40 Days for Life is over as of April 1st, so I've probably done my last Wednesday escorting at the West Side Clinic. (Cristina sent out an e-mail looking for escorts on Saturday the 6th as well, but I will be out of town that weekend.) That should satisfy my hours, so all that should be left for service learning for me is getting Cristina's sign-off on my hours log.
Last Thursday, there were a couple of men at the clinic with their partners—apparently there for abortion services—who came out and asked the escorts for advice and support. That was interesting and unexpected. One of them wanted to know how exactly the pill-based abortion manifests, ostensibly because he wanted to give his partner advice about how traumatic that experience would be versus a surgical abortion. While escorts clearly aren't trained to give medical advice and shouldn't be doing so, I felt bad that I didn't actually know the answer to his question and couldn't honestly give him even a vague, non-medical reassurance. It dovetailed interestingly with the protestors' ongoing insistence that we should "Get the facts!!" about abortion.
Another male patient went out and talked to the protestors' for ten minutes or so. I don't know what they talked about, but he did ask us to throw away their literature when he came back to the clinic entrance. He may have been challenging them; it's hard to say. If nothing else, he kept them distracted from shouting at patients for a little while.
This does sort of drive home the idea that access to reproductive health care—like women's health in general; like women's sexuality; like violence against women—is not a "women's issue." Men have an emotional investment in women's lives as well, and therefore feminism is highly relevant to men too.
It's still hard to say that I've gotten anything dramatic or major out of this experience personally, other than a lot less sleep on Wednesdays. I did learn a bit more about abortion and reproductive health than I knew previously from conversations with other escorts, and was reminded that there's still a lot I don't know. I suppose that's something.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Service Learning Log #1 (Week of 3/15/12)
This week was my third week doing clinic escorting at Planned Parenthood's west side clinic. While VOX UCF is nominally my community partner, I haven't had direct contact with anyone from VOX for a while due to spring break; my main contact has been Cristina, the volunteer coordinator for Planned Parenthood. Both this week and last week, I stayed for the full four hours planned as there was significant protestor activity. (Last week, March 7, was especially vigorous as there was apparently someone with a camera filming them for a documentary or something.) This is likely to continue through the rest of Lent (40 Days for Life), so I expect to be doing the same on the next two Wednesdays.
A major rhetorical point being made repeatedly by the protestors is that they are the bearers of a "truth" that Planned Parenthood is trying to keep from its patients. They frequently shout about visiting pro-life websites or watching YouTube videos of "actual" abortions in order to get the "full story." They are, essentially, using the theory of objective knowledge—the idea that YouTube videos never lie and that more information, regardless of the source, is always better for an "informed" decision. This ignores the situated nature of knowledge—no source, especially not those promoted by "pro-life" organizations, is ever neutral, and for "objective" knowledge to be intentionally forced upon a person in an emotionally vulnerable state is also hardly neutral.
Yet for all their talk about "the facts," politically conservative people have proven surprisingly apt at co-opting postmodern rhetoric as well. The best example is the evolution debate, where they insist that no one "really" knows the truth about the origin of life and that therefore all viewpoints (meaning just theirs) should be presented. In other words, that objective knowledge is actually impossible and therefore that we might as well accept their standpoint as "truth" since it's as good as any other. The clinic protestors are also very good at co-opting the rhetoric of racial justice as well, shouting and waving signs about "black genocide" and pointing out that the patients at the clinic are disproportionately black. (Which couldn't possibly be because black women are about twice as likely to lack health insurance ("People without health insurance coverage," 2008), or that the west side clinic is in a predominantly black neighborhood (Fischer, 2010)!)
Ultimately, the rhetoric of the conservative "pro-life" movement generally demonstrates that they don't have any particularly coherent underlying theory, and that they're mostly just saying whatever they think will get an emotional reaction.
As far as what I've personally been getting out of it, so far it's hard to say specifically. It does at least mean that I've had a reason to start getting out of bed before sunrise on Wednesdays, and that I've met some new and interesting people through volunteering.
