Feminist Praxis

As women (girls), we've been taught at a young age how we're suppose to act, dress, and behave that we really don't really put any thought into doing it. It's like second nature to us and really when you stop to think about it, it's not really fair. Men (boys) have the privilege of going about their days not worrying about what women worry about on a daily basis. They don't have to worry about what they wear in fear of showing to much skin or walking alone and getting approached by strangers. Sure, this could also happen to men, but the threat for women is greater then it is for men. Feminist praxis further goes on to explore the dynamics of how we see activism on a daily basis and how it is rejected or challenged. 

Gender till this day remains to be a problem. If you are female, you are already at a disadvantage. You face oppression because you are female. Not that it's your fault for being a female, males are viewed as dominants and who holds the power. Although I didn't experience this, my coworker, head cashier, and manger who were all females did. There was a man that came through and was checking out, and usually if they use our credit cards and it's over a certain amount or is a business card, we have to verify identification. When my coworker went to ask see an I.D. this man got angry and stated if she wanted to see his birth certificate as well. My head cashier who was standing nearby stepped in and told the man that this was protocol and a safety precaution. At this point, the man was not having it and asked to see a manager. My front end manager who looks pretty young came out, and the man I kid you not said, "she looks like she's barely out of high school." Granted my manager told the man that she did not appreciate him saying all of this and eventually the man went on his way. If it would've been any of the male managers that came out to speak to this man, he would've never acted this way. My front end manage is more then qualified for her position. But because she was female, the man didn't take her seriously. So to sum it up, working retail sucks and people can be really mean. 

I engage with activism everyday when I go on Twitter. This is known as online activism. "The internet is one of the greatest things ever to happen to the modern feminist movement" (150).  The feminist movement is gaining momentum by taking it to the internet and spreading the word quicker then they ever did before. Famous celebrities are coming forth about being sexually abused, and this has given many females a voice to step forward and tell their story. So when I go on my Twitter feed, the people I follow like these tweets and I see them, and a lot of them. I think its courageous for these women to step and share their stories, and reading these stories are heartbreaking. Mostly because most of them happened when they were young and it was written as if they were at fault, rather than being the victim. 

Feminist Praxis

                There are a million ways that gender dynamics are reflected in my own life. It made it very hard to focus on just a few examples. Although recognizing these dynamics is important, it is even more crucial to take action which is where feminist praxis comes into play: “an event of phenomenon that raises awareness and/or creates change on issues of patriarchy, gender systems, the intersectionality of identities and oppressions, and/or the overall structural inequalities experienced by women” (Launius & Hassel 157).

                The first example I have happened during Thanksgiving dinner at my boyfriend’s house. After dinner, he was painting his niece’s nails which is completely socially acceptable besides the fact that men usually aren’t “nail painters”. When they were done, his niece showed off her nails and everybody gave her very positive comments about how pretty they were. The tables were turned however when his cousin began painting my boyfriend’s little brother’s fingernails. When they were finished, and he began showing everyone, the reactions were completely different. Everyone concluded that boys don’t get their nails painted and nobody told him how pretty they looked. His dad even commented “I’m not taking you hunting looking like that, you’ll scare the deer away”. This is a very good example of social construction of gender: “used to explain gender role socialization and how gender systems are created and maintained” (27). We associate certain things with boys and certain things with girls and find it strange when these lines are blurred or crossed. There is definitely more controversy when boys are acting as girls than when girls are acting as boys. In my boyfriend’s family, his brother was frowned upon for having his nails painted but nothing gets said when his nieces play with toy guns and trucks. I brought this up to everyone and they were actually very interested and seemed to understand this different point of view.
                Looking at how the social construction of gender plays a role in my own family is very interesting as well. My family definitely fits into society's expectations. My mom only works part time and spends a majority of her time caring for the rest of the family. She does a majority of the cooking and cleaning which are usually gendered to be things that women do. She also never fails to remind me that I need to help her in the kitchen more often so that I am "wife material". In addition to that, my dad is the breadwinner of the family because he works about 55 hours a week and brings home a majority of the income. I very rarely see him in the kitchen (he can barely make himself a frozen pizza). He is very handy around the house however. Whenever something breaks or quits working, he is right there to fix it. He is also very good at working on our cars when something goes wrong as well. Thus he fits very well into the category of what society characterizes as manly. 

                Another good example of gender dynamics in my own life is my fear of going in public alone. I honestly hate even going to Walmart by myself, even during the day. This fear stems from the constant reminder we get that women are vulnerable to predators. All of the time in the news and online, I see reports of women being abducted, harassed, and even sexually assaulted. As a woman myself, I definitely fear this happening because I have seen how easily it can happen to other women. This is definitely a source of oppression that most men do not have to fear. Although it is still possible for it to happen to men, women are far more vulnerable. It is also a lot harder to get men to understand this point of view. My boyfriend cannot understand why I feel this way because he is male, and does not relate. I have worked very hard to provide him with examples which has helped a little bit. I think a major part of helping protect women from this would be to educate men and provide ways that both men and other women could step in if they sense danger.

                In the end, understanding gender dynamics in society is very important. What is more important however is spreading the knowledge and helping each other out. We all need to start watching one another’s backs and not being afraid to step in when situations get out of hand. The world we live in today is very different than it used to be and we need to use our knowledge to help empower both men and women to understand how to help one another succeed.  

