chasing the sun

maryam. 20. psych major at hunter college. psych of women 235.

[morganharpernichols]

You did not see this year turning out this way, and the plans that seemed steady have fallen out of place, but even here, even now, you have not fallen from grace; this glorious unmerited favor that shows up everyday, reminding you: you are Loved…even while you feel this way. And it is okay to say, “this is hard.” It is okay if things are not the same. It is okay if there are feelings that are strong, but they are confusing and too hard to name. For more than you were made to sort through all of this, you were made to trust and let go. You were made to go through every stage it takes to learn, to heal, to grow. — Morgan Harper Nichols

[soleminsequi-blog]

Reflection SIX: “The Drug-Dose Gender Gap” Rabin, Roni Caryn

You’d think that when your prescribed drugs from your doctor, they know what they’re giving you and can assure that you will be fine. I feel like taking prescribed drugs is already so heavily normalized in today’s society, that though many people benefit from it, some have the habit to simply do as told and not question the plethora of side effects. While this is a completely different issue than the one at hand, it ties well with the fact that women are being prescribed medicine that have barely been tested for women. Rabin writes a New York Times article that researchers are “only just beginning to understand the scope of the issue” that women have not been tested when drugs are being made and approved by the FDA (2013). I feel like this definitely isn’t being talked about because for the most part, people say it doesn’t really matter, and that the pharmaceutical industry is developing and becoming more advanced in the years to come. But this is a big deal for women to not even know the side effects of the drugs they consume, by the suggestion of their own doctors whom they should trust. The fact that it has taken decades and incidents like birth control for women( and how it was so widespread and ultimately caused defects in their babies) for researchers to realize that there’s a difference between the male and female bodies and the way they function. Interestingly enough, many men often refuse to accept the validity of non-binary and trans people, and the fact that gender is a construct, their reasons usually being that female and male bodies function differently. It seems like they use whatever excuses they want when in reality they just uphold misongynistic and sexist tendencies initially constructed by society itself to keep women obedient and submissive, in their place. I just honestly hope we work against this blatant sexism together as a society that has been causing real health problems for so many women just because the white men in charge “forgot” about the health of the women who would be the consumers of their product.

[naturaekos]

[soleminsequi-blog]

Reflection FIVE: “Masked Racism” Davis, Angela

I feel so grateful for being in the position I’m in. I tend to look at my life with disappointment in terms of “privilege”. I think about the times I’ve been discriminated for all my identities, for being a gay, brown-skinned, Muslim woman. Reading more of Angela Davis’ work, I realize just how ignorant I have allowed myself to be, and how much privilege I actually do have. Systemic, or institutional, racism is the form of racism that’s expressed through social and political institutions. Angela Davis discusses systemic racism in the prison industrial complex, and how black people are specifically targeted to be imprisoned. The reading on this topic discusses how there are private companies that basically pay to keep prisons full, which of course leads to the massive and unnecessarily disproportionate amount of black people in prisons for little to no valid reason. I was so angry learning more about the fact that this is essentially modern slavery. There is a cycle of keeping black people, and more specifically black women, locked up and discriminated. Ever since the abolishment of slavery, which by the way, is technically allowed in prisons, black people have been forced into a system that did not allow them to receive a proper job or income. They’d be segregated in terms of schools and neighborhoods, which, although later spanned out, enforced a form of lifestyle in which black people lived where they were not cared for by society, and encouraged to embrace criminal acts in order to survive the situation they were involuntarily put in. It is unfair and absolutely disgusting to me that on top of this, there are private companies that thrive off this cycle, and make more money by criminalizing black people for existing. On top of this, people of color, or more particularly, women of color, are stuck in this system, that other people blindly believe is efficient and actually justified, when in reality it is Not. It is ridiculous to rebut the argument against white on black crime (like police brutality and white cops literally killing black people) with the argument that black on black crime also exists. I seriously hope we can fight this criminalization of people, just like we can decriminalize drugs and prevent judicial officials from being biased and connecting a certain group of people with certain crimes.

[iamatinyowl]

I can’t stop think about how men are allowed to use ‘being drunk’ as an excuse for anything they do to women, but for women ‘being drunk’ seems to excuse anything done to us.

