WOM101_F07

Questions Asked by Women's Studies
The broad questions asked by Women's Studies classes are: What are women's roles in society? What is a woman's role in family life? How can we reach equality between men and women? Women's Studies looks at various answers to these questions. After taking the class one can find what different women's roles are in society and in the home, and appreciate the differences in various societies' views, and different women's views while having an open mind to others opinions.

Another questioned topic in Women's Studies is, "How have women been portrayed throughout history? Why were they portrayed that way?" If one is able to understand, historically, where women started from, one can appreciate the progress that has been made and also understand that there is still more to do to achieve equality between men and women.

Another question asked in Women's Studies is, "What role do men have in Women's Studies?" Even though it is called Women's Studies, men have a huge part in the development of women's role, and equality, in society. Men are dominant over women in our society. By understanding why men have the power they do, we receive a better understanding of how men affect women's roles. If men become involved in women's studies they will be able to understand the oppression women have suffered and are able to make changes firsthand in how they treat women.

Questions about religion and how women are treated because of their religion are also raised. The many different interpretations of religious books like the Bible and Quaran, are causing problems in that women are treated like they should be the servant to the men, and that they should dress a certain way. Religion is a huge and controversial issue that is discussed in different aspects in our Womens Studies class.

=The Principles or Key Values of Women's Studies=

Women's studies is where students learn and discuss women’s social roles such as how the roles have been developed, how women work in diverse fields, sexuality, education, status, feminism, and lifestyle. Women's studies helps people learn how to deal with these issues in an informed, responsible, and meaningful way and strongly encourages open-mindedness and unbiased thought patterns.

Another key value of Women's Studies is that of praxis, or putting into practice the ideas and values that are part of the discipline. Scholars of Women's Studies believe that discussion and education are not enough, and that action must be taken in order to execute change.

We also learn about the male bias. A bias is a tendency that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a topic. We discussed that this point of view would eliminate all other perspectives on the topic.

Patriarchy is an important concept when learning about Women Studies. Patriarchy is when males hold power and are dominant in a family, social group, or society. If one knows and understands this term, it will help him/her to grasp why women have been oppressed for so long. As long as our society isn't going to change from being patriarchal, women will never achieve fully equal rights. The article //Men Listening//, Chassler brings up an interesting "Queen Bee" (King Bee in this instance) thought process. He was talking about his white male viewpoint, "...because I am free, because I can make choices, anyone can make choices." That thought process of "If I can you can" explains a lot about how women are treated. It means that women are causing their own oppression: if a man can be free and make choices, a woman can. If a woman does not, then she is oppressing herself.

EMPATHY
Women’s Studies primarily focuses on empathy. Whether the focus point is on differing pay rates, political or marital disadvantages, or the mistreatment of Muslim women, the main idea is putting oneself in the shoes of women. Women’s Studies at the university level has other motives, making young adults tolerant of other's viewpoints and broadening their thinking. Men definitely need to try and empathize with women more, but women ALSO need to try to empathize with men. Empathy from both genders can go a long way in gaining equality. In chapter 4 of //Understanding by Design,// by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, “The Six Facets of Understanding” are introduced. The fifth is empathy. Questions the authors want pondered include, “What do they see that I don’t?" and, "What do I need to experience if I am to understand?” These questions directly tie together Women’s Studies in and out of the classroom.

Empathy is very important when discussing some of the more uncomfortable issues in Women's Studies. For example, the subject of rape. In class, rape was discussed along with different rape scenarios that truly exist. Sometimes the answer was not so clear as to whether or not the victim, male or female, was indeed a victim. Empathy is important in this situation. We need to remember to put ourselves in the victim's shoes.

In Women's Studies we must look at things from both a microscopic and a macroscopic viewpoint. This means that we need to look at the issue from an individual perspective, microscopically, as well as from the perspective of the whole group, macroscopically. The article "Oppression" by Marilyn Frye discusses this issue.

GENDER ROLES
Women's Studies focuses on the socialization and gender roles of men and women. Women's Studies brings direct light to the topic of today's changing roles for men and women. Men may now need to come home and cook dinner, bathe the children, and pack school lunches if the mother is the breadwinner or if both parents must work. Women's Studies uncovers the observation that while many more women are working outside of the home, the workload in the home is not being divided as equally. Also brought up is the fact that men have feelings too. Women's Studies shows how males and females are defined by society based on gender and the roles that come along with it. A traditional misconception is that women are mentally unstable based on their reactions, to issues. Men never could have had these problems because it has not been acceptible for men to show frailty. Women's Studies breaks down these traditional myths.

OPPRESSION
Women's Studies does not only focus on the suppression of American white women by American white men, but the discipline opens our eyes to the suppression of different groups of women being suppressed by the women battling their own suppression. Evidence of this can be read in Alice Walker's, //In Search of Our Mother's Garden,// where she makes reference to Virginia Woolf's, //A Room of One's Own// (//The Norton Anthology//, 2317). Walker points out that Woolf was not thinking of a poor, black female slave in the 18th century, but only of financially stable white, English women in the 16th century (2317).

Women's Studies also covers male oppression touched on briefly under gender roles. The course discusses the ill effects of male oppression and the affect it has on women. Masculinity is commonly misdefined by people, expecting a masculine or macho guy to "Suck it up" and "Get over it." Women's Studies classes teach students that this type of oppression is one reason for so much of the violence by males, much of which is aimed toward women.

