Research on feminism

http://www.universitytimes.ie/2011/12/06/feminism-to-the-modern-teenage-girl/

At the opposite end of this male cultural coding, you have the burqa, and I no longer feel strongly about that. I used to think that it was a tragedy that a woman's dress and, by extension, her public identity, should have to be mediated through male paranoia

There are plenty of conversations in the name of feminism that I would happily stamp out like fags in a dry forest. If I read one more article in which someone confuses sisterliness with feminism and wonders why women aren't nicer to one another in the workplace, or on Twitter, or in parliament, or at Asda, I don't think my spirit can take it.

Most people when they hear the word feminist automatically envision a bra burning, hairy legged, man-hating lesbian on a singular mission to bash any idea that she should be remotely "girly" simply because she is a woman.

 Modern feminism is more about a set of ideals than someone's appearance.

The outward appearance of a feminist is truly not any different than that of anyone else, and to be a feminist a woman does not have to be a radical making demands to every passerby who will remotely listen.

IMAGE: The first inaccurate view of feminism is based solely on how a true feminist should appear to the outside world. The misconception is that a true feminist will cast away society's views of beauty and set their own standards. While it is true that a most feminists will attest to the fact that they set their own standards of physical beauty and do not rely on media images or men's opinions to do it for them, that does not necessarily mean that the standard's they set will be outside of what society considers the norm. In fact, most women, feminist or not, shave their legs and their underarms, wear bras and makeup, and probably even get manicures and pedicures should the opportunity present itself. The true idea behind feminism is not to set yourself apart from societal norms to let people know on site the beliefs that you espouse, but rather to use your own judgment in determining what is right for you as a woman and an individual. If you awake to find that you want to wear a beautiful dress and stilettos simply because it makes you fell sexy or better, then by all means wear them. But, don't let society dictate that this is how you should dress.

MEN: Another misconception that many people have about feminism or feminists as a group is that they are all man-haters. The truth in the matter is the fact that a woman supports other women in having their own ideas and lives has nothing at all to do with their ability to love a man. Just because a woman does not feel that she should be forced to have her actions dictated by her male counterparts does not in any way suggest that she cannot have a completely satisfying relationship with mutual trust and friendship with some lucky man. It simply means that the men in her life will have to learn to accept the idea that she does not feel as if she is less than they are simply based on the fact that she is a woman, and while she will respect and value their opinion she will also believe that she was given the gift of a sound mind for a reason, and will not simply accept their beliefs as her own.

Another misconception about feminism and women that has always truly bothered me is that if a woman supports a feminist view point she does not appreciate or respect courtesies given to her by men simply because she is a woman. I am sure that there are some women who would be offended by a man opening a door for her or curbing the language they used when she came into the room. However, for the majority of us, the common courtesies of opening a door for us or curbing foul language in our presence are not at all offensive, merely a sign of good breeding. Because face it, no they would not do this for other men, but just because we have feminist view points does not make us less of a woman. When a man shows these respects to a woman, it should be appreciated for the respectful gesture to her womanhood that it is.

TRADITIONAL ROLES: The final misconception that I have faced that really annoyed me is that a woman could not possibly be a feminist and supportive of traditional gender roles. I love to cook supper for my husband and child, and I take pride in the fact that no one can care for my child the way that I can. I also love the fact that I work outside my home, and am damn good at what I do. The ideals of feminism are not based on who cooks the supper or cleans the kitchen, but rather on the fact that it is not automatically assumed to be a woman's role to do these things, but that she may actually
want to.

Caitlin Moran: My position is that every woman in the 21st century is feminist by default. This is a feminist world. We go to school with boys, we expect to be treated equally to boys, it's illegal to rape us, you can't own us, our paychecks go into our bank accounts, we are feminists, and unless you have actually handed in your vote at the White House and said "I have no need for this anymore," then you are a feminist. So then it becomes a semantic argument, why have we lost that word? I think young women, they just haven't heard the word feminism in the last 15 years or so anywhere in popular culture. I think one of the reason people got scared of it is that you don't have people going out there and saying, "I'm a feminist!" That's why I was interested in writing a sort of fun, colorful, common sense book, to get women to the point where they can support feminism publicly.

Final decision for short film!

