Every time you come to class, you need to write a short (at least 400 words) response to the reading and analysis assignments for that day (posted to the class blog and printed out for class). These responses might address something in the reading that’s gotten under your skin or made you uncomfortable. Others might discuss an idea that’s really surprised or excited you or ways in which you’ve carried concepts from the reading out into your daily life. You will need to use the terms from the readings and also use direct quotes. I will ask people to share their responses with the class, and I will take them up periodically throughout the semester. They will go in a portfolio and be graded as as a whole. These responses will not be graded individually, but your conscientious fulfillment of this assignment is worth 10% of your overall grade. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about the readings. Remember, it's like a pot luck dinner. Everyone brings their own "dishes" - their views and ideas - and the whole "dinner" will be better for itReading Assignments
Read Chapter 1. You can also find many of these essays (and commentary about them) online. For example:
- "The Housewife's Moment of Truth" by Jane O'Reilly (one of the essays in the chapter)
- "How Do You Spell Ms" (commentary on the history and importance of this essay and the magazine that it originality appeared in)
women's studies androcentrism gender How did women's studies come about? rebalancing the curriculum transformation of traditional knowledge first wave feminism (suffrage) - definition, strengths, weaknesses, key people second wave feminism - definition, strengths, weaknesses, key people third wave feminism - definition, strengths, weaknesses, key people Susan B. Anthony (activist) turning points for women rights the personal is political patriarchy interdisciplinary goals of women's studies relationship between women's studies and feminism transnational feminism liberal feminism radical feminism marxist feminism socialist feminism multiracial feminism zines myths associated with feminism backlash postfeminism misogyny lesbian baiting
You and your group will teach one of the following essays to the class:
- Toward a New Vision: Race, Class and Gender
- Oppression
- There is No Hiearchy of Oppression
- Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism
- White Privilege and Male Privilege
- What's Race Got to Do with It?
- Opening Pandora's Box
- Don't Laugh, It's Serious, She Says
- The Social Construction of Disability
- Report from the Bahamas
- Another essay is not in the book, but can be found online. It's Michael Kimmel's "Why Men Should Support Gender Equity". Please pay careful attention to this one.
Some of the key terms and concepts of Chapter 2 include:
- colonialism and imperialism
- mythical norm
- the social construction of gender meanings
- compulsory heterosexuality
- ableism
- institutionalized
- micro versus macro
- hierarchical ranking of difference
- privilege
- racism
- sexism
- classism
- heterosexism
- looksism
- sizeism
- binary thinking
- hate crimes
- hate groups
- homophobia
- institutions
- women of color feminism
- inequitable distribution of resources
- ideology
- bootstrap myth
- prejudice
- bias
- internalized prejudices
- target group
- nontarget group
- horizontal hostility
- Fannie Lou Hamer (activist)
- sexual terrorism
- pseudogeneric "man"
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| By Klearchos Kapoutsis from Santorini, Greece |
Analyze your findings. Your analysis should be at least 400 typed words (posted to the class blog and printed out for class). These analysis assignments will not be graded individually, but your conscientious fulfillment of this assignment is worth 10% of your overall grade. In this analysis, you must assert an opinion about your research. Compare and contrast comments made during the interview. How are they similar? How are they different? What does has this exercise taught you about how gender roles have changed and remained the same? Make a point. Apply and use the terms and concepts from Chapter 1. Use quotes from the chapter in your analysis. Cite your sources.
Post to blog through the comment link below.
Print and bring to class.
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ReplyDeleteDr. Hudock,
ReplyDeleteI actually don't know where on the blog to post this, but since this is the first assignment I thought here was as good as any place. If this is wrong please let me know and I'll correct it for the next assignment.
For me, the interviews I conducted touched on two different, but important perspectives – how a woman viewed the time and how a man viewed the time. I decided to interview my parents because both were teenagers within the 1960s and 1970s and I thought I could get a good bit of what life was like for them. I could have gone back a little further with my grandmother, who not only remembers her life but also my great-grandmother’s life, but I wanted to focus on this time as this is when second-wave feminism really started to make strides in society. My mother remembers that her school, while being all black, had majority female teachers, but the principal being a male. She also told me that her doctors were males until she sought out her first female OB-GYN when she lived in Connecticut for a few years in her twenties. All the nurses working for the doctors were women. My mother remembers the days of the civil rights movements, and she remembers how the faces of the movements were in men, but it was the women who really ran the operations. It was the women who organized the events, made the phone calls, and did a lot of the leg work, but they never got the full recognition. When she was a young teenager, my grandmother went back to work as a maid in the old Charleston Marriot hotel. When she did she put my mother, the oldest girl but not the oldest child, in charge. The reason for this was because, as my mother and grandmother told me, the girls were expected to take care of the home. For my mother, that meant not only cleaning and cooking, but also raising her younger siblings. One of the more interesting things my mother told me about women and growing up during the civil rights movement was the treatment she received from white women. My mother said that they “tried to be sociably nice, but still wanted to let you know that you were beneath them.” I take this as being white women wanted to still live in their privilege that, while not equal to men, were still better than for black and other women of color. With my father’s interview I got at sense of how institutions worked back them. My father was in the Army in the 1970s and I wanted to know what that life was like, as much as he knew, for women who were involved. The first bit of information he told me was that women went through basic training, but it was separated from the men. Once women were fully in the service they weren’t allowed to fight in combat and instead held administrative jobs and worked as nurses. He even told me about women who worked as the assistants to the Army chaplain. I don’t find this surprising. I would absolutely expect that for the time the Army didn’t allow women to do more than just be secretaries or assistants or nurses, traditional female jobs. To me, it’s interesting that in a time where women wanted and needed to be seen as equal, there was still so much that told women loud and clear how they were not equal to men.
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ReplyDeleteI interviewed a couple for my assignment; a 60 year old woman named Ellen and a 64 year old man named Ron. I asked them both to tell me about gender roles and their experiences when they were younger. Ellen had a lot easier time talking about the past then Ron did and recalled from a very early age how she was sent home from school for not conforming to a traditionally feminine dress code. She wore a dress the (male) principle deemed too short because it went above her knees. When Ellen, then in elementary school, refused to change her dress she was sent home. She continued to apologize somewhat for the principle’s behavior by saying she understood why he would take such action if she were slightly older but she didn’t understand what was wrong with it as she was so young. Ellen claims to be a second wave feminist but while talking to her her outlook on life still seemed very androcentric. I feel this is not a conscious choice on her part but a result of her upbringing. Although the feminist movement was making important strides at equality at the time, Ellen still grew up in a world where all her superiors and role models were male. It is natural she felt that in order to succeed she must abandon her feminine qualities. She still dismisses cooking, cleaning, and other traditionally feminine tasks as demeaning and not worthwhile. Though she identifies as a feminist she does not understand one of the main concepts of feminism. “Feminism is not about encouraging women to be like men; its about valuing women for being women…[Feminism] affirms and works to maintain difference; it merely asks that these differences be valued equally” (Shaw, 17).