Women's Studies not only looks at the present time line, but also at the women of the past. Many different cultures play into women's history and the oppression that they went through. Though the majority of women were treated unfairly, some were not. A great example of this is how Native American women were treated by their menfolk. These women were the backbone of the Indian Nation until white settlers came along. The white man treated the Mothers of the Indian Nations as if she wasn't any better than the buffalo. Man never tried to understand the complexity of Native Americans beliefs and cultures. This is an example of how man in his own self-righteousness never tried to understand women in general.

Women's studies deals not just with the oppression of women, but with the oppression of many groups, whether it be oppression of a certain race or ethnicity, oppression because of sexual orientation, and even oppression and exploitation of the environment. Because of empathy and the feeling of interconnection, we are able to realize that oppression is wrong no matter what form it takes and no matter who is being oppressed.

Media
Women's Studies reveals one of societies worst enemies: media advertisements. Whether a company is selling women's jeans, underwear, or perfume, the majority of the time they are also selling the image of how women should look. And, since it is genetically challenging for 95 percent of women to look like a model, this creates many mental and emotional issues that women, especially adolescent girls, have to deal with. In //Killing Us Softly 3,// Jean Kilbourne gives strong evidence and examples of this problem.

DUALISMS
Another important aspect of Women’s Studies is the concept of “dualisms”, which was first introduced to our class in the article “Women and the Environment.” Dualisms are a focus of eco-feminism analysis and explore “attributes…in terms of oppositions” //Women and the Environment (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey, 2)//. **I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S THE CORRECT WAY TO SITE THE HANDOUT WITHOUT PAGE #s** When things are compared in dualisms, one trait or object is valued over the other. An example of a general dualism is “good/evil”. Dualisms are an important aspect of women’s studies when gender roles are taken into consideration, which may include the following concepts: virgin/whore, married/single, beautiful/ugly, thin/fat. Women who possess attributes to the left of the divide may traditionally be seen as higher valued, and those who posses the other are seen as inferior. One of the biggest dualisms that is passed over is man/woman. In that thought process, a man is valued more than a woman. One of the main goals in the class is to try and break the dualistic patterns of thinking that we all have.

With the understanding of the concept of dualisms, Women's Studies also tries to get people to think in terms of multiplicity. Every individual, no matter their race or gender, is more complex than a dualism. We all have interconnectedness, and can relate to many things rather than just one or two things. We are not just merely man or woman, black or white; we can be that amongst several other things. For instance someone could be a woman, Muslim, a lesbian, pro-choice, pure, and choose to wear the traditional veil of her country. Thinking in terms of multiplicity like this will help people to break away from traditional views on gender and race.

FEMINISM
Women's Studies explores several different categories of feminism. Feminism is a practice and political theory of women or men from various nationalities who are willing to work for and strongly believe in complete equality. Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism,Socialist Feminism, Eco-Feminism, Post-Modern Feminisms, and Integrative Feminism are different types of feminisms covered in Women's Studies. Liberal feminism is an individualistic theory which hopes to assert equality through political and legal reform. Radical feminism focuses on overthrowing patriarchy which is a system of power that produces male supremacy. Socialist feminism looks at both the private and public lives of women, and believes equality can be reached by ending economic and cultural oppression. Eco-feminism is a political and social movement which combines both feminism and environmentalism. A detailed look into these feminist theories can be found in the reading, //Theory and Theorizing: Integrative Frameworks for Understanding.//

Women's Studies also informs students about oppression, prejudice, and discrimination towards feminists. Women's Studies breaks down myths about feminists such as, "All feminists are male-bashing, men-hating lesbians." Women's Studies brings students together to learn about masculinity, double standard views, treatment of women at home and in the workforce, and that more people should take the time to learn before making solid viewpoints of what they believe Women Studies is about.

Before becoming feminists many woman must overcome the fears that are associated with it. An article by Lisa Maria Hogeland, "Fear of Feminism: Why Young Women Get the Willies?" thoroughly discusses the complexities of the decision to become a feminist.

The Best Online Resources
A great online resource for women's studies is [|www.womenst.library.uwc.edu/]. This resource offers a wide variety of information. There is a database to locate information, articles and books focusing on women's studies, as well as a list of womens studies programs and organizations locally and worldwide. This resources enables you to access information that is otherwise difficult to locate.

Another good resource for online research that one could use to do research on the topics that are found in women studies is http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/ this web site is run by the University of Maryland, it provides links to great websites that will give someone doing research on women's studies the information they would need

For another awesome online resource for women's studies http://www.feminist.com/antiviolence/facts.html is a source that offers facts about violence that happens to women. This site gives percentages on rapes, physically assaulted, stalkers, domestic abuse and much more. It’s a great website to look at because you can realize how many women go through these issues and can then watch out for yourself or your wife/girlfriend.

If you want to learn more about feminism and women's studies, http://feminism.eserver.org/ is a great site to check out. This website was created by members of Carnegie Mellon University Women's Center. The site offers a variety of different things to research such as gender, sexuality, women and the work place, women's health issues, and even women in history. It also gives you an overview of how organizations are using feminism in the world today, links to college and university women's studies courses, and links to other great online sites that relate to women's studies.