intersectionalminds-blog

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GoldieBlox and Market Niches

GoldieBlox is a toy company which aims to replace toys traditionally made for girls (like Barbie or Hello Kitty) with toys which inspire girls to become engineers. As their goal follows:

In a world where men largely outnumber women in science, technology, engineering and math, girls lose interest in these subjects as early as age 8. Construction toys develop an early interest in these subjects, but for over a hundred years, they've been considered "boys' toys.” GoldieBlox is determined to change the equation. We aim to disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers.

About GoldieBlox

Although GoldieBlox hasn’t grown into a paradigm shifting product yet, it has indeed become a pioneer when it comes to inspire girls that may not fit into the hegemonic princess-like oriented toy market. At first, it even may look a bit doll-shaming, but I personally think that it’s a valid way of taking a good market opportunity and changing consumer and citizen attitutes.  

As Dafna Lemish says in “The Future of Childhood in the Global Television Market:”

Children are active consumers of television. They react to, think, feel, and create meanings.

Dafna Lemish, “The Future of Childhood in the Global Television Market”

GoldieBlox’s message is a call to action and an example of imagination and creativity stimulation that may not be perfect in fighting gender inequalities, but that manages to catch girls’ attention and may broaden their knowledge.

Cheers,

Javi.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

BuzzFeed: Is Global Content For Real?

In “Pop Cosmopolitism”, Henry Jenkins III refers to the concept of pop cosmopolitsm as:

The ways that the transcultural flows of popular culture inspire new forms of global consciousness and cultural competency. 

Henry Jenkins III, “Pop Cosmopolitism”

As Jenkins explains, this new pop cosmopolitanism comes as a result of global convergence, that works as a multidirectional flow of cultural goods around the world. This is the case in the American internet news media company BuzzFeed, "The Media Company for the Social Age.”

BuzzFeed is widely-known for providing shareable content all around the world, being lists and quizzes the most popular formats. All of them are aimed at achieving high levels of virality and shares throughout the Internet. Since its foundation in 2006, the media company has grown into a global sensation, being currently available in English, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. 

BuzzFeed’s entertainment-oriented content, however, is far from being global in the strict sense of the word. Although it echoes news, images and current topics in other countries, it also exposes them from a Western, dominant perspective. As a matter of fact, the contribution of advertisers does nothing but demonstrating the page’s consumerist and branded kind of content. 

Western economic dominance of global entertainment both expresses and extends America’s status as a superpower; the flow of cultural goods shapes the beliefs and the fantasies of worldwide consumers, reshaping local cultures in accordance with American economic and political interests.

 Henry Jenkins III, “Pop Cosmopolitism”

Indeed, BuzzFeed presents a deeply Americanized perspective and content curation, mainly because its core readers/sharers expect it to be that way. They make references to our favorite TV shows during the 90s (most of them American), musicians (American), and politics (pretty much American, too). It’s the way we millennials have been raised, and it’s in our hands to change our perspective, give voice and pay attention to other formats, other countries’ points of view and cultural discoveries. 

Until then, we’ll only be reading one side of all stories. 

This map shows the results of a survey that asked people from all around the world who they thought was the biggest threat to world peace / Source: BuzzFeed in Spanish

Cheers,

Javi.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

Privilege works by naturalizing one position, or one set or style of positions. It isn’t as simple as valuing that position over others: even that would acknowledge a field of differences. To work in a system of privilege is to start all projects from a set of premises that are believed to be inviolable.

Austin Walker in Me, On The Screen: Race in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

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Me, On The Screen: Race in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

I’m sitting on my bed for the third day in a row.

I’m waiting for 5PM to hit so that I can finally close my 3DS. I’ve been ‘tanning’ my avatar in the latest entry of Nintendo’s long running Animal Crossing series, New Leaf. I put ‘tanning’ in scare quotes because the method doesn’t match my intention. Yes, I’m doing the the thing the game calls tanning, but my objective isn’t just darkening my avatar’s skin tone, it’s being able to see in the screen what I see in the mirror

Keep reading

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On Glee and Innovative Content

When it comes to Television, producers and advertisers are not to take risks, mainly because of the pressure of the latter upon the former. This causes a lack of content innovation and stereotype reinforcement. 

Since programming decisions are risky and costly, and network executives’ careers rest on their ability to make the right decisions, they are constrained, in their own interest, to avoid innovation and novelty.

