leftover women

Leftover women refers to the large group of women who remain unmarried beyond 25 years old in China. They are mostly beautiful, high-achiecing and dominant. I recently read an article about leftover women arguing that this phenomenon is not typical in America for the reason that Americans are more independent and individualistic. It makes sense because China is a country with emphasis on collectivism. Chinese usually receive more pressure from the peer. When a woman remains single after she reaches certain age, the pressure from her peers will cause more and more influence on herself. Also, the woman's last generation, which is the generation of her parents, will also suffered from the pressure from their peers. As a result, women tend to worry about their marriage because of others' opinion.

thought on sexing the intersexed

Sexing on the intersexed：An Analysis of sociocultural Responsese to Intersexuality is an article related to the newborn babies who are sexual ambiguous or hermaphroditic. In the middle part of the article, the author argues that when doctors perform sex surgeries for those who are born genital ambiguously, how genitals look like are the key point of determining the choice of gender. That is, the gender of a individual will be decided be his or her physical factors. However, isn't it violating the idea that gender come from the person himself instead of his biological characteristics?

Furthermore, one example author uses in the article catch my attention. It is said that one of the twins born in Canada lost his penis during a routine electrocautery circumcision. Doctors then decided to take another transgender surgery to transmute this boy into a girl. However, it is revealed that she never was satisfied with his identity and receive a male reassignment at his 14. This example sort of is contradicted to the idea of gender can be rebuilt and influenced by environment. Though the transgender girl was never told that she was once a boy, and was raised as a girl completely, it is obvious that her real gender was male. So is that an example of gender coming from birth?

Prostitution to be legalized?

From one of the past discussion sessions, there was a claim that prostitution somehow contributes to feminine rights as it is one of methods that women can freely control their gender. This sounded like a very controversial claim and the issue is controversial as well but it is very fresh so I am intrigued.

To be parallel with the claim, there are remarks from the sexually assaulted that they intentionally had sexual intercourse, being paid. Their reasoning to undergo the horrible experience of sexual relationship is emotionally resisting against the horrible memory and the criminal by controlling their sex through prostitution. To fight against the memory and freely decide whether or not to have sex through prostitution, they expect to feel relieved from the prostitution. Definitely it is from lack of emotional relief on them after the crime and society is also responsible from failing to help the victims recover from the memory, the victims' reasoning to decide for prostitution is legitimate.

However, it is not a healthy way to be relieved and there are many more desirable methods to truly help the victims. Also, from absolute majority of prostitution, women make decision not from the reason mentioned above - sexual assaults. Therefore, I believe that women choosing prostitution to be able to control their sex is a minority and prostitution should be approached from another point of view regarding social merits of legalizing prostitution (It does not mean I am pro-prostitution). To exemplify, instead of banning prostitution and pushing the business into shadow - just like the Prohibition - legalizing it and putting it under strict governmental monitoring may be more favorable in multiple aspects.

Songs of Holy Mary

The three pieces of "Songs of Holy Mary" seems somewhat unreasonable to me. The first one is about a poor lady, hated by her mother-in-law so schemed to cheat with a moor slave but saved thanks to her sincere faith in Holy Mary. The second one is about a women sleeping with her own son and demon telling this to a King so the lady is almost executed but Holy Mary saving her. The last one is about a fetus almost killed in a sword fight in which his parents are killed but saved from his mother's faith in Holy Mary.

The first and the third story seems reasonable and effective in asking people for their beliefs in Jesus and Holy Mary. The lady from the first story is saved - accordingly to justice - and although his parents are killed in the sword fight, the fetus survives as his mother's last wish. To loyally serve purpose of the stories, they are rewarded for their faith. Also from the second story, the lady who slept with her own son is saved as well, from the same reason.

However, the moor servant from the first story, the lady and son from the second story are helped by Holy Mary in "wrong" manners. The moor servant, although it is not written whether or not he tries to resist against committing adultery, is burned to death for what he did as he is ordered as a servant. Even though he did not resist the mother-in-law's order, he has no choice as a servant. Therefore, it is not righteous to save only the lady. Also, as the story implies that there is no actual adultery but the moor simply lies with the lady, it is a misconception to order execution for both the servant and the lady.