DGSC Character Focus - Rebecca

In the novel Dirty Girls Social Club written by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, many characters were privileged in some ways, but oppressed in others. The character I would like to focus on is Rebecca. The first interaction that we have with Rebecca in the book is through Lauren's eyes. We find out initially that she seems privileged in a number of ways. Firstly, we see her arriving for the Sucias dinner, "driving cautiously in her brand-new burgundy Jeep Grand Cherokee,"  and we find out that she is not used to lower end areas when Lauren says, "I can see from the nervous way she peers around as she trots through the snow toward us that she’s not exactly comfortable in this part of town," (31-33 Rodriguez). This would initially believe us to believe she is rather privileged, as the many factors of her life have benefited her in a way that she has never had to reside in a struggling part of town. Our beliefs of privilege in money are confirmed when we find out that she owns her own magazine. This relates to the things that she is oppressed by as well however, because she is in the public spotlight she has to constantly remain on top of the things trying to drag her down. In the story we see her main factors of oppression being her race and her gender. Her husband relates to this because even though they are married, the husband's family likes Becca less based on her heritage and race. She is also limited to who she can be interested in because of family. Her family is hugely into race, religion, and what they think is best for Becca. She likes Andre, and even though in the end Rebecca ends up happy it is still important to not the important events between Becca and Andre. Becca's mother is racist, as she really pushes against the thought of Becca dating a person of color (especially since she thinks marrying a white man was the best thing for Becca to do). This relates to our marriage concept as well, because you can see that certain marriages are frowned upon by certain individuals because they don't meet the societal norm of what marriage looks like, and thus they become an oddity of sorts (similar to what we saw in the TLC videos). These factors all influence Becca's romantic relationship, and after Brad she seems to find happiness within the comfort of Andre. I would say that while love can not fix the issues she faces with being a woman of Latina descent, it does help her find happiness and she does what she thinks is best for herself, so it does help her find herself (even through the oppression that she faces from society and her personal relationships). This is in my opinion realistic, as when one finds true love it can lead to a plethora of benefits and make your life truly change for the better, even if it can't fix EVERY problem you might face.

Feminist Praxis

Throughout our daily lives, if we pay real close attention, we are able to see and understand what goes on a lot better if we look at it through a feminist lens.  My grandparents and other family came over Thanksgiving, and we were all sitting at the table, and my grandma tells a story.  It was about how her son was traveling with this woman with disabilities, and they stopped to grab food, and he told her that she could order whatever she wanted and he would take care of it.  Later on, when they were driving, this woman got very emotional because no one ever treated her as nicely, and she had a lot of problems with domestic abuse when she was growing up, so this was a change for her.  At first, this story was obviously very touching, but looking back now, I view this differently.  In class, we watched a TLC video about marriage and disability, and there was this quote; "The agencies are supposed to provide them with adequate housing and counseling...but their response was that they don't care and don't want to."  This shows the oppression that certain people face because of their situation.  The woman in my grandma's story was treated significantly differently growing up because she had a disability, and people didn't seem to really think she deserved better.  The abuse is a different story, which relates to male dominance, but I also don't want this to be an invasion of privacy on her part with me explaining.

 Later on that day my family went to church, and I never really focused on this before, but now that I think of it, it's pretty interesting.  So, the priest was up there doing his job, but it got me thinking; there are no female priests.  Women can only be nuns and men can only be priests.  But, it is the man who is preaching about Catholicism, which is the dominant religion.  "Women are often also excluded from leadership positions.  Female ministers, bishops, priests...remain relatively rare or nonexistent in many religious traditions" (TC, 34).  This goes to show that women are perceived to not be able to handle being in a position of power, which excludes them from a lot to be able to participate in.  I would say this is definitely something that would be socially constructed, but also could be part of patriarchy, where the man is in charge and in this situation, it is being dominated by a man.

That whole week, my sister was home to visit, but she ended up getting sick and stayed in bed for like 2 days,  Anyway, my mom was the one who would constantly check up on her and try and get her to eat something.  I'm not saying anything negative about my dad, but it was my mom who really tried to care for her.  This connects to biological determinism.  It is in a woman's nature to help care for her child, but this concept is also socially constructed because it shouldn't have to be only the woman who cares for the children because the man obviously isn't helpless.  We watched an ad about Huggies diapers, and it was the dads who were taking care of their kids.  "We put them to the toughest test possible: dads."  This is assuming that dads aren't able to take care of their kids because it's always the mom doing that job, and these dads are also assumed to be somewhat 'stupid' because they are normally portrayed as manly, so changing a diaper isn't going to be something they know how to do.  There is a list of stereotypical gender qualities in the TC book that reflect this as well.  Even in my family, in this scenario, my mother fits some of the stereotypical gender qualities by taking charge and taking care of my sister. 

By taking a closer look at my family and my life, I noticed a lot that I never would have thought twice about.  I am now able to understand what's going on, and if possible, let others know too.  There are some things that go on around me that I'm unable to change, but for instance, if either one of my parents does something that reinforces what society wants us to do, I am now able to stand up for them and tell them they don't have to be doing that.  Also, it makes me understand that everyone should be treated equal, obviously, but all of this helps me be able to treat others better and more fairly.

