In looking to incorporate some of my personal life to the topics we explored this semester in Women and Media I found that a discussion/forum group on pregnancy was the perfect middle ground. Body image, sex politics, reproductive rights, gender rights, patriarchy…these all fall into the discussion of what women go through during the pregnancy period and the changes that occur after.
Many topics swarm pregnancy and the changes thats the women incur. There was the body shaming with Kim Kardashian and then the outrage of Sarah Stages small physique during her pregnancy. Breastfeeding in public is shunned and made out to be a shame even though there are ad's that display barely dressed models. Other topics are the lack of conversation dealing with postpartum depression and how to overcome these issues. The expectancy that the women is responsible for the child rearing when in fact it should also include the partner as well.
With this proposal in play, I have created a facebook group and am hosting it's first "event" on May 2nd at 4pm in Astoria (anyone is welcome)where discussion points will be brought up in relation to body image shaming, the competitive nature amongst mothers and reproductive rights. I hope that this initial meeting will become a monthly event where new and expectant mothers can discuss relevant and current issues that we as women deal with. And as time progresses I hope to get more structured and organized points.
The group page linked below will facilitate some of the conversations that could be explored. Postings can be made by any member and the group is public. Several friends of mine who are actually medically trained doulas and are nurses will be "guest speakers".
After each monthly meet the goal is to produce brochures to both inform about reviewed discussions and future topic points as well as to invite new people and grow from there.
Judy Chicago born Judith Cohen is a mixed-media artist known for her feminist work during a time when there was no outlet or drive for feminist art. Chicago, a teacher, as well as a writer, hoped that art would include the history of women that so much already well-known art in the canonical works of history have left out. Perhaps her most famous piece is a permanent exhibit in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art wing in the Brooklyn Museum, one of the few museums in the United States that features self-proclaimed feminist work. Chicago’s piece is called The Dinner Party--a large triangle that is perceived as a table, with 13 place settings on each side. Each place setting features a gold chalice and the name of a famous woman in American history who has helped women and their struggle in some way, such as Sojourner Truth and Georgia O’Keefe. The table’s shape is a symbol of the vagina in Western culture and the 13 place settings are a play on The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci which did not include any women, an example of Chicago’s point about women’s invisibility in art. Chicago uses mixed media materials and perhaps that is of significance. It may have been a conscious choice of the artist to combine certain materials (read: ceramic, porcelain, and textile) because of these materials’ associations to the “feminine” or woman. Ceramic and porcelain is found in the kitchen, a place traditionally reserved for women and textile is very much in the domestic women’s work of sewing clothing. Only recently have people used plastic plates in their homes-- traditionally plates are made from ceramic and porcelain. If mixed media uses materials most readily accessible, or based on what is current in the art world, then women would most likely have these materials accessible based on the idea that women are tied to the kitchen and dining area.
Since
I was a little girl, one of my favorite actors was Rita Moreno.The first time I saw her was as Anita in West
Side Story where in 1962, she became the first Latina actor to win an Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress. I was captivated by her role as she portrayed a strong
spirited Latina woman during a time when feminism was slowly evolving.
It took her many years to take another
role because she refused to be stereotyped as Latina.Finally, when she began to be casted in
diverse roles, another memorable and influential one for me was when she joined
the cast of The Electric Company in
the 1970’s.This
was a children’s program on PBS.There
she joined a diverse cast that included actors like Mel Brooks, Morgan Freeman
and Bill Cosby.The Electric Company was an educational show that taught the basics
like phonics and grammar thru parodies and life-action sketches.This became a significant influence in my
life because it was a time where Latin women, including my mother were
transitioning from unskilled labor-intensive jobs to skilled entry-level jobs
in the business industry.
Over the years, Rita Morena appeared in dozens
of movies, television shows and stage productions.She is one of the most successful Latina
women despite the many obstacles she had to overcome as a Latino woman.Her accomplishments have been rewarded with
various awards and honors and as a philanthropist; she constantly contributes
and gives back to Hispanic communities.In an interview with NPR on March 7th, 2013, she couldn’t
have described the Latina woman any better, “"I've always had this image of this strong,
sprightly person who is undaunted by anything; on the contrary, I was one of
the shyest, most unsure people you ever met in your life. But I have one very
specific quality: I'm plucky. I really am. I would say that's a perfect
description of my personality. I am able to get up and dust myself off and keep
moving forward. I'm very stubborn. I never knew that about myself. But I
realize how stubborn I am when I look at all the terrible things that happened
to me and how I just get up and keep going."Wise words to empower all women of today, “dust
yourself off and keep moving forward”. Below is 3 minutes of empowering words by Rita Morena....an Iconic Latina Legend. She makes me proud to be a Latina.
The artist or filmmaker that I choose to speak about is
director Sofia Copolla, who is seen to me now as an auteur in her own style of
filmmaking. I am a huge fan of all her movies, because of the color and
artistic approach she uses in making them. Her reoccurring themes and her use
of powerful and important females, in their roles, are very intertesting and exciting
to me as a fan of her. The women in all of her films have great influence over
the men in the films. She uses the protagonists in situations where they do not
want to be or they do not know how to react or how to deal with the situations,
she then brings the antagonist into the film to then place where the lost
protagonist is.She uses her own
auteur and the art of montage in all her films to create a series that elute
emotion, show the irony or comedy, emphasize the mood and personality of the
character through music color, and in a short and exciting time span in the
film. Her use of soundtrack so very inspiring because she does not use the
typical score, or top 40’s music, but indie rock which adds to her person style
and auteur. Her films tend to contain a “surrogate Sofia” which I noticed in
watching a lot of them, which means she has an actor that is a refection of
her. One of her famous works that does pass the Bechtel test is the film “The
Bling Ring”. It is a huge passer of the test and is featured mostly by an all
female cast. The film also proves that even as a strong passer of the Bechtel
test, it can not be that feminist only because, you cannot really sympathies
with the characters, because of how shallow and materialistic they are, but
they do not really have conversations about men, but about their own sexuality,
it is almost always just for their own self narcissistic wants and needs, and
the men are just there as a mere afterthought.
“I
love to attack sterotypes. I love to draw the viewer in with images that they
believe they know already. And I like to sort of dismantle them because I don’t
want to perpetuate one. I certainly want to dismantle it and try to get to the
humanity of things.” Mara Bock-Akil said this in October of 2014 during Chicago
Ideas Week. This small phrase that speaks volumes when discussing the work that
Brock-Akil has created. Noted for a series of television series, Girlfriends, The Game and most recently Being
Mary Jane, Brock-Akil has pushed viewers to see a body of people that has
frequently been marginalized especially within the realms of television. Her choices
of having the majority of the actors and actresses on her show as African
American and the focus to shadow women are challenges to the premeditated
system of television.
It
is important to recognize that Brock-Akil has created a platform, especially
within Being Mary Jane that discusses
issues that define society such as black identity, child trafficking, the black
church, abortion and education from the eyes of a black woman. Being Mary Jane is the ultimate
humanization of a body that we rarely see on television, a young single black
woman who is successful in her career but still has flaws like everyone else.
She is beautifully flawed.
In
interviews, Brock-Akil has said that she does not like positive images or
negative images of her characters. She wants to counter the images of the extreme
and display a humanistic complexity that exists in reality. And that is
displayed with Mary Jane, the protagonist of the show.
Mara
Brock-Akil is defined as very successful within her field. She has broken
viewing records with the return of one her shows to television, The Game, making it the most successful
series on BET. Girlfriends was one of
the highest scripted shows among African American adults. Being Mary Jane series premiered season one with more than 4
million viewers. The numbers prove that Brock is creating shows that people
want to watch.
An interview with Mara Brock- Akil that summarizes
her views, successes, inspiration and possible future.
Melissa Harris Perry speaks about “the crooked room” in
the first chapter of Sister Citizen.
Black women are forced to exist in a reality that has been predetermined by a
society that does not anticipate nor appreciates their existence. “When they
confront race and gender stereotypes, black women are standing a crooked room,
and they have to figure out which way is up” (29). The crooked room exemplifies
the complexity of the black women’s lives as they try to live beyond the caricatures
that society has built for them, and often times it is difficult. With a
limited amount of images within mainstream media and laws that promote positive
messages of black women owning their sexuality, many women end up standing
tilted in their crooked room called reality.
Sarah Baartman was exploited in Europe as
the example of the otherness of the
black body.
It has
documented throughout history that black woman and her sexuality has been a
phenomenon. Exhibits and images of Hottentot Venus circulated during the early
19th century as an example of the otherness of the black female body
from the exemplary white female body. Venus’ whose real name was Sarah “Saartjie”
Baartman was exploited, and ridiculed by Europeans. For four years she was put
on display as if she was an animal. After her death in 1815, she “the subject
of a gruesome, hypersexual, post-mortem dissection” (Elkins) Her organs were
placed on displaced on display for more than 150 years in the Museum of Man in
Paris. Baartman seemed to only exist for the white gaze as her body became a
spectacle for white people.
In the United
States in the mid-19th century the slave trade was abolished. Black
women were seen as child bearers to create more workers for the exploitative
work of slavery. The black women’s body was also for the use of the master. He
would be able to sexually assault her with no one countering his power. For
many white men as well as society, the black woman was the exotic beauty who
had innate sexual libido within her therefore even if she was assaulted it
would not matter. She brought that upon herself.
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was a blues singer during the Harlem
Renaissance who challenged the heterosexual norm. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey- Prove It On Me
According to Cheryl
D, Hicks, young black single women were criminalized for going to dancehalls
and hanging out with certain people. Harriet Holmes was arrested in 1923 for
prostitution. She was walking home from a dancehall when four men, who were
police, ambushed her, shoved her into her a car, accused of prostitution, and
sentenced to spend time in prison (429). Holmes was one of many one women who
were arrested and charged with sex crimes when many said they were innocent of
prostitution at least at the time of arrest. It is important to recognize the stereotypes
that were projected onto the innocent women who were charged with prostitution
and the need for the state to control them. As supposed hypersexual beings, it
seemed impossible for a black woman to not be a prostitute. Going out for a
night, after a full week of working, made young females vulnerable to being
arrested. The black female body was perceived as immoral and prone to explicit
sexual activity. And how could a black woman counter these ideas, when it was porobably
a white officer accusing her of such a crime?
Many years have
passed since Harriet Holmes’s arrest, laws have been created that promote
equality and recognition of the black body, there is still a fundamental issue
with how the government and society perceive the black female body and her
sexuality. Elaine Riddick was sterilized in 1968 after giving birth to her son,
who was the result of a sexual attack. Her illiterate grandmother consented to
Riddick’s sterilization in response to the threat of her government aid being
taken away from her. Riddick did not know anything about the sterilization
until she was 19, five years later. Her choice of motherhood ended when the
government took that option away from her. When Riddick asked why the state of
North Carolina chose to end her fertility, they responded that she was feeble
minded and prone to promiscuity. A government that saw Riddick a burden,
determining that her children would be future deviants of the state.
That choice to have children was taken away from many
women of color of low socioeconomic status as early as the 1930s. Jennifer
Nelson says in the introduction from Women
of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement, the government decided the
right to motherhood for many women. Federally funded clinics were created with
the purpose to lower black rights reason that black women were incompetent (4).
In Riddick’s case as well as demonstrated
in the previous paragraphs, black women have not had control of their sexuality
and their bodies. They have been figments within a crooked room. Having their power
taken away from them, stereotypes forced upon them, and attempting to find a
sense of self is a difficult and exhaustive. It has become simpler for women to
succumb to the pressures of society and essentially renounce the power that
they have, but it is crucial to fight. Audre Lorde wrote in “Poetry is not a
Luxury” “For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden
and growing our true sprit rises…These places of possibility within ourselves
are dark and deep because they are ancient and hidden…Within these deep places,
each of us holds an incredible reserve of creativity and power…the woman’s
place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark,
ancient and it is deep.” It is necessary for women, especially of women of
color take back that power, and reinforce it. Women of color have proven to be resilient,
creative, and wise beings that can change the world.
