WGS event: What Can Service Learning Offer to Women's & Gender Studies? Panel presentation

At the beginning of the semester, I attended a panel presentation about what Service learning has to offer community activism, with several women’s & gender studies professors from schools around the St. Louis area. I was kind of on a women’s studies high, having just started the semester and sitting in a room listening to what these intelligent women had to offer to their communities and world was incredible (I took 5 pages of notes). It was really cool to see how political or not these women decided to make their work, and how their own brands of feminism manifested in each one of them. Some talked about the important political nature of the past, some talked about the taxonomy of “women’s studies” and how the differences in the way each of the represented schools decided to label their programs was important, showing what their focus was.

I could write a TON about this, but some of the things/ideas that stuck out to me most were:

-Feminists can tend to “leak” into other events, making it a very flexible/all-encompassing field; there is overlap in activism projects (intersectionality!)

-Another definition of feminism: “Making individual opportunities available to women and other people that don’t have the resources”

-Women’s and Gender studies can learn from the real world as there is inevitably going to be some reflection on the social dynamics of the time

-There are multiple forms of leadership that should be appreciated, more than what or who is on top or in front (simply: appreciate everyone, everyone is valuable!!)

-Locally situated knowledge-important issues or what my community needs from me

-Dr. Laura Kramer said: Be ready to see the unexpected and react to it with something “feminist”--there are many opportunities for creative activism (then went on to explain the fake Champagne clubs the feminists of Iceland held to trick lecherous old men to call attention to the sex trafficking of women and young girls)

-Existing in a network is energizing! Networking and collaboration are key to activism

-Theories are messy, don’t always mix so we need to get into the real world and learn from experience

-Women’s studies has its roots in radical times-we stand on the shoulders of that time

-Service learning= a shared knowledge, high-impact educational experience

-Service model vs. Social change model--helping change the system, not just bandaging problems within the existing system

-Grassroots empowerment is everything!

Penny Weiss: feminist activism--“No” means “not yet” or “regroup and try again later” --be relentless!

Personally, I loved how political these women all seemed to be. That is something that I feel I have been lacking in at SLU: political, intellectual stimulation. It was so refreshing and empowering to hear these women talk about the ways they are changing the world around them.

Museum Visit

Today my boyfriend and I went to the Saint Louis Art Museum in order to observe how women are represented through various mediums. The first room we walked into contained mainly religious images and I noticed immediately that women were either painted as saints (the Virgin Mary's image was in great abundance) or painted as maternal figures. In the first picture, I am standing next to a woman breastfeeding her two children, which was a common theme in the religious artwork. The next section we entered was much more abstract and the last two pictures both came from this particular section of the museum. Much of the women in this section were mostly portrayed as nude and some even in a suggestive stance with sexual connotations. The middle painting caught my eye because it contains many naked women seemingly waiting to serve the male figure (who is also nude) in the picture. The painting is entitled "The Fire" 1945, and the plague under the work states, "In this unsettling scene, a group of women advance toward a reclining and androgynous figure in the center of the composition."
I thought this was very pertinent to our class for I feel as though the painting contains patriarchal values and conveys the inferiority women have faced in the hands of men for centuries. The last picture I chose because it is just one example of the many suggestive paintings we saw. This abstract is entitled "Standing Nude" and the positioning of the woman's body, specifically her hands, exudes a rather suggestive and promiscuous message to the observers of the painting. Overall, I really enjoyed looking at all the art and it was interesting to see how the perception of women changed according to time period as well as the mode of the art.

Women's Studies Event

This post is long overdue, but back in late October I attended the women's fair. The event focused on developing strong women within today's society and was put on by two of the sororities here on SLU's campus. The event featured Meredith Osborn, a SLU counselor, who began the session by asking us to define what we believe a strong woman is and to think of someone who meets this criteria. She then asked what it means to be empowered and I thought the suggestions were quite interesting. The group came to a consensus that empowered women set aside stereotypes to be their best and most authentic selves. I really liked what someone said when they asserted that empowered women are strong and believe they deserve the best in life and therefore seek it. Meredith then showed a couple of videos to the group including a video with feminist speaker Courtney Martin and Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines feminist parody as well. I thought this event was extremely interesting because it allowed an insight into how others define both strong and empowered women. I also liked how Meredith encouraged discussion and participation from the crowd in order to reach a universal definition of what an empowered woman looks like and how to further develop strong females despite societal pressures and oppression.

Models over 40

So I stumbled across this today and thought it was pretty cool that in a profession usually associated with an obsession with youth, these models are breaking that stereotype. These women seem pretty badass so check it out if you get the chance!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/antwaunsargent/older-models-who-are-absolutely-beautiful

I just think it's a good thing to show the beauty of older women, after all everyone is going to age so why should people be obsessed with trying to avoid it and 'stay young'?

no title

I ran into an old friend from high school yesterday and we decided to hang out.  and then i told her that i was taking a intro to women's studies class and it made her so excited because she told me that she took a women's studies class at Forest Park and just feel in love with it to the point that she made it her major. i just felt like sharing this because it made me realize that feminism is coming into my everyday life and i'm beginning to notice when it does and i find it cool that it's becoming a really good conversational topic for me. nothing much left to reporti just felt like sharing.

4th Wave of Feminism: The Rebel

I know one of the essay questions on the final study guide poses the question of whether or not we think feminism is dead, and recently I came across this article which discusses the fourth wave of feminism. Not only does this article negate the idea that feminism is dead, but it also asserts that today we are experiencing a fourth wave of feminism known as the "rebel women." This article is wonderful and I would encourage everyone to take a peek at it (although I know it's finals time so maybe later), but it discusses the increase in protests, marches, and campaigns within the past year for women's rights all over the world. The article also briefly discusses the history of feminism, and gives an abundance of examples regarding how women are changing the world one protest at a time. This article really is extremely interesting, and as it is rather lengthy I skimmed a lot of it but once finals are over I plan on reading it all. It is quite uplifting and inspiring that women today are still finding their voices and standing up for relevant issues such as, "pay gap, childcare costs, and pregnancy discrimination." I think this article is extremely important to our class as well as gender studies in general and is really worth a read. Enjoy!

Museum Visit

So Monday my friend and I tried going to the St. Louis Art Museum, but they were closed so we went to the history museum exhibit about the World's Fair Instead!



The exhibit wasn't that big but it was pretty cool to learn more about the fair since it took place in St. Louis!

Now the fair took place in 1904 so they talk a lot about different cultures and inventions that became popularized by the World's Fair and parts of the exhibits you would've seen at the fair.  In regards to women being represented in the exhibit I was a little disappointed, surely women did something noteworthy at the World's Fair?

The exhibit really only focused on three things in regards to women which included their nationality, their appearance, and then their role in advertisements or art produced by men at the fair. In the defense of the museum, I did not listen to the audio that accompanied the exhibit so maybe there was more said about women there.

The exhibit was a little disappointing once I got home and looked up that there was a Board of Lady Managers that were in charge of women's interests and were given the ability to award prizes to exhibits that were partly or wholly produced by women! Some of the exhibits that were produced by women seem pretty stereotypical by our standards, but included innovations in domestic inventions and "intricate lace work". Now those don't exactly sound as cool as the waffle cone, but those were pretty cool accomplishments at the time. Intricate lace work could be easily compared to a detailed painting in complexity.

Overall the exhibit was pleasant, but I just felt saddened that women who did have exhibits accomplishments were now forgotten and instead the bonnets and dresses they wore seemed to have more importance than their creations.

This past week I went to the SLU Museum of Art, but while there they were conducting an interview so large portion of the Museum was blocked off. While there I saw couple different pieces of art. Much of them depicting scenery, while others depicting people. The few pieces that I did see that depicted women, it seemed like they were either in a sexualized state or depressed, little, and alone. The picture that caught my attention the most is by Luis Jimenez. Luis Jimenez was an American Sculptor of Mexican descent. He studied art and architecture at the University of Texas in Austin and El Paso, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1964. Where he received a Distinguished Alumni award for his art work. Though he is most commonly known for his abilities as a fiberglass sculptor. The piece on display at the museum is a very sexualized drawing of what is entitled, “Rodeo Queen Study” looking within his collections of work he seemed to have a large liking towards rodeo as well as Tex-Mex culture because of his direct connection to it growing up. The drawing was produced in 1972. This fascination is somewhat present in his depiction of the “Rodeo Queen.” But what confuses me the most is what function does her being topless play into her functionality to ride the bull? Does it allow her to stay on longer? I was completely unamused with his ability to turn a past time or a mode of entertainment into a something so oversexed. Without knowing the title of this piece one would think the drawing depicts a sex scene or a woman trying to seduce a man. The representation of the saddle is little to none and then there’s a belt buckle that of course is reminiscent to the South and to the rodeo but they don’t scream that this drawing has anything to do with rodeo. Looking at this photo I see nothing but seduction and exploitation of the female body. While distinguishing art is severely ambiguous and I love art I think anything that can be created can become art in it’s rawest form, but I honestly feel like this piece of work is extremely sleazy. And though is nothing wrong sexuality, this is exploitation of the female body not appreciation.

