At first “In Celebration of My Uterus” by Anne Sexton faced a lot of dissent, since she was the first person to write poetry that explored female experiences and body parts. However, as society became more accepting of such discussions new audiences began to read it. I have never found poetry easy to understand, and “In Celebration of My Uterus,” was no different. I main idea I took out of Sexton’s piece was that everyone is included, “there is enough here to please a nation,” and she wants women to be able to act as they please, which is mentioned in the “let me” phrases. Overall, the poem is a celebration of women and how they are able to have the same opportunities.
I found Valdes’ “Ruminations of a Feminist Fitness Instructor” very interesting because throughout it Valdes was fighting herself. She goes from this women who loves music and writing, but there is no money in it forcing her to devote her time to being a fitness instructor. She is mad at her herself for betraying her feminist beliefs for a job that fails to encourage women to love their bodies, but rather strengthens their obsessions about their body. Johnson could see Valdes as taking the path of least resistance, since she took the easy way out by becoming an aerobics instructor. Johnson would recommend that she listen to what she believes in and find a job as a writer in order to stand up for her feminist beliefs, which would definitely be much harder than throwing them under the rug. The statement Valdes quoted of Seid, caught my attention instantly. Seid mentions that skinny people, those who show “mastery over hunger,” no longer create a jaw dropping response because they are so commonplace. This statement is very true because once a style becomes mainstream in our society people do not stare at people wearing this particular style. But once it is out of the norm, then people will glance more often.
For many years menstruation was used as an excuse for women to “receive less pay or more restricted job opportunities” (91). Even physicians, like Dr. Katarina Dalton, believed that PMS, which precedes the process of menstruation, causes women to “batter their children and husbands, miss work, commit crimes, attempt suicide, and suffer from up to 150 different symptoms” (94). The word symptom carries two different meanings, one associating it with a disease and the other a sign. Confusion here causes people to think that women actually suffer from some disease that makes them fragile and unfit for work. I think this is a bunch of crap and these are the types of ideas that people get stuck in their heads to justify why men are superior to women. When in actuality has nothing to do with how a women performs. The ideas about PMS are still around today. I would be surprised if you can go one day without hearing a boy in high school say a girl is PMSing when she is “bitchy” or in a bad mood. I remember hearing this all the time, even from my brothers when PMS had nothing to do with what was going on.
Overall, these articles enlighten women that it is necessary for us to celebrate our bodies and by happy with god gave to us. I think some of the betrayal Valdes felt was due to how working out for a women is seen. Can a women go to the gym just for fun? Does it always have to be associated with body image? Can it just be that they want to blow off some steam?
There is no doubt that men and women have different hormonal balances. However, as Sterling points out in her article, the difference in hormonal balances between the two recognized sexes are being used to socially divide the two sexes. The menstrual cycle as a weakness for women. It is constantly being used again and again to further discriminate against women. According to Sterling, there are many beliefs that the menstrual cycle of women deem them inappropriate for many activities that include strenuous labor and even higher education (Sterling 91-93). These ideologies have led to many inequalities in the economic, social, political, and academic spheres. Basically, the uterus makes women unfit and weak in comparison to men. However, I question how we can misjudge a group of people just because their bodies run differently. The uterus is not something that is weak.....it can carry a baby for nine months and then with great strength push out life. How is that weak? I was moved by Anne Sexton's poem. I marveled at how she reclaimed the uterus giving it honor and light, giving it the just treatment it deserves.
ReplyDeleteAs a male, I will admit that I have looked at the uterus and the menstrual cycle in not such a good like. I didn't quite understand how it worked or why it did what it did. I did think the menstrual cycle was disgusting. Then I realized that, if it wasn't for the uterus or the cycle, then I, or anyone for that matter, wouldn't be here. It goes beyond that however. We are are different in some shape form of fashion. We all have a uniqueness about us. Point blank, hands down, just because the bodies of men and women differ by structures and hormones doesn't mean that either one is deem weaker or stronger than the other and should not be the basis for a system of discrimination. We all have our roles in the universe.
While I understand the argument that PMS is "crap," I am not entirely sure it is true. I definitely notice a difference in my attitude during the week before my period. Of course it does not change my actions in any significant way but it does make me more irritable and kind of sad. I recently stopped taking Birth Control to see if this would help my PMS. I also want to bring up another dis-ease many women face around their period called PDD. This is a more intense version of PMS and is considered a real medical issue. Since only the woman herself can identify as having PDD (only she can feel her emotions and her body) I do not think it is problematic to treat this dis-ease. (I say dis-ease and not disease because I am unsure what kind of medical disorder it really is.) I do not think it is right for feminists to claim that PMS and PDD are bogus; I think they, again, should be more pro-choice about the issue. Women should be able to discuss their hormonal changes openly without being criticized but also not held back because of the natural cycles of our bodies.
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