Here we are, here we are, here we are. And Here we go, here we go, here we go. It's Sunday and I've just enjoyed a long weekend and it's time to reeeeelaaaxxxx. Sippin down some rum and wine and letting my body fully let go of any tension. I had a very rejuvenating Saturday, my mid weekend, and I feel good and strong for this next upcoming week starting tomorrow. I'm pickin some veggies from the garden this eve to nourish this body of mine. And life is surely grand. I feel welcomed to live and very appreciating of my soul. Now that I have this blog thing down a bit better, I will be updating most everyday. So don't be shy to check in and see what's going up and what's coming down. Alright everyone, a splendid week to you all. ciao

Inuit women

I found this article to be very moving. It talked about the different elements this one group of Inuit women have to deal with on a daily basis. It also brings in a different type of oppression that I had never thought about before, the fight for environmental justice. The author talks about how these women have been digesting toxins that were in their foods. The most horrific part about this is that majority of the toxin are coming from the emissions from the United States. I always thought about the clarity of our air, in regards to our earth, environment, and surrounding communities. I never thought about my driving emissions affecting the reproductive rights of another woman. Maybe I have just been naive, and I feel as though this maybe that was intent of this class, to get us to think critically about our words, actions, and perceptions, and how they are very narrow-minded to the perspectives to those women around the world. We really need to more knowledgeable to women's suffering on a more global level. I thought it was very interesting when I asked people in class if they would give up their food, which is apart of their cultural identity, to life a "non-toxic" life. It was interesting to see how people laughed at the situation, and then proceeded to say that it was a "no-brainer." I thought that this whole mentality was what Americans so often get accused of, not being able to see the broader picture. It might be simple for African American women per say to stop eating churches chicken (stereotype) if it were poisoned. These women do not have many choices, and it is apart of their cultural identity, to eat fish, and meat. So how can we really look down on them for keeping their pride, and identity, if anything we should be ashamed that we could so willingly give up our identity without thought. 

Paris is Burning

After watching the movie Paris is Burning, I was introduced to a world that I have never encountered before. In the time period that the film was created, homosexuality wasn't openly accepted. Gay communities were formed among the members, but it was in discreet fashion.
When the movie first started I was startled by the young boys who were expressing their sexual orientation. I have never witnessed young boys who freely spoke about their non-traditional sexuality in today's society. At that point in the film, I assumed that many documentaries and glimpses into homosexuals lives were coming up. This indeed happened, but I didn't expect to see vogues in underground New York.
A ball is a term that I have never used, and probably never would have unless I watched this movie. I was confused at first with the true propose besides just dressing up and being in character. When I finally realized the overall theme, it proved that regardless of how one appears on the outside they can have dreams to be something else in life. For example the military solider, the butch queen, or the Wall Street trader never popped in my head for runway. The ball was an entirely different world, that had to be kept underground. Given that homosexuality wasn't widely accepted still doesn't mean that individuals have to express themselves behind closed doors. This movie proves how close minded society is. We fail to respect differences amongst one another and continuously point the finger as if someone has to right to say they are better than someone else.
The movie took an nontraditional approach to breaking down social norms and implementing openness. Without documentaries and readings on issues that we fail to air in public, many things are hidden from the outside world. The more understanding I receive about people who may not have the same sexual orientation as me, broadens my understanding of different lifestyles.

Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory

When looking at the title of the reading, and seeing the word disability I wondered how the article would tie in with Feminist Theory. I always viewed disability as something uncontrollable, a function that someone simply inherited without asking. In some ways this is true, but after reading Garland-Thomson's article my understanding of disability in today's society was broadened.
Continuously in class we discuss race, sexuality, class and ethnicity and how they affect people's lives. Just as all of these social constructions are intersecting, I never thought about disability be included with these topics. When I read it, I was upset that I never realized how people living with disabilities truly have a different experience when going through life. The way outsiders observe people with disabilities as if they are abnormal or deformed is unfortunate. Many of us are too close minded when we think of how people should physically appear on the outside. One is deemed as normal if they are smart, healthy, or attractive, but individuals who appear to be frail or sickly don't receive as much attention or respect.
Growing up I was always referred to as the person who talked to people who appeared "different." While most people were concerned about the "in" crowd, typically jocks or cheerleaders I was drawn in by the "outcasts" who many of times had physical disabilities. Whenever I saw how people stared at these individuals or made fun of conditions they couldn't control, it made me angry. I could truly see the character of individuals that were held on a pedestal based on the way they treated others. I felt like it was my responsibility to eliminate these hurts that individuals were facing by simply changing the way I treated those that are considered "different."

Medical World and Women

Do doctors take women seriously? This article had me thinking about the episode of one of my favorite television shows, The Golden Girls. When one of the main protagonists feels she is deeply sick she is dismissed because she is an elderly woman. Since her illness has yet to be categorized she is not taken seriously. Just like Audre Lourde, Dorothy had an intuition on her body that proved to be right. Dorothy really was sick and Lourde did not have to have the medical surgery on her liver.

Feelings such as intuition have been linked as a woman’s trait. Arguably, that’s why intuition is not taken as seriously as “scientific facts”. When Lourde first hears about the possibility of liver cancer she says that she would like some time and “feel” the situation out. She wanted to see what was best for her body. She initially was basing this off of her instincts not scientific fact. What was probably the most chilling thing about this article was the doctor’s response. Instead of assuring her that the situation needed to be addressed quickly, he stated, “’If you do not do exactly what I tell you to do right now without questions you are going to die a horrible death’(150).”

The second article, I understood but did not agree, maybe because I have no idea what is fat and what is obese to the author. In my eyes obese in when a person’s weight jeopardizes their health and fat is when a person goes above the range of their ideal body weight. The second article, I understood but did not agree, maybe because I have no idea what is fat and what is obese to the author. In my eyes obese in when a person’s weight jeopardizes their health and fat is when a person goes above the range of their ideal body weight. I remember watching Tyra Banks show and becoming infuriated at the comment that hating fat people is the last tolerated prejudice. Sexism and racism are tolerated in our society as well. I also felt it devalued both oppressions. I felt this article had a similar tone. However, I did like that the author brought up the issue of larger women being accepted in Chicano,Latino, and African Descendant’s culture. This is not a triumph because these groups are marginalized so it does not in anyway help the plight of the overweight.

Race Gender and Work

Race Gender and Work was a pleasant article that seemed to be a highlight of the teaching all year in Feminist Theory and my Spelman career. The roles of women in the United States alone have been different. White middle class women were expected to work at home while black women were expected to do domestic work for middle class white women. What was intriguing to me about this article was the fact that separation between races is not natural. Perhaps the categorical nature of our society has caused me to believe that race is a natural division. Everything from poetry to history is separated by race. Is this away to keep people (women included) inherently divided?

Some would argue that the goals in Jennifer Baumgardner’s and Amy Richards’ Third Wave Manifesta from Manifesta mirror that of an Utopian society. I would argue that it is one of an egalitarian society. After reading Race, Gender and Work, Gender, race-ethnicity and class are not natural or biological categories (12). Society has led me to believe that how the world works and how it is divided in natural. However, there is nothing natural about it. That is how ingrained the oppression in our world is in our sub-conscious. How do we fix the problems addressed in this reading? I believe it is as simple as acting out the points in the manifesta.

