lets talk about anal sex Lawrence v Texas

in 2003 (yes not that long ago) two men were arrested for engaging in anal sex. Both men wanted to do the act and they did it in the privacy of their own home. A neighbor told the cops that he thought John Lawrence had weapons in his house so the cops came and did not find weapons but found Lawrence and his partner Tyron engaging in anal sex. At the time this was illegal in Texas so the two were arrested and put on trail for their action of love. The two were held in jail and were charged with a misdimeanor, their bail was set at 200 dollars each. The two pleaded no contest and went to the Texas Criminal Court were they asked the court to appeal their case under the 14th amendment, the court said no and they were fined anther 200 dollars to which they pleaded no contest. The case was then brought to a three panal judge's who were in favor of Lawrence but the Texas Criminal Court asked them to reconsider their decsion. Denieing that they would it was then brought to the U.S Supreme Court were in a 6-3 vote they ruled in favor of Lawrence. The Sodomy law was then abolished across all of the states because it went against so many consitutional rights.






Lawrence and Tyron


This case like so many before it has wiped the cob webs off the constitution and forced the courts to take a second look at what our rights really are as Americans. To many times people find loop holes in the system and try to oppress others and keep them down and the courts go along with it based off of old state laws that havent yet been changed. Change is a good thing it makes for a better understanding of how society is and works, rather then fight it people should join in or change what they dont like. It shocked me that in my life time it was considered a crime for two people of the same sex to engage in a pleasure that anyone should have the right to enjoy. I know i always say this in my blogs but there is still so much change that needs to occur and what better time then now!

Texas should really brush up on their broadway :)

arguement talking point 9

Scanlon argues that third wave feminist can still be feminist even though they were makeup and like to look nice. She talks about a women Helen Brown a women who is very sucsessful and has made a name for herself in the world yet is not seen as a feminist to most because who likes the idea of looking nice and being done up to go out. She is the editor of Cosmo a well known womens magazine and wrote a book that many women have read Sex and the Single Girl. She argues that it is ok to look nice and still make a point. That you can be taken seriously as a feminist even if you wear a skirt. The women who fought before us tried to make women eqaul by wearing pants and doing everything a man could do, but the author argues that we dont have to conform to how men are to be equal to them. The second wave feminist worked, wore boots and pants, and cut their hair short to prove there point. But today women are wearing make up and skirts while still fighting for equality the author points out that its as if we are going backwards. But just because we are controdicting the improvements made before does not mean we arent making a point now. Everyone wants to feel pretty to themselves and women dress up to do so. Not just so they can get the attention of men. They want to feel good about themselves and if that means wearing skirts then so be it. How is a women suppose to fight for something she believes in if she isnt even happy with herself. The author makes it clear that women can still be feminist without looking "the part".





helen gurely brown :)

slut walk

1: the event that i went to was called Slut Walk. Ther purpose of this event was to abolish rape culture and make people aware that it is not ok to call people names for the way they dress or to harass and rape them because they dress a certain way. My friends and i dressed up a bit revealing to emphazises the purpose of the walk as did others that went to the event. The event started at Burnisde park the same place occupy Providence is being held. A group of men and women met to hear speeches and stories of why this walk is so important. People were holding signs speaking their mind and had banners that they were going to hold during the march. The speeches started at 12 and went on for about two hours. It was hard to hear the words of the men and women because the microphone was not loud enough but there occassional screaming got the crowd going and people became increasingly ampt. When they were done speaking we began to march, we marched passed the state house and  over near the police station. Men with dogs helped to stop traffic and get the crowd moving as smoothly as possible. While walking we chanted cheers suchs as "no means no yes means yes were ever i go however i dress'" these words seemed powerful and meaningful because we were fighiting together as one to stop something that never should have started in the first place. We walked about two miles until we stopped at a building were the work shops were going to be held. When we got their the building was not open so we all went off and grabbed lunch at a near by coffee shop. While eating people made friends with the other marchers and told of why they were there. Most of these people were college age students who had been victims of rape culture in one form or another. Such as being harassed on their way to the club or actually being raped. Lunch time proved to be truly eye opening although it was not scheduled into the event it seemed to be the most informing part of the event. after lunch we gathered in this tiny room to hear more speeches and talk about how we planned on ending rape culture in our communities. Activist gave us some examples like stop using the word slut to describe someone you dont like or to not use words like that because it just makes it ok for other people to say it. They told us of groups we could join to help the fight and websites we could visit. The roomed felt safe and so people began to tell there stories and open up about why they feel this needs to stop. Hearing and seeing all of this happen was very interesting and made me really think and evaluate the way i speak. After the speakers were done around 5 we walked back to our cars eager to begin informing people of what we saw and did.

