4th and Final Service Learning Blog : (

Monday my group and I had our last VOX bake sale/ tabling event. The event went well however we did not raise as much money as we did last time. The bake sale was a lot of fun in any event though. Taylor, Tiffany, and I for some reason have an obsession with sugar cookies or we are just psychic because that seem to all three always bring the same baked goods to these events. It is so sad to me to think that the semester is almost over and that soon class will be done and I won't get to see my group members on a weekly basis. 

My group and I also met up after school on Thursday to discuss our final service learning presentation. We divided up duties and discussed what we each wanted to include in the presentation. While, as I mentioned before, I am sad for the semester to end I am also excited to see the work that all the other groups did for their service learning projects. I am really looking forward to seeing what each group did and finding out if they had as much fun as we did. 

In regards to how I can relate this blog and our recent work on our project to the readings on globalization I would say that there is a strong correlation. The book defines globalization as "contemporary form of cultural and economic integration facilitated by electronic media, international financial institutions, trade agreements, and national immigration policies" (Kirk, G-3) however, when I think of globalization I think of 2 things: 1.) large American corporations moving into remote foreign parts of the world (ex- a McDonald's in the middle of rual Thailand or a Walmart in the jungles of the Amazon) and/ or 2.) 9 year olds getting paid $.25 and hour to work in the Walmart in the Amazon 15 hours a day with no bathroom breaks. Now that may not sound like it has anything to do with VOX let alone Planned Parenthood, but in my opinion they are very related. Like I said before when I think of globalization I think of big business and those 2 examples I just gave are huge American corporations that do not treat their employees well here in America so I can only imagine how they treat their employees in the 3rd world. Those people who work for those companies in foreign countries are not worth giving any kind of benefits in the eyes of those companies so they are going with out proper medical care or a wage that could go to pay for medical care. That is the same way their American counter parts are treated working for those companies. They are not given benefits and paid so little that they too can not afford to go see a physician. For American women the only place for them to go to have annual check ups and testing done would be a Planned Parenthood clinic. Many people take Planned Parenthood and its existance for granted but there are those who do not and take advantage of it's ever service. People in 3rd world countries would kill to have anything like a Planned Parenthood and would not for a second think about getting rid of it because they would recognize its value. 

As I write this the government is just hours away from shutting down. The reason for which is because the democrats and republicans can not agree on a number of hot button issues, one of those issues is Planned Parenthood. I don't expect much out of the right in this country because they have shown time and time again to be hateful and close-minded, but I sincerely hope that they grow hearts in the next few hours and acknowledge the importance of Planned Parenthood in the lives of thousands if not millions of women and girls in this country. Taking it away would be detrimental to so many people who depend on it regularly. I would rather see the government shut down then see some of the cuts made that they are asking for. This is a basic yet fundamentally important service and I fear we are about to see it disappear, and what is sickening is that women around the world would benefit greatly from Planned Parenthood's services and we are about to do away with it. If someone could find a women in the 3rd world and explain to her what was happening and what Planned Parenthood was she would no doubt think we were a country of mental patients.

Work Cited

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa- Rey. "Women's Bodies, Women's Health." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Kirk, Gwyn and Margot Okazawa- Rey. McGraw Hill, 2010. G-3.

Service Learning Blog Entry #3

Tomorrow is our 2nd and final VOX bake sale! I am excited and a little sad to be honest. I'm excited because our last bake sale was so fun and we made so much money, but I am also sad because it signals to me that the semester is almost over. I know that for some students that is great but for me I have really enjoyed my first semester here and I will not be going to summer school so I will have to wait until the fall to see everyone I have met again. 


Initially I thought this project would be a drag honestly. I would when I am not at school and I was not sure how I would do with the after class requirements that this project calls for, but I have so enjoyed the experience! It has been such a great learning experience! I have gotten to work with an organization that I really believe in and met people that in any other class I may not have had the opportunity to talk to and get to know. I am grateful for this project! 


Working with VOX can relate to the chapter we were just talking about it class on violence against women because the services that Planned Parenthood provides can be vital to a women who was the victim of sexual violence. "One in four U.S. college women was a victim of rape or attempted rape" (Kirk, 262). If a women is raped or sexually assaulted she may feel guilty about it. She has no reason to feel that way but it is normal and as a result she may not want to go see her regular physician for any kind of testing that may be needed to confirm that she has not contracted any STD's from the ordeal. She can go to Planned Parenthood and be tested without feeling like she is being judged. 


A women can also take advantage of the facility if she finds that she is pregnant as a result of being raped and wants to have an abortion. Beyond that though Planned Parenthood provides regular women's health services for women without the need for insurance to women who may not be able to normally get it. In an abusive home situation a man may not allow a women to work and get benefits for herself and without Planned Parenthood she may not have the opportunity to get preventative screenings. "Every year, as many as 4 million American women are physically abused by men who promised to love them" (Kirk, 260). 


