The End Starts with YOU.

I decided to take an ethnic studies class my freshman year. Partially because I needed it to fit the requirements of the general educational program and partially because it sounded like fun.

And it was fun. I took Introduction to American Indian Studies and loved it. Then this spring I took up a minor in it. At first, I wanted to use my 'whiteness' in good ways and I stated that I was taking these classes to learn about the cultures of our ethinicities in American. But I also wanted to stop oppression of these groups.

Since I am a women's studies major, I understand that I am oppressed. And until I started taking more ethnic studies classes, I didn't understand how closely I allign myself with people of color. Because most people of color understand that their oppressed. People of my gender...do not.

I think all women understand that they are viewed as inferior of men. But most women can excuse that away, saying that as soon as they get married that her husband will have the privilege they need. (Assume that they are heterosexual, which isn't always the case.) There are the women who do not fit the feminine women example and they are excused as deviant to the gender. If they do not have a slender body, they are labeled as obese, or overweight. Not fitting in to social norms, their are plenty of psychological disorders that they could be diagnosed with. (Remember homosexuality was a disorder in the psychological world until GLB activists won that battle. Being a crossdresser or a transvestite is still a disorder...) These women don't fit so they are given a label so that they are an exception, not a woman. And certaintly they aren't oppressed because they are women. That's not why they are oppressed, they have a disorder!

Okay ladies, you understand you are held inferior, but marrying a man is not going to get you to an equal status. And it is certainly not going to save you from being oppressed. Getting diagnosed with a disorder may not help either.

I recognized that I was oppressed. I am not immune from gender oppression because I'm white, or blonde, or blue eyed. Yes, I have privileges but I am still oppressed.

I try to talk to non-women studies majors about this (and some women's studies majors are not feminists or blooming feminists, so it's hard to talk to them too). I try to find spaces where I can be seen as an equal and not an inferior. And it's hard, because so many women are brainwashed in to thinking that we have the same opportunity as men.

Well ladies, you have a disorder called INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION. Yup, you are oppressed. Not because individuals in your life are oppressing you, but you are.

You are trained to think that you are inferior so you accept the low paying jobs, you do not take the hardest classes at your institutions, you may even act dumb and giggly to get men's attention (and eventually a husband). You may not exactly believe this, but society has taught you to not expect more. You speak up, you get told to shut up. If you are sad, then you get pills. You don't fit the feminine body type, you must get plastic surgery or lose weight for goodness sake.

I'm so tired of women telling me that I need to dumb down/pretty up in order to get a male partner. What if I do not want a partner? "Well you will, eventually."

Uhmmm, right now I don't. So why don't you spend your own time realizing that you have accepted a job that you hate and don't make shit, that your husband controls everything you do, and you have no personal opinion about anything. Because I'd rather be lonely forever, then have a job that I despise, not be able to make my own choices, and not be able to think.

Listen up, Ladies: You have a CHOICE in life. You can accept being degraded and not being a complete person. Or you can be your own person. Your thinking is the biggest obstacle in becoming you. Or lack of thinking...in this case.

Because Science told me so...

Last summer, I took a biology course on Women. Which means I took a biology course on reproduction.

This three week class was the one of the final pulls towards declaring a Women's Studies major. (After that class I signed up for Introduction to Women's Studies and the rest is history.) What I learned in that class was more than just science, it was life.

Let me explain. Reproduction is how everyone came to be. Even the test tube babies. That's life.

We're all little miracles! YAY!!!

You know what else is a miracle: being a sex. Do you know how easy it is to have genetics mess up and you get born with testes and ovaries? Or a penis but no scrotum? It's more common then you think.

Some research says that 1 in 100 births belong to the intersex group. I'm serious. I've seen lower stats too. But that is the one that I have read the most often, in several sources.

Intersexuality intrigues people. Part of this is because we do not learn about it until college (hello? I was 19 before I learned about this?). Some intersex people may not find out about their own intersex until they are older. (It's not all on the outside, folks.)

[Photo Reference: Eph-B-CABOT-Variety-1938-01]


I'm taking a class called Sociology of Sexuality this summer. Now sex is my favorite thing to talk about and I am blunt about it. I knew this class was going to interest me and challenge me and educate me and that is why I decided to take it.

A few posts ago I realized I was getting more and more personal with my blog posts. This blog is not about my personal life. Although I have experiences that I feel I need to share, I want to do it to add to a professional conversation. Those posts, always has a professional background. Always.

Some people have told me in more polite ways: to shut up about sexuality and my experiences. That it is not appropriate to talk about this subject or that subject in that environment.

But that is what we need to do! We need to talk about our experiences!!! Why? Because experiencing sexuality is NORMAL. No matter who you are.

Intersex people for decades had corrective surgeries since birth to try and make them one sex or the other. Usually it was the doctor that made those decisions to have the surgery. And for decades, children were lied to and growing up with the idea that they were born a certain sex.

Anne Fausto-Sterling wrote 'The Fives Sexes: why male and female are not enough' to address these issues.

She says that their aren't really only 2 sexes, there are FIVE. Is your mind blown? Mine is. We see our lifes in binary ways, we are taught that since birth. Maybe even before birth. Black can only be black, white can only be white. But we don't just have two colors, we have so many more.

