not one of my own. I guess looking back that wasn’t a good idea because everyone is different, but I didn’t want to set myself up for failure and at the same time I was still looking for a long term thing.
My sister dated the same guy on and off all through college. He was a nice guy, but she’s my sister so I’ll always think she can do better. They got engaged a year after she had a stable job. The engagement fell through, but I couldn’t help but be happy. She’s now 26 and has been dating a guy for a little over a year now. My family and I think he’s great and I really hope that they get married.
As for me, I had my first boyfriend my first semester at JMU, which was this past fall because I transferred here. To my dismay it was a horrible relationship, it literally defined the disaster relationship. We dated for a mere 8 months and it was nothing but lying, obsessing, and verbal abuse. In the back of my mind I think I knew it would never work because I hid it from my parents. I tried to introduce him to my mom after we first met and she didn’t like him off the bat, so I knew I couldn’t tell her or my dad I was serious about him.
Luckily, I am now out of that hole and I am starting fresh again. Relationships are tough especially when you see how others are and turn out. Everyone needs to make their own experiences though and find things out on their own, despite how you were raised. I think I need to date lots of guys and see what I like and don’t like in them to see what will make husband material.