In Kimmel’s essay, she identifies how masculinity is brought up by men. Which means that men have to behave a certain way to be identified as males.

At a young age boys are influenced by many people that “men” need to be strong, dominant and aggressive. If they don’t act strong or agressive they will be scared to be called “queer” or “gay”. This is imprinted on them at a young age and they tend to always keep this idea of masculinity. Due to this, men become more and more sexist because they’ve been shown that a men must be more dominant and superior. This shouldn’t be the case because everyone is equal and society has created an image of how a men is supposed to act.

Furthermore men will put each other down to feel superior. They will call each other names and make other people feel bad about themselves so they could feel good. This is a horrible cycle that never ends between men. Kimmel stated that men will also put down transgender people because it goes against “masculinity”. This is very sad to see how our society is becoming. Men are being insecure and afraid of what others might think therefore they will make bad comments on transgender people and also women to feel superior.

Lastly our society needs to dramatically change the way we view masculinity because men are wearing a “mask” to feel more powerful and hide they’re insecurities, it’s a cycle that will never end. Furthermore if we take Trump as an example he said many things that offended and went against women but no one said anything. On the other hand if it was a women who would say the negative comments Trump said, she would’ve gotten into big trouble and she would be disliked by the society. This is really sad, because it’s not right that a men can say things that a women can’t. It shouldn’t be like that

Our group decided that we should spread awareness concerning consent. It is a big issue for both men and women and our society is struggling about it to this day. People are being sexually violated and they never gave their consent. Even if they didn’t say no, body signals are very important because they tell a lot about how a person feels. Wearing a skirt doesn’t mean a girl is giving you consent, or wearing a crop top, any type of clothing either men or women doesn’t mean someone is giving you their consent.

There has been cases in court that the use of underwear that a girl was wearing was provoking and was enough to give consent. This is absurd because consent has absolutely nothing to do with clothing. It doesn’t mean you want to have sex just because of the way you dress. What really frustrated me was that the people in court let the men get away with it and blames the victim. This really hurts me to see stuff like that happening around the world because it proves that wearing what you want, your own personal style, could be provoking enough and that you are looking to sleep with someone. This is insane and situations like these should not be happening.

This is where our group comes in. We want to spread the meaning of consent. We want to promote the real meaning of consent. For example: it has nothing to do with how you dress!!!! Even if the person says yes it doesn’t mean they really want it we have to look at body signs and how they’re acting because the person might be very shy and afraid.

Consent is a big issue and it won’t change until people know the true meaning of it.

http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/hwc/consent

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/14/europe/ireland-underwear-rape-acquittal-scli-intl/index.html

The campaign that I found really captured my attention. It explains the myth about sexual assault. For example: sexual assault only happens in the dark. Which is clearly not true and just a myth. It could happen to anyone at any time and people need to be aware of it. It also explains how to intervene if you see someone getting assaulted. You could call the cops or you could come to a victims defence and get her or him out of the situation. I also really liked this campaign because they have a support center for victims who have bees sexually assaulted and they could go and talk to someone. People should really know about this campaign because it shows how sexual assault is a problem and really damages people. We should be aware of the fact that no means no, stop means stop, yelling means no, turning away means no and pushing you away means no. If the person doesn’t say yes or no her or his actions are clear enough to let the person know that the victim doesn’t want anything. This campaign does a really great job at showing scenarios of sexual assault. Another example is, it is not sexual assault if the victim doesn’t report to the police. This campaign explained that victims are afraid to go tell the police because they’re scared of what the aggressor might do. The campaign also encourages victims to talk to call their center and talk to someone that could really helped them and keep them safe because it is important to address the issue.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/lets-stop-sexual-harassment-and-violence

In this video it is a girl who went on a date with a guy who supposedly seemed nice and therefore she was into him. He bought her and him drinks. When the date was over he drove her home and told her if he could come in because he was to drunk to drive. The girl let him in and he started kissing her. She kissed him back for a few seconds than told him to back off. He wasn’t backing off he grabbed her and threw her on the bed. The girl kept screaming to back off but he was sexually assaulting her until the girl got really mad. The guy left and she felt miserable and abused. This video really touched me because many people out there makes themselves seem nice just to get what they want. When someone says no once it means no. Even if the person says yes but than changes they’re mind, its totally fine and the person should back off. No one deserves to get abused and this is a major issue, 1/3 girls get sexually assaulted and 1/6 guys get violated. This video is made to spread the message that a no is a no and it shouldn’t be hard to understand. People should be aware of the message that the video is spreading. Even if the girl is not saying no she is still yelling and shoving the person off her. This clearly means she doesn’t want to have sex with the Guyane many guys have trouble understanding that.