A major rhetorical point being made repeatedly by the protestors is that they are the bearers of a "truth" that Planned Parenthood is trying to keep from its patients. They frequently shout about visiting pro-life websites or watching YouTube videos of "actual" abortions in order to get the "full story." They are, essentially, using the theory of objective knowledge—the idea that YouTube videos never lie and that more information, regardless of the source, is always better for an "informed" decision. This ignores the situated nature of knowledge—no source, especially not those promoted by "pro-life" organizations, is ever neutral, and for "objective" knowledge to be intentionally forced upon a person in an emotionally vulnerable state is also hardly neutral.
Yet for all their talk about "the facts," politically conservative people have proven surprisingly apt at co-opting postmodern rhetoric as well. The best example is the evolution debate, where they insist that no one "really" knows the truth about the origin of life and that therefore all viewpoints (meaning just theirs) should be presented. In other words, that objective knowledge is actually impossible and therefore that we might as well accept their standpoint as "truth" since it's as good as any other. The clinic protestors are also very good at co-opting the rhetoric of racial justice as well, shouting and waving signs about "black genocide" and pointing out that the patients at the clinic are disproportionately black. (Which couldn't possibly be because black women are about twice as likely to lack health insurance ("People without health insurance coverage," 2008), or that the west side clinic is in a predominantly black neighborhood (Fischer, 2010)!)
Ultimately, the rhetoric of the conservative "pro-life" movement generally demonstrates that they don't have any particularly coherent underlying theory, and that they're mostly just saying whatever they think will get an emotional reaction.
As far as what I've personally been getting out of it, so far it's hard to say specifically. It does at least mean that I've had a reason to start getting out of bed before sunrise on Wednesdays, and that I've met some new and interesting people through volunteering.
Works Cited
Fischer, Eric (2010). Race and ethnicity: Orlando. Retrieved 3/14/2012, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/5011035554/.
People without health insurance coverage, by race and ethnicity. (2008). Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 3/14/2012, from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsHealthInsurance/.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
- Consumer has body tagged as undesirable.
- Consumer is offered product to "fix" undesirable body.
- Consumer's life is transformed.
- Consumer is rewarded by adulatory crowds.
This particular commercial seems to acknowledge the absurdity of this trope and apply it in an ironic and over-the-top manner. For all I know, it might actually be intended as a parody of American-style advertising. However, there seems to be a somewhat common trend in advertising to use irony in a very similar manner; modern consumers are assumed to know the "tricks" used by advertisers, so instead of aiming for subtle influences, the tricks are acknowledged ("lampshaded") and used blatantly for humor value, in hopes that the humor will be enough to keep the idea of the product in the consumer's mind.
This technique was called out and identified on the Feminist Frequency YouTube channel as "Retro Sexism and Uber Ironic Advertising." In the examples given by Feminist Frequency, the absurd tropes used ironically involve stereotypes of clueless women and callous, manipulative men. This commercial, if it is indeed a similar sort of "uber ironic advertising," uses a somewhat different and less retro trope, but it works in a similar way.
Works Cited
Lampshade Hanging. (n.d.). TV Tropes. Retrieved February 28th, 2012, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging.
Retro Sexism and Uber Ironic Advertising. (2010). Feminist Frequency. Retrieved February 28th, 2012, from http://www.feministfrequency.com/2010/09/retro-sexism-uber-ironic-advertising/.
Usmar, J. (2012). Megan Fox stars in the weirdest advert we've ever seen (video). The Mirror. Retrieved February 28th, 2012, from http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/weird-celeb-news/megan-fox-stars-in-a-turkish-commercial-742564.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Contact information:
Title of proposal: VOX service learning community partners, spring 2012.
Name of community partner: VOX
Group members: Erika S, Lydia H, Scott V, Kelsey G, Charlotte A
Title of proposal: VOX service learning community partners, spring 2012.
