In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: January 2010

Friday Random Ten – The “If You Put Them All In a Room, Will They Sync Up?” Edition

Or, “Where I Crap on Mac Users,” thanks to this delightful essay pointing out the class aspirations inherent to Apple products, cost, technology, and design. Consider this your daily flame.

…something that to me is so obvious that it barely needs mentioning, and yet I never see people talk about it openly: the real advantage of Apple, for many people, is that Apple products are status objects. Displaying your Apple stuff proudly is just yet another of our culture’s myriad ways to engage in a little subtle classism. Apple products are expensive, some very expensive, and they are often significantly more expensive than non-Apple equivalents. When I bring this up in cautioning people about buying a particular Apple product (even in the course of endorsing such a purchase) there’s a weird defenselessness that happens. People don’t disagree, and yet they don’t weigh that as a negative factor, either…

And that brings us to “Apple culture.” This is a phenomenon we’re all aware of. I can’t tell you how often I’ve discussed a potential purchase, of a computer or phone or MP3 player, where my frank discussions of features compared to price point get held up because of terms like “philosophy,” “individualism,” “creativity,” “personality.” You know– all the things that purchasing a commodity can’t give you? That stuff tends to dominate discussion of Apple products, and has been the essence of Apple advertising for years. There is somehow an Apple culture, and this culture is associated with all kinds of vague (but very real!) virtues. There is, according to many, a category of “Apple people,” and this somehow means more than people who prefer Apple products but instead has everything to do with a person’s personal virtue, and most importantly, how “unique” they are, a term thrown around about a commodity owned by millions with such disregard for its basic denotation that my eyes glaze over when I hear it. All of this stuff, this strange but inescapable reference to Apple culture, is just a way to hide guilt about the frank status projection that prominently displaying your iPhone represents.

I’d argue, too, that this kind of class signaling was prominent in VW advertising in the early aughts, and in more recent auto brand development for cars like the Toyota Prius. And part of the appeal is the whitebread Scandanavian design aesthetic that people really latch on to, Americans in particular, that signals the urban upperclass. And don’t even get me started on the choice to make Justin Long the Mac spokesperson, a guy who looks like he’s never had a hard day in his life. Talk about type-casting.

But that’s just me, and it’s the me that is currently in love with my second-hand iPod that my mom gifted me when she was on serious medication post-surgery, and the me that is in dire need of quality podcast suggestions in the comments.

In the meantime, the FRT, one night early because I “think different.” Videos below the jump.

1) Gary Numan – You Are in My Vision
2) Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – Answer Me
3) Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs – Devil Do
4) Q-Tip – Official
5) Black Mountain – Stormy High
6) Edith Frost – Playmate
7) The Fall – Lay Of The Land
8) Johnson & Jonson – Anything Possible
9) Women – Cameras
10) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Sheep May Safely Graze

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Invisible Body

This is a guest-post by Eva Sweeney.

“Nice shoes!” “Great smile!” “You have pretty eyes!” Those are the kinds of compliments I get on a regular basis and they are wonderful. However, people never comment on my body. You might be thinking- as a woman, wouldn’t you be offended if someone came up to you and commented on your body? “Nice tits!” I would be offended by that. However, one little piece of information you should know is that I’m “severely disabled”. I have Cerebral Palsy (CP) and I use a wheelchair to get around. CP has influenced the way I developed physically. My muscles continually spasm and I have little control over my arm and leg movements. I definitely view myself as sexy and attractive. But other people are either afraid to look or think they shouldn’t comment on my body because it’s “broken”.

I am in no way condoning cat-calling. I definitely think that cat-calling is sexual harassment (and can be the beginning of sexual assault) and is a big reason that women don’t feel safe in their own neighborhood. That being said, my body is never the topic of conversation, eye-gaze, or interest with adults I have just met. My girlfriends have definitely been “interested” in that topic, but that’s after we got to know each other. I don’t want to be cat called. But I don’t mind people asking me questions about my body or flirting with me if we are having a nice conversation. Even something as benign as “I like your shirt, where did you get it?” would show me that they notice my body and aren’t afraid of it. People are conditioned to think that people with disabilities hate their bodies. They think they shouldn’t bring it up because they think it will offend me or remind me that I’m gross. The lack of attractive people with disabilities (and I define attractive as an attitude versus some standard of beauty) on TV, in movies, and in pop culture reinforces that stereotype.

Adults are afraid to ask me questions about my body. Again, they think it will remind me of the “hideousness” or it’s a taboo topic. One example of how uncomfortable my body makes some people is when I go to the sauna. Like every other female in the sauna, I go completely nude. And even though we are all there stark naked together, some of the women keep staring at me and I guarantee its not because they were checking me out. Because my body looks different, they have to look. And I wouldn’t mind them looking, except that their gaze says “Oh my god, what a weirdo. Doesn’t she know what her body looks like?”

Kids, on the other hand, will just come right up to me in public and say “why are your legs like that?” One little girl asked me, “Why are you in an armor chair?” I think that’s great because after I explain, kids are usually like “Cool!” and proceed to talk to me about other things. Their parents on the other hand, usually yell at them for asking such a “rude” question. I honestly wish that more adults would just come up and ask questions because then they might actually see that I’m attractive, intelligent, and disabled too. I know that some people would think that’s intrusive and this is just my opinion, but I’m totally cool with adults just saying “So tell me about your disability.” I am happy to answer any questions, even the “silly”ones. It all helps them understand something significant about me and it’s much more interesting than “Nice weather, eh?” Ignoring my body cuts out a huge section of who I am. And because people don’t want to learn or ask questions, they don’t get to know who the whole Eva is.

