What's up caffeine addicts,
In class, we recently started reading a book called "The Purity Myth" which posed some interesting insights on the societal construct of virginity and how it affects each and every one of our lives.
Going into this reading, I have already questioned what virginity is and how pointless it can be previously, but this book opened my eyes to exactly how it can affect women in particular.
For example, one thing that astounded me was the existence, and federal funding, of purity balls. These are balls where six-year-old girls pledge their virginity to their fathers in a sort of ceremony. There are countless problems that I realized with this.
First of all, this is one of the creepiest things I have ever heard of. Just think about it, it's a six-year-old girl who knows nothing about sex yet is promising her sexuality to be contained and owned by her father. Why the heck would her father be the one that controls her sexual life; it has too many creepy tones to exist. My second problem with this is that, as the author goes into, it tells these young girls that their father owns them. It turns them into property rather than human beings for the father to have complete control over. When she finds a husband, the "responsibility" is passed from the father to the spouse. It's a transaction. And of course, if this girl breaks her pledge by having pre-marital sex, then she becomes damaged goods. My third problem with this is the fact that it is federally funded. How can we be considered a civilized society if our tax dollars is going to expensive events where girls who have no idea what they're doing are being taught that they are property. What kind of a world are we in that allows this creepy and cult-like behavior not only to be allowed but encouraged?
Well, that was a rant if I've ever seen one, but my point still stands. Our money can be used for much better things than funding creepy cults. This must be squashed before it can continue thriving like a parasite on everyone's backs. Staying stuck in past ideals of women as property is how we will never keep pushing forward into a thriving and happy nation.
Stay awesome.
Monday, February 27, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
Adjusting to a new environment
What's up caffeine addicts,
One of the earlier topics that we discussed in class is the stigmatism that exists around feminists. At the time, I knew that negative stereotypes around them existed, but I never realized how far it went until I started telling people that I am taking psychology of women.
In a way, it almost became an experiment; everyone always had an initial surprised reaction towards the fact that I was taking the class but it differed from then on. Some people chose to say nothing and continued on with the conversation as if I never said anything. An incredibly small amount of people thought it was cool that I was taking the class. But a vast majority of the people responded with disgust.
These people ultimately came to the same question of why the heck I was taking the class in the first place. Most of them thinking that it was completely unnecessary. One person, a female to boot, specifically said: "The only thing worse than a feminist is a male feminist."
This took me by surprise. Because I was in a performing arts high school, a vast majority of the people there were liberal feminists. They all understood the importance of feminism and even fought against the school's dress code of not allowing us to show our shoulders because they would pose a distraction. It never crossed my mind that people really felt this way about feminism until I came to this school and started taking this course.
Sadly, it began to make me ashamed of the fact that I was taking the course. I started telling people that I was taking psychology rather than telling them what the class really was. I became so obsessed with trying to fit into this new environment that I threw away a part of me that I actually believed in.
It took me a while to realize how absolutely ridiculous I was being. Learning the ways in which the media manipulates information to skew views on social issues, I figured that this was no different. The way in which people were judging me with disgust because I was taking the class was just their way of putting down the movement because of what they learned from mass media. I realized that I had to go against that by being proud of my views and by engaging in a debate with those who thought the class was useless.
Stay awesome.
One of the earlier topics that we discussed in class is the stigmatism that exists around feminists. At the time, I knew that negative stereotypes around them existed, but I never realized how far it went until I started telling people that I am taking psychology of women.
In a way, it almost became an experiment; everyone always had an initial surprised reaction towards the fact that I was taking the class but it differed from then on. Some people chose to say nothing and continued on with the conversation as if I never said anything. An incredibly small amount of people thought it was cool that I was taking the class. But a vast majority of the people responded with disgust.
These people ultimately came to the same question of why the heck I was taking the class in the first place. Most of them thinking that it was completely unnecessary. One person, a female to boot, specifically said: "The only thing worse than a feminist is a male feminist."
This took me by surprise. Because I was in a performing arts high school, a vast majority of the people there were liberal feminists. They all understood the importance of feminism and even fought against the school's dress code of not allowing us to show our shoulders because they would pose a distraction. It never crossed my mind that people really felt this way about feminism until I came to this school and started taking this course.
Sadly, it began to make me ashamed of the fact that I was taking the course. I started telling people that I was taking psychology rather than telling them what the class really was. I became so obsessed with trying to fit into this new environment that I threw away a part of me that I actually believed in.
It took me a while to realize how absolutely ridiculous I was being. Learning the ways in which the media manipulates information to skew views on social issues, I figured that this was no different. The way in which people were judging me with disgust because I was taking the class was just their way of putting down the movement because of what they learned from mass media. I realized that I had to go against that by being proud of my views and by engaging in a debate with those who thought the class was useless.
Stay awesome.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Discussing "2 Dope Queens"
What's up caffeine addicts,
Since class had to be canceled on Friday, I got the chance to learn about a new podcast that was sent to us called "2 Dope Queens." The podcast that I ended up listening to was "The 2 Dope Queens Go Marching" and there were two things that I found most interesting about this podcast episode.
