“Free to Express”
Keywords Feminist/Express/respect
In the article “The Prism of Gender” by Catherine G.Valentine, the focus of this article is on the pink and blue syndrome and basically stereotypes of genders. The pink and blue syndrome is the color that girls and boys are automatically given once at birth. The light blue is supposed to represent the boy and the pink represents the girl. The author starts off by talking about the main common stereotypes that men and women get from the beginning. “We are taught that testosterone, a beard, big muscles, and a penis make a man, while estrogen, breasts, hairless legs, and a vagina make a woman. Many of us never question what we have learned about sex and gender, so we go through life assuming that gender is a relatively simple matter: A person who wears lipstick, high-heeled shoes, and a skirt is a feminine female, while a person who plays rugby, belches in public, and walks with a swagger is a masculine male. “(Lorber, 1994; Ridgeway & Correll, 2004) This is very true, I was taught by my elders the do’s and don’t of a lady. A lady is supposed to look nice and clean; a lady needs to make sure her hair is did, she needs to sit like a lady and talk like one. While the man needs to seem very masculine. He needs to talk with authority. Me and my cousins would even get in trouble if we weren’t playing with the right toy. So, all of these things were drilled into our heads, and it made me think that this was the true and only way to think and be. I feel that in this text the author wants us to get the full understanding of what gender really means, and that it is something that we do and not what we inherit. I love the fact that she pointed out that “nothing in life is immune to change” this statement is also true because even though I was taught a certain way, that’s not how I am now. A song that I feel connects to this statement would be Lady Gaga “Born this way”. I feel in her song she wanted to reach out to all different backgrounds of people and encourage them to stand in their truth. I feel that a lot of people now except the fact that no matter what a person identify as that we are all still equal to one another.
“Gender Inequality”
Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill (1996), “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism”
In this text the author talks about multiracial feminism and how it effects the overall feminist aspect. Before I begin, I have to say that I didn’t know what this word even meant. In the text “Multiracial feminism is an evolving body of theory and practice informed by wide-ranging intellectual traditions”. (Zinn & Dill pg. 323) I believe the author is explaining how even though women fought for the rights to have the same rights as men. Women of color still didn’t have the same rights as white middle class women. That’s where the new set of feminists came about. In the text the author breaks down the six distinguishing features of Multiracial feminism. The first one was “Multiracial feminism asserts that gender is constructed by a range of interlocking inequalities” (Zinn & Dill pg. 326) which means people of color will experience different experiences depending on their locations. The second one was “multiracial feminism emphasizes the intersectional nature of hierarchies at all levels of social life.” (Zinn & Dill pg. 326) This explains that there are forms of privilege depending on your race, class and gender. The third one is “multiracial feminism highlights the relational nature of dominance and subordination”. (Zinn & Dill pg. 326) Which explains that a woman’s race does play a huge part. Even though they gave all women the rights don’t mean every race of women. Women of color still didn’t have that dominance as white women.
I kind of had a hard time understanding this text and what exactly the author is trying to say, but I will do my best to explain what I think the author is saying. Please other classmate helps me understand what the author point of view is. I would love feedback!! 🙂
Connecting the Readings:)
I feel that the two readings connect in the aspect that they both see that feminist have been a challenge for centuries. I feel that even though that each article talks about feminist in different ways, they both still hit on the key challenges that feminism has been a issues then and it is still a huge deal in today society.
I wasn’t given a question but I connect with you on being that it was a little hard to understand the second reading that was given to us.
I’m with you, before reading “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism,” I wasn’t familiar with it (multiracial feminism). I have previously read criticisms of feminism as being very middle-class and white but had read nothing about an alternative theory that aimed to make it more encompassing. I appreciated the introduction.
I am right with you Tricia because reading the “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism” it was very different to me and never before heard of it until just now. From reading the blog about the second reading it does break it down of the point of how women tried to fight for equal rights and there was a lot of ineqaulity of gender happening.