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Hoping/Failing

In the readings and curations from this week, I am still stuck on the constant struggle between the ideas of “passing” and of “the closet.” The line between passing as straight vs. being in the closet is so small, and often overlap, particularly in spaces with people who do not understand queerness and would deem sexuality and gender identity a choice, a disease, etc. etc.

Joy Ladin, a trans professor at Yeshiva University (and someone I know from a summer program we both worked at) posted an article yesterday on Facebook entitled “Ben Shapiro Tells Yeshiva U. Students Being Transgender Is ‘Mental Illness’” with the caption “Welcome to My World.” I was particularly struck by her response and began wondering about her interest in working at a traditional/Orthodox institution which she knows would be less accepting and understanding of trans people in general. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realize that her presence on campus may be the only time many of these students interact with an openly trans person in their lives. As such, her presence there is crucial. She represents to them the understanding that being trans in normal and acceptable, and need not interfere with being a Jewish person, a professor, etc. So, to what extent does Prof. Ladin have a responsibility to be “out” to her students, and where is the line between when she walks across campus and passes as cis and straight. Does that just put her back in the closet?

#hoping/failing #shira

Asian/American (Shira)

One of the first things that came to mind when reading Chuh’s article was the interesting nature of the title “Imaginary Borders” to describe the idea of essential erasing the dictates of locational nationality from our identities. I found this title interesting for many reasons:

1. For the first five pages of reading the article, I thought the title was “Imaginary Bodies” because I misread it and made that assumption based upon other texts we’ve read in class.

2. What is the difference between “imaginary borders” and “invisible borders?” Perhaps, the title could be extended: “Imaginary Borders and Invisible Bodies.”

Certainly, I agree that there is an“inadequacy of conventional nationalist and narrative deployments of time” in addressing the issues and identities of Asians/Americans/Asian-Americans/etc., but would imaginary borders in her idea of transnationalism solve this issue, or would it just turn non-white Americans into invisible bodies (more so than perhaps they already are)? (280). Can you truly erase the borders without erasing the bodies?

Further, “imaginary” implies something that we ourselves invent. This word is one of our control and possession. “Invisible” is about perception. How can we instead make the borders invisible and the bodies real, but maybe the differences only a societal construct and perspective, invisible?

#performingwomen2016 #Shira #Asian/American

Ana White, who runs a popular website devoted to woodworking for women, came out with her first book this fall. The cover of The Handbuilt Home showcas ...

Reading Mohanty’s article, I was particularly struck by how historically, women are most involved in more “manly” tasks only when they are needed by the economy. The examples of women working in wartime or in developing countries emphasize the dependence on the working class for the effectiveness of the capitalist society, which only needs women when men are not enough. Yet, the lacemakers in India were not counted in the census and still remained a part of the domestic economy, despite their importance in their society.

Ana White’s power tool company seems to be targeting mostly women with her descriptions and more “girl-friendly” advertisement. Her website, though, is not gendered at all. The website features information for beginners and advice and videos from her own projects.

I am currently in tech for the show I am stage managing and there are very few people with experience working with power tools. Since I am accustomed to building sets, my natural instinct was to help build. After building most of the set by myself with the help of a few other women, we all went on break and planned to continue set building shortly after. When we returned, we found two men building and when I picked up the tools I had been using before, one of the men walked up to me and told me that he could do it because I didn’t know how. He didn’t realize that I had actually built most of what existed but then proceeded to explain to me that it was best if only he and the other man continued work on the set because they “knew what they were doing.” Frustrated, I decided to watch them and soon discovered, not surprisingly, that they actually had no idea what they were doing. As soon as I walked over to help them, though, they told me that they didn’t need any extra hands and my lack of experience would just slow them down.

I hope that websites like Ana White’s will continue to encourage women to do jobs that are usually seen as just jobs for men. Additionally, her website provides visibility that women can succeed with power tools. Instead of featuring the bright pink tools that other women’s woodworking sites boast about, she features regular tools and explains them so they can be for everyone.

