Holiday Hotspot and Tumblers

So I think the Holiday Hotspot was successful. I saw a lot of people I knew, which is always good, and I was able to teach a few people how to make square knot bracelet. I also saw that, besides the other student union group’s winter solstice related holidays that were there, Women’s Student Union and the LGTB Student Union had tables. Both WSU and LGTBSU had booths relating to important events for both groups- WSU was raising awareness about sex trafficking and LGTBSU was raising awareness about the Stonewall Riots.

For those of you who haven’t found them yet, I give you the Escher Girls tumbler and The Hawkeye Initiative tumbler. The first is a gallery of the impossible poses women are drawn in in comics and manga, and the second is a gallery of Hawkeye (of Avengers fame) in those impossible poses. I think both of these are great arguments for requiring some kind of anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology* class as part of art curriculum. Because some of those poses are physically impossible to do if you have bones and internal organs. Switching the poses male and female characters helps emphasize how women are sexualized in comics.

*The study of how humans and other living things move.



Make Your Familly Watch Half the Sky

Watching Half the Sky has being, almost paradoxically, bot heartbreaking and heartwarming. We see women and girls who are living in poverty, many who were raped and abused or who have escaped from sex slavery, often having been sold into it by their own parents. But at the same time, someone was helping them, giving them access to healthcare and education and at least trying to get them legal help. Seeing that things can be done, even with very little resources, makes me see that it’s not a hopeless situation. Seeing a father so supportive of his daughter’s education, even willing to take days off of work to attend parent teacher conferences was wonderful.

I am going to force my family to watch this over break, and you should too. Except maybe if you have young siblings, then you should just force your parents to watch it.

Victoria Secrets Consent Underwear

When I saw this the other week it really did brighten up my day. Victoria's Secret as you can see from the photo is on this new kick where instead of coming out with underwear that has  provocative sayings they are coming out with underwear that is reclaiming a woman's right to say NO! Honestly it's nice to see that a popular brand like Victoria Secret is promoting such an important cause. This seems like such a small step but it makes such a huge impact. Society is actually taking an interest in what woman have to say. It also establishes that saying NO doesn't mean you actually want to have sex. Its thought that women are not the ones who want sex typically. So they are expected to say no when a man proposes to have sex. Throughout the years this has been twisted into a sort of flirtation. Unfortunately when women say no to sex its usually misinterpreted as the woman actually wants to have sex they are just expected to say no to it at first. This is not the case a lot of times though. NO MEANS NO for a lot of women, and Victoria's Secret is trying to establish that with this new line of underwear. 

Journey

As the semester comes to a close it's hit me how much a class like this does for students. Everyone can say that we've learned a lot about issues that we might not have heard about if we didn't take Woman's Studies. For example, Somaly Mam and the sex trafficking that is happening all over the world. They talked about in the documentary how important education was to everyone, not only to the girls who suffered from sex trafficking. I knew this was true but I don't think I fully realized it till I was telling my friend all about Somaly's book. If it wasn't for Woman's Studies, I would have never been able to spread the word about the cause. My friend wants to help out just as much as we, as a class, do. I just created another supporter who in return  could tell others. People say that the only way to make a difference is to have money. I don't see that to be true at all. The more people who know about an issue the more people, as a whole, will try to do something about. Like its been said before countless time, good or bad press, at least their is still press.

In Novels and Tales

This week in my Novels and Tales class I had been responsible for giving a small presentation to the class called a contemporary body issue where I could share a recent newspaper article, or video etc. relating to the body, and connecting it to something we've read. Lately, i've been interested in everything Kevin Bales stands for. I entail his idea on Modern Slavery and how it has much to do with poverty and why there is a business behind it. I found a video of Kevin Bales speaking about modern slavery in a TED talk, and I presented a clip (8:30- 11:45) when he speaks about the mind-blowing price of slaves today and the price it takes to reintegrate these slaves back into society. I was able to directly relate this to the book Beloved when former African- American slave Paul D speaks of the discovery of his price. I explain how people are even more disposable now days then they were hundreds of years ago, which would result in many psychologically damaged people in the world similar to Paul D, when reflecting on their low value. I believe I was able to make my peers interested in checking out more on Kevin Bales, especially when mentioning how human trafficking is happening in not just places like Africa,and Southeastern Asia but in the U.S.

Kevin bales- How to Combat Modern Slavery

Spread the Word

I wanted to take this final blog to post about this movie 1/2 the sky and the Somaly Mam's book. These two things together have been a great source of inspiration to me. They have changed my view of the world and have shaped the way that my future, at least for a little while will be. I have been spreading the news left and right for people to read Somaly's book and will be giving gifts of the book to some people that I know. I want people to know about this. I think it is desperately important that the people should know so that people will want to change some of these situations in the world. I'm not sure that it will amount to anything but knowledge is power. I think that Somaly and her foundation are on the path to changing the world, one person at a time. I hope some of you are sharing this info too.

