#real example

Some of my first memories of me actualizing that I wanted to be an engineer was best exemplified looking back when I was young. I liked to solve problems that made folks happier, sometimes this was a practical problem that intersected with me having fun and my mom not really all that in a place to buy me more batteries before they were rechargeable. One day my Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball machine ran out of batteries and I knew asking for more batteries was going to be a hassle but I did remember that if I put a 9 volt battery on my tongue I could get an idea of what electricity was and if it was in a particular 9 volt around the house.

After some testing batteries,taking apart an retired TV remote for wires and ‘soldering’ it together with elmer's glue I was back to having a pastime that I cherished with my 10 minutes of focusing ability left on the tactile fantasy game.

I bring this up because ‘play’  is a major source of science, of engineering, some of the best engineering folks that take their work seriously and they cherish their playtime , or in adult terms their leisure time. All women play or have leisure time this practice should not be compromise by moments of it being perpetuated by misogyny or shaming someone if they like to read novels. Yet this is the truth so but lets see whats on google.

But the truth is that I have been assigned many many games for college credit so I wonder about the link between computer programmers and feminism

So what would happen if someone would google to find out if they had a niche that they felt was affirming ? The truth is in terms of video games its a tough but slowly developing niche.

So let’s start this idea by just by :

Googling ‘Programmer’

Above shows picture of mostly white men in front of a computer screen with code on it. 

Then the phrase  ‘googling Feminist video games’, then I have stumbled along something a friend talked about it’s a YouTube channel called Feminist Frequency and here is where I learn about

And the comments are disabled--- and I will leave you the reader to google gamer gate and Feminist frequency if you would like to developed why women often don’t feel like ‘it’s not worth it’ when thinking about a life in CS and all that comes with it. 

Closing thoughts

I didn’t explain either of these because this was done is one session of focusing. I want to impress that moments like this leave me as a computer science study with the impression that is still very present -- that impression is oppression through dissociation. 

There are some games that I have found to be grounding but they’ve taken a fair amount of searching beyond this google search moment I’ve heard about more from more women considering playing games made with computers on their free time ... 

My favorite games that don’t make women or non-gendered individuals objectified : 

Journey 

Unravel 

DISCUSSION OF A REAL EXAMPLE

I interviewed the women in my family to get their opinions on public exposure of the female breast. Growing up in a traditional Bosnian Muslim household, I expected to butt heads with them a little on the topic. However, what I realized during the interview that I hadn’t anticipated was my own resistance to understand the need for breast exposure at all. I went into the interview hoping to educate my mother, grandmother, and aunts on the importance of personal rights and why personal rights should not be compromised based on other people’s comfort levels. As I searched for ways to better explain myself, I started to wonder, “Would I really be comfortable with showing my breasts in public?”

My family understood the importance of public breastfeeding and the idea of “wherever it’s convenient”. We all agreed that women who are breastfeeding need to have access to a safe environment to feed their children. That includes an environment where they aren’t afraid of getting confronted for feeding in public. My grandmother, Hasiba, and Great Cousin, Serife, who raised their children in a country completely different from the U.S. are strong enough women to defend their right to feed in public. It is the most basic function of the female breast, and therefore, there is nothing that should be shameful about it.

While we agreed on the topic of public breastfeeding, we couldn’t seem to find common ground on the topic of public recreational breast exposure. Some women said men have had the right over women and always will, some said that men shouldn’t have the right to publlic breast exposure either, others said simply that female breasts are just too much of a touchy subject to liberate them. I started to become frustrated with the hypocrisy their words seemed to carry. How could they advocate for the right to expose your breast sometimes, but no all the time? Does the idea of a baby latched on to it eliminate any need for it to be shameful? Why can’t a breast be shameless in itself, and not just when it is being utilized for something bigger? Then my mother asked me, “Dijana, would you want to go out in public without a top on?” And I truly had no answer for her. I was too afraid to answer it truthfully, that I would not want to bear my breasts to anyone. Would that make me a hypocrite, too? How could I possibly think it were OK for women to show their breasts in public, but not feel comfortable myself to do so? My answer was that advocating for public breast exposure did not mean that I was advocating for MY public breast exposure, just simply the right for all women to have the same choice as men. My comfort level is different from every other woman in the world, but that doesn’t mean that I should take away her voice to make me feel better. The process of legalizing breast exposure is simply a step into total equality.

But, the thing was, if everyone answered my mother’s question the way I had, then who exactly would really be willing to exercise their right when the time came? If we all just left the right to expose our breasts in public for the next girl to act on, eventually we’d run out of candidates. So yes, it is more about the strive for total equality, but what’s the use of that equality if we’re all to afraid to use it? Why give us the power of our voices if we will continue to silence ourselves?

link to video: