Posts Tagged ‘Women’
Wednesday, October 17th, 2012
Now before I get crap for this, especially since my previous post was about how I was frustrated with the internet memes and that this has become a great new internet meme, I think this is actually an issue. Now many have seen the “war on women” that was really kicked off with the Sandra Fluke birth control issue as an internet firestorm, and especially Republican women didn’t really see it as affecting them. This “binders full of women” comment shows otherwise. To sum up the statement when asked about female rights and equal protection Romney stated that he was surprised he wasn’t given more nominees for his cabinet that were women, so he asked for names and was given a “binder full of women.” Now there are two parts of this statement that is offensive, one that this never happened, and two that hiring women was an afterthought to him, and shows that he isn’t truly looking for real gender equality. The best person for any position could be a man or a woman, but no matter who it is he or she should get the same opportunity for the position and receive equal pay. This comment has definitely made man women take a second look at the war on women and I hope make them realize that this does affect them.
Tags: 2012 Elections, Big Bird, binders full of women, Facebook features, Internet meme, Mitt Romney, Obama, republican, Romney, twitter, United States, Women
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Sunday, April 29th, 2012
Now for those of us who have a short political memory Sandra Fluke is the woman who went in front of the Senate committee about birth control at her university, supporting full access to birth control with no exceptions for religious organizations. She became “infamous” when Rush Limbaugh called her a slut and said that if the government was going to pay for her birth control we should have the right to watch.
Sandra Fluke has recently become engaged to her long time boyfriend. What to most people would be a happy time filled with congratulations was a little different for Fluke. Monica Crowley, a conservative radio host and Fox News commentator, tweeted after hearing the announcement of Fluke’s engagement, “To a man?” and then responded by stating that, “I love exposing the Left’s total lack of a sense of humor.” Fluke has gone on to MSNBC stating that she felt that Crowley’s comment was homophobic and feels that Crowley should apologize to the LGBT community for her blatant homophobia.
Here is my question, you are in the media, you have people who follow and support you, you choose to have a social media account, and you think that nobody is going to read what you have to say? You think that people, especially the left who support Sandra Fluke, aren’t going to be outraged by a comment such as that. It just seems naïve of Crowley to think something like that. My other question is, when did people think that social media was a place to put all of our hopes, dreams, and opinions out in public. It just seems like people are forgetting the fact that the internet, and social media especially is a public gathering place, and just like any other gathering place you have to know your audience. Saying homophobic comments on twitter isn’t appropriate. And I hope others will learn the lessons of the recent people to find issues with their social media pages.
Tags: Crowley, Fluke, Fox News, Fox News Channel, Monica Crowley, MSNBC, Political, politics, Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke, War on Women, Women
Posted in 2012 Election Coverage, Political, Rant | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
Hilary Rosen, who is this woman? Well while I have been off celebrating Easter a week late due to Bulgaria following a different religious calendar I get to see this Daily Show Mitt Needs Moms. Now what is this? Apparently Hilary Rosen did the stupidest thing that any liberal could do now, and actually attack the nuclear family, and say that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life. For those of you who don’t know Ann Romney is a homemaker who raised Mitt Romney‘s five children. Being a stay at home mom is one of the hardest jobs in the world, I don’t know how hard it is exactly seeing that I don’t have kids, but I could only imagine. In the wake of the Republican’s attacking women’s freedom of choice it is an outrage for Rosen to be attacking freedom of choice on the other end. The true idea of freedom of choice for women doesn’t mean that all women will be executives, some women want to stay at home, some women will be mothers, because that is the choice that she made, and there is nothing wrong with that choice. It is disgusting to me to see that someone who is trying to make a reasonable argument about women, and their beliefs doesn’t see that women can choose whatever she pleases and that other women don’t need to be putting each other down. Ann Romney may be a wealthy woman who never had to hold a job to make ends meet, but we don’t begrudge Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama, both who worked outside the home and both who are wealthy women. Every woman should have the right to choose how she wants to live her life. We should be celebrating each other, because I am sure that if Hilary Rosen had raised five children she would think it was a difficult job.
