Privilege and Oppression

With privilege comes oppression. And what I mean by this is that privilege is defined as "benefits, advantages, and power that accrue to members of dominant groups". If one group has power and gains all the benefits, that leaves group number two with pull backs and disadvantages correct? Correct! Group number two would be oppression, defined as "prejudice and discrimination directed toward a group and perpetuated by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions. However, just because most of the time it is inevitable that privilege comes with oppression, that doesn't mean it happens on purpose. Some groups, like the book Threshold Concepts in Women's and Gender Studies, state that some privileged groups just don't realize or recognize they're privileged. Like I heard in class from a video we viewed last week, "privilege is invisible to those that have it".

Now that we know the definition of both privilege and oppression, we can now apply it to real life public policies that either support equity or promote oppression. Sitting here, doing my homework, I thought to myself. Where in public policies, does either a female or male have priority or power over the other? I wanted to focus on gender and privilege, however that doesn't mean privilege is only associated to gender. Moving forward, as I thought, I came across one of the most obvious situations where a woman is privileged and a male is oppressed (usually it is common for males to be more privileged, so I wanted to change it up a bit): Women are granted the privilege with the ability to birth children. Now to some, women may feel that ovaries are a detriment to their bodies... Harsh contractions, long labors, sore muscles, and the overall pain of birthing a human being out of their bodies. 

 However, in the judicial system, ovaries are a privilege to have because when fighting for custody or paying child support, woman are most likely to win their battles. In the 1970's, it was common for custody to be granted to the mothers because it was the "best interest of the child". But since then, they have removed that policy and disallowed the consideration of gender to influence the decision of what was really "best for the child". 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231400/

"Custody laws have changed over the years from a presumption (until the late nineteenth century) in favor of fathers because of their provision of financial support, to a presumption in favor of mothers because of their primary caretaker role, to the current “best interest of the child” laws. During the 1970s, a combination of pressure from women's rights groups seeking legal equality and pressure from fathers' rights groups complaining of unfair treatment in custody led to the removal of gender preferences in state custody laws (Fineman and Opie, 1987; Fineman, 1989, 1992). In fact, most state statutes today specifically forbid consideration of the parents' gender in custody cases (Fineman and Opie, 1987), with some states even mandating joint legal custody in most cases. Fineman (1988, 1989, 1992) argues that given the reality of economic inequality between men and women, so-called gender neutrality really amounts to devaluing of the nurturing role and favoring the father for economic reasons (Fineman and Opie, 1987:120-121):"

As of now, laws have been formed to treat both parents fairly when deciding how to settle child support claims, child custody and etc.

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/767/VI/511, 

"Ensure that the parties have stipulated which party, if either is eligible, will claim each child as an exemption for federal income tax purposes under 26 USC 151 (c) (1) (B) [26 USC 151 (c)], or as an exemption for state income tax purposes under s. 71.07 (8) (b) or under the laws of another state. If the parties are unable to reach an agreement about the tax exemption for each child, the court shall make the decision in accordance with state and federal tax laws. In making its decision, the court shall consider whether the parent who is assigned responsibility for the child's health care expenses under s. 767.513 is covered under a health insurance policy or plan, including a self-insured plan, that is not subject to s. 632.897 (10) and that conditions coverage of a dependent child on whether the child is claimed by the insured parent as an exemption for purposes of federal or state income taxes."

Privilege or Oppression?

Before we start talking about privilege and oppression, we must understand what they mean first. Both of these words function in a way that helps us understand the workings of society. In each system of privilege and oppression, there is always a dominant group and a marginalized group. The dominant group  is the "norm" and the marginalized group is the "other." As defined, oppression is prejudice or discrimination directed towards a group and perpetuated by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions.  Privilege is defined as benefits, advantages, and power that results from oppression of the marginalized group. Audre Lorde argues that "we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate."

Rape culture is an example of privilege and oppression related to woman's bodies. This is the idea that "sexual violence is socially tolerated and woven into the fabric of society through various forms of sexism, victim blaming, support for male dominance and female passivity, and legal and policy structures that place responsibility for male sexuality on women."  Women are oppressed because they have the responsibility of acting and dressing a certain way to prevent sexual violence and to not be a victim. While men typically don't have to worry about the way they act or dress from sexual violence.

