GWS302

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Unit 8: 12.8.19

Key word/phrase: Security or Surveillance?  

I choose this phrase to represent the unit because I wanted to reflect on the surveillance of transgender and black and brown bodies through discriminatory practices.  In class we discussed the Toby Beauchamp article. The author wrote, "Here transgender and gender-nonconforming bodies are bound up in surveillance practices that are intimately tied to state security, nationalism and the “us/them,” “either/or” rhetoric that underpins U.S. military and government constructions of safety.” Beauchamp is explaining the reason for heightened surveillance of certain bodies post-9/11 and how it is rooted in creating bodies that are viewed as less than the white ideal. We talked in class about how TSA security when using scanners assigns a gender to the traveler based on their outward appearance. This practice leads to the practice of “going stealth” where trans folks feel forced to conceal their chosen gender identity in order to pass. I thought it was most interesting that the TSA video we watched in class wanted to appear compassionate and inclusive by claiming to offer service for trans individuals to feel safer during security clearances but would likely not have a trans person on staff in the first please. We then talked about how in terms of disposability, how surveillance can render a body as disposable. This made me think about emotional surveillance and the suspect worker. If marginalized bodies are constantly being watched or subjected to higher levels of surveillance, such as TSA hair pat downs and unnecessary searches, it assumes that they're bodies are inherently more dangerous than what has been deemed the normative white body. To explain it simply, it's the idea that these bodies need to be searched because they pose a threat and are therefore disposable. I thought it was really interesting how big companies like Nike are wanting to create products marketed towards Muslim women that preach inclusion and innovation when culturally they’re still experiencing racism and discrimination. The Kumar article we read stated,"Increasing Muslim representation is not just an ineffective strategy for fighting Islamophobia, but a dangerous one.”

Toby Beauchamp. 2009. “Artful Concealment and Strategic Visibility: Transgender Bodies and

U.S. State Surveillance after 9/11.” Surveillance andSociety. 6 (4): 356-366.Rashmee Kumar, “Marketing the Muslim Woman: Hijabs and Modest Fashion are the New Corporate Trend in the Trump Era.” The Intercept

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Unit 7 Tumblr 12/1/19

12/1/19

Andie Doyon

Key Word/Phrase: Disposability

I choose “Disposability” as my key word for the unit because I think it fully encompasses the different issues we discussed that lead to the displacement of marginalized bodies. We began this unit by discussing Puerto Rican victims of Hurricane Maria. I found our discussion on the term the “new living dead” (Cortés) to be very interesting. Cortés stated, “...Hurricane Maria exposed the critical connection between climate change, capitalism, and colonialism.” Puerto Rican citizens were in a particularly confusing position because of the lack of and inaccessibility to emergency assistance after the storm. People were left in extended periods of blackout without running water to food. “The new living dead” accurately describes their position as it relates to disposability because even in a time of great needs it’s as if they were left to die.

Later in the week we read Craig Willse’s article entitled, Neoliberal Biopolitics and the Invention of Chronic Homelessness. Willse writes, "understanding chronic homelessness initiatives as economic rather than social programs reveal the ways in which they enable the reproduction of the same neo-liberal conditions that produce housing insecurity and deprivation.” Here the author is explaining that the cycle of trying to help chronically homeless people get closer to financial stability and one day independence is a lost cause if nothing changes structurally. Rehabilitation programs or organizations that aim to “cure homelessness” do not work to change how the societal systems place people in a precarious position in the first place.

I thought it was interesting how the Ballroom communities we read about in the Arnold and Bailey article fought against the disposability that was being imposed upon them during the 1980/1990’s Aids/HIV epidemic. Many houses mimicked the traditional nuclear family by having house mothers that usually took on feminine roles treating the emotional needs of kids. Here they created their own safety net when society has already excluded them from spaces for treatment and medical care. These community structures taught safer sex and offered Kinship to people who no longer had connections to their families.

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The (Im)mobile Body: 11.3.19

Key Word: Intrusive bodies=Mobile bodies 

I chose the phrase “Intrusive bodies=Mobile bodies because we began this unit by discussing the mobility of certain bodies to move more freely across borders and within spaces than others. This was seen in the Aizura article we read on Thai gender reassignment clinics. Many of the patients in these clinics were not Thai trans women and/or men but rather trans patients from around the world seeking a unique experience. These clinics require Thai employees, particularly women, to perform a specific form of emotional labor. The author wrote, "they were expected to make friends and behave as women friends do.” Female employees were supposed to be prime examples of normative femininity with 24- hours a day on-call, the ability to speak fluent English. We discussed how clinics like this are problematic because they contribute to the medicalization of trans bodies by encouraging patients to undergo procedures to better align them with binary reinforced gender norms.

