"Ladylike". The term that describes whether a behaviour or action is appropriate and expected of a woman. The term that makes me want to vomit at how repulsive it feels in my mouth. This term is something that
You go, bin lady.
was something that was thrown at me constantly while growing up, by often my own family (bless their hearts), as well as the media I consumed. To my parents it was not ladylike to play video games, however I continued to defy this stereotype and still do by playing video games incredibly often. It's also not ladylike to have human bodily functions such as burping or farting, because apparently ladies aren't humans (and unfortunately in a lot of cases they actually aren't treated like humans).
Because of the ladylike standard, women are held to an incredibly high standard that is ignorant of reality. Women are often told that they need to be ladylike and therefore are restricted in what is socially acceptable for then, especially in comparison to men. A great example of this was the shaming of women from the 2016 Melbourne Cup. An inflammatory article from the Daily Telegraph flamed the drunken women who were apparently shaming themselves and the entirely of the female gender. Here's an absolutely unbelievable quote straight from the article:
"Sure, there’s just as many images to be found of boozed up blokes skylarking — but aren’t we as women better than that?"
The author clearly believes that being drunk and having a bit of fun and mischief is not ladylike, and instead something that only men are allowed to do. This affects all women and men, as women are held to an unreasonable standard that greatly restricts their freedom to live and experience the world as others do. This restrictive belief has large implications for how women are perceived in society and therefore affects many factors of their lives. For example, in a working environment women that are expected to be ladylike are likely to be expected to wear restrictive ladylike clothing like heeled shoes, tight skirts, make up, and when they do not conform to this they will likely be ostracized and denied respect, promotions, and in the end contributing to the large gap in wages and success in between women and men. In the end the wage gap contributes to the constant lower health outcomes for women, as this means far less wealth for women leading to higher female elderly homelessness, less money to access health resources etc.
Another surprising aspect was the lack of knowledge that women have about their own bodies. However I understand that come from a privileged background and therefore have the means to obtain full understanding of my own body due to the resources at my disposal (i.e. private school education in a health conscious country, unlimited internet access, open and truthful parents). It reminded me about a YouTube video [see below] that I saw a while ago in which popular female content creators (and one male) took a quiz about the female reproductive system, and most of the women got at least one wrong, when I personally found it to be an incredibly easy quiz. Surprisingly the male got all of them right which he attributed to his private catholic schooling (much like I did). This video, as well as what was discussed in class, highlights how women's health and knowledge about the women's body has continuously missed the important spotlight it needs. It could be suggested that this big inequality and lack of knowledge of women's bodily functions and make up could be attributed to how female sexuality is taboo, and how historically the focus of human body study was on males as women weren't considered as important as the men.
Lecture 3 - 07/08/2017
Women in popular culture, advertising and the media.
The construction of gender in Disney films was a topic featured in the lecture notes. In my time I have encountered many people who praise Disney immensely for what they believe to be an incredibly empowering feminist movie, Mulan, however this tale is not perfect and still perpetuates gender roles and therefore not as feminist as one many believe. At the ending of the movie, Mulan is offered a very prestigious role from the emperor, where she will be above many men and will obtain a large amount of influence and power, however she decides to turn down this role so she can assume her womanly role. This reinforces the stereotype that is seen all too often in our society and in popular culture as a whole, and teaches the familiar lesson that woman, even when given the chance to succeed and gain power, will not take it due to what is believed to be because of their ingrained biology and beliefs. This has large implications on society and especially the children that view this film, and socialises boys and girls to believe the age-old stereotype that men are the rulers and women are the Homemakers. This message from this film will be internalised, as well as the other messages given by other forms of media, and contribute to the continued inequality that women face. This is yet another presentation in popular culture and media that displays and reinforces strict gender roles, even when the plot seems to have feminist themes.
Even though the overarching theme of the movie is the success and the capability of the main woman (Mulan), the way in which they get there includes problematic situations and dialogue. Small children may likely ignore or not understand the main lesson of the film, and therefore internalize other small but common sexist messages and teachings and ignore the main idea that these are supposed to be refuted. One particular instance is when the male soldiers begin a song called "A girl worth fighting for". This song presents many troublesome lyrics that outline what the soldiers believe is the best or most desirable traits in a woman. These traits are based in archaic gender roles that include things such as how a woman needs to be beautiful, pale, adores her strongman, cooks well and doesn't speak her mind. This teaches the women and girls that view this movie that they need to live up to these standards to impress men to Gain their protection as a man's protection and validation is all they need.
Lecture 4 - 14/08/2017
The right time to have a child.
