Activism Log Entry #2

Activism: This week was the last week for the donation drive for Harbor House of Central Florida. All week I have been in touch with the head of donations at Harbor House to coordinate dropping off the donations. It was very chaotic at first because I was not sure whom to contact, but once I finally found the right email address, it was smooth sailing from there. In order to go to Harbor House, I had to sign a confidentiality waiver, promising that I would not disclose the location of Harbor House. It was a bit intimidating, but at the same time, I completely understand why these precautions are necessary. I am very pleased with the amount of donations we have collected over the past two weeks. While I wish it could have been more, every little bit helps. This week concluded the Service Learning project, but I definitely intend on working with MVP after the project is completed.

Reflection: I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to relate my Service Learning project to this week’s readings until I was in class today. The article “Consumption” begs the question of what kinds of resources people consume on a regular basis (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 567). In class we defined consumption as the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs. These needs include, but are not limited to food, water and clothing. By hosting a donation drive for Harbor House, I am providing women who are not capable to buying everyday necessities, such as toothpaste or socks. As a society, we are on a “work-and-spend” cycle (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 368). This means that we work to earn money, and turn around and spend on products that we don’t necessarily need. Who actually needs an $800 pair of Jimmy Choos? Nobody. However, everybody needs a pair of shoes that will protect their feet from the ground. Day-to-day, we don’t think about our needs, we mainly think about our wants, which is what drives consumerism. However, women who are in unfortunate situations (such as having to stay at Harbor House for their safety) don’t think about what they want at the moment, because they are more focused on what they need, like food.

Reciprocity: Working with MVP has taught me not to take what I have in life for granted. When I first started the donation drive for Harbor House, I didn’t realize how much these women actually need the items being donated. I don’t think it really hit me until I had to sign the confidentiality waiver, just to get the address of the shelter. These women are basically hiding for their lives, and trying to get their feet back on the ground, all because another human was violent towards them. MVP aims to educate people about violence prevention and what to do if violence is suspected. I think that everybody, no matter your gender, age, social class, etc., needs to take a training class on violence prevention. Working with this organization has completely changed my view on the world around me.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. “Consumption." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 567-573. Print.

Campus Engagement #2

For my second campus engagement, I attended the Life After College Series: Interviews.  This seminar was very interesting and extremely informative. It was in a classroom setting and Dr. Rufus Barfield was the speaker. Dr. Barfield started with a brief synopsis of life; he studied at Brown and then he was a professor at FAMU in Tallahassee. When FAMU was not able to accommodate his goals and ambitions, he came to UCF. He held many career positions and he told us about the different interviews he had been through. One particular interview that stuck out to me was when he was interviewing for the police force. He said there was one interviewer who didn’t speak the entire time. He just sat there watching Dr. Barfield while he was answering questions. Dr. Barfield said he was confused as to why this interviewer remained silent the entire interview. He later found out that he stayed silent because he was assessing how Dr. Barfield handled stress and pressure and he was analyzing his body language and behavior. This example proved that an interview is not necessarily simply answering questions about yourself; it is a chance for the employer to see you for themselves, and to judge whether you would be a good fit for the position, based on more than simple answers to questions.

            This seminar taught me that there are many types of interviews. There is the informal-conversational interview, where there are no predetermined questions and he interview is just a free-flowing conversation. The general interview consists of the same general areas on information are covered with each person being interviews. Then there are the open-ended interviews where the same questions are asked of all interviewees and the fixed-response interviews, which are basically multiple-choice questions.

            Dr. Barfield gave us some tips for a successful interview. Before going to an interview, you should conduct a thorough self-assessment, acknowledging all of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas that could use improvement. After acknowledging these, you must be able to articulate these into conversation. Another tip he gave was to prepare an elevator speech. An elevator speech consists of your name, what you offer, what problem you will be helping to solve and why you are better than the other candidates for the position, as well as, why the listener should care about what you have to say.

            The seminar was extremely helpful and made me realize that I really have to start preparing now for possible interviews for graduate schools. This seminar was a part of a series of seminars to prepare students for life after college. I believe the next seminar is dealing with writing essays, and I will definitely be in attendance!

(Dr. Santana said she was going to email you to tell you that I was there. However, if she did not, I have an email that she sent out to everyone who attended that I can show you for proof!)

