Lab Day #2 -- Thesis Writing

The thesis promises to deliver "an intellectual product of a specified kind, in an appropriate manner, with adequate evidence and analysis within an implied or explicit structure of logical development."

-- Prof. Dan Fineman,, ECLS

Notes:

• Bold thesis statement
• Thesis statements should be no more than one sentence long
• Note to self: use the word salient!
• Potentially underline topic sentences

Also, today: blog post today about "corrective rape." We'll get there.

Deconstructing Binary Oppositions, Part 2: Intersectionality

Before we begin, I'd like to say that today would be my and my ex's third anniversary. Forgive me if notes are a little lackluster today.

Goals:

1. Understand intersectionality (and distinguish from hybridity)

2. Basic HTML tags (for prettier blog posts)

Notes: Monday, 9.27 class -- meet in basement of library for mandatory research.

• Paper #1 is due 10.1 (which is a Friday) -- shared with Buckmire via Google Docs

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HTML (hypertext mark-up language) tags:

• A programming language that tells another program how to present something
• Glues commands to browsers on how to display pages
• "the language of all web pages"
• vs. WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get)
• HTML command is called a tag
• i.e. < >No homo</ > (and you insert the letter you want)
• B = bold
• i = italics
• u = underlined
• Anchor tags:
• <a href = "website here"> This article </a>

Intersectionality to the Rescue:

• Intersectionality (clicking the word will link to the Wikipedia article on intersectionality)
• Willful Blindness -- blindness to one's own privilege - looking only at one's disadvantages
• Denial of another's oppression and/or your own privilege
• Leapfrog Paranoia -- the fear that a formerly oppressed group will be "left behind" by progress made by a currently oppressed group which "jump ahead in the oppression line"
• Fear that if you acknowledge another's oppression, your status is reduced/superseded by that groups
• Movement Backlash -- taking the advances of a movement toward equality and redefining the hegemonic group/practice as a "victim" (e.g. reverse discrimination, or "marriage is under attack").
• Hegemon portrays itself as the victim or subaltern in response to advances by the oppressed
• Compassion Deficit Disorder -- knowing but just not caring enough to do something about (or not caring at all) the ongoing struggles of marginalized groups
• Defiant Ignorance: Refusing to acknowledge or learn about another's oppression
• Panopticon -- the all-seeing eye

*     *     *

Good things come in 5, apparently:

• Categorical Intersection
• Categorical Multiplicity -- More categories leads to more multi-dimensional analysis
• Time Dynamics -- Taking note of the impact of time on specific oppression
• Diversity Within -- The existence of groups within groups
• Individual Institutional Interaction
• Content Intersectionality -- Existence at crossroads of multiple identities simultaneously

Deconstructing Binary Oppositions, Part 1: Hybridity

Goals:

1. Understanding how binary oppositions can be disrupted

2. Introducing/understanding hybridity and "Mestiza consciousness"

3. Concept: code-switching

La Conciencia de la Mestiza / Towards a New Consciousness

Hybridity: a combination of two or more (specifically, identities)

Being a mestiza (p. 80): "As a mestiza I have no country, my homeland cast me out; yet all countries are mine because I am every woman's sister or potential lover. (As a lesbian I have no race, my own people disclaim me; but I am all races because there is the queer of me in all races.)

• The fact that there are some phrases that those who don't speak Spanish won't understand serves to disconnect the reader and give an example of how she feels (left out because she isn't a part of a group)

The Mestiza Consciousness:

• And it's link to binary opposition?
• (P. 80): "The work of mestiza consciousness is to break down in the subject-object duality that keeps her a prisoner and to show in the flesh and through the images in her work how duality is transcended."

Code-switching: acting differently in one way (via speech, dress, actions, etc...) in one particular setting than in another (in a sense becoming another person based on the setting)

Puta/Virgen (aka the Virgin/whore dichotomy): Supposed to be unblemished and pure and unknowing in the way of sex, but also supposed to be able to please your man in every possible way

Binaries and binary oppositions that are used (reference):

• Male/Female
• White/Non-white
• Self/Other (Us/Them)
• Straight/Not straight ("gay")
• Puta/Virgen
• Subject/Object

Straight/Not Straight:

• Based on the assumption that you belong to one of two genders and that you have to like one of the two genders
• To occupy the liminal space--bisexuality, which is overlooked in a majority setting (also androgyny and asexuality)
• Any person that doesn't fit into the Male/Female binary doesn't fit into the Straight/Not straight binary either
• If we assume that there is fluidity or a spectrum in sexuality/gender/sex, then we can break down the binary because a binary cannot exist in a spectrum setting
• When you break the binary: Society will start to accept other forms of gender expression and identity than Male/Female and Straight/Gay binaries (basically saying that there would be no specific "social norm" in regards to sex, gender, and sexuality (and gender stereotypes)
• More masculine, heterosexual females and more heterosexual, feminine men
• There would be no specific gender assignment because everyone would be able to create their own identity based on the gender/sex/sexuality spectrum
• What structures maintain Straight/Not straight binary:
• Gendered bathrooms
• Religious institutions (ie traditional, heterosexual marriage)
• DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) vs. If You Don't Like It, Go Home
• Traditionalists
• Media
• Jobs and hiring

Male/Female binary:

• Defined through gender roles and biological differences
• What would it mean to be deconstructed:
• Males and females would be equal, and people in the liminal space (androgynous, intersex)

Notes on "On Heterosexual Masculinity"

Goals:

1. Sexual orientation construction

2. How sexual orientation, gender, and sex work together

Gregory M. Herek: Article here

Argument: "This article considers the proposition that to be 'a man' in contemporary American society is to be homophobic--that is, to be hostile toward homosexual persons in general and gay men in particular" (Herek 316).

Method: Statistics, scientific, evidence-driven

Objective:

• "We need change, and this is why." The why is the article with all of its evidence. Methodical (gives the problem, then the answer).
• pp. 326-327: "The Way Out"
• To solve the problem of heterosexual masculinity/homophobia

Assumptions: Educate others (aka the reader) about homophobia (without talking down to people) and how it works to support heterosexual masculinity)

Audience: Other psychologists or scientists

Wideman Question (What's left out):

• Discounts lesbians
• Doesn't think that bisexuality exists (Footnote 1: Although the category of bisexuality exists, its status as a true identity is suspect regardless of its accuracy, most people seem to hold the view that one is either heterosexual or homosexual.)

Trope: "Violent homophobes are secretly homosexual" (internal gay community belief)

• But when does this go too far? When is someone just homophobic?

Masculine/Feminine

• Imputation of homosexuality polices gender boundary
• "No homo" God...we'll talk later about how much I hate the term "no homo." More on this. Believe it.

Drescher: see page 207

• Intersexual:
• Transsexual:
• Homosexual:
• Bisexual:
• Heterosexual:
• Asexual:

Note that the first two have nothing to do with sexual activity. (Link to some interesting things about these terms here)

Notes on "The Five Sexes"

Fausto-Sterling's "The Five Sexes"

Goals

Understanding social construction of sex

Introduce concepts; hybridity, liminality, essentialism, intersexuality (previously hermaphroditism)

The Five Sexes

Male

Merms (male pseudohermaphrodites)*

Herms ("true" hermaphrodites)*

Ferms (female pseudohermaphrodites)*

Female

* = intersex

Eight ways of determining sex:

Julie Greenberg

1.     Genetic (chromosomes)

2.     Gonads (testes or ovaries)

3.     Internal morphology (uterus or prostate)

4.     External (penis, vagina, breasts)

5.     Hormonal sex (testosterone, estrogen)

6.     Phenotypical Sex (wide hips, beards, low voice, wide shoulders, etc...)

7.     Assigned Sex/Gender of Rearing

8.     Gender Identity

This can be different for each individual (it will most likely be different for each person)

Male/Female binary

• The slash is supposed to empty, but intersexuality is occupying the space
• / = liminal space, so intersexuality is disrupting the binary and occupying the liminal space
• Those who occupy the liminal space are rejected by both sides of the binary
• hybrid - the mixture of two or more identities (major example = racial hybrids)

Essentialism: an identity is related to some specific essence and that once you possess the essence, you can be categorized

1.     Female: life-giving, nurturer, weak (click link for more thorough list)

2.     Male: strength, provider, control (click link for more thorough list)

Social constructionists tend to avoid and reject essentialism.

We Give A Damn -- Repeal DADT

Video here

The Gender Spectrum [Cross-Posted from #CSP 19]

Today I decided to start working on our first writing assignment about gender, mostly just thinking of different expressions of gender and trying to determine where in the spectrum I fell, and how I wanted to identify myself. Feeling a little overwhelmed by the choices I could make and the different ways this assignment could go, I called a friend, and we had a discussion about gender that quickly turned into a debate about the differences between sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. After our conversation, I came away having tried to communicate the following things:

• Sex is what you are biologically: male, female, or intersex.
• Gender is how you identify in terms of sex. Most people who are biologically female identify as female, and same for males. However, if you choose to identify outside of the gender binary ( i.e. a man or boy expressing their gender as female), that is your gender identity.
• Gender expression is how you choose to communicate your gender.
• The way that you express your gender is not indicative of your sexual orientation (i,e. a man can choose to express their gender as female and still be heterosexual).

I looked up "gender expression" on Google to try to find a simple website that would help explain my point of view to my friend, and this was the simplest one that I could find: http://www.gendersanity.com/diagram.shtml. It's not extremely thorough, but it makes the same points as I was trying to.

I didn't really have the questions that I had answered at the end of the conversation, but it was still a conversation well-spent.

Wideman's "Free Papers"

The theme that I saw most commonly in Daniel Wideman's "Free Papers" was the word justice and how that correlated to the phrase just us. I posed a question toward the middle of the article that helped me to organize my thoughts, and brought up interesting points of discussion for me. I was forced to think critically about the fact that this word justice means so man different things to different people, and asked myself:

"What is justice really? Can it exist in today's America, where everyone expects to receive the same rights as everyone else?"

At the beginning of the article, I was confused as to why he so adamantly claims that, as on page 173, " 'Justice' out of anybody's mouth an irksome, tinkling bell; and though I can anticipate it, I can never quite suppress the smirk that rises to my lips. Whenever the word comes up in an ethnically mixed gathering, my eyes scan the room for color..." The word justice seems to inflict physical pain upon him when he hears it, but as I read on, I realized that he was writing for others who had felt this way before. Wideman's point wasn't to beat a dead horse, it was to make clear that this wasn't something that he just dealt with on an occasional basis. This was something that was a regular occurrence, and the fact that it was mentioned so often only served to show that it happened with a startling frequency.

Many of the points that Wideman makes in his article revolve around race or the fact the only people who are actually free are a part of the dominant culture:

• (p. 174) What constitutes "imprisoned space"? Does it extend beyond the bars and locks of prison walls, beyond institutional confinement? -- Even in a free land, there are people who can't freely be themselves. Those who are not a part of the dominant culture are still under pressures that force them to hide either parts of all of their true identities.
• (p. 174) If "justice" is the long arm of the law wielding the whip that cracks across "just out" backs, then if you been done wrong, you're family. -- The dominant culture (in this case, the white man)'s perception of justice is not equal to the black man's perspective. If it isn't the same for everyone, then white culture is constructing what justice is.

A couple other questions that I ask myself follow in the vein of whether or not America is the land of the free, and what it would mean if it wasn't. Overall, I find myself thinking more about the fact that I am unsure of where I stand in American society as an African-American, and where I stand knowing that I have to make a difference.

Until next time,

Tricia

Cop Lets 11-year-old Die Over a Traffic Stop

Cop Lets Girl Die of Asthma Attack

It's really annoying to me to see that when people know that someone is dying, especially the law enforcement, they don't stop to help. I can't help but wonder to myself, is this because the family is African-American? Is it because the police officer was too concerned with his writing a ticket of the car to nice that there was an 11-year-old girl suffocating to death in the vehicle? I can't really put a reason on it.

Suffice it to say: I am very confused about what I think of police officers, which you'll see in my write up of Wideman's "Free Papers."

Until then,

Tricia