ReplyDeleteWhen Ron was growing up he was raised by a mother and lived with three sisters. He was the only male. Because of this, he witnessed first-hand a lot of issues women deal with in private and to some extent became more empathetic to the hidden struggles women combat against. However, as the only male in the household he was encouraged by his mother to pursue traditionally masculine activities. When he acted too femininely he was often made fun of or scolded by his mother to “stop being a girl”. He explained that “Women talk a lot, they’re always emotional about something”, and laughed. Although Ron is not a woman he too has experienced sexism and like Ellen, it has contributed to his development. Nowadays Ron is extremely reserved and not forthright about his emotions whatsoever. He is not at all talkative and it was difficult to pry lengthy responses from him during this interview. Though in some ways Ron has benefited from being a white man in a patriarchal society, he has also suffered from it.
Shaw, Susan. "Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings McGraw Hill, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
I interviewed my mother and father to examine their educational and professional experiences. My mother was born in 1954 and is 59 years old. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in an upper middle class community. My mother shared she was raised with two brothers and enjoyed playing sports and being active in nature with her brothers as a child. She also added, she felt more comfortable playing sports and enjoyed being outside and identified as a “Tom Boy”. When my mother entered high school her parents sent her to an all girls finishing school, “to bring out more feminine qualities I suppose” she stated. After attending secretarial college in 1978, my mother joined the United States Navy and began a career working as a shipping clerk.
ReplyDeleteMy father was born in 1956 and is 57 years old. My father grew up on a farm and also enjoyed being active in athletics and nature. My father describes himself as an “All American” type. Adding that he played high school football and later joined the United States Navy and specialized in aviation weaponry. My father shared that women were allowed to join the Navy; however, their career choices and job duties were restricted. My father explains: “When I joined the Navy in 1975, women were not allowed to be stationed on ships, submarines or even fly military airplanes.” He continues: “I remember attending military training and a woman showed up but was denied acceptance to our specific training program.” I asked him why were women’s careers so restricted in the Navy. He explained: “ all new recruits were required to be stationed on a ship for at least three years and because women were not allowed to be stationed on a ship, their professional roles were restricted to administrative and medical stations on base.”
When I look at parent’s relationship I notice many similarities between them. Both were active and enjoyed athletics and had careers in the military. Although both my parents joined the military and received adequate job training and skills necessary to built a successful career, their motives for joining the United States Navy differ. My father explains he joined the navy for the travel opportunities and to experience different cultures. He also explained he came from a society which could not offer that opportunity. My mother on the other hand, attended college and received specific job training. My mother had more of an understanding of the specific role she would serve in the Navy, while my father had little say in regards to the direction of his career.
I interviewed an old couple for this assignment. The lady, Madeline, was 69 years old and the man, Anders, was 72. I asked the couple what it was like growing up as a male and as a female during their lives. I got very different answers from both. Anders talked about his “glory days” and how great they were. Madeline also talked about her childhood and how much fun it was. I asked her how it felt to be treated differently then men. She told me that it was such a normal thing for women to be treated differently that she didn’t really realize it was an issue until she was older. She talked about how she remembers how her mother would stay at home and didn’t have a job, meanwhile her father was working long days and she rarely saw him. She remembers the civil rights movements and all the talk about equality spread fast around the country. She remembers the feminist movement and seeing large protests filled only with women. She told me about how her father always treated her brother with more favor than her. She told me that sometimes when she was a kid she would wish she were a boy because she liked the privileges they got compared to women. Anders told me many stories about the protests and movements he saw, he remembers also seeing all the feminists during the feminist movement. He told me that he always agreed that women were treated unfairly and wished they were treated equally to men. He liked the privileges that he got but always thought it was strange that women did not receive the same ones. He told me that the way women are treated today and significantly better some years ago. He believes that although they have received mostly all of the privileges that men get that there is still more that can be done to create equality between the treatment of men and women.
ReplyDeleteThe man I interviewed said that much has changed since he was 20 years old in 1975. He told me that this was after the "sexual revolution" and during the heart of the feminist movement. Attitudes towards women were in flux during that time. He said women were beginning to change from being mainly stay at home moms to now being involved in the work force. He said that it did not make life for working women much easier, but the ideas of the feminist movement had begun to take hold. He said that this acceptance was not the same for sexual orientation. Gay bashing was still the norm and even accepted in the 70's. Awareness about disabilities didn't become a national issue until 1990 when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. Today, he thinks that we still live in a relatively segregated country. He says that outward expression of racism is mostly no longer tolerated; however, prejudices is still prevalent throughout the world. In regards to class, he thinks that has had the least amount of progress. He says he believes that the class in America has been the "divide and conquer" strategy of economic elites. By playing up cultural differences, the working classes were still pitted against each other which obscured their shared economic and political interests.
ReplyDeleteThe women I interviewed also referred to the 1970's. She too said the working force has changed a lot since then. Besides the obvious expectation to be a stay at home mom, there were aspects of the workforce that were unfair too. One thing she mentioned was that women could be fired if they were pregnant. Another negative aspect of the workforce was that if a women was sexually harassed, she did not have the right to report her case. Outside of the workforce, women's relationship with men seemed very submissive. For example, women could not get a divorce easily at all. She remembers in 1972 when the Equal Rights Amendment was changed to giving equal rights under the law now matter the sex. There's still obvious discrimination today, women being paid less than men in some careers. However, more women are attending medical school today than ever before.
I interviewed my mom for this assignment, Karen Campbell. She was born in 1963 in Myrtle Beach and had 3 other siblings. She grew up in an upper middle class family. She described to me how when she was younger her mother stayed home and was the housewife; she did all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and taking care of her and her siblings. My mom explained how if a women worked back then, it was mostly just at part time jobs and that most women were nurses or teachers, if they did have a job. Meanwhile, my mom’s father was the breadwinner and went to work every day. When my mom’s father would get home he would expect dinner to be on the table. The man I interviewed was my dad, Steve Campbell. He was born in 1957 and was raised in a middle class family. When he was younger he explained to me that men did all of the hard labor and that they were expected to provide for their families. He said that the men in the family made the decisions and that the women went along with what ever was decided, and did not really have a voice of their own. My dad explained how his brother and him played football, basketball, and baseball and were expected to start working at a very young age to help support their family.
