Listen Up: Voices from the next generation~ A Feminist Voice
Once upon a time, there was this book, and there was something I call my life. This book and my life are complicated and twisted-yet the struggles they share do have reason. The book I would like to share with you is inspiring, motivational, warm, sad and witty --this is the bible to understanding the vast issues of femininity dealing with identity. I call this little treasure, Listen Up: Voices from the next generation, edited by Barbara Findlen. The book is about groups of feminists, no, not the stereotyped "strident, man-hating, unattractive, lesbian feminists"; but real everyday women you pass-by daily. Women, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, single, married, straight, lesbian, bi-sexual, pro-choice, pro-life-whatever they are, these women write about the ongoing process of integrating their feminist identities through "ethnic, racial, religious, sexual, regional, and class." With similar experiences and understandings, these women are just like you and I. The search for identity is a fight for all of us. The reasons behind what shaped our identity, the movements that formed these different identities and the theories that try to give reason for identity provide some for
The National Academy of Science reports that sexual orientation may be strongly influenced by biology, Examinations of the brains revealed that a band of fibers called the anterior commissure, which is part of the tissues connecting brain lobes is significantly larger in gay men than in heterosexual men or women (Wood 41). Many theories about gender and relationships compare to the ideas involved with communication. Each theory attempts to explain the vast dimensions of gender and identity. The first and most basic theory I came across was the biological theory. This theory emphasized on the influences of genes and hormones; XX the female and XY the male genes. The comment Julia Wood mentioned, "Males who use drugs, engage in violence and abusiveness, and have conduct disorders tend to be at their cycle's peak level of testosterone, the primary male hormone" (Wood 40) is rather interesting. In Don't Call Me a Survivor, by Emilie Morgan the aggressive behavior is shown at a party: "My parents taught me more than I ever could tell in one story. But my soul is still made of courage, strength, faith, and love, even as it is tested by fire, by pain and by struggle. My parents gave me these tools of survival, and someday I will pass them on to a child of my own." (p. 271) And a slightly different aspect that media places on femininity, is depicted by Anastasia Higginbotham in her essay, Chicks goin' at it: Interpersonal influences on gender have an immense influence on how a child will develop. The psychodynamic theory "focuses on family and psychic dynamics that influence individual's development of gender identity" (Wood 44). When I read Jennifer DiMarco's essay, Word Warrior, I found she was much like a chip off the old block. She was raised by two women in a feminist household. She is proud of her family and her "herstory." She states, The second wave succeeded in popularizing not just the feminist, but the concept of feminism itself, so that there is now a whole generation of adult women who grew up in a world with feminism. We are, of course, the third wave-I never would have considered myself a feminist until I read this book. I share many feelings these women share, which pushed me to read more into the waves of feminists. Another interesting aspect of the biological theory is,
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2332
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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