#workingwomen #Shira

Blackness Biopolitics (Shira)

I went down to Rockefeller Plaza earlier this evening and watched some of the results come in live with thousands of other people and it was quite a sight. As each state came in, we could hear cheering and did not know what had happened that resulted in cheering. At that point in the night, everyone assumed Clinton was going to win and now I’m not so sure but I am so incredibly stressed.

I was really interested in the video Jessica posted of Black Lesbians in the Military because I was torn between an underrepresented population being shown in a documentary versus putting black lesbians on display as if they are an abnormal sight. Puar’s article seems to be indicating that the United States’ “sexual exceptionalism” and in a country where “it must temporarily suspend its heteronormative imagined community to consolidate national sentiment and consensus through the recognition and incorporation of some, though not all or most, homosexual subjects” (Puar 3-4).

I have a lot of opinions about all of this but I am so stressed out by the election results that I am going to log off of homework for the evening. See you all tomorrow with hopefully good news to celebrate!

updated August 17, 2016 The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical imp…

Reading all of the responses, I was struck (though not surprised) by the personal experiences that all of us have had with the ideas of displacement discussed in the readings. I think to Rowan and Leo’s posts particularly regarding passing and the evolution of people understanding and questioning one’s gender and identity. Passing was never really something I thought about for myself until recently when one of my friends who uses “nontraditional” pronouns corrected someone in the middle of the conversation. The thought of correction really stuck with me. And then I mis-pronouned someone and felt guilty, since I had never met this person individually but had seen them and never even thought about their pronouns. It turns out, this person who I would have assumed used she/her/hers based on everything I barely knew about them, actually uses they/them/theirs. So now I’m wondering, what does it mean and what am I doing to them when incorrectly gendering them before even having a single conversation? I have friends who know them, but since their gender never came up, no one ever knew I was mis-gendering.

I read an article over the summer that was written by the American College of Pediatrics called “Gender Ideology Harms Children.” Long story short, I thought the article was fascinating until I realized that it was actually a bunch of pediatricians saying that since gender is a social construct, children should not pursue going through a transition because gender actually means nothing. To an extent, maybe I agree, but not yet. When we live in a world where any gender can do anything and no activities or articles of clothing or toys etc. etc. etc. are gendered, maybe then we can start talking about transitioning as less necessary.... but until then, why must we discount someone’s gender just because it is different from their sex at birth? And where does puberty/menstruation/etc. fit into this? Let’s say someone is born female and is genderfluid/identifies with any gender that isn’t a woman, would menstruating and developing breasts have an impact on their gender? Where we are in society, I think it does. If you don’t identify as a woman, the government/society should not have the right to decide whether or not you can choose to have your breasts removed--is this what the article is saying? Until gender does not exist, transitioning, even if at a younger age such as teen or preteen, is not an experience that children and families take lightly, so I do not understand why it would be so terrible to accept it. But whose decision is that? The child (subject)? The parents? Society?

Photographer Eric Pickersgill created the fascinating photoseries, entitled Removed, after realising he would frequently turn his back on his wife while looking at his phone.

The past month has been chaos with the Jewish holidays that just ended (finally) tonight, which is the reason my posts keep happening so late. I, like many other observant Jews, do not use technology and various electronic devices during the holidays. As I conclude this holiday season, I am excited to gain control and full access to my technologies once more, particularly have full access of my computer to do my homework. I have recently become more flexible with using my computer if necessary for homework or stage management. Watching the videos Rowan posted after reading Hand’s article, I was not surprised by the general negativity about the impact of technology on our ability to communicate for one another. At the same time, I agree with Evie, Aaron, and others who argued that Touchscreen does not give credit to the positive impact of the digital world. Not having the ability to communicate with many of my friends and family who do not use technology over the holiday further reminded me of the unavoidable all encompassing nature of technology and our ability to communicate with people all the time. About a year and a half into college, I began texting on Shabbat and holidays, although I do not write or use my computer. My decision to do so was twofold: without the ability to contact my non-Jewish friends, I often found myself alone and isolated. Additionally, since I couldn’t contact many of my Jewish friends, it seemed that using my phone would allow me to be able to make plans with those of my Jewish friends who do use their phones. What I did not anticipate was that becoming more flexible in my electronic uses would actually result in a very distinct and isolating divide between myself and those more religious. Since selecting to use my phone, I am interested in how I can be more mindful of my technology usage all the time, especially on holidays. I have attached a link to an article with photos of people with their phones/devices removed to draw attention to our over-dependence.

