Velvet Banana

There’s an absolutely brilliant article on newsweek.com entitled Obama: The First Woman President?. The article showcases a lot of the lessons learned in WST 100. Much of Barack Obama’s appeal is his break from the past – a sort of political modernity. The article posits that Obama is able to stray from prescribed gender norms (doing gender) and embrace stereotypical “female” gender characteristics. Because of this trait, people vote for Obama. Ironically, Hillary Clinton is almost forbidden to display “female” gender characteristics and just about required to assume predominantly male stereotypical qualities. You figuratively have the next Democratic candidate for the President of the United States jumping through the hoops of gender socialization backwards.

At first glance this article smacks of sexism. The author is restating the same stereotypes our class has gone over for the past several weeks. The author states “he is pushing against conventional…wisdom in five important ways, with approaches that are usually thought of as qualities and values that women bring to organizational life: a commitment to inclusiveness in problem solving, deep optimism, modesty about knowing all the answers, the courage to deliver uncomfortable news, not taking on all the work alone, and a willingness to air dirty linen.” This statement is clearly sexist. However, I do not think it is the author’s intention to advance sexism. I think the author is simply stating key components of gender socialization and how both candidates are stepping outside of stereotypical boundaries in ways never seen before in politics – especially during a Presidential election.

The other interesting point the author brings up is the gender double standard that Senator Clinton displays. We also discussed this topic in class imagining Senator Clinton in the back room smoking a cigar with the boys. The author states, “As a woman, Clinton feels constrained to portray herself as tough, competitive, willing to take on the bad guys. She has to be more male than men.” Overall, Clinton is not able to be herself, and Obama is free to embrace changes in attitude.

Last thing, the author of the article is Martin Linsky, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University since 1982.

Think the issues raised in WST 100 aren’t for real?? Check this article out dated 14 Feb 08. Campfield Proposes Ban. Stacey Campfield is a State Representative of Tennessee and is a fundamental right wing conservative AND a raging heterosexist as well.

One of the most telling quotes in this article is, “”Without heterosexuality you wouldn’t be able to teach biology.” This is interesting as it implies that either Campfield is an expert in biology (he is not -look at his resume) OR gays and lesbians do not exist in nature or society. Clearly, this represents a dangerous way of thinking. Granted, parents should contribute to the education of their children, and many parents do. However, schools have a duty as well in shaping the minds of the young. To deny this education of tolerance, acceptance and humanity reeks of a Fahrenheit 451 mentality. This is heterosexism and homophobia at its finest.

At my work we have the television turned on to Channel 10 mostly for background. Just before closing, I was watching the evening news about the national headline story of Jane Fonda saying the word ‘cunt’ on the Today Show. Her saying it wasn’t nearly as entertaining as watching Meredith Veira backtrack and make excuses for NBC, the Today Show, and Jane Fonda.

However, the funniest thing was watching the evening local anchor, Ron Hoon, tap dance about the content of the Fonda story. He referenced the Vagina Monologues about a dozen times without once saying the word ‘vagina’! It was almost like he was playing one of those word guessing games. After the segment was finished, both anchors must have realized how asinine doing a story about Fonda and the Vagina Monologues was without actually saying the word ‘vagina’ that they both made lighthearted comments about the difficulty of such a feat.

I am not 100% sure how it relates to WST 100. It seems like it ought to somehow. Even so, it’s definitely a commentary about the extent of the right wing mentality that pervades our culture and affects our media.

Homework assignment: highlight an intimate relationship on television, the media, or in everyday life.

On Super Tuesday, Bill Clinton emerged from the voting booth to a throng of reporters. He stated with his hand held over his heart, “This was one of the proudest moments of my life.” Bill Clinton is beyond charismatic. He’s an ole’ rascal that America embraced, admired, and forgave.It certainly appears on the surface that Hillary has forgiven also.

In my study for Blog Assignment #2, Hillary Clinton was a near unanimous choice as someone who was recognized as a powerful woman. Juxtapose this with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and a whole slew of sociological and feminist questions arise.

Senator Clinton was publicly humiliated on the world’s stage. It is a testament to her strength and conviction to rise above the scandal and have herself poised to be a potential President of the United States. Or, is it a weakness in her character to accept her husband’s affair and move on? Did she truly forgive? Was her forgiveness rooted in shrewd political aspirations? Is she acting under the oppressive hand of a double standard as noted in the class text? Does society expect her to forgive the ole’ rascal because “boys will be boys”? Is it really Bill Clinton’s proudest moment to cast a vote for his wife? Or, does he have political aspirations and personal gain on the horizon? Back to addressing the homework topic, what is the nature of the Clinton’s intimate relationship with a Democratic nomination looming? It definitely is a difficult question to answer.

Blog Assignment #2

Pop Culture Oppression?

A Matrix of Domination Brief Study

The purpose of this study is to examine Simone de Beauvoir’s quote, “One is not born a woman,but becomes one“, with respect to the theory of the matrix of domination. In order to better understand the concept of matrix of domination especially in the context of modern culture, it is helpful to do a little light research.