Popular Romance and DGSC

In the novel, DGSC, we can see how Elizabeth is both privileged and oppressed in many situations.  She is a Christian, able-bodied, homosexual, upper class, black female Latina.  From this, she is privileged because she is a Christian, able-bodied, and an upperclassman.  The other ways are which she is oppressed: homosexual, black, female Latina.  We can see throughout her story how she is affected by these aspects of her life.  She experiences both sexism, racism, and heterosexism, and there are many examples of this, but the most common one that is focused on his heterosexism.  Because she is a lesbian, she is treated and viewed differently by others.  "I can't admit it, what I am.  She is careful and does not look at me the wrong way in public.  These are the hoops I make her jump through" (page, 67).  Elizabeth and Selwyn, Elizabeth mostly, have to be careful how they act in public because they know other people won't accept them because being homosexual in society is not the norm.  This just shows how society views those who aren't the norm.  This is the first time we can see her encounter with heterosexism and that it affects her life with Selwyn.  "I saw on the Internet you teach over at Simmons College.  Is that an all-girl school or something?" (page, 69).  Elizabeth and Selwyn run into Eileen that night, and Eileen makes a joke about her being a lesbian.  Eileen is the one who writes about this and makes a scene about Elizabeth and her lifestyle.  This definitely shows the institutional oppression Elizabeth is put through, by being harassed about her sexuality, and when the story is published, everyone makes a huge deal and starts treating her differently.  Not only does she experience heterosexism because of her situation, she also experiences racism.  Looking at the quotes; "She's black, Sara.  I don't like black women," (page, 86) and "A total waste of a beautiful woman" (page, 84), we can see how even Roberto treats her.  Roberto comes out and says he doesn't even like black women show how being another race than he is, is looked down upon.  Elizabeth is being subjected to both racism and heterosexism, and it's all through one person.  Elizabeth is a female tv anchor, and even though she is a female, she is still very successful, and we don't hear much about problems regarding her gender, but when it comes to other things, concerning her sexuality, her life takes a turn and people call her names.

I wouldn't necessarily say that love is what conquers her struggles, I would say it's more of society obsessing over something, and then finding something new to focus on.  We can see this when after a couple months passed, there were no problems regarding who she was as a person, and she was able to quit her job and be happy.  Her friends were there for her when she told them, and Sara even risked her safety when Elizabeth needed her for support and someone to confide in.  "Does she think I'm that close-minded I would reject her completely?" (page, 84).   Sara was clearly supportive from the start, and didn't have any problem with her coming out.

Blog Post 6: Popular romance and The Dirty Girl's Social club

Usnavys

Usnavys... Wow how I envied her character. She is strong, rich, independent, self absorbed, confident, intelligent, and a woman.

Just from the first couple of pages as we read Lauren's perspective of the girls, we learn so much about Usnavys and her background. Right off the back, we learn her mother is Puerto Rican  who moved to the states to better their lives. Usnavys is a dark, thick woman with no strong male figures in her life to guide her in her life. Her father abandoned them, brother killed, and at first, no lover. All of these things you would consider her life was and is pretty rough, aka "oppressed". However, we quickly learn all the positive things about her that outweigh those things. For example, she's the smartest of her class, graduated from Harvard, rich, a womanizer (the female version.. which she has every right to do so without judgement) and lives her life with her nose up high. Even though she is dark, Puerto Rican, she was privileged enough to live in the states and have the opportunity to become successful unlike some females that live in other countries who are expected to be stay at home mothers even though they can do great at a university.

Intersectionality comes into play because she is a female, woman of color, and Puerto Rican. However, I think all of these aspects enhance her image rather than pull her back because she embraces all of these things which makes her more confident and stronger than most females in the book and in reality. She doesn't allow for those social categories to hold her back, and that's why I envy her so much.

Love does conquer all! Juan, the man she has loved for the past 10 years... yes, TEN years, is finally hers. I believe their love story is realistic, because it's true... You may love someone, however, somethings about that person may hold you back from being able to love them (sounds materialistic/selfish) but it's true. Even though we want to believe love conquers all, we have to be realistic. Love is expensive, and sometimes when your partner cannot support you, you second guess their ability to take care of you. It's a harsh reality, but it's true. If your partner doesn't have a job and no education, it's hard to see pass that.. And that's where I see their love story being realistic.. Because Usnavys recognized those things.. but at the end of the day, married him because love does conquer all in their loves story.

Popular Romance and The Dirty Girls Social Club

The character I will be focusing on is Elizabeth.

Elizabeth experienced privilege because her mom moves to America so she can have a better life. Women in Columbia don't have the opportunities or rights that women in America do. Because of this she is given a chance to be herself and work hard to be successful.

She experiences oppression when word gets out that she is lesbian. People who were once very supportive of her want nothing to do with her, her job becomes at jeopardy, she's worried if she will lose friends over it, and worried how her mother will take it. It also becomes evident that the public in general changes their opinion on her as well.

Elizabeth's race, sexuality, gender, and personal background with Columbian ethnicity all are major factors in her life and what obstacles she has had to overcome.

• Love does conquer all for Elizabeth. She actually ends up getting a happily ever after unlike some of the other characters. And I do think that this kind of love story can be realistic but is rare. Not many couples can go through what Elizabeth and Selwyn went through and still be in love. 

