Reflection On Feminism

In the past and present women have had to endure sexism as a part of everyday life. This is unfair and unjust to the female species. In this paper I am going to be talking about some of the issues of sexism and how they affect women. Some of the issues I will be talking about are the white males club and how non-membership effects women. What are the benefits of having a membership to it. How women are kept in their place by society and by themselves. How has this unequal affected women through their lives and the business world. If women are being liberated or not. What types of problems women are experiencing. These are the issues we will be discussing in this paper. The first issue we will be discussing in this paper is the

I still consider myself a feminist after this course. I believe that there is the need to establish, define, and achieve political, economic, and social rights for all not just

This class has brought a lot of change to my views on the seemingly everlasting prevalence of sexism in America. Before taking women and writing this semester I had not realized how the stereotypes surrounding masculine identity have taken hold of much of the Greek life on college campuses, male-dominated/labor intensive jobs, as well as influencing a significant portion of the mainstream advertising and media that my peers and I consume on a daily basis. The readings that accompanied the course were clear, informative, and provided me with more insight to the challenges and inequality that women have had to confront in the past and continue to face in the present. This class taught me many things about the current

The first time that I ever took a woman’s and gender studies class was this semester, and before taking the course all information regarding gender, class, sex, language, identity, exile, agency, power, and race was based on personal experience. I have never formally learned about the proper terminologies that define the systems of oppression that I experienced in my everyday life. I feel that this information was vital to me because now that I can properly identify these problems I have the tools necessary to fix them. I also learned that may of those themes are universal and the way that women in particular suffer is the same across various cultures. Considering the theories, novels lectures, class discussions, and presentations I can say that I am walking away from this class with an ample amount of critical information. Most importantly are the themes that contributed to my new perception of the world and the role that I play in it. I have learned that gender and sex, contrary to popular belief, are not synonymous terms. This is important because society has a set of sex and gender roles that society says people are supposed to follow. While one is not given the opportunity to choose their sex, they are given the opportunity to choose what gender and behavioral expectations they uphold. This in turn means that gender is not assigned at birth; it is culturally mandated and therefore allows for change. Additionally, one of the most important terms that I learned in this

I am a feminist. I believe in the equal rights and treatment of men, women, First Nations, blacks, whites, Asian, etc. Considering the fact that I support equal ideas in my free time, I believe that this is an amazing class.

Before this class, I was aware of feminism but also uncertain on the meaning. I knew gender inequality existed throughout history and currently. Growing up in the rural Midwest, feminism was not perceived as a positive movement. Little was taught or said about feminism in any primary education. We learned about women’s suffrage and that was it. After, taking this class, I understand that feminism is so much more than woman’s suffrage in the early 1900s.

Daddy’s princess. Big brother’s responsibility. Daddy’s little girl. Some people view these as a sweet pet names for young ladies, but these verbal cues inexplicitly condition women to view themselves as the property of men starting at a young age. These learned notions may take hold as women begin to develop. As young girls mature, they find themselves striving to please their fathers and other male figures as one of their main aspirations in life due to this conditioning from society. (Rholetter p. 1) The submissive nature of young girls is a common theme in literature, but looking through the Feminist Lens offers readers a better understanding of the struggle surrounding remaining submissive or demanding power occurs.

Before entering the course I had a mediocre level of understanding about women and gender issues. Prior to the course, I understood that women and men were viewed in different ways. This difference created issues for women such as the unequal pay gap in the United States. The material presented to me throughout the course has aided me in seeing the vast amount of issues women face in their daily lives and the complexity of the issues. It has influenced my perspective into view the issues through a wider lens which take into account each part of the problem.

In the article Gender Role and Feminism Revisited: A Follow-Up Study, the authors, Elizabeth Suter and Paige Toller, are analyzing societies views on feminism. They first perform surveys, asking people if they would identify themselves as feminist. The results showing that only 16% of the woman and 3% of the men were willing to take on the label of feminist. These results led to the authors wondering what these people thought of feminism.

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

During these last thirteen weeks, I have discovered a lot about myself, not only as a student, but as a feminist. Before taking this class, I knew that I wanted to be a feminist. I believed that women should stand up and exercise their rights to be equal to men on every level. Be that as it may, I lacked the education required to develop my own sense of feminism--my feminist manifesto, if you will. When approaching the topic of feminism, every person needs to ask themselves a list of questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What has influenced me as a person? How can I help? These are the beckoning questions we, as developing and purposeful human beings, ask ourselves every day, and these are the questions that will lead each and every person

Many people are often misinformed or given bad first impressions of feminism. However, feminism is equal rights for all people of different race, sex, gender, and sexuality. Many of the people that give feminism a bad name, include a self-proclaimed feminist that is running for presidency, and meninists who are satirical equal rights activists. In reality, feminism is pro-gender equality and opportunities for all types of people.

Feminism is a body of social theory and political movement primarily based on and motivated by the experiences of women. While generally providing a critique of social relations, many proponents of feminism also focus on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues.

I have a very vivid memory of discussing my classes to my mother before this first semester began, and whenever I listed off my Women and Gender Studies class I remember my mother asking me, “What do you think you are going to learn about in there?” I recall opening my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I stopped, and looked at her and said, “You know, I’m not really sure. I guess we will find out!” I knew going in to this class I was excited, but for what I had no clue. However, looking back on my experiences, discussions, and the knowledge I have gained from this course, I know exactly why I was excited. There is an entire world out there that the media and politics had hidden from me, but now my eyes are opened. I can

For myself in this course I was here to receive an education, after taking this class and understanding things more I now can say I’ve been here to claim my education. When I first thought about taking this, my impression was it was going to be the history of things not on current events and topics that were discussed. This course has opened my eyes and mind to another aspect of the world. Asserting myself and being heard and not just seen is something I have been working on with my counselor. Finding my inner voice and making my wishes heard, not letting others speak and decide what is best for me. This course teaches on how it was and is through several readings and with each reading I was able to have that “click” moment where I connected with the topic and it made it more real to me. Feminism is not just a word anymore it now has meaning to me.