Gender Communication Blog (Fall 2012)
Just another Blogs.cas.suffolk.edu site
Gender Communication Syllabus (Fall 2012)
Workshop outline
10:00 -10:10 a.m. Why is a blog a feminist pedagogical tool?
10:10 – 10:15 a.m. Blog options
10:15 – 10:25 a.m. Example 1: Sharing topics (Paper 3)
10:25 – 10:40 a.m. Example 2: Paper review (Paper 1 & 3)
10:40 – 10:45 a.m. Blog feedback
10:45 – 11:00 a.m. Q & As
The book Raising Great Kids on Your Own provides guidelines for single mom and dads on how to raise kids. The authors not only teach single moms and dads how to treat children, they also share with the readers about how to adjust parents’ own mood and instructing them to continue their life after divorce.
Not claiming many feminism terms, the book provide some example and opinion which can be related to feminism as the following.
First, one standpoint that can be related to the book is From Hook’s article. According to Hook, “Feminism is the struggle to end sexist oppression. Its aim is not to benefit solely any specific group of women, any particular race or class of women. It does not privilege woman over men. It has the power to transform in a meaningful way all our lives. Most importantly, feminism is neither a lifestyle nor a ready-made identity or role one can step into.”(p29). Either single mom or dad can be a good parent according to the authors. In the book, the guidelines are provided in a neutral way such as “Express your love to your kids generously and frequently”, “Try to keep a clear, informed picture of how each of your children is adjusting to the challenging new reality of living in a one-parent home”. These words show that raising kids is difficult to both single mom and dad.
Usually, people consider that single moms experience a more difficult time than single dads do thus they should be much stronger. Actually, most single parenting books pay attention to single moms such as The Successful Single Mom. The Complete Single Mother, etc. Thus, this book is consistent with Hook’s idea of feminism, which is more gender equality.
Furthermore, although the target audience of the book are single moms and dads and tries its best to focus on both mom and dad, the stories in it are almost about single moms and state the difficulty of women who just got divorced.
For example, “Alone with two children under age five, Carla didn’t have the income to rent even a small apartment in her expensive Southern California locale. “
“Not yet 30, Bryanna didn’t feel young. She felt old, incompetent, and totally incapable of raising her two young children. She had no idea where to begin looking for work. If she did find work, who would watch the kids?”
“There is a fairly typical progression that occurs in many persons, most particularly among women, in the aftermath of a divorce. It begins with this realization: ‘I am a person who has experienced a failed marriage.’ They may identify their own family experience as being part of a ‘train wreck’ because their single mother or father believes this and behaves as if it is true.”
The above content in the book can be directly related to Hook’s idea of “family” (p37). According to Hook, “most people witness and /or experience the practice of sexist domination in family settings.” He points out that “the traditional western family, with its authoritarian male rule an its authoritarian adult rule, is the major training ground which initially conditions us to accept group oppression as the natural order”.
Hook considers family male-dominated. It is kind of true because most women in the book used to depend on husband to raise their children and once divorced, they experience a much harder time than divorced man because they have no ability to earn money yet they have to. The book also mentions several stories of single dad. However, these stories focus more on how single dads feel not good and hard to adjust their mood. Actually, they didn’t experience physical hardness as single moms.
I’m Pregnant. Now What? is written with an overall feminist theme. The book explains and details many of the different options that are available to pregnant teenage females that are all possible due to the feminist movement. These options include abortion, adoption, the availability of contraceptives and the option to raise the child on your own.
The book does not use clear-cut feminist terms such as equality, empowerment or encouragement per say, however the following provides
an example of feminist statements from the book:
“Do not bottle up your feelings; it only makes the problem worse. It’s ok to talk about having second thoughts”. (pg. 25)
“If you don’t want to get married, don’t! No one can force you.” (pg 31)
“If your boyfriend failed to come through, don’t think the situation is unmanageable. It will just be a bit more challenging.” (pg.43)
“Single parenthood does not have to be the end of the world. It is hard- after all, without a partner you have to shoulder more responsibility. |You have twice the chores and only half the support. But with community and family help, single parenthood can be made easier”. (pg.48)
“Sometimes there are good reasons for abortions, and you should not have to feel condemned by a society that cannot come to a consensus on the subject.” (p.52)
“Just because you are young, vulnerable and asking for assistance should not mean that you have to give up ability to choose.” (pg.58)
“You cannot force your girlfriend to have the baby if she opts for an abortion. Because it is her body, the decision is ultimately hers to make.” (pg.64)
“You cannot undo your past, but you can enhance what you have now.” (pg.157)
“Last of all, no one can guarantee that he pain will go away, but you can live through it. Many people have.” (pg.187)
Along with such supporting ideas, the authors also state the harsh reality of becoming a pregnant teenage. In today’s society, the idea of
becoming pregnant at such a young age is still a very sensitive subject and frowned down upon by many. With such a controversial issue, you are bound to come upon some discouraging and daunting beliefs. This book gives you the hope and the confidence to survive what could potentially be an extremely frightening ordeal.
After reading Feminism; A Movement to End Sexist Oppression by hooks there are two themes that I think directly relate to I’m Pregnant. Now What? The first idea is that “woman may support specific issues while divorcing themselves from what they assume is feminist movement.”(hooks, pg 24) Most women are grateful to have the ability to make our own decisions. We are thankful to have the ability to raise the child on our own with out being forced to depend on a male figure. As a pregnant female, most would support the ability to decide to have
an abortion if one would like or make the decision to give the child up for adoption. However some of these girls who have a child at such a young age never finish high school, they drop out to care for the child, abruptly ending any sort of successful future or career. Due to being such a young age, in sure most of these girls have not had the chance to fully explore the idea and theories of feminism. Due to this lack of knowledge you can assume they don’t have a clear definition of the term feminism and as a result these girls are reluctant to advocate feminist.
The second theory from hooks is “many women feel their lives as they live them are important and valuable. Naturally the suggestion that these lives could be simply left or abandoned for an alterative “feminist” lifestyle met with resistance. Feeling their life experience devalued, deemed solely negative and worthless, many woman responded by vehemently attacking feminism.” (hooks, pg 29) More often then not, after having a child, these teenagers feel that their life is over. I am not suggesting that they are attacking feminism, however I do think that these females are not taking advantage of all the opportunities there are out there. Because society has such a negative view of teenage pregnancies, most females consider themselves a failure. They are embarrassed, scared and lonely. None of these terms coincide with the idea of being a
feminist.
After reading Three Waves of Feminism by Krolokke and Sorensen I believe that I’m Pregnant. Now What? aligns with aspects of both the second and third wave of feminism. According to Krolokke and Sorensen, second wave feminism is the fight for both politically and in their own private lives for women’s right to abortion, divorce, and nonlegislative partnership (pg. 7). It is because of this second wave that this book contains chapter on having the right to an abortion. The third wave of feminism generally sees themselves of capable, strong and assertive social agents. (Krolokke & Sorensen, pg.15) it is due this that some of the teenage girls have the confidence to raise the child on their own. These girls are “criticizing earlier feminist waves for presenting universal answers of definitions of womanhood”.(pg. 17) These young females do not the follow the traditional rules of motherhood, the idea that you have to fall in love and get married before having a child. Whether they know it or not, they are “redefining feminism.” (pg. 17)
Follow the instruction in the pdf. Remember to e-mail me at mlee@suffolk.edu so that I can activate your account.
How to sign up for the blog