#gss101

I thought this article was interesting in the context of our conversations about mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex today. I also thought it was interesting given Wisconsin’s importance in this past election. What I find to be major connection between racism and LGBTQ rights is the idea of respectability politics that we talked about in class. However, as the documentary 13th points out, the current prison system does nothing to really rehabilitate those who have been sent to jail. So if these men and women were not “respectable” in the first place, it is hard for me to see what they believe the gain will be by locking up people in a cage. 

This article discusses the social influence of the first South Korean female president. Many have called her “crazy” as the article points out. Whether that is because of her politics or because of her gender, is very hard to say. The author of the article mentions that South Korea is a deeply patriarchal country, so the election of a first female president was an impressive feat- however, she has received so much backlash as president, that it is hard to separate if the discrimination is simply due to misogyny. It reminds me of the article that we read by Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege.” She mentions that one of the ways that she experiences white privilege is that she does not have to consider if her behavior is a reflection of her race. I would never equate racism in the United States with gender inequality in a different country, but I do think that in some ways, the current South Korean President may be facing some similar questions about her politics and public perception being affected by her gender. 

I loved stumbling upon this article, because I am a huge fan of Michelle Obama- who isn’t?! I was not only impressed by the public acknowledgement of her excellence, but also the analysis of many celebrities about what her leadership as an African-American woman has meant in the greater American story. Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie notes there was some backlash towards the First Lady, and that the “cheapest caricature” of the Angry Black Woman was thrust on her by many of her opposers.  This notion of the Angry Black Woman is one of the four “controlling images” that Patricia Hill Collins points out in her article, “Controlling Images and Black Women’s Oppression.” This racist stereotype is one of the many forms of discrimination that Michelle Obama has overcome throughout her career. Her ability to gracefully lead in a racist society that continues to oppress her and other black women, is part of what makes Michelle Obama brilliant. 

This article from the New York Times discusses what the 2005 video of Donald Trump’s lewd comments suggest about his current voting bloc. The author of this article points out that many on the right have come out saying, “I have a daughter. I can’t support this man and his comments.” Orenstein notes, “who would have thought that Trump had the capacity to start a non-partisan feminist movement?” Orenstein notes that asserting that you can’t support Trump because you have a woman in your life that you love personally, still contributes to the idea of a hierarchy, and that women are in need of protecting. That is why the Riot Grrrrl Manifesto is “interested in creating non-hierarchical ways of being.” I am happy to hear that people on both sides of the party lines are taking offense at Trump’s commentary. But not electing Trump is not going to suddenly dismantle the patriarchy. That work will unfortunately take much longer. 

I was particularly interested in the discussion we had in class about global perspectives of gay identities, and the increasing association of gay tolerance as translating to progress or  modernization. Last year, I remember I attended a Shabbat dinner with the college Hillel group, and the same topic was brought up. One student who had studied abroad in Israel mentioned that their policies and the mood towards gay people was far more accepting than the United States. But this article is also interesting in the way that it depicts Israeli policies on homosexuality, as a way to pit themselves against their Palestinian counterparts. This article reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted the Middle East as a place where, “woman are stoned, gays are hanged and Christians are persecuted.” Although this article is from many years ago, I thought it was an interesting addition to the conversation we had about homo-nationalism, especially since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ongoing source of tension. 

Even though this article is from last year, I thought it was particularly interesting read and a good extension for our class discussion earlier today. The article focuses on 4 key leaders of the BLM movement who all identify as members of the LBGTQ community. They all speak separately about BLM’s role in putting trans and queer bodies at the frontline of the cause. The black liberation movement in the United States has primarily focused on black cis-gendered heterosexual men- ones that are referred to the article as “respectable and god fearing.” However, the BLM movement is centered around respecting the lives of ALL black bodies, and drawing attention the black bodies of the past that may not have gotten credit for their actions, simply because of their gender identity or their sexual orientation. History tends to do this in any given movement. When I think of civil rights or black liberation, I am more likely to think of black cis-gendered heterosexual men- the media does not tend to cover other kinds of men and women. Similarly, when we think of the women’s suffrage movement, we tend to only think of white women- Angela Davis touches on this in her article “Women, Race, & Class” when she notes that, “at every turn [black women] were betrayed, spurned and rejected the leaders of the lily-white suffrage movement.” We have a tendency to think of the past as written by the people who most closely fit our set of societal norms. 

I am normally a huge fan of Lena Dunham, but I do agree with the backlash she received. Luckily, she was able to see that the assumptions she made about Odell Beckham failing to see her as someone to “fuck” were a tad hypocritical. I am all for everyone presenting their sexuality in any way that they see fit, so I don’t mean that there was a right or a wrong way for her to present her own sexuality. Rather I find it problematic that she reduced his inability to interact with her as merely being because he could not see himself having sex with her. These assumptions only contribute to the idea that Sharon Marcus presents in “Between Women”: “to be feminine is to be the opposite of masculine and to be desired by the masculine (19).” Although her dress at the gala event was masculine by society’s standards, her prerogative  to be desired sexually by the masculine is still a heteronormative ideal.