(More Than) Grrrl Power! Girls Studies at UCF

  Dr. Alice Evans: Feminist Activism to Close the Gender Gap How To Make A Brighter Future     As human beings, it should be natural for us to want the best lives we can possibly have. We should have the desire to progress forward with innovations and ideas in order to improve our quality of life. While this is true for almost everyone, some people can be more concerned with themselves without considering those around them. This isn't the best mindset to have, as you can't have a quality lifestyle if others around you are constantly miserable. This is something that I believe in, which is why I want to work towards taking part in activism in the future.      To start, we have to look at what activism means. In simple terms, activism can be described as having the courage to "speak out and address the problems in our lives and communities" (Shaw & Lee 705). This can be in simple ways, such as talking about it with people you know and spreading awareness,...

  Maternal and Child Health             In 2010, I was 13 years old when my aunt Cindy had her second child, a little girl named Serenity. My aunt was the first person in my family that I had been around when they were pregnant so I was able to witness her getting morning sickness, having cravings, feet getting swollen, and her stomach growing with each passing month until she eventually had her daughter. Just like she did with her first child, my aunt needed a C-section  but since she had scar tissue from her previous delivery, it took the doctors a while to get Serenity out. I was so distracted by the adorable baby girl in her arms that I didn’t really pay much attention to the fact that she had to deliver her child in a different method. In my mind, she just gave birth and that was natural so it wasn’t a big deal that she had a C-section . It wasn’t really until she had her third and last child about two years late...

  Social Media Archives Modern Media Mayhem     In today's world, there isn't much you can do without the mention of the media. Television shows, movies, social media sites, and so many other things contribute to this world of connection we have today. Now more than ever, we have the opportunity to communicate with people around the globe who share our ideas and interests. At first glance, it seems like the perfect sort of thing to have in the modern age, but this is actually far from the truth. While the Internet and its various sites and capabilities have worked to bring people together, they've also worked to tear people apart. One of the ways it does this is by spreading ideologies that can be harmful to many groups of people, especially women. With various forms of content being made more and more accessible, this comes with the spreading of stereotypes and misconceptions that don't allow much change.     To start, we have to look at how the Internet simply...

  Reasons why you should celebrate your family! The Family Way     In a majority of our lives, it would be safe to say that family is incredibly important. What that family looks like can be incredibly diverse, just as the rest of the world is around us. Family can even be loosely defined depending on who you are, extending to friends or others that don't share the same blood as you. No matter who you consider to be your family, I feel it would be safe to say that they play a large role in your life as a person. This is just how I feel about my family, who works hard every day in order to support me and my siblings in everything that we do.      But what exactly does the family standard look like, and why is it so important to society today? Here in the United States, for the vast majority, there is not really a "normal" family, but the media continues to push that there is, just as it does with many other things. This "normal family is generally considered...

  Example Mashup of Culture Jams In Gendered Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings, chapter five explores women in media and culture. In the last few decades, media has involved into a monstrous form of power that people cannot escape. Television, music, the internet, and so much more have taken part in shaping gender and created multibillion-indurates that regulate society. Popular culture has also played a large role in beauty and encourage certain practices (Shaw, S. M., & Lee, J.). I could argue this chapter reminds me a great deal of chapter four, especially when pairing it to Jean Kilbourne’s research in advertisement but in this case, we’ll be focusing more on Culture Jam, a form of alternative media (Jammin\’ Ladies). When I started UCF in the fall of 2021, one of my first classes was WST 3603: Introduction to Gender Studies with Dr. Anne Bubriski. I enjoyed this class so much that when I saw the opportunity to take another class for this semester,...

  Dei Toolkit: Gender & Gender Identity Gender: Not As Simple As You Think     For as long as I can remember, gender has been an important part of my personality. My mother would always praise me for being "feminine" and urged me to dress up, take care of my hair and my appearance the way any girl should. She does the same thing with my younger sister now, who somehow managed to be "more feminine than you," as my mother remarks constantly. Even today, my mother urges me to "dress my age" and show more skin, something that I want to do but can't be forced into because I'm not used to it.     That urging of "dressing my age" started to come about when I was seventeen or eighteen, just starting to get into the adult world. Before that, my mother had no problem with me wearing regular t-shirts, longer shorts, and other articles of clothing like that. Once I hit that certain mark, though, I had to try and present myself as more "grown...

  With Spring 2022 coming to a close, I have almost completed my own service learning which inspired me to write about my experience and show others the benefits of it. This is not the first time I’ve had to do service learning and I’m sure for many students they’ve come across a class that has asked them to give back to their community for a few hours. I could understand for many students that their first reaction isn’t the best. After all, so many students are balancing school with jobs and sometimes even have the responsibility of caring for sick family members or small children. In high school, I knew of a young man who found himself a job at night which prompted him to sleep during the day. I can remember my teacher letting him sleep in the back and how a friend of mine, let's call her Arianna, told me of his struggles to complete community hours for high school because of work. This isn’t to discourage anyone but in situations such as his, I understand why some people aren’t ...

  Body Image - Self Esteem - Influence of Society When I Look In The Mirror      In my personal life, I've always considered myself a feminine person. I like to wear flowing dresses and do my makeup, styling my hair in ways that are comfortable and beautiful. However, it wasn't until recently that I considered why I did all these things. I always thought that I did them solely for the purpose of making myself happy, but that might not be completely true. Perhaps, at some point, I continued leaning into my feminine self in order to fit into society's standard of femininity. As we will discuss in this post, this standard can be harmful and largely negative on young girls and women like myself and many others in the world.      As most people are aware of, the beauty standard pushed by the larger media world is one that doesn't entirely fit the reality that we live in. In most advertisements in modern America, models are "'beautiful,' thin... young, abled...

          Original Broadway Cast Performing on Jimmy Fallon (2021)             In the final part of this blog series, it’s now time to take a look into the lives of Katherine Howard, the “rose without a thorn”, and Catherine Parr, the one who survived. By now, for those reading these blogs, you’ve come to realize just how strange it is that these six wives have more in common besides marrying the same man. They’ve all grown through hardships and had connections that very few people would be aware of. With these last two queens, you’ll come to see how far back these connections go and how it affected their lives. Katherine Howard, sometimes spelled as Catherine, is believed to have been around in 1524 and the first cousin to Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn (Britannica, T.). As Anne’s own birthday has been a mystery, it’s unknown what the age difference is but Anne was most definitely older by almost 20 years. Sadly, K...

  Original Broadway Cast (2021) Continuing off on part one of this blog series, it’s now time to take a look into the lives of Jane Seymour, the only one King Henry VIII claimed to truly love, and Anne of Cleves, the reportedly “ugliest” bride that soon became known as “The King’s Sister.” In my personal opinion, while these two wives didn’t leave as much of a mark in history, they still had quite an impact on Henry and showed intentions to rule as strong Queens but would sadly never get the chance compared to their predecessors and successors. Very little is known about Jane Seymour besides the fact she was presumably born around 1509 to Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall and the younger sister to Thomas Seymour, the future husband to Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s final wife. Unlike Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, she was not as well educated despite coming from an incredibly wealthy family but she was brought up to be a strong believer in Catholicism and thrived in house work su...