#mimireininga

Their goal is to create a climate of respect, equality and (sexual) safety on their campus. Instead they seem to be perpetuating sexism with their names.

Here are quotes from the articles:

  -If Man Up is attempting to create a climate of respect on campus, then why does its title perpetuate the most stereotypical vision of masculinity — a masculinity that inherently degrades feminine identities? The phrase “man up” is one of the most common, and most misogynistic, expressions of patriarchy. This idiom literally means “don’t act like a woman”; for an organization that claims to be about respect, its title is pretty impudent.

  - WOW Factor!, otherwise known as Women of Worth, is the feminine response and partner of Man Up; and at least women have a voice in this organization, right? Well, sure. First of all, the phrase “Women of Worth” implies that only once a woman has joined WOW Factor! can she be considered “of worth.” Of course, this implication might not have been the intention of the club’s charter members, but it certainly is an implication. Plus, as much as this club claims it is about teaching women to respect themselves, this club focuses on teaching women how to warrant respect from men and their sponsored events prove this.

  This is important to me because I feel that a lot of latent sexism is trapped in the words we use and their implications and I believe we often underestimate the power of these words.

These are some specific quotes for Simone de Beauvoir's "Second Sex" that have fed my thoughts….

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

“Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth."

Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. Michelt writes: "Woman, the relative being…" And Benda is most positive in his Rapport d'Uriel: " The body of bank makes sense in itself quite apart from that of  woman, whereas the latter seems wanting in significance by itself…. Man can think of himself without woman. She cannot think of herself without man."

“A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man.”

“The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another"

1. What does it mean to be powerful?: goes back to the first man and woman. The man just happened to be taller than the first woman and from this he decided that he was above her- thus instating the notion that power is measure by the amount of people you have under you/amount of people you have working for you. This would consist of episodes from ancient Egypt, feudal England, 17th Century China, 1800s America (Slavery), present day Pakistan etc and explore the truly trivial things and the language that is used to assert one person over another.

2.Loss of identity: it’s the future and everyone is confined to a social group that they choose from when they are 13 (Divergent Style). Everyone finds their mate through a computerized bachelor type competition (like a tinder, but people take it seriously).  Getting a job is like being on the apprentice. The job of a “news team” is to come up with the most exciting scandal yet, no matter whether it is complete farce or not. This play will explore the frightening direction which our identification and self worth are going. If our society continues in this direction, what will be important to us 100 years?