Author Archives: Linxin Jiang

Personal Reflection

Linxin Jiang

After doing the public writing, I was able to learn from different women who grow up with different backgrounds and view things differently. After working on the topic: gender stereotypes with my team. I was able to reevaluate my knowledge about how gender stereotypes can affect the lives of women. One thing I think I can improve next time is becoming a better team player.

One thing I learned from reading public writing from other people is to understand that everyone can have different ideas. When I was reading other women’s writing, I tried to be as neutral as possible. I was trying to understand what her idea was coming from. For example, I don’t agree with the first writing I read. I carefully read her writing, and I tried to understand her ideas before I made any comment. I wrote down everything that I think can be changed, and things that I don’t understand after I read her work. I shared what I love about her work first, and pointed out some structure issues she had. Since I have a different idea than her, and I want her to write what she supports. Therefore, I thought it would be great for me not to question her ideas. I was focusing on how she was introducing her idea and making transitions in different ideas. 

One thing I can improve next time from reading public writing from other people is I should wait until other people give out their thoughts, so I know what she wants to hear from people. She was very happy that people agreed with her idea. I think that it is very important for me to share more about what I liked about next time.

One thing I learned and can improve next time when I do public writing is to communicate and learn from as many people as possible. I found it important to be able to get comments from other people. When I was writing my draft, I felt my eyes and thoughts were covered by something invisible. I thought my draft was good enough until I got suggestions from others. After our in-class break-out section, I shared my writing with others too. Hence, I got more great suggestions.

I learned how to improve individual work from reading and writing public writing. On the other hand, I learned how to work as a team from working on group research projects.

Communication and helping each other are very important for a group. I was doing great talking to people in our group chat. I kept track of everything. For example, I update every task that we discussed during research day for group members who were not able to come to the class during our two research days. I came up with the idea and asked all the team members if they agree to talk about the life of the girl so we can cover all the gender stereotypes that our group thought is important. I tried to be a bridge between all our group members. Put all the tasks together and remind everyone. One of my team members was not comfortable with talking in group chat. She directly messaged a lot. Therefore, I tried my best to update her. I imported a template for our PowerPoint Slides. I reminded my group members to keep using the same format as well.

A few things that I can improve next time include that I should encourage my group members who are not comfortable talking in group chat. I will tell them it would be great if they can also tell other members of our group. It will be more efficient. Another thing that I can improve is stopping using ‘I think’ when I am working in a group. The use of ‘I think’ and ‘I guess’ is a habit of mine. I reminded one of my members several times that I think using paragraphs was not a good choice. We can talk more during the presentation. But we should keep our slides short. But she didn’t want to delete anything. If I have a second chance. I will spend more time convincing her. Additionally, there is an animation in slide 17. However, I didn’t check with my team member who is sharing the screen before the presentation. I found out she is using a local file during the presentation. Therefore, the image with numbers was not able to appear. I decided to say it instead. It is all because I am not confident, and I don’t like conflict. Even when I suggested things that I think are very important. I used ‘I think’ and ‘I guess’ at the beginning of my sentence. And if they don’t want to change it, after all, I will stop saying it. These are something I will improve next time.

This is the best class that I have taken this semester. I was able to take a break from all the mess that I had this semester. I learned to be ‘sensitive’ because I viewed most of society’s issues in a positive stander. However, I noticed many voices against women this year both from men and other women. I was so disappointed at talking to people online, but I see hope from this class. I meet a lot of people just like me who care and want this society to change. I have a little brother who is nine years younger than me. I can change all the men in the world, but I would teach him how to be a normal guy. Someone who can think independently, respect women, support Feminism, and can empathize with women.

Gender stereotypes and influence

BY Linxin Jiang

Even in this modern society, there are many hidden and visible gender stereotypes that happen every time, every day. Gender stereotypes affect not only a single group of people but the entire population.

No matter what gender or sexual orientation you are, you are being hurt by gender stereotypes in one way or another. For a long time, people had stereotypes in their minds. Men should be powerful, rational, hard working, and good at repairing things. Women are emotional,  good at housework, and they can be less educated as long as they are getting married. To them, everyone should follow the rules; whoever didn’t, became potential targets.

