What We Can Do

A friend from my t'ai chi class is about to do something amazing for women everywhere....and she needs our help.

Chances are, if your life has not already been touched by yourself or someone you care about battling cancer, it will be. I was only 21 years old when I had precancerous cells removed from my body. Some of you may remember Lindsay Reuter...well, she and her family are now dealing with the discovery of invasive, aggressive breast cancer spreading in her mother.

Breast cancer is a big threat to all of us. 200,000 American women are expected to be diagnosed this year, and nearly 40,000 will die. (Sorry I don't have stats for other countries, I know this is a diverse group.)

So what can we do? Well, we can help my friend. She's raising money to support breast cancer research, education, screening, and treatment through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. She's participating in the Breast Cancer 3-day (60 mile walk) in Cleveland. In order to participate, she is required to raise at least $2,200, but she is hoping to go above and beyond, reaching above $2,500.

Donating from Korea couldn't be easier, either. Here's my suggestion: At the next Women's Meeting, someone (Aubrey? Denelle?) take charge and collect cash from anyone willing to help this noble cause. 1,000 won, 5,000 won, 10,000 won...whatever!! It all adds up. Anyways, after collecting the cash it's easy enough to donate online. Go to www.the3day.org/cleveland07/olgasabo. It should come up on Melissa Russoniello's personal fund raising page and the directions are easy-to-follow.

So, I leave it in your hands. You can spend 5,000 on a drink at the bar this weekend, or take that same money (or more!) and put it towards a great cause.

Let me know what you come up with ladies.

Hope all is well.

Emily

some good links

GREAT meeting on Sunday girls....it really got me thinking and also made me realize how blessed I am to know such awesome women - you all rock - intensely.

Here's the two links I promised - www.latienda.moonfruit.com - Rachel's Art Co-op in the Domincan.

And here's the one that will help support women in Nepal: Alternative Gifts International It's a lot cheaper than I expected, so maybe we can buy a whole bunch?

Remember, we CAN affect change by doing little things! Let's start now.

love Jen

Femininity and Masculinity

In the last meeting, we discussed "Masculinity and Feminity", what some of these characteristics were, and socialisation issues related to these characteristics. Before the meeting, several of us took two tests; one was typical meaningless, and the other slightly more scientific.
Other issues that came up included our reactions to certain characteristics being viewed as "feminine" or "masculine".

Sorry this summary is so short, girls. I forgot to take notes during the meeting and it's been a long week :P

xoxo
Ang

Tests:

Discussed in the meeting:
Quiz Farm
BBC: Sex I.D.

Others:
Blogthings
Tickle

Articles:

Wikipedia: Femininity
Wikipedia: Masculinity
The Masculine-Feminine (yin-yang) Duality (the article that sparked some nice discussion :) . It is actually an interesting article to read all the way through, whether you agree with it or not.)
A Gender Diagram Looking at the polarisations of Gender Identity.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Aisha, I just read the draft of your post and found myself with the same difficulties. I just posted on my own blog about it. Here's the annotated version of what I said:

"I was excited to start the challenge. After getting ready in the bathroom in one go, I said goodbye to my mirror and walked out the door. Stepping into the elevator, I stood before myself. Quickly I dropped my gaze from the mirrored walls and stared at the floor. The subway posed a similar problem. As I flashed by in the passing windows, I had to glaze my eyes to look just below the window. At school, a mirror is set up in the teachers' room, inconveniently next to my desk; I made a few unconscious errors when I would stand up, me reappearing with an expression of surprise at being caught in the act. To glance at my reflection is such an unconscious act; I am so accustomed to knowing and checking how I look.

"Not being allowed to see any sort of reflection caused me to be acutely aware of just how often I glance at myself. Yet I found that I liked it; to be unaware of my appearance was, in a way, freeing. I didn't really know how I looked, but I also didn't really care. I saved one of the times looking in the mirror for yoga; seeing as how one wall is lined with them, I knew looking would be unavoidable. All day I had been without my reflection. I found that as soon as I sat in front of the mirror again, I could feel criticisms of myself growing inside. Would, I wonder, life just be better without mirrors? Would we be happier if we were not so often confronted with our own image?

