Final Blog

This week our blog is supposed to reflect on the work we have done in Women’s studies 250 over the semester. Women’s studies was a great class and allowed us to learn about many different things we would not learn in other classes.

When I decided to take the course I thought it was going to be all about women’s rights and how we got to where we are today. The class was very different from what I imagined it to be. We discussed so much more then just women’s rights. We discussed how they are viewed in the media, and in society. In the film Still Killing Us Softly we learn about how the media changes the way we perceive women. They Photoshop women to look perfect and have changed our ideas about what is beautiful. In class we also discussed lesbian and gay rights and transgender problems. In the movie Boys Don’t Cry we get a better look at what it is like to be a transgendered person and how difficult it is. This class really opened my eyes to all the different struggles of minorities in our society.

 Over the semester I learned about many different art works and artists that I had never knew about before. Judy Chicago’s artwork really stood out to me. It was something so different and unusual and it sent out a very powerful message. Her piece The Dinner Party represented many women of different race, beliefs, ages and nationalities. It was to celebrate women and their bodies and their ideals. All the women represented had changed history in some way. The other artworks that stood out to me were the quilts from the Los Hilos De Vida.  These quilts were really interesting because they showed a story about immigration to the United States. I also never thought of quilts as artwork but they really are. They are amazing and women make them for their families to tell them the stories of their lives and what they have been through. In the beginning of the semester we also talked about the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci. The picture of The Madonna and of The Whore really stood out to me. Its message is one that is still shown in today’s society. It puts women into two categories of being motherly and pure or being a whore and promiscuous. It limits women and expects us to be a certain way just like our media still does today.

Over all I learned a lot of new material in this class, which was extremely interesting to me. We discussed more then just Women’s rights. This class went beyond my expectations and was really enjoyable to me.

Blog 11

            This week we read the book Baghdad Burning written by Riverbend it is a collection of blogs written by a 24-year-old girl called Riverbend. She is faced with a constant fear with living in Iraq during the war. She blogs about her everyday experiences and what it is like to live in a country at war. Her country has changed drastically since the war has started and people everywhere are being devastated everyday. The American army has occupied Iraq and the people no longer feel save in their own homes. She refers to the government as the “puppet counsel” because they are all just figureheads. They have no real power and the Americans say and tell them what to do. This makes Riverbend extremely angry because everyday the counsel goes and makes announcements and pretend to have any sort of power at all to change what the current situation is, and it is all empty promises. Troops have raided the streets and have been breaking into people’s homes for no reason. They have taken innocent people to prison and Baghdad was being reduced to rubble. She is so angry as the “puppet counsel” sits there and lets all of this happen with no arguments or fights. They have no power and have not tried to help anyone. It is almost impossible to leave the home safely. Everyday they are in fear for their lives and for their family’s lives. She said once that she has been to more funerals this year then in her entire life. She hears all the time about people being abducted, beaten, and killed in jail and in the streets.

One thing that really stuck out to me was when the pictures from the Abu Ghraib jail is leaked to the media. In the prison Abu Ghraib in Baghdad American troops were sexually abusing, beating and killing many of the prisoners. The pictures had leaked and were all over the news and all over America’s news. President Bush made a statement saying this was not the face of the American Army and not the face of America. He wanted everyone to know this is not what we represent. Riverbend is furious with this apology because everyday troops are killing innocent people in the streets. The American army is bombing hospitals, schools, and mosques. They even bombed a wedding ceremony for no reason. Everyone living in Iraq knows this happens everyday that troops are abusing their powers but these pictures are the only things being shown and nothing is gong to change. Everyday innocent people are being raped, killed, beat in these prisons and she is furious that the government does nothing about any of it.

            Baghdad Burning really gave me a better view of what is going on in Iraq and the war. Living in America we don’t see any of the things that these people are faced with everyday. We are so unaware that we are even at war. This novel really opened my eyes to what is going on in the world and how our government really censors what we see. Our news is so biased towards America and our war that we never see the other side of it. 