ReplyDeleteMy dad’s sister didn’t even own a pair of blue jeans and stayed home with their mother and helped with the cooking and cleaning. My parents both described how when they were growing up race was also prevalent. Schools were integrated when my mom was in third grade and my dad in sixth. My mom also described how there were not that many children diagnosed with ADHD when she was growing up. In the past 50 years I think that equal rights between women and men have came a very long way. Now, both men and women perform hard labor, and its okay for men to be teachers and nurses and for women to be construction workers and doctors. Most moms and dads work to help support their family, they would both do chores, cook, and help around the house. Both of my parents agreed that gender roles within families have greatly changed from their childhood. Women actually have a voice now and are able to stand up to men and stand up for what they believe in.
During the 1940s and 50s our modern day stereotypes of men and women were more or less true. Much like the movie Mona Lisa Smiles, women had the right to higher education, jobs, and more civil liberties, but they were not taking advantage of. Women still remained “in the kitchen” per say. My grandfather’s girlfriend informed me young women were still aspiring to be housewives and mothers while men were being raised to be farmers, but could hold office (or more impressive titles). Those women who were not married worked as teachers, waitresses, or secretaries (jobs were limited). Men were viewed as breadwinners, smarter, and more business oriented. This in return made women feel looked down upon or inferior to men. Men and women rarely went to college after high school, but there are exceptions. My grandfather recalls two of the biggest influences which assisted in making it into the workforce were World War II and the Vietnam War, because war supplies were in high demand and only women could do the job while men were away. There was a sense of gender equality, but not everyone to advantage of the rights they had been given (keeping in mind I was only referring to Caucasians in this part of my post). Life for minorities was not easy and is still not easy. “Society recognizes the ways people are different and assigns group membership based on these differences…society also ranks the differences and institutionalizes them into …society” ( Shaw and Lee 43). Even in modern society we still place people into categories and that’s how racial tendencies are kept alive. They are woven into our thoughts and beliefs depending on how you grew up (I am not racist so you know). Minorities were viewed as different or inferior and work was hard to come by. My grandfather remembers African American women finding work in dress factories while men worked in factories (such as shoe factories), or coal mines. There were very few exceptions to the common place jobs that African Americans had such as principals, but they only held that position in segregated schools. Legally minorities had the same rights as Caucasian people, but back then laws back then were not really enforced like they are today. Class was also used separated people into groups and even more than today. Minorities usually made up most of the lower class, but that does not limit Caucasians to being part of this group. After all my grandfather as well as his girlfriend both came from poverty and accepted life for what it was until they went to college. When they were growing up sexuality was not a huge discussion. It was best kept quiet unlike in today’s society where it is frequently discussed. In fact my grandfather had never heard the term homosexual until he attended college. People who had disabilities during this time were usually cast aside and institutionalized. Society is more sensitive to people with disabilities today. To sum it up society today has moved in the right direction. We allow freedom for everyone, but it is hard to change the minds of people who are uncomfortable with change. In my personal opinion I believe we have moved away from the gender roles, but we have not established equality. There will always be hate driving racism though we move farther away from it. Sexism, classism, and ableism still remain though less than when my grandfather was growing up. Instead we find new problems like ageism, looksism, and sizeism.
ReplyDeleteFor this assignment I decided to interview my grandparents. My grandmother MaryLou is 77 years of age and my grandfather Bob is 79. Both growing up outside of New York City in the boroughs, they met at the ripe ages of 19 and married early on. I first decided to interview my grandma about what life was like for her during this time and her life as a young adult. My grandmother’s immediate response to the first question was, “Women have a lot more freedom to pursue their dreams.” On page 10 the authors write, “First, Feminism concerns equality and justice for all women’s lives. Because feminism is politics of equality and a social movement for social justice, it anticipates a future that guarantees human dignity and equality for all people, women and men.” So, right there that shows that women are able to pursue something equally like men that interests them. My grandmother said that, as a young adult there weren’t many options after high school. As a young woman you could become a teacher, a secretary, or get married. “Women’s Studies” came about when concerned men and women noticed the lack of authoritative women in society, whether it is in the education systems or in the work place. She said that men did rule back then though and women were okay with it. But it was reassuring to read that men were also concerned with women’s roles in society and that men too were against the exclusion of women in power. What is remarkable to think about is that only 40 years ago, women did not have nearly as many opportunities in society as they do now. When you think about it, 40 years was not long ago. It was during the second-wave that women began finding a voice in the world of family, sexuality, the workplace, and reproductive freedom. My grandmother said that it wasn’t until women started working outside the home that they started to feel the importance of being an independent woman. She also said that women chose to be stay at home moms, but for financial reasons some of her friends decided to take up part time jobs. Another part of Chapter 1 that I enjoyed reading and learning about is the different “kinds” of feminists out there. She mentioned that sexual orientation was rarely mentioned and was basically taboo. Sexual orientation and the talk on supporting gay and equal rights for all people is obviously very present in today society. The authors state that there are liberal feminists. These are people who want to the work within society, removing obstacles and making achievements for women and men, rather than changing society as a whole. Then there are radical feminists who want more than just removing the barriers between men and women in society. There are offshoots of these radical feminists as well. Some include lesbian feminists, Marxist feminism and ecofeminists. I never knew there were so many different views and forms of feminism. In the end she said that she couldn’t be happier to see how far society has progressed in 50 years. “It’s about valuing women for being women.” My grandfather was the second person I interviewed and he seemed to remember less than my grandmother. He basically spoke about how people worry about things that didn’t cross people’s minds 50 years ago. Because they both lived in the North, the issue of racism was not very prevalent. They both said that they sat next to “colored” people multiple times, and never though anything of it. My grandfather said that homophobia was present in the fact that people didn’t mention anything about gay and lesbian people and the topic was foreign. In the long run as a whole society still has a lot of work and progress to make in women’s studies and equal rights for men and women, but we have feminists to thank for many of the successes for far.
