Coming into this class, what are some of your initial impressions of the terms “feminism,” “sexism” and “gender and women’s studies?” How do this week’s readings define or explain these terms? Use specific quotes or examples in your response.
When I first came into this class I had a basic idea of what it would consist of. It focuses on women on how they are viewed by society and all the stereotypes that exist between genders. Feminism is about genders having equal rights. Everything about a women should be respected like their experience, identity, knowledge and strengths. Similarly, Women’s and Gender Studies focuses on analyzing the history, experiences, contributions and perspectives of women to society. As well as the influence gender has on men and women. On the other hand, sexism is the discrimination based on a persons sex or gender. Most of the times it only affects women because men feel superior thinking they’re stronger than women.
This weeks’s reading explains the terms that were mentioned before on women. Society has established that men should be superior than women because they think they are stronger and more capable. It was said that women should only worry about the home and making sure they satisfy men. Bell Hooks stated that “people continue to believe that god has ordained that women be subordinate to men in the domestic household. Even though masses of women have entered the work forces, even though many families are headed by women who are sole breadwinners“. This has been a belief for a long time making many women submissive. Nowadays times have changed, women work for themselves and for their family. Women have become more independent and are not forced to stay home like they used to. However, society still wants to make it seem like men have more power than women when in reality many women don’t even depend upon any men but themselves. Many have gained so much knowledge than what they ever imagined. Us woman just want to be treated equally, have our rights and not get discriminated by others based on our sex or gender.