Tags: Ann Romney, Bulgaria, Daily Show, Easter, Hilary Rosen, Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney, Political, politics, republican, Rosen, the war on women, wikipedia, Women
Posted in 2012 Election Coverage, Political, Rant | No Comments »
Friday, April 6th, 2012
Now with all the political discussion about women and their biological rights in America and what this means in general I began thinking about a global understanding of women in the world. Now in Europe it is understood culturally a woman has the right to choose to take birth control, have abortions, and condoms are expected. At least from what my students have told me, what I have read, and what I have experienced. But the portrayal of women in the media is vastly different. Women are, at least in Eastern Europe, shown as sexual objects. I really don’t understand why having a nearly naked woman in your coffee ad will increase coffee sales. Now some may say, and have, “You are American, and your country is prudish about the female body.” And that is absolutely true. We are also prudish about the male body as well. If you show a man’s penis in a film that nearly guarantees an X rating by the motion picture association. I know that America isn’t perfect in the way it portrays and treats women, but women are shown as more than giggling sales and sex objects. I was reading an article from the LA times http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-italy-women-20120405,0,2451386.story and what it made me realize is that women do want a respected view of themselves in the media. How do we do this? It’s not easy, because sex sells. Also we live in a world where most of the corporate control is in the hands of men. In the United States we have television shows that show women as lawyers, doctors, reporters, mothers, and even President of the United States, but these women are still beautiful, and still eye candy. When a woman speaks in front of Congress about her political opinion she is vilified and called a slut. Some Congressional leaders still want t o see women barefoot and pregnant, but want to give themselves a bigger salary and cutting funding for domestic abuse. I wonder if the world really wants to see real women on TV? I think though showing women in more roles other than watermelon and mastika sales girl will be helpful.
Image by Amberley Romo
Tags: Eastern Europe, Mass media, people, politics, Sexual objectification, Television, United States, Women
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Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Being in Europe all of a sudden I saw flowers everywhere this week. And I had no idea why. Valentines day was two or three weeks ago, and then I learned in broken English, today is the day of the woman. Called International Woman’s Day the European Union recognises March 8th as an official holiday to honor the economic and social leaps that women have made. There are events in the United States, but Europe has the market on this holiday. International Women’s Day honors the suffragette and women today remember what those women did to help them gain their freedom. This year marks the 100 anniversary of the holiday. I think women forget where they came from. We talk about issues such as abortion and pay equality, when our foremothers dealt with not being able to vote or own property. We as women have come a long way in 100 years. For more information about the holiday and events in your country look at this website.
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/default.asp
Tags: European Union, history, International Women Day, International Womens Day, March, people, politics, United States, Valentine's Day, Women
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Saturday, November 13th, 2010
I’ve never been a feminist in the tradition of Betty Freidan, not by any stretch of the imagination. I believe in “Equal Pay for Equal Work” and things along those lines, and I am rather a traditionalist when it comes to how I view a woman’s role in a relationship. But sometimes I need an escape. We all do, if that wasn’t so the television wouldn’t have been invented. Here’s the problem, television portrays 
women in so many lights that it’ is sometimes difficult to see yourself. Men have three roles, although the actor playing the role makes the role different or funny there is really only three roles: the funny buffoon, the nice guy, and the man slut. Now a show like “Sex in the City” showed us three standard archetypes for women: the good girl, the slut, and the overworked business woman, but what about Carrie, who is she. Well some might say that she’s the everywoman. Well what everywoman has hundreds of thousands of dollars of shoes in her closet and writes a newspaper column about sex. There were days when I saw myself as all three women. And there lies the problem. In a show that is supposed to show archetypes, women can’t see themselves in them. Television doesn’t allow for the imaginative brain power that women need.
That’s where books take over. Now when most people think of books they think of the classics. Thanks to Candice Bushnell, writer of the book “Sex and the City,” we have a wonderful section in Barnes and Noble called “Chick Lit” filled with wonderful titles like “Lipstick Jungle” and “Eat Pray Love.” I argue that these books help women. These books help women see themselves as the complicated creatures that they are, while also allowing the reader to live vicariously through the writer or main character of the story. I know that it’s crazy, that our elementary school librarian was right and that we can live vicariously through books, but it’s true. Why do romance novels make so much money? What Chick Lit allows for is a complete woman. These women in these books have jobs, careers, families and a complete life. I see these books yes as a form of escapism, but haven’t men been doing this watching sports, or wrestling, or reading car magazine for many more years without feeling guilty or shameful?
Tags: Book, books, Candace Bushnell, Candice Brushnell, Chick-Lit, chicklit, City, Eat Pray Love, Lipstick Jungle, litature, politics, Sex and the City, Sex in the City, Shopping, Television, Women
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Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
I was just thinking about the subject of women and power after watching an early episode of Sex and the City. THis episode poses the question, “Can women have sex just like men, without feeling?” The question I have is, why would we want to? Now some would say to me that we women worked very hard in the ’60s and ’70s to be treated just like men, and that’s true we have. I think that some of our feminist counterparts were working the wrong angle. Why do we want to be treated like a man, when in reality we want equal opportunity. Do we need to give up our child baring years giving up our social lives and having a series of one night stands to make it in this world. I guess I’m tired of society treating women and men as the same creature. Now let me state that I believe that men and women deserve equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, and equal rights, but what we aren’t are the same creature. Women should be fighting for more child care in offices, maternity leave, and fighting for the working mother, and the family. Instead there are two camps wives/mothers, and the childless. These two camps need to come together and work towards real FEMALE equality and not for being treated just like men.
