Embodiment

Embodied: describes a sense of subjectivity instead of objectification, a feeling of being in one's body physically and psychologically, instead of monitoring one's body from the perspective of an observer.

In class today, we watched a documentary titled, "Period: The End of Menstruation." It is a collaboration of various women's perspectives on having her menstruation and how they feel about menopause. I was surprised at how extreme some of the women felt about it. The one woman that shocked me the most is the one who took shots in her butt to stop getting her period. She did describe how excruciating the pains were during her menstruation but I questioned how safe is this method? I myself get severe cramps to the point of tears in a fetal position but I feel like I need my period. She was in her early 30s and was already going through menopause. In the end of the video, we find out that the method was extremely unsafe and could lead to many complications for her health in the future. I really enjoyed this movie because they had real women, of different ages, races, and sexuality speaking about how they truly feel. I think that everyone in the class was impacted in one way or another, because we were able to relate to (emobdy) at least one of the women. The different viewpoints helped our diverse class, the viewers, feel herself in the documentary. One thing I did not like was that most of the women were in the kitchen or hanging out with girlfriends during the interviews. I think that they chose these settings to help the viewer relate to the speakers more, but I found it as catering to certain stereotypes. Stereotypes like, the woman should stay home and that girls talk too much with their girlfriends.
In Chapter 7 of Crawford's book, Transformations, she has a section titled The Contradiction between Femininity and Physical Activity which I found interesting. She introduces it by questioning the stereotype of women being the "weaker sex." Crawford states that "It is not easy to answer this question because the answer depends on what is being assessed." I completely agree with her. Biologically, men are generally bigger than women, heightwise, weightwise, muscle masswise. With this in mind, of course they would be stronger, in the sense of carrying heavier things. But in racing, swimming, sports where the smaller the better, women prevail. I think that when comparing the two sexes, it should be a specific subject instead of generalizing. An interesting idea that Crawford mentions is that, "In the late 19th century United States, medical experts believed that intellectual activity and physical exertion would decrease women's fertility." This thought is from a little over a century ago and may effect perceptions now. Basically, medical experts thought, the smarter and more athletic a woman, the less capable she would be of bearing a child. Considering the time era, women's sole responsibility was to raise a family, hence, she couldn't risk being smart or athletic. Fortunately, the invention of the safety bicycle helped the movement of change.
Progression for the change where the idea of women participating sports activities was very slow. It took almost a century for women to participate in the Olympics (1972). This day and age, there are much more opportunities for females to be active in sports but it is not equal to our counterpart. For example, only men play professional baseball, even after the movie A League of Their Own. I even noticed this in high school where we had more sports teams for the boys than the girls. I see less girls active in sports. Crawford states that "It is unfeminine to have muscles, or to be strong, fast, tough, or better than boys." It is very true. Majority of the mothers that I know shelter their daughters, prevent them from getting hurt. I know my parents hated me playing rough because they didn't want me to have scars on my legs because it is unattractive. I never listened and I love my scars. Although there are more women in the sportsworld, it still remains a "Man's World."
So where would be the "Woman's World"? The insightful, entertaining article in the New York Times, "Good Girls Go Bad, for a Day" by Stephanie Rosenbloom, on Halloween, the "Woman's World" seems to be in dressing up for the strip club. I personally loved this article because it is so true and I unfortunately fall victim to this. Rosenbloom asks the reader, Why have so many girls grown up to trade in Wonder Woman costumes for little more than Wonderbras? Very good question. Pat Gill answers by stating that "many women think that showing off their bodies "is a mark of independence and security and confidence." I couldn't have thought of a more honest answer. Big females, skinny females, young girls, grown women, old women, can be seen dressed in very revealing costumes on Halloween. I am not saying all women, but a whole lot of women do. And what do the guys do? They stare, whistle,
try to talk, sometimes even try to touch these women. Women know that this would happen, but still initiate it. We don't like it because it's degrading, but we like it because we're getting attention. I think that this is the struggle of most teenage-young adult females.
To sum everything up, it is very difficult to embody any woman in any time era in any place. And what is disappointing is that it is small things that should be different yet we still need to overcome odds. Sports; women are just as capable as men but mentally and psychologically, it is discouraged. How we dress; should always be for ourselves, but it's not. Instead of changing those things, women are trying to stop mother nature by injecting themselves with hormones and other weird stuff. We need to step up and get our priorities straight.

Images of Women

Every single day, I get special treatment because I am a female.

