Arts and Humanities Commons^™

39 Social Justice Books And Movies To Keep Your Brain Warm Over Winter Break!, The Surge Team

SURGE

A hodgepodge of books and movies, some serious, some funny that engage issues of social justice in a variety of ways. If you read or watch one, let us know what you think in the comments! [excerpt]

Stop Ducking, Stephen Lin

SURGE

When I joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, a small voice in my head kept saying that it was a bad idea. “Don’t become part of the system, Stephen.” But I defended my decision and believed in the idea of Phi Kappa Psi returning to campus with a clean slate. The possibilities far outweighed the cons. I dreamt of the potential of what Phi Psi could become and how we would stand above the traditional expectations of Greek organizations. I wanted to tell everyone about this dream and I couldn’t wait to find like-minded people. I felt inspired by how …

Fearless Friday: Friend Or Foe, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

Friend or FOE, a recent addition to our campus offers queer students and their allies an opportunity to connect more socially and establish a mutual understanding of their experiences on campus. The group defines itself as having a less activist approach, rather, their main focus is to create a medium for students who feel that while their sexual orientation is important it is not necessarily something they want to be defined by. [excerpt]

The Space I Own, Alison P. Lauro

SURGE

***TRIGGER WARNING: Eating Disorders***

I don’t care what anyone says—being a woman is hard. Being a young woman has its own set of complications–we experience a lot of pressure to look a certain way, to act a certain way, to have a specific friend group; to act as social butterflies and to live up to a set of socially constructed beauty standards. And there are too many girls—myself included—who have fallen victim to this impossible set of expectations. [excerpt]

Judgy Eyes, Stephany W. Harrington

SURGE

I can feel them watching me, examining me. I try not to look directly at them for fear that they might see right through me.

For so long I’ve walked amongst them and have tried to somewhat assimilate into their culture. But even then, I’m certain they feel something off about me, something that just doesn’t fit. And they’d be right to assume that, because I am different from so many of them. [excerpt]

Cannons To Cannon, Ann M. Sasala

SURGE

I’ll never forget the first moment, I truly realized who Batman was. No, I’m not talking about (SARCASTIC SPOILER ALERT) his alternate identity as Bruce Wayne, but instead his depth as a character, his uncompromising morals and never-ending cycle of battles with the Joker. Batman, his mythology, and his backstory encompass so much more than the movies; he is alive for me in a way he will never be on screen. From an early age, comics provided my escape; Batman was there to drop kick depression and side-swipe thoughts of suicide. [excerpt]

Fearless: Mollie Sherman, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

As the 14 days to End Sexual Assault ends, Surge highlights the fearless actions of Mollie Sherman, for her courage to speak up against sexual assault. [excerpt]

Up-Vote This, Julie E. Davin

SURGE

**TRIGGER WARNING**

You are walking to class when you feel someone grab your butt with both hands. You scream, swing around, and watch your assailant sprint away. You feel humiliated, disgusted, violated. You look over your shoulder with every step on the way home and cry yourself to sleep. [excerpt]

Did One Veil Give Women A Better Life?, Mary C. Westermann

Student Publications

Unfortunately, a young woman in Renaissance Florence did not have many options for her future. A woman's family usually decided whether she would be able to get married or would have to enter the convent, but sometimes she was able to make this choice. In this paper, I look at the lives of wives and nuns to analyze how their lives differed in responsibilities and freedoms, but also to see how all women had similar restrictions and expectations placed upon them.

“In Light Of Real Alternatives”: Negotiations Of Fertility And Motherhood In Morocco And Oman, Victoria E. Mohr

Student Publications

Many states in the Arab world have undertaken wide-ranging family planning polices in the last two decades in an effort to curb high fertility rates. Oman and Morocco are two such countries, and their policies have had significantly different results. Morocco experienced a swift drop in fertility rates, whereas Oman’s fertility has declined much more slowly over several decades. Many point to the more conservative religious and cultural context of Oman for their high fertility rates, however economics and the state of biomedical health care often present a more compelling argument for the distinct differences between Omani and Moroccan family …

Perceptions Of Peace And Reconciliation: Case Of Lokokwo Peyot Women’S Group In Paidwe Parish, Bobi Sub-County, Amanda R. Kaste

Student Publications

This research project explores perceptions of peace and reconciliation among female members of the Lokokwo Peyot Women’s Group in Paidwe Parish, Bobi Sub-County, Gulu District. It aims to understand how women define the concepts of peace and reconciliation and how women currently perceive peace and reconciliation within their community. It also attempts to further understand these perceptions through examining the women’s past experiences and current challenges. The project displays the impact of women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict mediation in a region that is desperately trying to recover from decades of destruction and violence.

