Discussion 9

Pat Mainardi stated that there is a difference between liberated women and women’s liberation. A liberated woman is a woman who is okay with sex before marriage and she is absolutely well educated and oriented. These types of women have a very strong character and don’t settle for less than what they think they deserve. Therefore, they will always end up with husbands who understand their mentality and their cozy lifestyle. On the other hand, there is women’s liberation which is an example of many women who are just kept in the house for cleaning and cooking purposes. The conversation between married couples about housework could go very bad anytime. Men have always been feeling entitled since they were babies. They have had always someone who takes care of them which is their mother in addition to the media and shows they have been watching which always misrepresent the image of a woman. Men’s brains were super washed by those kinds of ideas and images been represented. As Pat Mainardi said in her article: “The list could go on but sheer necessities are bad enough. , which explains the struggle these women have to deal with in their home. Not only the list of housework is long and hard , but also engaging in a healthy conversation about it with your husband is something that is hard to accomplish. These types of personal problems during the marriage are always related to political issues in our society. If we want to make a change in our society, we need to start with educating our kids and applying democracy at home. As we have read in the past articles, society will be always looking for a problem in order o degrade women in our society. Frigidity is another example of that. Women were being taught that being frigid is a psychological problem and psychiatrists are the ones who can solve that, while in reality, having an orgasm has nothing to do with the vigina. Anne Koedt stated in his article: “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” that achieving orgasm is related to the “Clitoris” which is the center of sexual sensitivity and the vigina. The biology back then in 1970 was not been well studied and analyzed which led to so many false statements that caused women to have depression and psychological problems. These last two weeks of reading were so important and full of knowledge. I really enjoyed reading all the articles and watching the videos. I hope everyone does feel the same.

IMANE CHAABA

DISCUSSION 8

Suffrage, labor rights, and equal rights exist to fight for women’s rights in society. For years women were treated poorly by their environment, society, and people who run their workplace. Women at that time did not have the right to vote and have zero insurance. After decades of the lengthy, road of struggle and protest, the 19th amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920. This purpose was very hard to achieve and the campaign for woman suffrage was very dramatic because, after ratification, many women were couldn’t vote because of the discriminatory state voting laws. The courage and resilience that these women had were unbelievable. Women deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship as men do. We must normalize equality and freedom. Women in society need to have more power, influence, and work opportunities. After all, women still face issues in the workplace. Years ago, there was no such thing as protecting the workplace. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire tragedy was a great example of that. Hundreds of women were working very hard with no protection plan. They were taken advantage of and mistreated by the building owners. It was one of the deadliest in U.S history and the country had to do something about it. After losing hundreds of hard worker women, we finally came up with a plan such as the Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention law which required factory owners to install sprinkler systems. The fire helped the growth of the International ladies garment Workers’Union which was made to create better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

The proposed amendment ERA could be such a game-changer for women in society but it is still not ratified in most states. Women created this example of rights to stop discrimination and gender preferences. They were fighting for equality in divorce, employment, education, and property. Society still needs adjustment because after the achievements women did, there are still issues with gender equality in the workplace. As was stated by Tara Law in her article: Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Here’s What to Know About the History of the ERA”:

“I think there’s been a more widespread understanding among both women and men
that we have not truly established equality in our culture,” she says, “and the laws that
we have enacted are not sufficient to protect against sex discrimination in all avenues.” We still need to fight for women’s rights because we haven’t become a hundred percent equal society yet.

IMANE CHAABA

These past few last weeks have been so informal and very interesting in this class. Personally, I learned a lot about feminism, activism, oppression, and women’s history. The subjects that I used to find very sensitive to read or talk about, now I feel more educated and excited about knowing more and more. This week’s reading was very important as we get to see the behind scenes of the pornography industry and look at all the pain our young girls have been through. In such a male domination society where males are objectifying women’s bodies, these women have nothing but a body to play with. Women have been used as sex objects to build a billion-dollar industry. Not only that but men are also forced to act aggressively towards women which impacts their behavior towards women in public. We don’t see enough women in colleges, workplaces,s or even hospitals because how people think that women don’t belong to such industries and they are too weak and stupid to have nice jobs. I think after all these readings of this week and the past weeks, I am more concerned and worried about my image as a woman, and I will definitely speak up for myself or any other woman If I have to.

