Blog Assignment 3

In Barbara Ehrenreich's article "Global Women" she discussed a void that is left when Western women choose to go out and perform paid work. She describes this "care deficit" as creating opportunity for migrants to act as "paid domestics and caretakers." This is an interesting perspective as it demonstrates how these jobs are gendered. It shows how many families choose not to turn to a husband to perform "women's work" but would prefer to spend money in order to have a women fill this gap. This aspect of the article relates to our in class discussion of the idea that knowledge is grounded in divisions of labor. The hiring of migrant women to run a household instills in them that these tasks must be performed by women.

In Audre Lorde's article "Age, Race, Class, and Sex" she discusses the idea of "situated knowledge." After reading her article I believe it is not a hindrance to viewing the world clearly but it in fact allows us to see differences in each other. Lorde states that there are "women who view oppression only in terms of sex." She contrasts these women to a women of color such as herself. She explains that the women of color are able to see oppression on two levels, both race and sex. Her experiences with both grant her greater knowledge and wisdom. This advantage supports the claim that "situated knowledge" is more eye opening than limiting.

Blog #3

The article “Global woman” written by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hocheschild was chosen because the points that stood out talked about women who are independent and who are ready to do everything to provide family. This article showed the power that women have when they are in situation where is no other way to go; I related in little sense it to my grandmother who became widow and she had to raise to boys that was really hard to do, but she managed to do it very well. Moreover, she raised me and my sister as well because when my parents died she was the closest person to us. Main fact that stood out in the article was that women are making difference by going and working industriously to provide their families. In fact, they are willing to migrate and live in foreign countries for ten years or more just to support their children; it often time happens when a woman has experienced failed marriages. The idea of female-male gender division of labor explains why women work and sometimes have responsibilities that should have been referable to men, women needs to work to survive. In fact, many women who migrate are from Middle East , Third World countries; migration happens because usually salaries abroad are greater then salaries in their nations paid for the same amount of work. The lower position jobs and illegal jobs; for example, prostitution, are done just to take care of females’ families; besides, most of their earnings they send back home. People often time judge these women instead of helping them. This article provides the idea of women discrimination presented by professor Messner in the class; the image reflected that most of women are not seriously taken bye society.

Another article I will talk about is “To Veil or Not To Veil?” written by Jennan Ghazal Read and John P. Bartkowski. I chose to talk about this article because it talks about decision what is made by women and how they are pushed to do something because of men’s weakness. The main point that stood out was that women want to veil because then men can see females’ insides (character) first not just judge women by their appearances; the article says that women are like precious diamonds that is associated with feminine characteristics. The other reason why women are veiling is that males push them to do so because men cannot control their sexuality. Covered females’ bodies let men to overtake the control back. Nevertheless, Islam women veil to be different from other women because they want to be dedicated to their religion and culture. The cultural association is also made in the image that was discussed in the session; as talked that in the image was represented American culture as it is seen by Russians and the same here female discuss their culture and religion that is represented as veiling.

I believe that situated knowledge is an implement to seeing work clearly because in different kind of situation people need to know their jobs for hundred present and be ready to do whatever it takes to do their best. For example, if somebody is a doctor he or she needs to know all situation and symptoms that occur when one is having some of diseases. People need to count on their knowledge anytime and it does not matter if there is some pressure presented at the moment.

Allison's Blog #2

The two articles that I have chosen to blog about are "Age, Race, Class, and Sex," and "How Working Class Chicas Get Working Class Jobs."

First off, I chose Audre Lorde's piece because it reminded me off a topic I studied in high in high school called the binary box theory. The theory states that no matter what or who someone is they will be judged either top or bottom in the human mind. It is proven to just be human nature. For instance, man is above woman, or whites are above blacks. This is completely wrong and this article went into detail about much of the judging and other ways in which the judging takes place. It discusses how many people automatically just don't accept others because they are different from them. She then discusses how there is a "mythical norm" in which we all feel. It tells us that we do not fit into the stereotype. Societies have created a stereotype that is acceptable and many people try to fit into this stereotype. However, with more individuals feeling the pressures of this society is beginning to change. More people act differently or look differently, or even have different religions. And now, it is more accepted. Next, I will talk about "Working Class Chicas Get Working Class Jobs." This was extremely eye opening to me and not in a good way whatsoever. I always knew that there were some prejudices in our society but I didn't have much of an idea that it had escalated to this level. I had always felt a little bit uncomfortable when it would continuously be the same race of maids who would clean my house. I am very open minded and was extremely friendly but after reading this piece it made me feel as though they most likely felt as the girls in the article did. I hope that our society does not take it to the extreme level as much now, in everyday life, as it did in the past. I don't want the house cleaners to feel like they are any less important then I am and so I am now self conscious of how I act.

As for Professor Messner's question, I think that situated knowledge is a huge impediment to seeing the world clearly. When people have experiences and grow in character their opinions will change and adapt as they do as well. This will effect seeing the world clearly. This will create many conflicting views and problems in individuals perceptions alone. They may believe one thing at one point and something completely different after they experience something. Also, they will not be open minded to others opinions. They will believe only what they have experienced and who is to say that what they have experienced is right? This will cause many problems in seeing the world clearly.