Activism Log Entry #1

1. On Tuesday I joined my group in a meeting with Abigail Malick, the coordinator for MVP. We discussed the events that we are going to be working on for the rest of the semester. We have decided on a donation drive for the Harbor House of central Florida. We are also planning some tabling dates, and we are hoping to be able to get a tabling slot at Late Knights on November 17^th. With MVP still being such a new organization, things have been a little chaotic and disorganized. Our primary form of communication with Abigail has been through email and sometimes things have gotten lost in translation. I think that we are in a much better position with our project now that we have gotten another chance to meet with her in person and discuss our goals for the rest of the semester. Next week our donation drive for Harbor House begins, so our main focus will be on getting donations and making sure we have boxes placed around campus.

2. This week we discussed poverty affects women more so than men. “More women than men make up the working poor…” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 311). Although MVP deals with domestic violence, this is relevant because many women who have been victims of domestic violence are in desperate need of financial help. Our involvement with Harbor House will help give women who have been affected by domestic violence, as well as poverty, some of their everyday essential items, such as toothpaste. While this may not seem like a lot to that average person, to someone who is going through something as awful as having to be in a domestic violence shelter, it may make a huge difference. We often judge those in poverty before we know the reasons that they are in these horrible positions. “Poverty is often explained as resulting form low self-esteem, laziness, or dysfunctional families,” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 314). Most of the time we don’t think of situations like being a victim of domestic violence, as a reason for ending up in poverty.

3. Being involved with MVP has made me much more aware of the fact that domestic violence exists. It has always been a somewhat taboo subject that nobody wants to address, but now I see that it is much more prevalent in society, and even in college, than I thought. As scary as this is, it gives me much more incentive to do everything I can to try and prevent domestic violence, through educating others and giving those in need resources that they can use to better their situation.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. “Making a Home, Making a Living." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 301-317. Print.

Light Up The Knight- Campus Engagement

I attended Light Up The Knight for one of my campus engagements. This event was appropriately held on October 1^st, the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness month. The seminar was to recognize and honor victims of domestic, dating and sexual abuse. There were many speakers including a UCF student who told her story about her abusive relationship, and it’s long-term effects on her. Her relationship was anything but healthy; she was not able to spend time with anybody but her boyfriend, and he kept track of her every move. The relationship ended when her boyfriend raped her, and then her whole world came spiraling down. She went into a deep state of depression and was suicidal for three years following the relationship. While her story is extremely sad, she was able to get her life back on track and is much stronger than she used to be. She is an inspiration to us all.

Two girls spoke of a former UCF student, Danielle, who was killed by her boyfriend this past year. They spoke highly of Danielle and described her as an adventurous, fun-loving girl who had everything going for her. All of that changed when she met her boyfriend. He controlled her entire life, even though they were in a long distance relationship. She became estranged from her friends and family and eventually moved to New York to be with her boyfriend. Soon she went into hiding from her boyfriend, and unfortunately lost her life to him.

This was a very emotional event. The idea of being in an abusive relationship is unfathomable. I wasn’t aware how common domestic violence is, until the deputy mentioned a few incidents that happened in the past week alone. I think that people are afraid to report domestic violence for many reasons. The victim doesn’t want to betray they’re partner, or get them in trouble, or they really do believe that the last time will be the last time. Whatever the reason is, victims should not be afraid to seek out help, and find a way out of the situation.

Throughout the event, I couldn’t help but think about one of my best friends. At the beginning of this year, one of her friends from back home was almost killed by her ex-boyfriend. He stabbed her in the neck and head 17 times, but she survived. There were two people walking down the sidewalk and when they saw what was happening, they intervened and saved the girl’s life. If there were more people in the world like the two people who saved her life, the world would be a much better place. There are so many people who ignore violent situations because they do not want to get involved. Something as simple as educating people on violence prevention can be the difference between life and death, so why aren’t we doing more to prevent domestic violence?

Here I am at Light Up The Knight!

