Condom Queues Incite Church Tensions in Philippines

    The article I read was called Condom Queues Incite Church Tensions in Philippines written by Natasha Khan and Norman P. Aquino, from Bloomberg.com. This article describes the ongoing fight for birth control for women, especially poor women in the Philippines.  A health bill supported by the Philippine president is trying to get passed which would allow free or subsidized contraception, especially for the poor.  The problem is that the health bill, which is going on its 14^th year attempt, is continuously being blocked by the Catholic Church, which accounts for about 80 percent of the nation’s population.  The beginning of this article starts in the same manner as the article “My Fight for Birth Control” by Margaret Sanger from our text.  A poor Phillopene woman, Lorna Villar, has given birth seven times in the last fourteen years and almost died after her last pregnancy due to blood pressure complications.  It was the same sort of situation that led Margaret Sanger to fight for birth control availability for all women, no matter how much income they held.  In the opening of Sanger’s article, she is caring for a young poor woman who attempted an abortion on herself and ended up not surviving. In the Philippines, 37 percent of the pregnancies are not planned and over a third are ended with illegal, and often times dangerous abortion.  Fortunately for Villar, she was lucky enough to obtain an intrauterine device, which was inserted by a charity, free of charge to help curb the unplanned pregnancies.  There in the Philippines, the 20 percent wealthiest women are having about 1.9 children, while the poorest fifth of the population are having 5.2 children.

    Also dually noted in this article is the fact that once again, religion is being used as oppression against women and the poor, not allowing them the freedom of choice for birth control.  With a quickly growing Phillipene population of almost 100 million people and 52 percent of the population in poverty, there is no time to spare.  The assistant legal counsel to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Phillippines, James Imborg, says that using artificial contraception “is a denial of the natural life giving powers that God gave us.  Who are we to say that five children are too many?  Children are gifts.  If you interfere with that, you are denying that creative role God gave us.”  Chapter 12, in our text, Women's Voices Feminist Visions, cites that religion maintains women’s oppression directly through church laws that say to abide to your husbands, regulate women’s sexuality, and create huge gender gaps.  Our book also cites that religion uses prevention of birth control and abortion as means of oppression against women.  The article was left hopeful saying that now, for the first time in fourteen years, the Phillipene president is supporting the use and giving away of contraceptives to the nation's population.  The legislation is due to be voted on in the next three months.

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-27/condom-queues-incite-church-tensions-in-philippines.html

Media Representations

With the recent remake of the film Snow White, I found an interesting article entitle "Mirror Mirror': what the Snow White Narrative Says About Women, Beauty, and Aging." Emma Gray explains how she was fascinated by the Wicked Queen and how her character was portrayed. The Wicked Queen was played by Julia Roberts and Gray explains how she was very interested in "what the character's contemporary reincarnation was saying about how women think about the aging process now." I found this article and immediately thought about media representations. Growing up with Disney films and fairytale stories, it is interesting to me how the media is somewhat changing these cartoon into something more, with deeper messages and more meaning. Gray explains how one of the most beautiful persons in Hollywood plays this role, and what the Wicked Queen is so concerned with is that "event the most gorgeous among us isn't immune to physical insecurities." Two meanings are highlighted in this movie and many other fairytales: that women feel a lot of anxiety over losing their looks and that older women sometimes envy the younger women surrounding them. Gray explains that in such media representations like the new film "Mirror, Mirror," as well as other "anti-wrinkle" ads and such, women have this constant message that growing old is something that should be avoided. However, growing up is a beautiful thing something women should not fear. 

Through media representations our society gets a sense of what growing old means for women. In Rose Weitz article "What We Do For Love," she explains how the media representations of women is seen even through the way we do our hair. When i first read this article it was shocking to me how significant a women's hair and appearance is, however, we are all somewhat guilty of caring about this stuff. As I read through the article about "Mirror, Mirror" I began to think about how Disney portrays women how we are stereotyped at such a young age. Weitz explains, "Rapunzel had only one way to change her life: attracting a prince through her hair and her beauty." (Weitz pg. 261). Through media representations we begin to think about what it will take for one to be considered beautiful and ilke in the film, we are all guilty of the "fear of growing old." It is sad that women are considered "growing older" while men become more and more handsome, like George Clooney. No matter what it is important to realize that such fairytales are being shown to young girls all around the world. The idea of what is beautiful and the fact that growing old is "bad" should not be the way we view our lives. Growing old is a wonderful and beautiful thing, no one should take that away from you.

