Transnational Sexuality

Anna Kragness

[groovykingkoala-blog]

developing thoughts

I decided to take this class because I wanted to take a break from engineering classes and see if I should be studying something else. Spoiler alert, I’m getting the fuck out of engineering. I registered for this class and a political science class along with some other gen eds to fulfill graduation requirements. I had taken a GWSS course before and loved it, so decided to take another one. I have now decided to major in political science and minor in gender, women, and sexuality studies. I’m beyond excited for where the rest of my undergraduate career will bring me. (and 100000000000% sure its better than engineering)

ANYWAYS, 

Although I found all the subject matter interesting, our discussions and readings on “timelessness” were what I enjoyed the most. For me, “timelessness” was something I always knew existed, but would never have been able to articulate or explain without this class. Johannes Fabian’s “Time and the Emerging Other” was a difficult text for me to read, but ultimately made me consider the way society operates in a broader fashion. Because of this text, I chose to write my final research paper for the class on time, anthropology, and their relationships with gender and sexuality. In short, here is what I found: 

1. “Timelessness” is a man made concept that strips individuality and, on a broader scale, culture from societies and individuals

2. Anthropologists were the founding fathers of this idea and have produced, and to some extent continue to produce, “timeless” motifs due to the fact that anthropology was heavily dominated by white and western males

3. Both domestic and international political effects of “timelessness” are detrimental to the way we treat anyone outside of the social norm or unlike ourselves

In my opinion, these are ideas that everyone should have to explore. They effect simple interactions and can be used to explain homophobia, racism, sexism, etc. They explain the reaction to the Syrian refugee crisis and the aversion to Black Lives Matter. 

This class has forced me to consider subjects that I wouldn’t have previously and to think critically in a way I haven’t had to do before. We have been able to better understand concepts through readings, discussion, roleplays, and films. I have also really enjoyed the vibes put off by the other students in the class. We all have chosen to take this class because of interest and passion, and that creates an environment that reminds me that my ideas are not radical and others are interested in the same things I am. 

[lunar-pantheon]

i dont think people really understand this

not being cis and/or hetero isnt a new “trend”

its the fact that cis and hetero has been the only thing thats shown and acceptable for such a long time that people literally automatically assume that everyones cis/hetero

and its so normalized that seeing anything other than that outside of a mention of it once every blue moon is shocking and honestly thats why things are changing??? because that mindset needs to fucking go tbh

its not a “trend”. its always been there??? its just literally been blatantly ignored and pushed away for so long that it seems like one to people with that mindset.

[groovykingkoala-blog]

!!!!!!!!

YES. I think above all, THIS is what society needs to open its eyes too. To trans, to gender nonconforming, to sex work, to ANYTHING underrepresented. We are so consumed by our own media that we don’t realize its the primary informer for all things social. Even the slightest change of skin color, nationality, gender, sexuality can open someone’s eyes to something they’ve never seen before. 

I don’t think anyone would argue that the media has always been hetero, male, white, dominated, so why would they argue that that hasn’t skewed our view on all the different types of people who coexist in our world? If “timelessless” is one of the main players in social misunderstanding, neglect is certainly his brother. They are detrimental and lead to the creation of excuses for as to why people are uncomfortable with sex, with black people, with transgender people, with drag queens, with pride parades, with identity itself. 

Awareness and identity creation are the first steps to social change. People need to understand that the issue exists before they can even form an opinion. So I encourage people to share their opinions, share who you are, share who you like, share who you love, share who you fuck, share if you don’t fuck or don’t love. Share so that others know who you are. 

[groovykingkoala-blog]

In “Gay Imperialism”, Haritaworn, Tauqir and Erdem talk about the integration project of civilizing “homophobic immigrants” (14). What is this project of integration? How does this affect LGBT Muslims, according to the authors? 

This “project” is the culmination of policies and other political factors that serve to prevent the, unjustly believed, inevitable homophobia of Muslim immigrants from spreading into the west. The authors focus heavily on the work done by Peter Tatchell, a British individual who has found himself a father of sorts to LGBT Muslims. They shed light on the problematic nature of his work [including, but not limited to, his calling Muslims as Nazis and fascists] and argue that, “politics such at Tatchell’s have worsened the situation for the majority of queer Muslims” (20-21).

The birth of Islamophobia in the west was the attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City. This event gave Americans, and other people of the west, the ability to dehumanize and fear Muslims. All around the country, one could not miss the systematic and political changes that were a result of the attacks. It became unofficially decided that Muslims were the enemy of the state and needed to be treated very carefully in order to avoid their crazy, ancient, inhumane ways from intruding on western life. 

Hands down the biggest component to the misconceptions that lead to Islamophobia is the media. The media has consistently only portrayed Muslims to be exclusively heterosexual. It also is heavily dominated by white, western people and therefore is not representing Muslims or immigrants to its full capability. It portrays Muslim societies as, “barbaric and backward” (16), and therefore unfit for gay or lesbians to live happy lives. 

So what does this mean for gay and lesbian Muslims? Misunderstanding and misrepresentation, mostly. They have become one of the latest targets of the white man’s burden. They are thought of as needing to be saved from their societies. This completely ignores the LGBT support groups that operate within these societies, and ignorantly compares them to our own when its not that simple.  When people are invisible in society, they are more likely to not receive the benefits they need and deserve, or have their needs heard. 

[groovykingkoala-blog]

Tales of the Night Fairies

Last week in class we watched Tales of the Night Fairies, a documentary that explores the stories of five sex workers in India: one man and four women. I really liked the film and found it to be well produced. It was interesting and insightful, but I felt as if the creator was trying to truly show the stories of the people and was aware that they had to be careful in doing so. The people were not shown as some other worldly, exotic, “others”, they were normal people who haven to have chosen a lesser known profession. 

I liked that it highlighted examples of individuals who were sex workers because they wanted to be, not necessarily because they were forced to do so. I think this narrative is often forgotten, if it is known at all. Undoubtedly there are issues in the sex work industry, but in which industry are there no issues? If we simplify sex work to issues that are only part of the industry, we neglect the others it serves who don’t face issues. 

I found the most interesting part of the film to be the discussion of the groups the workers had made to protect themselves from clients, society, STIs, and the police. They would go to the police department whenever they felt a sex worker was wrongly arrested and seek justice. They would find ways to convince all their clients to use condoms. They would help prevent physical violence from proceeding or escalating whenever possible. It’s stories like these that are often untold, but are crucial to our understanding of the situations presented to sex workers in their communities. 

Overall, I thought the film did a very good job at telling the stories of the workers, without appropriating them or their culture. It focused on real issues they had experienced, and did not employ a western lens over their lives. 

[groovykingkoala-blog]

According to Joseph Massad, how do US military and political interests in North Africa and the Middle East impact discussions of sexual rights?

In his text “Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World”, Massad argues that the vast majority of problems concerning homosexuality in the Middle East and North Africa are a direct result of westernization. As gay, western intellectuals began studying sexuality after the 1960s/70s movements in the west, they began to look at sexuality amongst nations and regions with completely different social structures than their own. Often times not having any personal knowledge to support their claims and perhaps only one source, they limit sexuality in another part of the world to a singular idea they have formulated. In essence, they make these people timeless. 

Within the past few decades, the Middle East and North Africa have become more concerning for the west than ever before. The emergence of ISIS, the attacks on 9/11, and the Gulf War (to name a few), were events that shed light on a region of the world otherwise neglected. At the same time, international gay rights organizations came into existence such as ILGA and IGLHRC. These organizations adopted a variation of the white savior complex in which they sought, and are still currently seeking, to not only alter any type of homosexuality activity in these regions to western ideologies, but to save the people who are adhering to these western ideologies from their corrupt governments. As a result, heterosexuality has become more pronounced and homophobia is more prominent than ever. 

Overall, Massad is trying to explain that as a nation that often finds itself in a position where it believes the best thing to do is to intervene, we may create more problems than before. In this case, we didn’t make problems worse, we created them. By pushing political and military agendas, we often do not take a critical enough look at the culture, language, and social life of the receiving nation. Even worse, we often do not ask, and assume that the people of these nations have some desire to be liberated. 

[groovykingkoala-blog]

Pornotopia

For this week I’ll be defining and exploring a term we discussed previously in class: pornotopia. A pornotopia is a non-existent place created by the west catered to western sexual fantasies. Pornotopia’s typically exploit a non-western culture and people. They sell both the culture and the people to a western audience. It is a place for westerners to come and exude their fantasies (more often than not including racialization) for a limited amount of time and then allows them to leave and return to their comfortable west.

We primarily discussed this term in relation to Jean-Daniel Cadinot’s gay porn films. Cadinot creates films that show western gay men traveling to the Maghreb (Northern Africa) and finding themselves in sexual situations with non white men. I won’t get in to the racial relations in this post because that is far too much, but they are problematic and are worth analyzing.

Back to the pornotopia, in Cadinot’s films it is easy to see how a pornotopia is a place that has temporary visitors. This is KEY for the definition of a pornotopia. The travelers visit, have sex, and then go home to their (presumably) less sexually explicit lives. In this way we are able to consider pride parades as a type of pornotopia. They are events (or “places”) in which average life is pushed to the side, sexuality is public, and the majority of people attending are looking for some sort of sexual encounter by the end of the night. Often times it can be a place for people to explore their fetishes and desires. But come the next day, all the rainbows will be packed away until next year and people will return to their 9-5 jobs.  

[groovykingkoala-blog]

race and sexuality

How do racialization and sexuality interact in the communities you inhabit? Draw on the ideas about desire and politics in Vaid-Menon’s essays to talk about this. 

I’ve really struggled thinking about this topic in relation to with the communities I inhabit. Perhaps it is because I am a heterosexual, middle class, white female that I struggle with this. For all of my life the primary relationships I have been surrounded by are between white people. I’m in a relationship with someone who is white. It was, and still is, my norm. I had to take a step back to realize that that was all I had seen and since society deems that as the most normal type of relationship, I struggled with seeing beyond. I, obviously, knew that biracial relationships, racial fetish, and other relationships between sexuality and race existed, but struggled to see how they related to ME since I was stuck in the sphere of society’s “normal”. 

I think to some degree I still am, but our class discussions, and specifically Vaid-Menon’s essay “For Lack of a Better Word”, have made me more critical of race and sexuality. I have always understood the dangers of hyper-sexualization, being a female it’s hard to imagine one could not. But, I found it fascinating to hear Vaid-Menon call for more critical discussions about race, sexuality, fetishes, why we have them, why they change, do they change, are they fixed, are some fixed, etc. They argue we have our safe spaces but now it is time to push beyond that and explore our sexual preferences critically. We need to be asking questions about the formation of our preferences, and why some are more acceptable than others. Tying this back in to race, it’s currently so taboo to discuss a racial fetish. Why is this? Are we afraid of upsetting feelings? Do we feel as if we are not born with a white/black/mixed/asian/etc fetish and therefore it is somehow our fault, and as a result we should feel guilty, that we have these? These questions are hard, but crucial for us to consider as we seek more tolerance and acceptance for people of ALL sexualities. For me, these questions are extremely hard as I feel perhaps I am not qualified to answer them because I fall into such a normative slot of sexuality. Does this make me fall to the demise of politics that Vaid-Menon is trying to push against? 

Feel free to comment because I’m actually VERY curious about other’s opinions on this and whether or not YOU feel comfortable talking about this, and to what degree. 

[annoyingfeministbitch]

STOP APPROPRIATING CULTURES

[groovykingkoala-blog]

I checked out Homophobias: Lust and Loathing across Time and Space by David Murray to read and cite in my final paper. I am going to be writing on the topic of anthropology studies of sexuality in developing countries: how it has evolved, if it is still problematic, how “timelessness” is used by anthropologists, and the political effects of all of this. 

Homophobias is split into two parts: the first titled: Displacing Homophobia and the second titled: Transnational Homophobia. In the first part, the essays primarily focus on the use of the word “homophobic” and the cultures that have been labelled as homophobic. In Transnational Homophobia, the essays focus on homophobia in a few specific nations: Jamaica, Indonesia, and Barbados. For my paper, I am expecting the first part to be the most useful in assessing how anthropology has evolved especially concerning the term homophobia. As for the issue of “timelessness”, I am expecting the second part to be the most useful. So far, I have found this book to be useful for discussing homosexuality and in turn, homophobia. It will be the main text I look to when writing my paper on these topics, and intend to find other texts for issues of sex work, pedophilia, transsexuality, etc. 

[sogaysoalive-blog]

[groovykingkoala-blog]

For my week 5 post, I decided to write about a person of note, and have chosen Harvey Milk. 

Milk was born in 1930 in New York and would go on to become the first openly gay elected public official in California. He was elected to be on the San Francisco board of Supervisors. Perhaps it is not surprising that this took place in San Francisco, typically known as the most gay friendly city in America. Tragically, just a year after being in office, Milk was assassinated. 

Since then Milk has become a figure of sort for the American gay community as well as for San Francisco. Books and movies have documented Milk’s life. His quotes and work preach acceptance and peace, while addressing important issues. Besides the quote above, I really like the following quote from Milk:

“More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.”

After reading Rubin’s piece for class, I find it interesting how Milk reclaims the word perversion and uses it to support his argument. He supports Rubin’s idea that for every sexual pleasure you find disgusting, someone else loves. He argues that homosexuality is not a perversion, in fact it can be consensual and loving in the exact same way as any heterosexual relationship. 

Because of Milk’s preachings of tolerance and progress, he has remained an influential figure and role model to this day.

[groovykingkoala-blog]

Prompt: How do the ideas and the assumptions about sexuality Gayle Rubin talks about in “Thinking Sex” compare to ideas and assumptions about sexuality now, in 2015? What new standards and assumptions about sexuality can you think of?

