Activism Blog #2

1)      To begin service learning for this week, Amanda and I met with Abigail at the Wellness Center to label and distribute boxes for the drive that we organized for Harbor House, the local domestic violence women’s shelter. After the decorating was complete, we placed one box in the Wellness Center and the other box in the Women’s Studies office in Colbourn Hall. I enjoyed the creative and relaxing aspect of decorating the boxes, but I wish that we had begun the drive earlier in the semester for a more successful drive with more donations. On Friday night and Saturday evening, I was a volunteer for Active Minds, who hosted their national convention at the University of Central Florida this year. During my Friday shift, I assisted in checking people in and assuring that they arrived at the correct destinations for their presentations. On Saturday, I mainly aided the coordinator at the merchandise counter, lending a hand to help people find the correct size and color for their purchase and also handling transactions. I actually liked volunteering at the conference a significant amount more than I expected to.  I wish that I had gotten the chance to actually participate in the conference and sit in on some of the presentations instead of working behind the scenes, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Active Minds employees and the other volunteers who I had the chance to meet in the process, most (actually upon reflection, all) women who each had interesting backdrops to how they ended up at the conference.

2)      Working with Mentors in Violence Prevention, we predominately focus on male violence toward women in heterosexual intimate relationships. This directly correlates with the concept of ecofeminism, defined as “the connection between the dominations of women and the domination of nature,” based upon “masculinist social institutions and the destruction of the physical environment” ( Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 539). The patriarchal society in which we live in and contribute to bases its authority through the supremacy of men in our social, political, and economic systems. Just as women are sexualized in our society, which systematically contributes to heterosexual domestic partner violence, “in western thought, nature is often feminized and sexualized through imagery such as ‘virgin forest,’ ‘the rape of the earth,’ and ‘penetrating’ the wilderness” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 539). From a dualistic standpoint, the male-connoted terms such as “ culture, mind…[and] civilized… are valued over nature, body, female, [and] primitive, which are thought of as ‘other’ and inferior”(Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 539).  Furthermore, by working with Active Minds last weekend and watching ‘The Story of Stuff’ in lecture, I saw the relationship between the toxicity of the products that we as humans, but primarily we as women, put on our bodies and mental illness. Many of the ingredients that are not regulated by the government, which is dominated by men, or companies who produce cosmetics and personal care products, who are predominately men, have been proven to cause neurotoxicity, which may conceivably contribute to female mental illness.

3)      Our unit on ecofeminism really fascinated me, as I define myself as a life-long environmental activist and feminist. I had never even fathomed that the two were related though, and upon analysis, I’m fascinated and shocked all at once. It makes more sense to me why I find acts of oppressing women and pillaging the environment both so disturbing when I view them both as byproducts of male domination within our society. Consequentially, because this unavoidable connection within our social system, advocating for one injustice also indirectly serves as avocation for the other. By working with Mentors in Violence Prevention, I am playing a small part in the insistence of respect for all of humankind, regardless of gender, and the environment in which we live.  

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. "Women and the Environment ." Women's lives: multicultural perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 539. Print.

Service Learning Log #1

1)      This week in service learning, our group met with Abigail Malick, our community partner coordinator, on Tuesday morning and discussed service learning opportunities for the remainder of the semester. We definitively set on organizing a drive for Harbor House, the local Domestic Violence Shelter. This meeting was definitely beneficial, because up to this point in the semester, it has seemed as though our service learning has been somewhat up in the air. MVP is a relatively new and small organization on campus, with Abigail harboring most of if not all of the organization’s responsibilities on her own. This being said, our organization of what we planned for our service learning this semester has had to be revised due to time restraints for our original proposal of hosting “Amy’s Story”, a documentary illustrating a real story of a woman who lost her life due to domestic violence, giving a face and a name to the issue. Next week I believe that we should start to designate drop sites for the goods that we will be collecting, advertise for the drive, and start collecting the items that people donate. Next week when we actually being to accumulate donations, I’ll feel much more secure in the progress of our service learning.

