May 19th Class

again, like always, LOVED THE SPEAKER!!!!! her story about the eyewitness was horrible because you know that a lot of times if there's an "eyewitness" i think juries can be just totally swayed by one person that saw something and a lot of times i am sure that those people are correct in what they saw, but there are so many ways that memory can be effect and altered. I know just day to day in seeing things and then trying to recall them its hard, i can't imagine being in a crime or witnessing one and then trying to recall that because you would be all cracked out on adrenaline and fear and then the PRESSURE to be a "good witness" i think that can have a real impact on what people "remember"

i am doing a project in a class about memory and being an eyewitness and i am going to show a clip of something (maybe a car wreck or a crime) and then ask people a few minutes later what they can recall from that and see what they describe and then compare that again with the video clip... i think that should be interesting

the episode was great (hello its L&O when is it ever NOT good!) and it really just made me think, ok why do we even care that these people are lesbians.... i mean they are PARENTS and GOOD PARENTS i mean so many children would be happy to have GOOD PARENTS i dont think kids would care much if it was two moms or two days.... i hate it when people say that a family is only a mom and a dad WHY??? there are sooo many dysfunctional "traditional" families that it take a true hypocrite to say that the nuclear family is the ONLY way to have a family.

for me, I dont care at all about people's preference for anything as long as they dont harm other people/create victims in their wake... why cant people just let others do their thing (in this episode be a lesbian couple with a child)...

one of my friends is a female-to-male transgender and when he was going through the early parts of his transition (around the time i met him) i tried to explain his situation to someone and the FIRST THING THEY ASKED was a "below the waist" question and i was like "he doesnt ask whats in my pants i dont ask whats in his pants" and what bothered is that people cant just be like "oh ok cool" they have to act like anything not "straight and normal" is completely foreign and weird... uggg it bothers me

there are just so many other things to me angry/upset about in the world that what people do in their private lives is not on my list at all....

but also in the episode it did bother me that the child was given to child services, i think that maybe either of the women's parents could have taken the child in... she had grandparents that were available and wanted to help her... so i dont think that was a good decision for the child... again.. whose justice? that girl lost her mom and her other mom is going to jail and instead of being with family she is with child services? i did not like that, but sadly i know that happens.... :(

again, GREAT CLASS!!! see everyone in week 10! have a great 3-day weekend!

All you need is love, the rest is details

Today's episode and class really made me reexamine how privileged I am in today's society. If I were in legal trouble, my family could find a way to hire a good lawyer (not OJ's dream team, but still a good lawyer) and could probably help out with bail. More than that, I was raised in a middle class household that did not expose me to many of the drugs, abuse and trends that often create a cycle of crime that is difficult to escape. Social class means so much more than just what one can afford in the supermarket; it also determines your agency in the legal system and even has ramifications upon the healthcare you recieve. These thoughts arose from our discussions about the make-up of death row with today's guest speaker. I really liked her point that although there are some white folks on death row, there are no rich people. One should not be condemned to death because they have less money than anyone else. All should get the same level of quality defense, police should not automatically suspect the first person that seems good for a crime, and the prosecution shuold be accountable for the verdicts they argue for. Yes, this is a little apple-pie-in-the-sky, but I can dream right?
The system is simply not designed to help minorities of any kind, be they racial, sexual or socioeconomic subsets. I wish that the system was fair to all, and the Innocence Project is thankfully one of the few ways that a couple of people can get true justice. However, this is after they have wrongfully served time in jail and are forced to fear for their lives. It really disturbed me when the speaker mentioned that being factually innocent does not automatically overturn a guilty verdict. Don't those facts create a reasonable doubt? An infalliable verdict is not the way to fight crime; in fact it means that those that are free because someone was blamed with their crimes are getting a free pass. It all comes back to the idea of "whose justice?" Are the innocent in jail getting justice? What about the victims' families who see the culprits walking free? Where is the justice for our court system, which is being hyjacked by the rigid and unfair rules by which it must act?
Beyond social class, the level of heterosexual priviledge in our society hit me hard today. The mother in the episode was clearly a good parent, but a law drove her to kill because she could not be with a child who loved and depended on her. Treating others differently for something that is part of their very being is unfair and wrong. Our system should recognize the right of homosexual couples to express their love however they see fit and if, like today's episode, that means providing love and support to a child, that is wonderful. The theme of lesbian invisibility truthfully reflects how society ignores these women, yet that does not mean that this minority does not suffer from the invisibility.
Also, what justice was there for Sophie when child services was considering giving custody to the grandparents who had never met her? Is that really what is best for the child? Why, for example, should our system support a drug-addicted father having more of a chance of gaining custody than a lesbian mother? This child services issue harkens back to the domestic violence episode we watched earlier in the term. Love sees no colors, sexual orientations or any bias. It is simply humanity caring for humanity, and I wish that our laws reflected that.

You can indict a ham sandwich without the swiss!

I had never seen this episode before and it got me thinking about gay marriage and gay rights in general. I have always been a supporter of equal rights (whether it be in marriage, health care, anything) for gays and lesbians. I don't see this as an "orientation" issue-it's a basic human rights issue. It should not matter if you are gay or not. You should be able to marry whomever you love and you should be able to visit them in the hospital, care for them, adopt a child with them. I had a friend in high school who, because of her religious views, did not want to watch Ellen Degeneres' show because Ellen is a lesbian. I remember being so completely shocked. What happened to judging someone by (as Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently put it) "the content of their character"? Does character mean anything anymore? I find it so ridiculous that people can discriminate so easily and use faith to do so. I was taught to treat others the way I wanted to be treated and to respect others. I'm glad I was raised in a home that was not directly faith-based. We didn't go to church--we wanted to spend our Sunday's together and read the newspaper and hit up the "church" of Costco! We were raised to treat others well and to always see the good in people- no matter their sexual preference.
This episode brought up the subject of lesbians being able to adopt and who has legal custody over the child. I think if someone wants to adopt a child we should be looking at them as a person first and foremost. Simply because someone is gay doesn't make them unfit to be a parent. If they have a drug or alcohol problem or anger/rage issues, that makes them unfit. I remember reading an article in Seventeen magazine a few years ago [remember I'm 19-I'm just a baby :)] which discussed same-sex parents and their children. I remember the child of one couple said that she was not "turned" gay by having gay parents and that they were just as capable as any other family unit. I think people are so blind-sided by the "gay" factor that they automatically assume that they will be bad parents who will "turn" their children gay. How backwards right? But people honestly and whole-heartedly think that. Who are we to decide what makes a good family? As far as I'm concerned the whole heterosexual "nuclear family" is long dead.
Just some thoughts I've had. It was neat to talk to the guest speaker today. She was very sweet. Allison and I talked to her a bit after class and she was really quite nice. It was interesting to hear from the written journalistic aspect and how she understands and experiences the law. I really do love this class! It's the highlight of my Monday's!

Abortion

Ok it has been a week since class but I have had the thought of abortion lingering in my head the past few days. I grew up with very conservative parents and we are also conservative Catholics. All my life I have been told to be pro-life and that having an abortion would equal eternal damnation! Seriously people this is something that my parents and I agree to disagree on now that I am involved with sociology and feminist ideology.

Anyways, I identify as a pro-choice person because I do think that legalizing abortion is tied into womens rights and the slow destruction of patriarchal domination. There is something bothering me though...if we are trying to take the blame off of women as far as getting pregnant why do we not consult the father when abortion comes into the picture? I can't help but relate the fact that fathers leave their children (and the mothers) to the fact that they are told they have no responsibility to the unborn baby because it is not inside of their body. Am I making sense? Should the rights of fathers only commence when the child is born? If so, how does that link to the unborn child having rights when murder occurs as the child is still in the mother's womb? These are some really hard questions. Any thoughts?

I know there are extreme cases when rape, domestic violence, or incest occurs and it might be dangerous for the woman to inform the father of the pregnancy, but for the times when that is not the case....should the father have rights too?

May 12th class

This class was really interesting!!! I wish we had more time to talk in class... this class could easily be several hours long!!!!

I really liked the episode and to see that even in the first season of law and order they did deal with these kind of issues and also made a point to show the major conflicting sides of the arguments through the dialogue between Logan and the other detective (what is that guy's name???)

i think my favorite line from the episode was when robinette said "i'm not for abortion, i'm for birth control"

that pretty much sums up my stance i would think.... the root problem which is "solved" by abortion is unwanted pregnancies... unwanted through personal choice or unwanted because of a forced sexual encounter. However, sex education (the good non-abstinence only crap) and easy, affordable access to birth control can help so many women avoid being put in that situation by factors they can't always control for.

Also, i hear from anna that the jail tour was really awesome. I'm sad I did not get to go, I had to go to my parent's house on Tuesday-Wednesday evening because I had to be taken to the hospital on Tuesday and ended up recovering all day Wednesday.

And I missed the finale on Tuesday night!! But i am pretty sure it will be the repeat one that shows on Sunday at 10 on NBC

OH!!!!! and while i was home (and with access to good cable tv) on TNT on Sunday starting at 2pm is a TEN HOUR MARATHON and its "the best of detective Green" so that should be AWESOME!!

Finale!

Did I understand the finale right??? Basically there is going to be a new cast next season...Casey will be disbarred, Fin is transferring and Blake is going to prison! What!!! Crazy! What did you all think? How awesome was it when the sniper shooter was about to pull the trigger and then Elliot shows up with perfect timing! I was thinking YA EL!!!!!!! :)

Have a goodnight ladies!
Andrea

Victory for women across the nation!

A new federal requirement will make anonymous rape tests available to women who don't wish to report a rape, thus allowing their forensic evidence to be taken and saved if they later want to report. This is a major victory for women! Check out the article:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20080514/Jane.Doe.Rapes/

Women's Symposium

Just a note. The Honors College is putting on a Women's Symposium next Monday night at 6:00 in the MU. We will have female representatives of each branch of government, including Sarah Gelzer, our AMAZING state legislator! There will be dessert, beverages, amazing women and a fun, enlightening program. As is every Honors event, it is free and open to everyone. Thanks!

Revenge of decomp season!

The speakers today really enhanced my understanding of the justice system. Of course I have always understood why defense attorneys are necessary (due process and all of that), but I could never quite connect how someone could argue for the release of a person they sometimes know is guilty. Now I understand that the defense attorney is there to keep the system balanced. They are not there job reveal the truth; it is their job to challenge the prosecution to meet the burden of proof. Without the defense attorneys defending zealously, the prosecution would not have to prove people guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and there could be even more innocent people wrongly jailed. This adversarial system keeps the police investigating, the prosecution covering all their bases and the system working. However, individual cases still cause problems, like in the episode we watched for today, "Choice." The mother was an alcoholic and didn't stop drinking after she promised to. Intervention was needed to help the baby, especially after if came to light that the mother had already had a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) baby. However, how can we take a woman's choice over her own life? This is a conundrum for feminists who want to fight oppression, yet don't want to see FAS babies as a result. It is impossible to weigh a life against the mother's interest, so I don't envy the judge who had to preside over this case. It would be like comparing apples and oranges, only with very human consequences.
The episode we watched in class made me think about the role of men in the abortion debate. While I have often heard the "it's not their body" argument, what should their role be, both as contributors to the pregnancy equation and as allies to the feminist community? Stone, Schiff, the detectives and Robinette all had opinions, but how should they be intergrated into the greater conversation about abortion? I often wonder about the limitations and boundaries of advocates and allies of oppressed communities. It seems so easy to step on toes when all you want to do is help. It would be nice if all activism groups could simply support and respect each other, but, alas, this is not human nature and means that we all must work even harder for more tolerance and equality in today's society.
Our speakers were excellent, as always. Their willingness to share anecdotes was fun and it was good to see that the system doesn't depress the human spirit. You can be an upbeat, funny person while working in law enforcement and DA's offices! Learning what a PI actually does filled in the television affected picture for me, and the relationship between client and defense attorney is much clearer. I especially appreciated the rapport the women had. It is neat that in such a male-dominated world these women could find each other as a source of support and humor when dealing with such dire situations. The idea of a body turning into jelly and being shoveled into a body bag is just a little disturbing, but the poinsettia story made my day. And she kept the poinsettia! Genius!

Of abortion and blow up dolls....

Wow, what a great class today (as per usual)!! I really enjoyed listening to the ADA and how she defends cases. It was interesting to hear the other side of the argument: how the defense works. I have no idea how I would be able to defend someone who is guilty, I don't think I could handle it! It was interesting to hear about the cases that she dealt with and also the work of the PI. I would never have pinpointed her as a private investigator. She was very fashionable, nice and professional and when I think of a PI I think of a mustachioed, forty-something man in a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses! I also liked hearing their anecdotes. It's nice to see people in their profession laugh and be happy. I can only imagine the depressing stuff they have to deal with on a daily basis! Especially their story about the dead body that was nearly liquefied. I'm pretty sure I would have passed out instantaneously!
The episode we watched in class was really interesting. First, it was a bunch of men (some of which are married) talking about women's reproductive rights and abortion. There were no women investigators (minus the female cop in the beginning of the episode) and no female lawyers either. Also, the detectives got really heated about abortion which was interesting. Chris Noth's character was very supportive of a woman's right to choice but the other detective was very adamantly opposed and was siding with the bombers. One thing that this episode reminded me of was this reading in Sisterhood is Forever (one of my textbooks for WS 224). The reading was about Ageism. At the very end, the author notes: "Now we are seeing a kind of "child worship," with politicians telling us what happens in our lives now isn't important: what's important is that "the children are the future." When this kind of obsession with discarding the old for the new is pushed along the continuum to the ultimate, we have "fetus worship." And when the fetus is more important than the woman who carries it, feminism is in deep trouble." I thought this applied to episode because we see this "fetus worship" with the pro-life side of the argument. The fetus is a human from the beginning of conception and abortion is murder to them. The issue then becomes more about this unborn "being" and it's rights as a human rather than the reproductive rights the woman herself has. It's a really interesting topic. I hope we can talk about it more in class!!

Male occupations

One thing I have noticed while listening to our wonderful guest speakers each class period, is the ongoing theme of women in traditionally male gendered occupations. Each women has commented about how their job has typically been a male job, but it is equally, if not more so, suitable for a woman. I really liked how the speaker Monday commented on the work/life balance that women are able to have as a medical examiner. As women are inclined and expected to do the housework and raise the children, it can be difficult to maintain a career as well.

When the ADA came and spoke, she was a good example of how having a family was hard to do with the demands of being an attorney. I find it very frustrating that although women are allowed to enter the work force in traditionally male gendered occupations, the demand for home life remains the same. I just find myself saying, why do men do this to us? I know not allllll men think that women should do the housework and take care of the children, but deep down because of socially rooted norms and reinforced behaviors, most men do still think this- actually women do too!!!!!! Oh so annoying.

I guess I better get back to the dishes and folding laundry...ugh!

Cinco de Mayo Class Session

OH. MY. GOSH. I LOVED the speaker this week!!! It was sooo interesting!! I was glad to hear that she does not work in the dark like they all seem to do on tv.... i always talk to the TV and am like "please turn some lights on!!" hee hee

I liked the episode we watched in class, I had not seen it in a long time so I barely remembered the beginning! While the episode was meant to be entertaining, it also had the major patriarchal reverse where, or course, this woman is crazed and a killer and it can't have ANYTHING to do with the fact she was abused/raped/is forced into prostitution... oh no it has to be cause she's crazy.... and I get how from a feminist perspective that is bad (reference the discussions in class) but at the same time, from a television producer side of it.... an episode like this one will "sell" because it reaffirms the notions that people have about prostitutes and a serial killer that is a woman...

also! loved the tuesday episode.... i did not see the ending coming!

WHAT?!

The new Law and Order SVU just made me so mad! They just pulled the biggest partriarchal reverse and made blamed the victim! That is enough of a spoiler, but watch the rerun to be enraged!

"Fresh" class

The guest speakers that we have just keep getting better and better! Beyond the fascinating vocabulary and anecdotes offered by Dr. Gunson, it was great to see that being a female was not a serious impediment to being in her profession. She crusaded through discrimination in medical school, but gender does not seem to be much of issue in pathology because the men she works with her would rather she do the cutting of bodies than them. Her expertise is respected, as it should be. People should be valued for their skills, not judged based upon their gender. That said, the idea of "decomp season" made me shiver, even as it made me grin. I wish we could tour the state facilities; I want to see what an autopsy room worthy of "morgue envy" looks like!
As for the episodes, it was a little bizarre to watch the "Chameleon" episode again after I wrote about it. There is a lot more in that episode than just prostitution, but after studying this issue I am especially sensitive to how prostitutes are portrayed in the media. The stigmatization of prostitutes is so normalized that many of us don't realize it. However, I feel that there must be some change in the way that these women are treated, for their health and to foster a sense of more societal understanding. I liked Professor Shaw's idea for decriminalization. Prostitutes are neither perennial victims or mere workers, but real women who make economic decisions based on situations that may have made selling sex the only available option for income. We should not punish them the women for society's problems, but we should also strive to change the system that forces some women to see this as the only way to make a living. Let's heal the wound instead of applying little band aids to the inequalities of society.
The episode we watched over the weekend ("Subterranean Homeboy Blues") was particularly difficult for me. It presented the ideas of sexism and racism as parallel, but not overlapping, issues. This made the characters have to choose which cause to support, which is not right. We should fight for a universally open and safe society; this does not mean that any group should have to wait while the other is advocating for limited progress. We should all act together for a more inclusive future. I especially felt for Robinette, who seemed to have a lot of problems with reconciling his sympathies for the black boys accused of the crime and the plight of the woman who was terrified due to past sexual assault. Before this class I didn't realize the real conundrums that some of these episodes offer. There is no right answer, the system can only do the best that it can.

Decomp season is coming!

Wow! What a fascinating class yesterday was! The medical examiner was really interesting and it was really neat to learn about her job! I was surprised to learn that there are only 350 medical examiners in the country and only six are in Oregon. And I was also surprised that coroner's don't have to have an medical training... yeah, I know, no medical training but we trust them to make an accurate guess as to how someone died? Ridiculous! I also liked hearing about what her job is like and how she handles it. I have no idea how she can be so normal! I am pretty sure I would be crazy! It was also interesting to hear about all of the schooling she went through and how little it cost her! If only our college expenses were $5,000 a year!!
The episode we watched was one I had seen before but I forgot that it was a woman serial killer. I think it's important to notice that every time we have a female killer she is sensationally crazy and manipulative and wildly insane! It's always some kind of dysfunction. But then again, often the killers on Law and Order are pretty crazy anyway, so maybe that part isn't so much to do with gender. But, I did notice that the episode touched on the whole idea that a prostitute can't be raped. One of the officers in the very beginning of the episode told Lisa Perez that "If they're payin ya, it ain't raped." It is maddening that we still harbor this idea about prostitutes (and to some extent, with wives and spousal rape).
I'm really glad to be done with my research paper. I feel like I learned a lot about Domestic Violence and how prevalent and pervasive it really is. It was also interesting to learn about the legal issues with domestic violence and what a woman has to do in order to prove that she was abused. You'd think we'd just give her the benefit of the doubt and help her out! I am surprised also by how many women are seen in emergency rooms every year to be treated for domestic violence. One article I was reading talked about having physicians check with women during their normal appointments about their relationships and about abuse because it often goes unreported. That way we could treat and prevent violence before it becomes out of control.

P.S. Sorry Allison for stealing your blog title!

Honor

Due to being out of town last weekend, I was out of class, and since I am not aware of what was already discussed in the last class, I thought I would discuss what was assigned as homework. The episode “Honor” is one I have seen before and it has always been an extremely disturbing one. Obviously, having grown up in the United States, the fact that a woman could seem so disgraceful to her family for wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and for having sex with her fiancée is extremely hard to comprehend. The fact that an arranged marriage can still be a reality, even here, was also something that I don’t think about in my day-to-day life, and it’s strange that this is a reality to some people. It was also frustrating seeing the brother and father wearing Western clothing and the Mother and daughter being told it was not allowed, and if they were to disobey the amount of anger directed toward them was astonishing. When her mother feels that what happened to her daughter wasn’t justified and feels she must be honest, she pays the ultimate price. It was really a heartbreaking episode, and although this revolves around a specific culture, I don’t believe that a father’s anger toward his daughter for this type of thing is exclusive to one culture. It doesn’t often end as badly as this episode is, but girls are treated much differently when it comes to how we dress and if we choose to have sex before marriage or not. From boys, these beliefs are much more lax, and it is a horrifying double standard that is depicted in this episode.

Research Paper!

Hey women,
Just curious...did you all put a summary of the episode in the body of your paper? I feel like it needs a description, but it just isn't flowing very well. Thanks for sharing!

Andrea

April 28th class and other things

I thought class on monday was really interesting, the woman from cardv was amazing to listen to.... i definitely could not do what she does and not just be a sad wreck.

Also, I enjoyed the "classic" law and order episode we watched.... oh the 90's law and order.... *sigh*

the handout on the risk factors for abuse and risk factors for perpetration were very interesting, though I was not surprised to see many of the factors on there, such as alcohol and drug use and poverty. I really think that poverty, as a social issue, is one thing that could be defined as a major "root issue" of so many other social problems and actual crimes against people and property. Poverty, I think, creates desperation for the person/people in that situation and men affected by this do (as statistics show) turn to alcohol and abusing those around them (women and children). It's so horrible and yet as a society we, I think, spend so much on trying to fix the outcomes (the abuse and alcoholism) but at the same time don't put enough resources into solving the root problem, poverty.

Hearing the speaker talk about how when she presents to groups the story of the woman in the room at the party (sleeping) and how the first two guys walk in there and just don't disturb her, or put a jacket on her, and how the third guy rapes her. Then she asks the audience why the woman was raped? and people dont EVER (without some prodding) say "because that guy CHOSE to rape her!" that actually made my jaw drop i was shocked and just I was in disbelief.

I retold that to my best friend (since age 6 and she's definitely a feminist and was part of FMLA on campus)and I asked her "what do you think people's responses were" and she was like.... because that third guy raped her, that's why she got raped... and when I told her the typical responses (oh the girl was at the party, she was in that room alone, etc) she was SHOCKED too, we were both like OH MY GOD how can people be so ...dumb!

so yeah, in short, i loved monday's class and I wish it could have gone on longer!!! so many issues to talk about!!! cardv is an amazing institution and the speaker was AWESOME!!!!

this is HORRIBLE and made me angry!

So i was watching TV and this dairy queen commercial came on and its a mom and a daughter at the DQ counter and pretty much is this girl flirting with this boy to get a free sundae and then proclaims (in connection with flirting to get free stuff) "it's like shooting fish in a barrel"

THIS COMMERCIAL MADE ME SO ANGRY! that kind of behavior from a child is atrocious and the fact that it's normalized to the point of being in a national commercial is disgusting.

I hope this link works, it's to the you tube of this commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDiASRHDtiI