Author Archives: Yanjun Jiang

Personal Reflection -Yanjun Jiang

      First of all, I am very happy and grateful that I chose to take this class. This class brought us, women together and shared our opinions and ideas on various topics in the class. Such as white supremacy, masculinity, and the stereotypes women receive in society. What impressed me most was the article we annotated together in class which is the excerpt from ‘The Feminine Mystique’. This article reveals the stereotype that women have left from the past to the present. That is, women have always been regarded as housewives. They should take care of their children and their husbands at home. This is their responsibility. However, this article also reveals that women are helpless about this stereotype. They also feel more and more restricted by what society thinks women should do. This makes them feel that life has no other color, but lives are getting more meaningless. They repeat doing the same housework every day and gradually lose themselves. This article impressed me deeply since it taught me that women should radiate their own glory, not blindly obey the image that society has set for them. They have the right to live for themselves, create a better future for themselves, and bring enough sense of security and happiness to themselves. So personally, I’m glad that this class has taught me a lot about how women should be strong and change the stereotype brought to them by society. Women can be independent and have more masculinity and ability than men. This is a personal ability, rather than defined by gender. Therefore, the gender stereotype should be eliminated, and bring them gender equality. 

        Moreover, I am also very happy that the professor asked us to write a public blog post. This is my first time writing a public blog post. I think writing blog posts promote our learning and reflect our growth. I enjoy the process of writing blog posts, which can reflect our personal thinking process, not just the result of thinking. We never understand a problem or field, from understanding to familiarity, from familiarity to mastery. This helps us record a person’s growth process of thinking and solving problems. In my blog post, I wrote about the theme of gender equality. Because it has been believed that women are lower than men in physical and intellectual aspects historically. It has always been a stereotype that women should stay at home. Although it seems equal for today’s women to go to school and work like men, in essence, men and women are unequal. They have been defined since birth because of gender factors. Society is calling for us to be competent and play the roles of men and women. For example, women should be gentle and graceful at any time, and then men should be firm, strong, and aggressive. However, what I want to say is that everyone has the freedom to choose himself. We have no right to define a person according to sex. Women can be gentle or strong; Men can be strong or weak. At the same time, they can be heterosexual or gay, which is moral. What we need is a city without gender discrimination, a society in which women can make money to support their families and men can take care of their children without discrimination. Women are not only mothers, wives, and daughters, but also other identities. Men and women are equal in spirit. Everyone can choose their own appearance instead of being “beautified” by public opinion. I hope to take this opportunity to write a blog in order to share knowledge and exchange views with my dear students and all the public. Just as we replied to other students’ blog posts and agreed or disagreed with their blog posts. We discussed together and listened to other people’s thoughts and expressed our opinions. I think this really helps to promote the common progress of both sides. 

         Also, when I did a research group project with my groupmates, I really enjoyed the process of doing our project. I think our group activity has created a harmonious working atmosphere. Each of my group members and I have equal opportunities to give full play to our opinions and ideas on the theme we chose. The theme we chose was gender stereotypes. Our group chose to introduce the story of a specific female role to the public women to make a voice. We talked about the stereotypes of our female role faced from her early childhood to her marriage and family life. Finally, it expounds that women should live for themselves and give themselves the most stable sense of security. Instead of taking your husband and children as your everything. When we work on group projects, our group members learn from each other in communication, mutual inspection, and mutual evaluation activities. We learn to check our own parts while checking each other’s contributions to the project, and combine everyone’s into a perfect group presentation. I think this research group project promotes us to study vividly and actively. And let us have a deeper understanding and new knowledge of the theme of gender stereotypes. This has cultivated our innovation potential. In research group project learning, each of us uses our existing knowledge to find ways to solve new problems, and we often have new ideas on this topic. And then we add our ideas to the PowerPoint slides. Therefore, I also think that taking this opportunity of research group project activity has created conditions for our careful thinking and created an atmosphere of sustainable development.

        Finally, I am very grateful that we met you, our professor Ashton. We enjoy communicating and sharing with you every time in this class. We had a good chat and brought a good atmosphere and laughter to the class. We have also learned a lot of topics in your class that we haven’t touched or learned before. This class is the one that makes me feel most relaxed and happy. Thank you, Professor Ashton. I wish you all the best and have a happy holiday! We will miss you and everyone in the class. You all did a good job and congratulations on ending another semester!!

