Overview of my project
My project focused on the feminist movement from the 1960's to present day and the three waves feminism has gone through within this time. The women's movement has brought attention to and fought for issues ranging from the right to vote and equal pay to reproductive rights and domestic violence towards women. Each wave has contributed to the women's rights movement in it's own, unique way and has brought attention to discrimination, inequality, and violence happening towards women everyday.
History
For my history portion of this project, I made a bracelet using three different colored pieces of straw. Each piece of straw's color represented a wave of the feminist movement.
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Yellow: First wave
I used yellow to represent the first wave of feminism. This wave took place in the 19th century into the early 20th century. This wave focused on gaining basic rights like the right for women to vote. I used yellow to describe this because it symbolizes caution and as a warning color. The first wave of feminism was just the start of the movement and it should have been taken as a warning that this is just the start we want equality and we will fight for total equality. It is also an attention getting color and it was an attention getting movement. This wave of the movement gave women hope for a better, happier future where they are equal to men and aren’t suppressed. This is all represented through the yellow strand of my bracelet. Red: Second wave Second wave feminism took place from 1960 to around 1980. This wave focused on issues such as sexuality, reproductive rights, rape culture, domestic violence, and workplace inequality. I used red to represent this because it is a very intense color and it was a very intense part of the movement. It represents rage, anger, and leadership. At this point, a lot of radical feminist were coming out and women were so outraged with these intense issues. These issues are very emotionally intense, which is represented through the color red. Green: Third wave The third wave of feminism started in 1990 into present day. This is all about redefining what it means to be a feminist and personal growth. This wave is all about expanding our culture and realizing that we are a diverse group of women and with a diverse set of identities. It is a very down to earth part of the movement it seems. This is why I used green to represent this wave. Green symbolizes growth and harmony and this wave is all about growth and coming together as a diverse group. It is also a color that is associated with nature and healing. This relates to this wave because it it is a very culture based part of the movement and we are focusing on healing ourselves from our history of oppression. |
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English
The english portion of my project was focused on body positivity. I took several prompts that had to do with body image/ positivity and responded to them over the course of a week. Here is a piece of my entry.
What does body acceptance mean to me?
I believe that body acceptance is not only loving yourself and your body, but caring for your body and doing good, healthy things for it. Anybody can say that they love their body, but that doesn't always mean that they are taking care of their body. Many people believe to love themselves they must fit an ideal body type or weight. They become obsessed with this, when what they really should be focusing on is keeping their body healthy and happy. Skinny does not equal healthy and healthy does not equal skinny. "Fat" does not equal unhealthy and unhealthy does not equal "fat". Healthy is not a body type or weight and I feel as if this is what many women fail to understand. Our entire lives, starting as little girls, we are bombarded with models, social standards, and people telling us what we should be physically and mentally as women. These things are beaten into our heads from such a young age, it's hard to not feel as if you need to be "perfect". If you are a female and have truly achieved to love yourself, you are extremely lucky because most girls don't have that.
For me, a beautiful person has...
For me, a beautiful person has love and compassion and respect for others. I don't feel as if someone has to be a certain body type or weight to be beautiful. Beauty lays on the inside of a person and in how they perceive the world and people around them. You can be the most attractive person on the outside, but if you have a terrible personality and you treat others badly, you are automatically ugly in my book. Outside beauty means nothing without inside beauty.
When I think of my body, what I'd like to think of is.... Because...
What I think of my body, what I'd like to think of is that it is beautiful and that I don't need to fit any social standards with my body because it does not define who I am as a person. I would like to not have to be constantly worrying about losing weight for the sake of being skinny, but instead focus on being healthy and making good decisions for my body.
Today I chose to love up on (body part) because....
Today I chose to love up on my sides because I have always had a huge issue with my "love handles" and always thought that they were unattractive. I used to stress about them and try almost every exercise in the book to rid of them, from sit ups to crunches to planks. None of those things actually worked for me, but that is okay. Even though it's something I'm insecure about, It is a part of me and deserves the same amount of love I would give to parts of myself that I enjoy and like.
If my body were the current beauty Ideal, I would...
If my body was the current beauty ideal, I would probably still find something about my body to hate and be insecure about. A lot of girls think that if they kill themselves physically and mentally trying to be skinny or stay skinny, it's going to make them like their body more than they did. In reality, this is not the case. You will still find something on your body to stress about and try to change, no matter how perfect you may be to others. The insecurities will still always be there, they will just come out in a different way or be taken out on a different part of your body.
I believe that body acceptance is not only loving yourself and your body, but caring for your body and doing good, healthy things for it. Anybody can say that they love their body, but that doesn't always mean that they are taking care of their body. Many people believe to love themselves they must fit an ideal body type or weight. They become obsessed with this, when what they really should be focusing on is keeping their body healthy and happy. Skinny does not equal healthy and healthy does not equal skinny. "Fat" does not equal unhealthy and unhealthy does not equal "fat". Healthy is not a body type or weight and I feel as if this is what many women fail to understand. Our entire lives, starting as little girls, we are bombarded with models, social standards, and people telling us what we should be physically and mentally as women. These things are beaten into our heads from such a young age, it's hard to not feel as if you need to be "perfect". If you are a female and have truly achieved to love yourself, you are extremely lucky because most girls don't have that.
For me, a beautiful person has...
For me, a beautiful person has love and compassion and respect for others. I don't feel as if someone has to be a certain body type or weight to be beautiful. Beauty lays on the inside of a person and in how they perceive the world and people around them. You can be the most attractive person on the outside, but if you have a terrible personality and you treat others badly, you are automatically ugly in my book. Outside beauty means nothing without inside beauty.
When I think of my body, what I'd like to think of is.... Because...
What I think of my body, what I'd like to think of is that it is beautiful and that I don't need to fit any social standards with my body because it does not define who I am as a person. I would like to not have to be constantly worrying about losing weight for the sake of being skinny, but instead focus on being healthy and making good decisions for my body.
Today I chose to love up on (body part) because....
Today I chose to love up on my sides because I have always had a huge issue with my "love handles" and always thought that they were unattractive. I used to stress about them and try almost every exercise in the book to rid of them, from sit ups to crunches to planks. None of those things actually worked for me, but that is okay. Even though it's something I'm insecure about, It is a part of me and deserves the same amount of love I would give to parts of myself that I enjoy and like.
If my body were the current beauty Ideal, I would...
If my body was the current beauty ideal, I would probably still find something about my body to hate and be insecure about. A lot of girls think that if they kill themselves physically and mentally trying to be skinny or stay skinny, it's going to make them like their body more than they did. In reality, this is not the case. You will still find something on your body to stress about and try to change, no matter how perfect you may be to others. The insecurities will still always be there, they will just come out in a different way or be taken out on a different part of your body.
Art
I also focused on body image for my art piece. I first outlined a deformed female figure onto a piece of paper. This represented all the imperfections and flaws that women see in themselves. I then created the border of my piece. The border was created with pictures of different country's "ideal body type". These societal conformities are the boundaries that trap women in this constant cycle of self-hatred when they feel they don't fit into or can't achieve these ideals. I chose pictures that I felt represented the social pressures coming from outside sources such as peers and the media to collage around the female figure. This shows all the pressures and stigmas surrounding women in society today. On the inside of the figure, I wrote empowering quotes about staying body positive that came from people, novels, articles, etc.
