famani has 11 post(s)

In her essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Lughod argues that discussions on human rights in the 21st century count on molds of Muslim women in a way.  The importance of the political, economic, and social conditions of Afghanistan women is often not supported although it is significant. One of the authors concerns in this article is focused on  how people always immediately target the cultural aspect, and religion of Muslim women instead of other details that define these women and their rights. She believes the government has closed them out from many things including citizenship rights and denies them the most basic rights that they should be entitled to. The aftermath 911 is responsible for the closed eyed view on these individuals, and not respecting their cultural differences.

She wants to explore the issues of Muslim women, Palestinian women, Israeli women, women under the Taliban and terrorists who are oppressed indefinitely and she defends their honor. For example being forced to wear the veil or the burqa which is a full body covering including the face which symbolized a women’s respectability and marked her appropriateness. The burqa has separated men and women with family and home, not with strangers. Wearing this burqa/veil symbolizes being a part of a specific community, and living in this ethical way under specific standards. Muslim men are actually repressing Muslim women as well, they are in no way liberated or saved as they should be. They have a right to global equality like anybody else, and the human right to be able to have enough to eat, shelter, jobs, and be free to do what they want in their own communities. These women need support and if they cant have a voice Lughod will try and be that voice for all them as a whole.

The author makes it clear that the sexual labor of woman has been a part of normalcy for political and economic framework around the world for years on end. She focuses on the countries Dominican Republic, and Cuba which are filled with poverty, and sex was a way to create economic growth. Men as well as women end up moving to tourist areas to make a decent living by approaching foreigners and practicing sexual activities. For examples, domestic services and prostitution typically “shape” the sexual labor formation through the use of sexuality. A typical woman that works with tourists on a sexual level are young single mothers providing for her children as well as other family members.

Sex work which is considered to be traveling with the purpose of paying for some kind of sexual services to be done can help these women for the time being financially because they are struggling with no support.  Sex workers also associated with sex tourism, also known as tourist oriented prostitution. Not all people engage in these sexual activities just for cash either, some may seek marriage or romance and others may just enjoy it on their free time because its pleasurable. In the article its stated that its more effective to form a relationship that could end up being long lasting with returned visits or even marriage, because this is more rewarding and sometimes these sexual encounters can turn into full relationships between the workers and the tourists.

There are differences between men and women sex workers because woman are looked at shamefully for their choice of work, when men may just be seen as workers for the economy helping it to expand. It is looked at as less criticized and shamed in society.  Female sexuality is deserving of protection, and sexual citizenship can thus “point us toward the affirmation of women’s diverse and complex sexualities “( Cabezas, 25). This is an arrangement for women who occupy positions outside of heteronormativity as well. Whether a woman is engaging in sexual encounters for love, marriage, money, or just pleasure she has the right to her own body and that is  important for a women’s advancement and substance .

Roderick Ferguson characterizes the relationship between property, capital, and prostitution. Starting off by explaining, prostitutes race, gender, and class status go hand in hand, and they tend to be excluded by the “American people”. In this case culture is associated with liberal capitalist, social and economic formations, and how gender and sexual varieties relating to African Americans is part of the capitalist production.African Americans are placed outside of the “norm” as well as prostitutes because they are looked down upon due to the way they form their income. This idea of “queers of color” which is associate with people of color are rejected because of their race, gender, and sexuality all together and this affects what makes up the liberal capitalism. Due to their label this causes the discrimination and poverty against them, and it gives a distinct example on the specific group of people affected.Liberal capitalist restrain the diversity of of state and capitalist developments and queer of color analysis encourages unexpected relationships “queer of color analysis presumes that liberal ideology occludes the intersecting salience of race, gender, sexuality, and class in forming social practices” ( Ferguson,4). So, this queer of color analysis has to negate the ideas that race, class, gender, and sexuality are individual organizations, it has to challenge detachment with the idea that racial and national organizations are actually disconnected in African American culture. Capital has a say so in whats considered normal and what isn’t, and societies follow these ideas because this theory draws attention to social reforms and the author uses the idea of the “Black drag queen prostitute” to show a community who is constantly judged by their race, sex, as well as gender and these issues stem from the detachment which feeds into affected the workforce as well, the author wants to make it clear that we have to really analyze these issues to get a better understanding of why these issues take place.

In her essay, Cathy Cohen has shown what contributed to the radical potential of queer activism. She mentions queer identities and queer politics being misrepresented and she stands by constructing a new identity for these oppressed people, because they aren’t looked at as the “norm”.  Queers are being rejected all because homosexuality seems to be the more acceptable and privileged group of people, highlighting the fact that heterosexuals are not viewed the same as queers, and they hold no power next to the dominated community. A new political identity that is uplifting and greatly re framed so gays, lesbians, transgender etc wont have to be subjected to narrowing their own identities, is one essential point of queer activism the author chooses to enforce.

