While discussing the concept of Raunch Culture to a few girlfriends of mine, one of them recommended I watch Katy Perry's music video "California Gurl's" and said "just a head's up, its gonna make you nauseous," HAH. Well, I didn't vomit but it certainly made me uncomfortable and really upset. Besides the fact that its a chirpy tune about being a girl, wearing bikinis and being so hot that you melt popsicles, the video is set in a futuristic candy-land (kind of like that awesome board game you played when you were a kid)
From Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs and the rise of Raunch Culture-
"Because we have determined that all empowered women must be overtly and publicly sexual, and because the only sign of sexuality we seem to be able to recognize is a direct allusion to red-light entertainment, we have laced the sleazy energy and aesthetic of a topless club or a Penthouse shoot throughout our entire culture"(26)
Katy perry is a walking representation of raunch culture and this over-sexualized video is a wonderful confirmation of this. There are parts of the video where Katy is laying naked on a sugar coated cloud, licking herself while her cleavage and crack are just barely obscured by a whisp of spun sugar. Following this, her and her female dancers begin dancing in sync in beach cut-off shorts and giant cupcakes over their breasts. Oh I don't want to forget the dominating presence of the sugar daddy ( Snoop Dog) in the video- more like the pimp? The best part of the sleaze comes in when Katy imitates a climax by fondling her boob guns and letting cream spurt out uncontrollably.
but wait, is this not girl power??? This video appeals not only to horny men who find this candy-filled fantasy comparable to soft-core porn, but also to little girls and young teenagers who actually look to Katy Perry as a role model or someone who is really cool in mainstream pop culture. So no, this video focuses on what it means to be a girl, a hot girl, to be precise, and being hot means you should project the slutty stereotype - dance in daisy dukes and you'll make any guy climax!! This video reminded me a lot of The Girls Next Door and the "Thats So Fun" article by Karen Boyle about the commercialization and glamorization of sex in popular culture. There is a very similar and horrifying tone in both of these- "with a bit of work, some shopping, and the right girlfriends, any young girl can be this beautiful. No special skills are required" (297). The skills required to be a fun beautiful girl are dancing and/or posing naked or in daisy dukes.
Another quote I enjoyed from Levy when connecting Raunch Culture to "California Gurl's"-
" Raunch culture isn't about opening our minds to the possibilities and mysteries of sexuality. It's about endlessly reiterating one particular-and particularly commercial-shorthand for sexiness."
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
#5 Hipster Headdress
Since the class has been discussing the concepts of cultural appropriation and colonization in connection to feminism, I immediately knew that I wanted to use this weeks blog post to delve deeper into the appropriation and over-sexualization of Native American culture in the media. Because this is a fairly broad topic I will specifically mention a performance by the singer Keysha in 2010 on American Idol where she wears a headdress and warpaint and sings a song about getting wasted and naked.
As a girl who grew up in New Mexico and was fortunate enough as a child to learn and be surrounded by Native American culture, there has always been a very deep and sacred place in my heart for these people (as I am one of them). I have noticed more and more over the past couple years that Native American style has become increasingly popular and trendy among my group of peers. By Native American style I am referring to headdresses, warbonnets, feathers, painted faces (war-paint), turquoise jewelry, etc.
the above left photo is of Kesha at the American Idol performance in 2010. Kesha along with many other models and singers in popular culture without knowing it or not, are becoming representations of a culture of women. When looking at these photographs I am reminded of the discussion we had in class about colonization from Mohanty's article Under Western Eyes and cultural appropriation from Gopal and Moorti's Bollywood in Drag. This cultural appropriation or borrowing from another culture comes in the form of the Native American feather headdress, which I believe is most widely worn by my peers and seen in popular culture.
Not only is the headdress of cultural and spiritual significance to many Native Americans who still use them for sacred ceremonies, but it is also being worn primarily by white women who are scantily dressed. As you can see in Kesha's photo she is wearing the headdress with fishnets and a small sparkly top while singing "Blah Blah Blah" a song about getting wasted.
This representation of Native American women by predominantly over-sexualized white women is incredibly harmful. I also feel this argument is especially relevant now as Halloween is fast approaching and ladies love going for that " sexy indian" look. How could they not? Native Americans are savage, sexy, and exotic right?
here is a horrifying statistic on violence and sexual assault against Native American women.
