blog 10

I am very passionate about stopping puppy mills. Many pet stores buy dogs from puppy mills and sell them to the customers by tricking them into thinking the dogs are from real breeders. The problem is that puppy mills in and of themselves are not illegal. I became active about 2 months ago with a group out of dallas that goes to all the the Petland Stores (a puppy store franchise) and protests every saturday. I have participated in a couple protests myself. The owners of these stores knowingly buy sick puppies from one of the largest puppy mill providers in the country, Hunte Corporation. The Humane Society has has Petland underinvestigation for violating laws on breeding animals. The majority of the dogs they sell are cramped in small cages, stacked upon eachother, with feces and multiple dogs surrounding them. These dogs are malnurished and have often times never been out of the cage to learn how to walk. The conditions are horrible. Tbe poor dogs have had no human contact and do not know how to interact with humans. Petland is also being taken to court for decieving their customers by making them believe they are buying healthy dogs from AKC registered breeders.

To find out more information about puppy mills and how to stop them there is a wesite called www.stoppuppymills.org

Here is the link to a youtube video of one of the protests I was in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0CNtxK4YXI



The readings I thought were sort of interesting. In FIFE chapter 18, Hooks probes her thoughts about spirituality and religions. According to her opinion, she believes the majority of religions are male-dominated; yet, many feminists find themselves searching for other ways to find peace within themselves away from the west. I personally think that feminists have no right to attack Christain-Judeo religions because religion is a very personal experience and as a Christian I disagree with the putting down those people who believe in Christ and worship within a patriarchal society. I understand that some denominations, like Catholic for example, are looked down upon by some feminists because men are the leaders in churches and only men can be priests and popes; however, you have to give those religions credit because these men practice abstinence and devote there lives to moral purposes and helping others. You can be a feminist and a Christian. I am living proof of that.
In chapter 19, Hooks talks about what a visionary feminist is. Visionary feminists look to the future were mass-based feminism is taught in schools and people need to be provided with more sources such as books and websites that give insight to the movement.
In chapter 9 of F-Word, the author takes about the lack of enthusiasm young women have in politics today and how women need to become more involved with the legislative process. The research says that the young generation is not interested in the political process and don’t want to be labeled as part of a party. In chapter 10, she continued on to talk about how there are not as many good candidates anymore. Much of the youth wants politicians to gear there campaign towards issues they care about. Young women have the impression that their one individual vote cannot make a difference and therefore what is the point in voting. In chapter 11 the author continues on by saying that we are part of a democracy and the beauty of this government is our ability to be active and not sit around watching the government make decisions for us.