Later in the unit we discussed the exploitation of indigenous land by tourist companies and ultimately the government. In analyzing the role of beach resorts in the Gonzalez article we concluded it creates an environment were certain bodies become secure more than others. Ultimately the beach is becoming securitized and valuable for tourists where indigenous bodies are rendered as in the way. In terms of neoliberalism, it views the indigenous population as "eye sores" and disposable because they are not adding to the economic value. People vacation to see new places and immerse themselves in culture, but instead of seeing the poverty actually impacting indigenous peoples in these places, they are given a catered experience that is romanticized. Gonzalez writes, "The structure of the privatized island is now founded on the logics of tourism mobility, and the subsequent securitization of the beach operates to protect the rights of the tourist-citizen." In this statement the author is explaining how these securities are only benefitting tourists and do nothing to protect the people living there. This relates to the idea of mobility and how the intrusive bodies of tourists contribute to indigenous peoples’ mobility.

Sources:

Aren Z. Aizura. 2011. “The Romance of the Amazing Scalpel.: Race, Labour, and Affect in Thai

Gender Reassignment Clinics.” In Queer Bangkok, 143-162. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Vernadette Vicuna Gonzalez. 2015. “Tourism Mobilities, Indigenous Claims, and the         Securitization of the Beach.” In Mobile Desires.

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10.25.19 Tumblr Unit 5:

Key word: Instability

I chose the word instability for this post because I think it summarizes hyper-precarity in an easy to understand way. In class we have been discussing hyper-precarity related specifically to migrants and how their experiences of struggle both crossing borders and when they enter a new country increases the hyper-precarity they’re facing. For example, entering a new country as an immigrant or refugee where upon entry you are almost immediately denied basic necessities drastically increase your feeling of uncertainty or instability. In the 2014 article we read, Lewis wrote “Many have suggested that the rise of precarity, as both a descriptor and a condition, has gone hand in hand with neoliberal globalization.” It is important to see where a neoliberal government plays a role in all of this. Lewis is explaining that migrants are constantly working to attain much needed stability but are consistently denied the ability to reach this goal. We’ve discussed before how a perfect neoliberal citizen is one that the market sees as another contributor to the global economy. Migrants are often posed as poor investments in the game of achieving global capitalist gain. It’s the idea that the more hyper-precarity you can make migrants feel, the less you have to actually invest in their success. It’s treating them as a disposable population.

This idea of further demonstrated in the articles we read in the South Atlantic Quarterly. The article discussed how “The Mediterranean has long been the terrain of a mobility conflict.” After reading the article and watching the videos about migrants being stopped at ports and asked to turn back, I was able to better understand how these people who are already experiencing great instability can be further hindered by government. When analyzing the militarization of borders, I think it’s important to consider the struggles faced by migrants before even arriving to the border. The second South Atlantic Quarterlyarticle we readmentioned how “stronger borders require stronger organization to be crossed and thus produce more sophisticated smuggling.” The more difficult governments make it for immigrants to cross borders, the more dangerous measures they’ll have to go to cross them. It’s very similar to the article we read last unit about city centers along the US-Mexico border becoming stricter, thus forcing immigrants to cross over harsh terrain in the dessert lands beyond city bounds.

Hannah Lewis, et al. 2014. “Hyper-precarious Lives: Migrants, Work, and Forced Labor in the Global North.” Progress in Human Geography. 1-21.

Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani. 2019. “Contentious Crossings: Struggles and Alliances for Freedom of Movement across the Mediterranean Sea.” South Atlantic Quarterly 118 (3): 644-653.

Enrica Rigo and Francesca De Masi. 2019. “Fighting Violence across Borders: From Victimhood To Feminist Struggle.” South Atlantic Quarterly 118 (3): 670-677.

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10.25.19 Unit 4 Tumblr

In unit 4 we discussed different definitions of labor including emotion labor and how this can often be heightened when labor is surveilled. I choose the word labor because I think we often default to thinking about manual labor being the most tasking without considering the emotional labor involved in other jobs. Our class talked about emotional labor in the form of mental spoons. I liked this analogy because it clearly explained how some tasks or jobs may require us to give away more of our mental spoons than others. I was easily able to understand this in my own life working within the service industry. For example, I barista at a local coffee shop, and while I do love my job, I often leave exhausted because of the emotional labor I perform on a daily basis. Keeping a constantly upbeat, loud, and boisterous energy while doing the customer service aspect of the job can be draining. This extra amount of mental energy I must bring to my workplace coupled with listening to people’s complaints about life at large is an example of emotional labor. The form of labor is also often gendered. Emotional labor was further discussed using the Kang 2003 article on Korean-Immigrant owned nail salons.  The author wrote, “The routinized style of body labor reflects the generic social position of women whose bodies are neither privileged nor pathologized by simply treated with routine efficiency.”Here workers are often working long hours providing services in toxic conditions that put their health at risk, but still their treated as factory workers cranking out nail sets while maintaining a level of conversation and luxury expected by the customers.

In terms of the Van Oort article, the author discussed how technologies to surveil employees can add to this emotional labor even further. Van Oort writes, “surveillance technologies are not neutral or objective, but rather emerge out of and reinforce historic inequalities.” The author is explaining that these modes of surveillance often target minority groups. When considering people who often work in low-income service jobs, it’s true it’s usually young POC. The pressure of being watched from every angle behind a cash register can take a toll on employees. It denies them of any privacy and creates what Van Oort described as the “suspect worker” or the worker that should be watched.

Miliann Kang. 2003. “The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean-Immigrant Owned Nail Salons.” Gender and Society17 (6): 820-839.

Madison Van Oort. 2018. “The Emotional Labor of Surveillance: Digital Control in Fast Fashion Retail.” Critical Sociology 00 (0): 1-13.

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10.6.19 Tumblr 3: The Colonized Body Key Word: Ownership of Space and Bodies

Throughout this unit we discussed how white colonialism was primarily focused on the acquisition of land and therefore the control of certain groups of people and how it continues to do this today. My key phrase for this unit is “Ownership of Spaces and Bodies.” In Goldstein’s article, she writes, “Whiteness in the United States has been historically constituted not only as a form of property but also as the capacity to possess” (2014). The article goes on to discuss the case of Adoptive Couple Vs. Baby Girl. This case was discussing the legitimacy of a biological father to gain custody over his daughter for whom he unknowingly waived his rights to before her birth. His ability to care for his daughter was questioned based on his identity as a member of the Cherokee Nation. The news segment we watched in class was particularly horrifying because the report failed to take his perspective into consideration while instead choosing to focus on the emotional reactions of the adoptive family. Here for example, the ownership of an infant is being argued on the basis of race. I found myself conflicted about what would be in the baby’s best interest, being pulled from the family who had raised her for 2 years OR living with her biological father who would be better equipped to teach her about her heritage and culture. Here white colonialism is further reinforced by the lack of consideration for her Cherokee identity.

Later in the unit we discussed how the “Kia’I” in Hawaii are fighting to preserve the sacred Mauna Kea mountain from the possibility of undergoing construction of a massive telescope. The Kia’l have been able to mobilize thousands of Hawaiians to support the movement which is mostly led by younger members of the community. This fight against colonial ownership of sacred lands is particularly intriguing because it is directly opposing a Royal Order made in 2019, but in October the year before the Hawaiian Supreme Court ruled in favor of development, thus provoking further social demonstration from over 3,000 people to halt construction. The author comments on this in writing, “U.S. settler colonialism in Hawai‘i has meant the historical loss of language and everyday cultural practice as white American culture became hegemonic, cutting us off from knowledge of our own history and ancestors, along with Native spiritual practices. And yet, we see through the indigenous resurgence at Mauna Kea a re-assertion of Hawaiian knowledge and ways of being by the protectors who are engaged in traditional protocols, ceremonies, chant, hula, and song – all guided by the principle of aloha ‘āina (love and stewardship of the land).” I found it really interesting how the indigenous people here are uniting and mobilizing based on tradition and care for the land. I think this mindset is largely absent for many white people because there’s less intrinsic value placed on land and more so on its economic potential. I was never taught a sense of “‘āina.” It contrasts this theme of ownership because it is more focused on maintaining and protecting spaces rather than exploiting them for profit.

Ownership of bodies can be even further exploited by determining what bodies are seen as more valuable to economic gain. In the Erevelles reading we discussed how war and disability go hand-in-hand. The author writes, “War is one of the largest producers of disability in a world still inhospitable to disabled people and their predominately female caregivers” (Erevelles, 2014). We talked about the creation of “Cyborg Soldiers.” Erevelles wrote, “In almost every way, the cyborg soldier constantly battles against the human body using technological prostheses that replicate biological senses while circumventing human biological limitations: poor eyesight, hearing and discernment.” It is the idea of enhancing the body in order to exploit its maximum potential. These enhancements can be connected to ownership because it is rooted in the economic gains a more powerful and advanced body can obtain. The author explains this using the concept of DALY. DALY is a measurement for cost effectiveness and potential productivity developed by the World BANK. I thought about how war veterans are often celebrated unless severely disabled because now we see them as a burden to society. This also differs on if they are physically or invisibly disabled. Both function into a person’s DALY value and if they’ll be seen as a liability. I think in many ways it contributes to whether ownership of this body is worth it or should we consider them disposable now?

Sources:

Alyosha Goldstein. 2014. “Possessive Investments: Indian Removals and the AffectiveEntitlements of Whiteness.American Quarterly 66 (4): 1077-1084.

Enduring Hawaiian Sovereignty, Excerpts from The Abusable Past

Nirmala Erevelles. 2011. “The Color of Violence: Reflection on Gender, Race, and Disability inWartime.” In Feminist Disability Studies.

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9.20.19 Tumblr #2. Unit 2- Do Brown Bodies Need Saving?

Key Word/phrase: “What makes a good neoliberal citizen?”

I’ve chosen to pose the question, “what makes a good neoliberal citizen?” as this unit’s key phrase. I think this is a question we constantly cycled back to during this unit. It was central to many of the arguments we were making.

