Blog #2

After interviewing ten different people about their previous voting habits and why they vote, I was able to see many similarities and differences. The men I talked to tended to believe that it was important to vote due to the effects the policies different law makers instill. One man believed it was important to vote so you can voice your opinions and keep the extremists from taking power. Another was put a lot of emphasis on the economy and taxes that would be instated from different candidates. Most of the women believed it was important to vote because exercising your right to vote as a United States citizen was crucial. I found this very interesting. Even though none of the women I talked to were around during the Women's Movement, they still had an understanding and appreciation that having the right to vote was huge. With the readings in our book talking a lot about the three waves through the Women's Movement, the second wave, the 60's-80's, think that the third wave, present day, doesn't use the power that they had fought so hard to get. My findings contradicted this belief, however. Many of the people I talked to only voted in local elections, but this was due to not being of age in the last presidential election. The most interesting response that I did receive was a younger man who has not voted because he didn't feel that one vote made that much of a difference. He went on to explain how Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000, but did not become president due to our electoral college process. Overall, most people understand the value of being able to vote and exercise that right freely. Now, if only everyone who voted knew what they were actually voting for, we might come one step closer to a utopian society we hope to be.

Blog #1

My name is Brittany Robinson. I am a senior at OU majoring in Public Relations. I chose to take this intro class because I heard about it from a previous class I took, History of Women in Early Modern Europe. I found that class to be interesting and decided to fill an elective spot in my major with this class. I would like to answer the following questions this semester in this class: Why are there so many double standards in our society between men and women, why do women portray themselves as victims so much, do women really want equality with men on everything, is affirmative action necessary, and what is the feminist movement really about compared to the extremists you witness in the media.