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The struggles of working women

In the article, “Black Women in White America: Document 94: The experience of Florence Rice ” written by Gerda Lerner is written about the Bronx Slave Market. The Bronx Slave Market existed during the Great Depression and was where African American Women waited all day under any weather conditions to be hired for a cheap paying job. In the article, it states, “Some of the women, when they didn’t want to pay, they’d accuse you of stealing”( 259). I find this quote compelling because even after hours of hard work, some women were still not being paid. It is very sad to see that women were accused of stealing when all they did was work hard, and expecting to be paid. It was hard for these women to appeal because no one would believe a black woman over a white woman at the time. However, this was the start of a feminist movement because women started to become more active in the workforce. Even though work was hard to find, long hours, domestic work, it still provided some kind of income. The Bronx Slave Market was the foundational stage for women being involved in working. 

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Eliminating the race

In the article, “Native Americans and Coerced Sterilization” by Sally J Torpy talks about reproductive rights are taken away from, Native American women by sterilizing them with no consent. For example, a 26 year old native American victim went to the hospital to get a womb implant. In the article, the author writes, “In result, her doctor has previously told her that she was previously sterilized” (2).Some Native Americans were illiterate and doctors took advantage of the language barrier. Doctors and government wanted to end their race so by sterilizing the patients without their consent and knowledge. This was how Native American Women were restricted to reproductive rights based on their race. This is very wrong, by restricting women from having kids and families, just because of their race. In the Madrial v Quilligans case, about 10-15 women came out to file a lawsuit against L.A. County doctors, the state and the federal government for sterilizing them without consent. They hoped that the case would prevent the same from happening to other women. This is an act of feminism because women are standing up for their reproductive rights.

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Unequal Pay for Women in 2018 - MomsRising.org

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In this video posted by Taranverma talks about a modern society where women experience sexual harassment in the workforce. The video shows an interviewer who takes a poll among 10  working women and all of them said that they’ve been sexually harassed. Out of the 10 women who admitted to being sexually harassed, only 2  filed a report. This is because women may fear getting fired and not having an income to support themselves and family. In this video, Harvey Weinstein has sexually harassed many young women who played in roles in his movies. He took advantage of these girls because he knew that the young girls were competing with many others for the job, and needed money to financially support themselves. In addition, these women did not want to go against one of the great directors of all time, so they kept quiet and had a secure job. This is terrible because no women should be sexually harassed, especially in a professional work environment. This happens to all industries and is very unfair to women. Women and men should both feel just as comfortable at work, and shouldn’t be doing sexual favors for promotions and keeping their jobs. When these women stood up to Harvey Weinstein, it was an act of feminism and inspired many other women to stand up for themselves. 

Women coming forth and speaking out after the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein Scandal

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This article by Carolina talks about how there was a fine line between charity girls and prostitution. Charity girls were girls in the 1920s who were not being paid directly but were being treated to events, dinners, etc. in return for sex, flirting, companionship, touching, etc. She gives a great example when she was younger, a boy paid for her movie ticket was expecting a kiss in return. In this case, Carolina was not looking to be treated and rejected the kiss. Many men believed that if you were able to treat a girl and pay for their expenses, the girl would be open to having sex with you in return. The boy’s mentality was that if he paid for her ticket, she would be willing to kiss him. This defeats the purpose of being polite, because the man is technically paying for the sexual pleasure. This is a very controversial topic on whether the man should pay for the woman because sometimes the women feel that the man is expecting something from her in return. The culture of treating still is around today, and many women live off other men treating them. I believe that in western civilization, If a man invites the woman on a date, he should be responsible for the tab. However, if it's a casual dinner, the check should be split evenly. These are my thoughts about Carolina’spost about charity girls. 

Legalized prostitution

“Charity girls” was a street slang used to categorized working class woman who depended on men for enjoyment as with their income they could not afford to treat themselves. It was also a term used differentiate these women from prostitutes as they did not accept money from men. The text by Kathy Peiss is focused on women in New York City in the years 1880 to 1920. Although there is an evident time gap from when these events occurred compared to today’s dating world there is some similarities to the expectations for when a woman is “treated” by a man. As I read the text I could not help to think of an instance where I went to the movies with a group of friends, and one of my male friends who offered to pay for my movie ticket tried to surpass our friendship by attempting to grab my hand and kiss me. I was not only surprised by his action but I was even more shocked to see how he reacted to rejection. As if a movie ticket bought him the right to be more than a friend. I had to be at least 15 years old at the time; and at the time and for as long as I can remember I felt his behavior was out of line and totally disrespectful. Now, over 10 years later having read “charity girls” and reliving this past event I feel my thought process was naïve. I am by no means defending his actions but making it evident that perhaps my friend’s expectation to receive something in return it’s a learned behavior. According to the text “Treating” can be best described as trading, the men offered a few drinks, a ticket to a theater or an amusement park, and women traded a night of fun for sex, companionship, flirting, touching etc. Materialistic gifts, jewelry, were also being traded. Not cash; this was the key factor that differentiated these girls from prostitutes. This culture of treating has been around for ages how can I or any woman for that matter blame a man for continuing with a behavior that is socially acceptable and has been practiced in our society for years? is it judgmental to agree that women who partake in such behavior are practicing prostitution? 

