Critical Feminist Studies 2013

Our discussion yesterday about Kathy Acker's "Seeing Gender" opened my mind to all of the different possibilities that the word gender can hold. We questioned whether gender or sex was binary or had a spectrum. I believe that gender is definitely not binary. It does not matter if somebody else "chooses" your sex for you. It only truly becomes who you are when you decide for yourself whether that gender fits you or not. Thinking about gender, our culture sees two distinct genders that cannot have a spectrum between them. We put so much space between the two genders that when people fit somewhere in the middle, others do not accept it. If the differences between the binary genders becomes smaller, it could be easier for people in the middle. As for a person's sex, I believe that, that could be slightly more binary, however that is not always the case. Because we think of sex as the biological part that makes up who we are, people usually assume that we can be either male or female. One interesting aspect of this is that if someone is born intersexual, the doctor and parents decide which sex they believe is stronger. This means that if the person grows up believing that they truly should be the other sex, they become stigmatized because the doctor chose the other sex for them and so they do not fit into the "correct" box that society loves to put people in.

These are the images that we produced, to "figure" one another's gender presentations. Do we understand what we are seeing? (Ask about the ones that puzzle....) And then: what larger patterns do we perceive here? What does gender "look like" in our classroom? Represented on our boards?

A very influential and incredible friend gave me the name Polly when I was 12, so I chose it as my username. This person was the first friend I had who allowed me to be myself. Because of her openness and understanding, I changed a lot in the three years I knew her. She astounded me with just how smart she was about life, emotions, and relationships. She was empowering and brutally honest at the same time. Even though she is only a few months older than me, I looked up to her as a role model.

My avatar is a painting that my dad and I created together. I love working with colors and abstract shapes to try and make finish products that I find visually appealing. While making art with my dad, we don't have any rules other than trying to make something we like. Personally, I am trying to change how I think about gender and sexuality from what I learned from society growing up: rigid "boxes." I think that the fluidity of art is similar to the reality of gender and sexuality, and I am keen to learn more.

Hi Everyone!  My name is Kelly, I wasn't in class with you all on Thursday.  

I guess because I haven't met you all it took me a while to figure out which picture I wanted to use.  Although I relatively enjoy taking pictures, I wasn't sure what picture would adequately represent me.  Then I thought to myself why I want to take this class in the first place... I selected my avatar not because this is was a great book necessarily, but because I struggle with being fully comfortable with feminism.  As a Black-American woman, find myself in a love-hate relationship with feminism.  Of course I believe in not only equality, but also empowerment, for women (AND ALL MARGINALIZED PEOPLES), but I find myself always asking, "What type of woman are we talking about here?  Who is this movement really for?"  Historically in many social movements, Black women have been involved but never able to share their narratives and full unencumbered selves, due to a lack of understanding of their intersectionality as Black women.  Understanding that these two identities constantly impact one another, I struggle to fully align myself as a feminist because I feel that I would have to alienate my blackness in a sense, therefore my specific needs and wants as a black women.  I hope that in this course I am able to evolve in my thoughts from our discussion and course work.  See you all tomorrow! 

As my friends love to point out, I talk about my hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, well, a lot. It was especially intense when I first arrived at Bryn Mawr as a frosh last year, but I was honestly taken aback when this was first pointed out. You see, I spent most of my time in high school working with the express purpose of getting out of "this place", so the idea that I might actually miss it catapulted me into a sort of mini-identity crisis (no matter how melodramatic that sounds). I had never felt at home in Arizona, differing greatly from the majority of my friends on ideological issues, and I thought of going to a liberal-minded college as my ticket out of what sometimes seems like the breeding ground for unstable racist bigots. Once I realized this foreign longing, however, I began to see my state in a new light. I had held so much resentment toward what are merely ideas, and now I am starting to realize that I can love Arizona for its parts, not necessarily as a whole. This picture highlights that idea: I care deeply for and about components of Arizona, and am trying to focus on them. I don’t mean to suggest that I am ignoring the pieces that infuriate me (which is still a good chunk), but this newfound acceptance actually motivates me to fight back for my state, instead of running away.

Neither of my grandmothers bakes. Instead, one takes me to see paintings of pies. When I visit her in California, we often see the painting that I've made into my avatar, and, when we're apart, she sends me letters on stationary with it printed on the front. Neither of us really understands this painting, but we still look at it. We talk about food and family, and who won last night's dominoes game, but not, of course, the piece of art right in front of us. The conversation swirls on because of the painting but not about it, both in person and on paper, just as I inherited my grandmother's handwriting by explicitly copying it, but also, silently, the idea of what my role in society is.

Choosing my avatar took me slightly longer than I anticipated, for considering all the misrepresentation a single, stand alone image can present.  What I ultimately came up with is a picture my friend and I took while studying abroad last fall.  I have unquestionably learned a tremendous amount during my time at Bryn Mawr, from a combination of courses, people, and experiences.  I often look back on study abroad, though, as the first time I really began to build a more concrete concept of how I wanted to play out my academic interests in the world.  In addition, my distance from Bryn Mawr and the people I knew there gave me a new perspective to consider the nature of the assumptions and knowledge I held - both of myself and the world around me.  My time away was in many ways transformative, even if that process and its results are not always obvious. 

I am from a small town on Long Isalnd called Sayville.  One of my favorite parts of my town is the bay and the docks.  It is my place to go to think and relax.  Home and family are very important in my life and this picture reminds me of where I am from and my family.  I also believe that home and family play a very important role in shaping how you think and who you are.  I know personally that my family and my town have played a role in shaping how I view gender and sexuality.  This is why I choose this picture to represent me.      

I chose this picture of a sunrise over water because I believe that, as a frosh, I am able to begin again. In college, we can re-write who we want to be and start again, just like a sunrise beginning again every day. When I was little, we would go visit my grandmother in Maine in the summer time. I would always get up early, come up the stairs, and find my grandmother sitting in her living room, or on the deck with a cup of tea for me, watching the sunrise. She watches the sunrise every morning with her tea and this sunrise reminds me how she takes her time in the morning to slow down and enjoy the beginning of each day. The sun and the water in this picture both play a part in calming down life for me. I love sitting on the rocks in Maine and watching the waves crash around me. The ocean is a powerful force, but it can also be very calming, reminding me how small I really am in the world, and yet, how big an impact I can make if I really try.