"Saw Bones"

Just recently, I wrote a speech about the history of amputations to the future of it. I've always been a really big science nerd about human anatomy and chemistry, so like one can assume, I've researched day and night about amputations, the surgical process and how it all started. To my surprise, I found out that in the American  Civil War, the most common surgery was amputation. There was at an approximate of 60,000 partial or whole amputations performed in the war. Because of the many amputations surgeons had to performed, they were actually nicknamed "Saw Bones". But the one "Saw Bone", I want to focus mainly today goes by the name of Dr. Mary Edwards, the first woman surgeon ever in the U.S Military. What makes her prominent is the fact that she was the only woman in the Civil War to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. This medal is the highest honor given to a U.S citizen. She fought her away against the gender inequality and worked extremely hard. She basically gave an inspiration to women around the Civil War and continues to. Just by learning about her work and herself made me realize something very important. The American pysche, more specifically the women have a sense of hidden independence, bravery and risk-taking. Gender inequality and discrimination still continues today; women are paid less than men, what media and music culture portrays women as and the list goes on. And this can apply to women everywhere, not just American women. The assumption of women being dependent, frail and very weak characters is being crushed. It's even shown in history, like the Civil War. There were women who dressed up as a soldier and went to fight in the battle field, (reminds me of Mulan), became the "man" of the house and took charge of things their own way. The sense of independence is festered and continues to grow, a growth that can never stop. Here are my favorite moments in T.V Media that really reflect on breaking gender stereotypes. See?

Hunger Games: 

Legally Blonde:

The Princess and the Frog (Disney):

I picked this scene from the Princess and the Frog because regardless of how haggard and the many jobs she has, she still works hard to get her restaurant even though many people believe throughout the story a "woman of her background" can't run a big restaurant like that. Tiana is strong and only focuses on getting what she wants the most: her dad's restaurant. Once she get's her restaurant, she proves everyone that dreams are never impossible to reach.