[visual-poetry]

“you would have seen it happen if you hadn’t been looking somewhere else” by mark geffriaud & cyrille maillotr

[soleminsequi-blog]

Reflection FOUR: “Epistemological Violence” Teo, T

In regard to empirical facts and research, it usually suggests that whoever is stating the facts knows what they’re talking about. Having studied statistics on several occasions in the past, I understand that it’s very easy to twist these “facts” into something else, making one statistical fact mean something entirely different. However, I don’t think I’ve ever necessarily connected the dots and realized that this can be done, and is often done, by people with a more malicious intent. I’m referring to what I’ve read in Thomas Teo’s work on epistemological violence. Teo explains how some psychologists have been very subjective in their inferences on their findings, calling it epistemological violence when they (the psychologists) construct “knowledge” that is harmful to a particular group of people. For example, an empirical fact could be that there is a difference in mathematical ability between group 1, compiled of males, and group 2, compiled of males; in which the interpretation that the women are inferior/men are superior is considered epistemologically violent towards women. A proper, more objective, interpretation that did not involve any biased thoughts would be that group 2 may not have received the same amount of teachings or involvement in the mathematical field because of outside factors (like society, etc). This is so important because as suggested by Fine, C. in “The “Seductive Allure” of Neuroscience”, it is so easy to support sexist opinions through scientific findings. The usage of long, scientific words makes most of find the appeal in the researcher’s conclusions, justifying certain ideals that women are inferior to men, when that is not the case at all. We need to stop validating neurosexism and other forms of skepticism towards women and their capabilities just because someone’s empirical findings fulfill sexist stereotypes. It’s also super important that we just work harder in becoming more objective and fair to one another, and see facts just as they are (something that is not subjective, obviously). By doing this, we as a community need to be more critical of one another and check ourselves for our own motives, too.

[cwote]

If anything, admitting when you don’t fully understand something displays curiosity for learning. So keep asking those questions!

[soleminsequi-blog]

Reflection THREE: “Mapping the Margins” Crenshaw, K

When people talk on the subject of feminism, it can get a bit confusing and opinions get pretty diverse. “Oh, I’m no feminist, I could never hate men!” is a common one I hear in my conversations involving the topic. Personally, when I talk about feminism, I do not speak for equality exclusively but inclusively, for people of all genders, sexualities, race, class, etc. Kimberle Crenshaw introduced the theory of intersectionality to feminist theory, stating that discrimination and oppression can exist for multiple identities in a person and that those identities intersect, creating unique experiences. Political intersectionality highlights that women of color are within at least two oppressed groups that often pursue conflicting agendas. Racism experienced by men of color are the parameters of anti-racist strategies and sexism experienced by white women are the parameters of women’s movements, leaving out the existence of discrimination experienced by women of color. This concept was initially coined by Crenshaw for black women, but it can be applied to anyone belonging in multiple “oppressed” groups. White the margins most often speculated are race, class, and sexuality, the theory of intersectionality can very well include disabled people and other marginalized communities of people. Crenshaw’s paper truly made me address my own identities and think about who I am and how I am oppressed but also how I am privileged. While I may be a queer woman of color in a lower class, I still am abled and privileged in being able to educate myself and live in a first world country. Reading about how so many women experience so many struggles solely for the way they exist in this world and the position that society pushed them to broke my heart and encourages me to embrace intersectionality in the way I think, especially towards feminism and the way I feel about other people. I find it so sad that women are being turned down by this country (the U.S.) when it’s this country’s fault for putting them there; for having systematic racism and institutionalized sexism/homophobia etc. to create obstacles and oppression and then telling these people that they can’t be helped. I hope this theory in feminism, and in general thought, make its way higher into the hearts and minds of people so that more can be done, especially by those in power and with privilege (white women helping colored women, cishet white people helping queer and nonbinary colored people, etc. by going out of their way to use their privilege and position in society to speak up).

[racheleagerhuntercollege-blog]

yes

yes

yes

yes

[soleminsequi-blog]

Reflection TWO: “Backwards in High Heels” Fine, C.

