Response for 12/7

I think this reading neatly summarized many of the ideas in this course. After reading Enloe’s chapters  and reflecting back on the topics discussed in class, I realized that women related issues can be found everywhere. The items we have discussed in this class are merely the tip of the iceberg; as evidenced by people’s newsflashes, a wide array of feminist problems are emerging daily.  I think it is a very good idea to always question one’s environment. As the saying goes, “Why are things the way they are and not otherwise?” We have already discussed that patriarchy is a sneaky system that infiltrates our lives in ways that we don’t even consciously realize. By turning daily happenings into conscious decisions changes can be brought about. This is not to say that one should be constantly paranoid about social norms, but a small level of skepticism seems appropriate. Subsequently unexpected positive changes may occur. I think this is one of the main ideas I will take away from this class. 

Follow up Response: 12/07

The two chapters we read from the Curious Feminist promote the need of feminism in a patriarchal society. In these two chapters, Enloe encourages people to remain curious and question the framework of this intrinsically patriarchal society. Instead of women sitting back and falling into the roles expected of them, they should embrace feminist ideology and question these patriarchal male authorities. Enloe states that “uncuriosity” is dangerous because it breeds conformity to societal ideology. In the push for feminist curiosity, women become very aware of patriarchy and see beyond what everyone else sees in these types of societies. In the second chapter Enloe encourage people to admit “surprise” and welcome it. She claims that surprise helps women to prepare for what lays ahead. She mentions several events in the late 20^th century that have surprised her and have forced her to rationalize the situations in a new light. These readings were great because they brought our semester and what we have learned to a full circle.

Curiosity and Suprise fuels Feminism

The readings for this week were especially interesting and really tied in the ideas of this class together for me. Feminism for me seemed narrow and after reading these chapters I realized how broad feminism is and how intertwined it is in many issues around the globe. I really like how Enloe speaks in "Being Curious about our Lack of Feminist Curiosity” introduction about how the rhetoric surrounding gender is normalized so that we think nothing of it. She talks about how natural then progresses to traditional, and oldest and then always. Which is funny to me because in school especially science I learned if a multiple question said always it was usually wrong. Always becomes a catch all and generalization so that we can neglect being curious. If we think that something has been around forever there is no need to challenge it because that is just the way it is. She says "I've come to think that making and keeping us uncurious must serve somebody's political purpose." By being curious we can question issues and search for the answers that are not so simple. We will be able to see how patriarchy operates in everything and how that can be disguised as nationalism and other disguises. In the first chapter "The Surprised Feminist" I really likes how she looks at surprise and how when we are surprised at things we disregard it like we knew that or just all together dismiss it because it doesn't fit with our notions or opinions. I think addressing the surprising information gives you another view and allow you to do further research and help to understand the whole picture. I think curiousity and surprise are ideas that make a great feminist as well as a great scientist in any field.

The Deception of Anti-Abortion Clinics

The article I chose from Ms. Magazine deals with Crisis Pregnancy Centers or CPC’s. The article talks about how these clinics often disguise and deceive young women into thinking that they perform abortions but in actuality they are anti-abortion clinics that badger young women and make them feel guilty so that they will change their minds. These clinics are funded by federal and state offices even though they have fraudulent practices and violence. I think that these clinics do have a right to be in existence but I think that they should state their mission and stance on pregnancy and abortion and not be allowed to be in such close vicinity to abortion clinics. I feel that the decision to have an abortion is not an easy one. Many women don’t make this decision on a whim. Pregnant women who have chosen this decision are in a state where they are vulnerable and I think that these clinics capitalize on that. These clinics that push their pro-life and anti-abortion agendas don’t take into count the individual and their situation they are just about telling them abortion is wrong and adoption is the only alternative if you don’t want to raise your child. They often make you feel bad if you even considered abortion and tell you that life begins at birth. Some of these clinics are associated with churches and can use religion to get the girl to change her mind. At the end of the day the decision is up to the woman but a woman who has made a decision should not be deceived into changing her mind.