Name of community partner: VOX
Group members: Erika S, Lydia H, Scott V, Kelsey G, Charlotte A
Community partner profile:
Name: VOX, Voices of Planned Parenthood
Contact: Alexa Nelen
Community partner mission statement: “Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood-UCF chapter exists to educate the University community about reproductive health and rights, to translate increased awareness into pro-choice activism on campus, and to serve as a coalition partner to state, national, and international reproductive rights efforts” (“VOX UCF”).
Political/and or social basis for organization: VOX strives to obtain equal reproductive justice for women. VOX works with Planned Parenthood to help achieve this goal. Equal reproductive rights for women are being threatened by a number of political initiatives in which Planned Parenthood is opposed to. Some current concerns that will be addressed this semester are: birth control refusal under the affordable health care act, pro-life protests at the Planned Parenthood clinics, general access to sex education and contraception.
Community partner needs: Many of Vox’s activities are reactions to things that are going on politically therefore, the organizations needs may not be known that far in advance. Some of the organizations immediate requests include:
- People to solicit donations for the “Lets Talk About Sex” event- This is a benefit event that has a lot of raffle prizes, games, and music. We have been asked to go to businesses and ask for donations for the event.
- clinic escorting-We will be helping patients safely enter Planned Parenthood when protestors are present. Training is necessary for this and VOX will provide this later on in the semester.
- tabling oustside of the student union- A table is set up in which members of VOX inform students who approach the table about safe sex, current reproductive issues, any questions they may have. VOX also has condoms readily available for students.
VOX is a pretty active student organization so more events are likely to come about as the semester progresses.
Plan Proposal: As part of this group of volunteers, I (Scott) will be making myself available to respond to VOX's needs as they arise. My personal availability will be mostly limited to evenings and weekends due to my work schedule, though I will be able to take the occasional day off if necessary. Enough of VOX's events seem to be evening and weekend events that my work schedule should not be a major impediment to my ability to fulfill the obligations of service learning.
I expect clinic escorting will be a major focus for me personally. An escort training event for February 27th was just announced by VOX; after that, I should be able to do several hours of escorting every weekend throughout the "40 Days for Life" timeframe.
Rationale for Women's Studies: It goes without saying that access to reproductive health care and reproductive justice are major concerns for women. Planned Parenthood offers communities a number of services, including abortion and contraceptives but also cancer and STI screenings. In some places, a Planned Parenthood clinic may be the only source of these services, especially for low-income women. Simply ensuring that this valuable resource remains in operation has intrinsic value for women's lives.
The fact that Planned Parenthood has inexplicably been singled out as a target for the ire of some American political groups adds further importance to VOX's work in supporting it. The anti-choice protests outside of Planned Parenthood locations are a very visible manifestation of how women are impacted by the political situation surrounding Planned Parenthood and reproductive health. Patients who arrive at a Planned Parenthood clinic during one of these protests are subjected to a gauntlet of verbal (and occasionally physical) violence. For the women (and men) who are caught in this, the personal decision to see a doctor has become inescapably political. For a person to suddenly and nonconsensually have her life made into a political act can be traumatic, and escorting as an expression of political and personal solidarity can help to mitigate the impact of these protests on patients.
Planned Parenthood also offers information about sex, contraception, and sexual health that have been made unavailable through normal educational channels, due to political pressure placed by anti-choice groups on the American public school system. Inaccurate information about sex is widespread among young people, and this has measurable consequences on people's health. In making useful information about sex available to young people through events like "Let's Talk About Sex," VOX is working to ensure that people have the information they need to make life-affirming choices and live in a safe and fulfilling way.
Anti-choice politics which work to limit women's power to access some kinds of information and health care have the effect of limiting women's ability to participate in society as free agents capable of making their own informed choices. Women instead become a lesser category of citizens, whose lives and bodies are made into a public concern. This, needless to say, is not a good status for women to be assigned. VOX's goals are essentially to preserve women's status as fully independent people, capable of making informed choices, and free to choose when and if their lives will be politicized.
Action: We have met with Alexa Nelen, the president of VOX at UCF. She is aware that we are available for service learning and has made some requests in regards to getting donations for “Let’s Talk About Sex.” We will continue to attend meetings throughout the semester and respond to needs as they become apparent.
