For my final reflection Im choosing to write about the second blog post discussing our definition of feminism, the third blog post which is where we discussed the hypothetical of feminism and anti-racist activism accomplishing their goal and how the future would work with those changes, and finally blog post thirteen which was Toni Morrison’s book report. For the second blog post I particularly found it very intriguing to define feminism for myself and to understand what I agree with in terms of the actions taken place with the movement, and things that I would alter. This post made me reflect on my personal hopes in the years to come when it comes to equality and certain rights I feel are lacking. Going onward with thinking about the future, the third blog post furthered my thoughts into how the future would change if all of the fights that individuals are fighting with respect to changes they want to see happen. I think it’s massively important to realize that the actions we take part in today will inevitably affect what we experience tomorrow, the next day or even years to come. Lastly, the blog post I felt the most connected to was the book report I chose to do on “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morriosn. Reading this book and then discussing it in my post, I realized that although my experiences differ a lot from the characters in the book, the ideas and lessons learned by them is something I have been dealing with all my life. Individualism versus conforming to the standard is an ongoing conversation I personally have with myself, so reading the novel and getting another perspective from someone in completely different shoes than me is something I personally really enjoyed.
About Toni Morrison- Something I found very interesting when reading about the legendary author was that she actually was born into that name Chloe Ardelia Wofford and got the nickname “Toni” from college. Ofcourse, she later on remarried to change her last name to “Morrison”. She was born in 1931 in Ohio and was the second born child out of four children. Her father was a welder and her mother was a domestic worker, both having hobbies in the music industry. Morrison attended Howard University in 1949, and graduated in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in English. She later on went to study in Cornell University for only two years to get her masters degree. When Morrison moved to New York, she began to work on a story that she started in Howard university, about a young black girl desperate to have blue eyes, which coincidentally is the book I chose to read. The book called “The Bluest Eye”, was published in 1970 her style was said to be distinctive and musical making her books seem like long poems or musical compositions with a haunting lyrical language.
“The Bluest Eye”- The protagonist in this book is named Claudia Macteer; she’s also the main narrator of the book, speaking in her adult perspective and switching to her more innocent naive self throughout the novel. She portrays a rebellious figure who tries her best to do everything she can to go against societal beauty standards at the time. While Claudia goes against conforming, her older sister Frieda actively tries to blend in and embrace the beauty standards. Pecola Breedlove is a girl who’s poor and is essentially being bullied from everyone in her life for being “ugly”. Her goal in life starts to be society’s standard of being physically beautiful, which ended up destroying her instead. Cholly Breedlove, who is Pecola’s father, was raised in a terrible way thus he has no morals and ended up raping Pecola, which evidently effected the way she saw the world. Pauline Breedlive is Pecola’s mother who in the book sometimes contradicts the perception that there is no “ideal beauty”. Miss Marie challenges some of the characters’ conceptions of beauty and feminine decorum. Since I already discussed the main characters and how they influenced the plot, I decided to just summarize the main point the book accurately portrays. The Bluest Eye in essence discusses the controversial idea of societal standards being accurate or not, specifically if beauty standards should exist in this world. The characters all have different lives, them being very diverse and full of substance, but as a whole they all seem to have struggles or an extreme view on either side of the argument, which in turn lets the readers decipher their opinion for their own which is something I personally really enjoyed.
Comparison to “Playing In The Dark”- The one general comparison I came up with when comparing both of Morrisons work is the idea of perception and although many people can have similar lives and live in the same society, everyone’s perceptions can alter the way their own situations and decisions come to light.
Discussion Questions-
Do you think conforming is a necessity in the world we live in today? Or can it be avoided? Do you think individualism is valued more than conforming?
Do you think perception alters someone’s way of life? How so? Does it affect other people around them and in what sense?
Does a beauty ideal exist? Are there both positives and negatives to having said ideal?
Material feminism is understanding the oppression women face from patriarchy. It also tackles the differences of gender roles, what is perceived or what it takes to be a normal man or a woman and what is expected of them.
