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This event was truly eye-opening. An international proclaimed social researcher expressed her experiences and the challenges she encountered while she conducted a study in the Caribbean, West Africa and Southeast Asia. In multiple areas, she had to tackle social norms of the role of the woman as submissive, homemaker or a potential wife. Many women would like to seek opportunities to be independent. However, they are afraid of the reproof of their male counterparts and the pitfalls of microfinance. In most of the countries she studied, poverty was seen to have a ‘female’ face, indiscriminative of age. Matriarchal lead homes are seen as especially worse off, though further studies have shown that other factors play into the vulnerability of these families.

A Day Without Feminism

Nowadays, there are immersing groups of individuals that question the necessity of the women’s movement. The word ‘feminist’ is deemed archaic, much like other means to advance minorities such as women’s colleges. However, while reading the stories of women of the past, I am grateful for the advancements made possible by the women’s movement. I would have found it impossible to cope in a situation in which my options for social mobility were linked to my prospects for marriage or my willingness to provide sexual favors. Also, I would be unable to pursue my dreams of becoming a physician, because that is a ‘man’s’ place. I would mostly like have been encouraged to become a nurse or homemaker instead.  I would feel trapped and hopelessness because of a part of my identity that I could not change. Thankfully now, I can attend my science classes and explore my interests in research and medicine. However, the STEM field are still pre-dominantly white male. Therefore, although changes are evident, we still have a long way to go towards fighting to equality between the sexes.

This plenary was truly inspiring and thought invoking. Raised in a strict Christian household, I was cultured to think that abortion was similar to the act of murder. However, the time I have spent in the US has help to change my perspective. Science teaches that if done within the appropriate time frame abortion is not the same as killing an unborn child. This and multiple other factors has cemented my views on the matter as pro-choice. However, I have not personally known anyone who had undergone the procedure. Therefore, the speaker’s horrific stories were really saddening because it shows how our society limits women rights to their own bodies. Without any knowledge of the patient’s circumstance, individuals mock, curse and demonizes these women for their decision. Also, I think it is a bit hilarious that the majority of the pro-life activist are male, individuals that can never understand the experience of bearing a child.

Also, I believe it is also sad that Planned Parenthood facilities continue to be under political and violent attack. As in the Colorado Springs shooting incident, the suspect was said to be motivated to stop the sale of ‘baby parts’. It would great to be mindful that abortion is only a small portion of the services provided by Planned Parenthood. It provides much needed pre-natal care, such as vitamins, ultrasound etc. In the end, it may do more harm than good to defund or close these facilitates. Also, I believe that the choice should be up to the prospective mother to have the procedure. Not politicians. Not religious entities. And certainly not men.  

I am thankful that this film was the highlight of our class. Usually, I would just go through the day with the constant bombardment of media images on Facebook or Youtube. However, I thought I was generally unaffected by the various ways that the media demean women. It is a tough concept to grasp because of how subliminally the message is presented. From a young age, I would play with dolls and idolize my favorite Disney princesses. Unknowingly, I would critique my body in comparison with theirs, usually in regards to their hair and eye color. Throughout this process, I would miss the oversexualization of these PG character like Tinkerbell and Jasmine (Still, I find it bizarre that I was not mindful of this for the start). Luckily, through loving parental support, I was able to become comfortable in my skin.

In the end, despite the presence of anorexic models and celebrity in mainstream media, we all know that there is a broad continuum of body types. Also, WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL.  It is up to us as young women to advocate for media organization to provide better representation of health and diverse women on-screen. The media promotes this idealized body in order to make us feel insecure, so we will buy their product. At the end of the day, women have over 80% of the purchasing power in the US. We can choose to propagate the current status quo of the media and continue to purchase these company’s products. OR we can boycott companies that continue to use ads that misrepresent women. It can be a simple as refusing to buy a brand of clothing, posting a tweet with the hashtag #NotBuyingIt, refusing to watch a specific movie or joining the movement.

IT’S UP TO US TO DEMAND BETTER REPRESENTATION FOR THIS AND THE NEXT GENERATION.