Unit 5 - Feminism
Ishtar
Ishtar is the "Queen of Heaven" to the people of ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Ishtar is a Goddess with multiple faces. These faces symbolizing love, war, and being the celestial planet Venus. Ishtar is part of many different myths such as appearing in the Epic of Gilgamesh where the hero refuses to progress forward with Ishtar knowing the fate of all of her lovers. Moving past tall tales of her existence, rituals connected to worship of Ishtar include a "Sacred Marriage" where the male identifies as Ishtar's lover (Dumuzi). It is not well documented whether or not the rituals would go beyond lore and into re-enacting the myths. Throughout Mesopotamian history, Ishtar is depicted as a women with power. She was well regarded as one of the few women with such power over males at this time.
Ishtar is depicted in The Dinner Party using shades of gold and green highlights that were the colors of her grandeur. She is shown as a powerful female that is responsible for life (as she is partially the Goddess of love stemming into reproduction). Her contribution to modern society lies in her ability to motivate women to be more stern and to understand that they are who provide life (through birth). |
Saint Bridget
Saint Bridget was an Irish catholic that started many convents and places of worship. She is today the most recognized saint of Ireland with many different names such as Celtic name 'brigid' meaning "fiery arrow". Born to the pagan Scottish king and a Christian slave, she was raised as a Christian. She refused an arranged marriage by her father and wished to keep her virginity. There were no convents or religious houses for women in Ireland at this time in ireland. Seeing this, she was granted permission by a local bishop to start a church with seven other nuns later being known as "The Church of The Oak". This was the first of many houses of worship established by Bridget as she is credited with founding several other convents. She also was responsible for the first monastery that would house nuns and monks.
Saint Bridget is an important historical figure as she is a big reason why the Celtic and Pagan beliefs in Christianity adapted over time. She was able to unit people throughout a culture and religion in a way that was different in a time where change was not welcome. She is honored for this in The Dinner Party and has brought value into our modern society by allowing women equality from within the Christian religion. |
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony is one of the only women that I had prior knowledge about before seeing this exhibit. Susan (1820 - 1906) was born to a Quaker family that was dedicated to social justice. From an early age, Susan had the interest of helping others obtain equal rights. She organized a campaign before she turned 16 that demanded equal pay for teachers such as herself at the time. Stemming from this, she began her career as a female activist in roughly 1848. She would proceed to attend every convention, drive, protest, or organization that would assist in the ending of the suffrage of women. She never married or had children which gave her the ability to travel to different events and campaign. This was something not many women could do at the time. Susan wound up being arrested in 1872 for illegal voting as a protest and convicted. This would go down in history as one of the most influential trials of a woman in the history of the United States and is attributed to being the root cause of the 19th amendment (women's right to vote).
Susan B. Anthony's place at The Dinner Table is obvious to most people. Her contribution to feminism is probably the most recent of the people shown in this exhibit and therefore freshest in the viewer's mind. I say this as I knew why she was in the exhibit before reading through it. Her actions have overall made the United States more accepting by forcing the creation of an amendment to protect the rights of a group of people. |
My Mother
While I'm sure a lot of people will be doing the same thing for this Unit and this makes me feel rather un-creative, I'd like to write about my mother as she is genuinely the woman that I admire the most in my life.
Why you have admiration and/or respect - Of course a big reason to love one's mother would be that this person raised them however, I'd like to shy away from this as this would be the easy answer. I admire my mother so much because she embodies a trait that I've tried to hard to incorporate into myself. When you give a project to my mother, she is able to do it. Whether she knows how to or not, she knows that she WILL do it and she finds what she needs to do it. Anytime something would go wrong or somebody would need something, my mother would be the one to step up and take it on. I'm studying computer science and it wasn't until I began college that I stopped asking my mom for help setting up routers and computers. She is not at all into IT but she understands it and knows how to learn anything she puts her mind to.
Provide information about their qualities: perseverance, dedication, humility, compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty, sacrifice, service, kindness, humor - When I look at my mom, I see somebody that I'd like to be like. What I mean is that she not only dedicated when it comes to learning something, she is also a very humble and understanding person. When I had told her I was agnostic in terms of religion, we had a wonderful conversation about views as she is Catholic. She sees perspective and she is open minded. She did not judge based on my beliefs and she took the time to understand why I felt the way I did and accepted it. She is also the type of person that my friends would go to for advice should they need it. I can come to her and tell her my failures, accomplishments, and everything in between. When one brings friends over to their house, I feel bad for them if they feel like they cannot bring them around their family. I LOVE introducing people to my mother as I almost use it like a test. If they cannot get along with her then they can see the door.
Highlight their accomplishments and the difficulties overcome to achieve them - My mother is an immigrant from Poland, coming into this country when she was 17. She did not speak a lick of English and wound up being a successful fashion designer. She worked her way up from a seamstress to a corporate manager of a fashion company while showing everybody what she can do. From growing up on a farm, to coming to a brand new land and learning the culture, to becoming a successful business woman, she has impressed all of her family and won my admiration. She left the job to be a stay at home mother when I was a toddler however, I love looking at her life and all that she has been through. She chose exactly what she wanted to do and did what made her happy. I feel that this is something a lot of people are not willing to do.
Share a reflection on the positive impact and contribution of the person on the lives of others - Initially, my mother came to the United States to work for better wages to help her family in Poland. Her efforts were selfless and she put her best interests aside to help those she needed to. In her coming to this country, she was able to bring other family members and help them reach opportunity that they otherwise would not have had.
Sum up with grateful acknowledgment of what we can learn from their example to take into the future - It's very easy to live an unhappy life. However, my mother has shown me that humility and kindness do go a long way. There will be people in this life that take advantage of you and use you. But at the same time, there will also be people that love you and will help you. You just have to find people who are worth it. She's taught me to have perspective and look at life objectively. If there is something you want to do and somebody has proven that they can do it, then that means you can do it. They've found a way and you can too.