ReplyDeleteI was struck, initially, by the idea that I should “take seriously my right to be taken seriously”. This puts in perspective the obligation women with access to education have to prove to those who struggled for such a privilege that their plight was worthwhile. How fortunate we are to live in an era where the once disregarded aspects of humanities improvement receive recognition due to “integrating the perspectives of marginalized people.” This relates also to the concept of “the personal as the political”, as I had never considered that seemingly extraneous occurrences could hold relevancy and essentially shape the second wave of the women’s movement. The concept of the patriarchy as described on pg. 5 is one of the reasons I am slightly critical with regards to feminism in this country, as it seems some (emphasis on some) feminists easily equate having any misfortune whatsoever with the evil doings of the patriarchy. That being said, if a woman has been wronged solely for being female, be it socially or in the workforce, I cannot rightly disregard the legitimacy of her claims. There is a sense of criticism for women who do not identify with the moniker feminist, as evident in the list on pg. 12 of chapter 1. It is incomprehensible to imagine a modern woman not holding reverence for the brave women who faced adversary to better their lives, as well as those of future generations. Yet this brings into question the concept of feminism being “inclusive and affirming of women” (10), unless of course “these women” (as referred to on pg. 15) were to not identify as a feminist. In my experience with feminism in the past, there is a certain amount of exclusion that occurs when this happens, as if they were some separate species and not worthy of being female. No doubt misogyny is prevalent in our world, as it always has been. This hatred of women is so blatantly apparent, in Yemen, in traditional tribes of India, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Africa, in Bangladesh and countless others. More should be done to assist them, as most feminist aims in America are nothing in comparison to a woman in countries such as these. That is not to say that post-feminist theory is correct, as it is always appropriate to rectify a societal concern that would better the culture. Perhaps the most poignant thought expressed in this reading was by the poet Audre Lorde that there exists a “piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.” This suggests that in order to overcome opposition, we must first absolve ourselves of that which would hold us back.
ReplyDeleteI interviewed my Poppa, Jimmy and my godmother, Nancy. Both grew up in the 1940s and 1950s. They were both married and had children in the 1960s. But both faced a different life.
ReplyDeleteMy Poppa grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, as the son of immigrants from Turkey who owned a grocery store. He joined the US Air Force, and over the next few decades he worked his way up to the highest rank an enlisted man can hold, to Chief Master Sergeant. When I asked him about the differences in how races were then and now, he told me that black people we really discriminated against, and that there were no black kids in school with him. Instead there were “white kids”, meaning Anglo-Saxon white, Asians and Hispanics.
I asked him about the differences in gender. He talked about how it was when women began to take jobs beyond being a nurse in the military. Being the father of three daughters, and the wife of a high level nurse, he had respect for women. He talked about how when women began to gain higher ranked jobs they faced a lot of harassment. My Poppa, didn’t tolerate the harassment, and he would often put women under him in positions of authority and respect, such as instructors. He commented that he often found the women to be better workers than some of the men.
I asked him about how things have improved for people with disabilities, as my brother has autism and his wife, my step-grandmother is legally blind. He said many disabilities, except for the visible ones like being in a wheelchair weren’t acknowledged. There weren’t even handicap spots when he was a young man.
I asked about sexual orientation and he said that homosexuals were ridiculed or made fun of, or did not even come out.
My godmother, Ms. Nancy, was of the same generation as my Poppa, but she spent much of her early life in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. We talked a lot about women, and how life has changed since she was a young woman. She told me that when she was growing up in the 1950s sex before marriage was a no-no for good girls, and if you got pregnant your life was ruined. She was married and then divorced in Sexual Revolution, which continued until AIDs appeared.
Sex and children before marriage became a bit more accepted, but being a single mother by divorce was not very acceptable. Women also gained more control over their bodies with the introduction of birth control.
We talked about how after she was divorced she faced some many problems, from not being able to be approved for credit or sign a loan for a car. Even having to pay higher insurance prices because divorced women were considered “emotionally unstable”.
It’s crazy how much the world has changes in 60 or 70 years.
My mother was born in upstate New York in the summer of 1963 to a sixteen year old and a phantom father. She grew to be the eldest of ten children, resentful of the responsibility that had been placed upon her since childhood. She had a younger brother, who she said was able to do anything he wanted “because boys could protect themselves and girls couldn’t”. As a teenager in the 1970s, she says, there was a great deal more innocence and with hippie dippy parents, she felt compelled to set a good example for her younger siblings. When she started working at 18, she worked her way through the ranks just like everyone else, though her concern for her coworkers led her to be labeled a “mother hen”, which she found hypocritical, as a man would never be branded as such. There were more opportunities available for men outside of high school, with loans less available for women. Before moving to Bishopville, SC in 1977, my mother lived in Trumansburg, NY, where everyone she knew was white and middle class. After arriving and experiencing what she referred to as “a two year long culture shock”, my mother realized that race relations in the south were still tense, as schools had not been integrated for very long. There was great division among the better off white kids, who most often went to the local private school, and everyone else (my mother included) who went to the shabby public high school (a building so worthy of being condemned that it is ridiculous, yet still manages to serve as the towns recreation center). She says the poverty rate, though she isn’t sure of the statistics, was overwhelming, which is to be expected of a dying town that has lost almost all of its industry. At my age, my mother was working full time to earn $2.35 per hour and living on her own. This is perhaps the greatest example of our differences. My mother, who is now a teacher for children with learning disabilities, says she was never aware of any disabled people. As far as homophobia is concerned, she had an uncle, Stephen, who had a “friend” for many years. They never engaged in public displays of affection or overtly acknowledged their relationship. She said the truth never clicked until she was in her twenties, after they had bought a house together. Her uncle’s partner cared for him while he died of leukemia but was not readily accepted at his funeral.
ReplyDeletecontinuation of previous post:
ReplyDeleteMy father had a more “nuclear” upbringing, with a homemaker mother and father who worked for a telephone company. He, like my mother, also felt that they lived in times of innocence, and people were more willing to provide assistance when it was needed, perhaps due to the small town mentality. Currently, my father is 50 years old, and can still recall feeling more privileged in his high school, where he was allowed to be the class clown, while the girls in his class were expected to be more serious. He had begun working at 16 and was out of the house by 17, due to the mentality that if he wanted anything, he had to do it for himself. My father also attended Bishopville High School (where he met my mother) and remembers the prevalence of racism well, though he never experienced it. He felt classism was an issue, as there was stark division between the poor and the affluent. As far as disabled people were concerned, he could recall none, as this was still a time when the different were institutionalized. There was no openness about homosexuality due to the stigma that came along with it, though there was always suspicion.
While my parents spent most of their formative years in the same place, they faced different experiences, mostly due to the homes which they came from and the preconceived notions of societal norms. Gender, defined as “the way society organizes understandings of sexual differences” (Shaw and Lee, 1), remains a constraining force. This is not as evident in the modern age, as the concept of patriarchy, the system where males dominate, (Shaw and Lee, 5) has been diminished as women more readily join the workforce. When asked, my mother described herself as a liberal feminist, in the sense that she believes working with the present system, while a radical feminist looks to destroy the present system (Shaw and Lee, 11). This most closely resembles my opinions on this subject. I can clearly see that I have had more opportunities than my mother ever had, due not only to the life I was privileged enough to be born into, but the lack of oppressive forces to stunt my progress. I have had better access to education and cultural experiences than either of my parents did. I have seen more diversity and was always allowed to be freer in my personal expression without fear of criticism.