As someone who considers themselves 'childfree', as in has no desire to have children in their life, I aligned strongly with both the Rational Choice Theory and the Risk Aversion Theory. As a woman I believe that the benefits of having children are heavily outweighed by the negatives, in which I believe the negatives are a severe detriment to my outcomes in life as a woman. I feel strongly that the negative affects to my social life, wealth, physical and mental health, will impact my life and disadvantage me further than I already am disadvantaged due to my gender, therefore demonstrates how rational choice theory impacts my decisions. Risk Aversion Theory also impacts my decision, as many of the concerns outlined are important to me and dissuade me from choosing children due to the risk that they occur. Part of my earlier assessment in my psychology course took me down the road of researching how having children affects a relationship. Some particular research indicated that children affect every aspect of a relationship such as happiness, communication etc and therefore severely affected the quality of the relationship, and this did not repair itself until children were far older or had left the house. I do not personally want to possibly have to deal with a troubled relationship that may even be dismantled due to the poor quality of it, therefore as the theory suggests that the best way to avoid this is to not have children at all.
As a woman who has expressed her decision not to have children, I have only ever received mild positivity and support of my decision by a few close female peers, and the rest being somewhat negative. This research here indicates that women who decide not to have children are viewed less favourably than women who decide to have children, and it's especially worse if you're a lesbian woman. Because of the fact that not having children is deviating from the norm, childless women are outcasts and viewed as weird,
different, and not as worthy or and enlightened as those who have had children. One thing that is parroted is that 'this is was women are born to do, to be carers' which reduces women back to repressive gender roles, and this attitude reinforces the gender gap which leads to poorer health and life outcomes for women. This research indicates that those who are childless are more likely to be attributed to personality characteristics that are negative, such as selfish and less well-adjusted. These negative stereotypes and assumptions are harmful and may play on the mental health of the women who remain childless.
Lecture 5 - 21/08/2017
The following is a great example of another aspect of work in which women are disadvantaged. The mental load is the added expectation and responsiblity of coordination of tasks, jobs, and responsib
ilities that are required to be completed and delegated and most importantly remembered even at all. Women are more likely to take on the majority of the mental load, which is a large and timely tasks in and of itself. Here is a great comic that demonstrates what the mental load is and the impact that it has on those how bear it (mostly women). The following images are a couple of frames from the comic, demonstrating how much organisation happens behind the scenes before anything even gets done. I certainly feel these pressures in my life, for example having to think of and organise what to have for dinner, compile a list of ingredients I need to buy, plan my day to include a possible and appropriate time to go and buy these ingredients. And all of this on top of actually have to work for an hour to make dinner. Whilst my partner may think it's fair for me to cook dinner since he works full time, he doesn't account for the mental load that I have to bear as well as executing tasks as well.
And whilst I realise the mental load isn't just a female specific skill, it has been ingrained in me due to example of my parents and what I saw on the television. I therefore followed these examples and subconsciously took on the 'womanly' task of the mental load. I sometimes critically evaluate my role in my own home, and assess that I sometimes feel as if I'm taking on more than my fair share, however
when I consciously step back and take less responsibility and reduce the amount of tasks that the mental load instructs needs to be done, I find myself feeling guilty that I haven't been doing what I'm 'supposed to do'.
I also witnessed the mental load and it's effect on my own mother, who for many years was a full time carer for my grandmother. Whilst my father assumed that taking care of my Grandma was easy, since he did it on the weekends, he did not have to bear the mental load of organising and taking her to doctors and specialist appointments, tracking medications, ensuring she was eating enough food by planning specific meals she wouldn't have issues with. Essentially my mum was managing her mother's entire life, making sure every aspect of her life was taken into account, however my father didn't realise how large of a task it actually was and therefore thought that she wasn't doing her fair share of the work at home.
Lecture 6 - 28/08/2017
Discussion during the lecture included reflection on times in which I felt as if I was witnessing or involved in a situation that might have constituted abuse or violence. I feel as if I have witnessed many in my own experiences and journey through life, however due to how normalised abusive behaviours are in our society I feel as if there were many situations what should have raised alarms but did not. In my time I have witnessed a male screaming and yelling profane and derogatory things to his female partner in public, who walked beside him during the tirade with their 3 or 4 children in their care in their close proximity. It was heartbreaking to see and raised questions on how this man may act behind closed doors. If he is happy to verbally abuse his partner and children in public it seemed likely that the man would do far worse when he was in the privacy of their house. In my relationship experiences, whilst they weren't bad enough to be abusive, I felt as if the behaviours exhibited by and towards me by the guy were starting to indicate toxic behaviours, where the guy enjoyed compulsively lying and deceiving myself and others, controlling in how we spent our time together, and enjoyed controlling my emotions. I thought the relationship was great when in reality it was pretty one sided, and really not great. Abusive behaviours are often romanticized on social media and in the media that society consumes. Often I see screen grabs or pictures of a message a person has received from their significant other that clearly shows abusive and controlling behaviour, but is often paired with adoring comments such as "I need a guy like this". In the image seen to the left, it is clear that the boyfriend is controlling over how his partner uses their social media, and is using his control to dictate how his partner presents themselves. The behaviour show intense jealousy and insecurity, where the boyfriend needs to reduce any competition and decrease the chances that someone threatens his relationship which is important for him to have his power.The movie Suicide Squad, and basically in the entire history of the relationship between Harley Quinn and The Joker throughout all franchises and comics, is a perfect example of an abusive and manipulative relationship that is painted as something so romantic. Viewers look towards Harley Quinn as an incredibly loving and devoted girlfriend who goes crazy and does crazy things for her beloved boyfriend, however ignoring the cycle of abuse that is occurring under the guise of love.
The below video does a great job at explaining the relationship and why it is problematic, and also explains the cycle of abusive relationships very well. The image on the right is a perfect example of the circle of domestic abuse and relationships and how it is portrayed in the story of Harley Quinn and the Joker. Harley is incredibly physically damaged from a recent incident (phase 2 of the cycle of abuse), and is quickly reeled back in by the Joker by his reconciliation (stage 3) in the form of a gift/flower. Just like that Harley Quinn and the Joker re-enter a honeymoon phase (stage 4) where the abuse is forgotten.
Lecture 7 - 04/09/2017
The health of lesbian women.
The number be said that the lifetime of discrimination, bullying, and trauma experienced by lesbian women is an underlying factor for poorer health outcomes, and can possibly. The stress and mental health may increase the likeliness to turn to addictive substances and could likely explain why lesbian women drink alcohol more and smoke cigarettes more, as a method of coping. Lesbians are heavily sexualised and are often thought to be attractive skinny women. An example of this can be seen when you look at the google image results for "lesbian". All you can see is hot women kissing each other, which is the only form of lesbianism that is accepted. Generally people are ok with lesbian women if they're both attractive, and if not, they'll generally just be abused, called a dyke etc. It may be possible that because of pornography and the fetishization of women and their bodies, conventionally attractive women are accepted. This is incredibly unfair, as heterosexual relationships and those in them are not delegitimized based on their looks, and are instead accepted normally, like they should be. This leads to incredibly unfair and high expectations of the women in lesbian relationships, ultimately creating more stress and pressure on the women and leading them to poorer health choices such as drugs, alcohol etc. Lesbian women are also probably scared of being judged or revictimised due to coming out as a lesbian and may explain why it's difficult for women to disclose their sexuality to a doctor, therefore not obtaining the specialised healthcare they may require due to their sexuality and life conditions and resulting in poorer health outcomes.
Lecture 9 - 18/09/2017
Tess Holliday shoot (front)
The fashion industry and body image.
The fashion industry promotes incredibly unrealistic beauty standards, however some rare exemptions to this rule exist and show an alternative standard.
One example of defying these beauty standards is Tess Holliday. Holliday is a plus size model. Tess Holliday has been and is still is the recipient on an incredible amount of hate and abuse for her size, as a large amount of people cannot accept that a woman can be fashionable and work in the fashion industry while being an unconventional or familiar body shape. The disregard for her history and he traumas and troubled upbringing it ridiculous. According to an interview of Holliday by The Guardian, her upbringing included a large amount of troubling situations that lead to her poorer health outcomes, both mentally and physically. She outlines how she had to live through the trauma of her mother being shot in the head twice and surviving with major disabilities, the bullying she received because she had a disabled mother, bullying because of her weight and skin, has all lead to a worse emoational/mental health and therefore coping mechanisms in the form of food, and therefore poorer physical health. Bullying her for her size does nothing to improve or show concern for her health, and therefore simply worsens her health. Interestingly enough there is little to no vitriol swung in the way of women in the fashion industry who are severely underweight, as in the west it is a body shape that is praised and considered normal, when it's really not the most common body type at all. Whilst each body type extreme has it's own health risks, it is certainly unproductive to destroy the mental health of someone else under the concern of their physical health.
