Blog Response #5

Chapter 10: 


Question 1: The following clips depict representations of the woman's suffragist movement (what later evolved into the feminist movement), and the early struggles of the civil rights movement. Which clip do you think portrays each respective time? Do you think there is a racial bias in either of these representations and why? What motives do you feel white women would have in practicing discretion with respect to race during these liberating times? 

I think the first clip (Iron Jawed Angels) portrays the woman's suffragist movement and the second clip (The Help) portrays the civil rights movements. There seems to be a racial bias in the first clip because all of the women shown in the trailer are white. White women might have practiced discretion with respect to race during those times because they might have thought that bringing race into the woman's suffragist movement might take attention away from the gender issue. bell hooks supports this when she states, "Wrongly they saw us as deflecting focus away from gender. In reality, we were demanding that we look at the status of females realistically..." (hooks, 2007, p. 57).

Question 2: Do you feel this "evolution of perspective" is paralleled in our generation today with respect to the many issues of humanism such as sexism, racism, agism, violence etc? What external factors perpetuate this change? Do you believe this to be positive or negative? 

I do believe our generation has a different perspective than our parents and grandparents. I think it is a positive thing because the older generations have a problem accepting people that are not like them. I think our generation is more open to new and unfamiliar things. I'm not saying we don't have issues accepting others, but I think we are better at it than the generations before us. Our generation grew up surrounded by people of different races, ages, gender, etc. We didn't grow up in segregation or anything like that. We've learned how to interact with people different from us. I think if we can teach our children tolerance and acceptance and they do the same, the world will eventually become an equal place. Also, I think our generation is more likely to stand up and fight against inequalities.

Chapter 11

Question 1: What do you think could be some of the underlying causes of this violence? Hooks also notes that much of the public refuses to link the violence to patriarchal thinking or male domination, why do you think this is? 

There could be so many underlying causes for male violence towards women. It could be an anger management problem, related to the way he grew up (maybe he saw his father hurt his mother), or even stress. The man could  be stressed because of work may take it out on others. While there are many reasons that could lead a man to hurt a women, none of them justify their actions. I think the public refuses to link the violence to patriarchal thinking or male domination because I don't think anyone really wants to admit that it is still present in today's society, especially women.

Question 2: After watching this video and thinking of some responses on your own, how do you think domestic violence between spouses and children can be related? Also, after the video, how do you think this issue of the two forms of violence being closely related each other can be brought more to light so that the issue can be more of a topic to be worked on being resolved? What steps do you think need to be taken to resolve this form of violence? (Sorry the clip is not in English, but the point still gets across.)

Violence between spouses can affect the children who have to watch that. It can damage them psychologically or make them think that's what a relationship should be like. I suppose the best way to bring this issue to light and try to resolve it is by educating people, including children. Also, giving the people in these situations options. They may feel trapped. Here's a video that discusses keeping domestic violence a secret: