Just your average Samantha Jones

When I first began reading this article I felt a wave of frustration for those that blame the feminist movement for women’s issues nowadays. The article discusses how women were enslaved by their own liberation. I felt that this photo demonstrated one of the key concepts discussed in the beginning of this article, for it is saying that one cannot have the best of both worlds without facing some emotional instability. The insecurities women face are cause by problems dealing with men, fertility, and their biological clock. Although these articles are all extremely prevalent in modern society, the article continues to discuss how this is not an affect of feminism, but instead a hallucination of issues created by the media.

An example that struck me when reading this article is Liz Lemon from 30 Rock. A highly successful single woman living in New York faces issues when it comes to getting married and having children. Although her position of power is one to be respected, she puts her career over her social life, therefore ‘lowering her emotional state’. Likewise, on TV shows like Sex and the City, the issues women face when juggling careers with their love life, and how they are related. Samantha Jones, one of the main characters, is an extremely powerful publicist, one who is unaffected by what men think, or how fast her biological clock is ticking. Even though she may be the ideal portrayal of a feminist, her achievements have demonstrated how a woman can still be powerful without facing all the other issues discussed in this article.

The essay continues to discuss how it is in fact not the feminist wave that has caused these emotional issues with women, but in fact the failure of being able to achieve complete inequality. Faludi describes the issues dealing with job discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace, and violence dealing with women on the streets. These issues are much more prevalent when discussing the inequality of women as opposed to the modern woman feeling depressed because of marital issues etc.

In my opinion, I think that people have put the blame on this feminist movement for their issues because they need someone to blame. Although women have gained so much power, we are the type of creatures that always have to find something wrong- it’s the only way we can survive. Men being the far less emotional species don’t understand a woman’s need to create problems for herself, for it is in fact seems necessary to create these problems to maintain the balance of the universe. This act of ‘stopping women before they reach the finish line’ is definitely based on societal discriminations, but may also be due to man’s power hungry nature, or women’s insecurities and influence under the media.


I also felt that this essay provided several connections to The Handmaid's Tale, of which this photo also illustrates. Jorina and I have shared discussions and similar thoughts on the relation of 'Blame it on Feminism' to this novel, and I feel her blog (as well as the preceding discussion) helped formulate my own ideas. Her blog (http://jorina-hlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-dont-need-man.html#comments) works off of the idea that women are seen as vessels in The Handmaid's Tale. This relates to the concept of a woman's constant worry over her biological clock, except for the fact that it is exaggerated to matters of survival. Jorina brought up an interesting idea, that women mask their more prevalent issues with petty problems. This idea was also presented in Julie's IOP presentation where she discusses how men are consistent in their ability to control women, due to the fact that women are still in constant battle with each other over the attention of men. Maybe if women chose to forget these petty problems, and instead chose to go against the men and the media, we may actually win this feminist war. 

The Beauty Myth

"There are only two questions that human beings have fought over, all through history. ‘How much do you love me?’ And ‘Who’s in charge?’"

- Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

I feel that this quote from Eat Pray Love exemplifies the underlying concept that determines all actions of women. Call it a biological instinct, but the majority of women’s’ decisions and actions are based on gaining the love of a man, or men in general. The Beauty Myth demonstrates both these issues regarding women, in a very logical outlook. It is in fact a woman’s need for a mans attention that takes away this power they are fighting for. The influences that men and society have over women are strong enough to toy with their self-esteem, thereby removing a large aspect of their power.

Although this essay provides many viable points, I do not think it is merely women’s increasing power that has led to this new form of ‘private reality’ as a form of influence. I feel that this aspect of feminine nature has always been prevalent- the need to please men and look pretty. Although it has found many forms throughout history, it has always been a woman’s aim to get a man to answer the question ‘How much do you love me?’ and not as much ‘Who’s in charge?’. Women of all statuses and beauty levels face this insecurity, whether men desire them or not.

I found Wolf’s economic and history connections to the ‘beauty myth’ very interesting. When looking at history, the differences in ideals are quite surprising. It is sad that women are viewed as such objects of power in so many cultures, yet the common stereotype of man holding power still prevails. Wodaabe men, as Wolf described, would be seen as ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual’ in modern society, even though this behavior is what is expected out of women. The use of women’s insecurities as an economical tactic I also found interesting, for it is common in society to link sex, money, and politics.

Even though I completely agree with the notion that women are brought down in society by this ‘beauty myth’, I don’t feel that it only applies to women. Although status and money are a greater part of defining a man, the male youth are still influenced by this beauty myth. Boys are also looking to impress girls, constantly feeling insecure about how muscular they are, often resorting to steroids or excessive work out patterns. This is similar, although not as extreme, as what women go through to gain the acceptance and love of a man.