Women have been told for all their lives that they are no where near as capable as men. This goes for many abilities from strength to getting things done to math and science. It is easy for women to believe this with the way society sets up girls and boys to grow up. Societal institutions like our parents and school and peers establish a clear binary between man and women. It teaches us that if you are one thing you cannot be the other, with all the implications of each gender involved, an example being boys can’t associate themselves with “girl things” like liking/wearing pink. The Backwards in High Heels article by Fine, C. discusses this gender difference, explaining how men have been better at mental rotation, an ability that is quite important for certain scientific and mathematical careers and fields of study. However, Fine reveals that one can get better at mental rotation with training and practice, and that it is only more “natural” for men because of the particular boy-related toys that involve building, etc. Compared to the kitchen sets and Barbie dolls little girls get, the legos and car race track sets for boys contribute far more for advanced development in mental rotation and other useful abilities. For years men have been using stereotype threats against women, creating tension and a culture of insecurity and self doubt for women. Very similar to the use of stereotype threats by white people towards people of color, men gain an authority over women, a sense of control once women feel insecure and unsure of themselves. This fear of conforming to their stereotypes causes many women to crack under pressure, often giving up in their dreams and goals due to the hyperawareness of their identity. This is absolutely ridiculous for any person to feel judged or prejudiced, already fearful of a predicament of any given situation simply based on an identity that they cannot even change. The thought of this situation makes me think about women who are of color or are queer or poor (or all of the above), and how the intersectional aspects of their identity can cause them to feel a certain way in society, either scared or doubtful or insecure.

[cwote]

:))

[palebrowneyesx]

Girls just wanna have fundamental human rights

[lordendsavior]

“The double agent for the patriarchy is basically just a woman who perhaps unknowingly is still putting the patriarchal narrative out into the world. Is still benefitting off, profiting off and selling a patriarchal narrative to other women. But it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You know, just because you look like a woman, we trust you and we think you’re on our side, but you are selling us something that really doesn’t make us feel good. You’re selling us an ideal, a body shape, a problem with our wrinkles, a problem with ageing, a problem with gravity, a problem with any kind of body fat. You’re selling us self-consciousness. The same poison that made you clearly develop some sort of body dysmorphia or facial dysmorphia, you are now pouring back into the world. You’re like recycling hatred. I find that really dangerous and I think it’s unacceptable and I don’t care if you’re a woman. I think constructive criticism is needed for anyone to ever evolve. For our gender to evolve we need some sort of constructive criticism. As long as we do it in a somewhat careful way. (…) So many of the worst things in the world have happened motivated by greed. And I just don’t think that’s an acceptable excuse anymore. How much money do you need? Really how much money do you need? How much money do any of these huge influencers who are worth millions or billions sometimes… why are they still promoting appetite-suppressant lollipops to young girls? And it’s not a fight against obesity. They have young, already slim girls, in their adverts for Flat Tummy company, this company that are absolutely everywhere, and they’re even being advertised in some of the most mainstream magazines, women’s magazines, and they have a billboard in Times Square. The money is built on the blood and tears of young women who believe in them, who follow them, who look up to them like the big sister they never had. It’s so upsetting and it feels like such a betrayal against women.”

Jameela Jamil explains why she thinks the Kardashians are “double agents for the patriarchy”

[soleminsequi-blog]

Reflection ONE: “Gender Education” Fine, C.

It’s interesting how many people consider certain ideas to have evolved over time, when years ago, an ideology that encourages gender neutrality may very well be shameful to believe in today’s society. As beliefs and traditions shift, we read about people who react to their surroundings in terms of doing gender (especially in the modern day). In the article, psychologists Sandra and Dan Bern go to far measures to resist gender stereotypes and maintain gender neutrality for their children to from doctoring books to remove sex-linked correlations and gender biased roles to raising them much more differently than their peers. The parents go to such an extent, proving just how deep gender roles are based in our society in such early stages of our lives. As much as I admire the dedication of the Berns for the sake of their children, there is only so much you can teach a child when there are other teaching factors in their lives where they can learn such stereotypes, etc. I also find it extremely outdated and possibly quite ridiculous that for a couple who seems so “progressive”, they ignore the existence of trans and nonbinary / gender nonconforming / intersex people, and go out of their way to simply remove stereotypes of gender by defining men and women through their genitals and reproductive organs. This is particularly captivating because while they seem to be on the right track in terms of correcting issues like doing gender, where you act the stereotypes and expected behavior of your gender (Matlin chp. 1), they could also add onto their lessons by simply teaching their children to be themselves and express themselves however they want regardless of gender expectations and that gender is, in reality, a social construct!

[theoldreclaimingasia]

[wnq-quotes]

Don’t allow your wounds to turn you into a person you are not.

Paulo Coelho

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