Women And Studies Events

Throughout the last section of this semester I have been struggling with a plethora things stemming from the lost of my grandmother. While this is an excuse for nothing, with all the time the I took off from school all of these dates and deadline are running to me with nothing but haste. So unfortunately I found that the Women and Gender Studies events were beginning to dwindle upon my return but what I did attend was the Women and Gender Studies Day of Writing. This event happened to be the most helpful for me because I have so much to write. I have final projects and papers coming out of my ears. It was nice to just take the time out in focus, because my room is nothing but full of distractions. Initially when I read the words that Women and Gender Studies was having a writing day an opportunity for us to just sit and do homework, study, and write I thought it would just be chalk full of nothing but girls, but it seemed like I had misconstrued the email. Though I only stayed for a couple of hours, it was a nice mixture of male and female. It was nice to see that not only females were involved in this concentration of study, it was nice to see that it was not only women who were concerned with the betterment of society and the push for fair treatment for all people alike. It was a very comfortable environment to be within, it seemed very homely and personable. After taking this class and being within the environment of Women and Gender Studies it has become increasingly clear the importance of this concentration. I have also been thinking of becoming a Women and Gender Studies though it is kind of late in the game to that for me, I think it would be a very enjoyable and enlightening experience for my clinic. Since the issues and understanding of gender is on the rise for adolescents within our society at this time. Though I understand that this was an event where there were programming or a particular topic at hand but this was the only one I could make. If it is not acceptably as an event I more than understand. 

Consent

2013 - a year through the eyes of a feminist

This is an awesome link that chronicles the 28 most inconic feminist momenst of 203. It is really fun to look at and provides that the feminist movement is far from over and that feminist all over the world are doing really awesome things. Enjoy!!

http://www.policymic.com/articles/76145/27-most-iconic-feminist-moments-of-2013

Actress nails an interview response

http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamelder/watch-this-indian-actress-shut-down-a-female-journalist-for

So my friend sent me this last week and I loved it! I think she's a prime example of what a feminist is and why we still need it. This is an Indian actress who was being asked questions about saying that India was a "regressive and depressive" place and she nails the response by saying that it's her perspective that with infanticide, feticide, honor killings, and gang rapes still making daily news that India is very regressive for women and it's the responsibility of every woman to stand up against the way the society perpetuates those behaviors.

Watch the video! She kinda goes in and out of English to her native language (I'm not sure exactly what it is, maybe Hindi?) in some parts  but she's really passionate and compelling.

Badger Herald Editorials

From my show-and-tell this morning:

This is the original letter to the Badger Herald, denying the existence of rape culture.
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2013/11/04/rape-culture-does-not-exist/

This is the written response from PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment). It's really well written and right on point.
http://pave-uw.tumblr.com/post/66045488919/this-is-what-rape-culture-looks-like-a-response-to

Womens studies event reflection

So on Saturday, i got invited to a counseling session at the homeless shelter that i worked at for my service learning project. i was excited to come back and see everyone again but sitting in and listening to these women s stories put me in the most depressing and foul mood ever. each women had a unique story about how they got to this part of their life, some women fell victim to drugs, some were raped , two girls were pimped out as hookers for pretty much all of their adolescent life. each women had a different tale of sorrow for the counselor, i remember thinking about how shameful it was that after all of these years, these women's past still haunts them an they have to live with the pain everyday. i also remember thinking that so many women got their lives messed up because a man wanted to feel in control. whether the women were manipulated in hooking, or even manipulated into taking drugs, it was almost always having something to do with

Six Reasons Why Men Are Avoiding Marriage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXQf2f2Yxo


This video describes why men are so reluctant to marry women because of of marriage not having anything to offer them anymore because. this video actually states that men that are choosing not to go to school, get a job, or get married are doing a intellectual  action because the penalties are high and the rewards are low.
the video also states that some of the penalties of a marriage is loss of respect and less sex. they think they'll lose respect because fathers and husbands in the media are often portrayed as bumbling idiots. and the comment they made about sex shouldn't even have to matter in a love filled relationship. this video irritates me.

This girl....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUNsZVj67L0
Watch this video first!!


