'BORG BLOG

The electronic extension of my experience in the Fall 2013 Dialogues in Feminism and Technology course at OCADU in association with FemTechNet.

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WEEK 12 - BECOMINGS

A fundamental belief that informs Rosi Braidotti's positioning in Metamorphoses is a desire "not to know who we are," but "what, at last, we want to become" (2). This impulse pushes her to examine the absence of adequate framework that disallow her to map "structural transformations of subjectivity." In the third chapter of her text, Braidotti explores what she defines as “philosophical nomadism,” her own theory of becoming that dismantles the pervasive Same/Other binary active in contemporary Western culture. By joining the theories of Luce Irigaray  and Gilles Deleuze, Braidotti re-conceives the Feminine/Other as "a complex, heterogeneous, non-unitary entity" (72), a block of becoming of nomadic subjectivity, a subject in process, never finally fixed, but existing "in different levels of power and desire, constantly shifting between willful choice and unconscious drives" (76-77).

Perhaps in this reading we touch upon future approaches to gender and sexuality. However utopic or seemingly unattainable, it is heartening to read Braidotti's concept of “philosophical nomadism” as an inclusive, formless framework to discussing gender that accounts for difference and can be individualized depending on sociocultural context and personal history. Breaking free from the restriction of binary thinking also opens up the conversation, allowing the addition of new configurations or realizations as technological innovations continue to shape the way we interact and view gender.

Braidotti instigates the rhizomatic model of thinking – allowing for multiplicities of connections between points, a cluster of individually significant yet collectively whole ideas. Like a school of fish or colony of ants, this new framework allows for collectivity while maintaining specificity, and avoids he constant compare/contrast nature of binary thinking which relies on finite definitions. 

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WEEK 11 – ANIMATING SEXUALITY

QUEER POTENTIALS IN COLLAGE

When examining image-based appropriated art works, in the form of two-dimensional collage, found or constructed sculptural work, manipulated GIFs and commercially sourced mash-up videos, a collection of queer potentials begin to arise. I would like to specifically discuss to the work of Toronto-based artist, Maggie Groat, and her exhibition at ESP Gallery this past fall entitled Other Visions & Tools for Alternatives. The exhibition, which uses various forms of appropriation, Groat activates everyday image signifiers and recontextualizes them to create alternative modes of understanding. Working with ecological and edicationssource materials, Groat begins a conversation about the hierarchy of science studies and subverts binary ideas of “high science” and “low science.” By reframing and re-presenting mass produced and culturally specific symbols into diversified, fluid readings, Groat is engaging in a “queering” of these practices. One work in particular, Circles for Alternatives, is a collage piece featuring two square cut outs side by side; a moon and a cabbage. The sourced images are affixed to a 16x20 matte board and presented in a neutral pine frame reminiscent of a vitrine to display and study insects. The images present two approaches to science, with inherently gendered identities. The cabbage, shown neatly planted in a manicured garden, is bound to the “female” sciences; aesthetic and sustenance-giving “low brow” home horticulture, an enduring gendered fragment of the “hunter and gatherer” essentialist binary. The moon, though spiritually and mythically connected to a feminine identity is decidedly masculinized by the scholastic appearance of the image (perhaps sourced from a scientific text) and the sterile environment which it is presented (square cut, sparse frame, symmetrical diptych). By presenting the two images side by side, Groat is interrelating the two images – facilitating the opportunity for a more academically-respected viewing of the gardened cabbage and a ecological reading of the moon and space studies. The reconfigurations Groat enacts throughout  Other Visions & Tools for Alternatives allow for gender stereotypes and other cultural norms associated with science and ecological studies to be subverted, shifted and queered and provide bizarre, outlandish and unexpected readings of stagnant signifiers.