Tags: differences, Equal pay for equal work, equality, female, Gender equality, just like men, Mitt Romney, people, politics, Rant, Sex, Sex and the City, United States, Women
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Monday, January 11th, 2010
I know that this seems like a moot point to most men, the issues of women’s right. Women have the right to vote, work, have their own bank account. Women have the protections of rape victim shield laws and sexual harassment cases usually side with the women, and yet women haven’t reached equality. The simple fact, is that in today’s society women aren’t taken as seriously as men, and the person to blame for this is women. Ok not all women. The women who are in those rap videos or flashing their cleavage to get free drinks are perpetuating the stereotype of women as nothing more than sex objects. I know I’m not the only woman out there who is looking for a serious and intelligent man and all I find are men who want to look at my underwear. Look women, I know we also fought for our sexual liberation, but sometimes I think this sexual liberation has turned women into lust objects instead of equal partners. Women, I know that we should be allowed to wear what we want and dress how we want, and men should take us seriously, but that is never going to happen. Wearing a mini skirt and a tube top around town displays to the world that women are nothing but sex objects and should be treated as such. We as women have to control our own image. We as women have to not allow ourselves to be labeled as objects of desire but show those around us that we are persons who deserve to be admired.
Tags: Harassment, inteligance, people, politics, Public transport, reproduction, seriously, Sexual, Sexual harassment, Sexual objectification, Sexual revolution, Suffrage, Violence and Abuse, Women
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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
So an old friend of mine and I were having a lively discussion about abortion. And this friend of mine is PRO LIFE, I capitalize this because this person gives no leeway for rape, incest or the life of the mother: God‘s will is God’s will. I hope that abortion ends, not because I want Rowe v Wade overturned but because I hope the need for abortion ends. I have always seen that taking that choice away from women would relegate us back to second class citizens who’s only role in society would be that of child bearer. Then I began listening to his argument about how a lot of these procedures really do endanger women, and that the pill makes women more of a sexual object because we can be more sexual without fear of consequences to the man.
I then found this article, here’s the link http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1845 and it has a very candid discussion about both sides of this feminist argument. Taking out the moral implications of the fetus, whether it is alive or not, it seems to be that abortion, and the pill, and all that really does seem to serve a patriarchal society. For a woman to compete in the workforce she cannot have children. Companies put up this glass ceiling for women with children. That’s why the pill seems so liberating, because a woman can wait to have children, and have a career. But here’s the thing, when she is at the high place there is no room for her to take sick days for her child. The man’s expectations about work still applies. And with sex, children are seen as inconveniences to the man, that they aren’t ready for them, so women take these pills to not inconvenience the man. It seems to me that the society we live in today takes away the one thing that makes women special and relegates it to “an accident” or a “mistake,” and that’s childbirth. Women should be fighting together to help our situation in the workforce, open up doors for mother’s and wives and fighting through that glass ceiling as opposed to our great gift to this earth being labeled an accident.
Tags: abortion, Essays, feminist, God, health, healthcare, Mitt Romney, Opposition to the legalization of abortion, politics, Pregnancy, Pro-choice, Pro-life, reproductive health, Roe v. Wade, Women
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Saturday, November 21st, 2009
I don’t know if many people know about this, so I am wanting to bring it to light. Now as the law is written the Federal Government cannot directly pay for abortions for those on Medicaid, except in the cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life but the law does allow for the state to delegate money for Medicaid patients for such procedures. The Stupak- Pitts amendment, which was passed with the House’s version of the bill would not allow anyone who is on Federal Insurance to have their abortions paid for. This law also doesn’t leave the room that the current law allows for the states to re-delegate money for abortions for those who choose that option. Now if Healthcare reform passes with the Stupak-Pitts amendment this would restrict access to abortions to many more women.
It seems so strange that during this time of great debate that so many issues of women’s health and women’s reproductive health are being questioned and it is starting to bug me. It just seems to be we as a country are taking so many steps back, what’s next not allowing the pill to be covered under federal health insurance, i’m sure they would never not cover Viagra. What’s next. i guess we’ll see.
Tags: abortion, health care reform, Health insurance, healthcare, Law, Medicaid, politics, reproductive health, Republican Party, Stupak, Stupak-Pitt, Stupak-Pitts, Stupak-Pitts Ammendment, Stupak–Pitts Amendment, United States, Women
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