In this reflection, you are going to look backwards so that you can go forward in other words you are going to discuss what you learned, the benefits of learning what you learned, how it might help you in future classes/projects/experiences as well as walk through the process so that you might defend and acknowledge the decisions that you made. Make sure you are very specific drawing on both your experiences in the course--readings, class discussions, experiences--and the project itself.
In terms of length, it should be long enough to get your point across, but keep in mind if it's too short then I won't be able to understand your thinking, reasoning, and methods for developing the project.
DUE: during class.
My project was a book into what it took to be a feminist, a romantic, or a romantic feminist in the 1960's. I chose to look at this time period because this decade had the most clear distinction between different type of women, in my opinion. I took three famous figures of the decade; Betty Freidan, Jackie Kennedy, and Audrey Hepburn. Through researching their lives I was able to divide each into a different category of women. I felt memoir format was the best way to convey to my audience the lives of different types of women. I also felt that by choosing "big names" with these three famous women, my audience could better grasp/visualize each type.
ReplyDeleteThis project was a learning experience for me because I was able to better understand my grandmothers generation of women. I was able to take away from my research what has changed since the 1960's in women's culture. I think that now moving forward from my project I have a better appreciation for the time period my grandmother lived in. Today It seems much more acceptable to be whatever kind of woman you want to be. Researching Jackie Kennedy taught me the kinds of women who held back feminism in order to hold onto romance. I am very thankful to be a female in the decade and society that I do today.
The focus of this assignment was to look at feminism and romance. With my focus on the 1960's I learned about what feminism and romance meant during that decade and how women incorporated each into their very different lives. Through Jackie Kennedy I learned what it meant to put all your focus on romance during the 1960's. Then opposite from her I was able to see feminism in the 1960's through Betty Freidan. I also learned through Betty Freidan that feminist women at this time may own up to many feminist stereotypes but Betty herself still was married with children! Audrey Hepburn was my way of bringing feminism and romance together. In my eyes she was able to display both and I hope that I conveyed that through her memoir. I incorporated examples of fashion into my book to keep my audience intrigued.
All in all I think that my book turned out as I hoped. It is short, but I think it gets its point across. It was appropriate and direct to the audience I was trying to target. I tried to bring together in my Epilogue that we can learn a lot from the women of the 1960's and their stories can help us recognize how far we have come in society.
In my project I created a romance story that also encompasses. Throughout this class we have discussed if it is possible for a woman to be both a romantic and a feminist. My project was aiming to find out. I created a character who was independent and in control of her own life. She was against falling in love and did not want to be controlled by a man. On the reverse of that my male lead was all about love. He strongly believed two people could be in love and still live their independent lives. Throughout creating this project I began to agree with the topic. I really do believe it is possible for a woman to be both. At the end the main character believes she can be in love and doesn’t have to change her life based on him instead just create a new part for him to exist in.
ReplyDeleteThe second part of my project was aiming to discover if my switching the typical roles of a romance where the man is the villain and the woman is the hero would it change how men viewed it. Usually the man is the one who screws up and must beg for the woman to take him back. So I reversed this with the idea if the roles were reversed men might use this type of romantic comedy as their escapism much like women use the common version. What I discovered is it does not matter which character plays which role, men are not interested in the “chick flicks” and would rather watch a movie about violence or really fast cars.
When I discovered this I began to wonder if switching the roles than plays a part in how the woman would feel about the movie. In fact, it did. Most women I talked to about this script were not as eager to see it as the typical romcom where the man must go after the woman in the end. This made no sense to me. I had created this strong powerful character that chose to be in love, so why would women not want to see this? When comparing the type of story I created to the typical romantic comedy I saw the difference. Women enjoy seeing the man begging for forgiveness. They want the power in the relationship and by having him screw up and have to come back that shows the control she has over him. We can relate to characters that have had their heart broken and after that occurs all we want is for him to come back begging for forgiveness. This is a woman’s fantasy.
The project I have created has taught me why the type of romantic comedy is performed the way it is. But it has also taught me the possibilities of real life relationships having the potential to be both romantic and feministic.