Gender Equality

 Yanjun Jiang

       Historically, it has been believed that women are lower than men in terms of body and intelligence. There has always been a cliche that women should stay at home. They believe that women are born to take care of others, and their legal rights and employment opportunities are much less than those of men. The current law says that women’s rights and interests should be protected and equality between men and women should be guaranteed. Secondly, considering women’s great contribution to society, women’s role should be brought into full play. Although today’s women, go to school and work like men, which seems equal, in essence, men and women are not equal.

　     Not just America, but the world. From birth, most babies are defined by the doctor’s sentence “boy” or “girl”. Society calls us to play the role of men or women; Women are required to be gentle, beautiful, and self-defense at any time. And men are the same. They should be firm, strong, and full of aggression. Every child is required to present the image that society needs or wants us to present, but what society requires us to present or do must be right?

　    Why should women always be beautiful? Why do men have to be better than women? Obviously, this is the definition left to us by ancient people. But are we in the middle ages or what dynasty? None of them.

        A new era has come. Why can’t we change the definition of gender? The women’s rights movement in America continues to develop, but we refuse to take another step forward. Instead, we retreat step by step.

        In the excerpt from ‘The Feminine Mystique’ by Avery Friedan. Betty utilizes the term “feminine mystique” to describe the social hypothesis, so as to express that women can be satisfied through housework, marriage, and raising children alone. However, the author expounds that the traditional housewife role of middle-class women has caused harm and prevented them from acquiring full human ability. As Betty states, “Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts, and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night — she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question — “Is this all?” This makes me deeply feel the decadence and powerlessness of women, especially those who become mothers. They begin to live from losing themselves. Even if they arrange their life in order, they still can’t find their own direction. They repeat low-skilled work, which devours women’s enthusiasm and stifles their thoughts. Their sense of existence and value decreased instantly. They are inundated with trivial things every day, which often makes them feel that their hearts have nowhere to go, which makes them more confused and struggling. This makes them realize that they have gradually lost themselves in trivial life, because the focus of life is always around family and children as if they are everything to their female compatriots, especially those who become mothers. Apart from them, life has no other color and nothing else to do.

      I don’t know how many people in America and the world can correctly understand feminism. Women’s rights are easily equated with men’s rights. However, the reason why feminism was called this name was that it was completely patriarchal at that time, and women had no rights at all. Therefore, these oppressed women appeal for equality. What they appeal for is “equality”! Not “privilege”! Real women’s rights are equal rights and human rights. It’s not right, it’s equality! 

       Equality is divided into two kinds: physical equality and spiritual equality. 

       It is difficult to define physical equality. Because most countries in the world give men and women the same rights: they have the right to vote, they can get a job, and go to the same school. However, there are still backward countries that continue the tradition of men being superior to women. Not only backward countries, but also advanced countries have similar hints. For example, in James Cameron’s “Titanic”, when encountering a shipwreck, passengers agree that women go first and men stay last. This is a manifestation of civilization, but I think everyone should have the same right to live in crisis. Of course, this is only my personal understanding.

   　Everyone has the freedom to choose their own, and we have no right to define a person according to his/her gender. Women can be gentle or strong; Men can be strong or weak. At the same time, they can be heterosexual or homosexual, which are moral. There are still seven kinds of brilliance in the sunlight. Why do people ask or require things in this world that can only show one side?

  　  At the same time, I hope that women can wear short skirts without being accused of seducing men; Men can wear feminine clothes without being ridiculed as perverts. I want everyone to understand that women dressed well are not seducing you; Men don’t dance ballet to attract attention. I want a virgin who is worshipped not only because she gave birth to Jesus, a city without gender discrimination, a society in which women can make money to support their families, and men can take care of children without discrimination. Women are not only mothers, wives, and daughters, but also other identities. Both men and women are equal in spirit.

       Everyone can choose their own appearance instead of being “cosmetic” by social public opinion. The way of thinking of women and men can be the same. Please don’t bind the current idea with the previous truth. Both men and women are victims of gender discrimination, which needs to be changed. 

  　All of the above, we should make them a reality. If men and women, the two largest races in the world, cannot be equal, how can we say racial equality, equality between the rich and the poor, and equality for all? Equality for all does not just mean that we have to do it. This is everyone’s responsibility. Don’t think you have ever been infringed by gender discrimination. We are not part of the world, we are the world. On earth, we are independent individuals. In the universe, the world becomes a point – we are to the world as atoms are to the body. Changing gender discrimination is the responsibility of the world and everyone! Men and women should unite rather than indulge in the world of men or women.

       Before we were born, the world was like this, and there was nothing we could do; Before we died, the world was still like this. We were incompetent. I hope everyone can start from themselves and change their sexism.