On March 4th, 2019, Sophie Labelle, who is a transgender cartoonist came to present at Vanier about her comics. She wants to send a message with her drawing comics. She wasn’t really doing it as a presentation, I knew it was going to be interesting because she didn’t prepare it in advance she was talking to us like a conversation. She wants people from diverse gender to know that they are not alone and their are other people like them to. She said that it is unfair that people assign genders at birth and that we should have a choice.

To me, her presentation was a success. She talked about of transgender people we’re categorize as abnormal and it even goes to an extreme that some we’re killed. This really shocked me, I felt really bad to hear this and I wasn’t thinking about all the problems transgender people dealt with. For me everyone is equal but I didn’t know it had this much impact and her presentation got to me. She also draws her comics to make people realize that they are not alone. Furthermore that their are social groups like LGBTQ for them if they ever need to talk. Her drawings attract the audience well because they are funny and not to long.

A lot of student liked the presentation I didn’t hear any negative comments. They support the movement that Sophie Labelle is empowering. They also didn’t realize about all the struggle Transgender people went through and they wanna help. They also really liked Sophie’s comics. She was a great speaker and we need more people like her.

The main message from Sophie Labelle presentation was that society should stop treating transgender people differently. Everyone deserves to be treated equally with empathy. She also described how she was treated differently at school and by her doctors. This made me feel really bad for her and it is unfair how people are being treated badly for being who they wanna be.

I would love to recommend this presentation to my friends because it is so inspirational and they should know more about how unequal other people are being treated especially for being transgender. That being said I would not recommend this presentation for people who judge quickly and who are not open to other people point of view.

In our everyday lives men and women have been put into sections. In society’s eyes men have been seen as the stronger and aggressive people and women as the more sensitive and caring person. Which shouldn’t be the case because we have put this image across generation. In the text “Gender and Cultural diversity in the Early Contact Period”, the author describes how differences in sexes for the Aboriginal culture and some of the tasks they separated among  each others.

Unfortunately, women in present day aren’t respected enough and this is absurd. During the Aboriginal era, women we’re very respected and powerful. They did as much work as men. It was very equal and not gender based. Men hunted the big animals and fished but women also hunted even if the animals we’re smaller they still did the same amount of work as men. They carried their kids and they cooked for their family. They also assigned who was going to be the chief among men.

When the Europeans arrived they tried to spread Christianity on the Aboriginals. The French we’re very religious and believed in marriage. They also tried to take over their land. They we’re much richer than the Aboriginals and they had the upper hand. Therefore is was very unfortunate for the Aboriginals.

I believe that in our culture, we should be more similar to the Aboriginal people because women are treated equally. In our present day we have a lot of gender discrimination and it always causes problems. Therefore if we can fix these issues that society has caused during these years they’re wouldn’t be such a gender problem. The Aboriginal way of gender role is a good way of viewing how our society should be like.

Diane Labelle talked about how we took so much of the Aboriginals land and now they live in very poor conditions. They don’t have access to education because it costs money to go to the school. Furthermore they believed that education from an indigenous perspective does not schedule things. Everyone is different and learns differently some learn faster then others.

Lady Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1st, 1961 and passed away August 31,1997. She didn’t have a great childhood. She watched her parents split up and her mother leave. She was below average student and left school at the age of 16. She didn’t have long teenage years, she was expected to become a women sooner than the average girls. She had little experience on how to be  royal and was expected to be great at it. It was difficult for her to learn quickly. During her mid twenties, she got married to prince Charles and has 2 children.

