"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.