Activism is the moment when you feel that there is something wrong going on in your life, your neighbor, or your city and you feel the need to make a change. I enjoyed watching “Girl Connected” and I really loved how these five Girls: Josi, Michelle, Aisha, Latifa, and Ghazal were mature enough to think outside their comfort zone and actually stand for their rights. They know they deserve better education, a good environment, and most importantly mature mentality around them. It is very sad to see them scared of society that is ready to steal their youth, future, and virginity. They choose to be activists because it is the only way to freedom. For example, Aisha from India was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was five which lead her to quit school. I found her very brave and ambitious about not only karate but life in general. The fact that she is Muslim and took a men’s sport tells a lot about what she went through as a child. In my opinion, Activism always starts from the smallest groups. It should be at least one of us who has the courage to speak, break taboos and say the truth. Like Josi from Peru did in her university, she was so fearless that she picked the most sensitive topic in her city to talk about. Prevention of teenage pregnancy is a very serious problem that most girls deal with. It can stop them from achieving their goals, having high-salary jobs, or getting married. Activism has no age and no gender. Anyone who thinks something needs to change is an activist.

An activist is a person who is looking to change the world. An activist is a person who is ready to commit and inspire others. Wendy Syfret explained in her excerpts “How To Think Like An Activist” that activism has always been related to the energy and voices of individuals who are willing to make a difference in the world. Young activists are the ones speaking the most because of the environments they live in their universities, clubs, gender, sexual orientation, etc. These topics are more discussed between young adults and that’s why they are the ones seeking change. Social media has played such a huge role in developing activism because it become very easy to educate or speak about an issue nowadays. The message could be heard and transformed by thousands of people on social media. This is such a great opportunity and motivation for young people who are sometimes afraid of speaking up. Now, all we have to do is to press record and film a video of something inappropriate happening. This is how the world or police will believe us. For me, since I created my social media platform and I become confident about myself and what I believe in, I started sharing videos about me just talking about different topics that most of my friends find it hard. Before I talk about any topic, I make sure I do a lot of research and get more knowledge to fully understand the situation. Most of the time my followers will interact and discuss the topic too. It feels good to be a leader or to think outside the box sometimes. This world will only move forward if we make changes.

Just the African women and the black male in the group are the ones that couldn’t make it forwards showing how society holds so much privilege that it is hard to get rid of. Privilege is a bunch of rights and advantages given to certain people by choice. What I mean by choice is that society will give you a right based on your race, skin color, and the area you came from. For example, In America, people will literally judge you based on your zip code. If you are coming from a white people area, you will probably get what you need. But If your zip code belongs to black people are, for example, you will get special treatment. It is a very sad truth that I wish we can wake up one day without these thoughts in our head. It seems like no matter how hard the black community tries to involved and engage in society, people of power will have new plans for them. I found privilege and racism are two terms that are very related to each other. When I think about white privilege, I automatically think about racism. In my opinion, parents play a huge role in this case because I’ve had a lot of white friends whose parents used to tell them to not worry about the future because they are from a white family. Meaning that if you are from a white family, you won’t find difficulties finding a job or getting into a good school. This is exactly why racism doesn’t want to end yet because the new generation also is so entitled to the “special advantage” they have in life. It should no such a thing as a preference or white privilege. People must treat equally no matter their race. The race won’t ever identify their kindness, maturity, or knowledge.

Oppression is a group of benefits and discrimination given by people of power. Reality is a big example of oppression. Let’s take for example gender, each gender has its own kind of oppression. Girls must look feminine and boys should look masculine. Women should show more emotions and cry every time they get the chance to, but men on the other hand must show 0 feelings because ” people will think that they have weak personalities”. I have always been pressed to be that stay homegirl that has no right to go out or discover the world. It was obviously not fair and I blame my culture for that. I feel like this word of oppression doesn’t deserve to be said because of how bad it makes us feel like women. We grew up thinking that we can’t do everything men can do, and it turned out that we were wrong all this time.