Week One

Ruminations of Feminist Fitness Instructor by Barbara Findlen brought up several ideas and feelings that had been floating around, though a bit more vaguely, inside myself. The first line that really grabbed me was, "Couldn't I see how fat they were (25)?" The tendency to be more confused or even appalled by acceptance of one's body than a recognition of its flaws is something I've both witnessed and experienced. Likewise, the struggle between myself and oppressive standards of beauty has often come into conflict with my ideals. It was very inspiring to read of Findlen's consistent inner-conflict, how she justified her career then came to an alternate conclusion and ultimately abandoned aerobic instruction in favor of her dreams.

I especially enjoyed these quotes from The Social Construction of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality: "The actual lives of real women and real men throughout history stand in sharp contract to the images of masculinity and femininity that have been constructed by society and then rationalized as reflecting innate differences between the sexes (8)."

"Writing about racism, Algerian born French philosopher Albert Memmi once explained that racism consists of stressing a difference between individuals or populations. The difference can be real or imagined and in itself doesn't entail racism (or, by analogy sexism). It is not difference itself that leads to subordination but the interpretation of difference (11)."

"As Herbert Gans suggests, various ways of classifying and portraying poor people in this country have been used to imply that their poverty reflected some failing in them rather than indicating a social problem for which society as a whole might be held responsible (11)."

Also: "While it is true that Wright was born with dark skin, an aunambiguous physical characteristic, it was for others to define the meaning of being black (10)." This reminded me of a story my father told me about Congressman Hawkins, the first African American in California to become congressman, who my father worked with early in his own career. When Hawkins was young, he attempted to board a bus with his siblings, whose skin was darker than his. The driver demanded his siblings go to the back, but did not direct him to do so. When Hawkins pointed out that he, too, was African American, the driver was confounded. That story has always resonated with me.