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Critical Feminist Studies 2013
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Welcome to the on-line conversation for Critical Feminist Studies, an introductory-level course offered in the English Department and Gender and Sexuality Program @ Bryn Mawr College in Fall 2013. |
Who are you writing for? Primarily for yourself, and for others in our course. But also for the world. This is a "public" forum, so people anywhere on the web might look in. You're writing for yourself, for others in the class, AND for others you might or might not know. So, your thoughts in progress can contribute to the thoughts in progress of LOTS of people. The web is giving increasing reality to the idea that there can actually evolve a world community, and you're part of helping to bring that about. We're glad to have you along, and hope you come to both enjoy and value our shared explorations. Feel free to comment on any post below, or to POST YOUR THOUGHTS HERE.
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Web Event #2: Intersecting Sign Language with K-12 Curriculum
Introduction
For hundreds of years, American Sign Language (also known as ASL) has been used as the primary mode of communication in the deaf community. Because of its use of gestures, hand shapes, and visual expression, ASL’s authenticity as a language has been challenged by many throughout its history. Despite these claims of illegitimacy and attempts to abolish its use, ASL continues to
maintain a strong hold in both deaf culture and history. In recent years, sign language’s uniqueness and accessibility has made the language increasingly more present in the hearing community. Studies are now showing that sign language is boosting cognitive skills and performance levels in young people in addition to giving them insight into the deaf community. American Sign Language’s positive academic and cultural benefits prove that if added to the mandatory curriculum taught in American Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schools, not only would it accommodate intersecting identities but it would help combat audism and the stigma attached to people with disabilities.
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Web event #2: Bryn Mawr: Community? Empowered? Sisterhood?
An institution described through the eyes of its members tells a lot. Bryn Mawr College through the eyes of its students is one such institution. Consider the following terms used by Mawrters to describe Bryn Mawr: sisterhood, home, academic success, traditions, community, stress, empowered, intellect.
These words describe the culture that is Bryn Mawr College, a culture created by the cultural identities of the student body.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, culture is "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization" (Merriam Webster). One's environment throughout one's life influences these sets of characteristics, to comprise of one's cultural identity. Culture is not a single factor; rather, it is the intersection of many identities. Eli Clare, a white genderqueer activist and writer with cerebral palsy attempts to verbalize the intersectionality of these multiple cultural identities "gender reaches into disability; disability wraps around class; class strains against abuse; abuse snarls into sexuality; sexuality folds on top of race...everything finally piling into a single human body" (Clare, 143). We gain and develop these characteristics of our cultural identity as we progress through life, influenced by the culture of those around us and by our own individual actions.
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The Importance of Silence
When we talked about silence in class many people talked about how silence was bad and the only reason Eva stayed silent, they thought, was that it was the only thing left she had power over in her life. These are all reasons why silence is bad and the idea that someone keeps silent as a last resort. Many times people talk about how powerful it it is to stand up and say exactly what you mean, or stand up against a majority. These are all important ideas and I think that sometimes it is necessary to stand up and speak. However, we also talked about how the meaning of silence for the one who is silent is important because their reasoning for staying silent can change how we view silence. Many people do not talk as much because they are thinking and deliberating. This whole idea about pondering what you are going to say and being very deliberate about what you are saying is a relevant point about silence. Sometimes I think that we move through life too fast and if we just stopped and thought about what we were going to say it would help us think about life and enjoy it more instead of just rushing from moment to moment. T
![ccassidy's picture ccassidy's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1298.jpg)
Web Event #2: Gender and Sexuality Courses in High school
Many people have perpetuated a certain preface for high school: it is a time for self-discovery or reinvention. There is this build-up, a significant drumroll, which inspires middle school students to believe in change and, hopefully, acceptance. Maybe this is a naïve perception of secondary education. Maybe this can more accurately describe the college experience. Nonetheless, there seems to be a sense of anticipation and optimism surrounding the concept of high school. Having been a jaded high school graduate for two years now, it has become clear just how constrictive and heteronormative my experience was. There are ways in which a high school institution could change its curriculum to include certain courses that could expand the minds of high school students in a way that leaves them more open to intersectional identities. Queering the high school curriculum to include gender and sexuality courses would allow for the discussion of socially ‘taboo’ topics. If these personal opinions, theories and identities are addressed at an earlier stage in education, it would make these topics more accessible and less foreign when they are encountered later on in life.