In her article “Thinking Sex”, Gayle Rubin discusses the politicalization of sexuality in western society. Because the article was written in 1984, things have changed a bit, but perhaps not as much as one would think. 

I found this piece to be really eye opening as well as self reflective of what I’ve been exposed to through social norms and such regarding sexuality. I have always thought of myself to be well educated in most social issues, so it surprised me to be confronted with the issue of laws against pedophiles. It’s as if I knew the extent that these laws existed, but had never truly put in the time to consider the effects of them not only on the people convicted, but society as a whole. It can’t be effective to completely demonize and alienate one part of society because of their sexual preference. I really appreciated Rubin’s emphasis on the idea of while you might not like one thing, it is someone else’s favorite thing. This must be essential in how we approach sexuality, but is also a good message to live everyday life by. On that note, she argues that as long as the two parties are consenting in a sexual act, it is okay. I wish she would have gone a bit more in depth with this concerning pedophilia because I feel like there could be a fair amount of grey area within that discussion and I would be curious to hear her opinion. 

I also found her discussion about the hierarchy of sexual acts interesting, particularly the diagram of three walls that lists, in order of best to worst, what is socially acceptable. If Rubin were to reevaluate this diagram in 2015, I think she would move gay committed relationships from the middle to the side of what is acceptable. Besides that, I would say most things are still true from when this piece was written, especially pedophilia. 

Two issues come to mind when I think of assumptions about sexuality that have changed and are prevalent today. First, is the vast awareness of the transgender community. Pop culture figures like Caitlin Jenner and Jazz Jennings have helped to begin the scratch the surface of the transgender community. I eagerly look forward to what institutional changes will be made concerning transgender people (i.e. diagnosis, surgery prices, etc.)

The other issue is the removal of the assumption that only men are raping women. Our rape culture has been turned upside down and is being fought against more than ever, and an essential part of this is understanding that rape and sexual assault is not limited to men on women. More men than ever are stepping forward and giving voice to the issue of women assaulting men sexually. This is important not only because it sheds light on the issue, but also because it spreads the message that being assaulted or raped does not make you weak or any less masculine. 

[swopspokane]

Following description copied directly from video source via Youtube: In May 2013, Monica Jones, a student and LGBT activist at Arizona State University, was arrested for “manifesting prostitution.” Monica said she just accepted an undercover officer’s offer of a ride home from her favorite bar. Monica is among the tens of thousands of people arrested every year for prostitution-related offenses. According to the FBI, police arrested over 57,000 people on such charges in 2011. The vast majority were women.

[mapsontheweb]

Legal status of prostitution by country.

More ‘prostitution’ maps >>

[groovykingkoala-blog]

So... just how progressive is America?

Today we discussed if we can choose to consider America liberal, and if so, just how liberal are we? And compared to who? Other western countries or the rest of the world? I don’t think it is possible to give us an overall liberal ranking, but rather if we are interested in exploring the subject, we should compare ourselves on certain topics. I feel like legalizing and regulating prostitution in America is rarely, if ever, discussed. This seems a bit odd as we are often so money hungry and if regulated, the government could monopolize prostitution. Perhaps the idea of someone choosing to be a prostitute for a living is so taboo to us that we refuse to even discuss it? I feel like sex workers are so often quickly written off as unprofessional, immoral, and dirty, to say a few. I’m curious to see when in the future this issue is discussed, and to watch this relatively underground community come out and share their experiences and who they are. 

[groovykingkoala-blog]

Week 2: Diasporic

Diasporic was the term we discussed in class that resonated with me the most. While reading Grewal and Kaplan’s “Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality”, I came across the term diasporic and did not know its meaning. Dictionary.com’s definition for diaspora is, “any group that has been dispersed outside its traditional homeland, especially involuntarily”. I like this term because of how broad it is. Grewal and Kaplan note that all Americans, with the exclusion of Native Americans, are diasporic. However, depending on the context, one could use the term to describe something much less broad, such as a person who was raised in Minnesota, but moved to Wisconsin. Terms like these force us to explain in more depth exactly what we’re trying to convey. I like this definition for transnational because it provides two categories of people moving transnationally: those who move by choice, and those who do not. This is a common example and one that everyone has heard, but I think still a strong and ever prevalent example. Many people who are not heterosexual live in environments where that is deemed unacceptable. Often times these people leave their environments and seek acceptance and understanding in an alternate environment. By leaving their environment and the culture that it entails to join another, they become diasporic. This example can also be found on a scale of moving from country to country, or much smaller as moving from one city to another, perhaps only an hour’s distance. These movements also beg the questions as to whether or not the movement was voluntary and if so to what degree? If a person’s life is in danger and they move to escape that, is the movement voluntary?