Sexual Harassment Policy
Sexual harassment in the workplace is against the law. This would include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or sexual conduct of a sexual nature. In recent news, Harry Winstein, a famous producer, is in the spotlight for sexual harassment in the workplace. Among those that are speaking out are Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, and Gwyneth Paltrow.  This case has raised the discussion of how harassment is being handled in the workplace, and if enough is being done to address this situation. This policy has its best interest in all genders. But more so, that women are oppressed and the men are privileged. As I've stated before earlier, women have to be more carful with themselves so that they don't become the next victim. Because you never know.

Privilege & Opression

Welcome!
Before we dive too far into privilege and oppression, let's start with some definitions.
The book gives a definition on page 73, however, google gives us a more condensed version. Google defines oppression as "prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control."

There is a definition of privilege on the same page, but again, I like Google's version better. Privilege is defined as "a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people."

Now that we're all caught up, we can dive in!

One of the first public policies that came to my mind is the need to have a voter ID. Voter ID laws effect many American's citizens ability to vote. Here are just a few examples on how:
-Millions of American's lack photo ID (more than 21 million)
-ID costs money and the documents that go along with them often times costs money-- thus putting a strain on lower income families.
-Traveling to get them can cause a hassle for people and families who deal with a disability and may not be able to get there.

This policy of needing to have an voting ID promotes the oppression of people who have less privileges such as financial ability and physical abilities. 


Sources:

https://www.aclu.org/other/oppose-voter-id-legislation-fact-sheet

Privilege or Oppression

Privilege and oppression have and always will play a huge role in society, whether we like it or not because everyone will not always agree on the same thing.   Privilege is defined as a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.  Privilege is a very sensitive topic and we tend to get uncomfortable when this comes into conversation because we don't want to hear how we have more 'power' than others, or how others have more 'power' than us.  There is nothing that we can do to really stop this because it's just how it is, and people can't really control it.  Everyone has privilege in one way or another, but some people depending on their race, gender, economic status, or sexual identity will have either more or less privilege.  That's where this non-discriminatory ordinance comes into play.

Committee proposal In this article, it shows us that there is support for the proposal of making it illegal for the city of De Pere to discriminate based on gender identity or expression.  Proponents of the article say that keeping transgender workers is good for the economy and it would set an example of inclusiveness for other communities.

Proposed transgender rights ordinance This article goes a little more in-depth on this problem.  Becuase discrimination is such a problem in today's society, people are trying to put an end to this.  By doing so, this proposed ordinance will allow people who claim to have been discriminated against, can file a complaint and the offender could be fined.  Something that stood out to me in this article is when a couple on the panel mentioned their daughter is transgender and asked other people on the panel if they are worried about being attacked due to their gender identity, and that this probably doesn't cross their mind, but it's constantly on their daughter's mind.

This proposed ordinance applies to privilege and oppression in that De Pere, in this case, understands certain minorities aren't getting the right/fair treatment as everyone else.  In particular, people who express themselves as something other than straight, are looked down upon, and/or aren't given the same opportunities that straight people have.  A big issue is safety when it comes to people who are transgender/bi and anything in between, and that's something that puts other people more in control because everyone else doesn't have to worry about how they're going to get treated or viewed.  What is Privilege?  This video is a GREAT example of how people recognize they are in a position or more/less power and how it makes them feel. Relating this particular video to the article about privilege is that there was this one black, lesbian woman who ended up being in the very last position.  This shows that being anything other than straight will lead to being oppressed by others and giving you a lack of power.  This ordinance wants to stop people from feeling this way in society because everyone should be treated equal and like they said in the privilege video, 'Stop complaining about what you don't have and just be grateful for what you do have.'

Forbidden

Forbidden was a book that I actually enjoyed. What made it really interesting was there was some interesting roles that woman filled there. Sylvie for the most part was the most interesting. She had her own business and no one seemed to think that was strange. Since knowing the time they were in it seemed that Sylvie wouldn't be able to do that. To me the way that Sylvie held herself made doctor Randolph love her some much. In the end she also had her happily ever after.