The Dirty Girls Social Club

All of the characters are all quite different. Different personalities and different values, but somehow they make the friendship work. I think my favorite character was probably Rebecca. Rebecca at first is closed off and stuck up, but as the book progresses, you get to know the real her and why she does the things she does. Rebecca is privileged because she has a job, an education, is able bodied, and friends. Although she had to work her way up, she owns her own magazine. She also was blessed with good looks and a perfect figure. One of the ways she is oppressed is that because she is not white or comes from a rich family, her mother in law and father in law both hate her greatly. They believe that she is no good for him and that all she really is, is trash. She is oppressed because of her race.

Yes I think for Rebecca love did conquer all. After she found Andre it was like she was a new person, more confident, and more willing to try new things. I think for so long she just kept quiet and became the perfect wife for Brad because she knew she'd never measure up to who his parents thought would be the perfect wife. Not only that she was raised that there were two things that she should never do, divorce and date a colored man.  She did both and her life turned around. She found a man that loved her and happiness. I think this can be quite realistic. Sometimes you just need the right person to come along and change your mind and that's what happen. She was raised on the belief that she should not date a colored man, and yet it turned out that love is more then just the color of your skin.

DGSC- Elizabeth

Let's focus on Elizabeth for a minute!

Elizabeth & Privilege
- She is privileged because her mom chose for her to grow up in America rather than Columbia, she believed it would give her the opportunity to grow and have a better life.

Elizabeth & Oppression
- She faces oppression when it is found out that she is a lesbian. She has to face the backlash at work, whereas a straight person would not have to go through that.

Elizabeth & Intersectionality
- Her race, sex, sexual preference, and home country all play a role in her life. If just one of those factors where to be changed, it would change who she was all together. Just imagine replacing one of those with something else, and see how it would effect her life. What if she had been raised in Columbia? Where would she be? How would her life be different?

Elizabeth & Love
Does love conquer all in her case?
YES! Elizabeth goes on to live happily ever after, the end!

Dirty Girls Social Club-Rebecca

The character that I plan to focus on is Rebecca. I found Rebecca to be an interesting character from the beginning when she was first introduced by Lauren. From Laruen’s eyes, Rebecca is very “perfect” and stuck up. It is easy to sense that there is going to be tension in this friendship. From Lauren’s introduction however, it is easy to see that there are many areas in Rebecca’s life in which she is both privileged and oppressed.

                First off, I would say that Rebecca is privileged because of her religious status. Rebecca is a Catholic and Catholics are very dominant in the American society. Later in the novel, we can see how her upbringing as a Catholic, impacts various aspects of her life. First off, she spends a majority of her free time doing volunteer activities such as reading to the blind and helping raise money for runaway youth funds and battered women’s shelters (Valdes-Rodriguez 18). Although these are all very good contributions, I can imagine it is stressful always trying to do so much. In addition to that, Rebecca recognizes that she did not marry her husband Brad out of love, but for his resources. She wants out of the marriage, but her religion is highly against divorce, and she fears rejection from her parents. She later falls in love with another man that is able to help her defy her religion and break off the marriage. She realizes that happiness is more important than how other people look at her.

                Another area of Rebecca’s life where she shows she has privilege is her socioeconomic status. Although she has faced struggles in her career being a Latina woman, she was able to climb to the top with her very successful magazine, Ella, which is aimed at Latina women. Her husband is also a very beneficial accessory to her socioeconomic status. “He is a non-Latino white guy from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, who has been working on the same doctoral thesis for the past eight years at Cambridge University in England” (18). He benefits her because he is white and has a high socioeconomic status himself. He is also rich because of his parents which is another major reason Rebecca is with him.

                Although being a Latina female can be very challenging for Rebecca, she is also very privileged by her looks. She is very thin, which is valued by most Americans, and she presents herself in a very professional manor. The novel explains to us that she never wears anything too revealing and has a lot of respect for her body. Lastly, she is part of the dominant age group at 28 years old. She has not begun facing discrimination because she is “too old”.

                It is easy to see how the many aspects in Rebecca’s life intersect to make her the person she is. Intersectionality focuses on “an intersectional approach requires us to consider them as overlapping, and that without that perspective, we can’t fully understand how multiple identities overlap to shape women’s experiences on the individual and institutional level” (Launius and Hassel 118). For example, Rebecca is both a woman and a Latina. If she was just a white woman, it would be much easier for her to be successful because being white is the dominant race. Despite this challenge, she is still able to become extremely successful with her magazine. As I mentioned earlier as well, it was very beneficial for Rebecca to have a white husband. This also helped with the fact that she was so successful, and people valued her. The tables were slightly changed when she broke off the marriage with Brad and went after a man with darker skin than her. Her parents frowned upon the decision and she wasn’t sure how it was going to impact her career. Despite these concerns, Rebecca was able to find her happiness.

