Guided Blog #2

Kasl connected the terms hierarchy, patriarchy, and capitalism in an interesting way. She says that Patriarchy and hierarchy are based on subordination, which causes fear. Fear is expressed differently by both groups. The dominators show their fear by using force and violence, and the subordinates are left to repress their anger and just basically take it. This leads to internalization and turmoil within, eventually leading to the use of addictive behaviors/substance abuse. Kasl’s article got me to thinking about products in every day life, and I’m either right or completely off. So here goes.
Think about something as simple as “pop” or “soda” Millions of people drink pop everyday. Some of us drink it when we wake up, at work, at the bar with a splash of [insert spirit of choice here], when watching our nightly shows, before bed, and some college campus are even contractually “ruled” by some companies.
For the sake of this argument we will use Coca-Cola, which is run by a board of directors consisting of twelve men (all white) and two women (both of whom are honorary members) There’s are patriarchy and hierarchy. Combine this with capitalism and here is our somewhat, “lethal brew” The government,(those white upper class Christian men) tell us what we want. They are both the hierarchy and patriarchy and control capitalism. The hierarchy, in this case the government (Coca-Cola and FDA) tells us what we should drink, when we should drink it, and how. They strike fear in our hearts by telling us that if we drink too much “pop” we will get fat, so to do us a favor there is a healthier alternative.
From that comes Caffeine free Diet Coke….GROSS. What is caffeine free diet coke? There are no calories, no sugar, no caffeine…just aspartame and water. And who knows…how safe is aspartame anyway? It is basically a shell of what we think we want. However, what we want is not really our choice anyway. Why should we drink regular coke when Cindy Crawford is drinking Diet Coke? She is what every man wants, so lets make the change…. Society (cough cough men) likes sexiness and thinness, so by making us feel, insecure about our bodies and weight they rely on capitalism.
For most of us, they reeled us in as children and got us addicted. With catchy jingles and celebrity backing, we all wanted a coke. However, slowing metabolisms, increasing waist sizes, and help from the thoughtful MEN at Coca Cola, introduced us to diet coke. They market this beverage to women, so we can still enjoy the taste of coke…however it’s not really coke it’s the absence of what we really love about coke, in essence it’s nothing we want at all. The can is the same but it’s not nearly as satisfying. It’s okay though because women don’t really know what they want anyway, THAT’S WHY WE HAVE MEN! :-) Enjoy your aspartame and water!

Women and Addiction...

It can happen to anyone, anywhere, of any age, and at any time…When I think of addiction, I think of free-roaming vagabonds with brown paper bags or shaking panhandlers tucked in corners. However, addiction is not limited to drugs. People can be addicted to sex, food, exercise, and other nontraditional things. Addiction also does not discriminate. It would be ignorant to assume that all people with addictions are living on the streets, because in fact addiction affects people of all races, genders, ages, and socio-economic classes.
Women are just one classification of people with problems. The group of women can be further broken down by race, sexual orientation, social class, and others. It is oppression or the inability to cope with one or more of these identities that can be the start of such an affliction.
My personal experience with addiction involves my aunt. She was born to a middle-class household, and is the youngest of six siblings. She married a extremely wealthy steel magnate and had three children with him. The issues could be seen even before their marriage took place. The source of fun and socializing centered on alcohol, in fact when you look at any picture of them, they would preface it by saying, “we got hammered there,” or “ that was the best (insert alcohol type here) I’ve ever had.” This issue further escalated, when her husband became more involved with work, and left my Aunt at home to raise three kids and with a nanny. Since there was a nanny, my aunt felt her role as a mother was not needed, so she spent her afternoons drinking in her large walk-in closet and sleeping the day away. As her children grew to teens she would get drunk and hit on their friends. For ten years, the children lacked a mother and her husband lacked a wife. She isolated herself from society and her family basically leaving her only friend to be Jack Daniels. It wasn’t until she was hospitalized and part of her liver was removed that she decided to go to rehab. I look back and can empathize with her, for she was not ready to be a mother or a wife and her inability to cope led her to hit the bottle. Unfortunately, she traded alcohol for pain pills, which doctors do not even hesitate to describe her because of all the damage the alcohol in her system.
That is just one story, which unfortunately, is not uncommon. Women battle on a daily basis. Society and the media usually only examine the most extreme instances of addiction. They look at famous people, for example like Tatum O’Neal, who just recently was arrested for attempting to purchase drugs in New York’s Central Park. Her excuse was that her dog died and that she was researching a role. Her problem is magnified and fortunately for her fame, she will receive the proper help. It is those that are unable to afford the necessary assistance or are reluctant to go to rehab that meet their end.
Addiction is not something to be taken lightly and regardless of whether you are addicted to meth or shopping it will still ruin your life. The media and marketing companies perpetuate many of these addictions, by setting beauty ideals, identifying what is trendy, alienating certain groups, and portraying the abuse of substances in a non-negative way. Our responsibility as mothers, women, sisters, friends, coworkers, etc… is to shed light on problems and intervene before addiction gets the best of someone you know.