Work Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa- Rey. "Women's Bodies, Women's Health." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Kirk, Gwyn and Margot Okazawa- Rey. McGraw Hill, 2010. 260, 262.

Women and the Workforce Assignment- Working Girl

Working Girl- (1988)
Working Girl is the story of Tess McGill who comes from a working class town, but dreams of being something big. She gets a job working for Katherine Parker, a high profile business woman and and after reading an article tells Parker about an idea for a business venture she thinks could be profitable. Parker takes the idea no where and after she breaks her leg while skiing out of the country Tess takes the idea to another company while posing to be taking Katherine's position. 


This is one of my favorite movies, and in my opinion it is a perfect example of women in the work place. 


In Working Girl Tess is seen as a nobody. The women that surround her in the town she is from are only concerned with getting married and settling down. Tess is proposed to in the movie and turns it down because she wants more then that. She sees marrying her boyfriend from her town as settling, but even if she did want to get married I get the impression that she wouldn't because she probably thinks that in order to really make it in the fast paced New York City business world she would need to focus entirely on that and forgo a family life of any kind to focus entirely on her career. 


To the women that she surrounds herself with back home they get the impression from her that she thinks she is better then them and the people she finds herself working for see her as brainless. In the beginning of the movie Tess turns to a male co-worker to help teach her things about the industry that they are in even though she is just a secretary and this co-worker tells her that she should meet with a friend of his. This friend and Tess meet but his only intention is to sexually harass her and when she doesn't give in to his advances he actually kicks her out of his vehicle. This just shows how this man saw her as nothing but a sexual object and never as a person with feelings or aspirations. 


After getting a new job she gets the idea for a merger that could very profitable but no one wants to listen to her because it is assumed that because she does not have a college degree she does not know what she is talking about. It is only once she pretends to be a high powered business women and present her idea that people start to take notice. The work that she is doing at this point is seen as important, but the effort that she took to have the work recognized as important was far more then perhaps a man would have had to undergo. 


Women in this movie are shown as being able to do both spectrums of work, high level executive work and entry level work however the majority of the women in the offices that are shown in the movie are doing entry level or secretary jobs. Only Tess and Katherine Parker are shown in any position higher then that. The only other people in the high up positions are men.


I believe that this movie very well ties to the issues discussed in the Making a Home, Making a Living chapter in the text. Tess choses to forgo a family life to try her hand at having a successful career, but that should not be a choice she has to make. It is unfair to not be able to do both, but to avoid "mommy tracking" she had to make a decision (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 309). In the text book being mommy taxed could cost "between $600,000- $700,000" (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 309). That is ridiculous! It is so unfair to think that just because a person choses to have a family and care for them that they would be penalized by their employer. All those people who would impose this "mommy tax" on women in the work place have mothers themselves so I can't understand why there is not more tolerance for that job. 


Even though in the movie Katherine Parker is in the position that Tess would like to aspire to, as I said before she and later Tess are the only women in a position of power. Other then them there are only men that are in powerful positions with them. Having said that it is never stated how much money Katherine makes or let alone Tess, however I would be willing to bet that they make considerably less then their male counter-parts. "Women who worked full time year round earned 77 cents for every dollar that men earned in 2006" (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 310). That was in 2006, so I can't imagine how much less women were making in 1988. Something else to think about was that that figure was for white women and if Working Girl were filmed today that would be the figure to go by roughly because they were white. For women of color though it is even sadder. "African American women the figure was 70 cents and 58 cents for Latinas" (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 310). 




Work Cited: 
Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa- Rey. "Women's Bodies, Women's Health." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Kirk, Gwyn and Margot Okazawa- Rey. McGraw Hill, 2010. 309, 310.

2nd Service Learning Blog

As we had planned my group and I had our tabling event on February 28th. It was very successful and really fun! Each one of us brought the baked goods that we said we would and tabled from 10-2 but we got there at 9 to set up. As a group we made over $30 and for a baked sale where we were only selling things for $.50- $1.00 I'd say that was really good, and Rachel the VOX president was very happy with the out come. 

Since our first bake sale/ tabling event we have decided to have another one on Monday April 3rd. I am looking forward to it as I am really enjoying this Service Learning Project. With everything that is happening in the country in regards to the Republicans/ Tea Party trying to stop the federal funding of Planned Parenthood it makes it especially important to me that I chose to work with VOX for the Service Learning Project. It is an organization I really believe in and have learned a lot more about. 