Especially since I started driving, men tend to let me go, even though I don't have the right of way, help me park, even though I'm excellent at it, just to name a few. I'm not gonna lie, I do like the treatment but it still bothers me. What if I didn't look the way I looked, like an innocent little girl; would I still get treated the same?

Unfortunately, the ugly truth is that females are treated and judged

based on appearance/image. Right now, all around us, there are monster size, pocket size, traveling, static, glowing, dim, silent and loud advertisements, attempting to persuade females of all ages to buy, buy, buy to hopefully, maybe one day, look "beautiful."

A few years ago, a teacher showed me a great video on what

different cultures have thought and still think "beautiful" is. I was searching for hours for this video and I couldn't find it. So instead, I found some pictures that would help me explain the video. In China, small feet were considered beautiful, so women would bind their feet, and this would be the outcome: This doesn't happen anymore, but let's look back on our Disney Cartoon Movie, Cinderella. She wore a small glass slipper that she left when she ran out of the ball because it was midnight. The prince found this slipper, and vowed, whoever would fit the slipper, is his princess. I'm pretty sure she couldn't have been the only woman in the kingdom to have that shoe size. Let's say the prince found a girl who fit the shoe before he reached Cinderella's house. He would have married her! China's foot binding trickled into Walt Disney's interpretation of the old german faity tale and is subliminally telling little girls that if you have a little foot, you will marry a prince!

Aside from having small feet, having a small waist was always considered to be an asset to a women. Even now, we hear lyrics like "I met a girl! That's top of the line, cute face, small waist.." as being sexy. Women use corsets to reach this figure. Wearing a corset too tight affects the body like this: Seeing this before and after, you notice that the insides of the figure on the right are all mushed together. That can't possibly be healthy or good for her digestive system. I don't know if women still go to this extreme, but you still find many women still wearing girdles and other body shapers to look like, or help reach this form. From experience, they're annoying, hot and prevent me from eating well. I find no benefit in wearing things such as these. What if you do end up with a guy who likes you for looking like this? Once you take that off and he sees your true figure, do you honestly think he would stay with you?

I'm from the Philippines Islands. It is always hot there and either sunny or raining. When walking in the sun a lot to where you need to go, especially when you are in a tropical place, one can't help but get tan. But to this day, the whiter you are, the more beautiful you are in my country. There are endless skin whitening products, ones that my mom, who lives here, gets especially shipped from the Philippines to keep up her "beautiful" complexion. Not only are the women using these products, my dad uses them too. You'll see all kinds of ads like this one in Filipino magazines: The women here are famous actresses in the Philippines, whom many females look up to. Their faces are almost as white as the clothes they wear. They compliment the stars in the background. To this day, I don't understand the history behind this expensive craze.

In the Transformations book, by Mary Crawford, aside from advertisements, she also mentions stereotypes of women in comparison to each other as well as men. In a nutshell, personality trait stereotypes of men are focused more on their self superiority like, independence, dominance, ambition, etc. whereas the women are emotional, sensitive, nurturing, etc. Although these are stereotypes, they do affect women in how they think women are supposed to act. When I was little, I wasn't supposed to play as rough as I did with the boys. I was supposed to just sit quietly. With my ex-boyfriend, my mom told me not to argue what I think is right, and just agree with him.

Personally, I have always disliked how women are perceived this time and age. I try to change these perceptions one conversation at a time.

Food + Sex + Violence? = SOLD!