These two questions, as Gilbert said, have defined human behavior both emotionally, politically, and economically. Humans have learnt to play on the insecurities of the opposite sex in order to get what they want- both men and women. The women are just more emotionally and economically affected by it- being seen as the inferior sex. Perhaps it is necessary for society to have some influence over its society, in order to maintain some sort of organization. 

Our Barbies, Ourselves.

Ever since I was a child I have played with Barbie dolls and read Cosmo Girl (and other such magazines). The media’s influence on girls’ self esteem nowadays is a constant and pressing issue that is not being dealt with. The market knows how to appeal to a certain group of people, unfortunately influencing this low self-esteemed group of teenagers into thinking they are not pretty enough, not skinny enough, or not white enough. When reading these essays, I felt empathy for the authors describing their “terrible turning point”, and how the media’s portrayal of the ‘perfect girl’ influenced the way they feel about themselves.

Gilman’s article about Barbie dolls is one of many addressing the issue of how these dolls are influencing young girls. As a child I used to have a collection of Barbies; including mermaid Barbie, Ken, Kelly, even Indian bride Barbie. As described in this article, although the company tries to explore a range of diversities, the classic Aryan look is still present. Although the idea of the classic blonde, blue-eyed, ignorant, and gorgeous cheerleader type girl is still the clichéd version of the ‘ideal woman’, these stereotypes are still existent in our society.

America’s Next Top Model, Miss World Pageants, and Cosmopolitan magazine are all forms of media directed at insecure teenage girls. Higginbotham’s article described the tactics used in these magazines so accurately it was nearly shocking. After reading this article I took a look at my own stack of Cosmo Girl magazines, and realized that every racial and physical discrimination presented in this article holds true to these magazines. Although they try to exemplify a sense of diversity, all girls are equally skinny, equally gorgeous, and have the same ‘I’m-better-than-you’ expression on their face. Even when watching Miss World Pageants, which is supposed to be a celebration of diverse beauty, inside and out, the superficial nature of the event is still evident. All women have the same stick thin bodies, perfectly toned stomachs, and a perfect boob-to-ass ratio.

This idea of the ‘perfect girl’ has tortured the souls of a million teenage girls worldwide. The media forces them to believe that the reason they are not ‘finding love’ is because they don’t satisfy the statutes of what it takes to appeal to teenage boys. Dolls, magazines, and TV shows are all telling girls that if one is not a classic preppy blonde girl, one will never find love. I much prefer Gilman’s descriptions of her new and improved Barbies, ones that actually depict women in real life – rather than a fantasy that all men wish women were. No longer should women have to fit this image of perfection, perhaps not to the extent of that in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, but perhaps to the extent where women can be seen as equals rather than objects to be toyed with. 

Ain't I A Woman?

I have always enjoyed reading women empowering books, which make me feel proud to be a woman. I found Hooks take on how women were meant to be silent very interesting, for she explained that to be the causation of her desire to write. She describes how it was the mothers and sisters of her family that truly spoke with poetry and wit, rather than the male preachers that society were forced to listen to. Since Hooks got into trouble for saying what was on her mind, she decided to keep a diary, which was what sparked her love for writing.

She describes her path to becoming a writer, describing how speaking her mind was an act of courage and required her to overcome many criticism and claims to being mad. Her sense of passion was apparent when describing the power for the spirit of writing, and how dangerous oppression can be to the existence of creativity. It is those that have been oppressed who have something to say, and whose words are those that people should actually listen to. It is not the preachers’ words that one must listen to, but the words of a sassy grandmother that have something worthwhile to say and listen to.

She related everything back to the idea of ‘talking back’, which is something that our generation does most often. We do not think it is wrong or ‘insane’ for a girl to speak her mind, showing the relative improvement from people in the old days. There are millions of famous women authors, whose words have impacted the majority of our world. Although these standards have definitely improved, there are still traces of these old beliefs. Some men still prefer a quite woman, one they can dominate over, rather than a smart woman who speaks her mind. Although there are still traces of sexism in our society, especially for women in the workplace, perhaps eventually men and women will finally be seen as equals.

Similarly, Thao explains how her mother taught her the power in silence. The idea that women should keep quite and try and avoid trouble is not foreign, and still holds true in many cultures. When reading ‘Sins of Silence’ it reminded me a lot of Mulan. Mulan was meant to act as a proper girl so that she could find a husband; however, she chose to follow her own path instead. Even though this path was not the accepted path for women in her society, she ended up with great success. As Thao said, even though there are cases where silence is beneficial, it should not be at the cost of one’s rights.