The article talks initially about the murder of Dr. George Tiller and how the anti-abortion extremist that stalked and hounded him before murdering him. The man would be a sidewalk counselor and dissuade women from going into the abortion clinic where the doctor worked. The CPC that is located next door to Tiller’s clinic appeared to be a medical clinic as well even thought they did not perform any medical procedures. The CPC’s estimated 4,000 nationwide often mislead women and give them false information about their due dates and about the unproven links between abortion and infertility, cancer, and suicide. These tactics are used to dissuade women from considering abortion or even going into an abortion clinic. The extremist anti-abortion groups have been linked to these CPC’s and has caused more violent incidents than clinics that are not near CPC’s. The idea is that they will do anything to get their point across and ultimately they want abortion to be abolished.

I have been to one of those CPC’s with a friend and we did think that it was an abortion clinic. When we got there and spoke to the counselor we realized that this was in fact not an abortion clinic but an anti-abortion clinic. We did not want to be rude so we heard the counselor out. She talked about how she had her son young and she would not change her decision for the world and how she also adopted some children and she loved all of them equally. She also told us what we thought were facts about abortion and gave us booklets and pamphlets on adoption and raising children. She informed us about some statistics of abortion and how abortion is linked to cancer and told my friend to inform the dad and her mom and that adoption is always an option. She also told us that life begins at conception and since thou shall not kill that abortion was wrong. Lastly she said we could call and make a follow-up appointment and we left. We were highly upset when we left. The misinformation and the deception were what really had an impact on us. We threw all the pamphlets away and my friend called Planned Parenthood the next day. The whole ordeal was exactly how they describe in the article with the misleading and misinformation. This is an issue that a women should have complete control over and when people try to influence that decision with their own opinions it is not okay just as in the article in Listen Up “And So I Chose” she could see that women who had to make this choice had to do what was best for them and picketing and yelling at the girl just made it harder for the person. The right to choose is a right I think that all women should have and no one should be able to infringe upon that right.

I think that CFC’s and their practices such as sidewalk counseling are wrong. These procedures make it really difficult for a woman to deal with her decision to have an abortion and they infringe upon her right. I think that like in the story in Listen Up “Vacuum Cleaners, Abortion, and the Power Within” we should make abortions less public and more private because if someone has decided to have an abortion they should not be harassed about their decision by people from CFC’s or anybody. Making abortion somehow more private would be a great solution. Having a natural abortion or a low-cost abortion pill would save a lot of women stress and grief. The decision to have an abortion is a private one and the idea of having to go into a clinic and have someone do this medical procedure and also being harassed makes it very hard for women to deal with their decision. It is her decision ultimately and being deceived and mislead to change her mind is wrong and should not be tolerated. This is something that we need to come to a consensus about.

How Young is Too Young?

            It is no surprise in today’s society that fashion models are scrutinized for their bodies; the very nature of their work places them on display for others to judge them. Especially lately, models have been accused of being too thin and many countries have adopted policies that prevent models with BMI’s under 18 from walking the catwalk. People in the industry are being urged to recognize the signs of eating disorders especially after several cases of anorexia-related deaths. All of these policies seem to be a step in the right direction for the fashion world. However, a new question has emerged within the business- how young is too young for models? Several agencies have curtailed the issue of finding healthy thin models by selecting prepubescent girls that are “naturally” skinny. In 2007, Maddison Gabriel, a 12 year old Australian girl was selected to be the face of Australia’s Gold Coast Fashion Week. The decreasing age of fashion models, like Maddison Gabriel, reflects the early sexualization of young girls in society; this dangerous trend in the fashion industry can result in a host of detrimental mental health issues and must be carefully regulated.

            Maddison Gabriel was selected September 11, 2007 to be the face of the esteemed Gold Coast Fashion Week hosted each year in Australia. When selected she was only twelve years old, and celebrated her thirteenth birthday on the 15th. This announcement sparked controversy around the world and especially among fellow fashion designers. Gabriel was surprised herself at winning the prize, “I was just like ‘what?’” (Syers) but hoped that the opportunity would launch her career, “It’s my dream to become a top model,” (Syers). Especially surprising was that the tween was selected to be “the Face” for the fashion week. The title requires additional responsibilities including additional modeling, marketing, advertising, and publicity events and is therefore usually delegated to an older more experienced model.