"I also noticed throughout the day that I knew when and where to keep my head down and eyes averted. Meaning, I knew where all the mirrors or reflective windows are. Although I subconsciously look, or possibly merely attempt to surreptitiously catch glances, I have a sense of exactly where to look. It made me realize just how often I assess my appearance. It helped me to know how I could so often be critical of myself."

I loved this challenge and look forward to more like it!

Love you girls,
Aub

Mirrors, mirrors everywhere....

Hi all, just wondering how u all went with that little test we gave ourselves on monday.

I thought i should be the first one to confess that i found myself gazing into some reflective surfaces out of complete habit! REALLY!! I was surprised at how comfortable i've become with jumping into the elevator and turning immediately to the my own image. Vanity or what? Needless to say today has been a better day....i'm definitely gonna try and ween myself off them. By the end of the day, i found it much easier to not look at my reflection and thankfully didn't come home in the evening to find some food from lunch still sticking to my teeth.

so in all i'd have to say that i checked myself out in the mirror or other reflective surface about 5 times more than the allocated 3 times. EXCESSIVE?!!!

Have a great day Inspirational Women!!!.....

Aisha

Sending a Thank you and report from the Hill Tribes

Hello from Thailand everyone!

I hope that everything is doing great! I miss you girls and our talks at the get togethers. It's been exciting to hear little bits about what's going on with the group. It sounds like work with KWHL is going well, and Liz and Aubrey's newsletter article will be great.

The main reason for this post is to let you all know about my time with Dr. David Mar Naw in the Hill Tribes here. Many of you gave donations and we were all able to come up with over $400 USD! Girls, we bought all four of the needed water tanks! Plus there was money left over for needed medicine. Thank you so much for the help.

I made a very long write-up about the experience and put it in the comments attached to this. Good luck getting through it!

I just thought to add something that I think would be good to report to the group. While in the Hill Tribe villages, the woman looked strong. They work along side the men in nearly everything. From working in the fields all day, to cooking dinner, to doing dishes, it seemed like most chores were shared. Also, the girls all had "meat on them". There was no ideal to look thin there. I wrote about how I loved the community and how peaceful people worked together like a big (stable) family. I'd say the strong women roles have something to play in that environment.

Stay well girls and keep up with the awesome work you're all doing together!

Big love sisters,
Leah

Women's Hotline Newsletter

Hi girls
Liz and I (Aubrey) wrote the small blurb for the Women's Hotline newsletter. Jerry rightly asked Aisha if we could add a bit more because it is a bit stiff. That is being nicely euphemistic. It does sound quite formal and does not give too much detail as to what our vision is. Also, we had difficulty in expressing how we view women in Korea. This is probably because I at least have lower opinions of how many women are treated in this patriarchal culture. That sounds harsher than I want it to, but we just felt incapable of adequately speaking for the group in our views regarding this specific topic.

I am listing the letter here. If you ever visit the blog (which I wonder...) then please leave suggestions about what should have been said. It is too late for this first newsletter, but possibly it will be helpful for future ones or for describing it to the women we will work with. So if you feel inspired (by aspire... he he), then please leave comments.

This is what we sent:

"Aspire is a multi-cultural group of female English teachers.

"The group was started when several foreign women began to feel a need for mutual support and encouragement as women living in Korea. Aisha and Melanie, the founders of the group, sought to develop a format in which women could gather to discuss various issues that affect our lives, especially as it pertains to modern, independent females. At each Aspire meeting, a facilitator chooses a topic to be discussed. The purposes of these discussions are to bring awareness of the issue to ourselves so as to effect necessary changes and to positively impact the lives of other women.

"One of the goals of Aspire is to become educated and actively involved in the women’s issues of Korea, particularly those of the Busan community. This has led the group to become a part of the Busan Women’s hotline—to learn from the experiences of Korean women and to learn how, as a group of foreigners, Aspire can offer support. Leah, one of our founding members who has now left Korea, did some research and was able to find the Busan Women’s hotline. We decided that we were particularly interested in your group because it focuses directly on providing aid to women in Korea. We hoped that with your varied approach in offering support, we could somehow also offer our services.

"The group is composed of: Aisha and Angela, both from Australia; Melanie, Belvey, Liz, Aubrey, Amy, Emily, and Robin who are from the United States; Jen and Kyra, both from Canada; and Sunny, Jinny, and Anna who are native Koreans. Though most of the group members came here as English teachers, all have diverse backgrounds and experiences, bringing greater depth of capabilities and opinions. The hope of Aspire is to take advantage of the various capabilities and breadth of knowledge within the group to benefit the women's shelter in any capacity.

