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=**Week 2- Women's Amazing Bodies**=

Although this was not a huge focus of the lecture, I really wanted to reflect on the topic of gender, and how this relates to something we touched on last week briefly, nature vs nurture. Today's discussion really made me think about how, as a young girl, I knew what it meant to be a woman. Looking back on my childhood, I realised that a lot of what I did, would not be considered 'girly' or 'lady like'. In fear of missing out, I was constantly chasing around my two older brothers, covered in mud, grass stains and who knows what else, pretty much acting like a boy. On the other hand, when they weren't around, I was happy to toy with the thought of fairies, play with dolls etc, and could be the most 'girly' girl out there. My parents never pushed any gender ideals on us, but somehow I knew what, as a girl, was expected of me. This makes me think that gender is not a concept learnt through nurturing, but nature.

This next part of my reflection is very sensitive for me, as it involves a person I love, but I feel it can add to my argument. Charlotte and Harry are 13 year old twins, and they could not be more different. Charlotte has golden blonde hair, blue eyes and quiet personality. Compared to Harry, brown hair, brown eyes, and absolutely wild (in the best way). There is one similarity between them though, they were both born boys. Charlotte, born Charlie, knew from a very young age that something wasn't right, she knew that she had and I quote "all the boy bits" but in her head and heart she felt like a girl. The twins parents, like my own, never pushed their children to act a certain way, and allowed them to make their own decisions. In the conversations I've had with Charlotte, she said that she always knew she was a girl, that nothing anyone could have said would make her feel any different. Again, this makes me think that gender is not a choice an individual makes, but is imprinted into us from the moment we are born.

=Week 3- Women in Popular Culture=

Today's lecture brought up a lot of interesting ideas for me, but one topic I am really passionate about is the sexualisation of women in the media. Women's bodies are used for many reasons, especially to sell ideas and products to the public. A woman has the right to sexual expression, however I believe that as a society we are teaching women that their value is solely reliant on their sexual appearance. Women's magazines and other fashion images portray women in a way that is presented as 'liberating' and 'empowering' yet actually are demeaning and depicting them as objects, portraying their appearance and especially their sexual features as their most important features. This is the message we are sending to young girls who desperately want to fit in and meet societal standards.

In the last few years, I have seen a huge rise in images of women and even young girls presenting their bodies in sexual ways. The ideals from magazines and other fashion images are now transferring through to everyday women, especially in the social media stream. There is an idea that if you are not seen as 'sexy' you will not be successful or find love or happiness etc. This has to be contributing to a growing burden from body image and self-esteem problems in our young girls and women. Social media streams like //Instagram// are making it even harder for girls to escape from this sexualisation idea. Admittedly, as a 21 year old girl, I am prone to taking the occasional 'selfie' when I'm out with friends and happy to see that my friends 'like' my photos, but it amazes me the extent girls and women go to to gain public approval and attention.



Women's bodies have always been the subject of sexualisation and objectification historically, it is a known fact in society and from what I can gage from my friends and family, widely frowned upon. So why do we continue to let it happen? We need to discourage girls and women from taking part in this demeaning and harmful activity.

=Week 4- The 'Right' Time to have a child=

I have always been a person who can easily talk about sex, I don't think its taboo or shameful and I believe that every women has the right to choice. This was probably helped (although slightly embarrassing) by the fat that my mum taught sex ed. and helped me to realise the importance of choice and safety. Recently I was confronted with something that really threw me and made me realise that women are still judged on their sexual choices. A friend came to me and asked me to go with her to buy the 'morning after pill' because she was too nervous to go by herself and thought she would be judged. At the time I thought it was strange that in this day and age women would still feel shame for using protective behaviours and I assured her that she would be ok. In the end I did go with her and was shocked by the experience. Even standing next to my friend I felt judged by the pharmacist, the questions which were not so confronting, sounded so because of the way she spoke to us. I am realistic that not every person will support the use of contraceptives, but no one ever has the right to make a woman feel bad for a choice that is right for her at that time. If we were talking about other lifestyle factors, say smoking, would a person buying nicotine patches be judged? What is so different about a women seeking to live the best life she can give herself and her potential future children.

=Week 5- Fashionable Bodies and Eating Disorders=

A few weeks ago we talked about the sexualisation of women in the media. This week we move to how these media images are contributing to growing body image problems and the risk of eating disorders. This is a problem I am passionate about as a nutrition student. The portrayal of women's bodies in the media has lead to an unrealistic perspective of beauty for women and the led women to take desperate and drastic actions to attain their 'beauty' goals. A few weeks ago I introduced the idea of social media as a contributor to the sexualisation of women. However this is not the only downfall of these platforms. Social media has always promoted itself as a way for people to network with others and share information, images and ideas. Recently, what has concerned me is the creation of interest groups such as 'thinspo', 'fitspo', and more drastically 'pro-ana'. These groups all have the goal to promote the unrealistic beauty standard set by the fashion industry, media and advertising. The images shared through these groups encourage young girls and women to compare their bodies to others, whether that be models, celebrities or 'real girls'. It has promoted an unhealthy culture of extreme dieting and obsessive exercising, which is fuelled by the misguided and unsupported information girls and women are sharing with each other. I don't believe we can put all the blame on the fashion industry and models, especially more recently where there has been active movement towards a healthier industry.

