The Future of Feminism

Throughout this course, we have discussed many foci of the feminist movement. These ranged from issues of labor equality to beauty ideals to violence against women, among others. Three of these issues stand out to me as the most important issues for the feminist movement to focus on. These are fighting against gender roles and stereotypes, violence against women, and women’s health. These three issues stand out to me as issues that will resolve other issues that women face as they themselves are dealt with.

If feminists wish to achieve any of their goals, I think gender roles need to be rejected by society, beginning at a young age. The equality of men and women should be taught to children and children should not be forced into gender roles society has placed on us. As of now, boys and girls are socialized in school to fit into these gender roles. We saw in Barrie Thorne’s article (“Girls and Boys Together…”) that gender roles are being fulfilled on elementary school playgrounds and in cafeterias. Children are taught at a young age that in order to fit into society, they cannot break out of their assigned gender roles, and if they do, they will be ridiculed. If we can break down gender stereotypes at a young age, we can more easily eliminate them in society as a whole, as well as change the way women are treated in the work force. To do this, I think feminists need to focus on standing against how men and women are portrayed in the media. The portrayal of women as weak and/or as sexual objects and men as strong and aggressive subconsciously affects everyone, especially children and teenagers. If we can change the way the media portrays the genders, we get at what I feel is the root of the problem.

Violence against women seems to be a never-ending problem in our world, and why we have let it continue is inexcusable. By lessening violence against women, we make women stronger. As I discussed in an earlier blog, I think we need to first start with making sure that all women, regardless of race or social class, are able to seek and receive help without being forced to adhere to rules like being able to speak English. I feel that more funding needs to be allocated to stopping violence against women as well.

Finally, I think that women’s health is an important issue that the feminist movement should focus on. Having access to adequate health care is a right that all people should be afforded, and this is not the case for many women throughout the world. Reproductive rights are important as well, and this relates to adequate health care for everyone. Regardless of whether you consider yourself pro-life, pro-choice, or neither (because you find these words do not adequately cover your beliefs on reproductive rights), I think all would agree that we do not want women to have unsafe abortions performed on them. This is one way in which supporting women’s health is extremely important, among many others. 

Violence Against Women of Color

According to Kimberlé Crenshaw, there are several ways that most women of color who are abused are excluded from services for abused women. First, Crenshaw talks about how after colored women are abused, cultural barriers stop them from reporting the violence or leaving the situation all together. Women of color are more often wholly dependent on their husbands or more likely to live with an extended family where there is little privacy to call someone to report the abuse. Women of color are also more reluctant to call the police because police forces are known to be hostile toward them. Crenshaw also discusses how some domestic violence activists were afraid to release data showing the large amount of domestic violence cases in minority communities because they feared it would undermine the efforts of the police to address domestic violence as a serious issue, as they would only see it as a minority problem. Data about violence in minority communities is also suppressed in the name of antiracism: people fear that calling minorities more violent makes them a racist, and so no one talks about it. Finally, Crenshaw then talks about how even when women do report abuse to police or some other support system, they are likely to face barriers to actually getting help. First, women who are not English speakers face a huge barrier: they are denied access to services for abused women based solely on the fact that they cannot speak English. These services want the women to be able to speak for themselves because if do not, it further victimizes them. These services are also very reluctant to make any changes to their policies. Also, services such as the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence are located in areas where there are few people of color. The main problem here is that the intersectional differences of women of color are ignored when it comes to violence against women.

Women of color do not only face exclusion from services for abused women. There are several services for women, such as health care and reproductive rights, that women of color are sometimes excluded from. Any service that requires a woman to speak English or requires a significant amount of money can sometimes be discriminatory towards women of color, since many of these women cannot speak English and are more likely to live in poverty than white women.

There are several changes that could be made to address the issue of violence against women of color. First, Crenshaw mentions that one of the problems is that the only narratives we hear about minorities are ones which focus on negative aspects and/or stereotypes of a given minority, so when we hear someone say that there is more violence in minority communities, we immediately think that the person saying this is a racist. This leads to issues of violence against women of color being suppressed. To solve this problem, a full range of minorities’ experiences should be portrayed in society instead of just focusing on negative aspects of minority communities. If we do this, we can talk about issues of violence in minority communities without being called a racist. I think we should also force services for abused women to allow women who do not speak English to get help from them. If they insist on having women speak for themselves, they should have counselors that speak languages other than English available to speak with women who cannot speak English. Of course, this may require additional funding to services for abused women, but isn’t it a great cause to be funding? Our society, especially the United States, needs to make violence against all women more of a priority than it currently is.