2: the Frye article that we read closely relates to the event because they both are trying to stop the oppression of women. To open peoples eyes of the injustice women face and how it goes unrecgonized because people choose to ignore the issue. Frye talks of women being sexually active and there for they are a whore and the walk tried to open peoples eyes to the fact that women should be treated equally and if its a hot day and they want to walk around in a tank top then they should not be seen as a whore it just isnt fair.
Hogeland wrote the Fear of Feminism which also relates to the walk because this is new age feminism, we may not be fighting for womens right to vote but we are fighting still for women to be seen as equals. Some women fear it and dont want to say anthing because they like the attention they get because they dont see it as bad which it is. If we allow ourselves to be seen as just sex objects then we have lost all respect for who we are as a person. The last reading this relates to is Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Ornstein. This reading talked about how little girls loose themselves in princess culture and become less independent as a result and that is also what Slut Walk tried to stop. Women not being able to think for themselves and get lost in rape culture just as little girls get lost in princesses culture. They feel they have to wear make up and heels to get a guys attention instead of using their brain and personality. This walk is apart of new wave feminism, fighting the problems women are having today. It is the core of why women still arent seen as equals and is a small step in a big fight to come.

3: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/slutwalks-and-the-future-of-feminism/2011/06/01/AGjB9LIH_story.html

educate yourselves

people sticking up for people quotes

"an ally is a member of a dominant group in our society who works to dismantle any form of oppression from which she or he recieves the benefit."
This quote introduces what the author is about to spend a chuck of her time talking about in the text. People who can help other people like them stop oppression. For example a white person telling another white person to stop being a racist meanie. It means more said when it is someone like you who is saying it because it makes a person step back and reflect as oppose to just being ignorant.

"and i am at your back. i am raising issues of gender equity with men, i am talking to men who cannot hear you."
One of her friends who is African American tells her this. She has stuck up for him and his rights because she is white and she feels white people will listen to other white people. So he is returning the favor by talking to men about being more excepting of women since he is a man and they are more likely to listen to him. They have each others backs in the fight against oppression. Teams like this need to be made to help the fight.

"I believe it is diffcult for young people to grow up and become something they have never heard of"
This is an awesome quote that i really liked it brought home her point. Kids need a good influence in their life to learn how to be excepting. Learned behavior is a big issue when it comes to oppression, if kids learn to be that way it is hard to get them out of that rut. Positive role models need to be put in place so kids can learn what is right and wrong not the warpt opinions their parents might have.

Oppression needs to be squashed by making teams, being allies, and positive role models this could one day be possible.

reflection

this song goes along with the article so well, talking all about how the girl needs to be saved and be the princess. way to go taylor swift just feed into the idea that we as feminist are trying to avoid.

I was annoyed with this women in the beinnning of the article, all the ranting and complaining about a freakn toy but as i read on i started to realize that i was one of these girls. Almost every day when i was younger my friend paige and i would play princesses, we would dress up and run around trying to get saved and stay out of the way of the evil step sisters and evil witches. We had all the costumes movies and most of the other nonsense that you could by that was princess related. As we got older of course we grew out of this but we still yerned for the girly like things such as canopy beds, nail polish, american girl dolls, and nail polish. Makeup became a must an we loved trying to look girly and be appealing. We were the first to use purses as pencil cases at our very strict catholic school. Now that we are of college age i can see how it has affect us both, i always have had a boyfriend and do not feel comfortable without one, paige is going to school to be an actress/model and doesnt know much else other then to get places with her looks. Not to say that we cant think for ourselves or that we are not intelligant girls, but a lot of the things brought up in the article applied to our younger years. She talks of how it would seem that the feminist movement never happened and that young girls are going to get the wrong idea. It is not going to be easy to not allow girls to be exposed to the princess market because it seems to just be a part of growing up, the idea is that the messege needs to be explained and known that it is not how life actually is.

extended comments on Shelias blog

After reading Shelias blog in which she tool quotes from the article and spoke about them I would say I have to agree with alot of the points that she made. It was ludacris for Biddulph to say that boys tend to not hear because there ear canals can be messed up. Thats just another excuse and if you ask me boys have enough excuses for the ignorance(not saying all are ignorant) I liked how she started her blog by saying that this article was like one of those pictures were you have to look at it long enough to see two different images. It was an ineresting way of explaing how she felt about the points that were being made. She went on to discuss the issue of boys being more violent then girls and causing 85% of violence in America, which i found to be a bit shocking seeing as girls get in fights all the time, i guess they just arent physical fights.



the article as Shelia noted starts to seem clear as to what the aithor wanted us to get out of it and it was that boys will be boys but "Raising boys to manhood means confronting racism, sexism, and homophobia both in our communities and in ourselves". as Paul Kivel said. I liked that she closed her blog with that statement because i didnt really get the authors point so clearly until that was said and was enforced in Shelias blog.
The quotes she used also helped me to pull out the depth of the article and the true talking points, that some excuses as to why boys are the way they are is crazy. Her blog was very informational!

i am putting in this song video because i thought of it when i read this article it talks of a girl being abused by a boy and the lyric that stuck out to me was "do you feel like a man" it seemed to relate slightly to what Kimmel was trying to say were that men do things that are wrong not due to biolgy or poor upbringing but maybe just because it makes them feel more like a man. its also song by a man which shows that not all men are put under the category of violent or rambuchus.