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Entry #22: Final One

I enjoyed looking at different subjects through the lens of race and sexuality in particular. Learning about and participating in education with a focus on intersectionality is my passion, and the sociological imagination too. That’s why I’m a sociology major and why I want to be a professor. Focusing on race and sexuality in particular helped me see how important these ideas really are.

Reflecting on what we learned about women and feminism: I’m still a feminist and I still support women just as much as I did before this class and before this project.

However, I don’t feel like I learned anything remarkably new. I loved reading Lorde and bell hooks. Women of color writing artistically about women of color and non-hetero women and their perspectives on the world. Naomi Wolf, not so much, because I feel like we were reduced to our genitalia, and I don’t think that’s what feminism is all about. It’s important to learn how our history related to the control of our sexuality still has impact today, but that’s not all of it. It’s very niche. It was fun reading about Rebel Girls and how their geopolitical location affected their version of feminism and the politics there. The first two textbooks just validated second wave feminism. We’re in the third wave, let’s move on.

Overall, this project was good and I will continue to have an intersectional perspective with many different issues: How does race play a factor? Does SES have any impact? What about the historical perspective on gender? Sexuality? Ability?

I will move forward with my life with these thoughts and a new intuition about women and how feminism looks to be more inclusive of women of color and non-hetero women.

Entry #21: Vagina Section 3

Today, we were put into similar groups like the one two entries ago. My group was the one analyzing the part of section three that addresses if ‘cunt’ is still “the worst word there is”. There was a lot of discussion about this in class and I’m glad there was!

For women as a whole, calling her that term is extremely demeaning, reducing, and rude. Regardless of her race or sexuality. One or two students mentioned today that they or a friend of theirs are reclaiming the word and a source of power against the person calling them that. In my opinion, it’s one thing to call a woman a bitch, it’s another to call her a cunt. Calling a woman a bitch implies that she is being mean, rude, or bossy in a negative way. Calling a woman a cunt reduces her to her sex, to an object to be used whenever necessary. This verbal abuse is similar to the threat that women of color and women of nonhetero identity face daily depending on their geopolitical location.

Realizing this, I begin to feel more and more against that term being used. Don’t get me wrong, I curse like a sailor. They’re sometimes sentence enhancements, and I’m incredibly casual in most situations with other human beings. But I don’t call women cunts. It’s so gendered and belittling. Almost too gendered and belittling. However, it’s becoming more commonly heard and I’m conflicted about that. Is there an insult even worse? Can women in general stand up against insults like this? We are strong and resilient, but language is hard to change.

Entry #20: The Vagina Kayak

Megumi Igarashi is a Japan-based artist known primarily for her “pussy boat”, or as we talked about it, the vagina kayak. In Japanese society, women’s genitalia is “overly hidden” while men’s genitalia is overly shown, even celebrated. This leads to shame and stigma for women’s sexuality, but pride for men and theirs. There is already a unique fetishization for Asian women and their sexuality, and thus, Japanese society is responding by silencing their sexuality as a whole.

Lorde talked about how our suppressed thoughts, feelings, emotions, and such, and that gives them more power. I think that really applies here.

I really like how Igarashi is challenging society’s norms and that is just a reflection of how women, I think, are constantly trying to make positive progress in the world. Although Igarashi has been arrested twice for her vulva-themed works, she continues to make art that is critical of Japan’s society, which include misogyny,gender discrimination, and suppression of women’s sexuality as a whole. As a result of this, I think it’s really inspiring how women in general act out against more traditional societies, or societies that are not as accepting of the ideas they bring to light. I always imagined myself as being one of those women, but it’s hard to! I want to do more, but school and work are full time jobs, and it’s hard to face adversity when so many other things are going on. I’m very proud of Megumi, and I hope I can be like her someday, it’s really inspiring. Her cheeky view is also pretty funny.

Here’s a great article about Megumi!

Entry #19: Vagina Section 2

This week, we talked about section two of Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf, “History, Conquest, and Control”. We were put into groups and my group was told to ask questions and analyze a certain section on “The Victorian Vagina: Medicalization and Subjugation”.

We talked about the dichotomy between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ vagina, and began to realize how many of our current ideas about women’s sexuality and our genitalia in general came from this era. Women’s sexuality was very much under control at this time, even stating that women’s sexuality was a threat to a stable society much like terrorism or anarchism. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a sort of confusing power! I can dismantle society by being in touch with my sexuality? Bring it on!