At the beginning of the unit we read an article by Katharyne Mitchell where she analyzed celebrity humanitarianism. Mitchell defines celebrity humanitarianism as a form of advocacy where someone with established fame works to raise money or support, usually for people in the global south. This phenomenon is particularly interesting because with the age of social media these campaigns for support can be transcend across millions of miles. Mitchell explains this in writing, “It is a digitalized mode of transnational lived citizenship in the age of global social media, for the long-distance charitable acts and relationships of celebrities and fans are purely electronic and financial, yet through these mediated emotional connections a seemingly authentic and frictionless global field is constituted” (Mitchell, 289). For example, if I as a fan support Taylor Swifts cause by providing a small monthly donation, emotionally I then feel closer to Taylor Swift. In reality, Taylor Swift has no idea who I am and there is a good chance that I am not entirely sure where my donation is really going. This relates to the idea of being a good neoliberal citizen in that Neoliberalism is really feeding into the notion that this donation is self-centered and individually driven. If someone with fame can use this position and emotional ethos to persuade you to donate money, then the hope is that whoever your donating money to will be able to produce money that eventually feeds back into an unregulated market, thus producing another ideal neoliberal citizen.

Later in the week we discussed was written by Lamia Karim. Karim discussed the role of microfinance in the global south. The authors states, “Microfinance is the extension of small loans to start income-generating activities, and it is usually targeted at poor women” I found the idea of lending someone money in the hope of producing more money to be somewhat disturbing. Karim describes the third world woman as, “thrifty, hardworking, entrepreneurial, and a good manager of resources.” In the end this burden placed on women to be thrifty and pay back their loans ends up creating a larger burden. Why do the women need to be thrifty in the first place? Why can’t the loan be a donation? This is where the ideology of being a good neoliberal citizen comes in. If you’re funding this person through a loan you’re funding human capital and what they can hopefully provide economically to the market. Heather Switzer demonstrates a similar explanation in her article analyzing Nike’s social responsibility campaign, The Girl Effect. Switzer writes, “Girls’ bodies become the locus of economic development as human capital investments in ‘potential’ productivity” (Switzer, 347). Switzer is referring to a number of campaign videos depicting an impoverish global south girl represented as having nothing and then being saved by access to education, and thus the possibility of being economically successful. Nothing in the advertisement suggests eliminating the root causes of her oppressions, but rather suggests that encouraging her to be individually economically successful will booster the global economy, again placing the majority of this burden upon the girl.

Sources:

Katharyne Mitchell. 2016. "Celebrity Humanitarianism, Transnational Emotion, and the Rise of Neoliberal Citizenship." Global Networks 16 (3): 288-306.

Lamia Karim, “NGOS, Neoliberalism, and Women in Bangladesh,” from S&F Online

Heather Switzer. 2013. “(Post)feminist Development Fables: The Girl Effect and the Production of Sexual Subjects.” Feminist Theory 14 (3): 345-360.

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9.8.19 Unit 1: Foundations

Key Word: Intersectionality

I choose intersectionality as my key word for unit 1 because I think it encompasses everything that transnational feminism is trying to accomplish. We discussed in class how intersectionality is the ability to see how interlocking systems of oppression can impact people differently based on their identities. Thinking with an intersectional framework allows us to see how women of color can experience overlapping oppressions for being both black and female. This is mentioned in A Black Feminist Statement by the Combahee River Collective. It states, “If black women were free, it would mean everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” The author is explaining that Black women face more challenges than racism or sexism independently. Audre Lorde speaks to these challenges in her 1984 article stating, “For white women there is a wider range of pretended choices and rewards for identifying with patriarchal power and its tools…but Black women and our children know the fabric of our lives is stitched with violence and with hatred, that there is no rest.” Lorde is explaining how the feminist issues white women are facing along with the proposed solutions are much different than those facing women of color.

When reading Mohanty’s Under Western Eyes Revisited, we analyzed the problems with Western Feminism and its inability to cross borders. Western Feminism, also known as White Feminism, is exclusive to those who already benefit from a society that supports their privilege. Western Feminism essentially lacks intersectionality when considering how women in other areas of the world are not facing the same challenges as women in developed Western cultures OR they are assuming they already know the issues women in the global south must face. Mohanty discussed how capitalism and globalization have led to the continuation of classism and racism, specifically when it comes to poor women (2003). Mohanty explains, “I believed in a larger feminist project than the colonizing, self-interested one I saw emerging in much influential feminist scholarship and in the mainstream women’s movement. This bigger picture that Mohanty held to be an intersectional feminism that was also transnational.

In analyzing Mohanty’s writing, Ranjoo Herr further explains how western feminism fails to recognize an important distinction between the identities and oppression of western and third world women. Ranjoo wrote, “Mohanty correctly recognized that women do not share a biological essence and that third world women’s oppressions are diverse, depending on how race, class, ethnicity, and nation intersect.” This is a clear example of how intersectionality is a core function of transnational feminism. Ranjoo is explaining how women are not experiencing the same oppressions by the simple virtue of being women.

An example that should be considered through an intersectional framework is the impact on communities affected by Hurricane Dorian in recent days. NBC recently reported that 76,000 people from the Bahamas will be left homeless because the hurricane destroyed entire communities. Areas of the Bahamas already experiencing poverty are now at an even larger disadvantage as people try to leave the islands as refugees. Western feminism now needs to take a transnational and intersectional approach when consider which systems of oppression are working in this situation. Why are we having more hurricanes? Why are they larger and more devastating than past years? How does our contribution to climate change cause environmental changes? Is this environmental racism in how it’s impacting people in poorer regions of the world?

Sources:

Combahee River Collective. “A Black Feminist Statement.”

Chandra Mohanty. 2003. “Under Western Eyes Revisited.” In Feminism Without Borders.  

Ranjoo S. Herr. 2013. “Transnational, Third World, and Global Feminism.”

Audre Lorde. 1984. “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference.” In Sister Outsider.

https://www.today.com/video/hurricane-dorian-leaves-an-estimated-76-000-people-homeless-68462661929

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4.21.19 Unit 7: Theorizing Labor

This week we discussed the use of bodies as a function of labor. More specifically we talked about how donated material from largely marginalized bodies is used for the benefit of privileged bodies.

In the Melinda Cooper article we read the author wrote, “feminized labour and the technical repertoires of stem cell research renegotiate the productivity limits of female reproductive biology, opening it out to novel and profitable forms of surplus value and enrolling women in complex negotiations over their role in bioeconomic activity.” In this statement Cooper is explaining how feminized labor has expanded beyond the traditional bounds of “care labor” and more specifically into this form of labor through donation of genetic material or plasma, mostly from women. I found this really interesting because the day before we read the article, I was talking to a friend about how her boyfriend donates plasma weekly. At first, I thought it was a pretty good way of making extra money, but I now understand how these companies use the bodies of poor individuals to further exploit them through a transaction. We talked about an article by Rachel Reinke and another kind of labor. Reinke wrote about Jazz Jennings and how she’s providing a specific type of labor for global capitalism as a representative for trans youth. Jazz is an example of what the author defines as immaterial or affective labor; a kind of labor that circulates feelings and states of being. Reinke writes, “this labor is contingent upon their proximity to, and responses, normative understandings of youth, in particular of girlhood- that scholars have characterized as white, heterosexual, able-bodied, and upper class." The author is explaining that in order to create this feeling, the Clean and Clear ad Jazz appears in depicts her as normative in terms of class, gender, and sexuality. 

Cooper, M., & Waldby, C. (2011). From Reproductive Work to Regenerative Labour.” Feminist Theory, 11(1), 3-22.  

Reinke, R. Chapter Two: Just Having Fun Being One of the Girls: Jazz Jennings, Trans Girl Citizenship, and Clean & Clear’s “See the Real Me”. In Mediated Girlhoods, Volume 2.

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4.14.19 Unit 6: Provocations to Fem Theory

Andie Doyon

We began this week by reading a piece by Susan Stryker. Stryker talked a lot about the development and growth of transgender studies over time. There were a few quotes that really stuck out to me. The author writes, “Academic attention to transgender issues has shifted over the span of those ten years from the field of abnormal psychology, which imagined transgender phenomena as expressions of mental illness, and from the field of literary criticism, which was fascinated with representations of cross-dressing that it fancied to be merely symbolic, into fields that concern themselves with the day-to-day workings of the material world. ‘Transgender’ moved from the clinics to the streets over the course of that decade, and from representation to reality” (Stryker, pg. 2). Having been a psychology major, while getting the opportunity to take class in GWS, I’ve learned so much about people and the ways in which we think. The idea that we used psychology as a way of “diagnosing” trans folks is ultimately upsetting and this isn’t the first-time psychology has been used in this manner. We talked briefly in class about our culture’s obsession with curing others of what is not “normal.” Allowing this population, a platform to live upon validating their experiences, but there is still much more work to be done. In relation to mental health, we also need to create a similar platform for people to just be people instead of problems to fix. In our discussion about Rosemarie Garland, we went over a similar idea that disabled bodies are seen as being “sick” and needing to be “fixed.” It’s important to look at this from the perspective of if their needs are met they’re no longer functionally disabled. If we created a world for trans folks that was safe and inclusive, they wouldn’t face certain levels of oppression.

The next piece we read was by author Marquis Bey. Bey writes, "BFT is rooted in the liberation of all black women, and as such ‘the liberation of black cis women is contingent upon the liberation of black trans women’; BFT is ever-shifting, as it must be, and therein lies ‘my hope. . . that this movement will become more inclusive of black trans women’” (Bey, 2016). Bey is explaining that black transfeminist thought is rooted in the same principles described by the Combahee River Collective. Both are trying to explain that in order to dismantle systems of oppression we must start by dismantling those impacted POC, thus in turn dismantling all systems of oppression. Bey takes it a few steps further in saying that it’s not just POC, but rather the trans black woman, therefore anyone else’s freedom is dependent upon theirs. I found this really interesting to see how it has become necessary to expand inclusivity in the movement.

The last article we read was by Margaret Price. Price was writing about the bodymind problem. We discussed how the body is never truly separated from the mind because they’re both so dependent on each other. In class I used the example of being physically fit but not mentally. One without the other isn’t necessarily beneficial. In a sense bodily experiences can thus impact your mental state and vice versa. I thought this was really interesting because it’s so apparent in my daily life.

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3.31.19 Unit 5 Provocations of Feminist Theory: Transnational Theory

In this unit we discussed transnational feminism. I think we often lose sight of the acknowledgement that women in other areas of the world are facing different problems than women in our own cities and cultures. Because feminism provides a platform for oppression populations, it must also take an intersection view transnationally.

We started the last unit with a discussion on Mohanty’s “Under Western Eyes” Revisited. We talked about how the feminist solidarity model is a framework articulated across borders which is sometimes more implicit than explicit. Mohanty was describing the model as implicit meaning it’s implied rather than said directly. When explicit there is no room for misinterpretation. The model assumes distance and proximity. It also focuses on individual and collective experiences of oppression. Mohanty was discussing how oppression operates across borders and that this is seen in the transnational women’s struggles. We went on to discuss how capitalism perpetuates classism and racism which then further divides marginalized populations. Overall, Mohanty was analyzing western feminism, which is essentially white feminism and we all know that’s not necessarily helpful for anyone.

Later in the week we read Heather Switzer’s piece on The Girl Effect. Switzer wrote, “Promoting institutional access to formal schooling for adolescent girls as a means for economic development serves neoliberal aims to predict female productive and reproductive capacity by managing adolescent bodies and thereby reifying postfeminist female exceptionalism as a singular solution to poverty” (Switzer, 2013, p. 347). I think this statement does a great job of encapsulating the main function of the problem. She’s describing the aftermath that applying intense pressure to young marginalized women of color creates. It also produces what we conceptualized as a the “durable” and “dispensable” girl. We talked about the difference between the durable girl being the one who is educated where the disposable girl is the child bride who doesn’t get the chance to escape the system through education. The three videos we watched discuss this further, but they also undermine the oppressions and dangers that these women face. Their only fears are not pregnancy or HIV/Aids. This model is also extremely heteronormative in that it assumes that the successful path is education, marriage, and child birth.

In the last reading of the unit, we read an article by Uma Narayan. Narayan was discussing the assumptions we usually make regarding violence in other countries. The author uses the example of dowry murder in writing, “when such ‘cultural explanations’ are given for fatal forms of violence against Third-World women, the effect is to suggest that Third-World women suffer death by ‘culture’” (Narayan, 1997, p. 84). We in the U.S. have decided these Third-World women are only ever experiencing tragic, terrifying things, where many of them could, but we jump to conclusions and decide it’s appropriate for us to “save them.” We develop what is referred to as a white savior complex. It’s as if we view ourselves as the super heroes. The author goes on to talk about a similar issue in writing about issues that aren’t our own. If you haven’t personally experienced a specific kind of oppression, trying to describe it may result in providing misinformation. It kind of falls into the idea of “sticking to your own lane.”

Mohanty, C. (1986). Under Western Eyes Revisited. In Feminism Without Borders. 

Switzer, H. (2013). (Post)feminist Development Fables: The Girl Effect and the Production of Sexual Subjects. Feminist Theory, 14(3): 345-360.

Narayan, U. (1997). Chapter Three: Cross-Cultural Connections, Border Crossings, and Death by Culture. In Dislocating Cultures. 

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Unit 4: 3.17.19 Theorizing the Borders of The Nation State

This past unit we discussed theorizing the borders of the nation-state, which I found to be particularly current seeing it is a hot-topic for the Trump administration. What is more important is how we think about borders, consciously and subconsciously in relation to how these borders impact the lives of those they separate.

In the first reading of the unit, Anzaldua theorizes the US-Mexico border and how it has created an “us vs. them” mentality. I couldn’t agree with this more. The author went on to further discuss how this has caused a psychic struggle of having multiple borders within herself. The idea of reclaiming her “mestiza” was talked about in relation to wanting to reclaim her roots and thus reclaiming her brownness (Anzaldua, 1987). It’s wanting to be proud of who you are again. Anzaldua is experiencing multiple cultures at once, and therefore multiple layers of oppression. Theorizing the border as a function of her identity in terms of how the physical borders put her indigenous identity and other at war, was profound. I don’t often think of my identity in terms of my race, other than in an attempt to recognize the white privilege I hold. In regard to the physical borders I have experienced, I have noticed the being from a specific state that may hold a specific stereotype invites others to theorize your identity based on your “home” border. Kentuckian are intelligent and kind. Yes, I am a Kentuckian and simultaneously I am proud of this.

 In the next article of the unit, Hall forced us to think about Hawaii as something critical. We discussed how dominate culture will often govern others and struggles they face are not separate form feminist struggles. We’ve talked previously about how feminism is about eradicating structures of oppression. With this, feminist theory allows colonized groups the ability to get back to their roots when dominate cultures capitalize on their culture. Yes, we know Hawaii is a part of the U.S., but we don’t often theorize it to be. Instead we exploit them for their indigenous cultures, while also sexualizing the women. Instead of thinking about Hawaii as a “foreign” land, we need start appreciating their culture and start educating ourselves beyond the colonization we’ve oppressed them with. There’s more to Hawaii than Pearl Harbor.

