A Blog for My Gender Studies Class :)

[theclassicsreader]

Nothing happened at its proper time; it was either too early or too late. It seemed as if the world had gone mad.

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (via theclassicsreader)

Purple Hibiscus reminds me greatly of one of my favorite novels Things Fall Apart. The former appears to be set later than Okonkwo’s story, as the Catholic missionaries are just arriving and attempting to assimilate the Igbo people into Christianity in Things Fall Apart, whereas in Purple Hibiscus many churches and various forms of Christianity have already been established when Kambili’s story begins. 

However, the effects of colonization are still prominent and similar in both novels. Okonkwo’s experience with missionaries as seeing anyone with darker skin as inferior are similar to how Kambili’s Papa attempts to act British and one of Aunty Ifeoma’s students bleaches her skin to be lighter. Okonkwo also experiences his native religion and traditions being called sinful and heathenish, with the missionaries condemning the worship of ancestors and personal gods, whereas in Purple Hibiscus Papa condemns Papa Nnukwu in a similar way for still following the Igbo religion. 

One major difference is how Okonkwo and Papa react to Christianity being introduced. Papa not only accepts it, but devotes himself to the Church with his entire life revolving around the religion. On the contrary, Okonkwo fights the missionaries and what he sees as an invasion and destruction of his people’s culture, eventually losing all hope as many of the children and even elders convert, to the point where he commits suicide. 

[genderandglobalenv]

The idea for this photo came from the novel Purple Hibiscus and how each time Papa would “punish” Kambili via kicking, whipping, pouring boiling water over her feet, etc. he would cry afterwards and say how he did these things because he loved her. The bruise, meant to have occurred from being punched, creates a heart, since Papa claimed the pain was his love. In my opinion, Papa was doing more than “punishing” his children for their wrongdoings. He was abusing them. I think this mainly stems from cultural violence and his internalized racism. Papa is deeply rooted in the Catholic faith and the ways of the “white people”. He constantly tries to be more like the missionaries and sees any deviation from the ways of the Bible and Church as sinful. 

This is reinforced by the Church being an extension of post-colonization and imperialism, so that those who conform to the western religion are viewed as higher class citizens. Papa wants to be as British as possible because it has been ingrained in much of his society that they are superior in every aspect of life, but he can never be white, and thus his frustration is taken out on his children and wife. 

Because of the power system at the time and the corrupt government, Papa and the family also experienced structural violence, with Papa and his editor Ade Coker being targeted for speaking out against the government. These factors, along with his upbringing in a strict Catholic environment, molded Papa into the abusive parent whose direct violence we see in the novel. I do wish there had been an elaboration on what Papa’s childhood was like, so we could see if his interactions with Papa Nnukwu influenced the way he interacted with his own children. 

[genderandglobalenv]

“Not Me” by Aryn Harris

The weight in my chest,

The weights on my chest,

I am not me.

My body

Is someone else.

A girl

In the mirror looks back.

Her large breasts and curves suit

Her.

I do not want to look.

They say she is beautiful.

I cannot breathe.

They say she will make a lovely lady.

But the weight in my chest,

The weights on my chest,

I am not me.

This poem describes how I feel about my body as a non-binary, transmasculine individual who is biologically female with large breasts. In the documentary Southern Comfort Robert Eades discusses how he always felt like a male trapped in a female’s body, and that his family told him how beautiful he was and put him in dresses, but it was never really him. For me, I prefer to be identified as a male since our society relies on gendering people for every task. 

However, I do not know if I will get bottom surgery. Robert believed being a man or a woman does not have anything to do with a piece of flesh swinging between someone’s legs or not being there, and I agree. I too think it is more about what is in your head and heart, but I do understand why many individuals feel gender dysphoria until they have bottom surgery. Another reason, as Robert discussed, is the lack of improvement regarding the surgery. Because transgender and non-binary individuals are marginalized and religiously/politically debated, there has been no big push to improve surgery methods. Right now female-to-male bottom surgery involves either using synthetic skin, which has no nerves and therefore no feeling, or use a skin graft that will leave a large scar elsewhere on the body. Like Robert, I believe we could easily invent better methods, but this won’t happen until the LGBTQ+ community’s well-being matters to those in power and the majority of society. 

[genderandglobalenv]

This painting “Black Madonna and Child” by Tim Ashkar reminds me of Amaka’s painting, which Kambili describes “was much like a copy of the Virgin and Child oil painting that hung in Papa’s bedroom, except the woman and child in Amaka’s painting were dark-skinned” (pg. 118). I think it is important to highlight how Amaka viewed Jesus and Mary as being dark-skinned and looking like herself, whereas Kambili imagines God to be British and white. Almost any piece of artwork that depicts God, Jesus, or Mary shows them as being white, when technically God should not have a race. Perpetuating the idea that God is/should be white implies people of color are inherently less godly and strengthens the argument of race superiority. Amaka brings this argument up when she tells Father Amadi “the white missionaries brought us their god...which was the same color as them, worshiped in their language, and packaged in the boxes they made....shouldn’t we at least repackage it?” (pg. 267). She does not understand why God must be white and English when he/she has no permanent physical form, but religion in this case and many others is used as a means of exerting dominance. Even today, God is still depicted as white and male, because that is the mythical norm and identity of those in power. 