Three posts that held the most impact on me is the second post on what feminism is. That was probable one of the first times I didn’t get the watered down definition of feminism wanting equality for all which it is. But. I got to understand what is truly being fought for and the emotions to back that. It was all inclusive. The next was blog post three, that is where I realized how far we all need to still go to actually achieve what feminism is constantly fighting for. I had wanted a normal life not sexualized and not judged on the basis of my skin tone. Being able to state that the wants that I had and not have any repercussions to it was great. Lastly, the presentation on Disidentifications made me realize that I myself disidentify with aspects of my life. I’ve realized when i actively dissociate myself with reality or at least when i’m actively doing that. In those moments they are all interconnected sometimes facing the same internal or external struggles.
The second and third weeks blog post had laid the groundwork for me to understand feminism. And to realize my wants for the world is also a feminist fight. The Disidentifications post helped me understand and view the world differently. There are many people that are having internal struggles of what and who they identify themselves as. Everyone and everything is ever changing along with society’s standards. Culture in many discourses play a huge role in the way peoples view themselves in reality. My definition of feminism had not really changed but the way I understand it. I now see that there are many struggles within the movement however everyone is fighting for the same thing and its slowly making differences in peoples some lives. I see it as needing equity within the movement for us to see equality.
Material feminism is like the building blocks that are used to construct what gender is and the societal roles that are upheld. Society is what gender roles stem from or it is what society collectively says is acceptable in the way people preform their roles. it sheds light on the way women are expected to act and maintain essentially this” house wife” like persona or the “perfect” woman.
What is Judith Butler talking about? What does it mean for gender to be a performance? Can you think of an example of performing gender (from personal experience or in the culture at large?
Judith is saying that there are preset as to how we are defined as our gender and the roles that we would be taking on. “When the relevant “culture” that “constructs” gender is understood in terms of such a law or set of laws, then it seems that gender is as determined and fixed…”(page 11). Culture preforms a great role in the way we define the roles that each gender is assigned. For gender to be a performance is in the way we carry out the “assigned ” role that we take upon ourselves and carry ourselves with.
A experience or example that I am able to think of preforming gender is as simple as cleaning and cooking. At my brothers age of 11 I was already cleaning and cooking now that my brother is at that age he is not expected to do the same. It was a performance of the way women are taught many things early on and boys not expected to do the same or withhold the same actions.
Culture wars are people trying to live out their ideals together in union while still divided among themselves due to differing ideas or goals. These culture wars set feminist advances back, everyone is fighting within a common ground however at the same time people of color are being set back in their third wave feminism which has to work through constant drawbacks unlike white feminists of the second waves. In Leslie Heywood’s ,” Third Waves Agenda” she states,”White U.S. feminism has a long history of borrowing from, allying with, and betraying African American liberation movements, and a consciously multicultural third wave feminism must continuously work with and through these tensions.”(Page 10). White feminism stems from a place of privilege which at many times undermines people of colors advances within the feminist movement. For people of color or black people to have advances they would have to fight harder for their goals and work through ignorance and lack of proper allies or “tensions” as Heywood states. Once white feminism actively recognizes and supports people of colors feminism and does not overshadow the struggles that are faces, that’s when feminism would be able to move forward.
Blog post 2: In this post we got to develop our thinking about Feminism more. The belief in political, social, and economic equality of the sexes. I have developed my thinking through the beginnning of this post that feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It’s about respecting diverse women’s experiences, identities, knowledge and strengths, and striving to empower all women to realise their full rights. It’s about levelling the playing field between genders, and ensuring that diverse women and girls have the same opportunities in life available to boys and men. The book “Feminism is for everybody” helped me to consider these ideas and get different aspects of it.
Blog post 6: This post helped me to connect Feminism in a very different way by understanding the event of 1964 civil rights act and the National organization of women. By the interview with Ms. Janice Li, one of my work’s supervisor’s mother; I developed my thinking on what is‘Feminism’ in general. The movement along to end discrimination basis on sex. This is how it’s reflecting my Blog post #2 concept of understanding Feminism, striving to empower women. The story Riot grrl and grassroots activism (third wave agenda) follow through my concept of oral history.