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10 years younger

Ten years younger is a makeover show that airs on TLC. As its title suggests it is about making the participants look about ten years younger. In each episode, there is either a woman or, at much fewer rates, a man who wishes to change her/his appearance. The host and his Glam Squad composed of a makeup artist, hair stylist and a fashion advisor help the participant go through the metamorphosis. All the episodes have a similar pattern. First, the participant is introduced, it is usually a person that had some hard luck and as result gave up on their looks. After the little biographical introduction the participants are put in a soundproof glass box that is set up in the middle of a crowded street. The host questions people walking by about their impression of the participant’s age and the reason they attribute that particular age to the person in the box. Most of the time the participants look overtired, have frumpy unisex clothes, their hair is out of style, and the women don’t wear makeup. The host then calculates the average age told by the crowd, and informs the result to the participant, who in return has to tell his/her real age. The difference between the individual’s estimated and real age gives the number of years that the show will attempt to remove from the person. At that point the Glam Squad is ready to take over. The episode I watched was about Stacey, a recent mom to a five month old. She had had hard time taking care of both her ill mother and her newborn daughter, and was left physically and emotionally drained. Stacey admits that she used to look almost perfect ten tears ago, but now with the strain of her mother’s sickness and her recent birthing has lost control on her appearance. She just gave up, because whatever she attempted seemed useless. She used to be a model, but now she dressed in long baggy clothes. When put in the box people assumed she was on average 43 years old, it was a shocker because she is in reality only 27. The Glam Squad does what they are paid to do, gender. Stacey is advised to wear very feminine clothes that emphasize her waistline and show off her legs. She is further counseled to sport more items that have lace or other additives that make it more delicate, thus feminine. She is given a sexy modern haircut and instructions on how to put more volume in them. After the makeup, it is the emotional moment, she is unveiled to herself. She is completely transformed from the frumpy looking person to a very gender normative woman. She is of course very happy to look so good for her husband, who in return seems very proud to see her transformation. She is put again in the box and the public is enthusiastic about her appearance and, this time, estimates her age as 29.
There are a couple of themes that appear in this episode and are also often recurring in the other ones. Stacey feels powerless about her appearance, because her body had changed in result of her pregnancy (in other cases due to another event), and she was unable yet to get back to her previous shape. The majority of women including Stacey are hunted by the high standards of beauty set for women by the society. We are brainwashed to think that to keep our privileges, even the most fundamental ones, like the respect and love of our partners we have to stay young and often thin. Through every form, media tells us how to be women, how to dress and behave to be more like one. With the underlying threat that if we don’t follow these guidelines, we can only live like outcasts, unsuccessful socially. Stacey is happy to please her husband again and receive approval from the crowd. When there are such strong forces that hold an individual in check, within the boundaries of social and gender norms, it is very hard indeed to break apart from them and simply stop caring for them.
Last year, when I still had cable TV I used to watch this show and “What not to Wear” on a regular basis. After each episode I used to think to myself I have to start dressing more feminine, putting more make up and taking better care of my hair, because it is obvious that the public response is much more favorable when following these guidelines. Although, it is very nice to see shows like these that are helping people to get a grip on their appearances and possibly their lives it is still bad in the sense that by doing what they are doing they are only enforcing gender norms. It is also bad, because it gives too much attention to the physical appearance, not all problems are fixed by improving the outer shell. In the case of Stacey, the producers of the show could have offered some help in caring for her ill mother and baby, or thought her husband how to help around the house. Obviously he wasn’t helping her much if she gets completely drained of energy to give herself a five minute pampering. Michelle

America's Next Top Model (ANTM) Dive Deeper by Grace

As we have learned, our society is not fluid when it comes to gender. As a matter of fact, being male or female is the only gender norm of our society. As a result, our behavior is dictated according to those gender norms because there are no variations (i.e. we act according to what society claims is appropriate for our gender). Majority of these norms are communicated through the media, whose influence can be great enough to promote certain behaviors and attitudes in an individual. Individuals have become gendered and biased in their actions especially when they communicate with one another. These results in moral issues being integrated with the gender norms. In other word, when a person steps out of what is gender appropriate for them, it becomes a moral issue. An example of this is seen in America’s next top model episode “dive deeper”. In the episode, the models are taken to the beach to learn how to strike poses that were “sexy but not over the top”. Their teacher, Marissa Miller, Victoria Secret model shows them how to strike poses which she thought were sexy. To me, the poses were just so gendered because they were based on what she thought that men found to be sexy. According to her, men and women can look at the same picture and see completely different things because of the way society makes it. She told the models that they had to be aware of who their audience is and that if their pictures were for male audience, they should pose straight on so that the men can see the full picture, which should show all their curves. However, if the pictures were for female audience, the models should just show a little curve apparently, when a female looks at the picture of another female, they should not be paying attention to her body but a male can do that. This supports Crawford’s idea that gender is not fluid and that society dictates gender roles. Miller further taught the girls that being sexy was also being tall. Miller indicated that she was only 5ft 8in and that to make herself look taller, she poses almost standing on her toe which she calls “Barbie toes”. I tried the pose and it was very much uncomfortable and painful. Why would anyone want to go through such pain just so that they could look taller and sexy to appease the male audience? To me, the idea of the Barbie toe is another construct that society has slowly but surely appropriated for the female gender; the Barbie doll, which is appropriated for the female gender is now being used as a standard for what sexy should be for females. I guess this is to say that if you are not tall and you strike poses for your pictures without doing the Barbie toes, you are not sexy. At the end of the episode, the girls who followed miller’s specific orders about being sexy were saved from elimination. Again, this goes to show that if one follows societal norms, one would be just fine. Those are the things that our society communicates as gender norms through the media. As long as nothing is being done to change these norms, they will remain the norms for many generations to come.

