CRJ 1

As the textbook states “women’s studies is an examination of women’s experiences that recognizes our achievements and addresses our status in society.” In women’s studies women are at the center at the main ideas. Today in the United States we function as a patriarchy, meaning that men are at the center of society. The textbook terms this as “androcentrism”.
Many people male and female believe that male and female rights should be equal. They saw that in the 19th century in the United States that women had very few rights compared to their male counterparts. This realization and need for equality brought about what we now know as the feminist movement.
This movement has brought about such rights for women such as voting (suffrage), the right of choice when dealing with pregnancy, and the ability to keep property when married. Reading 2 “A Day without Feminism” illustrates this. Many of the aspects that she discusses in this article we today take for granted and don’t realize that at one point in history we did not have them. Today we would no longer think that when a woman gets married she would have to give up her rights to own property or even to keep her own last name. To women of the 21st century this is all natural.
This is possibly why some people think that the concept of feminism is over, and that no more needs to be done on the issues of women’s rights. This is postfeminism. However if you take a closer look into society there are still many aspects that are unequal between men and women. Men still make more money on average in the workplace. Most executive positions in corporations are run by men. The United States has yet to have a female president. In the home women still carry the majority of the burden of house hold chores. Politically today even the right for a woman to choose is a hot topic. These are issues that the United States has to deal with; many countries throughout the world have even more inequality.
The feminist movement has come a long way from its start. However I believe that it is far from over, there are many more areas that need to be addressed when considering the equality of women.

As I interviewed three people it became clear that all three had an opinion in common about the word “feminist”. All three felt that the word came with somewhat of a negative connotation when you hear it. Two of the three even went as far to say “man hater”. However once they thought about it a little more they changed their view so that it had some positive meanings, like the fight for the equality of women, and strengthening the female community.
Still they did not know truly what would be studied in a women’s studies class and were confused as to why women would go as far to become a “feminist”. All three people thought that taking this class would be an excellent way to broaden my outlook and learn more about the subject.
Personally I do not believe that I would ever become a feminist. I strongly believe in the equality of women but I am still very unclear on some aspects of the movement. Hopefully this course will help clarify some of these.

Hi my name is Brittany Loy. Im a junior, biology major here in Blacksburg. Im originally from Lovettsville VA, a small town in Northern VA. Currently I have no clue what I want to do when I graduate. When I started at Tech I wanted to go to med school, but now most likely Ill do somethng with environmental issues.
This is my first womens studies class that I have ever taken. Im taking it to fill one of my core requirments. This is the first class that I have taken online which makes me a little apprehensive but that fact that I can work on my own time is very conveinent. Im very interested to learn about womens studies because its something Ive never really learned about