REFLECTION ONE:

Sally and Claudia went to an event called “From Shame to Pride”. The people in attendance at this event shared their stories about being LGBT and how that has affected their religion. Some shared sad stories of ostracism, but others told stories of hope and support. No matter what the content of the story, Sally and Claudia realized the importance of storytelling when it comes to starting a dialogue about gender and sexuality because when an issue becomes personal to someone it makes it more tangible.

Olivia N. attended a web event about sexism in France. Afterwards she talked to some of the panelists about how to start a dialogue about gender and sexuality in France. They gave her some tips. A common theme in the tips was how to comport yourself when talking to people about gender and sexuality. In order to make people listen to you, you must remain calm and always be polite. Gender and sexuality are very sensitive topics for many people, and we have to be respectful of that and know how far we can push someone to question their assumptions without repelling them. This leads directly into a reflection that Joan and I (Olivia L.) had after our event.

Joan and I spoke to a faculty member, Paige Padgett, from the UT School of Public Health about her research. Before going into public health, she did anthropological research. She conducted research about folk conceptions of syphilis in the black community. Folk conceptions are basically stories or beliefs that are widespread among a certain community. This made Joan and me realize how important it is to be sensitive of a community’s beliefs and culture when talking about sexuality and gender. Communities have their own constructions of gender and sexuality, and whether we agree or disagree with the constructions, we must be respectful when talking about our beliefs concerning gender and sexuality.

Dr. Padgett also does research on HIV/AIDS. Part of her sample is a population that she referred to as “men who have sex with men” (MSM). We asked why she referred to them as MSM and not gay or homosexual. Dr. Padgett said that they want to focus on behaviors, not identities. Just because someone has sex with men does not mean they identify as gay. This got our gears turning about how we often construct behaviors in our dialogue, like having sex with men is the same as identifying as gay. It reminded us to always question the current popular dialogue.

Lastly, Magen and Michael went to an open mic night where people shared their experiences of being queer. Similarly to Claudia and Sally’s experience, this event was very personal and intimate, highlighting the importance of storytelling in starting a dialogue. They also said that the open mic night was constructed in such a way that it felt like a “safe space” and that people who had never done anything like this before were encouraged to share. The importance of making everyone feel safe, not judged, and validated in their experiences should be emphasized when starting a dialogue about anything, especially gender and sexuality because they are highly sensitive topics for some people

All and all, it was really great to listen to everyone’s different experiences and what they got out of them. We all went to very diverse events, so the take-aways were also very diverse, and we all feel as though we learned from the event we attended, as well as from each other.

 

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REFLECTION TWO:

Our group’s second learning objective was to “explore various means of de-gendering different aspects of society, such as the workplace and home.” To do this, we decided to research several “de-gendering strategies” and think about what would be required to implement them, paying particular attention to the obstacles we might face. We then had a Google-hangout session to share and discuss what we learned. While this activity was an important way for us to become more informed about how to go about achieving the change we want to see in the world, we agreed that, moving forward, we will each try to engage someone outside our group in conversation about these ideas, ideally someone who has not given them much thought before.

 

Gender-Independent Public Restrooms

If one does not fit the gender binary, being forced to choose a gender in order to use a public restroom can be annoying and stressful. Queer-identifying people are frequently met with negative and hostile responses when they are perceived to have chosen the “wrong” bathroom. Gender-independent public restrooms are a way to address this problem. Many bathrooms in Europe are gender-independent: everyone enters together, chooses their stall, and washes hands together. Most of the arguments against these bathrooms focus on the need to protect women who are survivors of sexual assault, but this argument ignores male survivors as well as instances of same-sex assault. It also perpetuates the idea that women need to be protected from dangerous men.

In the long term, the goal is to get institutions to change the layout of their bathrooms. Significant resources would be required to successfully lobby individual institutions and national lawmakers to adopt this policy. In the nearer term, we can take smaller steps to challenge the idea of gendered bathrooms. Students at Wesleyan University, for instance, have taken down gendered bathrooms signs and replaced them with gender inclusive ones. We can also move this idea forward simply by talking with friends and family about what it means and why it matters. Because gendered public restrooms have been the norm for so long, many people will have fears and concerns that make them resistant to change. This makes it all the more important that we engage in honest, open conversation to address these concerns and create a system where everyone can feel safe.

 

Gender-Neutral Pronouns

Gender-neutral pronouns are another strategy for being more inclusive of those who identify outside of the gender binary. These include the plural pronouns they/them/their, but also “neo-pronouns” like zhe and xe. Gender-neutral pronouns can be used in other situations as well, such as when you are describing someone’s potential romantic partners, referring to someone whose gender identity you do not know, or talking about a hypothetical person. Getting people to adopt gender-neutral pronouns will not be easy: it requires a fundamental shift in our gender binary culture and the way we use language. Many people believe that the language they use does not carry any particular meaning, and may find it overly burdensome to change their habits.