Out of all the major points, the first point is the one that stuck with me. This part discussed making unacknowledged feminists, proud feminists. In this class we have spoken about friends, family, and ourselves on having ideals of feminism but not being feminists. Why is that? Is it because we truly feel that feminism is not for us or is it because of some fear that we will take on the stereotypical negative persona of a feminist? I feel if we call it what it is instead of going around the issue that real significant change can be made.

hmm

In the article “Fat Studies” I could not help and think about how issues around obesity seem to be once again a problem faced largely by women of color. Would obesity be such a “gross” concept if it were a majority white man’s problem? Weight loss commercials target women and a larger rate then men. Is this a way to control body image? In “Sex and Far Chics: Deterritorializing the Fat Female Body,: Jana Evans Braziel examines the cultural positioning of the fat femal body between two poles-the asexuality of obesity and the extreme salacious-ness (or hyper sexuality) of fat femmes, who threaten to devour all. Deconstructing these poles, Braziel suggests that because fatness has been seen through the history of Western thought as threatening to stability, order, and hierarchy, it needs to be tamed of delaminated (13). This made me think of Venus Hottentot, and women like her who had different body types. They were not celebrated but thought of as too strong, powerful, they had too much presence, and were threatening. As woman interested in woman’s health, I do not agree with being unhealthy, but not being rail thin does not constitute obesity. 

Cancer Diaries

How are women treated in the medical world? I do not mean medically but how are the perceived by medicinal personnel and how do those perceptions dictate how they are taken care of? In Cancer Diaries by Audre Lorde she is not treated like a person and her feeling on her body are not taken into account. After getting the news she has cancer, the hospital has to determine if she can even pay for her treatment. Lorde recounts

The fist people who interviewed me in white coats from behind a computer were only interested in my health-care benefits and proposed method of payment. Those crucial facts determined what kind of plastic ID card I would be given, and without a plastic ID card, no one at all was allowed upstairs to see any doctor, as I was told by the uniformed, pistoled guards at all the stairwells ( Lorde 150)

This made me think of indirect racism and sexism. Even though Lorde could afford to get treatment, there is an economic barrier that is most-likely going to effect women of color. Unlike in the fifties where laws blatantly excluded groups of people, there are policies that are similar to the Grandfather Clause (where citizens in the U.S could vote if there grandfather could) a, meaning a significant amount of a group will be disadvantaged and discriminated against.

inuit

Anne Lucas’s article No Remedy for the Inuit describes how the environment of the Inuit and its waters are contaminated and polluted which is also causing their food sources to also be contaminated which affects the health of the community and especially breast-fed babies. This article made think of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina who are currently living in contaminated FEMA trailers. I am trying to fathom how and why anyone with authority, power and money can allow this to happen to human beings…period. I am sure if the Inuit women, or people, had a choice in what they ate and lived, it wouldn’t be there. A classmate asked if we ever thought about the foods we eat and their relation to our culture and if we had to sacrifice our choice of foods related to our culture would we. Most argued that the question posed wouldn’t be much of an issue to those who have options to eat different foods (for whatever reason) and those who do not have a choice in changing their diet or foods, are forced to continue to eat contaminated foods for survival. I wonder if compassion, sympathy and empathy for others as scarce as common sense…..

"contesting cultures:westernization, respect for cultures, and third-world feminists"

Narayan presents an idea in her piece that women, not only of African-American decent can relate to, but as we see in her case, as an Indian women, women of all cultures are able to identify with. This idea is the notion that silence = innocence and good behavior. Often times as young girls in some, not all households, across the country, we are told time and time again that voicing our opinions, going against that of our fathers (and mothers alike) and those in "authority" is not "lady-like". When behaviors outside of the norm of conforming, thinking outside of the box, having a difference in opinion or idea, etc., young girls and women are classified as rebellious or disobedient. As the author shared in this piece, the idea of her not conforming or going against her mothers example of silence as obedience, it would then be a reflection upon her mother and her inability to parent. In my own life, I cannot say I can ever recall a time where I was silence by either of my parents, though I have seen in in friendships and even other family members. Never, however, have I heard the reason as being something that a parent feels as though will be attributed to their lack of parenting; often times it is in the lineage that these ideas and beliefs are passed down, just like many other ideas that families pass down through generations. As this piece shows...the same concepts and ideas are practiced in many households where there are mothers and daughters.

decisions

Cynthia Enloe’s Decisions, Decisions, Decisions, from Maneuvers’ The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives discussed how militarization manifests a variety of ideologies, meanings and uses of people, places, things and ideas and how militarization manipulates the meanings of femininity and masculinity via the privilege of masculinity. She stated that militarization is the process by which things become controlled by, dependent on and develops its value from the military as an institution and mentioned that anything militarized can be demilitarized and remilitarized. She mentioned that she made Virginia Woolf’s essay Three Guineas an integral part of her seminars when discussing women and militarization. Woolfe focused on how the government’s civil service was masculinized and has produced a sense of culture filtered around it. It also damaged and basically “brainwashed” women who obtained high ranking statuses or degrees in law or medicine often found themselves competing against one another and normalizing hierarchy. During current times of “war”, it is almost hard to imagine what life in America would be like without war or conflict. One can only imagine how the war in Iraq has torn so many families and lives apart, but I wonder if it at all possible for Americans to separate their patriotism, or their love for their country from the harsh and negative realities it causes? Are employers being fair to the general public when hiring war veterans who may relatively have little to no experience and a specified field? Is it really okay for militarization to take precedence over issues pertaining to women or children?

Decisions at the expense of...

Cynthia Enloe did an excellent job at breaking down the ambiguity of making decisions that hold political gravity because it always assumed that these decision makers are prioritizing the rights of all humanity without exception. But the reality is that some men and mostly women are merely actors in the warfare and political moves. When mobilizing support for women she suggests that those in that movement too are participating in militarization highlighting the dire need to strategize and that each maneuver must be closely examined to prevent the same tools from the master's house from being used to dismantle agendas resulting in the false teachings that foster the same issues. She mentioned that without close attention seemingly empowering structures such as all women colleges can even fall victim of misconstrued masculinized norms of hierarchy and competitiveness" (2000, 562). Overall her extensive research was screaming the need for women to not only analyze but to do something with their own analysis to ultimately share with their sisters for problem solving and policy reform. The issue is that many women feel privileged over other women not understanding the underlying commonality that no matter the education or socioeconomic status men or masculinized structures, such as dominating force, are prioritized as the higher class. It is easy to be distracted when on the unrelenting to quest to gain equal "opportunity" in the spaces where your opinions, qualifications, and creativity can be embraced to make legislative DECISIONS or organize in networks such as the UN. The institutions of patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy have been so deeply embedded in society's that it often impossible to even recognize when one is being positioned simply for political strategy or militarization not to be egalitarian.
It was interesting to read Enloe's five puzzled questions that resulted from her research. It was as if she realized that it is virtually impossible to strive for change or confront certain institutions with either militarization (obviously in a more subtle context) or exposing someone without incriminating repercussions such as masculine revenge. I did however disagree with her third question simply because I do not feel that it is problematic to break the silence in any instance. I truly believe, and can personally testify, that it is cleansing and empowering for a woman to assert her encounters with sexual violence and either reveal or not reveal her perpetrator. Nonetheless, the victim is given a voice and no longer lives in fear! Her ability to vocalize her pain gives voice to all those too afraid or confined to male dominating manipulation. If the news of the rapes were to inflame masculinized revenge I think that we would have had enough representation in these political offices and coalitions to charge each one! In the end, I took from this reading the demand to critique masculinized behavior before it is internalized and remains unchallenged. The unionizing of all women is imperative to break the constructs of division and stationed women that are unaware. This is the goal of not only militarization but the previously mentioned interlocking oppressions as well all to foster the ideology of needed power over another (group/race, nation, human) to stay unaware of the mirroring oppressions of humanity. Not only are the women being "pimped" as mentioned in the reading where the women were known as "comfort women" under the Japanese regime in the prostitution system. These women were in place, maneuvered by the government, to please/comfort these male soldiers to reinforce the need for war as the men were "cared for" to stimulate their compliance or ability to continue fighting. Each person has a role under the governments strategy to maintain its hierarchy and end the struggle for their envied power...at any and all costs!

Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses touch upon very pertinent issues, elitism and seperation amongst women. Women are often described homogenously, grouped together and referred to as a whole, irrespective of their race, creed, origin, age or class. This allows for women to be sized up and immediately stereotyped. However, when it comes times fro female scholars and other well educated women to distinguish themselves amongst other women in writing a hierarchy develops, and his hierarchy is representative of colonization, an issue rooted deeply in the history of every marginalized group of human beings. This results in the classification of supposed inferior women as "third World Women." This phrase, "Third World Women" conjured images of African women, Asian women, Eastern European Women, Middle Eastern women and every other group of women who have been ignored, disregarded and discriminated against.
As an African American woman I can best relate to the struggles of African American women in the United States. It is a reminder of the double burden we carry of one, being female and two, being African American. We face adversity from White and Black men and White women. We are often he subjects of misrepresentations in the media; we are scored by our own men and deemed the Black sheep in any gathering. This is so true and made evident in Enole's piece. Using the example of the military and its inter workings, Enole points out that (to no surprise) militarization privileges masculinity, but it does so by manipulating the meanigns of both feminity and masculinity. what boundaries are set for women who wish to enter a militarist world? Will they constantly be pitted against thier male counterpart? omen's identity is often limited to thier gender that is defined under the pretences of masculinist notions This indicates a notion of difference--sexual difference. Even with religous ideoloies, power and human exiis defined in binary terms. Mohanty declares taht "seual differnce becomes coterminou with female subordiantion, and power is automatically defined in binary terms" (375). In other words, men exploit and women are exploited. Such an occurance my not necessairy be purposely; however, the power structure creates an unabled existence. T histype of exisitence is esential to the "survival of the fittest>"
But, what happens to this seemingly power mandated structure in the Third World? Women in the U.S. have the ability (depending on factors such as race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. ) to rise above their status as oppressed beings. This is made possible by certain job avenues with the implementation of minority outreach programs. However, I think to myself, will and can Third World Women ever rise above the confining barriers? The power structure is predetermined men are expected to work and excel, while women are to remain as servants.

My Western eyes were wide shut

Chandra Mohanty's article should have been required reading for me a long time ago. It could have saved my sister a lot of ridicule. Mohanty offers an opportunity to understand how women, like me, so easily allow class to divide our common goal of equality. Mohanty notes how, even women of the same race and ethnicity, will allow their class to construct themselves as the norm. She states, "Middle-class urban African or Asian scholars produce scholarship on or about their rural or working class sisters, which assumes their own middle class cultures as the norm, and codifies working class histories and cultures as Other."

It is also important to note how women can incorporate patriarchial beliefs into their own belief system without even realizing it. For instance, Mohanty's point out how women "assume that woment are a coherent group with identical interests." One thing that comes to my mind is that fact that women in the United States believe that their lives are the dreams of all women. Many American women assume that a women living in other countries will have a better life if they come to America. This thought process is no different than a man who believes that a woman is better off being married because he can provide a better life for her than she can alone.

Mohanty's revelation on "objectification" was an eye opener for me. Before reading this article, I didn't realize that I have practiced objectification. My sister is a woman who loves to cook and care for her family. I have often critized her for what I have labeled "performing her wifely duties." According to Mohanty, I am labeling my sister as "traditional" and myself and "modern." My labeling was to establish that I have the freedom to do as i please and she doesn't. I actually labelled her choice as oppressive. Therefore,I have the better life. Mohanty made me realize that my sister cooking and caring for her family is her choice and not her obligation. This article opened my eyes to my own discursive feminist view.

...and the flies are on their faces

Before I begin this blog, I would like to start with a bit of honesty. Whenever I hear the term “third world” I immediately think of poverty, lack of education, people living on top of trash dumps with diseases and flies flying around their mouths. I know this is terrible. But I am just being honest…and sadly, I believe that most Americans think the same exact thing I do. Thanks history channel. Perhaps that is why Uma Narayan’s article “Contesting Cultures: Westernization, Respect for Cultures, and Third World Feminist from Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions and Third World Feminisms” was shocking from the title. Third World Feminism? Could there be a such thing. Can poor people think about anything else but being impoverished? Who cares about the equality of women…does somebody have some food or clean water though? (Okay, I’ll stop because I am really being an ass). After reading the article, I well understood that Narayan was a westernized as I am but came from a family that escaped the third world. The author raised some very valid points; I have never thought that educating women is still considered, in some parts of the world, to be a westernized practice or idea. I have always assumed that as our world became more interconnected through technological advances that such things as denying women education would have to cease to exist. However, religion, tradition and power still play a strong role in the oppression of women no matter how many advances the world makes. It is up to the women who escape those oppressive situations to return to their homes and share their acquired information with others. There are still many “third world” practices that prevail in America. Men are still beating the shit out of their wives, men are still sticking their dicks and a bunch of different women, men are still treating women as if they are less than equal…and the list goes on. I guess the only difference is in America there are laws against such practices and in other countries there are laws that uphold such practices. But hell, what’s the big damn difference to the woman getting her ass beat.

contesting cultures

Uma Narayan discussed how she struggled with titling herself a “Third-World” feminist because of the connotations connected with being in America and of American culture yet being born in India. She also states that it is problematic to call herself a “Third-World” feminist because there are feminists who live and function as feminists entirely within Third-World national contexts. In contrast, she states that it will only be problematic if the term is understood narrowly, or with from specific perspectives and not from an open heart or mind. In her discussion, she attempts to “reveal some of the problems and paradoxes that are embedded in [the] charges of “Westernization” as well as to understand what provoke(s) them”. I wonder, like I stated in a previous blog, if the term/phrase “third-world” itself seem problematic to the authors, although their focus, I believe, is on the authenticity of the practices, discourse and ideologies of “third-world” feminism and their fear of being ignored and overlooked by “Western” feminism. Reading this also made me wonder that since feminism technically developed in the “West”, therefore it would have…let’s say…access to a variety of ways to get their side of “the message” out nationally and internationally. Or perhaps, have feminism ALWAYS been around and did not develop in the “West” and it was just another “great idea” stolen by the good people of the “West”? Should “Western” feminists just mind their own business and focus on things that affect them and not make assumptions about “others” or “non-Western” feminists?

westerneyez...westernized...westernlies

Chandra Mohanty’s master narrative about the hegemonic Western feminisms their effects of “third world feminisms” contained thorough discursiveness. At times I felt like I understood what she was discussing but then I would feel lost again. What I understood from the articles was that in order to prevent the marginalization and ghettoization (still have no clue what she meant by that) of “third world” feminisms from mainstream Western feminist discourses, deconstruction and dismantling followed by building and construction must take place. It is apparent that her concern for “third world” feminism is overshadowed and misrepresented by the ideologies of Western feminism. Stereotypes of “third world” women tend to construct false beliefs and ideals in the minds of those who aren’t “third world” people which can cause issues, especially in regards to feminism discourse and intellectual and political construction. She mentioned how problematic it is when writers use certain textual strategies when describing or discussing a concept outside of their own (i.e. Westerners referring to non-Westerners as Others and etc). She also mentioned that other writers in different realms of writing, when discussing those who are not like them (whether it be class or race) tend to neglect sensitivity or empathy to those “Others” they may be referring to. I found her article to be interesting and from my perspective I gathered that she wants a sense of “unity” among other feminists and to not shun or neglect “third world feminists”. However, after reading a discussion on the topic of “unity” last night, I’ve come to realize that even when discussing “unity” there will always be “division”. It’s also interesting to me, that before enrolling into this class I thought I had a pretty good grasp about what feminism was all about. I did not realize, like everything else, feminism isn’t the same to everyone everywhere. Although mainstream feminism is dominated by Western feminism, that does not make it okay for Western feminism to dictate and represent ALL feminism and what it means to everyone including those of the “third world feminism”.
Ok this is random and kind of off topic but isn’t the term “third world” problematic in itself?