The first thing that I found interesting was when one of the guests was talking about how her body would make people do anything for her. This immediately reminded me of the discussions we have had in class in which we spoke of the fact that the only real "power" we give women is to inflict sexual desire upon men. This is actually very sexist though because it doesn't really give power to them. Instead, it just rewards the correct feminine behavior by making them into a puppet almost in that their "power" is actually derived from an external force which would be men in this case. The woman is obliged to work and become beautiful for a guy so that they can have any sense of power at all.
The next thing that I found interesting was the jokes that she made about how ridiculous some of the reasons are for being pro-life. For one thing, it completely disregards the mothers choice; you know, the person that actually has to deal with what will become of her situation. And it is also ridiculous because people become hypocrites when they support something, under a different name, which can easily be connected to having the same ideas as abortion.
I really enjoyed the satirical humor that this podcast took in dealing with a lot of feminist issues while also staying relevant to the problems at hand.
Stay awesome
Since class had to be canceled on Friday, I got the chance to learn about a new podcast that was sent to us called "2 Dope Queens." The podcast that I ended up listening to was "The 2 Dope Queens Go Marching" and there were two things that I found most interesting about this podcast episode.
The first thing that I found interesting was when one of the guests was talking about how her body would make people do anything for her. This immediately reminded me of the discussions we have had in class in which we spoke of the fact that the only real "power" we give women is to inflict sexual desire upon men. This is actually very sexist though because it doesn't really give power to them. Instead, it just rewards the correct feminine behavior by making them into a puppet almost in that their "power" is actually derived from an external force which would be men in this case. The woman is obliged to work and become beautiful for a guy so that they can have any sense of power at all.
The next thing that I found interesting was the jokes that she made about how ridiculous some of the reasons are for being pro-life. For one thing, it completely disregards the mothers choice; you know, the person that actually has to deal with what will become of her situation. And it is also ridiculous because people become hypocrites when they support something, under a different name, which can easily be connected to having the same ideas as abortion.
I really enjoyed the satirical humor that this podcast took in dealing with a lot of feminist issues while also staying relevant to the problems at hand.
Stay awesome
Sunday, February 5, 2017
MANicures
What's up caffeine addicts,
In class on Friday, there was a big focus on the fact that men are rarely ever seen in a nail salon or otherwise getting themselves pampered, so I would like to share my experience on the first couple of times I went to get a manicure.
My first time getting a manicure was at about 10 years of age. Before this, I had gone to nail salon's several times with family friends of ours, who are both men, but I always refused to get a manicure and instead just sat in one of the chairs and spun around until my heart was content--or until I became way too dizzy. The thing that was holding me back was the constant stigmatism in my head that men don't get manicures. It's something that is reserved for women as their own little sanctuary. I also believed that if I did get a manicure, I would be frowned upon or immediately considered gay. The whole idea of fearing the thought of being considered gay as a child is a whole problem in itself which I won't get into right now. Finally, after some convincing from my mom, because my nails looked like garbage and she believed girls like guys with nice nails, I decided to go. Well damn. The massages were incredible. I don't think I had ever felt so pampered in my life and it was unbelievable, to say the least.
After this initial experience, I started to like getting a manicure. I first realized that a tiny amount of people realized I even got one and the ones that did notice actually liked it. And even though I still had that stigmatism in the back of my head, I just decided to say fuck it because it felt good. After maybe my third time I even started holding competitions between my two family friends and me to see whose nails can become the shiniest by the end. It was both fun and relaxing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The moral of the story is that all men should give up their stereotypical views for a second and remain open minded to trying things outside of the tight constraint that "manliness" brings us. Even if it means adjusting the name to something as ridiculous as "MANicures" so that you can wrap your head around the idea of trying it.
Stay Awesome
In class on Friday, there was a big focus on the fact that men are rarely ever seen in a nail salon or otherwise getting themselves pampered, so I would like to share my experience on the first couple of times I went to get a manicure.
My first time getting a manicure was at about 10 years of age. Before this, I had gone to nail salon's several times with family friends of ours, who are both men, but I always refused to get a manicure and instead just sat in one of the chairs and spun around until my heart was content--or until I became way too dizzy. The thing that was holding me back was the constant stigmatism in my head that men don't get manicures. It's something that is reserved for women as their own little sanctuary. I also believed that if I did get a manicure, I would be frowned upon or immediately considered gay. The whole idea of fearing the thought of being considered gay as a child is a whole problem in itself which I won't get into right now. Finally, after some convincing from my mom, because my nails looked like garbage and she believed girls like guys with nice nails, I decided to go. Well damn. The massages were incredible. I don't think I had ever felt so pampered in my life and it was unbelievable, to say the least.
After this initial experience, I started to like getting a manicure. I first realized that a tiny amount of people realized I even got one and the ones that did notice actually liked it. And even though I still had that stigmatism in the back of my head, I just decided to say fuck it because it felt good. After maybe my third time I even started holding competitions between my two family friends and me to see whose nails can become the shiniest by the end. It was both fun and relaxing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The moral of the story is that all men should give up their stereotypical views for a second and remain open minded to trying things outside of the tight constraint that "manliness" brings us. Even if it means adjusting the name to something as ridiculous as "MANicures" so that you can wrap your head around the idea of trying it.
Stay Awesome
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