The Genderless Child - Storm

Adorable blonde haired, blue eyed, baby Storm is sparking some very interesting debate in the news recently. Storms parents have decided not to let anyone, including its relatives, in on the sex of the baby. So "it" is not know to be a boy, or a girl, but rather an "it". As stated in the video attached, Storms parents are not sharing the gender of the child with others as a "tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become", they say they are giving Storm and their other children, "the freedom to choose who they want to be". Storms parents call the choices other parents make for their children "obnoxious". The parents were inspired after reading the fiction story X- A Fabulous Child's Story, and decided to turn it into real life.

Storms parents share with us, that both their older sons prefer long hair in curls and braids, their favorite colors are purple and pink, they wear sparkly earrings and fingernail polish, many people mistake them for girls. These children prefer not to go to school, so they "unschooled" at home, a form of schooling where not books or learning materials are used but rather the children get to explore their curiosity and ask questions.

It seems to me that the family is not actually letting the children choose their fate, but they are praising the behavior of acting out the stereotypes of the opposite sex. They may not be doing it on purpose but they are giving positive attention to their boys when they do "girl things" because it seems the children are proving their point and their experiment is going well. Are these parents actually able to interact with Storm and his brothers with out a gender bias? The parents are acting extreme and are setting their child up to be a freak. Sexual identity is not something we should try and remove or be ashamed of, but that we should take pride in. Using a child as a social experiment is cruel and self serving. It seems as the parents are looking for publicity, they are on their way to a great reality TV show. The child doesn't have to be subject to traditional societal roles, but shouldn't be denied of what "it" is.

The Powerpuff Girls

"Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls, but Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction -- Chemical X! Thus the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra-superpowers, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!"

       As I was thinking about what to write about for my blog, this is what my mind stumbled across-- The Powerpuff Girls! As one of my favorite shows when I was eight years old, I used to watch it with my siblings everyday during lunch. It never occurred to me, until last week in class that is, how strongly feminism is portrayed in such a child-like cartoon. The heroes, for one, are three kindergarten girls with enough superpowers to take out batman, superman, and spider-man combined (at least I'm assuming they'd be able to). They are also extremely feminine in attire and personalities. They wear dresses, pantyhose, black Mary Janes, one of them has a red bow in her hair, and they all have high-pitched girlie voices with huge adorable eyes. These three girls have caught the attention of many third-wave feminists with their ability to kick butt and save the day without demeaning their femininity. As we discussed in class, our third-wave generation today is all about social change in general towards equality and that it's more individual than institutional. The Powerpuff Girls encompass this idea, empowering girls to see that we are capable of doing anything boys can and that we deserve equal respect for our achievements. In class we learned about the different types of feminists and I believe the cultural feminist would be the perfect portrayal of what the Powerpuff Girls depict. The show is stating that you don't have to be masculine to save the world  and it promotes femininity without being devalued. One episode I remember talks explicitly about the issue of feminism and portrays an overly radical feminist villain, Femme Fatale. She wears the female symbol all over her outfit as her suit, mask, and weapon are all shaped like it. She robs multiple stores and only steals Susan B. Anthony coins while ranting about how "there's not a man alive who can stop me". While attempting to avoid going to jail, she tries convincing the Powerpuff Girls that men are taking advantage of them and that she's the only remaining female villain so "us girls have to look out for each other". In the end though, the girls learn that feminism doesn't call for special treatment, but equal treatment and they take Femme Fatale to jail. It's not the absolute best lesson in feminism, but for a children's cartoon it does a pretty good job. In the end, it even explains a brief history about Susan B. Anthony and her contributions towards women's rights.

       All in all, I think this is a perfect cartoon that demonstrates some of what we're learning in class with feminism. In one of the articles I read (Powerpuff Girls meet world) I discovered that the creator of the show never intended it to have a feminist view, but he acknowledges how it relates to the ideals of a cultural feminist as I explained earlier:

" 'There's this new feminism that's coming up that's embracing things that are typically girlish, and not saying, "Oh, in order to be a feminist you have to denounce all of that pink stuff and baby Ts". You can have all those things and be sexy and be feminine and be typically girlish and still be a feminist.' "- Craig McCracken

Gender roles in the military

Today’s class discussion about gender roles in society, specifically, Lorber’s belief that gender is a system of stratification, caused me to reflect upon how gender roles have personally affected me. As I stated in class, I am a cadet in Air Force ROTC and am proud to one day commission into the U.S. military. Overall, my experience with the program has been a positive one and I have already learned valuable leadership and problem-solving skills, as well as many others.
In the past year, it has become clear that my role as a woman has had a profound impact on my view of military life, compared to that of my male counterparts. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Air Force and am confident in my decision to join it. However, I have felt at times that simply being a female in a male-dominated institution has made certain tasks and exercises more difficult. On a social level, I have experienced a range of reactions from people when they learn that I am a cadet. Some people have said that what I have chosen to do with my life is inspiring and are very supportive. Others are simply surprised and unsure how to react. “You’re in ROTC? Can you even do a pushup?” The truth is, I have consistently been ranked as a top cadet in the detachment in terms of physical fitness and can score higher than a number of my fellow male cadets on the physical fitness assessment. My point is that my performance as a cadet, both physically and as a leader, has absolutely no relation to the fact that I was born a female and played with Barbies growing up.
There’s this stereotype that little boys who watch G.I. Joe and play war are the most qualified to protect our country. Of course, there is nothing wrong with fitting classic mold of a military officer-male, tall, strong build, hardened bearing. Yet, I wish that society would give a little more credit to the proud women risking their lives to defend this country. We deserve just as much respect and recognition as any other military personnel.
In reference to equal treatment and preserving the inherent differences between women and men, it’s a tricky balancing act. Should females be given just as much opportunity to move up the ranks as males of the skill level? Absolutely! Should we be able to enter any drop field we so desire? Of course! Are there certain circumstances that these beliefs would not be appropriate if applied? Possibly. In terms of women in combat, I feel that a woman has just as much of a right to fight as any man. On the other hand, I am aware of certain risks involved, such as female soldiers being captured, raped, and tortured by the enemy. The following is a link to an article describing how this law is currently in the process of being changed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41083172/ns/us_news-life/t/military-commission-lift-ban-allow-women-combat/
This is only one example of issues females in the military face and I continue to be indecisive on whether or not I completely agree with every aspect of the decision. I’m not asking for sympathy or trying to put a negative light on the military that I completely support. I simply felt the need to illustrate society’s expectations of genders and its effects on a personal level.

Welcome!

Welcome to Dr. Whitson's WGS100 Class Blog. To get inspired about what you might post on this blog and to see the format that blog posts often take, please check out my favorite blog, Sociological Images!
You may also want to look at my other class blog (for my Social Geographies class). Please feel free to "comment" to this post with examples of other blogs that WGS100 students might find inspiring.