Max's UB Blog

[mpayne6]

Equality for Women

How did men ever come to be thought of as superior? It must've been thousands of years ago when the men went off to hunt to provide for the families, but in many ancient civilizations women were thought of as equal to men. In world civilizations, we talked bout how in ancient Egypt, many statues and other artwork show women in a way that suggest that they we reconsidered equal in society. Never the less, women struggled for a long time to achieve equal rights, and still struggle somewhat today for equality. It seems wrong to have denied women so many rights, such as the right to vote. In Susann B Anthony's declaration, "Women's Right to Vote", she brings up a couple very good points. In many important political documents, the term "people" is used, this implies everyone, not just men. How can we justify making laws preventing women from having the same rights as men? The same thing goes for other groups of people who have struggled for equality, the struggle really needs to come to an end. At this point in the world, we should have realized that no one group of people is superior, everyone is equal and the laws wemskeshould support that.

[mpayne6]

Possibly the end of English... But probably not

Now that classes have ended this semester, some courses have been drawn to an end, including English 201. This was the last English class that I needed to take to fulfill my graduation requirements, so it may possibly be the last English course I ever take. I have mixed feelings on the matter. While English isn't my favorite subject, I do think writing is important and will continue to be an important skill that I will have to use all throughout life. I feel as though I have grown a lot as a writer in my life, and i feel as though since I have always had to take an English class along with my other classes that it has kept my writing skills from getting too rusty, even if I didn't necessarily enjoy the class. I'd much rather be performing experiments and solving mathematical equations than writing an essay, but it's important to me that when the time calls for me to write paper or report, which inevitably I will have to do time and time again throughout my life, that's have the necessary skills to do so in a satisfactory manner. So this may be the end for required English courses for me, but in the future I plan on taking some low level writing classes just to keep my writing skills in tact.

[mpayne6]

The sex trade

I feel as though the sex trade is an iffy topic. No matter what evidence you may draw forth, it's hard to say that selling sex is okay, just because the thought seems so immoral. However, sometimes it's the best option for people, their only chance to make a better life for themselves. After reading "Selling Sex for Visas" by Denise Brennan, I can see the reasoning some women have for resorting to prostitution under certain circumstances. Many poor women in Europe migrate to the town of Sosúa, hoping to make a better life for themselves, and their family if they have one. These women aren't coerced or forced into the sex trade, they usually end up there through networking with friends or family members who have worked there. This, immoral as it may seem, could be the best chance at a better life for many of these women. Not only would getting a normal job be difficult for many of these women since most of them have little to no education, but if they are lucky enough to get one, on average they will make about $100 a month where as they could make around $500 per encounter working in the sex trade. $100 a month isn't much to live on, especially if you have to support a family, especially since they probably don't have much of a chance to advance in the company and do much better. While working in the sex trade, it isn't thought to be a long term means of income, the goal for most of these women is to meet someone who will marry them and take them and take them off the island. So, while it still seems immoral to me, I can see how in some cases it may be the best chance for someone to live a better life.

[mpayne6]

Believing in what you're writing

As an English assignment, we had to write a declaration that explained something wrong in the world, and how we want it to be changed. At first, this was one of the more difficult writing assignments I had been given. I started a few different papers before realizing I just didn't have enough to say on the subject and just ended up starting over. Then I ended up coming up with the idea to write about gay rights. Now because I have a few family members who are gay, I felt more attached to this topic. I felt although because these laws on same-sex marriage affected my loved ones, that I was more involved in it. I then started a new declaration, this time on something meaningful and interesting to me, and the writing felt completely different. Instead of sitting their, staring at my computer screen, struggling to come up with the next thing to say while hoping it was relevant to the point I was trying to make, the words just came out with ease. This experience taught me that when given an assignment, you should take some time to think about it and try to find a way to make it meaningful to you. I believe that this will make it not only easier, but your work will also more likely be better.

[mpayne6]

The privelages I never even thought about

A little while back, we read Peggy McIntosh's "White Privelage" for an English assignment. Before reading this article, I never really acknowledged how good I have it. I realized that racism existed and that some people were disadvantaged in certain ways, but I never really thought about it. I never realized and really appreciated the benefits there are to living in our society as a white male. In the article, Peggy mentioned how when people work to benefit others, its to allow them to be more like us. This to me seemed crazy to me, I had never really thought about it that way but as soon as I read it I knew it was right. As a white male, I am living the ideal life and as people continue to fight for equality, they are fighting so that others may have the same opportunities and privelages that I do. I think that if more people actually realized the difference that having white Privelage makes, instead of just acknowledging that it exists, that more people would be working to make the world a more equal place.

[mpayne6]

Is fat really a feminist issue?

Early this semester, as an English assignment we were asked to read an article titled "Fat is a Feminist issue", written by Susie Orbach. In the article, Orbach discusses her reasoning for believing that it is society's fault for women's struggle with obesity. Orbach believes that because of society's image of females, that women have certain standards they feel they need to live up to, one of which is keeping their body perfect. Orbach states that for a woman to become fat, that it is a protest, a "screw you" to men who expect a beautiful woman with a perfect body. While I do believe that society gives women an unrealistic image to live up to, it's not at an issue that's making women fat. Men have similar or at least similar expectations that they're supposed to meet. The stereotypical male in our society is also very fit, as well as muscular. Men are shown to be tough and not show any emotion. It should be understood that not every man is like that, just like not every woman looks like the models in magazines or on television. People shouldn't be concerned with trying to fit the image that society puts around them, they should just try to be the best person they can be.

[mpayne6]

In class yesterday we watched Sicko, the 2007 documentary directed by Michael Moore. The documentary is about health insurance companies and how they work. After watching the documentary, your eyes are really opened to how they treat people. In the U.S. you really need health insurance if you need any sort of major medical care because it is just so expensive. Many people avoid the hospital at all costs, scared of what the expensive of a simple operation might cost them. One man, who didn’t have health insurance, accidentally cut off two of his finger tips with a table saw, when he went to the hospital they gave him the choice of having them reattached. The price of having his ring finger reattached was $12,000 and the price of having his middle finger reattached was $64,000. He chose just to have his ring finger reattached because he couldn’t afford the other, which isn’t surprising. Who has $64,000 just laying around to spend? Even people with health insurance aren’t much better off. Health insurance companies will do anything they can to avoid paying for even the most essential medical care. One, little girl was going deaf and needed implanting hearing aids, but the insurance company only approved the implant for one ear. As a young child, it’s pretty detrimental to her development to have hearing in both ears. The company only approved the second ear after the parents wrote the company saying how Michael Moore was using their story in his new documentary. The company didn’t want to pay, but they didn’t want the bad press from the movie, which they ended up getting anyway. All insurance companies care about is money. At many companies they keep track of how many denials the MDs make and give out substantial bonuses to those who deny the most procedures. It’s really a shame, thousands of people die each year because they can’t get health insurance and can’t afford the medical care they need. Even the people who are lucky enough to have insurance have to fight the insurance company, who they pay to help them, every time they try to use them.