chariannyrx-blog

[chariannyrx-blog]

Chris Brown & Domestic Violence

Reflection #8

When I think of domestic violence, there are many things that come to my attention. Most things I’ve only heard of and can only imagine what they would be like or feel like, while others I have seen and experienced myself. It is easy to dismiss abuse from a partner as just something that’s done when they are angry. Reading the chapter on Chris Brown made me understand an aspect that’s very overlooked in our society, the fact that young women have this willingness to let anyone abuse them just because of their status, money, fame and looks. It honestly makes me sad, but I can’t say that I don’t understand it. To say that I don’t understand their willingness to be abused is to say I’ve never experienced what it is to be a woman in this society. Now I am not saying that it is ok to accept any form of abuse but as women we have never been taught otherwise. We, women, are trying to find our place in a society that has constantly shown us how our value is lower than that of men, how to suppress our thoughts and emotions because they’re simply not as important and a society who has taught us that domestic violence or any violence against women for that matter is taken lightly. It has shown us that when we cry “rape” our assailants walk free or we are often perceived as liars and manipulators. Domestic violence is as serious as it comes and many people don’t realize the damage it can cause another human being. We have to do better, we have to be better.

[chariannyrx-blog]

Reflection #6

The Prison Industrial Complex

There are many things that I don’t particularly think about when it comes to my freedom, things that I am not fully aware of and things that make me feel certain emotions when finally reading about and understanding the different reasons and history behind a concept. While reading this short article by Angela Davis, some things really stood out to me and others really made me think. Such as how much of the population is currently in the United States prisons, the school to prison pipeline and the privatization of our prisons.

“Almost two million people are currently locked up in the immense network of U.S. prisons and jails. More than 70 percent of the imprisoned population are people of color.” Wrote Davis on this article. When an individual first reads that statement, at least when I read it, it completely threw me off and surprised me. It is easy for us to witness how African Americans and minorities get targeted and we can all testify to the injustices that we suffer, however, it is almost impossible for us to picture how many people of color are actually institutionalized in our prisons or jails, mostly because most of us never have experienced what it is to visit a prison or jail and have only been witnesses to the injustices that occur in our communities without being aware of the injustices that go on in our prison systems.

This leads me to the other point that Angela Davis was making about the privatization of prisons. Now that prisons can be privately owned, the state and those prison owners require an amount of people to occupy the empty spaces in our prisons, which therefore means that there are improvised people who are getting convicted and sent to jail for petty crimes such as drug possession and distribution. The case we studied in class about the young woman who was in an abusive relationship and got convicted to attempting to distribute narcotics that she had no idea about, was sentenced to 24.5 years in prison. This punishment does not fit the “crime” committed and therefore proofs just how badly and how different the justice system treats wealthy white people as oppose to how minorities and people of color are treated.

In class we spoke about the school to prison pipeline and how much it actually affect the young people and adolescents that will and have been a part of the criminal justice system one way or the other. We, people of color and minorities, get arrested, convicted and tried more often than white people do predominantly because of our school systems. Schools that house students from improvised neighborhoods and minority groups more often than not have less resources to provide a high level of education to the students and are heavily policed. When I say heavily policed, I mean how in most middle schools and high schools located around neighborhoods with low income have implemented the use of metal detectors, which most schools of “higher education” or wealthy schools don’t have to implement metal detectors as a strategy to police their students.

Overall, the prison industrial complex is as complex as its name indicates. It needs serious repair, work and most importantly a voice, a voice that will speak out against the injustices we face as a whole and as a minority group in this country. How is this the land of the “free” when more than two million people have been deprived of their freedom?

[chariannyrx-blog]

Men & Feminism Chap.4

Reflection #5

While reading chapter four of men and feminism, there were many things that I began to question and understand. I started to reflect on the way that I, as a woman, perceive the world and how my interactions within it are affected by societies norms, prejudices and privileges. Seal Mentions many key factors into the major differences in which a woman goes throughout herself as opposed to how men behave and perceive their lives. Along with how privileged men are, there are things that as women we have just learn to adapt to and perceive as our reality simply because that’s what we have been taught. On this I will reflect, on the fact that men don’t notice their privilege, how we as women roam the world which is dominated my men and thus society teaches us.

