Feree and Trip brought up the interesting distinction between a “women's movement” and “feminism” that I had never considered before. They spoke about how a women's movement is basically defined by any mobilization of women gathering for any number of reasons, not necessarily “feminist” reasons. Feree/Trip say that “organizing women explicitly as women to make social change is what makes a 'women's movement'”. When speaking about feminism on the the other hand though, it was said that feminism is really any activism that has a goal, but specifically a goal of challenging or changing women's status. Why then when we think of a “women's movement” do we automatically assume it to be feminist? Maybe it's because we haven't really experienced quite as large or popular a women's movement as the feminist movement. They pose the question “when and why do women's movements embrace feminist goals – and when not?” This answer really depends on what issue the women are mobilizing around. For instance in the National Organization for Women women organize around “feminist” issues. This women's movement could be classified as a women's feminist movement. There is however a women's movement that is trying to come onto the UCF campus to promote it's strictly conservative beliefs and anti-feminist stances. While this is not embracing feminism it is still women organizing and can so be called a “women's movement”. The clear distinction between the two different organizations is what helps to define when and why some women's movements embrace feminist goals while others do not. It's all about the fight being fought and what the members of the movement are hoping to achieve.
Naples and Desai bring up the issue of the use of the term “grassroots” which I have never thought existed. First off, they asked the essential questions of who would be deemed “grassroots”. Upon answering the question it seems as though it is the disenfranchised groups or those who are less dominant in a corporate world where elites take the reigning status. When thinking about grassroots in relation to organizations, for instance the National Organization for Women, I wouldn’t have ever thought about the term “grassroots” in a negative context before. The fact that we are a grassroots organization and trying to make change without having much backing or support (both from people and financially) to begin with is what makes it feel empowering. Upon looking further into it though, I thought to myself “why are we the grassroots organizations?” and “who gave others a right to label us as so?” When looking at grassroots organizations as a whole then, would people from corporate America who want to help out be excluded because they just “aren’t like us”? or are we accepting of everyone because we are the underrepresented and are trying to make a change without discrimination. Even though grassroots organizations are made up of disenfranchised groups of people, I feel like some organizations are still oppressing others by leaving out other people who are disenfranchised for different reasons. Sometimes I think that the term grassroots is great and helps build a community because we can all relate. But then there are those other times when I wonder, do we really need to label ourselves and our mobilized group in order to make progress and create change?
Questions:
1.) Feree and Trip bring up the topic of the waves of Transnational Feminism. It seems as though the first wave of transnational feminism throughout the world can somehow be classified by either suffrage or the right for women to be politically involved. We have had discussions about how the third wave is clearly defined as being all about the personal being political. But then we get to the second wave. While the second wave is where most of our feminism stems from, it seems to be the wave about which we know the least. If we had to define in some way what makes up a second wave of feminism, what would it be? Is there a way to define it or are we really not knowledgeable about the subject?
2.) Naples and Desai state that "women's issues vary by society and require multiple strategies of liberation." I do agree with this but the question I'm wondering is, is it okay for women from other places and cultural backgrounds to step in and help out by showing or giving examples of different ways to be liberated? We all want a joint sisterhood and to help transnationally, but where is the line? When is it not okay for us to go to another country to help "liberate" their women?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Naples & Desai
In Naples and Desai I found it really interesting to learn about how privatization has effected women and their access to health care. On page 22 it says “Privitization has greatly reduced government-funded primary care, this limiting the access or poor people, particularly women, to health care. When poor women have to pay for health care from their meager earnings, they do so for their children but not for themselves.” The women are acting selflessly to make sure that their children have what they need. However the children do need a mother so I am not sure what she would do if she got sick. I feel like even in the developed world here in the United States that access to health care is still a major issue. It is a good thing to learn that health care is clearly a global feminist issue and not just an issue in the United States.
As usual it was interesting to me to see the numbers on unrecognized women’s work. On page 19 it says “Over the globe, 71 percent of women work in the less visible informal sector where they prepare products for sale in the market, domestic service, and work in their homes to produce goods for subcontractors… Although such work is unregulated, poorly paid, and involves long hours, it plays a crucial role in maintaining a modicum of livelihood for most poor women in a post-structural adjustment world.”
How do you think this compares to the unpaid housework that women face in the United States?
Did you know about all of these organizations before reading this book? Because I am feeling clueless that I had never heard of the majority of these amazing organizations!
As usual it was interesting to me to see the numbers on unrecognized women’s work. On page 19 it says “Over the globe, 71 percent of women work in the less visible informal sector where they prepare products for sale in the market, domestic service, and work in their homes to produce goods for subcontractors… Although such work is unregulated, poorly paid, and involves long hours, it plays a crucial role in maintaining a modicum of livelihood for most poor women in a post-structural adjustment world.”
How do you think this compares to the unpaid housework that women face in the United States?
Did you know about all of these organizations before reading this book? Because I am feeling clueless that I had never heard of the majority of these amazing organizations!
Week 3
For me, one of the most difficult things to change and construct is language. The struggle lies not only in forming a word or definition but also it’s context and translation, and as I read in the chapter “Changing Terms” in Naples and Desai I realized how language and translation plays such a huge role when theorizing transnationally. There is difficulty in translating western words and ideas that may have internalized assumptions as well as the terms themselves can being problematic. I grew up with words like “postcolonial” and “third world” and see more clearly now how the term “third world,” for example, being used consistently, “justifies the construction of the First World countries as dominant and more advanced” (5). If we are to have cross-cultural dialogues the issue of language needs to be addressed, and definitions and meanings need to be made clear through explanation and context. The issue of translation really stood out to me, especially the term “grassroots” which has so many different uses and connotations from being used by middle class, white womyn , “to refer to black rural women,” to having no literal translation in Arabic to posing the question of what is grassroots and who exemplifies it? I become overwhelmed sometimes by these questions that seem so tedious but the redefining and invention of language can help in systemic change as well as progressing feminist theory. I found the principle of “shoura” very interesting since it embodies, “the issues of democracy, grassroots movements, and women’s rights” that Egyptians are familiar with but do not associate with “demoqratiah” the translation for democracy. It seems common for western ideas to be introduced around the world, but not vice versa, and I think our own feminist movement in the U.S. could benefit from a better understanding of language and translation of words used by womyn to express feminism, revolution, dissent and learn rather than crusade.
Lisa Lowe says, on page 9, “the very processes that produce a racialized feminized proletariat... displace traditional and national patriarchies, “ thus generating “new possibilities precisely because they have led to a breakdown and a reformulation of the categories of nation, race, class, and gender.” I had some difficulty with this section and wondered what are the new possibilities for this proletariat that used to be in the traditional role of staying in the private sphere but are now just in the workforce? Have things just been displaced but not deconstructed?
While reading Ferree and Tripp I realized in the section "Causes of the Shift in Momentum," how much the feminist movement in America is not moving at all. As Tripp explains, “ there is a growing complacency about the necessity of improving women’s status and a greater need to defend gains already made,” we must still defend the need and importance of Roe v Wade that is in constant dispute, instead of legislation for gay rights, domestic partnerships and marriage we have repeals of such laws and in Florida we have new amendments prohibiting anything resembling a civil union. So as the world progresses with womyn in public office and “Feminists in state and international policymaking positions,” I am still trying to get people to claim even the name feminism and have seemingly given up on trying to pass the ERA or any other similar legislation. How can America be so lagging? So far behind? How is it that 90% of the United Nations has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women to advance domestic issues and I am hearing about it for the first time? Part of it is my own ignorance, and that I must work on personally, but i agree that the other part is due to, “the lack of media coverage of international initiatives that are adopted by feminist organizations contributes to the general lack of awareness of how far behind women in the United States have fallen” (70).
What do you think are some of the causes for the lacking momentum of the global North’s womyn’s movement? And how are women’s movements from around the globe going to come together if the United States and Europe do not give ample discussion to or rally for/with womyn and their issues in the global south?
Lisa Lowe says, on page 9, “the very processes that produce a racialized feminized proletariat... displace traditional and national patriarchies, “ thus generating “new possibilities precisely because they have led to a breakdown and a reformulation of the categories of nation, race, class, and gender.” I had some difficulty with this section and wondered what are the new possibilities for this proletariat that used to be in the traditional role of staying in the private sphere but are now just in the workforce? Have things just been displaced but not deconstructed?
