American Electra Reading.

Hello all!
Earlier this morning I wrote a post and when I went to go post it, somehow all of my writing got deleted so, I apologize if this one is not as reflective (a.k.a. sloppy)- I promise I will have more input during our discussion!

When reading the "American Electra" reading by Susan Faludi I had so many emotions! I did not know if I agreed with the "new young" feminist generation or if I believed that the "older" generation still had their point to make. But I think that Latifa Lyles made and excellent point when she stated, "There is

great strength and power in our image not as the first, second, or third wave, but the wave of the future.” This statement of hers put things in perspective for me. I believe she is saying that it is not about the young, old, or any age or generation in-between; it is about the feminist ideals as a cause. They need to fight together to have a solid future! :)

After taking Lyles statement into account, it really opened things up for me. I do not necessarily believe that people (within the feminist position) need to take sides regarding the feminist ideals, but rather be more understanding. The older generation needs to realize that there is a newer generation that have been raised different: with different ideals, morals, innovative thoughts/opinions, etc... While the younger generation needs to realize that the older generation was raise differently and as their stand point may seem outdated, that is how and what they believe in due to experience, generational norms, as well as other aspects of life that contributed to their feminist position. The generational gap will continue to grow and people of all ages need to be able to accept and/or listen to those whom can bring new ideas into their group.

Recently, I have actually had an experience regarding a generational gap; although, it was not about feminist positions or theories, it was about the familial structure. Earlier this week I went to my grandmother's house to interview her for a class assignment. As we were discussing my classes and what not, she asked me what I was going to do after I graduated in May.I told her of my plans of moving to Chicago, moving in with my boyfriend, hopefully finding a good job/internship, and later applying for grad-school. But to my surprise she responded with a, "So, you are getting married this summer?" I kind of laughed and said, "No grandma, we are going to try the moving in thing first. We know that we will eventually get married, but just not right now." She looked at me with a blank stare and commented with a smirk on her face saying, "Okay, I guess I just don't understand you kids anymore." As I really wanted to tell her off ( I mean politely explain to her...) that things were different these days and that many many people live together with out getting married first; in fact most seem to do that to test out the waters a bit before they take the plunge into marriage. But I had to reassess and realize that my grandparents did not grow up that way. They lived apart until they got married, just like many others did in their times, so, it is difficult for her to understand that things like maybe different now.

So, as I now know how frustrating this was within my own life, I can completely understand how hard it is for two different generations to agree/come together for a common cause when there are two separate generational ideals floating around. However, it seems as if there is additional problems affecting the feminist cause; the media. Flaudi stated that, "...the media are, indeed, glad to apply a bellows to any argument between women; they have been pumping up the young-old female conflict for years now." The media hypes up any account or fight between two women when they can in order to add drama and question to our social norms. Which in turn produces tension and firm opinions then creating a division amongst a group rather than unity. But why would the media do this? I do not understand...

As there are many more points that Flaudi states within her article, but I found that the generational gap was the most interesting due to my own current experience. I hope we are able to discuss this article more in depth because it brings up alot of thoughts, opinions, as well as different ideals of those who are amongst the feminist group as well as just contributing as an outsider.

Can wait to see what the Walk for the Cure is like tomorrow!