It amazes me to see how many men around my community, my school and my family don’t notice how their gender impacts their lives and the way they interact with people. I know men who are open to the idea of feminism and who try to advocate for not only human rights, but women’s rights especially. I have a great example of when a man stood up for us women that occurred in one of my physical education classes. This one particularly guy is completely sexist and intoxicated with his own masculinity. He makes fun of the women in the class because he says they are not as capable as performing the sport, he sexually harasses and objectifies the women too. There is this one classmate, let’s call him Eric. Eric made sure to express his concerns to the professor when he found out what was going on and explained how this space should be a place where we, women, can come and be ourselves without being harassed, as if we don’t get enough of that on the streets. This act by this classmate made me extremely happy and hopeful that there are feminist men out there that want to make a difference in the world.

From a men’s perspective, it’s hard to understand the lives of women because they have been rewarded with the gift of being born male. It brings me to the point where the author Seal mentioned how women have to be scared to walk the streets at night, constantly be worried about their looks and appearances and how language has been used in the media to give men the power to sexual harassment and abuse without feeling the shame of said acts. Seal says that in the media, women that have been raped are identified as rape victims with their gender plastered around the whole article while the perpetrator who most of the time is a men, is not identified as a man. For example; Seal says that a woman that has been beaten by a man is merely described as a “battered woman” which gives no identity to the figure who actually brought the abuse upon such woman. It’s the male privilege that Seal also mentions in this chapter that allows this to be true in our society.

Lastly, I would like to relate this to our discussion in class about Brett Kavanough and how he is the perfect example of white male privileged. After everything this man was accused of, the way he behaved and conducted his interview and the fact that none of his answers in his hearing made sense, to still be appointed as a Supreme Court judge brings me major concern for our justice system and for future cases of sexual abuse and harassment that this man will have to make decisions for. It’s hard to think that things would have turned out the same way had this been a woman. Male privilege is real, until men begin to understand that they are privileged and that something needs to be done about it, it seems like women will have it rough. Nothing against men, but this privileged needs to be used to encourage change and equality within humanity, not only the genders. Both men and women need to work together in order to bring about change.

[chariannyrx-blog]

We Should All Be Feminists

Reflection #3

Reading “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was such an enlightening experience for me. There were many concepts that stood out to me that made me feel and understand not only emotions towards certain beliefs and views, but to grasp why as humans we think and act the way that we do and where it all originates from. To start, I’ve always believed a “feminist” was everything the media portrayed it to be; “loud, obnoxious and angry women who hate men, say they want equality but want to be above men”. It wasn’t until I read this piece that I understood what being a feminist was; a man or woman whose beliefs are centralized around equality for both men and women, not superiority, but equality. It was then that I understood being a feminist is a good thing.

As I mentioned, there were many things that stood out to me in this reading. I will talk about two of those things that I found myself either relating to or trying to put myself in such a predicament. The first thing I want to talk about is the fact that Adichie mentions how she is a conversation with one of her friends in which the friend was crying explaining to Adichie how at a work meeting she presented this idea in which a man after took credit for because her friends boss did not want to hear her out. Personally, the reading this stood out to me was because I can picture something like that happening in my place of work, however I am a very outspoken person, if I was ever in a situation like that I will not stay quiet as Adichies friend did, instead I will speak my mind and let it be known that I work twice as hard, I can pitch great ideas which people might find worth stealing and I will not tolerate anyone taking credit for my hard work.

The next thing I want to talk about is the concept that the author introduced when she gave us a personal story about going out with a male friend, not being greeted or thanked to when offering someone a tip for the simple fact that she is a woman who is accompanied by a man. This concept that women are less than men and thus must perform tasks accordingly and God forbid “a task for a man” such as tipping someone has got to be stopped. It infuriates me to think that I am not worth another persons acknowledgement, greetings or thanks. As a woman, I have done many things considered to be for “men”, such as paying for dinner on a date, buying gifts for my partner, fixing my own mechanical problems, and so excuse me if I think I am just as strong and capable as men are.

