Expectations



For my final blog post I would like to focus solely on the Ted Talk that we watched and the speech given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Personally, I really enjoyed it and thought that everything she had to say really encompassed some of the most important themes that we have discussed throughout the course. 

 In the very beginning of her speech Adichie said something that really stuck out to me; She acknowledged the negative baggage that is ultimately attached to the word "feminist." I found this part to be undeniably true and related it to my own life. When I talk to my parents or friends about feminist issues I am rarely taken seriously. They assume that I am joking around because there is no way that I could actually be a feminist. We have grown to associate so many stereotypes with the title that its meaning has been distorted entirely. A feminist is not a man-hating, obnoxious, strict and power-greedy woman. A feminist is anyone who recognizes that there is a problem with gender and who has hope for equality. We have anger but we have hope. I am a feminist because my gender shouldn't define my worth.

 Adichie also talked about the expectations that we as a society have created and abide by. We expect men to prove their masculinity, underlyingly expecting them to prove why they are better and why they deserve dominance. Society teaches us that men are more important than women, and that women should feel shame and guilt simply because we are women. But why do we need to have these rigid gender roles and expectations? What if we lived without the weight of who society says you are supposed to be? Adichie summed it up best when she said, "Gender prescribes who we should be rather than considering who we are." We have recognized that everyone in the world is different, but now we must see that those differences are okay, and that they should not cripple us in anyway. We all deserve equal opportunity and equal treatment. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gaga Wave

Image
Halberstam talks about the shortcomings of feminist Susan Faludi during her speech at a panel discussion and brings up an important point: Faludi’s theory feminism was out of date and restricted. Faludi’s conception of feminism did not include any mention of queer challenges and Halberstam points out that she makes no distinction between class or race. Faludi’s restricted and incomplete view of feminism contributes to the oppression of a majority of the people in our society. However, this being said I don’t think it is progressive for feminism communities to condemn feminist theories if they do not agree. While I think it is important that Halberstam brings attention to the shortcomings in Faludi’s feminist theory, I also believe that Halberstam’s criticism is not always constructive. In order to be successful as a movement, all feminist communities and theorists have to come together and acknowledge each other’s differences, not force one regime of feminist theory and deem it as the
Read more

RAGE

Image
In my high school being a person of color meant you were a part of the majority. Being a black person meant you were the majority. In my high school it was rare to ever walk the halls and see a white male or female, staff included. However, since coming to this campus that's all I see. It's different and it makes me realize that even though I once felt like I was a part of a majority race that in actuality I am a minority. I feel like I was in a little bubble oblivious to all harms the world aimed at me. I understood racism still existed but it was hard to encounter in an area where everyone was a person of color. I used to think the main thing standing in the way of my equality was men. Coming to this campus popped my bubble. I learned that racism and racial hatred still is a huge problem in this country, more so than I thought. I learned that not only do women of color have to fight for rights equal to men but to fight for rights based on their race, as well. I come to r
Read more

Terror and Cultural Framing

Image
This piece of artwork of a toddler peering over the U.S-Mexico border was created by renowned French artist JR. This image means something different to each local, but above all it calls for attention that the locals exist as people and as one local said in a video about this piece of artwork: "hey look I exist and I'm not a terrorist".           We have to work as a nation to fight not only for women’s rights, but also human rights. It comes as no surprise that the militarization of the U.S-Mexico border is reinforced by violent tactics attempting to keep people from crossing as described in Falcon’s article. Those who do cross the border and are caught face beatings, harassment, sexual assault, and rape. Falcon’s connection to militarization with the need to dominate and control connects to Bunch’s article and the Bush administration’s desire to dominate and instill fear in other countries. This brute domination reminds me of the sexual assault documentary we rece
Read more