While reading Ferree and Tripp I realized in the section "Causes of the Shift in Momentum," how much the feminist movement in America is not moving at all. As Tripp explains, “ there is a growing complacency about the necessity of improving women’s status and a greater need to defend gains already made,” we must still defend the need and importance of Roe v Wade that is in constant dispute, instead of legislation for gay rights, domestic partnerships and marriage we have repeals of such laws and in Florida we have new amendments prohibiting anything resembling a civil union. So as the world progresses with womyn in public office and “Feminists in state and international policymaking positions,” I am still trying to get people to claim even the name feminism and have seemingly given up on trying to pass the ERA or any other similar legislation. How can America be so lagging? So far behind? How is it that 90% of the United Nations has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women to advance domestic issues and I am hearing about it for the first time? Part of it is my own ignorance, and that I must work on personally, but i agree that the other part is due to, “the lack of media coverage of international initiatives that are adopted by feminist organizations contributes to the general lack of awareness of how far behind women in the United States have fallen” (70).
What do you think are some of the causes for the lacking momentum of the global North’s womyn’s movement? And how are women’s movements from around the globe going to come together if the United States and Europe do not give ample discussion to or rally for/with womyn and their issues in the global south?
Week 3: Ferree and Desai
1. Naples & Desai: On page 4 in Naples’ essay, she discussed the contradictions evident in the transnational feminist movement. Naples noted that the majority of women’s groups are primarily white, middle class, well-educated women. These women often take leading roles in shaping the feminist movement. Also, non-governmental organizations receive more attention and western support than grassroots organizations. This paragraph reminded me of two tests I read for another class, by Evelyn Higginbotham and Elizabeth Spelman. Higginbotham and Spelman focused on the conflation of gender, race and class in conjunction with the ways in which the majority of the feminist movement has failed to consider that conflation. For example, the stereotypical definitions of “white ladies” versus “black women” were dependent upon one another. While white “ladies” were seen as pure and virtuous, black “women” were seen as hypersexual and immoral. A pure and virtuous black woman, was by definition, out of the question. To allow one race/gender/class group to set goals for the whole of the women’s movement seems counterintuitive. If one of the goals of feminism is to end women’s oppression altogether, the different histories of women of different races and classes must be taken into account.
Ferree & Tripp: In Ferree and Tripp, a paragraph on page 13 stood out most to me. Ferree summarized one of the reasons why Americans developed an aversion to the word “feminism.” Ferree noted that women’s liberation and feminism were tied with communism, in that communist countries would cite women’s liberation as a sign of social egalitarianism. Of course, this was simply propaganda, because where women may have been “liberated” they were most likely subject to other forms of oppression (or starvation, as the case may have been). In the West (America), feminism was then seen as “godless, antifamily and a threat to civilization.” This passage may seem minor, but as a historian, I wondered why the majority of Americans have an aversion to feminism. I could not think of a legitimate historical reason, however, within the context of the Cold War, it makes much more sense. During a time when Americans feared anything that appeared even remotely communist, it would make sense that feminism would get thrown under the bus, so to speak, as well.
Ferree continued to note that feminism is used in the “war on terror” rhetoric, in the same fashion as the communists used feminism during the Cold War. Feminism, as the rhetoric stated, is “one of the [Western democracies] greatest accomplishments” and a symbol of secular modernity and equal rights. However, Ferree also noted that women in western cultures are still oppressed and this rhetoric may take away from future feminist activism. In modern, Western culture, women still do not have full governing rights over their bodies (i.e.- abortion, birth control, etc.). In fact, men pass many of the laws that govern things such as abortion and birth control. In this regard, women are still oppressed in Western culture.
2. Naples & Desai: On page four, it said there is no literal Arabic translation of the term “grassroots movement.” Does that matter for the movement to take affect? (Why/Why not?)
Ferree & Tripp: The text discussed a number of conferences that supported women’s issues an pressured governments to support them as well. How many groups were successful in a long term goal? How do we measure their success?