Popular Romance and Forbidden

The character I will focus on is Rhine. Since, Rhine make great risks to help improve life of the non whites. While he also shows everyone the same respect. Where not to many people would do what he does, especially during this time period. But he is able to do these risks by passing as white. Otherwise if he was more darker skinned or people found out he was black. His actions would have different outcomes than what we just have seen while reading.
How does Rhine challenge the traditional gender roles and norms? Well he allows all races into his saloon instead of just catering to whites. Like the other saloon owners in the town. Since he is passing as white he is allowed to own property. But if he was not passing as white it would have been much harder to impossible to own property and gather great wealth like he has now. Since it was much harder for non whites to own property and gather wealth. Rhine was more connected to wealth and power through his political power. If he would of married Natalie he would of been more powerful politically. Which would be unheard of it came to light that he was black. Since, back then blacks were little to non-existent  in political power.
How is he treated? Well once everyone found out his life went in a complete turn. People were very angry with him. Since everyone believed he was white, when that is not the case. The towns folk gathered up to put misery into Rhine life. They also used some derogatory terms directed towards him.

How does the performance of gender connect to love and romance- does your character`s gender performance impact their romance life? He is described in the books as good looking and wealthy. So he may be used to women just throwing themselves at him. Which he probably had gotten used to. While Eddy was the opposite where she did not just throw herself at him. So he had to pursue her differently, which made Eddy and Rhine relationship different on multiple levels. When you compare it to Rhine and Natalie relationship.

Forbidden

As I read Forbidden, it became quite blatant that Eddy challenged the gender norm for women. She was hardworking, strong, and stubborn. Where as women are usually portrayed as weak and powerless. Eddy was different though. Instead of succumbing to male power or even those that hated her, she stood her ground. She didn't give up her honest hard working job scrubbing the floors to become a whore. No she kept scrubbing the floors because she believed that she had more potential than that. Eddy was my favorite character by far. She faced many hardships and yet still pursuing her dream of owning a diner one day.

Natalie on the other hand was what we would expect the gender norm for women to be. She was willing to marry Rhine for his riches and power. She didn't care for love, she just wanted what he could provide for her, a lavish lifestyle. Natalie has never worked a day in her life and probably doesn't even know what the word hard work is. She is not strong nor confident in herself. Instead she blames her faults on others. As seen in the book, when she gets jealous and loses control after hearing that Rhine was with a women of color.

I enjoyed reading this book. It did a great job setting the story up and grabbing your attention. It incorporated a lot of different elements that you wouldn't see in other romance novels, and I liked that.  I think she did a really great job showing the hardships the women and women of color went through to be successful.

Forbidden

Eddy challenges both gender and racial roles. As an African-American in her time it is expected that she would sell herself to make a living or experience poverty all her life. Despite the way she is treated and the disadvantages she has being a woman of color, she is determined to work hard to provide for herself and her sister and later on cook for a living and build her own restaurant. Because of her determination and refusal to resort to prostitution, not only does she succeed but it helps her to find Rhine, who is a man who actually cares and loves her genuinely. At first he subconsciously tries to use his wealth and status to woo her, but is eventually humbled and the relationship progresses on her terms.

Popular Romance & Forbidden

The character I would like to focus on is...drum roll please...Eddy!

Eddy conforms to a few gender norms, but I feel like it's mostly because in that era, being a WoC she didn't really have another choice. So as far as work goes, she typically does cleaning and cooking. She does challenge the norms when it comes to her relationship with Rhine because he wants to take care of her and baby her. Rather than being a weak woman who needs a mans help, she challenges herself to do with without him, proving that she does not need a man to help her.

I don't feel like her gender performance impacts her love life. She is a woman who does have some of the traits of a typical "housewife" but she also is strong willed and is able to survive on her own. If anything, maybe that helps her? It makes her more appealing to Rhine.

All in all, I found this book to be not as bad as I was expecting it to be. I had never read an actual romance before, and I would consider reading another one in the future.

Popular Romance and Forbidden

A character I'm choosing to focus on from the novel is Rhine. The other characters of the novel make it clear the Rhine is the best looking, wealthiest, and successful man in town. He has ivory skin, dark hair, and a tall and strong figure (basically just imagine the shirtless man from the cover of the book). From the description of his character, you'd expect him to be a very dominant male figure of the book; taking charge of the situation, getting what he wants with no questions asked, and in control. However even from the first time we are introduced to Rhine, we get the impression that he is a gentleman. He enjoys taking care of the people around him, caring for their feelings, and caring for their well being. By doing this, he challenges traditional male gender roles by allowing the woman in his life to have to control, make decisions for themselves, and be independent. For example he allows Eddy to choose when she is ready to have dinner with him even though he really wants her to go, he never forces. In return, he is treated with a lot of respect. He is seen as an honorable man by both the men and women in his community.

The performance of his gender does connect to his love and romance. He is very considerate of his partner's feelings. For example, he never forced Eddy to go on a date with him. Even though he liked Eddy, he respected her space and allowed her to make the decision for when she was ready. Also during their sex scenes together, he always took his time and never rushed it with Eddy. He made sure she didn't feel embarrassed, but confident and comfortable about her sexuality and desires. And not just with Eddy, but with Natalie. Rhine gave her the option of how she would tell the community how their engagement was canceled. And just the fact that he respected her and her family enough to go to her father and confront him about the cancellation instead of just running off or blaming Natalie. Rhine is always putting the people around him first whether or not they deserve it.

Gender Roles in Forbidden

As stated in the prompt for this post -- this book is set in the 19th century, so obviously there will be some interesting gender roles at play.

I am choosing to write on Eddy because not only do I love her, but her character development is also great. Firstly I will focus on the economical gender roles that Eddy falls into being a woman of color. In the beginning of the novel, Eddy falls where you would expect a woman of color to fall during such a grotesque period in American history. She is very low on money because she is paid unfair wages and choses not to sell herself for a profit. This is significant, because by the end of the novel Eddy has broken from this norm to own a restaurant of her own. This impacts the romance with Rhine because not only is Eddy a woman of color (whereas Rhine is passing) but she is also nowhere near as wealthy as he is. This changes at the end when Eddy is finally making a decent wage doing something she loves, and breaking 19th century norms at the same time.

The second role I will focus on are the 19th century societal norms for women of color. As previously mentioned, Eddy is treated very unfairly in terms of economics because of her skin color, but there are more ways than this that she is impacted. Being a woman of color, Eddy is expected to not overstep her boundaries. One thing I love about Eddy is that she does just that and says screw the societal norms. She puts her two cents in, and is a very powerful figure throughout the novel. This impacts her romance because she is willing to give Rhine a shot, and also tell a man of her own race no, even when it would be the safer option. She is able to break the societal norm and I think over all this not only helps her end up in a romance with Rhine, but also to become happy on her own terms.

Popular Romance and Forbidden

While reading the book, the character I found most interesting would be Rhine Fontaine because of the extreme risk he was willing to take. The time period where the book was taken place discriminated blacks in many ways. It was very hard for any black man to become successful during that time, which was why Rhine choose the path he did. He decided to pass as a white man because his dad was white, while his mother was black. By passing he created a new world for himself, creating opportunities which wouldn’t be there for him if he was black.

Rhine challenges the norm of his race in many ways, first he is wealthy. Black’s during that time period were treated horribly which was a reason why they weren’t as successful. Being on the city council was also very rare for his race. Rhine challenged those norm without any problems due to his appearances as a white male, but when the people of Virginia City found out about how he mislead them, that caused a lot of hatred towards him. People gather to destroy his life, they destroyed his saloon, tried to kill Eddy, his wife, they called him the N word on top of all everything else.

I felt that a way that Rhine gender affected the love and romance in this book would be because of his “handsomeness”. His gender performance did affect the love and romance because people thought of him as a wealthy white and handsome male. His personality of being nice and caring for any color of races made him more likeable.

Popular Romance and Forbidden

    Throughout Forbidden there were a lot of events that went on in that time period. The character I am going to focus on is Rhine Fontaine. Any black male in that time period had a hard time getting through life because of the color of their skin. At first Rhine was on that bad end before he began passing. Once he began to pass his life changed completely. He owned a saloon and many other properties and had a white woman as a fiancé. It was all looking good for him until he met Eddy.
   Rhine had the life that most men would want. A successful man that was on the city council, a gorgeous fiancé, and wealth. Everyone seemed to like him even the people of color in Virginia City. Once he revealed that he was African American he got a lot of hatred. People began to vandalize his saloon, call him the N word, and even asked him to resign from the city council and republican party just because of his race. Rhine challenged the role of being white and black because he was able to pass, and get live a life without discrimination and bigotry if he chose to.
   Considering most people thought that Rhine was white and handsome, I feel like it didn't really affect him on the romance side of things. Eddy seemed to be a bit more interested in the fact that he was half black. As a character Rhine was extremely brave to cross that color line and his gender performance if anything improved his romantic life because he was a kind and caring person.
  

Popular Romance and Forbidden

As a novel set in the 19th century, there are some interesting depictions of gender roles.  Specifically the roles of women.  I will focus on Eddy and how she performed and/or challenged traditional gender roles and norms.  

Eddy from the very beginning of the book was a strong and independent woman.  Her dream/goal was to start and run her own restaurant, which isn't something many women during that time tried to accomplish.  She didn't see herself as someone who men would want romantic relationships with.  Because of her strength and independence she wasn't like other women.  She didn't expect a man to make life happen for her, so she wanted to make things happen for herself. 

When Rhine comes into the picture, and becomes a well known option for Eddy to get involved with, she makes it clear she won't be his mistress.  That's a bold and important action to note about Eddy because she is a Woman of Color telling a "white" man no.  She stands up for herself in ways that Women during that time period didn't usually do.  This relates back to her strength and independence, which Rhine finds attractive.

Because of her strength and independence, Rhine treats her with respect.  He allows her to have feelings and opinions towards certain situations.  She felt wanted and heard around him and that is a major feeling to have coming from a "white" man.  Also, because of how she acted she was also insulted.  For example, being compared to a paper bag.  Yes this plays more to racism, but the intention was there to make her know that she isn't worth anything, even though she is trying to build the strength and independence to become someone important. 

Since Eddy won't just let Rhine have her, she is seen as a tease/unavailable to him.  Rhine likes this coming from Eddy and it makes his want for her grow stronger. This helps their romance because it shows Rhine that he doesn't want some spoiled brat for a wife.  He wants someone who can take care of themselves and has their own goals to becoming successful.  This leads to Rhine leaving his girlfriend for Eddy.  I would say that is a big impact on their romantic life.  She gave him something to desire and fight for, and that's exactly what Rhine did.  Eddy gave Rhine, not only the confidence to come out and admit he isn't white, but to be true to who he is and what he wants.  I believe that is the foundation to their romance, because Rhine loved who he was with Eddy. 

Blog Post 3: Following a “Forbidden” character

(I imagine that there should be an eyebrow wiggle at the end of the title. Cause I wanted to add in some personal humor and say that the title almost sounds naughty, but many that's just me?)

How to begin, who follows the societal rules, and who doesn’t and how does that help or hinder that person? I wanted to pick a secondary character for this, because not only can they sometimes be the greatest characters written unintentionally but because they sometimes give more insight to the true nature of the people of the time. Take Sylvie for example. A strong woman of color who was married, and refuses to get married again throughout the book to prove that she can be faithful to her husband with her second chance. She now owns the boardinghouse, and runs it with grace and precision that I don’t think she would have had were she a man, or were she a white woman. She takes her own path even though she is a woman of color, which is something that Jenkins characters seem to have. Well, the characters we like anyhow. Mind you, it’s not easy for her, but she wants to prove a point, plus when her husband dies in the mines, she doesn’t have very many options. Sylvie still makes her own way in the world though, and stays her strong, independent self the whole book. I think that she only agrees to marry Doc because she realizes that it is okay for her to be happy even without her husband, and that her husband would want her to forgive herself for the things that she did in the past.

I guess she fits pretty well into the social construction of gender, because she acts as a woman is thought to ask, be her more stubborn that the average woman. She doesn’t do anything too outlandish, and she wears dresses as expected of the time. All that seems to suit her just fine though, whereas Eddy for example doesn’t want to give up her dream just to be a quiet mother, and wife. On the other hand, Sylvie’s ability to scare off both Jim, and Rhine from disobeying her is a pretty awesome feat that takes a lot of guts and passion it takes “hutzpah”. Both Eddy and Sylvie both seem to have this trait, as well as some of the other women of color in the community. I would say that Sylvie is treated as any other woman of color in the community, and treated with at least some with a large measure of respect for taking her own path through her life. Her denial of the obvious affection she has for Doc do get in the way of her being happy, but in the end, she accepts it and can be herself. She too has an H.E.A. ending to her story. The way that her own story mirrors Eddy's in some ways is a cool dynamic too. 

Popular Romance and Forbidden

The character I plan to focus on from the novel Forbidden is Eddy.  Eddy lost her parents  at the age of 12 and it was up to her to take care of herself and her sister. She said to Rhine “ I know I will have to work for years doing something like cooking or scrubbing floors... , but I am not afraid of hard work” (pg.61) She then gives an example to Rhine of how much working she had to do, and did for along time. “ I worked fourteen hour days. Id go home, grab something to eat, go to bed right away because I had to be up before sunrise to do it all over again.” ( pg. 63-64) She also states “ I have worked six days a week since I was twelve and had never been bed ridden” (pg 57). This just shows that back in that time, women were the ones who stated home and took care of the kids, cleaned the house, cooked for the men. As well as, if they had a job it was one where they did laundry, scrubbed floors, did dishes, or cooked. Even if these ladies worked hard and Eddy was complimented A LOT by the customers and her boss Sylvia  multiple times because of how great  of a job she did.  Her  boss  back in Denver was on a different page. She said  that her boss, “ he constantly found faults in her work and routinely docked her pay” (8-9). There were other jobs that women could do like hair dresser, or making dresses, something of that sort.  There were times where people of color would be demoted, because of their color. Eddy, was demoted from a cooks position to a floor scrubbing position. “....the hotel where she worked as a cook for the past three years has been purchased by a new owner, their first act had been to remove Eddy and every other colored person from the kitchen. He offered her a job as a floor scrubber, and at less pay”. (pg.8) Knowing what Sylvia and the other customers said about Eddy in the new city she is living in- the only reason that boss demoted her was because of her color. She didn’t act out or cause problems because she needed this job. These jobs listed above are jobs for hard working women, and though there was the option to become a whore like her sister, she decided to keep the floor scrubbing jobs and cooking jobs in order to make a decent living.

Does Eddy’s gender performance impact her romantic life? I feel like it does in the sense that Eddy lost her parents at such a young age, so she was put in a place where she had to be very independent and learn to take care of herself without any help. So when Rhine, tries to take care of her, and help her to the bathroom she says she can do it by herself. “ Pleased, she took a few steps. To her disappointment she was still weak, but  decided if she went slowly she could make it to the washroom  and back without collapsing. The plan went well, sort of. By the time she made it back to the bedroom, she was sweating profusely, her breathing was labored and Rhine was standing in the room looking at her ready to scold like a parent”( pg. 57).  She definitely made it harder for Rhine to sweep Eddy off her feet, she wanted to know that even though they would be together she could still have her dreams(opening up her own restaurant). Rhine didn't want to take away her freedom of making her own decisions or her dreams, he just wanted to show her how much he wanted her and loved her for being a strong independent women she is. She definitely got to the point where she gave Rhine the dinner date he asked for and explored a sexual way with him. Eventually, she opened up her heart  to him, even though she didn't want to settle down here she was happy.

Popular Romance and Forbidden

As a novel set in the 19th century, there are some interesting depictions of gender roles. Eddy Carmichael challenges the traditional gender roles and norms of women who's usual norms were to stay home, cook, clean (basically all domestic work). Manual labor work were left to the men, but, with no parents and being born free from slavery, Eddy was a very independent woman who worked hard to earn money to follow her dreams. In the novel, you can see that many men who chased after Eddy did not want Eddy to have dreams and to just stay home to do domestic work (which Eddy didn't like the thought of that).

Considering how the performance of gender connects to love and romance, Eddy's gender performance does not impact her romantic life because Rhine loved how Eddy was independent and also a strong woman. In the novel when Rhine proposes to Eddy, she asks him if he would want her to change but he tells her that she can stay the way she is (which she is ecstatic to hear).