Richard Butsch, “Six Decades of Social Class in American Television Sitcoms”

Nonetheless, in the past five years, we’ve witnessed a new wave of TV series that, although still seek to attract large numbers of people, try to do it by raising awareness of social minorities. 

This is the case in Ryan Murphy’s Glee, in which “a group of ambitious misfits try to escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club, where they find strength, acceptance and, ultimately, their voice, while working to pursue dreams of their own.” (IMDb)

As Abigail De Kosnik points out in Drama Is the Cure for Gossip:

The message of Glee is that, no matter how awkward or cynical you may appear in everyday life, you can slough off your outer skin -your social persona- and show off how smart, fair, kind, brave, and talented you are if only you dare to sing show tunes in front of witnesses.

Abigail De Kosnik, “Drama Is the Cure for Gossip”

Indeed, Glee is just one pioneering example of different programming on big TV networks. As advertising becomes more and more segmented and personalized, innovative content starts to be a good strategy for brands and advertisers. 

[intersectionalminds-blog]

“The Danish Girl”, pioneering transgender identities.

The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

A must-watch!

[intersectionalminds-blog]

He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss

While reading the content analysis driven by Betty Jo Barrett and Dana S. Levin in What’s Love Got to Do with It?, I almost immediately realized that Lana Del Rey’s music is nothing but a great piece of Dark Romance narratives. 

On her last album, Ultraviolence, the American singer/songwriter masters to wrap violence, passion, desire, and, for a change, sadness. I personally love it, but as I read Barret and Levin’s analysis on romance narratives, I found some of the songs on the album to be great examples of what both authors define as Dark Romance.

A male protagonist who is defined by his violent nature and/or outsider status (the bad boy) becomes attracted to a kind and beautiful female (the good girl).

Betty Jo Barrett & Dana S. Levin, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?"

The romance narrative behind Del Rey’s songs, however, shows the female perspective of the story, characterized by the passion that draws her towards him. She’s permissive, powerless, and dependent on her male partner.

On the other hand, the subject in the songs doesn’t fit the “good girl” narrative as she’s presented as a femme fatale rather than an innocent female.

The Femme Fatale narrative centers on a duplicitous female seductress who uses her sexuality as a form of power to manipulate an unsuspecting male dupe and cause his downfall.

Betty Jo Barrett & Dana S. Levin, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?"

As a matter of fact, almost every song in Ultraviolence shows a conflict between the dark and violent male and the passionate and seductive female. This conflict is always translated into a downfall for either both or her.

In the song that gives title to the album, “Ultraviolence”, Del Rey starts defining herself as a true femme fatale when she says “Cause I was filled with poison, but blessed with beauty and rage.” Other traits of a femme fatale can be identified in the following lyrics and songs:

“Being a bad bitch on the side might not appeal to fools like you” (”Sad Girl”) “I want money and all your power, all your glory” (”Money Power Glory”) “I’m a dragon, you’re a whore. Don’t even know what you’re good for” (”Fucked My Way Up To The Top”) “The power of youth is on my mind. Sunsets, small town, I’m out of time” (”Old Money”) “I wasn’t the marrying kind” (”Guns And Roses”) “You’re a hard man to love and I’m a hard woman to keep track of” (”Is This Happiness”) “You like your little baby like you like your drinks, cool” (”Florida Kilos”)

It is violence, however, the core theme of the whole album, upon which Lana creates a whole Dark Romance narrative based on passionate and confrontational relationships in which she finds herself mistaking abuse for affection.

Some of the lyrics in this line of violence and dependency say things like:

“He hit me and it felt like a kiss” (”Ultraviolence”) “He hurt me but it felt like true love” (”Ultraviolence”) “I can hear sirens, sirens” (”Ultraviolence”). The violence between Lana and her partner is so intense, that someone might have called the ambulance or the police.  “You like to rage, don’t do that” (”Is This Happiness”) “But I can’t fix him, can’t make him better. And I can’t do nothing about his strange weather” (”Shades Of Cool”) “I’ll wait for you, babe, that’s all I do, babe” (”Pretty When You Cry”) “But if you send for me, you know I’ll come. And if you call for me, you know I’ll run” (”Old Money”) “You didn’t want me all the time but you were worth it anyway” (”Guns And Roses”)

Indeed, we can identify in Lana Del Rey’s songs the appropiation of these gender archetypes in which a passionate and beautiful female becomes totally dependent on her partner. A partner that is abussive towards her, but whose love is seen as the ultimate focus of desire, as it appears to validate her. 

All women, even powerful women, are ultimately consumed by their attraction to men and validated not by their own attributes but, rather, by those of the men with whom they associate.

Betty Jo Barrett & Dana S. Levin, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?"

Cheers,

Javi.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

Am I a homophobic gay person?

I came out when I was 15. Neither my parents nor my friends were very surprised about the fact that I was gay, as I had made it somehow clear through my supposedly effeminate behavior as a male. Indeed, I’d never been embarrassed of what I was until I got to college. 

I’ve always been proud of being gay, but I started to become more and more concerned about my more or less effeminate behavior. This happened mainly because it was in college when I began to get more in touch with other gay people. They’re my friends, classmates, and dates. And we all seemed to have an issue with not looking “too much gay.”

After reading The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms by Jay Clarkson, I’ve done some media literacy on myself and the identities I appear to perform depending on the person I have in front of me, mainly whether it’s a male or a female. And I think this has a lot to do with what user roadster_guy said on StraightAction.com:

Boys who don’t change their temperament in accordance with their conditions endanger themselves and those they’re with, in my opinion.

Some of us have come to the conclusion that being “too gay” is unattractive and reduces the chances to find a gay partner. It’s somehow implicit in some representations of gay couples in the media: two good-looking, straight-acting males live a passionate and successful romance after overcoming some given obstacles. 

The “rational” explanation would be something like: gay men like other men for their masculine traits, so it’s understandable if they reject them for being too effeminate. But it can’t be that simple, right? I’m obviously talking from the point of view of attraction and romance here, but homophobia within the gay community is a more concerning issue, as it perpetuates a very reductionist view of things: the one imposed by those who stand for the “quietly gay” movement.

As a matter of fact, I used to be one of those gay men that saw in Gay Pride parades a rather negative depiction of the gay community. It didn’t match my way of being gay and did nothing but harm the positive image the community had been struggling to achieve. As user Xaphan points out, however, Gay Pride events must be contextualized and shouldn’t be seen as only one convention of homosexuality:

If Pride is a foolish display of homosexuality, then what of Mardi Gras, Carnival, and Spring Break. What do these things say of heterosexual people? What do they say of young people? And these are groups who don’t require any visibility or more acceptance.

We’ve proven to be very lazy when it comes to defining who we are. Am I that gay? What if they think I’m too effeminate? Does this make me less of a man? These are questions I’ve asked myself so many times during the last four years, and now I can’t help but wonder: who decides I’m more or less gay when I have the opportunity to be myself in very different ways?

Here’s for not taking black-and-white approaches and intersectionality within the gay community! 

Love,

A former slightly homophobic gay male.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

On what seems to be just another ordinary day, a man is exposed to sexism and sexual violence in a society ruled by women. 

Oppressed Majority manages to portray the four types of psychological abuse identified by Vangie A. Foshee (Gender differences in adolescent dating abuse prevalence, types, and injuries, 1996): 

Threatening behavior, which includes threats of physical violence; behavior monitoring, in which the perpetrator forces the victim to communicate where they are physically located; personal insults; and emotional manipulation.

It’s only when they show us a different perspective to a social reality that we become aware of the oppressive system we live in. That’s why I think this video should be a must-watch in every high school in order to end dating violence in teenage relationships. 

[intersectionalminds-blog]

“Straight-Acting” Gay Men: Are they the Cure to Homophobia?

