Quick Blog #3

1. An experience where I was privileged due to my class/socioeconomic status is being able to dine out try out restaurants in the area. I love cooking and anything food but this is becoming more and more evident to be that this is extremely privileged and is something those of middle and upper classes have extra money for. The hospitality industry thrives off of people of privilege with extra income to spend and have the lower class be employed at these places.

2. A time when I was oppressed/disadvantaged due to my class/socioeconomic status was over the past holiday when I was shopping for my family I went to a store that was catered to the upper class. I walked around for a bit looking and was not asked if I needed any help, and when I went to the counter to purchase a gift card the woman spoke few words to me and gave me the card and receipt by itself when there was an abundance of small boxes and bags behind the counter. Although I could have easily asked if I really wanted it, the cold tone that I felt from the employee made me feel not welcome in the store because of how I looked and was dressed.

3. An experience where I witnessed classism was this past summer when I met a friend of a friend for the first time, who happened to be a white male. We all were discussing the poor economy and how its pretty difficult to find work. But he continued on to bring up that minorities has an advantage over whites in gaining jobs and that's why he didn't have one currently. I said to him that regardless of equal opportunity employment minorities in reality have an even harder time finding jobs than do whites, specifically males.  Also I mentioned to him the demographics of the Seacoast and most of New Hampshire is majority white. The economy is bad for everyone, blaming another group for troubles you are currently facing as a white male is not accurate.

Question I

Jackson Katz talks about how this society teaches us skewed versions of masculinity and femininity. To be a man is to be tough, physical and aggressive; to be a woman is usually the opposite. He says that men and boys also get taught what they are when they don't measure up to these rigid standards of masculinity; they are ridiculed and picked at until they are raw and hurt; this could ass to the perpetuation of the cycle of violence: like a patriarchal father acting out at his gender non-conforming son: or it can be related to how a person of color with very light skin may try and pass as white and something that helps him pass is to act more in line with dominant white masculinity. When woman don't measure up we are systemically demonized in all threads and violence is used against us. The smartest thing that the media has done is create narrow categories so that we fall into them and become socialized. The consumer culture we live in helps socialization flourish giving us materials to groom so that we have the chance to become the best dominant masculine white man or the best dominant feminine white woman.

The intersection with race and class is easy to see as white and wealthy are the standards we are all supposed to achieve in beauty and society, it i all we see and know of life: whiteness. This creates internalized hatred from young children of color with the lack of positive images one feels no comfort in the world with who they are.

The only recent media images that portray a more diverse or complex representation of gender is the girl scouts new images and poster campaigns, yet at a larger scale it is still gendered because the boy scouts exist and they do different activities and are offered more societal support. It will take more than progressive images of gender to deconstruct patriarchy, we have to create spaces that honor different types of masculinity and femininity and we have to work towards changing systems that put out images and the culture.

Video Treatment Project

Topic: I've decided to choose sexism as my "ism" for the short video. Sexism has become so normalized and invisible in our culture that we don't understand it is everywhere, in all structures in patriarchal society. I think there are some easy ways to understand male domination and how it oppresses women and reduces our only worth to our bodies while making us think that our success is achieved if our bodies are "honored"; sexism is the foundation that upholds the hyper sexual culture.

Story: The story is of a young white girl and young white boy, they are neighbors in a small apartment building. They live with their single parents and have become good friends as their mothers both work a lot. As the only children in the four until apartment building and and are growing up in a Patriarchy, where social interactions are controlled by male over female domination. These two friends experience sexism and socialization in their everyday together living under the Patriarchal systems that promote sexism, so that men can benefit for it and so that women can internalize it: this inequality feeds the power and privilege of the Patriarchy.  They help each other have an understanding of this culture and how to both live in an accepting, equal world away from society norms that promote sexism.

Software: I plan to use Xtranormal to create my project. I have not previously used the software myself but think that most programs like this have plenty of available resources and help tools that it should be pretty self explanatory.

Research: My research will come from online sources and organizations website that provide resources relating to feminism and social justice. There are also numerous media videos and images that are part of everyday culture that promote and helps perpetuate sexism in our culture and make it seem like normal actions for privileged to oppresses and dominate those of the opposite gender. This hopefully can be used as an educational video that promotes positive relationship and support between two friends of the opposite gender while discovering how sexism is so ingrained in our society, and how it cannot continue.

Timeline: My first step will be researching examples of sexism and how it is part of our everyday lives in many different forms on Thursday. I plan to have the script finalized by Friday and start to input the script into the program on Saturday and finish it up on Sunday.