Weitz, Rose. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions. 5th ed. N.p.: Susan Shaw and Janet Lee, n.d. Print. Rpt. of What We Do For Love.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-gray/mirror-mirror-snow-white-tarsem-singh-julia-roberts-lily-collins-women-beauty-aging_b_1391222.html?ref=women

Domestic Violence

I read an article about a chef in Watkinsville, Georgia by the name of Richard Miley. Chef Richard does a celebrity sandwich of the week each week at his restaurant and in recent weeks he decided to make a fun of a not so funny situation. He took aim at well known pop singers Rihanna & Chris Brown with his "Black & Bleu" burger, making fun of their well known domestic dispute. His advertisement on Facebook said “Chris Brown won’t beat you up for eating this unless your name starts with a R and ends with A.” I believe this is an example of why domestic violence against women is at such a high rate in our country. Instead of taking this matter serious we use it as a way to promote food and bring attention to our businesses. According to our power point presentation one of the main reasons abused women go back to their abuser is because domestic violence is seen as normal. I think this is a perfect example of such a case. When interviewed by abcnews.com Chef Richard told them “I do not regret doing it. I don’t regret anything.” He was completely unfazed and thought he did nothing wrong. Here we have a singer who is a role model to millions of teenage girls across the world being abused and promotional jokes are being made of it. We learned 1 in 5 high school girls report domestic violence being committed by a dating partner. I can only imagine that if young kids view this situation and think it is okay this stat will continue to increase. This also shows a form  of sexist behaivor on this male chef's part. He recently made a Whitney Houston & a Paula Dean burger making fun of Whitney's drug addiction and Paula's diabetes diagnosis. I believe if this was a women making fun of popular men in our country and their struggles this would be viewed as a complete outrage. This may just be a joke about a burger to some but to me this is the number of domestic violence incidents rising due to desensitization.


Ng, Christina. "‘Black and Bleu’ Chris Brown, Rihanna Sandwich Chef Has No Regrets." ABC News. ABC News Network, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/03/black-and-bleu-chris-brown-rihanna-sandwich-chef-has-no-regrets/>.

Blog 2: Control Subsidies Slashed by States as Debate Rages at Federal Level

            Even as a national debate rages over contraception insurance, tens of thousands of low-income women and teenagers across the United States have lost access to subsidized birth control as states slash and restructure family-planning funds.  This is the opening paragraph written by Stephanie Simon published at IBtimes.com published Saturday, March 3, 2012 about the government stepping in and cutting the funding that goes to facilities that support pre family planning. Most women that use these types of facilities are women in lower income bracket or in the poverty level who can’t afford to go to regular doctor office and pay the high price of office visits or doctor prescribed birth control. “Montana and New Jersey have eliminated their state family-planning programs; New Hampshire cut its funding by 57 percent; and five other states made more modest program trims. But the biggest impact, by far, has been in Texas. Within months, one half of the state supported family planning clinics in Texas had closed. The state network—which once provided 220,000 women a year with free and low-cost birth control, cervical cancer tests and diabetes screenings—will now serve just 40,000 to 60,000, officials said” (Simon). These facts are a very harsh and very sad reality for many who cannot afford the proper health care and it is scary to think that our government can control who can get contraceptives.

This article reminded me of the reading From Norplant to the Contraceptive Vaccine: The New Frontier of Population Control by Dorothy Roberts. Roberts states that poor black woman were targeted and pressured to a controversial birth control in the hopes of decreasing the birthrate and how in the 1990’s, legislators and policymakers in the United States seized up Norplant as a means of domestic population control (Roberts, pg. 200). Even though this is about the government trying to control the population and how many babies coming into this world the idea is still the same. The government thinks it can step in whenever it is convenient and decide who and how people should live and breed in their free American lives. And while in the 1990’s the government was trying to control how many low income woman had babies, now they are taking away the very thing that would make that possible. In the article Simon writes that in Texas a budget board did an analysis and concluded that the cut in family planning budget would actually cost Texas taxpayers more money than it would be saving. Doesn’t make much sense to cut it when it is only going to hurt the taxpayers and to make matters worse the political world is now turning the birth control access into an abortion debate.  Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider, but they also run a network of urban and suburban clinics offering birth control, gynecological exams, and care for sexually transmitted diseases, so because it gets one-third of its revenue from government grants to provide those services to poor woman, the government and political supporters think that it should be shut down (Simon, ibtimes.com). I feel like the woman in the story My Fight for Birth Control, Margret Sanger, where she feels so hopeless because she should have helped that poverty stricken mother, who didn’t want to bring another child into the despair of poverty, but she couldn’t because it was unheard of to use birth control and this woman lost her life in an attempt to stop a pregnancy and it wouldn’t and didn’t have to happen if only someone had stood up sooner and said this what you need, this is the birth control you should use.

It is funny to me as a woman who has used birth control for a long time and had the privilege to get whenever I needed it as why this issue about birth control is just focused on the woman? Why is it never about the men and their need for birth control, why are we the ones that have take on the responsibility to say I am not ready right now to have a baby. Why is that burden not ever put upon the man?