Blog post 12: By this post I learned one kind of feminism called ‘Materialist Feminism’ and its importance. The feminist work in the late 1960s which I shared an example in my Blog post #6( civil rights act). I learned that Materialist feminism attempts to focus specifically on social arrangements that emphasize the role of women most notably the family, domesticity, and motherhood but bring to its analysis an attention to the gendering discourses which promote women’s marginalization.
The posts I have chosen are “Blog Post 2”, “Blog Post 11”, and “Blog Post 12”. These assignments were the most impactful in helping me understand feminism because each post allowed me to analyze something, whether that be a reading or my own beliefs, to a greater extent. The class overall was fulfilling in that I was able to better understand where I stand on feminism. I wouldn’t say that I am a feminist but I will say that I realize why so many people are. Feminism is a very complex political ideology and in an attempt to gain equality there have been many bumps in the road. All in all, there is so much more to be done to reach the goals of feminism but I have seen many things change over the past 20 years.
Good evening everyone my name is Kameron Hamilton and today I will be presenting to you the story of Harriet Jacobs. Harriet Jacobs was born a slave, in 1813, under the guise of her free father and a mistress who nurtured and took care of her up until her death when Harriet was 12. This woman taught Harriet to sew, read, and write, giving her the upper hand among other slave children her age as well as other slaves in general. At age 15, her life took a turn for the worse when her new slave master, Dr. Flint, began to sexually assault her while following her every move. He wanted to instill fear in her and continued to remind her that she was his property so that she would submit to his advances. Before this, Harriet lived a peaceful life and didn’t even realize she was owned by another human being until she was transferred to a new owner. Being 40 years her senior, Dr. Flint takes advantage of Harriet and her naivety but she was keen enough to understand what he was doing wasn’t right. She became fearful and she felt alone because there was no one she could turn to for protection. (Her grandmother would have acted but Dr.Flint often told her he would kill her if she told anybody). Later on, the master’s wife finds out about his infidelity inciting raging jealousy in her.
To save face, Dr.Flint often assaulted Harriet in private. Harriet was aware of his prudence and took advantage of it. She would often sleep with or be around her older family members (great aunt and grandmother) avoiding his provocative stares and caresses. He began to understand what she was doing and soon after ordered her to stay in his room at night. His wife was made aware of these arrangements and became infuriated with her husband. After Harriet tells the mistress everything that happens she vows to protect her. This vow is broken when Mrs. Flint confronts her husband. Realizing he has the upper hand in the marriage she backs down and comes to terms with her husband’s ways.
” Revenge, and calculations of interest, were added to flattered vanity and sincere gratitude for kindness. I knew nothing would enrage Dr. Flint so much as to know that I favored another; and it was something to triumph over my tyrant even in that small way”. Harriet meets an unmarried and kind white lawyer, Mr. Sands, who takes an interest in her. After Harriet discusses the cruel things Dr.Flint does to her in the hope that he purchases her, in sheer haste, Harriet sleeps with and is impregnated by Mr.Sands hoping Dr. Flint would sell her but this prompts him to tighten the reigns on his “property”. After her first child was born the father would visit often and took care of his son and after the birth of her second child her master became more abusive and aggressive towards her. In a fit of rage, he cut all of her hair off, and in another instance, he threw her down the stairs in which she sustained injuries that paralyzed her for days. After a while, Dr. Flint decides to sell Harriet to his son, Mr. Flint, and during this time she is required to work and she has little opportunities to see her children.
After she returns under the ownership of Dr.Flint, Harriet runs away and finds refuge in a tiny crawlspace. Her children and brother are imprisoned by Dr.Flint. After a while, in 1842, her children were purchased by their father while Harriet escaped to New York. She becomes involved in civil rights and becomes an author and an activist. Years later the father of her children sends them up north to see their mother. During this time, Harriet publishes “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” and founds a school for recently freed children and refugees. She was eventually able to become legally free and continued to live a private life until her death until 1897.
To conclude, it is evident that with determination anything can be possible. Harriet Jacobs was born a slave but died a free woman. I would like to pose several questions for discussion.
What are some common themes that were discussed in this autobiography and previous readings?
What would have been different if white people had been enslaved and black people were masters and mistresses?
How did slave owners justify their actions?
I hope you have taken something from this presentation and are now able to see how hard of a life Harriet lived. Thank you!
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