Announcement for Philo 25 class [Feminist Philosophical Texts]

Re: Suspension of Classes in the Graduate School

Due to the Commencement Exercises this Friday and Saturday (January 30 and 31, 2015 respectively), classes both in the undergrad and graduate school shall be suspended. For your assignment next meeting, 7th of February 2015, come up with an opinion on the "Bedtime Story" discussed last meeting. Have your opinions on a one whole sheet of paper to be passed and to be shared in class on our next meeting. Included hereto is the "Bedtime story" for your reference.

Bedtime story:

[from  https://www.facebook.com/berlinartparasites]

"i don’t imagine my princesses in the same way

others do, either kissing their husband and in

marital perfection or the cynical version where they are drunk

in the kitchen, living out their happily ever afters in

a haze of poor decisions, no,

i think cinderella becomes a fashion designer, i think

she stops smoking and takes back her name and

ends up making money and being a spokesperson

for abuse victims, i think right now if ella was alive

she’d be laughing over a pumpkin-spice latte and

her empire is the most body-inclusive in fashion

i think snow-white becomes an activist, i think she

studies genetics and i think she will allow

no person with a disability to go homeless, i think

whenever someone makes a joke about seven small men,

she whips around and asks them what exactly their problem is

because there is nothing wrong with

any of her friends

i think aurora is a sleep disorder doctor

and a psychologist, she uses hypnosis to help people

who can’t quite escape the thicket inside of their brains and

i think she’s working on developing a pill for people

with chronic insomnia even though everyone still teases her

about that one bout of narcolepsy and one day she admits

she actually was awake for most of it and just studying

i think ariel has shut down marine life poaching in

as many parts of her country as she can, i think that

she’s got teams working to clean up oil spills

and she’s building windmills in her backyard because

she’d rather have the “eyesore” than know someone is

drilling in her home, i think she has degrees in environmental

science and marine biology, i think she’s got a side project for scuba divers and oceanography and is devising a way for

mermaids to visit her land without giving up their tails

i think belle is a veterinarian and runs her practice

out of her father’s house

where his inventions have saved the lives of at least

ninety dogs and i think that she is a teacher in her free time

and since she can’t change the actions of their parents, in her classroom she has taught gaston’s eight kids to be nothing short

of polite and well-mannered and i think that she takes

frequent trips outside of her little quiet town but

always comes home again

i think jasmine is a feminist in every aspect, i believe

she works with shelters and soup kitchens and makes sure

nobody starves in her city ever again, i think she sets up

homes for homeless women, i think she marches in rallies

and has a school specifically for gifted girls that

were almost married off to strange men

i think she becomes outspoken about being bisexual and uses her position of power to lobby for more than just equal marriage laws because she knows better than most what it’s like to have your desire for love ignored

see, i think when we cast these women as only a prize to be won

and that their life stops as soon as the credits roll, i think

when we joke about how everything went south

right after it all,

we’re telling girls, “you will regret that you ever fell in love

or believed in magic when you were small,” see

you can believe in happy endings, but believe too

in the princesses themselves,

believe that marriage isn’t the only goal

a girl can set for herself,

believe that if these girls fought to stay alive

when an evil queen was chasing them,

if they fought to give up their nature

for the chance of more adventure, if they fought

the sultan himself and society’s expectations:

something tells me that their happily ever after

isn’t resting on their laurels, something tells me

they’d seek just a little more,

something tells me that they’d keep fighting until

there is a happy ending for every single

little girl

believe in yourself, princess, and know that

even if you want a career and husband

and twelve happy children,

you are not deluding yourself of anything. it is

completely possible to actually have

everything

it is okay for you to want a job and a home

and a family and a kingdom. you are strong enough.

you would handle it.

please don’t let anyone

tell you

different."

—sit tall today, my love. your dreams are valid and you are always good enough / r.i.d.