Sex and Icecream?

Sex and Icecream 

By: Justin Torres

          So the other week I attended a meeting at a program I use to attend throughout high school. To my surprise it around the time that the program was having their "Sex and Ice Cream Party". Now I know what your thinking at this point, "Sex and Ice Cream? what kind of program is that?!", and the name is a bit weird I know. But this isn't what it sounds like, it actually really cool. Basically what this event is, is where a bunch of high school students in providence get together for a ice cream party, but both genders are separated. Then each student is given two pieces of paper. Now this is the fun part, each student is allowed to write down a question on each piece of paper but the question is any type of question that they have toward the opposite sex and at the end all students get ice cream, hence the event name"Sex and Ice Cream Party".

         Now what I was doing there was to help assist the event since I was an alumni from the program. Now the reason I felt like it would be worth talking about was due to the fact that I knew it was relate to this class in a sense. Some of the questions that were on paper by the younger men were...rude, since they asked vulgar questions. Also some of the young women there wrote questions to the guys asking things about sex which in my opinion kinda disappointed me. But there were some good questions, like one of the questions that the boys asked was, "How do you think inequality will affect the majority of women in the future?". Now when I heard this question I automatically thought of most of the readings we had for our gender society course. Hearing this question most of the girls were in a debating mood. Most of them argued that they would do all they can so that women will be treated equally to men in the sense of  work pay or just in social life. One girl even told the other side that she was a proud feminist and that she wanted to go to college and major into Women Studies and Economics so she can help women become equal to men in the future. To me this was an amazing thing to hear and some of the young men at the program told her that she should definitely do it since she was so passionate. 

          The program was fun and watching the kids talk and debate was fun to watch. Hopefully I can attend next year to witness everyone maturing and hopefully asking more questions.

       

         

Middterm Mapping

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14k5Ab_5k1WU80QDJy3GykD30TjwD9WKOv0KquzRirhc/edit#

Sorry it took so long.

What Does Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existance mean?

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence

By: Adrienne Rich

 

         
          In the reading "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" the author Adrienne Rich tries to give us a meaning behind the two terms in the title. The two terms used in the title seemed familiar to me. The thing is, that reading it for the first time I thought I had the meaning already figured out. It turns out I was wrong and made me open my eyes toward the two terms.
 
          Basically what the author is trying to say is that it isn't human nature to be heterosexual. Rich doesn't use the word heterosexual to mean one’s preference of the opposite sec as one’s sexual partner, she is precisely questioning what we take to be a “preference” In other words Rich is questioning is it human nature to be attracted to the opposite sex or is it how we are perceived into thinking that way.

             In my opinion I have quarrels with this theory as I believe it is right and wrong at the same time. I believe it is human nature to be attracted to the opposite sex because it's nature in general, most animals mate with the opposite gender. Then again there are some animals that mate with the same gender such as Dolphins and Sea Horses. I personally think it is something I cannot add insight towards due to my bias.

Here is a interesting video on how most people don't know what the term; Heterosexual means; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88tWn26bh3M

If you have any questions or statements feel free to drop them in the comment section below, that's all for now and have a good one!

U.S.A, Land of Limitations?

U.S.A, Land of Limitations?

By Nicholas Kristoff 

          When you hear of the United States, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Most likely it's the common cliche of "The land of the free" right? Sadly that statement isn't very true in most cases for women. After reading various articles I have came to the conclusion that; yes that economic and racial class are feminist issues.

          The first reason why class is a feminist issue is it can deal with sexism. Women aren't equally paid as men are, and that's no theory. Now it's true that people of minority race have lower income in the same fields as Caucasian's, but women of color face higher rates of poverty compared to women who are white.

          In system that we live in, women perform the majority of the unpaid labor: childcare, cleaning, cooking, and running a household. According to the US Census Bureau, women do more than 110 million hours a year of this labor, while men clock in at around 55 million. This is unfair and I feel like there is a lot of sexism to this. Women are told that it is a women's right to do these house hold chores when in reality it is up to both the man and the women of the relationship.

Here is a fun and quirky little video explaining the Gender inequality in the workforce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tUrNvIjRNQ

         Gender and race should be equal. No person should have to deal with inequality. Hopefully you guys agree with my topic and if you have any questions or feedback feel free to comment them in the comment section below, Seeya!

Opression

Oppression 

By Marilyn Frye

          This author Marilyn Frye argues that women in our society are oppressed by labels and slams as opposed to males who are in a sense not oppressed. The reason I say this is because there is a major statement in the passage in which the author states that a women is more likely to be attacked with labels. This was stated on page 2 of the passage. The author states that if a women declines the act of heterosexual activity toward a male she is prone to be labeled by men as "Uptight", "Man-Hater", "Cock Tease", Etc. The author even go's more in debt with this statement claiming that if a women partakes falls into place of partaking in heterosexual activities on a daily basis that she is less believable if she becomes a rape victim. The reason the author says this is because she is oppressed into having sex to avoid these label's, and possibly she may have reoccurring sex on a daily basis. Now if this women is to be raped and the argument is that she likes sex and she enjoyed the rape in a sense, is it technically rape?

          Here is a newspaper clipping of a court case where defendants claimed that a woman "enjoyed" being raped. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19840320&id=nwEtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gs4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1956,8664446&hl=en

            This statement blew my mind cause of course any person with common sense would believe that yes this is indeed rape no matter how you look at it. The author's perspective on men seems to have a strange view but it can be agreeable. This is a form of oppression that happens all the time, it happens to women and men. It struck me as one of the most important parts of this text. Leave your thought's in the comment selection below and have a good one!

Fear Of Feminsm, Why Young Women Get The Willies

Fear of Feminism, Why Young Women   Get The Willies

By: Lisa Maria Hogeland

          In the text; Fear of Feminism we are introduced into the reason why young women are in fear of feminism and how to overcome this and have women looking toward the equality of women. There are may quotes in passage but  narrowed it down to three quotes that stuck out to me the most. 

         At one point in the passage there is a statement that "Young women may believe that a feminist identity puts them out of the pool for many men." From a human perspective I disagreed with this statement, believing that all men would see the women the same. Sadly I was incorrect when I asked colleagues what they would think about of a relationship with a feminist women they simply replied they would not consider relations with that women. Me being surprised at the result they told me I asked why. They replied "They kind of scare me, aren't they always putting down on men?". Hearing  this I was shocked and sad to know that this was a major bias toward feminist's and that I felt as though a majority of men believed this bias.

          There was also another statement in the passage that states "The feminist insistence that the personal is political may seem to  threaten rather than empower a girl's fragile, emergent self as she develops into a sexual and relational being" Reading this quote I didn't know what to think. I read this believing that feminism helps empower a woman to want equality within gender. But apparently most young women tend to believe that it will threaten them. Possibly I will need more clarity with this statement as it was a tad bit fussy to me.

        The last quote that I will use is the most important one in my opinion. "Feminism requires  an expansion of self-expansion of empathy, interest, intelligence, and responsibilities across differences, histories, cultures, ethnicity, sexual identities, otherness"The reason this is a major quote is because not everyone can become a feminist, the major question is can you become a feminist.  If the your not comfortable with expanding the mind set you have then you simply cannot adapt to the way of a feminist. This is why a lot of young women are afraid of becoming feminists, because it challenges what they are taught by society.

This video helps clarify why some people are afraid feminism men and women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwqZlsjQm5Q

          Feel free to leave your thought's on this post! See you guys next time!-Justin Torres
 
 

First Post!

Hello and welcome to my first blog post!
My name is Justin Torres and I would like to take a little time to introduce myself and the purpose of this blog. As stated earlier my name is Justin Torres and I am a freshman at Rhode Island College. I was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. I graduated from Jorge Alvarez High school  at the age of 17 in 2015. I have many hobbies which include; Skateboarding, Drawing, Gaming and socializing with others. Now onto why this blog was made, this blog was created in order to give my feedback on events that are in today's media and events in the past that were huge conversation starters.  My goal of this blog is to basically put my input into the topics that come across me. My only concern is that if I happen to put my input into something and if you disagree please reply with a respectful way and no hate please. If you have any other questions feel free to ask in the comment section below.