For my project, a created a scrapbook that captures the feminist lives over 3 generations. In thinking about my project, I chose to target my grandparents’ generation. From experience with my own grandparents, I know that this generation is very strong-minded and has a hard time accepting that views on different subjects, like feminism and romance and how they interact, has changed over time. They are stuck in their own opinions, unwilling to see how my generations views things. I found it important to have this group as my audience, to help them to realize that the world is changing and not everything that was considered right when they were growing up will be considered right forever. I used the mode of a scrapbook, because I believe that the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is completely accurate. Everyone has their own way of viewing things, and having captions of different generations side-by-side talking about the same picture is a simple and effective way of showing how opinions have changed over time and with each generation of women.
ReplyDeleteWhile I researched for this project, I learned a few key things. One, that feminist are very keen on fighting for what they believe in and they will keep fighting no matter what objects may get in their way. Feminists are also strong minded. They are not afraid to say what they believe to anyone who is willing to listen; some even preach their beliefs to people who do not want to hear them. The next thing I learned is that everyone has a different idea of what feminism is. We have discussed in class how different feminism is to different people, but doing this project I have learned that there are so many different ideas of feminism and what feminist movements are about, that it is hard to fully understand that concept and it is hard for the older generation to accept the fact that feminism has evolved.
The things I have learned from this project will be beneficial for me because I was able to see how different opinions can be, and in knowing this I also know that all of the opinions are right. Every person has different beliefs in how things should be, and over time the general opinion of a group of people can change, that does not mean that it is wrong, it just means that ideas have evolved.
Through my multi-model project I was able to learn to look at feminism through many different perspectives. I have usually thought of feminism as being a movement in which angry women fight for rights that they already have, however, this project taught me that there are many different perspectives and definitions for feminism. As a result, feminism cannot just be referring to angry women who hate men. Learning this lesson was extremely important, because it allowed me to be more open-minded about the subject. It presented to me different ideas of feminism that I would have never thought were examples of feminism on my own. For example, before this project, I would have thought it would be unbelievable for a stay-at-home to be considered as a feminist. Like most people, I would have thought that a women like that actually brought women back a few years. However, at the end of my project I was able to learn that feminism doesn’t necessarily mean the amount of power a woman might have in her workplace, but rather her confidence and her ability to make her own decisions.
ReplyDeleteI think that this finding can help me in future classes and projects by making sure that I always keep an open-mind when it comes to the clash between the sexes. Just because someone may be doing something that I don’t necessarily think empowers women as a whole doesn’t mean that it doesn’t empower them. I learned that everyday words have very broad definitions that change continuously.
When working on the project, I had to consider a lot of things. I had to be mindful of the information that I decided to publish on my website, because it can speak to who I am as a person. I learned that throughout this project I had to continually evaluate whatever I decided to write from both a moderate feminist (feminine) and a radical feminist (ultra feminist). I had to try to find a balance between the two different types of theories so that I could effectively work on my project.
On top of trying to reach a balance between feminism and femininity that could appeal to most feminists, I also had to be mindful about how I presented my work. Since I was appealing to young professional women, the same women who are more likely to read Cosmopolitan¸ I had to think about the visual of the website, the color scheme and the language I would use in my posts and articles. I decided to use pink in order to attract a more feminine audience, but I also used black as a background so that I could keep the website very professional and sophisticated looking. The language was also very detrimental. I wanted to effectively portray what I wanted to say to my audience, but I didn’t want to sound too formal.
Through the creation of my ABC book I was able to learn more than I expected about feminism and romance. I thought that by creating this book I would simply be regurgitating information that I have learned in class, but instead I was able to broaden my knowledge about feminism and romance. In my book I used many of the readings that we read for class as evidence. By looking back through the information in these articles, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of what the authors were saying. The first time I read the articles I gained enough knowledge to get the point of these articles, but did not necessarily understand. Doing this project forced me to take a closer look at the theorists in order to convey what they were saying to my audience.
ReplyDeleteI also used outside research to gain more support for what my ABC book is saying. Through the process of this research I was able to learn much more about the history of feminism as well as the industry that the romance has become in our world today. I now have a deeper knowledge of what feminist women were fighting for when they began the feminist movement, and what compelled them to fight so hard for women. I also learned that the NOW Organization, an organization that fights for the rights of women, still exists. This surprised me because I did not expect this group to be around since feminism has changed so much over time and is so individual. I learned that romance is a fairly recent phenomenon that despite its success has a lot of critics. I could see the stereotypes of feminism and romance that we have discussed in class present throughout the research I completed for this project. A lot of the research I found was fairly shallow, and I feel that the knowledge I brought to this project from what I learned in class was much more significant and useful than what I found online or in the encyclopedia.
In terms of my process, I was shocked at how much information I had that I wanted to include in my book. It was difficult to make this information fit my audience of pre-teen kids because everything we read and that I found online was very theory based and somewhat complicated for kids younger than us. One of my biggest challenges was taking the information I had gained and turning into the basics, while also making it somewhat enjoyable for kids to read. That is why I decided to make a visual aspect of the book. I felt that photographs, diagrams, and a few activities would make the book more interesting a readable for my audience.
As challenging as it was to fill twenty-six pages with information about feminism and romance that middle school aged kids would understand, and as long as this book took me to create, I am glad I stuck with my ABC book. I think it gives a well-rounded view of the basics of feminism and romance, as well as a deeper look into the connection between the two. I tried to disprove all the common stereotypes that exist about feminism and romance because pre-teens love stereotypes. Through doing this I learned that I still had a lot of assumptions about feminism and romance that were not necessarily true. By creating this book and the simplifying of the information I have gained a deep and well-rounded understanding of the components of feminism and romance and where these ideas came from, and a new respect for the authors of picture books!
ReplyDeleteI really tried to play to my strengths with this project; I love to write, and I’ve never had a problem with directing others. Originally, I wanted to make a statement about abusive relationships by portraying a female who gets out of a controlling relationship through dance, film, and a monologue. I then remembered a reading we did in class from Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women; the author made the point that heroines in romance novels are actually more feminist (or the picture of an ideal women) because when the reader finds them at the start of the story, the heroines have already buried the heartbreak of bad relationships and have a solid career and friend base. The women are already strong, ideal feminists. As a result, I knew I couldn’t follow that story line because it didn’t celebrate the strong properties of the romance.
I grew up watching my sister dance. Over the past few years, she has begun to choreograph her own pieces, and I have witnessed her ability to turn movement into a story. I knew that her dancing would add a unique creative element to my piece, and I knew I could direct my sister in a way that would show my style and purpose. My sister did create the movements in my piece, but it was my words, music choice, clothing style, and lighting choices. If I had choreographed the dance, it would have been much too literal, and it would have seemed disconnected and awkward. I think my sister’s talent is one the major factors for my piece’s success.
Furthermore, I love to write short monologues. I auditioned for my class speaker position in high school and fell in love with the process of writing short, creative works. I have read a lot of romance, so I thought I could try writing romance in the format that I love. Reading the monologue over the dance was my way of making sure my voice was strong and prevalent in the piece. My words also help to draw the audience in, making sure their senses get lost in the whole ensemble. This was my strength, and I think the monologue is the best part of my project.
Once I’d decided the genres of dance and writing, I struggled to find the subject matter. I’d originally wanted to base it off my own failed romance, but I knew the story was not meant to be dramatized through movement. I remembered my favorite film Moulin Rouge and knew the plot line was dramatic enough to be recreated through dance and written about. However, I did not want the female to be the sexual, dangerous figure. Rather, I knew the male had to play that role because coming to appreciate the ‘dangerous male’ character was my largest ah-ha moment in class. Before, I’d always hated that character, wholeheartedly believing he was the manifestation of the oppression of women feminists had worked so hard to eliminate. After reading about how a simple woman’s intelligence, grace, and kindness turned the dangerous male into a man capable of love, I realized just how strong romance heroines were. I knew I wanted to create display of feminism in the romance, so I switched the roles in Moulin Rouge.
I had my friend Victoria read the monologue because I knew the tone and style of voice was essential to keeping the reader interested and emotionally invested. My voice could not pronounce the words clearly, and I sounded too young for the subject matter. I also know how to direct talent, so I easily had the idea of using Victoria’s voice. I think her soft tone perfects the piece as a whole.
DeleteIn the video, I chose to only have one spotlight to create the feeling of ‘the underworld’. The dark lighting hints at feelings of seduction and shows the darkness of the male character and the Moulin Rouge itself. I styled my sister in a skirt with her hair down to show obvious femininity. I wanted her to look sweet so that the audience could grasp that it was her inert power and femininity that won the guy in the end. The boy was dressed simply so that his movements were the statement of the piece and so that he looked manly rather than styled.
My final component was the review. I wanted to push my writing capabilities by writing in a genre I had never worked with before and I wanted to be able to incorporate more obvious research. I think this was the hardest part of my project because I did not know how to write a review, but I was happy I had the challenge of writing a completely different tone.