Assignment 3

The two articles that I chose are the ones that I can relate to the most. Being a Chinese-Indonesian, I can relate to the article “Americans Have a Different Attitude: Family, Sexuality and Gender in Filipina American Lives.” Being immersed in an Eastern culture all my life, I have been raised to be have ‘strong family ties and collective identity’, to ‘fulfill (my) traditional roles as women: to get married and have children’, and ‘to be a virgin until I get married’. However, I feel like the article took some extreme examples and made a lot of generalizations. For example, although I can relate to the double standard for boys and girls and the fact that I was raised to fulfill my traditional roles, my parents always tried their best not to differentiate their children; they always tried to be fair. They are somehow more protective of their daughters, but I was still allowed to go out, date, or stay out late and take an out-of-town trip if they know who I am going with. They also always encourage me to pursue my education as high as possible and reach for my dreams, while still instilling in me a desire to be a good wife one day (not necessarily a housewife). Although different from the American culture, I think these forms of cultural resistance do not severely restrict women’s lives in my culture, depending on each family. To some extent they do, but from my observations I believe most of today’s Asian families have become more open-minded and not as restricting as depicted in the article.

The second article that stood out to me is “Global Woman” by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild. In Jakarta, Indonesia, almost every household has maids, nannies or domestic workers that come from the rural areas. Once I even had a nanny who had a nanny. In a sense, I experienced the ‘female underside of globalization’ first-hand. Since both my parents are working professionals, I grew up having a nanny whom I spent a lot of my time with. Just like some of the examples in the article most of the domestic workers who have worked at my house quit once they want to get married. Indonesia is also known to export domestic workers (and illegal prostitutes) to neighboring countries. Some of them get treated very badly by their masters; there have been many stories about abused domestic workers in foreign countries. These are some really heart-wrenching stories, to know how women who seriously wanted to work so they can obtain money for their families were abused. This truly shows the female underside of globalization, because although now women are on the move as never before, they have to leave their families behind and some of them even got abused. Although I was aware that these domestic workers who lived in my house were leaving their children behind, this article really opened up my eyes because I was raised to be used to this condition, as what the article deems as ‘early childhood education’… I believe this is still an issue in many parts of the world that needs to be addressed.

Regarding the question in Prof. Messner’s class, I believe that “situated knowledge” is an impediment in seeing the world clearly. For instance, my view as an Indonesian towards domestic workers was different than most Americans’, because my situated knowledge is different than theirs. Some people are more open-minded and some are less, but everyone has at least some degree of situated knowledge. Everyone’s view on something inevitably must be biased to a certain extent, depending on one’s culture, values, experiences, and beliefs. One can try his/her best to look at something fully objectively, but still it’s extremely difficult to take a broader look at the world 100% clearly and objectively.

Schyler's Blog # 3

Race and gender share a critical relationship in our society and, in particular, in our daily lives. Until I had the opportunity to study this relationship in college, I did not see “race”; I fortunately appreciated the people around me regardless of their culture, history, language, and ethnicity. Similarly, I was unaware of the inequalities people endured because of contentious issues surrounding race. I believe that my neutral reaction towards “race” is a direct result of factors including the social environment I grew up in; my parents are extremely liberal and my schooling was very diverse. On the other hand, I was aware of the dichotomy between men and women because of factors including the social environment I grew up in as well. For example, my mother always stressed the need for me to become a self-sufficient woman, without the hindrance or need of a man. This concept manifested itself, at least in my mind, as if women need to maintain or strive to attain the same opportunities as their male counterparts. However, when I entered my freshman year of college, I was able to study the interaction between both race and gender in a historical context. Through my schooling, I have understood that race is merely a social construct, a means of socially defining and stereotyping individuals. Although my personal appreciation of individuals has not changed since I have learned about this relationship, I have come to terms with the inequalities that people have experienced because of racism and its correlation to gender.

Aside from what I would call “common knowledge,” including the idea of racism as a prominent feature in historical events such as the White slavery of African Americans, gendered racism is prevalent today, something that I believe many people take for granted. In “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” Audre Lorde discusses the differences between White and Black women and, in particular, their distinctive perspectives of one another because of their distinctive personal experiences. But aside from their contrasting views, both Black and White women share a common notion of maintaining a heterosexual population because of patriarchy. As Professor Messner stated in class, people might be willing, even unconsciously willing, to dichotomize men and women, in addition to people of different “races,” because of power. Power is the notion of keeping things the way they are. Thus, by keeping these categorical gendered and racial differences by maintaining a heterosexual foundation, some might believe that they can sustain this power relationship. Likewise, Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill note the importance of the terms “multiracial feminism,” “racial ethnic women,” and “women of color” in their article, “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism.” The terms are applied as a means of defining individuals and keeping gendered and racial superiority in different parts of the world. I believe that the notion of situated knowledge, the knowledge gained from where an individual figuratively stands in society, is an impediment to seeing the world clearly because of the stereotypes that are learned, passed down, and adopted from generation to generation.

