Capitalism & Consumption

The Cost of Living

(As a Clash aficionado, this phrase always makes me think of the EP released in 1979. This has nothing to do with the post, but I thought I’d get it out there and out of the way for myself. I enjoy the mental image of Strummer and Paul Simonon giggling about the phrase–apparently how they came to name the EP. This digression is now over.)

You may have seen this study from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, finding that women pay extra money for the products marketed to us. This is not exactly a huge surprise to me, but I’m glad to see someone do the legwork to confirm it. We’re charged more for the products we’re asked to buy even leaving out how much extra buying is demanded of women. Even if we just bought one-to-one the same stuff as men bought, we’d have a surcharge. Obviously, some of this can be circumvented: I don’t know a single woman who buys women’s shaving gel rather than men’s, for instance.

And that’s not taking into account all we have to or are manipulated into buying that most men don’t: tampons and pads and panty liners, make-up and nail polish, contraception, hair products, extra clothing (men can wear a suit to a white-collar interview and a suit to a wedding; I need radically different outfits for those two events), jewelry (most men can and will show up to that wedding without any jewelry on).

Here’s an example from my own life (that makes it an upper-middle class example, of course): I start teaching again soon. Because I had my son, I’ve gone up a couple of sizes. I don’t mind; I still think I look good. But it means I own an entire closetful of clothing that doesn’t fit me. And I can’t show up to teach in yoga pants or a pair of jeans. I hadn’t thought about the gendered aspect of the shopping necessitated by this situation until I mentioned it to a male colleague who said “Wow, yeah, I can just slouch on into the classroom in a shirt and jeans. That’s not fair to you!” No, I guess it’s not. (I’m tenured now, I suppose I could slouch on into the classroom in a t-shirt and jeans, but I don’t think I could count on commanding the respect and deference that a male colleague doing the same thing could, given all the work coming out on how sexist student evals are.)

It costs more to be a cis femme woman than it does to be a cis butch man. I wonder how this breaks down in different gender expressions. What’s the price differential of being a butch woman, for instance? What about a femme man? And how does race inflect these differences? And what is the cost of being trans?

Can fashion fix fashion?

I worked briefly in fashion — briefly, for a couple of years, because in general it’s not a healthy industry to work in. But the fact is, I still enjoy it. Clothes are so pretty, y’all. And Jill is absolutely right that there is no shame in thinking that clothes are pretty, and that fashion is seen as frivolous more because it’s a “woman thing” than for any other reason. But what about all the truly problematic aspects of industry fashion?

Eh…

The attachment to “Capitalism”

For other posts in the series:

A short history (1)
A short history (2)
The Ruin Porn Post
The Consequences of Ruin Porn
On the other side: Hope Porn
reImagining Work
Dealing with Poverty while being a Michigander

I often have a really hard time trying to understand the attachment to “Capitalism” that people on the left exhibit. When I say “Capitalism” capitalized and in quotes, I am speaking of both the economic system people in the US live with and promote–and the US government’s relationship with corporations.

Even in Feminist circles, when there is any interrogation at all of “Capitalism,” whether it’s to notice that Detroit is struggling because of unfettered “Capitalism” or to point to how “Capitalism” is making life hell for women laborers worldwide, the response is anything from a mocking, “Oh, look at the cute idealistic hippie!” to a nastier, “How on earth is living without capitalism even possible???” Or people immediately jump to the “Prove that communism works” bandwagon (yes, I’ve gotten into plenty of conversations that mimic this right here on Feministe!), as if communism is the only natural answer to “Capitalism.”

Money for Murderers

Anti-choicers are using eBay to raise money for doctor-killer Scott Roeder, who shot George Tiller while Dr. Tiller attended church. While I don’t object to that in priciple — after all, everyone is entitled to defend themselves in court, and private attorneys are expensive — we aren’t talking about auctioning off that bag of clothes you found in the attic, or your cousin’s collection of shot glasses. No, they’re auctioning off items that have the unique pedigree of being tied to pro-life murderers — Army of God manuals, prison cookbooks compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons, an autographed bullhorn, and drawings by Roeder. The point isn’t to raise money to defend Roeder, it’s to glorify his actions, and the violence perpetrated by other “pro-life” activists.

Ebay doesn’t allow the sale of items that promote or glorify violence. Contact eBay here and ask them to take down these auctions.

I do yoga, am I a racist?

Dear people on the internet,

Go read Samhita’s post. Try to think about it beyond “I’m white and I really like Indian food. Am I culturally appropriating? Please, wise Indian lady, answer me!”

Facebook for the Rich; MySpace for the Poor?