Planned Parenthood/ VOX are so helpful to the community, and without them it would be a great disservice. In our class readings this week we discussed sexuality and the idea that it does/ can mean so much more then what we think of it and it relates so much to the service that Planned Parenthood plays or can play in one's life. It is so important for girls and women to understand that their bodies are beautiful and one's sexuality is nothing to feel ashamed of as often times girls can feel. In Cisnero's article she describes the tremendous shame she felt as a youth. She says "we hid when we undressed, modestly facing a wall... Womanhood was full of mysteries. I was as ignorant about my own body" (Kirk, Gwyn, Margo Okazawa-Rey 2010, pg 164-165). That shame that societal institutions can inflict can be detrimental to women and girls. It can cause them to become ignorant of things like the importance of going to the gynocologist for checkups and safe sex. 

In the book it says that "for many teens, sex is a 'rite of passage' "(Kirk, Gwyn, Margo Okazawa-Rey 2010, pg 153) and I think that is true. For those girls that are in high school and want to have sex or are having sex they may not feel comfortable going to their parents to discuss the issue so a place like Planned Parenthood is good for them because they can go there and at least ask questions about things they may be feeling or questions about their bodies that they have. "The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among industrialized nations"(Kirk, Gwyn, Margo Okazawa-Rey 2010, pg 153). That is crazy when you think that in this country we spend so much money on making war in other people's countries and trying to make them "better" but we want to cut spending in this country to the programs that could and or do make this country better.

Work Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa- Rey. "Women's Sexuality." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives.  Kirk, Gwyn and Margot Okazawa- Rey. McGraw Hill, 2010. 153, 164-165.

Extra Credit- The Business of Being Born Vs. One Born Every Minute.

While in class we watched the Business of Being Born, and it really changed my mind about the ideas I had for when I have a child. I am pro-midwifery now, and when the time comes I would like to have a home birth. With that being said the show One Born Every Minute did not change my mind.

The only option I really knew about, prior to the movie, in regards to birthing was a hospital birth. Now knowing that there are other options there are things about the home birth that I love versus traditions/ rules about hospital births that I really dislike. I loved that the women that had home births could freely move and take off all thier clothes so that they are completely comfortable. The women on One Born Every Minute remained in a laying down stationary position. That gives me feelings of illness. I guess because when your sick you are told to lay down and not to move. Having a baby is a happy time and certainly not anything like a sickness. The women in the hospital look incredibly uncomfortable!

Something else I loved about home births are that there are no drugs involved. As a person who does not like taking medication I always hated the idea that I would have to get "drugged up" at the hospital in order to have a baby. Its refreshing to know that is NOT the case with a home birth. I want to be able to remember and feel every moment of the birth of my child. On One Born Every Minute the mother-to-be named Kristian was asked if she wanted an epidural relatively shortly after she began experiencing what looked like only uncomfortable cramps. From what we discussed in class what she was experiancing was not hard labor. She even admitted that she didn't have luck with them in the past, but she still wanted to take it anyway. That made no sense to me. It is almost like she took the epidural just because that is what was expected or "normal".

The fathers in One Born Every Minute are also less engaged and involved then that of the fathers who are involved in the home births. 
 
Another issue was that the experiences of the women of One Born Every Minute are scary. Even though they try to make the show light-hearted the experience of those women appear much more tense then those of the mothers in The Business of Being Born. Those women seem so at peace and calm. They are in pain but it is not the agony that the One Born Every Minute mothers are feeling. I was frankly always afraid of the idea of giving birth one day because all the horror stories that are shown on television and movies, but while things can happen with home deliveries they don't seem to happen as frequently.


I also did not like that Nikki, one of the One Born Every Minute mothers, was told that because she was not dilating fast enough for her doctors they might have to give her a C-section. She was really scared about that idea and I would be too, but they didn't really seem to care that much. That is terrible! She should be able to be in labor for as long as it take for the child to be born naturally. The nurse said that the baby was under stress being in labor so long, but I don't know that I believe that after watching The Business of Being Born. I say that because in that movie the doctors interviewed admit that some doctors will say anything to speed the birth along and it seemed that they are counting on an average mother's ignorance. In the hospital setting it seems that the only people who know what is "best" for the baby is the doctor and the mothers just go along with it. Whereas, with the mothers in the movie who had the home birth with the mid-wife were made comfortable enough that they could freely speak their minds and say how they feel and what they wanted to do. In those cases the power was given back to the mothers. 

I have to say ultimately I know that the option of having a mid-wife or hospital birth depends on certain factors, but I sincerely hope that I am able to have a home birth because the benefits far out way any risk in my opinion.

Service Learning Project: Blog Entry #1

Monday is our major service learning event, and I am really excited about it! We are working with VOX, and as a group we decided to do a bake sale as our project with the proceeds going back into the organization. Tonight I made a poster for our table, and over the weekend I am going to be getting the baked goods and wrapping them so they are ready for Monday. We are tabling from 10-2 on Monday, but as a group we are getting to school at 9am so we can set up. I am so happy that I have the group members that I do! They are awesome! Everyone in my group is just as committed and excited about this project as the next person, and I couldn't be happier about that. With this being my first semester at U.C.F. I was concerned about making friends, and this project has been such a great way to meet people. At first I admit that I had reservations about doing a group project because you never know if one person is going to flake and not keep up with their responsibilities but I was wrong. Not only am I pleasantly surprised about the work that everyone is doing, but I really feel like I am making good friends in the process. 

