October 2011 – Page 4

Call-Out Culture and Blogging as Performance

Another really good thing you should read today:

Call out culture, a phenomenon that casual readers might not even notice, is to me, the most toxic aspect of blogging. Not because it is set to correct wrongs and engage in meaningful ways to actually enact change. No, call out culture is toxic because it has developed as a tool to legitimize aggression and rhetoric violence. Its intent, at the root, is seemingly positive. Constructive even. It works more or less like this: I say something ignorant. Perhaps I make a statement that can be constructed as bigoted or maybe “problematic”. A favorite word in call out culture, problematic is more often than not, used to mean “I didn’t like it” or alternatively, “I disagree with you”. But instead of saying you, the audience disagrees with me, you will call my statement “problematic”. And because we have established that we are at once consumers and producers of media content, you create a blog post or a tweet or a Facebook update “calling me out”. And more often than not, in your post, you tell your readers, other prosumers, to please join you in this call out. BECAUSE THIS IS A SERIOUS WRONG THAT NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED! Unbeknown to me, there are now ten posts in ten different blogs and social media platforms calling me a “BIGOT AND THE WORST PERSON EVER”. Each time, every one of these posts escalating in rhetoric and volume. Each new post trying to outperform the previous one in outrage, in anger, in righteousness. This performance of acrimony and reproach turns into the “pile on”. And I will have to apologize for what I said. At this point, since I am nervous and probably anxious because I am being called THE WORST PERSON EVER, my apology will not be stellar. I might dig a deeper hole even, because hey, I cannot properly articulate when I feel that I am under duress. I might, at this point, say something that is truly, really “problematic”, not just perceived as such, but, to put it in plain words, I might say something shitty. AND OMG at this point the “call out” will escalate out of proportion. Now I am not just THE WORST PERSON EVER but since we have established that I was “a known feminist blogger” (and if I wasn’t up to that moment, I am now because my name is all over the internet!), then, it will be known that I, on my own, HAVE RUINED FEMINISM FOR EVER. And I, alone, will be proof of ALL OF FEMINISM’S PAST FAILURES. FOR EVER.

Call out culture might, at times, dangerously resemble bullying. However, it is not exactly the same. It certainly shares its outcome, however, unlike bullying, call out culture is part of the performative aspect of blogging. Unlike bullying, a call out is intended for an audience.

And here’s the thing, on the surface, call outs are done “for good”. Of course shitty statements need to be challenged, nobody would deny that. Of course those who are hurt by shitty statements deserve to be recognized in their grief and deserve a sincere apology. But that’s not at the root of “call out culture”. The intent behind it, more often than not, is just to make the one initiating the call out feel good, more righteous, more indignant, a “better person”. In the end, the call out is not done for the benefit of a collective goal, it is done for entertainment and shocking value. Call outs are to blogging what Big Brother voting rounds are to reality TV: you have been found wanting and you are now expelled from the house. Because, of course, this is what is rarely mentioned, someone might be attempting to audition for your seat. Someone who thinks they are more righteous, better, more politically engaged than you.

Read it all read it all read it all.

White devils like it.

Instead of celebrating our father’s birthday, May 29, 2011, his two ungrateful sons, the singer and the lawyer, performed at the Sasquatch! festival in Washington. My set went better than expected, considering I was performing in front of many white people who had no issue wearing Native American headdresses and face paint and didn’t even have the decency to finish off the impression by being unjustifiably killed.

Just one small part of this fantastic piece in Spin on Das Racist. You should probably read it.

Guy Fieri. I mean, anyone who wears his Oakley sunglasses wrapped around the back of his head is clearly a waste of space (see also: his hair and his bowling shirts and ohmygod that goatee and basically everything about him). But he’s also an anti-Semite, a misogynist and a homophobe to boot. So yeah, fuck that guy.

Teaching Feminism in High School: Moving from Theory to Action

By Ileana Jiménez, cross-posted at On The Issues Magazine

During a recent Twitter chat on #sheparty hosted by the Women’s Media Center, I tweeted: “How many feminists know edu hashtags and vice versa?”

The point I wanted to get across is that many feminists today don’t know much about today’s education conversation and, in turn, educators don’t know much about what’s going on in feminist discourse, whether academic or activist.

My job as a feminist high school teacher is to close the women’s and gender studies gap for young people. To stop bullying, stop raping, stop perpetuating racism and sexism, and instead start making social change, I believe in bringing a gender, racial, and economic justice lens to education at all levels. Feminism does this work.

For me, connecting schools with feminist theory and action is personal. When I was in elementary school in Long Island in the early ’80s, I was called “Afro” and “nigger.” Recess was not fun; to the contrary, it was a time to be bullied by my peers, who surrounded me while I was on the swings and in the sandbox. I always wonder how different my life might have been if my white teachers and white peers knew something about racism or if the rich history of Puerto Ricans and African-Americans had been taught to us as children. The goal would not have been color-blindness, but safety and inclusion, respect and responsibility for each other.

Now that I am a teacher, I believe that the power of feminist theory and action is exactly what young people need to create understandings across differences, learn how to lead healthy lives and to make social change.

I start by teaching my high school students the very thing that colleges teach in feminist studies — intersectionality. The students read a variety of texts — Patricia Hill Collins, the Combahee River Collective, Kimberlé Crenshaw, bell hooks, Audre Lorde and Cherríe Moraga. Like any good high school English class, they conduct close readings, hold discussions and write about their interpretations. Their writing also includes blogging on their own feminist blog, F to the Third Power.

Short answer: No, celebrity photography isn’t rape.

Long answer: Does there need to be a long answer? Yes, Johnny Depp, I’m sure photography is terribly intrusive. Yes, Kristen Stewart, I’m sure paparazzi swarms are scary. But rape is rape; those things are just not.

Photographers want to take pictures of you and sell them for money. They don’t particularly care about your physical or emotional comfort while it’s happening. Sometimes, they want to make you uncomfortable or scared–pissed-off pictures sell. It sucks. But feeling unsafe, like life as you knew it has been taken away, not knowing who you can trust? Not rape. Violation of your privacy, your peace of mind? Still not rape.

Rape is a very specific, particular violation with unique implications and aftermath; it’s not a convenient catchall term to add drama to a traumatic experience. If the worst thing that’s ever happened to you is that people have screamed at you and made you scared on purpose–or that you’ve sat for a photo shoot that made you feel not like yourself–you should consider yourself very, very lucky.

Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

Do your thing.

“When you’re bored, just have sex.”

…so you’re telling me I should move to Sweden.

I don’t have quite the boner for Alexander Skarsgård that Feministe founder Lauren does, but um, that’s a very nice photo and this is a very nice sentiment:

Skarsgård: Also, I think part of the reason why there are so many musicians coming out of Sweden is you’re encouraged to play an instrument, or to sing and be creative, from a very early age, and it’s free. It’s a combination of a good school system and the long, dark winters. Because that means people sit in their garages and play music for five months because it’s too cold and dark to be outside.
Åkerlund: That’s the boning season. [Laughter] And then it’s spring, and that’s also boning season. And summer’s the best boning season.
Skarsgård: And that’s also why we’re so liberal and so cool with our sexuality — because we fuck a lot [laughter].
Åkerlund: How much time can you spend playing the drums?
Skarsgård: When you’re bored, just have sex.

Bad Ideas.

Bad Idea #1: Running someone over.

Bad Idea #2: Running someone over when you are a police officer.

Bad Idea #3: Running someone over when you are a police officer and then stopping your vehicle on top of their broken leg.

Bad Idea #4: Running someone over when you are a police officer and then stopping your vehicle on top of their broken leg and then getting off of your vehicle and walking around for a minute without removing the vehicle from the person’s leg.

Bad Idea #5: Running someone over when you are a police officer and then stopping your vehicle on top of their broken leg and then getting off of your vehicle and walking around for a minute without removing the vehicle from the person’s leg and doing it all on camera.

Bad Idea #6: Running someone over when you are a police officer and then stopping your vehicle on top of their broken leg and then getting off of your vehicle and walking around for a minute without removing the vehicle from the person’s leg and doing it all on camera, especially when the person you ran over is a member of the National Lawyers Guild, meaning he is probably a First Amendment expert observing the protests to document police brutality and Constitutional violations. Not that it’s ok to run over a non-lawyer, obviously, but oh man did you pick the wrong guy.

One good idea? Donate to the NLG.

Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street

So, Steven Greenstreet, who describes himself as a “documentary filmmaker, video producer, 7D owner, comic book reader, sci fi nerd, atheistic troublemaker, and social media mercenary” but who I think is better characterized as a “creepy voyeur who is basically a more mainstream version of that guy who hid in a port-a-potty at a yoga festival” has created the delightful website “Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street.” Because that’s totally relevant to the cause, you know? I mean, dudes might not be interested in politics if there aren’t titties involved. Why else would we have the 19th Amendment? Next up: UpSkirtShotsOfOccupyWallStreet.tumblr.com.