A View from Two Countries:
ReplyDeleteThe moment this assignment was announced, I knew just exactly who I wanted to interview. The female perspective is given by a woman raised in Colombia named Cruzana Arias de Oquendo, who is currently 71 years old. She told me the story of what it was like for her growing up on her privileged family. Back in the days, the people in Colombia behaved in a totally different way. Women usually belonged in their house. For Cruzana, there were no party days or going out of the house without her family. She remembers that the first time she ever left the house was when she got married. It was a shame for a family to have a daughter pregnant out of marriage, but it was a criminal act to have an abortion. The DEA (the equivalent in Colombia for a CIA) would investigate who induced the abortion and it was punishable by law. She said that people where reserved about their sexual preferences and you would never see homosexual couples. But things are different now: kids don’t respect their parents, innocence has been lost in kids, women like to wonder around the street and they have babies out of marriage. She also says that now people are a lot more receptive towards the LGBTT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Transvestite) community. Something interesting that she said was that as she grew up ethnicity was not an issue, since every race respected and treated each other equally.
For my male perspective I chose my own father Luis A. Gonzalez, who is currently 65 years old and was raised in a poor family. He still lives in Puerto Rico and as we spoke, the contrast between his story and Cruzana’s was clear when he spoke the first few words to his answer. Puerto Rico was a very patriarchal society. Men were the ones who had all the power. Women belonged to their houses. Their duties were to cook, wash the clothes in the river and deliver babies. Men were the ones out on the streets making a living and bringing the food home for their wives and kids. He said that homosexuals never “came out” and he believes to have only met one gay man as he was growing up. The difference between the different races was evident, and it had been that way since the colonial times when the Spanish had conquered the island. He says that it’s sad that people in some way are still racist (towards Dominicans, black skinned people, etc). What gives him hope is that women, who were once forbidden to study, are now the ones that study the most. He says that things have changed for the better and that we even had a female governor (a very contended and male-dominated position in Puerto Rico). He says that rich people oppressed the poor, but now there is a bigger middle class who fights for their rights.
There are some similarities and differences in what they have said. I think that the main issue for both Cruzana and Luis is that women belonged in their houses and that homosexuality was a taboo. Other than that both of them have had completely different experiences. I think that the society where Luis was raised is the perfect example of androcentrism. I believe that the main thing that I got from this is that in both countries there has been a change for the better. There is more tolerance and people are a lot more receptive to change, which is key to continue educating and opening up the doors for progress.
Grace Peterson
ReplyDeleteInterview Assignment
When I interviewed my grandparents about the time that they grew up in it became even clearer just how different things were. They had similar responses on most of the issues because it was apparent that woman had less rights than men at that time. They definitely had less rights than they do now and it was sad to hear about just how separated it was. The women were offered very few jobs and sometimes had trouble keeping them. Being a CEO of a company was unheard of at the time for a woman. As for the men it has not changed much except for the fact that now women are having some of the jobs that used to be only for men, like a CEO.
Race was another aspect of life that has changed drastically from when they were young to how times are now. Segregation was more apparent to my grandfather because he grew up in the south and separation of races was a big deal at the time. He told me how just about everything was separate for whites and blacks. The water fountains and bathrooms were two examples that he gave. It put into prospective how lucky we are that it is not still like that. The other thought that kept popping into my head was that everything I have seen in movies and in class about the segregation was actually real and he made it seem horrible.
In terms of people with disabilities, most places are making it much easier for handicapped people to get around. When they grew up they said that there were few ramps or wheel car accessible buildings around. Also, people basically could not express their sexual orientation if they were not heterosexual when they were growing up. It was not accepted by society at all in any way to be gay or lesbian and therefore no one was coming out. Out of everything that we talked about people’s social class seems to have changed the least. People tend to hangout with people in a similar class as themselves and that is how it was when they grew up also.
I am glad I had the chance to do this assignment because it opened my eyes to how far we have come since my grandparents were young. It makes me wonder what else will change in the next 50 years and where we will be in the future with these topics.
I first talked with my grandmother. She explained the differences between girls and boys when she was younger. She always had to wear a dress to school, even when it was very cold out. The girls in her school were taught to sew and cook while the boys took shop and learned agriculture. She said that she really wished they would have allowed her to take the class. What I thought was very interesting was that she explained how they didn’t even think to question why they had to take these classes or wear dresses. She said “we just thought that’s just the way it was”.
ReplyDeleteShe also talked about her life as a military wife and how when she was pregnant she still had to wear a dress to the health clinic on base to even be seen by a doctor. She said she was inspired by the hippies that wore pants and demanded to be seen by the doctors. My grandmother described having to get dressed up to go on the airplane but eventually she decided to wear pants anyway and got a lot of dirty looks.
Later on in the she decided to go to college. She made straight As in college and wanted to go to medical school. When she went into her interview they asked her how she would feel when they discriminate against her and won’t let her take classes. They also asked why she couldn’t just be a nurse. She never got accepted to medical school even though her grades exceeded some men who were accepted.
She did, however, get accepted to law school. During her years as a lawyer she described the discrimination she felt as a woman. she was left out of meetings and harrassed. Some of the men called her bitch. She recalled several events when the men would make “vagina jokes” and say crude things about women. My grandmother also described the young attractive womens and said that they often got promoted because the men wanted to give them more attention and did not have the experience and knowledged to be in their positions.
In her opinion things are very different now, but a lot still needs to change. Women can wear pants and are slowly becoming involved in more CEO jobs, but they are still over sexualized by the media and older women are not valued.
