Sunday, September 23, 2012

Exploring on Feminist equality

Argument, Hyperlinks, Connections
As I started exploring  http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus I started off by playing Chintz or Shag, this allowed me to create a living room of my dream.  It was interesting how in the end it showed an explaination of what objects you chose to place in your style room.  I think it was weird how if would pinpoint what your personality is just by choosing objects to be placed in your living room.  Even though some of the things were not my taste they did not really have any female design objects to place in the room.  Yet everything was categorized to a certain point and it showed that there was not to many options for being a female while all of the objects were unisex.  I believe that people should not be categorized just by the options they choose its about what the person is like in the inside and not to be judged.

Later I explored http://cwcs.ysu.edu/ one the first page I noticed it said "Wage Theft Resources and Where To Go For Help".  I noticed the people were holding the sign...
Wage Theft Resources and Where To Go For Help feature image
As I read along it mentioned "Employers have taken advantage of the current economic conditions. High unemployment, deregulation and lack of enforcement efforts have led many employers to cheat their employees. In an effort to help abused employees, the Center for Working-Class Studies has developed a list of wage thefts and where employees might go to get some assistance from government agencies". I found it to be hard for the employers to have pay cuts and how the employee would have to cut down on pay due to the economic crisis, as these workers still have families to take care of and most of them support them on one paycheck.

I think that economic inequality is a feminist issue because women that work at a high paying job still do not make as much as men do.  They may be getting paid more than women for the same job category.  I think that gender is an issue in the workplace due to different paying jobs.  Women  and men should have the same pay as they have the same job nobody should be paid more or less than one another, there should be a equal pay. 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Taxes and the Economy- Election 2012

Obama and the Tax Issues- 2012

The following article is related to Obama and his tax issues and how the economy can be fixed.  This article demonstrates that Obama wants to fix the $14 trillion debt in the government.  "Obama is seeking to extend the Bush tax cuts for those making under $250,000, but has said repeatedly he is committed to ending the tax cuts for the wealthy."  As I was reading the article Obama stated that "he does not want to raise taxes on the middle class, but would raise taxes on the wealthy. The Buffet Rule, named for billionaire Warren Buffet that says millionaires and billionaires shouldn’t pay a lower tax rate than middle income earners, encapsulates much of Obama’s approach to taxes."  Obama mentioned that he would cut taxes if they earn less than $200,000 individually and $250,000 if married.  In comparrison Romney said that it would hurt small bussiness owners if they have a $250,000 income.  Obama stated on CNN, "What drags our entire economy down is when ... the gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider"
-- President Obama, April 2012
 
 
http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/campaign-issues.html

The following website shows the pros and cons of Obama and Romneys issues on taxes and the economy.  http://2012election.procon.org/view.source-summary-chart.php

Sunday, September 9, 2012

"Oppression"- Frye

Hyperlinks
I'd like you to take a moment and watch this video as it explains what oppression is, if you're unclear and if it's fair.  So go on and watch it. Heres the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTz8epARsTY
So you saw it, I suppose.  This is a little summary of what just took part in the video.
      Its title "Have women ever been oppressed in the United States?" shows what to expect watching the video. 
It explains Discrimination:   vs.    Men stereotyped as:
                             - Workplace               - Providers
                             - Education                 - Protectors 
                             - Finances                   - Nurturers
Men and women have both faced discrimination.  So what does Oppression really mean; as the video showed it stands for death, starvation, problems, people chained, starved, beaten, genocide and overall BIG PROBLEMS. So... Discrimination is not the same thing as Oppression!  Women Studies classes have been the one that have studied this most; they are stretching the truth so far that it breaks.  In the end the editor says "we've held women up as we've torn our men down.  Hold both women and men in highest standard".  The ending also showed men being negatively labeled.  So I hope that cleared up the confusion of Oppression. 

The article "Oppression" by Marilyn Frye resembles the YouTube video I mentioned.  How does this connect to the video, well they both have to deal with Oppression and how its mostly focused on women and men equal explained in this article. Frye gave examples of the bird cage.  Where if you focus on one wire you can't see the one behind it.  This signifies that people look at things one by one almost microscopically.  "living in one's life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction... being caged" (Frye 176). Oppression is hard to recognize and see in many cases.  Another example was when a man opens a door for the women to walk through, and then the man walks through.  That is a true example to show that women are incapable as Fry stated and that men are courteous to women. They act like servants and women take advantage of it.  I believe that sometimes some people may take advantage of it and some may unintentially do so as thinking of having some common courtesy. 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

"The F-Word"- Finkbeier & "Fear of Feminism"-Hogeland

Quotes from "The F-Word"

1. "It's easy to take the past for granted as we go busily through our days working, going to school, spending time in the car and on the bus, attending meetings, taking care of kids, doing homework, wrestling cell phones, building careers, and creating lives.  Yet for young women, especially, to ignore the achievements of the past is to underestimate the relative fragility of women's contemporary status.  So before moving forward, we should work to understand our beginnings" (20).
      To me this quote made me realize that I sometimes take things for granted when I don't take a minute to think about everything that I have or need.  As I have learned in my previous years to sort out what my needs and wants are, as this quote also reflects on a women's everyday actions and how sometimes we forget to think things through.  "It's easy to take the past for granted as we go busily through our days..." this reflects my thoughts exactly about our daily lives.  It also states how young women in the current generation take most things for granted and don't think about the background information of how things came about.

2. "Getting the right to vote was the first step...women had the right to vote at the end of the first wave of feminism" (25). 
      Noting that the first wave consisted of women fighting for the right to vote was a struggle for them all just to prove to congress that women also have a voice and believe to be equal as so are males.  This quote mentions the first wave and also talks about how they struggled to have equal voting rights.

3. "Women of color were an integral part of the movement from the very beginning, yet women of color and white women often worked for change alongside one another, instead of as part of the same overall movement" (27).
      Basically I beleive that whether your white or colored, I still STRONGLY believe that no matter the gender or race men and women should all have equal rights on voting and for anything else.  No-one should be specifically picked on; they should note that everyone is to be treated the same way (The way one would want to be treated).

Quotes from "Fear of Feminism"

1. "Some people may argue that young women have far less to lose by becoming feminists than do older women: they have a smaller stake in the system and fewer ties to it" (1).
      What!? I know that young women have fear in themselves but why do we have "far less to loose by becoming feminists" (1), I'm so confused; do we not believe in ourselves that we can actually control our feelings and make decisions on our own by actually thinking things through. This is very confusing now!

2. "Our culture allows women so little scope for development, for exploration, for testing the boundaries of what they can do and who they can be (2).
     The culture in the present day has changed where so people move accordingly with the way government allows us.  So thinking about the development of the women has come a long way both through voting and how culture has changed now.  I think that this quotes means the women like to seek new things and find ways to solve a situation.  They like to see what they can make a change with and to development new ideas; in doing so women can represent themselves in a new way. 

3. "Think harder, act more carefully; feminism requires that you enter a world supersaturated with meaning, with implications... fear of feminism is also fear of complexity, fear of thinking, fear of ideas" (3).  
      As Hogeland states this almost so called 'fact', it gets my mind wondering is this really right or am I over thinking this?  No, women do think hard and think in a different way of if this happens what will the result be in the end, or if I do this is it going to be good or bad in the end.  Whether it's cooking, cleaning, managing a family, or anything else us women do "think harder, and act more carefully" as Hogeland stated.  But going back to the feminism portion it does require us to think hard about our decision as women and then to understand the meaning of being a feminist or being against it.  In the end it does require allot of analyzing and we do think about our actions before stating our answer.

These few quotes from both "The F-Word" and "Fear of Feminism" that I have specifically selected had me thinking hard and asking myself some questions.  From taking things for granted and really just thinking about the struggles that some people went through, for example having the right to vote.  Women fought so hard to have the right to vote and how some people choose to vote or not to vote.  Then how women think hard about the decisions they make, rather than just making them.  Lastly, no matter what race or gender someone is everybody should be treated equally no matter what.