Ladies, It is not up to the man to change this��

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Citizenship among all

In the article, the “Narrowing of Rape”, there is a section where the authors talk about how women aren’t granted citizenship. The author states, “ In contrast to men, women could not claim the rights of citizens, in part because of the belief that they lacked the self-control that was prerequisite for a virtuous citizenry”(17). During this time period, women were not taken seriously because they were thought to be emotionally unstable and unintelligent. This prevented women to vote, and let the male gender dominate the making of laws. This is a time period where feminism started because women wanted to start protesting so they can be taken more seriously rather than just being property owned by the man. As we learned in class, feminism is the movement to stop sexual oppression and to have equal rights as males. Women started to have protests which started the act of feminism.It wasn’t till 1920 when the 19th amendment that let women have the right to vote. After a long period of time protesting, women finally got their way to citizenship and rights. 

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The History of Rape

In the article, “The Narrowing Meaning of Rape”, the author's main argument is the idea of rape has changed throughout the years. The author explains that rape in the early 1900s had a different meaning among different genders and classed among people. For example, the author uses the example that, “Free white women who charged men with rape fared better in court than did female indentured slaves”(14). The low-class women who were slaves had a disadvantage just because they were less respected. While these poor women were never respected, no one cared if they were ever raped. I think it is ludicrous that white women were able to have a better chance in court than the slaved women just because of their social status. The author gives an exact example of two servants in the 17th century who actually get punished with extra years of service when testified their master of sexual rape. This shows how female slaves were treated like property and could would be punished if they tried to speak up. This is unacceptable because women are being raped and there is no justice being served just because of their gender and social class. In modern times, the court is much fairer and investigates much deeper in cases involving rape no matter who is testifying. During the 1600s, the court always favored the white men, in result would let them get away with rape very easily. While black men were basically guilty when accused just because. Rape has taken much more seriously in modern times. This is compelling to me because the fact that something terrible is happening to an individual and the courts are being unfair is a disappointing time in women history. Im glad that the rape percentage has been decreasing throughout the years and people view it as a much serious topic.

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1910s.

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Females are just as important

In the Article “The Second Sex”, the author Simone De Beauvoir writes about how people compare the male and female sex. She states, “Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being”(De Beauvoir 675). The author of this article is explaining how people believe that men are the dominant sex and women is simply sex that's not males. Simone explains that women are not being treated as an autonomous being, which means she has no independence. The man has complete power over the female and treats her like an asset. This problem stemmed from previous generations when laws were created by men that favorited the male sex. This means that society was taught to view the male as superior and more powerful than women. In addition, religion also displayed gender inequality by telling stories that made men the more dominant gender. I find this quote to be compelling because it shows how gender inequality started, and how it is revolutionizing over time. Nowadays I believe that the people are starting to recognize the female gender its own sex rather being based on the male sex. 

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Stereotypes are the Worst

So today I was doing my usual night chores at the gas station, taking out the trash and one of the customers say, “oh I can take out the trash for you.” I replied with “it’s ok you don’t have to, I got this.” Before I knew it, he took out two trash bags and put new trash bags in the trash bins right before my eyes. I told him he didn’t have to and he insisted and did it for me. To put into perspective, this was a middle-aged man probably 30 or 40 who helped me out. I said thank you and he left. The first thing that went through my head was ‘do I look weak to do my own job?’ I take out the trash out of 10 trash bins every weekend and I never asked for assistance. As genuine as that man was, it was almost an insult. No, it WAS an insult, pretty much saying “taking out the trash is no job for a young woman.”

*side note: I was raised to do all jobs in the kitchen; do the dishes, sweep the floor, and TAKE OUT THE TRASH. Although I’m at a gas station there is no sex rule of who does the trash. *

Back to what I said, I think it should say, “young WHITE women.” I say that because I think out of all stereotypes; ‘a young white woman is weak or fragile’ is pretty offensive. For Asian women, they wouldn’t be messed with because they know Kung-fu, for Mexican woman and black women they know how to beat someone up. One look at me, and it’s “oh she shouldn’t be out at night it’s dangerous,” or “she’s not strong enough,” it’s almost as worst as calling a blonde stupid. I know quite a few blondes who are quite intelligent, and it sucks how our society stereotypes us all women to make us look weak or stupid.

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Educate Our Generation

In the article, “Feminism is for everybody” written by bell hooks, is about the authentic meaning of feminism. Many people believe that feminism is about women wanting to rule over the male sex. In the Article, the author writes, “Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression”(hooks 1). This quote is explaining the true meaning of feminism. She believes that the true meaning of feminism is the belief of women having equal rights. With this argument, there have been many famous feminist like Lucy Stone who has made a huge movement towards equality among men and women. Lucy Stone and her husband were among the first couples to protest against the strict marriages laws that restricted many rights from the wife. I agree with her definition because I believe women should not be judged or treated unfairly because of their gender. Women want to be held to the same standards as men and not judged by society’s expectations. I found this quote compelling because it made me realize that many people have wrong perceptions of what feminism is and how sexism has revolutionized throughout time