Lecture 12 - 16/10/2017
During the lecture some conversation in regards to C sections The ability for women to choose whether they have a vaginal birth or deliver via c section
demonstrates the important progress that has occurred over time to allow women to take control of their health decisions, which is a vital step in health equality and overall public health promotion. Allowing women to choose how they deliver their child indicates to all people that women are perfectly capable to choosing their health outcomes, and this hopefully over time reduces the presence of negative attitudes towards c section. C sections carry their own negatives and positives and it is important for the health and well being of women that they be given the chance to decide. Women are perfectly capable of weighing up the options and understanding her reproductive choices. Other healthcare decisions are not scrutinized nearly as much as the decision on how to deliver a child. Negative opinions are also circulated around the internet, such as the one displayed on the right, and whilst the image is likely trying to 'troll' people on the internet, it allows for those with harmful opinions to feel legitimised in their beliefs that can really damage a woman and put her health in jeopardy. It also sends a message to mothers who may be unsure in their decision to choose a path that may not be right for them, and choose a path that may actually have been medically advised against. Circulation of these harmful beliefs can and possibly will lead to women enduring unsafe vaginal births just because they're scared of being judged for choosing the 'illegitimate' path. The shame felt if a C section is given may also trigger and increase the severity of health issues such as postpartum depression. Destabilizing a woman with harmful opinions may even lead to increased suicides in new mothers.
Another topic of the lecture was sex workers and prostitution in women from both disadvantaged countries and situations, and in women who are from Australia. Specifically discussed was the legailty of sex work and it's impacts on the health of the women working in the industry. Thankfully Queensland is one of the Australian states that allows and regulates sex work. Research from the CSIRO indicates that a number of different approaches exist that attempt to deal with sex work, such as 'the Swedish model' of criminalisation, licensing, decriminalisation/legalisation etc. The research indicates that decriminalisation is likely the best choice as it allows sex workers to obtain adequate and targeted healthcare without the fear of being discriminated against or being arrested for breaking the law. Criminalisation leads to scared women who can be taken advantage of and abused by those who use the sex services, and ultimately leads to poorer health for the women involved. Whilst licensing may help achieve this it likely misses the women who are missed by the licensing system.
Lecture 13 - 23/10/2017
This was a valuable lecture and was incredibly insightful in what a career in public health/women's health may look like.
Unfortunately I do not have a reference for this, however this was something that was discussed in my PYB067 Human Sexuality classes that I undertook in semester 2 of 2016 with Dr Ron Frey. A study was conducted in which infants were given to participants and the participants were required to describe the infant and it's behaviours and it's personality they perceived. Participants said that the boys were active, brave, and boisterous etc; the girls were delicate, pretty, and quiet etc. The twist was that the girls were said to be boys, and the boys were said to be girls. This may demonstrate a few different things about those in our society. This may indicate that human are only receptive to particular expected behaviours in particular genders, e.g. if a boy waves its arms around it may be taken notice of more so that if it were from a girl. It may also just show the internalized gender roles and expectations that people prescribe onto others. Dr Claire Moran discussed how gender interacts in schooling, and how gender roles affects the school system. This study indicates how boys and girls are treated differently and perceived differently, and it's possible and definitely seen that it can have large impacts on success in school. This perpetuates the divide in males and females, and continues throughout life where women are believed to be less intelligent and therefore less likely to obtain the important and high paying jobs. The fact that girls are more often to be perceived as quiet works against them in leadership roles, as agentic qualities (such as powerful, dominating, and outspoken) are the preferred qualities and more often help secure leadership roles, where as being perceived as quiet is not favourable.
The DV Connect section was also useful to understand how the process works in regards to treatment and assistance to women in domestic violence situations. It's ridiculous how such a troubling situation for the woman and children involved essentially ruins her life. The Children by Choice representative (unfortunately forgot her name) mentioned an interesting point that I had never considered. She mentioned how a woman and her children, who is the victim of abuse, neglect and assault which is wrong and often in violation of the law, is the one who is essentially punished.
She loses her freedom, her home, her pets, her stability etc just by having to leave as it's always the woman running from the abuse, not the abuser being punished and removed. This is yet another reason why it must be so incredibly difficult for a woman to leave a domestic abuse relationship even if she knows there is something wrong, as the amount of sacrifice is great. Obviously the longer the woman stays in the DV relationship, the continued increase in risk of health issues such as physical harms from partner violence, mental health issues such as anxiety and depression etc. Some research indicates that domestic violence is the leading cause of death, disability and illness in women aged 15-44.
