Speaking of Uni, I just discovered something about Usyd on Thursday. Did you know that there's a Women's Room? It's got sofas, chairs, a small coffee table, a fridge, a microwave and a book shelf... and you can only enter it if you're female...
Is that not the most sexist thing you've ever heard of (in Australia 2014)?
I used it only because I really needed a microwave on the other side of campus (the room is in Manning), and I don't think there are that many microwaves over there, so I went on Lost on Campus and discovered it. It's just so bizarre, and there's no equivalent Men's Room. I seriously felt so bad using the microwave there because it meant I was taking part in one of the stupidest sexist declarations. Are we still living in a time where women can't share quiet rooms with men? How is this not different from making a room dedicated to Caucasian people in which African Americans weren't allowed to enter?
Anyway, enough of that ranting.
I've got some other bad news... I'm no longer going to work at KFC! Apparently Castle Towers didn't want to renew the contract with KFC and so KFC at Castle Towers is closing soon. Because of this, Baulkham Hills KFC is now going to hire people that worked at Castle Towers. Sooooo yeh... no more chance of free chicken for me =[
On the plus side I got 4 more students for tutoring, so I'm still getting some money. Hopefully I get my P's soon though because I have to catch the bus all the way to Kellyville which is a pooper.
And if you know anyone that wants English tutoring, get them to hit me up (shameless advertising)!
I haven't really been doing much else except reading a lot. My goal for March is to read a decently sized chapter a day (and February was to drink more water each day) so I've been reading more Pride and Prejudice. It's getting pretty interesting now and it's actually really entertaining and funny at times.
I also did another 3D egg jigsaw puzzle, this time it was Winnie the Pooh:
This one was a lot better than the Toy Story one, the puzzles fit together a lot better and the overall picture actually looks like everything is connected well.
Also I started exercising from this list of 100 no equipment workouts. It's from this site, which also includes the pdf of the workouts that you can download. They're pretty intense, even some of the beginners' levels, and I really like the ones where there's set timing because I tend to take a lot of breaks during exercises.
Anyway, short blog, that's it for now, hopefully more interesting stuff will happen in the near future!
Have fun at uni, kids.
women's rooms (which actually can be entered by any female-identifying person) are not sexist - they are an example of positive discrimination. their purpose is to provide a safe location for female-identified persons. which considering the prevalence of violence against women, is not really an example of a disadvantage to men, but rather an attempt at rectifying the inequality that exists. and hence, yeah, not sexist.
ReplyDeletefurther, comparing to caucasian room where african americans can't enter is an incorrect analogy, a more correct version would be african american room, where caucasian (which is an erroneous term anyway, since white people are not from the caucus region) people cannot enter. this is because in the situation described, the marginalised groups are women and african americans.
ReplyDeleteyou may be interested to know that queer space is also a thing - at least at unsw. though that does allow allies to enter, 24 hour access is only to those who identify as queer i'm fairly certain.
a corresponding men's room does not exist because society is already a men's space. if that doesn't seem accurate to you - consider every time a woman is raped or murdered, questions about why she was out late/alone/dressed a certain way/drinking etc are raised. women are expected to behave a certain way in order not to be blamed for criminal acts against them - they have to justify their continued existence in a men's world. see also, the save the boobies campaign - the campaign literally panders to men and their sexual desires, rather than the idea that women should receive medical attention bc they are human beings. there are numerous other examples of the ways in which society is a men's space already, i don't wish to exhaust you with them all though. i hope this explained why women's rooms are not sexist :)
wtf lauren. calm down
ReplyDeleteHey Lauren sorry I don't get notified about comments and I was just flicking through my blogger dashboard and discovered I have comments awaiting. Yeah, I guess I see where you are coming from, but maybe my discomfort is the fact that this women's room is located in the middle of Manning, which is extremely noisy from the food court, and as a result a lot of girls or female-identifying person go in there and just... talk. Or study in quiet... or use the microwave. And I guess it's just an emphasis of the idea that the women's room is a safe haven because its like a peaceful and quiet room juxtaposing the chaotic food court outside. But I think it's kind of unfair because it's just taken as a chill room; girls just sit and talk when they can do that in the food court, girls can use the microwave, girls can have a good studying session in absolute quiet. But guys can't... there's no room that allows guys to do this...?
ReplyDeleteI guess maybe it would be better if, like the queer space at unsw, maybe it was only exclusive for 24 hour access? I dunno. You did make some good points though, so maybe I'm just against the idea of like exploiting this safe haven as a chill room NO BOYS ALLOWED.
anon im not gonna fucking calm down 1 woman a week dies from domestic violence. as in, one woman a week is MURDERED by an intimate partner. language is power, so hells yeah im gonna keep talking and no im not gonna be passive about real issues, whether you think they are or not is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteand thanks for replying chloe!! i hope i didnt come off as gross. um speaking from experience, sometimes getting away from guys (in general) is rlly gr9 like even if youre sitting alone in a food court you can accidentally overhear so much shittiness and its frustrating, depressing and exhausting (and potentially triggering?).
i see women's rooms as both safe havens and a celebration of women so yeah i don't see an issue. i also rlly like the idea of anything thats by women for women, bc thats rlly empowering. like i see it as here is a space where women define things? rather than men. so im not opposed to the idea of a chill room no boys allowed haha. and lbr any boy who's mad that he can't get in isn't mad bc he's being denied opportunity (like im sure there are other places around campus where you can chill/use microwaves etc), he's mad bc the world is no longer his oyster and having a dick isn't a magic key that will get you anywhere.