[yungsluug-blog]

Had a (long, rambling) conversation with my friend about a few topics we discussed in class. Kudos if you make it to the end!

sources & references:

tumblr post exemplifying Haraway’s “feminist, socialist cyborg”

http://www.loramathis.com

Mehreen Kasana (2014). “Feminisms and the Social Media Sphere.” Women’s Studies Quarterly.

Mia Consalvo (2012). “Cyberfeminism.” Encyclopedia of New Media.

“American Reflexxx” (short film by Signe Pierce and Alli Coates, 2013)

[weirdbabee]

I started following Stef Sanjati recently on YouTube and I thought her channel perfectly fit this week’s writing assignment. Stef is a transgender woman that documents her transition online. She actually started her YouTube channel before coming out as a transwoman and now using her channel to help and give advice to other young trans people. I feel her channel is definitely a good example of cyberfeminism, especially when it comes to transgender issues.

In this video, Stef describes what Waardenburg Syndrome is and how it affects her life. During the video, she is constantly presenting herself as personable and as someone that you would legitimately consider a friend. She explains things in a light and funny way. She is also ultimately comforting and showing an effort in trying to reach out to others that may have the same condition. In Kasana’s article, “Feminisms and the Social Media Sphere”, she states the following, which I feel best describes why Stef presents this video in such a positive way, “Humor is an effective tool in attacking misguided views and we all used it generously because, in simple terms, there is nothing more energy draining than to constantly delve into a discourse that not only paints you as the Other but also demands that it speak over you and your politics.”

During this video, Stef answers some pretty personal questions in regards to her transitioning and her life before transitioning. This video, and her others, are a perfect example of the type of intimacy provided by vloggers. Stef, and other vloggers, provide this sense that they are almost like your friend. As Laura Horak states in “Trans on YouTube,” “Trans vlogs become even more powerful by generating impressions of authenticity and intimacy; the YouTube talking head brings trans individuals close to the viewer, both in seeming physical proximity and feelings of intimacy.”

Despite Stef’s positive energy and bubbly personality, people still leave negative comments, either towards her and/ or towards her followers/ other commenters. These comments are a clear example of the type of harassment that Filipovic describes in her article, “Blogging While Female”. Here you see men commenting on her looks, on the fact that she is trans, and trying to shut up other female commenters that may call them out on their bigotry. Filipovic states that “anonymous commenters [usually male] harass and sexually demean women in an effort to intimidate them out of public participation” and that “these kinds of sexualized insults reflect attempts to put women in their place;” I feel that these comments are a perfect example of exactly that. These men did not like these women calling them out and sharing their voice, so in order to shut the women down, these men begin to attack their physical appearances.

Although Stef is a role model to many, it can be suggested that she is not a perfect role model for all. Because of Stef being a typically beautiful, white woman that seems to be well off, she couldn’t possibly address the issues that poor trans people of color face. And because of her being white and although she does experience sexism, she does not have to worry about the racism of being a woman of color. As Kasana states, “If the profile of the said female blogger also highlights that she is not white, male Western bloggers increase their virulent hatred by slinging a list of racist obscenities.” Because of YouTube predominately white popular vloggers, it “should not be mistaken for an utopian space” (Horak).

Work Cited

Laura Horak (2014). “Trans on YouTube: Intimacy, Visibility, Temporality.” Transgender Studies Quarterly.

Mehreen Kasana (2014). “Feminisms and the Social Media Sphere.” Women’s Studies Quarterly.

Jill Filipovic (2007). “Blogging While Female: How Internet Misogyny Parallels “Real-World” Harassment.“ Yale Journal of Law and Feminism.

[yungsluug-blog]

I remember I watched a few of Stef’s videos a few years ago and found her really interesting--it’s cool to see that she is now part of a growing community of trans youtubers. Something your post made me think about, though, is the exploitation of transgender celebrities and youtubers. When describing Stef’s videos, you note that they are “intimate” and that Stef answers “pretty personal” questions about her transition. Another popular trans youtuber I watch, Gigi Gorgeous, makes the same sort of intimate, informative videos, and the same goes for Princess Joules. And I’m sure we all remember the media’s months-long swarm of coverage during Caitlyn Jenner’s transition.

These super-personal stories suggest that society exploits trans people in a way that makes them feel obligated to prove the validity of their identities. In Kasana’s article, she talks about how brown women on the internet are always “othered” and referenced as “anthropological projects” rather than human beings. It seems as if the same treatment goes for trans people. Horak touches on this in “Trans on Youtube: Intimacy, Visibility, Temporality”: “transition videos have become particularly popular because they also exploit the platform’s inclination for the spectacular... In video diaries, subjects use a profusion of techniques to direct viewers’ attention to new aspects of their bodies that signify their desired gender“ (Horak).