"As foreigners, we have all lived very different amounts of time in Korea, ranging from several months to several years. Obviously our Korean members were born and raised here. But it has given all of us enough time to fall in love with many aspects of Korea. Korean women themselves, we have found to be very nurturing and caring. From our experience as foreigners, the lives of their children appear to be extremely important to them; they are willing to sacrifice a great deal for their children’s lives.

"At times we have been frustrated by the injustices toward women, however, that they can be treated as second class to men. When their choices are taken from them by their family or even the government, they can be forced into situations that detrimentally affect their lives. Those of us who are foreigners could never claim to understand the pressure upon the life of Korean women here. Those who fight for justice, as the women involved at Busan Women’s hotline, are truly heroes.

"We thank you for this opportunity and hope to grow in our relationship with you."

The Currency of Beauty

Hey ladies:
I'm updating us regarding our last meeting on Saturday, May 20. My source material came from this gem of a website that I found, http://www.genders.org/ . It contains articles related to, as the title suggests, various gender issues. Check it out if you have the time.

The particular article upon which I based questions for our discussion was titled “Beauty, Desire, and Anxiety.” Here’s the link (hold your breath; can I do it?): http://www.genders.org/g41/g41_weber.html (Asah!). I’ll include sections throughout my update for your easy reading pleasure. No, no need to thank me. Really. Oh, ok, if you must.

To warn you, I've departed somewhat from what was actually discussed at the meeting. I was so engrossed in what everyone had to say, that I neglected to take notes until late into the discussion. And I’ve waited too long to remember a lot of the specifics. Oops. Hopefully this will provide you with enough of an outline anyway; I’m sure once you read, you’ll be yearning for the next meeting and berating yourself if you couldn’t come to the last. He he. Ok, here goes….

“In a 2003 episode of Extreme Makeover, ABC's makeover show offering transformation through style advice and multiple plastic surgeries, Amy, a "painfully shy 29-year-old cake decorator from Indiana," exclaims in her post-makeover interview, "I'm me now! I don't have to listen to what anyone else says" (Season 1- Episode 3, per epguides.com).

“Amy's words suggest that pre-makeover insecurity caused a split between her sense of identity and her physical presence, exacerbated by a social censure that diminished her self-worth. Like many victims of trauma, Amy responded to pain through dissociation, separating her sense of identity from her embodied experience, in many ways mirroring what theorists identify as the postmodern condition. After surgery Amy claims a unity of identity and body, a sense she has finally become herself, thus believing she has also transcended societal censure and can exercise complete autonomy, allowing her to ignore all cultural mandates. The Extreme Makeover procedures; a nose job, extensive reconstructive dentistry and porcelain veneers, bags removed from beneath her eyes, breast implants, hair styling and coloring, make-up and fashion lessons; offer Amy a classical sense of the subject, one that is internally coherent and fully autonomous; she feels fractured no longer, a new-found state that strikes her as liberating and empowering. (Beauty, Desire, and Anxiety)”

The world in which we live, most would agree, places a high value on physical beauty. With this, women especially will often go to great lengths to achieve being perceived as beautiful. Sales of cosmetics and the demand for cosmetic surgery support such an assertion. Shows like “Extreme Makeover” and “The Swan” (a Fox show that uses the “extreme makeover” concept, then continues by pitting the women in a beauty pageant against one another) showcase prime examples of women and men struggling with their physical appearance; their lives are then made better by becoming beautiful. Amy even gushed, “I’m me now! I don’t have to listen to what anyone else says.” Her self-perception of her physical ugliness did not match who she felt to be as a person.

Are we then able to disassociate our physical selves from who we are as people? Can we ever split our “self” from our physical appearance? In essence, how do we relate to our bodies?

Further, what is this thing we call beauty? And what exactly about it drives us so much? I found yet another interesting website: http://www.beautyanalysis.com/ . They have done studies on beauty, attempting to create a scientifically supported definition.

