Social Event

"Racism @ RIC" an open forum

The open Forum I attended was phenomenal! There were a lot of comments, statements, and points made that brought out the bottom line of this all in many different aspects. One of the girl's who was running this event, she's an Africana studies major, stated that in a sense, here on campus they want to diminish the Aricana studies major, because when walking into the campus store you see all these jackets, lanyards, sweaters, t-shirts, pants etc, of nursing, biology, psychology, business management, and all, but there has yet to have Africana studies, gender studies, and so forth. Another student, who is an africana studies major as well, speaks on her behalf, that she is not treated equally in these general education classes, and she felt that way because in most of the class discussions, she never got to really voice her opinion; to get her input. Elaborating, she talks about how, black woman are always being over analyzed, because most black people, "dark skins," are well known as racial aggressiveness. Lastly, someone in the audience made a valid point, that really caught my attention, where she believes that some white people believe that black people are always fighting to take their role as a white person, but in reality black people are fighting for equal rights; creating our own standard to be equal. This all makes a connection to the texts, "Oppression," where in a sense, these black women, may be oppressed due to racial remarks being held on campus; and "Combatting Intentional Bigotry and Inadvertently Racist Acts" when Fletcher states himself that racial discrimination still exists, and that people's vocal opinions affect what others think and say; And that's the bottom line to it all.



Short clip of student's on campus, (doesn't specify school's name) voicing their opinion 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HICeVDeP3Ew

Midterm Mapping

better late than never...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ma-_9tI-peIs6PZy9W8GxG-aenWhUrSDov9Q7eBLXnM/edit?usp=sharing

Blog Post #11

"The Roles of Allies as Agents of Change" by: Andrea Ayvazian  and  
"Combatting Intentional Bigotry and Inadvertently Racist Acts" by: Fletcher A. Blanchard


Blanchard's points were very clear, and he does believe that racial discrimination still exists in our society, or our world. In a sense he is argumentative about it because, in the beginning of the article he states that, "Your vocal opinions affect what others think and say...A series of experiments that I and my students and colleagues conducted demonstrate that racial prejudice is much more malleable than many researchers, policy makers, and educational leaders believe" (605). In fact, Blanchard uses so much power when he makes the statement, because yes it is true, and yes I do agree, racial prejudice is much more influenced than the researchers and the people that make these policies, they have yet to come up with a way of getting racial prejudice banned in fact thrown in the garbage, because WE are ALL equal, whether he's black and she's white, vice versa, we ALL stand on the same levels; which sums where Blanchard is coming from.





Ayvazian then speaks on the behalf of those who are oppressed in today's society, and how there's not many ways to "interrupt" this cycle of oppression. She also did state that, even aiming to make a change and interrupt that cycle, it's definitely not going to be easy, and definitely not something for someone to do independently, she believes that having an Ally is in fact, a great way to start to make changes. Where everyone comes to face these issues, and to take a stand from these experiences to not remain immobilized, take the role of an ally, to help make a difference. Which she mentions, "An ally is a member of a dominant group in our society who works to dismantle any form of oppression from which she or he receives the benefit" (598). 

Blog Post #10

"Sex Wars" by: Ann Ferguson


A very intense article pretty much showing the debate between "two forms of feminists" radical and libertarian feminists, which I personally think that should be the least of their worries because as a feminist, you're trying to make changes for in the women's suffrage movement for equal rights. Now reading the article itself was very confusing, so I decided to look over almost everyone's blog, but Nancy's blog caught my attention, where in a sense she briefly argues about how both liberal and radical make a connection to sex, so regardless there shouldn't be a debate, and as Ferguson says herself, that feminists have the right to choose between an essential and risky practices without fearing of hearing the good and bad things from other feminists.

Blog Post #8

"Cinderella Ate My Daughter" by: Peggy Orenstein

I definitely have to say this was by far the best article I have read among the others. It definitely made a lot of clear points relating to today's society, and definitely made some valid points. Overall the article is based on how the "princess culture" the "disney culture" may or may not have influenced most of the twenty-first century. "She is everything I imagined my daughter would reject (Snow White), would not in fact, ever encounter or even understand if she did, let alone embrace: the passive, personality-free princess swept off by a prince (who is enchanted solely by her beauty) to live in a happily-ever-after that he ultimately controls. Yet there was my little girl, somehow having learned the plotline anyway, blissfully lying in wait for love's first kiss" (12). Pretty long quote, but she made a really good point connecting to rich's article about compulsory heterosexuality. There it is, a 3-year-old, acting out the role of a princess, which in a way may/ may not have an impact on her in the future. Going back, I'm not implying to princesses being bad examples, because there are a few that teach many young ones a valuable lesson, in a sense of showing them to be who they want and choose to be. Such as disney's star, Mulan, where she poses as boy to save China, and Pocahontas who pretty much sacrificed her village to be with the British man she was in love with. Overall the main point, the more mainstream media girls consume, the more importance they place on being pretty, sexy, stay at home mom, etc. Do you. Do what makes YOU happy. Your life results in the way YOU decided to live it.

The Wonderful Zendaya voices her opinion...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma83Ya7ti58

Blog Post #5

"Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" by: Adrienne Rich

Reading the article threw me off the main idea every now and then, but as I got further into the reading, and after looking over Orlando's blog, Rich begins to expose where she's coming from when she speaks of "Compulsory Heterosexuality" and "Lesbian Existence." To begin, the whole point that she gets across is that some women in today's society are taught to be heterosexuals and that being lesbianism doesn't exist. Coming to a more clear understanding of some people in today's society who are still getting familiar with people liking the opposite sex. Emma and Orlando also made a good point relating to Disney. Where legit almost every Disney princess meets a guy they fall in love and how this guy has to fight for their love or this guy tries to have some power over a girl. Going back to Lesbian Existence, where Rich stated in the article, "I am concerned here with two matters..how and why women's choice of women as a passionate comrades, life partners, co-workers, lovers, community has been crushed, invalidated, forced into hiding and disguise; and the virtual or total neglect of lesbian existence.."(82). I can honestly say that the women who are passionate for other women disguise and hide themselves because in a way they're pretty much told to shut up, because heterosexuality is so powerful in today's society, it's taken upon movies, t.v shows, soap operas and much more.

Blog Post #9

Tough Guise/What are little boys made of:

After watching the film and reading the article, I learned many different aspects of male/masculinity. As stated a few times in the film about, feminists mainly focusing on the women's movement, and also in the article, "America has been so focused on girls that we've forgotten about the boys"(157). I could say I have to disagree because, violence is today's main focus on male behavior due to these violence displayed in movies, t.v shows. Through these media, boys are taught at a very young age to not be a, "fag" or "little girl" etc. because that shows lack of power towards anyone. "In order to gain power and control is over a gun or as many as possible; 300 million guns in America; 2/3 older white men own these guns." This was stated in the film by the narrator, elaborating more on it, majority of these gun owners are NOT hunters. Going back to how some men argue about feminists that don't necessarily focus on men issues, it's a lot more realistic when there are men and boys who actually believe that their testosterone rises at an all time high which causes violence. "Approximately 86% of gun deaths are men." Bottom line is, these people aren't violent, they're just developed to today's society in a false masculine way, which I believe has to come to an agreement with the government to redefine the label of masculinity.