Juliet's BFMP Blog

bell hooks' "The Oppositional Gaze: Black female spectators"

2006-06-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

On a slightly irrelevant note: I wonder why bell hooks doesnt capitalize her name. I know that Emily Dickinson didn't capitalize the word "I" in her poetry because she did'nt want to put more emphahsis on herself that she did on the rest of the poem. Can anyone enlighten me, please?

So bell hooks begins her article talking about the "gaze" and what itmeans to black females. She talks about how she was scolded as a child for staring, but she also, was made to look her parents square in the face when she was being disciplined. this turns the idea of "looking" into a very powerful thing.

Thus far, in this class, we've mainly been focused on how we can promote our efforts by creating media. hooks however, talks about being on the other end- the end of the spectator. How can we help bring down exploitation and hegemony by looking? What about not looking?

Would any good be done if we stopped subscribing to images which were oppresive and exploitative to women, particularly to women of color? Can we boycott the media?

She also points out that feminis efforts in the media field have worked to take apart gender representations, but she says that they have largely ignored the racialization of those representations. This has to do with intersectionality- a concept that will always make my mind hurt.

Faith Wilding's "Next Bodies"

2006-06-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Faith Wilding makes a very interesting point in her article "Next Bodies." She discusses how feminists in an earlier time period used accessibale media to express themselves and raise awareness (like music, for example). She then says that we can have a similiar effect using the media we have available to us today (namely, the internet.)

So how can we use the websphere to help fight for our cause. One thing we can do, Wilding says, is that we can used fmeinist images (banners, avatars, ets). You know the saying "outta sight, outta mind"? Well, I believe it can be flipped to be "in sight, in mind." If we use feminist iamges as often as we can, where we go online, people will be forced to see them. I know this isn't much, but every little bit helps. It will also encourage other women to do the same.

Webdesigning is quite a trade these days. We can se our technical and artistic skills, combined with feminist purpose, to create websites that will stand as a place of expression.

Lastly, I see an increased importance for netwokring. Networking "spreads the word" about you and your online fmeinist efforts and therefore makes it easier for the fmeinist cuase to take hold online.

Cruelle de Ville

2006-05-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

This online article made me reflect my own experiences with gender and sexuality in cyberspabe. From what I know, pretty much all American youth is familiar with Myspace, an website where one can develop their own personal webpage, send messages, and have online communities. Of course, there is also a space for advertising. The dominant image that comes to mind when i think of this space is the scantily clad woman (might I add white and slender as well). usually they are advetising some kind of online dating service- a service, which, fomr what I can tell, i supposed to be used equally by males and females. Why then, is the near-naked woman almost always used to attract users? Even more poignant, however, I feel, is that that image (of the sexualied, almost naked slender white woman) has been so engrained into my perception as being acceptable that, until now, I have never quesioned it before- and I consider myself the kind of person to quesiton these things.

But how do we fix this? Does it need to be fixed? how degrading is it? is it degrading at all? Is it a harmless, trivial part of our culture? Or is it a societal evil? If there were more pictures of those sorts of men on the internet, would that make anything better? I don't know the answers to any of these questions.

Thinkning about this has actually really inspired me to think more crtically about the way women are portrayed not only on the internet, but in the media in general.

In Class on May 23rd

2006-05-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

What is the significance of creating archives and bibliographies to the struggles of women of color feminism? What can we do as a class to participate in that struggle?
Already, I feel like being in this class has really opened my eyes to a lot of the feminist (along with other social) movements that are happenieng at and around UCSB. I realize that this effect canbe magnified if we compile all that we know and make it available to other people who are concerned with the struggle. Everyone in this class has different focueses and interests when it comes to women of color activism. Thus, we can provide a wide body of knowledge and sources to networked communities.

What is the significance of creating archives and bibiographies?
Both archives and bibliographies enable other people, who take an interest in what uou take an interest in, to do their own researchin a particular subject. Bibliogra[phoies also , by making the references you used for a specific work known, give credit and legitimacy to that work.

In this politically and culturally conservative moment in the US, what is at stake in self expression and self representation for women of color in art and media?
Maybe I'm an optimist, or maybe I'm just naive, but i think that in the conservative society in which we're living lies great oppurtunities that can be found no where else. I feel that there is no better time to make a stir and have your voice heard than when you are going against the grain. The media and art work produced by women of color during this time will, I feel, eventually become among the most valued.

