Reading Gender Paper

Taylor O’Neal

Women’s Studies: Reading Gender Paper

The Eternal Feminine by Rosario Castellanos

In the play The Eternal Feminine there is a particular scene where the main character Lupita goes into a circus tent to see “Eve”. After meeting this performer portraying Eve, Lupita gets to hear a different version of the story of Adam and Eve.
In this version of Adam and Eve, Adam is a power tripping, uptight, organizer working for God, instead of a strong-willed, wise man as told in the real version of the Bible. Adam in this new revised version, annoys Eve by ordering her around and forcing a the name “Eve” upon her. Eve is completely different in this scene too compared to the original version of the Bible. This new and improved Eve is witty, and independent. She gets annoyed by Adam’s repetitive story telling and is bored by the typical life style of the Garden of Eden. Eve doesn’t take any demeaning orders from Adam, and she is rebelliously curious about her other life style options.
I chose this particular scene to display gender issues because the story of Adam and Eve is the first story of men and women. According to the Bible, Eve was made out of Adams ribs, which began the whole issue of women being controlled by men. It is generally believed that women must be below men, or subjective to men, because of the story of Adam and Eve. People all over the world have misinterpreted the Adam and Eve story, to falsely rank women below men.
Although this new version portrayed in The Eternal Feminine isn’t the one being printed in the Bible all over the world, it can be relatively eye opening, because it openly mocks the actual story of Adam and Eve. It reveals how ridiculous people are for basing the status of a woman to a man according the Adam and Eve tale. This new version looks at the story from a different perspective, one where Eve isn’t just a gullible woman that is easily talked into eating the forbidden fruit. Instead, Castellanos’s version represents Eve as a sophisticated woman who is open minded about other options. The newer version of Eve owns a very confident, independent personality which was frowned upon in Castellanos’s society.
I think Rosario Castellanos wanted to reveal another way to look at the story of Adam and Eve. Her play mockingly makes fun of the way women were undermined by men and all the frivolous tasks women would do for them. She even sarcastically makes fun of the traditions these women follow. The evil serpent in Castellanos’s scene doesn’t have to manipulate Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, yet discusses with Eve that she has other options in life. Eve, having a severe case of boredom in the Garden of Eden, doesn’t even think twice, but bite the apple, and sassily talks Adam into doing the same.
Understanding gender in society shouldn’t be based upon the story of Adam and Eve. Even if Eve was created from Adam, women shouldn’t be submissive to me. Through her play, she gives off the impression that women’s behavior is often silly, and that being submissive to men is idiotic. Rosario Castellanos’s stance on women equality is definitely encouraging. She thoughs outside of society’s “norm”, and wrote her play with motivation for women’s growth behind it.

blog diez.

I am a huge animal person. I still cry over my dog that died 9 months ago. I hate coming home without my dog. Me and my dad decided not to try and get another pet until we were completely over Bear.(that was my dog's name). So even though this might be unoriginal, it is still a very important topic to me. Pets and People Humane society is an amazing organization in Yukon, Oklahoma that gets homeless cats and dogs off the streets, and provides a home for them while trying to find them another home to become a part of. This is their mission statement :Pets & People Humane Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, no-kill humane society that rescues adoptable cats and dogs from municipal animal control facilities across the state of Oklahoma on the day they are to be euthanized. We provide a safe harbor for our pets until they are adopted into responsible, loving homes. All are spayed or neutered to help end the vicious cycle of homeless pets.

In 1992 they associated with PetSmart to begin a separate non profit organization.And sooner after the their organization just rapidly grew. They opened the first dog park in Oklahoma in 1999. They have sheltered thousands of cats and dogs, and helped find good homes for many of them as well.


(To go on your own to find out more about Pets and People go to: www.petsandpeople.com)

Personally, i love this organization, because this is the organization that I adopted Beard from, and he was the best dog I ever had. (well the only one) But hes was an amazing dog. I still miss him everyday. I volunteer at Pets and People every once in awhile, and even though it's really depressing to see all these animals without a home, it's still nice to be able to volunteer and spend some quality time with them. I like the way they run their animal shelter, because they organize volunteers to come out and help with taking care of the dogs and cats. They have a huge play ground to spend time with the animals, and even though it's pretty smelly in the building, they have a really nice place, and take really good care of these animals. So I already participate in Pets and People, but I will definitely continue volunteering there. Especially during the summer when i have alot of free time throughout the day.

blog nueve.

I chose the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is an organization that uses the law to advance reproductive freedom. This organization is one that I fully believe deserves support. Every woman fully deserves to take care of her body and make their own choices. Right now, they are fighting for Plan B in the military, because it is proven that military bases are not required to carry it. So women do not even have the choice to take it. To think that a woman were to have sex on a military base, and not be able to have a normal backup plan isn't right or fair. So organizations that will recognize then fight for these issues completely have my support, and should be more supported by anyone. These are some of their accomplishments :
Defeating extreme abortion bans in Michigan and Virginia

Protecting teens' access to confidential reproductive health care in Kansas and Alaska

Winning a landmark ruling from the U.N. Human Rights Committee that establishes access to abortion, where legal, as a human right

Negotiating a groundbreaking settlement with Mexico on behalf of a young rape victim who was denied a lawful abortion, the first time a Latin American government acknowledged that access to legal abortion is a human right

Taking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to court over the agency's refusal to make emergency contraception available over the counter to women of all ages

Reframing preventable maternal deaths as a human rights violation

Calling out the U.S. for racial inequities in reproductive healthcare before the UN

Exposing widespread physical and verbal abuse of women in Kenyan maternity wards

Promoting legal scholarship and teaching on reproductive health and human rights

Bringing to light dangerous new anti-choice strategies to overturn Roe v. Wade

Working with federal and state lawmakers in the U.S. to promote progressive policies and defeat proposals that would undermine women's reproductive health

Collaborating with more than 100 organizations in over 50 countries to strengthen reproductive health laws and policies


Go to: www.reproductiverights.org




Those are some pretty real issue that have been fixed or brought to the worlds attention all because of the Center for Reproductive Rights.This is majorly a gender issue because it has everything to do with the rights og being a woman, and being safe with their sexuality. To represent these women bby fighting for rights that most people dont consider to be important is very inspiring, and respectable.

ethnography shyea.

Taylor O’Neal

Ethnography Project

Women’s Studies

Are successful working women intimidating to the men in their lives?

Lisa Belkin’s Opt Out Essay really caught my interest when it came to women and their success in life, which is why I chose Missy Coker. My dad has a best friend named Scooter Coker; they have been friends for years. Scooter is married to Missy, who is one of the most successfully savvy women I’ve ever met, and she‘s merely 32. She has always been around, teaching me funny life lessons, by telling me her wild college stories. She’s is a pharmaceutical rep, and she makes twice as much salary as her husband Scooter. She’s very outspoken and outgoing. Many men are actually intimidated by this 5 foot 2 pixie red head, I know my dad is. She’s very witty, and always stands up for herself. She graduated from OSU with a degree in Marketing. I got to travel with her on Friday in her very expensive BMW business car as she went to two different companies to distribute her brochures and packages of samples of an allergy medicine of some sort. ( My dad loves it, because we get samples of good medicine from her all the time). But I loved just watching her answer her business cell phone in her business car in her business-like voice, and intelligently give others orders about where to visit, and deadlines, etc.

I had two main questions for Missy, to help me better understand success for career women, along with many others after reading Lisa Belkin‘s Opt Out, but mainly:

Does she ever have problems with her marriage because she brings home a greater income than her husband? And she laughed as she told me, “ Nope!, I warned Scooter before we got out of college, that I was going to make more money than him. Since we were high school sweethearts, I’ve always kinda worn the pants, he’s just use to it by now.”

And also, if any men that works under or above her ever acted intimidated by her, for being such a young successful woman? She replied by saying, “ Well Tay, there’s always going to be pig headed men that are intimidated by more successful women, but mostly no. I haven’t come across any that have had the guts to say anything about it.”

It was fun to drive around Oklahoma City while she sang along to Taylor Swift and smoked her cigarette. She told me she works in an office most days, but that day I was lucky because we got to just “cruise“. When we visited this one office, we walked in and I sat in a waiting room in front of receptionist desk where Missy delivered her pharmaceuticals. But there wasn’t any really intimidation coming from the nice woman filling out paper work. (Maybe jealousy at the fact that we got to leave).

I also was wondering if she would become a stay at home mother when and if she and Scooter ever decided to have children, as they currently do not. When I asked her, she said cleverly, “ I love my job, Scooter hates his, if anyone is going to give up their career, it’s gonna’ be him.” (Missy’s husband works as an outside salesman at Drive Train Specialists, which is trucking company.)

I asked her if she always knew she wanted to have a career, and be working a full time job at her age, and she replied with, “ Yes, yes, and yes. Not that I knew this is the career I wanted, but I knew that I would be the first one in my family to graduate college, and I always wanted to be able to support myself - by myself. Just knowing that would be an achievement for me.”

Missy helped me better understand the situation of working women, as well as Belkin’s essay. But to better answer my question, I believe I’d have to study more women as Belkin did. In this day in age, I assume most men are intimidated by successful women. Our society still mainly assumes that men “bring home the bacon”, while women cook the bacon. But women have increasingly become the money earners. So, it’s just a matter of time, til men are no longer intimidated by successful women, yet encouraging and supportive. But you know what they say, “ Oh, they’re just jealous”.

blog cuatro.