References

Sanger, Margret. (1931) My Fight for Birth Control.

Roberts, Dorothy. (1997) From Norplant to the Contraceptive Vaccine: The New Frontier of     Population Control.

Simon, Stephanie. (2012, March 3), http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/308570/20120303/birth-control-subsidies-state-national-debate.htm

Blog #2

 Body Image

               Lesley Kinzel is starting a movement to create more self-confidence in plus-size women by bringing them fashion in their size. Kinzel is trying to change the negative stigma of the word “fat” stripping it of its harmful baggage. By turning the word fat into a positive meaning, it will diminish its effect to harm people. Kinzel’s outlook on life is to have every woman become confident in her skin  and to overcome the medias negative image on plus-sized women. She writes a blog about plus-sized woman’s fashion; her goal of the blog is to take control of the message that every woman is beautiful, no matter what her size. She stresses that life is too short to worry about appearance. Your body after all is just an outer shell, what really matters is what’s underneath (Kinsman, 2012).
.

               This article relates to when we learned about body and media literacy. The fact that so much thought is stressed on women’s body type is harmful to us all. We should stop worrying about what size we wear and start worrying about what kind of person lies beneath. The beauty ideals that the media portrays for women are thin and Caucasian, which is not a good representation of America. Since all representations are constructions made for purposes, the media should change their purpose and make all advertisements more empowering for women by connecting them with ladies who are just like them, not just girls that are a size 00.

               As referenced in “Killing Us Softly 4”, the representations that the media creates are harmful to women in more ways than destroying their self-confidence. It can lead to violence, and lowering women’s self worth. By objectifying women in these ads, it creates an image to men that we are just objects, justifying in their minds that they can harm us (Kilbourne, 2010). Another damaging outcome is discussed in “The Body Politic” it talks about the harmful effects of eating disorders. She describes how powerful she felt being anorexic, receiving nonstop praise for her figure despite her illness (Chernik, 2005). To fight the damaging effects of the media Kinzel is trying to expand her blog so women will be exposed to other plus-sized women who feel confident in their body.

               The article brought up the harmful effects of society, and the pressures of body image that women face every day. The article definitely supported what we had learned in class, how media reflects pop culture, and now that we have a greater understanding of the effects we are seeing more of a change.  One thing from the article that didn’t match up to what we learned deals with “Body Ethics and Aesthetics Among African American and Latina Women”. In the article it discusses how African American women place more emphasis on representation and style verses physical appearance (Rubin, Mako, Becker, 2003). The article portrays it as if every race in our culture feels that being overweight is negative. In reality every sub-group has their own opinion on the body.

               More girls than ever are struggling with confidence issues. I think it’s important to stop focusing on body types. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a size 2 or a size 26 as long as you’re healthy and confident, you are beautiful.

References

Chernik, A. (1995). Reading Women’s Lives. The Body Politic (pp. 157-165).

Kilbourne, J. (2010, August 14). Killing Us Softly 4. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ujySz-_NFQ&feature=related

Kinsman, K. (2012, March 31). 'Fatshion' bloggers find beauty in all sizes. Retrieved April 1,

            2012 from http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/31/living/fatshion-beauty-bloggers/index.html?

            iref=allsearch

Rubin, L, Mako, F, Becker, A. (2003). Women’s Voices Feminist Visions. Body Ethics and
            Aesthetics Among African American and Latina Women (pp. 243-252). New York,
            NY:McGraw Hill.

   

Domestic Violence

I decided to read the article When Home Is No Refuge for Women by Nilanjana S. Roy.  I found this article on the New York Times website.  When Home Is No Refuge for Women is a courageous story about two women, Nita Bhalla and Meena Kandasamy, who speak about the reality of domestic violence in India, and how to survive after a violent marriage.  Both women are seen as very professional, educated, independent women and both hold very business professional but their empowerment was no protection against abuse.

They took action but each of them saw different results. Ms. Kandasamy found shelter with her sister after she left her marriage and she tried to explore the possibility of legal action after being abuse.  Ms. Bhalla didn’t take that route, she tried to seek help but her family and friends decided to “turn the blind eye” because in their eyes domestic violence was common.  Also in Nita’s case her friend and family didn’t help because they feared it would escalate and will cause more harm to Nita’s health because they believed that the abuser never wants a spotlight on their actions. This article expresses how only one in four women who had experienced domestic violence in their marriages sought outside help.  This just reminds me of the reading we had to do written by Roberts, “Introduction: Myths and Realities…” Roberts explains how there are myths and realities when it comes to domestic violence.  One commonly held belief regarding domestic violence is that it only occurs in lower socioeconomic classes. Although the lower class is most likely to report abuse, domestic violence occurs in every class, race, and religion just like in this article how it is common for domestic violence in India. Another belief is that all batters are psychotic and cannot be helped. These men can be helped with the assistance of prison, and counseling this is why Ms. Kandasamy wanted to take legal action so she can help her ex-husband.  Another commonly held belief is that battered women who remain in a violent relationship do so because they are masochistic. These women stay in abusive relationships for many reasons, but this is not one of them. Some stay for the children, some cannot afford to leave, some have nowhere to go because they have been isolated, and some are afraid for their life if they leave just like most of the women in India.

