Module 19

My experience in the virtual feminist classroom has had an impact on me because I really never realized all of the ways that women and minorities view the world, in both negative and positive terms. I am now more aware of how people unlike me experience the world and try harder to be more understanding of these perspectives. I envision a just future as a world where no one judges others which leads people to completely be themselves and not have to be ashamed of who they are. I see all people getting equal benefits, including pay, governmental roles, and educational opportunities. Derogatory words would never be used and everyone would feel liberated as a result of this. I think a lot of this will just take time. As new generations are born, hopefully the previous ones will teach them to be more and more understanding of differences until it eventually levels out and there is virtually none. I don't think legislation will make a big part in getting to this point, because it is at the point where people just have to understand it on a social level and you can't really make laws for most topics.

If I were to advise someone about the value of taking a Women's Studies class, I would tell them to keep an open mind and try to understand everyone's point of view, even if you don't completely agree with it. There were many issues throughout the class that I did not agree with; however, I learned to see the issue from that standpoint and most of the issues I was at least able to understand the arguments for all sides. Feminist education in itself can definitely be a form of activism because learning about where we used to be, where we are, and where we want to be in the future helps to inform. Knowing the issues and all sides of them helps individuals to make informed decisions for themselves.

Module 18

Over the years, medical practice has gotten more sanitary, comfortable, and safer for the patients. Technology has also drastically improved which gives women many more options for reproductive health. Currently, there are several forms of birth control which are all pretty reliable. Also, abortions have become much safer and cheaper. Because of this, I think that women are using abortion as a way of somewhat solving their problems instead of just in case of emergencies. Abortions are so much easier to obtain and pay for that women are not being as cautious as they used to be when it comes to having safe sex. I think that women are still worried about becoming pregnant but they know that if they do happen to get pregnant they can get an abortion without much hassle. This is also probably one of the reasons why sexually transmitted infections are spreading so rapidly-condoms are not being used as often as they should be.

Personally, I am pro-choice but I think that the controversy of reproductive health should be much broader than just the issue on abortion. All of these other forms of birth control that we can choose from today, such as the pill, condoms, and sponges are still "going against God's will". The issue of "what is a life" needs to be discussed and defined before any decision can be made on abortion. Sure, abortions may be "murdering" a fetus but other types of birth control make it so that these fetuses never even have a chance. This may be a far-fetched argument, but I feel that it has some validity. I know that some of my Catholic friends don't believe in using any type of birth control for this reason.

Module 17

I think that violence against women is so prevalent in society because men that they know they have an advantage over women and most of the time can get away with it. Men know that they are stronger than most women and have a great amount of control over them. Many of the also understand that once they commit a violent act on a woman, most of the time women will be too scared to turn them into the police or even tell anyone.

At JMU we have many programs and policies to prevent sexual assault. Personally, I think that the police and security in general are awesome. They are always driving around making sure everyone is safe. One night me and this other girl were walking home from a party (it was pretty late) and we got stopped by a campus security guard who asked us if we wanted a free ride home. I think that things like that are great because it's so easy for things to happen to girls at night, especially on such a big, fairly spread out campus. James Madison also has these blue safety lights that you can press whenever you feel unsafe and a police officer will arrive there in a ridiculously fast amount of time.

We also have a sexual assault support group, as well as a strictly male support group. I think it's good that we have this one for males because although assaults happen to women more often, they do happen to males a great deal. It could be very embarrassing for men to be the only one in a women's sexual assault group because society tends to think that it is virtually impossible for men to get sexually assaulted.

I think that there should be more lighting around the off-campus apartments. This is where a majority of the assaults take place, and there are extremely dark, deserted places around the city. I also think JMU should take greater steps to identify those who commit crimes and making people aware of what they look like and where they live. This could be a great preventative measure.

Module 16

Welfare reform should be considered a feminist issue because many times the people who are on welfare are single moms with one or more children. It is not just trying to help people out of poverty, but you have to look at the reasons why they are in these situations. I do not believe that encouraging marriage will help poor women's economic status. I believe that most poor, single women know that if they could find a man to marry who they loved and would help them economically they would definitely want to do that. However, marrying just to get ahead in life is something that no woman ever wants to encounter. This could be a feminist topic in itself.

Women need to stand up and take responsibility for themselves and their children, without the help of a man if they choose so. Being forced into a marriage would probably cause many more problems than it would help. Domestic violence would be evident if the couple didn't respect each other. I also don't believe in the idea that we need to find the biological fathers of these poor children. Obviously if the fathers aren't in the picture, the mother doesn't see him as good enough to help raise the children; and this judgment should not be questioned.

