Women today’s adaptation of what feminism is has changed greatly over the last forty years. In the early 1970’s the women’s feminist movement centered around a women’s right to personal privacy, when It related to the sexual realm. Chiefly this issue identified itself with a women’s right to decide on whether, or not, a woman could have an abortion if she chose. In a roundabout sense, women have been contesting this issue in one way or another since the European middle ages. When the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade it signified a great victory for the women’s right movement. A bi product of that victory was a great increase in the volume of feminist works to examine. With the increasing volume of work came the views of many different women, with unique stories to share which would shape modern day feminism. In the reading that’s due 2/25 we read about a woman who basically shares her opinion, which is based from her own anecdotal experience, about how she believes in a women’s right to choose, but does not support women’s clinics like, Planned Parenthood, etc. She shares with the reader how she had her last abortion by drinking a concoction of herbs to induce an abortion. Her desires for privacy, and a noninvolvement of a government entity signify the new places modern feminism are exploring. The process had to begin somewhere, but in the last forty years has grown into a large field where opinions and ideas are shared to create a continuously changing definition of feminism.

Feminism

I feel that feminism today is there, but it’s different and not as loud as it was in the 1970s and before.  Whether that is because of the stigmas associated with being a feminist or whether women today just aren’t as passionate about it, I’m not sure which one is the best explanation why. Feminism of yesteryear, use to be about fighting for issues such as the right to vote and equality in the workplace. These issues dealt with women as a whole. Today, it is more about how women can empower themselves.  Even to the extent where certain women choose to sexual exploit and objectify themselves in an effort to prove they have control over what they do with their own bodies. In the past it was seen as only men objectified women, but now it seems to be acceptable for women to do it to themselves as a sign of power and control. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, who have gone on record to say they are feminists, prove this sort of post feminism attitude by throwing their sexuality in everyone’s faces. Which is something that can be empowering for some, but also harmful to those feeling the pressure to look “perfect.” Something discussed in Mary Lambert’s song, as well as the readings by Chernik and Muscio.

Blog #2

I think that young women today embrace feminism in a different way than the women of the 1970's and before did.  I think that women today are not as radical in there views.  An example of this that has been going through my head during the readings was about woman on the Titanic in 1912.  The motto after the Titanic sank was ruffly, votes for women is the cry, boats for women was the cry; meaning that women shouldn't have the right to vote because they expect men to give up their lives for them, and that if we were to give up chivalry the world would be beyond repair.  Some feminists said that it should have been equal and that women shouldn't have been put on the life boats because it didn't matter whether it was a male or female.  This kind of seemingly radical thinking doesn't particularly come through today.  Another example of why women today embrace feminism in a different way now than in the 70's and before is that women don't feel the need to have protests and burn their bras.  I think now they have more of a dialectic approach to the subject instead of a radical, group minded, protest oriented approach like that of the 70's.  They can talk about what bothers them and what they feel about certain subjects, and people will actually listen to them because their views aren't as radical and are more logical.  It is also easier for women now because they also didn't have to fight for the previous rights and changes in attitudes towards women, so they don't need to be as radical.  

Do women today embrace feminism in the same way that women before did?

I do believe that women still embrace feminism today, yes. However, I think it is in a different way. As many have said, before, women fought for things like the right to vote, workplace equality and things like that. Anymore, I think women protest just so that they are heard and so that people remember that there are still feminists out there. The biggest thing that I think feminists are fighting for today is equality between women. I see so many ads about women wanting to be equal no matter what their race, orientation, weight, beliefs, etc.; especially weight. 

This image is from the Dove Real Beauty Campaign. The Campaign was started because research showed that, in 2004, only 2% of women considered themselves beautiful because they weren't considered the same as women in the media. This caused Dove to start using 'real' women for their ads instead of the 'normal' models. 

This kind of goes with the Chernik reading; she didn't like what she saw an she changed it, although she went about it in an unhealthy way. But now, for the most part, women are encouraged to be proud of who they are and what they look like; they are encouraged to go against the social stereotypes. 

