assignment #4

In the duration of this course I have learned that feminism is the social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. This does not mean that women are better than men, but that they are all equal to men in all aspects of life. I have learned that this is a revolution that has formed by women, men and all people who wish there was equality for all, no matter race, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status and economic status. These people want a world that is discrimination and bias free. Feminists see the world as unequal and want to see the gaps that discrimination has caused abolish. They also firmly believe men should not be superior to women. Many feminist and other people who are against prejudice and profiling stand up against prejudice in the form of art. They explain their anger and feelings through different types of art. These art works allow for other people to be able to see and understand that equality is wanted and requested by all. These art works show that being prejudice or profiling against another human being because of any reason, may it be race, gender, sex, religion, or nationality, is wrong. As long people are profiled against, there will be hatred and hate crimes in our world.
This section was the introduction to women in art and culture. The first assignment that we completed was the assumption assignment. In this assignment we visited museums in DC that were related to art and we made our assumptions about feminism and the art work inside the museums. Throughout this assignment we made many assumptions about different art works available at the museums and what the artist was trying to bring across with this piece of art. We also figured out if the meusum or exhibit was feminist. We also learned to unlearn prejudice assumptions and how we all can have our own ideas and thoughts and that no one can be wrong. We learned to unlearn all of the prejudice we had learned about feminism while growing up in this society and how to let go and learn the truth about everything all over again and be able to make up our mind about feminism. After this assignment we started reading a book called Fight Like a Girl. This book explains feminism and different stereotypes that people have when feminism is discussed. At first, I was very hesitant about this book because I thought that this book will be very boring and all about girls this and girls that but it was more about why feminism is a problem and how it is a huge misconception. These assignments were our first assignments because they were the stepping stones in our process of unlearning the wrong that we had learned and relearning the truth and the facts about prejudice and feminism in our society and how materials like art work can express relatedness to prejudice and feminism. Katie King assigned these assignments because she wanted us to have a fresh start with our own thoughts about the subject of feminism, not the society's polluted misconceptions.
We then prepared for our next assignment which was the true definition of feminism. This assignment was a group assignment in which we had to prepare an event about feminism and fighting for the beliefs of feminism in our event to show people what feminism is really about and what it stands for in our society. Every section formed in to one group. During our meetings we decided to come up with all of the possible prejudice and misconceptions about feminism that people make on a daily basis and we defined what we really thought feminism is. The final definition that our group came up with was an overall input of what everyone had learned about feminism. This definition was, "Feminism is the movement whose goal is to make the social, political and economic rights for women equal to those of men; eliminating gender barriers, and overall pro-woman but not anti-male. They are not saying that men as individuals are the problem; the problem is the unquestioned power they receive because of their sex. Women's worth in the world has to lead to a system that creates inequalities based on perceived gender differences." We then hosted an event during lecture with special guests supporting feminism and teaching others what we had learned and what was wrong. The main key was that assumptions are never correct or reliable; you need facts about a subject before you can be pro or con.
The next section was the art activism section. Art activism is about power. We learned about violence against women and violence in general. We discussed and learned about the matrix of domination. The matrix of domination is the marked and unmarked categories within a society. For example in our society the unmarked categories would be a white male, of the Christian religion, who is a US citizen, and speaks fluent English. With the next assignment, we talked about our own past experiences dealing with prejudice and the matrix of domination. In this assignment we talked about how we were chosen to be set aside and profiled against because of the fact that we might have belonged to a marked category. We also talked about how these categories would have relieved as an accent or features that would separate one person form the next allowing the society to easily profile against this person. After we all had presented our experiences to the class, we learned that all of us were somehow in a marked category and profiled against.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a reason why Katie King had us learn everything in this specific order and do these assignment in these order. I believe that the first assignment was mainly to clear our heads from any cloudiness about feminism and be ready to learn the truth and reality. Also this assignment was to see what we assumed about feminism and why we assumed these things about feminism. These assumptions were brought on paper so that we can later refer back to them and see if our assumptions have changed and if we have learned anything. The second assignment was the start of the relearning of everything we had unlearned after our assumptions and unlearning of the false material we then learned the true definition of feminism and the definition we had arrived to we also learned to evaluate conversations and pick out the stereotypes being made by others.
The third assignment was to show us that we all have some time or another in our lifetimes that we have been in a marked category and have had to face profiling, which is not only annoying, but it is also hurtful and disrespectful. This assignment taught us a lesson to think about everything before you judge a book by its cover and make the wrong assumptions. This fourth assignment that we are doing is a conclusion of what we have learned so far and also the reference back to the beginning of the course and our mislead assumptions about feminism and our low knowledge about feminism.
The first book that I read was the book titled Fight Like a Girl. This book, by Megan Seely, is about women's rights and stereotypes. This book shares experiences that the author has gone through with protesting in different fields and also about how she is an activist for feminism. She talks about many aspects of stereotyping and it makes you realize the stupidity behind stereotyping and how it is an extremely bad thing to do. The book also makes you realize that people should really have full knowledge and thought about a subject before they make assumptions and unrealistic stereotypes.
The second book that I read was titled Feminism is For Everybody by Bell Hooks. This booked helped me a lot with understanding the true definition of feminism. This book was a great help on the second assignment with its definition on feminism which is, "purpose of feminism is to bring an end to sexism and the exploitation and oppression that come from it." This book made me get a more clear understanding of the aspects of feminism and their views because of its clear definition.
The third book that I read was titled Kindred by Octivia Butler. This book is about the matrix of domination. The main character experiences a journey through time and has to live with the pas t and her ancestors. The story shows how the unmarked categories are the superior categories and the marked ones are the weak and helpless categories. This story shows that here in the state of Maryland, hundreds of years ago for a person to be of the African descent they were in a very badly marked category. In this story it shows the prejudice against the marked categories committed by the unmarked categories.
Overall I had a great time learning in this class and experiencing with one another's thoughts and views, the discussions really challenged me to be a bit more argumentative and try to help each other understand the truth behind everything. I learned a lot about being fair and not prejudice. This class taught me how to treat everyone equally and allow for my own thoughts to bring a conclusion about others and not what society teaches me about others.