Have CWAs been negated? What can our feminnst multimedia do to address this? Why is representation important? What alliances should happen with white women? Who would be helpful in this struggle? How do people deal woith their privledges?
Thinking about intersectionality issues really hurts my mind. I am beginning to feel that the category of "women" is so broad that there is absolutely no point in a "womens movement" even existing. I think that focuses such as the one we deal with (how black women of color are both represented by and involved with the media) are useful and practical. The lines are so blurry. For example- who counts as queer? I don't really know. Is someone queer just because they are atracted to members of their same gender? Or do they have to openly identify with it? Furthermore, do they have to actively participate in fighitng for queer rights? More later...

2006-04-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

What do the two images below have in common? They'll both be in my next peice!

woman on man

2006-04-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

woman on man
Originally uploaded by indigomormon.

Christus

2006-04-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

Christus
Originally uploaded by indigomormon.

Women and Technology

2006-04-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience relating to women and technology just after our class discusison on it. While I was filming my girlfriends, i felt totally confident about my ability to use the camera. However, I then went to the aprtment of a few of my guy friends to film them. I automatically felt insecure in their presence- like i was going to mess it up and one of them (being a man) was oging to have to fix it for me. Mind you, these guys are the opposite of threatening.

One of them actually let me borrow his headphones. i got them stuck in my hair. DOnt worry though, it's on film.

This Quote Makes Me Want to Cuddle

2006-04-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

They blame the low income women for ruining the country because they are staying home with their children and not going out to work. They blame the middle income women for ruining the country because they go out to work and do not stay home to take care of their children.

--Ann Richards

(from http://feministblogs.org/tag/motherhood/ )

Week Four Readings

2006-04-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

These readings were wack, if you ask me. Let me Explain...

"A Cyborg Manifesto" by Donna Haraway
1. "Our best machines are made of sunshine; they are all light and clean because they are nothing but signals, electromagnetic waves , a section of a spectrum, and these machines are eminently portable, mobile- a matter of immense human pain in Detroit and Singapore."
-Is the tail end of this quote a labor reference? I would realy like some perspective on this quote.
2. "There is nothing about being "female" that naturally binds women."
- This quote follows a passage expressing that it is difficult (I would personally argue impossible) to specify an acute definition of feminism or femist values. this is actually what my next video will be on.

"Postcolonial Media Theory" by Maria Fernandez
1. "In the West, reclaiming histories has been a preliminary step in the construction of identity for marginalized people."
- This might be slightly off topic, but could the Chicana/o movement's reclaiming of Atzlan (the original Aztec homeland- located in modern day America) fit into this category?

"The Appended Subject" by Jennifer Gonzales
1. "Given the kinds of images avvailable on the Web, this gesture is probably groundbreaking, though it remains to be seen how successful it is in desexualizing the body, as the representative forms in Bodies INC are tall and slim and decidely reflect the Euro-American ideal."
- I just thought I'd point this out as another exmaple of how "white" and "thin" is so commonly seen as the stereotype of beauty. let's break that stereotype down!

...Continued...

2006-04-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

2. On page 28, it says, "...the implied vulnerability of an undressed woman is the opposite of power." I want to know why being undressed makes one vulnerable. Can't being undressed be empowering? Would the idea of you being nude/naked make you feel vulnerable or empowered? Why is the bare, natural body considered vulnerable? Why is the bare, natural female body consdiered vulnerable?

3. Illustration 30 depicts a lounging, nude white woman with her black female servant. I just noticed that this could be a good exmaple to help us understand the different between being naked and being nude. The woman is laying aorund without any clothes on which would suggest that she has simply not yet dressed, which would make her naked. However, we notice that her hair appears kept, and she is wear a flower in her hair, a bracelet, and neckware. Obviously, she has gone through some sort of preparation to appear the way she does. She intentionally did not put clothes on in the process of "getting ready." Thus, she is not simply without clothes, but she is without clothes for a reason.

4. Illustration 36 is a picture of a young black girl lying in a sexual pose on a sofa. Is it just me, or did this just seem extremely exploitative to anybody else?

Thats all for now. More on the second half of "Colonial Conquest" later.

The First half of "Colonial Conquest"

2006-04-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

There were a few things whcih stood out to me in the first half of the chapter in the Williams/Willis book titled "Colonial Conquest."

1. On page 22, regarding the photographs taken of Delia and Drana it says, "Their printed cotton dresses are not entirely removed for the 'scientific" documentation but are pulled down around their waists to expose their breasts..." it then goes on how to discuss how this, in comparison to photos taken of tribal women in Africa who possibly lived day-to-day life with minimal clothing, is particularly degrading because they were made to undress specifically to have their photograph taken. I am wondering how this was justified. Did this really seem "okay" to the photographers and the viewers? I supppose that because these women were black and seen as inferior, their violation was not considered any kind of real worry by the white population.

More Later? You better believe it...

Testing...

2006-04-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

first day of class...testing...