Do women today embrace feminism in the same way that women of yesteryear did?

Yes, I believe that the women of today do still embrace feminism and all that it stands for, but I also feel that they have changed the way they approach feminist issues. Feminist have come very far in obtaining equality between men and women, but there is still work to be done. The feminists from the 70's and before had a lot more difficult challenges that they were facing, almost starting from square one on women's rights, so they may have come off as more extreme than the feminists of today whose challenges are still as important, may not need as extreme of measures as in the past. The women of today still embrace feminism in many different ways and I feel one of the more powerful methods is through learning to embrace our bodies and branching out our talents into fields that may have been dominated by men in the past in order to show what women are truly capable of and gaining more self confidence. Women's rights and feminism are just as important today as ever although these women may be taking a more subtle approach to gaining true equality.

Do women embrace feminism the way they used to?

Feminism to this day seems to be a dirty word in society even more so than the past because women lack the confidence they once had while fighting for the right to vote during the first wave of feminism and the second wave with the Betty Friedan time period of The Feminine Mystique. Women do not embrace feminism in fact I find that when people are asked if they are a feminist they immediately put on a distasteful look on their face. In my curiosity I looked up the word feminist in the Urban Dictionary and it said, "someone who believes the radical notion that women are people." Although this particular dictionary is a farce, the fact that in the 21st century this is an acceptable thing to use as a definition is blasphemy and tells me that we really haven't come that far. We have the right to vote but we still do not have equal pay and men still receive a higher chain of command in the workplace. Not only the economy aspect of things but also the social aspect of society.  I think that women's poor self esteem fits somewhere in feminism because media and society make women feel as if they must look and act a certain way to be successful. This conformity leads to the restrictions brought on by feminism and most women would prefer to fit in the "correct" category that doesn't attract scornful attention to themselves. Feminism is all about pushing the boundaries that a man-led society forces on us, but the lack of support in today's age makes me feel as if lack of equality is painting women in a corner opposite of feminism.  The source of media I choose was a photo of a man supporting feminism and I feel like this aspect of feminism is forgotten - the fact that men need to also support equality for all as well.

Do women today embrace feminism the way they used to?

I think that feminism still exists today, but compared to feminism in the 1970's and before things are much different. In class when we were talking about feminism, the discussion consisted of women's rights, especially voting, along with their involvement in the workforce. The women of that time were attempting to prove themselves and establish themselves as equal to men by gaining the right to vote and taking jobs not usually occupied by women. Nowadays, the issues of feminism as we read in the reading for Tuesday's class have shifted from rights for women to body image. While I do feel as though feminism is an important issue I also feel like the fight for feminism isn't as prominent as it once was. With that being said, body image and the way women look is definitely a part of the "new" feminism. To answer the question do young women today embrace feminism the way they used to? in one word, no. As a young women, the thought of feminism and the issues that go along with it truly never cross my mind unless I am learning about it and discussing it in a class such as this one. I do feel that body image is an issue that needs to be addressed because it is beginning to take over the lives of women of all ages. But, the women I have interacted with don't seem ready to run full speed ahead with this issue. Which is much different from the way it was during the 1970's and before.

Blog Post #2: Do you think young women today embrace feminism in the same way that women of yesteryear did? Why/Why not?

I think that women embrace feminism today in a more broad and laid back way when compared to those in the past. I think a main reason is that major movements that contributed to the rise of feminism were more strong in the past then what they are today. Women of the yesteryear could be seen as the starters who paved the way for the feminists today. Those who rose up to a cause and initiated it which laid the groundwork for modern day feminists. The main ideas of feminism to me arose from the first wave and second wave feminists. The third wave of feminism, which what we have today, is more of a continuation of the work of the previous waves. I almost want to say that they embrace it less because they were not the main initiators of the feminist movement, and because they are continuing the work of others, it gives them less of an embrace over feminism or what it is to be a feminist. If third wave feminists initiated something that had the same impact or even a much more stronger one than those did years ago, I feel that they may have a greater embrace on feminism if they can see the impact of their actions.

