Zika Virus: Lack of Aid from Government Systems

Melissa Lopez

WGSS 275

Blog #5

December 12, 2016

Zika Virus: Lack of Aid from Governments Systems

“Disrupting Hormonal Signals” by Langston, Nancy reminded me of the Zika virus. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zika is an, “infection during pregnancy that can cause a birth defect of the brain called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Other problems have been detected among fetuses and infants infected with Zika virus before birth, such as defects of the eye, hearing deficits, and impaired growth.” The Zika virus has been more commonly seen in Brazil, in the past years there have been many cases that we have seen on news media. As the matter of fact, the research of Langston interested me because there are similar determining factors for this knowing of a virus causing disruption in pregnant women. The Zika virus is known to be spread among the population through mosquitos, the same mosquitos that carry yellow-fever and dengue. Recently, Colombia is the second highest with new born children with this disease.Colombia

Specifically talking about the Zika virus, I want to focus on the determining factors of Zika, and how that is impacting women who are limited to government aid. On the CNN’s channel,

Zika Virus CNN Shasta Darlington traveled to the city of Recife, Brazil were they consider ground zero of the Zika virus. There she talks to mothers who are single mothers with their newly born child and the struggles that they face when they give birth to a child with microcephaly. Unlike other pregnancies, microcephaly could not and isn’t visible to the doctors until the day the child is born. Today, there are more advances that lead to the determination of whether a mother carries this virus by testing, but unfortunately there is no cure or injection that can prevent this virus from being passed on to your child.

For many families, this is causing financial burdens and the Brazil government isn’t being as cooperative as they should. Each baby is being taken care in a very specific matter, due to their inability to multi-task or respond to two different things at. Their brain is under-developed, each child attends therapy 3 times a week. As the matter of fact, Angela Rocha, doctor at Oswaldo Cruz University Hospital stated that “integrating this generation into the world would be a challenge, because they know that they are facing these under-developments of their brain development.”

According to Jailson de Barros Correia, Recife Health Secretary, there has been over 200,000 soldiers that have gone through Brazil talking to families about the disease and how to protect themselves from this virus, other than that, like I mentioned they have not found a cure for this. The only way that families, especially pregnant women to protect themselves, according to CDC,Zika Virus CDC is to constantly use insect repellent, wear long sleeved shirt and pants and to take precautions inside and outside of your home. Unfortunately, recently, Colombia reported to have more children with this disease. According to Science Mag , Colombia “is the country that has been hardest hit by the mosquito-borne.” About 476 cases of microcephaly were identified over the last eleven months.

The overall message that I want to bring up in my final blog is to think about the government aid, or lack of aid for these countries. I remember during the Olympics in Brazil, many women who planned to get pregnant or that were pregnant were encouraged to not attend Brazil, or forget about the possibility of being pregnant because there was a high chance that they could also be containing the virus. There is this idea of inequality behind this problem for many women. The videos that I present focus on women who are not part of an economically stable home, or are single mothers. The struggles that they face with their children is having to focus on the 24/7 because they need their full attention, but the government isn’t doing any sort of programming that allows for these mothers to have aid throughout the process. Yes, their child’s therapy is free, but what about food and other responsibilities at home. The government is stating the women who wanted to visit Brazil to take extra precautions but isn’t putting the full effort to those women in need. It makes me realize how the system works within women with less privileges and are set aside when they are needed aid and help the most especially in this place of despair. 

Verbal Harassment or Compliments

Melissa Lopez

Blog Post #3

November 2, 2016

https://youtu.be/b1XGPvbWn0A

 Verbal Harassment or Compliments?