“All heterosexuals are looked at as controlling and all queers are understood as marginalized or invisible” (Cohen, 440). Queer activism strengthens this divide between heterosexuals and those who are not put into this mold, and focuses on all categories of sexuality. Heteronormativity is the belief that people fall into distinct and complementary genders with natural roles in life and it is the cultural bias in favor of opposite-sex relationships of a sexual nature, and against same-sex relationships of a sexual nature. “Queers” want to be accepted and acknowledged in politics just as much as heterosexuals are and not only in a political sense but in America as a whole. Cohen mentions those that stand by this label of queer have to challenge heteronormativity throughout their lives and have a clear understanding of the issues that come with these challenges. This oppression otherwise forces peoples lives to go in a direction that isn’t their own, minimizing them. So Cathy Cohen explains the main reasons as to why queer activism arose, and what exactly contributed to these perspectives due to how these particular people are viewed in the eyes of society.

Heterosexism is to be considered institutionalization of heterosexuality as the only natural way in which people express their sexual and social order. Reading the work of V. Spike Peterson and Laura Parisi they believe heterosexism is a more precise way of analyzing the relationship of gender difference and human rights but why? Women weren’t treated as human beings because of the reproductive role they played in society among other factors.Human rights were actually considered to be “men’s rights” and women and their bodies weren’t included in the “universal category” because men are looked at as the norm and they are the only ones that are considered to be human. “The cultural matrix through which gender identity has become intelligible requires that certain kinds of ‘identities’ cannot ‘exist’, that is, those in which gender does not follow from sex and those in which the practices of desire do not ‘follow’ from either sex or gender” ( Butler,1990 17 ).  Its mentioned that linguistic systems help form gender identities and sexual practices, the development of masculine and feminine which masculine is more favored is imprinted in language itself, and therefore language becomes an aspect in analyzing the construction of humans as well as philosophy, religion, and political theory.

Men being the privileged sex was also a way to separate men and women in the state, their interests and freedom are limited, forced to adhere to male needs. Male domination and women oppression is linked to discrediting women as human beings. Heterosexism gives men the upper hand and the advantage for masculine group reproduction, it promotes the inferiority between men and women and basically just accepting their subordination as a whole.Yet it is abuse and maltreatment for women because masculinity is privileged over femininity, and conquering other sexual orientations, as well as gender identifications leaving them with no sense of identity for themselves.

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Feminist theory targets gender inequality, and narrows in on discrimination, oppression, and sexual objectification. Adrienne Rich argues that heterosexuality is institutionalized, and in the examples she introduces in her work, she believes the view of female homosexuals are bias, and looked at as abnormal. Assuming in a sense that lesbians are just spiteful and resentful towards men, so that explains why they prefer other women, which is false. Therefore in this article it is shown that women choosing other women as their lovers/ partners is suppressed and greatly  discredited.

She argues that their is a lack of understanding of gender equality in literature, not enough texts exist on lesbians precisely, yet heterosexual romance is shown all over in films, books, and even art. There is the demolition of documents focused on lesbians specifically, and undercover messages showing that cruel heterosexuality is normal rather than sexual attractiveness between two women. Rich claims that in society heterosexuality is some what forced on women due to male domination. Women were overpowered, and discriminated against professionally in the work place, with no education, they were poorly paid, men controlled childbirth, abortion, and contraception along with physical sexual harassment such as rape. Being exposed to chastity belts, child marriage, arranged marriages, and even brutal surgeries (clitoridectomy) where the clitoris is cut to make a female more “marriageable” and making sure that female sexual relations will be cut out is also a sign of male domination. Feminists viewed this as female torture.

Men were economically powerful, so for women to keep their service jobs being sexualized came along with it, they would have to look a certain way, purposely promoting sexual attractiveness for men so they can keep their jobs. Women were automatically considered “dried up” lesbian, or sexless if they happen to withstand these sexual approaches on the job. I agree this is form of female enslavement, as well as female torture because a lesbian women would have to actually deny her true relationship with another women, pretending to be heterosexual although she might not have been, in order to maintain her employment. Dressing up and playing the ‘feminine’ role she then was considered a real women. These women were put under certain pressures, forced conditions, and continuously endured exploitation…. because they simply had to. Rich shows in her article that heterosexuality is indeed institutionalized.

In her essay, “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality,” Gayle Rubin it is shown that sex is always active in politics, there have been conflicts, disputes, and debates on sexual values, and she believes that its always political. For example during the 19th century in the United States and England people were more aware of sexuality and its morals and it was viewed differently. There were campaigns on abstinence, masturbation was looked down upon, in bad health and the targeted group was young people because that’s who they aimed to protect from sexual excitement. Some theorists even believed it led to insanity, a stunted growth and impairment on the youth.

The Comstock Act that was passed in 1873 made it illegal to sell, make, promote information, books or pictures that are foul  for the basis of sexual arousal as well. Yet Rubin is trying to show in her article that sexuality as a whole should be appreciated and respected, and to be sexual is natural and apart of human activity in everyday life. In the 19th century parents went to the bizarre extreme to tie their children down at night so they wouldn’t be able to masturbate “protecting” them from having an interest in sex and during this time children weren’t able to be aware of their sexuality or experience it in anyway. Later on during the 1950’s, sexual offenders became the main focus, similar to this day they were associated with fear and they were a threat to public safety. Large investigations took place to capture sex offenders who may have been working for the government, which is very corrupt. Therefore many people did end up losing their jobs due to this, and rules were placed on these offenders and their future employment opportunities.

In The Caliban and the Witch, by Silvia Frederici she describes the degradation of women, and this economic and political system in association with labor force. She discusses woman being oppressed under strong domination in the work force leaving them powerless. Women were looked at as inferior to men causing a mass of division in the workforce as well. This manipulation of women only benefited one side, Frederici said it herself that capitalism has formed enslavement serving to identify and conceal exploitation. In the midst of creating a capital base this system was  humiliating the working class woman.

From the beginning of the Woman’s Movement, women were socially unequal to men. Looked at as only child bearers, sexual beings, wives, and pro creators. This sexual division of labor caused woman to be associated with reproduction and the female body itself was an accumulation of wealth ” in the development of new reproductive technologies that reduce women to wombs” (Frederici,17). Another form of power was the control of the human body also known as “valorization”, without permission their bodies were social, political, and economic machines by the government just to attain capital. This government fed off of the lives of others who they viewed to be subordinate.

Extreme poverty arose due to the lack of wages these women attained during the wage collapse. Woman struggled to support themselves because they received half of the pay a man would receive and for the same exact job. By the 16th century they couldn’t support themselves by agriculture, manufacturing, or wage work, therefore prostitution was on the rise during this time. Their independence was gone being forced to depend on men and they were put into a position of economic dependence. Consequently transitioning from feudalism to capitalism woman endured indignity that was significant in the accumulation of wealth in a capitalist economy.

In Suzanne Kessler’s essay, “The Medical Construction of Gender,” inter sexuality is described to be when a baby is born with genitals that aren’t specifically male or female. Members of medical teams have practices when it comes to managing this issue. Such as announcing the babies gender during delivery, discussions with the parents after the baby is born, and discussions with the patient during its teenage years is only apart of the outside of the medical issues. It relies on the cultural comprehension of gender it self. According to the article their are different categories for this deformation, for example the “true inter-sexed” is where ovarian and testicular tissue are present in the same or opposite gonad, or if the infant has two ovaries/testes, this goes by female or male   pseudohermaphroditism.

Physicians understand inter-sexuality in 3 different concepts. One would be how it is surgically taken care of , some smaller male genitals that may not be clearly recognizable could be enlarged, or a female’s genitals could be constructed to be different in appearance from normal ones. As well as gender identity, physicians believe in order for this perception of belonging to the female or male category to happen successfully that gender must be assigned as early as possible, between 18 months and no later than 2 years of age. Experts must be sure that parents don’t have any doubts about whether their child is female or male, gender hormones must be given during puberty, and patient should eventually become informed about this situation during appropriate timing, therefore the child will not question his or her identity later on. Physicians also inform parents not to identify the child’s gender until it has been specifically allocated. Different methods to handle this situation are also given to the parents of these intersex children, physicians give parents ways to deal with other people who might not exactly understand the situation, “Why dont you just tell them that the baby is having problems and as soon as the problems are resolved we’ll get back to you” ( Kessler, 13). Or until the problem is resolved choose not to speak about it to others has been suggested. These are some factors that impact the way physicians, parents, and patients understand and manage the medical condition as inter-sexuality.

In the essay “Skeletons in the closet” by Londa Schiebingers, she wonders why the female skeleton grasped the attention of anatomists to begin with, or was it relevant to scientific objectivity she questions. She realized these dissectors focused on the parts of the body that would be politically important. Reason being, the first skeleton would become visible when  the position of woman in the European society would come to surface. A published drawing of the female had shown the skull appearing to be smaller than a males, and their pelvis’s being larger. For no other reason then showing woman weren’t as smart as men, and their pelvis’s being larger related to the thought that women were “naturally destined for motherhood the confined sphere of hearth and home” (Schiebingers,3).

Nature and equality play an important role in this article, as it did with Davis’s chapter 3. When woman asked for equality it wasn’t granted to them, and the study of nature of women became a specific topic during the time. During the 18th century women and men had very different roles, and woman’s qualities were always associated with children and nonindustrial jobs.

She relates back to the ancient world, where Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen drew pictures of the nature of woman trying to justify a women’s inferior social status. One of these philosophers actually claimed that women were colder and weaker than men. Along with the accusations that women are lazy while men are active. Poullain a French feminist who stated a very needed appeal on behalf of the equality of women claims “their eyes see as clearly, their ears hear with the same degree of accuracy, their hands are as dexterose, and their heads are the same” (Schiebingers, 6). The sex differences in men and women shouldnt determine them politically or socially, their simply skin deep.