Third Wave Feminism

I don’t think that young women today have the same mentality as young women did back before the 70s in regards to feminism. Back then, young women fought for things like the right to vote, and equality in the workplace as well as the household. But today, I feel as if feminism is focused more so on women achieving the “perfect woman” status; having the perfect body with flowing hair, and beautiful teeth, nails, etc. When young women come across the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues or any ad for Victoria's Secret, they start comparing themselves to the models on the cover (who are 99.9% of the time photoshopped).

  

Sure, there are many women who still fight for equality in the workplace and are trying to move society past its male-dominated culture, but there are plenty of other women who believe feminism has its negative connotations. There’s that stigma of feminists being male-hating, hairy-legged, sailor-mouthed lesbians. With a stereotype like that, I would imagine most women wouldn’t want to associate themselves as feminists. But as the picture below emphasizes, feminism is not a bad thing. Young women should feel comfortable asserting the fact that they do deserve equal rights as their male counterparts.

Support of Feminism

I think that young women today embrace feminism in some of the same ways that women of the 1970's and before embraced their rights. Before the 1970's abortions were illegal in America which many feminist believe is a right that a woman should be able to make for herself. In order to make these feminist movements a reality though, women needed to come together and support one another. Women in today's society are still fighting to keep their rights. In the Muscio and Chernick articles, they both discuss from their own experiences, that it is most important for feminist women in today's society to constantly support one another. As friends, as sisters, as women, we need to come together and support each other's female struggles and obstacles, just as the women of our yesteryear. If the women before the 1970's hadn't come together to change women's rights, the women of today would struggle even more to come together on current issues.

Today's Feminism

I do not believe that young women today embrace feminism in the same way that women prior to 1970 did. Prior to 1970, women fought against male superiority for the right to be equal. They fought for constitutional rights such as voting, and discrimination in the workplace.  In today's society, women still fight for equality, but not against men or for constitutional rights, they fight for equality amongst themselves. As we talked about in class, today's media has created a model of what women should look like through the use of toys (barbie doll), magazines (SI Swimsuit and Playboy), as well as music (Beyonce). Instead of banding together to strive for common goals, feminism today consists of individual women striving to equal what society pegs as the "perfect woman."

I guess another way of putting it is that the cult of true womanhood has changed.  In the 19th century, this was the belief that "the perfect woman was the perfect mother," (Davis pg. 31) as described by Angela Davis.  These women fought to get out of this label, that confined them to their roles as housewives and mothers only.  Today, I would describe the cult of true womanhood as the belief that "the perfect woman is the perfect supermodel."  Instead of trying to eliminate this label of the perfect woman having the perfect body and being a sex symbol or whatever, young woman today fight to fit in to this role that the media and society have assigned to women. This leads to more serious consequences such as eating disorders and pregnancies/STDs.

The Modern Day Feminist

    I think that modern feminists operate and strive for completely different issues as they did before the 1970's.  I think that modern day feminists focus on more issues concerning their body and their idea that America is a extreme patriarchal society.  With many issues like voting and women in the workplace mostly resolved, feminists now focus on more issues concerning their own bodies and the ideas that men influence their image and society.  I think that nowadays magazines and media influence that way that women act and look and those are the issues that modern feminists are trying to fight against.  I think that finally women have the power to focus on and control the way that they and others treat their bodies.  Women are fighting more against society and media issues and less on political and social freedoms. 

New wave of feminism

Women in the past embraced feminism as a reason to fight. It used to be about gaining rights and being seen as equals. Women fought for what they believed in and didn't care about what other people thought. Now I feel like the feminist movement and feminism is a social stereotype for women to try to fit into the realm of popular media. In Abra Fortune Chernik's article "The Body Politic", she talks about how she wasn't happy with her body and developed an eating disorder. "And society applauded my shrinking. Pound after pound the applause continued, like the pounding ocean outside the door of my beach house". Society stereotypes women to be a certain size, and if you aren't "thin", according to what the media deems, than you are seen as overweight. I think this is ridiculous. Women fought for equal rights to be seen the way they want and some of them let the media dictate how they are seen. This isn't the only problem. I stated in class that media is accepting women more and more in the sports realm, which is great. However, women are still being portrayed in a "sex" lighting and young women are embracing it. In the picture below, one of the greatest skiers ever, male or female, is put into an obscene pose because she is a female. Women embrace this as the new wave of feminism. I think this is all linked back to media and society.