The Beauty Ideal

Women who are thin and tall, have perfect skin, and are white and heterosexual seem to fit into the “Beauty Ideal” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). The media is constantly telling girls that they need to be skinny to be accepted. The desire to fit into the “beauty ideal” can lead to issues much greater than wanting to fit into a size two. Kim Chernin’s “The Tyranny of Slenderness,” she describes the “beauty ideal” as an unattainable goal that we are all trying to obtain (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). Eating disorders have become much more prevalent in our society, and this is largely due to the media’s portrayal of beauty. Girls and women are constantly striving, and starving, to be skinny, when in reality, they are causing much more harm than they are good.

Eating disorders, such as Anorexia, ruin women’s lives; they shut themselves out from the world and are consumed by their desire to control their weight. In Abra Fortune Chernik’s “The Body Politic,” she states, “eating disorders affect us all on a personal and a political level,” (Chernik 602). By this she means that even if you do not have a full-blown eating disorder, most of us are affected by the desire to fit into the “beauty ideal,” and we are consumed with negative thoughts about our bodies. We have grown accustomed to the “toxic cultural environment” that surrounds us and dictates what our bodies are supposed to look like (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). Advertisements for diets and weight loss supplements and photo shopped images of models flood the media, putting a damper on girls’ self confidence and causing emotional, and even physical, turmoil for girls who are still just trying to figure out who they are.

The “beauty ideal” says that being overweight is a terrible thing. If being overweight were negatively affecting your health, then yes, maybe it would be a good idea to drop a few pounds, if it means you will be healthier. But usually this issue of being overweight is more for aesthetics than anything else (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 209). Many women have begun to accept their size and are doing positive things in the women’s community to change the way we view beauty. While the “beauty ideal” has had an extremely negative impact on women’s lives, at least there has been some good come out of it, too.

Works Cited

Chernik, Abra F. "The Body Politic." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: Mcgraw Hill, 2010. 599-603.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Health.” Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 207-223.

Service Learning Propsal: Mentors in Violence Prevention

Service Learning Proposal For MVP (Mentors in Violence Prevention)
By: Emily Leiter
Raati Kumar
Racara Jackson
Jamie Crenshaw
Amanda Santos
Fadia B
September 26, 2012
Meredith Tweed
WST 3015-0001

Community Partner Profile :
Community Partner: MVP (The Mentors in Violence Prevention)
Contact: Abigail Malick

Community Partner Mission Statement: “MVP provides the leadership necessary, within sport and beyond, to address the global issues of sexism – especially men’s violence against women. In our advocacy efforts and training programs, we educate, inspire and empower men & women to prevent, interrupt and respond to sexist abuse” (MVP).

MVP is an organization put together to bring awareness to sexual abuse. Motivate and educate students on prevention against violence on gender and bullying. Their goals are to inform students on violence accruing against men/women and help bring light to those everyday issues happening. Also, the organization will be challenging and developing their volunteers to inspire and inform others on potentially dangerous situation.


Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: ‘’MVP was founded in 1993 by Northeastern University for the Study of Sport in Society and the National Consortium for Academics & Sports. The multi-racial MVP Program was designed to train male college and high school student-athletes and other student leaders to use their status to speak out against rape, battering, sexual harassment, gay-bashing, and all forms of sexist abuse and violence’’ (MVP).

Still today many schools are using the MVP program to bring awareness to those issues. The program is influencing individuals to have a voice and helps to prevent accruing situations.  They have events protesting and informing student on sexual abuse, bullying, rape, violence’s, and gay-bashing. MVP allowing those who have or have not been victims stand up and fight to prevent these issues from happening.

The Proposal

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a Service Learning project to benefit Mentors in Violence Prevention. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of a Community Outreach project, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 3015, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the both the Service Learning project and the community partner.

Need for volunteers for the Community Outreach Program

The Mentors in Violence Prevention program acts to prevent violence against women. Their main goal is to raise awareness of violence against women, and to educate everybody on ways to prevent such violence. Our community does not see domestic violence as being as serious and other forms of violence. MVP strives to make people understand that this violence is, in fact, preventable. Through different trainings, MVP achieves their goal of prevention by having volunteers look at the subject of domestic violence differently, not just as this taboo subject that nobody wants to address. It is MVP’s hope that through these trainings, participants will become inspired to be leaders in our community, when it comes to dealing with domestic violence and educating others about ways to prevent such violence.

