Week 4- Careers with Women's Studies

Well, I actually am a Women's Studies major (Poli Sci currently, but I am changing). But I want to go to law school. There are many classes that interest me, and that I think would help me for my future career (though I'm not exactly sure what that is going to be). Obviously Women and the Law. If the class really studies cases involving women like our guest speaker said, then I think I am going to love it! I really, really enjoy learning about court cases- especially the Supreme Court. Also, Gender, Power, and Leadership in Politics and Administration; Gender, Law and Human Rights and Women Creating Social Change look really interesting. In all honestly, all of them look interesting :). I am in Women in the Military right now, and though I didn't have much previous knowledge about the military, it has turned out to be one of the most interesting classes that I have taken. It really fires me up to know that women still have positions closed to them.

I know I want to go to law school, but I honestly am not sure what I want to do after that. I think that I would really enjoy being a judge, but I know it's not a job that you can just go apply for. I know I need a little experience with the law before I can even run for a judgeship. But I know that I wouldn't enjoy working for a corporate lawfirm. I have thought about being a human rights lawyer or working in some way for women's rights.

My work history is not extensive, and only my current internship applies in any way to what I want to do in the future. I have an internship with the Lt. Gov. I love it, not only because I get to be at the Capitol and meet legislators and sit in committee meetings, but also because I get to work with one of the most powerful women in Oklahoma, who one day soon might be Governor. I do have a very successful mom in the business community in OKC, but it really inspires me to be around women in politics. Especially because women are so underrepresented. Here is an article that my mom wrote for her paper last week:
http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recID=95918

Only one man works in the Lt. Gov's office (besides her bodyguards). It is cool to see a woman helping women.

In FIFE Ch. 16, it seems to be that hooks is saying the best life is a life without men. Though our other reading was about boys, and how she writes boys childrens books. Anyway, I'm not sure if that is exactly what she meant, but what I took from it is that Feminists do have to be anti-men. This honestly makes me angry. It is true that we live in a patriarchy, and that it should change. But to make equality work, we need to work with the men not against them.

hooks said some things in her other piece that I am not sure I agree with either. On p. 43, she likens raising boys to terrorists. She calls isolation a weapon of psychological terror. While I do not have any brothers so I did not see the raising of a boy in person, I know plently of young men who are not scared to show emotion and who were not emotionally or otherwise isolated from their families when they were growing up. She also says that all boys are being raised to be killers. In Women in the Military, we have looked at this. Are men warriors because they were raised to be warriors? And there is no doubt that the aggression is a learned behavior because of gender socialization and gender separation in young children, but I think she takes it a bit too far to say that all boys are raised to be killers. I also do not agree with her assessment of boys relationships with their fathers. Now, obviously I am not a boy and could not relate much to this piece, but I have a father, and I honestly believe that he would not be in competition with his son. My cousin lived with us for six months, and while he was an older teenager, they did not compete. They did relate to each other in a much different way than I relate to my mom or to him, it was just that they were relating. Also, her criticism of Harry Potter was taking it too far. If we want to examine the sexism/racism/_____ism in everything, we could find it in everything, but then we wouldn't be able to simply enjoy something for what it is. Harry Potter has strong female characters, and I honestly do not believe that it is only appealing to boys or that only boys can relate to Harry.

I think I could relate and understand the Raising Ophelia piece much more. Though I did not (I even talked to my mom about it) go through a big stage of rebellion or moodiness, I know what it's like to be an adolescent girl. I would say that I have always been more like Lori. I always cared about school first, but still had many friends. People liked me, though I never considered myself to be "popular." I always liked who I was, and was never embarrassed to be seen with my parents. In fact, I often preferred to spend time with them. I do think that Pipher raises some very relevant issues though. It shocked me to read that 40% of girls in her town had considered suicide and that the suicide rate rose 75% in ten years (and that was only to the late 80s!). I honestly don't know if any of the girls I knew ever considered suicide. The all got along with their parents most of the time, and were more like me- school first and no partying. I'm sure it was out there; I was just lucky enough not to experience it.

Until next time,
Madison