Pages 827-861 Industrial Revolution

This past Wednesday, as you all know, I walked into class late, only to find that I wasn't allowed to speak (which in all honesty was in my favor because I had really bad strep throat), I wasn't allowed to use paper OR a writing utensil, and the men in the class basically controlled my every move because they got to make up the rules. I don't know if any of you saw my face, but I was basically outraged. What made it even worse was that I took a picture and put it on Facebook and every girl comment said "that sucks" but every guy comment said "HAHAHAHAHA"...... Are you kidding me? Anyway, I learned through text that we were playing a game and that women couldn't really do anything at all. The way women were treated during the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th centuries was ridiculous! I'm really not a hard-core feminist, but I do think that the way women were treated during the time of the Industrial Revolution were horrifying! "Women's roles" were to be homemakers, wives, and mothers, while the men went off to work. Sadly, today, most men think women still "belong in the kitchen" instead of out in the world world, working a real job. Yes, some women actually want to do just that, but most of us have things we want to do! Some of us don't even want to get married or have children, let alone be stuck in a house all day doing chores. The story of Ellen Johnston is about a women who had an affair and was a single mother by the age of 17. Some people thought she was a "fallen woman" (someone who gave birth outside of marriage) and they expected her to live her life hidden away from the public. Instead, she supported herself and her child by working in a textile mill. There, she found a sort of confidence that she was higher than a domestic laborer. She was proud of herself and what she had done to make a living for herself and her daughter. Women from history like Ellen Johnston are the women to look up to. She proved society wrong by showing everyone she didn't need a man to make her life complete or to support her in any way. She did it all on her own, even when people doubted her. It's shocking that women today look to celebrities like Miley Cyrus or Kim Kardashian as role models, instead of women like Ellen Johnston.

Response to the SND Article

The story of Francoise and Julie is a fantastic story. What really caught my eye was in the beginning, Francoise and Julie seemed to be friends and partners, but in the second paragraph, it says that Francoise found Julie's health repulsed her. This made me a little uncomfortable. As I kept reading, I saw that Francoise was able to accept Julie's physical and mental health. She was able to look beyond that, and find a good friend in Julie. I always try to see the best in people, and not try to judge a book by it's cover. It's hard though. We are all human and we all make judgement calls within the first minutes or even seconds of meeting someone new. But, as Francoise and Julie's story shows, if you look beyond mental and physical disabilities, then you could form great friendships with people, and I think that's really beautiful.
" That spirituality was grounded in the notion that opportunities for women should not be limited to the two options traditional at the time: sexually active marriage with the family and social responsibilities that marriage implies, or virginal monastic life detatched from the world and generally hidden behind cloister walls."I could not imagine living in a world today where we have to pick either living a life where I have to have children and a husband and "responsibilities that marriage implies" (whatever that might mean...) or be a virgin and hidden away from the world. Why would they make you choose one or the other? I just don't understand why people back in the 15th 16th 17th centuries would think that this was the way to live. Imagine if those were the rules in today's society....Are you kidding?? We would all go crazy.