Save the Boobs!

For starters... the idea of Pornhub running a "Save the Boobs" campaign is fascinating.  It was interesting to have a discussion about the ways in which we exploit women for the common good or to help women.  Although porn does not lead directly to breast cancer it still seems crazy to encourage exploitation of women in order to provide them with better treatment for breast cancer.  The example of Pornhub may seem extreme yet though our discussion of it did a great job at making me think of the ways in which our society at large exploits women in order to improve society.  I wonder if their are statistics that show the correlations among this type of behavior and violence against women.

90's-tastic!

In Tuesday's class we spent time watching clips that depict conflict among women.  It was interesting to look at the movies that many of us watching growing up, in a new way.  In our discussion we brought up the notion that the Queen was depicted beautiful woman yet she is lacking many feminine characteristics- we can't see her hair or her curves.  Despite a lack of feminine qualities she still has the ability to manipulate the henchman that she sends after Snow White.  If she illustrated as a mix of masculine and feminine, how does it make sense for her to use her femininity as a tool for manipulation and violence?

Masculinity in a Box

From a PACS perspective today's class was interesting on more than one level.  The topic of the discussion about masculinity and what that means in society was intriguing.  It was fascinating to think about how intense the norms are regarding masculinity and how that impacts the actions of men living within this societal structure.  I agree with Lydia that it brought up points that I don't often think about but that made a lot of sense once I heard them.  

On another level I think it is important to recognize how tough this discussion was to have.  In that way it was interesting because we were able to see how a mediator might act in a real life discussion where emotions run really high.  It was a great way to see how the techniques learned about in other PACS classes were enacted by a third party.

Importance of Language!

One particularly fascinating discussion in the film was that of the language used to talk about gender and violence and what gets said or doesn't get said.  Word association shows that when we hear the terms race, sexual orientation, or gender the dominant group (white, heterosexual, men) is often left out of the discussion and in this way they remained unexamined which enable to continuation of violence.  Following this vein of thinking the film talked about the missing rhetoric in the media.  For example, the media claims that "women were assaulted" or "women were raped" but the media never says that "men raped" or "men assaulted".  This was explained as a result of common knowledge- everyone knows that men did it so it doesn't need to be said.  The opposite is true in fact, it does need to be mentioned.  By not mentioning it early on, the unmentioned groups go unnoticed and unexamined in future discussions.  This seems like a glaring problem yet one that is incredibly challenging to counteract.  How can we change word associations?  How can we change media portrayals when media portrayals are based on sales figures?

Multicultural Feminism

Today's discussion of multicultural feminism was particularly compelling.  I liked that there was a recognition that even if injustices based on gender are overcome by society at the surface there are often underlying areas of oppression that still cause gender disparities.  Along the same vein it was interesting to think about the notion that as long as there is one form of oppression all peoples are oppressed.  It's a notion that we don't often hear.  I wonder if that is because it is so overwhelming.  If all forms of oppression must be eradicated simultaneously, where does a group begin to address it?  I wonder if there are organizations that aim to eradicate all forms of oppression in the manner that seems to be called for here.  If so, what is their success level?  Is there a way to hybridize current methodologies for ending oppression in a way that would address all oppression successfully?  Is there work being done to achieve this goal?