#zac11

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Fighting Against Sexist Comments

Fighting against Sexist Comments has a link to the page the short article I will be referring to. I do not think I can do it justice, so please read it before reading my post.

I like this article because the way Healy expressed her dislike to Sir Tim Hunt’s comment was not aggressive. She made an her protest against it clear, but did not explicitly say her dislike. She used social media and sarcasm to make her argument against his sexism comment and by doing that was able to get other female scientists to follow. Female scientists are just as important as male scientists and deserve the same amount of respect. This includes knowing that if a woman is criticized they will take the information and learn from it and not “cry” (Healy 1).

This article gave insight as to how far we are from being seen as equals within the STEM fields. Sadly, the only thing we can do besides prove to the men in the fields that we can be professional (which isn’t going well), is wait the bias out. We have to keep fighting for our right to be equal in the STEM fields and be ready to wait until the day when we don’t have to fight to be equal anymore.

Sources:

Healy, Blathnaid (2015). 16 On-Point Responses from Female Scientists to Nobel Winner’s Sexist Comments (2 pgs).

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Intersexion

The plenary today was a magnificent film taking me on a journey into the lives of others who had their gender chosen for them by doctors and parents. The only thing about this that I can think is that we say it is okay to choose a baby’s gender but then when people, who may or may not be intersex, decide they do not feel like they fit the gender they were “assigned” we shame them. Society is telling doctors it is okay for them to choose the gender of a person because they are “medical professionals” but the minute that human being does not agree with their assignment they are belittled and judged, perhaps even abused.

Our society is so caught on fitting every person into one of the two categories that we don’t care who we hurt in the process.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

The Shock Bra *gasp*

One of the reading for Knowledge and Power was Fiona Graham’s “Wearable Technology: The Bra Designed to Shock Attackers”. I found this reading to be interesting because the product they are striving to produce does not stop the rape culture it was made to defend against. The bra does not even make an attempt to stop the rape culture. It is doing the opposite if you think about it. First and for most the shock bra is worn by a woman; therefore, it is her responsibility if she does or does not have it on. This shows that the responsibility of a rape is still put on the woman as if she could have made a difference. Secondly, the bra provides a shock to the attacker, but only if they are touching her breasts. This information is provided when Graham writes, “The bra is fitted with a pressure sensor connected to an electric circuit” (Graham 1). I do not have the fact to support the claim I am about to make, but here it is. It does not seem typical for an attacker to start off straight for the breast. So once the attacker has worked their way to the woman’s breast, they could have already done some physically and emotional damage. But, that does not matter because if, by chance, the attacker does go for the breast the women “responsibly” is wearing the shock bra.

I do not want to be a critic of this technology, but this bra would not make me feel more protected. In my mind, I would feel like a target creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that is terrifying. This technology seems to be seen only from a scientific point of view, with its pressure censors and electricity. Women could carry around tasers, if legal, and they could get the same result if acting quickly enough. This technology also leaves out a group that also has the possibility of being attacked, and that is men. Some men can’t fight attackers and they definitely cannot wear bras, so what are they to do?

I do want you, as the reader, to be aware of the reason this technology has come to light. Graham explains, “[Manisha Mohan] is also a young woman in a country that was thrown into chaos following the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old student in Delhi in December, 2012. Together with fellow students Niladhri Basu Bal and Rimpi Tripathi, she decided to use her technical skills to try and do soething to help protect women like her” (Graham 1). The shock bra is not a bad technology and is a fair defense to rape, but it could be better. I encourage you to read the article. The link is in the source.

Sources:

Graham, Fiona (2013). Wearable Technology: The Bra Designed to Shock Attackers. (4 pgs).

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Two Important Questions

Bobbie Ridgley was the speaker for the Knowledge and Power Plenary and I enjoyed her talk. I enjoyed how she took the experiences within her life and related them to the audience she was speaking to. The most memorable part of her talk was the mentioning of two questions her father asked her after she ran into a grain tuck with a tractor when she was a kid. He asked her if she was hurt and if she could keep doing what she was doing. Those questions put a person’s view back into perspective and that is why I enjoyed her talk. She put life back into perspective. She talked about the real things that people have to go through and with those two questions she made it obvious that sometimes we look at life a little to hard. Those two questions will stick with me for the rest of my life because they make you think outside of yourself and look at the image right in front of you. Ridgley helped me remember that things will keep going and if I’m not hurt and can keep doing what I am doing, I should.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

I want to start by saying this is not a post that condones setting anyone one fire. I found this Tumblr post on Ifunny and figured it was time for it to return.