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Eva Sweeney is a 26-year-old college graduate. She majored in gender studies. She recently started The Deal with Disability (http://thedealwithdisability.blogspot.com/) which gives accounts of her daily life as a person with Cerebral Palsy. Her other hobbies are photography, creative writing, and painting.

Thursday LOST Roundtable: Season 6 Predictions

Spoilers for LOST Seasons 1-5 below the image!

The LOST cast poses in the style of Leonardo da Vinci's painting The Last Supper, with Locke in the position of Jesus. From left to right: Ilana, Richard Alpert, Claire, Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Jack, Jin, Ben, Hurley, Sun, Miles, and Frank Lapidus

As all good LOST fans know, the beginning of Season 6 is upon us. On February 2, in the U.S. at least, the first episode of the final season will premiere. And like I’m sure many of you are, I’m both indescribably excited that we’re finally going to learn how this story ends, and more than a little sad to see my favorite show go.

But no time for wistfulness! Juliet just blew up a bomb, Ben just killed Jacob, it seems that Locke is actually Flocke (Fake-Locke), and there are a million and one directions that the show can still take us from here.

To do our very humble best to try to figure it all out, the LOST-obsessed members of the Feministe team will be having a discussion every week. In this new Thursday LOST Blogging format (yes, we’ll be sticking with Thursdays), we’ll be having a roundtable with Sally, Lauren, Jill, and myself each laying out our analysis and predictions, whatever they may be. Every week, Sally and I will be taking turns introducing and moderating the discussions. And this week, we’re starting out in advance with a free-form conversation about what this final season might have in store.

Check it out below the jump, and leave your own predictions in the comments. (Just remember: NO SEASON 6 SPOILERS ALLOWED! If it hasn’t aired, or been made readily known by the producers, don’t post it.)

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State of the Union: The Drinking Game

I asked, you answered. Now: The Official Feministe SOTU Drinking Game.

One drink for every time the word “bipartisan” is used.

One shot every time healthcare is said. (You might be dead by the end of the night, but it will be so worth it).

One drink for “There are those who say…”

A shot for The American People.

Sip for each “change” uttered.

Drink a shot of gin, a little vermouth and eat an olive every time Obama states a goal and promises legislation accomplishing that goal without giving any indication as to how the proposed legislation would actually, if passed accomplish that goal. E.g. Obama says “in spite of recent set backs, we will still pass health care reform providing everyone with affordable quality health care … and a pony”.

Fix yourself a martini if Obama actually gives any indication as to how said legislation might actually, um, work, e.g. if Obama says something to the effect of “in order to ensure that health insurers provide actual value for your money, HCR legislation will enact a public option to compete with health insurance companies”.

Sip every time he says “Make no mistake” or “Let me be clear”

A shot for “unprecedented”.

Take a drink every time he makes a promise you’re sure will lie in tatters by the next SOTU.

Drink any time the camera cuts to a dour Republican.

Just drink yourself into a stupor to avoid listening to all the crap about ‘bipartisanship,’ ‘bridging the divide,’ ‘working together,’ ‘our friends across the aisle,’ and similar blather that telegraphs his intention to let the repudiated minority continue to run the country.

Drink everytime he waffles on a subject in the name of bipartisanship. For example, anytime he “understands” why Republicans are against abortion, why Republicans don’t want any semblance of rights for gays or gender-queers, why the Republican half of America is yelling NIMBY to Gitmo closing.

… Finish the bottle if he mentions the quote on Colbert Report last night where the guest stated that adding a Republican to a bill doesn’t make it bipartisan in the same way that saying “Gracias” to the Taco Bell guy doesn’t make you bilingual.

Enjoy!

Two things on staring

I find myself thinking a lot about staring and comfort and power, so I figure I might as well bring you along for the ride!

First up – via Hoyden About Town – read this article at Science Blogs by Ed Yong: How objectification silences women – the male glance as a psychological muzzle.

Saguy found that women talked about themselves for less time than men, but only if they thought they were being visually inspected by a man, and particularly if they thought their bodies were being checked out. They used the full two minutes if they were describing themselves to another woman (no matter where the camera was pointing) or if they were speaking to a man who could hear but not see them. But if their partner was a man watching their bodies, they spoke for just under one-and-a-half minutes.
[…]
As Saguy explains, “When a woman believes that a man is focusing on her body, she narrows her presence… by spending less time talking.” There are a few possible reasons for this. Saguy suspects that objectification prompts women to align their behaviour with what’s expected of them – silent things devoid of other interesting traits. Treat someone like an object, and they’ll behave like one. Alternatively, worries about their appearance might simply distract them from the task at hand.

Secondly, via Liz at Dis/Embody, a video! Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s got a book out called Staring: How We Look (Oxford University Press, 2009). I rather want to check out. She of the fabulous name is a Women’s Studies professor at Emory University, which is in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. I can’t wait to see how her work on staring in a disability studies framework might relate to feminist work on the male gaze, given her background. If you’re interested, here’s a PDF of an article of hers called Ways of Staring. Here she is talking about her work, examining unexpected power dynamics and all (transcript under the cut.)

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State of the Union: The Drinking Game

State of the Union drinking games were much more fun when Bush was in office (“Take shot every time he says ‘evil-doers’! Drink every time he loses his way in a sentence with more than two clauses!”), but SOTU 2010 still demands some sort of festive imbibement (imbibery?). Alex Leo at HuffPo lists a few suggestions, but I know Feministe readers are also the creative types, so leave your ideas in the comments. At some point prior to 9pm EST, I’ll compile them into a new post.

And for anyone interested, I will be live-tweeting the SOTU. You can follow me at @jillfilipovic.