Research was carried out at two …

The Impact Of Empire On Native American Women And Mothers, Rebecca J.M. Yowan

Student Publications

No one doubts that the colonizing forces of the dominant, Euro-American culture have had an extreme and enduring impact on Native American cultures. However, the specific impact that empire has had on Native American women is a salient topic for research. Drawing on examples of environmental degradation, stolen agency, and psychological suffering, this essay illustrates the numerous and distressing effects that the philosophy and practice of empire have had and continue to have on Native American women.

The Ideal And The Real: Southern Plantation Women Of The Civil War, Kelly H. Crosby

Student Publications

Southern plantation women experienced a shift in identity over the course of the Civil War. Through the diaries of Catherine Edmondston and Eliza Fain, historians note the discrepancy between the ideal and real roles women had while the men were off fighting. Unique perspectives and hidden voices in their writings offer valuable insight into the life of plantation women and the hybrid identity they gained despite the Confederate loss.

Compliments, Insults, And The Paradox Of Pillow Talk, Anonymous

SURGE

I haven’t been a skinny girl since I was seven years old.

At nine, I was told I wasn’t small enough to sit down and talk to the other girls. I didn’t “fit” and they wouldn’t make enough space for my body, or for my big opinions. [excerpt]

The Person I Am Becoming, Ann M. Sasala

SURGE

Death, among other things, forces us to confront our own mortality, to question how we view ourselves in relation to others, to relive memories be they fond or not so much.

Over the past month, I lost both a grandfather -a quiet, intense, intelligent man who fostered in me a love for ice-cream and old movies- and a grandmother -the first family member to tell me it was OK to be queer. Their deaths left me scattered. My life became a dorm room floor during finals: covered in a mixture of clean and dirty clothing, food remains, and long-forgotten notes. …

The Moroccan Women's Rights Movement, Amy Y. Evrard

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

Among various important efforts to address women’s issues in Morocco, a particular set of individuals and associations have formed around two specific goals: reforming the Moroccan Family Code and raising awareness of women’s rights. Evrard chronicles the history of the women’s rights movement, exploring the organizational structure, activities, and motivations with specific attention to questions of legal reform and family law. Employing ethnographic scrutiny, Evrard presents the stories of the individual women behind the movement and the challenges they faced. Given the vast reform of the Moroccan Family Code in 2004, and the emphasis on the role of women across …

Fearless Friday: Chelsea Broe, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

Consistently speaking up for social justice issues around campus, finding innovative ways to promote peer understanding, and making our campus a more welcoming, accepting, and open place, Chelsea Broe ’14 is a fearless leader who advocates for others.

Bending The Binary, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

Friend: “Are you going to the Gender Bender Dance?”

Me: “I think so. I probably won’t dress up though; I figure I already bend gender enough every day.”

Friend: “What do you mean? Like you’re not feminine?”

Me: “Yeah!”

Friend: “No, Chelsea! Of course you are!”

Wait, what? I understand that this person meant no harm; if anything, my friend probably interpreted my remark as a self-deprecating comment uttered with the hopes that someone would reassure my femininity. But nothing could be further from the truth.

The Globalization Of Maternal Healthcare In Western Africa, Maura T. Magistrali

Celebration

Maternal healthcare is one of the most important global issues in today’s world, reflected in its inclusion in the Millennium Development Goals. Globalization, through increased acceleration and movement, has improved maternal healthcare in Western Africa, as observed through the spread of Westernized medicines and treatments and improved technology in prenatal and obstetric care. Another remarkable effect of globalization is the hybridity manifested in both women’s healthcare choices and in the pluralistic training of midwives. However, the same forces of movement and exchange can also bring negative consequences, visible through health-access inequalities, brain drain, and the exploitation West African countries.