US fights for human rights in Russua

This next article is about a bill that the US Senate passed two days ago. It insures that the human rights will not be violated in Russia and the consequence if Russia does not punish its own citizens for violations of these rights are trading sanctions by the US. Heck yeah United States, I say we have to fight for it one step at a time! FROM: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/vladimir-kara-murza/principle-over-realpolitik-us-approve-russia-rights-bill Principle over Realpolitik: US to Approve Russia Rights Bill 7 December 2012 On December 20, 1974, as the US Congress, over the vehement objections of President Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, passed the historic Jackson-Vanik amendment limiting trade with the USSR over its lack of the freedom to emigrate, Soviet political prisoner camps were in almost open jubilation. The United States has established a vital precedent: for the first time, economic relations with a country were linked to its human rights record. Forty years later, the amendment is no longer relevant. But the principle carries on. On December 6, 2012, the US Senate approved the House-passed bill H.R. 6156, which simultaneously repeals Jackson-Vanik and adopts the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which directly addresses the modern-day violations of human rights and the rule of law in the Russian Federation. The presidential signature has already been promised. “With this vote, we are setting a precedent for future trade agreements that tells the world that gross violators of human rights cannot escape the consequences of their actions even when their home country fails to act,” emphasized Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and the bill’s principal author. “Human rights cannot and should not be open to compromise.” Sergei Magnitsky was a Moscow attorney who died in police custody in 2009 after being tortured and denied medical care. His “crime” consisted of uncovering a $230 million tax fraud scheme—the largest known in Russian history—which involved the previously seized assets of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund he was representing. Magnitsky’s testimony implicated several law enforcement officials. It was the same officials who placed him under arrest. More than three years after his death, not a single perpetrator has been punished: indeed, a number of Interior Ministry officials involved in this case have received promotions and awards. The most prominent investigation by Russian prosecutors involving Sergei Magnitsky has been, incredibly, the ongoing posthumous case against him. The new US law imposes targeted visa and financial sanctions on individuals “responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky,” as well as for “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” in Russia, which include “the freedoms of religion, expression, association, and assembly, and the rights to a fair trial and democratic elections.” The expanding provision of the law is especially important: the story of Sergei Magnitsky, alas, is not a one-off tragedy, but symptomatic of the general situation in Putin’s Russia, where politically motivated “justice,” state-sanctioned extortion, wrongful imprisonment, police abuse, media censorship, suppression of peaceful assembly, and electoral fraud have long become a horrendous norm. The Magnitsky Act ends the impunity for those who continue to violate the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens and to treat state coffers as their personal pockets. It is no secret that many Kremlin officials and oligarchs who prefer the style of Belarus or Zimbabwe at home are opting for the West when it comes to their bank accounts, vacation homes, and schools for their children. Nothing will strike at the heart of Putin’s corrupt and autocratic “power vertical” more than the realization that even its boss—with all his patronage and oil money—will no longer be able to protect the ill-gotten gains. This is, without doubt, the most pro-Russian law to have ever been passed by a Western country.

Documentaries vs. Books

Though I feel that books and publications about causes are very important, I think that documentaries have are very crucial in lobbying for change. For example, the documentary "Half the Sky" had a huge emotional impact on me, and though I haven't read the book I feel if I did the documentary's effect would still be more powerful. To be able to see the faces and hear the voices of the advocates was very substantial to me. Though I'm sure the author did a very good job recreating these perspectives in the book, it had so much more of an impact on me hearing them first person. The same is true for their surroundings. To actually see footage of the villages and schools was very powerful.
I also think documentaries are more accessible to the public. Reading a book is time consuming, while watch a few hours of a documentary can have the same if not a better effect. The famous actors also add an element to the documentary that can not be replicated in the book.  

No More "Save the Tatas"

Earlier this semester, my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, making her really the first person in my life to be affected by this type of cancer. Since then, I've found myself drawn to articles on the internet dealing with the cancer and ways to support the fight for a cure. An article that really stood out to me was called "No More 'Save the Tatas'" by Jessica Luther. 

http://flyoverfeminism.com/no-more-save-the-tatas-please/

If you don't have time to read the article (it's super short!) I'll post the main point.

"There are survivors living with conditions and scars (both physically and emotionally) that remind them daily of the cancer that haunted their bodies and minds, that continue to haunt them with every check-up at the oncologist’s office or every daily morning prevention pill. Focusing on breasts and breasts alone obscures the reality and the faces of the people who are at the center of the fight against breast cancer. It reminds the survivors who either don’t have their breasts or have scars across the breasts they do have that they are now not as wholly feminine as they once were (and they never will be). They may have beaten the cancer but they lost their breasts, the things everyone seems to actually care about."

Luther's point really struck a cord with me. Our society not only objectifies women in the media and in magazines, but objectifies women that are fighting cancer. We've all seen people wear the bracelets that say "Save the Tatas" and maybe most of us have laughed. But, like Luther said, this takes the focus away from the battle these women and men are fighting, discriminates against the men who've had this disease, and sexualize a disease. 

Women Hold Up Half The Sky

Watching Half the Sky has been so eye-opening. Not because I wasn't aware of the problems that it addressed, but because the things that are being done to help fix all these problems are never highlighted. In our culture we have this fixation on the bad things. We want to know all the bad things that are going on. As long as they aren't happening to us, we love to know about misery. And we want to know what we can do to help right the wrongs.
But when you start showing people what's already being done to help, they start to feel bad about themselves that they aren't doing more. There are these amazing women all around the world doing such amazing things that I can't believe. And that I had no idea most of these women were doing these things really bothers me. It's so incredible that they are tackling these huge problems with little to no help, and no recognition and I feel so moved and inspired by them.
I consider myself to be a fairly active feminist; I do what I can with what I have and I seek out information about what else I can do. But even with the celebrity involvement in Half the Sky I might not have heard of it. My mother actually sent me in its direction when it was first on PBS, but I unfortunately missed it because of class conflicts.
Women do so much, and really do hold up half the sky. They need a louder voice to shout all the great things they do.