Last but certainly not least, I would like to conclude with elaborating on one particular video we saw in class which is the TED talk one about the man who is a feminist and tries to inspires other men to become feminists as well. For the most part, I agree with everything he said, except when he said that “men are the problem”. Men are not the only ones to blame when it comes to the struggles and inequalities we face as women, women are also to blame because some women encourage “masculine” behaviors, such as aggression, assertiveness and emotionless. If men don’t behave as “men”, we think they are less than, which brings me to my last point. Men, understand that it is fine for you to feel emotional, you are only human capable of feeling many different things and despite what you’re brought up believing you should be able to express your feelings, it doesn’t make you less of a man, it makes you more of a human. Women, encourage men to express their emotions, don’t bring them down once they do, just as we need a shoulder to lean on, they do as well. Treat people as you would like to be treated and remember that at the end, we are all humans, struggling with our our things and thoughts, experiencing life is many different but yet similar paths.

[chariannyrx-blog]

While I was reading transformations, there were many things that stood out to me, those of which I will highlight here. They are the way that women are supposed to “do gender”, how it feels as a woman to have to be constricted to these belies that society has placed upon us. Some double binds that have caught my interest, the inequality that woman face in a predominately “men dominant world”.

To begin with, as the author of the book mentioned “doing gender” for women is an aspect that is much more complex than it is for men. Men tend to be of lower maintenance than women for the simple fact that as females women have to express femininity, thus making it that wearing makeup, wearing certain clothes and hairstyles is the only way to determine whether you’re female or male, almost as if there are not other characteristics that can identify you as a female other than your femininity. Raised in a gender neutral environment the idea I never comprehended the idea that I had to “do gender” or perform the gender that I was assigned at birth, I was free to perform tasks deemed for both men and women and exposed to both aspects of what it is to be a “boy” and what it is to be a “girl”.

Reading this chapter opened my eyes and made me realize the struggles and the stereotypes that women face, there were many things that even though I knew about, I never really bothered to think about or pay attention to. One of those things are the double binds that only seem to surround women, though they sometimes happen with men, it is tiring having to conform to society’s views of women. It really does create this negative mindset in women and a no win situation. If we dress too feminine, we are trying to get attention, if we don’t dress feminine enough, people tell us that we should wear prettier clothes and wear makeup. If we are quiet, people tell us we should make our voices heard, if we make our voices heard, we’re over confident, bitches and should be put back in our places. There is no winning for a woman, we are constantly being judged which in my opinion just leads me to say that because there is no pleasing anyone, we should just go ahead and do whatever we want, we’re going to be criticized for it anyways.

Lastly, another part of the reading that stood out to me was the fact that women get paid less than men to do the same job, to express the same ideas and have virtually the same thoughts and perform the same actions. Ive always known men get paid more than women, but I didn’t come to understand how it worked until one of my colleagues experienced it first hand. This won works for a very well known company in which she had to ask for a demotion to become a full time student, it wasn’t until she was demoted that she was informed that her now manager was getting paid four dollars more to perform the same job as she used to. This helped me open my eyes and expand my understanding of the ideas and beliefs that society has created surrounding women. Overall, as women we should do as we please, stick together and raise awareness in order to encourage other women to be the best versions of themselves and encourage men to learn from the experiences and situations that women are exposed to on a daily basis.

[chariannyrx-blog]

Female & Male

Reflection #1

Anytime I have thought about my gender, I’ve always been sure that I am female and would like to remain that way. I was raised in a gender neutral environment, if I wanted to play with dolls I could and if I wanted to play baseball, I could as well. Reading gender education by fine gave me a new perspective on what a “gender neutral” environment is. My parents never added breasts, hair or muscles to my books. They let me choose who I wanted to be exposing me to both worlds. I’m not sure if the idea of adding breasts to a male would be something I would do with my future children. Nonetheless, this reading made me open my eyes to other people’s ideas and ways of raising their children. I think it’s interesting what Fine wrote about the exposure of who is bringing home the paycheck and doing the domestic work for children is important, not only does it teach them that there aren’t any roles for just male or female, but that they can do anything they set their minds to and I think as parents, that’s what we would like our children to learn.