 

Paid Family Leave

            The United States is the only developed country in the world without paid maternity leave. Currently, workers in the U.S. are guaranteed only 12 weeks of unpaid leave after the birth of a child. In practice, though, this law covers only 40% of workers, and even those who are eligible usually cannot afford to go without pay for such an extended period of time. Paid family leave – which allows workers to take time off during the illness of a relative or after the birth of a child, while still receiving a percentage of their pay – is an important policy that can improve families’ economic wellbeing and health. Paid family leave also leads to greater representation of women in the workplace: studies show that women are more likely to return to work if they receive paid leave, and that paid leave increases women’s overall employment. When Google extended its paid maternity leave to 18 weeks, for instance, the rate at which new moms left the company fell by 50%.  When family leave is designed in such a way that both men and women take it, the policy also improves gender equality by encouraging men to be more involved in caregiving and household work.

A federal paid family leave policy would ensure the broadest coverage for American workers, but it would still be politically difficult to adopt at the national level right now. Implementing paid family leave has so far been successful at the company, local, and state levels. In achieving federal adoption, a large obstacle – and opportunity – is to show lawmakers that both businesses and workers stand to benefit from the policy. In places that have already adopted the policy, businesses report very little difficulty in adjusting. Many companies, such as Google, have even reported savings from reduced rates in turnover and in the associated costs of finding and training new employees. Therefore, building a strong a unified coalition in favor of adoption is the best chance for success.

 

Gender-Neutral Toys

            Children’s toys are one of the first ways that kids are exposed to gender roles. Girls’ toys are often associated with physical attractiveness and domestic skill, whereas boys’ toys are more violent and competitive.  Research shows that toys that are less explicitly gendered are better for developing children’s physical, cognitive, academic, and other important skills. Rebranding toys to be played with by either girls or boys – gender-neutral baking sets, or gender-neutral robotics toys – is an important way to avoid gender-segregated roles later in life.

The most direct way we can influence the gendered nature of toys is by exercising pressure as consumers of these toys, and encouraging others to do the same. If companies see that consumers are demanding gender-neutral options, they will respond accordingly. One obstacle to this strategy is that some people may believe that promoting gender-neutral toys is equivalent to taking away choice from children and forcing them to all play with the same toys. In reality, though, the gendered nature of the toys is dictating children’s behavior in the first place.

 

Overall, we agreed that making other people more of gender and its harmful impacts is one of the most important and most challenging steps in successfully implementing these strategies. If someone cannot see why gendered bathrooms, pronouns, or toys may be problematic, they will see no need for the system to change. Our group intends to move beyond our own cohort and like-minded friends, challenging ourselves to engage others in thinking and talking about these issues and strategies.

 

REFLECTION THREE:

For our third and final theme we wanted to understand and explore how gender and sexuality are treated both in respect to different cultures and time periods.  It was a bit challenging trying to create a SMARTEST goal that would help us to explore this theme, but eventually expanded upon an idea provided to us from Magen’s uncle.  Before our next meeting, each of us would go to a museum in our area to observe the way people of different genders and sexualities were represented, as well as the influence that an artist’s background has on their work.

 

Sally, Olivia L, Joan and I all went to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.  I focused mostly on the European art and was stunned by the predominance of the maternal figure.  The majority of the women portrayed were with children, and even the children were categorized by their gender – the boys actively playing the girls cowering by their mothers or protecting the other children.  Joan was drawn to the photography section and was particularly moved by two images; Dovima with Elephants and Man Ray’s Untitled, where the women was regarded merely as a powerful icon, while the story of the man seems more important than his exterior.  According to Sally and Olivia L, the African art also focused on fertility.  Surprisingly, however, there were also depictions of men wearing blankets and wearing jewelry, things that in our culture are seen as effeminate.

 

Magen and Michael both strayed towards the unconventional in DC; Magen going to the Freer Gallery and Michael visiting the National Museum of Women and Art. At the Freer gallery, Magen studied ancient Buddhist pottery, and was surprised to find she could not tell what gender the figures were supposed to be, before moving on to an exhibit by James Whistler.  Mr. Whistler was an excellent example of cultural appropriation, and showed how so many times bits and pieces of a culture are taken for convenience. At the National Museum of Women in Art, Michael observed the synthesis of biology and ethics as women artists honed in on the environmental concern of industrialization through sculpture and photography. The upper level of the museum featured an exhibit that focused more primarily with the history of gender and race issues. One painting in particular, entitled Victoria’s Secret, featured a Victorian Era woman almost completely covered up, commenting on the subdued role of women in the Victorian Era but also the over-sexualization of women in so many pieces of art.

 

Finally, all the way in Paris, Olivia N went to the Musée d’Orsay.  Once again, women’s role in fertility was put on display in Courbet’s L’Origine du Monde (Origin of the World), an upclose, graphic vagina.  She also reflected on Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe (Lunch on the Grass), which portrays two women sitting naked in the in the grass while their two male counterparts have, what appears to be, a very serious conversation.  As with Joan, Olivia found that women are often viewed as objects of beauty, while men seem more valued for their inner thoughts.

 

This was an excellent final goal for our group, as it allowed us to bring together a lot of the discussions that we have had so far this summer.  Seeing the different ways beauty and sexuality have been presented throughout time and across the globe really cemented the idea that both are socially constructed.  Fertility seemed to be one of the few concepts of female beauty, along with an obsession of the female body, that has remained.  The Rubenesque beauty of the 16th century is vastly different from the stick thin models we admire today.  When men wear makeup today it is often looked down upon, in ancient Egypt it was a symbol of wealth and status for both sexes.  The proof the social standards have been changed in the past leaves us with the hope that it can be changed in the future.