Feminist Manifesto by Mina Loy
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Category Archives: Manifesto
Manifesto ; Sexual Objectification of Women
If I was to write a manifesto about the women in our society as Loy did I will most likely write about sexual objectification of women. One main example I will use to back up my manifesto will be in today’s music videos. I took a hip-hop world view class in my previous semester where we learned about misogyny in today’s media. Misogyny is the hatred against females. It could also be define as degrading the female image, sexual objectification of women and discrimination. In the hip-hop culture we see many of the music videos where women have a little to nothing clothing. We see women dancing in a very sexual way and exposing their body parts. Misogyny has become a trend where women are considered to be accessories or sexualized as props in the hip-hop culture. Not only do we see this behavior happening in the videos, but we also hear them in the lyrics in many of these songs. This is something that women have to stop. I will try to answer questions such as why these music videos tend to use women body to get the attention of the audience. Are people buying this type of music also being a part of this sexual objectification of women? I believe that women that are part of this environment are only giving into the stereotype that the society place them in. They shouldn’t feel the need to expose their body to get a job or to any anyone’s attention. Women should be noticed because of their intelligence e and ambition in life. In today’s society in many situation women are hired or not hired based on their looks. What the looks have to do with how good they are going to get the job done. I agree with Loy Manifesto telling women that they should take charge of their lives and be the individual that they were born to be. To find their true identity as I said in my previous post response on “Feminist Manifesto”, the author is trying to say is that the purpose is not to have the same right men do and be equal to them, but to look deeper within themselves to gain their individual worth not caring the status men are in. A women should take full responsibly in their lives make it their
business to be educated and be respected. I will include these ideas as well in my manifesto.
Manifesto, late assignment from 2/25 !
In Loy’s “Feminist Manifesto” she wants women to take charge of their and stop living in the shadows of men. Women fight for equal rights everyday .Back in the 1900s women were fighting for the rights more than they are today and Loy expresses that in her “Feminist Manifesto”. Loy expresses her feeling a towards the subject. Loy states “the desire for comfortable protection instead of and intelligent curiosity and courage in meeting”. Loy wants women to strive for what they want in life. Loy wants women to feel comfortable with their choices in life and not settle for anything or anyone.
If I were to write a manifesto on women in today’s society, I would probably write about the way society views women and their bodies. The reason I would choose this topic is because in today’s society people will look down on women covering their bodies, I.e. Muslim women, and praise women that show their bodies to the world. Most women believe that in order to attention form men they need to show them their bodies instead of their minds. This is a very weird situation women should approach the world with their intelligence not their bodies. I do have to say that it’s not completely our fault, the men are at fault as well, but as powerful and intelligent women we need to change this issue.
Some thoughts on Project 1
As you work on drafts of Project 1, please share your questions and thoughts with me and your classmates so we can better understand the assignment and our approaches to it.
In my instructions for Project 1, I noted that you must use quotations in the justification part, but not in the manifesto part. If you want to include language directly from the text because it captures what you think belongs in the manifesto, you can–but the majority of the words in the manifesto should not be direct quotations from the text. You’re not explaining the text in the manifesto, or explaining those passages, but rather are writing a bold statement about women that you understand the text is making.
I promised a sample manifesto, using Frida Kahlo’s “The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego and Señor Xólotl.” I hope this serves as an example of what your manifesto could be, but only an example, not a template or guideline. Take a look at the way Loy’s manifesto is laid out on the page (255-257) to see how you might consider altering the look of your manifesto. Also note that this manifesto is approximately 300 words, so the minimum length you would want to write.
Imagining Kahlo’s Feminist Manifesto
We are all connected, women to men, to animals, to plants in the ground, to that ground, to the water that flows through that ground and around it. To the air that envelops us. To the Earth that envelops us. To the Universe, that envelops all.
A woman is at the center, is both supported and a supporter. In both, she has love. It extends from the Universe to Earth, to her, and from her to mankind and animalkind. To her love.
Women, our woman, the Universe says, are enmeshed in matrix of the natural world, but so too are they wrapped in their culture, and wear their background in its vibrant color and intricate patterning, a dress that protects and conceals as it represents and identifies. She is constructed by both forces, by the Earth and by the dress.
