Don't ASK don't TELL

I attended a meeting for the military talking about the don't ask don't tell policy. It was a very interesting policy but it is in the repeal process. I believe the repeal is a good idea. Military life is very dangerous and if something happens to the military member and they are in a committed same sex relationship. The non military person will not get any benefits. As of right now benefits only work for same sex couples who are both in the military. The military has many programs that spouses can take part in but due to don't ask don't tell, same sex spouses can not take part in most programs. When there are parties thrown for military members they are encouraged to bring someone of the opposite sex which is not fair to partners of the same sex. I really hope the repeal goes through so that these families and couples can become and feel welcome into the military community. 

Cheerleading

Ok I must admit that I am a cheerleader but I am proud of it. The other day I was hanging out with some of my guy friends from home and I was telling them that I had cheerleading tryouts for the camp I work for in the summer. I made the mistake saying I hope that a lot of guys show up. all my friends were saying guy cheerleaders were homosexuals. I will admit there are some men who are gay but there are lesbian cheerleaders too. Most guys who cheer are cheerleaders because of the challenges. I try to explain to people that holding someone over your head with one hand is a lot more difficult than trying to get a basketball through a hoop. Why is it that when males join "women" oriented sports they are seen as "gay"? Cheerleading os one of the most dangerous sports there is. Gender roles and society tell us that cheerleading is for women but a co-ed cheerleading team is very powerful. Women and men need to be able to do the things that they enjoy without discrimination.


I have a few friends on this team both male and female, not the best video but shows some of the stunts men do. Now can you tell me a regular guy on the street could do this with no training?

Birthday

For my nephew's birthday my brother finally came home to see his son. There were many pictures taken of them together. After the pictures were posted to Facebook, everyone commented on how he was such a good dad. My brother was so nervous around him and did not really know how to handle him. Due to the pictures everyone got the wrong impression and this bothered me for some reason. For me he is not around enough to even be called a "father". There are a lot of men in the world who are trying their best to work hard at being a good dad and being there for their children but yet a few nice pictures influences people to think my brother is a good dad. Yes, he pays child support but his baby is growing up not knowing his dad. It makes me wonder if when his son is older if this will effect him in any way considering my brother got his current girl friend pregnant and he will be there for that baby but does not really show very much interest in seeing his current son. 

Women in Maddness

In My other Women's Studies class we talked about the term beautiful. We are reading a book called The Bluest Eye. We ranked the people in order of how they were perceived as beautiful in that book. The book is based a long time ago but still the ranking went from a white girl to a "high-yellow" girl, to a black girl. This is interesting to me because I feel that what we perceive as beautiful has somewhat shifted but somewhat stayed the same. Class seems to still be a factor because the more money you have the more "beautiful" you can make yourself. I hope people look beyond what a person looks like and takes into consideration their personal traits but i know that is not always the case. There are many black women who want to be lighter and white women who want to be tan. Who creates this for us and who tells us what is beautiful. In my opinion its the media. We seem to look to media for a lot of aspects in our life. Is this really what we want for future women? To have them look to the media for what is beautiful. you hear about all these young girls on "diets" and developing anorexia because they want to look like that models. Its a horrible feeling to me that I myself even let the media sway my opinion on what is beautiful and what is not. As women we need to fight this image and allow young girls to take pride in what they look like. Some women have started this fight but its going to take a lot more to change what society feels is "beautiful", and that really SUCKS!

NO!

Today I was walking to class and I over heard a couple or what I assumed to be a couple walking in front of me. They were talking about sex, which I am not sure why because I could hear them so they had to know others could too. So she told him that she did not want to be on birth control because she did not want to ruin her chances at becoming pregnant. He told her if she really loved him that she would be on birth control because condoms did not feel good for him. I could not believe what I was hearing. She told him she would have to think about it more. Ugh, why must men have that control over women? It is her decision and using the whole "if you love me" line is ridiculous. Why do men do that and why must women oppress to it. Women want to show their partner that they love them and I feel as if guys use it a lot to get what they want. I was so disappointed in this girl but I did not know them so I did not say anything but the whole conversation just blew my mind.

Gender Violence

Many of my friends have been victims of abuse. It also runs in my family on my father's side. Domestic violence is a horrible trend to have and fighting back to stop it is even harder. I watched my parents fight all the time and was even put in the middle at times. There were times when I tried to break up my father beating my brothers. When I was young I only remember by father doing the hitting but as I got older my mother started to hit. I am not sure if this is due to my mother dealing with it for years or if she had always done it and I did not remember. All I am trying to say is that it is not something easy to walk away from when it is the ones you love whom are hurting you. Its the little things that can trigger attacks too. When I was 10 years old I dropped a gallon of milk that my mother had just bought, thats all it took. She beat me and the next morning I could not move my neck. I had also seen my mother grab my grandmother and scream at her. It's hard to grow up with but what hurts the most is that I see it in my brothers when they drink. They both can get very mean, and it reminds me of what we went through. Since my parents divorce my mom is a lot better and I don't see my father which is probably the best thing for me. Domestic violence in my opinion is learned and it is hard to break but luckily I have had some really good role models in my life and I hope that my brothers also will use the tools they have not to carry on the violence when they have a family. 

Royal Wedding

So because of the Royal wedding that took place, I have been getting a lot of questions like "did you watch it at 3 in the morning?" or "Wasn't that wedding so beautiful?". I ask people why they get the feeling that I watched the wedding and most of them answered because I was a girl. SO! Just because I am a girl does not mean I have no other option but to watch the Royal Wedding. Yes, it is a historical event that took place but it did not really interest me all that much. Plus around the same time of the wedding was the horrible disaster that took place in the south from all the tornados that hit. Still, all you heard about was the wedding. Not that I am hateful towards the wedding but many lives were taken due to the storms and all anyone was talking about was the ROYAL WEDDING! Being a girl does not mean I have to take interest in the wedding. It is just another example of how gender roles are still played out and that a woman would want to watch a wedding because its the "womanly" or "girly" thing to do.