Author Archives: Aliyah Warr

Aliyah’s Personal Reflection

Before taking this class I thought I knew everything pertaining to women’s history: gender, sex, stereotypes and power dynamics. But little did I know, I was only scratching the surface. My knowledge has solely and only been compiled of the basic knowledge that has been regurgitated and spit out by society time after time. I was aware of the simple things like the male gaze, the beauty standard, Western ideologies and the basics of women gaining rights. But nothing could prepare me for what I absorbed during this class. Why isn’t public school history classes compiled of trasngender and queer history and women oppression. I believe it should be a requirement for all history classes to go over because it is so necessary to know and to understand society and what it has been built off of. This class has provided me with so much knowledge and allowed me to break down forms of media that are influenced by what I have learned. There is so much history that I never knew until taking this class. I am so grateful I got to dive into the history of various women’s studies topics through chapters, doing public writing for the first time and through my group research project.

Furthermore, learning and unpacking transgender history: rights, liberation and major events captivated me. “Transgender History” written by Stryker discussed many major events but one that caught my attention was Cooper’s Donut’s in 1959. Police were patrolling the vicinity and asking people for their identification. These searches led to arrests due to speculation of prostitution and loitering. As a result drag queens were rounded up by the police but, the customers at Coopers Donuts decided to resist the arrest with the drag queens. It ended with fighting in the street and arrests made. This event went down in history because it shows the power of unity and joining forces to destroy the control of police, government officials and society’s ingrained beliefs. This is also so interesting to me because you would not think of small details in the story like transgender people identifcation cards not necessarily matching with their appearance or the name given to them at birth. This was obviously a problem which led to a lot of issues with suspicious and bored police officers who had nothing better to do. In retrospect it is crazy to know that society decided to believe one day that if a person is not the “default” sexuality (heterosexual) they deserve to be oppressed. It is insane to know that oppression and prejudices formed against transgender and queer people are solely rooted off of the ingrained ideologies and beliefs that have not been questioned. As well as that, one of the big figures we learned about was Marsha P Johnson and it was such an amazing experience to watch the documentary revolving around her life. To see the effect that she had on the people, the community and knowing that she contributed to paving the way for trans and queer individuals is so beautiful. My favorite part of the documentary was being able to see the performances she did, hearing the crowd be starstruck and being comfortable in her own identity no matter the circumstances. It makes me sad to know that scientists during that period in time believed that if you did not identify with your sex given at birth to being mentally insane. Although I already knew the basics of gender stereotypes and houseworks it was so enlightening reading Davis’s book “Women, Race and Class” even through her riddled words.. 

Moreover, this was my first time public writing besides when I used to make blogs as a 10 year old and have nothing to talk about. Public writing is so much more different and relaxing than writing formal papers. When writing formal papers I get so much anxiety but, during this class I felt so relieved and like I could talk and talk about a topic I am super passionate about but I had to keep it to the word limit! While writing my first blog post “Gender Stereotypes and Western Ideologies in Media” I felt like I could weave my personality into my writing and let my thoughts roam freely but still stay concise and convey my thoughts, beliefs and positions on my chosen topic. Furthermore, I dived in gender stereotypes, western ideologies, the beauty myth and media. I love exploring the effects of the deeply ingrained beliefs in media because it showcases how embedded they are in society and the people that create these forms of media. As a filmmaker and writer I hope that through my exploration I can create films that do not possess the limitations of gender stereotypes and only allow for fluidity and an intertwine of femininity and masculinity. I weaved in my prior knowledge from one of my favorite films which I feel showcase gender stereotypes Jennifer’s Body and utilized Jennifer as my point of reference for guiding my media portion. Along with that, diving into the “housewife” helped me to realize the contradicting beliefs of society. Although the housewife is associated with spending money excessively and is scrutinized for it, the men in power view her as a fuel that controls the changing tastes that affect the market. So the women fuel and contribute to the economy, create humans that fuel and contribute to the economy and it is still not enough.

Moreover choosing reproductive justice for the group research project was the best choice ever. I absorbed so much knowledge from the information all of my group members were collecting and through my process of researching. I chose media because it is my comfort zone but because when I see anything regarding abortion a white girl is getting one and is always regarding pro-life beliefs and standpoints. It was a breath of fresh air to dive into the social media activism that is taking place on social media regarding reproductive justice and abortion stories. Women are often shamed and if communities can be formed that unify women I am here for it always. It is super empowering to know that social media is not only being used to bash women but uplift and support one another. It was also enlightening to see that pro-life movements are also weaved into the Black community and rooted off of religion.