From the second story, there is a confusion, even worse than one from the first story. Unlike common notion and definition of "devil," devil tells truth of the lady sleeping with own son. Although it is explained that he does so to see a true believer killed, what the devil does should be deemed exemplary. Along with devil acting as a protagonist, the lady pardoned for the adultery complicates the story even more. Although it is understandable that sincere faith in Holy Mary will override any punishment, it does not seem to be the most effective way to embrace solid Christianity.

In reality, the third story is probably the most reasonable and understandable story considering what virtues the Christianity and the Bible embrace. Although the pregnant lady is killed, her last wish is realized thanks to her faith and the baby grows up to be a healthy man. Though the last story is morally flawless in encouraging sincere belief, I think the first and second stories would have been better with some "modifications."

Thomas Beatie's story

It is definitely a sensational story that a "man" is pregnant, although "his" biological sex during pregnancy is female (he quit testosterone to prepare for it and has female reproductive organs so it is possible). While it is also a lesbian marriage, it is paradoxically a normal marriage as well due to the particularity. I believe it is closely related to queer theory. According to the queer theory, nobody is "queer" or minority as desire is queer and everybody has desire. Considering the pivotal concept of the theory, Thomas Beatie is no different from couples I see everyday. Instead, he just went through a surgery to gain biological sex he believes to belong. The surgery enables him to be a male but measure of the surgery still leaves it possible for him to act as a female - through the most obvious way, carrying a baby.

Thinking how his story is related to the queer theory also reminds me of intersectionality. Though the case is pretty different from an example suggested from the class - African-American women in 1960s - Mr. Beatie achieves seemingly impossible mission of being man and woman at the same time. This is a significant event in LGBT's struggle for full rights as rest of the society. While Mr. Beatie is legally a man, "she" is also a woman through carrying a baby. Being forced to modify previous system of defining mother and father, the society and American government would have to find a new mechanism so that biological sex-based nomenclature of mother and father should better describe parents from gay couples, lesbian couples and potentially more "Mr. Beaties" to come in future.

Peccatum Mutum

Peccatum Mutum(The Secret Sin: Sodomy) is an article of women and sodomy. It debates several definitions towards sodomy in different ways. The article defines that sodomy is committed when two same sex people perform sex, and copulation is required. As a result, the considered as homicide because the copulation happen but there is no chance for it to grow.

However, I do not understand the way author points out that "women first spread sodomitical wickedness over the earth" and "genuine sodomy is committed bet ween women" because he is not able to explain or give examples of how sodomy can really be committed between women. Author then come up with several hypothesis including the appearing of a clitoris which can facilitate women with sodomy. It seems to me that the author is being discriminated against women because he simply blame women for something that most of them are not capable of.

Malleus Maleficarum

Malleus Maleficarum was, without a doubt, a false piece of sexist literature published under the guise of modern science. In fact, the only portion of it that is really true is the idea that women do have power over men. Instead of admitting that women can possess power, though, the authors attribute the power to supernatural causes. By doing so they take the source of the power away from the women themselves in an attempt to say that even if women have power it is not actually by their own doing. Evidence of this can be seen in the work, even through the much less strict scientific standards of the time. I feel the best example is how women are claimed to be able to remove the penises from males. However the text says that they are not actually removed but merely hidden from sight and touch. Other readings from class have taught us, though, that sight and touch are the basis for reputable science during this time. This use of a double standard is evidence that Malleus Maleficarum contained questionable science even by the standards of its time.

some thought about "The Ravage of Vice"

After reading “The Ravages of Vice”, I had some thoughts about the story that Lisis told. I am most impressed by the last scene that Don Donis killed all of people in his house. When he found that the servant Fernando left his wife’s bedroom at midnight, he immediately assumed that there was an adultery between his wife and the servant and killed them without doubt. It reveals two things. First, Don Donis had little faith in his wife. Actually, he did not see any scene that could truly prove the adultery. However, he was very certain that his wife betrayed him. It was because Don Donis disregarded and distrusted women before. He even claimed women as “false, treacherous, immoral, dishonorable”. So when he saw the servant was with his wife, the first thought he had was adultery.