In accordance with the text, Thinking About Women, pg. 15, the concept deals with oppression of an individual based upon a personal trait or social construct. The matrix portion highlights how multiple traits or constructs interweave amongst each other to contribute to an overall dynamic. For example, a black woman might experience two forms of oppression based on race and gender. A divorced, ex-con, black, Jewish, handicapped, lesbian, poor, senior-citizen woman might be subject to a monstrous array of oppression under the matrix!

For my study I will focus on the cultural aspect of oppression with respect to gender and age (kind of a cross-generational study). In her book, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Patricia Hill Collins, states, “The cultural context formed by those experiences and ideas that are shared with other members of a group or community which give meaning to individual biographies (made up of concrete experiences, values, motivations, and emotions) constitutes a second level at which domination is experienced and resisted. The cultural component contributes, among other things, the concepts used in thinking and acting, group validation of an individual’s interpretation of concepts, the “thought models” used in the acquisition of knowledge, and standards used to evaluate individual thought and behavior.” This statement suggests culture with respect to environmental upbringing enforces an aspect of the matrix of domination. Hence, a woman becomes a woman under the oppressive hand of societal “norms”.

This assignment is more of a correlational study than an experiment. There is not a control group. The subjects are not randomly assigned. However, the interview questions are formulated with a neutral, non-judgmental tone. The goal of this study is to either support or not support Beauvoir’s quote based on the informal research questions. Here are the study questions.

STUDY QUESTIONS 

Pop Culture Favorites (the purpose is to examine the effect of societal norms via cultural experience)

1. What was your favorite toy growing up?
2. What was the theme to your grade school lunchbox?
3. Favorite childhood TV show?
4. Favorite childhood TV actor/actress?
5. Favorite childhood TV actor/actress (opposite sex of answer in previous question)?
6. Favorite hero?
7. Favorite (opposite sex of previous answer) hero?
8. Favorite villain?
9. Favorite (opposite sex of previous answer) villain?

Free Association (one word answer only)

1. Boy wearing a dress.
2. Girl playing football.
3. Pink or blue?
4. Stay at home dad.
5. Working mom.
6. Boy named Sue.

Cultural Background Questions

1. Did your mom, dad, or both mom & dad work?
2. What childhood sport did you play?
3. Using your own interpretation of power, name a powerful woman.
4. Name a powerful man.
5. Finish this statement: a woman’s place is _____.
6. A man’s place is _____.

FINDINGS: RESULTS TABLE

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Overall the study supported Beavoir’s quote. It certainly appears as though pop-cultural influences in conjunction with a societal gender oppression affects both sexes equally. However, there are a couple of glaring exceptions which demonstrate a move away from the matrix of domination.

The first section, Pop Culture Favorites, definitely supported Beavoir’s quote. The toys and lunch boxes decidedly fell along line traditional boy/girl divisions. Males favored action shows and females had a slant away from action shows. Both sexes favored either funny or macho actors. Both sexes sided with beautiful models as actresses. Most of the initial questions fell along classic traditional lines.

The first exception was the female villain question. The older generation had trouble naming a single female villain. After a few moments of thought, the subjects almost jumped at the suggestion that ‘no answer’ was an acceptable answer. The younger generation had no trouble coming up with female villains. This dichotomy reveals a positive trend over time. Females can be just as bad as the males in the media!

The Free Association section strongly supported Beavoir’s thesis with a heavy skew toward males. In fact this section probably better addresses a reversal of the orginal question — “One is not born a man, but become one.” Perhaps the one question that is most troubling is the “boy wearing a dress” question and to a lesser extent the “stay at home dad” question. Most of the answers are aggressive and judgmental. Society seems to reject the notion of a man not fulfilling a traditional norm. A positive is the “girl playing football”. Both generations showed a more positive view with “athletic” being the most common answer.

One of the most interesting responses was for the “powerful woman” question. Hillary Clinton was an almost unanimous response across both generations and sexes.

The only other notable finding was the female response to “powerful man” — a unanimous “dad”.

Here is a short list of possible confounds that might affect the validity of this study:

a) Subject expectations based on personal bias.

b) Subject memory possibly influenced or altered over time.

c) Evolution of historical context of matrix of domination with respect to culture.

d) Sample size is very small. I would be very interested to see this study with a greater number of subjects spread over several generations.

CONCLUSION

Even though the study was comprised of a small sample of subjects, there were still some surprising, relevant results. Overall the study supports Beavoir’s quote and the existence of the matrix of domination with respect to age and gender. The attitudes towards what is expected and accepted of both males and females is especially revealed in the Free Association section.

However, the study shows a progression of thought and a gradual change of attitudes through the generations as evidenced by the “female playing football” question and the emergence of the female villain. The decision to allow subjects under the age of eighteen provided perhaps the most interesting finding of the study. Also, in a reflection of the times, people can quickly name a “powerful woman”, and she is Hillary Clinton. It would seem, “The times…they are a changin’.” The change is slow to be sure, but there is a hope and change will continue to be steady.