Their marriage didn’t last long and wasn’t picture perfect. Diana revealed during an interview that as she started to get more attention than her husband by the media; he wasn’t happy and it didn’t satisfy him. She also said that she went through major depression and she was the only one that was open to her feelings in the royal family. She also suffered from bulimia and was hurting herself but through it all she was a wonderful mom and she was never submissive to her husband when she was married.

Just like Diana I like proving people wrong and I always see the good in people. Lady Diana is an amazing Humanitarian. Her work with the people suffering from AIDS shocked the world. She explained that people with AIDS aren’t toxic and we could still touch them and hug them; HIV does not make them dangerous. During the 80’s their was a picture of Lady Diana shaking hands without with a person who has AIDS, without any gloves. This was a remarkable gesture by this influential women. She educated the world that people with this disease aren’t dangerous. This wonderful women also helped many homeless people. She was a patron of Centerpoint where they educate them and give them a place where they feel like they belong. She has provided them with shelter and care. Her son Prince William continues what his mother started and he is proud of what she has done.

Today Her 2 sons, William and Harry have their own charity for mental health. They were influenced by their mother. The people’s princess was very open of her own mental issues to let people know they aren’t facing mental health alone. I personally have relatives struggling with mental health and I try to help them with the best way that I can. It’s not always easy to do so but as long as I give my support and know that they are getting better everyday, for me that counts as a win. In all Lady Diana wasn’t just known for her royalty, she was known for her humanity, kindness, compassion and integrity she had for others. She saw the good in people and did her best to provide the poor with shelter.

In the book Rages becomes her, chapter 4, Chemaly writes about how women take on emotional labour in the workplace and household; she provides many examples with tremendous statistics that proves it. She also discusses the disadvantages women have while men don’t.

Most of the time women take care of the children while men are enjoying their leisure time. It really resonated me when Chemaly pointed out that the presence of children is an accelerant, particularly on non workdays… Fathers engage in leisure 47 percent of the time that mothers are taking care of kids. Mothers on the other hand relax only 16 percent of the time that fathers engage in child care. (Chemaly, 2018, p. 67-68) I find it very absurd and unfair that men have more time to enjoy themselves while women need to take care of the things happening at home and taking care of the childrens. It should be at least close that both have an equal  amount of leisure time. There is a big percentage gap between both sexes for leisures and It shouldn’t be that way because their has to be a balance. Men shouldn’t have almost more than double the time for leisures than women. This quote proves that men still have that mentality of it is a women’s job to take care of the kids while they don’t have too.

Another quote in the text that really made me stop and think was “This need to protect men from the truth of my reality if it will hurt them” “has extended so deeply that i have laughed of sexual assault so that I would not hurt the feelings of the man who assaulted me” (Chemaly, 2018, p. 74) This really had my attention because with that being said it shows that women are just there for men’s amusement. That really hurts me because it is not how it should be. Women are not willing to tell men the truth and they have to lie for them not to get hurt; where in reality women are the one’s suffering. Women are not here to please men, it really gets to me when a girl does not speak up to another guy because she is scared. She shouldn’t have to be scared she is allowed to say her thoughts and her opinions on any situation.

Chemaly also stated that some women have been convinced that keeping their own name after marriage is selfish. (Chemaly, 2018, p. 77) This proves that there is still a more dominant sex in society. This really made me sad because to see that a women will be looked bad just for choosing to keep her name after marriage is very sad upon our current generation. I can’t believe that 63.3 percent men would be very upset if their wives didn’t give up their birth names. Women should not be judged for wanting to keep their last name it is part of them and they shouldn’t have to be criticize for it.

Personally I think the tasks at home should be separated equally and therefore women and men could both enjoy their leisure time equally. Also women shouldn’t be criticize for doing something that is completely their own choice, like admitting to a men she didn’t like the sex or keeping her name after marriage. It is very exhausting for a women to have to keep all of her emotions inside and any women shouldn’t be afraid to speak up.

In the text “The Meaning of Mean Differences” The author emphasize that men and women aren’t so different. He identifies that some male might be physically stronger and more aggressive and that women are more caring and nurturing. Therefore it doesn’t mean that male aren’t caring and that women aren’t strong and aggressive. Furthermore he identifies that women and men are from the planet Earth and not from Mars or Venus.