                Looking at how love impacts the character, it is easy to see that finding love was able to fix many of Rebecca’s problems. It was obvious how unhappy she was with Brad, and she felt as though she had extremely high standards to meet in order to make both his parents, and her own parents proud. His family already discriminated against her because of her race. She was also able to break out of her comfort zone and explore her sexuality. This is very evident in the scene where she breaks out the fancy lingerie. Lastly, she is also able to come clean with Lauren about how she is jealous of her life. In the end, finally being able to “really love” someone helps Rebecca get back on track with her life. Although love solves many of her problems, it does not always mean that this is realistic. A lot of the times in real life, love can be a source of the problem. We can also see this is Sara’s situation. Her love for Roberto is so strong that she convinces herself to stay in an abusive relationship and see the positives. Thus, love can be both rewarding and non-rewarding in reality. Everyone’s situation is different. 

Blog 6: Dirty Girls Social Club: Rebecca

I think that there are many ways that Rebecca is privileged as well as oppressed. She may own her own magazine, which is a privilege, but she has to keep her image sparkling so that people overlook her race. She has a husband, which could be seen as both a privilege and an oppression because he may be white, but his family doesn’t approve of her simply because of her race. Her race is mostly what she sees as her oppressions, and yet she has found a way to work around those obstacles in her life. Mostly. She is seen by most people as a friendly and nice person though she hides a bitterness of problems under the surface. She feels like she can’t date the man she’s attracted to because her mother said she would, “break her heart,” if she ever dated a black man (Valdes-Rodriguez 59). So even though Andre is a well-bred man, because of his color Rebecca’s mother won’t support her. Her mother doesn’t want to give up what she thinks is the “perfect marriage” to Brad that Rebecca has. Even when she tells her mother, “’Brad only married me because he thought is would upset his parents,’” her mother insists that she wasn’t trying hard enough (Valdes-Rodriguez 243). This kind of mentality is a cultural struggle for women, that divorce is somehow our fault and that we should have tried harder to keep our “good men” when sometimes people get married for silly reasons in the first place, and it was nothing that we did.  Her mother’s thoughts are centered in old religious ways of thinking, and say Rebecca’s going to hell for her divorce. Becca just wants to be happy, and I see no problem with that. She shouldn’t let her mother oppress her in her choices. This whole novel is a treasure trove of intersectional struggles and triumphs, seen in all of the characters. Andre talks about how Americans see race, “To you, we’re all ‘black’. It’s dehumanizing, actually,” which is the harsh reality of the way that American’s see race (Valdes-Rodriguez 250). We see this throughout the novel with the ladies as well, and their different backgrounds, but all considered Latina. I would say that she overcomes her struggles in her love life and ends up happy in the end. It may be a little unrealistic, but I suppose that it could happen to someone. She seems to enjoy herself when it comes to living for herself. This is a good thing, and can inspire women to find love in their lives that will love them for who they are and not for what they aren’t.

Popular Romance and The Dirty Girls Social Club

Elizabeth
She experiences privilege thanks to the help of her mom. Her mom did not want her to live in Colombia because women aren’t treated fairly. On page 66 of the book,

“Women are not thought to be sexual in Colombia. Sexual women are bad in Colombia. In the popular lore, I mean. And even when they are called whores, everyone knows they are getting paid and do not enjoy it. Women are mothers in Colombia, and cooks. They are virgins or whores and there is nothing else, nothing in between, nothing.”

Her mother felt that in America, women are treated as human beings and she wanted her daughter, Elizabeth to be able to freely express herself and not be hated.

She experiences oppression from the public once the news about her being lesbian gets out. The public wants her to quit her job, the producer who begged her to join the team cuts off contact, her coworkers who says they support her doesn’t seem like it. An example would be, Lorraine, the coffee lady who was always so sweet to Elizabeth but now, acts differently, disapproves of Elizabeth’s sexuality and whispered disgusting. She was afraid of losing important people and things in her life if she revealed her sexuality. On page 66, she’s thinking in her head this, “And I want that job. So much. A national news anchor. Me. This is why I cannot emerge…and stand up and cry my description: lesbian! It would kill my mother, maybe kill my career, and I might lose the sucias, my anchor in this city for a decade.”. She was especially afraid of losing Sara who did not like gay people. She also experiences oppression in terms of dating. On page 32, Lauren says that most Latinos “want a light skin girl” and that they’d rather date “butt-ugly illiterate white girl”.

When thinking about intersectionality, Elizabeth’s gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity plays a huge role in her life. From the quotes above, we can already see how these factor identities affect her life.

Love does conquer all the struggles that Elizabeth faces. Her and Selwyn are still together after the whole scandal. Selwyn was willing to move with Elizabeth. They move to Colombia so that Elizabeth can write what she wants but they come back due to the “jailing or killing gays and lesbians” (299). Even after all of her struggles, she doesn’t give up on Selwyn and their love.

Intersectionality

I have a fascination with how people work. I love talking to people and getting to know how their thought process works. That's why I'm so drawn to psychology and it's my intended major. I have two things that will make it slightly harder to get my career job though. One is that I am a woman, the second I am African american. These two things can make it hard if not impossible to get the dream job I want without incredible hard work. My dream is to work in a hospital which is even more competitive which mean I have to work even harder to be able to compete in the field. 

Although I have to work really hard to get the job I want, I will be able to get into the field. Since I am a woman and African american I will be more likely to get scholarships for school. Schools will be more likely to accept me since they want a "diverse" campus. So, even though my gender and ethnicity can be hindrances they can have some good points too. 

Intersectionality

One of my favorite things to do is write. So I am going to get my associates in writing here, then go on to get my bachelors and masters and become an English professor, maybe an author one day (a girl can dream right?).

I guess a question that I take into consideration is how does my gender affect my career choice? Or does it even effect my career choice at all? Will I do well as a professor because I am a woman?

The majority of teacher in my life have been females, like myself, and when I narrow it down to the ones who taught me English, they have also all been females. I wonder if females do better in this field because it is a job that we as a society consider "feminine". I am also white, and will be well educated when the time comes for me to start my career as a teacher, thus putting me ahead of someone who was not as well educated.

Maybe being a female will put me ahead of a male who wants to go into the same field because we do not see that as the "norm", but I do not think that our sex should have anything to do with how well we succeed in our career choices.

Intersectionality

An area of interest to me has always been the study of science. I am majoring in wildlife ecology and have had an internship with the Lakeshore Water Institute & Department of Natural Resources. Essentially I just can't get enough of science, but a question comes to mind. Have I been working hard for what I've done, or have I been getting unknowingly backed by the system?  This is where my own intersectionality comes into play, with intersectionality being defined as, "multiple social categories (eg., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status) intersect at the micro level of individual experience to reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro, social-structural level” (TC 114). I will look at the key social categories listed by the book and observe whether I have been helped or hurt by certain things.

Firstly, I am a white male. I think this has proved to contain an amount of privilege for me because of the way our educational system is set up. Even though I've loved science since I was young, science has historically been a male dominated field, and only now are many people looking to extend STEM fields to women and more people of color. I think with that comes socio-economic status. I come from a middle class family and so that has made paying for my education slightly more challenging to me. While it has been slightly more difficult than if I came from an elite and affluent household, I have still had it much better than many in America and other countries who don't even have the luxury of school either based on funds of inaccessibility. I am at an advantage in terms of physical ableness, as I am able to do the many physically demanding tasks being a field researcher can call for without much thought, although I think my anxiety puts me at a minor disadvantage for an obvious reason. Although I do firmly believe I have worked hard to get where I am right now, I think that I have not worked nearly as hard as someone else might have to if they come from a drastically different background who wished to do the same things as me. I think this serves as an important reminder that no matter where somebody is in life, you should always try to be respectful because they may have gone through many different struggles to get where they are now, and that can vary widely on the micro level, and trends can be seen at the macro level.  

Intersectionality

Being a parent consumes me. I don’t think there is such a thing as unconditional love until you put a human life and all their needs before yours-when you become second in your own life. I have felt degraded at times when my age, educational level, employment, and financial stability has been misunderstood by others. I often feel the need to clarify my accomplishments as a parent, and as an adult to be taken seriously.

When applying for other jobs I felt that it needed to be known that I worked my way up to lead positions, supervising status, running a bar and restaurant with my own office even. But because I left my managing position and worked for family video two years ago to focus more on my college education, the employees and management there treated me like an uneducated young mom with a limited future. Telling people that I lived in a full house, was in a committed 8-year relationship with the father of my child, and pursuing a college education did bring some benefits because in return my socioeconomic class was perceived as more than just a young mom. My conversations would be different with others who seen me as an adult, with a foundational home, stable income, strong family dynamic, and pursuing higher education. Rather being bossed around and left disconnected from the other employees, I began to be treated more fairly, and as an employee with equal opportunity.

I have had so many comments for simply being with the father of my child. I despised the question but was often asked, is he the father of your daughter? The surprised actions made me mad, because it was automatically assumed I was a single parent with a boyfriend, rather the possibility of two adults raising their child. I don’t want to be looked at as a young mom relying on government assistance to get by. Therefore, I swipe my debit bank card with pride when I buy a cart full of groceries. To many misconceptions are made when people implicitly or explicitly create identities for someone with little knowledge at all about the person. I hear the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, and immediately justify that it may take ten thousand to fully understand the interrelationships that make up a person’s identity.

I come from a low working-class family, been forced into adulthood at an early age to help manage raising my sister, and help my mom through her bad habits. So, my past has had an enormous impact on who I am today. The independence and seeking a more privileged perception and opportunities is all a part of where I come from. I want to be a successful hardworking mother, nothing less. I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions. 

Intersectionality

     One thing I like to do for fun is rap and listen to music. The music industry is mainly dominated by males. The rap and hip hop industry in specific is mainly dominated by black men. There isn't enough women in the industry that show talent like a lot of the men do and not sure if its because people look for upcoming artist to be male and African American or if its just a coincidence. Either way I believe that women should get more recognition. I also feel like women should be able to make it without having to be like the women shown in the Dream worlds 3 video. They should be noticed for their talent not for what they look like or show. Also, maybe women who may have power in the music industry should seek out more female artist in order to add more feminine feel and influence to the industry to see or make a positive change.

Intersectionality

A hobby I like to do a lot, is gaming, or playing different games in different consoles. I feel that when a woman plays games it's frowned upon for those who aren’t playing, while those who are, which in this case are mostly men, are excited to play with women. I feel that part of the reason why women are looked down upon is due to the fact that they are imaged to do house work, rather than sit down and play games. Depending on the game it looked down upon if you play, for an example most people expect women to play “soft” or girly games. If you see a woman who plays shooting games or sports games you perceive the women to be a tomboy. Men or boys get excited to play games with girls or women is because most of the time it’s boys on the other side of the game, and talking to girls while playing games is like every boys dream. Another thing that is frowned upon is when older men play games, and it’s because games are “supposed” to be for boys, or younger male.