Why: I think the most important thing that I would like viewers to take away is that sexism is a very deep, near invisible issue that is affecting us and the youth everyday and constantly. It is really crucial to social justice that we start to talk about these things and change them, the people are the only ones that will because the law and people in power are doing nothing, it could save the world to tell girls they are strong and boys they are beautiful.

Question H

Growing up I was raised Catholic. My Moms side of the family were practicing Catholics growing up and continue today while my Dad was raised Methodist but is not actively practicing any religion. I never thought twice about having Christian Privilege where the work and school week allowed for Sunday to be a day of rest as well as vacations that align around Christmas and other religious celebrations throughout the year. It was never a choice growing up weather or not I wanted to go to Church, make my first communion and confirmation as well as having to go to P.S.R (Public School Religion) class once a week at my Churches school. It was a norm among some of my family's social group but certainly not everyone I knew was part of a religion. As I grew older I found little interest or feeling any sort of positive connection to the Church that I grew up in. Religion is not something that I identify with any longer, but do recognize that people have positive connections to their religious communities, and many of times becomes peoples social group. Our society has been formed around Christianity and Patriarchal religion that still has systems operating around their practices. How can the U.S. present itself as a place of diversity and a melting pot of various cultures and religions when there is continuous acts of oppression towards people that do not identify with society norms, in this case Christianity. Blumrnfeld pointed out that in reality "the United States today stands as the most religiously diverse country in the world," there is a need to reform basic practices in our daily lives to be more accepting and accommodating to people who do not practice Christianity.

Question G

I choose to discuss "The Girls Next Door" by Peter Landesman. This article I thought was very important to include in the discussion of the perpetuation of classism in our society today. Capitalism has had a major influence in creating these social classes and it is white men that who sit at the top, in control. Policemen, who are perceived to be authoritative figures who promote safety for all members in society have taken advantage of their position of power  "border agents and local policemen usually don't know trafficking when they see it. The operating assumption among American police departments is that woman who sell their bodies do so by choice..." This is the ruling idea that keeps women in an inferior position, yet when you look closer and break down the conditions that women in sex trafficking face we see that it is not a choice but rather a result of severe classism and misogyny. Capitalism is set up to benefit the privileged, those who are privileged construct systems to deprive people--and make money-- of lower class into conditions that we are also socialized to hate.


"With new Internet technology, pornography is becoming more pervasive. With Web cams we're seeing more live molestation of children." The combination of porn and the Internet has influenced the current state of society very much. The men in control use every medium they can to foster the sale and domination of women and girls. A sex worker who was held captive for a number of years, said "In America we had 'special jobs.' Oral sex, anal sex, often with many men. Sex is now more adventurous, harder." She said that she believed younger foreign girls were in demand in the U.S. because of an increased appetite for more aggressive, dangerous sex. --> This is a direct link to the effects of pornography! The current porn industry is getting more and more violent as the people consuming just become more and more numb.

Question F

I liked learning about this experiment and think that it is a productive way to help children understand race, especially white kids. It can be seen as unethical but really only in ignorance. This was an opportunity to help these children understand white supremacy. She is teaching the children a reality that most of them have not had to deal with and that have had the privilege to ignore. She is interrupting at a time in the child's life where children are lead astray, towards racist ideals in the media, law and family.

It is clear to see she had the best interest of the children in mind, this was going to benefit them and their interactions with others. Children are more comfortable and open when they are engaged in learning, this was a very effective exercise; it was great to see what the reactions of the children were and not surprising the backlash she faced. I don't think it was cruel, it was real. The biggest mistake in our education system is that we deny reality and teach inequality, through hidden curriculum. This was an amazing step toward social change; it really does start with the youth. Children are free and have no intent to hate or discriminate; that is something our society instills, like Elliot says how teachers perpetuate racism. This exercise highlights the importance of honoring difference and also bystander importance; we don't teach others to treat people differently, we teach our youth that we are all different and no one should be treated different or inferior because of that. 

Quick Blog #2

This article I stumbled upon this week while reading the newspaper from my home. While deconstructing the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy that we are all stuck living in today, the issue of domestic violence is a difficult cycle to break. Laura a survivor of domestic violence story is shared and gives hope for individuals to break away from the cycle of violence and establish a new life as an advocate and support for others wanting to leave abusive relationships. I thought this related to what we have been discussing about gender, male supremacy and ways that victims have been able to break away from the structure of violence to find a better life for themselves and helping others find safety and a community to call home.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/01/community_hero_2010_laura_cowa.html