#section09

The plenary was about the primaries elections for presidential candidates and it was very interesting and i enjoyed it very much. The language that presidents used in the debate can shape the society of the United States. People have the freedom to talk in America and people on the social media are giving so much attention about the way they speak and the words they use. 

RToday is the last class for the women leadership class and i very much appreciate the help and knowledge from professor and mentor. I learned more about women power, women thoughts, feminist, etc. Before the women leadership class, i always consider feminism as a word that is negative and powerful, but now i consider myself as a feminist and i think women should and have to make a difference in the world. Feminist can not only be female, but also works for male. It is the advocacy for women rights, politics, social, economic equality to men. Women can talk about politics, sports and even many other things that people used to think only men can talk about. The most value thing i learned about in women leadership class is that women should be able to stand up for themselves and be aware of the fact they maybe discriminated against.

The reading material from class 22 is about women leadership. And one of the article called “where are the women in global leadership” compares the unevenly income distributed and lack of opportunities to female and male from different countries as well as the number of women leaders in the world. According to the data, there are more male professors in the university, which means even from now, male have more priority in learning knowledge and accepting education. And there are more opportunities for male than female in the society, which means women have less chance of success and thus receiving lower income. Although there are less female leaders than male leaders in the world, female have more thoughts and power than before and the income gap between male and female is decreasing in recent decades. 

The fourth plenary was about intersex individuals. Intersex, according to the definition from the reading materials, is “a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.” People are born with gender and we cannot blame anyone if we are male, female or intersex. Although intersex individuals live in a miserable life in the young age because other people consider themselves as weird, they can still live happily and confidently in the rest of their lives. Great documentary and i really much enjoy it.

I liked the lecture we had of how the media presents the ideal woman today. Women are expected to be super fit and have bodies like Jennifer Lopez. Not only is this not an attainable goal but it dehumanizes women who do not like that. It encourages women to go on crazy diets to attempt to look like the “perfect woman.” I think we should highlight that most of these women look perfect because their pictures go through a photo shop process. They have flaws like any normal human beings. We should aim to love our bodies the way they are because this is how we will reach self-acceptance. The media makes it a goal to portray women as sex symbols as if that was the only thing we are good at. Rarely, is it shown that women can be leaders just like men and excel at the same jobs they can. In all, the media portrays women in a negative light and we should aim to change this. 

I think that this event was very important in highlighting that issues that exist in queer politics as well as in the trans community in Iran. Being that most Middle East countries have a strong opposition to people who identify out of the common norm of either being male or female, I thought it was extremely empowering the fact Iran has a law that recognizes transsexuality. Society still treats them poorly but it is important to note that the country has made an effort to get them recognized. This is huge because more and more people will feel empowered to come out and embrace who they truly are and the country will be able to modernize itself. There are so many people who live in the shadows for the fear of rejection by their families. This event also highlighted that people who do come out of the shadows are rejected from their families and kicked out of their homes which forces them into poverty. Thankfully, there was a organization who helps these people and gives them a chance to make it in life. By continuing the funding for those organizations, we can hope that more and more people come out and stay true to who they are. No one should have to pretend to be someone they are not just to continue having the approval of their families or to remain stable financially. 

I think that subject of women and the fact that they do engage in their own slef-pleasure is such a taboo topic. People tend to think that men are the only ones entitled to pleasure themselves. This goes back to the ancient ideals where the woman’s sole “purpose” was to take care of the home and her husband. Women should be able to openly say that they use sex toys and other material to find their own pleasure. It is okay for women to masturbate. Women have the same sexual needs as men and just like men they are entitled to find ways to meet them. I think this has a relation with periods. Have you ever wondered why we tend to hide pads or tampons in a mixed gender room ? Why is it that we hide this from men? Having our periods is a biological process that all women go through and there is no way to stop it. We should stop trying to hide pads and walk freely with them when we need to change them. It should be part of our normal routine. Just like we need to open with carrying freely our pads and tampons, we need to be open with the fact that women self-pleasure and that this is okay.