Fourth Blog

          The movie, Frida, is one that I find to be very interesting for many reasons.  First, I had been assigned to do an art project on Frida Kahlo in 8^th grade and it was cool for me to get even more background on her than I had previously.  In addition, I enjoyed seeing the paintings that I once learned about featured in this movie, such as “The Two Fridas,” “A Few Small Nips,” and more.  Frida’s character is very strong and powerful, especially for the time period that she lived in.  She was strong after her bus incident and also during the times her marriage with Diego wasn’t so great.  For the many times Diego had affairs with other women, Frida seemed to not let that get her down.  She was able to see through his lies.  For example, after Diego had sex with one of his naked models, he told Frida he was at the ministry, but Frida did not fall for this lie and when she confronted him about it he finally told her the truth.  I was happy that after Frida had caught Diego in yet another affair, but this time with her own sister, she had left him.  It is just a shame that it took her that long to do so.

            Frida never let her disabilities stop her from doing what she loved, which was drawing and painting.  She continued to draw and paint from bed shortly after the incident had occurred, her dad even bought her a wooden easel, giving her the ability to follow through with her love for art and she no longer had to resort to drawing on her body cast.  It was the start of her incredible career.  I thought it was very courageous of Frida to try walking after she had painted a portrait of her sister.  She got out of her wheel chair and walked over to her family who were hesitant about it, but she showed them she was capable.  I loved the way the movie ended.  This showed that the beginning and the end connected.  It was amazing that she showed up to her art exhibition because she had people carry her there, while she was still in bed like her doctor ordered her to do.  Frida’s disabilities relate to the feminist theory discussed in “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson.  In this reading, Garland-Thomson includes, “Cultural stereotypes imagine disabled women as asexual, unfit to reproduce, overly dependent, unattractive- as generally removed from the sphere of true womanhood and feminine beauty.  Women with disabilities often must struggle to have their sexuality and rights to bear children recognized. (Finger 1990)” This relates to Frida Kahlo, but at the same time does not.  In my opinion, being unable to reproduce depends on the specific disability a woman may have.  In Frida’s situation she was not able to reproduce.  She had a miscarriage.  On the other hand, Frida was not dependent.  She did not rely on other people to take care of her unless she really needed something.  She fought through her struggles and her artwork is still greatly appreciated today.

Third Blog

          The United States of America is a society of classes.  In my opinion, there is a huge difference between the top 1-2 percent of people in this country and the people who are considered poor.  While the economy is continuing to grow at a slow rate, the income is rapidly increasing for the top 1-2 percent.  The concept of classes didn’t really occur to me until I got older.  I am very fortunate to have a life where money isn’t really an issue.  It is interesting to see the difference between social class now and social class back in the nineteenth century.  For many years I have learned about Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and their book, The Communist Manifesto.  Their book discusses the poor working conditions and low wages of the working class in nineteenth century Europe.  Both Marx and Engels opposed capitalism.  They did not want the income for the top 1 percent to be so high.  Marx and Engels believed everyone must view the history of social class and the struggles that occurred between the classes.  They explained the most important classes were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.  The bourgeoisie owned all of the major factories and companies, while the proletariat had to sell their labor to the capitalists and owned a very small amount.  They argued that the conflict between these two classes would eventually lead to a revolution where the proletarians would win. With the disappearance of the bourgeoisie as a class, they believe there would no longer be a society of classes.  

Following the writings of Marx and Engels, the idea of communism came about.  This caused the creation of communist groups, such as The Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), which had peaked in the 1930s.  During this time period there was another huge conflict, The Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1941.  Family incomes had dropped drastically for many.  I found the slide “Judging Poor Women” to be intriguing.  I didn’t know there was such thing as the deserving poor vs. the undeserving poor.  The Migrant Mother with Three Children picture is an attempt to reflect the deserving poor, but the truth behind the picture shows that the circumstances of the mother and children featured in the picture are actually false.  I can see though how the image captures what is seen as someone who is considered to be “the deserving poor” based on the emotional appeal and the positioning of each person. 

The reading this week, Peyton Place by Grace Metalious, relates to the topics we have discussed in class.  The setting of the book is 1937, which is the middle of The Great Depression.  There is a clear distinction between each character and what social class they belong to.  In the book, we see the struggles Selena faces as a member of the lower class.  She lives in the poor area of town.  Selena is the victim of abuse by her stepfather, Lucas.  Although this is a totally different time period than today, Selena can relate to many women who currently struggle in poverty and face abuse.  It’s scary to me that women can live such harsh lifestyles, while there are fewer women who are currently receiving welfare than in the middle of the twentieth century.

In my opinion, there seems to be a trend in the advantages given to those who are considered to be wealthy.  In my old high school, majority of the students have an advantage that gives them the ability to move up the socioeconomic ladder.  For example, many are provided private tutors paid for by their parents.  This helps them and gives them an advantage for getting into a better college, when there are Americans today who don’t even attend college at all.  After attending a good college or university, they are then able to receive a degree and get a successful job.  These advantages are continuing to take place today.  After becoming aware that social class definitely exists here in the United States of America, I am intrigued to continue learning what certain things pertain to the higher and lower classes.

Second Blog

           As a female living in the United States, I am intrigued to learn more about the history of women’s rights in the U.S.  The idea of first wave, second wave, and third wave feminism catches my attention because I like to see the trend of change for women here in the U.S.  In the 1830s, it was not acceptable for women to speak in public.  Growing up in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I am surrounded by powerful, women speakers that I have seen, especially on TV.  In particular, Hillary Clinton and when she ran for president.  In my opinion, her speeches are very motivational and make her seem very confident.  I feel as though there were many women in the 1800s that had the ability to speak like Hillary Clinton, but weren’t given the opportunity to do so.

Moving onto second wave feminism, where women started finding a voice.  In the 1940s when the country was in a time of war, millions of high-paying industrial jobs opened to women and the government had began to offer minimal day care and house-hold assistance.  Two specific characters who stood out to me during this time period were Rosie the Riveter and Wonder Woman.  They are both strong women icons.  Lastly, third wave feminism is where I believe our country is now.

The reading from this week, The Feminine Mystique, caught my eye as well.  This book was written by Betty Friedan in 1963.  It analyzed the lives of housewives and was very influential for housewives and young college women too.  One of the parts that I found interesting within the select text from this week’s reading was when certain women refused to do specific actions because it was considered unfeminine.  For example, on page 17 of The Feminine Mystique, “In a New York hospital, a woman had a nervous breakdown when she found she could not breastfeed her baby.  In other hospitals, women dying of cancer refused a drug which research had proved might save their lives: its side effects were said to be unfeminine.” (Friedan, 17) This quote showed that many women wanted to be as feminine as possible, and would do anything they could for this to happen if need be.  I think its absurd that women would risk their lives by refusing drugs in order to be seen as feminine.  Another quote from the text found on page 18 said, “A girl refused a science fellowship at John Hopkins to take a job in a real-estate office.  All she wanted, she said, was what every other American girl wanted- to get married, have four children and live in a nice house in a nice suburb.” (Friedan, 18) I don’t think that this quote holds true as much in this current time period.  Many women are mothers with full-time jobs.  It’s cool to see how far our society has come with feminism.  I am also very interested in seeing what the future holds for women in both the U.S. and the world.  

First Blog

The theme of controlling images really stood out to me.  As a female in today’s society, Killing Us Softly 4 was a video that really intrigued me and opened my eyes.  I am aware that certain advertisements directed toward a specific gender have certain qualities to it, but I didn’t realize how drastic they are.  Not only do these ads sell the product, its original purpose, they sell the image that goes along with them.  I know that when I am viewing an ad I tend to associate the image of the women in the ad with the product they are selling.  In other words, if I am using or wearing the advertised product then I should look or feel like the women who use or wear the product in the ad as well.  This is the overall goal of the companies who make the ads. It was interesting to see that certain celebrities gave their opinions about how they themselves were extremely photo shopped and do not even look the way they do in advertisements.  In addition, I do not like that the women’s bodies are turned into objects in some advertisements because it makes it seem that a woman’s body is only seen as an object to a man.  It amazes me that even after all of these negative hidden symbols and meanings, young females are still trying to mimic the looks of these airbrushed, computer-retouched women.  It is something that I hope gets changed in the future, but I am not sure if it will.

Not only did we focus on the female image in this week’s lecture, we also focused on the male image as well.  After hearing about the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, I never had thought much about the gender aspect of it all.  In the article, “Why Won’t We Talk about Violence and Masculinity in America?” Soraya Chemaly, the author, says how tragic uses of guns here in the United States are by unstable males.  I agree with the statement because of past horrific tragedies I have heard about on the news, none of which these crimes were committed by women.  This is related to the topic of male power/privilege and in today’s society, I believe that women should never be seen as inferior to men, but rather equal.  Oppression towards women should cease to exist not only in the United States, but also all over the world.

Lastly, I found the article, “No Hype for Women’s Hoops” to be intriguing.  It is crazy that over the years women’s sports have not gained more viewers.  How is it that popular men’s sports are on increase and feed off of each other in many aspects, while women’s college basketball does not have any sort of a similar situation?  The media should not leave out women’s sports.  Whatever coverage they spend for men’s sports should be the same for women’s sports.  Even though this may sound unrealistic to some, I believe that if more people got involved and expressed their care for women’s sports than this all could potentially change.