fAndrew has 10 post(s)

Amelia Cabezas in her text “Between Love and Money: Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic defines sexual citizenship as a way to explain the motives behind one coming to a country looking for a sexual experience and the ones providing that experience. The concept of sexual citizenship was introduced in 1993 by David T. Evans. He wanted to amend social-constructionist theories of sexuality to underline the material foundation of sexualities from a neo-Marxist perspective. Nowadays, the concept, which has been developed mostly in Great Britain, is primarily used to draw attention to the political aspects of erotics and the sexual component of politics. Cabezas puts forth the idea that one going to another country for a sexual excursion is not specifically a bad thing. She puts forth that the sex worker is viewed highly negatively by society. The common view is that these people are sexual deviants always looking for sex and ways to make profit from it. Others also believe these people are obligated to offer up their bodies to whoever request them as long as money is involved and sometimes even without. Even the gender and sexual orientation if these people add to this stigma as many blacks and gays are put into the same light as always wanting sex or to make a profit from it. While this may be true for some sex workers many engage in this practice as a form of enjoyment and are very much in control of who they allow access to their bodies. Cabezas states for women in this profession in positions outside of heteronormativity  it can be very beneficial for them. Married women or those that have kids can benefit from this line of work   because having relations with someone who purchases their services can be very altruistic and some customers go out of their  way to help the families of these women with financial troubles.

In her essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and its Others, “ Lila Abu-Lughod argues that discourses on humanitarianism and human rights in the 21st century rely in some way on constructions of Muslim women. The”Veil” Abu-Lughod speaks of in her essay is the burqa muslim women are forced to wear and the connotations attributed to it. Abu-Lughod states that. It is common popular knowledge that the ultimate sign of the oppression of Afghan women under the Taliban and the terrorists is that they were forced to wear the
burqa. She also states how Liberals sometimes confess their surprise that even though Afghanistan has been liberated from the Taliban, women do not seem to be throwing off their burqas. Not only liberals are guilty of this thinking but the general populace as well. When one that does not understand the meaning behind wearing the burqa views a woman wearing one it is typically assumed it is due to the woman being forced to wear it. While most keep silent about their displeasure or confusion about women wearing burqas some can be a bit extreme. Many accounts of women wearing burqas being called terrorists and people ripping the burqas off of women’s heads have occurred in recent times. For these women to truly be saved they need to be given equal rights and respect. As long as the wearing of burqas is attributed to a forced woman with no rights they will never gain the respect they deserve. Some muslim men even support the idea that this way of dress means these women dont deserve respect and that these women are truly not equal to others. This way of thinking and the ones that support this way of thinking need to stop for muslim women to truly be free.

Roderick Ferguson characterizes the relationship between property, capital, and prostitution in his book Aberrations in Black Toward a Queer of Color Critique. He explains this relationship with his “Queer of Color” analysis. Which he describes as building on the idea that capital produces emergent social formations that exceed the racialized boundaries of gender and sexual ideals. His main subject in explaining his Queer of Color analysis is a Black drag-queen prostitute. This image puts forth the act of going against the social norms of property, capital, and prostitution in all forms. The simple fact of being a prostitute goes against these social norms because it is a form of income seen as far lesser than those with more “normal” forms of income and are viewed as less deserving of legal protection. Prostitution is seen as illegal in most of the world and this can easily stem from the perceived notion that it is an immoral act going against human rights. Sometimes this is the only way a person can earn an income, and even in some cases, it is a profession people want to pursue. The fact that Ferguson’s example character is both Black and a drag queen in addition to being a prostitute makes them even more connected to Ferguson’s Queer of Color analysis. Because the character is Black and a drag queen it becomes more problematic than what a typical prostitute would have to face. This type of person deviates so far from social norms that if they were to get into legal trouble their chance of proving themselves innocent would be far harder than any regular person. By having the combination of perceived inferior traits: being Black, a drag queen, and a prostitute; they are in a position where it would be near impossible to accept them as deserving as others, thus perfectly representing Ferguson’s Queer of Color.

In her essay, Punks, Bulldaggers, and, Welfare Queens the Radical Potential of Queer Politics Cathy Cohen argues that “…a truly radical or transformative politics has not resulted from queer activism.” With politics getting any type of change to happen is a long and hard endeavour. For any type of significant change to happen it can take literal years with how rigid politics are. There are several reasons this process takes so long. One of them would be the unwillingness of people to act against politics. The major thought process among people is that if they were to act it would not make any difference; that they should just wait out the present problems in hope that they will fix themselves; or hope for a better person to come into a leading position and leave it to them to fix current problems. This kind of thinking leads to nothing being done in the way of change in a timely fashion. The only true way for change to occur is to speak out against injustice but even that has its drawbacks. Cohen finds that the one of the largest failings of queer theory and queer politics has been their inability to incorporate into the analysis of the world and strategies for political mobilization the roles that race, class, and gender play in defining people’s differing relations to dominant and normalizing power. For political change to work, those vying for it must avoid infighting as it only halts the process to achieve change. Power relations add to this problem as stating dominance over another based on, as an example, not holding a leading position such as a planner can cause the major reason of halting feeling useless or unneeded. Instead of making enemies of each other or excluding others based on race or class the common enemy must be focused on in order to instate political change.