Timeline: Again, new needs will arise as the semester progresses, so a full timeline is not possible at this time. Some presently known events include:
- “40 Days of Life,” a 40-day sustained nationwide protest targeting Planned Parenthood clinics, will last from February 22nd through April 1st. There will be a recurring need for clinic escorting throughout this event (“40 Days for Life”).
- A training session for clinic escorting will occur “in the coming weeks,” according to meeting notes from VOX’s Facebook group (“VOX UCF”).
- “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby,” which will happen “sometime in March” according to VOX’s website (“Events”).
- Tabling will occur throughout the semester.
Works Cited
"Events." VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood at UCF - About. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.VOXUCF.org/events.html>.
(Word count: 1070)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Rachel Louise Snyder talk at UCF
I attended the talk on UCF by Rachel Louise Snyder on January 19th, which was hosted by the UCF Global Perspectives Office. The title of the talk was "Fugitive Denim: A Global Story." referencing Snyder's book Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade.
The talk was somewhat refreshing in that it was not simply about how terrible sweatshops are and how we need to stop buying products that support them. Snyder took as granted that her audience was aware of the problem of sweatshops; her talk was focused more on some of the efforts that have been made to address the problem, and how it is often more complicated than Western awareness tends to assume.
Snyder opened her talk with a clip from an American TV show in which a character talked about sweatshops in Cambodia. This was noteworthy to Snyder because Cambodia is the only developing country in the world which is considered "sweatshop-free." Because Cambodia only began industrializing in the mid-90s, its new government had the opportunity to design a legal framework for regulating industrialization that was not hampered by an already-entrenched manufacturing sector. This, plus liberal labor laws which have allowed the formation of some 700 labor unions (which can be formed by as few as three workers), mean that Cambodian workers are nominally afforded protections which make their working conditions comparable to those in the developed world, and significantly better in terms of vacation time and health care than the US. This is the kind of fact that often gets lost in Western conversations about labor issues in developing countries—we tend to think of the "Third World" as a monolithic entity with similar conditions everywhere, and are often unaware of the distinctions in history and law that make the issues faced in every developing country unique.
Snyder referred frequently to the "Cambodian model" as represented by the policies of Better Factories Cambodia, a program managed by the International Labour Organization in cooperation with the Cambodian government, as evidence that it is possible for a country to establish fair labor standards while still being economically viable. (Manufacturing in Cambodia is still relatively expensive according to Snyder, but this is due more to transportation costs and unstable infrastructure than to the cost of labor.) A greater knowledge of what has worked in Cambodia would be very useful in Western discourses about sweatshops, which tend to take as given the corporate argument that there is a necessary tradeoff between worker protections and economic viability.
Snyder also used a story about prison labor in Cambodia to frame the difficult questions that arise in enforcing the anti-sweatshop policies adopted by Western brands. Late in her time in Cambodia, Snyder was informed of a prison where female inmates were required to work making garments for practically no pay, contrary to the stated policies of the garment brand. When Snyder attempted to interview the inmates, however, they refused, fearing that attention would lead to the prison labor program being halted. This was because the inmates' children were with them in prison, and accompanying their mothers outside to the garment processing area was the only opportunity these children had to leave the prison cells. This is a common reality—even in clearly abusive workplaces, workers, especially those in vulnerable populations, are too dependent on some aspect of the work to risk losing it. Simply shutting down these workplaces when abuses are made public is often not a solution that serves the actual needs of the workers. The policy of Better Factories Cambodia, cited by Snyder as a better solution, is to aim for continuous improvement through remediation rather than full compliance with labor standards. This might mean, for example, that a brand contracting with a factory in violation of standards might compensate the affected workers by making up the difference in their pay or by sponsoring their education. This allows the workers the possibility of improving their lives without interfering with their immediate survival by completely eliminating the job they depend on.
Labeling of product origins is another issue Snyder considers important. Almost any garment tag identifying a country origin is deceptive, as nearly all products in the global economy rely on supply chains that cross borders numerous times before the final assembly. Sometimes the origin stated on a garment tag represents only a nominal amount of work, done there only to get around export restrictions in the country where most of the work is actually done. Snyder touched on more recent approaches to product labeling that require multiple origins to be identified, or even attach a digital fingerprint to each garment that allows the buyer to trace its full history through an online database.
The issue of labor standards in the developing countries the West relies on for manufactured goods is a complicated one, but Snyder's talk was generally optimistic about current developments. Viewed from a global level, the problem seems overwhelming, but the more localized perspective on a particular area such as Cambodia offered by Snyder suggests that small, continuous improvements are ongoing and will eventually lead to meaningful progress.
The talk was somewhat refreshing in that it was not simply about how terrible sweatshops are and how we need to stop buying products that support them. Snyder took as granted that her audience was aware of the problem of sweatshops; her talk was focused more on some of the efforts that have been made to address the problem, and how it is often more complicated than Western awareness tends to assume.
Snyder opened her talk with a clip from an American TV show in which a character talked about sweatshops in Cambodia. This was noteworthy to Snyder because Cambodia is the only developing country in the world which is considered "sweatshop-free." Because Cambodia only began industrializing in the mid-90s, its new government had the opportunity to design a legal framework for regulating industrialization that was not hampered by an already-entrenched manufacturing sector. This, plus liberal labor laws which have allowed the formation of some 700 labor unions (which can be formed by as few as three workers), mean that Cambodian workers are nominally afforded protections which make their working conditions comparable to those in the developed world, and significantly better in terms of vacation time and health care than the US. This is the kind of fact that often gets lost in Western conversations about labor issues in developing countries—we tend to think of the "Third World" as a monolithic entity with similar conditions everywhere, and are often unaware of the distinctions in history and law that make the issues faced in every developing country unique.
Snyder referred frequently to the "Cambodian model" as represented by the policies of Better Factories Cambodia, a program managed by the International Labour Organization in cooperation with the Cambodian government, as evidence that it is possible for a country to establish fair labor standards while still being economically viable. (Manufacturing in Cambodia is still relatively expensive according to Snyder, but this is due more to transportation costs and unstable infrastructure than to the cost of labor.) A greater knowledge of what has worked in Cambodia would be very useful in Western discourses about sweatshops, which tend to take as given the corporate argument that there is a necessary tradeoff between worker protections and economic viability.
Snyder also used a story about prison labor in Cambodia to frame the difficult questions that arise in enforcing the anti-sweatshop policies adopted by Western brands. Late in her time in Cambodia, Snyder was informed of a prison where female inmates were required to work making garments for practically no pay, contrary to the stated policies of the garment brand. When Snyder attempted to interview the inmates, however, they refused, fearing that attention would lead to the prison labor program being halted. This was because the inmates' children were with them in prison, and accompanying their mothers outside to the garment processing area was the only opportunity these children had to leave the prison cells. This is a common reality—even in clearly abusive workplaces, workers, especially those in vulnerable populations, are too dependent on some aspect of the work to risk losing it. Simply shutting down these workplaces when abuses are made public is often not a solution that serves the actual needs of the workers. The policy of Better Factories Cambodia, cited by Snyder as a better solution, is to aim for continuous improvement through remediation rather than full compliance with labor standards. This might mean, for example, that a brand contracting with a factory in violation of standards might compensate the affected workers by making up the difference in their pay or by sponsoring their education. This allows the workers the possibility of improving their lives without interfering with their immediate survival by completely eliminating the job they depend on.
Labeling of product origins is another issue Snyder considers important. Almost any garment tag identifying a country origin is deceptive, as nearly all products in the global economy rely on supply chains that cross borders numerous times before the final assembly. Sometimes the origin stated on a garment tag represents only a nominal amount of work, done there only to get around export restrictions in the country where most of the work is actually done. Snyder touched on more recent approaches to product labeling that require multiple origins to be identified, or even attach a digital fingerprint to each garment that allows the buyer to trace its full history through an online database.