            Many countries in Europe and the US have posed age restrictions for models walking the catwalk and yet in Australia, delegating age limits is the responsibility of individual modeling agencies. The Prime Minister, John Howard, called the decision “outrageous” and explained “There should be age limits, I mean there has to be, we do have to preserve some notion of innocence in our society” (dailymail). He hoped to model  (no pun intended) the Australian fashion industry after those in Europe. However, such age restrictions in countries with prohibitive laws are not particularly enforced; many models are imported from eastern European nations because it is easy to mask their actual age.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqVZsrPkhcw

Many do not see any problem with young models and point to other child stars as successful precedents. Gabriel and her mother defended the decision; Maddison explained, “I believe that I can fit into women's clothes. I can model women's clothes, so I should be able to do it,” (http://www.dailymail.co.uk). Mrs. Gabriel also defended the decision stating, “The thing is, Maddy is a mature 12-year-old,” (goldcoast.com). Simone Hyde who owns the agency that represents Gabriel explained that Maddison would not be involved in any bikini or lingerie events. Other events around the employ models just as young if not younger, like this ten year old modeling for Ashley Paige:

           

Many people however see the decision as a terrible move for the industry. Countries in Europe and the US have posed age restrictions for models walking the catwalk and yet in Australia, delegating age limits is the responsibility of individual modeling agencies. The Prime Minister, John Howard, called the decision “outrageous” and explained “There should be age limits, I mean there has to be, we do have to preserve some notion of innocence in our society” (dailymail). He hoped to model  (no pun intended) the Australian fashion industry after those in Europe. However, such age restrictions in countries with prohibitive laws are not particularly enforced; many models are imported from eastern European nations because it is easy to mask their actual age.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqVZsrPkhcw

Nonetheless, former child models and scientists disagree with choosing tweens stating that placing young girls in a stressful environment that equates value with physical perfection is toxic to their development. The Independent Model Health Inquiry met in London in 2007 and found that models under the age of 16 were particularly vulnerable to developing eating disorders and sexual exploitation when expected to look like adult women. Janice Dickinson in an interview with Matt Lauer discussed her disappointment with the decision and explained that it was just wrong.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20829880/ns/today-today_people/

 Child stars in other industries have been under similar pressures with mixed results. Acresses like Brooke Shields, Shirley Temple, and Jodie Foster were all feature in sexually charged films when they were around Gabriel’s age and went on to lead relatively normal healthy lives. However many other child stars have not been as successful. Critics point to celebrities like Michael Jackson, Drew Barrymore, and Britney Spears to potray the problems associated with too much fame too soon.

            The early sexualization of girls has been linked to numerous mental health concerns. The APA Task Force’s report on the Sexualization of Girls associated the problems of eating disorders, low self esteem and depression  with early sexualization; such disorders are the most common mental health disorders among girls and women.

The Task Force Report states that sexualization has negative effects in a variety of domains:

            Cognitive and emotional health: Sexualization and objectification undermine a person's confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.

            Mental and physical health: Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women—eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.

                        Sexual development: Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls' ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.

Natavia Vodianova, a supermodel that began her carrer at 18 explained, “It is very hard to have a feeling of stability. Anorexia is sometimes the only form of control these girls have” (http://www.thecrimson.com) Diane Levin, the author of “So Sexy So soon: The Sexualization of Childhood in Commercial Culture” explains that sex itself is not the problem so much as the way it is portrayed. Instead of healthy information being potrayed about sex, girls are learning to look a certain way to be considered sexy.  They are then learning that being sexy is the only way they are valued within society. “ Girls are taught to be sexy…they’re not learning to treat others as people, they’re learning to treat others as objects”(http://www.suite101.com) .

            Overall, the modeling industry is creating a dangerous paradigm for their models. Women are being chosen younger and younger and developing serious health issues. As younger girls are being chosen, more are entering the industry so more age appropriate models are hard to find. Such tween models are a magnified example of the harms of early sexualizaion of girls. There must be more regulation within the fashion world to ensure that mature women that can handle the stresses of the occupation are chosen so girls are not developing problems later in life. Thankfully, many fashion designers are raising their standards for their models and emphatically refusing to employ girls. Hopefully others will lead the examples of such designers as Calvin Klein and Michael Kors and change the sexual fate for girls.