Another thing I derive from this story is that men always tolerate their own betray but ask more for women’s loyal. Although Don Donis had betrayed his wife for four years， he did not consider himself as guilty. Instead, he thought that he was pursuing the true love, which was totally right. However, when he discovered the “adultery” between his wife and the servant, he was raged and gave the most harsh punishment to both of them. Don Donis’ sexual double standard implies that he had a great desire to control women’s bodies.

The transponder in real life

I personally have neer interact with any transgender people in my whole life. Before I take this gender study class, I do not think there is any chance for me in later life either. However I recently know a television show called TRANSform ME, which was emceed by transgender people. TRANSform ME is a reality show recording how three transgender women, Jamie Clayton, Laverne Cox and Nina Poon, help change another girl's life style into a more fashion way.

I watched a few episodes of the show, and they completely changed my view on transgender people .To be honest, I regard transgender people as a group of people that is really far from my life circle. And my impression on them is limited to the feeling that they are dreaming of something that does not belong to them. However, the show provides me three real transgender women who are so confident that normal women would be jealous of them. They are confident about their identity, and their outlook, though they were once men. They would make fun of their past, or use it as a encouraging story. They are beautiful. They know what their advantages and disadvantages are, and are clear about how to improve them. Other than the real purpose of the show, which is a show for fashion, TRANSform ME provide me a real side of transgender women and allow me to have a peek at their life, leaving me the thought that they could also own the normal life as other normal people, and maybe more colorful.

Children and Gender Roles

PERFECT VIDEO for what our class is all about.



I feel like this is what the course is all about. This is why gender studies exists. The alteration of the "normal" perception of what gender pertains to. These children have been brought up the way society has planned for them to. Their standard for gender identity seems to be very practical.

Although they do not represent the whole population of children in the world, it is fascinating to me to see how our society works, along with the psychological aspects of gender role stereotypes. (Although it was a little disturbing for me when they do the exercise with the barbie and ken dolls.)

Yeah, I just was so excited to find this video. Makes everything else make sense.

Marilyn Monroe and gender role

Recently I went to a lecture naming the complex life of Marilyn Monroe, and have some thoughts about it. In the lecture, the speaker showed several precious photos of Marilyn Monroe in her different period of time. From the photos, I learn her life as a bold woman who was willing to break distinguish kind of gender roles.

At first, Marilyn Monroe broke the role for white women. she was the first group of women who joined the working field when the American government was hoping for women workers during the World War 2. Regardless the fact that most of white people were still taking responsible for their family. More, she broke the role society for traditional women. There is one photo of her attending to the party of John Kennedy, where she wore no underwear but only a formal dress. Her fearless appearance ensure herself as the sexy symbol in America. Marilyn Monroe also a homosexual. She once dated the American star Joan Crawford, and had a one-night relationship with her. Consequently she broke the role for women.

Beauty and desire

A piece of my opinion for the poem (Garcilaso de laVega).

This poem delivers a point that appeals balance between sexual induce and desire. Using concepts of Renaissance Perfection, the author use simple objects to describe the lure from women: Rose represents red lip that gives people passion and desire to approach, and Lily represent white skin, which represents holiness and chastity, which prevent people from getting close. I can see from this stream of concept of women: the perfect women is a combination of beauty and chastity, sexiness and holiness. Perfect women builds up an impression that can stimulate people's desires but keep them from it. 

