Income Inequality

In light of the fact that we are discussing class and work this week, I thought this very good article on wealth distribution in the United States might be of interest, both historically and in terms of the current state of incomes in the US (particularly when compared with other nations).

Salon Article on "The Soft War on Feminism"

I don't agree with everything in this article, but it might be of interest, and I do appreciate the parts about how increased education among women has not yet clearly led to higher wages, etc. She raises a lot of important issues that are currently being debated among many women and men.

Happy About Hair

An awesome new Sesame Street video, I Love My Hair, has been making the rounds of a lot of my Facebook friends. Here's a CNN interview with the Sesame Street writer who created it, and one of many print interviews. 

I think that it's a great song and an adorable video. One of the friends who posted it also adopted her daughter from Ethiopia and making sure she feels good about her hair is one of the many cultural issues they think about a lot too. Going back to our body image week and our reading from Rapunzel's Daughters, it makes me think about the huge variations among human bodies, and how we often start out "ok" and then dislike our own features as we compare them to those of our friends and what we see in media portrayals.

For me, hair is also a big thing. Frizzy brown hair tends to be common among American Jews whose families came from Eastern Europe, hence the term "Jewfro" which comes up in the movie Knocked Up at one point, I think-- or somewhere else. In New York a zillion women have hair like mine, but out here it looks a bit odd. When I _am_ in settings with more Jews around, it also leads people to think they know me, confusing me with cousins, old friends, etc. When I was at the big Religious Studies conference in Atlanta, I was sitting one night and listening to a plenary talk when someone suddenly came up and lightly pulled on my hair! When I turned she quickly apologized-- she could have sworn I was a friend of hers, who had a very obviously Jewish first name. Ooops.

I do think it's ironic that at one point in the CNN interview, the perfectly coiffed female interviewer speaks critically about how many women are not happy with their hair. I wish she had said that while wearing her hair in whatever its natural state might be.

While we're on Sesame Street, here's a video starring Grover [one of my favorites], Smell Like a Monster, which is a take-off on some recent Old Spice ads and their messages about masculinity.

Do you love your hair? Do you want to smell like a monster?

Encountering Gender Around Oshkosh

As I mentioned in class the other day, last weekend I had two rather fascinating/troubling gender-y encounters around Oshkosh.

The first came Saturday night at the downtown Art Walk. A female DJ, who was broadcasting and playing (good!) music in the middle of the 400 block, paused the tunes to address the crowd. She asked how everyone was doing, then said, "So, ladies, how many of you have already spent half your husband's salary?" I yelled back, "I'm spending my own damn salary!" but it was pretty loud out there. It's a minor thing, but I was definitely annoyed by it. There have been times in my marital partnership that one of us made more money than the other. When I was a graduate student, I was definitely the lower earner, but there have been times I was the chief breadwinner, too, and right now we are as close to a perfect equal partnership as you can get, in terms of both salary and housework. I worked darn hard to get my PhD and to get a good job, and I'm proud of not just my work but the fact that I DO bring in a paycheck every month (well, except for the summer, when I am technically unpaid but work anyway).

The other minor thing was a phrase my husband noticed, and called "sexist," when we took my parents to the Lands' End Outlet [I know, technically they call it an "Inlet" which I think is rather too cutesy for me].  Over a display of kids' snowpants and mittens, a big navy-and-white sign said, "Don't worry, Mom, they're guaranteed," implying that only moms see to the kids' snow gear. Yep, I know, on one level it's "just" a sign. On the other hand, all of these subtle cultural cues we get about parenting contribute to the idea that moms are "naturally" in charge of certain tasks and dads are not, when snowpants, as a very modern invention, are not "naturally" anyone's job [but they are warm. I have to find some adult ones!]

How do you encounter gendered signs as you wander about Oshkosh and Wisconsin?

Welcome to Introduction to Women's Studies: The Blog

Greetings and welcome, members of Women's Studies 201, Section 001, Fall 2010! This is the Prof EL's blog and where I will sometimes post reflections of some suggestions to get you started on your writing. Once you have all created blogs and sent me the links to your blogs, I will add them to a blogroll on the left hand sidebar so you can find each other's work.

I'm looking forward to reading all of your thoughts this semester.