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Mary Shelley - OBEY!

Amophrast's picture

Found this around, and thought it was interesting:

Source: http://letterstodeadpeople.tumblr.com/post/4500922866

Thoughts?

Groups:

Comments

ekthorp's picture

Youth’s response to Dear Mary Shelley

 

The letter to Mary Shelley has been on the back-burner of my mind since it was posted. I kept wanting to find some image that would respond to it, or contain some of the same elements. When I saw this image I was unsure if it related enough, but I love this image so much I kept thinking about it, and found parallels. To me, each speaker is looking forward to a future where there is liberation and cultural strength. I also see the strength being given to women, and those oppressed by heteronormativity and sexually oppressive cultures. While the second mage has less intersections between Gender, Information, Science and Technology, I think it speaks to the first image about gender and sexuality. When we tell Mary Shelly to obey, we want her to fulfill our dreams of a world without sexual oppression, like the world the young woman in the second image describes.

Additionally, I was particularly drawn to this image because it vocalized many thoughts I have about gender and sexuality. I think the ultimate goal of researching gender theory should be making abnormal sexualities considered non-controversial. Sex can be had for fun, pure and simple, without it being used to make a statement or defy a norm, and I think this is a category that is often ignored in gender studies. Sometimes people have sex because they want to, not because they are making a statement, or experimenting. They are just having fun. 

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