Chappals and Gym Shorts

The essay Chappals and Gym Shorts used many different useful techniques in order for the reader, myself, to become centered on her life rather than the life I live. In her description on the visit of her father I was able to see how her culture functions. How Muslim women were to be married off to a Muslim boy. The history on her previous marriage proposals also helped in understanding the importance of marriage to Muslims. I also really was able to connect with her during the explanation of her argument with her parents over the sports attire. She made the description so easy to connect with because she didn’t harp on the idea that she was arguing for the shake of being a Muslim and going against her culture. She made it as though she was arguing as any other adolescent would. With that connect I feel that most would be able to really connect as I did.

A section of the essay that I found harder to connect with but still did thanks to the author, was about being a feminist Muslim women. I can connect with the idea of being a women and fighting for women’s rights, but it was hard at first to understand the struggle she faced as a feminist Muslim. Like she said “the feminist agenda in her community is centered on ending violence against women, fighting for queer rights and maintaining women’s reproductive choices.” This idea is hard to handle at first but then later into the essay the author breaks it down to a better way for readers to understand. And that was what I understood and connected with. She did so in explaining more about herself and what she has done and where she has been. Also her examples of the issues she’s faced made it clearer to understand what she was fighting for, why and how she developed such a strong feminist idea as a Muslim women.

Missing People and Others

In reading the essay Missing People and Others I was able to change my focus and connect with the author of the essay. An aspect that was most beneficial at first was the author’s explanation of his heritage. Stating "he does not fit into those mental sets that define America and Americans." Plus, describing his physical appearance, speech patterns, name and profession really helped to gain an understanding for the author as a person. A key point that the author discusses is how Americans view his race and how he is viewed as an “other”. In his descriptions of his hometown and the Americano around him I feel that I can really see into his life. And create a picture in my head of the town, his friends and family, and the Americans outside the town.

The background that the author goes through also helps to shift my center into the life that he lived, giving me a different perspective. The best example that helped me shift from my ideals was the paragraph on schooling, how schooling is more socialization than education. Because I can understand how schooling is strongly socialization I see how the author felt an other, and felt that he was different and was, “aware of being distinct, and conscious of being dissimilar.” The portion later in the essay on his denial and downplaying of otherness was a very true and common feeling for minorities. And as he mentioned these feelings were made clear when he attended UCLA, and found that Mexican-American students were invisible and the Mexicans that were present worked in food service and groundcrew.

Overall, the process that the authors mention using was very effective for me. Being that I am of the dominant race I find myself unaware of other peoples challenges with race. But with the authors explicit description of his history, personality, and life struggles I was able to shift my center in order to understand what being an “other” might feel like.

Blog Prompt for March 24th

In their introduction, Margaret Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins write that they want students to “. . . think about race, class and gender as systems of power. We want to encourage readers to imagine ways to transform, rather than reproduce, existing social arrangements.” Additionally, they posit that a helpful way for us to begin to explore the world is by changing our frame of vision. (p. 3) They use the metaphor of taking a photograph to explain how to make that shift of re-framing. We simply shift the frame slightly to include those who have normally been left out of our vision. I sometimes refer to that as “shifting our center” so that the focus is less on ourselves and those who are similar and more on those who are in the margins of our lives, who often are invisible.
Please choose two essays from the readings from today, and explain how that particular essay enabled you to “shift your center” so that you could creatively enter into the life of someone different from you. What were the benefits to you of that exercise?

no blog for this week- march 17

Hey Everyone, there is no blog post due this week, for March 17th! So you have a free week for that, however you really do need to read the readings and make sure that you are fully prepared for class.
I hope you all had an awesome spring break! See you wednesday!

Blog for 3/3/10

Chelsea Gamble

Society for some reason or another tends to portray feminine characteristics of males as negative characteristics. For example, on page 142 “The fellows who are afraid are called “sissies” for the reason that they are like girls when they are in danger or have hard things to do.” The term “sissies” refers directly to females and is defined as a negative trait for men to exhibit. Another example is “to be able to fight it out according to the rules of the game and not whine when you are beaten or hurt is to be a man instead of a “baby.” The term baby usually refers to the female gender, because females carry babies. So this type of statement used my men, like the previous statement of “sissies” demeans women simply through a single word.

Another way Pink Think dismisses women relative to children and males masculinity is in an example on page 135, ‘”rejection” a boy who felt rejected during childhood would likely grow into a social outcast, a “slum-bum” or a “juke-joint rock n roll artist who required all-night sessions and a barby to keep the gang awake. Also, mothers and women are dismissed for the opposite, which is, “a mother who “smothered” her son by trying “too hard, constantly protecting him, continuously reminding him, lavishing him with love whether he reciprocates it or not, fighting all his battles, making all his decisions, doing all his work” runs the risk of turning out a son who is unprepared for adult life, timid, dependent, and afraid. These characteristics are the exact opposite of how society defines masculinity, therefore it’s safe to assume these are negative characteristics that the mother enforces on her son through her actions.

Women are women they strive to look there best, charm the nicest, greatest looking lad in the room, and be perfect in every way possible. On page 165 the “beauty czar” John Robert Powers says, “posture, speech, dress, make-up, personality-all were elements of charm.” He continued in saying that the charming woman exhibits characteristics of a Girl Scout, “unfailing in her service to others,” always engaged in “some form of constructive activity.” These are all types of guides for women on how to act, what to do, and how to charm, which are very similar to the guidebooks made for men discussed in Chapter 5. The Charm Teachers Manual was a very direct manual that communicated verbally to women the importance of charm, beauty, and personality training. Women were taught how to become submissive and command power because they’re “innermost urge was to procreate,” which required attention from the opposite sex, the acquisition of a husband, and the establishment of a home.”

Your Power as a Woman stated that it wasn’t just a woman’s “right and duty” to look and be her best it was an “obligation to take pride in her womanliness.” This type of pride in oneself is what is defined as power. Through all these guides and books of teachings women gain an understanding of who the world and society wants them to be, instead of which they believe they are, what they believe in, and how they want to act. These type of manuals and books cause women to become even more self conscious and insecure about themselves if they don’t posses the type of beauty and charm they “should have.” Women and society should be who they want to be, and like Professor Scott says we should all just give each other an f-ing break!