Beautiful things are those that cannot merge into the mass. Grassroots culture cannot be regarded as "beautiful" and "perfect" because there are too many people who can create, perform and appreciate, and through those "reprint" and "rebuild", there are two possibilities, one is that people add too much other elements into this form of art and therefore its uniqueness disappear; the other is that it completely changed to another form of art that deviated from the original meaning. Therefore, perfect beauty is a kind of art that only little can approach and appreciate, while leaving the majority confused or keeping the majority away. These works are unique and sacred, and that's what ancient Greek elements of beauty are. Like the temple, only those who had close relationship to gods could get in, while others respected but could not approach.

Thoughts on leftover women

The more that I think about China's "leftover women" the more it seems like a weird puzzle. From my perspective almost all of what the situation entails doesn't make sense. Women who are smart, successful, young, and presumed to be good looking should have no trouble finding partners. It only becomes more irrational to me considering how China's population is predominantly male; there should be plenty of men looking for a spouse. If anything, the women should be the ones with the power in finding a partner and there should be a "leftover male" problem.

In the United States many of the qualities that leftover women posses are thought to be beneficial when looking for a partner. Even their "old" age is a non-issue. This has me wondering how much of what we discussed all semester only applies in our culture? We do seem to compare what we read only to the values of our society. Is it possible that on some of the more recent articles we've looked at from other places around the world that we may have misinterpreted things due to looking at them from the wrong context?

Desire

I had a conversation with a group of people a few days ago, and while it was not completely about gender, the underlying assumption of the conversation essentially boiled down to "Men want sex more than women." It made me think about the Cantigas laws, and how they held the assumption of women as having a higher, more uncontrollable desire for sex. And I sort of started wondering where our current conceptions about desire begin. There are a few ways to look at it. In a top down view, it's possible that the conceptions of our media going back for hundreds of years has gradually begun to portray men as more desiring, creating our modern conception. I know that today, most media operates under the assumption that men have a high desire. Alternatively, it's possible to argue that the behavior was always there, and media gradually came to represent it.

But the conversation shouldn't be about that, because they it operates on a flawed principle to begin with. Men don't desire more than women. As Diego said when we talked about Queer Theory, "Everyone has desire." A male desire and a female desire are inherently the same. I think the conceptions of men "wanting sex more" comes from the way our society deals with those desires. A man after he has sex might feel more powerful, more masculine. He might want to tell other men, since having sex can be seen as an affirmation of their masculinity. Certainly there's media that backs this idea (500 Days of Summer). Whereas a woman would probably keep it to themselves - a female might receive harsh judgment for having sex, particularly outside of a relationship, might even be considered less feminine to other men. I think this conception of male desire as greater is more an expression of the fact that men are publicly allowed to display their desire in speech and action - men ask women on dates, no the other way around. The man can confess his desire for the woman, but she "reluctantly accepts" she must be "won" and never too quickly express her desire. Man's desire can be more openly expressed, and so it is perceived to be greater.

Why men and women can't be friends..

Came across this on Youtube the other day and thought it was pretty interesting...



So basically, they did a poll at Utah State asking "Do you think men and women can just be friends?" with both male and female responders and most of the women said yes and a lot of the men said no. The men claim that "physical attraction" keeps them from being close friends with females. When they asked the women if they think that their guy friend would hook up with them if they had a chance, or even if they like them, the women all responded yes.
I had even asked a number of my friends, both guys and girls, the same question and got the same responses.

It's weird to think of the men that are the ones that are unable to control their sexual desires, when in fact, all of our readings in class have described it as the other way around. That women can't help themselves because they are naturally flawed whereas men, being perfect would be able to control their desires.
We have seen it in almost every romantic comedy. Man and woman try to be friends, one of them secretly likes the other, and there is a whole two hours worth of plot trying to conceal that emotion from the other and when they find out, they all live happily ever after as MORE THEN FRIENDS.

So... I guess they're right. Men and women cannot be just friends.

Transgender people in fashion industry

some resources:

“Transgender Fashion Model Lea T. “ from The Oprah Winfrey Show :

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Transgender-Fashion-Model-Lea-T-Video

Lea T and Kate Moss:

Teri Toye (the first transgender model in public manner):

Fashion industry has used transgender people models since 1970s

. However, at that time these models were not accepted by the public. For example, April Ashley was a very popular model in the beginning of 1960s. However, after she was discovered that she was transgender, she was abandoned by the world. Even her film was forbidden to display. The society at that time could not tolerate transgender people.

