F L O W E R C H I L D 🌺

Women and Art. Women in Art. Women of Art 🦄

[tenai98-blog]

F L O W E R C H I L D 🌺 turned 1 today!

[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

[darcula-dreams]

[nunyabizni]

Remember to check

[ablackwomansurvivingrape]

The harsh and constant policing of Black Girls’ bodies has led us to become ashamed of ourselves- ashamed of our bodies and our sexualities. Our larger hips, ample asses, and breasts are hypersexualized, and as a defense mechanism, we hide our sexual desires in order to repel this hypersexualization and judge others who choose not to. We label other women as “hos” and steer clear of them, still suffering from the fear of being labeled a “fast-tailed girl.” We quickly dismiss victims’ statements about their sexual assaults and instead run to the perpetrator’s defense. (Prime example: R.Kelly. Black women, men, and others STILL support him and his music.) The social acceptance of body-shaming, slut-shaming, and victim-blaming within Black culture has shown that our girls are not valued, with the statistics to prove it.”

[rainbowclashart]

[tenai98-blog]

Reflection 6: “How Doctors Take Women’s Pain Less Serious” - Joe Fassler

While reading the article “How Doctor’s take women’s Pain Less Serious” I was not surprised with how Rachel was treated in the care facility. One would think that the “Emergency Room” would assist you immediately but in almost all cases, its slower than your yearly physical with your main doctor which is a huge issue. I can relate with Rachel, where I’ve had instances of enduring bad intolerable pain, yet having to wait hours to be assisted just to get fed a few pain killers and sent home. People receive temporary solutions which does not resolve or aide the actual issue at hand. It’s disgusting how Rachel’s suffering was completely ignored, even by female nurses that could someday be in the same position as she was. Rachel’s husband described her pain as agonizing and when asked her level of pain from 1 to 10 she cried 11. Even with high intensity of pain, proper medical treatment still was not assisted. Nurses and physicians ignored her desperate need a help in thoughts of her being overly sensitive since she’s a female. Medical attention should be based on who is in dire need as compared to a first come, first served bases. It seems that life threatening instances are only what see immediate medical attention. This article reminded me of the class discussion where women have different symptoms of a heart attack compared to men and it isn’t taken as seriously on both ends of the spectrum. It also reminded me how we talked about an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where one of the characters who happen to be a doctor was having a heart attack. She walked herself into an emergency explaining her symptoms and she still was not taken seriously. “Women are more likely to be treated less aggressively in their initial encounters with healthcare systems until they prove that they are as sick as male patients” which is honestly ridiculous and hard to digest. Women and men should be equal all around the world, one’s life isn’t more valuable than the other but if any is going to need any extra or special precautions it should be women since they endure so much more interpersonal changes through health as compared to men. I mean for instance women are able to reproduce and experience menstrual cycles, two major health related factors that men will not be able to live up to or even maintain biologically, therefore if anyone’s health or pain should be less important or taken less serious it should men.

[cwote]

Let yourself feel.

Thanks for the inspiration @kindersuggestion :)

[ohbabychokeme-deactivated201908]

Huge big fat FUCK OFF to everyone who said you overreacted.

[tenai98-blog]

Reflection 5: “Prison Industrial Complex” - Davis

One would assume that a prison is built to house those who commit heinous crimes and essentially goes against the laws put in place. While that holds very little to no truth, statistics reveals there is a huge disproportion between those who are placed in these jail facilities. People of color make up the majority of those housed in jail facilities, which highlights how the legal system criminalizes one racial group in particular. While reading, the article “Prison Industrial Complex” it highlights how imprisonment has become the common response to far too many of the social problems that burden people who are in poverty. These problems often are concealed by being conveniently grouped together under the category "crime" and by the automatic characteristic of criminal behavior to people of color. Mental illness, drug addiction, unemployment, homelessness and illiteracy are just some of the many problems that are disregarded from public sight when the people facing these social issues are secluded from the rest of general society. Women are being treated ten times harsher in these prison facilities as compared to their male counterparts. It was very disgusting and heart breaking to hear how women in these facilities were basically forced, misinformed, lied and or bribed into receiving these sterilizations without giving 100% consent. Most of these women were oblivious to what exactly the procedure was for and why it was necessarily needed. These women were humiliated and dehumanized due to their previous judgement that may or may not have lead them to prison. Their sense of security and women hood were snatched from underneath them by people who are not and were not authorized to decide their life and body decisions.

