Fat Bodies

I found the assigned reading very interesting. Every time I read, my eyes are opened to another view and way of life and the baggage that comes with it. This time around I found that not physically fitting the norm has a lot of negative outlooks form society. I realize that there is an ideal and people feel pressured to look a certain way but failed to look at how society, in a way, punishes those who aren't ideal. “Because they rain on society's parade, fat people are punished” (LeBesco, 56). I just can not seem to understand why this happens. In the beginning of our class, I think we kind of came to a conclusion that being different causes people to be afraid and uncontrollabe, so they act negatively out of their uncomfortability. The idea that we try to “punish” people because they live comfortably or are bigger than normal makes no sense to me. What separates a skinny person and a bigger person is nothing but a higher number of fat cells. In reality, as we've said over and over again in class, no one can really fit the ideal essentialist way of life.

The common theme that holds these pieces together is that society tries to outcast and set aside those who do not fit the mold or correct representation. This goes back to the idea of the single story and trying to make people seem one way. This is best shown in the reading a bout Miss Italy. “Two members of the Miss Italy jury were suspended for saying that Miss Mendez, as a black woman, could not represent Italian beauty” (Bohlen, 359). Italy was almost disgusted at the fact that a black woman who was not of Italian descent was representing Italy. Although she is an Italian citizen and lived there for years, Italy could not possibly have someone who was not what they thought was the ideal Italian although according to the votes she won.

When analyzing the body and representation, we must take a intersectional approach to understand all the different factors that influence our behaviors. Without doing this, we can never truly understand other's cultures, lifestyles, and people.

Final Project

Throughout the semester Dr. Pelle has been hinting at good possible topics for our Women's Studies final project. Already very interested in th Tough Guise documentary by Katz, I jumped at the idea of pursuing this type of topic for my final project. Because of my interest, I would be more intrinsically motivated to write this paper as opposed to extrinsically which, for me, isn't always the best form of motivation. For my project, I would like to analyze films where different genres of masculinities are displayed, how these are developed in the films, and how they effect social ideologies. Because Kat'z research is somewhat outdated and not as relatable, I feel I can provide an updated version of his research. I will perform the same type of analysis Katz presented and see whether his claims are still found to be true in today's society. To add some creativity, I will compliment my paper with a short film of my results of how media and pop culture plays a role in our behaviors.

Claim

Media and environmental factors have a huge impact on how an individual portrays themselves in society. Pressures of social norms cause us to conform and take on the personality of that environment.

Support

I'll research and analyze different forms or masculinities in a number of different films

Purpose

The purpose of my project is provide an updated version of Kat'z documentary and prove or disprove his claims and offer possible solutions. I want to see if his conclusion still holds water years later, and if not, how has it changed?

Audience

My audience would be people who were interested in documentaries like the Tough guise film and the other documentary about the sexualization and negative portrayal of women in society. People who are interested in breaking the negative social representations of the sexes.

Genre

Media's effect on society

Outside Support

Tough Guise documentary

Another possible topic was doing a trail of Starbucks coffee or something of that nature.

Reversed Roles?

After all the materials I've read about domestic violence and many different forms of abuse, none of the readings really stuck with me more than “Ciuadad Jaurez”. If the reader took no more action to help after reading, the author made sure we were aware and the story behind the culture in Juarez stuck with us. The gruesome, “in your face” graphics and verbiage definitely served its purpose in the grand scheme of things. People can ignore stories and words on a paper, but more firsthand graphic, disturbing evidence pulls on people's hearts and causes true concern and sympathy. The people visiting Malawi can attest to this. She said she felt way more impact getting to talk to people and hearing firsthand from individuals who were suffering rather than hearing stories from people who were not directly affected.

The assigned reading brought out, even more, the realization of what is occurring in our society. We like to turn our heads and believe this stuff is not happening, but this is real and must be dealt with. These people are just like us, but they are stuck in a perpetuating cycle of poverty, violence, and desperation. When addressing gender on a global scale, it is important to view these problems through a non biased, intersectional lens because in order to understand, analyze, and hopefully birth solutions to their problems and situations, we must understand all the factors that contribute to them and these issues of labor. Once this is done, we can properly assess the situations and provide better solutions.

I believe being active is a pretty substantial piece of being a global citizen. A global citizen is someone who applies citizenship, being a citizen with certain rights and duties, to a global level. In order to do this, we must take action and be involved in our world. In Woodhull's text, she said, “A transnational sphere is important because it is rooted in civil society, that is, a social space that is controlled neither by the market nor by national government and that promotes “a sense”of involvement with the affairs of other, unknown, nonkin citizens”. (Woodhull, 256) I think this statement offers a great yet unrealistic goal in achieving that goal of being a global citizen and even possibly combating the situations that are present in Juarez and other places like: Asia, South America, Africa.... BUT, our government saves and makes too much money off of these cheap laborers and maquiladoras for them to turn away from their ways. And WHOSE BIG ENOUGH TO DEFY THE BIG BAD GOVERNMENT?

