Older women and their sexuality…
I was watching a video for class called “Still doing it” and it’s about interviews conducted about women who are over the ages of 65 and how they still have the desire to want sex and many still do. the women and the few men that were on this video were very open about expressing their sexuality. i found that very interesting and somewhat disturbing on some levels. it good to know that you can still have a healthy sexual life even after you aged a few more years and added a number of other medical issues that you have to address, but it’s very hard for me to imagine that some of my family members that are close aged to the ones that were on the interview could possibly still want sex and even worst have intercourse. all that aside it good to know because for one we are all aging and eventually we’re going to address them but for two it’s another mark for not just women but older women to come this far in our women’s rights movement that we can openly and freely express not only our desires but also our needs as a women and as still a part of our society. our older generation could also be known as the “forgotten generation” because we as a society want to forget about them and just focus on the young and beautiful when infact that we are all sooner or later going to be in thir position one day. so why not take interest on the one thing that any of us can’t escape from, aging?
Add a comment November 27, 2007
When women earn more…
I found this article (http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=7706) about a women who earns alot of money and how for a long time she had a hard time finding someone that can really accept and appreciate her for who she is. it’s funny how it’s okay for a man to earn more money than womam but when woman make more then it’s some how seen to be shamful or something we as a society don’t accept very well. In this article, the woman speaks about an incident that happened on her first date with this guy that she was very attracted to. Long story short, but he saw her shoes and asked her how much she paid for them; in an effort of being modest she replied as if she didn’t remember. however her persisted on knowing how much these pair of shoes coast her and finally she told him it was $400. from that response he decided that she was not somebody that he would consider dating because just the pair of shoes she was wearing coast more than half his rent and surely she was too expensive for him. needless to mention these are the pair of shoes that SHE bought for her self with her own hard earned money; so why should she hide that or even feel ashamed for getting the things that she enjoys with her hard earned income? i don’t understand how women are subjected to the double standerd role in just about everything that we do. not saying that all men are against women that out-earn them as equally presented by a man who dates women who out-earn him (http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=8785) however, i am raising the question on how women have to live under these double standerds that are set both by men and women that they who set it can’t even live by them.
Add a comment November 27, 2007
Love & Mate Selection
From a sociological point of how love and mate selection is viewed is slightly different than from the chapter we read.
In my Sociology (Marriage and Family) Class, one of the main things we focus on is to first define what love is, define the types of love, components of love, how does love change over time, how do we choose our mate, living together, engagement and marriages are some of the questions we try to answer from a social point of view.
For starters, we define love based on our own experience. According to Maslow’s theory love can also be defined as “meeting needs”. Maslow emphasizes on everyone having a basic psychological need for love. If we focus on the Maslow’s hierarchy, if two people are at the bottom level of the security and safety level of the pyramid, their relationship would best be described as the exchange theory. However, if two people are at the top level self-actualization then their love/ relationship is understood to “flourish”.
we also look at interethnic marriages, interfaith marriages, heterosexual, homosexual relationship, as well as studying how each group funchions differently. one of our guest speakers said that dating was a type of game. you ”play” around until you find the one you plan on spending the rest of your life with. He says play because regardless of how serious a relationship may be, we are all in the dating seen playing a certain role or game if you will.
Everybody have their definition of a first date, but the main function of a first date is to get to know the other person and to see if this is someone you want to invest any more of your time and energy on. if the game was plaid well, each person is hoping for a second date. You basically keep playing these games until you get to a point to decide if this person is either somebody you want to make a life partner or if this is somebody you want to forget about. either way it goes everybody plays the game in the mate selection process.
Add a comment October 19, 2007
Killing Us Softly
Killing us softly was one of the videos we watched in class.
I can’t really remember her name but she did a video of all the advertisement clips that are out there. It’s truly eye opening if you really start to pay attention to the media and the types of messages they are sending out. They are mainly aimed at women and everything they need to do from head to toe to better themselves. That is of course implying how thin they need to be, and how young they need to look, and in detail of what’s wrong with them physically, mentally, emotionally, as well as spiritually.
From a very young age women are thought to groom them selves before they go out: don’t forget the make up, they hair spray, the comp, the min skirts, the high hills and shirts that are barley long enough to cover their nipples. I especially like the one ad about the shampoo; how a woman’s breast can be “…too pointy, too small, too big, too droop, too gappy, too saggy, too….etc, but at least you can have great looking hair”. In comparison, there is not a single commercial or any type of ad that promotes shampoo for men that say “your penis may be too pointy, too small, too big, too droopy, too saggy, too…. etc… but at least you can have great looking hair”. I’m so glad that she made that point because nobody really stops to think about what if all the ad were reversed to the other gender.