My final idea for my short film will be a documentry on modern-day feminisim, what people think it is, boys and girls, and how it fits in within modern-day society. A lot of ideas have come from reading the book 'How to be a woman' by Caitlin Moran:

 

She makes some really good points about how feminisim still exists and how girls and woman today can carry on fighting against it. I've also done a bit of research and found many other points I want to bring up. I want to make a documentry that's aimed at younger girls, to try and open young girls minds to the ways they are still being exploited by men. I'm also doing feminism in sociology so there's a lot of stuff I've learnt there that I want to bring in to this aswell. I know pretty much what content my video will be made up of, but i'm still looking for ideas of how to present it, with images, interviews, narration etc.

 

Short story ideas..

Story 1:
A man is sitting at a desk, rubbing a silver spoon with his thumb as he stares blankly at the wall before him. He let's out a lengthy sigh and ceases all movement. A while passes before he abruptly stands, enthusiasm enveloping every contour of his face as if an incredible idea had struck his mind. The strange man dashes from the front door of his house clad in only nightwear, he rushes into the car and -after a skipped scene of driving- hastily arrives at a large park. He blasts open the door with his foot and runs in a wild frenzy to the centre of the field, leaving the vehicle exposed to robbery.
The man stops... he is where he should be, he has made it! He whips out the spoon and gazes at it with awe struck eyes before plummeting it into the earth and digging. A loud clunk is heard and he discovers a peculiar container. Upon opening the artifact, he finds a silver knife and fork sitting within. Tears fall from the now shaking man's face as he puts the spoon inside the box and shuts it once more. He puts the set into its former abode beneath the ground and places the dirt back ontop. As he pats the final pieces of mud down, he places his two hands onto the ground and stares in silence...

Story 2:
A man kept finding food and things missing from his flat whenever he came back from work. He kept checking the locks and they all seemed fine. He thought it could be mice or rats but couldn't see any other signs of animals and the food items missing seemed to be too big. He eventually installed webcam/CCTV in the flat and saw an old woman on the film moving around his house and going through the kitchen. It transpired that she had been living in one of his cupboards for 5 years and coming out everyday to eat his food and use the toilet!

Story 3:
Shots of a quiet town. Everyone is going about their boring, mudane daily schedules.
Shot of a man dressed in all black sneaking around an alley. He approaches a lever and pulls it down.
The entire town goes black and white. People are shocked, confused, and panicked. The town floods out of their homes, offices, etc. and fonto the streets in search of the cause of the B&W color change.
One man finally wanders down the alley and finds the lever. He turns it back on and everything goes back to normal. Everyone celebrates. The man raises his arms in triumph and walks away.
The "man in black" sneaks out into the alley again, turns the lever off, rips it off the wall, and takes it with him. The scene changes to black and white. Celebrating people look confused, look to the sky, fade out.

Story 4:
so you start out with a guy waking up, and its obvious this guy has sever OCD. everything in his house is squeaky clean, and he has a routine that he follows every morning. The key is, you never see this guy talk, he just goes about his normal routine that he does every morning.
The narration sets in and start talking about " I am samuel johnson, and I am the best assassin in the world. I study my targets meticulously (show him reading the paper), and take the best care of myself ( show him brushing his teeth or somethin) and I am always thinkin one step ahead.
Then this OCD guy walks out the front door of his house, on his way to his car for work, and gets his head blown off. Then the camera shifts to somewhere else in the bushes, and shows a guy all in black with a sniper riffle, and he says "and that is why I am the best"
I think it would be cool cause if you did it right, the whole time you would be thinking that the guy getting ready is the sniper, getting ready to go and and get his target, but then in the last scene, you realize he is the target. ex. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=VRtI_99oXhY

I also am thinking about doing something with bullying and i've found this video which has given me really good ideas of my own for a change! I like how the mother is used in this one and the effects suicide has on family members and I came up with a really nice speech a mother could say to a bullied child. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XLcfdkkHQE. This one is similar, but I like how they use facts and figures at the end to bring it back to real life and how they flick from colour to black and white and I like the idea of the narration, I wanted to write a poem and use that as my narration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=Ntq4IV38FRs&NR=1
I'm putting a link to this next video on here, because it's a true story off youtube and it highlights the feelings kids feel when they're bullied, which I want to explore and pull together, for both boys and girls. I thought maybe I could do it in two parts and flick from boy bullying and girl bullying. I want to explore what people mean by bullying. A lot of names come up with bullying like 'fat', 'ugly', 'geek' etc and I want to explore what people mean by those names and how people that are bullied can change the meaning of those names. I really want to make a video about bullying AWARENESS the best that I can, a video to help the bullied. Rather than the typical bullied story of child bullied that then kills themselves. I want to do something different, something more complex.