Intersectionality

A hobby of mine is dance. I have been in dance since I was three years old and now I teach dance since I am older. I have boys in all of my classes but two of them. It has always been a dream of mine to have boys in a dance class because it is different having boys in a class with girls and a class with all girls - less drama when boys are present, depending on the age. I feel like one reason  why I do not have boys in my  3&4 year old class is because boys at that (and maybe it isn't even the boys but the parents) feel that it is a girly thing- only girls can dance. So in TC it says, "...1970's research about men's gender role expectations by David and Brannon (and popularized by Michael Kimmel) identified four dictates of masculinity; (1)  No Sissy stuff (i.e., Prohibition on expression of feminine characteristics); (2) Be a Big wheel (i.e., Strive for status and success); (3) Be a Sturdy Oak (i.e, be confident, stoic  and self-reliant); and (4) Give 'em Hell (i.e, take risks, be daring and aggressive). (pg. 119).  So if we look at this from an intersectional perspective boys are not the main gender in Dance it is mainly female dominated class. I feel like  for socio-economic class, it depends on what kind of dance they are signed up for- one class versus a semester of class, and if they have a recital at the end-- this can add up to a lot of money. So, if this child has a single parents or even two but one isn't working, then they might not be able to afford dance. As for race, I don't really know what to say for this one, because there is dance everywhere and in every culture. But for Age, I definitely feel like the best time to have a dancing career is when they are under 40, because it is hard to keep up at older ages with the "new styles" that people come up with. And besides, society says younger looking boys and girls are what they want to see.  I also feel like dance is for everyone, sexuality, able-bodiedness and religion do not matter in the sense of being in a dance class. If you look on shows, like ALDC ( Dance moms) there are boys in the other dance groups and in BRING IT! the assistant coach is a male. It is also a static that males bodies are able to do more ballet than females, because of the muscle that they have. I think it is just society saying that dance is "girly" and boys do not do girly things. I don't know if many know, but there are tons of ballet creators are male ballet dancers in other countries like Russia and France.  Dance is for everyone, but it depends on how the families feel if they let their sons dance.

Intersectionality in the Workforce

                Although I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a hobby or area of interest, something important in my life that can easily be looked at with an intersectional approach would be my job. I currently work at Fox Hills Resort in Mishicot as a housekeeper in the hotel portion of the resort. In this business, I have come to discover a lot of interesting things about stereotypes people assimilate with housekeepers. I find it interesting because it affects who gets hired, and how guests view the resort.

                First off, gender is a huge controversy. For some background information, the resort has a very high turnover rate of employees (a majority are high school kids looking for a first job). Throughout my four and a half years of working there, I have probably worked with about 80-90 different employees. Out of this huge estimate, I can remember that there were exactly 4 males hired. Between the 4, the longest employment of a male was about 1 month. The rest either quit, or were fired within the first two or three weeks. The first reason that this was an issue was because the department didn’t even have a uniform that could be worn for males to begin with. I feel like this is an issue that should have been thought about before we hired a male. I found it strange that we didn’t have anything to accommodate them and I feel as though the uniform should have been unisex. Some people also made comments when they saw our male housekeepers because cleaning is typically stereotyped to be a woman’s job. Overall, I think it is interesting how gender plays a role in this business.

                Another thing that plays an important part in this business is being able-bodied. We haven’t had anyone that I remember with a physical disability that worked with us. With that being said, it would definitely be a bit more difficult to do some of the tasks required. We have however hired a girl with an intellectual disability within the last year. At first, it was hard to adjust our work to fit her needs. She was much slower at cleaning and it was hard for her to remember to do everything, or work in an organized manner.  With some good brainstorming and some help from her mother whom worked in a different department at the resort, we were able to figure out a plan and position that was able to accommodate her and her needs. I felt really good that my department took the time to do this in order to allow her to work with us while working with her own needs as well. She is a very sweet girl to work with. All in all, I’m glad to see that the place I work at is able to work with those who may be discriminated against at other jobs because of a disability.

                The dynamics of education are also interesting to look at in my department. Many of the people I work with are high school kids, high school dropouts, or individuals that never received a higher education or don’t plan to further their education. Being a housekeeper certainly does not require a college degree or high-school diploma. In a sense, I sometimes feel as though I am inconveniencing the department because they have to work around my school schedule, an issue that only 1 or 2 of the other housekeepers have. I also get questioned a lot as to why I am a housekeeper. Before this assignment, I never really noticed how education played a role in my place of work. I do plan to continue my education because I definitely do not plan to be a housekeeper the rest of my life.