Nowadays, fashion industry not only accepts transgender people but also appreciates their faded beauty. In 2011 London fashion week, there were several transsexual models in the catwalk. One can hardly distinguish who is woman and who is man. The faded sex role is a fashion trend led by a male-to-female model, Lea T. In 2010, she acted a fashion advertisement for Givenchy with several male models. The advertisement made a big stir in the fashion world. Just after the advertisement was published, the agent of Lea T received over 400 requests of interviewing. Then she became the cover girl for “Vogue” for two times and even was a guest on Oprah’s talk show.

This change in fashion industry challenges the typical gender role constructed by society. As more and more transgender people show in media, society will not consider they are “queer”, instead consider them as normal. Who knows, one day there may be a third gender. In addition, as a transgender people’s magazine “Candy” says “Nowadays, women and men have more chances to change their bodies than ever, no matter by doing a surgery or applying cosmetics. People have more control to their appearances.” Some people may be unused to see transgender people on the screen. But for a long term, it is beneficial because it provides the society another angle to consider “gender” and people are encouraged to be who they really are.

Some thoughts about men's giving birth

There is some thoughts I got when I was reviewing the chapters about men's giving birth.

John Frog was written in the era of Renaissance when the society was based on hierarchy. John Frog was a double-sided person: he was a successful comedian while in his personal life, he conducted sodomy. Sodomy was a sin so severe under the ethical terms of that era that the person who conducted should be sentenced to death. However John frog survived and was released without any investigation. The main reason was that Joh Frog served those people who were in upper classes. This was a clear demonstration about the hierarchy of the society at that time. The ethical code was succumb to class. The play writer took advantage of John Frog's dual characteristics to produce comedies about Men's giving birth, in order to warm audience (at that time people who were able to watch plays were those who had high statuses) up, from which we can see among upper class, such anti-ethnicity behavior was a source of fun.

One thing that I conclude from the phenomenon is that during Renaissance, ethnicity was a method of ruling ordinary people. Those who stayed at the lower classes were strictly ruled according to these codes (sodomy = death penalty), while people in upper class used this theme for fun.


Men's giving birth on the one hand warned men that women had the evil power that could torture them, and on the other hand, it showed that men, though ruled women, felt unsafe because women could give them child from other men. Bearing their own baby could guarantee the identities of the off springs. The inter-ruling built up the barrier between men and women and such confrontation (men overtly oppress women, and women covertly harmed men) existed for so long that women's offense finally turned above-table which in my opinion became the movements of feminisms.

Comedy and Misogyny

Popular television shows such as the Simpsons and Family Guy follow a familiar narrative structure: a stupid man and his wife (usually much more attractive than him), along with their oddball family, get into comical mishaps each week. The same pattern exists for live action comedy shows like According to Jim. It's a comedy construct that harks back as far as television exists, starting with the groundbreaking comedy All In The Family.

The main male character on all of these shows is usually portrayed as an idiot. In the case of Family Guy, Peter Griffen is racist, sexist, misogynistic, and just plain dumb. And we allow statements to be made by characters that we would never accept from people in our lives, and that we would never accept from the show's creator, Seth McFarland. But there is also a danger in comedy, in that viewers may construct the wrong message. While ultimately comedic shows usually intend to make the viewer more aware of people like Peter Griffin in society and to undermine their views, some viewers may create a world view based on characters purposely created as sexist. A young man growing up watching the fumbling Peter Griffin is probably aware that he is meant to be a clownish character, but may develop a belief that being sexist or being racist will make people laugh, and make people notice you. And there is a fine line between masterful comedic parody and gross misogynistic propaganda. Sometimes it can become blurred. In the Family Guy episode "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar", Peter is charged with sexual harassment charges at his workplace for telling a distasteful joke (He only gets in trouble when he tells it to a female coworker, lacking the tact to realize that it is only appropriate to tell sexist jokes to other men.) The lawyer that persecutes him is a thin lipped executive business woman names Gloria Ironbox. It is clear that Family Guy isn't looking to be politically correct, but from plot points to character names, McFarland may be crossing the fine line.