2)      Harbor House Seeks to eliminate domestic violence by providing safety, shelter, counseling, and education while advocating for justice within Central Florida. Often victims of domestic violence, and especially sexual assault, are also victims of the phenomenon of “victim blaming.” A large part of violence toward women is blamed on women embracing their sexuality and the media’s exploitation of women’s bodies and glorification of violent acts. “There is a heavy emphasis on sexuality in advertising, news reporting, and popular culture sometimes characterized as ‘pornification’ of media culture” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 149).  This misrepresentation of female sexuality not only is detrimental to the self esteem of adolescent girls but also misinforms young men concerning the amount of respect that women should be treated with, romanticizing impossible beauty standards and increasing compliance with violent acts toward women.

3)      What I am getting, and what I expect to continue gaining through working with Mentors in Violence Prevention throughout the rest of the semester is a widened perspective. Learning that “domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women—more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined” (domesticviolencestatistics.org) and that “every 9 seconds in the US a woman is assaulted or beaten” (domesticviolencestatistics.org) was startling and frankly they were incredibly disturbing statistics to hear. Post disturbance( if one could actually get past that), I felt angry that women were be preyed upon in such a manner, being utilized as human punching bags and thrown around like rag dolls, until one day things get a little out of hand and someone’s sister, mother, daughter, or friend ends up six feet under the ground. From a feminist activist’s standpoint, I feel the need to protect the women in the world from being subjected to this violence, and to encourage others to view women as human beings that should be loved and respected instead of objectified.

"Domestic Violence Statistics | Domestic Violence Statistics." Domestic Violence Statistics | 2010 and 2009 Abuse Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/domestic-violence-statistics/>.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. "Women's Sexuality." Women's lives: multicultural perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 149-160. Print.

"Legislative Lunch with Gloria Steinem"

Jamie Crenshaw

Professor Meredith Tweed

WST 3015-001

26 October 2012

“Legislative Lunch with Gloria Steinem” Campus Engagement Reflection

            The Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union was packed long before Ms. Steinem was introduced. Seeing as my last class of the morning ended ten minutes before the event, I was planning on slipping in just as the speakers began, but fortunately my class was canceled and I was there well before the presentation started and ensured myself a seat. I was somewhat surprised to see other members of the community that did not seem to be from the university in the crowd.

            I had never heard of Gloria Steinem before I decided to attend her luncheon to fulfill my campus engagement requirement, but apparently I was the minority. After attending the event and telling my family and the woman that I babysit for that I saw her speak, they instantly knew who I was referring too and stated that they wished that they knew that she was coming so that they could have driven an hour to campus to attend.

            Ms. Steinem was utterly enchanting. Even without reading her literature or knowing of her reputation in the world of activism, I found myself captivated by the calm, thoughtful, and humble demeanor in which she stated her incredibly insightful speech and responses to questions from the audience. Personally, the candidates’ stances on the issue of women’s rights this year’s presidential election has been arguably the most influential factor in my choice of which candidate I have chosen to endorse. Surprisingly, this hasn’t seemed to be as much of reasoning in my friends and peers’ decisions as I would have supposed it to be, which made attending a seminar focused upon this connection of women and politics so enticing. 

            Ms. Steinem emphasized the importance of each individual’s vote in this campaign, particularly every woman’s vote, and how with each ballot casted we are essentially defining the values we are setting for our country. While Ms. Steinem never explicitly endorsed President Obama, in the current political context, it was clear that she was appealing to a significantly liberal audience. Although I found the focused topic of women and politics incredibly interesting, I wish that the “Legislative Lunch” would have lasted a little longer, giving Ms. Steinem the opportunity to expand upon general feminist activism and the correlation between fighting for women’s rights and fighting for other forms of oppression, such as racism and LGBTQ discrimination, as well as developing her thoughts on environmental activism. Overwhelmingly the most influential message she left with me was of the beautifully haunting metaphor that she used to describe inspiring activism, which she described not as just to “light (her) own flame, but to use (her) flame to light other’s torches.”  