The issue of labor standards in the developing countries the West relies on for manufactured goods is a complicated one, but Snyder's talk was generally optimistic about current developments. Viewed from a global level, the problem seems overwhelming, but the more localized perspective on a particular area such as Cambodia offered by Snyder suggests that small, continuous improvements are ongoing and will eventually lead to meaningful progress.
The Help at Rollins College
On January 19th, I attended a screening of The Help at Rollins College, which was presented as part of Rollins' week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day-related events. The screening included a discussion, which I stayed for, and I also won a raffle drawing for a copy of the novel.
The plot of the film involves an aspiring white journalist in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi who seeks to establish herself as a writer by reporting on the experiences of the ubiquitous black maids in that community. The film explores the racism experienced by these maids, as well as the expectations about dating and appearance that constrain the journalist herself. The key theme of the film is the intimate bonds formed between white children and the black maids who are their primary caregivers.
I did spend most of the film under the impression that it was one of those "based on a true story" pieces, and that the collection of stories was an actual thing that was published during the 1960s. It was somewhat disappointing to check the blurb on the novel and see that it is actually a recently-published fiction novel with no necessary connection to the stories of real people. But at the same time, it's somewhat reassuring; the characters in the movie—especially the villains—sometimes came across as cartoonish, and the overall effect was a Disney-fied presentation of racism as a straightforward issue. Racists and other bigots in today's real world almost always seem to have complicated rationalizations that allow them to explain their views in ways that seem superficially fair and justified, as a defense mechanism which shields them from confronting the fact that they actually are terrible people. The film's villains have none of that self-consciousness; they are racist because they are just plain Bad and Ignorant, and in that sense the film seems to fail to present the actual reality of racism in the period.
The black protagonists of the film sometimes seem to live rather one-dimensional lives as well, and there has been some criticism of the film from that perspective by online writers—for example, this article in The Rumpus by Roxane Gay. Gay criticizes the inaccurate use of dialect, the erasure of black women's active participation in the Civil Rights Movement, and the absence of men as significant characters in the film—no white men are presented as culpable for the state of race relations or as sources for the sexual violence that characterized the lives of historical domestic workers, and no black men are seen sharing the struggle with the women. Only one black woman is mentioned as having a husband, and he is abusive and never seen on-screen. (Gay does not mention the community's male pastor who offers advice to the maids at a few points in the plot.) Many of the same criticisms are also made in a statement by the Association of Black Women Historians.
Overall, Gay's critique focuses on film's use of the "magical negro" trope, in which black characters are used as wise facilitators for a white protagonist's spiritual journey. The implication is that this parallels the reasons for the real-world popularity of the novel and film. At the screening Gay attended, the theater was filled with white women talking excitedly about the novel, as though consuming this Hollywood product is sufficient to render them better and more culturally-aware people.
Whether or not this is the dynamic at work nationwide, it was not particularly apparent at the Rollins screening. The audience at Rollins seemed culturally mixed, with what was probably a narrow black majority, and no one from any background noted any of the issues identified by Gay's critique in the discussion afterward. The discussion was primarily focused on older audience members sharing their memories of segregation, with very little direct reference to the events of the film. One person posed the question early on of whether and how parents should explain the history of segregation to their children, and much of the discussion that followed touched on that topic. The fact that the period portrayed in the film occurred in living memory and there were people present who spoke about it from personal experience did make the film seem much more real than it might have in isolation.
In spite of the issues with the film identified by writers like Gay, the fact that it did inspire conversations like those that occurred after the Rollins screening do suggest that its popularity may be a positive phenomenon overall. Unrealistic though it may be, sometimes that is not necessarily the expectation of fiction. If it is not taken as literal history in itself, but rather as inspiration for conversations about people's own experiences of history, then it has achieved what stories about the past are best suited to do.
The plot of the film involves an aspiring white journalist in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi who seeks to establish herself as a writer by reporting on the experiences of the ubiquitous black maids in that community. The film explores the racism experienced by these maids, as well as the expectations about dating and appearance that constrain the journalist herself. The key theme of the film is the intimate bonds formed between white children and the black maids who are their primary caregivers.
