Written Images

Who knows if this will be one of my last posts. I think about how I might want to continue blogging. But my life is freaking busy! And who reads this? My class mates. And after the class is over? No one will. I appreciate the experience of creating a blog. I appreciate the creativity of reading, thinking, and writing.

I’m not so anti-blog as I was before I took this class. I see the importance of women blogging since there is so much sexism on the Internet. Feminists are right along side the rest of the bloggers. We have our blogging places and we need to become part of the blogs that are getting a lot of the attention. This is how the f-word will become acceptable again by being part of the issues deemed “important” by the masses, this will get gender issues out of the margin.

A blog is a person’s opinion about a topic. When someone searches the topic, feminist opinions are available for the curious. Slowly, feminist philosophy will become better understood as it stands today. The critiques and analysis of feminist/gender philosophy will become a part of what is considered important. In this way, Web 2.0 is a place for the future of feminist discussion. Here is a place for discussion and awareness to grow. Here is a place to look for motivation.

Five classes next in the fall! I think I’ve got a new plan for this blog.

Reading response to The Gendercator or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blogosphere by Jessica Lawless

I had often wondered if those who seek sex changes are in fact effected by social norms. I’ve wondered if transsexuality is somewhat created in our society such as some mental disorders are. But I cannot judge what is best for another person. The best response to judgements such as this was that no one knows a person better than that person. I would say that my views are more open to trangender thoughts than before.

The division of groups is an interesting debate. From my experience, it has only been who are active in the rights for those with non-heterosexuals who have voiced the idea that the LGBT movement and the women’s movement should pair together. The idea of not separating to movements has been a debate in my mind for this semester. I’m still not sure where I stand on it. I’m mostly for the combination of the movements.

I think the most important part about the article was the discussion of boycotting versus censorship. We must all be aware of how we maybe trying to censer others from information.

Another part that was interesting to me was the idea that there is male dominance in LGBT events. I’m thinking of page 17: “GLBT, where feminism is absent- it’s all about the men.” And I think about the glorification of gay men in the fashion industry, but I would not consider the industry “feminist.” This is just one place among many where feminist and LGBT movements are not synchronized.

I don’t know if this should go under wed discoveries or just as a post. But, goodness! it’s funny! Well sort of. The website and commercial have a softcore porn kind of feel to them. The product is advertised as an exercise tool that will ”sculpt a beautiful bust linethrough a full range of motion, to lift, firm and enlarge in just 5 minutes a day.” An easy way to get $10 off of thousands of women. They are all white women in the commercial an on the website. It seems to me that doing push ups or a bit of weight lifting would get the same results. I don’t think this product really even needs to exist! And yet it does. 

And what does “Research Throws Women a Curve Ball Mean?” You can see the commercial on YouTube.

Further, it turns out they make their money through shipping you vitamins and charging on your card as this person posted at Yahoo and here. There is even have a blog to battle those who may think it a scam. I don’t think it’s a scam. I think it’s another thing for women to buy because women’s role is often as consumer. What do women want to buy? Things to make their boobs bigger! The blog is interesting. I think the author is suppose to be a buyer of the product, but it’s really just a repeat of the commercial.

I think most of us have enough common sense not to buy a product like this. But it does sell and they make their money off of the need perpetuated by these products and advertising, that women have to be continuously youthful. I’m recalling a chapter in The Feminine Mystique about the child bride. But I think I’m going to stop here.

I just threw up a couple of links for everyone. There are plenty more out there. I’m not sure how to critique her. Check her out and tell me what you think!

Andrew this is a great gender poem. I think most people can relate to this poem in some way. Very few of us are strictly one gender.

Andrea Gibson This is her official site.

Swing set I liked this one a whole lot! At the Take Back the Night rally, I read “Blue Blanket.” I posted about that earlier. I have decided to practice and perform it again. Hopefully it will go over better. I just can’t take the thought that this righteous poem was “too long for the venue.” They’ll get it if I do it better. Maybe I should see if Gibson will come and do it herself!

A great thing about blogs is that they are like diaries only we don’t have to wait for the author’s death or publication to read it. I had to let one of my favorite professors know about Riverbend’s blog. She may have already known about it, but I just had to make sure. Like the articles about the blog said, her blog has more depth than the media. It is a different way to understand the war. And I think it is the better way for me to become more aware of what is going on. A friend of mine is taking Women’s Studies 101 this semester. He lent me one of the novels they read in the class called 1,000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It is the fictional story of two women living through the continuous warring over there, starting in the 60′s and ending in 2003. The novel was excellent! Read it! Women’s experience in war is so much more different than men’s.

I would almost say that an OK blogis better than a really great novel. Who knows if that could be a true statement or not. Riverbend’s blog conveys reality just a bit better. I did not fully feel the Holocaust until I read Fireweed which is Gerda Lerner’s autobiography. And the only thought that went through my head in high school were about boys, so that may have had an impact on my understanding of the reality of genocide. I find that reading a person’s real story, where I can feel the pain of each day, to be more effective than just the death counts. A blog is totally bias, but I think it is better to side with the ideas of an actual individual than with the media. It is a voice of a living person who is conveying a reality that mainstream media forms cannot.