My future isn't exactly planned out yet, I am just now figuring out what I'm good at and what I might like to do with my life. I'm planning on majoring in Public Relations, and I'm really excited about it, because I think it's what I'm good at, and I can stay interested in it forever. But recently after taking this class, I really am considering minoring in womens studies, because this has been my favorite class this semester. Alot of the classes offered in the women's studies programs sounds amazing, and something I'd be interested in learning about. So if I decide to minor in women's studies, it's good to know all theses incredible classes are offered. I've been thinking alot lately about what kinda of career within my major would, and something I think I'd really enjoy is being a major events coordinator, or planner. Like Ford Center type events. I use to be Student Council President in high school, its something I absolutely loved doing. I loved planning assemblies and fundraisers. In high school , being in charge of alot of things as a girl didn't really bother anyone, but maybe as I get older, and if pursue the career as an events coordinator, I could see how being a woman might be intimidating for some men out there. But I think that career is well rounded when is comes to gender, so I'm not really worried about it too severely. I also worked in a Fabric Store for over a year near Quail Springs Mall, but being a girl really didnt have any effect on that job considering I only worked with other females. But I did work at sonic for a year through high school, and the whole "car hop" role was kind of based on gender. We were told to look presentable and nice to serve people food, and there are rarely any male car hops out there today. The boys were cooks, and the girls serve, which kind of says something on gender roles of women/men. But I know that there are still some areas in our society where women are still expected of typical women roles, but for the most part, I think that our society has progressed to mostly equality in the work place.

blog tres.

I absolutely loved this movie. I'll admit, I'll add it to my favorites. I learned alot about the womens rights movenment ofcourse. I mean, we learned a little about it in high school, but the movie went in depth about it. The thing I never realzied, or even thought about, was the difficulty for African American Women in the womens rights movenment. I think I was just naive, because I thought it was just one big movenment, I didn't realize that the white women were not as asupportive about African American womenrights, because they were just trying to accomplish their own first..and the issue of African American women rights was a whole different issue. I think Iron Jawed Angels had several differents themes in the movie. There was ofcourse political themes occuring with the war, and rebellion, and womens rights. Then there are personality themes suchs as friendship, pride, loyalty. This movie has it all. There are tensions among the women even if they are batting for the same team. There are some women that are in the National Women's Sufferage Society that handle thing differently than Alice Paul does. There are also tensions between white women fighting for their rights, and African American women fighting for their rights. These strong women overcame their adversities by coming together. Alice Paul and her other sufferagettes strived and battled for womens rights by undergoing things that not even some men can handle. Being thrown into women holding cells just for hunger striking is completely immoral, yet they took it, to show how serious they were about receiving the rights the women rightfully deserve. I absolutely can't get over this movie, it's so inspirational. I can't believe the things these women had to go through just to get what we take for granted everyday. Its just absolutely amazing to get a glimpse of what these women went through. I've been telling all my friends about this movie all week. They want me to shut up, but its just inspiring.

blog dos.

I interviewed my great grandma Earlene Hughes. Shes now 88 years old, and she's starting to lose her short term memory. My great grandma is the most straight and narrow person I've ever met, she goes to church 3 times a week, and says a very exaggerated prayer for every meal. She hates MTV, and anything on televison that isn't on the gospel channel or the news. She is very strict, but also very kind. She has the sweetest heart in the town of Booneville, Arkansas, just ask anyone. When I called my great grandma to ask her questions about feminism, she first answered the phone and screamed my mothers name. She always calls me Sheri, until I correct her. We all just laugh about it now. When I asked her about what she thought femenism was, she had the same stereotypical theory, " a bunch a crazy women causing unnecessary trouble ". I asked her if she every experience anything involving the feminist movenment, and she said ,"I had no time for that nonsense, I had 12 kids and a farm to take care of." She doesn't really approve of anything in my lifestyle, when my grandma found out I got a tattoo, she swore the devil was sweeping through my generation. Haha. When I asked her to describe an experience where she realized differences in gender, she told me that one of my great uncles that she had adopted turned out to be a "homosexual", she said, " i didn't raise him that way, but he chose to go down his own path alone." I never met him personally, or many of he adopted children. I just know my Meme, and Aunt Deana, they were her only real children. My great grandma asked me why I was asking her all these questions, and I told her I was in Women's Studies, and that we were discussing femenism, and she just laughed and said," they have classes studying women?" She's funny, I know that it's only because she grew up in those times, and she's just a conservative person. I love her though. One experience in my life when I was made conscious of gender is also an experience with homosexuality. One christmas at my dads side of the familys house, my uncle david alsways would have guy friends come home with him from California for the holidays. I always just thought they were friends. One time, my cousin Bryce, and my Uncle David, and his friend Jose, and I were playing a card game, and Jose got up and asked my Uncle, "would you like any more tea babe?" And me and my cousin Bryce looked at each other and I asked jokingly, " What are you guys gay or something?" and then my Uncle looked at me calmly, and said, " well, yea". I was only 12, so i kinda freaked out, because I was only kidding when I asked, I wasn't expecting that kind of answer. But I really like my uncle, and after my parents talked to me about it, I realized it's not a big deal, he's still my uncle, and there's nothing wrong with that.