He also made a video where he interviews some very astute and attractive young women who actually have Things To Say and were probably under the impression that they were being filmed because someone cared about the words coming out of their mouths. Nope! Here is Steven Greenstreet’s motivation:

A lot of fantastic media has been created about the “Occupy” movement. I was watching one video in particular and commented to a friend, “Wow, seeing all those super smart hot chicks at the protest makes me want to be there.” He replied, “Hmmm… Yeah, let’s go with that.”

We instantly went to Tumblr and made hotchicksofoccupywallstreet.tumblr.com. Our original ideas were admittedly sophomoric: Pics of hot chicks being all protesty, videos of hot chicks beating drums in slow-mo, etc. But when we arrived at Zuccotti Park in New York City, it evolved into something more.

There was a vibrant energy in the air, a warmth of community and family, and the voices we heard were so hopeful and passionate. Pretty faces were making signs, giving speeches, organizing crowds, handing out food, singing, dancing, debating, hugging and marching.

It made me want to pack my bags and pitch a tent on Wall Street. And it’s in the light that we created this video.

And we hope it makes you want to be there too.

“Pitch a tent,” good one bro. (Although I did kind of laugh at the idea that this video was created in the light of his pitched tent. Gross, bro). But he called them “smart” so it’s ok right?

So I know I’m all humorless and feministy about this, and why can’t dudes just enjoy the view at a protest without some lady getting all salty about it? It’s nothing against beautiful women — beautiful women are fantastic! It’s the dipshit fratboy vibe of “Ohhh yeah, let’s go to this protest thing because there are hot chicks there, and then we can make a video where we sound kind of, like, deep, you know? Because we can like talk about community and stuff and how even though these hot chicks got us there, we realized that there’s something, like, important happening, you know dude? I’ll wear my favorite Livestrong bracelet.” It’s the idea that women are at OWS to be oggled by dudes, or to inspire some polo-shirted nitwit to Care About Something More [than titties] (TM). It’s that he’s taking pictures of women without their permission or knowledge and posting them on the internet as masturbatory fodder. The one upside is that the Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street tumblr is like Steven Greenstreet’s very own I’m A Creep bat-signal (he may also be a 9/11 truther? Lots of warning signs here). May he never get laid again.

But it’s also that women at OWS are actually being groped and assaulted by creeps and criminals. There’s obviously quite a bit of tension between protestors and police, leading many protestors to try to handle crime and conflict themselves. To their credit, it sounds like protestors have reported sexual assaults immediately, but there’s a vibe that when it comes to other crimes, protestors should “handle it ourselves and not run to Mom and Dad and tattle.” Many protestors suggest using the force of public opinion to change bad behavior.

So far, the “use force of public opinion and not police” argument hasn’t extended to sexual assault — it’s been about things like stealing (and I’m not exactly the biggest champion of the NYPD’s ability to handle sexual assault accusations well, but I also don’t trust a random group of protestors to do any better). But when you get dude-bros like Steven Greenstreet in the mix who see women as boner-makers and not actual human beings who came out to voice their frustration with corporate America just like everyone else, “public opinion” shifts because the public shifts. It gets easier to brush off the complaints and experiences of boner-makers (especially when those complaints and experiences involve actual boners). I mean, if it’s totally ok to go all voyeur and photograph hot chicks without their consent in order to put them on the internet for other dudes to look at, why get mad at a dude who takes it a step further and gets a little grabby? He’s just pitching his tent at the protest, you know?

Because the whole “rule of thumb” thing is so three months ago

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month all over the country–even in Kansas. But someone needs to tell the city of Topeka that October isn’t actually supposed to be a celebration of domestic violence. If you wanted to observe it by, say, making domestic battery not illegal anymore, you’d probably be missing the point.

The background: Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor announced that due to budget cuts, his office can’t afford to prosecute misdemeanors (including domestic battery) and will cease to do so.

The complaint: If the district attorney isn’t going prosecute domestic battery, the city (which already handles simple assault and battery on its own) is going to have to do it themselves, and they don’t have the resources.

The plan: Fuck that, right? If the city just repeals their domestic battery law, that makes it not illegal to beat your spouse, the city has nothing to prosecute, the district attorney is required to take over, and everybody wins! With the exception of the battered spouses, of course, but whatevs.

Month: October 2011