There wasn’t much talk about race in this section, only medicalization and control. It’s important to bring up that many women (most likely immigrant women and women of color in lower classes) just couldn’t afford to go to the doctor, so they went to one not licensed, in unhealthy conditions. Women have been forced to undergo forced sterilization, which was not mentioned in this section of Vagina. I’m sure many of the ‘forced pelvic exams’ Wolf talks about include sterilization.

It’s shocking to see that women were kidnapped off the street for making any effort into their appearance because of the thought of prostitution. Women died because of masturbation. Our sexuality was deemed as bad as terrorism.It makes me glad to live in this era.

Reading this section doesn’t change my perceptions about women too much, it only enhances the fact that we are strong in the face of adversity and have always been progressive to learn more about our bodies, and ourselves.

Entry #18: Vagina Section 1

Reading Naomi Wolf’s “Vagina: A New Biography”, I can’t help but feel that she is reducing women’s daily experiences into only sexual ones. Lorde talked about how our erotic can become a source of power, but she doesn’t specify the female orgasm and the act of sex. Wolf does. Wolf is also sometimes inclusive of non-heterosexual women, but seems to be very monogamous in that fact (with “a partner”). There’s no mention of poly relationships.

Overall, I find the book to be pretty interesting, and not hard to read, whereas I sometimes needed to reread passages of Lorde to really get the fullest extent of her meaning and intent. It is also a large contrast to go from something written more artistically to something with medical terminology.

After class discussion:

I’m glad we as students were finally able to bounce ideas off of each other. Although the beginning of the class was the typical “I found this interesting,” roundtable, we zeroed in on one topic: the vaginal orgasm and the myth of its existence. I’ve Googled the subject and have come across many articles that debate it, and found personal anecdotes that include “experiments” to see if the author could have one. Some prefer to call it the “G-spot orgasm” or point to other areas such as the p-spot (?), a-spot (?), or the cervix.

Honestly, after today, I’m kind of tired of talking about orgasms. I hope section two isn’t sticking with this idea that orgasms and the whole reproductive system are the source of women’s creativity, passions, and behavior. I feel that it’s unfair to women who aren’t necessarily sexual like other women are. My ideas about women have not changed much, my current ones are just reinforced.

Entry #17: Shortbus

Shortbus is a film I watched recently as part of a screening for my study abroad trip in Amsterdam this summer. It explores sexuality, relationships, and is sort of a coming-of-age (sexually) movie.

I love it because race does not seem to be a factor in this film, and although the cast is mostly white, the main protagonist is Asian American. If there is a person of color, they are not sexualized as they usually would be (Asian = kinky, Black = animal). The plot is particularly twisty and turny, with many characters’ plotlines coming into interaction with others. At first glance, one might think that a certain character will be a main one, but they actually are not!

The film explores sexuality in that the main protagonist, Sofia, is pre-orgasmic, meaning she cannot orgasm. This kind of wall is never really discussed in any of our novels that we have discussed so far. I’ve begun reading Vagina by Naomi Wolf, and that is not mentioned at all. Wolf ties orgasms to women’s creativity and even our nature, so what about women who are pre orgasmic? Are they not creative as others who can? Lorde also talks about how our erotic is tied to our beings in “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power”.

Watching this movie has just brought up more questions than answers for me, so I hope I can talk to the class about this, too. I think that this just reminds me that not all women are sexual beings like we generally think everyone is. It just reinforces the ideas for me about intersectionality and how women’s experiences define their lives.

Entry #16: Master’s Tools

“The Master’s Tools with Never Dismantle the Master’s House” is probably my favorite speech/essay by Lorde. I can only imagine her speaking this aloud, and how strong she must be.

Like “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”, Lorde states that as women, we’ve been taught to either ignore our differences or be suspicious of them, thus dividing us. This itself is a tool of patriarchy, and works especially well on the basis of race and sexuality. White women were taught to be suspicious of Black women, and straight women are taught to be suspicious of lesbian women. Like in the other essay too, she even states that as a Black lesbian, she may be someones worst fear!

She talks specifically about “the personal is political” and how the second wave of feminism is not doing a good enough job of including Black women and lesbian women in academic feminist circles. I still feel that this isn’t done very often, I’ve read numerous articles, books, essays, and been to conferences, and they seem to forget about these women. Or they are just another statistic and their experiences are invalid to the whole. Or, they’re something for “further research”. Who knows if that research is actually done like it said it will be!

