Critical Response Journal #1

Firstly I want to admit how overwhelming this chapter was for me. I don’t think I have ever read so many pages on women, women’s history, feminism, or any other related topics in any of my former textbooks, not even mentioning a single setting. This chapter has opened my eyes to a whole entire section of history and society that I feel that I have either been sheltered from or have basically ignored for most of my life.

The primary area that stood out for me during the reading was what I considered an elongated section of feminism and women history, but in reality was must more of a brief synopsis of feminism movements. I became suddenly aware of the lack of women’s history in today’s public education. Yes, there is a women’s history month and my AP US History teacher did make us write an essay on women’s role in society pre, during, and post the civil war (which by the way ending up being an official AP US History test question that year, so cheers to the test makers), but there really isn’t a significant amount of time devoted to women. Events that received at least a full paragraph in this chapter alone would have been only a single sentence in my high school textbooks. Susan B. Anthony, Stanton, and other nominal women figures were mentioned during my courses but never discussed. There should be more opportunities for women’s history courses to be held at public high schools. The number of teenage feminist would greatly increase if such programs were made available to more if not all schools.

A problem that I had with the text occurred when during one of the readings the author wrote, “She cannot be anti-abortion and an advocate of feminism” (pg. 44). I strongly disagree with this statement. I understand the thought process that the right to an abortion is part of a woman’s right to sexual freedom and sexual health care. So by saying that one is against abortions then one is against part of women’s sexual freedom, and a good section of feminism. On the other side, if a women is extremely religious could she not also see abortion as an act of murder and therefore not a part of women’s sexual rights? This hypothetical, religious woman could still share many other feminist ideals such as equality in the work place, home, and society. I don’t see why not being for abortion should make one not a feminist.

As I stated before, this chapter was loaded with information that I could probably discuss in great detail till the point that either my fingers corrode or whoever reads this falls asleep. I believe that I am starting to see a different light about Women’s Studies and feminism. Hopefully the rest of this course and textbook will continue to impress me with the interesting history, facts, and stories that are all surprisingly new and different for me.

Assignment #2 "The 'F' Word"

Assignment #2

The “F” Word

Given that this is a Women’s Studies assignment, I thought I would focus on women’s opinions in my interview. I chose my mother, one of my best friends, and my roommate. I thought that I would get somewhat of a variety of responses, but sadly all three of my subjects took a negative approach to the idea of feminism. I am not a self-proclaimed feminist and frankly, before signing up for this course I hadn’t really thought about the inequality between the sexes, but I fond the responses I received to be a bit shocking.

A common theme in the responses was a stereotypical image of feminists as either masculine women who wanted to destroy all males, lesbians, or radical activists that like to stir trouble. I know by definition a feminist is someone who believes in equality between the sexes, not just the empowerment of women or women dominance over males.

When I promoted the notion that I was thinking of becoming a feminist the most common response was simply, “why”? There was a notion among my interviewees that feminism is unnecessary in today’s society. My friend believes that women have advanced so far in the past century that women are virtually equal in every way. In some sense I understand and agree with her viewpoint; here in the United States, women are basically equal to men. We have the same constitutional rights, proclaimed equal employment opportunities, and the right to be an independent outside of patriarch figure. Where I start to disagree with this viewpoint is when considering women from other countries. One cannot turn on the television without seeing images of women be oppressed by men. This also brings in my mother’s perspective. While equality between the sexes is a fine idea to believe in it, it is not the most prominent issue in the world. With the genocides, hunger, diseases, and wars lingering in the world that one should choose on of these issue to advocate. This is also my reasoning for not being a feminist at the moment. It is almost a guilt factor to support equality among the sexes, when there are worst situations in the world that need attention. I also believe that everyone makes their own world. Those who are allow themselves to be treated unequally, remain unequal. Feminism wouldn’t be necessary as long as women stood up for their equality and didn’t allow society or anyone in particular to place them in a lower position.

As of right now I am not a feminist, but I have a strong feeling that this class is going to alter my opinion, or at least make me reconsider my reasoning for being or not being a feminist.

Introduction

Hello Everyone, My name is Sam Hutchinson and I am freshman here at Tech. I grew up just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. Currently I am in Universal Studies, planning to eventually change into IDST by combining minors in Biology and Pyschology. At the moment I want to be either a elementary school teacher or a special edcuation teacher, but nothing is concrete yet. I signed up for this class because I needed the credits to be considered a full time student, but so far it seems to have been a good choice. I am not thrilled about the online component at the moment; I have not recieved my computer as of yet...it was back ordered over the summer, but is due to arrive anyday.