In her essay, “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought,” Patricia Hill Collins argues that, “Black women’s experiences highlight the tension experienced by any group of less powerful outsiders encountering the paradigmatic thought of a more powerful insider community.” She attempts to explain this by exploring the sociological significance of three characteristic themes. She explores the themes of Black women’s self-definition and self-valuation; the interlocking nature of oppression; and the importance of Afro-American women’s culture. I shall be discussing the themes of Black women’s self-definition and self-valuation. Black women’s attempts at self-definition have led to many stereotypical views of them. Collins in her text says that Black women’s assertiveness in resisting oppression has been a threat to the status quo. In doing this, Black women have been attributed with externally defining negative traits meant to control assertive Black female behavior. The “crazy Black woman” stereotype is an example of this. These stereotypes of Black women come from distorted renderings of Black female behavior seen as most frightening to white patriarchy. Collins states that aggressive Afro-American women are feared because they challenge the white patriarchal created stereotype of femininity. Feminine traits are ways of behaving that our culture usually associates with being a girl or woman. Some words commonly used to describe femininity are dependent, emotional, passive, sensitive, quiet, graceful, innocent, weak, flirtatious, nurturing, self-critical, soft, sexually submissive, or accepting. With many black women these kinds of traits are not at all correct and masculine traits are more commonly used to describe them. Some of these would be independent, aggressive, tough-skinned, competitive, strong, self-confident, and rebellious. This way of acting in African American women scares white supremacists as it goes against the stigma for women they have created. To combat this they draw attention to the negative aspects of this outspokenness to paint African American women in a bad light, leading to the many stereotypes attributed to them that we know of today.

V. Spike Peterson and Laura Parisi in their text, Are women human? It’s not an academic question,  argue that we should interrogate the connection of “human rights” in connection to heterosexism rather than focusing on, as other feminists have, the androcentrism of human rights discourse. At the very beginning of their text they essentially answer the question posed in the title. They say only men encompass the term “human” as what is referenced as human are men’s bodies, experiences and stereotypical attributes. As Peterson and Parisi exemplify, men’s traits of reason, agency, and independence are the stereotypical attributes attributed to men. Women’s stereotypical attributes of affect, non-agency, and dependence are not considered when referring to the “human” norm thus making women seem inhuman. Peterson and Parisi’s main point as to how heterosexisum is a precise way of analyzing the relationship of gender differences and human rights seems to be that heterosexuality is the only normal perceived form of sexual identity. Not only that but there is a perceived engraved notion that men must act masculine and women must act feminine. Peterson and Parisi are without a doubt right in their point in my opinion. This ingrained notion that being heterosexual is the only way to be does not let people fully express themselves. Some years ago if a person was homosexual they were far less than human in nearly all of the public’s eye. It was not uncommon for homosexuals to be killed and jailed without any reason. The only true reason this happened was because they were homosexual and nothing more. Even more so in these times, if you were homosexual you were roped in to the same category as pedofiles with basically no concrete basis supporting this. This level of hatred of homosexuals is thankfully not still present but it has certainly left lasting effects. Homosexuality is still seen as unnatural by many and is met with disgust. Times are getting better but it shall be a long time until same sex relations are seen as “normal”.

Silvia Federici in her book “Caliban and the Witch” tells us about the time of the fifteen hundreds and how women were treated and affected negatively in that time. One event at the time had an exuberant amount of repercussions in coming times, the closing of commons. Early on in her text Federici tells the reader of how the commons at the time were a place for farmers to provide for themselves and they were also a common place for social gatherings. By being a place to have social gatherings, these commons were a great place for women to come together and share news and give their viewpoint on things with like minded people. The abolishment of the  open- field system  took this place of peace from women and ended up killing families that could no longer provide for themselves. A page later she tells us of the most affected of those that survived, older women. Due to the closing of communal areas these women had to survive by borrowing, petty theft, and delayed payments. Witch hunts were prevalent in the  fifteen hundreds. Women accused of witchcraft were given basically no trial and were killed in the thousands. While the closing of commons may not have been a direct cause, it easily was a factor in bringing about accusations. Nearly all accusations were false or were based on hatred. Simple things such as asking for help financially or unpaid rents were cause for accusations. This distrust of women became such a problem that even giving birth was cause for severe punishment if not done under strict guidlines. Contraception of any kind was seen as cause of infanticide with the consequence of death if discovered. Even having a birth that was not directly monitored by a male doctor was also cause for punishment among many other obscene reasons. Federici’s text tells us of the many injustices done to women such as removal of public spaces, the witch hunts, and capital punishment for what would be minor offenses, all stemming from a time of death and poverty.