This project pushed my creative threshold. I had never worked with iMovie before, and I had always accomplished analytical work in high school. I think this project will help me in the future by showing me there are other ways to analyze theory than just through a literary analysis. This project did wasn’t annoying because I was playing to my strengths and working with a topic I cared about. I think this project showed me the potential of how great college could be over the next four years. If I continue to take classes I’m passionate about, the work will come more naturally to me, and I will feel confident enough to take creative risks. This project also helped me work with technology- an avenue in which I really struggle. Overall, I liked the process and am proud of my final project!
I decided the main theme of my project would be women empowerment. It was at the very beginning of class I realized that some people in the class were die-hard romantics, and others were dedicated feminists. I first thought that these two groups should dislike each other (like Democrats and Republicans) but as I noticed through readings, blog posts, and class discussions they do not need to. We are all in the same party: the woman’s party. The reading by Moran when she says, “do you have a vagina? And do you want to be in charge of it?” helped me realize that all women are feminists. Each woman has her own definition of what feminism means to her. This is something that stuck with me throughout the quarter and when we were able to be creative with our project, I knew this was the route I wanted to go down, incorporating photography.
ReplyDeleteI started out with my idea. Did I want to photograph just a feminist? Did I want to add an anti-feminist? How was I going to incorporate a romantic? What I eventually decided was to show the romantic and feminist of each wave. I then did research on each wave, and the women that were a part of that wave. What I discovered was the women who were part of history are real women. They are the same as my friends, relatives, and co-workers. These women are not dreamt up or fictional, they are ones that lived their life the way they wanted to (if they were able to depending on their circumstance.)
My project could be considered a time line of some sorts. The start of the time line shows two extremely hopeless women. They were property. Their lack of rights lit a fire under them that enacted the start of change for women everywhere. The end of the timeline shows two secure women, both who have made a choice of what they want for their lives. This shows the contrast between one hundred years ago and today.
At the end of each of the waves I photographed each set of characters holding hands. This is symbolism for the empowerment women have shared across history. Even though sometimes, it may not appear that women are always on the same side, I do not believe women could have come this far without support from a large population of other women. Also, it shows that romantic and feminist do not have to be enemies; in fact they do not even need to be opposites. Both romantics and feminists can meet in the middle as strong women, both fighting toward a common goal of equality.
When I came into this class, all I knew was that I liked to read romance novels and watching silly romantic TV shows. I loved Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux, and Catherine Anderson, as well as The O.C. One Tree Hill, and Gilmore Girls, but I couldn’t understand why everyone else always judged me for enjoying them. I felt embarrassed and slightly ashamed as I sat and read or watched TV in my room, never understanding my instinct to hide while I indulged. So, I joined this class in order to not only understand the why of it, but also meet others that hopefully felt the same way, and that I didn’t have lie to.
ReplyDeleteThe introduction of the concept of feminism turned my entire notion of romance on its head. In the back of my mind, I always knew that I didn’t want to end up like some hopeless romantic, forgetting everything about myself in an attempt to find love. However, I would never have gone so far as to call myself a feminist, or label others as the same. I especially did not relate the term to any of the women in my romance novels or favorite television series, and never took the time to analyze their actions in a way that meant anything more than them changing their lives around to fit a man. As I read more theories and opinions however, I discovered how narrow-minded I had been. These women were teaching us more than just how to find the perfect guy, they were teaching us how to stay true to ourselves in the process of finding him.
When I looked back at one of the first articles our class had read, the one that discussed the differing opinions on the anti-feminist aspects of Zooey Deschanel’s character in New Girl, I felt my self become surprisingly astonished. A few weeks ago, I might have read one of the many articles protesting the childishness of the character and claiming that it was damaging the image of all women today, and I might have been persuaded to agree with it. The words they used were convincing, and sounded both intelligent and well informed. However, after studying the different waves of feminism and coming to the conclusion that feminists today can behave any way they truly desire, I could not conceive the idea that someone would want to write something so obviously wrong about the show.
The words that would have once made so much sense to me now just sounded idiotic, and I wanted to lash out. But, not knowing who to lash out at, I decided that instead of fighting with them, I would entice them to change their perspective. I knew that I would have to begin with something we all had in common in order to reach my target audience, and for that I needed New Girl. I decided to write my script in a language I thought they might accept, but hopefully taking in all the information I was attempting to shove at them, and retain it subconsciously. I knew that if I, as Mackenzie Danis, were to give them my own opinion, they would never listen, but perhaps they would listen if it came from someone they knew, whether they agreed with that person or not.