Race as a Social Construct

I don't really understand Cuvier's purpose for “toying” with her body and showing them off in museums. Unless there is information missing in the article, Cuvier made no scientific advancements of any sort in taking her body parts and displaying them to the public. If they're trying to attribute her large buttocks and bigger genitals to her race, Lopez's view on race completely defies this notion. He argues that scientific research has concluded that there is no biological basis for race. “Race must be viewed as a social construction. That is, human interaction rather than natural differentiation must be seen as the source and continued basis for racial categorization”

“The Body Rituals of the Nacirema” was a very interesting and deceptive read. Prior to reading this text, I failed to realize how strong of an impact cultural context has on how we view things. If taken out of context, the simplest, most “ordinary” things can seem..... odd and questionable. If an American reader did not pay attention to the subtle and disguised geographical clues, they would fail to realize that the text is about the “rituals” of American society. An example that shows how cultures can be misunderstood and represented is where Miner writes about our dental hygiene and how we take care of our teeth daily. “It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures. In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year.” (Miner, 2) From an outsider's point, regular health provisions are seen as a magical ritual that requires sacred action. The dentist is seen as a “holy man” who helps with these “mouth rites” once a year. This is starting to make since because, to me, medicine men in other cultures used to seem weird to me. Once one can understand the circumstances surrounding action, the reasoning behind the action begins to make more and more sense. As the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski said, “Looking from far and above, from our high places of safety in the developed civilization, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of civilization”

Questions for Demere Woolway

I have a few question that I would like to raise. Some are specifically from the reading and others are just questions for personal clarification.

In Barker-Benfiled's text, I was shocked and saddened at the amount of genital surgeries that had been performed by doctors. It was like it was done by force and not choice. “Gynecologists attempting to purge midwives away from the perverted sources of new life, snipping off the clitorises of girls and women addicted masturbation...? (Barker-Benfield, 87) My question stems from the idea of women having rights to their bodies. How were women being forced to allow this mutilation to happen to their genital areas? Because of their masturbation and sexual acts, they had to undergo these gynecologic procedures that could have really impacted their psyche and self esteem. It's as if they were being punished for their actions in a way that seems inhumane.

Another question I have does not really come from the reading, but it just popped into my head as I was writing. I remember reading maybe Feinberg but someone said heterosexuals have a lot to gain from these movements. In most cases, people don't care about change unless they benefit in some way. What benefits will heterosexuals receive from supporting transliberation and the GLBTQ movements?

Also, for clarification purposes, what exactly is the definition of queer and how is it different form gay?

Dr. Pelle, I am aware of the requirements for the blog, but I only had one question that I could connect to an in-text citation.

Beyond the Norm

Our course is based off of complicating the norms, ideology, and essentialist views as is Feinberg's goal as well. She is trying to get across the point that there is not just an either- or but there's an either-or and more. From birth, its pink or blue, boy or girl. She challenges society's basic, limited views and challenges us to see life from another perspective. Ms. Feinberg does not take a social constructionist approach but more of the idea that people are born that way and choose to live that lifestyle. It sounds sort of contradictory but everything we talk about is contradictory and goes against the norms.

As we have heard through several different types of mediums, violence and discrimination against gays, lesbians, transsexuals, and people who chose to live an alternative lifestyle has become an increasingly growing problem in todays society, especially in Western Civilization. In the eyes of these people, their lives are at risk every day just because of who they are. “This doctor's prejudices, directed at me during a moment of catastrophic illness, could have killed me. The death certificate would have read: Endocarditis. By all rights it should have read: Bigotry.” (Feinberg 3) We see in a personal moment in the Feinberg's life where discrimination almost cause her to lose her life. I didn't realize to what extent this violence has grown to. Its completely ludicrous that this discrimination has found its way into the medical field where lives are on the line each day.

Personally, I feel the root of this problem is that “pink or blue” either- or stigma. If people could break out of the idea that everyone must fit into certain categories, there would not be this problem. This is an idea that we've addressed multiple times in class, but if there are no categories, we all accept each other as we are and not what we want each other to be. I believe this would end the discrimination and violence, but I know this is not at all possible because we can not change everyone's mind.

Feinberg believes that this transliberation movement will not only help the transgendered and transsexuals, but as a heterosexuals, I will also gain from the changes this movement will bring about.“This movement will give you more room to breathe- to be yourself. To discover on a deeper level what it means to be yourself?” (Feinberg, 5) I'm all for equality and fairness, but I do not see how this self exploration is a direct result of the transliberation movement. I can do this now without the movement. I feel she just wanted to offer something that would make transliberation more appealing and beneficial to those that it does not truly affect or help. But, then again, I could be interpreting her statement wrong. You tell me?