Feminism | Posted by Alec A on 02/10/2011
The Future West Point Cadet and Military Axe Grinding
Not a single female was to be found in my first semester history course.
Our class discussed this curious state of affairs extensively, and it was decided after much deliberation that another history course offered during the same block – Gender, Culture, and Power – had absorbed any females interested in learning about current affairs in the Middle East and Central Asia course. Do women find hardcore politics unappealing? I think that would be a gross generalization, but the better question is: Do men find gender studies emasculating?
In any case, one morning, my favorite history teacher who taught the class, started a conversation about the military. As was her style, she often began the day with some relaxing banter before pulling out the academic big-guns. She was extremely quirky, …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/29/2011
Saturday Vids: “Boys Will Be Girls”
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Vicky C on 12/27/2010
Diamonds Aren’t a Girl’s Best Friend
Ah, the holidays. The time of year when houses are lit up, the streets are crowded with shoppers, and the whole family spends quality time together watching specials on television.
It’s all well and good, until little gems like these pop up.
I’m sure you’ve all seen this lovely commercial from Kay Jewelers. Where a couple is watching the storm outside, and suddenly the thunder scares the poor little girlfriend into her man’s arms. Then he gives her a sparkly necklace and everyone’s happy!
…Wait, what.
You know, I was actually thinking the last fifty-or-so years of the women’s movement actually had some impact on the way women were portrayed in the media. When I watched this commercial, my mouth literally dropped in shock.
Because along with enticing me to buy …
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Feminism | Posted by Bre K on 12/14/2010
Eliminating Gender Expectations Starting with the Dorms
“So how is your Women Gender Studies Class? Have you stopped shaving your legs yet?” smiles and bickers a “fellow” male hall-mate of mine as he takes a seat on the couches in our dorm lounge. Oh boy, time to deal with sexist jerks that actually make me want to pretend I am a man-hating feminist stereotype. Since one guy in my dorm found out I was in Women Gender Studies 101, I’m now suddenly responsible for representing all the feminist women out there. But wait, there’s more. Signing up for this class also automatically comes free with the constant taunting and degrading comments from him and a flurry of conformists in the dorms.
“So do you hate men?” Snickers one of the three guys. Somehow every time one of the …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Steph on 10/19/2010
Gender Policing and Justin Bieber
“What is Justin Bieber doing out of the Kitchen?”
“It is an offence that we need to share the same gender as Justin Bieber”
“If Justin Bieber was a woman…oh wait, never mind”
“Leave Justin Bieber alone, stop making fun of HER!”
There’s more like this. Whether or not you like Justin Bieber’s music, you have to agree that there’s something wrong with the above facebook groups. Every single group that I listed at the start of this article has over five hundred members. That’s five hundred people who, if they don’t actively believe that, say, Justin Bieber should ‘stay in the kitchen’, felt that it was at least funny enough to become a fan of it on facebook.
What does it say that these groups are so popular? More …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Alec A on 10/13/2010
Being A Gay Teen at Homecoming
I was at homecoming this past weekend and, given my miraculously heightened sense of male gender roles, I made a few interesting observations that I would like to share with the wild internet west. Alright, I have taken a sip of coffee, so here we go.
There is no such thing as a male dance move. I noticed this as I was trying to dance to various rap and pop songs. I would sort of try and get into it and then I would grudgingly realize that I really had no dance repertoire to draw on for that selection. I had two options: either dance like a heterosexual douchebag or dance like a flaming homosexual.
Let us look at the dance routine of the douchebag. Put yourself in the scene. The lights …
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Feminism | Posted by Alec A on 10/4/2010
Redefining Masculinity
With all of this talk of the new woman, it only makes sense that society would begin to contemplate the new man. Newsweek attempted to transform a worn down male identity into a modern lifestyle. Though this may have been the goal of “Man Up!”, I felt personally insulted by this story. The message it sent to me was much less appealing, and frankly, quite narrow-minded.
According to this article, masculinity can only be defined within the domain of an archetypal American household. The modern man defines himself, as always, by his home, his wife, and his 2.3 children All the article suggests that men do is start to look after the kids some more. I have more faith in men than that.
To be a modern man, apparently six-pack …
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Feminism | Posted by Shanmin D on 08/19/2010
Not Two Separate Species
I’m taking a creative writing class this summer at the local community college. One day, a man brought in a story he’d written? I won’t get into what it was about, but when he finished reading it to the class, a girl spoke up and politely disagreed with him. The man was not offended, received the comment graciously, and all was well and good. However, I was distraught when another guy spoke up and suggested that the girl didn’t “get” the story because it was written “for a man, by a man.”
It reminded me of another incident that took place in my English class last year. The teacher asked if any of us had seen How to Train Your Dragon over the weekend. Another girl and I both raised …
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