Popular Romance and Forbidden

The character that I plan on focusing from the novel, Forbidden is Eddy Carmichael. Back then in the 19^th century, women were expected to stay home, do housework, take care of the children, etc. whereas men would go out and make the money. Eddy challenged these traditional gender norms/roles. Because of the death of her parents, she had to make the money for herself and younger sister in order to survive back in Denver. It was hard for people of color to find decent paying jobs. They were usually given the lowest paying position but either way she was thankful “to still have employment, she’d swallowed her anger and scrubbed the floors until they shone.” (9). She was a cook until a new owner showed up and gave her the job to scrub the floors. She was always mistreated, her “boss” had “constantly found faults with her work and routinely docked her pay” (9-10). Eddy was willing to work hard and not go with the easy route that her sister had chosen. When she arrives in Virginia City, she meets Rhine who helps her find a place to stay to recover and a job until she feels better. She was mugged by a “priest” who gave her the choice to either sleep with him or give him all of her money. As she is a woman, she must have been seen as weak and easy to fool. The priest’s eyes were described as “mocking” (30). He claimed himself as a “healthy man who likes to prey on pretty little pigeons” (30) and apparently many have been fooled by him with his get-up playing a priest. Eddy though, wasn’t one of the many to be fooled by him, she chose to give him all of her money. She isn’t dependent on men, she does things that she wants to do. She has dreams and she will work hard for them hence she questions Rhine if he'll make her give up her dream or not before answering him about marriage. Many men were curious whether she had a “sweetheart” (155) or not. 

            Since she acts differently from the usual type of women, Rhine becomes intrigued. He wants to pursue her because of this. At the same time, although she may seem tough and strong, she is beautiful, kind, and is able to cook which he also loves about her. Natalie, Rhine’s fiancée did not respect Eddy but Eddy does her best to display, “good manners the previous woman obviously lacked” (163). Rhine who was present “admired the way she’d handled Natalie’s gracelessness” (170). Eddy always made him wonder many things, for example, “Who else would she be impacting?” (170) after learning that the fish monger had sold all of his fish to Eddy. Thanks to her, Rhine questions many things which brings him closer to himself. Eddy as a woman makes Rhine curious and intrigued which leads into many different kinds of events in the novel.

            

Popular romance and Forbidden

There are many instances where the social construction of gender has been performed and challenged.  By taking a look at Rhine, we can see this a little clearer.  On page 55 of Forbidden, Rhine senses something between him and Eddy, but tells himself that the best way to handle the situation is to ignore it.  Ignoring a problem is a stereotypical gender quality for men, and that is just what Rhine does.   By ignoring this problem, it just gets bigger and bigger.  Both him and Eddy are struggling with their feelings because they are trying to hide it from themselves and each other. 

Sure, it doesn't take him long to start actually flirting with Eddy, and make advances towards her, but at this time, he knows he shouldn't be doing this.  His thoughts go to his wife at the time, Natalie, and tells himself that he should be thinking about her instead of Eddy, because this is wrong.  He's trying to convince himself that Natalie is the one for him, just because she is convenient and she can get him connections with politics.  But, by trying to hide his true feelings, he becomes more and more aware of them, which in turn, makes him confess his love to Eddy.

Later on in the story, page 128, Natalie is saying how Rhine is supposed to provide for her, take care of her, and make her happy.  In Natalie's mind, because he is the man, he is supposed to be assertive and in charge, so to put that into action in her mind, he should be making her his top priority.  At first, he does do this, and he even says that is what he will do, minus selling the saloon, but he eventually realizes that is not what he wants to be doing.  He calls off the wedding and marries the girl of his dreams. He is treated very poorly by Natalie because he is not doing what she wants and later in the novel, threatens to kill him and Eddy, but that was under a different circumstance, but because Rhine didn't want to continue to use her, it had both positive and negative outcomes.

 In this case, by not following a certain set of gender norms, he ended up being a lot happier with his life, and ended up realizing what true love felt like.  Another thing is that men are seen to use either force or intimidation to be in control over the woman, but in this case, Rhine didn't act like that towards Natalie or Eddy.  By not behaving in that manner, he was able to lure Eddy in with his charm, and get her to fall her him.  Granted Eddy felt she could not be with him due to race, she still had tremendous feelings for him because of the way he treated her and acted towards her and everyone.  Because Rhine didn't follow certain gender norms of force, he was able to live a happier life, and so was Eddy, because she did not feel sexualized in any way with Rhine, which is also a big part of how men are supposedly seen to treat women. 

Forbidden: Defying Gender Norms

                Gender roles have most definitely evolved throughout the years. Looking at where we are now, is completely different to how women and men functioned in society in the 19^th century. Typically, women in this time period were most likely the homemakers. Their goal was to raise children, cook, clean, and take care of the husband when he gets home from work. Thus, the men were expected to be the breadwinner of the household. With all of that being said however, it was especially difficult for African American individuals during this time period. They faced segregation, discrimination, and most of all, they faced the hardships of trying to become something from absolutely nothing. The two main characters in the book are both coming from similar situations, but are able to have different experiences based off of their gender and “race”. Rhine’s male heredity along with his ability to pass as white allows him many more opportunities in life than what Eddy is allowed because of the fact that she is both African American and a woman.