Although there have been some changes in the past year or two about the demands of “hotter” looking men but it is never as dramatic and unrealistic as women’s ads can be.
Add a comment October 19, 2007
Power… Power… Power!!!
Power Plays
Six ways the male corporate elite keeps women out…
This chapter focuses on the many different ways men not only dominant the corporate world but they also have their own ways of keeping women out. Since the very young age, men are thought to be power seekers, perceive the world as something to accomplish or something to have. Needless to say it is the same way as they get older in the business world. Men tend to measure their success by value. As children the meaning behind a merit badge from a Boy Scouts would be equivalent to men in the business world that are the CEOs’ in their corner office with the window, the reserved parking, the high priced cars and clothes, unlimited business account, and countless private memberships. Thus they use to measure success; to make it even more prestigious, they join a golf membership that money can’t buy and dominated by men. Making it twice as hard for any women to join, there are six different ways elite corporate keep women out.
The six different groups are: power re-creates itself in its own image, power elites enforce norms and systems that guarantee continued power, power creates a sense of entitlement, power creates invulnerability-leading to a flaunting of society’s standards, loyalty to power overshadows other loyalties- including gender and race, as well as group combined with power can trump good judgment and override individual normal codes. These different sections emphasize on the psychological view of the situation. People like to hire people who are more like them both physically and in their ways of thinking. That is of course dominated by white male which women and minority men are misrepresented in many corporate. Power elites protect each other and enforce their norms and systems upon new comers. It is also noted that African American men gain more from being men that lose from being African American. In the same token women, after reaching a certain level of status, they are less likely to help another women progress.
Add a comment October 19, 2007
If men could menstruate
what if the tabels were turned?…. what if men could menstruate and women couldn’t?… this is by far one of my favorite readings from the book “Women’s Voices Feminist Visions” by Lee and Shaw.
What if? how would our views on mensturation be culturally world wide? how would we define gender role and masculinity or femininity? i once heard a comment about a man saying he doesn’t trust anything that bleeds for seven days and still functions normally.
Needless to say the word menstruate would have a whole new meaning. The same reasons used to supress women would be used to empower men. In many cultures and religious women are not permitted to do certain things simply because we menstruate. In the East Orthodox Christian Churches women are not allowed to be behind the curtains or serve in the church in any way other than being in choir. The only place for a woman in that church is in choir or in the crowd worshiping with everybody else or maybe teaching the children about the bible. You will never catch a woman giving a serman or caring the holy bible out for one of the holidays, also called “Tabot” in Amaharic. One of the main reasons for that is because a woman is seen as being impurity because she bleeds every month. A woman is not supposed to take communion if she is on her cycle and if she already start having sex before marriage. That is just one religious that is supported strongly by it’s culture.
Imagine if the tabels were to turn. what if it was men that could mensturate and women couldn’t? do you think the rules are going to change back to where only women could give sermins and carry the Tabot? do you think it’s the women the whole community goes to with everything that’s going on?
I beg to differ. I presume the men would be praised more because they menstruate. They would be looked up to more and probably the prist who is actually on his cycle would do the service because he is supposedly more manly or probably more holly. i know this is a very contrivercial topic because it’s religious but none the less it’s true.
what if we took out religious… what if we just focus on cultures and different societies? as the book mentions, little boys would look forward to the day they can mark their manhood with extravigant rituals in every culture. the definition on what’s manly would change drastically; maybe the man that stays more days than others would be ”The Man” eveybody stives to be although scientifically or biologically they have no control over that. views on athletics would follow right along with everything else; men would be more dominant in any and everything they do because they menstruate and women would still be viewed as being incapable because they don’t menstruate. in fact it would probalby be one of the main requirement to inter into different programs or different organizations available. the many different government assistance available would expand simply for the need of men and there would be legistations passed to enforce them. i’m sure the count for crime rates would drop significantly because it would be understood that he was on his cycle and he had no control over his mood swings. there for the highest punishment would probably be vouluntary hours and probably counseling or medication because they are unable to control their mood swings.
so i guess the question could never be answered in full because all we can do is imagin what if it was men that menstruate.
Add a comment October 9, 2007