Reflecting on my time and education in PUB336, I feel as if I have learnt a large amount of incredibly important information that will likely inform my future career and endeavours. Whilst I'm still not sure on how and what career I want to get into, this subject has engaged me and has added fire to the flame of my interest in women and women's health.
Lecture 2 - 31/07/2017
"Ladylike". The term that describes whether a behaviour or action is appropriate and expected of a woman. The term that makes me want to vomit at how repulsive it feels in my mouth. This term is something that
was something that was thrown at me constantly while growing up, by often my own family (bless their hearts), as well as the media I consumed. To my parents it was not ladylike to play video games, however I continued to defy this stereotype and still do by playing video games incredibly often. It's also not ladylike to have human bodily functions such as burping or farting, because apparently ladies aren't humans (and unfortunately in a lot of cases they actually aren't treated like humans).
Because of the ladylike standard, women are held to an incredibly high standard that is ignorant of reality. Women are often told that they need to be ladylike and therefore are restricted in what is socially acceptable for then, especially in comparison to men. A great example of this was the shaming of women from the 2016 Melbourne Cup. An inflammatory article from the Daily Telegraph flamed the drunken women who were apparently shaming themselves and the entirely of the female gender. Here's an absolutely unbelievable quote straight from the article:
"Sure, there’s just as many images to be found of boozed up blokes skylarking — but aren’t we as women better than that?"
The author clearly believes that being drunk and having a bit of fun and mischief is not ladylike, and instead something that only men are allowed to do. This affects all women and men, as women are held to an unreasonable standard that greatly restricts their freedom to live and experience the world as others do. This restrictive belief has large implications for how women are perceived in society and therefore affects many factors of their lives. For example, in a working environment women that are expected to be ladylike are likely to be expected to wear restrictive ladylike clothing like heeled shoes, tight skirts, make up, and when they do not conform to this they will likely be ostracized and denied respect, promotions, and in the end contributing to the large gap in wages and success in between women and men. In the end the wage gap contributes to the constant lower health outcomes for women, as this means far less wealth for women leading to higher female elderly homelessness, less money to access health resources etc.
Another surprising aspect was the lack of knowledge that women have about their own bodies. However I understand that come from a privileged background and therefore have the means to obtain full understanding of my own body due to the resources at my disposal (i.e. private school education in a health conscious country, unlimited internet access, open and truthful parents). It reminded me about a YouTube video [see below] that I saw a while ago in which popular female content creators (and one male) took a quiz about the female reproductive system, and most of the women got at least one wrong, when I personally found it to be an incredibly easy quiz. Surprisingly the male got all of them right which he attributed to his private catholic schooling (much like I did). This video, as well as what was discussed in class, highlights how women's health and knowledge about the women's body has continuously missed the important spotlight it needs. It could be suggested that this big inequality and lack of knowledge of women's bodily functions and make up could be attributed to how female sexuality is taboo, and how historically the focus of human body study was on males as women weren't considered as important as the men.
Lecture 3 - 07/08/2017
Women in popular culture, advertising and the media.
The construction of gender in Disney films was a topic featured in the lecture notes. In my time I have encountered many people who praise Disney immensely for what they believe to be an incredibly empowering feminist movie, Mulan, however this tale is not perfect and still perpetuates gender roles and therefore not as feminist as one many believe. At the ending of the movie, Mulan is offered a very prestigious role from the emperor, where she will be above many men and will obtain a large amount of influence and power, however she decides to turn down this role so she can assume her womanly role. This reinforces the stereotype that is seen all too often in our society and in popular culture as a whole, and teaches the familiar lesson that woman, even when given the chance to succeed and gain power, will not take it due to what is believed to be because of their ingrained biology and beliefs. This has large implications on society and especially the children that view this film, and socialises boys and girls to believe the age-old stereotype that men are the rulers and women are the Homemakers. This message from this film will be internalised, as well as the other messages given by other forms of media, and contribute to the continued inequality that women face. This is yet another presentation in popular culture and media that displays and reinforces strict gender roles, even when the plot seems to have feminist themes.
Even though the overarching theme of the movie is the success and the capability of the main woman (Mulan), the way in which they get there includes problematic situations and dialogue. Small children may likely ignore or not understand the main lesson of the film, and therefore internalize other small but common sexist messages and teachings and ignore the main idea that these are supposed to be refuted. One particular instance is when the male soldiers begin a song called "A girl worth fighting for". This song presents many troublesome lyrics that outline what the soldiers believe is the best or most desirable traits in a woman. These traits are based in archaic gender roles that include things such as how a woman needs to be beautiful, pale, adores her strongman, cooks well and doesn't speak her mind. This teaches the women and girls that view this movie that they need to live up to these standards to impress men to Gain their protection as a man's protection and validation is all they need.
