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Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post Four: Connection to Popular Culture

It is rare to hear songs which challenge hegemony being played on the radio often. However, the 1992 hit “No Scrubs” by TLC seems to never leave the air. For this assignment, I searched for media in pop culture that further or combat my research on street harassment. After searching through many short films, advertisements, and skits about sexual harassment in the workplace, I was able to settle on this classic song and music video to analyze. This is an example of revising, more specifically expansion. An attempt was made to challenge the binary, in this case a very strong attempt, but still not 100% empowering.

To analyze this artifact, I chose to use the Gender Stories: Negotiating Identity in a Binary World as a blueprint. The first term to know is “prescription”. As defined by the text, prescription is “appropriate behavior for women and men” that “retell(s) the binary” (Foss, Domenico, & Foss 2013, p. 109). Within the music video and lyrics, one can see many examples of this. These can be perceived in both negative light as well as empowering. In the music video, all three women are shown in sexualized outfits and doing, at some points, sexual dancing, the video ending with the women jokingly groping themselves (TLC - No Scrubs). This is reaffirming the existing binary that women are objects, there to look pretty and be lusted after. Another example the lyric, “...no, I don’t want your number; no, I don’t want to give you mine and no, I don’t want to meet you nowhere no,” (TLC - No Scrubs). This is something that adheres to the binary because it is referencing a recognizable way that men often speak to women. This response could show critique as well, but is a good example of prescription because the examples of catcalling align well.

Another key term is called “expansion”, and is said to be “ways that expand the prescriptions of the binary” (Foss, Domenico, & Foss 2013, p. 124). This basically refers to making steps in the right direction and seeing things as a spectrum, for example, rather than a set of boxes to fit into. In the video, there are many examples of stretching the status quo. To start, it is a music group of three women of color, which is definitely not the norm (TLC - No Scrubs). There are no men in the video, and the women are often shown from an angle where they look powerful, and are seen in fighting and more masculine positions (TLC - No Scrubs). This fits well with expansion because it is showing that women can both be conventionally attractive and also powerful and strong. If this were prescription, they would be in pink tutus dancing very feminine.

The last key term that stood out with “No Scrubs” was innovation. The text describes this as “escaping” the gender binary itself (Foss, Domenico, and Foss 2013, p. 131). Rather than using terms that are defined by the binary, such as in expansion when actions are described as masculine, these terms wouldn’t even apply in the first place if innovation was the case. While there aren’t a multitude of examples of innovation in the music video or lyrics, the title of the song says enough. “No Scrubs” is referring to men who catcall, “hanging out the passenger side of your best friend’s ride, trying to holler at me”, and men who are too “broke” and unworthy of these women’s attention (TLC - No Scrubs). By saying “No Scrubs”, they are saying that women don’t have to associate with people that they don’t want to. They can choose if someone is below their standards, and can be rightfully angry when harassed without consent.

It is plain to see that though things may seem to challenge the binary, it is extremely rare to see artifacts in the media that follow through completely. By looking at these different topics through the lens of this video and song, I was able to see that women are not allowed to get their point across in a serious manner without at least somewhat adhering to the binary. While they may have lyrics protesting harassment and having standards for their social interactions, they still felt the need to joke, sexualize themselves, and rely on motifs that are alive in current society (i.e. the “no, I don’t want to meet you nowhere”). Basic conclusion: don’t harass women, don’t be a scrub.

References

Foss, S. K., Foss, K. A., & Domenico, M. E. (2013). Gender Stories: Negotiating Identity in a Binary World. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

[TLCVEVO]. (2014, January 31). TLC - No Scrubs. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrLequ6dUdM

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Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post Two: Connection to Foundational Course Concepts

Throughout my research, I have realized just how global of a problem street harassment is. Despite these grim findings that so many women around the world experience this, I have also been able to find ways in which both men and women have been trying to fight back. There are both legislative actions as well as individual choices and women banding together. Since the #MeToo movement has become so prevalent, many populations have been called to action to help stop this problem, and allow women to safely live their lives. Many of the issues behind street harassment lie in deeper societal and institutional issues, which will be explored in relation to the topic of street harassment. Men are socialized to believe that they should be pursuing women, should always want sex, and are entitled to women’s bodies. 

A lot of the roots of this issue lie in the fact that gender is a social construct. Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies describes gender as: “A social concept referring to a complex set of characteristics and behaviors prescribed for a particular sex by society and learned through the socialization process” (Launius & Hassel 2015, 191). Basically, this is saying that gender is a completely human-made concept, that society has decided. Because of this binary of male and female, many people become very prejudiced and uncomfortable at the idea that there are more identities, and when people don’t strictly adhere to the norms that go along with the male and female norm. This also causes people to act in ways that their gender is “supposed” to act, which includes men harassing women on the street. 

 In an article from Aljazeera, a media company located in Qatar, a 15 year old girl referred to as Pooja, tells her story. She talks about living in New Delhi, India, and her experiences growing up and trying to avoid harassment daily. She says that because of the danger of street harassment and other attacks against women, she would avoid certain routes on her walks home and to school, and was not allowed to play sports because her parents feared something bad would happen to her (Dharssi 2017). She also mentions that some parents prefer to pull their daughters out of school, rather than risking their safety. In cases like this, men are acting out their gender ideas, that they have the right to show women that they want to have sex with them, regardless of the situation. This also shows women being socialized to move around men’s harassment, and having to limit themselves because of this. 

However, this article also has a positive example of changing gender ideas also. A child rights organization called “Plan India” has been implementing community-based clubs to combat street harassment. This organization includes 8,300 active female members, as well as 1,400 male (Dharssi 2017). By participating in action for what is typically known as a “women’s issue”, these young boys are breaking the norm, and creating positive change. 

Another important term to know when discussing street harassment is agency. Gender Stories: Negotiating Identity in a Binary World describes strategies to enacting agency, such as doing it yourself, influencing others who will make change, and reframing the situation (Foss, Domenico, & Foss 2013, 19). What they are referring to is being able to act and make decisions of one's own volition, which is why these strategies would be useful. One great example of agency being taken back is a campaign called #WalkAlone being launched in India. Women are using their agency to walk alone in public spaces that they normally would not (Agrawal 2016). This is an example of agency because these women are making the decision and executing the action of walking alone. This is also an example of influencing others and reframing the situation. Because it is a public movement, and other women will see the women participating, it is enacting agency for potentially more and more women. For reframing, they are basically deciding to take these usually dangerous and uncomfortable situations and making it empowering to walk alone.

People do not often talk openly about street harassment, specifically men. This is because when an issue does not affect you personally as much, you might not be very aware of it. Another term for this is privilege, defined by Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies as “Benefits and power from institutional inequalities” (Launius & Hassel 2015, 198). This is explaining that certain demographics benefit from society more than others. If one is in higher power, i.e. has more privilege, they benefit by not having to worry about certain issues, including street harassment. A news video about sexual harassment in Egypt describes how police often don’t intervene when women are harassed, but vigilante groups of men are forming to protect women (GeoBeats News 2012). Because it is being brought to attention that this harassment is an issue, these men are using their privilege to help women feel safer. If a woman were to step in, it would be a lot more dangerous, since they are the oppressed group in this case.

Oppression and privilege are two ends of a spectrum. Oppression is basically the opposite of privilege, described as “Prejudice and discrimination directed toward a group and promoted by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions” (Launius & Hassel 2015, 197). In simpler words, it is basically a group that does not benefit from their demographic identity, but rather is persecuted for it. In an article discussing new legislation against street harassment in France, a woman describes a specific instance of harassment, but prefaces it with “It wasn’t the first time-that day, that week, or that month” (Dwyer 2018). This is a daily issue for many women, and this is due to the fact that they are in the oppressed group, under men, who do not have to deal with this consistent harassment. Because of societal institutions that value men over women, men have the power, and women are expected to put up with it. Luckily, new laws in place hope to improve the environment for women in France, by having expensive fines if one is seen harassing another person.

One large facet of understanding oppression and privilege is intersectionality. Defined by Threshold Concepts in Women’s and Gender Studies as “...ways multiple forms of oppression and identity interact to create someone’s experience,” (Launius & Hassel 2015, 194). While my research does not specifically focus on people of certain identities or how these identities affect their harassment, rather experiences of women in different countries, it is still important to include other identities as well, as certain identities are harassed differently and to different extents in comparison to others. A Harvard study found that when surveying LGBTQ Americans, more than half had experienced slurs and/or offensive comments due to their identities (Moreau 2017). This shows that because of these structures: gender as a social construct, oppression, and privilege, people of the LGBTQ+ community experience a heavy amount of harassment. It is important to note that while women overall have large issues with street harassment, but women in specific countries, of different races, and of different identities, all experience this harassment differently. Even with just the term “women” there are many levels of privilege and oppression.

In conclusion, there are many deeper societal issues to be addressed that create and foster an environment where street harassment regularly occurs. Many countries have their own take on strategic ways to address this issue, while others seem to ignore it and hope it goes away. However, around the world, it can be seen that men and women are mobilizing to help improve public spaces for women’s safety, and there is a mutual understanding and solidarity on a global scale. 

References

Bangalore, S. A. (2016, August 26). Women Walk Alone to Reclaim India's Streets from Fear and Harassment. The Guardian.

Dharssi, A. (2017, December 12). How Young Women in Delhi are Fighting Street Harassment. Aljazeera. 

Dwyer, C. (2018, August 02). France Bans Street Harassment, Approving Hefty Fines For Catcallers. NPR.

[Geobeats News]. (2012, December 07). Sexual Harassment - A Widespread Issue for Egyptian Women. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9eEnnakN28

Moreau, J. (2017, November 26). Most LGBTQ Americans Experience Harassment and Discrimination, Harvard Study Finds. NBC News.