Earlier research showed that the social networking choice between Facebook, MySpace and Xanga was based on the users’ race, ethnicity, and education, with Latino students trending toward MySpace, white students trending toward Facebook, and Asian and Asian-American students trending towards Xanga. Interestingly, there were no discernable social networking trends for black students.

In the meantime, Danah Boyd discovered that white teenagers believe some social networking sites like MySpace are “ghetto” (their words), while others are “more cultured” (again, their words), which dictated why one SNS gets used more often than the next. Boyd explains,

It wasn’t just anyone who left MySpace to go to Facebook. In fact, if we want to get to the crux of what unfolded, we might as well face an uncomfortable reality… What happened was modern day “white flight.” Whites were more likely to leave or choose Facebook. The educated were more likely to leave or choose Facebook. Those from wealthier backgrounds were more likely to leave or choose Facebook. Those from the suburbs were more likely to leave or choose Facebook. Those who deserted MySpace did so by “choice” but their decision to do so was wrapped up in their connections to others, in their belief that a more peaceful, quiet, less-public space would be more idyllic.

Now a new consumer behavior analysis firm has completed additional research confirming that digital migration is taking place on SNS primarily along class lines.

Call me naive, but I always assumed the rise of Facebook usage, at least among my friends, had more to do with usability than any other function. MySpace was created as a band promotion site, not for individuals, whereas Facebook was created for individuals to connect. And to date, MySpace seems more design and tech clunky than Facebook does — that is, if I ignore all your invitations asking me to join your farm/restaurant/mafia ring. Nevertheless, the evidence appears to be stacking up in a way that reveals a new kind of digital divide, one in which social groups are choosing not to connect with or communicate with one another.

Thoughts?

Oppression, Identity, and Liberation

Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation by Sherry Wolf
(Haymarket Books)

Sherry Wolf’s Sexuality and Socialism is a collection of essays, arranged in the order of the historical eras they examine, that look at the interplay between sexuality and economics, theory, and activism through a Marxist lens. Although the essays wander through myriad topics, the collection as a whole revolves around the core idea that liberation for any oppressed group can’t happen unless organizers build solidarity across different movements.

The first part of the book is devoted to history. Chapter 1, “The Roots of LGBT Oppression,” begins with the premise that what we today recognize as the family, with its accompanying sexual taboos, is a product of class-based societies. She then makes the intriguing claim that while sex acts have been policed for thousands of years, the concept of an LGBT identity is very new. Chapter 2, “Repression, Resistance, and War: The Birth of Gay Identity,” goes on to explain how exactly that identity came about.

From the files of Captain Obvious…

Comes a study summarized by the New York Times thusly: Study Finds Women Wear Shoes That Cause Pain.

Their grand conclusion: “More than 60 percent of women said that in the past they generally wore high heels, pumps, sandals and slippers, all of which researchers rated as higher risk.” Shocking. And then: “When it comes to shoes, men make much better choices, the study found; fewer than 2 percent wore bad shoes.”

Yes, because it just comes down to men making better choices and not, you know, social and cultural pressures to wear particular, gendered footwear, and limited availability of supportive women’s shoes. Men are just smarter like that.

Photo Essay: Factory Like A City

Run, don’t walk, to David Bacon’s photo essay, “Factory Like A City”, posted at Z magazine. It’s about Toyota’s announcement of the closing of the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California after General Motors announced it was withdrawing from the partnership. It’s a good illustration of the exponential effects of the demise of manufacturing in the United States. From the essay:

The plant employs 4,500 workers directly, and the jobs of another 30,000 throughout Northern California are dependent on its continued operation. Taking families into account, the threatened closure will eliminate the income of over 100,000 people.

Frankly, I think that’s a conservative estimate. It’s probably based on the immediate results. The long-term effects (absent a replacement plant of similar nature) would be greater—just ask someone from the Rust Belt.

Keep this, and other stories of other soon-to-be or already shuttered plants in mind when reading about corporate bailouts. Those bailouts are not for—and were not meant to be for—the workers. Keep this in mind when you hear the ludicrous phrase, “jobless recovery.”

There is no such thing as a jobless recovery. Not for working people.

American icon “Norma Rae” dies after struggling with her insurance company to cover her chemo

crystalleesutton_de54b

La Lubu already wrote about this (do check out her post), but I want to re-emphasize it: Crystal Lee Sutton, the woman who fought to unionize her workplace and inspired the film Norma Rae, passed away at 68. She died of brain cancer, after battling for her insurance company to cover her chemotherapy.

She could change the face of labor rights in the United States, but couldn’t get health care coverage until it was too late. Sutton’s life was inconic and patriotic; her death is tragic and all too American.