“The primary image of "humanness" is the genetically coded visual image of an "ideal" human face. The more a face resembles this "Ideal Human Face Image" - the more we perceive it to be human. When a face is perceived to be human that perception sets off in us a conscious response of "attraction" and "positive emotion". "Beauty" is defined as "the quality or combination of qualities in an entity which evokes in the perceiver a combination of a sense of "strong attraction" and a sense of "strong positive emotion". Thus we can postulate that the perception or "recognition" of beauty is actually nothing more than a strong correlation of what we subconsciously expect "humanness" to appear to be. (beautyanalysis.com)”

We may agree or disagree that beauty can be thus narrowly defined and so immutable. However, one must acknowledge that beauty in our world is perhaps one of the most powerful motivators, a holy grail of societal standing.

“Beauty, we are told, is the salve for all wounds, and beauty promises the ultimate reward; attention. This world where "everyone must look at [me] and nothing else" seems to signify the culmination of fantasy, the ultimate monomaniacal form of power where the body is fully validated by the fascination it commands (Miller). Indeed, we can see this promise uttered through the system of equivalencies “Extreme Makeover” poses: beauty is health, beauty is confidence, beauty is happiness, beauty is romantic love, beauty is stability, beauty is prosperity, beauty is democracy. In the way of the most powerful and cunning of cultural texts, “Extreme Makeover” offers what cultural narratives have long made us believe in and desire; coherence, acceptance, self-improvement, and equality. All of this, it suggests, can be purchased through the currency of beauty. (Beauty, Desire, and Anxiety)”

The currency of beauty. That life may be bought, sold, and appraised based on a genetically programmed physical reaction. Our world reacts in ways mentioned above; we strive daily to cover flaws, to both have others view and perceive ourselves as beautiful. It is an assurance of normality, of fitting into society with the security of resembling our peers (does this relate to Beauty Analysis’s assertion that we judge people by physical appearance as more or less human?).

Kyra had a wonderful insight. When speaking of how we essentially strive to look the same in order to fit into this supposed “ideal,” she said (and this is a quote; I had my wits about me at this time and fortuitously wrote it down), “The more isolated we become (in society), the more we want to be included. We seek out this inclusion through beauty and aesthetics.” Beauty will buy us that inclusion, or so goes the thinking.

Consider how often we use beauty as a measuring stick. The judged level of beauty will cause people to make assumptions about one’s personality. Mentally we inextricably link people’s personalities with their appearance, especially during first impressions. We assume that people will act in a given way that reflects how they look. In discussing this, many of us had stories about either how we were (later) informed of having been judged on our appearance or how, for good or bad, had judged others. We all do it.

Ok. Given this excess of information, where do we go from here? Leah noted that this is interesting to talk about, but what can we actually do about it? After all, so often we merely reinforce this behavior through our own actions. Who has not bought fashion magazines? Worn makeup? Critically assessed how our or others’ bodies appear? I would never argue that all these things are inherently bad. (I would have to be quite a hypocrite to do so!) They cannot, however, define how we view ourselves.

At times, we involve ourselves in overly critical self-talk, unable to pass by even the most mildly reflective surface without checking to see if our “flaws” are evident. Or we seek out approval from others, desperately needing words of affirmation. Loving our bodies must be a trained practice. Rather than constantly being critical, is it not better to find what we love about our appearance, about our personalities, and remind ourselves of these excellent qualities? Additionally, it is helpful to turn our eyes from ourselves, to look to other women around us and intentionally seek to notice what is praiseworthy. We noted that this goes beyond merely complimenting one’s outfit or hair (which is still nice to do), but taking time to truly notice what is extraordinary. This may sound trite, but often the most common aphorism is the truest. After all, how much more meaningful is it when another person notes something you consider to be very personal rather than spouting a generality like, “Oh, you’re so pretty today!” Such unspecific comments are often perceived as being given with ulterior motives or an agenda. Sincerity is essential.

Well, I know I’ve missed so much. But it’s already too long and it at least gives you a taste of what was read and discussed. I hope you enjoyed reading. Please feel free to leave comments (if you can figure out how the darned thing works; I’m still confounded!).

Goodbye for now my beautiful girls,
Aubrey

Father-Daughter Relationships

Before last week's meeting, I was surfing for articles about father-daughter relationships (our topic). I came across a few I found interesting. This one is pretty short. This one has a funny story. The third one is much longer. It's here if you want to read the whole thing (it's a research paper interspersed with annoying ads), but the crux of it is this:

...Results showed that the women's responses to the Father-Daughter questionnaire identified six distinct father-daughter relationships: a doting father; a distant father; a demanding/supportive father; a domineering father; a seductive father; an absent father. Furthermore, measures showed a significant difference in the women's self-perceptions by their identified father-daughter relationships. ...