Summary of the Beauty Ideal

“Dominant U.S. culture often reduces women to bodies, valuing us only as sex objects or as bearers of children” (Kirk Okazawa-Rey 208). Many feminists view the culture that our daughters are maturing in as toxic to their “physical, emotional, and spiritual health” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 211). The societal pressure to obtain an exclusive and often unobtainable status of beauty in our society often drives women and young girls into shame at their bodies, compromising their confidence to pursue achievements. This narrow designation that beauty is “defined as think, lean, tall, young, white, and heterosexual, with flawless skin and well-groomed hair”( Kirk Okazawa-Rey 208), leaves little to no room for women of differing statures, races, ethnicity  or idiosyncrasies that create diversity within our society. It is this pressure for the masses to conform to this impossible beauty archetype that often negatively affects the health of the women in our society, is what has created this body-image epidemic. Media reinforces these ideals in every aspect of our society, bombarding us with advertisements, reality television shows, magazine articles in line at the grocery store, pornography, backing up the “multi-billion dollar beauty industry that sees women’s bodies as a series of problems in need of correction…aim[ing]to promote insecurity, self-hatred, and distorted perceptions” (Kirk Okazawa-Rey 208). Lesbian, older women, and women who are deemed overweight are especially subject to judgment from the beauty industry from deviating from mainstream culture. Large women are often shunned for not conforming to the pressures of the beauty ideal, and have to face America’s obsession with weight loss along with the stereotype “that they are sloppy, irresponsible, undisciplined, depressed, sexless, unwanted, or unhealthy” (Kirk Okazawa Rey-209).  The notion that all large women are unhealthy is one that we must combat, and often orders to lose weight are based more off of societal norms than diagnostics.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

The Purity Myth: Campus Engagement Reflection

Jamie Crenshaw

Professor Meredith Tweed

WST 3015-0001

4 October 2012

The Purity Myth: Campus Engagement Reflection

             Growing up in a small beachside community it felt as though everyone knew everything about everyone. Personal information, if one was not careful, very quickly became public knowledge. As I grew older and entered high school, it became evident the subject gossip predominately focused on- sex. I was born into a very sheltered household with very sheltered friends; my mother would not even let me watch One Tree Hill on Tuesday nights as a young teenager. Entering high school as freshman I remember being shocked when I first heard of girls my age, many of whom I had known since kindergarten, cashing in their V-Cards. I was even more shocked when a girl in my grade became pregnant and dropped out. Entering my senior year, a little older and a little more fluent in the social workings of high school, it seemed that a large percentage of people that I knew were having sex.

I had always been starkly the most liberal of my close friends, whom were almost uniformly conservative wholesome girls that were extremely active in their church communities. In my last year of high school it seemed that this divide between our superficial disagreements deepened to a core level, although we remained very close. I was witness to many discussions about the religious holiness of remaining pure until marriage, which soon evolved into arguments as soon as I entered the discussion. All bejeweled with purity rings in place of future wedding bands, my friends were very public with their decision of staying “pure” until marriage, a decision that I accept wholeheartedly. One night after politely declining to attend a Christian concert and purity ring discussion with them they inquired about the reasons about my decision. I replied, “Because I don’t believe that my virginity defines me as a good or a bad person.” It was at that moment that I finally created into coherent thoughts (with ironically simple words) my stance on this issue that society seemed to be pulling me in two opposite directions about.

Dr. Santra’s introduction into the documentary “The Purity Myth: The Virginity Movement’s War Against Women”, was both lighthearted and humorous on a serious topic, and extremely enlightening. It was comforting hearing an educated and successful women’s experience with processing the societal tug of war between a conservative upbringing and social pressure to have sex. The documentary effectively deconstructed the subjects of the Virginity Movement that I found myself having issues with, but had never actually critically broken down into why- such as the ceremonial patriarchal transfer of property at weddings and the double standard in regard to how we condemn or applaud the virgin status of men and women in our society. The program also successfully highlighted aspects of the movement that I had never before considered, such as the exclusive archetype of a virginal female.