Lecture 4 - 14/08/2017
The right time to have a child.
As someone who considers themselves 'childfree', as in has no desire to have children in their life, I aligned strongly with both the Rational Choice Theory and the Risk Aversion Theory. As a woman I believe that the benefits of having children are heavily outweighed by the negatives, in which I believe the negatives are a severe detriment to my outcomes in life as a woman. I feel strongly that the negative affects to my social life, wealth, physical and mental health, will impact my life and disadvantage me further than I already am disadvantaged due to my gender, therefore demonstrates how rational choice theory impacts my decisions. Risk Aversion Theory also impacts my decision, as many of the concerns outlined are important to me and dissuade me from choosing children due to the risk that they occur. Part of my earlier assessment in my psychology course took me down the road of researching how having children affects a relationship. Some particular research indicated that children affect every aspect of a relationship such as happiness, communication etc and therefore severely affected the quality of the relationship, and this did not repair itself until children were far older or had left the house. I do not personally want to possibly have to deal with a troubled relationship that may even be dismantled due to the poor quality of it, therefore as the theory suggests that the best way to avoid this is to not have children at all.
As a woman who has expressed her decision not to have children, I have only ever received mild positivity and support of my decision by a few close female peers, and the rest being somewhat negative. This research here indicates that women who decide not to have children are viewed less favourably than women who decide to have children, and it's especially worse if you're a lesbian woman. Because of the fact that not having children is deviating from the norm, childless women are outcasts and viewed as weird,
different, and not as worthy or and enlightened as those who have had children. One thing that is parroted is that 'this is was women are born to do, to be carers' which reduces women back to repressive gender roles, and this attitude reinforces the gender gap which leads to poorer health and life outcomes for women. This research indicates that those who are childless are more likely to be attributed to personality characteristics that are negative, such as selfish and less well-adjusted. These negative stereotypes and assumptions are harmful and may play on the mental health of the women who remain childless.
Lecture 5 - 21/08/2017
The following is a great example of another aspect of work in which women are disadvantaged. The mental load is the added expectation and responsiblity of coordination of tasks, jobs, and responsib
ilities that are required to be completed and delegated and most importantly remembered even at all. Women are more likely to take on the majority of the mental load, which is a large and timely tasks in and of itself. Here is a great comic that demonstrates what the mental load is and the impact that it has on those how bear it (mostly women). The following images are a couple of frames from the comic, demonstrating how much organisation happens behind the scenes before anything even gets done. I certainly feel these pressures in my life, for example having to think of and organise what to have for dinner, compile a list of ingredients I need to buy, plan my day to include a possible and appropriate time to go and buy these ingredients. And all of this on top of actually have to work for an hour to make dinner. Whilst my partner may think it's fair for me to cook dinner since he works full time, he doesn't account for the mental load that I have to bear as well as executing tasks as well.
And whilst I realise the mental load isn't just a female specific skill, it has been ingrained in me due to example of my parents and what I saw on the television. I therefore followed these examples and subconsciously took on the 'womanly' task of the mental load. I sometimes critically evaluate my role in my own home, and assess that I sometimes feel as if I'm taking on more than my fair share, however
when I consciously step back and take less responsibility and reduce the amount of tasks that the mental load instructs needs to be done, I find myself feeling guilty that I haven't been doing what I'm 'supposed to do'.
I also witnessed the mental load and it's effect on my own mother, who for many years was a full time carer for my grandmother. Whilst my father assumed that taking care of my Grandma was easy, since he did it on the weekends, he did not have to bear the mental load of organising and taking her to doctors and specialist appointments, tracking medications, ensuring she was eating enough food by planning specific meals she wouldn't have issues with. Essentially my mum was managing her mother's entire life, making sure every aspect of her life was taken into account, however my father didn't realise how large of a task it actually was and therefore thought that she wasn't doing her fair share of the work at home.