I believe in comedy as a wonderful tool for social critique. But even comedians are aware of the inherent dangers of parody. Dave Chappelle of The Chappelle Show left his own popular series because he believed that his comedy, designed to illuminate and help end racism in America, was actually helping propagate it. Comedy is designed to push the envelope, to shock you. And it should always be allowed to. But the creators of comedy also have a social obligation to make sure they are not actually giving value to the very thing they're trying to eliminate.

Here's the episode.

Gender Conflicts in Video Games

I'm also in the Intro to Interactive Media class where we started to talk about women's roles in video games. And how men dominate the video game world. Approximately 90% of video game covers feature men. If a women is on the cover of a video game they are usually and most often sexually displayed or portrayed in seductive ways. While men tend to be portrayed as Super Strong heroes or villains, women are shown as sexual objects, prizes or victims. When men play games they have a variety of options to choose from when it comes to picking their main character. But when women play a game they are limited to their character selection (when picking a female character). Most of the women in those games can not be identified with and are usually wearing a significant amount of less clothing then the male characters of the game. In 1998 the University of Central Florida found that of the 33 games sampled, 41% do not feature female characters, 28% portrayed woman as sex objects, 21% depicted violence against women, and 30% did not represent the female population at all. The poor representation of women in video games could be because of the significant amount of males that develop these games. As more women start to venture into the interactive media studies these statistics will start to even out among men and women.

Rick Perry discrimination campaign

So as I've seen on Facebook, there has been a lot of fury towards Texas governor Rick Perry. He has made this promotional video:



"I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again. I’m Rick Perry and I approve this message."


The “Strong” Ad is a campaign ad for the 2012 republican presidential candidate. The ad became a viral video because of Perry’s negative statement about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the ban on gays serving openly in the military, and received over 200,000 thumbs down votes in less than three days. Comments were banned from being posted.

I do not believe that religion has not been banned in public places. For example, If a student wanted to pray before an exam, that would be totally fine, as they have freedom of religion. However, if a teacher tried to lead a class in prayer before they all took an exam, then that’s not ok, as he’s more or less forcing his religion onto them, and thus infringing on their rights to be free from religion.

My question is simple: Do you think there will there ever be peace with the LGBT community in our country? As we are in such a progressive era, it is hard to believe that such things like sexuality can separate us.. but they do.

A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

I've been reading Tony Kushner's play Angels in America. It's a self described "gay fantasia on national themes." I don't know how many of you have read the play, but there is a fascinating part in it where Roy Cohn, a very successful political figure in Washington as a part of the judicial system, is told by his doctor that he has AIDS. Roy knows what effect this would have on his political career. His doctor knows he is not a drug addict, and knows from previous treatment of Roy that he has had other sexually transmitted diseases common to gay men. Roy admits he sleeps with men, but he says "I am not a homosexual. Because a homosexual is not someone who sleeps with men. A homosexual is someone who in 15 years can't get a pittance ordinance passed through city hall."

Roy defines sexuality in the same way he sees the world - through power. And to Roy, in Washington in the early 90s, homosexuals have no power, and he is powerful, so he is not a homosexual. The play, like most great plays, doesn't pass judgment on Roy's world view, only lets him act on it to it's emotional and logical conclusion. But what do you guys think? Isn't there actually some logic to the power dynamics of your sexual preference? Would America ever elect a gay president? Is there an inherent association in Washington of weakness to same sex preference? There certainly was at one point.

Thoughts?

Occupy in Gender terms

I've been reading and thinking a lot about Occupy. So I decided to do a bit of gender research on Occupy, and I discovered a few things. Firstly, Occupy protests seem to be made up largely of men, and largely of middle class white men specifically. There have all sorts of justification and interpretations. As the middle class, they presumably may have the financial ability to live in a protest camp for weeks at a time, whereas the lower class may be holding several jobs and simply not have time to engage in a protest. Women are often the ones bridled with the responsibility of children or elders to take care of, which may further explain the disparity, as women would have less time in that sense. Furthermore, in an environment of mostly men in a crowded space, sleeping overnight in co-ed tents, women have to consider the dangers of sexual harassment and rape at protest sites.

Of the Twitter mentions surrounding occupy, only around 25% are by females. Some may say there are no blocks to women participating in the online discussion as there are to them participating in a protest. But there are far more women in the lowest earning percentile of Americans than men, and so maybe some may not be able to afford the resources of computers or the internet. And time is still an issue.

Is there a social element as well - is political discourse on the internet often the realm of men; do do more men participate because of a self propagating discourse (in other words, are the posts men talking to men?) Is there a social block to women entering political discourse? There are far more men in politics than women today. Perhaps it's our social differentiation between men and women continuing to creep into our internet behavior.

I'm not sure. I am still to a large extent stumped. Why are there so many more #OWS mentions on twitter by men than women? What do you guys think?

My source:

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-twitter-mentions-reveal-gender-disparity.php

A fascinating blog on the subject:

http://sashasaid.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/sex-class-and-occupy-wall-street/

Does 'Glee' Promote Homosexuality? by Alisa Harada

‘Glee’ is a tv show that centralizes around a group of students, who are members of the so-called ‘Glee Club’. This choir group consists of various stereotypical high school students: arrogant jocks, beautiful cheerleaders, ugly nerds, unique Asians, an overweight Black American, and an effeminate gay student.

What makes this show so popular is not the clichéd scenario, but the message that the show disseminates through addressing controversial issues like homosexuality. In the current technology-oriented generation, I think the show is clearly effective in promoting gay rights because so many people are exposed to this issue at once just by watching this show, and the fact that the majority of the viewers are teens is also influential because they can grow up to think more flexibly regarding such issues.

If we start analyzing the show, we soon realize that the show is full of homosexuality. There is Kurt, who is the effeminate choir boy; Santana, who is a bisexual; Blaine, who is a gay football player; Rachel's two dads who are married, a rival choir leader who starts dating Kurt, and the list continues. I don't know any other shows that consists of so many gay characters, but I personally think the show balances other issues (like bullying, obesity, teen sex, etc.) well with the issue of homosexuality. Although Kurt is definitely one of the protagonists, the fact that the issue is subtly embedded into the plot also affects the viewers' perspective in the way that it is not forcefully changing their way of thinking, but slowly getting them accustomed to this very idea.

In order to promote homosexuality and gay rights, I think that raising the issue on shows, like Glee, is a great method of opening up people's perspectives. The more publicized homosexuality is, the greater the opportunities to advocate the issue.

Do ex-girlfriends (or boyfriends) go crazy?

Hey guys, sorry I'm late to the party. Let's talk about gender!

Sherry in class a few days ago was talking about the inherent tropes of the plot and material of "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" - a sense that the complete transition between Uma Thurman's "normal self", as this slightly mousy librarian type, into the "superhero", who is confidant, sexually alluring, but also very dangerous. The comedy of the piece itself seems to come from the logical extreme of a familiar fallacy - breaking up with a girl can cause her to go crazy. They added the element of her being a superhero as the gimmick of the movie, but moviegoers are expected to identify with the idea of the crazy ex-girlfriend. Even the preview for the story plays on a false stereotype - the text reads "It's the age old story. Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Girl drives boy crazy." That doesn't sound like any age old story from a woman's perceptive. That sounds like an age old story from an essentially misogynistic perspective.

There's also a really interesting scene in which Uma Therman's character (the superhero) takes her male obsession flying with her against his will. Up in the air, she begins to initiate sex with him without really any warning. It's really interesting that one she becomes this powerful woman, her desire is amped up and made strange by the context of his reaction (he feels uncomfortable, he is terrified oif the height, ect.) This idea of the unstoppable female desire in her resonates with our reading early in the semester, the medical texts about how women suffer from uncontrollable desire.