When I was first introduced to Cameron Monaghan’s character on Shameless, my original response was one of relief (Shameless is an American TV-Drama about a dysfunctional family that is held together by Fiona, the older sister of five). What made Monaghan so appealing to me was that he wasn’t a “stereotypical gay.” In fact, during different interviews, Monaghan (a heterosexual) stated that in his respect for the gay community, he wanted to provide a depiction of a gay male unlike anything seen before on screen – namely, something other than a flaming queen. Instead, Monaghan’s character Ian Gallagher was strong-willed, dedicated to getting into the army, and possessed the sex drive and general delinquency of other heterosexual boys his age. To provide the character with more depth, Monaghan was shown having a relationship with a boy named Mickey Milkovich, who epitomized machismo. But instead of rejecting his sexuality and passing it off as two boys just having sex, Ian pushed for Mickey to acknowledge their mutual love and affection for one another, albeit in a way that was still pretty “masc.” With this context in mind, I want to contrast my original reading of Ian’s character with some of the discussions we have had in class, and with the article “The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms: Gay Visibility and Degrees of Transgression.” In the article, Jay Clarkson says something that completely stood out to me. While analyzing discourses that were taking place on a website called StraightActing.com, Clarkson states that the users of this cite “demonize an effeminate gay stereotype, which they perceive as dominating media representations of gay men, because they fear that it functions to construct a normative gay identity that is promoted by other gay men and can only be undone with increased visibility of straight-acting gay men” (p. 392). In other words, if the gay community wants to achieve acceptance by heterosexuals, then all they need to do is make visible more “straight-acting” gay men. And what better way to show the gays how to act straight, then to use a heterosexual actor to show them how it’s done. Looking back on it now, I realize that my initial excitement over Monaghan’s character (aside from his physical attractiveness) stemmed from this internalized hatred I had for all things effeminate – which really just meant a hatred of being gay. When I first came out, I was so angry because everything I did – whether it was listening to Lady Gaga, crying at the conclusion of movies, or based on my style of speech and walk – was coded as gay. In fact, before I even came to terms with my identity, it seemed like everyone else had already decided my sexual identity for me. What resulted was my blaming effeminate gay men for creating a space where I couldn’t live my life without people pointing fingers at me or talking behind my back, which gave me respite when a saw a “straight-acting” gay character on TV, regardless of his actual sexual orientaiton. But what I failed to realize, however, is that by choosing to deny those aspects of my identity, and by positioning myself with other “straight-acting” gay men, I was securing in the minds of heterosexuals that effeminacy is in fact deviant, and that their way of life is the right way of life, for which we all must align ourselves with. But that type of thinking is wrong. There is no such thing as a “right” way to be gay, just as there is no such thing as a “right” way to be a man - that is, if being a “man” is even something one wants to ascribe to. More importantly, having a “straight-acting” gay man on screen doesn’t do anything to challenge the systems that oppress gay man, rather, they serve, as I have already mentioned, to validate them. Instead, we, as a community, should be pushing for a variety of representations, which serve to highlight how nuanced the gay community really is. In any event, I must admit that the temptation to conform to these normative conceptions of masculinity are almost unbearable sometimes, but I try, on a day to day basis, to immerse myself within activities and cultural objects that have been coded as both “male” and “female.” The reason why I do this is threefold: because I don’t want to keep hating who I am, because I find it liberating when I blur the gender lines, and I want to get to a place where I don’t see people like Monaghan as the “cure” to homophobia. Instead, I want myself, and the gay community, to realize that our presentation as “masculine” or “feminine” isn’t the root cause of homophobia. In other words, “acting straight” isn’t going to remove decades of pain that our community has faced – this process can only begin by recognizing that the hatred of gay people stems not necessarily from who gay people are in the public, but more importantly, in their private, sexual lives.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

Sex, the City, and Post-Feminism

Oops, I think I did it again! In an attempt to sabotage everything I like, I find myself doing some more media literacy on one of my favorite shows HBO has ever produced: Sex and the City. While reading some of the paragraphs that tackle the concept of post-feminism, I couldn’t help but wonder: are Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha four examples of post-feminist subjects?

On the very first episode of SATC, Carrie introduces her column giving a portrayal of NYC women, seen as independent and empowered individuals. Indeed, we can notice a certain intersectionality in the character’s words, which sympathize with every woman’s situation in the city:

Welcome to the age of "un-innocence." No one has breakfast at Tiffany's, and no one has affairs to remember. Instead, we have breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and affairs we try to forget as quickly as possible. Self-protection and closing the deal are paramount. Cupid has flown the co-op. How the hell did we get into this mess? There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of women like this in the city. We all know them, and we all agree they're great. They travel. They pay taxes. They'll spend $400 on a pair of Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals. And they're alone. It's like the riddle of the Sphinx. Why are there so many great unmarried women and no great unmarried men? I explore these sorts of issues in my column and I have terrific sources: my friends.

Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City 1x01

With such a statement of intent, Carrie is giving us one of the first facts I’d like to point out regarding the pseudo-feminist approach of the TV show. Although SATC presents itself as a show about independent 90s women in the Big Apple, the truth is that, if you take all episodes as a whole, you’ll find a different storytelling: the story of four women obsessing over men and using sex and money as the main arguments for their empowerment.

Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha all live and work in Manhattan, have lunch at fancy places, buy $350 Ralph Lauren Egyptian cotton sheets, and use cabs as their daily means of transportation. They’re depicted as independent, strong women whose one and only problem appears to be their constant, unsucessful affairs. And what’s more, their sexual lives.

As a matter of fact, this depiction of the four friends conveys a post-feminist assumption of what it means to be an empowered woman. As Kirsty Fairclough mentions in Nothing Less Than Perfect, post-feminism entails a series of themes, such as:

Femininity as a bodily property; the shift from objectification to subjectification; an emphasis upon self surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a makeover paradigm; and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference.

Rosalind Gill, “Postfeminist media culture: elements of a sensibility”

In fact, the whole meaning-making of SATC has a lot to do with that. By putting the focus on the unflagging exercise of catching a male partner, the show reinforces the idea of women needing men instead of becoming free to want them. Everything they do, buy, and say is related to that particular objective. 

The fact that the show feeds itself of gender stereotypes and feminine punch lines turns it into a good example of what’s also been called “commodity feminism”. By having done that, they actually succeeded in creating a great commercial product for cosmopolitan and urban women that may identify themselves with the four characters in the show.

As it’s natural, I couldn’t finish this post without quoting Samantha Jones, the most “independent” girl in the squad:

Money is power, sex is power, therefore, getting money for sex is simply an exchange of power. 

Cheers,

Javi.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

Be true to your pleasure...

[intersectionalminds-blog]

Open Letter to Taylor Swift

We all love Taylor Swift. Some of us already know, some others don’t, but the truth is there’s no reason to hate her. She’s a good combination of innocence, credibility, self-awareness and fun. And although her detractors may say she’s boring and hurtfully cheesy, those aren’t enough arguments to hate her.

With 1989, Taylor ditched her country style and placed a bet on a pop album. The result was a total success, mainly due to a very strong, loyal fan base, and a series of promotional tactics which included show appearances, private listening sessions for fans, and Polaroids in each copy of the album.

Without doubt, the songs in 1989 are even catchier and the music videos are full of Swift’s own storytelling. The first single, Shake It Off, is probably one of her most personal, where she places herself in very different dance situations: within the ballerinas, the rappers, the cheerleaders, the contemporary dancers, and, of course, the twerkers.

Indeed, the figure of the twerker in Taylor’s music video presents an example of White feminism with little attention paid to racial justice. Although the singer’s intention may have been none other than adding more fun to the video’s storytelling, the naturalization of twerking as a black women thing is a case of what Stuart Hall defines as inferential racism.

In The Whites of Their Eyes, Hall refers to inferential racism as:

“Those apparently naturalized representations of events and situations relating to race whether ‘factual’ or ‘fictional’, which have racist premisses and propositions inscribed in them as a set of unquestioned assumptions.”

As a matter of fact, what Shake It Off is offering with this representation of Blackness is a sexualized variant of the racist premise of the ‘clown’ or ‘entertainer’. Black women are thus reduced to a sexist and racist image imposed by White culture.

Unknowingly and innocently, Taylor is making an appropriation set by a given ideology. As part of her personal storytelling, the video is aimed at showing the pop starlet’s purity and innocence by comparing herself to other different disciplines. In the case of twerking, she does nothing but reinforcing the stereotype of the hyper-sexualized black body, in contrast with the white, slim ballerinas and cheerleaders. 

Yes, I love Taylor Swift and enjoy her songs. I sing them out loud and share her music videos on Facebook. What I’ve tried to do here, though, is an exercise of media literacy: although I enjoy listening to and watching Shake It Off, I also find it interesting to disseminate the possible meanings encoded in the video. 

“Since race appears to be ‘given’ by Nature, racism is one of the most profoundly ‘naturalized of existing ideologies.”

- Stuart Hall, “The Whites of Their Eyes”

Shake racism off,

Javi.

[intersectionalminds-blog]

Source: attn:

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We must understand reality as seen from the most significative issues for participants within their own concept of reality; we must always be aware of our own cultural filters before we act.

Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed