Women Not Immune to PTSD

While I was on CNN.com, I came accross an article entitled "Women not immune to PTSD." Of course, now being the aware feminist I am as a result of this class, I had to click on it. In the article, they interview June Moss, who is a veteran of Kosovo, went back to Iraq in 2003. At the beginning of the video, they describe her experience and Campbell Brown says, "She was scared everyday." Immediately, red lights flashed in my mind. Would she have said that if she were interviewing a man? I doubt it. Basically, the article was about how women are susceptible to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder just as men are. DUH! We're both human! I also noticed a lot of attention was paid to the fact that she distanced herself from her family and could was no longer interested in shopping. I highly doubt that they would point out the fact that a man was no longer interested in shopping after coming back from Iraq. I just feel it's odd that they needed to write a story on the fact that women are just like men and experience the same thing men do. That seems like common sense to me.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/12/14/brown.band.of.sisters.ptsd.cnn

Tiger Woods

So, we all know how much Tiger Woods has been in the news lately. A basic overview: Tiger Woods is a pig. Depending on when I write this blog, there could be more women to come forward alleging an affair with the famous golfer. The biggest question I have is WHY would you ruin your seemingly perfect career, family and potentially life all for an affair? What drives affairs and why does it seem that it is all-too-often men having the affair on the woman?
I have always been a Tiger fan. The man appeared perfect (key word: appeared). Now, I can't stand him. I cannot imagine the embarrassment his wife, Elin must feel. Not only is she embarrassed, but she now has to figure out how to handle the situation with regards to her child. The thing I hate the most about this whole situation is the fact that society will judge her for whatever she does. Who really knows the right way to handle the situation? Shoudl she leave him? I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I think that every infidelity situation is different. I think it's incredibly easy to judge others, but until we ourselves are in the position, it's impossible to say one way or another what someone else who is going through it should do. I do think it's good on Tiger's part to take a break from golf, as I'm sure some outraged people would probably make a scene if he did try to continue golfing.
In a statement released on his website, Tiger says: "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person." I'm not really sure if I believe his sincerity. I feel like that statement was something his PR department put together to help salvage what is left of this career. I really cant understand how people go on for so long having an affair with someone and are not remorseful, but the minute they are caught, are automatically ready to "focus their attention" on being a better person. Sounds pretty ridiculous to me.

"Get Mommed"

So, I just watched a commercial for Kleenex Tissue. the slogan they have started using is "Get Mommed." As discussed in previous blogs, I can't do anything anymore without thinking of this class. So the question arose in my mind, "Why is it "mommed"?! In the commercial, they show all of these moms and they are all smiling a sweet smile and doing stereotypical tasks that moms do (i.e. laundry, helping their children etc...) This made me wonder, what if they made a commercial where the slogan was "Get Dadded"? What would they have dads doing? In my opinion, they would probably have them showing their son how to use tools or sitting in front of the T.V. or something of that manner. This is just a prime example of why society thinks the way it does. We have stereotypes because they are encouraged by the media! Things will never change if the media doesn't encourage that change and continues to be the forefront of our biases.

Thanksgiving

So, as it turns out, I cant even have Thanksgiving with my family without thinking about this Women's Studies class. One huge thing I noticed about Thanksgiving was that only the women cooked... AND CLEANED. My family isn't very big; it consists of my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousin, mom and stepdad. So, there are 3 men and 5 women. I guess that may be part of it. But even though my grandma has been sick, she still cooks. I know she is set in her ways and thinks it's easier for her to cook than to try to explain to my grandfather exactly how to do everything, but I also feel like that is an excuse. At times, I think my grandpa plays dumb. I feel like this is true in society as well. I think sometimes, men pretend not to know how to do common household chores (i.e.: laundry, loading the dishwasher, etc...) so that they can get out of doing these tasks. WHY IS THIS OKAY?? I have noticed it with my mom and stepdad as well. She seems to ALWAYS be the one making dinner. I feel like the only way men will cook is if there is a grill involved--- and why is that anyways? What is men's obsession with a grill?! (Sorry, I got a little off-track).

Back to what I was saying. We had a huge thanksgiving meal, and not one single thing was made by any of the men in the family. The thing that made me the most mad, though, was that all 5 of us were in the kitchen getting everything ready, and my grandma says "Ok, make your grandpa a plate!" I literally asked her if she was joking, and then told my grandpa to fix his own plate. I told him he would be the talk of my Women's Studies class, but instead, I'll just turn this circumstance into a blog. I just dont understand why things are this way. The more I realize it, every dinner we have ever had is this way. It's just not right. It makes me so mad!.... especially when I had to do the dishes afterwards.

Stupid Boys

Tonight, I'd just like to talk about something I metioned in class. Lately, I have been to more than a few seminars about Women's self-empowerment and it begs the question: "Why are there so many of these seminars for women and not men?"
I recently attended a seminar called "Girls Night Out." Marian Jordan was the speaker, and she spoke about respecting yourself. She described to us the way she acted in college (very promiscuous) and talked about how that affected her life. She went on to talk to us about sex and what a big deal having sex with someone is. All the while I sat there wondering, "What if guys could hear this?" I would be interested to know what a guy thought about her talk. Do they see sex as a big deal? Would it affect them? Would they treat girls differently if they knew the damage they could do? Im still not sure that some of them would care, which raises a question in my head. Why are girls and guys so different? In my experience, it seems like girls tend to care more in relationships, think sex is a big deal (more so than guys) and overall it seems like girls are constantly the ones being taken advantage of. WHY IS THIS!? I once heard that the power in the relationship lies with the one who cares less. It seems like that is a "Catch 22." The one who cares more gets hurt the worst. Furthermore, that statement basically means that you should try to care less because that way you can guard your heart. This is all a psychological game! Why cant people just be in relationships with full force and an open heart?
As I type this blog, yet another question comes to mind. Would a guy sit down at a computer and type this blog with the passion and curiosity that I am right now? And if a guy were to read this blog, what would his response be? Am I being to judgmental or making assumptions that are simply untrue? I would hope that if a guy could read this, he might be changed by something I said, but I feel like most of the guys I know would either roll their eyes or laugh.

Still Confused, but Trying :)

I feel like I am always so confused with this blog thing. I can never remember my username and password or when/what we are supposed to blog about. It also turns out that some of the blogs I thought I posted were actually only "Saved"... which is no good. Ugh.

Tonight, I just want to blog about our Thursday class. I was completely disturbed by the pornography presentation we were shown. I was not so much bothered by the fact that we were shown this as I was bothered by the fact that it is out there and available to the public. I must be extremely sheltered, but I had NO IDEA pornography of that type was out there. I am absolutely baffled.
One site that really bothered me was the one about the Father/Daughter sex. NO WONDER PEOPLE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY ARE SO SCREWED UP!! I cannot believe people would actually want to look at something like this. No wonder child abuse is such a problem. I can't imagine the type of man who would subject himself to this type of pornography, let alone the kind of person who thinks of it and produces it in the first place. It's mortifying. I seriously just cant get this out of my head.
Another thing that I really hated about the presentation was the fact that so many girls were physically crying in the pictures shown. They looked absolutely miserable and it made me so sad. How could someone let their lives come to posing with a penis in their mouth and crying? Girls have GOT to start having more respect for themselves.
I also hated that a lot of the sites called girls really offensive and degrading names. So many websites talked about "dumb sluts" or "stupid bitches." Im completely outraged. I understand Freedom of Speech and as a Public Relations major, I take that right very seriously... but I HATE that people are allowed to post such horrible things on the internet. It's a Catch 22. No wonder so many men have become "desensitized" with regards to the way a woman deserves to be treated.
After that class, I have a completely different view of the porn inustry. I always thought it was bad, but I never knew why. Now, I am completely against it and think it is entirely wrong. I wish it could be done away with altogether. I feel like a lot of problems in the world would be resolved.

Mean Girls

Lately I have been reflecting about my junior high and high school days. I have been thinking about the dynamics of the friendships I has- and have officially concluded that GIRLS CAN BE MEAN. The way that girls fight is so psychological. Usually guys fight, throw a few punches, and it's over. Girl fighting can go on for years. I know because I have personally experienced it. Girls get inside of other girl's heads. I know that some of the girls I grew up with would turn on me for no reason. It was a constant balance I tried to maintain to keep their friendship and one wrong move and my life was hell. They would team up together and ignore me- and I would have no idea what I even did. It makes me wonder why they used to do this. It was incredibly demeaning and typically left me questioning what was wrong with me. I know look back and realize that there was nothing wrong with me-but things were definitely wrong with them. I honestly think that they were mean to me to make themselves feel better. I know for a fact they had confidence issues. It makes me extremely sad, however, that they had to resort to bringing down their "friend" just to help them feel better about themselves. It's amazing the clarity that comes with getting older.