Policing, Religion and Women in NYC

This article written by the New York Times details the settlement that has been reached between the city of New York and three Muslim women who had been forced to remove their hijab in front of male officers and other male inmates. If you are unaware, women who practice Islam are not supposed to take … Read more

Black Face on Chinese TV

To celebrate China’s Lunar New Year, a Chinese television program displayed a Chinese actress in blackface to show its relationship with African countries. Not only was there an actress in blackface along with exaggerated physical features, there was also a man dressed in a monkey suit. This show was broadcasted to about 800 million people. According … Read more

Why does it have to be either/or?

Kerri Walsh Jennings was warned not to get pregnant Olympic Athlete Kerri Walsh Jennings was told that having children may cause her to lose her sponsors, which are the main livelihoods for athletes like herself. This brings out yet another discriminatory, challenge that women face. Male athletes never have to decide between competing and having … Read more

The Sexual Exploitation of Women and Girls Seeking Aid in Syria

A recent article shared on the BBC website last night outlines a startling event that has been occurring in for women in Syria. According to the article, these women have been exploited sexually by “men delivering aid on behalf of the UN and international charities.” There is evidence that suggests that this exploitation happened three … Read more

Op-Ed 1: Anna J. Cooper and Ida B. Wells-Barnett

One innate characteristic of a sociologist is to observe various elements of societies. Sometimes that observation takes place as an outsider’s perspective, while other times that perspective draws from real-life experience. According to Patricia M. Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge in The Women Founders (2007), much of sociology’s history has been told from the outsider’s perspective. … Read more

Op-Ed #1

I discussed Ida B. Wells-Barnet and Anna Julia Cooper for the first short paper. These women made significant contributions to the field of sociology and had a great deal of intersectionality. They were able to convey ideas through the eyes of the oppressed there by providing a truly emic perspective on injustice. Additionally, these women … Read more

Male Birth Control Research Abandoned

In our last class meeting, development of male contraception was a topic of conversation. I found this really interesting article from 2011 that talks about an effective male birth control BUT it explains that the project was abandoned when it was discovered that the compound could not be mixed with alcohol. “Unfortunately, the utility of … Read more

Op-Ed 1

Will whites always have dominant power? Cooper and Wells-Barnett construct a sociological analysis of society as a dynamic of power and difference. Their focus is on a pathological interaction between difference and power in U.S. society. These women were not colleagues or intellectual intimates, but responded to the same social forces and have many themes … Read more

Op-Ed 1 Cooper and Wells-Barnett

In a world that has a great amount of inequality, people find different ways to address it.  A concept like feminism seeks to address the inequality between men and women. What happens when gender is not the only factor that plays a role inequality? Black feminism looks at the intersectionality of gender, race, and class … Read more