Chapter Six -- Blog Post 7

Ok, so I apologize for my random thoughts but here they are:

At the risk of offending a random relative I have to say I have this "married-in" extended family member who has the highest most feminine voice. She seems like a sweet girl and she's going into nursing so I'm sure she is smart but it's so hard for me to concentrate when I'm talking with her. She has this hyper 'feminine' voice. It makes it hard to see past everything.

Actually since a lot of my friends are singers, when I was in high school we realized what pitch all of our talking voices were at. Out of all the girls I had the lowest pitched voice, which made me feel rather masculine and I was frustrated. I made up reasons like I have four brothers which may or may not contribute.

I have also found myself 'making fun' of other females by raising the pitch of my voice, also I call out the men in my life for using "The Voice" when talking about their mom or girlfriend they also use this naggy high pitched tone for everything they say.

Sorry for how random this all is but there it is.

Beauty Redefined

http://www.beautyredefined.net/beauty-whitewashed-how-white-ideals-exclude-women-of-color/

Starr's Comic

I think this is the cartoon Starr talked about in class (a few weeks ago) but it particularly related to page 144 of the text.

Chapter Five - Blog Post 6

I am totally guilty of this. We got a new manager at the place I work and the woman that replaced our old manager was immediately nicknamed "bosslady". This can go both ways with "bossman" but is usually just a way of diverting power from the title 'boss' and establishing a more casual relationship but still. I know how powerful thoughts and feelings are and how language can start those thoughts and feelings that turn into actions.

Chapter Four - Blog Post 5

I'll be honest I really don't know what to say about this chapter. I wish I had a week to learn about these different groups. The last two chapters are so full with groups and different fractions and its hard to keep them all straight. The biggest comment I have on chapter four is that it seemed like there are more exclusively male groups than in were mentioned in the chapter about pro feminine organization. I'm not sure how to feel about it, while there were some extremest 'female driven' groups it seemed like 'male dominant' organizations are more extreme and exclusive.

Chapter Three - Blog Post 4

Gendered Lives, The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender: Women's Movements in the United States

The most thought provoking thing about this chapter was the action it made me take. I went to the website for the National Organization for Women and joined. It's really easy and I'm excited to see what I get.

The most entertaining is the Media Hall of Shame it's ridiculous and amusing to watch the people who write for NOW take a good look at ads or entertainment and analyze what it says about gender. They really say it well. Watching a few clips from the show will show how bad it can be. If I can appreciate the humor in Mrs. Doubtfire but now I feel like I need to go rewatch it.

Side note: loved the quote on page 89 that quoted Abra Chernik about eating disorders "Gazing in the mirror at my emaciated body, I observed a woman held up by her culture as the physical ideal because she was starving, self-obsessed and powerless, a woman called beautiful because she threatened no one excepted herself"

I don't believe this is the intent of society to make everyone one strive to be the 'weakest' so that power is easier to get or that there is some conspiracy the likes of Josie and the Pussycats but I think a good point is made about eating disorders and what they do to the human body.

Chapter 2 - Blog Post 3

Gendered Lives, Chapter Two: Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development

I took a psychology course in college and we talked about nature/nurture, "The debate centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development" (http://psychology.about.com/od/nindex/g/nature-nurture.html)

I think this concept should have been addressed more in the chapter. While breaking from 'tradition' is still the exception its quickly becoming more and more common to see people of all ages creating their own value system and identities.

We can't blame how we were raised for how we are, at least in totality. I personally feel like a self-contradiction. My mom is conservative and my dad is very liberal. How they are still married you may ask, :) you'll have to ask them. It's been great for me to question myself and the world around me but it has complicated my life.

There is so much I could say, but I feel like that is the most important thing I can add to this chapter is that we have to look at all the studies of genetic predisposition and environment before placing 'blame' or 'credit' to they way we are.