Poetry Slam

Although this does not have to do specifically with what we learned in class this week, I felt that it was way too good not to post and do my blog on. I encourage anyone who is currently reading these words that I have typed, to take 3 minutes and 32 seconds to watch this poetry slam.

http://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-student-totally-nail-something-about-women-that-ive-been-trying-to-articulate-for-37-years-6

In this slam, Lily, a college student at Barnard College in New York, brings to light the extreme dichotomy between men and women and how it relates to our everyday life. She says at one point, "Inheritance is accidental." What we learn from the people around us, especially our mothers and fathers, is not always intentional. She talks about personal experiences like the fact that as her parents grow older, her father continues to grow out and gain weight whereas her mother gets skinnier and skinner and "feels like a fugitive stealing calories to which she does not feel entitled." Lily talks about how she learned nothing in a in the Sociology Major seminar about the Capstone requirements because she was too busy the entire meeting, thinking if it was socially acceptable to grab another piece of pizza.

This whole poetry slam was almost comical because I realized how spot on it was as it went on and how much it related to my life and I didn't even know it. This idea that women are taught to take up less space and be quieter, while men are taught to take up more and use their voice. I have always been against stuff like this and these gender roles and stereotypes, but I find myself subconsciously following them, not wanting to take up too much space and always denying the sweets that someone brings to class for fear of looking like a "fat ass" for lack of a better term.

In (kind of) relation to what we have discussed in class this week, I think this poetry slam can be related to Hillary Clinton's quote in her speech that, "Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights." Women and men should be treated on an equal playing field and should not feel inferior to men, whether it be about what they are consuming or how loud they can speak. We should all be treated as humans and be conditioned to believe that we are all the same.