This also inspired me to write a script in my thesis script writing class pertaining to reproductive justice. We enter the world as pro-lifer Dan (the protagonist) who has gotten his mistress Megan pregnant and it is not long before his wife finds out. I wanted to explore the idea that men do not care about reproductive rights until it puts their family or reputation into jeopardy. Even then they only care about it because it is concerning them and their family.

In conclusion, I loved being apart of this class and all of the knowledge and history I have been able to learn. I definitely will continue my studies outside of this class and dissect more films to see the gender stereotypes weaved into them.

Gender Stereotypes and Western Ideologies in Media

Imagine being stuck in a time loop where you are persistently vouching for the rejection of old traditions pertaining to gender stereotypes and Western ideologies. But, always in the end the men with institutional power rise above your words and have an inconceivable amount of influence over society. No matter how much you chant, talk or fight, you always lose. Gender stereotypes have been deeply ingrained into human beings consciously and unconsciously. And to be honest, how do the men with institutional power even have this much control over society? The answer is with media and capitalism. We as a society consume mass amounts of media and live in a capitalistic economy that fuels off of our consumption and purchase of products. Of course it is fused with unconscious subliminals and a dash of the yearn to control women. Consequently, gender stereotypes are further encouraged by media and capitalism.

There are various forms of media used to control the influence of gender stereotypes but film is a visual story-teller that encourages unconscious ideologies like no other. Naomi Wolf explains it best in her text “The Beauty Myth”. It states, “The resulting hallucination materializes, for women, as something all too real. No longer just an idea, it becomes three-dimensional, incorporating within itself how women live and how they do not live: It becomes the Iron Maiden. The original Iron Maiden was a medieval German instrument of torture, a body-shaped casket painted with the limbs and features of a lovely, smiling young woman” (Wolf 3). The women that do not meet the standards of what it means to be a woman are subject to punishment. They will not find love because no one wants them to bear their child and they will be shunned from society. It is exactly like being placed in the Iron Maiden forced to conform to what society wants you to be while you live unhappily. A perfect example of this is in the feminist horror film Jennifer’s Body which challenges the false ideologies set in place for what categorizes as femininity and addresses women’s rights in a frightening way. 

Jennifer defies the gender stereotypes set in stone for femininity or I would say, uses it to her advantage. As the monstrous feminine Jennifer lures in her male victims through oozing sex appeal, scares them and disembowels them. She feeds on their organs but is fueled by their fear. Jennifer is the complete opposite of what would be categorized as feminine traits, she is aggressive, dominant and independent and as a result she is rejected. This film takes the ideologies set in stone for female sexual identity and the generic stereotypes with the goal to encourage women to realize mens fears is women that can inflict the pain they do. 

Although Jennifer was visibly not conforming to the ideologies set in stone for women and was rejected, the women that strived to be the perfect housewives were also rejected and and even unseen. For example it states in the text “Women, Race and Class” written by Angel Davis, “(The woman) has been isolated in the home, forced to carry out work that is considered unskilled…Her role in the cycle of production remained invisible because only the product of her labor, the laborer, was visible” (Davis 233). It is clear that the women will always deal with the short end of the stick because nothing we do is ever perfect. Even being the perfect housewife that fends off the fear that she is letting life escape her while she is chained to her home is not enough. Being a full time parent is not enough. But women are still influenced by these stereotypes and forced to fulfill them.

In addition, gender stereotypes are further controlled by capitalism. For example in the text, “Women, Race and Class” by Angela Davis, states, “The “housewife” reflected a partial reality, for she was really a symbol of the economic prosperity enjoyed by the emerging working classes” (Davis 229). As a result of the house wife being the symbol of economic prosperity it added another layer of what it meant to be the perfect housewife and that was spending money excessively. Although women were forced to fit the mold of what it meant to be a housewife or else their motherhood was at stake, they were now seen as what Seccombe states “the housewife has tremendous ‘purchasing power’ and that her ‘changing tastes’ affect the market place dramatically, they portray housewives as superficial social parasites, consuming but never producing” (Seccombe 1).

I have come to the conclusion that it is not about us women being enough. We can conform to gender stereotypes and blindly abide to Western ideologies unconsciously or consciously. But men will still yearn to have control and I am willing to fight for a change. Overall, gender stereotypes are further controlled by media and capitalism.

References:

11. Angela Y. Davis. “Women, Race and Class”.2

32. Wally Seccombe. “The Housewife and Her Labour Under Capitalism”.4

52. Naomi Wolf. “The Beauty Myth”.6