The night to his day

  In The Social Construction of Gender by Judith Lorber, one part that stood out to me is the idea of "Doing Gender." 

This idea that we are "Doing Gender" is a funny saying to something that I have found my subconscious doing regularly. After reading this passage, I noticed myself trying to categorize people. I am not sure if I do it because I am trying to make myself feel like I fit in or if the notion on gender categorization is so engraved into my subconscious because of how I grew up. Do you think there is a way to change our subconscious thoughts? What if these subconscious thoughts cannot change/ do they need to be changed?

Sex and Gender as Social Constructs: Some Very Scattered Thoughts

The class discussion we had following our reading on sex as a social construct brought up a lot of thoughts for me.  It left me sort of questioning everything I know, which I guess is usually a good thing.  When I think of sex, I think of the way we classify a person's biological, anatomical, or chromosol configuration.  And I understand there are many different ways these traits can intersect or differ depending on how you interpret them.  That being said, I think the problem is that sex is assigned by a doctor upon a child's birth and many doctor's are not trained on how to deal with people who are intersex, and even with cisgender newborns, they immediately project their binary way of thinking onto children.

There is no room for fluidity or ambiguity, it has to be one way or another.  Male or Female.  And with the emergence of these terms for intersex people (hermaphrodites, fermaphrodites, and mermaphrodites), there's more room for self discovery and less rigidity than under a binary structure.  Funnily enough, we were talking about sex in my Critical Theories of Sexuality class on the same day as in this class.  We watched a documentary about the harm of experiments like John Moneys' on David Rimer and how not giving intersex people agency over their own bodies when it comes to their physical traits attributed to their sex is incredibly dehumanizing and destructive.  The documentary just confirmed what I already thought: that binary systems and categories and detrimental to everyone involved, as the human experience is never linear.  People shouldn't have to be forced into a box in any sense of the phrase, and forcing binary's onto people will only ever yield negative results.

But I think a part the reason why it's so hard for me to wrap my mind around this idea of sex is because it's so ingrained within the fabric of modern Western society, where you can change your gender identity but sex is biological, it's literally how you were born.  So deconstructing that idea is difficult for me.  

Also, another thing (unrelated to sex), I found it really interesting that during our discussion and readings about gender as a social construct, there was no mention of nonbinary.  Even in our class, a binary (this one of man and woman) was being centered in discussion, leaving out a large group of people and enforcing the idea of "there can only be two."

Thoughts on Ethnic Notions by Quin Lewis

  Ethnic Notions, Race: The Power of an Illusion

    I watched this piece with a group on Monday in the common room of Braun, which made watching more communal. From my personal experience and growing up in the South, the oppression and media surround the Black community has been taught to me in a distant way. Not to say that the impact of the history is lessened or any less valid, just that my knowledge about this subject needs to be examined and broadened. 

    The style of the cartoons of exaggerated black caricatures made me realize how easily these stereotypes are passed down onto children as well as adults. Though it didn't shock me when the iconic Bugs Bunny wore blackface and sang in a stereotypical "Black" voice because it made me reconsider what media I was given and consumed as a child. Bugs was a character I had seen every Saturday morning on the family computer and while he made us laugh, Bugs was also normalizing these grotesque depictions of black and indigenous people, all of whom were either the antagonist of the episode or the butt of a racist joke. It makes me question what other media I have absorbed and unknowingly influenced my thinking of race. 

    The film did a fantastic job at analyzing this media and showcasing how saturated these "scripts" are in American culture. The showcase of these not-so-distant "artifacts" and the analysis shows the importance of speaking about this ongoing issue of discrimination and racist ideas. We must know what did wrong to make it right. 

Thoughts on Ethnic Notions by Mayara Sharma

 "Ethnic Notions" is a powerful and thought-provoking documentary that delves into the deeply troubling history of racial stereotypes in the United States. Spanning from the era of slavery to the 20th century, the film presents an account of how these demeaning depictions were not only ingrained in popular culture but also perpetuated systemic racism.

One of the documentary's most compelling aspects is its exploration of the evolution of racial stereotypes. It highlights how these images were carefully constructed and manipulated to justify the oppression of African Americans. Whether it was the portrayal of the "happy slave" or the "dangerous black brute," these stereotypes served to dehumanize  an entire community, providing a false moral justification for discrimination.

Furthermore, these weren't confined to overtly racist materials but infiltrated everyday life through music, advertisements, and even children's cartoons. This made it challenging for society to recognize the harm caused by these images.

The documentary also portrays the power of media and culture in shaping perceptions and attitudes. It reminds us of the responsibility that creators and consumers of media have in challenging harmful stereotypes and promoting more inclusive narratives. This message remains relevant today, as we continue to grapple with the legacy of these stereotypes and their impact on contemporary issues of racism.

In conclusion, "Ethnic Notions" is an eye-opening exploration of the history of racial stereotypes in the United States. It forces viewers to confront the uncomfortable truths of our past and serves as a reminder that combating racism requires vigilance in challenging harmful narratives and promoting a more inclusive and equitable society.

"Free Papers" by Wideman

 

I love having Daniel Wideman's "Free Papers" as the first reading in the Queer 3.0 class because of the lyricism of the language and how it sets the town for what the themes of the class will be. The "Justice/Just us" homonym is catchy but meaningful at the same time.

The piece allows us to use what will become our standard mode of textual analysis, with a clear Thesis, determining Audience, analyzing the Method/Rhetorical Strategy, the author's Objective (reason for writing the piece) as well as their Assumptions/Perspective.

As a logophile myself, I actually enjoy the fact that Wideman uses numerous "five-dollar words" like the following:

• admonish
• ameliorate
• antipode
• facile
• furtive
• hegemony
• moniker
• mundane
• obviate
• ossify
• Pavlovian
• pernicious
• predilection
• Prometheus
• schadenfreude

In the comments, feel free to define these words (and add them to the Vocab page)

My favorite part of "Free Papers" is towards the end, where the writing becomes almost poetic, this excerpt:

A life free of scripture and stricture---each man free to write his own script, invent his own life. Part of the power of authorship is the power to write your own rules and enforce them, to harness the power of the word to military might. Thus the primal acts that inscribed you as a citizen of the world (an autonomous author) were voting and bearing arms. The right to write and, if pen did not prove mightier than the sword, he means and privilege to tote both and draw either indiscriminately. We enjoyed no such powers. We could not officially script our lives, so we developed the most sophisticated sense of subversive narrations inn the world: We acquired an endless fascination and proficiency with the insurrectionary properties of language.

What's your favorite part of "Free Papers"?