So i was only face book about 5 minutes ago when i stumbled upon a video someone shared on my news feed. it;s a video about a girl ranting on feminists using nonintellectual examples  i can't even explain all the shame i feel when i hear this girl speak. i feel as though she did this to be "one of the guys" which makes me a little sick. just listen to her argument, she uses sports as a example saying that women's sports aren't as interesting as men, as if thats what feminism is all about.....sports... and since she doesn't find women's sports interesting, then feminism is obviously worthless, we should just get over it, ya know?

ok so just watch the video and let me know what you think.

Bikini Kill Documentary

http://seattletimes.com/html/entertainment/2022401271_punksingerreview1xml.html

So this is a link to an article about a documentary (and we are all about documentaries) that revolves around the lead singer of Bikini Kill. I thought this was really cool cause i vaguely recall earlier in the year that someone did a show and tell about them and so I though this kind of brought us full cirlce. The article says that the documentarty is all about how she moved her way from a spoken word poet to a feminist icon. Were you guys awar that she dealt with abuse in her life, no? well neither was I and so anywho I just wanted to share what I think is a movie we will all enjoy. So I'm thinkin grab a blanket, popcorn, and hot cocoa and hunker down and watch this documentary instead of preparing for finals.

Today, I was thinking about the term "The American Dream". Every time someone asks me about how I what I want out of life, I would always say "The American Dream". While thinking about this concept, I thought about what it really meant because all I knew was that it was something good. After doing a little research,  I learned that it was a life where the husbands worked, the mother stayed home and took care of the kids, and a townhouse with a picket white fence. This was so ironic because that is exactly what the women did not want in the first wave of feminism. The concept "The American Dream" would have been seen as the good life before I entered Women's and Gender Studies Class. I would have been so happy to live in a nice house with my husband and children and not have to go to work. However, after taking the class I realized that is not what I would have wanted. I do not want to sit in the house all say simply because it is boring, I would feel to dependent on a man to take care of me.  I want to be a independent woman, a great mother, great wife, and the best at doctor I could ever be. I believe that "The American Dream" should be changed. It should not rely on a woman being a housewife, but both the woman and their partner to live equally independent lives.

Finding Beauty in the Face of Adversity

So I saw this video recently, as a couple of my friends shared the link to the video on Facebook, and I thought it was incredibly inspiring. The video is about a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer and thus underwent a double mastectomy, leaving her with many scars around her breasts. The woman tells the story of how she found out she had cancer, and talks about her decision to cover up her scars with tattoos she designed herself. She describes the scars as "daily reminders, which is cool, they're just not that pretty." The video goes on to talk about how tattoos can often aid in the healing process and the woman, Molly, discusses how she helped to form the organization Personal Ink. The organization pairs cancer survivors with willing tattoo artists in order to transform surgical scars from everyday reminders to something beautiful and empowering. Molly decides to get a tattoo of a Brazilian flower (as she has an obsession with all things related to Brazil) and the flower itself is 'both unique and resilient.' In the conclusion of the video, Molly happily discusses how excited she is to visit the beaches of Brazil and "marching [her] ass around the beach with no top on." It is clear how much more confident she is and she expresses her excitement to walk around naked and show off her new tattoos. I absolutely loved the sentiment of this video and everything it touches on. I think I've mentioned this in class before, but my aunt died from breast cancer at a very young age and she reminded me a lot of the woman in this video. Like Molly, my aunt didn't like being bald not because she felt self-conscious without hair, but because it was a daily reminder of her illness. She chose the most ridiculously quirky wigs to wear around just to prove that cancer wasn't going to hold her back from being herself or finding strength and beauty in the face of adversity. I would really recommend watching this video because I think it's extremely inspiring and relevant to this class.

Bikers Band Together Against Child Abuse

I already wrote for this week, but a cousin of mine just posted this on facebook and I thought it was such a cute story that I felt the need to share. This story is about a biker gang and how they stand up against child abuse by protecting abuse victims. By doing this they are aiding victims and making them feel more secure, bringing awareness to child abuse, and breaking gender roles by showing that big bad manly bikers can care about the little girls and boys of this world that have been the victims of horrendous crimes. This is seriously a quick and adorable read. Do it!

http://distractify.com/people/bikers/

Take that, advertisement!

http://thegatewayonline.ca/images/article_images/Feminist_Disclaimer.png

Ok, first off, I’m not really sure what exactly they were trying to portray here; yes, I am often slow with jokes, but I don’t see how this is relevant to selling the car at all. Second, I would give two thumbs up and a high five for the person who wrote that in; they are awesome!

