Ivana Melara

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The Patriarchy is to Blame

As I mentioned the modeling industry in my previous post, I wanted to mention Hasinoff’s article of the discourse around the use of mobile technologies and gendered social media. For the past few years, numerous young teen girls have been modeling through social media platforms. These platforms focus exclusively on young girls and women. However with images of young teenagers on social media platforms, there are predators who may be over sexualizing a particular individual putting this person in danger. Hasinoff talks about websites encouraging these girls to present themselves as gender neutral within their names and descriptions on the basis of “protecting their femininity”. They are being played as the victim population and the “stranger danger” complex is instilled in them. It essentially becomes the responsibility of the young girls and women to behave in a certain way online in order to not become victimized by sexual predators. Who is really responsible for their safety and who is to blame? 

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Looking at the title of this video, I assumed the commentator would be pointing out unusual flaws that do not match societal standards of beauty. But although that is what they did, the video twisted it to actually praise these individuals for having such a unique look attributing to their success in the modeling industry. They mention transpeople, albino models, androgynous models, short or petite models, models with disabilities, models of older age, and even plus size models. It was surprisingly refreshing to see individuals live successfully without modeling the typical societal standards of beauty. In comparison to the body positivity movement which we discussed in class, the video emphasizes the “other”. These are the individuals who are not conforming and are proud to still be praised by the public because of their raw beauty. While the white western body creates the standards of beauty for young women, we must be accepting of our differences rather than shunning those who do not fit in the standards.

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Pros & Cons to Social Curation

Being that the course is entitled Gender, Digital Media, and Social Curation, there were many things I did not know about social curation, like what it was for starters. Luckily, we delved into what aspects make content into a social curation and what were some of the negative and positive aspects about it. To begin with, websites such as Tumblr or Pinterest, create the platform for users to share their knowledge on a particular topic across to other users. This idea is essentially the user becoming the expert. By sending information based on your own knowledge on the matter, you can become a well-versed individual and a source others can use. Henry Jenkins coined the term, “prosumer” which is a producer and consumer in one. He explains that fan bases produce content that original creators can use. But the con of social curation would be is the information being presented verifiable and under the rules of research if it evens counts as a proper text? Another con that we discussed was the curation being conducted online still being subjected and structured by social powers, meaning sexuality, gender, race, sex, class, etc. These hierarchical of power still influences the content we see online today. We also question if the content being posted matches oneself both online and offline. We have to create our own feminist narrative of expression online without the expectations of others or by trying to “other” ourselves. 

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Rutgers One Coalition and Access vs. Interactivity

In class, we spoke about the Rutgers One Coalition which is essentially a coalition of Rutgers student activists and staff members within the union who heavily collaborate with the bureaucracies of the administration. I believe it is incredibly important to maintain an open line of communication with the administrative staff on the Rutgers campus especially during a time of crisis where there are numerous populations who do not feel safe. Recently the undocumented group of students have not felt safe after the recent declaration made by President-elect Trump to have over seven million undocumented people deported. The women on campus have not felt safe either after recent attacks have been reported of men groping and grabbing women inappropriately. It is up to the concerned student body to plead with administrative figures such as President Barchi to implement the changes on campus. We also spoke on the article presented by Lisa Nakamora and her primary concerns with access vs. interactivity through internet use. She explains that the interactivity online is built upon structures creating a complete radicalization. We ask the questions of what exactly are users producing? Especially the women and users of color? While we know that the internet factors into capitalist production evidently reproducing the inequality already within capitalistic systems, we take into account the production on racial-visual logic as well and if this access is disturbed, which we believe is not.  

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Socially Marginalized Users & A Hallmark of Neo-liberalism

For our last official class of the semester, we discussed the linkage of privacy and digital self-fashioning. In a 2013 federal study, it shows that more than two-thirds of the American population use smartphones. Out of these Americans, 64% are adults. Another recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, it shows that 19% of American rely on smartphones and are ‘smartphone dependent’. We are currently living in a society where smartphones truly rule what we have access to, even the most recent news and events on the international level.  However, those who do not have the privilege of owning smartphones or lack the access to the world wide web are considered to be socially marginalized users. The most profoundly marginalized hierarchy ranges from race to class to gender, then to skill level interestingly enough. This skill level will eventually determine their access to education. In class, we discussed how a misunderstanding of this chain of data collection can lead to serious cases such as personal theft. We mentioned the idea of the terms and conditions provided by each website each time you want to make a purchase, or created a user login, etc. These Terms & Conditions are often so long and filled with confusing jargon to the average user, I do not even know one person who truly engages with the presented text. This lack of education and language of personal responsibility is essentially what causes the scams in the first place. The internet has evidently become a new human right being that is a tool for granting social access. 

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Normalization, Neo-Liberalism, & Body Positivity

Today in class, we analyzed the articles by Sastre and Renniger dealing with the body positivity movement and how we normalize our bodies. Establishing that normalizing or popularizing bodies make them profitable for big corporations, we realized how social media platforms like Instagram only perpetuate body positivity to continuously be unattainable by the other; which in this case would be someone who does not fit in the societal body standards of ‘normal’. Those who promote body positivity via Instagram are really promoting the retailers who supply supplements, fitness programs and apparel. We also discussed how while these Instagram ‘careers’ create a personal brand for social media and product ambassadors, they are problematically supporting structures of consumerism who have no investment in dismantling these systems of power: capitalism. Relating this to neo-liberalism: which has to do with the connection between public and private sectors, it would seem as though there is no link between established state institutions and the ability to measure your own success prompting me to question what and who is considered successful? We broke down the concept of success and what access, determined by which social category you belong in, you need in order to be deemed successful by societal standards. Determining that success is a highly ideological system in part of a system of normalization, we also spoke about how one of the ways to end the cycle of using language that normalize bodies is to create narratives with political motives. We have the power to do that!

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Authenticity & the Illusion of Choice

In class this week, we talked about authenticity, falsifying identities through online social media platforms, and the illusion of choice. Some of the central themes we discussed were how power circulates and what it means to ‘exists’ on the internet. Based on the readings, we pointed out that databases designed for particular websites such as Facebook and MySpace assign values based on a binary logic of gender meaning 1 is for female, 2 is for male, and 0 is undefined. Later, based on what the user inputs would determine what the user would see. For example, similar to cookies based on a user’s prior search history, social media outlets filter the content a user is exposed to depending on past searches, gender, and even age. Since these databases solely work on the information the user originally inputs, there is an unspoken standard of being truthful about your name, location, age, etc. This leads to authenticity and its truth being possible to read and quantify. This also leads to believe that those who are not truthful to your identity lack the moral obligation to do so. 

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#SanctuaryCampus at Rutgers U.

For the past several weeks, there has been an array of mixed emotions by both political parties. The countless number of races, genders, and economic classes feel uneasy as the seldom truth begins to become our reality. The announcement of Donald Trump becoming president-elect has by far been the most unsettling news in 2016 despite the amount of murders which has occurred by white policemen. On November 16th, Rutgers University participated in the nationwide campus walk-out in protest for immigration concerns regarding undocumented college students. As the daughter of two immigrant parents, I know how undocumented parents fear of deportation especially when their child was born in the United States. Watching my peers and I come together to fight for the same cause in wake of the recent election was an amazing experience. While there were Trump supporters standing against the protesters, we continued to remain focus of the tasks at hand and remember why and who we are fighting for. It takes a lot of courage to stand up as an undocumented student fearing deportation and fight for what they feel is right. I was proud of the incredible turnout of students who supported the rally and marched side by side for one greater cause. It gives me hope what our generation is made out of and if we truly are stronger together. 