So, I created a script that I thought might appeal to any New Girl avid watcher, and went from there. My message was clear, but disguised under a layer of thin humor. Little things like having Schmidt be naked at the beginning, or including the douchebag jar, was sure to make them relax enough to not be as wary of the lines that followed. I wanted to change their minds about shows like this, just as mine had been changed throughout the quarter. Perhaps they were writing these hateful articles because they just didn’t know better, and if that was the case, then I wanted to be the one to teach them.
DeleteWithout having shown the video to anyone with the opinions I was trying to combat, I have no way of knowing if my little trick actually worked. Perhaps it changed nothing, and they will go on writing about how true feminists aren’t allowed to act like little girls and such. But maybe, just maybe I made a difference in the corner of someone’s mind, and they were able to process the tidbits of information that I so gladly handed out to them. And if that’s true for even one person, then I know I will have accomplished my mission. I will have helped one person to understand the world in a different way, so that they themselves can go out and read a romance novel or watch a stupid TV show without the intense feelings of guilt that previously built up inside of them.
Now, as I move one with my life after this project and this quarter, I can have more confidence in myself, my opinions, and my choices. Sure, I may not broadcast my reading and television watching activities to the rest of the world, but I will also no longer allow myself to succumb to the shame that I once felt. Let them laugh at me, if they so choose. Their laughter is born out of ignorance, and perhaps one day, I will find away to address that as well. But for now, I am more than satisfied at being cured of my own ignorance, and living my life without the doubts of finding a balance between love and feminism.
When I first began this class, I thought that I knew everything there was to know about both feminism and romance. I had many preconceived notions about feminism; I believed true feminists were women who didn’t shave their legs, refused to have relationships with men, and would never get married. I was a total romantic, and I really wanted to believe that I could stay that way, while still being a modern and independent woman.
ReplyDeleteThe first readings we did in this class reaffirmed some of the beliefs I had about feminists. Feminist scholars, like Janice Radway had a very high opinion of themselves and their beliefs, and a lower opinion of women who did things like read romance novels. It seemed as though feminism and romance were absolutely incompatible. As the class continued, however, I learned about different perspectives, the most important being Moran. Through her readings, I learned that feminism doesn’t have to fit a specific mold; it doesn’t have a true definition, and you don’t have to adhere to the stereotypes to uphold the basic beliefs that it stands for: gender equality, and equality of all people in general.
This is what led me to choose my project topic, in which I explored the question of whether or not feminism can exist in a marriage. Marriages are an incredibly romantic institution, as nearly all romance novels end with the couple either marrying or becoming engaged. I wanted to apply what I learned from Moran to real life, and to an audience that was very disillusioned with feminism, and I found that in married women.
My first step in the project was to survey many of my mom’s married friends to get an idea of their views of feminism. What I found was that many were reluctant, if not unwilling, to use the word to describe themselves and their beliefs. Many of these women said something along the lines of “I am a feminist, but not a strong one” or “I am a feminist but not a modern day feminist”. It appeared to me that many of these women felt alienated by or left out of the movement because of the choices they made in their lives, which were to fall in love, get married, have children and stay home with them, etc.
I wanted to convince these women that they didn’t have to be afraid to call themselves feminists, so I drew from Moran, and also found many interesting stories from feminist bloggers and journalists who found themselves scrutinized by the feminist community when they decided to get married. They all had a similar stance on being married and feminist: marriage is as equal as you make it. It doesn’t have to be patriarchal; it doesn’t have to mean the woman is submissive. In the 21st century, love and marriage are defined only by the individual couples themselves, and not so much by society anymore. I found this knowledge empowering in my own life. This was the first time I truly believed that I could be a feminist and be in love at the same time.
DeleteI believe my project was a success not necessarily because I thought I did well on it, but because it really changed the way I understood the topic we were learning in class, and the way I understood my own life. I know am convinced that romance and feminism can, and should, coexist in the lives of all women. I also know that I can make my feminist beliefs work in my relationships and eventual marriage, as long as those relationships are based off of the understanding of equality between the two people. I can shave my legs, wear dresses, not get an abortion, get married, and still call myself a feminist because I believe in women’s rights to be women.