#digitaldivides #Shira

Denaturing the Body (Shira)

Over the past several months, I’ve been doing some pretty extensive research on the new trend of “alternative period protection.” I have always been slightly troubled by this word “alternative.” If using pads and/or tampons represents to us becoming the Olympic athletes they show in commercials who use tampax and can still be as feminine as they want while on their periods, is that what we want? I have never experienced any particular urge to become any more feminine or sexy during my period, though the advertisements that go along with standard products seem to indicate that periods always prevent that. However, when I look at menstruation and the female body from the Jewish perspective, all explanations indicate that periods are “dirty,” “impure,” and “bad.” I’ve been wondering how these alternative menstrual products are working to combat period negativity, while also remaining highly feminine in most cases. I’ve included below a link about the ancient Jewish laws on menstruation and purity. I don’t know how reliable the website is in general, but it’s explanation of Niddah (menstruation) and ritual purity are accurate.

“Niddah in a Nutshell The Old Testament stipulates a woman is unclean during menstruation, but the Talmud stipulates her period of uncleanness lasts for an additional week after menstruation has ended. Niddah is the word used to denote the menstruating woman and her period of uncleanness. The niddah defiles everyone and everything she touches. She may not have sexual intercourse with her husband. If she does, he is subject to arrest and perhaps the death penalty. Some niddah laws apply to Gentile women, too.”

http://www.come-and-hear.com/editor/america_3.html

#denaturingthebody #Shira

Sex Sells in Dance and Popular Culture (Shira)

After watching the videos that Schuyler posted, I was shocked that I so quickly thought back to an experience when I was a camper at camp back in 2012. I attended an overnight summer camp for the majority of my childhood through my late teens and rarely thought twice about the traditions that we had and how gender was portrayed in our actions and camp activities. Moments after watching the music videos Schuyler posted, I was reminded of a dance that all of the girls in the oldest age group always perform at the full camp talent show. Each year, the dance is different, but all of the girls choreograph a dance to a medley of popular songs that summer and the boys do the same. Did our dance look like this? Surely at my Jewish camp we did not have sixteen year old girls rolling around the floor in our bras and underwear as the women in those music videos do. I quickly stopped watching the videos and unearthed the video of this dance to watch for myself. About fifteen seconds in, the forty girls begin sexily crawling onto the outdoor stage, acting both as sex toys and animals. As the fourteen minute video progressed, each song seemed worse than the next. All the skinny girls with big breasts who were good dancers were in the front trying to use their bodies and dance skills to draw away from the girls in the back: the girls with less “appealing” body types, those of us with frizzy hair, the one girl who (*gasp*) didn’t shave her armpits, etc. I watched in horror as I only spotted myself twice throughout the whole video. The choreographers, my fellow campers, had intentionally assigned those of us who were “not as experienced dancers” (aka: not as sexy looking) to be always standing in the back, or in the one dance to the least sexually charged song: “Call Me Maybe.” Each song was either about being a pretty girl or how to win over a “good” boyfriend. I my pretty extensive memory of that summer, I do not remember even once questioning their song choice or choreography. I thought that I couldn’t do the body rolls or felt uncomfortable by the overly sexualized crawling and shimmying because I was an inferior dancer, or maybe just an inferior person? Needless to say, this summer was not stellar for my self esteem. Yet, reflecting back on it, my self esteem seems to be the least of the problem. I was unconsciously becoming a part of the problem. I partook in all of the dances without questioning anything, thinking I was the problem when something felt wrong. So, now watching these videos after reading Halberstam’s article, I am struck by realizing that these issues are (unfortunately) not unique to my small summer camp. What is popular culture teaching teens and adults alike about what is acceptable as the standard for beauty? Who can dictate what roles we should fill in society? Why was the boys’ dance just about how to get a “good” girlfriend?