I found many parallels within these essays and the treatment of Indian wives. I have read many books about the treatment of Indian wives, which is exactly as described in these essays, perhaps even worse. The wife is meant to do everything for her husband, whether it is fasting for his health, or jumping into a fire to defend his honor. I felt that this Hindu custom, 'Sati', illustrates how in certain cultures nowadays women are still completely disregarded for who they are. I found the custom of Sati to be quite horrific, and did some extra reading on it (http://adaniel.tripod.com/sati.htm). Although the origin of this custom is unknown, it is supposed to be based on a Hindu myth. The act of Sati was supposed to be a very courageous and dutiful to their husband, but more importantly, it was their choice. There have been, however, many cases where the woman is forced to kill herself to protect the honor of their husband. It is ironic how the common conception of marriage is 'till death do us part', not 'if I die you're coming with me...'. Although such customs are no longer quite popular, it is such customs that have created this inequality in the first place. Although standards are improving, this inequality is still existent and prevalent in many societies nowadays. 

Portfolio 1

Coverage:

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/

All blogs on the assigned readings have been completed, and have been thoroughly discussed in relation to the two novels we have read and analyzed in class. In addition, I also included a wildcard blog of one of a poem I have written.

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/08/reaction-to-first-forests-in-relation.html

I felt that my blog on ‘First the Forests’ is a good example of how in depth I went with my blogs. I  began with a summary of the article, then an analysis comparing it to We as well as olden fables that support the theme of the article. I ended with a philosophical discussion of what it means to be human in relation to the theme of the article. I feel that I incorporated the three main things to be discussed, as well as my own personal analysis on what I got out of reading the article. I feel that this blog in particular demonstrates depth and understanding of the assigned reading.

Depth:

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/08/reaction-to-freedom-and-democracy-and.html

Upon writing this blog, I did not use any secondary sources; however, after looking upon this once more I can see that many sources have influenced my thoughts and arguments. Firstly, when discussing the psychology of human beings, I refer to ‘the invisible bag’. This is a conceptual term I had learnt last year in English 10, from an article we had to read called “The Long Bag We Drag Behind Us”.  We read this article as a supplement to Dr. Jeykl and Mr. Hyde, however it seems as though this concept can be applied to ideals of freedom and democracy. In addition, I also used Descartes philosophy of existence to support my argument, from which I read upon in a philosophy textbook (Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings by John Perry)

Interaction:

http://3nina.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/28/#comment-23

When commenting on this blog, I found many of Nina’s thoughts quite interesting. However, while reading her essay, many of the statements she made led me on tangents of thought that caused me to disagree with what she was saying. In order to portray my perspective, I included the link to another blog I had commented on that relates to the idea of the degradation of language, which rebuts Nina’s idea that language is ever-changing, and should continue adapting.

Discussion:

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/09/manipulation-of-truth.html#comments

This blog was based on the classroom presentations on ‘Objective Truth’. Rohit provided some very interesting thoughts and argument in contradiction to what I stated in this blog. He brings up evidence from 1984 that rebuts one of my statements. I feel that this blog provoked some interesting discussion on one of the main themes presented in 1984, the idea of what we feel is knowledge and how it is manipulated.

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/10/born-and-raised-in-north-korean-gulag.html

This blog in particular received numerous comments, and I feel it sparked a rather interesting discussion. Both Nina and Saumya commented on the correspondence of Shin’s desire to return back to the prison with Winston’s behavior in 1984. The discussion then moved on to a debate on the idea of a ‘perfect world’ and whether or not it truly exists. Piggybacking on this idea, Anuraag provided an analysis of freedom and whether that truly exists in a society without government and societal influence. In addition, Aishwarya added her own interesting thoughts on the idea that Nina proposed in the beginning about the reasoning behind Shin’s desire to return back to the prison.  All in all, this blog provided an interesting discussion with various tangents of debate, but eventually leading back to the analysis of the correspondence of Shin’s behavior to that of Winston’s.

Xenoblogging:

Comment Primo:

http://theliteraturemachine.com/anuraag/2010/09/22/writing-revolution-of-2010/#comments

I was the first to comment on Anuraag’s blog on the ‘Writing Revolution of 2010’. I began my blog with some of my thoughts on what he had written and then provided a question based upon his analysis. I asked his opinion on what a person from years ago, who is so used to Shakespearean writing, would feel about our writing nowadays, perhaps relating to a writing revolution of another time. My first comment seemed to have provided an worthy thought, for it launched of an interesting discussion on the degradation of language.