In my American Indian Literature class, I learned about the idea of a Medicine Wheel. The medicine wheel was a circle that tried to include more than just two categories of anything. The medicine wheel encompasses all people, all things. It's not a melting pot either, it is a inclusive symbol that wanted to include cultures, not erase them.

This 5 sex thing is slowly making it's way to becoming that medicine wheel. It's trying to make people understand that there is a 50/50 chance that you become a boy or a girl. There is more in to development than that.

Your sex does not end when you are given a X or Y chromosome from sperm. That's just the beginning of sex. And it doesn't end when you are born. (Do you know that some people don't just have XY or XX. They may have XXY, or XYY or YY...it happens...)

Michel Foucault and Judith Butler are researchers about sexuality. And in one of my readings I did for my Sociology class they stated that even sex is created. Just like gender is.

Yes, it is created to organize and categorize the world.

Last summer I learned that sex is what you were born with and gender is the traits that society gives that sex....and this summer, I learn that even sex is a creation of the society we live in.

So I am as confused as you are right now. But it makes sense.

Why else do we not have language for something that happens in 1 in 100 births? That we only have 2 pronouns for female and male. Even though....intersex happens.

It's because the society a long long long time ago decided that it didn't. Decided that if you were, you had to choose the two options.

So relying on biology, they say that your sex is natural. That you have a sex. They created sex through biology. And since it is science, people believe it.

Well, they forget to mention, or they didn't have the resources we do now or even 50 years ago, to prove that the idea of 2 sexes really isn't right.

So when people tell me that science is always right. I say...."uhhhh no."

Who knows in 50 years people could be telling me that my skin is an organ? Oh wait, they do. Or they could tell me that pluto isn't a planet? Oh wait, they do. Or that the earth is round? Shiz, that's what they do.

So what did I learn today?

Science isn't always right, but it is getting better.

(I wrote on issues like this one before, you can find it here.)

Don't forget the Boys...?

http://www.achilleseffect.com/

I found this great site, that I think really helps support the issues feminists are trying to change.

A lot of people believe that feminism is for women only and for women issues, but I have found in my studies so far that it does not encompasses just 'women' issues.

Feminism is about:

1. changing the society so that it does not oppress women.

2. tackling the practices that make women oppressed.

Let's look at the first statement, changing society. Does society just affect women? No. It affects everyone in it. So obviously the same society is going to affect the men too. That is why this site is so cool. It shows that feminists can not just look at the women's issues and expect everything to be changed! Feminist also have to change the issues that affect men! Gender stereotypes do not just oppress girls and women, they also hinder men! (Notice, I use hinder and not oppress, men can not be oppressed!)

Let's look at the second statement, tackle the practices that oppress women. I think that is pretty straight forward, women are oppressed, therefore lets stop the practices and other issues that oppress women. First, let's recognize these practices. Second, let's see the context of these practices, let's fully understand. Third, feminists ask "do we have any say to change these practices, how can we do it?"

The common misconception is that feminism is all about women. But it's not all about women, because these issues do affect all. "The Archilles Effect" looks at this and tackles the issues that affect men. Taken from the about section, "The pop culture environment that surrounds boys introduces them to a world where traditionally masculine traits—like toughness, aggression, and stoicism—are highly esteemed and where female influence is all but absent."

It's definitely an interesting site and it is worth a look! And the nice thing is, even though it focuses on masculinities, it looks at gender as a whole too!

(Note: There are several views of feminism. I am looking at the general definition.)

Digital Divide && Connection to Gender Roles

This is part 2 for my 2/23 assignment. I found that Angie's assignment summary was about what women do online compared to what men do online.

She listed 2 facts that caught my eye at first. They were all related. And that is why I was so interested in them:

1. More men use the Internet to pursue hobbies; more women use the Internet to communicate with family and friends.

2. There are a greater number of women than men on social networking sites.

Digital Divide && Common Source

I found that this site was listed on many fellow classmates assignments. So I decided to start analyzing from this point of view.

This study was analyzing if gender was a role in influencing the internet. Women are found to be more 'online' so to speak than men. Does that make them influence the internet more? Although the articles says it does, I care to disagree.

The author defines influence

as the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.

If women are more likely to be involved in the social network, what effect is that producing? What is it changing? And if the previous study we read is correct, and that men are sharing more political views over Facebook, they may be more influential than woman even on Twitter.

Overall, it doesn't matter which gender is on twitter or Facebook or the internet more. It matters what they do on it that cause influence. And if men are not on Facebook/twitter/internet as much as women, but when they are: they choose to make political statements, share current news articles and run more websites. Then they still have all of the influence.

[Picture source]

Gender and Facebook Reading

For class, we had to read "Got Facebook? Investigating What's Social About Social Media" which is a study by S. Craig Watkins and H. Erin Lee at the College of Communication (University of Texas-Austin).

Overall, the study was predictable as a regular Facebook user. The majority of people that use Facebook is college age adults (18 to 25) and the percentage users go down as the age goes up. Also, the majority of the study was done with Caucasians, which may bias the sample. The study also seemed to use college-educated people, this means the sample was most likely privileged, at least in class.

I was surprised at the average age of beginning Facebook, which was 22.69. Most of the people I knew started using Facebook during high school. So I thought it would be around 18. This was explained afterwards, saying that half of the people in the sample were introduced to Facebook at around high school age, but the other half were older. Another reasoning of this high age was the 'new' history of the website.