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Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post One: Introduction to Special Interest Topic

In some countries, a woman can walk alone at night without thinking twice. However, in many countries around the world, street harassment is extremely prevalent. Many countries in the Middle East, Europe, and larger countries like India have been known to be difficult for women to get where they are going without fear of harassment or worse. Looking at scholarly articles from a few different countries, it is easy to see that there are trends, and that this a large and serious issue for many women.

For my research, I decided to look at street harassment around the world. Being a woman who recently began living in a house in Rock Island (off campus), I have become even more aware of the danger and uncomfortable situations that surround me. I also was able to go to Europe this summer, and noticed that the catcalling was extremely bad in Paris, but in other countries like Germany, you could walk alone at night with almost no paranoia. It got me wondering, what have other countries done to combat street harassment, and what do other women around the world have to deal with on a regular basis?

To begin the research, I used terms like “harassment” and “women” together, sometimes adding specific countries or “international” as well. However, for some countries where I am aware of how prevalent it is (India, for example), it was difficult to find scholarly sources. In the grand scheme of things, I found a good amount of sources, but it required a lot of wading through irrelevant things such as book reviews on the topic, and sources that I was not able to access (which was actually very disappointing, since many sounded very eye-opening). I found a lot of studies that were done by survey, along with a few that used more than one type of research (such as focus groups, interviews, etc.), or autoethnography. What was most surprising, was the lack of scholarly research done in countries that I typically see in the media for street harassment, such as France and India.

Throughout the research process, I was able to find eight sources that seemed reputable and relevant to my topic specifically. Within these sources, Mexico, Australia, the USA, Iran, and the UK were examined. While many of these sources were research studies directed by more than one person, each source that had only one contributor was published by a woman. Out of the fifteen various contributors, only three were men. This clarified that it is more of an issue that women have to worry about, that men might not even really think about. Many of the studies confirmed this, such as the Australian study on negative encounters in public places. The study interviewed both men and women, and looked at uncomfortable or negative encounters with strangers were perceived. The study found that if a man was the stranger, both sexes would experience fear, but that women were targeted far more and felt more fear from these experiences than men did (Bastomski 86). Another study done in Mexico, using focus groups and survey, showed that adolescent girls were harassed 2.65 times more often than adolescent males (Meza-de-Luna & García-Falconi 167). This makes it clear, that if men are being affected by this issue far less than women, of course women will be doing more of the research on the topic.

The only source that really acknowledged the harassment of people based on identity rather than just sex was the legal writing from the United States, however it focused mostly on unfair legal treatment of sexual harassment not being taken seriously enough (Ramakrishnan). One source that was very insightful but not necessarily research was the autoethnography, from a woman living in the United States who grew up in Iran. She talked more about sharing stories of street harassment to help combat it, and talked about the different cultural reactions to street harassment in countries like Iran (Chubin). That was another trend that was noticeable, the idea of talking about harassment occurring to bring more light to the topic.

Overall, this research made it seem that harassment is very much a “women’s issue”. However, in some studies, you could see men also experiencing discomfort from certain encounters, and that with a few male contributors, it is in fact not just a “women’s issue”. Looking at the legal issues connecting to street harassment, sharing stories about harassment with men as well as women, and having evidence that this is a huge issue worldwide, this topic needs to be brought more into the public spectrum, rather than just something where women discuss their similar experiences. In further research, I would like to see more about the countries that usually come to mind on this topic, and see if there is a root to why there is no scholarly research from those areas of the world. I have an inkling that the women in these countries might have legal issues not being taken seriously, or not have resources to become as educated and publish studies like these. For some women, it might just seem like it is a part of life, but it does not have to be.

References

Bastomski, S., & Smith, P. (2017). Gender, Fear, and Public Places: How Negative Encounters with Strangers Harm Women. Sex Roles, 73-88.

Campos, P. A., Falb, K. L., Hernández, S., Díaz-Olavarrieta, C., & Gupta, J. (2017). Experiences of street harassment and associations with perceptions of social cohesion among women in Mexico City. Salud Pública De México, 102-105.

Chubin, F. (2014). You may smother my voice, but you will hear my silence: An autoethnography on street sexual harassment, the discourse of shame and women’s resistance in Iran. Sexualities, 176-193.

Holland, E., Koval, P., Stratemeyer, M., Thomson, F., & Haslam, N. (2017). Sexual objectification in women's daily lives: A smartphone ecological momentary assessment study. British Journal Of Social Psychology, 314-333.

Llerena Benites, R. C. (2016). Percepción y actitudes frente al acoso sexual callejero en estudiantes mujeres de una Universidad Privada de Medicina. Revista Horizonte Médico, 62-68.

Meza-de-Luna, M., & García-Falconi, S. (2015). Adolescent Street Harassment in Querétaro, Mexico. Affilia: Journal Of Women & Social Work, 158-169.

Ramakrishnan, K. B. (2011). Inconsistent Legal Treatment of Unwanted Sexual Advances: A Study of the Homosexual Advance Defense, Street Harassment, and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Berkeley Journal Of Gender, Law & Justice, 291-355.

Wånggren, L. (2016). Our stories matter: storytelling and social justice in the Hollaback! movement. Gender & Education, 401-415.