Lastly, the Naber article discussed the “war on terror” and the structural discrimination it’s created since 9/11. The article mentions, “The mapping of cultural racism onto nation-based racism has been critical in generating support for the idea that going to war "over there" and enacting racism and immigrant exclusion "over here" are essential to the project of protecting national security” (Naber, 2008). I mentioned in class, that because I was a young child during 9/11, I’ve never taken the time to truly conceptualize how this event caused a lasting impact. I live in a bubble. After learning that 9/11 immigration policies have targeting immigrants who fit the “characterizations of terrorists,” I’m starting to realize how harmful the repercussion of this event were beyond how it made mostly white Americans feel. I’ disgusted.

Anzaldua, G.E. (1987). La conciencia de la mestiza: Towards a new consciousness. Borderlands/La Frontera.

Hall, L.K. (2009). Navigating our own "sea of islands:" Remapping a theoretical space for Hawaiian women and indigenous feminism. Wicazo Se Review, 24(2), 15-38.

Naber, N. (2008). Look, Mohammaed the terrorist is coming! Cultural racism, nation-based racism, and the intersectionality of oppressions after 9/11. S&F Online, 6.3.

[andiedoyon97]

Unit 3: 2.24.19 Theorizing at the Intersections

In this unit we discussed intersectionality and its importance and necessity. We talked a lot about the "intersections" of oppression people face and how they may be different roads, but they're still forced to cross them to travel in any direction. 

In our first reading by the Combahee River Collective we talked about how if Black women were to be free, all women would be free because the systems of oppression they faced would be dismantled. The author wrote, “We are all damaged people merely by the virtue of being Black women.” This isn’t something I can identify with, but on a base level I am beginning to understand. It is vital that we think beyond our own intersecting identities in order to formulate a successful political ideology. Black women are often sitting in the middle of many intersections of oppression simply for being Black women.

We expanded on this with the Crenshaw reading to further discuss intersectionality and compound discrimination. She wrote, “…yet often they (Black women) experience double discrimination-the combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race, and on the basis of sex. And sometimes, they experience discrimination, but as Black women- not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as Black women.” In the Ted Talk we watched, Crenshaw talked about needing a term that covered everything and was inclusive of different lived experiences of oppression, she then coined intersectionality to be that term. She also mentioned the SayHerName campaign and the need to face the fact that the deaths of black men by police get more attention that those of women and why that is. I found that particularly prolific. It’s interesting to me how social media has given increased exposure to the racism and violence that people of color are continuing to experience, but still fails to highlight the deaths of the Black women.

In the Adair article we read, the author talked about how poverty is written on the body of people suffering from it. Adair wrote, “Systems of power produce and patrol poverty through the reproduction of both social and bodily markers.” If you’re experiencing poverty, you likely don’t have access to healthcare or certain resources like notorious food or nicer clothes. We watched the video about hiding the homeless and discussed how homelessness produces disability. This connected really well with Adair’s article because it illustrated how our society has a system in place that is designed to keep people in their class. We put limits on how much government assistance people are allowed to put into their savings, completely ripping them of the opportunity to save, invest, or work towards “pulling themselves up from their bootstraps” to escape poverty. We’ve created laws to prevent to homeless from being seen by policing basic human behavior like sitting on sidewalks. With this article we also talked about how for poor women, privacy is a luxury in terms of receiving medical care during pregnancy. We probe the poor with questions in an effort to prove how poor they are. Women benefitting from the privilege of economic stability don’t face these interrogations when be given basic healthcare.

In our final reading by Cathy Cohen, we analyzed how heterosexuals can function outside of heteronormativity. For example, certain Black women who are heterosexuals may fall outside the bounds of heteronormativity because heteronormativity is based entirely on whiteness. It’s the idea that a white, straight couple is given more opportunity than that of a single, straight, Black woman. Not having a partner may “other” them because it views them as having failed to keep their family dynamic together. In class, we were challenged to think about our relationships to power and how it may leave out other groups. This reading and exercise was interesting and complex.

All in all, what can I be doing to work toward dismantling systems of oppression with the hopes of raising the status Black women in my society? For now, I can learn. I can learn to step aside and listen. I can listen to the voices of the people who are having these experiences and work towards understanding that this oppression is theirs to speak upon, not mine.

 Sources: 

Combahee River Collective. 1977. “A Black Feminist Statement.”

Adair, V. C. (2002). Branded with Infamy: Inscriptions of Poverty and Class in the United States. Signs, 27(2), 451-471.

Cohen, C. (1997). Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics? GLQ, 3, 437-465.

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Policies. The University of Chicago Legal Forum

[andiedoyon97]

Unit 2: 2.10.19

This unit was interesting, but it got a whole lot more interesting when I went home for the weekend. I made an unusual decision to go to my parent’s favorite brewery in my hometown. I thought it might be a casual night with just the two of them while I would quietly appreciate the free beer...until I quickly found myself surrounded by 10 plus of my parent’s friends. Most of them were middle aged white men who like to ask me what my majors are and what I plan to do with them. Kyle in particular asks me this question EVERY time I see him, which is often. Normally when I mention GWS as my second major he nods and turns to start a conversation with someone else. This time he asked, “Okay, so what are you learning? Am I a boy? Is your father a boy? Are you a girl? What about your mom?” I think Judith Butler explained what I was hoping to articulate well when writing, "Gender is instituted through the stylization of the body and, hence, must be understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and enactments of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self.” I started explaining to Kyle how gender can function along a spectrum and can be fluid based on factors like gender expression and identity for example. There are times where an individual may feel more masculine presenting that day or feminine presenting the next. Gender is determined by the gender roles we choose to adhere to or rebel against. 

Kyle went on to say, “So, biology and hormones mean nothing now?” I responded with the idea that sex (what I think he was meaning by biology and hormones) is also thought to be a social construct and dependent upon context. I immediately thought about the Anne Fausto-Sterling article we read this past week. The author wrote, “The sex-gender or nature-nurture accounts of difference fail to appreciate the degree to which culture is a partner in producing body systems commonly referred to as biology—something apart from the social.” Fausto-Sterling was trying to explain that our experiences become a part of our flesh. The society and its norms often decide this for us. 

In the article we read by Dean Spade they wrote, “First, the medical approach to gender variance, and the creation of transsexuality, has resulted in a governance of trans bodies that restricts our ability to make gender transitions which do not yield membership in a normative gender role.” The author brought up an interesting point about women getting breast augmentations, but the trouble trans people have in their journeys of transitioning. Why this surgery aimed at body and confidence enhancement has been deemed acceptable, but trans surgeries have not is interesting? Is it because breast augmentations bring women with smaller breasts closer to the sexualized and preferred norm of a voluptuous woman? Or is our medical system obsessed with governing bodies in terms of what and how the people inhabiting them can live their lives? 

I wanted to tell Kyle was is it really any of our damn business how someone may be wanting to express themselves or how they identify? Why are we so consumed with knowing what they “really are?” Maybe we should consume ourselves more with the type of person they are and what they can offer in terms of making the world a slightly better place. 

Sources: 

Anne Fausto-Sterling. 2005. “The Bare Bones of Sex: Part 1 – Sex and Gender.” Signs 30 (2): 1491-1527.

Dean Spade, “Mutilating Gender.” In The Transgender Studies Reader.

Butler, J. (1988). Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal,40(4), 519-531. doi:10.2307/3207893

[andiedoyon97]

Unit 1: 1.27.19

We talked a lot this week about “finding our feminisms.” It was somewhat comforting for me to learn that many of my peers found feminism at a later point in their lives. In the spring semester of my freshman year, I took my first GWS class and I was angry. We read in Ahmed’s introduction, "We are moved to become feminists. Perhaps we are moved by something: a sense of injustice, that something is wrong." Ahmed describes finding feminism as a feeling that’s within. For me, this feeling wasn’t innate, but rather sparked by knowledge instead. Yes, when my mom would defend my younger brother’s stupidity by the excuse, “he’s just a boy,” I knew something was off, but I didn’t have a label for it. Feminism provided me that label. Having this knowledge led to even more of an awakening. I started seeing the injustices in my society more obviously. When Hooks wrote about feminism being everywhere and that she “saw in theory then a location for healing,” she was describing what I was feeling 3 years ago.

In Ahmed’s first chapter they wrote, “Feminism is sensational because it provokes excitement and interest. We learn about the feminist cause by other feminist causes: by how feminism comes up in public culture as a site of disturbance.” Now I crave to learn more, to understand more. I want to teach the people I love about these disturbances, but with feminism’s sensationalism this can be difficult when labeled as what Ahmed deemed the “feminist killjoy.” It’s when my dad comments under his breath, “here she goes again,” when trying to explain to him the problem with Hooter’s despite their great curly fries. It’s feminist theory that backs this conversation and provides the framework for educated disagreements.

In analyzing the Gillette ad, we discussed in class, I realize now I was failing to continue questioning the ad once I saw it. I thought the conversation had been opened up and the job was done, but that was the exact point of the ad. The company barely grazed the surface to check off a box with hopes of moving forward. I didn’t consider how the company was working to profit from feminism. The commodification of feminism was new to me. I understand now that allowing a company rooted in capitalism to start the conversation for us is insufficient. We’re allowing them to do the work for us. Hooks wrote, “This process of commodification is disrupted and subverted when feminist activists affirm our commitment to a politicized revolutionary feminist movement that has as its central agenda the transformation of society.” She’s saying this end when we refocus our commitment to eventual social change.

Ahmed’s first chapter also discussed ‘The “will be” in “boys will be boys” acquires the force of prediction. A prediction becomes a command. You will be boy.’ When the ad goes on to say, “we believe in the best of men” and how they’re company promoting the idea that “the boys of today will be the men of tomorrow” it is still feeding into this prediction.

Once I understood how this commercial was functioning and the real meaning behind it I realized what I was missing. When reading Hook’s article, she states, "There will be no gap between feminist theory and feminist practice.” Now, in relation to this ad and our discussion, I can see how Hook’s was trying to emphasize how theory is the framework of our practice. It’s an explanation for how to live as feminists.