[nativenews]

Oma͞eqnomenew poet and activist Chrystos Smith was born in San Francisco in November 7, 1946, uses they/them, and identifies as a lesbian. They were reared in the city around Black, Latino, Asian, and white peoples, and identifies herself as an Urban Indian.

Chrystos identifies with survivors of violence. A large part of their efforts are towards fighting for equality for lesbians and prisoners. Their work ranges from a variety of areas from abortion to intimate partner violence to Palestinian rights.

In her work, they examine themes of feminism, social justice, and Native rights. In a 2010 interview for the Black Coffee Poet blog, Chrystos stated, “Since my 20’s, when I saw the need to address social justice issues in words, my work just ‘pops out.’ A newspaper story, an incident from my life, a book, a song, a garden snake, a sad face I see—I have no idea, actually, how these become poems. A line begins in my mind and won’t leave me alone. I’ve learned to sit and write it down and the rest just flows.” They are the author of several collections of poetry, including Not Vanishing (1988), Dream On (1991), and Fire Power (1995).

Chrystos’s work has been featured in the anthologies This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981, edited by Cherríe Moraga) and Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (1988, edited by Will Roscoe). With Tristan Taormino, they coedited the anthology Best Lesbian Erotica 1999 (1999). Chrystos won the Audre Lorde International Poetry Competition and has received the Sappho Award of Distinction from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Since 1980, they have lived on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

[genderandglobalenv]

Chrysto’s poem embodies the impacts of colonization on indigenous cultures. Native Americans were stripped of their identities, heritage, traditions, language, and so much more, including their gender identities. When colonizers, many of whom were missionaries, began to invade lands, they saw non-binary genders like Two-Spirits as perverted and sinful, giving them the term “berdache” which was only recently no longer used by anthropologists. It was a slang term at the time meaning male prostitute. Today many tribes are working to reclaim their culture and beliefs, but many traditions and practices have been lost or forgotten. Even if Native Americans are now citizens, they are still pressured to adopt western culture and language while living on reservations with poor conditions because the land is not rich enough for profit from the privileged. Equality still does not exist for those who existed here long before white people. 

[souphearth]

to lgbtq+ indigenous youth:

just a reminder that you are under no obligation to label yourself according to the western-centric + white-centric labels of gender and sexuality.

lgbtq+ identities existed long before colonization touched our land. You do not have to exchange one type of conformity for another to fit in with other lgbtq+ folks.

If labels like nonbinary, genderfluid, etc feel good to you, go for it!

If two-spirit feels right, that’s awesome! If not, don’t sweat it.

If you have an identity specific to your indigenous heritage, you are under no obligation to translate your complex, nuanced identity into terms that non-natives understand.

You are under no explanation to explain your identity to non-natives.

(ok for non natives to reblog!)

[genderandglobalenv]

Many indigenous terms for third, fourth, or even fifth genders cannot be translated and keep their original meaning. We limit and dismiss these identities when we try to put them into English, which is already a very binary language. Until recently “they” was not able to be used for a non-binary singular pronoun and considered correct grammar. Two-spirit is not the same as gender-fluid or transgender, and should not be substituted for such. Neither is Muxe, Mahu, Hijra, etc. These genders existed before LGBTQ+ culture came into the spotlight, and it is not fair to try and force new, western labels onto the complex identities with a specific cultural context. 

[genderandglobalenv]

When I googled “ballerina” to post about the figurines Kambili’s mother Beatrice polishes after any domestic fight, I was saddened by the lack of diversity in the resulting images. Every ballerina shown was white until about the 20th image, and then the pattern continued, with about 1 colored ballerina for every 20 images of white ballerinas. Not only do I think the figurines Beatrice polishes represent the ideal form of femininity in her mind and her culture, but they also represent the racism resulting from colonization. Her husband Eugene constantly upholds the “white folks” and “British” as being better and more godly, even speaking in a British accent around them and refusing to use igbo until angry. Perhaps Beatrice not only wants to attain that level of femininity to please her husband, but that skin tone and its connotations too...just as Kambili mentions the light skin of one of Aunty Ifeoma’s students, which she says is the result of bleaching creams. To be lighter skinned is to be more superior and beautiful in the eyes of many characters, termed colorism. 

[genderandglobalenv]

In this scene from the anime Black Butler, Earl Ciel Phantomhive is undercover as a peasant in a circus troupe. He attempts to peel potatoes for the troupe’s breakfast, but ends up taking off all of the potato with the skin. This reminds me of Kambili’s first attempt to peel the yams for Aunty Ifeoma. Amaka snapped “You are wasting yam, Kambili!” before Aunty Ifeoma asked Amaka to show her how to peel it. Like Ciel, Kambili was raised in an extremely wealthy family with servants (in her case, Sisi) to prepare food, and thus had no idea how to do it herself when given the task. This also highlights the poverty of the groups in both situations. With the circus troupe growing irritated that Ciel had wasted potatoes and Amaka and Aunty Ifeoma getting exasperated because Kambili had wasted yam. Food is expensive and every bit is precious. 

Furthermore, the reasons both Kambili and Ciel are wealthy are similar and relate back to cultural violence. Kambili’s father owns many factories and is a devoted member of the Catholic Church, thereby having high stakes in both economic resources and in the very religion assimilating his people into western culture and annihilating their own. Ciel Phantomhive works directly under Queen Victoria and owns the most well-known and popular toy and candy company in Great Britain, thus having a close relationship with those in power and a monopoly in that aspect of the economy.