Disproportionate Impacts on Women

Check out this site http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/dangerpoll  , which documents how:

"Women experience the brunt of the world's poverty, with serious implications for their health and livelihoods. They also suffer disproportionately during crises - whether earthquakes, floods, wars or famines."

Check out the following site for information on crisis prevention, conflict prevention, disaster risk reduction, and recovery.

http://www.undp.org/cpr

and see the http://www.beta.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/womenempowerment/overview.htmlpage for  a focus on the disproportionate impact on, as well as needs of, women and children.

"iPhone Apps for Girls"

This list of iPhone apps highlights "Apps for Girls." Interestingly enough, these apps play into gendered stereotypes perfectly. They include MASH, a game that helps you figure out who you are going to marry, how many children you will live, what kind of house you will have etc... and of course because all girls are bad at math, it has an app of Math Flash Cards. This list really just reiterates how gender is constructed through the consumption and and representation of gendered ideals. The media presents these gendered stereotypes, and companies target their products based on these stereotypes, which furthers the assumption that these gendered differences are inherent and not created.

female cartoonist's work challenges Saudi gender norms

I chose this article, because it corresponds to some of the recent readings. The article explains how an Saudi woman by the name of Hana Hajjar, is publishing somewhat controversial cartoons. The cartoons are about the men in society and how they've put women in oppresive situations. Hajjar drawings are pushing the limits, on what women can draw and advertise publicly. In the article Hajjar is taking part of the so "called" masculine activity, as in drawing cartoons. The article goes to give some insight on her past and how she encourages women to draw. Check out the article at cnn.com

Below is the URL for the article described above: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/27/hajjar.female.cartoonist/index.html

Gay teen's photo snub challenged

Girl has photo removed from the yearbook for wearing a tux

In this article, a girl decides to wear a tux in her senior portrait because as a lesbian she says that she feels more comfortable in men's clothing. This decision certainly illustrates the extent to which bodies are socialized into a particular gender. Because Ceara is biologically female, she is expected to fulfill societal expectations about how her gender should be performed. And when she doesn't perform in a typical manner she is discriminated for it.

Young Palestian Death From Breast Cancer

I read this on the CNN world news and thought it was very interesting and moving. The 28 year old woman had breast cancer and it took the doctors 6 months to find it.  What happen next was ridiculous.  They told her to loosen her bra.  A very good read!

http://www.cn.com/2009/WORLD/MEAST/10/07/palestinan.territories.animation.caner/index/html

A note from Dr. Kayt - Unfortunately the URL above will NOT get you to the article :-( This errant URL is a demonstration of why proofreading is important. This also provides a good reminder about why typos count, and are to be avoided!

Below is the actual URL for this article -

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/07/palestinian.territories.animation.cancer/index.html

I am particularly interested in ya'll's thoughts about how this animated film, the FIRST commercial Palestinian animation film ever made, confronts "socially constructed" ideas about gender. Do you think that animation might "expose" these socially constructed ideas in ways that actors might not be able to expose/portray? 

Red text & corrected URL from Dr. Kayt

Introductory Quilt

It was suggested that I post my quilt on the blog, and ergo, here I am posting it :) My name is Sarah States, and if you have any questions about my quilt, feel free to ask them.

(Click on the quilt to see a larger version)

TOP LEFT: Photography has always been a passion of mine. I graduated with an Interdisciplinary degree in Art and Communication from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan last May, and my artistic emphasis was photography. The image of bodies with graffiti is from a series that I just completed and have a show for on the 23rd of September.

TOP RIGHT: I find gender to be an extremely fascinating topic, and while at Calvin I also had minors in Gender Studies and Sociology. The school I attended was rather conservative and Christian, and one of my reasons

for taking this class is to compare the difference between this class and the classes I have already taken in this discipline. The trifecta gender image represents how I prefer to see gender as more of a spectrum instead of a dichotomy, but at the same time because of our socialization, it can be difficult to approach things in a nongendered fashion. And while I appreciate all genders, I am particularly interested in women's issues; which is why the yoni symbol is represented.

BOTTOM LEFT: I find myself with perpetual wanderlust, and I travel as much as I am able. I almost always utilize Couchsurfing in my travels. Couchsurfing is an online community of people who let travelers stay on their couch for free. Something about the hospitality of strangers always restores my faith in humanity a little more each time I participate.

BOTTOM RIGHT: My pet snake Parsley and I are definitely kindred spirits. It seems to me as though the general dislike of snakes and unfounded distrust of women both stream from the Genesis creation story. And whether inherent or not (I do not know), but women in particular have a definite connection to nature, and the bookWomen Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype certainly confirms my belief of this.

"So what is the Wild Woman? ... She is the Life/Death/Life force, she is the incubator. She is the intuition, she is the far-seer, she is deep listener, she is loyal heart. She encourages humans to remain multilingual, fluent in languages of dreams, passion, and poetry. She whispers from night dreams, she leaves behind on the terrain of a

woman's soul a course hair and muddy footprints. These fill women with longing to find her, free her, and love her. She is ideas, feelings, urges, and memory. She has been lost and half forgotten for a long, long time. She is the source of light, the night, the dark, and daybreak. She is the smell of good mud and the back leg of the fox. The birds which tell us secrets belong to her. She is the voice that says, "This way, this way."