I found particularly disturbing the segment of the documentary focused around the Virginity Pledges being forced upon young girls, the majority of whom-in my opinion- cannot possibly be old enough to grasp the magnitude of their vows, whom attend large production daddy-daughter dances complete with tiny white dresses and ceremonial swords. The opposing perspectives presented in the piece, portrayed by radical abstinence only advocates and politicians, asserting that affordable and readily available access to birth control would simply increase the promiscuity of our youth and create social chaos, instead of simply protecting them from unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases resonated throughout the room and visibly angered the audience.

 Leaving the presentation, I felt thankful that I grew up in a family that respects the decisions that I make for my own body, choosing to define their sentiments toward me more on how I treat those around me, my vision, and my character than on my sexual status, and ascetic commitment to a ring of silver.

Service Learning Proposal- MVP

Service Learning Proposal For MVP (Mentors in Violence Prevention)
By: Emily Leiter
Raati Kumar
Racara Jackson
Jamie Crenshaw
Amanda Santos
Fadia Braktia
September 26, 2012
Meredith Tweed
WST 3015-0001

Community Partner Profile:

Community Partner: MVP (The Mentors in Violence Prevention)
Contact: Abigail Malick

Community Partner Mission Statement: “MVP provides the leadership necessary, within sport and beyond, to address the global issues of sexism – especially men’s violence against women. In our advocacy efforts and training programs, we educate, inspire and empower men & women to prevent, interrupt and respond to sexist abuse” (MVP).

MVP is an organization put together to bring awareness to sexual abuse. Motivate and educate students on prevention against violence on gender and bullying. Their goals are to inform students on violence accruing against men/women and help bring light to those everyday issues happening. Also, the organization will be challenging and developing their volunteers to inspire and inform others on potentially dangerous situation.


Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: ‘’MVP was founded in 1993 by Northeastern University for the Study of Sport in Society and the National Consortium for Academics & Sports. The multi-racial MVP Program was designed to train male college and high school student-athletes and other student leaders to use their status to speak out against rape, battering, sexual harassment, gay-bashing, and all forms of sexist abuse and violence’’ (MVP).

Still today many schools are using the MVP program to bring awareness to those issues. The program is influencing individual to have a voice and helps to prevent accruing situations.  They have events protesting and informing student on sexual abuse, bullying, rape, violence’s, and gay-bashing. MVP allowing those who have or have not been victims stand up and fight to prevent these issues from happening.

The Proposal

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a service learning project to benefit Mentors in Violence Prevention. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of a Community Outreach project, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 3015, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the both the Service Learning project and the community partner.

Need for volunteers for the Community Outreach Program

The Mentors in Violence Prevention program acts to prevent violence against women. Their main goal is to raise awareness of violence against women, and to educate everybody on ways to prevent such violence. Our community does not see domestic violence as being as serious and other forms of violence. MVP strives to make people understand that this violence is, in fact, preventable. Through different trainings, MVP achieves their goal of prevention by having volunteers look at the subject of domestic violence differently, not just as this taboo subject that nobody wants to address. It is MVP’s hope that through these trainings, participants will become inspired to be leaders in our community, when it comes to dealing with domestic violence and educating others about ways to prevent such violence.

Plan Proposal:

Throughout the semester, MVP will have various activities to raise awareness of men’s acts of violence against women.  Some of these activities include screenings of victims’ documentaries, such as Telling Amy’s Story, at least once a month. Another activity in which MVP hopes to raise awareness of violence against women is through holding brown-bag lunches, in which people discuss attitudes toward abuse while having lunch together. During these lunches, participants will be talking about abuse in society with scenarios that people can relate to. To advertise these events, volunteers will create flyers and posters to be displayed around campus, advertise via social networks like Facebook. We will also be sponsoring a table in front of the Student Union, as well as making announcements in class inviting people to attend and support the organization. MVP will invite local community partners involved with domestic violence to attend the activities as well.