            

3rd News Flash: Military Mothers

As the number of women in the work force has steadily increased over time, the number of women in the military has also simultaneously increased in the twenty first century. Now more than ever, women comprise a growing percentage of the United States military. Serving in all branches of the military, women are proving to be an important asset, especially in these times of war. What is even more significant is that a large percentage of these women are mothers. As experienced by mothers entering the mainstream work force, women in the military are finding it especially difficult (probably even more so) to juggle their careers and their life at home with their families. Serving in the military and trying to parent children is far from easy and requires a great deal of choice and sacrifices to be made. The New York Times article, “Wartime Soldier, Conflicted Mom,” discusses the hardships women in the military face when trying to balance their two lives and having to choose between serving their country and staying at home with their families. This article highlights the fact that despite the strides made to accommodate women in the military, there still remains major shortcomings, as women try to carryout their duties not only to their country, but also to their families.

The author, Lizette Alvarez, conducted interviews with several mothers who served or are currently serving in the military. The women’s responses clearly demonstrate the difficulties a mother faces while enlisted, and the consequences experienced by her and her family. The two wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have made these women’s lives even more complicated, as more soldiers are being deployed and the possibility of injury or death has increased. Since 2001, the number of female recruits has actually declined by 5 percent, a much more significant number than the decline in the number of male recruits. Of the number of women who have served in the two wars, 100,000 are mothers, and half of them have been deployed to the war zones. Furthermore, the majority of these mothers in the military are primary caregivers, or single parents. Without a draft and a dwindling number of recruits, the military is now faced with the challenge of boosting interest in joining. The first step is to try to make service members (especially women) feel as if they don’t have to choose between their family life and their military careers. Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, a director of the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University, comments on this dilemma military mothers face, “They leave when they can’t figure out a way to do both.” Because of job security, good pay, and great benefits, women are often compelled to maintain their military careers because it ultimately provides a better life for their families. Additionally, many women feel a sense of pride and responsibility to defend their country. These reasons are used to weigh against the repercussions felt at home. At times it is difficult to find care providers for children, especially for single mothers, while on tour. Even more troublesome, are the effects children of women serving in the military experience. Children often: become depressed, develop anxiety, suffer in school, start wetting the bed, cry more, or become reclusive and defiant. The women interviewed were faced with the difficulty of weighing the consequences of their absence, due to their career choice, and trying to strike a balance between the two. Unfortunately, the current nature and demands of a military career do not make this an easy task. In some of the interviewed women’s situations, they ultimately decided to retire from the military life and devote their full attention to their families, while others decided to return for another tour.

Just like other women in the mainstream workforce, women serving in the military are being forced to make some tough decisions when it comes to their careers and families. But it seems like even more so than mainstream working women, these military women have a more difficult time balancing these two aspects of their lives because their careers are so demanding and require them to be away from their families for extended periods of time. Not only are these women feeling pressure from the military to choose, but their families and the repercussions of their decisions put them in a tougher situation. The double bind mothers in the military experience tends to be especially exaggerated. While patriarchal society pushes women to stay home and take care of their families, there is another aspect of this society that promotes staunch patriotism and calls for people to defend our freedom. For these women caught between the call of these two duties, the choice can be almost impossible to make. The context of Marilyn Frye’s article, “Oppression,” is easily applicable to the oppression mothers in the military experience through the creation of this double bind. When describing an oppressive double bind, Frye writes, “One of the most characteristic and ubiquitous features of the world as experienced by oppressed people is the double bind – situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure or deprivation.” Mothers in the military are especially prone to penalties from both sides. Many of the interviewed women talked about the penalties they incurred. While on tour, some mothers missed their child’s first steps or words and other precious family moments. And when home with their families, some of the women experienced guilt for not being on the front line defending the country, or sacrificed financial gains by having to retire early. Based on the interviewed women’s responses it is glaringly obvious that mothers in the military are susceptible to the “mommy tax.” When forced to choose family over career, especially before reaching their retirement time, mothers in the military are heavily “taxed.” Crittenden explains the consequences of this tax, “For working-class women, there is increasing evidence both in the United States and worldwide that mothers’ differential responsibility for children, rather than classic sex discrimination, is the most important factor disposing women to poverty.” Crittenden identifies a key point about the “mommy tax’s” ability to drive a family into poverty. This point is especially true for service women. A large percent of the people serving in the military are of the middle to lower class. Without the steady income and benefits coming in from a military job, mothers (especially single mothers) are often forced into poverty. As if serving in the military while two wars are going on were not stressful enough, the double bind oppressing mothers serving in the military is enough to send them over the edge.