And while it seems like society is focused on either hating trans people or fixating on their physical transformations, maybe it is presumptuous for me to say that them willingly sharing their stories is exploitative. After all, trans youtuber and musician Skylar Kergil said in an Atlantic interivew that “the process [of vlogging] was one of both self preservation and creation...so that I can remember where I have come from while simultaneously encouraging self-reflection, creation, and the exploration of my identity as I grow” (Deshane).

[yungsluug-blog]

women’s sexuality in affective economies

In an affective economy, “emotions do things, and they align individuals with communities—or bodily space with social space—through the very intensity of their attachments” (Ahmed 119). We saw in American Reflexxx that women openly expressing their sexuality is still a taboo in American culture, but what was particularly interesting were the reactions to Pierce’s mirrored mask, a literal and metaphorical reflection of society’s response to an anonymous overtly sexual woman. 

I noticed some parallels between American Reflexxx and Instagram user maidenfed. maidenfed often posts “controversial” sexual content and selfies, and her comments section is either praise or a mix of unwarranted observations about her body, whether it’s men expressing their desire for her to fulfill their fantasies or people insulting her appearance. One particular example consistent in both American Reflexxx and maidenfed’s comments is the fear that this hypersexualized woman is not biologically female. 

Like the people repeatedly jeering that “she’s a dude” in American Reflexxx, maidenfed’s commenters seem fixated on what she “could be hiding” (Avedisian). Despite the fact that maidenfed’s face is shown in most of her photos, the internet’s ubiquitous mask of relative anonymity seems to encourage commentors to fixate on her body–her perceived attractiveness as well as her gender identity. This internet etiquette transfers into corporeal life, representing the patriarchal notion of a “good” woman being one who keeps her sexuality under wraps, and a “real” woman one who values modesty. Those who do not fall into those categories cause disruption; in American Reflexxx, the crowd seemed to revel in their normalcy because “they were granted the power of commonality, one that they could all bond over” (Avedisian). Like Pierce, maidenfed’s unconventional sexual content makes her a target of  hatred; and like Pierce’s mask, the sheer veil of the internet makes her the target of obtrusive remarks about her identity as a woman (see comments by ziyad_v8, jvmesmzx, zinigrng, etc).

One notable difference is that maidenfed seems to have as many–if not more–supporters than haters, whereas Pierce had only one person help her after she was pushed down. This suggests that the internet provides an insulation to the harsh outside world; people like maidenfed “have been able to assert their voices in the age of the internet. We’ve been able to carve out our own hive where we can exchange ideas and aesthetics without being censored or discouraged by the powers that be” (Avedisian).

sources:

http://rhizome.org/editorial/2015/aug/19/interview-american-reflexxx/

Sara Ahmed (2004). “Affective Economies.” Social Text.

https://www.instagram.com/maidenfed/?hl=en

[yungsluug-blog]

Most people have heard the word “slacktivism” associated with social media and social justice activists. Another way to describe slacktivism is #activism, which is a sort of feel-good activism in which people publicly support certain causes via social media (and hashtags like #bringbackourgirls or, tbt, #KONY2012) as an ego boost rather than a genuine desire to help a cause. It’s a divided issue: some people believe it is lazy to use social media as an activist platform, while others think it’s a good way to raise widespread awareness.

I think that many people would group cyberfeminism and online activism in the same category—and I think they can be in the same category, in some situations. But #activism can also be a reflection of the media’s lack of coverage of issues that affect marginalized people. In “Race, Sexuality, Cyberactivism and the Legacy of Rashawn Brazell,” Varghese writes about Rashawn Brazell, a black gay teen who was brutally murdered in 2005 and whose death received little to no media coverage. Despite Varghese’s “…hopes that we might be able to channel our anger and rage into meaningful social change,” this biased media is still thriving ten years after Brazell’s death. #activism is a good example of this “symbolic violence of racist neglect by the mainstream media” (Varghese).

I would argue that tweeting a catchy hashtag is slightly better than staying silent on important issues, but recent slacktivist trends have made me realize that there is a lot of gray area (and a  lot of important issues being ignored) when it comes to online activism. Take the November 2015 Paris attacks as an example: 130 people were tragically killed in a terrorist attack that caused outrage and sadness throughout the world. People were changing their Facebook profile pictures to the French flag, tweeting #jesuisCharlie, and showing support by sharing information about the situation. Meanwhile, in America, police killed more than 100 unarmed black people in 2015 and the same people tweeting #jesuisCharlie are silent on police brutality issues, or, worse, undermining the #blacklivesmatter movement (or missing the point entirely) by tweeting #ALLlivesmatter. Even fewer people talk about the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the fact that Palestinians are currently being killed, imprisoned and stripped of their human rights, and have been for decades.

I am not minimizing the tragedies that happened in Paris. What I want to emphasize is the sort of #activism that happens when someone retweets a trending topic and you realize it’s only a trending topic because it is mostly affecting white people in Western countries. #activism needs to be “informed” and “refined” by a careful, inclusive lens—one that cyberfeminism can offer (Varghese). Retweeting isn’t necessarily actively changing anything, but that doesn’t mean the internet can’t be a useful source for activism—it is sometimes the only way for groups of people to learn about and talk about injustices. And although it seems that, right now, much of  #activism is only concerned with white people, the internet “represents a new media technology that enables people from marginalized groups to communicate with each other, share information, and form powerful networks of belonging that can function both within and outside of cyberspace” (Varghese).

sources:

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/12/28/3735190/killed-by-police-2015/

http://hrc-assets.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com//files/assets/resources/HRC-AntiTransgenderViolence-0519.pdf

https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/

Marie Varghese (2007). "Race, Sexuality, Cyberactivism and the Legacy of Rashawn Brazell." S&F Online.

[yungsluug-blog]

This unit’s readings were really interesting because they focus on something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately: “good” feminism vs. “bad” feminism, and how, in the realm of feminism and cyberfeminism, it seems like even “good” feminists and feminist spaces are problematic.

More specifically, I’ve noticed that it’s pretty difficult to find a feminist icon that hasn’t said or done something to reproduce inequalities in some way. Sylvia Plath, for example, is definitely one of my feminist icons, but one will find racial slurs scattered throughout her novel “The Bell Jar.” Another example is the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (a notorious feminist event built, staffed and attended only by women), which has caused controversy due to its trans-exclusionary, “women born women” policies. This creates a sort of “two steps forward, one step back” cycle of uplifting some women while oppressing others.

The issue is that people and events and spaces that claim to support women are only supporting certain women, and when you’re only supporting a fraction of women, no one is really benefiting. The internet is no exception; just as the personal is political, the internet is reality: “Internet practices of girls and self-identified women reveals…that they use the Internet to transform their material, corporeal lives in a number of complex ways that both resist and reinforce hierarchies of gender and race” (Daniels 101).

There are various feminist websites that, like Sylvia Plath and MWMF, choose to ignore certain members of their demographic. I took a look at an article on Unicorn Booty, an online news magazine, where author Kit Partin called out Jezebel, xoJane and Feministing for being feminist websites that conveniently “stayed relatively silent on police brutality issues.” Partin referenced an article on hellobeautiful.com called “ #SolidarityisSTILLforWhiteWomen: Feminist Sites Quiet On Ferguson & We’re So Not Surprised” describing the trend of feminists who are not interested in  “niche” women’s issues (like issues faced by poor women, or disabled women, or women of color) despite the fact that “if the feminist movement will continue to grow, it has to treat the concerns of women from all socioeconomic backgrounds equally.”

I don’t think there’s an easy solution to the perpetuating of oppression in feminist spaces, but I think it’s important to remember that “the internet is far from a postcorporeal utopia, but is instead a space which has retained a ‘cultural map of assumed whiteness’” (Magnet 588), and remember the importance of intersectionality.

sources:

Jessie Daniels (2009). “Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender, and Embodiment.” Women’s Studies Quarterly

Shoshana Magnet (2007). “Feminist Sexualities, Race and the Internet: An Investigation of Suicidegirls.com.” New Media and Society.

[pornthrowaway6901-blog]

Do you think “good (cyber)feminism” vs. “bad (cyber)feminism”, in more academic terms, comes down to whether they “(…)reproduce rather than subvert white, heterosexual, masculine cultures and hierarchies of power.” (“Rethinking Cyberfeminisms” Daniels)? Because, it seems that the “good feminists” you kind of allude to would be ones that don’t contribute to hegemonic discourse.

But, what if the otherwise “good feminists” make themselves “bad feminists” by unconsciously (or consciously) reproducing these damaging ideas and cultural ‘norms’? Such as Sylvia Plath, operating under some problematic cultural norms for her time, or the music fest you refer to, or any person/event/media source/etc that follows this “two steps forward, one step back” cycle?

I mean, I get what you’re trying to wrap your head around here, and I also think about this problem a lot. However, I’d like to break it down a little further. Should a “good feminist” be concerned /only/ with “women’s issues”, whether cisgender or transgender or somewhere in between? Does the “bad feminist” show respect for intersectional issues that people of all gender identities face, without fully focusing on the intersectional issues of people who identify as women (cis, trans, or otherwise)?

Sometimes I have a lot more questions than I have answers. What I’m trying to say, hear, is that your post resonated with me—especially when you said that there’s no easy solution to the perpetuating of oppression in feminist spaces.

[yungsluug-blog]

Yeah, I completely agree that it’s a complex issue. I think it’s impossible to be a “perfect feminist” because feminism is constantly evolving; I also don’t really have the desire or authority to call someone else a good or bad feminist. As far as someone being a “bad feminist” if they are focused on helping all people rather than just women--I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but I kind of group it with those who prefer to identify as humanists rather than feminists. It doesn’t acknowledge privilege.

[yungsluug-blog]

This unit’s readings were really interesting because they focus on something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately: “good” feminism vs. “bad” feminism, and how, in the realm of feminism and cyberfeminism, it seems like even “good” feminists and feminist spaces are problematic.

More specifically, I’ve noticed that it’s pretty difficult to find a feminist icon that hasn’t said or done something to reproduce inequalities in some way. Sylvia Plath, for example, is definitely one of my feminist icons, but one will find racial slurs scattered throughout her novel “The Bell Jar.” Another example is the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (a notorious feminist event built, staffed and attended only by women), which has caused controversy due to its trans-exclusionary, “women born women” policies. This creates a sort of “two steps forward, one step back” cycle of uplifting some women while oppressing others.

The issue is that people and events and spaces that claim to support women are only supporting certain women, and when you’re only supporting a fraction of women, no one is really benefiting. The internet is no exception; just as the personal is political, the internet is reality: “Internet practices of girls and self-identified women reveals...that they use the Internet to transform their material, corporeal lives in a number of complex ways that both resist and reinforce hierarchies of gender and race” (Daniels 101).

There are various feminist websites that, like Sylvia Plath and MWMF, choose to ignore certain members of their demographic. I took a look at an article on Unicorn Booty, an online news magazine, where author Kit Partin called out Jezebel, xoJane and Feministing for being feminist websites that conveniently “stayed relatively silent on police brutality issues.” Partin referenced an article on hellobeautiful.com called “ #SolidarityisSTILLforWhiteWomen: Feminist Sites Quiet On Ferguson & We’re So Not Surprised” describing the trend of feminists who are not interested in  “niche” women’s issues (like issues faced by poor women, or disabled women, or women of color) despite the fact that “if the feminist movement will continue to grow, it has to treat the concerns of women from all socioeconomic backgrounds equally.”

I don’t think there’s an easy solution to the perpetuating of oppression in feminist spaces, but I think it’s important to remember that “the internet is far from a postcorporeal utopia, but is instead a space which has retained a ‘cultural map of assumed whiteness’” (Magnet 588), and remember the importance of intersectionality.

sources:

Jessie Daniels (2009). "Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender, and Embodiment." Women's Studies Quarterly

Shoshana Magnet (2007). "Feminist Sexualities, Race and the Internet: An Investigation of Suicidegirls.com." New Media and Society.

[yungsluug-blog]

I’m Morgan. I’m a 21 year old barista living in Indianapolis and I’m a Women and Gender Studies major at ASU. I’m super excited to be taking a class on cyberfeminism because the internet--and specifically tumblr--is the first place I really found a community of passionate feminists. I first joined tumblr about six years ago and it has 100% helped in shaping my political beliefs and identity as an intersectional feminist. Outside of feminism and activism I also enjoy writing, hiking, going to shows, and exploring my city.

The example of modern cyberfeminism that I found is cybertwee, which is a digital collective that “explores the intersection of femininity, technology, and community through browser-based projects and performances.” cybertwee, cofounded by Gabriella Hileman, Violet Forest and May Waver, currently has a kickstarter campaign with the hopes of becoming a nonprofit app that is “...committed to using the app to claim a space for an underrepresented femininity in the new media arts, the tech industry, and online: one that encompasses cuteness, softness, feelings, & prettiness, and includes poc, queer, trans and gender non-conforming new media artists and artist collaborations.”

cybertwee’s mission mirrors Sadie Plant’s definition of cyberfeminism, one in which feminists insert themselves in the male-dominated technology world by “theorizing, critiquing, and exploiting the Internet, cyberspace, and new-media technologies in general,” as Mia Consalvo writes in “Cyberfeminism.” cybertwee’s focus on femininity in poc, queer, trans and gender non-conforming communities is a welcome repudiation of the white, middle class (terf?) women who founded the movement and is also an example of Faith Wilding’s suggestion to “unsettle the old masculine/feminine binaries,” written in Wilding’s 1997 manifesto “Where is Feminism in Cyberfeminism?”