Plan Proposal:

Throughout the semester, MVP will have various activities to raise awareness of men’s acts of violence against women.  Some of these activities include screenings of victims’ documentaries, such as Telling Amy’s Story, at least once a month. Another activity in which MVP hopes to raise awareness of violence against women is through holding brown-bag lunches, in which people discuss attitudes toward abuse while having lunch together. During these lunches, participants will be talking about abuse in society with scenarios that people can relate to. To advertise these events, volunteers will create flyers and posters to be displayed around campus, advertise via social networks like Facebook. We will also be sponsoring a table in front of the Student Union, as well as making announcements in class inviting people to attend and support the organization. MVP will invite local community partners involved with domestic violence to attend the activities as well.

I will be part of a team of volunteers that will dedicate our time and effort into this organization, educating people about domestic violence, bullying, hazing, as well as its implications. By informing others, especially women, of our individual rights I can take part in making this community, state, and country domestic violence free and become better citizens.

Rationale for Women’s Studies:

MVP’s mission is to prevent not only domestic violence, but violence against women in general. MVP pertains to women’s studies, because women are typically the victims of such domestic violence. While it is difficult to keep record of all domestic violence, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund, “Every year, as many as 4 million American Women are physically abused by men who promised to love them” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 260). Domestic violence is not only aimed at wives, but at children as well. “One in five high school girls surveyed reported that she had been physically or sexually abused; the majority of these incidents occurred at home and happened more than once” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 261). MVP’s goal of preventing domestic violence will hopefully make this number significantly decrease.

As stated previously, MVP’s mission is to prevent all violence against women. This includes rape and sexual assaults. “The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report estimated that one if four U.S. college women was a victim of rape or attempted rape…” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 262). MVP strives to make violence prevention a part of our daily lives and to prevent sexual violence here at UCF, as well as nationally.

Action:
I have already met with Abigail Malick, the UCF Campus Coordinator of Mentors in Violence Prevention, to discuss volunteer opportunities available this semester. In addition to contacting her regularly, I will be helping to organize, as well as attend, brown bag lunches and be involved in organizing and advertising for the screening of “Telling Amy’s Story.”

Timeline:
The Service Learning Project will be completed approximately November 20, 2012. The dates that have been listed may change, due to other activities that might become available throughout the semester. Also the Social Media Blogs are continuous throughout the semester; there is no specified deadline as of now.

1. Invite people for the Brown Bag Lunch-In: October 3                                                                         
2. Make flyers for Tell Amy’s Story: October 8                                                                                  
3. Social Media Advertising: October 12                                                                                              
4. Brown Bag lunch-In: October 17                                                                                                          
5. Tell Amy’s Story: October 24                                          

6. Invite people for Brown Bag Lunch: October 31                                                                                
7. Brown Bag Lunch: November 14 

8. Social Media Blogs: (no specified date)

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Mentors in Violence Prevention. 2009.

WORD COUNT: 1116

Doing Gender and Supporting Patriarchy

Every morning when I wake up, I get out of my bed, which is covered with pink blankets and pillows. I brush my teeth and then I do my hair, usually doing something "girly" to it, straightening it or braiding it, you know the drill. Then I apply my make up and get dressed for the day. It doesn't matter if it it's shorts, a dress or even sweatpants, there is no mistaking that my gender is female. I chose feminine activities over masculine activities everyday. For example, when I go to the beach, I prefer laying in the sun, rather than playing football or some other sport. When I was little I took dance classes and gymnastics, while the boys I knew were on little league football and baseball teams. My parents definitely raised me to be a girl. My bedroom was pink, I had every Barbie doll imaginable, I had Princess and bride dress up outfits, and I hated getting dirty. Being brought up this way formed the way I "do" gender. Without even realizing it, I "do" gender in every aspect of my life.

By "doing" gender, I am supporting patriarchy. In the world we live in, it is impossible to not participate it the system of patriarchy. Men are one step ahead of women in just about every aspect of life and in every social institution. My own last name is supporting patriarchy. There is no escaping the system. Even by following the social norms in our society, patriarchy is being supported. When I let men do the "dirty" work, such as taking out the garbage, or killing a roach in the house, I am supporting patriarchy. I am perfectly capable of taking out my own garbage, and as much as I hate roaches, I am capable of dealing with them. But our society has us believing that these are jobs for men, and not for women. Whether you want to or not, everybody participates and supports patriarchy in some way or another.