The double bind and oppression experienced by mothers in the military is intrinsic of our patriarchal society. The military is founded upon patriarchal ideology. Since males dominate the military, there is little understanding of the issues these women face, or effort made to make accommodations for them. This prevailing patriarchal system is further perpetuated by women desire to prove themselves as an integral part of the military. Just as national pride provokes men to prove their masculinity, women in the military often experience a similar need to show aggression and prove their toughness. While Cynthia Enloe writes in The Curious Feminist that only men experience this type of national politics, the women interviewed in the article talk about the difficulty in switching mentalities when returning home and caring for their children. The women explain that upon returning home from a tour, they would often become agitated with the children and react more harshly towards them than they would normally. Additionally they discussed how the military’s expectation of them to be tough and to be on their “A game” makes it extremely difficult to balance the different emotions and interactions as a mother then as a soldier. When talking about her children, one woman stated, “To hear them cry and miss me would keep me out of the game. It would make it hard to put the game face on.” From these interviews it is clear that the strain put on mothers in the military to fall in line with the ideology of the extreme patriarchal system that is the military is relatively unrealistic when trying to balance their careers and family life. While these issues and inadequacies are prevalent, Johnson’s article, “Patriarchy, the System,” demonstrates that system is not only influenced by just men, and states that women need to “take a different path” to stand up for their rights in order to invoke positive change.

Although the military has recently started making accommodations for women and mothers serving in the military in order to boost recruitment numbers, there is still not enough being done. Regardless of the military’s argument that these women are not being forced to decide between their careers and families, the strains being put of them from both sides is way too overwhelming. Surveys show that women respond much better to more flexible schedules than financial incentives. Perhaps if the military began allowing serving mothers to spend more time with their families without penalizing them, then they would be able to retain a higher number of enlisted women. Serving in the military is such a honorable job, it is unfair that mothers are being forced to decide between their duties to their country and to their family.

Readings for 12/2

The readings for this class were about feminist issues and how they relate to terrorism. Lila Abu-Lughod explained how the United States is using an ethnocentric view to justify the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.  Instead of just fighting terrorism against the United States, the war has also come to represent a moral issue about women's rights. We are being led to believe that women in Afghanistan are being oppressed and are therefore radically relieved after US troops remove the Taliban. Specifically, the burka has come to symbolize the oppressive regime and the plight of Afghan women. This is however unrealistic. First, the burka can not represent all of the problems faced by Afghan women. It is simply an article of clothing and does not encompass many other issues present in society. Second, the burka has been present in Aghanistan long before the Taliban. It represents a woman's piety to God and is frequently worn elsewhere in the world voluntarily. Their presence has become the social norm in such societies, "so conventional that most women gave little thought to their meaning." Expecting Afghan women to completely change their style simply because a new government is in place is unfair. Instead, the government should enable the women to have a choice in their wardrobe, rather than forcing them into either burkas or Levi's. We must remember that forcing American ideals on other countries is not "saving" the other country, it is in my opinion, just installing new and different oppressive laws.

Bunch wrote in her article "Whose Security" about the effects that the war on terror has here in the Unite d States. After 9/11, the United States experience a "resurgence of the masculine warrior discourse." Women's issues were therefore pushed aside for more pressing matters of national security. Within the media, strong males were depicted in order to reassure audiences of the strength of our nation  but they also "served as a rude reminder that when it comes to ussues of terrorism, war, defense, and national security, women and especially feminists are still not on the map" Bunch goes on into further detail about how the Bush administration weakened the protection for human rights all in the name of fighting terrorism. Lowering standards for human rights sets a dangerous precedent for women's rights and is therefore a problem for feminists. She concludes by stating "women's activism in the United States must be both local and global to succeed." We must remember that foreign policy effects domestic policy and vice versa.

Enloe similarly writes how wars have impacted the roles of women in society. She explains how such policy-makers as varied as empire-builders to NATO have directly impacts women's lives. Enloe also discusses Afghan women's roles in society, or lack thereof. They have been left out of constitution writing processes and are therefore voiceless in terms of the law. Enloe writes how "closed-door bargainers" are the people with the loudest voices in the process because they are actually able to gather weapons, men, and economic resources which subsequently leads to public support. Afghan women are unable to establish connections and remain helpless. The future for Afghan women is not looking bright unless some major changes occur within the law writing process.