Gender Relations

Although this isn’t specifically gender-related, this is a progressive blog, and I think it is without warrant that we should be actively engaged in what is going on. Media literacy as a method of examining our daily intake of messages is a productive format, and in all fairness the State of the Union was a huge media event. I’m not going to make a bunch of grandiose connections between a more gender liberal society and any of the proposals put forth tonight, but at the same time, I think we can see how becoming a more progressive, well-educated society can benefit change in many directions, so i’ll note a few of those.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Alleviation

This is probably the closest to home for gender progression. Although, it is true I often try to separate sexual orientation, sex, and gender, I think it is a valid point to bring across that the military (which is very gendered towards masculinity even for women) will be absolved of their policies in order to allow openly gay and lesbian people join the military. Although this may not breakthrough as a gender win specifically, I think the more liberal the nation becomes surrounding gay issues, the further they become open to transgender, gender bending, and gender neutral though processes. On a completely separated from gender side of things, this is a great stress and weight lifted off of gays and lesbians living in the closet in the military. This doesn’t come as a complete surprise as Obama has elected a transgender to the commerce department of government. Although he didn’t make a comment on gay marriage. I have a feeling he is for it (given his current mode of thinking and decision-making), but at this point in the game a decision like that could be political suicide.

Education

There were a few announcements in regard to education surrounding loans, grants, and public service loan forgiveness. Although these policies do not directly relate, I think education is key to a liberal environment (or at the very least open-mindedness). This isn’t a fact by any means, but I know from growing up in a very rural setting with a conservative high school education, I did not start thinking overly progressive until I stepped outside of that education system into alternative environments. But, also coming from a low income background, I would not have really been submitted to other viewpoints (where I could choose how I felt), without the Upward Bound program (that helps first-generation, low-income, high school students get to college). With the options to make education more accessible, I think this will pull the nation into a place that remains more open-minded (which hopefully would open up to other expressions – I know its a stretch, but its on my wishlist).

On the very straight-forward side, all his plans go very deeply and intelligently together between jobs, spending, education, etc, and I think it all connects to this really elegant quote :

“In America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college”

There you have it, I really feel like education is a key part of this journey. A lot of the concerns raised in this blog are about how to read the media, how to digest messages, how to have conversations, and I think those are all abilities we construct through education, discussion, and involvement. I think that is the key point in relation to the purpose of understanding culture and raising media literacy (although a tangential goal)

Just some thoughts for the day, if you have any let’s hear them!

http://hellonhairylegs.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/high-school-is-depressing/

RESPONSE TO ABOVE POSTING : I found this interesting blog post by a high school feminist about her typical day at school. I thought it was amusing and sad at the same time because we obviously still have tons of work to do.

High School is a really hard time and students are learning how they should and and who they should be. There is a lot of blame placed on how men act and who men are (not specifically from this blog, but in my searching I came across a blog called “blame it all on the patriarchy”, which aims and places a lot of blame at men for what we should be blaming societal pressures for), but I think we need to take an anti-agressive feminist attitude and proceede with education and gender deconstruction (along with feminist education). I find it to be quite the paradox if we are blaming men and expect them to change. If you are going to adopt an attitude where you want change through blame, then you will be waiting for eternity. Blame and change just do not mix well. Education and integration (of gender deconstruction) seem like the best appraoches to me personally.

The blog post does have some very valid points and some that are horribly sad to realize when talking about high school education. So many schools are underfunded which lead to a lack in ability to advance in critical thinking about things like gender and social perceptions. I find it refreshing that there are critically thinking students around the world.

I am mostly going to let this stand by itself, but I do want to highlight a few key points after the video.

There is much wrong with this video that I am really unsure of where to start. First John Kasich seems to be living in a time where men and women still sleep with boards between each other in their own beds. Christopher Kulawik doesn’t say a heck of a lot, so his side of the argument to Brittney Hoffman is from John.

KEY POINTS //

• “if we have a transgender problem than that is a bigger problem” — where does John get off publically saying that transgendered people are PROBLEMS. They understandably do not fit into his category of conservative republicans, but they exist, so too bad for you John.
• Chris states that these policies should not be instantiated because they only aid to minorities and the majority of people are going to use these policies in an abusive manor. Sorry Chris, but this is an actual need. GLBT students are not the only people are going to use these policies. Straight people with significant others and straight people who CAN ACTUALLY BE FRIENDS WITH GIRLS are going to use these policies. Plus, some people just feel more comfortable around girls. I wish I could have roomed with my best friend my first year of college, but as John stated he “couldn’t imagine what it would be like to room with a girl at Ohio State” — glad we are living in the dark ages still. On the other note, should we not be protecting minorities? According to Mr. Kulawik, minorities do not deserve to be safe. This point is brought up when John asks Brittney how many students are transgendered and she replies “the number is not important — it is a matter of safety”.
• The most ridiculous comment made by John throughout this entire video has to be “I don’t know who is going around beating up transgendered people”. He has obviously never watched another news station besides Fox, or read any newspapers because transgendered people are victims of abuse almost more than any other minority around because of their gender expression.
• I wish Brittney Hoffman had more time to speak, but she kept getting cut off. I felt as if she would have had more valuable information for viewers as well as John and Chris (though they were obviously not interested). They pretty much cut her off when she was making valid points as well as mocking her (“i think girls and boys still like each other”).
• One of the most interesting pieces of the segment is when John starts talking about his tax dollars. The safety and comfort of all persons are not deserved by someone if they do not agree because their precious tax dollars hold power over people in this society (when in fact his tax dollars are not increasing by creating safe environments for everyone as Brittney stated). It was easy to tell that he was scared that he would be “supporting” this “outrageous policy” if his tax dollars were aiding the safety of people. In reality, his tax dollars right now are aiding to a system that segregates and creates awkward situations for people (which may lead to them getting beat up — oh wait , i forgot, that does not happen!)

There is a lot wrong with this video, but I guess anaylzying conservative media provokes such conversations. I often do not watch conservative media, so it is good to see what both sides are saying about structures that relate to gender. Feel free to comment with related thoughts on the video or the issue of genderblind housing.