Women are used as pieces ofmeat

Women are used as pieces of MEAT

Hello again, loyal followers. This week I just want to take a chill pill from writing a book-length blog post (LOL). How about watching this amazing documentary created by feminist educator Jean Kilbourne called “Killing us Softly” that critiques the way women are shown in ads and TV shows.  Sounds awesome, right?   I guarantee you will enjoy this documentary, and if you don’t, hey, what’s 10 minutes of your life, right?

I first watched this documentary during a workshop I attended at Sadie Nash ( if you don’t know what that is, look at my earlier blogpost # 14). Okay, so here it is, a segment from “Killing us Softly,” entitled “Women are Used as Pieces of Meat.” Stay tuned for the next part I will be posting. Have a super awesome sparkly day. :)

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

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No women Priests

No women Priests

As you know Pope Benedict is retiring and the Catholic Church is looking for a replacement. Obviously they are looking for a man, but why can’t they look for a woman. Why can’t there be women priests? Are we not as smart as men? Just because Christ is a man and he had his 12 disciples which were all men, there were women behind the scenes. For example, the  Last Supper, you can’t tell me a man made such an enormous feast because they didn’t it was women. People need to understand that the most important thing about Jesus is not that he was a man, it is that he was God. The Catholic Church argues that the reason women can't be priests is that Jesus was a man and chose men as his apostles.  Who was Mary Magdalene if not a disciple of Jesus?

Women can do anything that men can, if not better. I don't see the problem; women are highly intelligent, are better at dealing with emotion, and have experience with dealing with feelings and being caring. Anything men can do should be available for women to do as well. Women are great leaders. They take action and make changes and are not afraid to do it.The law states that men and women in the workplace should be treated equally, but the law  allows the Church to be an exception. As the church is a workplace, why should the fact that it is a religious building change the law?

    Religion should be equal for everyone. It is not written in the Bible that all preachers should be men. Everyone has the right to be able to let others know about their religion. God gave all of us the right to tell others about him. Some people say, “Women are still able to become nuns. If Jesus had wanted woman to become priests then surely he would have made Mary the head of the church as she never sinned.” But discriminating based on someone’s gender is simply not right.
Here’s a link to why the Catholic Church feels women can not be priests.
http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/f/Women_Priests.htm

Racism found in beloved disney movie The Princess and the frog

Racism found in Beloved Disney Movie Princess and the Frog?
Media such as television and movies influence the way individuals perceive society and the way they behave. In particular, children have become one of the most targeted groups in marketing, television programming, and movies, depicting what they see in the media. In American society, one of the most known sources of media for children is Disney. Almost all Disney movies depicting princesses are racist but this week we’re going to focus on Disney’s “ The Princess and the Frog.” For many years the controversy concerning racism in Disney movies has been happening. Many argue that Walt Disney himself was without a doubt a racist individual. Therefore the movies he created were filled with racist remarks.
   

Released on December 11, 2009,the movie tells the story of Disney's first black Princess, a poor African-American named Tiana. Her mother works as a dressmaker for her best friend's, a privileged white girls, father. Her friend’s  family host’s  a party one night for Prince Naveen, when a magician turns the Prince into a frog. Prince Naveen convinces Tiana that if she would kiss him, he would turn back into a Prince and he would help her open her own restaurant. Well, after the kiss not only did Prince Naveen not turn back into a Prince, but Tiana was suddenly a frog. The two of them then set out to find a voodoo specialist who could fix everything for them.

The first African American princess in this movie “Tiana” is a little stereotypical to me. First of all she wants to open a restaurant that caters to the famous food of New Orleans, but why couldn’t she want to become a lawyer or doctor?  Just  cause she is black her passion has to be in food. Secondly she has a best friend who is white, but her best friend is nothing like a best friend should be, she bosses tiana around and always talks about herself, that’s not a good friend.  Another problem  that I had with the movie is the fact that the Prince in the movie was white and not black.I felt that since the Princess was black she should have had a black Prince. Lastly, why does the practice of “voodoo” have to be something negative? Vodoo was not something African Americans used to harm people it was more of a spiritual practice for African Americans/ West Indians  to come together.

Hope you enjoyed my post and  another week I will explain how racism can be found in other famous Disney movie, but you won’t find out which one unless you stay posted.. Until next time:).

Sadie Nash

I attended this amazing program during the summer called Sadie Nash Summer Institute and it inspired me and encouraged me to be more BOLDER in stating my opinions.. It was all girls and before you say Oh... like really,all girls? I want you to know those girls became my family after just 6 short weeks. They were motivating, trustworthy and will forever hold a place in my heart, and I miss them so much. I wish we had our own little high school, because if we did I would be excited to attend high school everyday. Those magnificent ladies and mentors unlocked a talent that i never knew i had, which is poetry, and I will forever be grateful to them. Below are summaries of and links to videos created by my fellow Nashers. Leave comments, but remember, only warm and fuzzies , no cold and pricklies  ( learned that from Sadie Nash).

“There are two ways of spreading light ...To be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.”
~ Edith Wharton ~

Our Forgotten Voices: From History to Herstory
Revealing Womyn's Stories Under A Police State
Growing media attention and activist work have been dedicated to the criminalization of men of color by the justice system and the NYPD’s policy of Stop and Frisk… We acknowledge and validate these experiences but would like to shed light on women’s perspectives because womyn are diversely affected by the culture of policing and surveillance by the NYPD, which has grown increasingly sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, and transphobic through the Stop and Frisk policy and abuse of power. We do not feel safe. Through this film we are calling allies and survivors of all identities to work together to enact change, not only in our cities but our justice system as a whole.
http://www.connecther.org/gitw/galleryview/id/52
Changing Politics: Women's Edition
This film explores the power of women to make change in our political system and the barriers we face to that leadership. I propose a 5-step solution for what girls can do RIGHT NOW to change the face of leadership in their communities
http://www.connecther.org/gitw/galleryview/id/60

What is Feminism?

Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Intelligent women, do you consider yourselves feminists?Do you want to be seen as equal to men? Yes,of course we all do want to be equal to men in the workplace or in politics, but sometimes we are not.

There are three forms of feminism. The first form of feminism is liberal feminism, where women fight for both men and women to be treated equally both legally and politically. Radical feminists believe their is a sexist hierarchy is to blame for the way women are treated in society.

Social feminists believe women are being held back in the workplace. They believe men devalue women through marriage, prostitution and other things. Their main focus is changing society on the whole and not targeting one gender or institutions.

You didn’t know there were different forms of feminism ? Well, guess what, there are still more. So what kind of feminist are you? Or are you not a feminist? Leave your comments below and we’ll learn more about feminism in another post. I also found this website which talks about different types of feminism, so check it out. http://suite101.com/article/types-of-feminism-a51502

Abortion

Abortion, a topic greatly debated in the world of women and politics. Should it be allowed or not? Is it ethical? Are you really taking a human life? It all started with the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. A pregnant  woman challenged  a state law  forbidding the artificial termination of a pregnancy, saying that she “ had a fundamental right to privacy.” The court supported a woman’s right to choose, noting that the state’s “important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of a human”, became compelling at the end of the first trimester, but that before then “the attending physician in consultation with his patient’s is free to determine , without regulation by the state, that the patients pregnancy should be terminated.”

I personally agree with the Supreme Court decision, but I have a few stipulations. I only agree with abortion in the first two weeks of pregnancy because a baby’s hear starts beating 22 days after conception.  Abortion is something one wishes to not be shunned for, but some people because of their religion, family, or walking to the abortion clinic and having signs shoved in their face saying your a murderer. Nobody wants to go through that and we have no right to judge. But who has abortions? Fifty percent of U.S. women obtaining abortion are younger than: twenty-five. Women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 17%.Thirty seven percent of abortions occur with black women, 34% with non-Hispanic white women, 22% to Hispanic women and 8% to women of other races, according to Womens Center.com. One third of all pregnancies worldwide are unplanned,One woman dies every 7 minutes around the world due to an unsafe illegal abortion.

Women who undergo illegal abortions are those who are very poor, and do not have access to family planning facilities for education and prevention of unwanted pregnancies. Fifty-four percent  of women having abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant. Among those women, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users report having used their method inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users report correct use. There is no contraceptive method that can prevent pregnancy 100% of the time also according to Womens Center.com. Abortion is a very difficult topic to discuss without being judgmental. You also have to look at the person’s reason for getting an abortion and not if you feel that it’s right. Leave your comments on abortion below.

Im Stressed

 

 

This week I feel so depressed and ambushed with deadlines galore. I’m happy and sad one second and the next I’m angry and volatile. I wake up, get ready for school, walk to the train station, take the train for 50 minutes, walk up the stairs at school, sit in class for 45 minutes for nine periods in a row, walk up the stairs to get to these classes. Then, I take the train home for another 50 minutes, get home, do homework, study.  Squeezing all of these things into one day is just stressful and annoying. I’m not going to just write from a perspective that this only happens to me, it doesn’t,  but all this in one day is just ridiculous. I swear I’m bipolar or something but I just needed an outlet to write down  my grievances and  say thanks to my amazing followers for       listening to me  Leave your own grievances  in the comment section;I know I’m not the only one who needs to vent once in awhile. Below is a  poem that reflects my bipolar mood.

Stress

By- Jody Mark

Stress is eating at me every minute and second of the day, how do I cope with the horrible effects and make it go away?

I feel so tired and run down and I don't sleep, I lie in bed at night and wonder why it runs so deep.

Everyone asks why do you look so sad, do I tell them that my stress is eating me up and that I feel really bad?

Does everyone notice how I walk around in a daze, and that I have deep black bags under my eyes nowadays?

I wake up every morning feeling so hopeless, like nothing ever goes right and wondering why my life has to be such a mess.

Stress is my one worst enemy, it’s taken over my mind and my whole life in every single degree.