For women, gender stereotypes are very harmful and their aftereffects are extremely prominent. Women can be ignored in the work environment because they used to be labeled as emotional, unprofessional, and good at raising children. Some women don’t even have the right to decide if they want to have a child or not. When a female decides not to have a child, her family might give her enough pressure to make her give up on what she really wants. Their reasons could be that ‘every woman goes through this’, ‘you are so selfish if you don’t have at least one child’，‘when you are getting older, you will regret it’. However, marriage is not as simple as fairy tales portray them to be. Every fairy tale ends with the prince and the princess living happily together. As a woman who is brave enough to get married and have a child. There is a very high chance that she will need to do all the housework and cook for the family, despite going to work just like her husband.

As a female who majors in Computer Science, I have been questioned by others since the first day when I picked this major. No one believes me when I say I picked this major because I love coding, instead they question if I have good logic to write code. When they finally accepted that I want to become a programmer, they suggested that I become a front-end developer because it requires less logic. When I answer by saying I hope I can be a front-end developer only because I love building user interfaces, they always have an “I told you” expression on their faces. They want to tell me how ‘smart’ they are for giving such useful suggestions. Sitting in a classroom where ninety percent of the students are male, I sometimes wonder if studying and working with mostly males is really what I want to do? After two years of exploring the technology field, I came to the realization that I am not the one who needs to change. In addition, I encourage more women to try and explore more about technology.

Most men believe that they don’t need to fight for anything. But the reality is that many of their rights are gone without notice. According to this quote from my People and Language class. One of the articles points out, “Many researchers have reported that both sexes engage in gossip… but its cultural meaning (for us) is undeniably ‘feninine’. Therefore we might expect to find most men avoiding it, or disguising it as something else, especially in mixed settings where they are concerned to mark their difference from women ”(Cameron). To keep their masculinity, they are forced to act like they don’t like gossip.

Men get upset when women try to fight to get their power back. They claim that women already have a lot of power nowadays as opposed to in the past. They stigmatize feminism by saying women who support feminism are asking for more than they deserve and are taking men’s rights and power. They argue that feminism is a means for women to get more money without taking on any responsibilities. Ultimately, they don’t feel that women have been treated unfairly. They even claim that women have more rights and power than men at times, however, it is undeniable that our society is patriarchal. 

Does this mean men don’t need to fight for anything?

The answer is surprisingly no, everyone in this society needs to fight for themselves. This  is because men ask women to follow the gender model. That means, according to their logic, they should be powerful, rational, work hard, and good at repairing things. When men ask women to stay at home to take care of children and do housework, they are asking themselves to work harder to feed everyone in the house. When they ask their wife for anything, they need to consider that their daughters may be placed in the same position when they grow up and get married.

If there are no gender stereotypes, the LGBTQ community wouldn’t have had to go through what they had been through.

At first, the church was against homosexuality. Although we can no longer know the real reason, the following are some popular conjectures. For example: ‘church wants to have better control’, ‘stable population’, and ‘against the Bible story’. When something becomes common sense, it is very difficult for us to break it down. 

According to the video, “Pay it No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson”, Michael Lynch said when she thinks about Marsha P. Johnson, she thinks Marsha is someone who kids today who are gay know nothing about which is a shame. Because she‘s one of the reasons they are sitting in all their liberty glory. Marsha paid the price for who she was.

Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen, who was known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights. She was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969.

One big thing in Marsha and Sylvia’s life was that they had formed a group called STAR (Street transvestite action revolutionaries). They were able to operate an apartment as a shelter for homeless transgender youths, who were kicked out of their home for being transgender.

During the interview, Michael said: “I’m not intending to live 20 more years. I don’t want 20 more years of this wonderful life of disco romance. They call me a legend in my own time because there are so many queens gone that I’m one of the few queens still left from the 70s.”

Feminism is never just for women. People who are controlling this game want us, men and women, to fight with each other over small things. Therefore, they can take away bigger things from us without notifying us. 

 

References:

Cameron, Deborah. Performing Gender Identity. 1999. 

Frameline Voices – Pay It No Mind: The Life and … – Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo0nYv9QIj4. 

Gender stereotypes and influence

 Linxin Jiang

Even in this so people called modern society, 2021. There are many hidden and visible gender stereotypes that happen every time, every day. No matter what gender or sexual orientation you are. You are being hurt by gender stereotypes. For a long time, people have had a gender model in their minds. It means men should be powerful, rational, hard working, and good at repairing things. Women are emotional,  good at housework, they can be less educated as long as they are getting married. In our society, everyone should follow this model, whoever didn’t follow this rule can be the target.

For women, gender stereotypes are very harmful. Women can be ignored in the work environment because they used to be labeled as emotional, unprofessional but good at raising children. Gender stereotypes hurt women so bad. Some women don’t even have the right to decide if they want to have a child or not. When a female decides not to have a child. Her family can give them enough pressure to make them give up what they really want. The reasons can be ‘every woman goes through it’, ‘you are so selfish if you don’t have at least one child’，‘when you are getting older, you will regret it’. However, marriage is not as simple as a fairy tale. As a woman who is breath enough to get married and have a child. If she goes to work just like her husband. There is a very big chance that she still needs to do all the housework and cook for everyone in the family.

As a female who majors in Computer Science. I have been questioning since the first day when I picked this major. No one believes that I picked this major because I love coding, they question me if I have good logic to write code. When they finally accept that I want to become a programmer. They suggested to me that I can be a front-end developer because it required less logic. When I answered by saying I hope I can be a front-end developer, it is only because I love building user interfaces. They always have an ‘I told you’ expression on their face, they want to tell me how ‘smart’ they are for giving such useful suggestions.

Most men, a lot of them believe that they don’t need to fight for anything. But the reality is that many of their rights are gone without notice. According to this quote from my People and Language class. One of the articles points out, “Many researchers have reported that both sexes engage in gossip… but its cultural meaning (for us) is undeniably ‘feninine’. Therefore we might expect to find most men avoiding it, or disguising it as something else, especially in mixed settings where they are concerned to mark their difference from women.”(Cameron)

Men get upset when women try to fight for getting their power back. Some men claim that women got a lot of power if we compare nowadays with history. They are stigmatizing feminism by saying women who support feminism means women are asking more than they deserve. Women are taking men’s rights and power. Women want money and take less responsibility when women are talking about feminism. They don’t feel that women have been treated prejudiced. Something they claim women even have more rights or power than men. However, they can’t be denied that our society is a patriarchal society. 

Does it mean men don’t need to fight for anything?

The answer is surprisingly yes, everyone in this society needs to fight for themselves. 

It is because men ask women to follow the gender model. That means they should be powerful, rational, work hard, and good at repairing things. When men ask women to stay at home to take care of children and do housework. They are asking themself to work harder to feed everyone in the house. When they ask their wife for anything. Their daughters may be in the same position when they grow up and get married.

If there are no gender stereotypes. LGBTQ community doesn’t need to go through what they have been through.

At first, the church was against homosexuality. Although we can no longer know the real reason. But the following are some popular conjectures. For example: ‘church wants to have better control’, ‘stable population’, ‘against the Bible story’. When something becomes common sense, it is very difficult for us to break it down. 

Michael Lynch said when she thinks about Marsha P. Johnson. She thinks Marsha is someone who kids today who are gay know nothing about which is a shame. Because she‘s one of the reasons they are sitting in all their liberty glory. Marsha paid the price for who she was.

Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights. She was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969.

One big thing in Marsha and Sylvia’s life as they had formed a group called STAR (Street transvestite action revolutionaries). They were able to operate an apartment as a shelter for homeless transgender youth. The youth were kicked out of their home for being transgender.

During the interview, Michael said: “I’m not intending to live 20 more years. I don’t want 20 more years of this wonderful life of disco romance. They call me a legend in my own time because there are so many queens gone that I’m one of the few queens still left from the 70s.”

Feminism is never just for women. People who are controlling this game want us, people with different gender identities, to fight with each other with small things. Therefore, they can take away bigger things(rights) from us without notifying us. 

 

References:

Cameron, Deborah. Performing Gender Identity. 1999.