Additionally, I learned that the best and most fulfilling projects come from exploring topics that not only interest you, but have direct relevance to your life and decisions. This topic helped me answer a question I have had ever since I signed up for this class, and it taught me lessons I will use throughout my life about both feminism and romance.
I decided on the genre of dance for my project because I knew it was something that not everyone else could do. I envisioned expressing the waves of feminism through dance perfectly in my mind, but I could not figure out how to incorporate the element of romance. When I came up with the idea of escapism, it wasn’t ideal. I wasn’t quite sure how I would go about it, but in the end, I hope that the audience will be able to interpret the story I am trying to tell.
ReplyDeleteThrough this project I have learned a lot about myself as a person. I learned how to channel thoughts and views into creativity on my own instead of having a choreographer explain how they developed their own ideas, and teaching us as students how they would like us to interpret those ideas. I also realized how much I have missed dance. It is my passion and it brings me joy, therefore I have no idea why I decided to quit just because I was moving to a new place. It has truly been an invaluable experience. I have also learned, throughout this quarter and this class (especially this project), that time management is not a strong quality of mine. In the future I will need to learn how to be more efficient with my time in order to succeed throughout the rest of my college career.
I can’t say I’ve ever taken a class like this or had to do a project that is so deep and unrestricted involving creativity. Although I love to dance, I have never been a choreographer. I’m just not creative. I’m not complaining, it’s just a fact. That is why, when this project was first assigned, I shuddered. I had no idea how I would ever be able to pass. Every one of my classmates was so creative, there is no way I could ever measure up. Although my project may not be the most imaginative, it personally took me to a new level of thinking and creativity. In the end, the process of this project helped me realize what I felt I had been missing since I had moved to Denver, and I feel very lucky that I realized it before all of my technique had diminished. Dance is my passion, and it is something I want to continue in the future.
I decided to create a dating website for this project for one specific reason: throughout my life, I have often wondered if the way that I behave in relationships is detrimental to my character as a feminist. I have traditionally been known as the people pleaser – a significant other who disregards her own needs and desires in order to please whoever she happens to be with at the time. And to me, this seemed incredibly contradictory. How could I stand up and say that I deserved to be paid just as much as a man if I couldn’t stand up and say that I deserved to be treated as well as I have always treated the men I am romantically involved with? And, considering this, I came to a very important realization. The relationships in which I sacrificed myself for my significant other were NOT healthy ones. These were relationships that were based not on mutual respect and equality, but on one person’s needs more than the other. It was because of this epiphany that I decided that my project should become a place for feminists to search for others who believed in this concept of equality and mutual respect – a dating website dedicated to helping them form HEALTHY relationships, and also aiding them in realizing that feminism need not have a negative effect on these relationships if they are truly equal.
ReplyDeleteThus, when I began this project, I thought that it was simply about showing feminists that they could be in relationships without needing to suffer societal scrutiny or disdain. We live in an ever changing world, and today feminism is not exactly what it was ten, twenty, or even five years ago. However, as I proceeded with my research, it became clear that it is not only possible for feminists to have relationships, but that it can in fact be beneficial. Every single person that I surveyed believed that two people with feminist beliefs are able to have healthier relationships simply because of their mutual belief in gender equality and respect. With this, it became a project not only about the idea that feminists can have relationships, but also the idea that when feminists are in relationships with those that have similar beliefs and values, they can actually have more successful relationships.
This revelation gives me hope for the future. Though I realize that I don’t need to be in a relationship to be content, I now understand that I must hold my significant other to the same standards that I apply to myself, as well as that if I do decide to begin a relationship, it is in my best interest to be sure that it is one based on the ideals of equality and respect. As I go through life, this knowledge will help me to empower myself further by realizing that I deserve to be treated as an equal in every relationship.
I also feel that through this project, I learned so much about how society truly views feminism today. Though my research told me that there are many negative connotations associated with feminism (such as the idea that feminists are ugly, single, scary lesbians), I found that the people I surveyed did not subscribe to these beliefs, and that everyone identified themselves as a supporter of feminism. I surveyed those in my own generation, and what this tells me is that youth today don't necessarily harbor the same negative attitudes towards feminism that people did in previous years. Thus, today’s society is progressing, and this finding has given me faith in my generation. This is why I used these surveys as profiles for my website – I wanted them to be a representation of society’s views on feminism today.