                The character that I plan to focus the most on is Eddy. I find her to be a very intriguing character throughout the novel, and she never failed to surprise me with more ways she could defy gender norms. The first thing that caught my attention when I began reading the novel that I plan to focus on is the fact that the main character’s name was Eddy. This is unique because Eddy is a woman. Later on in the novel, the author points out that Eddy is the first free born child in her family which makes her “special”. When I read this, I immediately connected that idea to her name. Her parents might have given her a more masculine name to represent the fact that she will be strong, unique, and independent; all characteristics that she never fails to show throughout the novel. “Eddy was a lot of things: fiery, stubborn, and hardheaded to a fault, but whore?” (Jenkins 84). The only female connotated trait in this sequence, “whore”, is the one that is not associated with Eddy.  Thus, the name could have been potential foreshadow to how her character would develop throughout the plot. Being that she has many masculine traits in her personality, Eddy continues to defy societal norms by perusing her goal to leave Denver and make something of herself besides a lone housemaid.

                As she embarks on her journey to California to become a restaurant owner, people are very friendly, and extremely helpful. Along the path, her gender does cause her a major setback in her journey. Being a female, she is gendered as weak, a sexual object, and easy to take advantage of. A “Priest” named Father Nash points out Eddy’s disadvantage by stating that “That’s good. Some people make a living preying on young women like yourself” (Jenkins 28). As much to Eddy’s despair, it turns out that Nash is exactly the man that he warns Eddy about. Robbed, tired, lost, hot, hungry, and scared, Eddy is able to walk away from the situation with her dignity as Nash leaves her stranded in the desert. She does not allow herself to give into him no matter what the consequences might be. After Rhine and his partner Jim find her in the desert and rescue her, she begins to defy her gender norms again by refusing help with her recovery process. She stubbornly tries to get up and walk around on her own but is unable to do so because she is too weak. She is not used to relying on men, and is very skeptical when Rhine continuously tries to help her. In the end, her entire life has revolved around being strong and not relying on others for help. Thus, having people take her in and assist her is something new that she will never really get used to.

                As the novel progresses, her masculine characteristics help spark a love connection between herself and Rhine. Being engaged to a woman who had everything handed to her on a silver platter, Rhine is amazed by Eddy’s sense of independence and lack of reliance on men. Eddy isn’t afraid of hard work, and she is always ready to help others. These are all traits that Rhine grows to admire and love about her. There are also a number of feminine traits that Rhine is drawn to about Eddy such as her softness, her kindness, her cooking abilities, and her beauty. A woman like Eddy is enough to make Rhine question why he is in a relationship with a woman that contains absolutely no love or passion. All in all, you could say that Rhine is driven by Eddy’s feminine characteristics and intrigued by her masculine ones which all come together to create the mysterious love story.

Boy clothes and Girl Clothes...

When I walk into a store this weekend I went to the baby section, which was hard to find since I never really had a reason of going there before. Once I got there I looked at both the girl section and the boy section and what I noticed first was the color differences. The girl section the colors where different shades of pink. There were soft pinks, and bright pinks and splashes of purple. What immediately caught my eyes in the boy section was how many shirt the boy section had with words written on them. One shirt really caught my eye which was a shirt that said "lets play". When I went back to the girl section I was looking for a girl shirt that specifically said something about playing and I couldn't find one. And it made me think, why is it assumed that boy are more active as children then girls are. I myself was a very active child and loved playing outside. Also lots of the boy shirts had sport equipment on them. Such as a footballs and a baseball. The message I got from the experience was that boys are way more active and more likely to play sport then girls. I couldn't even figure out what the girl section was trying to point out until my younger sister pointed out something that I really didn't notice. She pointed out how the boys clothes look more practical for outside play and the girl clothes looked more like something you would wear if you were planning on staying inside and just wanted to sit around looking pretty. Which she had a point. The girl clothes weren't clothes that were very practical for outside playing. Which I guess in my mind enforces the idea that girl aren't suppose to be running around and rough housing like boy are. It was kind of surprising to see that stereotype being implied at such a young age of a child's life.