Mis[s]representation of Women

There were several facts presented in Miss Representation that surprised me. First, one of the commentators noted that women are preventing themselves from gaining leadership positions because they are the most skeptical of women in leadership positions. I hadn’t even thought about this, but thinking about my own family, both of my grandmothers were very skeptical about a woman becoming the President of the United States. They expressed concerns that a woman would not be able to run the country as well as men have for the past two centuries. I imagine that there are more women that think this way, which upsets me. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mentioned that women in leadership roles in this country had to stop the men in office from making changes to Title IX legislation, which shocked me. This shows that there is a dire need for women in our government so that women’s voices are heard. I also didn't realize how female journalists are portrayed as sexual objects in news broadcasts. When the film played a montage of clips from various news programs, I was disturbed by how much female journalists have been sexualized in the media. This shows how society has become so used to seeing sexualized female news anchors that we don’t even think about it anymore.

I learned a lot from Miss Representation, but there were a few things that stuck out. First, as various quick facts flashed across the screen throughout the film, one caught my attention: America spends more on advertising than the entire GDP of 80% of the countries in the world. Think of all the things that could be done with that money that would be a better investment for our country: helping those who are less fortunate, supporting scientific research to end diseases such as AIDs or cancer, or even paying off some of the United States debt. Regardless of anyone’s political beliefs, I think most of us would agree that there are many better things to spend that much money on than advertising. I also found it interesting that often times in the media negative verbs are used for women in power. For example, the media will use the phrase “she demanded” as opposed to the much less negative “she asked.” The film also mentioned that women had much more diverse roles in 20s and 30s films than they do in today’s films. I find this really strange, since we claim that women are treated more fairly now and have the freedom to branch out into the so-called “male” jobs and roles. Yet our films and television are not accurately portraying this shift.

I was able to relate to a lot that was presented in the film, specifically the way that men are scrutinized about their appearance much less than women are. While the film focused on how this manifests itself in the media, I have found it true in my everyday life. Whenever I have attended any social gathering, whether it was with friends or family, I have always found that the women I am around are judged on their appearance much more than the men are. In some situations where it’s perfectly fine for a man to wear jeans and a t-shirt, women feel like they need to wear a dress and makeup in order to impress everyone. I’ve never understood why this occurs.

While the film did focus on the problems women face when trying to obtain leadership roles, and the scrutiny they face once they land in these roles, Miss Representation also discussed ways to promote more women to leadership roles and make sure they are respected when they land in these roles. First, the promotion of women for positions of power needs to begin at an early age: Devanshi Patel, a high school student, was involved in Youth in Government, which promotes young people, specifically women, to jump into leadership roles at a young age. The film also encouraged everyone to challenge the media to view women as more than just sexual objects. One way they proposed doing this was by avoiding watching television shows and films in which women are not respected as they should be. Finally, my favorite suggestion was that women in leadership roles need to mentor those that are trying to obtain leadership roles. Women need someone to look up to and encourage them to pursue these roles, and there is no one better to do this than those who are already in these positions.

Lack of Feminism in Cancerland

In “Welcome to Cancerland,” Barbara Ehrenreich has many concerns over the “pink-ribbon marketplace” and the “cult of the breast cancer survivor,” some of which include a shift away from feminist concerns and the view that early detection of breast cancer is key in becoming a survivor.

Most of Ehrenreich’s complaints deal largely with the fact that the breast cancer movement has moved away from feminist concerns. She argues that today, one can find little feminism in the movement. Initially, in the 1970s and 80s, the movement sought more “user-friendly approaches to treatments,” that gave women more of a voice in how they wanted to fight breast cancer (FF 41, p 461). Feminists in the breast cancer world in the 1990s not only wanted a cure but also wanted to find the causes of the disease: studies have shown that environmental factors, rather than genetics or an unhealthy diet, are the root cause of breast cancer.