[tenai98-blog]

Reflection Four: “African-American Women and Abortions”- Ross / “Women and Their Bodies”

When discussing birth control, it can be a sensitive topic especially when mentioning how some men in society may scrutinize women who may need those contraceptives as a necessity. As well as mentioning those women who were basically forced into indulging into birth control and even being denied the access to birth control which would eventually alter their lives for the worse. The fact that abortions were even illegal in America and even in some other countries until this very day baffles me. I don’t understand how a law was passed to determine what women are allowed to do with their bodies. The consistency with men having authority to create laws to limit the doings of others is disgusting, especially when it involves a woman and her fertility since the male species have no idea how it functions and evolves throughout time. The abortion rights and reproductive freedom that occurred during the 19thand 20thcentury primarily affected the women in color when encountering those who are racist and even sexist. The article “African American Women and Abortions” mentioned how during slavery, those who were considered more fertile were used to create more labor forces in order to benefit the slave owners and their crops and property. This highlights just one of the numerous strategies in means to control women’s fertility. When women were denied the means to access birth control contraceptives, they were left with no other option but to seek methods on their own which were potentially dangerous for their bodies and wellbeing. Women of color also became a face of eugenics when their population began to increase in huge quantities, they were forced into sterilizations for means of population control which is honestly dehumanizing, specifically towards African American’s since their race is the most oppressed. The topic about birth control reminds me a video I seen about a law student by the name of “Sandra Fluke” being slut shamed with derogatory slurs for her support of women’s access to birth control. She argued that these contraceptives should be covered by health insurance at religious institutions which quickly became a controversial subject. She argues that her school health plan does not cover contraceptives for women which is an issue. Rush Limbaugh stated “She wants to be paid to have sex, it makes her a slut, right? A prostitute?”. In my opinion his comments were very ignorant, unnecessary and insensitive towards to all women and their reproductive rights. Women are seen as “sex objects” yet when they are controlling their own bodies and reproductive processes it becomes an issue for men. Maybe because they are no longer in charge of what wasn’t their belongings to begin with. Just because a female engages in sexual activities does not necessarily mean they want to have children and neither are they obligated to reproduce one.

[jxpper]

Show this photo to your daughters as they grow up.

Show them that courage is important, even in the scariest of situations. This woman stood up and faced her fears, spoke her truth in front of a group of men while balancing the world on her shoulders. She is a hero. She is a representation for all women who are done being assaulted and abused.

I Believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford

[tenai98-blog]

Reflection Three: “Mapping The Margins: Intersectionality, Identity, Politics, And Violence Against Women of Color”

Whenever I hear Kimberly Crenshaw, instantly I think of how she paved the term intersectionality for me. Intersectionality examines how race, gender and class are oppressed social constructs in society. While reading Mapping The Margins Crenshaw highlighted key issues in society that needs to be addressed. During my understanding of the reading, women are one of the marginalized group but women of color may be considered as of the most marginalized groups in society. Crenshaw noted how organizations map out certain guidelines to exclude others typically women of color. One example shown were the shelters refusing to shelter women who were not able to speak English and due to their financial instability. Violence against women should not be tolerated in any way, shape or form. It’s blatantly disgusting how people are deprived of help due to circumstances out of their control. People create certain guidelines to specifically benefit a particular group as well as exclude one, form of oppression. Creating resources should be available to everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality and class. You do not create an organization in effort to support those in need and add limitations or requirements that will disregard the needs of a targeted group. Intersectionality is still widely seen today primarily towards the women of color, even within police brutality. I later watched a Ted Talk held by Kimberle Crenshaw where she mentions woc are not acknowledged as victims of police brutality although they occur just as much as men of color. She continued to list names and pictures of female victims yet the only ones I was familiar with was the case with Sandra Bland and Korryn Gaines. The article mapping the margins and say her name movement helped me realize that there is an intersectional gap within society that needs to be addressed.

[feminismandmedia]

[avani828-blog1]

Wow.

[cwote]

“A woman is unstoppable after she realizes she deserves better.”

— Anonymous 

[pinkscience101]

Why Aren’t There More Women in STEM Careers?

As we progress through the early 21st century, women have continually increased their representation in pharmacy, marketing, law, academia, and a plenitude of other disciplines since the 90s. More women than ever before are graduating from universities, and their representation only continues to grow as we approach 2020. Despite their rise in numbers, STEM fields continue to be dominated by men at disproportionate rates, in careers and universities alike.

In 2015, 47% of the workforce was occupied by women, while women only accounted for 24% of all STEM careers, with a percent of increase of hardly 2% since 2009 (Noonan 3). Given that more women are showing higher rates of academic achievement, why do women remain underrepresented in these traditionally male-dominated STEM careers? Several socioeconomic, cultural, and biological factors can help explain why the gender gap in STEM seems more stagnant than most other disciplines.

Though much of the raw abilities of students are a product of environmental and social factors through one’s development, it is of substantial significance to note the biological predispositions to particular interests. For example, several large-scale studies have definitively proven some gender-unique skills to be relevant when studying verbal, quantitative, and visuospatial skills in the sexes. In relation to average writing scores, a study from the U.S. Department of Education found: “Females have consistently outperformed males in writing achievement at the 4th, 8th, and 11th grade levels between 1988 and 1996. Differences in male and female writing achievement were relatively large. The writing scores of female 8th graders were comparable with those of 11th grade males.” (Halpern). These studies regarding writing scores were referenced to show the unique advantage women display in verbal abilities. These results are internationally definitive, meaning that the superiority of the average woman’s score is statistically significant in more than 30 countries (Halpern).

In contrast, our library of research regarding visuospatial information processing has shown different results, but they seem to be definitive in their conclusions once again. Examinations such as the Mazes subtest of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, as well as mental rotation tests produced results which showed that boys had significantly better results as early as age 4½ (Halpern). This shows that women and men are, by a significant margin, initially dominant in language-oriented and visuospatial skills respectively, but another data point tells us even more. Negligible sex differences in mathematical abilities are shown through most primary school years, but an unambiguous advantage in men is shown post-primary school, when concepts such as geometry, calculus, and linear algebra are usually taught (Halpern).

This is crucial to our understanding of the role of biological predisposition to STEM fields, namely in our review of how men and women respectively benefit from their strengths and pursue corresponding fields throughout college. As men are proven to display substantially higher degrees of competence in spatial reasoning and higher-level math, it is understandable that a higher number of them are drawn to STEM majors and careers out of playing to their strengths. In a similar manner, many women are drawn to careers that demand excellence in verbal and writing abilities, such as health, education, social work, language and communications, which would decrease from the percentage of women in STEM in and of itself. This does NOT definitively spell out why the gender gap exists due to the presence of numerous environmental factors, but it does provide some invaluable insights on why the gender gap in STEM may appear more fixed relative to other fields from a biological perspective.

Now that we’ve looked at biological influences at work, let’s explore the environmental factors that influence women in STEM. Many competitive pressures that permeate workplaces in these fields arise from a male attitude of superiority in which women are seen as questionable or even outright incompetent, and are constantly scrutinized for proof of their capabilities. These biases have been shown to be present in the employer’s mind during hiring. They also tend to linger in the minds of colleagues during everyday work. This is especially harmful for women of color in STEM fields, as they rarely have any role models of color, let alone women who function as mentors. A study from the PNAS(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) showed how stereotypes can harm women’s chances of being hired in math and science-based careers. Their study methods discovered the presence of biases within hiring parameters by using the Implicit Association Test, or IAT (Rueben).