It is imperative to recognize images that are
constructions of societal stereotypes and how they are perpetuated throughout
media and history. Women of color were and have been oppressed by white patriarchal
racist misogynistic capitalistic power that exists everywhere throughout the
world especially within the realms of government. It is necessary to understand
that idea to effectively create change in the narrative and how people
think.Images of the hypersexual young
black woman, the asexual black mother, the welfare queen, and Sapphire are all
constructs that allow society to accept black women easier. Placing women in
exaggerated categories undermine their power as individuals and as a group.
Addressing those issues are essential to changing them. “My silence has not
protected me. Your silence will not protect you,” said by Audre Lorde in “The
Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”. Remaining silent on the
pressing issues of societal perceptions of black female bodies will hinder
society rather than help it.
Although seen as a hypersexual being, it is important to
recognize Beyonce as a powerful being. She has dominated world charts in music,
changed how we see pop music and has owned her sexuality. She challenges
society, forcing them to try and place a label on her, demonstrating a power
that exists when claiming something as powerful as her sexuality. Beyonce
symbolizes the fight for women and their human right to identity, including
their sexuality.
"Drunk In Love" lyrics place Beyonce's sexuality at the of the forefront.
The declaration of her sexuality is empowering and her confidence is amazing,
especially beside her husband, Jay-Z.
Bibliography
“Blacks
Sterilized by Eugenics Program funded by Margaret Sanger’s Financier.” Online
video clip. Youtube, 11 April 2014. Web.
Elkins,
Caroline. “A Life Exposed” The New York
Times. 14 Jan 2007. Web.
Harris-Perry. Melissa. Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2013. Print.
Hicks,
Cheryl D. “ ‘Bright and Good Looking Girl’: Black Women’s Sexuality and
‘Harmful Intimacy’ in Early-Twentieth- Century New York.” Journal od History of Sexuality 18.3 (2009): 418-456.
Lorde,
Audre. “Poetry is Not a Luxury.” Sister
Outsider: Essays and Speeches. USA: Crossing Press, 2007.
Lorde,
Audre. “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.” .” Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. USA:
Crossing Press, 2007.
Nelson, Jennifer. "Introduction: From
Abortion to Reproductive Rights. "Women of Color and the Reproductive
Rights Movement. New York: New York UP, 2003. 1-20.
The bearing of a child is a biological procedure exclusive to women. It is an act in which the woman shares her body with another human being. Roxane Gay describes it as a "private experience" shared by two human beings, the fetus and the mother. It is not to say that the male participant should not be involved in the act, but for a reason this miracle is only possible inside a woman's body. Sadly, contrary to this there are people who make it their lives mission to get involved in such a sacred, private matter. Legislations, policies and barriers are in existence to police women's bodies enforcing control. Behind these
legislation debates, men are in the frontier. Time and time again we see
how politician use "reproductive freedom as a "campaign issue", "negotiable", "a talking point"" as
Roxane expresses. The are two general ways in which the government is
involved in the matter. One extreme wants restrictions to birth control
while the other extreme believes in sterilization to decrease the growth of population of low income families . The first extreme "works to shape and control the abortion
experience" in order to make it more difficult for the woman to go
through the procedure. They resort to tactics such as
- Introducing and or passing legislation mandating for women to receive an ultrasound before the abortion
-
Requiring women to get a trans vaginal ultrasound, forced to listen to
the narration of the ultrasound with or without their consent.
- Punishment by forcing women to receive several ultrasounds meanwhile offering and explaining different services available to encourage them to keep the child.