More on the exhibition: http://www.erinstumpprojects.com/13-09-groat/groat.html#

More from Maggie Groat: http://www.maggiegroat.com/

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WEEK 10 – SITUATING FEMINIST PRACTICE

Drawing from Radhika Gajjala's examination of the production of the sari in both old and new (online and offline) I want to briefly discuss the production and dissemination of handmade zines in relation to mass produced books and the sociocultural and political potentiality of independently produced media.

Zines (small print, usually handmade magazines) are part of the long history of self-publishing as a form of political resistance, which arguable began with Martin Luther in the 1500s, and continued to be used by various disruptive movements like the French Revolution. Zines as they are now recognized in popular culture, spanned from science fiction fanzines of the 1930s which allowed scifi die-hards to publish and trade their own stories. The DIY ethos of the 1970s punk movement also connected well with zines, and punk rock enthusiasts, anarchists and various other alternative thinkers activated the medium using commercial photocopiers to disseminate information in the pre-Internet era. In the 1990s, artist zines and feminist riot grrrl zines began to form.

Today, independent zines continue to be produced by artists, fans and political movements. The production of these zines assert value and meaning to handmade goods in an increasingly digital world. Though some zines have made the transition to digital media, online zines have not caught on or created the same sub-culture as handmade zines. The dissemination of zines echoes the politics of the participants. Events like CanZine and Zine Dream are organized that allow zine-makers to sell and trade their work as well as connect with a community of like-minded zine-makers and share skills through grassroots workshops. Independent zine making allows for marginalized and hyper-specified voices to find an audience, and by extension, the zine-makers themselves to find a community of like-minded people.

Whereas in contrast we see the analog commercial literature industry having an increasingly limited scope. Faced with competition from television, movies and the growing amount of online media available, many traditional publishing houses have streamlined their products in order to reduce losses. However, most large publishing houses also produce ebooks which due to their low production cost, have afforded many emerging and first-time writers the opportunity to be printed in ebook form, with the potential to be physically printed depending on reader popularity and critical review.

Additional source material: http://www.grrrlzines.net/overview.htm

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Week 8 - Feminist Epistemologies, Practices and the Expansion of "Objectivity"

In “Feminist Science Studies, Objectivity and the Politics of Vision”,  Valeria Luletz discusses science as a mechanism of exclusion. Speaking about the nuclear waste sites in the Four Corners area where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet. Examining the collection of anecdotal evidence from Native populations, Luletz notes that though these statements my be used in environmental court hearings, they are not generally considered a legitimate form of scientific evidence. Luletz notes that by excluding these statements from consideration, the Native population  is being excluded from the decision-making process surrounding the nuclear waste areas.

This article echoed many of the recent protests against proposed fracking that have been happening across the country. With some recent violent confrontations in New Brunswick, it seems that conversations about the environmental impact of fracking have come to the forefront of news coverage. In many of these reports, there have been conflicting views of the safety of the fracking practice. Whereas the scientific “experts” employed by large corporations claim the fracking practice is safe, voices from communities near fracking sites, and some independent experts claim otherwise. Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” involves pumping water, nitrogen, sand and chemical additives at high pressure to fracture shale rock formations and allow oil or gas to flow through well bores to the surface. While concerned citizens groups are gaining traction, the conversation seems to continue around the exclusionary tactics of scientific evidence, with local impact statements by citizens living in fracking zones being ignored or framed into “social impact statements” rather than legitimized as scientific evidence.

Luletz aptly ends the article stating “Although such public voices don't wield as much power as they should in the institutionalized process, they are still important. They exist in the public record as a vision of what the centers of power look like to those on its margins. Sometimes, the voice of the people is the only record we have of what is going on within the dark zines of the nuclear landscape.” (pg. 336)

Though I agree with Luletz's argument, what she fails to see is the impact non-scientific testimony can have politically. When there is a significant collection of dissident voices, or even a small group that organizes to make a loud statement, perhaps organizing through a petition or collecting into a physical protest, these actions can garner a response from political representatives. Though personal impact statements may not have an equal weight in the court system as a form of factual evidence, they can have the power to sway legislation and cause (democratic) governments to revise or reconsider environmental issues.

Additional source material:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/fracking-debate-escalates-on-newfoundland-s-scenic-west-coast-1.1464525

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WEEK 9 - FEMINIST MACHINES

“As the technology changes, social relations change; as social relations change, the technology is altered. Cybernetic systems, at least potentially, tend toward a post hierarchical labor structure in which the system stresses interaction-among workers and management, computer systems and operators-as much as production. “ (458)

In Automating Gender: Postmodern Feminism in the Age of the Intelligent Machine, Jack Halberstam envisions a utopic cybernetic system build on social relations that morphs and shifts with user needs. Writing in 1991, Halberstam seems to predict the social media craze, where networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram interrelate and are directly effected by each others success. However, Halberstam, like many of the cyberfeminists overshoots technology's ability to move beyond the gendered body. Gender, race and even sexuality and marital status continue to be key identifiers for social relations both on and offline. What Halberstam fails to understand is that many of online social relations are extensions of our material selves. Though there are cyberspaces where these qualities can be supreceded, the most popular and widely used sites still rely on a narrow view of gender essentialism. Even many of the so-called “trans- or post-human” bodies that have been created exist as gendered bodies, and have given birth to the newly-defined “robo-sexism.” Prevalent in techno-saavyy cultures like Japan, the process of gendering robots makes especially clear that gender belongs both to the order of the material body and to the social and discursive or semiotic systems within which bodies areembedded. Ass part of the process of “reality construction” and in order to assist with their integration into everyday activities, robots are assigned limited definitions of sex and gender. Many robots created in Japan to be employed in the home or workplace are assigned a narrow and stereotypical form of gender, often based on assumptions about male and female sex and gender roles. These static, gendered robotic bodies present a controlled and fixed construct of gender, further conflating the relationship between bodies and gender, rather than transcending it, and creating new manifestations of sexist thinking. 

A documentary Gendering Robots is available on the subject via Youtube.

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WEEK 7 - FEMINIST LABOUR IN THE VIRTUAL

Tiziana Terranova's article "Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy" was printed in 2000, 13 years ago, yet somehow eerily predicted the explosion of unpaid internships and the unpaid expectations placed on the creative industry in our digital era.

Unpaid internships have become increasingly prevelant in our fledging economy, where recent graduates feel pressure to taken unpaid positions to gain experience, and perhaps one day, be hired on as paid workers. Companies exploit these overeducated workers - often using them to fill newly defined roles as social media organizers or assist with digitally-based administrative tasks. And according to the Huffington Post, unpaid internships should be illegal, yet are replacing entry level jobs, and keeping new graduates in debt longer. 

And as The New York Times recently discussed, creative industry freelancers are continually requested to produce content for the exposure it would afford them in lieu of pay. Writer Tim Kreider aptly notes that this trend "...is partly a side effect of our information economy, in which “paying for things” is a quaint, discredited old 20th-century custom." Which is, in a sense is a reiteration of Terranova's idea that "free labour" is a product of our economy's shift from industrial to digital. 

Our manifestation of cyberspace consistently relies on free labour for a steady flow of material as well as to remain culturally and socially relevant. On our pathway to economic recovering following the 2008 recession, perhaps we are in need of an economic shift, and a new definition of labour. 

Part of the issue with companies or organizations when approaching digitally-based content and marketing practices, is that these efforts are considerably less quantifiable. Determining what is gained in sales by each tweet, Facebook like or website view is a difficult task and until these business practices can be fully appreciated and understood as gaining businesses capital, the work will not be fully compensated.  

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/25/lawyer-says-many-unpaid-internships-are-illegal_n_884493.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/opinion/sunday/slaves-of-the-internet-unite.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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Presentation Response - Week 5 - Sex Ed 101

When interrogating Emily Martin's "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science has Constucted a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles" our class discussion focused on several key ideas.

The first of which was the idea Martin proposes of the cybernetic model as a possible gender-equal solution when discussing reproduction. A cybernetic model can loosely be described as a looped or circular system of organization, where multiple factors feed into one another and respond back, causing shifts or changes in eachother. The cybernetic model, when applied to the reproductive system can lend a hand rendering multiple levels or aspects of the process as "active" and each moment of action as both reactive and affective to one another.

Yet a continual problematic issue in the conversations surrounding reproduction , seems to be the emphasis onproduction,and the value systems which are culturally infused in to our language. In an attempt to queer the conversations about reproduction and sex, an effort must be made to reduce the importance of production - both in terms of the production of reproductive materials such as eggs and sperm as well as the production of children.

Addressing reproduction as relationally mutual, as a symbiotic interaction between any number or gender of bodies, is a way in which to equalize the conversation. The proposition would then be to shift the feminist discussion surrounding sex and reproduction away from being process driven, ie. "the sperm's actions create the fetus" --> "the eggs actions create the fetus " as Martin describes.

A fitting solution that was proposed in our class would be to think of the reproductive cycle as ajourney,a collection of cycles where each is slightly different from the last. New and equalized discussions on sexuality should focus on an exchange of knowledge, control (consent) and individualization.

An emphasis should be places on unproductive sex, a subversion or disruption of culturally understood norms of sexual activity. Unproductive sex offers a more inclusive approach from the tradition of defining sex as the act of penetration (and, more normatively, vaginal penetration) with the possibility of reproduction (pre or post menstrual, feeding into a fear of the menstrual cycle as wasteful).

Placing the emphasis on unproductive, or pleasure-based sex we also alleviate the sociocultural pressures placed on both genders for tradition forms of production. With men specifically, these modes create an anxiety for consistent production and an inability or unacceptability of fragility. Through pornography and the modes in which we frame discussions about sexuality, there is a harm not just to women as Martin describes but also to men. Men deal with the pressure to perform, to ejaculate seemingly on command. There is a emphasis on men as the "pleasure giver".

Unproductive sex also allows for an understanding of consent to begin at a young age. When we change the education of sex to a discussion about pleasure, the philosophical values of humanity, equality and the meaning of intimacy arise. An emphasis and knowledge of what intimacy is instills a respect for others pleasure, and open dialogues about consent and safe sex.

The conclusions to our discussion centered around the failings of adults or caregivers to properly explain or even discuss sex with children, and how in an effort to avoid uncomfort, change what should be a conversation about intimacy into a impersonal explanation of reproduction. We proposed the we could trace these failings to the prevalance of abusive relationships amongst teenagers.

The final sentiments emphasized new conversations about reproduction and sexuality that should be relayed to the next generation. We suggested that in order for young people to be properly equipped to deal with their own sexuality, they should be educated not just on the productive aspects of sex, but on unproductive sex as well. It is only with a thorough understanding of intimacy and consent can they claim to be sexually educated.

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Obtenido de: Kristian Randall portfolio. Más info en: Third Wave Feminist (3WF)

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WEEK 6 - RACE: FEMINIST METHODOLOGIES AND DISRUPTIONS

In the latest internet music video phenomenons comes Chinese Food by Alison Gold. And boy, is it awful. But not just horribly written, crappily sung and have questionable production value. It's racist.

Not only does this video promote racial stereotypes, it also has a borderline pedophiliac moment when Patrice Wilson is revealed as the giant stuffed panda and proceeds to tickle play games with a group of underage girls. He also squints his eyes slightly at parts and appears to be rapping with a fake inflection or accent intended to mimic a Chinese person. 

There are also various languages that appear as subtitles throughout the video, until actual Mandarin is spoken.

Another blaring problem is the moment with Gold, with a group of young friends, is dressed as a Japanese geisha, which of course, have nothing to do with Chinese Food at all. 

The songs racial tendency seems to be part of a growing list of ignorant rants, slurs and pop culture products concerning Asian and South-East Asian communities such as the song (and music video) ASIAN GURLZ by rock group Day Above Ground. 

But something tells me that Gold is going to be held to a different level of accountability than the boys from Day Above Ground. Our internet culture seems to prey on young girls to blame for their ignorance. But should we be blaming this young girl? What about the production company, Ark Music Factory which is paid large sums of money from rich parents to produce and write these songs? What about her parents and community that brought her up in an environment where this is considered ok?

Brainchild of Patrice Wilson, the producer who was also behind Rebecca Black's Friday (now at 58 million views) it appears Wilson has a special talent for taking these teenage nobodies and turning them into internet sensations. 

As with Friday and other Ark productions like Nicole Westbrook's Thanksgiving (14 million views) Wilson over-sexualizes his young female stars, and also has them chanting catchy and cheesy lines. Its also a glaring problem in these videos that there are no parental figures. There absence is no doubt an effort to make the stars seem older and mature, but just ends up seeming creepy and inappropriate when their rapper costar shows up. 

The shocking and somewhat terrifying difference with Chinese Food is the racial element his work has taken. Thanksgiving was definitely guilty of being non-inclusive to other religious, but never did it seem to stereotype or belittle these cultures. Was this racism an attempt at gaining more attention through controversy? Or did Wilson and Ark think this was acceptable as well?

With millions of viewers no doubt about to tune-in to Ark's latest creation, it will be interesting to track where the blame (if any) is placed. My money is on the girl, who appears to barely even be a teenager. 

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African women are blazing a feminist trail – why don't we hear their voices?

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HBO's Girls has a porn parody, with a TRAILER.

Back in May when the project was announced, Lena Dunham took to Twitter to voice her disapproval of the project.

One of the interesting aspect of this parody, points out New York Observer writer Drew Grant, is the " strange reversal of the norm going on here, with the pornography trying to market itself as less transgressive than the original series."

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A chart I creating citing the differing language and phrasing used to describe the male v. female reproductive systems.

Source:

Martin, Emily The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles in Signs (April 1991), 16 (3), pg. 485-501.  

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Where Did I Come From?  a 1985 animated sex education film.

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Woody Allen - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)

A excellent example of non-normative sperm depiction as timid, nervous and fragile.

Cited by Emily Martin in The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles  (1991)

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Week 5 - Sex and the (Techno)Politics of Reproduction

This weeks readings pertaining to the cultural biases present in texts about the reproductive organs and their parts (Martin) and films covering the process of conception (Bryld & Lykke) have got me thinking about the cultural biases present in our sexual education programs. 

When I think back to Grade 9, my first year of highschool, and at the physically awkward age of 14, I remember being in heavily gendered version of sex ed. Firstly our classes were split by gender, which may have been to teach specific biological information to each group, but ended up only exaggerating the heavily biased approaches to our lessons on sexual health.

While the "boys" (men) were assigned the gymnasium, a vast open and well lit space central to the school where issues were discussed loudly and jovially, the "girls" (women) were assigned to a portable a short walk from the main building, seemingly hidden, dark and dreary, a secluded environment where sexual issues were whispered and serious. 

The "boys" curriculum, I was to hear later, was focused on "avoiding the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and infections" where they were taught quirky jingles, and handed copious amounts of condoms. The "girls" curriculum was far more serious, discussing sex scientifically with a generous focus on pregnancy prevention and skewed explanation of sexual organs. 

This is where I began to first question the gendered nature of my surrounding, perhaps without being able to recognize or name it. I remember feeling very angry at our seclusion and felt a mounting anger at the material covered. While my phys ed teacher described safe oral sex practices as "using condoms" and the important pressure of the female role as "keeping track of ones cycle" as to aid in "avoiding pregnancy" - I was shocked at the exclusion of oral sex as being an activity that can be mutually reciprocated and the complete lack of same-sex education (it was 2001 - but we did have a growing number of openly queer individuals at our school, and I couldn't help but feel empathetic.

The straw that broke the camels back, so to speak, was when I heard my instructor write off the clitoris as having "no reproductive use". This statement deemed an entire part of the female anatomy "useless" and "not worth attention" - a part that I was beginning to consider as having some value. 

Looking back on this experience, it is clear how gendered and heteronormative my experience of sexual education was, and though there are slowly (in Canada at least) a growing number of programs to correct this such as Queering Sex Ed. 

But on another level, I worry about the generations of adults who lack certain biological knowledge (or whose biological knowledge is outdated, sexist and heteronormative) and are now parents. What programs are on offer for them?

Enter Cliteracy - a project by New York-based artist Sophia Wallace which is focused on educating the masses about the clitoris through art installations, street art, public events and merchandise. She even has a TUMBLR!

According to a 2011 post by Museum of Sex blogger Ms. M, the internal clitoris (highlighted in yellow in the images above) is a complex erectile structure consisting of two corpora cavernosa (that are said to wrap around the vagina when erect), two crura (erectile bodies that branch out from the clitoral body), clitoral vestibules or bulbs, and the clitoral glans (the part that you can see).

In response to:  Martin, Emily The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles in Signs (April 1991), 16 (3), pg. 485-501.  

Bryld, Mette and Nina Lykke “From Rambo Sperm to Egg Queens: Two Versions of Lennart Nilsson’s Film on Human Reproduction” in Bits of Life: Feminism at the Intersections of Media, Bioscience, and Technology pp. 79-93. Anneke Smelik and Nina Lykke (eds.). Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2008.

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Week 4 - Differences

When considering Rosi Braidotti's “Signs of Wonder and Traces of Doubt: On Teratology and Embodied Differences” I was struck with the notion of 'the pornography of disability' which is still very present in contemporary culture. But instead of travelling with carnivals, we see the exploitation of "the other" in reality television shows such as Buckwild, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, and Duck Dynasty which focus on the lives of 'country people' whose ambitions and opportunities are severely constrained by geography, social class, and dysfunctional families. 

Reality television seemed at one point to be focused more on unification of differences - in programs such as Survivor, The Amazing Race and The Real World who took varying cast members from across geographic locations, forcing them into one situation that would enforce some aspects of teamwork or cultural appreciations in one another. Now, however it seems many of these programs are using specific and often economically or socially challenged groups and feeding what Briadotti describes as "the popular hunger for sensations." (p 138)

The cast of Buckwild.

MTV's Buckwild follows a group of teenagers in West Virginia as they go in search of new, and often life-threatening activities to distract them from their banal rural lives. With episodes such as "Dump Truck Pool Party" large audiences would tune-in to watch country teens stuck in a life that they themselves would run away from. The show glorified a world that these characters were constrained to by making it appear as though it were just a setting for the unfolding story, and the show quickly made it to a No.1 in viewership ratings. The audience derived a certain pleasure in the characters limitations, their lack of education, articulation and wealth as well as their extremely unsafe and ill-concieved activity plans. Before the show completed it first season it was cancelled after one character died in an off-roading accident, which goes to prove just how dangerous the activities on the show were.

At a time, it seemed we were more interested in a peek of a grander life. Through aspirational shows such as Cribs, The Real Housewives and The Apprentice audiences could have a look at how the wealthy, famous and more business-saavy lived. But now, it appears we prefer to "slum it" to put it crudely. 

With shows about the poor, rural and less educated of America on the rise are we seeing the creation and obsession of contemporary "monsters"?

Source: Braidotti, Rosi “Signs of Wonder and Traces of Doubt: On Teratology and Embodied Differences” in Nina Lykke and Rosi Braidotti (eds.).. Between Monsters, Goddesses and Cyborgs: Feminist Confrontations with Science, Medicine and Cyberspace. pp. 135-152. London and New Jersey:Zed Books, 1996.

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As a feminist, its easy to fear Halloween for its overt gendering and explicit objectification. Which is why I am overjoyed to visit Allyson Mitchell's project Kill Joy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House by Allyson Mitchell this October at the Art Gallery of York University!