The AIT is composed of tasks that require subjects to categorize images and text, which acted as a means to preclude influences of social desirability bias that the subject may have i.e. pairing majors or career with the categories of male and female. 4 initial tests in this study combined with the AIT showed innate bias to hire men over women. This bias was prominent within the 4 tests, in which men tended to overshoot with their future performance(a factor often overlooked by the employers, as women tend to be more honest with their future capabilities), as well as the AIT. In addition, this bias was prevalent in men as well as women, meaning both genders see men as more competent in a hypothetical arithmetic-based career (Rueben).

Now that we’ve looked at biases within the hiring processes, let’s navigate through the actual daily workplace experiences of women in STEM. The following study provides sufficient data to suggest that the above biases against women are further exacerbated when a STEM employee is a women of color. A study from the Harvard Business Review conducted a survey of 557 women scientists with comprehensive interviews questioning 60 women scientists regarding their experiences in the STEM workforce.

Unique experiences regarding harmful biases in the workplace were disclosed, particularly showing the impact on women of color in STEM workplaces in 5 major types of bias. One prominent pattern shown through this study is the “Prove-It-Again” behavior in which women are constantly scrutinized for legitimacy and have their expertise challenged (Williams). Black women were substantially more prone to dealing with this behavior, with nearly 75% of black women experiencing it. The stereotype of Asian-Americans as highly intelligible in STEM fields may have helped the Asian women’s chances of avoiding this behavior. Another bias includes the fallacy that maternal responsibilities severely hinder or outright diminish a woman’s competence in the STEM workforce. A black microbiologist noted that much of these belittling attitudes are rooted in the stereotype that women only work in STEM until they marry a financially competent partner and bear children (Williams).

Contrary to what may be extrapolated from the idea of women finding other female allies in the workplace, conflict arising from varying generations of women in the workplace can cause its own trouble (Williams). This is due to the pressure that women feel to fight for the “women’s spot” in a male-dominated environment, which impedes on finding common ground and support. One bias particularly relevant to black and Latinx women is the isolation issue. These intersectional women feel pressured to sheathe the details of their personal lives in order to put up a face of professionalism. They often feel excluded from everyday social interactions due to the innate fear of colleagues of “offending” them or coming across as insensitive (Williams). Exclusion may also be attributed to colleagues being afraid to confront people of color, leading them to avoid interaction with black women whenever possible (Williams). If these indirect behaviors aren’t enough to show the unequal treatment of women of color in STEM, perhaps the prevalence of stunningly juvenile racist remarks will prove sufficient.

A black biologist in the Harvard Business Review study retold an incident in which an advisor questioned, “Hey, do you have any family on drugs or in jail?” (Williams). Many Asian-American women discussed how colleagues assume they are foreign, as many colleagues ask where they are from and end up dissatisfied hearing that they are from the U.S. Nearly 50% of black women and Latinx disclosed that they were mistaken as custodial staff, which is nearly double the amount as described by white and Asian-American women scientists (Williams).

We have explored the roles of biological predisposition and environmental factors affecting women’s interest in STEM careers. In terms of seeking a STEM degree in college, many social factors influence a woman’s success rate as well. The common stereotypes may suggest that fewer women of color would pursue degrees in STEM than white women, but this has been refuted (Ong). At the same time, women of color are less likely to achieve their degrees and graduate from STEM majors due to various factors inhibiting their growth and interest in math and science (Ong). Much of these factors are rooted in attitudes of internalized segregation from peers, lack of support and encouragement from family(this is especially true for Latinx women), and loss of interest due to the aforementioned reasons. Social stratification in STEM classrooms and labs often arises due to preconceived notions about women of color, which are often constituted by low expectations, racial stereotypes, and the reluctance of women of color to participate when they are discouraged by the above factors. This hindrance to their participation only exacerbates their image in the face of other students.