The other extreme is in favor of sterilization for whoever they seem deemed of. Women of color, black and Latino communities were constantly persecuted. During the 1930's southern states "publicly founded birth control clinics to lower the black birth rate" as Jennifer Nelson explained. The Johnson administration also tackled the dilemma of birth control, expanding it further. Doctors during this time acted like gods, choosing who was worthy to procreate or who was punished with sterilization. Nelson pointed out a story of a Latino female, Guadalupe Acosta, who was sterilized after giving birth to an encephalitic child who later died. The doctor insisted that the husband had signed the consent but he didn't have recollection of it. Stories like this one unfolded through out the United States. There was a time in which 194 hospitals rooted therapeutic abortion committees to regulate the number of abortions performed. Sterilization abuse was a repeated story among black, Latina and Native American women who "experienced sterilization without their will and often without their knowledge"
There has been several incidents in which high government officials who more then often are conservative politicians have tried to intervene and solve the "female problem". Politician Tom Cobett, a Pennsylvania governor, suggested something as absurd as women should "simply close their eyes during the ultrasound" to not witness the baby. This occurs nationwide, an outstanding statistic is that "55 % in the United Stated live in hostile to abortion". In another occasion, Arizona politicians introduced a legislation in which female employees where fired if it became known that they were practicing safe sex and using contraceptives. Georgia State representative Terry England passed a law which banned abortion after 20 weeks. He was quoted by saying "women should carry stillborn fetuses to term because cows and pigs do it". Parallel to this the Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam also believed that "black women could best support black men by staying healthy for childbearing and raising militants". Overall it is obvious that who is behind these legislation's and laws that restrict and pose control over a woman's reproductive system are "white supremacist capitalist patriarchal" individuals, the least educated with the subject. "Conversations in a congressional hearing do not include women" the more informed with first hand experience.
Media impacts the way we view these issues and how they are legislated. Rush Limbaugh an American entertainer, radio talk show host, writer, and conservative political commentator publicly shunned Sandra Fluke for advocating for subsidized birth control. Limbaugh called her a "slut and a prostitute". This is just one example on how media has its claw on this subject. Mass Media including advocacy advertising "attempts to influence public opinion on important social, political, or environmental issues of concern to the sponsoring organization" as explained in Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads. Sexism in Advertising by Cortese. The following are Pro choice vs Pro life ads:
Although this ads are very compelling it is not the only way in which mass media influences our view on women's reproductive freedom. The simple fact that mass media continuous to assign gender roles, degrade and un-humanize the female body makes it acceptable for the male figure to continue to think that they have right over our bodies. If the media continuous to portray us as just objects that can be manipulated and molded to their favor we will continue to be manipulated over every single element of our existence. It is redundant but the key point as argued by John Berger is "the surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object- and most particularly and object of vision: a sight." As long as we continue to view ourselves as objects the "white patriarchal supremacist" will continue to make decisions over our rights.
Media can influence a nation positively and negatively. It is possible that with the turn of eras media can be utilized to change close mindedness. It can be a weapon targeted to helping combat negative views of women's bodies/sexuality. Over the years several organizations have worked hard to enforce reproductive freedom. Organizations such as CARASA have taken on the task to demand "affordable and legal abortion and contraception, and end to sterilization abuse, and affordable access to prenatal care, child care, and health care for both women and children." Campaigns to unmask phony anti choice crisis pregnancy such as the following http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/get-involved/issue-campaigns/crisis-pregnancy-center-campaign.html
serve to continue the fight for the right of reproductive freedom without harassment. On the other instance media can be harmful to women's body image/sexuality. We are witnesses of oversexualized female characters in movies, tv shows, ads, etc. An article by PBS alerts us of the increasing sexualization of images in magazines. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/social_issues-july-dec13-sexualization_12-21/. Women who take charge of their sexuality are viewed as being indecent and are marginalized. In the public "women must justify why they are taking birth control" for nervousness that people might classify them as " whores" for taking care of their sexual health. Birth control, by many close minded individuals is seemed as the " whore medicine".
The following are a few examples of how media influences positively and negatively women's body image/sexuality:
This
image illustrate a woman carrying a purse and the quote says "should it
be a woman's right to choose if she is the one carrying it?" - Kenneth
Cole
In this image a Manhattan storage company humors on the fact that the right to choose is "shrinking".
In this image Burger King uses symbolism to represent male sexual body part as a burger and a model who is overtly sexually consuming it
Work Cited
- Cortese, Anthony. “Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads
Sexism in Advertising.” Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in
Advertising. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. 45-76. Print -Berger, John. Ways
of Seeing. Britain: British Broadcasting Company and Penguin Books, 1972. -Hooks, Bell "Understanding Patriarchy" The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press, Dec 21, 2004. - Gay, Roxane. Bad Feminist: Essays. New York: Harper Perennial, 2014. Print.
- Nelson, Jennifer. Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement. New York: New York University Press, 2003. Print.
