Kelly Atkinson

27 September 2015
Byrd
Journal 5
Manifesta Intro Material
1.

My favorite quote from Still Manifesting Feminism was stated at the top of page xii.

there are more women and men than ever taking advantage of the rights that other
generations worked to put in place. That is perhaps the best indication of a healthy feminist
future. This quote stuck with me most because it represents the writers passions and a sense of
gratitude towards the success of the feminist movement or culture. In learning about womens
suffrage I have learned about a lot of different women who fought for different causes. Rights
that they fought for collectively determines where we are today. Fighting and raising awareness
of what women were being denied allowed history for the womens movement to be made. In
todays society women are becoming more prevalent in new aspects they have not been before,
such as politics and equal pay in the workforce. A woman gets 77 cents for every $1 a man
receives. This is a severe cut for women but a lot better than where it used to be. Women and
men are taking advantage of their natural given rights but these rights would not have been
possible without other generations.
2.

Throughout the reading I connected more with Amy mainly because she did not appear to

be as radical in the expression of her thoughts as Jennifer did. Jennifers road rage in the
beginning portrayed her as more of an angry person and that was not as relatable for me. Amy
talks about exposure to new opportunities and I love exposing myself to new and positive things
every day. She also states that she was pulled together with other women because [she] wanted

to play a role in making [her]generation more accountable politically and socially. I admire this
thought of Amys because she was determined to make a difference in the world with the one life
or opportunity she had to. This is also my outlook on life, I believe that I only have one life to
accomplish everything I want or need, and to be as great at as many things as possible. Her
opinions on feminism and why she became a feminist were fascinating to me because if she did
not have exposure to new experiences such as moving to New England, there is a chance she
would not have been a feminist activist.
3.

In reading A Day Without Feminism on page 6 the author talks about how there is not a

womens history month and that only 14% of doctorate degrees are female and 3.5 percent of
MBAs are female. I want to eventually achieve a doctorate in my course of study so this
percentage stuck out to me in a negative way. Despite the low number this makes me more eager
to achieve my goal of a doctorate degree. I am sure the percentages of women obtaining
doctorates has increased since this book was published but the number is most likely still a lot
lower than it should be. Women are more than capable enough to achieve higher degrees and to
be just as successful as man. Sex does not define ones success and in todays society I believe
women and men are slowly adapting to this.
4. 1.) Lilith was a music tour or traveling music festival that took place during the summers of
1997-1999 and revived in 2010. It consisted solely of
female solo artists and female led bands. On page 15 in
chapter 1, Lilith is described as a music community for
women. Before Lilith these musicians [Bonnie Raitt,
Ndege ocello] had felt isolated from other women in the
industry.

2.) Third wave feminist writing that centers on the last

issue, from The Beauty Myth in 1991. The basic premise
of this nonfiction book is that as women have gained social
power and prominence in society, the standards of physical
beauty have grown stronger for women. A lot of problems
arose from women being held to a higher standard of beauty
such as eating disorders and cosmetic surgery.

3.) RU486 is the Plan-B pill. This is a pill that supports

abortion but in the privacy of ones home. Experiencing a
problem like this is tough but a lot easier in the comfort of
ones home. Was also once known as Mifepristone.

4.) The Morning After is a book published in 1993 that argues many instances of supposed
campus date rape. Women are partially responsible for their actions and this book questioned
correlations between unwanted intercourse with the presence of drugs or
alcohol. If a womans judgment is impaired and she has sex, it is not always
the mans fault. It can be rape but is not necessarily always rape.

5.) Sylvia Plath was an American poet and novelist who lived from
1932-1963. She was clinically depressed for most of her adult life and

she took her own life. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry.
She won a Pulitzer Prize for The
Collected Poems.

6.) Honor the Earth is a Native led

organization established by Winona LaDuke. They have two primary needs for the
environmental movement. One, the need to break the geographic and
political isolation of Native communities; and two, the need to increase
financial resources for organizing change. They attempt to raise public
awareness with collective humanity meetings.