Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Lecture on working women
The lecture last week was very informative and I agree with Eliza in terms of believing that all women would want equal rights. I have been brought up in a household that has always been 50 50 between the men and women in the family. The mommy wars that Dr. Syrett talked about was the issue that really hit home. There are so many people that believe that stay at home mothers are not smart and that they have no job and that working mothers don't care about their children and would rather be at work. At the end of the day, it is a preference that women have to choose. It is interesting that there are not more stay at home fathers. I know two stay at home fathers and they work a little bit at home but are the primary childcare person. I think that there are not that many stay at home fathers because it is an ego knock to have to stay at home. Little boys are being raised to provide for the families no matter what. Having a women make more money than you goes against the fundamentals of what boys are being raised to be. I also found it interesting that Dr. Syrett mentioned that for women, the wedding day is the most important and that men do not find that important. Of the married men I know, their weddings were important. I think society as a whole makes women feel like it has to be the biggest day of their lives. Look at how many wedding magazines and expos there are solely dedicated to the "big day". Should women feel bad that they look forward to their wedding day? What is so wrong with that? The gay marriage debate is interesting also. It is important to note that Joe Biden and Sarah Palin do not believe in allowing the gay population to marry, they both support giving rights to them such as visitation rights in the hospital and contracts just like married couples, however, both candidates clearly stated that changing the definition of marriage is not in the picture. I do also have to agree with Ayres in terms of how blatant Dr. Syrett was on what political party he was for and that he cannot believe that people can be swayed. Humans have the ability to think and to change their opinion in all aspects of life. I felt like he was criticising people who do change their minds after thinking through what is important to them. I do not know if there is a rule or anything that states that professors can or cannot state their political opinions to students, but I felt like Dr. Syrett took it too far and it took away from the significance of his lecture.
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5 comments:
So you know, as a guest speaker and NOT a professor, Dr. Syrett can share his views as he sees fit. He may make different choices for his own classes. But there are no rules governing what faculty can and cannot disclose about their own politics-- only that they cannot force you to agree with them.
"I think society as a whole makes women feel like it has to be the biggest day of their lives. Look at how many wedding magazines and expos there are solely dedicated to the "big day". Should women feel bad that they look forward to their wedding day? What is so wrong with that? "
I guess that's the rub--we're indoctrinated into our gender roles, and there is probably an extent that they work positively. negatively, and neutrally for us. I think this goes back to the question of whether or not it's okay to embrace aspects of culturally constructed femininity and masculinity. On the one hand, we need to work toward an environment where men and women aren't constrained by the ideals of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity. And perhaps there is a fundamental problem underlying the fact that we teach women that their wedding will be the most important day of their lives in a way we don't do for men.
The problem is not that women look forward to their weddings, per se, but that they're indoctrinated from a young age with the fairy tale princess wedding ideal, in which they're supposed to be swept away by prince charming to live happily ever after and play house. It's not to say that some women won't fantasize about that anyway--some women *will*, above all, want to be wives and mothers. Others won't, but that is not obvious from the way female children (as well as adults) are socialized. And when girls don't want to play house, we tend to see something wrong with them (although perhaps not as much as we do when a boy wants to play house and dress-up, as it's a little more acceptable for girls to emulate boys than the other way around). That's one pitfall of our gender system.
Thanks JR for clearing that up for me. Raishel, well put. It is interesting about what you said about girls and boys wanting to play house. It is so true, girls can act like boys, dress like boys and they are tolerated a little better than if a boy ever wants to act like a girl. Do you think it is the prince charming effect that makes society not tolerate boys as well?
As I commented on Ayres blog, I think it's good that you resisted Dr. Syrett's talk when it veered into commeting explicitly on the current election and that you felt yourself viscerally disagreeing. In many ways, I think that should be the point of having these guest speakers, for they offer something new and interesting (and even disagreeable) for you to reflect on. As Professor Reich wrote, he wasn't (nor are we) trying to make you agree with any of these positions. Rather, we hope that by engaging with these ideas form your own sense of these issues. If this blog says anything about everyone's engagmement, I would say you're all doing a great job on this so far!
Sarah Palin does not support equal rights for gay couples:
Q: Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court's ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples?
A: No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.
In addition, John McCain voted NO on prohibiting job discrimnation based on sexual orientation.
I just wanted to clarify the positions of the candidates on these issues.
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