Our work with this organization relates back to the women's health issues we have been discussing the past few classes. In the text book chapter 5 is all about women's health and on page 211- 214 one of the sections I thought was very informative was the section about reproductive health specifically the different kinds of birth control that are out there for women (Kirk, Gwyn, Margo Okazawa-Rey 2010, pg 211-214). The information throughout the chapter, but specifically the about controlling fertility was very helpful. That is the kind of information that women should know and that unfortunately many do not. For that reason and organization like Planned Parenthood/ VOX is so important. Planned Parenthood provides women's health care and information to women who for whatever reason would otherwise not have access to it. VOX being the U.C.F. branch of Planned Parenthood also provides information and can refer students to plan parenthood. I also think it is interesting to be working with them now given all the controversy with Republicans trying to ban Planned Parenthood in the news over the past couple of weeks.

These are incredibly important services because women's health issues if not addressed can be deadly and a women needs to regular check for prevention.

Work Cited (MLA style):

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa- Rey. "Women's Bodies, Women's Health." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives.  Kirk, Gwyn and Margot Okazawa- Rey. McGraw Hill, 2010. 211-214.

Analysis of an Advertisement project: Diesel- "Be Stupid" Campaign

The ads seen above are just two from Diesel's current campaign called "Be Stupid". They are found both online and in certain magazines. 


What appeals to me?: 
These ads appeal to me negatively because they are exploiting women as sexual objects, and the company is making no effort at all to hide that intention. The name of the campaign, "Be Stupid" and the women in these pictures are being portrayed as sexually promiscuous and dumb. These ads are not concerned with showing anything personal about them or listening to anything they have to say, because they are no longer thoughtful women. This ad takes that away from them. These women now are objects and objects don't have thoughts or feelings. 


What mood or tone does it set with its images?
The tone of the ads are meant to be fun and uninhibited. I understand that. However, it does not take away from the fact that they are being reckless. This is telling any young girl that in order to be perceived as "fun" you have to take off your clothes and loose any sense of self preservation. 


What are the explicit/ implicit meanings of the slogan or text?
Explicit meaning- Don't think. Don't use your brain because then you will miss out of the fun of life. In these cases what is "fun" is being an exhibitionist, and if you stop to think about what you are doing for too long you will realize it is a bad idea and not do it. 
Implicit meaning- Being cool means being dumb. If you want to be sexy and popular and desired then you should be as vapid as possible. Don't think and if you do keep it to yourself. If you are a young women and impressionable then the underlying meaning of this campaign is telling you that the only way you are worth anything is if you are throwing your inhibitions to the wind and doing what looks like fun regardless of the consequences. 


What is the ad trying to sell?
The ad is selling clothing. Diesel is a men and women's clothing company aimed at young people. In the top ad it appears they are specifically showing a bathing suit and in the bottom ad I am unsure if they are selling the jeans, the shoes, or both. 


What does the ad assume?
This ad assumes that the audience will enjoy the images and laugh at them, which you almost have to do if you are a free thinking and intelligent person. I know I laughed when I first saw these advertisements, but not for the reasons that they want you to laugh. I did not laugh because I thought the ads were particularly clever or because they were legitimately funny. I laughed because I could not believe the gall of this company to put out such an overtly offensive ad. I should not have been surprised though from the company that only a couple of seasons ago brought the world the "Sex Sells" ad campaign. Compared to that gem the "Be Stupid" campaign sounds like Rhodes Scholars came up with it. 


These ads are outright offensive. They are degrading towards women and should be boycotted. Any young women who sees these ads in a magazine will see that in the eyes of this company women are mindless and sexually impulsive vessels, and that is not true. "The aim is to promote insecurity, self hatred, and distorted perceptions of size, appetite, and attractiveness so that we will consume the countless products, diet plans, and cosmetic surgeries marketed to remedy our alleged deficiencies"(Kirk/ Okazawa-Rey, 208). Women are all beautiful, thoughtful, and have great amounts of potential, but this collection of ads in Diesel's "Be Stupid" campaign does not touch on any of those things. These ads feature images of models that provide unrealistic body image expectations for girls. In the article Women's Bodies, Women's Health there is an entire section dedicated to these issues and it states "advertising images can severely undermine girls' self-confidence and sense of agency" (Kirk/ Okazawa-Rey, 208). 




Work Cited
1.) Gwyn Kirk & Margo Okazawa-Rey, "Women's Bodies, Women's Health," in Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspective (New York: McGraw- Hill, 2010), 208.