I think we need to be more honest with ourselves and thus, move forward with being a more inclusive and intersectional feminism as a whole. It isn’t “playing the race card.” Women of color and women of minority sexualities must be resilient in their daily lives just to survive sometimes, and that deserves respect.

Entry #15: I Am Cait

Today, we had a brief discussion about I Am Cait, the E! documentary series about Caitlyn Jenner. I haven’t watched the show, but I’ve done a bit of research on it.

There’s a lot of talk about if Caitlyn Jenner can be the new LGBTQ spokesperson because of her class and privilege, but I’m not sure. Because she is of such privilege, she does not understand the lived experiences of one that is a person of color, of a lower SES, one without protection, etc. Laverne Cox, for example, has been considered a strong advocate for trans people, and it may be because she wasn’t originally a person with a status like Caitlyn has now, she worked to the top. She talks about how a trans identity and race intersect with one another (Kimberle Crenshaw, anyone?), and has been given many awards for her activist work.

Maybe Caitlyn is still learning, after all, her transition happened abruptly (at least to the media). Caitlyn, before her transition, was hypermasculinized because she was an Olympian gold winner, a model, auto racer, and football player. This is possibly caused many to distrust her.

Coming from a high SES, white family, Caitlyn has a lot to learn about those with less privilege. But as for being the next global advocate for LGBTQ youth? I personally think Cox is a better candidate, not only because she is a woman of color, but she is perhaps more relatable? Also, it’s not fair to bring up sexuality in this, so I won’t. There is a lot of misunderstanding in general.

It brings up the discussion of whether or not trans women are “really” women. They may not experience the same kind of discrimination as cis women, but they experience discrimination on a different level. Reflecting upon this, I want to educate others and reduce discrimination against trans women. Transitioning one’s gender identity is so incredibly hard, and I want to be there for support of the women who go through this.

Entry #14: The Transformation

Lorde’s “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” really struck a chord with me. I, like many other women, are silenced. Women of color, and women who are not heterosexual, and both, are silenced in particular because of these aspects of their identity. Their points of view are not valued and thus, they are silenced, kept out of dialogue, kept out of education, literature, history.

Lorde talks about how we need to bridge our differences: “we not hide behind the mockeries of separations that have been imposed upon us and which so often we accept as our own,” and how being open with each other “that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.” To create an open dialogue is to be vulnerable, but with that comes trust and an ability to move forward. You can’t break down walls without the tools and teamwork, right?

Lorde, as a Black lesbian woman, realizes she herself may be the face of someone’s fear, and how she is both hypervisible and completely invisible at the same time. Lesbian women are silenced because they are hypersexualised in pornography, but calling someone a lesbian or a dyke is an insult. There are so many contradictions to these oppressed identities and silence. How Lorde describes this in her essay makes it very clear.

As a result of this, I have began to think more deeply about how certain identities make us both hypervisible and invisible at the same time. Women who experience this on a daily basis are incredibly strong and resilient. I have so much respect for them!

Entry #13: A Fourth Wave?

I came across this article that a friend of mine shared on Facebook, and I thought it might be worth a common book entry!

It seems that the “rebel girls” have turned into “rebel women” in the fourth wave of feminism. In my women’s studies class last semester, we often talked about what the fourth wave of feminism might look like. Many of us students didn’t even think that we might be in the fourth wave right now! We mainly considered ourselves third-wavers. I loved this article because it talked about many different topics, and tried to not be so “white feminism”.

The only thing that the article didn’t seem to address, was sexualism. How are lesbians and non-hetero women in general affected by/incorporated into this fourth wave? The only mention of sexuality is when the article mentions Kimberle Crenshaw and how she coined intersectionality in the late 80s, and how that plays into this new wave of feminism. Sexuality is very important as to how people are treated, and many youth commit suicide because of bullying related to their sexuality. Is this going to be addressed as a sexuality thing, or a bullying thing? There’s still a big dialogue about bullying in school, but I’m not sure it’s included or even counted as a “feminist” thing.

As a result of this, it’s kind of discouraging to see that sexualism isn’t being included in the discussion. I know that women are working hard to be inclusive, and I know it’s hard. This hasn’t changed my ideas about women too much, but it can be discouraging at times to see certain ideas not represented.

Entry #12: Poetry is Not a Luxury

We’ve finally got to reading Audre Lorde. I’ve been looking forward to this as she is cited across the board for her impact on intersectional feminism and contribution to women’s literature.

In Poetry is Not a Luxury, Lorde talks about how poetry is not a luxury for the oppressed, but it is a luxury for those who are privileged. Canon poetry is often held up on a pedestal, a form of untouchable art that we can often only look up to. I remember in my 7th grade, we were made to create a poetry book, and for many students (including myself), it was a struggle. We had to follow specific forms of poetry, specific rhyming sequences, and have it be a certain length. There’s no doubt that rhyming sequences and those specific kinds of poetry are important, but sometimes other forms of poetry aren’t taken as seriously.

We need to remember that poetry isn’t limited to the white, middle-class, privileged world. As Lorde says: “But as we become more in touch with our own ancient, black, non-european view of living as a situation to be experienced and interacted with, we learn more and more to cherish our feelings, and to respect those hidden sources of our power from where true knowledge and therefore lasting action comes.” She mentions that our “white fathers” came to value reasoning and logic over emotional feeling, and how that has come to disadvantage women. That is evident in how women aren’t taken as seriously as men because we are considered more emotional and less rational than men. This has disadvantaged women as a whole, and other oppressed groups too (racially/sexually) like Lorde mentions.

Lorde provides a unique view on women’s art and women’s lives in general; a more artistic view. I love it, and how I talked about Nzotake Shange below, I will continue to search out women’s art, literature, and creations to have that included in my own perspectives.

Entry #11: Being 13

If only this entry lined up with my 13th entry! For class tomorrow, we had to read a TIME magazine article from 2005 about teenagers talking about various topics, from cyberbullying, dating, their outlook on life, and their education.

In general, I thought it was an interesting read, but it was very heteronormative, and although there are many examples of people of color in the article, very white-centric. There is even a part of the series of articles that talks about the Church, with only a brief side article about life as a Pakistani Muslim teen. There’s even a Church (Rite 13) that is “modeled on bar and bat mitvahs as well as Native American vision quests and African rites of passage” as if these religious and spiritual traditions are something to be added in to be “diverse”, but still in a Christian setting. Lets not forget that Jews, Native Americans, and Africans were slaughtered because of these traditions.

As for being heteronormative , the survey that asked teens about dating only asked about heterosexual relationships. It seems that the survey didn’t ask about any other type of relationship, and it seems that this pointed toward sex being only a boy-girl activity. Marriage, too. I’m not sure that this is the best way to actually be representative of these teenagers, as only 501 (with access to a computer!) were surveyed.

I just think its really important to address and be actually inclusive of other cultures, rather than adding them to the mix to be considered diverse or just to get the attention of youth. Having the input of women in particular too, is really important, because over history, women have been excluded from discussions on just about anything; that’s why women’s studies courses are so important to be included in regular curricula.

Entry #10: Spring Break

Over spring break, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel the east side of the Mississippi with a bus of Spartans for a community service trip. Students Today, Leaders Forever, or STLF, is a nonprofit aimed at working with young people to enhance leadership and work at bettering communities. Even just for a day. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my trip, and you could see a tangible deed done, but I also read this article on service trips. Voluntourism, as it is now lovingly called, is the way in which students go on “service trips” but don’t actually make a difference in the community they are “serving” since they show up, do some ego-boosting-feel-good activities, and then leave.

Now how is this related to my subject, you ask? Well, many communities (only one of which I visited) are low SES and mainly people of color. In Atlanta, we were able to help out at a community urban garden run by an older woman of color. It was great, but I began to think of how much of a difference are we actually making for her by moving some mulch? Of course we only had a day, and she was very grateful for our help (she even made us a huge batch of Jamaican sorrel tea), but afterwards, we spent the rest of the day in Atlanta actually being tourists! I am still conflicted about this, and as our bus was mostly white people (or passing as white), I’m afraid that we had the “white savior” voluntourism thing going on. And that’s not cool, it just perpetuates bad stereotypes and that kind of mentality. I hope we talk about this in the coming weeks.

These women work so hard to create safe places in their communities and it’s really inspiring.

Entry #9: Rebel Girls

This week, my group read Chapter 3 of Rebel Girls, and my focus was on Youth Responsibility and Adult Failure. Youth involvement in social movements is more common than is talked about, and for example, the Civil Rights Movement and the Free Love Movement throughout the 20th century.

Youth in the Civil Rights Movement fought for racial equality for reasons similar to the girls talked about in the chapter. Violent clashes with police during the 1960s during integration (the Little Rock Nine) and other arenas were spawned by the youth because adults did not seem to care. There is evidence of black adults wanting to keep segregation, so that blacks could unite and work together separately. But this ideal has shown that this separation isn’t a good idea and still spawns an us/them mentality, worsening the situation.

The free love movement has been entwined with feminism for years, and its relationship with sexuality has been very complex. For women of color, the stereotypes of either being virginal or sexually exotic are a constant double standard with men. Youth in the sexual revolution and hippie/free love movement were able to explore their sexuality and for women of color, this opened up new avenues of understanding their identity. In a traditional setting, women of color are either motherly and virginal, or the Jezebel: sexually promiscuous. The involvement of youth in these social movements have allowed them to understand their identity at a deeper level, and these countercultures provide new ways of thinking about race and sexuality too.

Learning about this history has provided a new light on how women’s identities as a whole were defined by these movements, whether they were active in them or not. I love learning about social movements and the women actually within them, it shows me that women are active political actors all across the world!

Entry #8: Ask an Asexual

We often forget that asexuality is in fact a sexual orientation. There are many assumptions along with the term, but just like any other sexual orientation, there are general definitions and specific caveats that is up to each person and how they feel to express themselves sexually. With talking about race, black women have the stereotype of the Jezebel, a sexually-promiscuous woman that would do anything for sex. The idea of asexuality is in complete contradiction to that, and as an orientation, is still not taken very seriously.

I personally think it’s so important to remember that not everyone has the need or even want to be a sexual being. There isn’t a lot known about this, and I want to become more involved in the LGBA organizations on campus to make this more common knowledge. More common knowledge leads to a sense of acceptance and less judgement, even violence. In antebellum slavery, women of color were literally the property of their masters and were raped whenever the master wanted. This is horrifying to look back on.

Women of color, like I said above, often have the stereotype of being extremely sexual, they are fetishized and seen as exotic, depending on their race and sexuality. This reduces women to objects and makes me angry, because I am a woman! Asexual women are seen as strange, as it is assumed that all women are sexual beings because we have children, well, not all women are sexual, and not all women can or want to have children. It’s not fair.

Entry #7: Considering the Geo-Political

Following my last entry because I’m still down with the flu, I’m going to answer another question from my guiding questions.

How does considering the geo-political affect what we can understand about your interest area?

Considering the geo-political just adds another form of identity with race and sexuality, which is so important. Where people are from really affects their life course. For example, a youth of color who is of a minority sexuality from a rural area has a hugely different experience than one from an urban area. The laws of the state also can dictate how one’s life course can go. At one time, one could be fired from their job if they were found to be gay, and this kind of job uncertainty has effects on health. Like in an earlier video, the case of Uganda is not too unique, many impoverished countries have violent, negative views about homosexuality.

This reflection just strengthens my view about how important intersectionality really is. The state has a huge impact on our lives, and women in particular too. Access to safe and affordable health care, regardless of race or sexuality like my thread, is still contended today. Again, this just goes to show how tough women really are, and how hard we are willing to work to make progress within our nations. I feel that sometimes, we don’t take these impacts as seriously as certain things that go on in our personal lives, but it has shown that the state is directly involved in our lives, whether we want it to or not. It’s only fair to people of color and people of minority sexualities to push for more legislation that is fair as a whole.

Entry #6: Considering Race

I’m officially down with the flu, and unable to go to class. I’ll write my next two posts on the guiding questions, hoping to expand on them a little bit more.

How does considering race as an issue important to your topic add to our understanding of that topic? I.e the one drop rule

As I’m already focusing on race and sexuality, this question is innate. I am interested in intersectionality, and how these two identities affect one another and peoples’ experiences of the world. I hope to find more blogs about people of color that aren’t just black individuals, such as people of Asian descent, Native American, South American, Islanders, Hawaiians, etc. It’s also important to remember that Eastern Europeans weren’t considered white at one point in time, even simian (i.e apelike), but I’m going by today’s standards of whiteness. People that that are of Caucasian descent have a more privileged position than those that can pass as white while still being of a minority descent. These people have a very unique experience, and it brings up questions about the one drop rule, too.

The one drop rule has affected women’s lives directly related to their race and sexuality for decades. The one drop rule in terms of race is well-known, but bisexual women are often seen as “transitioning” from straight to gay, you can only be one or the other, i.e, a one drop rule. I don’t think that’s fair, sexuality is fluid. These don’t really change my ideas about women in any strong way, I just think society in general should be more fair. I will personally be working harder to be more fair to women and understand the intersectionality affecting their lives.

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My Common Book: Women's Studies, Race, and Sexuality