I did spend most of the film under the impression that it was one of those "based on a true story" pieces, and that the collection of stories was an actual thing that was published during the 1960s. It was somewhat disappointing to check the blurb on the novel and see that it is actually a recently-published fiction novel with no necessary connection to the stories of real people. But at the same time, it's somewhat reassuring; the characters in the movie—especially the villains—sometimes came across as cartoonish, and the overall effect was a Disney-fied presentation of racism as a straightforward issue. Racists and other bigots in today's real world almost always seem to have complicated rationalizations that allow them to explain their views in ways that seem superficially fair and justified, as a defense mechanism which shields them from confronting the fact that they actually are terrible people. The film's villains have none of that self-consciousness; they are racist because they are just plain Bad and Ignorant, and in that sense the film seems to fail to present the actual reality of racism in the period.
The black protagonists of the film sometimes seem to live rather one-dimensional lives as well, and there has been some criticism of the film from that perspective by online writers—for example, this article in The Rumpus by Roxane Gay. Gay criticizes the inaccurate use of dialect, the erasure of black women's active participation in the Civil Rights Movement, and the absence of men as significant characters in the film—no white men are presented as culpable for the state of race relations or as sources for the sexual violence that characterized the lives of historical domestic workers, and no black men are seen sharing the struggle with the women. Only one black woman is mentioned as having a husband, and he is abusive and never seen on-screen. (Gay does not mention the community's male pastor who offers advice to the maids at a few points in the plot.) Many of the same criticisms are also made in a statement by the Association of Black Women Historians.
Overall, Gay's critique focuses on film's use of the "magical negro" trope, in which black characters are used as wise facilitators for a white protagonist's spiritual journey. The implication is that this parallels the reasons for the real-world popularity of the novel and film. At the screening Gay attended, the theater was filled with white women talking excitedly about the novel, as though consuming this Hollywood product is sufficient to render them better and more culturally-aware people.
Whether or not this is the dynamic at work nationwide, it was not particularly apparent at the Rollins screening. The audience at Rollins seemed culturally mixed, with what was probably a narrow black majority, and no one from any background noted any of the issues identified by Gay's critique in the discussion afterward. The discussion was primarily focused on older audience members sharing their memories of segregation, with very little direct reference to the events of the film. One person posed the question early on of whether and how parents should explain the history of segregation to their children, and much of the discussion that followed touched on that topic. The fact that the period portrayed in the film occurred in living memory and there were people present who spoke about it from personal experience did make the film seem much more real than it might have in isolation.
In spite of the issues with the film identified by writers like Gay, the fact that it did inspire conversations like those that occurred after the Rollins screening do suggest that its popularity may be a positive phenomenon overall. Unrealistic though it may be, sometimes that is not necessarily the expectation of fiction. If it is not taken as literal history in itself, but rather as inspiration for conversations about people's own experiences of history, then it has achieved what stories about the past are best suited to do.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Intro letter
Ms. Tweed,
As requested, I am writing to introduce myself to you and to the class.
I'm taking this class to begin a women's studies minor to supplement my anthropology degree. This will be my second bachelor's; I previously attended UCF for computer science from 2000 through 2003.
I've been involved in a predominantly feminist social sphere for a number of years and have become reasonably familiar with the concepts involved simply through ordinary conversation. My own current beliefs draw heavily upon feminist ideas, and feminism will undoubtedly influence my research interests as an anthropology student.
Because of feminism, I have become very aware that gender is an influence on every part of my life. The fact that I was born male and am seen as masculine (as well as white and middle-class) did make it possible for me to get a technical education and enter a technical profession with very few obstacles. My gender clearly does give me some freedoms which are easy to take for granted. But it imposes limits on me as well—it affects, for example, how I am expected to dress, how much sex I'm supposed to want, and what my tastes in movies and games should be. My masculine role conflicts with my actual desires as a gender-nonconforming person, an asexual person, and a person who actually likes story and relationships in media. The gender binary is clearly an obstacle to the kind of life I want to live, and it is in my interest to be a part of the struggle to undo it—even if it means losing the extra 23 cents per dollar that I am afforded through male privilege. (Though I'd rather just abolish the wage system altogether...)