Stop The Silence, Victoria J. Reynolds

SURGE

I am tired of the numbers. The statistics. We all know them. One out of every six women are the victims of sexual assault. One out of thirty-three men are victims of sexual assault. Forty-four percent of victims are under the age of eighteen at the time of their assault. The transgender and queer communities are three times as likely to be targeted for sexual assault. But numbers don’t carry meaning, the don’t carry identity, and they (very quickly) lose their weight and are forgotten. Names mean much more. Stories make an impact.

Fearless: Josh Griffiths, Joshua M. Griffiths

SURGE

Continually a strong voice for the underrepresented on campus, working with other students and faculty to take initiative in changing campus policy and culture toward the LGBTQ community, and serving as a leader in multiple groups and organizations on campus, Josh Griffiths ’14 fearlessly advocates for members of our campus community, making Gettysburg a more open and welcoming space. [excerpt]

"A" Is Not For Ally, Ellen I. Henry

SURGE

Most people can recall their first crush. They think fondly back to age ten or eleven when they first “went boy-crazy” or couldn’t focus on sixth-grade English because that cute girl was in their class.

This did not happen for me. I do, however, vividly remember it happening for everyone around me. [excerpt]

How European Folk Stories Have Misrepresented Indigenous Women, Jacqueline S. Marotto

Student Publications

An examination of Rayna Green's "The Pocahontas Perplex" in reflection of course material about the role of indigenous women in North America.

A Changing Force: The American Civil War, Women, And Victorian Culture, Megan E. Mcnish

Student Publications

The American Civil War thrust Victorian society into a maelstrom. The war disrupted a culture that was based on polite behavior and repression of desires. The emphasis on fulfilling duties sent hundreds of thousands of men into the ranks of Union and Confederate armies. Without the patriarchs of their families, women took up previously unexplored roles for the majority of their sex. In both the North and the South, females were compelled to do physical labor in the fields, runs shops, and manage slaves, all jobs which previously would have been occupied almost exclusively by men. These shifts in society, …

The Patriarchy’S Role In Gender Inequality In The Caribbean, Erin C. O'Connor

Student Publications

While gender equality in the Caribbean is improving, with women’s growing social, economic, and political participation, literacy rates comparable to those in Europe, and greater female participation in higher education, deeply rooted inequalities are still present and are demonstrated in the types of jobs women are in and the limited number of women in decision-making positions. Sexism, racism, and classism are systemic inequalities being perpetuated in schools, through the types of education offered for individuals and the content in textbooks. Ironically, the patriarchy is coexisting within a system of matrifocal and matrilocal families, with a long tradition of female economic …

I Watch Porn, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

I started watching porn when I was 16.

The first thing I noticed was the porn actresses’ vulvas. They were hairless, perfectly symmetrical, with beautiful folds of labia. This being my only venue to see other female bodies, I assumed what I saw was normal (after all, they all looked pretty similar to each other) and that my own body, not looking like those of these women, was flawed. [excerpt]

Paradoxes Of Porn, Jessie M. Pierce

SURGE

So I have a confession: I’m kind of obsessed with porn. Which is weird considering that I have never actually seen any. [excerpt]

The New B-Word, Dayna M. Seeger

SURGE

I get all of my career advice from Cosmopolitan magazine.

Okay, maybe not all of it. But sitting in the airport this past weekend, I breezed through articles about Khloé Kardashian and confessions about why guys cheat, and, somewhere in the middle, stumbled on an article called “Like a Boss.” It was written by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In, and described an issue I had never really given much thought to: why female leaders are, seemingly more often than male leaders, described as bossy. As a woman with a leadership position on campus, the …

Fearless: Haya Mohanna, Haya M. Mohanna

SURGE

Constantly pursuing new avenues on and off campus to engage in different communities, raise awareness about issues in the Gaza Strip, and learn more about leadership, Haya Mohanna ’17 fearlessly pursues knowledge and activism opportunities to learn more about her own leadership style and capability to create change in her home community. [excerpt]

My (Not So) Angry Vagina, Mary E. Maloney

SURGE

Why is feminism a dirty word? Why are celebrities from Susan Sarandon to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry explicitly rejecting the feminist label? And why is Carrie Underwood saying, “I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am a feminist, that can come off as a negative connotation.”

Since when was there a negativity surrounding feminism? Well, basically since forever. [excerpt]