"Over the past decade, federal government studies have consistently shown that American Indian and Alaska Native women experience much higher levels of sexual violence than other women in the USA. xxData gathered by the US Department of Justice indicates that Native American and Alaska Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the USA in general. A US Department of Justice study on violence against women concluded that 34.1 per cent of American Indian and Alaska Native women – or more than one in three – will be raped during their lifetime; the comparable figure for the USA as a whole is less than one in five.
this type of objectification and appropriation is NOT in any way, honoring or respecting this culture and their history and values. A drunk girl dancing around half naked with a headdress on is not a form of being honorable or fashion forward. IN FACT it is almost a very sloppy representation of oppression, colonialism and racism in this country. Shouldn't there be some social responsibility for this kind of ignorance??
As a girl who grew up in New Mexico and was fortunate enough as a child to learn and be surrounded by Native American culture, there has always been a very deep and sacred place in my heart for these people (as I am one of them). I have noticed more and more over the past couple years that Native American style has become increasingly popular and trendy among my group of peers. By Native American style I am referring to headdresses, warbonnets, feathers, painted faces (war-paint), turquoise jewelry, etc.
the above left photo is of Kesha at the American Idol performance in 2010. Kesha along with many other models and singers in popular culture without knowing it or not, are becoming representations of a culture of women. When looking at these photographs I am reminded of the discussion we had in class about colonization from Mohanty's article Under Western Eyes and cultural appropriation from Gopal and Moorti's Bollywood in Drag. This cultural appropriation or borrowing from another culture comes in the form of the Native American feather headdress, which I believe is most widely worn by my peers and seen in popular culture.
Not only is the headdress of cultural and spiritual significance to many Native Americans who still use them for sacred ceremonies, but it is also being worn primarily by white women who are scantily dressed. As you can see in Kesha's photo she is wearing the headdress with fishnets and a small sparkly top while singing "Blah Blah Blah" a song about getting wasted.
This representation of Native American women by predominantly over-sexualized white women is incredibly harmful. I also feel this argument is especially relevant now as Halloween is fast approaching and ladies love going for that " sexy indian" look. How could they not? Native Americans are savage, sexy, and exotic right?
here is a horrifying statistic on violence and sexual assault against Native American women.
"Over the past decade, federal government studies have consistently shown that American Indian and Alaska Native women experience much higher levels of sexual violence than other women in the USA. xxData gathered by the US Department of Justice indicates that Native American and Alaska Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the USA in general. A US Department of Justice study on violence against women concluded that 34.1 per cent of American Indian and Alaska Native women – or more than one in three – will be raped during their lifetime; the comparable figure for the USA as a whole is less than one in five.
this type of objectification and appropriation is NOT in any way, honoring or respecting this culture and their history and values. A drunk girl dancing around half naked with a headdress on is not a form of being honorable or fashion forward. IN FACT it is almost a very sloppy representation of oppression, colonialism and racism in this country. Shouldn't there be some social responsibility for this kind of ignorance??
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Blog Entry #4 Gaga in Drag
When thinking about the definitions of sex and gender and how they relate to transgender issues I felt inspired to write about (and critique) Lady Gaga and her alter ego Jo Calderones' latest appearance at the MTV video music awards.
Lady Gaga's gender-bending performance proved to be one of a kind and very powerful as gender issues in mainstream media are seldom demonstrated. This is only one of many examples of Lady Gaga making her audience challenge hetero normative assumptions of sex and gender. From Transgender History by Susan Stryker when describing sex and gender, "Gender is generally considered to by cultural, and sex biological" (pg 11) and when describing history and transgender politics Stryker says "the sex of the body does not bear any necessary or deterministic relationship to the social category in which the body lives."
This determination of what makes someone a man or a woman in our society is based off of sex and secondary sex characteristics. Trans persons do not fall into these created dominant patterns or gender roles.
Although I am extremely happy to see transgender and genderqueer exploration on mainstream television, I also want to argue that Lady gaga's alter ego Jo falls into the gender comportment of how a man is socialized to dress and behave. Also, this is definitely not a true representation of the trans community, as trans folks don't just dress up as the stereotypical opposite gender and then that's it. What it comes down to is Lady Gaga is a straight wealthy privileged white woman in the music business, and playing dress up is not accurately identifying or representing oneself with an oppressed and very marginalized group of people.
is this performance or spectacle more about shock value or a genuine love and concern for the trans community? Is she really growing the activist role she has adopted or putting out a message that is counter productive?
Lady Gaga's gender-bending performance proved to be one of a kind and very powerful as gender issues in mainstream media are seldom demonstrated. This is only one of many examples of Lady Gaga making her audience challenge hetero normative assumptions of sex and gender. From Transgender History by Susan Stryker when describing sex and gender, "Gender is generally considered to by cultural, and sex biological" (pg 11) and when describing history and transgender politics Stryker says "the sex of the body does not bear any necessary or deterministic relationship to the social category in which the body lives."