What do you guys think?

Depiction of Women in "500 Days of Summer" by Alisa Harada

"500 Days of Summer" is a romantic comedy that centralizes on the relationship of Tom and Summer. What is unique about this film is the fact that the roles of men and women are reversed.

Firstly, the film starts with a fairy-tale-like narration, "this is a story of a boy, who meets a girl". Typically, we are inclined to associate fairy-tales to girls, just because fairy-tales are often encompassed around females (princesses, queens etc), and they tend to be narrated through their point of view. However, this film depicts the plot from Tom's point of view, as if he is the 'princess' trying to look for 'prince charming', hence, 'the one'.

Secondly, it seems funny that Tom believes in true love, while Summer does not believe in love at all. Again, unlike the stereotype that are made on gender roles, it appears unusual that the guy character is the one chasing after the girl, since girls are usually the ones going after the guys.

Furthermore, the entire film demonstrates how Summer dictates their relationship; she is in full control of their love, while Tom basically just follows what she suggests. The female character is empowered throughout the film by being able to manipulate the male character and as well as their relationship.

Without spoiling the entire plot for people who have not seen this film, basically, the film depicts an interesting insight into relationship of two individuals, where the male is portrayed as the weak, emotional one, while the female is portrayed with more power and strength. It is interesting how as the story progresses, we start to sympathize with the male character where we almost start feeling sorry for him because of the way the female character treats him. But at the same time, we can sympathize with Summer because of her realistic point of view.

If you haven't seen this film, it's definitely a film that's worth watching!

Angels and Demons

Professor Sherry Velasco has talked a little bit about Angels and Demons (2009) but more specifically about Saint Teresa. After reading the book Angels and Demons (2009), I remembered that I had once wanted to watch it but never got to it. I recently watched the movie Angels and Demons (2009), and I would like to share a few themes in the movie that are related to the class. The first theme is of male dominance, which is portrayed by Robert Langdon's upper command in the investigation to capture the Illuminati murderer compared to Vittoria Vetra's inferior command of the investigation. Throughout the movie, she serves as a subordinate to Robert Langdon and follows him rather than leads him. The next theme I would like to point out is the female sexuality present in the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Professor Sherry Velasco suggested that it was religious pornography; however, female sexuality is also present within the statue. The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa appears to be the statue of Saint Teresa about to be pierced by a flaming spear. In my opinion, the flaming spear could represent an artificial penis about to "penetrate" Saint Teresa. Her facial expression of an orgasmic moan resulting from a "penetration" further suggests that this is more feminine than religious, masculine, or pain.

Shorter University Discriminates against LGBT's.

This is an excerpt from an article I recently read from CNN.com

(CNN) -- When Shorter University in northwest Georgia recently informed its 200 employees that they had to sign a "personal lifestyle pledge" requiring them to reject homosexuality or lose their jobs, school administrators underscored a staggering injustice: In 29 U.S. states, people can still be fired for being gay.

While same-sex marriage and other equality debates soak up political and media attention, the Employment Non-discrimination Act, a 37-year-old bill, languishes in the U.S. Congress.

Without that federal law, a majority of our states condone job, housing and other discrimination based on sexual orientation. An even larger number -- 35 -- have no protections for transgender people.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/16/opinion/hormel-shorter-gay-not-a-choice/index.html

Opposition to equal civil rights for gays comes in many forms. Religious conservatives are losing the argument that there is something necessarily wrong with homosexuality, so they appear to be turning to a new one: treating gays like fully equal citizens and human beings is incompatible with conservatives’ religious liberty. Since when did the preservation of religious liberty require treating members of a minority like second-class citizens? It is sad to think that although we are in a nation advancing so quickly in so many aspects, that something so minuscule is holding people back from living a normal life. Without anti discrimination laws against LGBT citizens, we really haven't gone anywhere in advancing for the better of our nation.