Since then though, Ehrenreich notes the movement has taken a sentimental and good cheer direction. There is little mention of environmental causes and barely any criticism of the existing treatments that are available to women. Ehrenreich believes this sentimentality has caused a somewhat positive attitude toward the life-threatening disease: many survivors now believe that breast cancer has made them stronger, more thoughtful and caring, and less concerned with material things and more focused on family and friends. Ehrenreich suggests that the good cheer now associated with the movement has transformed breast cancer into a rite of passage for women, just as menopause and greying hair are. She notes that “first there is the selection of the initiates… by mammogram or palpation here. Then comes the requisite ordeals… surgery and chemotherapy for the cancer patient. Finally the initiate emerges into a new and higher status… a ‘survivor’” (FF 41 p 463). All of these things diverge from the feminist aspects that were initially included in the movement.

Ehrenreich also takes issue with the prevailing view in our society that early detection is the key to fighting a battle with breast cancer. She notes that the entire breast cancer enterprise focuses much attention to early detection, when studies have shown that early detection has only had a “vanishingly small impact on overall breast-cancer mortality” (FF 41, p 464). She notes that first, there are no foolproof methods for early detection: that false positives happen all the time. Ehrenreich also says that even if there were a foolproof method, it only serves as a “portal to treatments that cause damage to the patient” (FF 41, p 465). She notes that not only does this force women to live a life revolving around a threat of death and debilitating treatments, but also promotes the obedience of women to medical procedures with limited efficacy, the suspension of their critical judgment, and acceptance of whatever measures doctors wish to use to fight the cancer. Once again, this shows how the breast cancer movement has diverges from its feminist roots and is not concerned much at all with women making their own decisions about what is the best way for them to cope with their diagnosis.

Although I am concerned about what the “pink- ribbon marketplace” and “cult of the breast cancer survivor” focuses on and promotes to women with breast cancer and society as a whole, I believe that a positive attitude is important when faced with a life-threatening disease. There are aspects of the movement that really are helpful to those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and need the support of others that have gone through it. For example, I have participated in the Relay for Life several times and although the focus is on survivors of cancer and not much respect and tribute are given to those who have died from cancer, the event gathers together those who are in remission and those who are still receiving treatments for cancer, which I would think would important aspect of being able to get through treatments. I believe that keeping this aspect of the movement (the connection of breast-cancer patients with each other), as well as regaining the feminist aspects that were part of the movement initially, would be a great way to change the “pink-ribbon marketplace” and the “cult of the breast cancer survivor” into a movement that both supports women in their struggles with the disease and fights for the rights of women to make the critical decisions that come with having breast cancer.

Sports and Masculinity

In “Becoming 100% Straight,” Michael A. Messner takes a look at how gender and sexual identities are constructed in regards to sports. Messner describes how sports aided in proving his masculinity and also discusses Tom Waddell’s experience with masculinity in sports. Messner brings to light how sports can aid in the construction of both gender and sexual identities for men and women.

Tom Waddell, a gay athlete, used sports as his closet that kept him from coming out as a gay man. Waddell participated in football, gymnastics, and track and field, all of which helped him prove his masculinity by hiding the fact that he was gay. Waddell was “fully conscious of entering sports and constructing a masculine/heterosexual athletic identity precisely because he feared being revealed as gay” (FF 36, p. 403).

Messner, on the other hand, was a straight man who played basketball in high school. To prove his masculinity, Messner used aggression toward a teammate. He elbowed a fellow basketball player in order to show that he was masculine. Messner refers to this as his “moment of engagement with hegemonic masculinity” (FF 36, p. 402).

In both of these cases, sports were used to construct both gender and sexual identities. While Waddell’s construction was a very deliberate attempt to seem more manly and heterosexual, Messner’s was a more subconscious construction that he did not realize he was creating at the time. Men, most of the time without even realizing their doing it, use sports as a way to show or prove that they are men, and more specifically heterosexual men. As Messner describes this, “heterosexuality and masculinity were not something we ‘were,’ but something we were doing” (FF 36, p. 403).

Women who play sports are treated differently than men who play sports because society has deemed sports as masculine activities, especially in the culture of the United States. I think this might be because historically, men have participated in sports more than women, and even today men’s sports are seen more in the media. This idea that sports are masculine activities has made for differences in the way men and women who play sports are treated in regards to gender and sexual identities. When a man plays sports, he is almost always seen as a masculine, heterosexual man, but when a woman plays sports she is sometimes called butch or a lesbian. I think this is unfair to both men and women to be given specific gender and sexual identities based solely on their participation in a sport or activity.

Focus on the Wedding, Rather Than the Marriage

In “Bridal Wave,” Melissa Morrison claims that “the same way porn shows the act of lovemaking without reference to love, wedding porn fetishistically focuses on the ceremony without reference the profound sentiments—and contemporary problems—that it represents.” By looking at a popular wedding magazine, “Brides” magazine, we can see that Morrison might be on to something.

By looking at the October 2011 cover of “Brides,” I found that everything featured has only to do with the wedding and nothing about marriage. Titles such as “Flattering Dresses for every figure!,” “6 quick fixes for Big-Day Disasters,” “Creative Ideas for a backyard wedding,” and “Kids at the Wedding” lead me to believe that the wedding industry was like the porn industry, in that all of the focus was focused on one very small part of marriage: the wedding.

Looking further, inside the issue, I did find two articles that did not focus solely on the wedding. First, in the Marriage section of “Brides,” there is an article called “Year One: Dinner For 6 For $100.” This article talked about how to entertain guests for less money when you’re on a budget/don’t have very much money but still want to entertain guests. There was also a “First-Year Finance Quiz,” which helps you figure out yours and your partner’s spending habits so that you can plan for the big day and beyond. While both of these featured items didn’t focus attention only to the wedding, they also only dealt with the financial aspects of marriage. These were the only articles dealing with anything besides the wedding, so it’s clear that “Brides” ignores the problems involved in marriages that go beyond issues with money.

I was able to find a few pictures and blurbs from “Brides” Real Weddings section that featured gay and lesbian couples. I found the weddings of three lesbian couples and three gay couples out of a total of 699 weddings shown on the website. Although this is a very small percentage of the total pictures shown, just the fact that I was able to find homosexual individuals’ weddings featured on “Brides” magazine’s website gives me hope that the wedding industry is less hetero-normative than some people believe it to be.

After analyzing an issue of “Brides” magazine, I find it clear that the wedding industry does have some qualities of the porn industry. Most of the magazine was focused on the wedding, and when it wasn’t, the focus was only on the financial aspects of marriage. It ignored other issues affecting married couples, like learning how to live together, how to deal with fights and disagreements, and issues that come with raising a family.

Today's Magazine Covers: Gender Expectations and Stereotypes

By looking at both men's and women's magazines of today, we can analyze what types of messages they are sending to men and women. I looked at GQ, MAXIM, Vogue, and O (The Oprah Magazine) magazines.

GQ: As you can see, to the left, the cover of the August 2011 issue of GQ Magazine features Mila Kunis, an actress, wearing a rather skimpy outfit. She is also touching herself and sipping some type of coffee drink. She looks a bit childish, but at the same time, overly sexual. Just this image is saying a lot about how GQ is portraying women. All the things described above were also things that were mentioned in "Codes of Gender," where women are sexualized and made to look like children, even when they're wearing next to nothing. The tagline that goes with this image is "We Make Mila Kunis Laugh With Our (Sexier Than Usual) Comedy Issue," which again makes women sexual objects. Another article (mentioned on the cover) is called "Girls Spanking Girls (nicely)." This portrays women as things to be looked at by men. Another article, called "A Guide to Safe Sexting" makes me think that GQ is playing to the stereotype that men are really sexual people. Of course, the magazine covers men's fashion, since it is a fashion magazine. I think GQ, more than other men's magazines plays to the metrosexual men of the United States. All the men they feature are always extremely well-dressed and very well-groomed.

MAXIM: When it comes to their portrayal of women, MAXIM seems to be all about sex. The cover of their September 2011 issue, seen at right, features a women only known as "Sofia Vergara's Little Sister." I think this in itself says something, perhaps that women aren't even important enough to be called by name. Granted, I don't think many people know who this unnamed woman is, but that doesn't mean that she shouldn't have her name displayed on the cover. This woman is soaking wet and is wearing a white bikini, "covered" by a see-through piece of clothing. Much like GQ, MAXIM plays to the idea that women are just sexual objects. They continue this theme with articles called "100 Girls 99 Bikinis: Math Has Never Been So Fun" and "Great Lake!: get in bed with Lake Bell." On the men's side of things, there are numerous references to sports and alcohol (football, tailgating, hitting a fastball drunk) , as if all men love watching sports and drinking. Once again, like GQ, MAXIM draws on typical stereotypes of men and women throughout their cover.

Vogue: A women's magazine, dedicated to fashion, features Kate Moss on its September 2011 cover. She's wearing a fairly modest (compared to the men's magazine covers above) purple gown. It does, however, shown off her bust, and she has her lips parted, probably to look seductive. I find this interested since it is a magazine geared toward women, who, for the majority, are sexually attracted to men. Moss also has her neck extended, in a vulnerable pose. These are all things that were discussed in "Codes of Gender" that we watched for class as well. I find the tagline of this article very interesting: "An Inside Look At The Most Romantic Wedding Of The Year." I think Vogue is trying to play into the stereotype that all women love weddings and all plan on getting married. Vogue also has an article called "How To Wear Color On Your Face, On Your Body," assuming that women need to know about what makeup to wear and what color clothing to wear. However, even though there are some stereotypical stories on the cover, there is one that seems less stereotypical: "Ten Years Later: A 9/11 Survivor Looks Back," but this is a rare article to find, it seems.

O, The Oprah Magazine: O Magazine's October 2011 issue features both Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell on its cover. This is the most modest cover of all four magazines I analyzed. Both Winfrey and O'Donnell are wearing dresses that don't show too much skin. They're also smiling and laughing like normal people, unlike Kate Moss's pose above. They seem like real women, with real bodies. The cover stories are also much less stereotypical "women" articles. Although there is an article about dieting (which seems to be promoting women going on diets), there are also mental health articles, like "What's Holding You Back?: 9 Ways to Change Old Patterns and Spark New Breakthroughs." There are however, on O Magazine's website, numerous articles in this issue about cooking and baking, which definitely seems to be playing to the stereotype that all women cook and bake. Out of all the magazines I looked at, this one seems to be the least stereotypical when it comes to men and women's roles in society and how they are portrayed in the media.

Although some are better than others, both men's and women's magazines convey gender expectations. Through my analysis, it seems that men's magazines characterize women as just being objects more than women's magazines do, but women's magazines include many more articles that force women into gender roles and stereotypes.

Challenging the Binary Categories of Male and Female

Three advocacy groups, Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA), Intersex Society of North America (ISNA), and Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC), have actively challenged the binary categories of male and female, each in their own way. They each have goals of ameliorating problems that are faced by transgender and intersex people.

GEA’s main goal is to help those who suffer from gender-based oppression by educating others and advocating for these people (gender.org). One of the many problems that transgender and intersex people face is stigmatization and misunderstanding: many people don’t understand transgenderism because they have never experienced it themselves. GEA has dealt with this problem by setting of a “Gender Variance Model,” in which it shows those who do not believe they are gender variant that they indeed might be (gender.org). For example, the model shows that those who do not show the so-called “normal” mannerisms for their gender are gender variant. Men who have high-pitched voices or women who are aggressive are gender variant (gender.org). I think this is a great way to advocate for transgender people. Showing people that most of us are gender variant helps those who are not transgender or intersex relate to those who are. This helps create an understanding of transgender and intersex people by others, hopefully alleviating some of the stigmatization that transgender and intersex people face every day.

ISNA’s purpose, from their website (isna.org) is “advocating systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female” (isna.org). Another huge problem that intersex people face is the idea from society, especially the health care system, that it is somehow wrong for them to be intersex: that they must undergo surgery, which can cause both physical and emotional damage, in order to conform to society’s idea of what is normal. I think this societal belief is quite wrong. How can something that 1 in 1666 people face be considered something that absolutely must be “fixed” immediately? ISNA works to ameliorate these problems by providing information and resources to intersex people and their families, and showing that surgery should not be used on intersex people (isna.org). ISNA has been able to inform health care professionals of this as well. Because of ISNA’s efforts, many health professionals now acknowledge that surgery is not a “solution” for “fixing” intersex people (isna.org); there is no solution, as there is no problem.

GenderPAC’s early challenges included recognition of issues of gender in the workplace, on campus, and in the halls of Congress. This is what I wish to focus on.  GenderPAC advocated for non-discrimination based on gender identity and expression in the workplace (gpac.org). They also advocated adding gender protections to the Matthew Shepherd Act, a federal hate crime bill. With their advocation, gender protections were added to the bill (gpac.org). Finally, GenderPAC has supported students at colleges who wished to add gender identity and expression to their school’s anti-bullying policies (gpac.org). They have been supporting students for the past four years. GenderPAC’s mission has reminded me that not only do intersex and transgender people face misunderstandings and stigmatization, but they also face discrimination in the workplace, as well as on school campuses. In fact, right here in South Bend, there is no law saying that an employer cannot discriminate based on gender identity or expression. I think this is absolutely ridiculous, and I think it’s great that GenderPAC, as well as other organizations, such as South Bend Equality, are working to end this discrimination.

White Privilege

The effects of white privilege listed by McIntosh that stand out the most to me are the ones that include the idea that the white race never has to be concerned that race is a factor in the way people judge them. Regardless of whether they are seen in good light or bad, the white race doesn’t have to question whether this judgment was made about them just because of their race. These effects of white privilege make it seem like the only people who can do something well without their race’s help, or act in a certain way without it being attributed to their race, are those who are white.

For example, number 18 on McIntosh’s list shows what I am talking about: “I can swear, or dress in secondhand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race” (FF, 14). If you were black and you did any of these things, some would write off your attitude and appearance to the fact that you are black. But someone who is white and does these things is most of the time just seen as rude or poor. I have never heard anyone say, “Oh, she just does that because she’s white.” This is something I had never thought about before.

Number 20 on McIntosh’s list also deals with this same issue, but this time, the judgment is positive: “I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race” (FF, 14). There are two instances of this effect of white privilege that come to my mind. First, the stereotype that black people are better at sports. I have heard people say, “He’s good at basketball, but he’s black, so that’s expected.” On the other hand, I have never heard anyone say, “She’s really good at soccer, and that’s probably because she’s white.” There is also the stereotype that Asian students are better at math and science, and more generally just better students, simply because they are Asian. When a white person is praised for her great test scores, it is simply because she is an excellent student and intelligent individual, not because she is white. When an Asian student does well in a class, she is likely to hear from someone that her race has helped her succeed in school.

McIntosh does include the fact that she, as a white woman, “can easily find academic courses and institutions that give attention only to people of [her] race (FF, 15),” but I would also add to this, that even when attention is given to people of all races, I can be assured that I can attend an institution in the United States for which the majority of its students and faculty members are my race. Although this is not something I would ever consider looking for in a college choice, it is available to me, so I would consider this an effect of white privilege.

Introduction

Hi All!

My name is Danielle Gannon and I am a senior at Saint Mary's College this year. I am a Statistics and Actuarial Mathematics major and absolutely love it! I am living in Opus Hall this year, but I have spent all of my life growing up in Middlebury, IN and I really appreciate the small town atmosphere there.

Growing up, my parents were definitely the biggest influence on my understanding of how men and women should behave. For a long time, my mother was a stay-at-home mom, and my father was the one who supported our family in the workforce. This was my understanding of how men and women in a family were supposed to behave. However, as I made friends with people whose families were much different than mine, my ideas of how men and women should behave changed. They changed even more when I became friends with several people in high school and here at Saint Mary's who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Now, these are the people who most influence my understanding of how men and women behave. I have come to realize, through these friends, that we can't really say that all men should/do behave a certain way or that all women should/do behave a certain way.

When it comes to the importance of gender in my life, I have found that gender has become less and less important in my life as I have gotten older. When I was a young girl, I was only ever friends with girls, because I thought it would be weird to have a guy friend. Gender still played a large part in my life when I was in high school, because I was concerned about having both girl and guy friends. I thought that having a good balance of male and female friends was important. Now, I have found that the gender of my friends really isn't that important. I can relate to all of my friends no matter what their gender. Hanging out with a bunch of women and one man doesn't concern me at all. I hardly even notice it anymore.

I enjoy writing a lot, but I have never enjoyed writing poetry. Getting poetry writing assignments in my high school English classes was always a nightmare. I've just never been able to write poetry. It might just be the way my mind works. I'm a very analytical person, so I think I might just be thinking too much about it, when I just need to write. I do like reading poetry on occasion, but there have been many times where I just don't like reading it either.

Hope you've enjoyed this brief introduction to me and my life. I look forward to getting to know you better too!

Danielle