When asking my grandfather the same thing he did not have nearly as much to say, which shows how much less he was affected by gender. He did talk about how boys and girls took separate classes. He said that they could take home ec, but it was strongly discouraged. He was in the army so he primarily worked around men. He agreed that things have changed for women and also for men. Some men, he said, don’t want women to be equal because they are afraid of that kind of change but it is a good thing. Men were taught to respect back then, but women weren’t necessarily treated the same, but mostly that was in the workplace
Carly Coryell
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For the woman I interviewed my grandmother on my mom’s side who is 82 years old. Her mother and father immigrated to America from Italy. She has two brothers and three sisters. She described living as very gender specific. The women would cook and clean for the family, and the men would work either outside or just go to work and make the money for the family. Also she mentioned that immigrants usually stuck together with their way of life. As an example she explained her family lived in the area of New Jersey where it was all Italians and they all had the same idea of gender roles. Women also were not that educated after high school. The jobs involved gender roles as well. She explained that women were either teachers or nurses and did not work in business. She went to college for teaching but her sisters did not. Only one of her brothers went to college but both had office jobs. She also mentioned that women married early and had babies. Especially if they did not intend to go to college of further their education, they were expected to marry and have babies right away. For the man I interviewed my dad who is 60 years old. He grew up in New Jersey as well, and has similar views but some things changed. He did mention how women like his mother were housewives but did have much more of an education opportunity. His sister or my aunt went to college for chemistry and got her master degree. This would have never happened just 20 years before. Women were becoming more educated he said and that’s when some houses he saw start to get baby sitters for their children. Normally the mother would have done everything but now there was a new concept of getting help to raise children, however these were always women. The women still had the idea to be housewives and cook and clean and take care of the children, education was just becoming more popular. He says this may be true because his fathers time/ my grandfather was during World War II and during that time so many men like my grandfather were drafted so women had to start to learn to do things other than cooking. However he said he society didn’t see a change until his high school years. Both my grandmother and my father said similar ideas with some change, this has shown me that society does accept change in gender roles it just takes a lot of time.
I interviewed Dorothy who was 55 and James who was 62. Dorothy and James seemed to grow up in a time of change. They both talked about how women's places have changed in society for the better. James talked about how back when he was growing up women were not allowed to serve in the army and how his mother stayed at home to raise him. His father worked full time in a place filled mostly with white older men. He talked about how people attracted to the same gender were discriminated against when it came to work. Dorothy talked about how times have changed. Dorothy grew up with her mother not working, yet Dorothy had a child and a job. She told me how the social norms have completely turned around. Things accepted today werent even talked about in her day. Times have really changed, The roles women play in society and things women could socially acceptably today has changed as it did with men. People are more tolerant of new ideas and people doing what they feel. People with disabilities are better understood today. Due to many activism movements things like race, gender and sexual orientation don’t matter. Different people are working the same jobs. As Dorothy and James got older, what people thought as socially acceptable and tolerated has changed and improved. People today still discriminate just more against different types of people. Also people with disabilities have been better understood and helped. Small disorders like bipolar disorder can be safely helped unlike earlier in the 20th century. People have mental awareness and realize what they stem from. Overall I have noticed men's roles in society are far less dominant than they us to be. Women hold positions in the work place that are key. It is crazy to think about how people that were seen as different us to be treated.
ReplyDeleteTalking to my grandmother about her childhood and what life was like growing up showed me just how far we’ve come in regards to how women are treated. My grandmother dropped out of school at the age of 16 to start working to help her family. She explained to me that college, for her especially, wasn’t a priority when she could already be making money during that time. My grandmother was happily married by 19 and talked of how marriage at a young age was normal back then. As mother and wife she was expected to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Growing up where she did, sex and sexual orientation wasn’t discussed much, if at all. Sex was something shared between a “man and a women after marriage and that’s all…” There weren’t a lot of, public at least, inter racial couples or man and man or woman and woman relationships. She spoke of how different it was for her generation and how those things were looked upon so differently than they are now. I learned how people of her time were much less accepting of things they did not understand or know.
ReplyDeleteAfter speaking with my grandmother I called my grandfather who still lives in Puerto Rico and my dad translated these answers for me. He spoke about growing up and how the role for men was very rigid and specific. You would be the leader of the household and you would financially support your family. If you could not do so it was seen as a major failure. Although race issues should have been long gone by this time you rarely would ever see a black man or woman with a white man or woman and if you did you looked down upon the couple. As a boy growing up it was constantly reiterated that my grandfather would be tough and go on to be very successful… and that was the only option. Gender roles were very specific and you basically were an outcast or a failure if you didn’t fill those shoes. My grandfather joined the army and went on to become a sergeant. He married shortly after and had three children with my grandmother. He says it’s much different now than it was back then and that guys now have it much easier. It wasn’t as easy to break out of the norm and very few ever did.
I interviewed my grandparents to learn about the gender roles and how it affected them while growing up. It was interesting to see how times have changed in society now compared to when they were young. Both my grandparents agree that times have changed dramatically and society is beginning to accept all types of people from not only gender, but, race, class, and sexual orientation also. Their explanation of how society thought was shocking to me.
ReplyDeleteI first interviewed my grandmother who was born in the late 30’s. She told me that although she was able to attend an all girl private school while growing up, her mother was never aloud. When my great-grandmother was growing up, a woman’s only role was to be the homemaker and birth children. Only the men were able to attend school. No women had jobs because it was the husband’s role to make the money and provide for the family. By the time my grandmother was born woman were able to attend school, although they were extremely strict. My grandma said while in school she was forced to write with her right hand although she was left handed. In order to make her switch what was normal for her, every time she would write with her left hand they would smack it. Now a days if a school did such a thing it would be all over the news and cause a lot of problems. By the time the 40’s came along more woman were getting jobs because their husbands had to go to war. My grandma got a job being a nurse for the Army. At this time a woman’s job was stereotyped was a nurse, secretary, or a caring job. My grandmother is happy to see how society now accepts men and women much more equal than they did when she was growing up.
While my grandfather was young, the man’s gender role was extremely important. They were to provide for their family. He explained how he came from a very poor family. He barely ever was able to see his dad because his dad was always working and making money for the family. He explained how he had to help his mother out greatly. He said that society expected a lot of things from the men, which could be difficult at times.
Before I interviewed my grandparents I did not think much about gender roles and society back in the day. It is interesting to see the differences now, although some things and stereotypes still do remain the same. Society has become much more accepting to all different types of people and ideas. If you lived when my grandparents were growing up, black and whites were not equal and neither were men and women. Now, a woman can do whatever a man does and is not restricted on what job she can and cannot do. Different races, genders, class, and sexual orientation is all becoming more and more accepted. When my grandparents were young they never expected society to change the way it has.
Changing Statuses through Different Eyes
ReplyDeleteI interviewed my mother and my father asking them their views on how gender, class, disabilities, and sexual orientation had changed from the time when they were young to their age today. There were similarities and differences but overall they both had different perspectives on how these different classifications had changed according to society.