The quote “Men and Women are, of course, different. But they are not as different as day and night, earth and sky, yin and yang, life and death… men and women are closer to each other than either is to anything else.” The author is trying to show that yes they’re might be differences in gender but women and men aren’t completely different as society makes it seem like. Both women and men could do the financial jobs, both genders could raise a family the same way one another, there’re is no such thing as one gender does it better than the other.

The reason we cling to the notion of gender differences, is that it has been imprinted in our minds how a women and a men should be. Society has created an image over the past few decades of men being the more aggressive and stronger and women are more sensitive and emotional. People are afraid to change because they are use to it being that way. For example never in the history of the United State a women has been elected president. Furthermore a women could do exactly what a men could do if she was elected president. But then why hasn’t been any women elected? Because society has made a mental image for so long that it is a mens job and it should continue that way. People are afraid to leave their comforts zone and be who they want to be. Another example would be nursing, people view it as a women job and not a mens job. This idea has been past around for so long and it is completely absurd to think in such a way. Anyone could be whoever they wanna be and break that image that society has created for so long.

Carlo Ganni

Valenti and Hooks both share similar and different ways of being a feminist. They are very similar when they explained what people think of a feminist: Women who are angry at men, it is only for white women, they are only lesbians, and that women wanting to be better than men and take all their jobs. Also that feminism is bad for society and promotes a man hating view. Furthermore women should not be at war with one another and feminism could be shown through little act like t shirts, music and bumper stickers. These two strong women had the same perspective of what feminism is seen as. But they were yet very different. Valenti’s definition of feminism is to show that everyone in a way has a feminist side. How girls should not be afraid to say they are a  feminist. That it is ok to speak up, and feel good about themselves and the way they look: Hairy legs is beautiful and any size you are it doesn’t matter. Furthermore that a feminist isn’t fat ugly women, and that it girls shouldn’t have to be scared to be raped at night, and girls are not just a pair of tits for men’s enjoyment. Valenti emphasized that there are many ways of being a feminist and it is really something you define yourself. Furthermore she speaks up on the fact that the media and politics keep saying that feminism is dead but if it was really dead they wouldn’t have to bring it up. It is just a way for them to stop people from promoting feminism because it causes more women to be a criminal, which is very ridiculous. Hooks describes the feminism movement. She brings up how the world would be without male domination, where women would be equal to men and how we need to end racism, class egoism, imperialism therefore we could attain peace. If men knew more about feminism it would release men of patriarchy. She clarifies that there should be many more ways to promote feminism through pamphlets, billboards, magazines, buses and trains. Hooks view of the feminism movement is to show that women are not just there to follow men but that there are many families headed by women who provides them and makes sure they eat and maintain a good living condition. She wants to send a powerful message and end sexist oppression.

I would define a feminist as being a strong women who is not afraid to speak up because being a feminist is beautiful and yet it is a powerful movement to end all sexism and gain gender equality. This definition is very different than the one I held before. I barely know about what feminism was all about, to be honest I just thought a feminist women was just mad at men and they wanted to surpass them. I was very wrong being a feminist is way more then that and after reading those journals I could clearly see there is something wrong with our society and the way people think. Feminism should be much more promoted because it could make any girl in the world belong into a place and feel great and comfortable and is not afraid to promote feminism and how unfair it is that men are getting higher pays and better jobs. Furthermore that pregnant women are being fired and that they are just the followers of men.

The quote “In recent articles, feminism has been blamed for promoting promiscuity; promoting man-hating; the torture at Abu Ghraib; ruining “the family”; the feminization of men; the “failures” of Amnesty International; and even unfairness to Micheal Jackson.” This part of the Journal by Valenti really had my attention. I found it extremely absurd how the media could write something like that. Its absolutely ridiculous that feminism could cause men hating when men bring women down and make them feel worthless.

After researching these writers I was very impressed with everything they contributed to the world and the awards they won. they are very strong women and they make a big influence in society. Especially with all the sexism going on and how they’re is still a lack of gender equality between men and women. What made me appreciate this Valenti’s journal is that she suffered from bullying and got through it.