Lecture 6 - 28/08/2017
Discussion during the lecture included reflection on times in which I felt as if I was witnessing or involved in a situation that might have constituted abuse or violence. I feel as if I have witnessed many in my own experiences and journey through life, however due to how normalised abusive behaviours are in our society I feel as if there were many situations what should have raised alarms but did not. In my time I have witnessed a male screaming and yelling profane and derogatory things to his female partner in public, who walked beside him during the tirade with their 3 or 4 children in their care in their close proximity. It was heartbreaking to see and raised questions on how this man may act behind closed doors. If he is happy to verbally abuse his partner and children in public it seemed likely that the man would do far worse when he was in the privacy of their house. In my relationship experiences, whilst they weren't bad enough to be abusive, I felt as if the behaviours exhibited by and towards me by the guy were starting to indicate toxic behaviours, where the guy enjoyed compulsively lying and deceiving myself and others, controlling in how we spent our time together, and enjoyed controlling my emotions. I thought the relationship was great when in reality it was pretty one sided, and really not great.
Abusive behaviours are often romanticized on social media and in the media that society consumes. Often I see screen grabs or pictures of a message a person has received from their significant other that clearly shows abusive and controlling behaviour, but is often paired with adoring comments such as "I need a guy like this". In the image seen to the left, it is clear that the boyfriend is controlling over how his partner uses their social media, and is using his control to dictate how his partner presents themselves. The behaviour show intense jealousy and insecurity, where the boyfriend needs to reduce any competition and decrease the chances that someone threatens his relationship which is important for him to have his power.
The below video does a great job at explaining the relationship and why it is problematic, and also explains the cycle of abusive relationships very well. The image on the right is a perfect example of the circle of domestic abuse and relationships and how it is portrayed in the story of Harley Quinn and the Joker. Harley is incredibly physically damaged from a recent incident (phase 2 of the cycle of abuse), and is quickly reeled back in by the Joker by his reconciliation (stage 3) in the form of a gift/flower. Just like that Harley Quinn and the Joker re-enter a honeymoon phase (stage 4) where the abuse is forgotten.
Lecture 7 - 04/09/2017
The health of lesbian women.
The number be said that the lifetime of discrimination, bullying, and trauma experienced by lesbian women is an underlying factor for poorer health outcomes, and can possibly. The stress and mental health may increase the likeliness to turn to addictive substances and could likely explain why lesbian women drink alcohol more and smoke cigarettes more, as a method of coping. Lesbians are heavily sexualised and are often thought to be attractive skinny women. An example of this can be seen when you look at the google image results for "lesbian". All you can see is hot women kissing each other, which is the only form of lesbianism that is accepted. Generally people are ok with lesbian women if they're both attractive, and if not, they'll generally just be abused, called a dyke etc. It may be possible that because of pornography and the fetishization of women and their bodies, conventionally attractive women are accepted. This is incredibly unfair, as heterosexual relationships and those in them are not delegitimized based on their looks, and are instead accepted normally, like they should be. This leads to incredibly unfair and high expectations of the women in lesbian relationships, ultimately creating more stress and pressure on the women and leading them to poorer health choices such as drugs, alcohol etc. Lesbian women are also probably scared of being judged or revictimised due to coming out as a lesbian and may explain why it's difficult for women to disclose their sexuality to a doctor, therefore not obtaining the specialised healthcare they may require due to their sexuality and life conditions and resulting in poorer health outcomes.
Lecture 9 - 18/09/2017
The fashion industry and body image.
The fashion industry promotes incredibly unrealistic beauty standards, however some rare exemptions to this rule exist and show an alternative standard.
One example of defying these beauty standards is Tess Holliday. Holliday is a plus size model. Tess Holliday has been and is still is the recipient on an incredible amount of hate and abuse for her size, as a large amount of people cannot accept that a woman can be fashionable and work in the fashion industry while being an unconventional or familiar body shape. The disregard for her history and he traumas and troubled upbringing it ridiculous. According to an interview of Holliday by The Guardian, her upbringing included a large amount of troubling situations that lead to her poorer health outcomes, both mentally and physically. She outlines how she had to live through the trauma of her mother being shot in the head twice and surviving with major disabilities, the bullying she received because she had a disabled mother, bullying because of her weight and skin, has all lead to a worse emoational/mental health and therefore coping mechanisms in the form of food, and therefore poorer physical health. Bullying her for her size does nothing to improve or show concern for her health, and therefore simply worsens her health. Interestingly enough there is little to no vitriol swung in the way of women in the fashion industry who are severely underweight, as in the west it is a body shape that is praised and considered normal, when it's really not the most common body type at all. Whilst each body type extreme has it's own health risks, it is certainly unproductive to destroy the mental health of someone else under the concern of their physical health.