Overall, I believe that this project opened my eyes not only about society, but also about myself. Moving forward, I now have knowledge that will help me to navigate my own life as well as my interactions with others. Essentially, I believe even more in the power of romance and feminism as one single entity.
Reflecting on this class itself, the knowledge I carried away greatly benefitted me. With a concrete understanding in feminism, and a whole new appreciation for romance, I believe that I became a stronger, better person. It helped me become passionate in something bigger than myself. I felt empowered, strong, and independent, just like those incredible female characters of The MacGregor Brides. What more would I want to do with this spirit and energy in feminism and romance besides pass it on? This final project allowed me to finally express my enthusiasm and feel like I was making a difference (even if presented to a make-believe audience). I wanted to reach out to specifically females, between the ages of 16 to 30, who, most likely, have superficial views on the two topics. I think that educating females on such a monumental topic, would be huge for our society. I wanted to address how feminism is still completely relevant today, and get these readers empowered and a little angry.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, after reading Moran, my eyes opened to the true meaning of feminism. Throughout time, I believe we’ve gotten lost in the concepts unlimited interpretations. But, Moran helped me wash away the excess and get down to the core: Women are equal to men and, therefore, should have equal rights and opportunities. I will always remember that. Once studying feminism’s three waves, I learned its interesting progression and how today, we may have so many definitions, that women are rejecting it. Or, people are even believing it doesn’t exist anymore. It DOES. So, I wanted to re-encourage strong beliefs in feminism and reintroduce its meanings. Through the documentary, Miss Representation, I got incredible statistics and information to support my claims. With my second genre, an interview of “5 Fantastic Females” in my life, and photography of each woman, I hoped to give real life examples to my feministic beliefs, and inspire my readers.
Moving on to romance, I wanted to share Phillips, Radway, Krentz, Roberts, and many other authors’ point of views that support romance, and do not see it on the opposing spectrum of feminism. The two topics are intwined in many ways, and I wanted to share this with my audience. I wanted to encourage my audience to be both, if they desire to. Romance should not be looked at as a joke, but a natural, passionate aspect of life. In addition, partaking in reading this genre should not be an embarrassment. I once sat alone at dinner and read my Nora Roberts book. As people saw me, alone, reading a romance novel, I immediately felt embarrassed. Once considering what I’ve learned in class, I began to feel proud. I should not feel embarrassed by this reading. Many women read to find empowerment, control, relaxation, and escapism. I wanted to take the false stereotypes and misconceptions about romance, and teach people the truth.
With my interest in media, I wanted to show these young ladies how the media uses scopophilia, exploitation, and sexual objectification with the female gender. Continuously, advertisements present women in a demeaning and even disturbing fashion. While, at the same time, present women that are photoshopped to flawless perfection. In so many ways, this body image is unattainable, and women are trying to reach it. It’s a terrible manipulation and it detracts from feminism. By giving examples of sex magazines, music videos, and before and after advertisements, I wanted to show the tragic circumstance that, as a society, we’re so accustomed to. Although supporting Helen Gurley Brown’s Cosmopolitan Magazine’s message, I find it too focused on the man. Reading it myself, many times before, the articles focus repeatedly on “His #1 Sex Fantasy.” There is more to female empowerment and strength.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I wanted to take the knowledge I gained in class and give it to my readers, to make them stronger, passionate, and more knowledgable women. With the focus of the project also on media, I hoped to show them truth and hopefully bring women closer to finding acceptance of their self-image, and know there is more to a female than just beauty of looks. Focus on beatifying the mind is essential. Teaching this audience is a start, but I also encourage action and a continued passing of knowledge to others. This will bring out the change needed.
My project was an online combination of both a magazine and blog dedicated to the younger women in society today. I felt like there was always this rush in the back of every girl’s mind that they had to get married by a certain age, other wise they will be seen as old and will not find a man to marry because of that. The main point of my project was to bring about awareness of the choices a woman has, especially in times like today where the ideals of feminism has changed over time. But, I’m not necessarily objecting to the idea of marriage itself, just the rush girls tend to feel. The basis for my project is known was the single girl trend, but don’t take it too literally, I mean a girl can still be dating and be apart of this trend, just take it as a way of self-discovery, as given by the title of my website, “NeWoman New Path” that a whole new kind of woman is being introduced to the world, and it encompasses those who take the path of exploration and realization of themselves.