In addition to the lack of identifiable peers within STEM(especially within computer science/math and engineering careers, which women constituted only 26% and 14% of, respectively), family conflicts played an immensely influential role in terms of pushing women toward or away from STEM. Although the degrees to which family guidance and community expectations differs among women of color in STEM, the absence of familial support is quite prevalent. Black and Latinx women often are questioned in terms of their long term goals and pressured into traditional norms of bearing children and entering the workforce early, whereas Asian American feel supported only in a restrictive set of career choices that are strongly pushed by parents (Ong). These negative pressures were not without their positive counterparts. For example, women of color who pursued college educations in STEM fields felt the need to place strong personal importance when it meant bringing back honor and success to their communities (Ong). These women who felt that positive pressure was a driving force were more likely to complete their college years and eventually be successful.

We have examined the numerous forces at work regarding the under-representation of women in the STEM workforce. As we move towards 2020 and beyond, we can further examine the impact of social and environmental influences on women’s representation in STEM majors and careers, as we have established the significance of biological predispositions. So, we often find ourselves asking the question, why aren’t there more women in STEM careers? While we might instead ask, should there be more women in STEM? Or even, how can we implement ways to foster more welcoming STEM environments within colleges and workplaces to encourage women to pursue STEM careers, rather than be repelled by the prospect of them? If we did, would it change their numbers by any significant margins? Only time will tell.

Sources:

Halpern, Diane F., et al. “The Science of Sex Differences in Science and Mathematics.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, NCBI, 1 Aug. 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270278/#R102. Accessed 9 Sept. 2018.

Noonan, Ryan. “Women in STEM: 2017 Update.” U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration Office of the Chief Economist, ESA, 13 Nov. 2017, www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/women-in-stem-2017-update.pdf. Accessed 9 Sept. 2018.

Ong, Maria, et al. Inside the Double Bind: A Synthesis of Empirical Research on Undergraduate and Graduate Women of Color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Harvard Educational Review, 2011, pp. 180-87,otl.wayne.edu/wider/inside_the_double_bind.pdf. Accessed 9 Sept. 2018.

Reuben, Ernesto, et al. “How stereotypes impair women’s careers in science.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, edited by Anthony G. Greenwald, PNAS, 25 Mar. 2014, www.pnas.org/content/111/12/4403.full. Accessed 9 Sept. 2018.

Williams, Joan C. “The 5 Biases Pushing Women Out of STEM.” Harvard Business Review, HBR, 24 Mar. 2015, hbr.org/2015/03/the-5-biases-pushing-women-out-of-stem. Accessed 9 Sept. 2018.

[approaching-storm-feminism]

This is a really fascinating study into how women experience careers in STEM, and how factors such as their race and upbringing can play into this. It’s really nice to see topics like this being objectively investigated with reliable evidence to support their findings. Work like this helping us to understand the position of woman in society is a massively helpful step towards creating a fairer, more accommodating environment for them, and other minorities

Please take the time to read this if you can, and check out @pinkscience101 if you want to see more work like this

[transmlmz]

hot take but closeted lgbt people are so fucking brave. being closeted doesn’t mean you’re lying to yourself or to others. that’s bullshit perpetuated by cishets to make us feel bad about ourselves and there’s no shame in being closeted. coming out should be entirely up to you, for you to decide how to come out and who to come out to. no one else is entitled to that information unless you want them to be and whether you’re closeted to stay safe, because you’re unsure or not ready to be out, or you just feel more comfortable being in, you’re not hiding and you don’t deserve to feel guilty. i’m proud of you and hope you can come out when you’re ready or want to, and it’s safe to do so

[raveezus]

Drake stops sexual Harassment Assault during a Concert.

[childishnes]

(x)

[tenai98-blog]

Same