The world she lives in lends a hand to the love a woman gives: to a man, to her husband, to her partner. They are not equivalent, but they are reliant on each other. Their love unifies them, and them with their world, and the vastness of the Universe.
The world she lives in lends a hand, lays a hand on the infant she nurtures.
When a woman has no infant to nurture, the Earth ensures that she will still nurture. As a model, the Earth reminds that she, too, has a woman’s form, that she, too, nourishes, that her milk can quench the thirst of all living things. Women must realize and remember that as the Earth takes a woman’s form, she supports all life, all growth, all love, and bestows that ability on all women. They, too, must form themselves in her model and embody their role as sustainer, while embracing that they, too, are sustained by the larger forces of the Earth and the Universe.
Manifesto: Women in the workforce and pregnancy
We all know there are many issues surrounding woman and the workforce. For one, Mina Loy in her manifesto mentions the different values of a man and a woman in a professional and commercial setting, stating outright that women are not equal to men. Many gender role stereotypes are placed on women regarding their career during and after pregnancy. For example, women are not all guaranteed maternity leave and safety of their job if they are to get pregnant. Although after pregnancy the situation can get much worse. If a mother has a child and must return to work soon after, an easy stereotype is that she is a career driven woman who places her work above staying home and caring for the child. However on the other hand, if a woman has a child and decides to be a stay at home mom, people may brand her as lazy or living off her husbands money. Women are so easily critiqued for either inevitable choice they must make. Men however do not have to deal with these issues. Men are free to climb the economical ladder without pressure of getting pregnant within a certain time frame when their body can handle it. Men are free to be tigers in the workforce without the biological and hormonal effects of pregnancy. Women also must deal with the physical signs of pregnancy such as a growing belly or swollen feet. During a job interview however, women can do nothing when the hiring committee decides to hire a man instead simply because he isn’t pregnant. Women can be stigmatized when pregnant such as “she won’t work hard now” or “what if she quits? Or “What if she is too tired to complete her workload?”. The pressure for women to have a career and be a mother and homemaker is at an all time high. Now, women are expected to be breadwinners along with their husbands as well as bare the children and keep a clean home. Women must realize that the pressure from society to do all of these things will never dissipate, but we must rise above the stereotypes and live our lives in the way that makes us the happiest. Regardless of the path a woman chooses regarding pregnancy or careers – it is her path to choose and live with.
Society will always have a negation to each positive, a critique for each choice.
Double Standards
Manifesto is a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives or views if the issuer ( Webster Merriam.com)
If I had to write a a Manifesto about women there would be a broad range of subjects to choose from, but the one that comes to mind first is that age old double standard.
Women have always been held to a different standard than men. For years us women have had to deal with being treated unfairly. We make less money on the job than a man who is doing the same exact job. Money however is not the only thing that women fight for in the work place. Females also fight for respect in the business world. it is assumed that a pretty face, and all the other attributes of woman are a sign of weakness. I think that would be a great argument to base my manifesto on. Though discrimination at the workplace is a great topic for a manifesto, I think my statement would focus on the broader areas of the double standard. Women are expected to appear a certain way In the public eye,and are upheld to certain behavior that society just does not expect men to uphold. For example, a woman who has slept with numerous guys is said to be “promiscuous” , and on the other hand a man who sleeps around with different women is called a “player”. Is it only genetics that make the difference or is it just as simple as the majority opinion rules.
Mina Loy mentioned in Manifesto, ” be brave and deny the outset, that pathetic, flap , trap war cry , women us the equal to man- for she is not. ” That statement is very supportive to the argument of the double standard between men and women. I think for my manifesto I would bring firth issues which support the fact that men and women are not equal.
Follow-up for Thursday, 2/27
As the manifesto brainstorms continue to come in, a different assignment for Thursday’s class. Rather than writing a new post, please comment on 3 posts from either this most recent assignment or the prior one (the two since we last met).
Comments should be thoughtful, substantial (aim for 100 words), and should continue the thought process that the initial poster began. If your comments are shorter, consider what else you could add to them to get either the author of the initial post further along in his or her thoughts, or what might inspire someone else to comment in response to your comment and the initial post.