Ferree & Tripp: In Ferree and Tripp, a paragraph on page 13 stood out most to me. Ferree summarized one of the reasons why Americans developed an aversion to the word “feminism.” Ferree noted that women’s liberation and feminism were tied with communism, in that communist countries would cite women’s liberation as a sign of social egalitarianism. Of course, this was simply propaganda, because where women may have been “liberated” they were most likely subject to other forms of oppression (or starvation, as the case may have been). In the West (America), feminism was then seen as “godless, antifamily and a threat to civilization.” This passage may seem minor, but as a historian, I wondered why the majority of Americans have an aversion to feminism. I could not think of a legitimate historical reason, however, within the context of the Cold War, it makes much more sense. During a time when Americans feared anything that appeared even remotely communist, it would make sense that feminism would get thrown under the bus, so to speak, as well.
Ferree continued to note that feminism is used in the “war on terror” rhetoric, in the same fashion as the communists used feminism during the Cold War. Feminism, as the rhetoric stated, is “one of the [Western democracies] greatest accomplishments” and a symbol of secular modernity and equal rights. However, Ferree also noted that women in western cultures are still oppressed and this rhetoric may take away from future feminist activism. In modern, Western culture, women still do not have full governing rights over their bodies (i.e.- abortion, birth control, etc.). In fact, men pass many of the laws that govern things such as abortion and birth control. In this regard, women are still oppressed in Western culture.
2. Naples & Desai: On page four, it said there is no literal Arabic translation of the term “grassroots movement.” Does that matter for the movement to take affect? (Why/Why not?)
Ferree & Tripp: The text discussed a number of conferences that supported women’s issues an pressured governments to support them as well. How many groups were successful in a long term goal? How do we measure their success?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Later!
Hello my classmates, fellow feminists and social activists. Soy Ashley, and this is my fourth year at the University of Central Florida, where I am working towards an ... interdisciplinary studies women's studies track with a minor in women's studies degree. My history of activism includes on-campus progressive organizations, student senate, campaigning for liberal feminist student politicians. I've made a few zines, spent nights on end writing research papers, spent hours trying to force my friends and roommates into reading said research papers.. Then I went through a depressing slump where I curled up in my bed and declared that there was no point. Then I came out of it and went back to my friends and was like, oh, hi. So now I'm graduating, and in the meantime sitting on my futon wondering what I do now. Learn to cope with people not thinking the same way I do, and involve myself with those who do. I'm excited to be in this course, because of the (as Dr. Vest calls us) fellow scholars that will be discussing the material and general class subject. Many involved, some from theory classes in the past. I admire you all for what you do, and what you've accomplished thus far.
As far as my service learning project goes.. I'm going to commit myself to a mosaic of small projects, hopefully acquiring enough insight from each activity to a) string together transnational feminist theory, and b) work on establishing a clearer path for my next few years. Currently, I am working to assist Senator Rivas in passing a resolution through the student senate in support of the DREAM act. If you want to see true U.S. political destruction at play, please, attend one of the senate meetings.
As far as my service learning project goes.. I'm going to commit myself to a mosaic of small projects, hopefully acquiring enough insight from each activity to a) string together transnational feminist theory, and b) work on establishing a clearer path for my next few years. Currently, I am working to assist Senator Rivas in passing a resolution through the student senate in support of the DREAM act. If you want to see true U.S. political destruction at play, please, attend one of the senate meetings.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Hey
Hi Everyone
I know I am a little late. But to tell you alittle about my self. My Name is Jessica Magill. I am a senior graduating in May 2010. I am an IDS major with my areas in Humanities and Education and my Minor is Sociology. I have taken several Woman Study course in the past and really enjoyed them so I am looking forward to getting started in this class. I see my self as a odd student because I started UCF in 2002 and am just now finishing up I tired two different majors and took a 4 year break before I came back and now finished. My plans for the future is to continue to teach just do it in elementary school instead of pre-school and go back to school later on to be a councilor. Well I can't wait to meet everyone and get started in the class GOOD LUCK TO ALL
Jessica
I know I am a little late. But to tell you alittle about my self. My Name is Jessica Magill. I am a senior graduating in May 2010. I am an IDS major with my areas in Humanities and Education and my Minor is Sociology. I have taken several Woman Study course in the past and really enjoyed them so I am looking forward to getting started in this class. I see my self as a odd student because I started UCF in 2002 and am just now finishing up I tired two different majors and took a 4 year break before I came back and now finished. My plans for the future is to continue to teach just do it in elementary school instead of pre-school and go back to school later on to be a councilor. Well I can't wait to meet everyone and get started in the class GOOD LUCK TO ALL
Jessica
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Naples and Desai. “Introduction” 1-41 and Feree and Tripp (1-77) Assignment
Week 3 (January 25 - 31):
For this week's blog assignment, post a response to the Naples and Desai (1-41) and Feree and Tripp readings (1-77). Your post should include treatment of both readings; you should not only summarize what you learned, but engage thoroughly with the content and concerns posed by the authors.
1. For each reading, choose a particular passage, term, or section (or any combination of the three) that resonates with you as being particularly significant. Summarize it and discuss why it resonates with you. 250 words on Naples/Desai and 250 on Feree/Tripp (500 in all). Due Friday night @ 11:59 PM
2. Pose a question for your classmates about each of the readings (2 questions in all). Your questions can be topics or terms on which you need clarification or that you are having trouble understanding, or it can simply be something you find interesting and want to open up discussion. Due Friday night @ 11:59 PM
3. Respond to two (2) of your classmates' questions, thoroughly engaging with the topic(s) at hand and doing your best to shine light onto their puzzles and concerns. This should be a good way to open up discussion, and you are not limited to responding to two, but that is the minimum. Due Sunday night @ 11:59 PM
All the best,
Jackie
For this week's blog assignment, post a response to the Naples and Desai (1-41) and Feree and Tripp readings (1-77). Your post should include treatment of both readings; you should not only summarize what you learned, but engage thoroughly with the content and concerns posed by the authors.
1. For each reading, choose a particular passage, term, or section (or any combination of the three) that resonates with you as being particularly significant. Summarize it and discuss why it resonates with you. 250 words on Naples/Desai and 250 on Feree/Tripp (500 in all). Due Friday night @ 11:59 PM
2. Pose a question for your classmates about each of the readings (2 questions in all). Your questions can be topics or terms on which you need clarification or that you are having trouble understanding, or it can simply be something you find interesting and want to open up discussion. Due Friday night @ 11:59 PM
3. Respond to two (2) of your classmates' questions, thoroughly engaging with the topic(s) at hand and doing your best to shine light onto their puzzles and concerns. This should be a good way to open up discussion, and you are not limited to responding to two, but that is the minimum. Due Sunday night @ 11:59 PM
All the best,
Jackie
Heyyyy
I'm Cristina Calandruccio :)
I'm in my senior year, graduating Fall 2010 with my degree in IDS- Womyn's Studies Track and minors in Political Science and Communications (also there is a service learning certificate that requires only 4 courses to be accomplished, so if you have taken other classes with SL components check that out) I am lucky to have found such a great community within the WST program and have discovered a passion for feminist theory, sex and gender studies, community activism and other topics that intersect with those subjects. When it comes to the future I am open to ideas, but I want to make sure that my 20s aren't the only exciting time of my life. I'd like to travel out west, and eventually,when I'm way olddd and hopefully still fabulous, would like to have a bed and breakfast so i can meet new people and swap stories and experiences. I like to laugh a lottt and enjoy corny jokes, painting, watching the Departed and the Wedding Singer a few times a month, and having a grand time with friends.
This semester I am working with the Young Women's Leader Program (YWLP) as well as VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood. I am unsure right now as to what I can connect to global issues, but I am willing to brainstorm with other students who are in the same groups or I would like to work on any efforts for Haiti. I might also participate with Vday and audition for the vagina monolgoues...or i might get to nervous. I'm excited about our texts for this class and look forward to new standpoints on feminism and hope to challenge my own ingrained western ideas.
I'm in my senior year, graduating Fall 2010 with my degree in IDS- Womyn's Studies Track and minors in Political Science and Communications (also there is a service learning certificate that requires only 4 courses to be accomplished, so if you have taken other classes with SL components check that out) I am lucky to have found such a great community within the WST program and have discovered a passion for feminist theory, sex and gender studies, community activism and other topics that intersect with those subjects. When it comes to the future I am open to ideas, but I want to make sure that my 20s aren't the only exciting time of my life. I'd like to travel out west, and eventually,when I'm way olddd and hopefully still fabulous, would like to have a bed and breakfast so i can meet new people and swap stories and experiences. I like to laugh a lottt and enjoy corny jokes, painting, watching the Departed and the Wedding Singer a few times a month, and having a grand time with friends.
