Hope Inema Essays - Gender Role, Human Behavior, Role Theory, Gender

Hope Inema Essays - Gender Role, Human Behavior, Role Theory, Gender Hope Inema Bridget Keating WGST 100 December 2, 2016 Portfolio: XX Chromosomes For this assignment, I chose to write a poem about women. Women and Gender Studies as a course, focuses mostly on women and their place in society. It is however saddening, that such an accumulation of knowledge leads to an understanding and cruel reality of who women are in this world. It is a shame after all these years, to still see how women still have a hard time finding themselves in society; defining their goals and have the ability to achieve them regardless of the movements that say to have established equality and Rights for women. The first stanza of my poem focuses primarily on a set of questions that are often asked in my culture when a girl/woman steps out of her comfort zone which is seen as an abomination to society. An example I give is for instance, wearing a short/mini skirt as you get ready to step out of the house which in my culture is absolute insanity to have the audacity to wear short clothing whereas initially, the parents will then say "Go back and change that skirt, now!" If for any reason, that girl happened to get raped, most people would blame her clothing as the main cause of the tragedy instead of the person having committed the act of rape and word on the street would be that the victim was asking for it by dressing in such a manner. The second stanza of XX Chromosomes takes part in comparing men and women and how women get looked down on in society. In my culture, when a woman is educated enough about sex to discuss it freely, she is looked down upon and considered to have a "hunger of sex" whilst when it is the other way around, men are praised and believed to have "sexual appeal" or to be "intelligent". The third stanza calls for awareness to establish equality and stop misogyny as it describes women's pain and fears. The fourth stanza brings out the agony of women having their bodies despised and especially their vaginas. Yes, I said "vaginas" and that's the issue. Society feels like there should be a need to censor the word "vagina" because it is somewhat "vulgar" or the body part itself is considered "disgusting" because that is what society has been socialized to believe it is. It is absolutely agonizing to think that someone could have such a thought about a woman and her body when they were given birth to by one. The fifth stanza begs for women to have a definition in society and especially in my culture as their identification is linked to other people's like for instance, bearing your father's daughter as a title instead of your given name. It clarifies that the poem is more about standing for action rather than defining the problem and waiting for someone else to think about the solution before anything can be done about it. The last stanza stands for unity as we defy the remaining crumbs of injustice against women all over the world who still suffer silently; muffled up by the cycle of wrong-doings. It notifies that the time to act is now and that together unified, women are unstoppable. It points out how because of the injustice against women, some of them go under without ever being able to achieve their dreams and reach their goals while also pointing at the fact that some of their complaints are thrown right under the bus and a good example would be in this case, in the movie 'North Country' when single mother Josey, takes matters in her hand and decides to stand up against sexual harassment in the workplace but fails so many times to get across because she is undermined. Last but not least, the video at the end of my project, is a visual of the poem as words may not have the same effect on paper as opposed to actual sound. The video brings all the emotions to life as the words make more sense having a voice. The music in the background brings out the motion of the poem and how saddening the subject is. It is mainly