This article also expresses how most Indian women are in an unequal environment.  You basically live in your parent’s house and then meet your husband.  Once you have met your husband you care for him live in his house and are not longer able to live with your parents.  This reminded me a little about Goldman, “Marriage and Love”.  Basically what really is the purpose of marriage and what marriage is like for women?  Goldmen expresses marriage as giving up some of their womanhood, like their name, privacy and respect.  When a woman falls in love she expresses her love even more by marriage.  It’s a women ways of taking the next step.  It’s been the thing to do once you’re in love marriage was the way to go and this is how women in India see marriage.  But what happens when there’s violence in their husband’s home?  Why should women end up homeless?

Roy, Nilanjana S. "When Home Is No Refuge for Women." The New York Time. 27 Mar. 2012. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/world/asia/28iht-letter28.html?_r=1&ref=domesticviolence>.

Trayvon's Death

Trayvon Martin is a teenager that lives in Florida that got killed on February 26, 2012, by George Zimmerman. Everybody has heard about this case, it’s a big controversy involving the murder of Trayvon Martin. People have suspected that his killer, George Zimmerman, killed him for no reason, because he was unarmed. It’s sparking up thoughts of it being a racist act committed by George Zimmerman.

                Trayvon Martin is 17 years old and was on his way home from the convenient store after purchasing some skittles and an Arizona tea. As George says, Trayvon looked like a suspicious person lurking the streets so he calls 911 to report the suspicious act. In the phone call he reports what he sees and requested to have a police officer come to the scene. He hangs up the phone and 911 received another call from a neighbor that they hear someone outside screaming. Many audio experts say they recognize the screaming in the background of the call, they believe the screaming was Trayvon’s voice, but some claim that it’s also George’s voice also. The neighbor says it sounded like someone was screaming for help. When the officer arrived on the scene George Zimmerman claims that he shot Trayvon in self-defense. Many people claim that it’s a racist act against Trayvon all he was doing was walking home and talking on the phone with his girlfriend after going to the convenient store. Trayvon was unarmed it was like George was racial profiling him and thought he was suspicious just because he was black. Nobody is being charged for the murder of Trayvon Martin, because it is believed that he was killed in self-defense. George Zimmerman claims that he was injured when fighting with Trayvon, but he made it back to the police station in a fast amount of time. If he was that severely hurt he wouldn’t have been so quick to make it to the police station.  He would’ve had no time before reaching the station to receive a medical examination.

                It doesn’t help each media station puts their own perspective on this situation. Each station has a different view, for example, some believe that it was murder and a racist act while others really believe George and think he killed Trayvon in self-defense. It’s hard to decide who to believe, because you never get all the facts in the media. They like to manipulate things to get the attention of the viewers to keep watching and most people will believe what the media provides for them. If you can’t believe the news, how can you know what is really going on in the world?

                This controversy reminds me of an article that I read about from Peggy MacIntosh called, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”. I think that the police officer believed what George Zimmerman had to say, because he was male and he was white. He gets more privileges than Trayvon could ever receive, because Trayvon is not white. White men are over privileged by our society. Many people don’t see the aspects of this, but it is true.  It’s an unearned privilege that you receive without even being aware of it.  In the article, “Defining Racism: Can We Talk?” by Beverley Daniels Tatum talks about cultural racism. What cultural racism is when cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of whites and assumed inferiority of people of color. The police believed everything George said and he isn’t getting charged for murder. I think this brings up the case of cultural racism. The police just believed him, because there was no witness for this act. I think that if it was in reverse order and Trayvon killed George; Trayvon would be arrested for the murder of George.

                I think this news about Trayvon has some things related to what we have learned in this class, because people of color understand the oppression that women also receive. We learned that people profile and don’t even realize it, as it states in Beverly Tatum’s article. She says we stereotype without even realizing it because it’s what we think is right from years of people teaching us the wrong things about life.  It’s a sad story that a young man of only 17 had to die for people to realize that there still is racism.

References

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege and Male Privilege”. Women’s Feminist Voices Visions Classic and Contemporaty Readings 5^th edition. Pg. 75-82.

Tatum, Beverley. “Define Racism: Can We Talk?”.

CNN Wirestaff.(2012, April 2). Who screams on 911 Call in Trayvon Martin Case? CNN Justice. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/02/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=us_c1