A few words about commenting:
- If no one has commented yet, you can by clicking Leave a Reply at the bottom of the post.
- If someone has already commented, you can by clicking 1 Reply or 2 Replies etc (it will keep track of how many replies).
- You are welcome to comment on a post that has already been commented on, so long as you add something new to the conversation.
- You are welcome to respond to someone’s comment by clicking on Reply at the bottom of their comment. You’ll notice that your reply is indented further than if you just replied to the post.
- Comments might ask questions, refer to specific passages, link ideas from one post to another, relate someone’s point about one text or issue to another text or issue, offer a differing (but respectful) view, offer a related view that takes the ideas in a new depth or direction, etc.
- “I agree” or “I disagree” or “I understand” or “Good point” or similar short, unsupported replies alone will not get credit as comments.
- You can ALWAYS write something short in addition to the required number of comments. Don’t feel like you can never write a short reply just because these 3 comments need to be substantial.
- You can use the Like function to let people know which posts you’re most interested in, but that doesn’t count as a comment.
I can’t wait to see how our commenting experiment goes–if it goes well, we might move to a post and comments in the week rather than two posts.
If you have any questions, please ask them as replies to this post. See you in class on Thursday and online before then!
Manifesto
If I were to write a manifesto as Loy did in ““Feminist Manifesto,” I would write about how women are seen as objects in society. When we think about women based on what society has to say about them, we think about beautiful women. They say beautiful women can get away with murder. Women are seen as objects of desire, but women are people too. They have personalities that are overlooked because who cares, that’s not what they’re here for. A women has a goal? That’s nice. The fact is that on television, you will see half naked women in advertisements for random products. Does there have to be half naked women? No. Although, they do get these’s commercials attention.
There are obviously many gender stereotypes in the world today, so why do women still try to behave how society paints them. Some women do help out the stereotype by getting jobs where they are required to be half naked. Although other women are more serious about this. In the workplace, some women get hired for their looks. They are also seen as sexual objects instead of as coworkers. I heard a story once of a women who got fired from her job because her boss found her too attractive and did not want to have an affair with her. Its very disrespectful that he would just assume that she would be willing to have an affair with him. This was interesting to me because she was obviously not seen as an employee. She was seen as a sexual object and got fired because of it. This is a problem because women do not get to chose how they look and should not have to suffer for it.
People should be treated equally. The fact that woman are seen as objects means that they are not going to be treated like human beings. They are never going to get the respect that they deserve and this is a huge problem.
Manifesto: Double Standards, Man And Women
If I were to write a manifesto about women in our society as Loy have done, I would write about women having a different standard from man due to there gender. The double standard between male and females have been an on going issue. There seem to be no boundary to this matter and women are continuously victims of these two sets of rules. This includes matters of marriage, age, relationship and even the work field.
One example of these rules are women tend to be perceived as aggressive when attempting to occupy leadership positions whereas men exhibiting the same behavior are seen as decisive. Society as placed women in a box and have accepted man as chairman or boss. A women can’t be assertive and confident of her decisions without being called “the B word”. Another double standard females face is difference in personality characteristics that men and women are expected to posses. Women are expected to be more emotional and sensitive. This involves being in a relationship and also the work field. For instance women are still not as dominant as men in the professional work field because women are still perceived as weak and delicate.
Another example would be if a women dates a man that is 10-20 years younger, she is automatically ostracized by society. She is thought to not be able to find someone her age, whereas a man is looked at to be a provider for such a young female. Men dating young women is becoming more and more acceptable by society but it has not been the same for women. The most controversial double standard of them all is sexual freeness. A man sleeping around with several women will receive praise whereas a women doing the same is ridicule for her actions.
There most be an end to this two sets of rules. Different cultures around the world would deliberately disagree with this idea because they are so suck on what have been seen as normal for centuries. Raised in a African American home I have lived with these double standards. I can honestly say it has effected me in negative and positive ways. But I can’t say the same for other individuals of other cultures. Our society is constantly making up new rules for women everyday. This limits the abilities of women as a whole in all assets. As a women it is our job to stand up for ourselves and speak on this issue.