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Through the silence
It seems for many that silence holds power, mystery but also privilege. We hold power when we have the right to remain silent, the right to withhold information, secrets and truths. When we are silent we generate an air a mystery, we hold the unknown. Silence can push away outsiders, it can deter or mislead. But silence can also bring safety and comfort. When I think about Eva's silence though, i question whether it is really a privilege. A privilege is something that some people have and others do not. Yes she has the truth and no one else does, but this truth to why she did what she did (which she may not even fully know herself) has arisen from circumstances that she did not have the privilege to choose. It seems that people in the novel are so concerned with her silence, almost afraid of it. Why are some people so afriad of silence? is it alienating? uncomfortable? creates a disconnect? Should we be afraid of silence? or should we embrace it? I think Eva embraces her silence as a source of shelter, her voice to say no, to have her feelings understood were never embraced, so she keeps to herself, the only person she can trust.
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Web Event 2: Classism and the Queer Community
When most people think of issues facing the LGBT community, they think of issues such as gay marriage. Few can see a major problem that is found both inside and outside of the community. This problem ignores the needs of many people in the community. It excludes people from a community where they were told they were safe. The problem is classism, which finds its way into the queer community to better fit a capitalist structure. Classism within the queer community as a result of the commercialization of queer culture causes exclusion of LGBT people of lower socioeconomic status and ignorance of their needs.
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Making high schools safe spaces to explore one's identity
Even though the United States has become more progressive with ideas about gender and sexuality, some people still do not feel comfortable coming out. In supposed safe communities sameness is prized and people create a false sense of comfortable equality. Living in North Carolina and going to a conservative high school I did not feel this restriction until my junior year. I began to feel this sense that nobody talked about their differences and nobody asked others about their differences. I did not learn until my junior year that a teacher at my school who taught me, mentored me, and comforted me was gay. She did not feel comfortable coming out to the students and some of the faculty also did not know.
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Web Event2: In Order to Change Colleges You Must Change Elementary Schools First
When thinking about changing the structure of higher educational institutions in order to make it more accessible for people with disabilities is very encouraging. Everyone should be able to have access and the ability to attend college. But before people begin to change the structure of the college classroom people should start with changing the structure of the elementary classroom. Elementary school is where many students begin to shape how a “normal” classroom should be structured, how to study and retain information the “normal” way, and how they view people with disabilities. By changing elementary schools, it will make changing higher educational institutions easier because what is now viewed as not “normal” will be seen as “normal”. It also just might begin to destigmatize people with disabilities.
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Sweden bring gender bias in films to light
Some very interesting happenings in Sweden. Swedish cinemas have created a new rating scale for movies based on the absence of a gender bias. To pass the exam on the Bechdal Scale movies must have two named female characters who talk about something other than a man. This new system has only been in place for a few months, but already movie-goers are surprised at how few films pass the test. "The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, all Star Wars movies, The Social Network, Pulp Fiction and all but one of the Harry Potter movies fail this test," said Ellen Tejle, the director of Bio Rio, an art-house cinema in Stockholm. More about this system can be found at this link.
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When is my deadline?
I have been struggling since we talked about excessability to figure out how one can crip deadlines in a practical way that keeps the subjects of the deadline accountable. Is there a happy medium between excessability and normative time? With no consideration to how practical it would be for the enforcer of the deadline (for example, the teacher), the ideal situation for the subjects of the deadline (i.e., the students) seems to be for their deadlines to be determined on a case by case basis. But who can determine how long exactly it will take for a project to be completed other than the person completing the project? What if they’re wrong? It seems that everyone’s time would have to be ‘cripped’ somehow. Who even operates on normative time? No matter what system we use, are we to be entirely governed by the arbitrary?
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On the topic of silence
Silence is a recurring theme in the novel Eva's Man. Which brings to mind the question: why do we choose to remain silent? One idea may be that we are afraid to speak. We are afraid of what consequences may befall us after we speak and that our words may cause harm, so we would rather be silent than be accountable. Another is that we truly don't know what to say. The words suddenly escape us (or were never there in the first place) and all that is left in our heads is total blank. But perhaps it is neither of these things. Maybe we aren't afraid. Maybe we really do know what to say. Maybe there is a kind of power in silence, in withholding the answers we have, knowing that it belongs only within ourselves. Perhaps there is a kind of greed in silence, a desire that we have for our words to be our own, never to exit our minds into the world.
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Feminist Fear
Lately it seems as though a consciousness raising has been happening regarding preconceived thoughts on certain areas of language and associations. One area in particular has peaked my interest--a general fear of the term "feminist". A recent Jezebel article, to which I have posted the link below, highlights a deeply misplaced rejection of that term by current public figures. "Feminist" has moved from being a word used to describe politically active, socially aware people to one invoking images of angry, man-hating monsters hell-bent on shrieking at any innocent, simply to cause a scene. Society has fueled a negative bias against the term, and it has infected many, impeding on the cause. One of the first times I became aware of such an apprehension was while talking with a close friend from home. Since I met her in middle school, she has always wanted to be a pilot in the air force; currently, she is on the path to doing so. During our discussion, she mentioned that she doesn't consider herself a feminist, because "women are basically equal", and that feminists are "too aggressive" for her. She didn't even realize her ability to peruse her chosen career is entirely due to the feminist movement, let alone the fact that the current military system is still profoundly kyriarchal and, frankly, dangerous for many women/minorities, and that feminist work is necessary to combat such issues.
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Web Event 2: Queer Students of Color in High Schools
In discussions today about making institutions – in particular, high schools – more accessible for people of various identities, many different ideas are brought to the table. These discussions largely center around topics such as race, sexuality, gender, and disability as separate issues to be dealt with. However, often this excludes people with intersectional identities. One specific example of an intersectional identity that is frequently ignored when discussing issues in high schools (and the main focus of this paper), is queer students of color. Although research in areas such as education and experiences of youth who identify as LGBTQ has increased over the past 20 years, the specific issues of LGBTQ students of color in elementary and high schools have been largely untouched by research and discussion. What little research does exist has shown that students who are both queer and colored, in addition to challenges related to their sexual or gender identity, face challenges related to their race and ethnicity (Diaz & Kosciw 2). It is important to try and make high schools safer places for these students to freely express their intersectional identities by exploring some of the reasons why queer students of color feel so “other-ed” by various communities, what kinds of issues they face in high schools, and discussing ideas for ways to improve their educational experience, both academically and socially.
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You Are You: Looking at the Sexism and Intolerance of Gender Non-Conforming Children
The photograph to the left features a child prepared to celebrate Halloween, clad in a hybrid superhero-princess costume, titled “Iron Flower Captain Bat Man” (Levi Sable 2013). At first glance, we praise and admire both the creativity and courage of the young girl, and her parents for that matter, for going against the norm of dressing as strictly feminine archetypes. But the moment we learn that the child is actually a young boy in a gender-clashed costume, our perceptions change entirely towards confusion and concern. Is something wrong with him? Is he gay? Halloween is intended to be a joyous time to become a character that you normally couldn’t be. Why is it that a boy and a girl in the same exact costume are interpreted so differently? Embedded in our culture is an attitude that a masculine female is strong, empowered, and independent, while a feminine male is weak, sensitive, and queer.
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Exciting News from Germany!
"Germany has become Europe's first country to allow babies with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24767225
![ari_hall's picture ari_hall's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-1322.jpg)
Web Event 2
Hair Politics: Afros, Braids and Locks in schools
“Trying to make hair beautiful on the outside causes damage deep inside”, declares an ad for Dove hair moisturizer. And indeed trying to straighten, curl, color and do a number of things with hair, especially women’s hair, can cause damage to the follicles. But this “damage deep inside” is more than just physical damage to the hair itself. The cost of beauty in America for young girls, and most specifically Black girls, is destructive. The Europeanized standard of beauty that dominates American culture is one that most Black women naturally cannot match up with, but the pressure to do so is tremendous. From TV ads, to billboards, actresses in movies, Barbie’s, and models, long, straight, silky hair has been a celebrated characteristic. So to match up with these “ideal images” many Black girls and women alike go through processes to straighten and lengthen their hair. But many of these processes involve chemicals and heat that damage the hair. Even more damaging though, is the lowered self-esteem of those who cannot attain what the popular media deems as “beauty”.
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What is the patriarchy?
"Importantly, whether feminist or not, we all need to remember that visionary feminist goal which is not a women running the world as is, but of women doing our part to change the world so that freedom and justice, the opportunity to have optimal well-being, can be equally shared by everyone – female and male." -bell hooks
In one of my other classes, we have been watching clips from the PBS documentary, "Makers: Women Who Shape America". Although I have not watched the documentary in it's entirety, I was not surprised that the images shown were predominately white women (except for fleeting moments of Oprah, Claire Huxtable, Melissa Harris-Perry, ie Black Exceptionalism). This was (as per usual) a friendly reminder that mainstream-public sphere feminism/women right's STILL does not really include me.
All of the women showcased in the documentary are amazing. Many of the interviews included personal ancedotes illustrating "the moment" where in which the GLASS CEILING was shattered, examples of blatant sexist oppression and prejudice, and the solidarity that all of us share as women. However I immediately grew bored--given that this is the same message just different packaging. Of course I want these voices to be celebrated but if this documentary is about the "the women that shape America", then shouldn't it be asking--whose America? how have they shaped it? and why?