While reading through this assignment I began to contemplate which text/film I was going to review. After thinking about it for a while I gave up trying to come up with ideas and went upstairs where I found my roommates had just turned on the movie Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan. I had never seen this movie before and initially thought it was rather corny. However, after watching it for 20 min I became invested and had to see it through! It actually turned out to be quite funny and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, I thought it would make the perfect film to review for this assignment!
If you are like me and have never seen the movie before it is about a mother and daughter that switch bodies for a short time. It happens as part of a curse and they only way to reverse it is to fully understand what it is like to live in the other person’s shoes. This is particularly difficult for them as the mother and daughter apart from their age difference have very opposite tastes and styles. For this reason, they are very judgmental of each other and how they live their respective lives. This judgement makes them very bitter towards each other because they do not understand the rational behind their life choices. As the duration of the switch goes longer both characters feel the sense of othering, as they realize they cannot fit in or belong in the new life they have been given. This creates a turning point for both characters as they being to breakdown and begin to accept each other for who they are. This eventually leads to both characters sympathizing with each other’s problems and changing their views towards each other entirely. Upon reaching this new understanding and respect for the other person the curse is lifted and they return back to their original bodies.
I feel like Freaky Friday is a good representation of the central message that we have learned in this class and that is to embrace the diversity and differences that we share as a society. There are also many underlying subthemes in this film that align with topics we have studied in this class. The two obvious ones that come to mind are single stories and the othering concept. I mentioned how othering came into play in the movie, but “single stories” are also a major part of the plot. Each character forms a shallow opinion of each other based on their style, without taking anything else into consideration. The movie then goes one to show how their interpretations were inaccurate thus expressing the dangers of single stories. Overall, the movie is humorous, but contains a lot of good underlying messages when you begin to examine it through a different lens.
21:08:40 Alright listeners we’re coming at you live on April, the fifth, a little after 9pm.
21:08:49 Um, my name is Jake Schott with me is my co host TJ or, you probably all know him as Trey Hartman.
21:08:58 And we’re here to hit you with yo is this, and then today we’re talking about sexism podcasts so got a couple couple key points will hit today, um, one of the first things is pretty relevant, actually, will be talking about sexism in NCAA basketball and
21:09:22 I know everybody’s probably getting pumped up for tonight’s game that starts in about 15 minutes now and, and that’ll be the, the championship round so winner takes all, but will be focusing on women’s basketball today right tj.
21:09:38 You got that right, Jake, so I am TJ Hartman you guys all know me as Trey Hartman.
21:09:45 And, you know, today is it’s a huge day in sports you know today is the end of March Madness for the NCAA men’s basketball.
21:09:54 But, you know, like Jake said that’s not really what we’re going to talk about today we’re going to actually talk about the women’s NCAA side.
21:10:02 Just be and how they have been treated, probably for the past decade or at least my lifetime but it’s never really been brought to our attention. Up until recently with all of the different you know social media platforms and you know everybody has their
21:10:16 iPhones or smartphones where they can you know snap a picture of instant rather than having you know like the old disposable cameras like we used to carry around.
21:10:26 Yeah. So, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t really know there was a women’s NCAA Tournament.
21:10:36 Like the men’s, um, and I guess this instance we’re going to talk about today this sort of brought it to my attention.
21:10:46 And that’s a problem.
21:10:48 Like I follow basketball I’m not a huge basketball fan but I normally participate in March Madness my ex coworkers and, and some family members we normally make a bracket and do a little pool but I’ve never been aware of the women’s tournament, and I
21:11:05 think that’s an issue. Um, it’s not that.
21:11:09 Not that I’m like naive to women playing basketball or anything it’s just it’s not really something that makes the news, I guess, exactly and piggybacking off of that the NCAA, I mean, up until this year I don’t think I’ve really seen their march madness
21:11:27 tournament really advertised anywhere in like, and this year they at least advertise that I know they were pushing it you know a couple weeks prior like you know hey you know the women’s tournament as just as big as a men’s.
21:11:43 But, um, yeah you know I think it’s something that people were unaware of simply because the NC double a failed to broadcast that and advertise it such like they do the men’s you know they’re talking about the men’s.
21:11:57 As soon as the season starts you’re like oh you know, Ohio State’s going to be one of the top contenders in this year’s tournament. But you never really hear about the women’s side, you know, and that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about because the
21:12:11 way that they did you know with coven 19.
21:12:18 All of the games were played in Indianapolis this your other rather than, you know, all across the country.
21:12:24 And it was brought to our attention by a member of the Oregon Ducks female basketball team that you know they were treated, not a little but rather largely unfair when it comes to the equipment that they’re giving given to prepare for this tournament.
21:12:43 Oh, for sure. Definitely.
21:12:48 I’m really unfair is it actually you know fired.
21:12:52 Got me pretty fired up.
21:12:53 When I saw these, these posts from the women on on social media, and it was pretty sad like the women’s tournament wasn’t even, it took a couple couple girls from the ducks team to make it advertise it it’s not like the NCAA or ESPN or sports center or
21:13:11 whatever. It’s not like they advertised the women’s.
21:13:28 And to me that’s really sad.
21:13:28 I know, so I guess the picture and the posts and stuff will be talking about. You can see we’ll link a picture here in this blog post.
21:13:38 Of the two weight rooms, is that is exactly, but, um, you know, like what Jake said, if these women didn’t make a stand and bring it to all of our attention.
21:13:52 Then the NCAA would have just, you know, gone away they would have, you know, turned a blind eye, they wouldn’t have brought it to our attention and this we would never have known about this if it wasn’t for these brave females on the women’s basketball
21:14:05 team.
21:14:06 And you know, not only were they treated unfairly in the, the weight room and you know the training facility department they were also treated unfairly with the items that they received I mean, the men’s basketball team it.
21:14:23 If you looked at this picture which I will try to find a link below.
21:14:29 It would almost look like the men’s basketball team, every member of each team was sponsored by Powerade they would have been sponsored by these different supplement companies Under Armour, you know i mean they got probably about 50 to 60 items, whereas
21:14:46 the women’s basketball team. I think they got a Powerade water bottle and maybe some shorts and a T shirt and I think maybe they got a stick of deodorant too, but I mean that does not compare at all to what the men’s received, and I did it.
21:15:01 The men’s tournament brings in a lot of revenue in comparison to the females. But still, these women are dedicating the same amount of time, the same amount of, you know, mental and physical strength to prepare for these tournaments and should be treated
21:15:19 equally as the men’s teams, and when did you agree, Jake. Oh, 100%. It’s definitely, definitely something that deserves the attention that it’s getting in an even more in that respect.
21:15:34 But I also go back to the that picture, the main one, the one was most eye opening for me anyway was comparing the two weight rooms. Practice facilities.
21:15:48 And really, the men’s weight room, you could see was just full of exercise equipment training bicycles.
21:15:58 Squat racks bench presses dumbbells, you name it.
21:16:04 Basically, if it had to do with exercise they had it, I mean they had it all.
21:16:08 Enough for 3040 guys probably, and then you turn to the women’s, and the women’s teams and what they got was literally one rack of dumbbells. Exactly and a couple of yoga mats Yeah, which I don’t know about you guys but when I go to the gym, I’m not really
21:16:29 going to be able to get a full workout with six sets of dumbbells and a single yoga mat. Yeah, especially split but between a whole team or multiple teams.
21:16:38 It was really just depressing. Exactly and the NCAA what they told the women’s basketball teams, was that they didn’t have enough space to dedicate to the women’s facility.
21:16:53 But the lady from Oregon actually updated us with another photo that it was basically an empty. It almost looked like a warehouse that they were at. Yeah, and it had countless an endless amount of room to where you could at least get some equipment there,
21:17:12 you know, and I mean, after she posted this you had like some of the top basketball athletes in the world, as well as Dick’s Sporting Goods which I’m sure you guys all know i mean they have workout equipment, they were offering to load a truck up and
21:17:29 ship it down there. By the end of the day, so all the NCAA had to do was just reach out to people which they failed to do.
21:17:39 And it’s just it’s sickening i mean it’s it’s a terrible thing that’s going on in the world today and I don’t think it should be going on, and it needs to be brought to everybody’s attention.
21:17:49 Yeah, so just to wrap that instance up really what happened was the NCAA recognize the issue.
21:17:58 And then failed to do anything about it and to me that’s pretty sad.
21:18:03 Especially because we all know the NCAA has plenty of money, they’re making insane profits off of these games, and they have all the means to treat every one of their players equally and they really just refused, sort of, I mean we’ll call it what it
21:18:20 is is they refused.
21:18:23 This that’s very irritating so I guess we’ll move on to one other instance of sexism there’s an endless amount of topic topics to talk about. And we’ll hit on this one briefly.
21:18:37 It’s really just a small instance and involves TJ his girlfriend and instance that she had at autism. So tj.
21:18:47 So yeah, a couple of weeks ago my girlfriend and I made a trip up to Auto Zone up in northwestern Ohio, cuz I was gonna repair the brakes on my truck because you know they’re getting old.
21:19:00 You know, I just wanted to do it myself save a couple bucks here and there. So I brought my girlfriend with me, and I go to the counter I tell him what I get, or what I need.
21:19:10 He brings out the parts and my girlfriend goes out, and she needed some windshield wiper blades for car. So she picks those out post them on the counter.
21:19:20 And well, and then I check out first and the man behind the counter asked me for like my loyalty number.
21:19:25 So you know I give it to him so I could save a couple points, you know, get some, some bonus money so I could go back and give it back to them.
21:19:33 And so while I check out.
21:19:36 Once I checked out, I should say, I take my part and I’m going outside, you know, put them back in the car and then you know he’s going to check out herself.
21:19:45 Well, the man behind the counter failed to ask my girlfriend, if she had you know like a loyalty ID and stuff like that. And, you know, her being her she didn’t want to make a big scene so she didn’t say anything at the time, but once you got out of the
21:20:01 car you know she was, she was very upset with this you know like it just didn’t sit well with her that she saw him asked me for my phone number so I could get some rewards points, but he failed to ask her if you know she had an account linked to autism.
21:20:20 And she was very determined that this was you know another form of social injustice just because you, I mean I’m a man and she’s a female and he just failed to ask her, I mean it was terrible.
21:20:35 Yeah. In, and I think this is one of those classic examples where the age old stereotype of men doing things with their hands and women,
21:20:53 not doing things with their hands or, you know, staying in the house, men working on vehicles women not.
21:21:01 I think this is a classic stereotype of that example. And it’s far less severe than the NCAA Tournament like I don’t think this guy deserves like to be reprimanded or fired or anything like that, like, maybe, you know, just a little education or like
21:21:25 a heads up on you know what he did and it could have just been a simple mistake of him forgetting to ask.
21:21:34 It’s really not something like I think this is not really a systemic issue but I do think it’s a classic example of an age old stereotype.
21:21:45 It was that way your takeaway was yeah I have to agree with you, Jake, I’m not saying that it was his fault. I’m not saying, you know, it’s the most severe problem that’s going on but I think it’s something that happens on, you know, a daily occasion,
21:22:00 you know, whether it’s him just you know slipping up or, you know, I mean we could we’re just assuming all of these things and maybe you know he actually believes that women don’t work on vehicles and they never come to Auto Zone unless their boyfriend
21:22:15 or husband take them there. I mean, he could be a terrible guy.
21:22:20 These are all assumptions that we’re making so he could be terribly sexist. We’re giving him the benefit of the doubt here. I like to do that with people I typically a positive guy like to like to always get people that that benefit but exactly, um, it
21:22:35 didn’t really, I mean I know Maddie was upset about I’m not trying to discredit her obsessiveness if you will but it definitely doesn’t seem as serious as what the women in the tournament tournament is going, Yeah, um, but the bigger picture that we
21:22:51 Um, but the bigger picture that we really want to talk about and make sure we hit on before we’re done here is throughout this class that teaching are taken comparative studies.
21:23:02 We’ve learned about many different things but one of those that really applies to these situations is the master slave dialect, so just real quickly if you’re not familiar with the master slave dialect.
21:23:17 Basically, you have the overbearing figure being the master in these subordinate class of people that that respond to the Masters, I’m using finger quotations obviously you can’t see that but the subordinate class of people.
21:23:37 They think they’re subordinate but they’re really not because the masters are overbearing. And I think this issue of sexism in general is really something that falls under that category because after years and decades, centuries even of, sort of, of women
21:23:56 being oppressed under men.
21:24:00 You know eventually that wears on their on their brains and in their mental stability and it breaks them down into thinking that they’re beneath men somehow.
21:24:12 And that’s really not the case. I mean, countless women have proved that they are equally capable of doing everything men can do. But there’s really these stereotypes and these injustices that still are, are systemic and happening in society that that
21:24:28 people like you and I are trapped trying to bring light to ugly and that’s exactly what we need to do is whenever, even if it no matter how large the problem is, I think, it always needs to be brought to everyone’s attention.
21:24:44 That way, a change can be made. And I’m not saying this stuff is going to happen overnight. obviously with, you know, these things that are happening around the globe.
21:24:55 It’s very hard, it’s going to take time to be able to heal and to be able to make a change, but I think our generation will be able to make that change to where everybody is treated equally.
21:25:10 There is nobody that is really treated unfairly.
21:25:14 And I think we just have to use our voices and, you know, get these actions in motion. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re, we’re not naive here we understand that.
21:25:26 We’re not going to solve, sexism, we’re not gonna, you know, make this disappear I mean, heck, the people that are going to listen to this podcast are already well aware of these issues.
21:25:37 But it is important that you know little things like this, speaking out and bringing awareness.
21:25:44 If everybody around the world does that, then, you know, stuff is going to happen, people in power will take notice and and change will occur.
21:25:56 And that’s really, you know, the big takeaway here is if you’re sitting at home and you’re like man I want to do something about this.
21:26:04 Just speak out you know we’re not asking you to go stand up on a stage or, or, you know, hold a rally or anything like that but when you’re given the opportunity to say something.
21:26:15 It’s really that simple it’s, you know, not being silent and making your voice heard.
21:26:23 So with that, you know, we’ll go ahead and wrap things up, I know everybody’s probably ain’t just to watch.
21:26:30 March Madness tonight, and I’m, I’m rooting for Gonzaga I don’t know about you TJ but there, they were my number one pick for the bracket so yeah I think Baylor’s got this one tonight.
21:26:42 I don’t know man. Hopefully not. But, you know, we’ll see. And, and congrats to Stanford women’s champs, maybe, Arizona. Yep. Third national championship in school history.
21:26:55 Yeah, it’s impressive. I mean, I was really hoping Arizona was going to get their first one in school history but you know, it was it was a tight game there’s a one point game at the end.
A couple of days ago my girlfriend went to go workout at the gym. She put on typical workout clothing which consisted of a pair of leopard print leggings and a tight-fitting T-shirt. Afterwards she needed to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things and on the way in a guy made a very forward comment about her leopard print leggings. She said similar things happened two more times while she was shopping inside the store that day. She left the store feeling mentally abused and disgusted with how she was being looked at. When I asked her what she did about it she replied “nothing.” Had the situation escalated to a physical interaction I hope she would have at least had the courage to speak up, and if need be, defend herself. However, I think the public setting she was in paralyzed her from speaking out and making a scene.
Her situation is extremely relevant to Spivak’s story from week four and how Spivak spoke of the relationship women have with silence. I questioned her on why she didn’t say anything to these rude men, and she said that because they didn’t try to physically do anything, she didn’t feel like it was necessary. However, she clearly and a negative experience from the whole ordeal and it made her uncomfortable enough where she had to tell me about it. The situations definitely warranted action of some sort. I believe the underlying reason for her not speaking up was because it is an example of how women continue to remain silent because they feel as if they cannot make their voices stronger than a man’s. This is a prime example of how the oppression women faced decades ago still carries on today and how this silence/willingness to put up with instances like this further perpetuates the injustices towards women.
After listening to her digress over the situation that unfolded at the grocery store, I began to ask if there were other instances of this happening to which she replied, “all the time.” Luckily for her she has never had a situation escalate to becoming physically assaulted, but she spoke about a few of her friends who had been. The worst of which seems to happen in the workplace. A shocking 54% of women who participated in a poll by inc.com indicated that they experienced some sort of unwanted sexual attention. Those women also reported that 95% of the perpetrators go unpunished as seen in the graphic above. Decades of oppression that women have faced have made them feel as if they do not have a voice when it comes to speaking out about these issues. This is part of the reason why these statistics remain so high. However, on a positive note the #Me Too movement has gained a lot of traction in recent years which will hopefully break the women’s silence as described by Spivak. As you can see by this graph from vox.com there is a lot of positivity and hopefulness surrounding the movement and the future treatment of women going forward.
For my context research presentation, I will be discussing the Partition of India. The Partition of India occurred in 1947 due to the British rule of India at the time. When Britain colonized India they purposefully created division among the Muslims and Hindus (Reyes 2020). Therefore after 300 years of British rule the people of India wanted Britain to leave. Britain agreed to leave India after WWII because they could not afford the economic burden at the time. However, in an attempt to keep peace in the country it was divided into two nation states Pakistan and India. Pakistan was to be for the Muslims and India was for the Hindus. However, partitioning India created even more division and distain between the two religions. I have listed a few of the most shocking statistics that I found while researching the Partition to give you all a taste of how terrible it was.
Approximately 15 million people had to uproot their lives and move to a different region of the country (Azhar 2020).
Between 1-2 million people lost their lives due to religious violence, disease and starvation.
Mistreatment of women was so intense it drove many women to commit suicide so they could die honorably (Benigno 2020).
India and Pakistan have fought many wars over rights to different territories and resources.
The Partition still affects nearly 1.6 billion people.
As you can see the Partition had devasting effects on the people of India and surrounding countries. This could have been avoided if it wasn’t for British colonization and the misguided partition that they created. I would recommend diving deeper into partition as there is much more to discuss than I can write about here. This will help with your understanding of “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine.”
Azhar, Shahram. “Class Analysis of the Experience of Migration during the Partition of India.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, June 2020, pp. 407–428. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00856401.2020.1738109.
Benigno, Tina Belinda. “Mother and the Child in the Partition of British India (1947) and the Anti-Sikh Pogrom in and Surrounding Delhi (1984).” Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, vol. 16, no. 4, Dec. 2020, pp. 410–422. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/17448727.2020.1741182.
Reyes, Paul. “Aanchal Malhotra: A Human History of Partition.” Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 96, no. 3, Fall 2020, pp. 20–25. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=146331082&site=ehost-live.