The Real Housewives of Orange County - Janaine Jaikaran

The Real Housewives of Orange County is the first of a series of shows that air on Bravo TV. that show the lives of “rich” women living in some exclusive areas around the country. The show captures these women’s daily lives and the drama within their group of friends. The name for the show is so fitting for these women because are all so far away from being an ideal housewife but in today’s world as long as a women doesn’t have a job then she is considered to be a housewife. Many of these women don’t work for a living but live off of their husband’s money. Their lives are filled with shopping, tanning, drama within the cast and of course charity work here and there to show that they are giving. In this week’s episode a new housewife was introduced her name is Alexis she is wife of a wealthy entrepreneur she has two year old twins and a three year old son as a new cast member I would say she is sort of a housewife even though she has two nannies to take care of the three children and has one nanny accompany her everywhere she travels with the children. In her first episode she empathized her daily workout routine with lunch dates with her husband which makes me think when does she really have time to spend with her family? Alexis comes in to fill the space of Jeana who is departing the show five seasons due to her sickness of all the drama and would like to focus on her three children who are all over the age of 18. As a viewer my conclusion as to why she was leaving was because of her messy divorce on national television mixed in with her financial mess. Jeana is one of two housewives working as a real estate agent but since the market’s decline she is having some difficulty keeping up her old lifestyle. It was revealed before the season began she asked another cast member Vicki who is supposedly her good friend/ neighbor and financially successful to borrow some money but Vicki said no which only made the situation between then an uncomfortable one and ruined whatever relationship they had with one another. Vicki is the other housewife that works at a successful insurance company she has been married once before and has been married to her current husband since her two children were very young both children are now college graduates. Vicki seems to be the only housewife that is financially independent from her husband and is the bread winner of her family. Instead of her husband spoiling her with presents she buys these lavish gifts for herself to commend herself for her hard work. She is very much into spending time with her family now that she is successful in her work but she wants to do this at a time when her children are grown and don’t seem to want to be around their mother. Replacing Jeana this season as Vicki’s best friend is Tamra who has two young daughters and son that is 21+ in age. Tamra will find any reason to stir up the drama on the show at anyone’s expense. In my opinion is the most jealous housewife and dislikes any woman that she feels is prettier than she is. Last season when Gretchen who is a young woman that was engaged with an older wealthier man who was struggling with leukemia, Tamra decided that the relationship was fake and went at any extent to prove that it wasn’t real and that Gretchen was using this man in the end he died and there wasn’t anything to prove. The final character on the show is Lynne who is a mother of two rebellious teenagers and wife to a real estate investor. Last season she was portrayed as the ditsy one that had no clue on what’s going on and I think this season she would like to show everyone that she has a brain and can do things for herself. She introduced her jewelry and swimsuit line and with the real estate market down she will be seen as the bread winner in her family. While these women don’t appear to be your typical housewife they do their best to uphold that role in their world. They fit many of the stereotypes that go along with being a wealthy female in there which is just to live this care free life and your husband will take care of the rest. This season many of them will face reality and see that they need to step it up with today’s economy. They will be faced with the burden of losing their properties along with all the other problems that financial decline leaves you with.

Bad Girls Club

The Bad Girls Club is a show on Oxygen that I always see the commercial for. I always found it rather pointless but decided to watch it for this Reality TV show assignment. This show is about some bad ass women, well at least they think that they are, who live in a big house together. I watched the first two episodes On Demand from last season (I hope it's still acceptable). After spending nearly two hours of my life watching this show, I realized how perfect the show is to analyze. Every part of it exposes how society-created gender shapes every action and attitude of each of the woman. There are 8 women in the house, Tiffany, Amber M., Amber B., Kayla, Whitney, Ailea, Sarah and Whitney. Boy do they have some wild personalities.

First, the girls are given a job. They all go to a lingerie shop on Hollywood Blvd. Their task is to pick out the outfit the feel most comfortable in, strut their stuff down the boulevard to bring in customers. Whoever brought in the most people would win, I think $300. All of them tried hard at first, cat-calling men, fluttering their eyelashes, offering free lap dances, objectifying themselves to everyone, including couples, just to make a few hundred bucks. The winner was Amber M. because she would not give up, run up to people, pull off the innocent look, and drag them into the store. If I was in their position, I honestly would have done the same thing because I need the money. But watching it disgusted me. These women are supposed to be bad girls but they just looked so desperate. A lot of men didn't pay mind to them, which I found odd. I figured that maybe it was the cameras that shunned them.

Now, we have the character Kayla. She is a model-looking African-American woman who despises the other African American, Tiffany, at first glance. The reason behind her feelings is that Tiffany has a lighter complexion than she. Kayla defends herself by saying how her ex-boyfriend loves "light-skinned" women. Kayla's current complexion is lighter than it should be because she has gone out of her way to look lighter for her boyfriend. Complexion is her sole reason for disliking Tiffany and she admits to it with no shame. Through the expression of Kayla's emotion, she shows the audience how her "strong woman" personality, which she constantly must point out, is a facade. Although she came out as a tough girl, confronting an innocent stranger, I looked past it and knew that she is just intimidated by Tiffany. During her confession to Tiffany, her low self-esteem is accentuated. She's not even with this guy anymore and she's still ready to pounce on a light-skinned female! I found it insane how just seeing a stranger with a lighter complexion sparked such hatred in a person.

Another instance in which the concept of gender was evident was when the character Whitney aka Boston receives the news of a friend passing away. She refuses to cry or "show any sign of weakness" to the other girls. Instead, they all go out and she gets wasted. In class and in regular everyday discussion, the most common said difference between men and women is that they are "weaker" and/or "too emotional". I'm assuming that that is the reason why Boston held back her feelings. Eventually she cries, after the other ladies begged her to and after a lot of drinking. From experience, I think she'll probably forget what happened the next day and wake up with a terrible headache and/or vomiting. I've heard it is not good to suppress emotions. Family Guy subliminally suggests that it causes tumors. I have an aunt that passed away from a tumor (she denied the fact that her husband beat her all the time). Watching the show, it's obvious Boston wanted to vent about her emotions but did not know how. She felt the need to keep her bad girl attitude and prove that big girls don't cry.

The last part of the show I will mention is when Kayla and Amber M. had their own altercation. The day after Kayla was ready to fight to defend Amber M., they went out to eat with Amber B. Kayla unwillingly added $2 to the tip and that is where it all began. Amber M. keeps rambling on and on in the car about the situation, where Kayla is yelling to just drop it. Amber M. wouldn't so Kayla hit Amber M.'s arm. (Very funny to watch). Amber B., the driver, pulled into a gas station and the other two jumped out and started swinging and kicking. Their ending position was half in the car, Kayla pulling Amber M.'s hair while Amber M. was choking Kayla. I was wondering the entire time, are they really fighting over $2? Kayla was yelling saying she would kill Amber M. Amber M. was getting everyone else on her side by denying her instigation. This part portrays women as overreacting and conniving animals. The matter was so petty but they were ready to kill each other.

There were plenty more instances but I figured these covered a lot of ground. I realized that these self-proclaimed bad girls are just bluffers, not very good ones. They all spend so much time getting ready to go out, picking outfits, putting on make-up. I'm very disappointed in Oxygen for airing this show. I thought Oxygen was a channel for women who are comfortable with themselves. I'm assuming the projected audience for this particular show are for both males and females. What messages are they sending? Why this show that projects insecurity, hatred, and constant objectification? These females are not ugly and aside from all of their fights, they always go out and have a good time. I had so many mixed emotions after viewing this. I want to have an easy-going life like theirs during the show, but I hated their personalities and attitudes. I was disgusted at some of the things they did, but reminisced on similar situations that I have been in. Finishing up this assignment, I'm left more confused than ever.

16 and pregnant video

Hello Girls: Here is the URL if you guys want to watch the episiode..Just dont cry :(((


http://www.mtv.com/videos/16-and-pregnant-ep6-catelynn/1615511/playlist.jhtml

MTV'S 16 AND PREGNANT

After browsing through different shows to decide what show I will write about, I came across MTV’S 16 and pregnant. I know it is a teenage show, and that most college students might not particularly watch it, but something about it caught my attention. In class we have talked about teenage girls always worrying about getting pregnant, and society always criticizing them for not following the standard rules of “waiting for the right age to bare a child.” Furthermore, in class we have talked about motherhood, and the role of a mother and father in a household. In addition, we have discussed controversial topics such as “working mothers” and why not “working fathers?” In this particular episode, Catelynn got pregnant from Tylor at age 16. They were juniors in high school, and were living in a household where parents were not supportive at all. Both Catelynn and Tylor knew that there was no way they could raise a child on their own, especially after Tylor’s dad being in jail, and Catelynn’s mother being a drug addict. So maturely enough, they both decided to give the babe in adoption, not an easy decision at all! They searched for an adoption agency and picked the parents they thought the child would have a better future with. The mother and father of both teenagers were completely against adoption, being that they thought, carrying a child for 9 months and then giving it away was a horrible decision.
It was really bad for Catelynn and Tylor to experience giving their child into adoption. They had to put themselves away from the situation and really think that the child will be better off with the adoptive parents. By doing a gender analysis of the show, I realized that gender norms are so well determined and imposed by society that even 16 year olds know how each gender should behave according to specific situations. Tylor thought of dropping out of school, getting a job, and supporting Catelynn who will take care of the babe at home, and eventually go back to school. We can clearly see that Tytlor is doing exactly what society dictates a man should do for his family, which is to work hard and be the breadwinner of the house. Catelynn, on the other hand, is also behaving according to her gender, which is following the ideology of staying home and taking care of her child. This is also an example of motherhood, which has been discussed in class, society tells women to “always sacrifice for their children,” most of the times this means letting go important dreams in life.
When the adoptive parents were chosen, there were different things that Catelynn and Tylor looked on them. They wanted the adoptive mother to stay home and take care of the babe, the adoptive father to be the provider of the house and to have all the responsibilities in term of finances, and finally they wanted them to both have a good financial situation. These two teenagers that had a baby at such a short age clearly want their child to have a good future. They are both clear on what the role of a mother or father is, or even the role of a woman or man. They are pretty old fashion, since they still believe that is better when the woman stays home and care for the children instead of going out to work. This was such a sad show, that I literally cried throughout the whole episode, it is so sad and so hard to give a child for adoption, but I also think it was the best decision made.

mothering

Mothering

It is a notion that we came to accept as self explanatory and one of the most normal things in life. That’s how it is supposed to be—we tell kids. Biologically speaking it is simply a process of reproduction, but is there anything ever so simple with humans? With our social mores, even the most primal things have tendency to take forms that have to be handled with fingertip delicacy. In this spirit, motherhood can be seen as a social construct, an institution that encompasses its share of rules, stereotypes and strata. Thus, since becoming an institution, it has lost somewhat of its spontaneity and beauty. As mentioned in the Transformations: Women, Gender & Psychology (Crawford, 2006) the society has cookie cutter formatted ideas about how such private matter like motherhood should be for everyone. Can everyone expect motherhood to be the fulfillment of all her expectations and then fill that role to outmost perfection? Are humans that similar to each other that even ideas and notions can be mass produced for them, or is this only valid for women? Isn’t the foundation of our system build on the understanding that each person is an individual with desires and goals unique to himself? Then, why should each woman experience a choice such as becoming a mother in a same way? Every single individual will probably report an event in a different light and each single one of them would be right, thus, I can only report my experience with a certain confidence.
First of all, bringing a child to term was neither an easy nor a clairvoyant decision. I had previously to this event already been pregnant, but due to timing and my then situation decided to cut it short. What I think was probably the best thing that I could have done at that moment, because even with the greater amount of maturity I have now, being a mother is not an easy thing. It is a constant apprenticeship and ongoing test of your patience. However, I have to admit that it is indeed an amazing experience. To hold a little being that completely depends on you and seeing it grow and flourish, is just very nourishing to a person. At least it has been to me. Motherhood has brought me an immense amount of stability and it helped me to come to a sort of peace treaty with my own self.
I have to agree with Crawford’s (Transformations: Women, Gender & Psychology) criticism about the double standard practices of our leaders. It is not fair to encourage women in higher social ranks to stay home and care for their kids and force the other women to go work for demeaning salaries that will anyway be not enough to pay for their children needs. To make matters worse, official policies dehumanizes these struggling women by classifying them as social dead weights, when in reality it is the government’s responsibility to find true solutions to their problems. It is very true that as a single parent one can hardly even make it in this country. Usually half of the income just goes to daycare, and then the rest to rent and food. The government doesn’t provide any help that I am aware of that makes the load of a single mother even a little bit lighter. Especially when seeing the statistics on how many children are raised in single parent households, one wonders why it is not a priority on the governmental agenda to do something for them. What kind of citizens are they expecting to have after leaving these children to grow up in poverty and despair? Michelle