Does modern feminism embrace the feminism of the 70's and earlier?

Whereas previously, feminist concerns focalized around things like gaining the vote and access to abortion and other birth control methods (as we’ve seen in Angela Davis’ history of feminist movements), today’s feminists seem more concerned with other kinds of freedoms. As Buszek points out, these freedoms are difficult to identify because feminism has transformed into feminisms and in this way, involve a diverse array of concerns—women’s representations in the media, the sexualization of women’s bodies, etc. While it’s true that feminists are still working towards equality in the political and economic spheres, feminism today (at least how I see it manifested in popular culture) seems primarily concerned with asserting your identity as a woman, as a sexual being, and as an autonomous individual. Of course, there are modern feminists who continue to address the unresolved problems for women of the 70’s and before, like in Muscio’s essay, which is not only about abortion rights but also about abortion awareness, but on a more mainstream level, I think the feminist consciousness is now gravitating more and more towards issues like what Abra Chernick discusses—redefining how women view and feel in their bodies and in their identities. In sum, the issues Davis raises in her book are now being taken for granted as personal identity as a woman takes the stage.

I’m sure many of us have heard this already, but I’ve linked the Beyoncé song that was brought up in class. I especially think the part that goes “I took some time to live my life, but don’t think I’m just his little wife” reinforces the modern feminist notion of being an independently successful woman, a relatively personal aspiration in comparison to the broad movements of 1^st and 2^nd wave feminism that sought to make changes for all women rather than simply for oneself and one’s own identity.

Is Ethnicity still important

When I think about whether or not ethnicity is important in the 21st century I would say yes. Even though the American idea of ethnicity has been watered down it's still important to know ethnicities so we don't always judge people by their race. Knowing disparate ethnicities will help us gain people's history, culture and perspective on life easier. For example I knew a lady who looked African but I had asked her ethnicity and she told me she was Nigerian. We began to talk about her family and her brother's wedding and she said that in order for a marriage to follow through both the family members of the groom and bride must agree on the marriage. I thought this was interesting because I never heard of this practice before, but she went on to say this helps prevent divorce if your family doesn't agree on the spouse. I learned something new that day but only because someone wasn't embarrass to announce their ethnicity. I think people should take pride of who they are not just for self-esteem, but to challenge Jacobson idea of the racial barrier that we encounter still in the 21st century. I think if people express their ethnicities more it can break down this white vs. color barrier that we see or tolerate around us.
One thing that should be noticed is the fact that a lot of immigrates that look and claim to be white are actually still minorities if you break this majority Caucasian race down in today's society. In other words, showing how were all different will actually strengthen how we identify on an individual level to strengthen our humanity towards others.

Is ethnicity still important to white ethnic racial groups in the 21st century?

When it comes to the white race, the importance of ethnicity in the 21^st century has seemed to dwindle. Although, at one point it was an important tool for those who wanted to assert some sort of status over other groups.  But with the creation of the term “white,” there is no longer a hierarchical status linked to one’s background. Everyone that falls under the “white” race category, no matter if their Italian, Irish, German…etc., are now on a more level playing field; at least in terms of ethnicity and the color of their skin. There may still be some stereotypes that come with each ethnic group, but these stereotypes don’t provide ground for someone to be looked down upon or seen as below someone.  Moreover, in the 21^st century, ethnicity seems more of an engaging table talk conversation. Where one’s family heritage might seem interesting, there is no longer that worry of being seen as unequal.

With all of that said, I think most people find importance in their family heritage aspect of ethnicity. Rather than being focused on the color of their skin, people embrace the traditions and customs associated with their background. Which is something I fully embrace. I think that there is a sense of pride knowing where my ancestors came from.