I also don't think that women should be obligated to discuss their private lives with state representatives. It is already embarrassing enough for them that they need to discuss the prospect of being on welfare, but being questioned about their sex life is taking away the basic human life of privacy. Many times the women probably don't even know who the father is. I don't see any worthwhile gain that can come of a conversation like this.

Module 15

The way that both men and women view gender roles has not drastically changed in the past 100 years or so as much as feminists hope that it would. Most "normal" American families consist of the husband working all day outside of the home. Meanwhile, in many cases the woman is staying at home caring for young children, doing housework, and tending to the upkeep of the house and the family. A lot of the time, if the men do stay home with the children it is still the wife that does the housecleaning when she gets home from work. It is a standard within American society that women should be the ones doing the work for many reasons. First, I think that it is seen as kind of a reward for men for working so hard at their jobs. Many women are thankful that their husbands are out all day making money to support them and feel that they owe it to their family. Also, the woman's mom did the cleaning when she was younger as did the husband's mom. By principle, this is how they were raised and it is hard to change a tradition that has been with you your entire life.

I have not really experienced any sexism within the workplace (at least I wouldn't consider it sexism) but I have definitely noticed some differences between males and females. For example, I worked as a waitress for one summer. Sometimes I would place huge orders and would need to serve huge amounts of food to tables. The cooks would always get one of the guy waiters to carry out the big trays for me and the other female waitresses. However, when guy servers got big orders they never got any help from other male or female servers. This did not offend me at all; I liked the help even though I probably could have carried it myself.

Also, I worked at a food festival a few weeks ago in Chicago. My main job was to help customers and work the cash register, however all of the workers were dong random jobs around the tent. I noticed many times that my supervisor would always ask this guy to do jobs that consisted of things like standing on chairs and using tools. Again, I didn't mind not being asked to do these jobs but it was just interesting how people think that girls can't do things that are considered "a guy's domain".

Module 14

After skimming through the issue briefs linked at A Portal on Women, Peace, and Security, I saw the practice of female genital mutilation. I have always wanted to learn more about this and researched it further in depth. This is a very controversial issue having to do with sexual and reproductive health that is performed in many countries throughout the world. It includes procedures that purposely alter or injure female genitals for non-medical reasons. It has absolutely no health benefits for women and can cause severe bleeding, problems urinating, and potential childbirth problems. This process is usually performed on girls from newborns until age fifteen and currently about 100-140 million girls are living with the consequences of it today.

There are many reasons for doing this, many of which are cultural. In some cultures, it is what has always been done to girls and the social pressure to conform helps to continue the practice. In other cases, husbands are fearful that their wives will not remain faithful. To be sure that their wives will not cheat on them, they perform some sort of genital surgery, such as "closing her up". When the husband is ready to perform sexual acts with her, he opens her back up which is obviously a very painful process. In some communities, women are thought to be clean and beautiful, and so they must remove these genitals that are thought to be male or unclean.

Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. They never get a say in whether or not it happens to them and it is a very painful process. However, it is hard to get the people that perform this practice to stop it. It is a tradition, and something that their grandparents, great-grandparents, and great- great- grandparents have gone through. It is even common for mothers to force their girls to go through the process because they remember it as being an important time in their life when they were younger.

Module 13

There are many instances when homophobia discourages intimacy. Many of the gay people that I know are very self-conscious about displaying any type of physical intimacy in public. When I walk around in public, if I see two girls or two guys holding hands, it is much more of a shock to me than if it is a girl and a guy. I'm not against it, it's just not something that you I see as often. Also, in our society it is considered okay for a man and woman to be kissing, maybe even more in public. However, when most people see a same-sex couple kissing in public, the first emotion is usually disgust. This is an awful double-standard because these people are doing the exact same thing and get completely opposite reactions from others: one being positive, and the other being negative.

I have played soccer since I was six years old and have been on many different teams throughout my life. Soccer players are sometimes stereotyped as being lesbians or butch. I'm sure there were some lesbians who I played soccer with, but no more than on any other team or group. We would have soccer sleepovers sometimes and I remember all of my other friends would say that we were all lesbians with each other, which wasn't the case at all. It was just like any other all-girl sleepover. This never stopped me from becoming close to my teammates but it made me think twice about how I interacted with them in front of others. Usually when girls are good friends it is not uncommon for them to hug and show other displays of affection like that, but I was also self-conscious about doing things like that in public.