Western Feminist Domination in Scholarship

Mohanty describes in “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” the problem with the dominant Western feminism and the lesser developed “third world” feminisms. Mohanty explains that Western feminism comprises of colonialism, class, race, and political differences that “limit the possibility of coalitions among (usually white) Western feminists and working-class feminists of color around the world” (345). She exhibits a criticism of Western feminist scholarship on women in the third world. Mohanty discusses the importance of the acknowledgement of difference according to class, race, and ethnic location, and model of power.
I had a discussion in my seminar class last semester about whether there should be a universal feminism. We had a debate for and against universal feminism and the group against universal feminism won. Universal feminism marginalizes some women’s specific concerns of oppression. Women from different countries have different issues according to their culture. For example, women in the United States may be exploiting women in Colombia who work long hours on cotton plantations. Therefore, it is difficult for these women to unite on labor issues. I am also reminded of the NOW movement and how black women's concerns and other women of color were not represented by white women who started this movement. I believe that it is important for women from different countries, ethnicities, and class to express their own concerns regarding oppression. How would you like it if someone who doesn't understand your situation or circumstance speak for you?

Nature VS Nurture

These readings kind of reminded if what i just read in my intro class about burqa's. I was recently reading a article entitled the bleeding afganistan and it talked about how us military has used the cultural misconception of the meaning of the Burqa in muslim religions and have tried to use it as an excuse to "liberate" the women of afganistan. Not to mention that at the same time their allowing Taliban forces to take over. The rading Beyond the Veil... reminded me of how women are often seen within a culture as objects of pleasure but thru western culture, are often the main gender to be attacked in order to affect an intire society. In some cases muslim and western cultures have seemd to have the same views of objectifying women. Although in many western societies women are given the opportunity to sumbolize strength and resistance, it is appearnt that the ultumate success of women in power in any cultural setting is a man's biggest fear!
In respect to the reading"Westernization," i felt that this reading took a turn relating nature vs nurture. Nature, in realtion to femenism in a western society is sometimes a term used very fluidly. i noticed in this reading that a lot of her responses about growing up in a "feminist" enivronment was not solely the reason for her labeling herself as on. i felt that i related to this reading on a peronal level because just by growing up around strong, powerful, black women didn't becom the main reason why i feel that i am one now. It was mainly the time when i realized who i was and what my peronal morals and standards were that i decided i was a feminist.

Telling them they are oppressed?!

The way I interpreted this reading was that the author was critiquing Western Feminists thoughts and labels placed on women in third world communities. The assumptions western women make are that these third world women are oppressed and only viewed by society as objects used for sex and labor. Many Western Feminists have created their own scale in which they use to determine and define the degree of oppression (socially, economically, politically, and sexually) that third world women experience. It is difficult to categorize “third world women” because the area covers so many regions. The women in these regions vary, significantly, in religion, class, and caste. So how can we make generalizations about an entire region?
It disturbs me to read this passage because it makes Western Feminists seem ignorant and insensitive. It referred me back to a reading I studied in Intro. The reading was discussing the Burqa (veil) worn by women in some third world cultures. Western Feminists decided that the burqa was oppressive to these women but never asked these women how they felt. If they had asked, the women would explain that they wore the burqa by choice. It is saddening that Western Women are forcing these ideas of oppression on groups that do not feel they are oppressed. Who are you to tell someone she is being oppressed? Ask her how she feels.