This determination of what makes someone a man or a woman in our society is based off of sex and secondary sex characteristics. Trans persons do not fall into these created dominant patterns or gender roles.
Although I am extremely happy to see transgender and genderqueer exploration on mainstream television, I also want to argue that Lady gaga's alter ego Jo falls into the gender comportment of how a man is socialized to dress and behave. Also, this is definitely not a true representation of the trans community, as trans folks don't just dress up as the stereotypical opposite gender and then that's it. What it comes down to is Lady Gaga is a straight wealthy privileged white woman in the music business, and playing dress up is not accurately identifying or representing oneself with an oppressed and very marginalized group of people.
is this performance or spectacle more about shock value or a genuine love and concern for the trans community? Is she really growing the activist role she has adopted or putting out a message that is counter productive?
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Blog Entry #3- PETA launching a porn site
In August PeTA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) announced that they would soon be launching an XXX porn site as their next clever marketing endeavor. It is well known that PETA has been using sex to get peoples attention about animal rights for a long time. With the help of a plethora of celebrities, PeTA has managed to become both controversial and very popular in the media for this reason.
I have always struggled with supporting PETA because they continually objectify women in the name of animal rights. Being a vegetarian for six years I have to admit that PETA has been a reliable source of all things vegan and vegetarian, but really?? As a feminist and an animal rights activist this is complete bullshit and quite embarrassing. Will watching porn followed by images of animal cruelty really want to make you touch yourself while simultaneously re-evaluate your choice to eat meat/wear fur etc.? Trying to make the public aware of the exploitation of one species by heavily exploiting another is pretty hypocritical in my book.
This continuous sexualization of vegetarianism brings about some harmful ideologies presented in the campaign. Ideology as explained in Viewers Make Meaning pg 52 "is the necessary representational means through which we come to experience and make sense of reality." In PeTA's case, a harmful reoccurring ideology is if you become a vegetarian you will have a hot bod, or becoming a vegetarian means becoming sexy or sexualized, especially now that viewers have the option of watching XXX porn and animal cruelty videos at the same time? Attractive photo-shopped celebrities, models and unrealistic looking women and men are the only ones to grace the covers of PeTA's advertising campaign, will these types of people also be involved in the X-rated videos? Midriff advertising also plays a large part in this, as there is a HUGE emphasis on the body to sell PeTA's messages, and definitely a pronounced discourse of choice and empowerment. The women depicted in these images and probably on the XXX site are oversexualized because they choose to be, for a greater cause. Also, many of them are considered to be pretty powerful women, celebrities who are wealthy and successful.
There is also this equating of women to animals being tortured and caged that really bothers me. Why are men never shown shackled and tied to bed posts or caged? No doubt a strong message, but what exactly is the direction here? I think it's safe to say PeTA is reiterating the oppression of women on many many levels. Because of this they are probably going to alienate and offend a lot of their supporters (like myself!) interested to see how this XXX business will turn out.
I have always struggled with supporting PETA because they continually objectify women in the name of animal rights. Being a vegetarian for six years I have to admit that PETA has been a reliable source of all things vegan and vegetarian, but really?? As a feminist and an animal rights activist this is complete bullshit and quite embarrassing. Will watching porn followed by images of animal cruelty really want to make you touch yourself while simultaneously re-evaluate your choice to eat meat/wear fur etc.? Trying to make the public aware of the exploitation of one species by heavily exploiting another is pretty hypocritical in my book.
This continuous sexualization of vegetarianism brings about some harmful ideologies presented in the campaign. Ideology as explained in Viewers Make Meaning pg 52 "is the necessary representational means through which we come to experience and make sense of reality." In PeTA's case, a harmful reoccurring ideology is if you become a vegetarian you will have a hot bod, or becoming a vegetarian means becoming sexy or sexualized, especially now that viewers have the option of watching XXX porn and animal cruelty videos at the same time? Attractive photo-shopped celebrities, models and unrealistic looking women and men are the only ones to grace the covers of PeTA's advertising campaign, will these types of people also be involved in the X-rated videos? Midriff advertising also plays a large part in this, as there is a HUGE emphasis on the body to sell PeTA's messages, and definitely a pronounced discourse of choice and empowerment. The women depicted in these images and probably on the XXX site are oversexualized because they choose to be, for a greater cause. Also, many of them are considered to be pretty powerful women, celebrities who are wealthy and successful.
There is also this equating of women to animals being tortured and caged that really bothers me. Why are men never shown shackled and tied to bed posts or caged? No doubt a strong message, but what exactly is the direction here? I think it's safe to say PeTA is reiterating the oppression of women on many many levels. Because of this they are probably going to alienate and offend a lot of their supporters (like myself!) interested to see how this XXX business will turn out.
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