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Presidential Election 2016

The polls have closed and America has spoken. Yet, why are we still scared? As a first-generation college student and a Latina women with not one but two immigrant parents, I fear for my peers, family, and the future of the United States. Donald J. Trump has truly exposed the racism, sexism, and homophobia that still exists in this country. Yet, what is most disturbing is that the thought of a female presidency was more terrifying to the American people than a bigoted racist as leader of the free world. Belonging to marginalized groups, we must stand together and not allow our country to digress. We have come so far in granting basic fundamental rights to minorities and Trump will not destroy the ongoing progress this country has seen the past 8 years. In a class like Gender, Digital Media and Social Curation, I am taught that my words are just as powerful as my actions especially on social media platforms. Using the internet as my outlet will spark the social change and unifying groups such as the African-American community, the Latin community, the Gay community, the disabled community, and the list goes on and on. 

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Contemporary Feminist Artwork

As we begin to explore the realm of feminist art in its contemporary fashion, I find the common themes to be quite interesting. When I searched feminist contemporary art, i found that not only are the pieces bold and bright, they also use their sexuality to their advantage. In class today we discussed the Guerrilla Girls who are a group of anonymous activists who push museums to show more art work done by women. Throughout the discussion it was mentioned that famous museums such as the MET have thousands of pieces of nude women yet less than around 3% of their featured artists were women. However, in the age of digital feminism we are able to use this internet medium to our advantage in displaying the work of female artists from around the world. The feminist art movement done in the 1960s and 70s paved the way for artists to share their views on sex and sexuality, political ideologies, government policies pertaining to women’s rights, and the overall waves of feminism throughout the years. It truly is inspiring to see and hear the work women put in to showcase their talents as well as push their political agendas.  

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Hacktivism

Today was an especially interesting class discussion based on the documentary on the “hacktivist” group Anonymous. The group which was not originally meant to be a form of political protest, stemmed from the idea of being known as anonymous on various internet websites like 4chan. What I found most interesting was the lack of inclusiveness among those who were a part of the political movement. We spoke briefly in class about how the majority of the story was told from the perspectives of cis, white males who were “trolling” others for the sake of their own enjoyment not taking into consideration the consequences of such actions. Perhaps the organization should have evaluated their own set of ideals before taking part in such a powerful movement which could have created much more change if properly structured. 

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Safe Spaces within the Cyberfeminist Movement?

In this week’s assigned readings as well as during our class discussion on Monday, we dissected what safe space actually means in the digital realm on feminism. In the article, ‘Is Your Safe Space? Cyberfeminist Movement for Space Online at Unnine’, it states that the mission statement of the feminist website Unnine is to, “...make women-friendly cyberspace.” The movement is to encourage women to move freely through the virtual world without the stigmas that come with women belonging to an online community. Similarly to what Unnine strives to create, our own class established what the definition of ‘safe space’ is. Safe space should be a place of free expression without judgment. A safe space is being surrounded by others who can relate to one of your identities. Not only should you feel comfortable with those within the safe space, the environment should be able to express their opinions on topics considered to be ‘taboo’. I also personally believe that these safe spaces should maintain a sense of privacy and accountability as well as being able to debate the various ideologies within the new third wave of feminism. Safe spaces are not only meant for cyberspace but for any space where there are multiple people representing different backgrounds and group who essentially have varying opinions.  

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Upon seeing the post, initially I was outraged of course. I couldn’t fathom how an individual could still hold these disgusting views on how women should portray themselves in the media. But what I found interesting was when comparing women to common household products such as the refrigerator or the microwave, he was also speaking on the gendered experience of technology. During class discussion, the concept of essentialism vs. constructivism posed that there is this somewhat fixed notion of being especially being a woman. The idea that all women have a shared experience regardless of sexuality, race and class is completely absurd as well as a subjective way to view women.  Women who come from all different backgrounds experience the world in a completely different set of eyes. They have been trying to break out into the technological industry only to find doors shut in their face. However for the women who have been able to branch out into the STEM fields, there have been amazing strides in feminizing domestic appliances and creating more effective birth control methods.