Blog # 4

In Darraj's "It's Not an Oxymoron, " she is talking about the contradiction that many think of when they think of arab feminism. This thought was proven wrong by Darraj when she realized that it is not an oxymoron like the title says. Darraj realized her own idea of feminism after reading other types of culture's feminsim like Bell Hooks, who is a black woman. I did not realize until after reading Darraj's writing that there are all these different interpretations of feminism. I just thought feminism was exactly as what the dictionary said the word was defined as. I actually learned a lot from reading Darraj's work and started think about how feminism applied to me. I'm not sure if it's something you just know what it means to you, just like how Darraj had to search for her own meaning of feminism. I think it's important to understand other cultures understanding of the idea of feminism in order to grasp your own concept of it. I believe that Darraj has been very influential to other arab women as well as women of all cultures. Your religion should not stop you from being independent. I think more women need to realize that we should be breaking away from this patriarchial society, women can be just as powerful as men.

Blog #3

After reading Erica Martinez's, "Dutiful Hijas: Dependency, Power and Guilt," I made a connection to another text. Martinez talks about how as a daughter she is like her mother's "social security" and will have to take care of her mother as if the roles of parent and child were switched. In another one of my classes I read, "Who's the Parent Now," by Julia T. Wood. Wood writes about a character, Kate who has to take care of her own family, marriage and now her mother. Although Martinez did not have family of her own, I found these two pieces of work relatable. Both Martinez and Kate felt guilty for not really wanted to help out their mothers. They did not want to come off as selfish, but they both just wanted to continue on with their own lives and not be held down by caring for their mothers. Also another similarty is that Martinez mentions how her friends brothers are not expected to take care of the mothers, which is considered to be a double standard. In "Who's the Parent Now," Kate is annoyed at the fact that her brother Sandy does not have to give up his own life to help aid his mother. It is seen in both situations that daughters take on the role of caretaker for their parents and not the sons. In the end for both situations both women get their independence back. I found it interesting to how Martinez's writing is relatable to so many other women, not just of her culture either. Martinez as well as many other women fictional or not, deal with the same struggles of having to parent their own parent as well as facing guilt.