#crz19

what really drew me in to what eve ensler had to saw was her focus on telling the stories of individuals. Since writing the Vagina Monologues, she has spent her time traveling and empowering women around the world. She would tell stories of a young girl in south east asia, or a group of factory workers in bangladesh, and I could feel the amount of respect and reverence she had for these women. To me, it seems like eve ensler has fought the fight to end sexual violence for so long because she is in awe of women and the strength they can have in hard times.

How is using such a metaphor a good way of describing science? When we were told that our newly made up metaphors didnt have to be scientifically accurate, I felt that such a move was not helping the cause of equality at all. How can we be taken seriously if our studies and ideas are not as rigorous as they should be?

    If I do look nice, is it actually true that others will discount my positive attributes more than they would if I looked plain? I am not sure about this and haven’t studied peoples’ reactions to the few times where I have looked nice enough to say. Perhaps this lack of confidence is just in my head, and perhaps my discomfort with looking pretty goes deeper than what is discussed here. However, I was happy this topic was touched on in class because I certainly did learn more about why I act the way I do and what that says about me. 

Continuing on the topic of perspectives, I appreciated each speaker defining a person’s religion based on each person’s own life. Religious experience is different for everyone, and their emphasis on religion being a guide and a tool that is a supportive measure instead of a restrictive one is important. It reminds us that it is ok if we disagree with some of the rules or values our religion holds because we can mold our religious beliefs to what is best for us. This creates a much more inclusive, thoughtful, inspiring environment.

In response to our plenary on Wednesday, something that stuck with me was Caitlyn’s beginning comment on her feeling of the impostor syndrome when she was successful in her career. This comment stuck with me, and one of my classmates expanded on her point, saying that women experienced impostor syndrome while men did not. This comment made me pause because I don’t think states of mind like the impostor syndrome can only be attributed to one gender. Instead, we have to look at why people feel like they are impostors when they are successful? While in class we discussed the difference between this feeling and the feeling of doubt, which is a normal emotion, we never discussed further the roots of this state of mind. On one hand, I think it is a normal condition that a lot of people go through- there is a large dissonance between what we see as the intentions/actions of others versus our own. On the other hand, there are some people that do inherently have different views of themselves. One of my favorite popular psych books talks about those who explain things that happen to them as either due to outside causes or due to their own attributes. For example, if someone fails at something they can explain the failure in two ways- either because of situations outside of their control or because of some characteristic that they have that made them fail. In the same way, if someone succeeds at something, they can explain it to themselves in two main ways- either the success was due to outside factors that they had nothing to do with, or the success was due to their own work and traits. People who experience impostor syndrome are more likely to see failures as their own fault and successes as the doing of outside forces. This reasoning isnt necessarily something unchangeable or something someone is born with, so we have to ask how do these paths of reasoning come about? Is it due to societal comments about the strengths and weaknesses stereotyped to different genders? Possibly. It does not mean that only females are likely to experience impostor syndrome, but rather maybe they are just more likely to.

Leaving class after our second meeting around the topic of race and ethnicity, I wished that we could have had a longer talk during the larger racial caucus. My hope is that we can establish a way to further the conversation, whether that is in class as part of other discussions that are about other topics or online over internet forums like this one. If the best way to talk about new points is over tumblr, is the question and answer format the best? The question I pose is- what do you think is the best way to help others that have not had your experiences learn to empathize with you as if they had? What are good questions for us to ask each other? Audre Lorde says that women, especially white women, are pressured by mainstream communications to not respond to racism. To counteract this, and to build a response, questions must be asked and the conversation must be furthered so that well thought out answers can be provided in response to racism.