The amount of activism I've been personally involved in is sadly limited. My previous time at college was ill-spent on Libertarian politics (I was young and foolish!), and I did serve a largely unproductive term in SGA Senate. Since I left college, my focus has been on work and social life. This past year I did attend several union rallies in solidarity with the Wisconsin protests last spring. I also joined the International Workers of the World and attended a few events with the Gainesville IWW chapter over the summer. Since the fall, however, I've been too busy with long hours at work plus restarting school at Valencia to be too engaged. This was unfortunate, since with a number of movements like Occupy and SlutWalk reaching critical mass, this was an excellent year for activism. Now that I'm on the UCF campus regularly again, I do hope to find some time to become more involved in campus activism.
I do believe that the personal is political, and I make some effort to be an activist simply through personal connections—calling out rape culture, misogyny, and homophobia when I see it, and actively sharing material relevant to social consciousness on Facebook. And given that I am in a privileged position where I am able to be out about things without much fear of reprisal from family or employers, I do think it is important for me to be vocal about my experiences as an asexual person, a polyamorous person, an atheist, and a gender-nonconforming person; that reminds people that other ways of living do exist, and makes me available as a resource to those who may have questions about their own identities.
Oh, and I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.
That should be sufficient for now. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to the class!
Scott Vogelpohl
As requested, I am writing to introduce myself to you and to the class.
I'm taking this class to begin a women's studies minor to supplement my anthropology degree. This will be my second bachelor's; I previously attended UCF for computer science from 2000 through 2003.
I've been involved in a predominantly feminist social sphere for a number of years and have become reasonably familiar with the concepts involved simply through ordinary conversation. My own current beliefs draw heavily upon feminist ideas, and feminism will undoubtedly influence my research interests as an anthropology student.
Because of feminism, I have become very aware that gender is an influence on every part of my life. The fact that I was born male and am seen as masculine (as well as white and middle-class) did make it possible for me to get a technical education and enter a technical profession with very few obstacles. My gender clearly does give me some freedoms which are easy to take for granted. But it imposes limits on me as well—it affects, for example, how I am expected to dress, how much sex I'm supposed to want, and what my tastes in movies and games should be. My masculine role conflicts with my actual desires as a gender-nonconforming person, an asexual person, and a person who actually likes story and relationships in media. The gender binary is clearly an obstacle to the kind of life I want to live, and it is in my interest to be a part of the struggle to undo it—even if it means losing the extra 23 cents per dollar that I am afforded through male privilege. (Though I'd rather just abolish the wage system altogether...)
The amount of activism I've been personally involved in is sadly limited. My previous time at college was ill-spent on Libertarian politics (I was young and foolish!), and I did serve a largely unproductive term in SGA Senate. Since I left college, my focus has been on work and social life. This past year I did attend several union rallies in solidarity with the Wisconsin protests last spring. I also joined the International Workers of the World and attended a few events with the Gainesville IWW chapter over the summer. Since the fall, however, I've been too busy with long hours at work plus restarting school at Valencia to be too engaged. This was unfortunate, since with a number of movements like Occupy and SlutWalk reaching critical mass, this was an excellent year for activism. Now that I'm on the UCF campus regularly again, I do hope to find some time to become more involved in campus activism.
I do believe that the personal is political, and I make some effort to be an activist simply through personal connections—calling out rape culture, misogyny, and homophobia when I see it, and actively sharing material relevant to social consciousness on Facebook. And given that I am in a privileged position where I am able to be out about things without much fear of reprisal from family or employers, I do think it is important for me to be vocal about my experiences as an asexual person, a polyamorous person, an atheist, and a gender-nonconforming person; that reminds people that other ways of living do exist, and makes me available as a resource to those who may have questions about their own identities.
Oh, and I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.
That should be sufficient for now. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to the class!
Scott Vogelpohl
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