Thursday, September 29, 2011

Interview

Still typing up my audio interview...taking sooo long.  Next time I won't do it in the library cuz I can barely hear it!!!  Oh and FYI, the library closes at 10PM in case anyone was wondering...me and my interviewee ended up getting kicked out! lol

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

People Like Us & Center for Working-Class Studies


The People Like Us site is cool.  I like the games, but I couldn’t seem to be able to find “The Video” to watch it.  According to a lot of my answers on the games I’m “trailer trash” lol who knew?  They’re fun but of course you can’t possibly determine someone’s class based on their answer to a single question.  That’s just silly…but fun like I said.  They talk a lot about how class is a big factor in the U.S. and also how it can and does influence discrimination. 

The Center for Working-Class Studies site is a University site out of Ohio.  The first thing I saw when I went on this site was the unemployment rate (I assume in Ohio).  It is currently very high at 26.37%.  I would be interesting in knowing what percentage of that number is female and what percentage is male, but they don’t give that information.  They also discuss how blue-collar jobs seem to be disappearing, and more and more Americans are being considered working class every day.  Then they discuss the factors considered in determining class.  “At the CWCS, we see class as based on a combination of factors -- what kind of work people do, how much they earn, their social and economic power, their education, lifestyle, and culture.  We also recognize that class is closely related to race, gender, religion, and other social categories.”

I agree with The Center for Working-Class Studies.  There are many factors that are including in determining class.  I believe gender is one of them and that is one big reason why economic inequity is a feminist issue.  There is a lot of economic inequity towards lower class Americans.  If feminism lowers your class, then it becomes a major feminist issue. 

And Wikipedia agrees as well:

The F-Word by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner & Fear of Feminism by Lisa Maria Hogeland

Quotes

"Truth famously encountered men who said that women are weak and 'need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches,' noting, 'I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman?'"  Sojourner Truth was an African American woman who spoke against slavery and for women's rights.  Here she is denying mens' claims that women need the help of a man do to things.  She justifies this by saying that she has done much harder things in her lifetime (than getting in a carriage and stepping over a ditch) better than any man could ever do. She then says "And ain't I a women?" implying that all women can do what men do, and sometimes better.

"An amendment to the U.S. Constitution to give women the right to vote was first introduced, and defeated, in 1878.  The amendment was reintroduced every year for the next forty years before it finally passed.  In 1920 American women voted for the first time in a presidential election, after the Nineteenth Amendment was finally passed and ratified."  What does this show?  That women are persistent.  And without womens' persistence, we would probably not have gotten the amendment passed and would still have no rights.  In fact, the whole women's movement expresses persistence.  1878-1920, that’s 42 years that women persisted about the same thing once a year, every year, until we got what we wanted.  THAT IS PERSISTENCE.

"Fear of feminism, then, is not a fear of gender, but rather a fear of politics.  Fear of politics can be understood as a fear of living in consequences, a fear of reprisals."  Hogeland believes that the fear of feminism is not a fear of gender, but rather, a fear of politics.  This makes sense because politics play a great role in the issue of feminism.  Hogeland goes on to say that the fear of politics breaks down to a fear of living in consequence (that you voted for the wrong person I would assume), and a fear of being injured or possibly fined for voting and/or your beliefs. 

Check out women's rights in the UK:
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Oppression by Marilyn Frye

This lady is very convinced of what she believes.  However, I think she's being a little over the top, even ridiculous.  I actually laughed at this article because it starts out OK, she's very mouthy, but OK.  She talks about women getting blamed for being raped...because if the woman is NOT sexually active then that means she wants it...what?!?  I've honestly never heard of that.  Then she goes on to complain that men are opening doors for women.  I personally have nothing wrong with that and I hold doors for people too!  It's impossible for a man to hold a door open for a woman just to be nice?  I don't know if Frye feels so strongly and says what she says because of the time she lived in or if she's just ridiculous, but I thought the ideas in this article were ridiculous...

I will mention this in class and specifically the "door opening" issue.  I will use myself as an example, because I personally hold doors open a lot.  I never realized it was just because I was mocking the person I'm holding it for haha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppression

About Me

I'm Kristen, I'm taking this class because I needed a new behavioral science and this class seemed interesting.  I am VERY busy so far this semester and probably will be throughout it as well.  I am also currently unemployed and looking for a job in the Computer field (preferably a Programmer position).  In my limited free time I like to watch movies, play Farmville and spend time with my cats Tipsy (in the pic) and Hemi (who turned a year old today!).