If you have read through the picture, you can see that all the comments are taking a spin on how some people treat rape. For example one of the comments is, “why didn’t he stop, drop and roll? He should have stopped, dropped, and rolled. He must have secretly wanted it”. This sounds similar to the idea of a woman or any victim not having the will to fight the rapist. People can say, “she should have tried” but the thing is people react to traumatic experiences differently. The other thing is that there should be no need to try and fight someone off because it shouldn’t be happening.

In my knowledge and power class before spring break we, as women, talked about situations that caused us to feel uncomfortable. Some of us said how we feel nervous walking alone at night to get home. We shouldn’t have to fear that someone will attack us. We should not have to take it upon ourselves to solve this problem. That’s what this picture is. It takes all the statements made towards women, making us feel that we have to protect ourselves because this is “inevitable”, and puts them into a perspective that can happen to anyone, but specifically a man. The fact that rape happens should not be the responsibility of the woman; it should be the responsibility of the society.

As I said before, I do not condone setting anyone on fire but it says a lot in just a few comments and a picture. Please share this, it needs to be seen.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Three Women Walk into a Chapel

There was another Plenary for DRC knowledge and power students and we had three amazing women talk to us about their experiences. I liked this because all of these women had distinct characteristics that made them have a certain way of seeing the world. Rabbi Esther Reed is a women who is also a rabbi and in her community it was not a typical practice for a women to be a rabbi. Another women was Dr. Traci West who is a women, she is black, and she is a Christian figure head. She has a different perspective on how being a minority can affect the lives of people. The last women is Dr. Sandra Russel Jones who is I believe Indian, Muslim, and also a women. She does not wear a cover even though she is Muslim and this gives her a different view of what others believe is true about the Islamic culture. All three of these women have different experiences that have driven them to be active in their perspective communities.

The point of conversation that I found most interesting was when they all talked a little about themselves. All three women spoke about the underestimation they felt while going into their perspective fields. Because being a rabbi as a women was uncommon, Rabbi Reed received a lot of comments that were demeaning to her but others didn’t think that was how they were acting. I have experienced that. Others congratulating me for something I did as a black women, but any other women would have done the same thing without praise. Since when does my skin color, religion or gender make me need praise or extra attention for something I am as able as any other “normal” person? It shouldn’t, but people still do so. When Rabbi Reed was talking about the comments she heard as a religion teacher, one of them stuck with me. A gentleman told her she was a cute rabbi. And her husband asked if he was also a cute rabbi. That gentlemen probably didn’t realized how demeaning it was to make such a comment, but she did and so did her husband.

What I really want to get at with this post is that we are all people. We are people who have different strengths and different weaknesses. Those strengths and weaknesses should not be account or combined with our race, gender, religion or any other category we could be put in. We choose who we want to be and do what we want to do becuase of who we are. And what we choose should not be belittled by anyone else. Be proud of choices you make and be ready for people to disagree, but don’t let them make you feel lower than the person you are.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

My Voice Changes

I am aware the reading I am about to reference is from the beginning of the semester, but the information it provided is something I feel is still very important. In Audre Lorde's "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" there is a very important concept Lorde talks about. That is speaking your ideas and what you think needs to be heard. She expresses that sometimes we feel safer if we don't speak but then she writes, "My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you" and that shows that she believes we need to speak out. Our ideas are important, but we fear that what we have to say will be judged. Being afraid of judgement is okay but letting it keep you from saying something that you feel is important is not. This is one of the "endless ways in which we rob ourselves of ourselves and each other." But, how do we, as women, project our ideas? This post is being written because of a realization I had. I realized when I talk, my voice changes. I make my voice sound a little less feminine when speaking to a group with men or a group of people who I don't feel comfortable with and keep my voice at a regular pitch when I am talking in a comfortable situation. I began to wonder if it is because I don't think my ideas will be taken as seriously if I speak in a more feminine tone or if it is just being nervous. I want to know what you think? As Audre Lorde says, it is important to share your ideas, not just for yourself but for others who to talk about them too. But is it right to discuss them in a way that isn't completely true to the person you are?

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Confidence is Key.

During last weeks plenary session I found the most important point spoken about to be confidence. Caitlin Kenney spoke about her rise to the top as she worked in radio. She described her work experience as something new and difficult to understand all the time. But with those difficulties she had faced, she learned that projecting a confident attitude and being a leader in situations, showed that she didn’t have to know everything. By being confident in your abilities as well as being open to knowing what others think, you give off a sense of leadership and understanding that will impress others. You don’t have to know everything about what you are doing; it is okay to go with the flow of things. Just show that what you can do is something you are confident about.