So what can we do to stop this? There needs to be more effort made to educate girls and women as to what is healthy. Personally, I think that in our efforts to decrease overweight and obesity we are creating a generation of girls terrified of weight gain, which is only increasing the occurrence of body dissatisfaction on the other end of the continuum.

=Week 6- Having a Baby: A Woman's Health Perspective=

As as 21 year old, I am no where near thinking about starting a family, its fairly low down on my list of priorities, but this lecture really made me realise how complex and confusing childbirth can be. I didn't realise that medical intervention during pregnancy and childbirth could be such a controversial thing. What is considered natural? With the constantly evolving technologies and changes to medicine there are bound to be changes in the way women give birth. Again I believe that it is a particularly personal choice, and that no woman should feel pressured by the values and opinions of others.

The other issue that struck me in the lecture, was the idea of pregnancy being considered a medical condition. I have never considered this to be the case, and nor do I think I ever will. Pregnancy is a natural part of life, whether or not the woman chooses to go through with it. To label it as a disease gives it a negative perspective, as would cancer or heart disease. I understand labelling conditions that occur during pregnancy however not pregnancy as a whole.

=Week 7- Gender and Work=

I found this lecture very interesting and believe that these issues are particularly important to be aware of, especially as I am graduating this year and moving into my working life. In the 21st century I think that the scope of what is deemed 'work' has broadened hugely, however I still believe that women are severely limited due to gender inequalities that are still present in the workplace. The major issue from the lecture that interested me was the discrimination against mothers in the workplace. I find it amazing that women should be judged based on their desire to maintain a successful work life and balance raising a family. If anything, I think it should be commended. To think that women should be made to choose between their commitment to their family and that to their job and judged for their choices is disgraceful. However I am proud to live in a country that increasingly supports women who have babies, through things like paid parental leave.

On the other hand, I have a strong view that work, does not always mean employment. I have grown up watching a women who gave up her career to raise her family and still believe that it is one of the hardest 'jobs' a woman can do. Of course I think that women should have the right to choose their working future and should not be pressured into any job title.

=Week 8- The impact of domestic violence on women=

When I thought of domestic violence before this lecture, I immediately thought of the physical abuse that women are subjected to. This is why this point was particularly important to me this week. "It is important to understand that 'abuse' comes in many forms, and no matter how it is delivered. it leaves its victims afraid, unable to participate in everyday life, unable to be happy, unable to be healthy, unable to work productively, unable to care for others properly". From here we were asked to think how domestic violence was bad for the whole of society, how it hurts communities, how it hurts children, and how it hurts employees. What stood out for me was the idea that domestic violence has a broader effect on the surrounding people and environment of the victim.

Secondly, it made me reflect on the popular culture we have created and realise that we still live in a society where men dominate and women comply to their needs, desires and actions. An interesting point that came up in a discussion with a friend was that we have made this type of relationship romantic. Its sexy for a guy to be dominant and tell 'his woman' what he wants, how he wants her to be, what he wants her to do. Not that this dominance is always related to physical violence.

As these lectures go on, I'm starting to relate content from previous weeks lectures to others. Its interesting to see the relationship between issues that have risen from the popular culture we as a society have created for ourselves.

=Week 11- Women Who Love Other Women=

This week as we did not have a lecture, I didn't really have an opportunity to discuss with the class and get a bit of insight into everyones opinions on this topic. The only reason I mention that is because this topic is extremely popular at the moment and it would have been interesting to see where everyone stands. I myself believe that a man or woman should be able to be with another person of the same sex if that is what makes them happy and able to live a life of fulfilment. There has obviously been a huge push for gay marriage all around the world in recent years, and a move to greater equality for these couples. How can we say that lesbians and gays will destroy the sanctity of marriage, when heterosexual couples have been doing just so for years. We are constantly reminded of the sham marriages that occur within the celebrity world, where marriages last just days, if that. Something I have found however which is less advertised is the raising of a child within this family structure. I believe that couples should have the right to raise children, through adoption, IVF etc no matter of their sexual orientation. A child with two mothers is no more disadvantaged than a child from a heterosexual family. I also feel that lesbians are more stigmatised than gay men. I personally don't feel this way, but it seems that we are more accepting of gay men than of lesbian women. Lesbians are often portrayed as rough edged, lower social status, where gay men have been romanticised and are popularly featured in our culture, whether that be in tv shows, movies, books, etc.

=Week 12- Mental Health and Drug/Alcohol Use=