                Lastly, race is very controversial in my place of work. Typically, housekeepers are stereotyped to be minorities.  Although many of the hotels I have stayed at throughout the years had either African American or Mexican housekeepers, I never really thought that my place of work was out of the ordinary until I had a few confrontations with guests. Everyone whom I have worked with there has been Caucasian besides 2 individuals. I remember one day, a Caucasian man walked up to my sister and I and straight out said “Wow you guys are white?”. The statement was very blunt and almost a bit rude. We weren’t even sure how to respond. I can remember another occasion when a man told my sister he would give her a $15 tip if she would knock on his door and say “housekeeping” in a Mexican accent so that he could feel as though he was actually on vacation. We pretty much laughed it off, but it was still a strange request. I actually did an experiment after thinking about this. I looked up housekeeping roles on television and in movies and found many images that represented minorities. Very few of the housekeepers were white, and if they were, they were elderly women. Thus, white individuals were not shown in these roles demonstrating symbolic annihilation: to describe the relative absence of marginalized groups in the mass media (Launius and Hassle 130). With that being said, I can infer that minorities are the ones being unfairly misrepresented in larger more pristine roles in the media (a much larger issue than whites not being associated with jobs such as housekeeping). From this, I learned that race definitely has an impact on the type of experience that different people get in different job positions and it impacts what kinds of jobs people usually end up having.

                In the end, just found it very interesting that there are a lot of different traits about myself that reflected in my area of work. Some of those traits made me fit right in, while others almost appeared to make me stand out, or feel different at work. All in all, this helps me realize how people can experience privilege and oppression in the workforce even when just doing small temporary jobs such as housekeeping. 

Interectionality

It's a bit difficult to think about what kind of intersectionality would be present in something like art, but I do know that the majority of famous artists are males. I also know that many men are thought of as too "girlish" or feminine if they participate in the arts. In writing, many female writers would write under male aliases, and male romance writers under female aliases. It really is a mixed basket, for multiple reasons. Females, different races, and different sexuality are underrepresented, and at the same time males are shamed for diverging from masculine norms. I think the world of art and writing has gotten more inclusive, but there's still a lot of work to be done. There's also the issue of money, as many artists don't manage to make a living off of their work, or it takes years of hard work to actually achieve success. There's really no easy way to remedy that.

The Weaving of the Intersectional Threads (Or should I say knitting)

So, I knit, and many people are surprised by that, because it is often thought to be something that young people don’t do. And I always wondered why people are so surprised by my hobby. I find that most people who are surprised by it say, “my grandma used to knit,” or “my mom always knit,” but from the sounds of it never bothered to learn for themselves. Why learn something that takes up so much free time, and can be expensive, when you could just buy it in a store? Personally, I think that the love and time that you have to put into a project can be really satisfying when you see the finished product, plus it is really relaxing to mindlessly knit while thinking, or even watching TV.

If Grandma’s knit, what is the normal age group for people who knit then? Probably retirement age, because they have more time to sit around and do crafts, and hobbies instead of working a fulltime job. What other intersectional categories do people who knit fit into? I would say that mostly women, who grew up in the depression and world war two era. Along with it being passed down from mother to daughter, I might be wrong, but most of the women I see knit (which aren’t too many) are of European descent and are white.  When I googled it apparently was, “The first dateable hunk of knitting found in Europe is from Spain (the Spain that was, at the time, held by Arabic peoples), in a tomb that was sealed up in 1275, slap in the middle of the darkest of the Dark Ages,” which means that it was invented by the Arabic people probably! But as I explored the site the author wrote that, “A quick cruise of the Oxford Unabridged English Dictionary also reveals that the term 'to knit' wasn't added to English until the 1400s”. So, if this is true, then I as a young white woman have an accepted hobby, whereas a person of color might be seen as strange if they pick up some knitting needles. And although I would say that the knitting community is open to anyone who loves to knit, there aren’t very many men who do it.

The intersectional belief that people are being oppressed in many ways, such as not being shown in media, or only being shown as a joke. Or justifying the stereotyping of certain groups of people, when they are really diverse is exactly what intersectional oppression is. I may not experience it a lot, because people don’t harass me for knitting, but if a man were to knit in public I’m sure he would not be shown the same curtesy as I am.  I would say, just try to be understanding of people who have hobbies that are ‘out of the ordinary’ and try to be kind.

URL:  http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEAThistory101.html

Intersectionality

"Feminism is the political theory and practice to free all women: women of color, working-class women, poor women, physically challenged women, lesbians, old women- as well as white economically privileged heterosexual women. Anything less then this is not feminism, but merely female self-aggrandizement" (117). How does intersectionality connect to feminism? Intersectionality can be seen as part of the feminist thinking and action. But what is intersectionality? Intersectionality is when social categories such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, intersects at the micro level of individual experience to reflect how privilege and oppression intertwine together at the macro, social structure level (racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc).

In 2012, fifteen year old tennis player Taylor Townsend (an African American female) won the Australia Open junior title and was the top ranked junior player in the world.  The same year, she was discouraged by the U.S. Tennis Association to compete in the U.S. Open Junior Tennis Tournament because they were concerned about her lack of physical conditioning. Townsend's experience reveals that regardless of how good of a player you are or how high you're ranked, if you are female and African American, people will always try to find reasons to make sure you don't succeed. Not only that, I'm sure they felt threatened that she was so young and already such a good player. She was oppressed because she wasn't up to the U.S. Tennis Association's standard of what fit was, or at least that was the reason they gave. In one of the readings about Bodies, it mentions that "many African American women's concerns had different emphases then women." In other words, if you are female and not caucasian, you have different things or obstacles to worry about. Just fighting different battles.