Masculine, feminine or human?

Robert Jensen conducts a social experiment of his own while being a guest speaker in a lecture about masculinity to a college class.
He first asks the class to "...imagine themselves as parents whose 12-year-old son asks, 'Mommy/daddy, what does is mean to be a man?'"He then writes the results on the board.
Then he asks, "...the women to observe while the men answer a second question: When you are in all-male spaces, such as the locker room or a night out with the guys, what do you say to each other about what it means to be a man? How do you define masculinity when there are no women present?"
After they answer, he then asks the class to, "consider the meaning of the two lists. On the first list of the culturally endorsed definitions of masculinity, how many of those traits are unique to men? Are women ever strong? Should women be strong? Can women be just as responsible as men? Should women provide and care for others?"
Then he asks the students, "if anyone wants to make the argument that women are incapable of these things, or less capable than men," but no one is willing to speak up.
Finally he asks, "If the positive definitions of masculinity are not really about being a man but simply about being a person, and if the definitions of masculinity within which men routinely operate are negative, why are we holding onto the concept so tightly? Why are we so committed to the notion that there are intellectual, emotional, and moral differences that are inherent, that come as a result of biological sex differences?
And concludes is with, "think about what a similar exercise around femininity might reveal? How might the patterns be similar or different? If masculinity is a suspect category, it would seem so is femininity."
Every time he does this, the students seem to be in discomfort. Extremely uncomfortable.

Imagine if we really started this with children at the age of 12. Would their perception of gender and gender roles differ?  Asking questions that allow one to open there minds to new possibilities is rare. People tend to shrug off topics like this. They allow society to win, and change to be avoidable. More teachers and professors should allow group discusion like this to help people voice their opinions and sometimes, just allow students to see a problem that has been pushed aside.


full article below.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Q3ICm/:15qTQuR@D:c@2luLI9/uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/masculinefeminineorhuman.htm/

Long legged Beauty MisUnderstood

"For him she is sex-absolute sex, no less"

I remember being in elementary and in jr high and then again in high school, where I would always get in trouble for my shorts, skirts, and dresses being too short. School officials always made me do the finger tip rule, and I would always think that was ridiculous. I was always one of the tallest girls in my class, so my longer legs were always the target. Why is it that the more leg that one shows makes them the object of judgmental comments? Women are referred to being "whores," "sluts," "asking for it," and as for guys, they are referred to being gay if their shorts are too short. Society needs to get over themselves and allow people to dress how they want to without being called names or seen as sex objects. 

Its really sad actually, I was at this Fraternity house for a party the other night, and I was wearing shorts since it has been really hot lately, and one of the guys I met at the last part (drunk off his ass, as I might add) touched my leg softly, and was like "legs for days" as he was starring at me... I was so disappointed that those words came out of his mouth. 

The days I show off more leg does not mean I want to have sex with you! Sorry, I'm not Sorry. 

Be the Woman a Man Needs

"She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not with reference to her..."

- Simone De Beauvoir

In my philosophy of sex and love class, one thing that has stuck with me is that women tend to make having a man a priority, whereas a man, makes it a part of their checklist.

Girls these days run around searching for a man to take them out, to care for them, to make their everything. They become dependent to this man, and once that happens the man has complete control. As women becomes the woman who needs a man, she becomes the subject. She looses herself in him, idolizing him, and has no room for growth. She was made his.

When one becomes the woman a man needs, he respects her, allows her to have her own ideology, she has room to grow, and him as well. They grow together and become a team. She no longer is the Other, but the One. She is herself.

Oppression

A women who frequently posts on feminspire is a heterosexual, middle class, woman. But she is also a person of color. She states, "I am sick of being told that I am not allowed to define if someone is being racist or sexist toward me. I, as being a woman of color who has consistently been treated differently or looked down upon, am allowed to define the oppression that I face. I have the ability to define whether or not something happened to me because of my race or gender, as opposed to just something happening to me. And people without certain privileges have those abilities too. Too many discussions in our world are dominated by the oppressor. Our conversations, the ones about how institutions block certain people from attaining privileges, should not be dominated by the institutions. They should be dominated by the people who experience these injustices themselves.

This might sound like common sense but it is not exacted in our communities or world."

Full article can be read below. http://feminspire.com/i-define-my-own-oppression/

How many of you are afraid to speak up about your oppression? Never let anyone tell your story, or their version of your story. Own your life, and take charge of how you believe you should be treated. Do not let society norms change who you are or who you want to be. Better yourself by being yourself.  Sojourner Truth spike to a gathering of feminists in 1851, "Ain't I a Women?" She was dealing with oppression from being a person of color, and also a woman.
I am 19 years old, and a victim of domestic violence. I am from a middle eastern household. I am completely broke. I am a heterosexual. I am a woman. I am a college student. I am a double major. I am the first of my parents, my brothers, and my cousins to go to a four year university. And I never let someone talk down to me. So many people can look down upon me because I am different. So many people have blamed me for the abuse I have gone through. And so many people have tried to tear me down. But speak your truth and fight to gain your power. No one is ever going to just hand it to you, and most will try to take it away from you. But you need to define yourself and let no one else define you.

Eve Ensler: Embrace your inner girl

I love watching Ted videos because they are very eye opening.

The summary of the video as stated on TED is, "In this passionate talk, Eve Ensler declares that there is a girl cell in us all -- a cell that we have all been taught to suppress. She tells heartfelt stories of girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence to reveal the astonishing strength of being a girl."
Eve asks, "how do we bring up boys?" She believes, "being a girl is so powerful, that we had to train everyone not to be that." The world has denied us in being girls, and we are forced to surpress our emotions and that is why we have not made a difference.

Reading peoples responses, I saw this one post below,

"I need to say, I find it very funny that she calls this "the girl cell" when western society women are one of the most egocentric beings in the world.
They are used to get treated like princesses, they love shopping, reality shows and reading gossip magazines, celebrities like Paris Hilton are their role-models and they love violent bad boys."

This video and this comment reminds me of Simone De Beauvoir and her stance that being dependent makes one in a position to be inferior. Simone asks, if a woman is made or if she was born a woman. After this video, one can realize that one has always been born a woman, but has been forced to please men, to change who they are, who was trained into the behaviors of a feminine female. Women, biologically are born female, they however do become the other man, because of normative gender roles. This guy above proves that this is just another gender role society has placed on women. Yes, some women do watch and read and do the things he listed, but Eve has never mentioned their hobbies. She just states our characteristic traits that men what to take away from us because it makes us "weak," but it really makes us more connected and stronger.

You should watch this video below.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1cwx4L/:16A$0bl_4:c@2luLI9/www.ted.com/talks/eve_ensler_embrace_your_inner_girl.html/