    Have you ever walked down the street, food market or even experienced walking down our campus and recall being cat called? As I read “Staring” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, I was brought back to this video I saw a while back that captures a woman walking in New York City streets and for ten long hours experienced cat-calling by over 20 men. This woman captures men asking her for her number, telling her how beautiful she is, and above all, has men walking besides her while she kept walking without acknowledging them. My blog today has more questions than answers and even deep thoughts that will have everyone else questioning whether her video demonstrates either verbal harassment or compliments from these men. Or at least, I was left with these thoughts in mind. I compare key concepts that Thomson mentions in her article while also analyzing the video to have a better understanding the double standards in which women have to live with as they are being cat-called.  

   Cat-call, according to Oxford Dictionaries; make a whistle, shout, or comment of a sexual nature to a woman passing by. Cat-calling is common among men, typically women do not engaged in cat-calling. I wanted to explore more about this subject since Thomson talks about how staring at another individual in degrading and a negative action, however, the example I provide shows the opposite and demonstrates men cat-calling a woman as she walks by.

   Thomson writes about the difference between men and women looking at other individuals, particularly at individuals of the same sex. In her article Thomson considers some of the main reasons why gentleman do not stare. (Keep in mind that some of her statements were from etiquette from earlier centuries). “Gentlemen do not stare” (67), “A young man who respects his own mother will never stare at any women, with his mouth open, like a gawk rooted to the ground” (69). “Leering at women is strictly proscribes for gentlemen for two reasons. First, staring at women who belong to other men threatens the stable economy in which men have legal and economic ownership of women; second, staring reveals a sexual hunger that puts a man in the vulnerable position of seeming, even being, enthralled by women” (69). All these quotes were from the reading, and while trying to understand these concepts I was struck because these statements are something that I would consider not being the norms anymore. Gentlemen do stare, and gentlemen do reveal ‘sexual hunger’ (69) for women especially by cat-calling.

   The following section briefly summarizes some of the names, questions and statements that men said to the woman who was walking through the streets of Manhattan. As I watched the video, I wasn’t sure what to make of all the statements that the men said. Yes, there are comments and actions that are scary and can intimidate anyone, especially as a woman who is walking alone in the streets. As well, there are statements that were said to this young woman that were kind, as the matter of fact, some men were offended because this woman did not answer or react to their comments.

Ten hours of silent walking through all areas of Manhattan wearing jeans and a crewneck t-shirt

“How are you doing today?”

“Smile, I guess not good, Smile!”

“What’s up beautiful, have a nice day”
“Beautiful, have a nice day- somebody’s acknowledging you for being beautiful-you should say thank you more!”

“God bless you Mami”

“Damn!”

“Hey sexy”

“Have a nice evening”

“I just a thousand dollars there!”

“You don’t want to talk? - Because I am ugly? - We can’t be friends or something? – You don’t speak – If I give you my number, would you talk to me? – Too ugly for you?”

100+ instances of verbal street harassment took place within 10 hours, involving people of all backgrounds. This doesn’t include the countless winks, whistles, etc.

If you want to help, please donate to Hollaback! A non-profit dedicated to ending street harassment

Thomson states that offering to stare back “shamefully exposes a starer’s intractable curiosity” (72). The men in the video were very curios to look at the woman as she walked passed by them. Keep in mind this woman was wearing causal clothing and nothing revealing. So why have times changed? And why is curiosity powerful than being challenged to keep your comments to yourself in terms of cat-calling?

   I am torn with the statements that Thomson vs. analyzing what is happening in the video. Cultural differences have always existed, but have never scaled to a level of cat-calling.  Cultural expectations have changed, and gentlemen have forgotten to be gentlemen?According to Thomson gentlemen should not make eye contact with a female. Now that we live a world in which cat-calling is common, how is Thomson concepts of gentlemen making eye contact with females who are not their wives challenge her ideas with twentieth-century culture?  The comments made in the video were either negative or positive, and my challenge is trying to understand it through Thomson point of view, and what she would say if she watched this video. This video offers a new understanding on how women mind their own business and continue to be cat-called or stalked as they walk around. I would appreciate other comments on this, because I am torn between identifying these statements as verbal harassment's or compliments.

Oversexualized Latinas vs. All Other Latinas

Melissa Lopez  

Blog # 2

October 6, 2016

Bodies in American Culture

Oversexualized Latinas vs. All Other Latinas

The Latina representation among media has given its viewers a broad representation of what most Latinas look like. Among the media, Latinas are represented by oversexualized women. For example, Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, Salma Hayek, and Adrienne Bailon to name a few. We associate these Latina women through their physical characteristics. The booty, breast, body, and their caramel skin tones are the most common physical attributes that are attached to Latina characteristics. In the reading “Brain, Brow, and Booty” by Molina and Valdivia, they argue that U.S. mainstream culture has hypersexualized and hyper commodified women like Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, and Frida Kahlo. Articles like these help us understand the meaning behind the representations that media attaches to these women. U.S. mainstream media viewers attach these attributes to all Latinas and have one image/idea of what all Latinas should look like.

Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek and Adrienne Bailon are all women with oversexualized physical characteristics. They all have bodies that have big booty’s and big breast, not only that but have caramel skin tones. With this examples of these women, I would like to argue that U.S. mainstream ignores all other physical and emotional attributes that other Latinas embody. I argue that U.S. mainstream forgets about the other type of Latinas, those women who embody the physical attributes that are not portrayed in mainstream media. The family-orientated, conservative women are never portrayed in U.S mainstream media. As viewers we often forget about the other Latinas. We forget about the Latinas that are hardworking, stay at home moms, and those who do not embody oversexualized bodies.

For instance, McFarland and Under the Same Moon are two films that I found that have Latina women playing the family-orientated and conservative mother who will sacrifice anything for their children and willing to work to provide for their well-being of their family. In Under the Same Moon, Kate Del Castillo plays the role of the immigrant mother who leaves her family behind in hopes of finding better opportunities in the U.S. for her son and mother back in Mexico. Del Castillo is dark skinned, brown eyes, black hair, and is short in height. She works as a maid and babysitter in an all-white neighborhood. Her cloths cover her breast, and she is not dressed in tight form fitting clothing. On the other hand, we have Diana Maria Riva in McFarland who plays the role of the protective and hard-working mother. With her curly black hair, average weight, and baggy clothes she plays the role of the mother who cooks, cleans, and works. Her main work requires to be bent all day, she is part of the obreros; (crop-picking job). Both Del Castillo and Riva portray the physical and representations that attribute to the other Latinas.

The portrayals that these two women play in the films are left out of the U.S. mainstream media and ignore all other Latinas because U.S mainstream media consistently focuses on Latinas with curvy bodies who tend to be tall, thin with voluminous booty’s and breast. All other Latinas are dismissed and play the role of maid in small parts in films and shows. With roles such as ones that Sofia Vergara, Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez, Latinas are constantly bombarded by the media with the image of what they are supposed to look and be life. Therefore, these stereotypes are leaving the other Latinas who do not fit these stereotypes feeling left out and misrepresented. And even though they seemed to be represented in films like McFarland and Under the Same Moon, Latinas are very much misrepresented by mainstream media culture. Shows like Modern Family, in which Sofia Vergara embodies the loud, sexy yet a stay home mom with a luxury home that has a hard time to pronounce words and other have to correct her, but instead of promoting and celebrating the success of the Latinas, media seems to be suppressing them by giving out negative stereotypes of the Latina women. This is something that needs to be changed, the Latina women have to move away from the stereotypical roles in U.S. mainstream media and show their real identity and culture. The Latina women need to embody their own representations without having to focus of what mainstream media culture has to say about their bodies or how they should portray themselves around the world. As the matter of fact, Latina women need to represent their culture and identities so that U.S. mainstream culture does not miss-represent their culture and identities.

As a Latina women attending a college with majority students who are non-colored, we should take pride and joy to be representing our culture and identity. Being Latina is Beautiful and women shouldn’t feel oppressed by the fact that not many Latina women attend college. We need to be strong and show U.S. mainstream media culture that not all Latinas are personas with oversexualized bodies with no brains!

Sex is Social and Historical

Sex is Social and Historical

http://www.wormbook.org/chapters/www_hermcellfate/hermcellfate.pdf

Elizabeth Reis, author of Impossible Hermaphrodites: Intersex in America 1620-1960 captures the essence of the history behind intersex during the early 1600’s through the late 1960’s. During the earlier year’s intersex defined as hermaphrodites. Hermaphrodites defined by Reis piece states that ““true hermaphrodites” were those whose bodies (examined during autopsies) contained both ovarian and testicular tissue. (412) Reis piece suggests that defining the sex of an individual was solemnly based on certain factors such as visual markers or indicators of womanhood. And in some cases, when doctors were unable to identify the individual, social behaviors would be taken in consideration when labeling/identifying their sex. However, in this blog I want to explore the other possibilities of explaining hermaphrodites as researched by medical doctors in the 21^st century and how that has affected the relation on how doctors and ‘professionals’ identify an individual through views of those who like Reis explained, the history behind identifying an individual based on their physical attributes, social behaviors or through the visual markets, the penis and vagina.

As we have advanced in medical research, many ‘professionals’ and individuals with knowledge feel like they can possibly have an explanation for all medical conditions. There are some aspects of gender and sex identification that medicals are able to explain based on research. As I was looking into the differences between our history and our present, I was constantly asking myself the number of people that have questioned their sexuality and gender. But what made my question upset myself, was to think about the amount of times that these individuals were identified either male or female based on a social and historical construction and not based on what they felt like identifying as. We have lived in a society in where history matters and has impacted the way we construct meaning and how we give meaning to things but in particular, individuals. In Reis piece, medicals identified based on their assumptions on social construct, religion or politic knowledge.

 On the other hand, in the 21^st century author Micheal A. Herman author of Hermaphrodite cell-fate specification states in his research that hermaphrodites were based on structures that are generated by sex-specific cell lineages (in its simplest explanation). While looking into some work done on hermaphrodites, I noted that these explanations were very much looked into with the intention to have other medicals look into the research. There are too many concepts and ideas in which I, someone that has never learned medical medicine didn’t quite understand.  But what I understood was that hermaphrodite defined by Herman was that; “Hermaphrodites are basically females that produce a small number of sperm that can fertilize their own oocytes”. Herman’s research was indeed an explanation of the way a body produces hermaphrodite and the explanation of how an individual is born with this condition. With this in mind, I found myself having trouble understanding and grasping the reality of science and its research. Herman explains that hermaphrodites are females, but in some cases as seen in Reis is that this is developed in different bodies. This is where I want to argue that as we move on to the 21^st century, the ideas of gender and identification of an individual have moved on forward through a more scientific explanation. We now have proof that hermaphrodites are developed by women yet, we see this involve in men. So is it all based on science and not the individual?

Through reading of Reis and Herman pieces I was able to acknowledge that the difference between a research in the 21^st century and the early 1600’s was that indeed doctors and ‘professionals’ are able to give us a full explanation of what happens to the body of the individual. In the 21^st century, medicals such as Herman explain sex-specific cells during the process of developing sex genitals. However, in the early 1600’s people were more concerned with those individuals with power such as religion and political power that were considered to be the ones to distinguish between a man or a woman. Distinctively, we can see that in relation to these two time periods, the advancement of science has evolved. However, the point I want to convey is that no matter the explanation and the research of hermaphrodites and how much doctors want to be acknowledged through their work or individuals with power want to set, at the end of the day we have to understand that each individual is assigned to their own gender/identity. There comes a time when an individual with all its rights is allowed to change into their own identity/gender without any social or historical construction. We as a society are too focused on making this change and think about all the ways in which an individual express themselves and not be judged or punished for. As much as we want answers for everything in this society, especially answers from the uncommon things, we have to get used to the idea that the world is evolving, slowly but it has done change especially when talking about individual’s rights to their own sexuality.