I’m not sure when or where this picture was taken, but it looks like an older picture from the black and white and style of the car. However, even if it was taken years and years ago, it still isn’t acceptable. I don’t know why people think (and thought) it is okay to put these things on billboards and other forms of advertisement. This screams sexual harassment to me, and it should not be on this board.

Also, I will say I laughed out loud when I saw this. Not only does the sentence the person wrote in totally go with what was said, but it is such a good slam against the advertisement. Someone needs to stand up to this injustice, because it isn’t right. They were definitely very bold and brave; I don’t think I would have the guts to do this. (Even though I would totally be thinking something like that too!)

Because Who Is Perfect? Get Closer.

All of us are so used to seeing "perfect" mannequins in every store and shop window.  But this project breaks down that so-called perfection.  It's a Swiss campaign made for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by Pro Infirmis.  A few researchers and designers adjusted "normal" mannequins according to the measurements of some persons with various disabilities. The mannequins were then displayed in public shop windows. Upon seeing themselves as mannequins, the peoples' reactions are awesome. They're so happy to see the shapes of their bodies as flawless when ordinarily their differences cause them pain.  This project shows that no one is perfect but everyone can be flawless. I love this!!

International Day of Persons with Disabilities by Pro Infirmis

Damsel in Distress

Okay thought I would round off a semester of ranting blog posts with a subject we all are familiar with-let's take a trip down memory lane to Dreamworlds, people.

How many of us have heard Hold On by Drake on the radio? *Emily raises her hand because she's def jammed out hard to it, possibly to the point of driving dangerously* Okay, I love me some Drake. I can't help it. I just do. His songs...I mean the feels, honestly. But has anybody SEEN this music video? It's embarrassingly and blatantly sexist.

Let's begin...first of all I'm diggin the Miami Vice/Scarface thing that's going on in the music video, but literally one of the first things out of one of the mobsters mouth is about the "female company" and how they can't "discuss business." Because women are idiots and arm candy and God forbid they could ever understand that their gangster boyfrannds are sketchy as eff. Already I am not about this life.

Then we flash to the image of Drake's lady love (hair big, pout is red and plumped, she's scantily clad in WHITE-seriously can we get over this purity deal?-lingerie, you know, the standard and expected stereotypes about women in the sexualized male fantasy world of music videos).

PLOT TWIST. About to spoil this for all you uncultured internet fiends who don't watch Drake videos. The girl is kidnapped because she's weak, helpless, and dependent on men for not only her strength but her ability to lock the doors/close the windows/call the cops, cool. Now folks, we have on our hands the typical "damsel in distress" situation that is the most cliché of all male fantasies. This is so unoriginal it's painful. She calls Drake, crying about how "this is scary" (a nuanced observation). Although I'm much more worried about how cold her ass is, considering she's wearing little to no clothes. Seriously, frost bite is a possible thing at this point, (even though this takes place in Miami, bear with my heavy sarcasm).

The mean evil dude who looks Eastern-European (heavy brow, thick gold chain, chest hair-I'm just runnin with the stereotypes that are being presented to me, okay?) says something to the effect of: "He took what is mine and now I've taken what is his". Yes, because women are simply objects that exist only for the purpose of being possessed. Good deal. And considering that Drake probably took this guy's cash-o-la, we just equated women to currency, people. I mean, at the end of a long day, what's another objectification?

The cherry on top might've been when we started toying with the stereotypes about masculinity. Drake and his mobsta pals literally walk into a friggin armory and choose from a whole variety from automatic weapons. *Emily sighs, shaking her head, words escaping her*

SOOOO in conclusion, Drake shoots up the place, kills a bunch of people, blows some shit up, and after that whole scene, saves his half-nakey woomun from being choked by the scary hairy guy.

YAY STEREOTYPES!

PS WHO ELSE IS LIVIN THIS MONDAY NIGHT AS A RANTING INTERNET HERMIT
PPS THANKS FOR SOME AWESOME BLOGGING THIS SEMESTER, Y'ALL