Comment Grande:

http://hlenglishmonique.blogspot.com/2010/09/born-and-raised-in-north-korean-gulag.html

I spent a lot of time working on this comment, as I felt this blogging assignment was one of the most interesting ones to write and read. Due to the fact that an interesting discussion was sparked on my own blog of this article, I had a lot to say about Monique’s discussion, and was able to link it to both mine, and Nina’s blogs on the same topic.

Comment Informative:

https://saumya22.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/lack-of-lightning/#comment-19

I was able to comment on this blog because Saumya related Shin’s experiences in the Gulag to Plato’s Cave. This concept of knowledge is a philosophy subject that I learnt a lot about over this summer, and have read many essays regarding the skepticism of knowledge. I provided some information on a philosopher’s theories that provided possible reasoning for Shin’s actions in the Gulag. This information was taken out of a philosophy textbook (Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings by John Perry)

Wildcard:

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/10/poem-apology.html

I wrote this poem a while ago, however it is still one of my favorite pieces of writing that I have produced. I wrote this poem when I was really frustrated as a way to release stress. The title of this poem is ‘An Apology’, and is an ironic declaration of frustration against one’s parents. The main emotion portrayed here is anger, however there is a slight hint of sadness that comes with the irony. The use of contrasting ideas shows how the narrator (myself) tries to act really tough, but still ends up getting hurt. Although many ideas presented in this poem are somewhat cliché, I feel that many frustrated teenagers will be able to relate to the concepts and emotions in this poem. 

Poem: An Apology

An Apology

I’m sorry, but I don’t care

I may be drunk with sins, satisfying my needs

My conscience may be rotting as a corpse

Morals never do stand in the way of my deeds

I do what I want regardless of life’s course

I’m sorry, but I don’t care

Your harsh words may sting with ice

But they will never affect my heart

Lecturing endlessly, say you’re being nice

You say that giving up is the hardest part

I’m sorry, but I don’t care

My heart may be made of stone, my mind dead inside,

And my soul may have been sold to the devil

When previous foes come looking I don’t hide

And you wonder how I can stoop to that level

I’m sorry, but I don’t care

Your opinions about me were never high

But they say the apple never falls far from the tree

I may shed a tear, but I never cry

I never surrender, complain, ask, or agree

The truth is that you were never really there

And I’m sorry, I’m sorry that I don’t care

"Born and Raised in a North Korean Gulag" vs "1984"

Nowadays we don’t imagine ourselves under any totalitarian authority. Although humans are prone to feeling that they are being oppressed by some greater power, it was never to an extent that was presented in We or 1984. This New York Times article, “Born and Raised in a North Korean Gulag” presents many shocking details of prison life that resemble that of the life in 1984. The same totalitarian ideals are presented in prison life, as well as their torture and inquisition methods. Many details in Shin Dong Hyok’s description are tangential to the descriptions in we, which is very shocking to readers including myself.

The first similarity between this article and 1984 is the relationship that each had with their mother. Shin states that he had no love for his mother due to what he had to go through because of her.  Winston similarly had a peculiar relationship with his mother, especially depicted in his flashbacks throughout the story. When Shin’s mother was being hanged, he did not feel any sadness and instead avoided his mother’s eyes. Winston, like Shin, did not understand how to handle his relationship with his mother. He was unaware of whether or not she was alive, but had no direct need to find her. Upon meeting a woman who could possibly have been his mother in the prison, Winston’s reaction was not normal for someone who may have just found his or her mother. Both Winston and Shin have relationship issues, possibly a result of the harsh circumstances they were forced to endure.

Both Winston and Shin were born into a world where there was some sort of oppression, and therefore were unaware that there was any other way of living. Shin states that he thought everyone lived this way, and therefore did not try to revolt. He said that he never found anything ‘unfair’. Shin, like Winston, was given information of the outside world. Winston and Shin share similar reactions to this information of ‘outside worlds’ and are both overcome with the need to experience it. Winston dealt with it by keeping a diary, and plotting against the government with his accomplice. Shin dealt with it by finding ways to escape out of the prison so that he could experience this ‘free’ world he had never known of.

Both Winston and Shin were in atmospheres where humans were deprived of regular human feelings and standards. Shin was used to seeing people getting beaten up, and therefore was less prone to being sensitive. Shin was also deprived of proper education, which is similar to the control over language and writing in 1984. The use of propaganda is also present in both the North Korean prison as well as in 1984. In addition, means of inquisition are also similar in the sense that they use brutal and painful methods to gain answers.  

The idea that a world similar to that of 1984 exists in our world is a scary thought. People who  have been born into such harsh conditions have no knowledge of the outside world, and therefore don’t feel that anything is wrong. It makes one wonder whether our generation of human beings are also living in the darkness of another ‘outside world’.