Suzanne Kessler, in her essay ” The Medical Construction of Gender, describes how the condition of intersexuality is handled from a medical and cultural standpoint. She provides many examples of how doctors and parents of intersex children go about dealing with children that are intersex. The main point of her text seems to be that in order for doctors and parents of intersex children to deal with an intersex child, a gender must be determined whether or not at a later time the assigned gender would not make sense. She finds this to be a problem because the concept of changing the genitals of a child to what sex a person deems the child to be  goes against her belief that there can only be two concrete genders. Doctors have several protocols when it comes to dealing with intersex children. Kessler describes the complications of how certain sets of chromosomes can affect surgery that is undergone to make a child the gender they are seen as. When children are born with XX chromosomes, surgery can be preformed almost immediately to reduce the phallus size. In cases of XY chromosomes the process of reassignment is much more complicated. These cases require tests to be taken, for example if the child can produce testosterone and whether the phallus can respond to testosterone. Results from these tests can come back negative and the child cannot be seen as officially male. When parents have intersex children, determining the gender of the child can be a major factor in coming times. A common problem with solidifying the sex of an intersex child is described by one of the doctors Kessler interviewed. They explain that when an obstetrician is inexperienced it can lead to miss-gendering children and affect how that child is raised once the parents are told the gender of the child. Parents will commonly go about naming and raising the child as if they are a certain gender far before any conclusive results are made on the official gender of the child. These examples of handling cases of intersex children may be the most important factor as to how the child is dealt with later in their life. At the time of adolescence the child may not go through normal puberty for a girl or boy of their gender which could easily lead to the child having an identity crises. This would no doubt require counseling for the child. Kessler recounts that in order to avoid this physicians would have to lie to the child which in its own way may be the correct thing to do.

In her essay “Skeletons in the closet” Londa Schiebinger tells the reader the history of how human anatomy was perceived. Throughout her text it can be gathered that she views the reason as to why the comparison of the anatomy of the white woman and man during the eighteenth and nineteenth century was such a critical project at the time was the constant attempts to prove which gender’s anatomy was more superior. In this time it was widely accepted that the male body shape was indeed the more superior of the two sexes.
In her text Schibinger gives many examples of how scientists made attempts at and drew conclusions from false sources that in turn made women seem inferior. Scientists at the time commonly used artist renditions and Greek philosophy biases to depict women with smaller heads suggesting less intelligence as well as depicting them in a childlike manner. Schibinger also recounts during European times the skeletons of women examined had been altered by the restrictive clothing that females wore, especially the corset which narrowed the rib cage and widened the hips. One of the most important examples of bias critical to the misrepresentations of female anatomy is that the scientists conducting the research were all male. They could not imagine a more realistic position if they did not have any experiences of being a woman.
Towards the end of her text Schibinger brings up the point that the comparisons of men and women’s anatomy could be attributed to finding the place of women in European society. She recounts that at the time physical evidence were the leading factors in determining how something could be seen as true. With the examples of smaller heads leading to less intelligence and a crushed ribcage due to corsets I find these examples give merit to her claim.

I find Angela Davis in chapter three on ” Class and race in the Women’s Rights Campaign,” to be attempting to tell the reader of the many hardships of the Women’s rights campaign. While reading this chapter of her book the emotions I mostly felt were anger and disgust, but I also found myself being proud and somewhat amazed.
Most of my anger and disgust comes from, what anyone can find obvious, the hardships these women had to go through described by Davis. At the very beginning there is a common quote used to describe America as the land of the free and the home of the brave. I bring attention to this as it can easily be inferred that Davis means to draw attention to these words and how untruthful they were at the time. Simply by adding quotes to that phrase it can be seen that she wants to exemplify the opposite of those words. Land of the free white man and home of the frightened as an example.
Another thing that greatly caught my attention is when Davis talks about Charles Remond’s involvement. He refused to take his seat in the Seneca Convention due to women being excluded from it. He supported several women’s groups who even paid for his expenses to get to the convention. Davis detailing this event shows the complete disregard for women in that time but also shows how women were not the only ones taking action to get women’s rights. Remond refusing to take his seat can be interpreted as him showing true dedication rather than no longer wanting to be involved. His reasoning of the women he was supporting having the inability to be present for him to support I find only strengthens this claim.
To conclude I would like to mention one thing in Davis’s text that brought up my mood as I was nearing the end. I personally enjoyed Davis’s description of Frances Dana Gage going to speak in the convention. Davis describes her very well as a fearless woman who would not listen to the many that attempted to convince her not to speak. I find Davis to be very good at letting the reader know of the many things women had to go through during the Seneca Convention and she also excels at making the reader not only be interested but sympathize with the women involved.