Medical Attention

On NBC I found this article that I thought was very thought provoking and further proved why feminism has a future. This article deals particularly with a law-suit of a patient and a Catholic hospital. The patient had a miscarriage 18 weeks into her pregnancy, yet when she went to the only hospital in her county (a Catholic hospital) she was denied efficient treatment based on religious beliefs - so the law-suit argues. Since Catholics generally do not believe in abortion (even if the pregnancy is not viable and the mother's health is at risk) the patient states she was told to go home and never properly informed of what was happening to her body and never told of the severely dangerous situation she was in. Eventually after returning to the hospital a number of times the fetus was born unresponsive in an intensive labor that nearly killed the mother.
Whether this case proves to be true and that the hospital knowingly denied treatment based on religious beliefs or if the claims of this article are false, I believe this article represents how feminism does have a future. No women, should ever feel they are being denied the rights to their own body or feel unsupported by public (this was a community hospital) institutions that sole purpose is to "serve the better good of the community". This is unacceptable.
As we have discussed in class, it is the duty of feminist (or so I believe it to be the duty of feminist) to go out among society and example to others what feminism truly is and how feminism relates to all types of situations - just as the situation above. It is stories like this that really show how truly relevant feminism still is. If it was a man in pain would they have helped more quickly? If it was a hospital that treated all people and beliefs equally would this have happened? Is it okay for medical to become political? Does anyone have the rights over someone else's body?
This are the questions that I am left with by this article. I would think that nearly all of us could easily answer these questions as each of their answers are support of feminism. Women and men, feminist of all types, are still fighting for reproductive rights, gender roles, racism, and still yearning for equality.
This was an interesting article and I believe it represents how feminism is still essential today and tomorrow. .

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/catholic-hospitals-religious-rules-led-negligent-care-miscarriage-aclu-says-2D11674429

Gao Yaojie

Today, I unexpectedly came across this really interesting article. It’s pretty long, but definitely worth reading if you have the time. This is the link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/kathleenmclaughlin/the-aids-granny-in-exile?bffb

This article is about Chinese gynecologist Gao Yaojie, nicknamed the “AIDS granny.” During the 90s, there was an AIDS epidemic in rural China. The government assured the public that AIDS was spread only through drug usage and promiscuous sex. Dr. Yaojie had one patient in particular that allowed her to find the true cause of the epidemic. The woman was neither a prostitute nor a drug user, so by the government’s standards, there was no reason for her to have AIDS. However, Dr. Yaojie discovered the woman did have a blood transfusion at one time. Her husband and child both tested negative for AIDS, and Dr. Yaojie determined the cause of her illness to have come from the blood transfusion. Dr. Yaojie then realized that the government blood banks were using contaminated blood, due to unsafe practices (reusing needles, bags, etc. on multiple people). She discovered that the government was aware of the fact that the AIDS epidemic had been caused because of the contaminated blood they were distributing, yet they would not admit it. Dr. Yaojie gave money to and helped AIDS victims in any way she possibly could, and attempted to expose the truth behind the epidemic. The government attempted to silence her though constant harassment (forcing her to do her job by night) and also by placing her on house arrest, despite the fact she had not committed a crime. She escaped China and came to the US, now living in solitude. Due to all that she has experienced, she suffers from extreme paranoia, believing that the Chinese government may still be watching her. That has not stopped her from advocating for her cause, though, as she is currently working on her 27^th book, the 9^th in a series about the AIDS epidemic of China.

Again, this article was really interesting, and has a lot more information than I was able to include here. Definitely look at it if you get the chance!

Women Soldiers in Call of Duty

I have never gone Black Friday shopping before and this Thanksgiving break my mom, boyfriend, and I ventured to Wal-Mart just to see what all the fuss was about. Somehow we ended up with an X-Box despite the fact that people were actually fighting over them (I am pretty sure my foreign boyfriend cut in line to get one). Anyways I gave it to my dad and we bought him a couple of games including the new Call of Duty: Ghosts game. While my boyfriend and dad were playing the video game I noticed that there were actually female soldiers featured and I was impressed despite the violent nature of the game. I decided to google this to see if maybe it was a new development to have women characters featured in the game, and it turns out that this newest edition of Call of Duty is the first to do so. I found this article (http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2013/11/04/call-of-duty-ghosts-launch/3349755/), which doesn't really focus on the introduction of female characters but it does address the change. The article discusses all of the changes this newest edition features, one of which is the possibility of being a woman soldier, which according to the article is "a nod to the growing female player base." Despite the fact that this game glorifies violence and actually directly coincides with one of our previous discussions regarding the glorifications of American troops in general, I think this is nevertheless a step in the right direction. From what I saw the female soldiers are just as tough as the men and are by no means dainty or fragile but rather complete badasses. I was pleasantly surprised to notice this change due to the fact that women are largely portrayed as both submissive and promiscuous in most video games (for example the Grand Theft Auto franchise which portrays almost all the women in the game as hookers or strippers). I think this is a positive step!