I will be part of a team of volunteers that will dedicate our time and effort into this organization, educating people about domestic violence, bullying, hazing, as well as its implications. By informing others, especially women, of our individual rights I can take part in making this community, state, and country domestic violence free and become better citizens.

Rationale for Women’s Studies:

By seeking to end domestic violence, particularly against women and concentrated in intimate relationships, Mentors in Violence Prevention greatly relates to Women’s Studies, especially second wave feminism. Second Wave feminism focused on men’s control over women’s sexuality, which manifests itself in gender roles, family relationships, heterosexuality, and male violence against women (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey-12). Even with the advancements made in the area of domestic violence against women, it is still a pressing issue that affects many around us, whether we are conscious of it or not.

MVP’s mission is to provide awareness to both men and women, as well as provide effective and quality training for facilitators and the community on how to intervene and become an activist to end domestic violence, or at least bring the issue to light. Training sessions are held in the form of Brown Bag Lunches, in which a particular issue or aspect of mediation is discussed. By organizing a viewing of the documentary “Telling Amy’s Story”, MVP is illustrating the potential consequences of bystanders taking a passive backseat in a violent domestic relationship, and presents alternative actions to take to help bring women out of dangerous relationships and prevent them from entering them. By emphasizing the often silent topic of domestic violence against women, MVP is bringing a voice to the issue in hopes of protecting and empowering the women of today and the future.

Action:

I have already met with Abigail Malick, the UCF Campus Coordinator of Mentors in Violence Prevention, to discuss volunteer opportunities available this semester. In addition to contacting her regularly, I will be helping to organize, as well as attend, brown bag lunches and be involved in organizing and advertising for the screening of “Telling Amy’s Story.”

Timeline:

The Service Learning Project will be completed approximately November 20, 2012. The dates that have been listed may change, due to other activities that might become available throughout the semester. Also the Social Media Blogs are continuous throughout the semester; there is no specified deadline as of now.  

1. Invite people for the Brown Bag Lunch-In -October 3
2. Make flyers for Tell Amy’s Story -October 8
3. Social Media Advertising - October 12
4. Brown Bag lunch-In - October 17    
5. Tell Amy’s Story - October 24            
6. Invite people for Brown Bag Lunch - October 31
7. Brown Bag Lunch - November 14  
 8. Social Media Blogs - (no specified date)

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Mentors in Violence Prevention. 2009.

WORD COUNT:1,150

Welcome Letter

Hi there!

My name is Jamie Crenshaw, and I am a sophomore at UCF, although this is my first year on campus. I am a nursing major, and am taking Women's Studies because I am particularly interested in possibly pursuing a career in women's health.  

I think that Women's Studies is an important topic to study because I feel as though it is an area that needs to be highlighted and discussed more in our modern time. The girls of my generation are now reaching the point where they become the women of my generation, and for the most part we are ignorant of the freedoms that we have that have been given to us by the women before us. By exploring the idea of what it means for us to be a woman or man, I think helps us more fully develop our identity as an individual.

I think that our society is mainly what dictates the difference between men and women, aside from the obvious anatomical and hormonal differences. Culture tells us what is "apropriate" for women and for men in our society, and when individuals or groups dispute these formed classifications, fear is the result. From an early age, boys and girls are treated and primed differently by being exposed to what our cultures, almost unconsciously, deem gender appropriate; Boys grow up playing with toy trucks and dreaming of becoming soldiers while little girls are often put in pink ruffled dresses and dream of becoming princesses.

I value being a woman, find that a lot of the characteristics of being a woman that are seen as weaknesses, such as childbearing, should actually be viewed as values of strength. I think that men and women should be viewed as equal, but certain qualities of each should be celebrated. That being said, I believe that anyone should be able to act in anyway that he/she pleases without the restraint of gender roles, and as soon as we learn to accept differences in our culture, then we can celebrate a more welcoming humanity.