#kp09s16

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Media Representation of Women

I liked the lecture we had of how the media presents the ideal woman today. Women are expected to be super fit and have bodies like Jennifer Lopez. Not only is this not an attainable goal but it dehumanizes women who do not like that. It encourages women to go on crazy diets to attempt to look like the “perfect woman.” I think we should highlight that most of these women look perfect because their pictures go through a photo shop process. They have flaws like any normal human beings. We should aim to love our bodies the way they are because this is how we will reach self-acceptance. The media makes it a goal to portray women as sex symbols as if that was the only thing we are good at. Rarely, is it shown that women can be leaders just like men and excel at the same jobs they can. In all, the media portrays women in a negative light and we should aim to change this. 

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Poverty and Sexuality Symposium

I think that this event was very important in highlighting that issues that exist in queer politics as well as in the trans community in Iran. Being that most Middle East countries have a strong opposition to people who identify out of the common norm of either being male or female, I thought it was extremely empowering the fact Iran has a law that recognizes transsexuality. Society still treats them poorly but it is important to note that the country has made an effort to get them recognized. This is huge because more and more people will feel empowered to come out and embrace who they truly are and the country will be able to modernize itself. There are so many people who live in the shadows for the fear of rejection by their families. This event also highlighted that people who do come out of the shadows are rejected from their families and kicked out of their homes which forces them into poverty. Thankfully, there was a organization who helps these people and gives them a chance to make it in life. By continuing the funding for those organizations, we can hope that more and more people come out and stay true to who they are. No one should have to pretend to be someone they are not just to continue having the approval of their families or to remain stable financially. 

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Women and Self-Pleasure

I think that subject of women and the fact that they do engage in their own slef-pleasure is such a taboo topic. People tend to think that men are the only ones entitled to pleasure themselves. This goes back to the ancient ideals where the woman’s sole “purpose” was to take care of the home and her husband. Women should be able to openly say that they use sex toys and other material to find their own pleasure. It is okay for women to masturbate. Women have the same sexual needs as men and just like men they are entitled to find ways to meet them. I think this has a relation with periods. Have you ever wondered why we tend to hide pads or tampons in a mixed gender room ? Why is it that we hide this from men? Having our periods is a biological process that all women go through and there is no way to stop it. We should stop trying to hide pads and walk freely with them when we need to change them. It should be part of our normal routine. Just like we need to open with carrying freely our pads and tampons, we need to be open with the fact that women self-pleasure and that this is okay. 

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Mentor Plenary

I think that this plenary was a very creative idea that the mentors acted out. However, it is important to keep in mind that this plenary had many truths to it. Donald Trump has repeatedly and deliberately delivered massive microaggressions against Black and Latino communities. He has spread hate among people who are fearful and this has only led to more violence. I think that one of the most important points was how the media has brought a lot of attention to him. We should note he is a white man with privilege and this factor has enabled him to spew so much hate. Additionally, I think that this plenary served as a haven for people to express some forms of microaggressions they have received. One form of microaggression I received was when a family friend asked me if I was married because I looked too old to be alone as if I woman like me needed a man to be able to propser in life .This plenary also served as a reminder to everyone that your comments can be considered forms of microaggressions even if you don’t think they are. You should always stay aware of what you are saying and if you are not sure whether or not it could be one, you should not say it at all. More than anything, I think that this plenary reinforces the idea that we need to be more involved with the elections because we cannot allow Donald Trump to become president. 

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Intersexion Plenary

I think this plenary was very interesting because it taught us about people who identify as being intersex. Additionally, it taught us that the definition of intersex has many broad definitions but essentially it is referring to a group of people who were born with both female and male genitalia. We know from the Sam Killerman article titled, “ A Guide to Gender,” that our biological gender is socially constructed from the moment we are born. We do not get a say in what our gender should be. This is important because it highlights the importance of how kids should be raised in a gender neutral manner. In the case of people who are intersex, it is worse because the doctors and their parents end up selecting the gender to which there genitalia is inclining the most to. It is the reason why later in life, they suffer socially and in their personal lives. You cannot choose a life for someone and expect them to follow it completely. Eventually, they will feel out of place like most of the people in this documentary. It is good that they were able to find out they were intersex because in this way they can make certain adjustments to their life. More than anything, I think that this article highlights how socially constructed gender is and how we need to aim to stop people from doing this. 

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Cat-calling

This video reminded me of one of our classes as we talked about rape culture. For instance, in one of the readings, the author points out that is “a culture in which sexual violence is considered the norm - in which people are not taught to not rape but to not be raped” (”What is Rape Culture”). According to the article, this term was coined by feminists in the 1970′s and nowadays is being used by survivors to tell their stories. At times, when discussing this issue in our society, people blame the victim. Depending on what the person was wearing, drinking, or doing before the incident, individuals say, “oh, well she was asking for it.” These types of remarks are disgusting as the victims not only face physical, emotional, and psychological trauma from the incident but they also face unnecessary judgement. Unfortunately, in our society, there isn’t much being done in order to protect individuals from predators, which reminded me of cat-calling. Cat-calling is essentially when an individual whistles or shouts something sexual to a woman passing by. At times, they even follow these woman asking for their number or continually talking about them in a sexual manner.  Most people do not do anything when they see this happening, which is shameful. It is acted as a norm in our society. Women cannot even go out for a walk without being harassed, which is why we need to end rape culture by addressing it and talking about it more often in our college campuses in order to create change for the future. Attached is a video of woman’s experience walking around New York City for 10 hours.

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Videos like this are a great resource for educating a wider audience on a topic they may have never heard of, and helps clear up misinformation.

Our 4th Plenary was a viewing of a documentary Intersexion. I knew about intersex from briefly learning about it in my biology class, however the documentary and the video above were both really eye opening. While I knew about the biology of intersex, I didn’t know about the stigma and the experience of intersex people themselves. It’s so important that marginalized people’s voices are heard, and buzzfeed videos like this one are a great resource for sharing information that is digestible for people with little to no prior knowledge of the subject. Also making videos like this allows the viewer to understand their struggle a little more, spreading the empathy and compassion. 

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Working and Stay at Home Mothers

Today, we focused on motherhood and work life in class. One of the many things we talked about was the reason why mothers are more likely to stay home than the father or any other member of the family. After giving birth, the mother typically goes on maternal leave for approximately twelve weeks and spend time with their infant in order to create a bond and care for its needs. In contrast, fathers do not usually go on parental leave especially not at the same time as the mother. The reason behind this is due to the wage gap. The wage gap is essentially the difference in earnings between men and women for doing the same work. As this bias still exists families benefits more from the father going to work than the mother. Being on maternity leave, it is also difficult for women to return back to their job after being absent for a couple of years. Stay at home mothers face depression at times from this. Single mothers also face numerous problems returning to work as many have a difficult time finding an affordable nanny or daycare. This proves the United States needs to improve its maternity leave and how women are treated as a whole in the workforce as they are often unfairly discriminated because of their gender.