Eileen Jaurigue

Womens Studies 100

June 21, 2006

What is power ? To me power is that special umph that separates the man from superman. People go through great lengths to obtain this "power" while others can lie and cheat to maintain the little power they may have. While all of this is going on, we the poor innocent bistandards are left to suffer the consequences. Men from an early age are brought up to believe that, they too are capable of acheving power, but only at the expense of placing a women in a her fictional rightful position. This position would be being subordiant to the man. Having power is like knowing the real truth of a lie that everyone else has been fed. I believe it is interesting what measures people will go to in order to the keep their power.

On the first day of class we were given the freedom to negotiate a syllabus, say what kind of things we wanted to learn, and speak without raising our hands. Im not quite sure about the rest of the class but I was in complete denial. Here was this perfectly educated woman, treating her students as if they were her peers. Everything in society today is institutionalized. Whether it be our universities, the places where we shop, and where we work. We are controlled to think and learn a certain way. Most importantly we are controlled to associate a certain way. We are taught to give full attention to the teacher, sit in perfectly placed rows. We are also taught to not speak unless called on. We are taught to be obediant. So where's the correlation between power and obedience? The people who are in power or those who have power are those who instill obedience. In order for those who have power to maintain power, they must prey on the weak. The people who fear to go against the grind and fight power, or the so called "man". Those who are in power have instilled the ideas that to fight the system leads to dire consequences. The oppression of people with no power has been a life long tradition. It has been ingrained in all of us for so long that, people don't even think twice when it comes to being oppessed and answering to "the man".

In a class discussion about religion, a question was brought up; " Why is it easier for people to accept their religion of choice as opposed to science, and facts?" I personally believe that people choose to stick to their religion instead of accepting science because of power. Religion for some, is the only powerful thing they possess. The fear of losing their only power, drives them to accept and hold onto their beliefs even more. Can you imagine, if evolution was one hundred percent proven, and that we are direct desendants of apes. How that would affect the power of millions of people. People want to believe that they can control something, their preference of religion is one. Shifting the power and exposing a possible truth could destoy the lives of many.

It is a big notion that most of the power is held by a man. It's amazing to think how different the world would be if, the tables were turned and women were the heavy hitters in today's society. If women were to truly band together and shift the power, alot of things would be different. Like in Lysistrata, the greek women banned together to get want they wanted. They put the needs of the community ahead of their own personal needs in order to have a more peaceful community. It's nice to think that maybe in today's society women would be likely to ban together for equal rights and freedoms. Unfortunately this is no Utopia, all we think about is ourselves, and how we can better ourselves. In my opinion a woman is more likely to get a manicure than to sit through a city council meeting. Why is that? Society places a great emphasis on a woman's duty to be desirable. No one wants an independant, smart, ok looking girl. Girls are suppose to look feminine, they are suppose to be weak and fragile. Many of us girls buy into the glitz and glamour of being a girl. We buy the make- up and wear the cutesy clothes. While us girls are busy making sure we look desirable for our men, it is our men that are making the decisions and controlling the way we live our lives. It is right to say that men, or men with existing power distract women with the idea that they have to look beautiful in order for them to keep the power they have. If women weren't so obssesed with themselves they would see the truth. Men have all of the power and are not willing to share.