Race and gender share a critical relationship in our society and, in particular, in our daily lives. Until I had the opportunity to study this relationship in college, I did not see “race”; I fortunately appreciated the people around me regardless of their culture, history, language, and ethnicity. Similarly, I was unaware of the inequalities people endured because of contentious issues surrounding race. I believe that my neutral reaction towards “race” is a direct result of factors including the social environment I grew up in; my parents are extremely liberal and my schooling was very diverse. On the other hand, I was aware of the dichotomy between men and women because of factors including the social environment I grew up in as well. For example, my mother always stressed the need for me to become a self-sufficient woman, without the hindrance or need of a man. This concept manifested itself, at least in my mind, as if women need to maintain or strive to attain the same opportunities as their male counterparts. However, when I entered my freshman year of college, I was able to study the interaction between both race and gender in a historical context. Through my schooling, I have understood that race is merely a social construct, a means of socially defining and stereotyping individuals. Although my personal appreciation of individuals has not changed since I have learned about this relationship, I have come to terms with the inequalities that people have experienced because of racism and its correlation to gender.

Aside from what I would call “common knowledge,” including the idea of racism as a prominent feature in historical events such as the White slavery of African Americans, gendered racism is prevalent today, something that I believe many people take for granted. In “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” Audre Lorde discusses the differences between White and Black women and, in particular, their distinctive perspectives of one another because of their distinctive personal experiences. But aside from their contrasting views, both Black and White women share a common notion of maintaining a heterosexual population because of patriarchy. As Professor Messner stated in class, people might be willing, even unconsciously willing, to dichotomize men and women, in addition to people of different “races,” because of power. Power is the notion of keeping things the way they are. Thus, by keeping these categorical gendered and racial differences by maintaining a heterosexual foundation, some might believe that they can sustain this power relationship. Likewise, Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill note the importance of the terms “multiracial feminism,” “racial ethnic women,” and “women of color” in their article, “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism.” The terms are applied as a means of defining individuals and keeping gendered and racial superiority in different parts of the world. I believe that the notion of situated knowledge, the knowledge gained from where an individual figuratively stands in society, is an impediment to seeing the world clearly because of the stereotypes that are learned, passed down, and adopted from generation to generation.

Blog Assignment #3

I feel that the issue of stereotype is shed on a different light in two of this week’s readings, which are “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” by Audre Lord and “How Working-Class Chicas Get Working-Class Lives” by Julie Bettie.

Through this week’s readings, especially on Audre Lorde’s “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” I feel that we, as individuals, are influenced to disassociate people with certain stereotypes. The Russian ice cream ad which featured Obama, on the surface, seemed to concurrently support this ideal. Although in the US black persists to be a minority, the mythical norm of "white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure” as being the best is defied by the depiction of a black man occupying one of the highest positions in the world. Through this instance, I believe that discrimination of race, age, class and sex is not an excuse for one to not be successful in life. Lorde’s statistics “As a group, women of color are the lowest paid wage earners in America,” holds race as the main reason for their mishap. However, Lorde also argues that the generalization about stereotypes is mentally created, and therefore is not something that should be blamed for calamities upon that certain group. Thus, minorities should not feel inferior to the accepted perceptions of how people should be (which might be very different from how they are), but rather are encouraged to treat adversities more as a challenge, to prove the majority’s misconceptions about them wrong (as Obama did).

Secondly, the message that stood out the most from “How Working-Class Chicas Get Working-Class Lives” is that stereotypes could spiral out to be far away from the truth. The stereotype that these Mexican “las chicas” are of higher sexual desires and less interest on education and work than white girls stems from the fact that they are less informed about things. The fact that many “las chicas” end up having babies at an early age and working class lives, the article argues, is a result of lack of information about birth control pills and college prep classes. Relating this back to the video presentation, recall the stereotype poses and signs of the white, black and Asians. Although not every person of that race performs the depicted signs, it is still what society deems common as a generalization of that race. In practice, the habits would more commonly depend on the person’s community, ideals, aspirations and etc. For example, a white kid growing up in a black neighborhood, aspiring to be a rapper would emulate the signs of the black person rather than the “white” peace signs.

“Situated knowledge” could be deemed as an impediment to seeing the world clearly. Situated knowledge is, by definition, knowledge specific to a particular situation. This involves knowledge acquired prior to any experiences, meaning that there are certain assumptions that one takes for granted. (Wikipedia, 2009). For example, many works and assumptions are based on the fact that the world is a sphere. Centuries ago scholars are as determined as today that the world is flat. Consequently, my point is that many assumptions and beliefs today are based on commonly perceived grounds “situated knowledge”, that might not be absolutely correct notions. Therefore, I believe that this “situated knowledge” might distort assumptions based on these commonly perceived ideals and hinder us from seeing the world clearly.