Feminism and Sexism

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man.  When a woman gives her opinion, she's a *****"
-Bette Davis




To be a feminist is simply to feel a passion for the fight to the equality of women.  I wouldn't consider myself a feminist but I definitely feel strongly about this situation.


I was appalled after reading "Bad Feminist", an essay by Roxane Gay.  The opening paragraph was filled with society's thoughts and views regarding women.  "The right way to be a woman is to be thin, to wear make up... to be charming, polite, and unobtrusive... to bear children and stay home to raise them without complaint... to be modest, chaste, pious, and submissive." She ends the paragraph by saying that any woman who fails to meet each and every one of these requirements is a "bad woman".  This. Is. Absurd.


Women live their lives in the struggle to meet these requirements and ones alike.  Little do we want to admit that to be all of these and more is just too unobtainable and impossible.


Just like their are "rules" about how to be a proper women, there are also "rules" about how to be a proper feminist.  They must "...unilaterally decry the objectification of women, not cater to male gaze, hate men... focus on career...".  These rules, however, are as false as the ones for being a good woman.  There is not right or wrong way to be a woman and there is no right or wrong way to be a feminist.


Roxane Gay continues to announce in her article that she is ununiformed to these standards that society has set.  She states that her favorite color is pink, she reads Vogue magazines, loves dresses, and shaves her legs.  Although these things seem rather obvious to us, these are the things that feminists tend to struggle with.  They want to stick up for their beliefs yet they are still just women.  They are still human.  They do not want to fit into the box that society tries to tell them to be in.


She also states that because of all of these things, that she is a bad feminist.  She is not, in fact, a bad feminist at all.  She believes in what she believes in and she chooses not to stay in this same box.  I admire her determination and courage.


As mentioned in a previous blog post, the idea of SCHWAMP is extremely prevalent in these circumstances.  The rich, white men tend to have power- especially over women.  They like to tell us what to do and how to do it but we are independent as well.  But we have opinions and we have knowledge.


Let us not shy away from feminism due to its label.  We deserve equality with men.  There is no reason why we should not.

Women and Film

Why can't women be their own hero?


In the article "Disney and the Female Imagination", by Deborah Ross, the issue of gender inequality is related to certain Disney classics.


The mind of a child is naïve to the opinions of anyone or anything it may come in contact with.  Movies, a common form of entertainment, are shown to children just to entertain them.  Little do we know that these same movies might actually be lowering their drive to have uniqueness and individuality, especially in girls.


In 1951, Alice in Wonderland was released as a family adventure.  Though Alice was adventurous and confident, her whole story revolved around the one thought that she wanted to escape the boredom of reality.  At the end of the movie, Alice gives up hope of ever going back home.  She sits down and "waits to be rescued".  When she is finally home, she makes it clear to herself and her audience that "Writing a story... is much safer than living one."  This closes off a child's imagination in fear of doing the wrong thing.


Another popular Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, is also unfair to the powerful woman.  Ariel is so blown away by this one man and his life that she is willing to give up all she has to be part of it, literally- her voice, legs, and current life.  Once again we also see this idea that a woman is not particularly happy with her own life.  She envies the life of this man and tells herself that without it, she can no longer be happy.  Ross made a very interesting point regarding this movie.  She said that "Yes, she gets her legs, she makes her stand, she marches- but only down the aisle, to marry some guy named Eric"


Beauty and the Beast, released in 1991, tells of a beautiful woman who is longing for someone that understands her unique senses.  Although many could argue that she was unique in her ways and that I have no right to comment on any sexism, it is clear that she is despised in her town.  Everyone thinks of her as weird and strange but because of her beauty, they are more excepting of her.  Towards the end of the movie, a male character and a beast fight for the possession of Belle as a bride.  It comes shocking to me that a children's movie supports the idea that men are superior to women, so much that they can battle for possession.  Why can't the woman's own voice be heard in this situation?


Other Disney movies show women who fantasize about a different life, one that is nothing like their own.  Others show that dreams are dangerous especially any act on them, and have little relevance to everyday life.  I think we may sometimes forget the impact we have on the younger generations.  We mean no harm by showing them a simple movie but there are twists behind most.  Anyone and anything has complete "Invasion and control of children's imagination".  We have to make sure that these are not harmful in any way.

Just a Poem...

These times know not of happiness.


Any and every ounce of joy is merely a show for those who do not understand or even attempt to comprehend.


The fakeness of it all is sickening.  Outsiders have no knowledge other than what they think they see.  But what they see is not true.


Their own versions of happiness are ultimately the absence of it and they know not of what they should desire.


They know not of happiness.


We all know not of happiness.

John Oliver and The Power of Persuasion

John Oliver, comedian, commentator, and actor, is globally known for many of his appearances on a variety of shows.  On a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver shared his thoughts on standardized testing in schools.  He uses comedic commentary to grasp the attention of the listeners and uses facts and statistics as examples and evidence to support his claim that standardized testing is not necessary, even inhumane and emotionless.  He tends to sly away from an exact, hardcore stance on the subject, however.  He leads the audience on by being so comical but then takes multiple stances, sometimes even mocking those of others.  Yes, he does persuade as I myself felt the want to take his side but it was not because of a strong argument.  Since he mocked others in some form, it made me feel almost obligated to take his side in fear of also being one of the people that he were to mock.  He never acknowledged a counterargument in common regards to strengthening his opinion.  Instead he made comical any examples of the opposite stance.  Although he did succeed in persuading his audience that standardized testing did no good, his argument was actually quite weak.  His former popularity and humorous background has earned him respect that can be hard to overlook in order to see true logic and reason.


There are three things that make a strong persuasive piece.  Pathos is an appeal to an audience member's emotion.  By making the audience care about what you are trying to persuade them of, they are more likely to have interest and want to hop on the back of your bandwagon.  Oliver creates a connection with each one of his audience members due to the fact that most probably either are parents of children who take these tests or once had to take them themselves.  Either way, the subject directly relates to them and affects them in some way.  Perhaps they agree with Oliver's opinion to begin with and now are finding further evidence to back their stance.  Or perhaps they have never thought of this to be a problem until now.  Ethos deals with whether or not the speaker is truly credible for what they say.  As I mentioned above, John Oliver is already well known for his comedic takes on serious topics.  He is known by name and respected due to his Emmy-winning writing award.  Anything he says or does will be seen or heard- and listened to.  Logos is an appeal to logic; being able to persuade someone using reason.  Although many may not agree with me when I say this, I do not think that Oliver appealed to the logos section of a good persuasive essay.  Maybe it is because I have never seen any of his episodes, or maybe I'm just being a total fun sponge but I found his satirical takes on news and current events to be quite unprofessional and even in some cases, insulting.