This semester I am working with the Young Women's Leader Program (YWLP) as well as VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood. I am unsure right now as to what I can connect to global issues, but I am willing to brainstorm with other students who are in the same groups or I would like to work on any efforts for Haiti. I might also participate with Vday and audition for the vagina monolgoues...or i might get to nervous. I'm excited about our texts for this class and look forward to new standpoints on feminism and hope to challenge my own ingrained western ideas.
Howdy!
Hello lovely classmates,
My name is Jaime Frank and I am an Interdisciplinary Studies major concentrating in Women's Studies and Mass Communication. I hold this combination of interests fully responsible for my complete obsession with pop culture feminism, and often find that I'm most at odds with the feminist movement when it comes to my own personal tastes. If there is a rock of love, basement affair, or rose-weilding reality TV show on the air, you can place a sure bet that I've DVR'ed every episode, and I lovelovelove really awful, really cheesy horror movies. I like to think that I only watch them in order to critique them through a feminist lens (which I do), but I'm really just a sucker for 'em. I'm going to have my own reality show one day, just you wait.
I'm super stoked to be graduating either this semester or in Summer A and then moving to downtown Philly with my best friend Amanda. I'm a huge Phillies phanatic (still upset those damn Yankees beat us this year), so I can't wait to go to games there, explore the Franklin Institute and all the art museums, eat far too many pretzels and cheesesteaks, and be a train ride away from NYC and the Jersey shore, which is where my heart will always belong.
I'm not sure what I want to do for a living there yet (probably still be a carney at an amusement park like I am now), but I would absolutely love to publish feminist 'zines, use my pop-culture/feminist knowledge to write for Bitch, work with younger grrrls to teach them about feminism, or possibly do something with drama therapy.
As this will be one of my last WST classes, I want to take part in a Service Learning project that will be creative, beneficial, and supplementary to my feminist interests. I'm currently thinking of hosting a benefit dinner or film screening for a global women's organization, but I'm open to suggestions.
I was enrolled in a grad level Gender Theory class last Spring, and its emphasis on transnational issues was truly inspirational. I can easily say that it was the most challenging, eye-opening, and best Women's Studies class I have ever taken, and I am thus excited to delve into more global issues. I think it's going to be a great semester with all of you!
Hello!
Hi, my name is Kevin Alvarez. I am a Senior Political Science major with minors in Women's Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. After graduation I plan on taking the GRE and applying for graduate schools in New York, California, and (only one) in Florida. Hopefully I will be accepted into either an Environmental Policy and Science or Latin American and Caribbean Studies Masters Program. I spend way too much time reading the news, typically putting off work for it. This is my final Women's Studies course and I am extremely excited for it since there wasn't as much of an emphasis on international women's movements or struggles in my past WST courses.
I am working on an Honors in the Major thesis titled, "Where has the Revolution gone? Gender and Politics in Contemporary Nicaragua." For this project I will be traveling to Nicaragua next month to interview prominent people in Nicaragua on the contemporary political, economic, social, and cultural situations facing women. For my service learning I will be (hopefully) presenting a documentary-style film on women in Nicaragua which will (again hopefully) include interviews from the Director of UNIFEM in Nicaragua, Political Party officials, a representative from the Nicaraguan Women's Association, and several workers' unions.
Here is a short (~5 mins) film on Nicaraguan women dealing with the full-abortion ban recently instituted:
For the longer version, click here.
I am working on an Honors in the Major thesis titled, "Where has the Revolution gone? Gender and Politics in Contemporary Nicaragua." For this project I will be traveling to Nicaragua next month to interview prominent people in Nicaragua on the contemporary political, economic, social, and cultural situations facing women. For my service learning I will be (hopefully) presenting a documentary-style film on women in Nicaragua which will (again hopefully) include interviews from the Director of UNIFEM in Nicaragua, Political Party officials, a representative from the Nicaraguan Women's Association, and several workers' unions.
Here is a short (~5 mins) film on Nicaraguan women dealing with the full-abortion ban recently instituted:
For the longer version, click here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)