Blog Four: Womens Art Museum Reflection

To be completely honest about this mornings field trip, I didn't walk away feeling impowered or even prideful to be a woman, something I thought I would experience after this trip. Instead, I felt more exposed since the majority of the artwork represented vagina's and other sexual ideas. Don't get me wrong though, I did understand the thought behind the work, I just personally felt that the "feminist artists" really invaded my personal boundaries. I found it to be a little difficult to see some of the work later in the tour because I wasn't that comfortable looking at another womans, and men for that matter, naked body. I do believe that nudity can be art, but some of the images I saw I thought was more pornographic than art.

I'm not sure how to exactly interpret how I feel so I don't sound like I hated everything that I saw or even the ideas behind the art, but in general what I saw was hard to take in. In my opinion the art was weird to me. There were certain video's I saw that made no sense and even the abstract art pieces I felt didn't represent anything. That hanging red rug? I didn't get any of those images. I think that if I had a better understanding of the time and the feminist revolution, this trip would have been more of an enlightening experience for me.

Mary Jo Larson

I think that most important thing that I will take from Dr. Larson speaking is that she didnt know exactly what she was going to do for the rest of her life but she has still able to go out and do the things that she wanted to. At times I feel that there is to much pressure from society to go to college then go to grad school then straight into a career. Society has made is so that we think that everything has to be distinct way. But after listening to the accomplishments that Dr. Larson has achieved without have a set path is very inspiring.

I enjoyed writing down on paper who inspired me or who was a role model. I have always known who has inspired me. But it was a different way to think about things. We had to put our role model up next to our actually expectations of leadership. I also think that there was a good question raised in class. Asking whether it was important to have a role model or can we be shaped solely by our experiences. During the discussion and the presentation I looked at role models in a different way. Dr. Larson's presentation was very beneficial for me. I hope that I can have such a great experience with all the rest of the speakers.

Guest Speaker

Dr. Mary Jo Larson was a great guest speaker. It was very encouraging to hear about all the things that she has accomplished so far in her lifetime. As a woman I think that hearing another women's success has motivated me to achieve that goal or higher. Dr. Larson has worked with many people and has a great amount of experience in many areas. During the class I particularly liked the exercise that we did with the sheet of paper. I never really thought about values and qualities that my role models have. I always just knew they were my role model and I wanted to be like that person or better. Now that I think about it, it is the values and qualities that my role models have that makes me admire them the most. Something that really stuck out to me that Dr. Larson said was, "Don't ever put someone on a pedal stool, they'll fall off". It just reminds me of the frustration that I had on Mason's Track team. There was so much favoritism showed toward an individual and I always said that if the coach keeps putting her on a pedal stool one day she is going to fail at something and she's not going to know how to deal with it.

Dr. Larson gave a lot of insight on things that we as women can do and how we all can become successful.

Blog Three: Mary Jo Larson Guest Speaker

I honestly enjoyed Mary Jo's presentation today. I found it to be very enlightening to hear about all that she has accomplished and the impact that she has on the people around her. I felt that she gave off such a great vibe and you could tell that she truly enjoys the work that she does. I liked her ideas on "power" and the three branches of it, "material", "social", and "symbolic." I never viewed power in those senses before, so to figure out how interconnected they all are was an interesting revelation.
Also, when we were listing our role models I found it interesting to see that it wasn't necessarily the person themselves but the characteristics that they embody that make them such role models. It was funny for me to notice that the only person that I put was my mother. It made me disect her a little more and to look deeper into why I viewed her as a role model. I hope that she comes back soon. :0)

Blog 2

It is very interesting thinking about the point that kelly brought up about the reading and saying that boys didnt see the advantages of being a woman. I think that society has created men to be pessimistic about females. I was driving with my with a male one day and the car in front of us was not paying any attention and when the light turned green did proceed with the rest of traffic. We were behind this car and the first thing that he said was it must be a woman behind the wheel. We are being attacked down to the simplest level.

It is hard to believe that women have fought so hard for the rights that we have but will likely see no benefits from it. Being a mother, or cooking dinner is the traditional view. What will it take to change? I think about the television experiment where they were able to have two groups live in the other places. They did this by changing the colors of those families skin. Each family had to walk in the shoes of their opposites and realize the challenges that they face. I wish sometimes that men were able to do the same thing. That we could switch spots and for them to realize what is like to be the other sex.

It is hard to figure out whether we will be truly equal. We will just have to continue to make the stand and create the image of ourselves that we want projected on the world.

Blog 2

Culture is a huge part of America, both positively and negatively. American culture is high on sports, entertainment and great food. However, a strong part of our culture is the media. TV and radio both include advertisements, which try to manipulate us to buy their products. As Wilson shows in the book, 83% of the purchases made in America are by women. In a way that surprises me but at the same time it doesn't. It seems the biggest target audience today is kids and teenagers. They are more willing to want things based on commercials and on what is popular. Lots of kids and teenagers listen to the radio or watch TV, and the shows they watch have commercials that target that age group. Music, celebrities, bold colors, and lots of action attract kids and companies use those in their commercials. Some of these methods are used in stores to attract kids to the products. These days the majority of a families budget goes towards the kids: toys, clothes, food, electronics, etc. Girls especially when it comes to clothing. Once they reach a certain age, they start to worry about their appearance. Clothing commercials tend to use skinny girls to model their products and sometimes in turn girls who are not as skinny look down on themselves. Even though the amount of people in America who are overweight and obese is high, it seems like America is telling us that we should be a certain weight or have a certain body type. These commercials are starting to tell this to people at a young age. Younger people should not have to worry so much about their appearance and should love themselves for who they are. Of course this is true for adults as well but I think it's more of a problem for younger people because they are still learning and growing.

Blog #2

In response to Kelly's blog I would agree that there isn't any equality when it comes down to men vs women in the working world. Women have the same responsibilities as men so why is it fair that men men get paid $30,000 more with the same job description and duties? Women have bills to pay and children to take care of just like men. It is very sad but true that some work places do not see them equally.
The results conducted amongst the students were not at all suprising to me. The percentage of females that said they saw advantages in being a male are right. The results from the males are just the opposite of the females, the males see the disadvatages to being a female and who would want the short end of the stick? The percentage does not shock me because I see it as if the survey was about race it would be the same. Many people of color would probably say that they wouldn't mind being caucasian because of the advantages and many caucasians may say that they wouldn't want to be a person of color because of the disadvantages. To me there is no difference in the two. I personally would have not choosen to be a male, although there would be advantages. I believe that the things that i grow through as a female is only making me stronger.
I do not think that in our lifetime we will see equality in gender or race. I hope oneday that there will be equal opportunities for everyone. Until that day comes we can't dwell on the things that we do not have, but we can make the best of things that we do have and take every opprotunity towards success that we can.