Blog 10

            This week we watched the move Boys Don’t Cry staring Hillary Swank as a transgender teenager. In the movie she plays Teena Brandon a young girl who believes she is a boy. She dresses like a boy and often pretends to be one and have relationships with women who believe she is a boy. Brandon has a sexual identity crisis he is a boy stuck in a girl’s body. The movie shows how difficult it is to be yourself and how close-minded some people can be. Brandon is in a difficult position because he wants to have gender reconstruction surgery but cannot afford it. So he is stuck in a girl’s body when he knows he is a boy. The movie portrays the struggle that he goes through in his life and what it is like to be a transgender person. Brandon grows as a person when he meets Lana his last girlfriend before he was killed. They fall in love and even after Lana learns the truth she still loves him. Brandon was a good person and was always looking out for others. Brandon just got himself into trouble for trying to be who he really was. The area that Brandon was from was not a very open minded place. People who knew who he was would beat him and be cruel to him just because he was being himself. When Lana and her friends find out that Brandon is really a girl they do not react well to it. Jon and Tom who are mentally disturbed people attack Brandon. They assault and rape her when they find out she is a girl. Then they threaten her to keep it a secret. When Brandon goes to the police Jon and Tom become even more violent and murder Brandon and their friend.  Brandon was murdered out of hatred and misunderstanding. He was not treated like a person just because he believed to be a boy. Society puts standards on us to be a certain way and a certain gender. Brandon was different and did not fit into these strict standards of what it is to be a girl and a boy.

            In the article written about Boys Don’t Cry written by Melissa Anderson, all of Brandon’s lovers were interviewed and they all had nothing but great things to say about him. When they found out he was a girl they still had good things to report about him. Even when Lana found out she still loved him not because of his gender but because of the type of person he was. “Lana’s comments reveal that her love for Brandon, regardless of gender was the only thing that mattered.” Brandon was loved for who he was not for his gender, and a lot of people could not understand this. They just thought that Brandon was a lesbian. They wanted to make sense of what Brandon was going through. Billy Tipton was another transgender girl who was a man. She was only discovered to be a girl after she had died. Billy had a full life and was even married to a woman. In Telling Tales by Judith Halberstam she tries to find out what defines a transgender person and what it means to be transgender. So many people want answers and explanations about being transgender because they believe that it is the same as being gay. But it is completely different because they believe they are the opposite sex. So what defines being a girl or a boy? Why does just our body parts define us? Being transgender is being who you are no matter what. That’s what it means to me. Teena Brandon and Billy Tipton lived their lives trying to be men and that’s what made them happy.

            

Blog 9

            In this weeks lecture we discussed the idea of culture wars and what that entails. “Culture wars” is a series of debates about the politics of art. There are many arguments about if art is political or if politics can be seen as art. Art and politics are connected through the flow of money in the government. Artists are granted money from schools and museums. The money used is public money supported by the taxes of the government. The reason there are so many arguments over who should be granted money is because not all of the art is seen as appropriate or accepted by everyone. Art is controversial and because of that the government feels it is necessary to censor what is put into schools and museums and into the public eye.  In 1990 the National Endowment for the Arts chairman John Frohnmayer denied the grants for four artists who were four Holly Hughes, Karen Finely, Tim Miller, and John fleck.  These artists challenged the norms of our society and tried to show the themes of being homosexual. Congress believed that their work was offensive and promoted “homosexuality”. This fight led to another fight about whether the government has the right to censor what we see in our society. Just because some people believe these works to be offensive others may not. They could have a more liberal view of what these artists are trying to tell everyone. The government has a very strict idea of what should be allowed and should not be.

In the paper written by Joan Glantz Garfinckel she addresses the issue if art is political or if politics can be art. “It is said that everything is political; some critics, moreover, hold that anything is art. If there is a difference then, this is it: all art is political, but not all political expression is artistic.” What she is stating is that there is a very thin line between art and politics. Art can be seen as political and a way to understand society. A great speech something that inspires everyone can also be seen as art. The fact is that art and politics are always going to be intertwining and dealing with each other. There are millions of debates over whether or not the government has the right to deny artists grant money based on their art. Artists can draw what ever they want in any way they want to. That is his or her right that is everyone’s right in our country. We have the first amendment protecting what we say and what we do. Just because people find an artists work offensive does not mean that their work cannot be shown. The government has abused their power when they denied money to artists because they did not like the message that the art was sending. When the “Helm Amendment” was made it restricted the NEA and who they could grant money to. “The amendment provided that NEA funds could not be "used to promote, disseminate, or produce materials which in the judgement of the [NEA]... may be considered obscene, including but not limited to, depictions of sadomasochism, homoeroticism, [and] sexual exploitation." This amendment limited artists to what they can and cannot do. The government made rules against who could get grant money and who couldn’t. They wanted to censor what people could view and wanted to stop artists from making art that offended the government. This amendment was seen as unconstitutional because it was limiting artist’s freedom of speech. There is a ton of art that is seen as controversial and just because the government does not approve of it does not make it right. Artists had to fight for their right to be granted money by the government and they were able to do that and get the “Helms Amendment” removed.  The fight is still going on but it has gotten better from the 1990’s. People have become a little be more open and accepting of new things.