Brittney Iverson

ENGL 1050

Fiona Harris Ramsby, Instructor

Diversity Issues Reflection

Before taking this class, I never really knew how important it was to learn about and pay

attention to what is happening with the issues of diversity but after being in this class for the

whole semester I have realized how important it is. We see diversity every single day, no matter

where we are at, it is always there. There are many different aspects of diversity like race,

ethnicity, class, and gender. All of these are things that we should be looking at and paying

attention too in our society. Although all of these are very important to me, I decided to focus on

gender because it is something that applies to me.

We had many discussions in class about how gender is part of the diversity issues in

society today. Gender discrimination otherwise known as sexism is defined in the dictionary as,

discrimination or devaluation based on a persons sex or gender, as in restricted job

opportunities, especially such discrimination directed against women. The first reading I looked

at was Women Boxers: The New Warriors by Delilah Montoya. I picked this reading because

right from the beginning of her writing talking about Malcrida which is a woman that who will

not behave and is determined to do what she wants, regardless of what society rules or even good

sense dictates, (211) and how just because they dont behave the way society wants them too.

They are strong women and stand out from others.

In Montoyas writing, she discusses how women boxers are treated in todays society, A

social understanding has always been that a woman is not to witness, demonstrate, or indulge in

acts of violence, (211). Montoya added pictures of Jackie Chvez, Holy Holm, and Chvez vs.
Vela. I think she added these pictures because it shows these woman boxers in their natural

elements and shows how strong they are, which is not something you see a lot from women.

Society wants to make us believe that woman should be skinny and that it is not sexy to have

muscle because then you look too manly, but Montoya is showing that it is okay to not be

those things. She is showing that whatever your body type is, it is okay even if its not socially

acceptable.

Montoya is pretty much saying that as a society people believe that only men are allowed

to participate in things like boxing, which is pathetic. Who is to say that women cant do

practically everything that men can do? I thought that this was an important reading to add into

my essay because I thought it showed how strong women are and how if they have enough

determination they can do anything that they set their minds too. Something that also came to

mind as I read this writing was that women dont care what society thinks about them because

we arent here to please society, we are here to live our best life and do whatever we want to

with it.

This next reading was something that I found very interesting because I see all of the

different types of advertisements but have never focused on the roles of the gender in them and

how important they are. The reading that I looked at was Reading the Gaze: Gender Roles in

Advertising. There are specific roles that genders play in advertising because whether we like it

or not sex sells. The advertisements that were added into this visual essay have the different

examples of advertisements with both men and women which include a Calvin Klein fragrance

ad, Gucci Guilty perfume ad, a Rebook ad, and Got Milk ad. In our classes week six

discussion, we discussed what it would like if the gender roles were reversed in some of the ads

and I thought this was an interesting and different way to look at the different ads. In the
discussion one of my fellow classmates, Angelica White talked about the Gucci ad and how it

would be different if the roles were reversed in the ads and this is what she said about it, His

gaze into the camera, or at his imaginary viewers would add to the natural dominance presents a

man generally holds. The woman would appear submissive with her face turned towards the

camera. She would appear more as an object to help add to the erotic expression, (White, 2017).

I think that it is really weird that just from changing the role of the two characters it can make

such a dramatic difference. I think that whoever wrote this visual essay was really smart, it puts

things into a whole new perspective, especially with how strong the female role is in

advertisements. I think that it is especially interesting how much they use females to advertise

male products like they did in the Calvin Klein mens fragrance ad. In their advertisement, they

had a picture of a woman in a sheet with a seductive look and then a picture of the same woman

closer up with an intriguing look with the fragrance in the bottom corner. You would think that

they would have a man advertising this, but it just goes to show you that sex sells. Im sure some

men that see this ad and think that if they buy the cologne they will be able to date women like

this, but it should be about the person and not their looks. I hope that women will not be

sexualized for advertisements, especially since there has been so much sexual harassment in the

media lately.

In the Public Health Messages readings it shows advertisements warning against

Sexually transmitted diseases. There are two advertisements from World War Two and one that

is a cover pamphlet for teens on STDs, and one that is from more recently. I think that it is

interesting that all of these advertisements are directed towards women, implying that they are

the only ones that get STDs and men are wholesome and cant do any wrong. All of these

advertisements are bad and hurtful to the female gender but to me, I think the worst one is the
one trying to bring awareness to Syphilis and Gonorrhea. On the advertisement it has a picture of

a woman and then underneath a picture of three smaller men in uniforms, with the title, She

may look clean- but., (221). It goes on to the list the reasons that the disease could spread

around to others and wont be able to continue to beat the axis. I feel like these are important

things that everyone should be aware of in a partner but to say that it is only the women that are

going around spreading the disease is just wrong. I think there needs to be accountability in both

partners and not just pointing the finger at women.

If we are talking about gender discrimination, I think that it is important to take a look at

sexism in the work place, but before we go to todays work place, I feel that it is important to

look at how women started in the work place in Judy Taylors, The History of Labor in the

State of Maine. There is a mural that shows the history of American workers, the one that stood

out the most to me was the panel of Rosie the Riveter, it shows a group of women dressed in

masculine work clothes during World War Two. This a very important part of womens history

because they stood up and started being the bread winners while their husbands were fighting for

our country. This is such an iconic picture that has been adapted in many different ways and I

really love it. I love the meaning behind it because of all of the strong women who stepped up

and put their work pants on and did things that men could do but they could do too.

Another reading that I wanted to look at was The Cocktail Waitress, by James P.

Spradley and Brenda J. Mann. The reading talks about what the waitresses have to go through to

work at the bar. Throughout the reading it talks about what the waitresses have to deal with when

they associate with their customers. This is one of the quotes that stood out to me, No sooner

has she started placing them on the table than she feels a hand on her leg. In the semidarkness no

one knows of this encounter but the customer and the waitress. Should she ignore it or call
attention to this violation of her personal space? (420). This quote really stood out to me

because I think it is pathetic that woman have to even deal with someone coming into their

personal space without them okaying it. In recent news, there has been a lot of stories of women

coming forward and speaking out of them being sexually harassed in their work place. One of

the more recent stories was from New York Times talking about Matt Lauer having an allegation

of inappropriate sexual behavior. It shocks me every time a new story comes out about someone

else having the same thing happening to them in their work place. It makes me unbelievably mad

that sexual assaulter believes that they can get a way with it, but I am so happy that so many

people are coming out and finding their voices to tell their stories.

Another way gender is part of diversity in todays society is by who they choose or what

gender they associate with. In our week eleven discussion, we were asked to look at LGBTQ

Rights and I thought that it was very interesting because it is not something that I associated with

gender discrimination before. One of the readings that I read was Im a transgender and cant

use the student bathroom, by Gavin Grimm. In the reading, Gavin talks about how he is

confused and hurt by not being able to use the restroom in his own high school because of what

gender he associates with. It really makes my heart sad that transgenders cant use the restrooms

that they feel like they belong. I dont think that some people understand that they arent using

that particular bathroom to look at others or to be creepy, they are honestly just wanting to use

the bathroom in a place where they feel comfortable and where they associate themselves with.

Even though I mostly talked about females being the gender that is discriminated, males

are victims of it as well, just not as frequently and they dont speak out about it.

Gender diversity is something that we see every single day of our lives and I really hope that one

day we will all be treated as equal, not having one gender thats better than the other.
 Works Cited

Grimm, Gavin. Im transgender and cant use the student bathroom. The Washington Post, WP

Company, 27 Oct. 2016.

Montoya, Delilah. "Women Boxers: The New Warriors." George, Diana and John

Trimbur. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. New York:

Pearson, 2012. 211-214.

"Public Health Messages." George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading Culture: Contexts for

Critical Reading and Writing. New York: Pearson, 2012. 219-223.

"Reading the Gaze: Gender Roles in Advertising." George, Diana and John Trimbur. Reading

Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. New York: Pearson, 2012. 206-210.

Rutenberg, Jim. NBC Fires Matt Lauer Over Sexual Misconduct Allegation. New York Times,

The New York Times, 29. Nov. 2017

Spradley, James, and Brenda Mann. The Cocktail Waitress. George, Diana and John

Trimbur. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. New York:

Pearson, 2012.417-422.

Taylor, Judy. "The History of Labor in the State of Maine." George, Diana and John

Trimbur. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. New York:

Pearson, 2012. 435-439.

White, Angelica. Visual Genres Discussion. September 27, 2017.