Dolan, Education, and Pronouns

CW: Erasure of pronouns and gender non-conformity My apologies for the late post. I had planned to discuss the video Christine brought in detail, but I had an experience in class today that seemed important to bring to the conversation, particularly with regards to the readings this week. I am currently taking a class that examines Judaism through the lens of the women’s roles throughout history. My professor, an extremely knowledgeable one on the modern role of gender and sexuality in the education system, began the class today by talking about pronouns. As a student at Barnard, I am quite familiar and comfortable with this conversation, but once she started talking about her opinions, the room grew tense. She began explaining that using any pronouns is offensive. As such, we should describe situations only by using only names and not pronouns (ex: Shira went to the store and when Shira picked up the food, Shira decided to buy a type of food that Shira liked, etc.). At this point in her argument, I was disagreeing, but still at a place where I felt comfortable to speak my mind. Next my professor (who has implied to us that her pronoun is “she”) began stating that learning both our names and our genders is too much--thus resulting in a need for the rejection of pronouns entirely. Here, I was confused. Why reject pronouns completely? I understand the gendered nature of pronouns and do believe that we have both the right and the necessity to make our pronouns clear to those around us, especially if we prefer pronouns other than how we present, or if we prefer pronouns other than he and she. However, she (sorry, but I have to use pronouns here) insisted that using the pronoun “they” is only a decision by gender-nonconforming people who wish to make others’ lives more complicated. I have met many people in my life who prefer “they” or do not use “he” or “she” and I can confirm that of all of these people, none of them have the intention to further complicate other people’s lives and cause trouble because of their pronouns. In fact, many of these people use “they” because of the lack of gender neutral language that exists and their desire to prevent confusion of adding pronouns that take extra explaining (please correct me if I’m wrong, and I’m so sorry if I am). At this point, one person in my class was openly crying. Though my experience with non-he/she pronouns is only secondhand, I felt the need to say something and defend my morals for allowing people to have their own pronouns that may differ from what may be immediately obvious. In this class of twenty students, no one is openly queer and just imagining what people who are questioning their pronouns or struggling to come out were facing made me livid. A few students were participating, all pushing back on her ideas. I raised my hand and explained the New York law that came out this summer, accepting 31 genders and that denying people of their pronouns is both illegal and subject to a fine of up to $2500. My professor respectfully listened and then countered by saying that this law is new and that we don’t really have pronouns for gender nonconforming individuals. I decided to stop speaking. I was uncomfortable and angry that my outwardly liberal and queer professor was unable to accept other people’s pronouns and ultimately their identities. Looking back on that class, I am disappointed with myself that I did not push back more. Sure, I was shocked by her statements, but I realize now that the magnitude of the class’ silence speaks louder than her opinions. What is my role, as a cisgendered woman in this conversation? To what extent can this professor tell us her opinion and where should she draw the line? Dolan’s piece Performance as Feminist Pedagogy was both relieving to read and disappointing. The importance of integrating feminist methods, queer theory, etc. into courses is crucial, but where has that been in my 15+ years of formal education? How can an openly queer person profess against the inclusion and equality of all genders? I’m speechless but know that I must speak out.

rainbowphysics101

Hello I am auditioning for the role of Hanchen and I’ll be singing Sticky Situation for A Christmas Story the Muscial

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