Lecture 12 - 16/10/2017
During the lecture some conversation in regards to C sections The ability for women to choose whether they have a vaginal birth or deliver via c sectiondemonstrates the important progress that has occurred over time to allow women to take control of their health decisions, which is a vital step in health equality and overall public health promotion. Allowing women to choose how they deliver their child indicates to all people that women are perfectly capable to choosing their health outcomes, and this hopefully over time reduces the presence of negative attitudes towards c section. C sections carry their own negatives and positives and it is important for the health and well being of women that they be given the chance to decide. Women are perfectly capable of weighing up the options and understanding her reproductive choices. Other healthcare decisions are not scrutinized nearly as much as the decision on how to deliver a child. Negative opinions are also circulated around the internet, such as the one displayed on the right, and whilst the image is likely trying to 'troll' people on the internet, it allows for those with harmful opinions to feel legitimised in their beliefs that can really damage a woman and put her health in jeopardy. It also sends a message to mothers who may be unsure in their decision to choose a path that may not be right for them, and choose a path that may actually have been medically advised against. Circulation of these harmful beliefs can and possibly will lead to women enduring unsafe vaginal births just because they're scared of being judged for choosing the 'illegitimate' path. The shame felt if a C section is given may also trigger and increase the severity of health issues such as postpartum depression. Destabilizing a woman with harmful opinions may even lead to increased suicides in new mothers.
Another topic of the lecture was sex workers and prostitution in women from both disadvantaged countries and situations, and in women who are from Australia. Specifically discussed was the legailty of sex work and it's impacts on the health of the women working in the industry. Thankfully Queensland is one of the Australian states that allows and regulates sex work. Research from the CSIRO indicates that a number of different approaches exist that attempt to deal with sex work, such as 'the Swedish model' of criminalisation, licensing, decriminalisation/legalisation etc. The research indicates that decriminalisation is likely the best choice as it allows sex workers to obtain adequate and targeted healthcare without the fear of being discriminated against or being arrested for breaking the law. Criminalisation leads to scared women who can be taken advantage of and abused by those who use the sex services, and ultimately leads to poorer health for the women involved. Whilst licensing may help achieve this it likely misses the women who are missed by the licensing system.
Lecture 13 - 23/10/2017
This was a valuable lecture and was incredibly insightful in what a career in public health/women's health may look like.
Unfortunately I do not have a reference for this, however this was something that was discussed in my PYB067 Human Sexuality classes that I undertook in semester 2 of 2016 with Dr Ron Frey. A study was conducted in which infants were given to participants and the participants were required to describe the infant and it's behaviours and it's personality they perceived. Participants said that the boys were active, brave, and boisterous etc; the girls were delicate, pretty, and quiet etc. The twist was that the girls were said to be boys, and the boys were said to be girls. This may demonstrate a few different things about those in our society. This may indicate that human are only receptive to particular expected behaviours in particular genders, e.g. if a boy waves its arms around it may be taken notice of more so that if it were from a girl. It may also just show the internalized gender roles and expectations that people prescribe onto others. Dr Claire Moran discussed how gender interacts in schooling, and how gender roles affects the school system. This study indicates how boys and girls are treated differently and perceived differently, and it's possible and definitely seen that it can have large impacts on success in school. This perpetuates the divide in males and females, and continues throughout life where women are believed to be less intelligent and therefore less likely to obtain the important and high paying jobs. The fact that girls are more often to be perceived as quiet works against them in leadership roles, as agentic qualities (such as powerful, dominating, and outspoken) are the preferred qualities and more often help secure leadership roles, where as being perceived as quiet is not favourable.
The DV Connect section was also useful to understand how the process works in regards to treatment and assistance to women in domestic violence situations. It's ridiculous how such a troubling situation for the woman and children involved essentially ruins her life. The Children by Choice representative (unfortunately forgot her name) mentioned an interesting point that I had never considered. She mentioned how a woman and her children, who is the victim of abuse, neglect and assault which is wrong and often in violation of the law, is the one who is essentially punished.
She loses her freedom, her home, her pets, her stability etc just by having to leave as it's always the woman running from the abuse, not the abuser being punished and removed. This is yet another reason why it must be so incredibly difficult for a woman to leave a domestic abuse relationship even if she knows there is something wrong, as the amount of sacrifice is great. Obviously the longer the woman stays in the DV relationship, the continued increase in risk of health issues such as physical harms from partner violence, mental health issues such as anxiety and depression etc. Some research indicates that domestic violence is the leading cause of death, disability and illness in women aged 15-44.
Reflecting on my time and education in PUB336, I feel as if I have learnt a large amount of incredibly important information that will likely inform my future career and endeavours. Whilst I'm still not sure on how and what career I want to get into, this subject has engaged me and has added fire to the flame of my interest in women and women's health.