Happy Mardi Gras!! I hope all the journal entries are in, I was reading through this week's list and didn't think I had the whole class represented. Well I will nonetheless continue with my response to reading them. A majority chose to respond to MacKinnon's article on Sexuality. Because I may include myself in that majority I can understand the relevance and the reactions her article stirred and brought forth among ourselves. Women, being body-centered, are perhaps more sensitive to issues relating to their appearance, stereotypical and social roles and expectations relating to who we are and how we are seen as women and sexual creatures. Some points brought forth are worth highlighting, Sarah H. reponded to the body image of women in terms of their sexuality and what they do to be attractive to men, she thought about "the ways in which women are responding to male sexuality everyday" and their desire to attract male attention can be viewed as "'servility and the display [and]...requisite presentation of self as a beautiful thing.'" Hydi furthered this point in her critique of Chodorow's article and shared the exercise she learned in her body image class which asked each person to visualize what motherhood or pregancy is. Hydi also argued the point of the universality of motherhood and that whatever a woman decided to do would be seen in view as a delay or denial of her true nature or purpose in life, motherhood. I agree with Hydi in that "motherhood is a learned institution. You BECOME a mother when you give birth." I also believe that one can also become a mother upon receiving a life into their own, thereby placing the responsibility and role of the primary caregiver not on the woman, but on the man or woman who chooses to "mother" the child. Haley made reference to this idea in her response to "The Psychodynamics of the Family". Chodorow's article was outdated in lieu of the dissappearing institution of the nuclear family. Haley was also disapointed by Chodorow's failure to attempt to address how to change the psychodynamics of the family.
Besides woman's role as nurturer she is also a subject of sexuality and the object of pornography. Sarah C. commented that MacKinnon "did not do an adequate job defining pornography." MacKinnon did not leave room in her devaluation of pornography for women's activism or the use of pornography as a tool for sexual empowerment or enjoyment among heterosexual and lesbian women alike. Pornography is in many respects degrading to women and an instructuional manual for male sexuality, however sex is not always portrayed as male oriented or violent in pornography. I am personally not a big fan of pornography. Whether or not I have experienced the spectrum of porn genres or not may be a factor. Generally speaking though, the market seems saturated for the male audience and is presented in such a manner that would be most appealing to men. If anyone would like to set me straight perhaps we could make a class field trip to explore feminist appealing pornography if such a thing exists.
Carly and Samantha both responded to Mackinnon's reference to sex as a violent act. Sex should be avoided as being seen as exclusively violent or violentless. Rape is a personal account and as Samantha put it, "It's just not true that whatever is sex cannot be violent; whatever is violent cannot be sex." Rape is a sexual act which empowers the rapist by virtue of the domination and control one person has over a deeply personal part/affair of another.
To conclude the summary I should mention the references made to the Hill Collins article on Black Feminism. The universality of understanding the oppression, struggles, and differences among the disciplines is a key goal that should be highlighted. Renee compared her experiences and attitudes towards her African American Womanhood class with her study of feminism. In understanding ourselves we need to attempt to understand and know others. Renee could not directly identify with African American womanhood but she could attempt to understand. In the same respect, "men may (and should) advocate feminism, but must simultaneouly recognize the limits to their understanding of women's experiences." From whatever standpoint we define and choose for ourselves we must strive to make it universal and interdisciplanary in nature, because we are not alone in this complex and highly integrated society.
-Jayna Turchek