[jules]

I believe that art, art history, and art education all intersect and rely on each other for the fundamental practice, understanding, and development of each other. Art students should not be blind to art history, as past practices and artists can have great influence on their own work, and they should also understand the importance of art education to their own practice and growing the field. Art history students should be aware of studio practices as understanding how art is made is essential in understanding the art itself. Museums also need to have a focus on art education as they want to pass information along to their visitors. Art education students and teachers should incorporate both studio art and art history into lessons to give students a full understanding of the field. As an art education and BFA student at Penn State, I have benefited greatly in both my areas of study by studying them alongside each other.

[jules]

After watching Michael Kimmel’s lecture on gender, I have concluded that men play a large role in the struggle for women’s equality. Historically, as Kimmel pointed out, women have not been able to “have it all, because men do.” He outlines how men have been able to have successful careers while at the same time having a thriving family/home life because women are behind the scenes taking care of the kids, doing household duties, and being homemakers. While this stereotype of women as homemakers and men as breadwinners is rapidly changing as women have become regulars in the world of business of other career ventures, it is still present in today’s society. Growing up in a religious home and going to church, I was taught that it was a woman’s responsibility to take care of her family and husband above all else. In recent years, I have grown out of this school of thought and began to look at myself, as a woman, as just as capable as men to be a breadwinner in the family, and that being a homemaker is not the only responsibility of women. Kimmel talks about the sexual revolution and how it has effected not only how men act, but has given power to women to take charge of their pleasure and their wants and needs. I think that this has given women a new standing in society as more than mere objects of desire, but as people who have desires of their own, beyond sexual desire, and going into desire for a career or to be something more than a homemaker. Kimmel ends his video talking about sexual assault and how the power lies in the hands of men to change the norm, and that the solution lies in the decision making of men. I think that this is especially profound because it seems to be such a simple answer to an issue that has haunted our society for so long, yet there has been little to no change, if not negative change to the issue. Men’s role in the struggle for equality is to be better, more aware, and more considerate of women’s issues and place in the world we live in today.

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