Activism log 5

Janet Audette

Prof. Nina Perez

WST3015

3/19/10

Activism log 5

Activism: This week was a lot of word of mouth activities. I use a lot of my connections to spread the word of our event taking place on April 11^th and let people know that we would be taking donations and supplies. I also printed quite a few flyers in the anticipation that I will be handing them out at today’s Green Waves Festival.

Reflection: Being able to get back into the active part of this process was very refreshing. Contacting all the people and simply getting the awareness out there felt rather rewarding. I feel as though if I bring one more person that would have not come that could be making all the difference. While at the greenwaves festival I noticed that many of the people who were in the booths said that they were doing whatever they were doing because it was their passion. This made me think of the "Uses of the Erotic" chapter in our woman's lives book. If your erotic "the personification of love in all its aspects" is something that can make a difference in the world, then there is no reason why you cant also be an activist (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 162).

Reciprocity: Understanding that I am doing this for myself or even your own well being is enough to give me the push that is required to get the awareness out there. Of course, activism is all about taking action and what better inspiration is there than to take action for those who are incapable of doing it themselves.

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Uses of the Erotic." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 161-164.

Activism log 4

Janet Audette

Prof. Nina Perez

WST 3015

3/19/10

Activism log 4

Activism: This week was essentially a lull in the activeness part of Activism. It takes a special person to correctly balance the work loads of school, work and life and also participate in activism. I unfortunately have not yet acquired or adapted this skill. Hopefully I will find it soon enough.

Reflection: As always, my appreciation for the avid activist was yet again renewed. I feel as though I should have done more but we hit a niche in our abilities to be activist. We really just got as far as we could and were just awaiting the next step. The readings for this week included an essay by Seely which talked about the womans ability to fight back when she finds herself in certain situations. She discussed the topic of intimate partner abuse "The person who hurts us is the person who is supposed to love us" (Seely 187). This chapter when related to help needed for the women and animals of Animal Safehouse has, in essence, but a fire under my butt and caused me to want to become an avid activist and do everything in my power to make a difference.

Reciprocity: I feel that the feeling of not really knowing what to do next is somewhat frustrating. I want to make a difference and I want to get the word out, but when you’ve reached a certain point in the process there just comes a time when you have to realize that for this week, you’ve done all you can do.

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007

Episode Blog

Janet Audette

Perez

03/17/10

WST 3015

Analyzing the female role using an episode of family guy presented itself to be a rather interesting endeavor. Anyone who is an avid family guy watcher is aware of all of the stereotypes represented and mocked throughout the episodes. The one presented in the blog is in no way different from the norm. A general synopsis of the episode is that Meg (the odd-ball daughter) has found herself a normal boyfriend who proclaims his found attractiveness for Louis (the mother). After Peters (the father) constant berating of Louis’s appearance she decides to cave into the feelings she has towards her daughter’s boyfriend that are developed simply from her own insecurities and attempt to seduce Megs boyfriend. She then confronts Peter and realizes that the only reason he was continuously diminishing her confidence was due to his backwards attempt to make himself feel better about his own appearance.

As portrayed in the episode, it is the general media portrayed belief that woman need the confirmation of men that they are desired and wanted. When Peter does not give Louis what she is looking for in the means of physical satisfaction or the verbal confirmation of her beauty, she is immediately seduced by the innocent complement of her daughters’ boyfriend. Since Louis has very little social interaction (as displayed by the previous episodes) as she is a homemaker and has very little friends or people to confide in, she relies on the words and feelings of her family to determine her actions (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 340).

Throughout the many episodes of family guy, especially the one required to view for the blog assignment women are portrayed as individuals who have no ability to do anything other than to be housewives or inferior beings to men. Although the cartoon Family Guy is meant to portray the utmost extreme of the stereotypes it is doing nothing to help in the fight for equality. In order to make a difference everyone must join the fight and do something to end the injustice against woman (Seely 113). The mere idea that Louis is so starved of attention and appreciation she has to seduce a young boy to quench her lust proves that woman has very little respect in the media. If the circumstances were reversed I have a feeling that very few people would find it humorous. Due to the inequality of woman it has become perfectly acceptable to exploit the sex in every possible means with little or no repercussions. The media and shows such as Family guy that sensationalize such inequality only add to the issues existing (Seely 102).

Although there have been many times where I have found myself laughing endlessly at the Family Guy sexist humor I realize that this in fact makes me part of the problem. If I as a woman am taken in to the media portrayal of the female stereotype and am not willing to object then I am doing nothing to end the injustice.

WORKS CITED

Woman's Sexuality." Woman's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.

McFarland, Seth. "Go Stewie Go." Family Guy. 2010 Season 9. CastTV. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. .

Activism log 3

Janet Audette

Prof. Nina Perez

WST 3015

3/5/10

Activism log 3

Activism: This week was rather hectic. The other members of my group were actively searching for venues and we were all planning on how to get attention to our benefit. I scoped for places to potentially flyer and that was rather interesting. I also spoke to my parents and a few friends about rummaging up some supplies to donate in an attempt to get the ball rolling with the donations.

Reflection: I probably should have concentrated a little more on activism this week but is rather hard to balance with my exams and essay writing. It gave me new appreciation for the people who are involved in raising awareness full time and are also working full time jobs and attempt to have a social life. Our text "Violence Against Woman" discusses how important it is to raise awareness against woman violence and at times I seriously underestimate how much time I should dedicate to this. The reading defines violence as a "relation, process, or condition by which an individual or a group violates the physical, social and/or physical integrity of another person or group. (Kirk Okazawa-Rey 258). This is obviously exactly what we are working to prevent with our attempts to bring awareness to the situations that these women and animals are involved in.

Reciprocity: Although it is time consuming and I sometimes feel as though I should push it back for another time I know that everything we are doing is for the greater good. I know that if I just keep making an effort I could be saving the lives of people and animals who are suffering from domestic abuse.

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Violence Against Women." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 257-273.

How do you hear a song?

Janet Audette

Perez

03/05/10

WST 3015

The song “Rape Me” by Nirvana gained popularity in the early 90’s. The song although rather short has a huge meaning behind it. The first verse “Rape me, Rape me My friend” allows the listener to know right off the bat that the person committing the crime is someone close to the victim. According Catalano 73% of women are raped by their partner or date. Intimate partner violence includes everything from mental to physical abuse and every year 4 million people are subjected to abuse (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey 262).

This is exemplified in the second verse “I’m not the only one”. This is saying that although she is the victim and she has been raped, she is not alone. There are countless other survivors in the world and this person is aware that there is a support group and power in numbers.

The third and fifth verse is where most of the passion in this song shines through. “Hate me, Do it again… Waste me…” At this point in the song it appears that the person being raped is essentially giving up and giving in to what is happening. As if they are aware society will do nothing for her and that as a system we will “waste” the victim as the rapists is doing by their actions (Seely 195). However, by the fifth verse the victim is starting to become aware and surer of themselves. “My favorite inside source” is referring to the strength and power they are finding within themselves that is giving them strength to overcome their rape.

The repeat of the verse “I’m not the only one” is now referring to the idea that there are thousands survivors who are also finding the light within themselves. Although this song comes across as rather forward and when looked at superficially could be assumed as condoning rape, it is actually very powerful in the movement to stop rape.

As a popular source this song could be very beneficial towards the education of sexual abuse and violence. Having the media publicize this type of positive influence can change both the view points of survivors and the perpetrators. It can allow the survivors to know that they are not alone and that there are countless other people who have experience the same cruelty. It also shows to the rapist that their victims are not broken and left for death they have a web of people who are there to support them.

Although as a society there is still a habit to blame the women for their rapes (Seely 195), hopefully with songs such as these is will become easier for women and men to understand that rape occurs because of the Rapist not because of the victims.

Works Cited

"Woman's Sexuality." Woman's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 149-60.

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York: New York University Press, 2007. Print.

Nirvana, . "Nirvana – Rape Me Lyrics." Lyrics007. 37 MAY 2008. Web. 3 Mar 2010.

Activism log 2

Janet Audette

Prof. Nina Perez

WST 3015

2/19

Activism Log 2

Activism: For the second week of our service learning we spent a little more hands on time. I spent a few hours completing the flyers which turned out to be somewhat frustrating in the formatting department. I feel that it was worth it however since this will be the main information piece that people have regarding our community partner project.

Reflection: Although it was sort of a headache to get all the flyers formatted, situated and essentially put together it was refreshing to accomplish it. I feel that by putting the effort into the information and publications of our project it will hopefully bring in more people. Just like the many readings in our text, activism is all about awareness and flyers are the perfect way to bring that about. This especially reminded me of the essay by Joy Harjo. In it she states that it was nearly impossible for her to learn about her body and reproductive rights since she was kept so far in the dark about things. I feel this is relate-able to our activism because we are shining a light on people who need help to escape from domestic violence.

Reciprocity: I recently visited my parents who have two shelter animals that came from pretty rough situations. They are now happy, healthy and loving animals. Being able to experience firsthand all the difference a kind person can make to the life of an animal gives me even more inspiration to get our voice heard in this activism project.

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Three generations of Native American Women's Birth Experience." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 239-242.

The Pride and Prejudice of Woman Sexuality

Janet Audette

Perez

02/17/10

WST 3015

In this weeks’ blog we were asked to analyze the role that woman play in a particular movie. For the movie I chose Pride and Prejudice. During this time period women were generally looked down upon in every aspect of life. They were simply expected to get married and then take care of the husband and his wishes. The most interesting part of this movie is the character Elizabeth. Although a product of the time era, she refuses to settle for anything less than what she thinks she deserves. Even though I find her to be the most interesting character of the movie, for the purposes of this posting I will be focusing on the role of the Mother throughout various parts of the film.

Right away the viewer understands that the only concern of the mother is to marry off her five daughters. Their happiness and compatibility with their suitors is not something that is readily considered. The mothers’ primary focus is to find them a husband so that they can be respectable women and begin their families.

The father although present, plays little role in the hunt for the daughters mate. The mother essentially takes charge of all situations that involve matchmaking. She constantly warns the girls that they should behave in a lady like manner or else they will be ruined and no man would want them. As pointed out by Kirk and Okazawa-Rey in our text women are expected to be modest and virtuous, look beautiful and remain a virgin until marriage (150).

There is a point in the film when one of the girls runs off to be with a man and the mother essentially loses all grips on life because she feels that the daughter will be viewed as a ruined woman and now all men will want nothing to do with any of the daughters. She feels that because of this her whole life is over since all she lives for is to find suitable spouses for her children.

Throughout the film the mother displays that her only identity is accomplished through the successful courting of her children. She fails to have a secure sense of self and therefore often times push her children away from her overly intense mothering and dramatic outbursts when things do not go according to plan.

When it becomes clear that two of her daughters are to marry some of the wealthiest men in the country she becomes overwhelmed with emotion. The idea that her daughters are now able to move up in class and are now wealth has essentially completed her life. By her daughters acquiring a new class she is basically elevating herself to a new social location or as explained by Kirk and Okazawa-Rey in our text she is expressing the core of her existence in the social and political world (100). Time and time again the mother of this film confirmed the ideals of the time era in that woman were not whole or accepted in the community unless they were betrothed to a man and by helping her daughters complete this stage in their lives she recognizes herself as a successful mother.

Works Cited

"Woman's Sexuality." Woman's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 149-60.

"Identities and Social Locations: Who am I? Who are my people?" Woman's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 91-103

Pride and Prejudice. Dir. Joe Wright. Perf. Simon Woods, Keira Knightly. 2005. DVD