When Women will Reach Equality

Until women realize we deserve equal pay, equal opportunities, equal access to healthcare, comprehensive healthcare, and ownership over our reproductive rights and care, women will not reach equality. When women support MEN and political agendas that do not support the above, we not only detain progress; we set back the clock to a time in which women were worthless.

The New Snow White

For a long time, I have not been a fan of the children/fairy tale stories.  The main reason for my apathy towards stories such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, among others, is that they portray the princesses as weak girls, so fragile and at the mercy of a others. In these stories, it seems that in order to be a strong woman one has to be evil and ruthless.  Conversely, the frail princess must always be saved by a prince that will finally give her her place in the kingdom. Without the intervention and bravery of a handsome prince, the princesses would’ve never made it in the world.

Recently, I went to see Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman and the new twists on the role of the princesses presented in the movies impressed me. Long I have longed for princesses that are a depiction of the strength of women. Long I have been crying that girls need to be taught that they do not need a prince to save them and define them. I feel all women have been vindicated through these characters in fairy tale land and in real life!

Even more interesting is that the princesses in these stories either save the prince (Mirror Mirror) or decide to live without a prince (Snow White and the Huntsman). Both princesses fight to take back their kingdoms and redeem the people who have suffered from the rule of the evil queen. Beauty is still a priced commodity in the movies but the focus is on the strength of women, either for good or for bad, I must ad. However, women are smart and the protagonists of their own lives. Moreover, having a pure heart does not mean to be a pushover in these stories, but rather, to bring justice to all.

I am glad to see that these fairy tale stories have been “updated”. As the roles of women have expanded, what we teach our daughters and sons about what a woman is must evolve too. Maybe it’s time to update Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and all the other classic princesses’ stories to depict women as more empowered, intelligent, wise, clever, strong, and ethnically, racially, and physically diverse, just as we are in real life!

Where are the "colored" superheroes?

Where are the “colored” superheroes?

I recently saw the movie “The Avengers” and very much enjoyed watching it. The special effects, the sound, the plot of the story all captured my attention and I was quite amused and amazed at the action. When I finished watching the movie, though, I felt something was missing. In all the heroic characters showcased in the movie, not one superhero was colored.

Do not get me wrong. I did not dislike the characters or who played them and how they were played. In fact, the acting was good. I very much enjoyed how Scarlet Johansen kicked butt in the movie, and I am in love with Thor, so mighty, strong, and handsome. However, I could not help but to notice that the only colored person in the cast was Samuel L. Jackson. Granted that Samuel L. Jackson had a big role in the movie and in the story, he was no superhero. All the superheroes, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk (prior to his “hulk” state, after which he turns green), all of them are Caucasian. Even the assassins and the astrophysics genius were White.

The notion of having a full cast of White superheroes is thought-provoking for me for more than one reason. Fundamentally, the notion that “whiter is better” is still being sold to us in every walk of the way. I also saw the movie “Mirror Mirror” last weekend and noticed the same reality: all characters of the movie were White. It seems as if though heroism equals superiority, thus played by White characters. And not only the characters are White; they are blond or blond-ish, blue eyed, and appear to be of pure White descent. The world is always saved by the White gods and superheroes that fight against evil and bring justice and peace to us all, mere mortals.

When looking at the literature or the media, I cannot recall any “colored” superhero. There is no Black immortal being that saves the day for all of us. I don’t know of any Asian demigod that is capable of shooting fire and fight demonic creatures. I have not seen a Latino superhero with powers capable of stopping bullets and trains and fighting the elements.  Besides Halle Berry in The X-Men (she was also Catwoman in Batman), I cannot remember any mulatto or mixed mutant trying to save the earth. My point is that it always seems as if though we are sold, promoted, enforced, instilled the notion that “white is better”, in spite of the fact that “whiteness” does not represent the whole totality of the ethnic landscape of our country.

Why isn’t there a “colored” superhero? I don’t know. Maybe, instead of a White guy turning green, and therefore acquiring superhero after doing so, we can experiment with a White guy turning Black, powerful, and almighty for a change.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Why do we celebrate mother’s day?

I am a mother and I am happy that there is a mother’s day celebration. Besides the fact that mothers sacrifice a lot for our offspring, our job is unpaid, many times unsung, and nonstop.  I am reflecting on the significance of this day celebrated across many cultures and peoples all over the world and I feel a sense of entitlement on this day: I do deserve it and I do want it.  I do want to be celebrated that day for all the days and nights I have spent giving my unconditional love and attention to my child. I want to be pampered and honored on that day as if though I was the queen of the world. I want to accept the love and gifts and attention freely and openly, because as mothers we usually don’t take anything for ourselves. 

It is mother’s day this Sunday and I feel that I have earned the right to be whole and happy on that day and every day because I am doing the ultimate and utmost job in the whole world: I gave life and I am raising a life that will reach his full potential in this life thanks in great part to my investment.  I celebrate mother’s day as if though I owned it and I am proud to be a mother, always. Motherhood is the most important job, the most rewarding career, and the most beautiful of all vocations.  Happy mother’s day!

Male Domination

I have been thinking quite a lot for the last few months about what is going on regarding women’s rights in the United States of America. United States, yet there is no unity being displayed when it comes to women and their rights and their placement in the land of man. In the name of God, many laws have been proposed and enacted that strip women of our basic rights. Men, in power, have not only written these laws, but they have been known to deny women even to communicate their feelings and opinions regarding these laws. The war against women is blunt and evident.

As I am puzzled as to what is the cause of all this hatred displayed towards women. I am trying to come up with explanations that will shed light onto why is this sentiment against women being promoted and perpetuated in 2012. One of my friends offered her comments and I think she is right. I will elaborate.

The male supremacy is instilled in us since birth. Through socialization, we are taught that everything masculine is more powerful, better, bigger. The sun is masculine and its light nurtures every living creature. The moon is feminine and we don’t really know what its purpose is.  Our dads are the law, our moms are soft. Boys are socialized to be strong. Girls are socialized to be “girlie”. And so forth. Images of men being superior are taught to us in everything. Children’s literature always portrays princesses that need to be saved and the prince that comes in a shining armor and a white horse to save them. And so forth. How won’t these messages permeate our psyche? Of course these messages create the paradigms that we live by and that are the root to how women get treated in the US and in the world.

I propose that we need to start young. We need to teach equality from the time children are born. We need to teach boys to be strong and girls too. We need to teach girls to be nurturers and boys too. We need both sexes to learn to be compassionate towards each other and that both females and males have a valuable place in society and in the world and that both are equally valuable. If we keep teaching girls to play with kitchens and dolls and then to be smart and go to college, but we don’t teach boys the same, women will still work double shifts-working outside the home and being the primary caregivers as oppose to men who primarily work outside the home, their home workload is limited, yet they are held in higher esteem because they are men. Men will continue to earn more if both sexes don’t share the load at work and at home, equally.

The hatred towards women is not new but it’s has taken a political dimension that, although is not unprecedented, it signifies a renaissance in the retro notions about women and their worth.  We need to change our way of thinking about the sexes and start doing things differently to get different results. Equality and thus the war on women will end once and for all when we raise both boys and girls to see each other with the same degree of respect.