The Eternal Feminine

In the play The Eternal Feminine, gender is represented by women taking traditional roles in the home, specifically within the Hispanic culture of Mexico City. The main character Lupita is bound to a gender role which forces her to be trapped in the confines of her home as a housewife. She is required once married to give up everything and is obligated to tend to her husbands every need. In the case of this play, marriage restricts women and makes women become bound to a mundane life without thought or purpose. With society being extremely patriarchal, husbands have all the control in the institution of marriage and it is vital that women please their husbands by being good mothers and continuing to preserve their beauty. In the F-Word, the author states that “the importance of being married or in a committed relationship varies across racial and ethnic groups. This facet of a woman’s self-identity is most important to Hispanic women, two-thirds of whom say being married or in a committed relationship is very important to their sense of self” (Rowe-Finkbeiner 133).
The first dream which Lupita has while in the beauty salon was of her honeymoon. Clearly the author was trying to show the importance of women getting married and that Lupita must validate her womanhood through marriage. Marriage in the play seems to be a negative thing and the author made it quite clear that Lupita gave up a part of herself to her husband. Marriage can be a wonderful thing; however, in the context of this play marriage enforces the rules of a patriarchal society in which men have complete control over women. Lupita became the property of Juan once she made that vow to be his wife. Even Juan says to Lupita, when she says that she will refuse to have sex with him, that “you vowed to obey me before the alter” (Castellanos 279). Therefore, in the play a woman has no say over her body because it is owned by her husband and he has the freedom to do as he pleases.
After a wedding, it is highly predictable that a woman will become a mother and her entire being will become focused on raising a child. Lupita got pregnant in the play and her mother told her of the importance of being a good mother. Lupita’s mother says that “no happiness can compare to being a mother” (Castellanos 284). However, Lupita struggles with this idea of happiness through motherhood because it is evident she is unhappy staying at home with the children. She complains of the life she gives up because according to her “the one who must sacrifice herself is the mother. For the children. And also for the house” (Castellanos 285). The problem that Lupita had in the play was that she seemed to struggle with the strict gender roles she had to adapt to. Why is it that women must give up their identity in order to take care of household chores and raise children?
Lupita asks the question “what better way to keep a husband then a woman who is always smartly dressed, always slender, nice looking?” (Castellanos 285). Many women feel they are not valued by their intelligence or personality, but their worth is measure by how they look because of the enormous emphasis society puts on the exterior. Even when married, women feel they must spend ample amounts of time on making sure they are beautiful. In society, many women feel their worth is correlated to how pretty they look. According to Bell Hooks, even in these contemporary times “our nation’s obsession with judging females off all ages on the basis of how we look was never completely eliminated” (Hooks 33). Fashion and appearance are the driving forces behind women having less equality as men because women are being fed ideas that they cannot be taken seriously unless they look a certain way. This need to look a certain way in order to get and keep a man tends to “emulate sexist representations of female beauty” (Hooks 34). In The Eternal Feminine, women in Mexico City visit the beauty salon a couple times a week, if the can afford it, to maintain the cultural beauty standards. Sexism has caused women to think that they must fit a very narrow mold of what defines beauty.
Even within the institution of marriage, women are held back in order to achieve an unattainable beauty standard. In the case of the play, women in reality had little say in society and politics because they were inside the home without a voice. Each week women went to the salon to enhance their features and maintain their splendor. By being concerned about their appearance and taking care of their families, women had little time to think and question their place in society.
Do women really have to surrender a part of who they are when they get married? Not necessarily. In healthy marriages there is give and take. Women are equal when compared to their spouse and should be treated as so. Marriage is about supporting each other by dividing the work and loving a person beyond their outward appearance. The Eternal Feminine portrayed the negative consequences of having a spouse who conforms to the sexist ideals of society which results in a bad marriage.


Hooks, Bell. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. Print.
Rowe-Finkbiener, Kristin. The F Word. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2004. Print.

The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is an NGO that strives to educate people about the issue of women in the sex trade. It was founded in 1988 to stop the sexual exploitation of women and girls around the world. This is a gender issue because the majority of people kidnapped or lured into sex work abroad are young females. Women are typically seen in this position because they have little power in many developing countries and are illiterate and uneducated. Families often times sells their daughters into prostitution or women are tricked into believing they are going to work elsewhere. This is a growing trend around the world and needs to be addressed. Forced prositution is a large human rights issue because it subjects women to a life of vulnerability and slavery with little chance of ever escaping that life. CATW takes donations which go back to funding programs that train “teachers, professionals, police, governmental authorities and the public about the harm of sexual exploitation and ways to resist and combat it." and "“testifies before national congresses, parliaments, law reform commissions, regional and UN committees and commissions, and holds Category II Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council” to bring justice to the victims of this form of slavery.
http://www.catwinternational.org/


Globalization can be looked at in both a positive and negative light because it harms and helps people at the same time. Typically what happens is the worker get exploited in developing countries and CEO's and high up business people get the majority of the wealth. I think in regards to Encloe's article, the author makes it very clear that globalization is caused by governments not taking responsibility. Globalizations, according to Encloe, causes exploitation of lower class workers and hinders there ability to be in a fair working environment. Women in Russia were written about as an example of gloabalization. They recieved very low wages.
I never really thought about how global this world is and where all of my clothes and everyday items come from. Now I kinda of feel bad for having things that people had to work in harsh conditions to make; however, I cannot control that situation. I think it is not the CEO's faults for workers not being paid enough and working in bad condititions because that is ultimately the countries government's responsibility to step in and protect its citizens. Take the United States for example, there is minimum wage which ensures that by law companies must pay workers at least a certain amount. Companies wouldnt go to other underdeveloped countries if they also followed and gave their workers rights.