ReplyDeleteThrough out working on this project, I have learned a few important things.
The first being that I now know how to create my own website! I’m so proud of myself, I never would have thought that I could have made a website. Although I used a template, I changed quite a few things and transformed the website into something of my own. Honestly, I had to really push myself with the creativity aspect of this project. It was a bit difficult at first for me, but once I got my thoughts together and actually started working on the website, I became more and more excited about it. With the creativity part, I had to both design what I thought fit the appearance of the website and its content. It was actually a lot of fun pretending to be other people posting blogs and posing as an author for the magazine article I wrote. Through out these, I realized how many different writing styles there are out there that can be used to approach my topic, and it was fun experimenting with them as well. One of my favorite parts of this project was actually looking for the pictures to put in my gallery tab. I found myself going a bit overboard with how many pictures I chose, and eventually had to narrow them to just a few. This reminded me of how much I enjoy other people’s creativeness, and what my own views are. By this I mean that while looking through these photos, I realized that I truly can be a feminist while still being feminine. All of the pictures I chose or liked were one way or another “girly” or “cute” but that doesn’t mean that I still can’t be a feminist. The things we have talked about in class personally influenced me, such as the waves of feminism and what great impact the third wave has had on the younger generations such as the one I am in myself.
Another significant thing that I learned from my project was that I made a pretty big realization about myself. As I was working on my project, the argument I was building was slowing coming to life and I didn’t even know it. And that is both a feminist and a romantic fall under the same category, that ultimately a woman decides what she wants to do with her own life. She has choices, her own mindset, opinions, goals, passions and priorities that are hers and nobody else’s. I interviewed my cousin for this project and realize that we have very similar ideals in so many aspects of life, including romance and feminism and I think many other young women would agree with us as well. When I learned this, I came to realize that is what every woman in modern society has changed to become. This was the argument that I ended up really making in my project, and the marriage aspect is only one branch off of it, as is romance.
DeleteThrough out the process of working on this project, it took me a really long time to organize and place everything where I wanted it to be. In my head I had the vision that it would be a combination of not only a magazine and a blog but also a combination of styles. Therefore, I feel like the style and appearance of the website is both sophisticated and fun at the same time demonstrating the different sides a woman can have. The background is white while the tabs and titles for each page have blocks of colors for them, which I think brings more brightness and optimism to the mood and appearance as a whole. I also think that the colors with the while font make them more noticeable and give a clean cut feeling to it as well. I like to think that my website has a cheery, hopeful feel to it.
I know what a feminist is, and knew a generalized definition to feminist, but I had never realized when I even considered that term important to my life.
ReplyDeleteI decided to target middle school girls with the idea they knew about this term, maybe not a deep understanding of it, but at least generalized idea. When I went to survey those students, they all started asking “what is feminist?” I realized I was wrong.
After getting the question asked multiple times, I realized I had to tone down my project and shift it. I was planning to have a website that discussed feminist theories, but when I realized they didn't know what a feminist was, I changed the message to my project from theories to basic acknowledgement of what a feminist is.
When I read Moran, she talks about her coming of age and how that impacted her life at the moment, that has shaped allot of her feminist believes. Those girls are at their developing stage and are seeing a lot of the pop-culture that puts out an idea of girls represent, but as our guest speaker mentioned, it’s not always right. My website gives those girls a feminist perspective that can mold there life’s and ideas of what a women really is, that it’s not just about what our pop-culture offers.
Throughout my life I learned that feminist was a term for equality and that is all I knew. I learned though this project, that our culture does not really educate us on this term. I was happy to create a website that touches this subject to young girls. They might not learn the hard core theories of feminist, or the deep debates in feminism, but they will understand a general stand a feminist has, and know whether they consider themselves a feminist or not.
I know that though middle school, along with all my friends and peers, we went through a hard time, a time of trying to cope with “love”, friendship, and self-esteem. Though this class I learned that feminism is finding our self’s, being strong, and romantic, romantic in the sense of giving to others. That is what I wanted to teach those young girls, that as a feminist, it is not all about fighting, but also about building “sisterhood”, building a support system, and empowering one another. In my project I wanted to push girls to finding themselves, providing them with empowering quotes, experiences of feminist, and blogs for them to reflect on.
In the future when the word feminist begins to have a deeper meaning to their identity, they can think back to the website, and know that feminist is not just about the stereo type believes, but about a power girls poses, about power within us.