When I asked my mother about gender roles, she emphasized how men do not treat women as special as they had when she was growing up. She also referred to women as being more reserved and less assertive during her childhood. She talked about how dating and courting was quite different in the past (for example the man always called the woman). Even into marriage, women were usually not working and there was only one salary in a family. My father on the other hand talked more about women in the workplace, saying that women became more popular in the work force. He said in some circumstances women would get paid more than men and men could not do any thing about it but if it was reversed women could say something about it. He also touched on the fact that sexual harassment didn’t really exist twenty years ago as sexual harassment cases are usually only women against men and never men against women. My father touched on how their was unfairness due to the fact the new laws were being implemented while my mother touched on the fact how women did not receive the special treatment they use too.
They both had different perspectives on the change of sexual orientation in society. My mother touched on the fact that people would hide their homosexuality and was never something to brag about. She says now people are very unreserved especially on television. Men and women were never seen in the same bed or making out on television shows and now you can turn to almost any channel and see it. My father touched more on the fact about how gay marriage was now a real thing and was wondering if heterosexuals could be considered partners if they live together for two years because it’s the same for homosexuals. My mother talked more about people being more open now and my father talked about how heterosexuals now could not receive the same benefits as homosexuals.
My mother’s then described how African Americans were not allowed to be in restaurants and were never seen hanging with Caucasians. She said now people have interracial marriages and neighborhoods are mixed of all different races. My father touched on how minorities could claimed to be prejudiced against while the majority could never say the same. My mother talked about how integration was happening and my father talked about how minorities were getting the same rights but having an extra advantage since they were a minority.
My father’s and views both similarly reflected on how gender, race, class, and sexual orientation interaction with society had changed but they gave contradicting interpretations on what the good and the bad was for each.
Due to the fact that I do not have any grandparents still alive, I was limited as far as age is concerned for the interviewing process of this assignment. I thought about asking two random older people around Charleston about their views on gender roles and how times have changed, but I ended up just asking both of my parents. My mom is fifty-two years old and my dad is fifty-five years old. My mom grew up in Pensacola, Florida and my dad grew up in Orlando, Florida. Both of their dads were successful doctors providing well and giving both my parents lots of opportunities specifically in education. My parents met at law school and the still practice corporate law. While my parents are relatively young, the same opportunities exist today for women as they did when my parents were growing up. According to my mom, all of her girl friends went to college and most of them are still pursuing their careers. My mom also said that she sees a difference in the age that many women are getting married and having children. She said that most of her friends went to college to meet their husbands and have children. She said that today she sees more of a drive to have a career in the business world. When interviewing my dad about how women’s roles and the way that people view women today compared to thirty years ago, he said that much has changed in all aspects of life. He said that in the corporate world, more and more women are becoming leaders in the workplace with positions such as CEOs and CFOs. My dad said that in his law firm, there are more women graduating from law school than there have ever been. My dad also said that with the rise of women having careers and placing their jobs as their top priority, men have started to respect and accept that women are capable of doing things that men are. When talking to both of my parents, I felt as if there has been much change since the time that they were growing up but much change is still needed in order for our country to truly have equal rights between women and men. Unfortunately, some men still have the mindset that women should stay at home and raise the kids while the man works and provides for the family. As time continues to pass, we should be thankful for the many rights that women have gained over the years and we should continue to strive for women to have equal rights.
ReplyDeleteDuring earlier years of our society such as the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's, women, blacks, gays, and men were all treated differently. No one was treated one hundred percent equally. I interviewed a man in his early sixties and found out that life in the 60's was a lot easier and simpler than it is today. There were no electronics to get caught up in. There was television, but it was in black and white and had a total of only two channels. People that were "colored" or black were referred to as niggers and they did not really associate with whites. Gay people during that time were not very common because they kept themselves hidden and were not very open about it then like they are today. If they did show themselves many were ridiculed. Social classes during this time existed but they were not as drastic as people make them out to be today. Even though society was very prejudice during that time the man that was interviewed was not. He said he was taught that it did not matter who you were. Your color did not matter, your religion, or gender, or sexuality, all people were people and they deserved to be loved. My interview of a much older woman in her late 80's had different insights. When she was younger women could vote but a lot of time black women were denied that right. Most women of that time worked constantly because they had to keep their families afloat during the war. Just like the man gays were not very common during this time. Blacks were still treated very poorly and white men were superior to all.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading something that stood out to me was "As a Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, poet, mother of two, including one boy, and a member of interracial couple, I usually find myself part of some group in which the majority defines me as deviant, difficult, inferior, or just plain "wrong"."(Lorde, 2009. pg 70) I believe that as a society it is not our place to judge the life that someone lives. People cannot control their race, they cannot control if they are homosexual, they cannot control whether or not they were born into poverty. So why punish someone, or look down on them for things that are beyond their control. With that being said I think that our society as a whole has come a long a way when it comes to womens rights, civil rights, and gays rights. Women are now getting recognition, gays are being allowed to marry, and blacks are no longer persecuted. If we continue down this path things will only get better.
How the Times Have Changes:
ReplyDeleteAccording to Michael Huddleston and Susan Pierce
When I was told that I needed to interview an older man and woman, I immediately knew who it would be- my parents. At the tender ages of 63 and 60, I think Mike and Sue qualify as a little bit older. Before I begin relating their thoughts to the textbook, I just want to get some specifics out of the way. Despite the different last names, my parents are not divorced. In fact, they have been happily married for 33 years. Sue just didn’t feel the need to change the name that she has always been so attached to, and Mike was cool with it. Like myself, my parents are Caucasian. Mike grew up in Oklahoma, while Sue blossomed in Maine and New Hampshire. Both grew up in fairly rural areas that were not particularly affluent. Both have high school degrees. Mike earned his college degree at the University of Oklahoma. Sue went to the University of New Hampshire, but she did not complete her degree; a cross-country road trip sounded more appealing at some point. Eventually, the stars aligned, and my parents met in Denver. At some point they fell in love and decided to get married; the children came 13 years after marriage. Currently, my folks reside in a pleasant town in New Jersey only five minutes from the beach. Mike owns his very own land title insurance business, while Sue is the VP of design and construction for Phillips-Van Heusen. When they’re not working, they try to keep the empty nest busy with a boisterous Weimaraner puppy named Jack.
Anyway, to begin, I emailed them both separately but still asked the same questions. First, I inquired about the male gender role (especially in terms of the family) and whether it has seemed to change over the years. Both said that growing up, the man was to be the primary breadwinner. Women were to take care of the house and children. Both happened to mention that in terms of the house, the man was responsible for the yard. Sue, of course, went into much more detail. She mentioned the very interesting idea that whatever the woman did in the house, it was done in a way that revolved around the man (ex. Cooking only food he likes). Mike found that nowadays, men are expected to a more active role in the household, and Sue agreed. Sue also elaborated on the expectations held for men in terms of their behavior. She noted that growing up, men were always supposed to be tough. She still finds that that is true nowadays, although there is acceptance and appreciation for a more sensitive man. Mike didn’t really elaborate on the male role outside of family life.
Then I asked about the female gender role. Sue and Mike said some of the same things. For example, they mentioned that the woman was expected to stay at home. In terms of working, there were, essentially, set “female” jobs for women to do. For example, teachers, beauticians, or secretaries were likely to be women. Sue went into much further detail (she’s a bit of a feminist!). She discussed that many parents were not willing to send their daughters to college because they would eventually become housewives in the future; parents didn’t want to waste the money. Sue’s own father was not this way. He encouraged her to go to college; however, he wanted her to be a chemical engineer. When my mother entered the department as a chemical engineer major, she was the only woman. She found unbelievable inequality in the department. Constantly she was made fun of by the male students; she described it even abusive at some points. The apparent sexism at her school may have stopped her from completing her degree, but it didn’t stop her from entering the male-dominant corporate world. Over the years, Sue absolutely believes that things have changed for women. Women go to college and many women work in various fields that they wouldn’t have while my mother was growing up. However, Sue is all too familiar with the glass ceiling women hit in the business world. She has also noticed that nowadays there seems to be so much societal pressure on women to be “everything” or a “superwoman”. She is also worried about the way women compare themselves to others nowadays (especially in terms of physical beauty). Growing up, the obsession with beauty was no as apparent as it is today. Although women have come far when it comes to working and going to school and all that, Sue finds is ironic and sad that current women seem to be objectified more than ever. In her opinion, it’s leading to a new breed of sexism.
ReplyDeleteMoving away from gender, I had Sue and Mike discuss the changes they’ve seen when it comes to race. Both grew up in a way that promoted being accepting of others regardless of race. They have found that over the years, there are more job and educational for minorities. However, Sue noted that white males still have the greater wealth and power. They both also noted that although there is greater tolerance, racism and prejudice still exist. They find that nowadays Hispanics or those with Middle Eastern backgrounds face the greatest amount of prejudice in our country, and I have to say that I agree with them. On a positive note, though, Sue has definitely noticed overall greater acceptance of interracial dating and marriage.
ReplyDeleteThe final topic I had Sue and Mike ponder was sexual orientation. I was especially interested in this topic because I feel that it’s a topic that has only (relatively) become open for discussion. Both of my parents said that growing up, the words “gay” and “lesbian” weren’t ones that they ever heard. Mike said that the most people would notice was whether or not a girl seemed “too masculine”. The concept of people having varying sexual orientations never got discussed in their homes or among their friends. It wasn’t until later in their adult life that they began hearing people admit to being openly gay/lesbian/anything else. Because it’s still such a new topic open for discussion, my parents find the strides taken toward equality amazing. Growing up, it’s not something they could have even pretended to think of. Of course, improvements are still needed; but overall, they find the progress astonishing.
I chose to interview my mother and a friend’s father, David focusing on what life was like when they were young in accordance to their gender based on their personal life experiences. My mother is forty-eight years old and was raised here in the south in a family of five children. She brought it up that my grandmother, her mother, came from a family of eight and how it was normal to have children at a relatively young age, and to additionally have more children than in many average modern families. She dropped out of high school early on, which was not completely out of the norm at the time. She spent plenty of time helping my grandmother with chores around the house, and she mentioned how my grandmother spent time helping with any necessary field work. When she started working her first jobs as an adult, apart from being a mother to my brother, my sister, and me, were typical jobs that women would typically have, while my father was the primary provider for our family. She worked in some secretary jobs, retail, and as a nursing assistant; and today she is a caretaker. She enjoys her job as a caretaker, but is very encouraged to know that women are more often than before obtaining higher education, pursuing careers and roles that used to be geared primarily toward men.
DeleteDavid, who will be turning sixty in the coming month, is my best friend’s father. He grew up in the picturesque suburb America, which is quite different than those with lifestyles of the farming families of rural areas. He mentioned that looking back on his life before growing up he did not live a very goal oriented life, and that he sort of floated by until his daughter was born. He said that his worst job was as a laboratory veterinary technician, in which he was making minimum wage to gather animal parts and by products that were to be studied. He had to get through many hurdles in life to have his own business today, and when he was younger things were different. When he was young and living with his family he didn’t have a lot of domestic chores. His father worked as a teacher and his mother took care of a lot of domestic responsibility since she did not have a public sphere job. She fell into that role of doing the domestic chores, and she didn’t just take care of chores due to his laziness. He mentioned how men and women today share more roles, for example, today men are more likely to help out in the active role of raising children, doing work at home in kitchen or with other household chores. It was uplifting to hear his appreciation and relief that over time women have become more respected and viewed more often as equal members of society. It was interesting hearing opinions from my mother and David, who are indeed such different different individuals, yet they both recognized the changes in the world they have experienced with thankfulness for those changes
I interviewed Roberta Lynch, my grandmother, about how things were like for women when she was younger. She told me the fun things she did like sunbathing and riding bikes with her friends, but what she most remembered was being taught to do household chores and having to “tip-toe” around her father when he got home from work. She was expected to help her mother around the house after school and while going to college was an option for her, because she was living in an upper class home, it wasn't expected. It was more likely that she get married and take care of the house and eventually her and her husband’s kids. My grandmother went against the grain and went to college and became an English teacher. She noticed how things are very different now regarding the lives of women. Women are no longer solely responsible for raising the children and taking care of the housework, they now have many more career options besides nursing; teaching; or secretarial work. My grandmother said she didn't really notice that there was anything wrong with the way women were treated when she was growing up but now looks back and recognizes that she was oppressed by society. She noted that it was a very patriarchal time. I also interviewed my grandmothers husband, Bob Lynch. His life was very different than my grandmothers, he was working by age 12 and went into the army as soon as he could to fight in WWII. He was expected to be brave and “manly”, and when he came home he was expected to marry and be the bread winner of the family. I asked Bob questions about how homosexuality was viewed back then, especially since he was in the military. If someone were to find out that a man was a homosexual in the military they were severely ridiculed, often beaten, and they were kicked out unable to serve their country. He talked about how he thought the “don’t ask don't tell” policy was a huge step up from the old ways although he thinks that they still have a very long way to go when it comes to acceptance of homosexuals in the military. Other than his time during the military, however, he said he had never really thought about homosexuality. It was never brought up in conversations and he also didn't know anyone one who was gay, or at least didn't know anyone who had felt comfortable enough to say/show that they were.
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