Briefly stated: 1) The Doting Father has been described as the father who keeps his daughter close to him through disproportional personal and economic support. Although his need to keep his daughter young and close to him may be unconscious, his attachment to her is overwhelming and the daughter never feels the need or the freedom to grow up.
2) The Distant Father has been described as reserved, stoic and even withdrawn. He often controls the family unit with silence. He escapes into silence during moments of family stress leaving his wife to handle family problems and the disciplining of children.
3) The Demanding/Supportive Father interacts with both his sons and daughters equally. He expects and even demands that they do their best. However, whenever necessary he is there for his children with support and comfort.
4) The Domineering Father expects a great deal from his children but is not there with support or encouragement when they need it. Domineering fathers may differ in severity from heavy controllers to tyrants and finally bullies.
5) Seductive Fathers sexually abuse their daughters. The abuse may come in the form of physical attack or verbal suggestions.
6) The Absent Father left the family when his daughter was a small girl, either through an early death or divorce. The daughter may have few memories of her father. However, she may have memories of his departure and the experience may have been traumatic. ...

Women who experienced Doting Fathers identified with their fathers on all four personality variables measured in this study, Assertiveness, Relational Needs, Cognitive Ego States and Critical Self-Image. Furthermore, women with Doting Fathers perceived their fathers to be ideal, as shown by significantly similar father-daughter means for Relational Needs and Critical Self-Image measures. It seems important to note that daughters with Doting Fathers were the only group of women in the study who significantly identified with their fathers' assertive behavior, implying identifications with their fathers beyond that of the other women in the study. However, the Assertiveness measure in this study integrated personality variables that implied an ability to be unique, independent and free to express oneself. Paradoxically, this study's finding, that daughters significantly identify with their doting fathers' assertive behavior, raises the possibility supported in psychological theory, that a daughter may not have the psychological permission to be herself, if being herself differs from her father's self. Although daughters of Doting Fathers may show a congruent real and ideal-self measure of self-concept, the finding in this study suggests that a simple congruence between one's real and ideal-self may hide the basic nature of a woman's problem, that her concept of "self" is not her own but one supplied by a Doting Father.

Unlike the women with Doting Fathers, women with Demanding/Supportive Fathers showed no significance for mean scores that contrasted assertive behaviors between daughters and their fathers. However, they did show significant identification with their fathers on measures for Relational Needs, Cognitive Ego State and Critical Self-Image. This finding indicates that although the women identified with their fathers and valued them, they appeared to have psychological permission to be different and assert behaviors unlike their fathers. Thus a demanding but supportive father who relates to his daughter as he has his son seems to promote mature mental-health-growth in women.

Results showed that women with Distant Fathers significantly described themselves with assertive behaviors that differed from their fathers' behaviors. However, these same women, who perceived that they are significantly different from their fathers, also believed that their fathers viewed them to be alike, as shown on measures for Relational Needs and Critical Self-Image. Therefore, it seems that the daughter of a Distant Father is strong in her belief that she "is" different from her Distant, often-passive father; however, she believes that her father identifies with her. This finding confirms the concern cited by family therapists who discuss the affects of a father who controls by distancing from family interactions causing the daughter to rescue him through a silent alliance. Although, this alliance may, in reality, only exist in the daughter's mind, psychological theory suggests that as the daughter moves into a private-unspoken alliance with her father she is distanced from her mother. If the family triangle exists as cited, it would lead counselors and therapists to speculate on the kind of man the daughter of a Distant Father would ultimately seek in adult intimacy. If she does seek a man like her father in order to perpetuate her alliance of protection, theory suggests that she may, with children, find herself outside on the point of her family triangle distanced not only from her husband but also from her children.

Results further showed that women with Domineering Fathers identified only with their father's Cognitive Ego State; for measures of Relational Needs, these women perceived themselves significantly different from their fathers. No further significant mean contrasts were reported. These findings suggest that daughters of Domineering Fathers are able to maintain a rational relationship with their fathers but feel disconnected from them emotionally. The self-reports made by daughters of Domineering Fathers reflect the distancing that occurs between people when one person in the relationship is domineering, tyrannical and perhaps fearer.

Results showed that daughters of Absent Fathers described themselves and their ideal as significantly more assertive and relational than their fathers. Daughters of Seductive Fathers also perceived themselves and their ideal as significantly different from their fathers for Relational Needs, Cognitive Ego State and Critical Self-Image measures. In addition, daughters of Absent and Seductive Fathers saw themselves significantly different as compared to how they felt their fathers would perceive them. The findings in this study seem to show that although the Absent Father and Seductive Father cannot be compared behaviorally or emotionally, the relational affect seems similar. That is, women with Absent Fathers are left feeling separated and misunderstood by their fathers; so too, women with Seductive Fathers, in addition to being emotionally and physically violated, feel alienated and misunderstood. ...

What do people think?

Book/Author Swap

Hey ladies!
It's so great to have this blog to share with you all. (thanks Ang!) I hope this finds everyone doing well and feeling strong in these gorgeous spring days.
Oh surprise! I'm still in Korea. Although through some unfortunate events, a huge positive from this situation is that I'll be able to join you all once again for this Sunday's group discussion!
I wanted to put an idea out there that just seemed natural for our get togethers. A book exchange! The whole way through our last talk we were hearing of these great new authors and Aisha did a read, and it just seems like we could all get a lot out of each other's literature. It's simple right? Just bringing books to share and pass around, but what a way to share and connect with each other...I'm hoping others are feeling me on this.
We might not have our books with us, and I know it's hard to get a lot of different authors here in Korea, but if there's something you'd like to share but can't find...online shopping is great for that. One site has good quality used books for cheap. www.Abebooks.com They ship to Korea, and it's pretty fast. I'm also inviting you all to post some favorite authors or books here on the blog. I myself have have little clue of great female writings, so any help will be appreciated!
Well, that's all I had to say. I'm looking forward to seeing you all soon...
In peace,
Leah

What is a feminist?

Feminism – The belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes (http://www.feministplanet.com/).

After the first meeting (which was great) I was left thinking about many things. I was a little disappointed that I was not able to think of a clear definition of what feminism was. I really felt I needed a much clearer idea. I started searching around on the net and quickly figured out why I had a very general vague idea with a flashing neon sign EQUALITY floating in the middle. There are so many kinds of feminism it would be ridiculous to list them all here and maybe even impossible given that different people give them different names and there are some pretty obscure ones. I spent some time reading through many subtypes in an online encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/feminism).

In my journey of trying to seek out what kind of feminist I am, I came across lots of interesting beliefs. From our meeting and through reading it became very apparent to me why womyn can not all just unite and change the world – we think the best way to achieve equality is through very different routes, maybe most importantly we have very different views of what equality means and then there are those who don’t see equality as the ultimate goal.
I remember the idea that some women don’t want equality being mentioned at the gathering. I found several different subtypes of these women. Conservative feminists are women who work against other womyn and support a patriarchal society. I even checked out a website called ladies against feminism. It has a strong religious tone and is very focused on women working at home. It is distressing to me that societies problems are blamed on womyn working out of the home. I strongly believe that our children need more supervision and guidance from there parents but I believe it should come from both parents. I think if a womyn or man chooses to stay home and raise their children that it should be just that a choice.

Many times I have joked with male friends that they are next to unnecessary in the survival of the human race. I mean we cant be that far from being able to manufacture sperm. Albeit I love womyn and I wouldn’t be heartbroken if all womyn decided they liked other womyn. Although I understand why, I am still saddened by the use of the name lesbian feminism to identify the man haters. To me these womyn are one of the groups that gives feminists a bad name. They have a very strong anti-male attitude and hold the belief that all womyn should be lesbians. They are not working toward equality but an all female world.

Radical Feminism by definition didn’t live up to my mental picture. As much as I hate the word because of all the images it creates in my head if I were to be honest I would have to say that at least in part I believe in radical feminist theory. If someone asked me what makes the world go round, why does anyone or anything act the way it does or what is the key to the universe I would answer power. I think that everything wants, needs, uses, expels, fights for and gives up power (energy). I think a balance of power between men and womyn (and all living things) should be the ultimate goal. Now I think that all the negative images come from some radical feminists who believe an imbalance of power favouring womyn is necessary to compensate for all the years of patriarchy. I do not agree with this idea.

We also discussed the idea of where do our feelings of Im a girl and Im a boy and what this means to us come from. There are opposing ideas within post-modern feminism. On the whole they agree that gender is not innate. Taken to the extreme this would mean if someone where to raise a child like a boy, it will be a boy or like a girl, it would be a girl regardless of the physical bodies it was born with. There is proof against this idea in the sex reassignment case of Joan/John. A little boys life changed with the slip of a knife. Instead of being circumcised he was castrated and raised as a girl. On the less extreme side of this is the idea that society teaches us what it means to be a boy or a girl and how to act according to our assigned gender. There is a lot of support out there for this idea. Some of it comes from the studies we mentioned on how people treat babies who are dressed in different outfits but assigned gender identifying names. Often the first question asked by and of new parents is whether their new child is a boy or a girl. Without even knowing it people ask so they know how to treat the new child. Inside my head I scream it’s a baby you treat it like a baby.


If you are reading this I cant believe you have made it this far :) So what subtype of feminist am I? This question was not easy for me to answer. I did not come up with one but rather several strong subtypes and a few weak ones that I felt a connection with. I strongly identified with sex-positive feminism and individualist feminism. I really hope we take on some topics from a transnational feminist perspective. I really like the sound of womanism but think the spelling should be womynism. Hopefully with our moderately diverse group we will make a greater effort to look at issues across various races, nations, and cultures. The belief in strong womyn being made available as role models is really appealing to me. I think amazon feminism could easily sprout man haters but I believe that strength can be a beautiful quality that should be encouraged and embraced – GO Wonder Woman. However I don’t think they should be the only role models out there. Pop feminism which was lacking a clear definition but definitely an interesting concept may allow all those legally blonde girls out there to stand up and say they are feminists too.

Are you more "masculine" or "feminine?"

Hey girls,

great start the other night. I really really loved it, and can't wait till our next get together!

So I found something that could be a good starting point for some online discussion: I was emailed this "PhD certified" quiz entitled, "Are you more masculine or feminine?" and was intrigued given our discussion of what society perceives as traditionally "masculine" and "feminine," so I took it. Apparently I'm 84% feminine, at least today (my mood always depicts how i answer these things). What's interesting is the articles that come after the quiz, explaining your results, outlining the typical masculine and feminine charateristics, and giving examples in dialogues as to who is being more typical "manly" and more typical "girlie". There's also an interesting article on the history of this research.

I'm interested in knowing you're thoughts on this. Is is sexist? A joke? Or is the research, at least partially, valid? Click here to take the test post your thoughts on the blog.

Lovingly,
Jen

Welcome!!

Welcome!!

The title can be changed if people have any objections or other suggestions, but I had to call it something. (The blog address can also be changed).

Also, for those of you not familiar with blogspot, you can change your individual settings to be emailed everytime someone makes a post or a comment. IE: Every post or comment will be emailed to you so you don't need to keep checking the blog for updates. If anyone needs help, I'd be glad to; I think there are a few of us on the list who know blogspot quite well, so just leave a comment if you need any help.

Cheers,
Ang

Contact List

Contact List

Name	Email	Phone
Aisha Amy Angela Aubrey Belvey Emily Jennifer Jessica Leah Liz Melanie Robin Sunny Jinny Sophie Meaghan Amanda Bev Courtney Denelle Sasha Sonia Val	mumbi7778@yahoo.com.au amy_asu@yahoo.com angieck.meri@gmail.com aubslee@gmail.com belveyr@yahoo.com emilymariec@gmail.com jengal4@gmail.com jessicadownes80@yahoo.com leahmohler@yahoo.com liz.mcclintic@gmail.com melenau@hotmail.com robinglauber@verizon.net leosunny002@hotmail.com foreverjhgj@hotmail.com exploresophie@hotmail.com meaghan.m.smith@gmail.com yayforcancer@gmail.com bev548@hotmail.com horray4courtney@hotmail.com denelle_22@yahoo.com shachajoy@yahoo.ca soniapras@yahoo.ca you.can.call.me.val@gmail.com	010-7760-0856 ### 010-3037-8232 010-6787-4519 010-3037-5108 010-8690-1413 010-4572-1050 010-5830-7887 010-4855-4205 010-5812-5858 010-9150-4260 051-704-0135 016-502-2214 010-4590-0489 ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ###