Goal Oriented

According to Glamour Magazine, women need to follow all of the latest fashion and beauty trends. It is important to judge the fashion of others, i.e. “The  Five Best Outfits of the Week: Vote for Your Favorite Spring 2010 Runway Look.”Cute Jeans and Shoes are necessities. All readers of the magazine should be interested in and buying all the same fashions from all the same brands and designers. Skincare, nails, and makeup should occupy a great deal of your time and money. Flat abs, thin thighs, and constant diet, exercise, and weight loss are also necessities. However, Glamour had an interesting article under their Health and Fitness subheading on their website entitled “Body Image: Are you Ready to Start a Body Image Revolution? Oh, Wait—You Already Did!,” You can “see the models who proudly bared it all,” bodies which are “beautiful,” and get “Body-Confidence Secrets from Plus-Size Model Crystal Renn.” This is followed by an “Exclusive Body Image Survey” and a quiz to see if “you have healthy body image.” However, directly following this seeming support for body types of all kinds are diet tips from Weight-Loss Bloggers. This magazine does offer more attempts at helping women find healthy weight loss solutions to real health related problems which can be caused by carrying excess body weight but it also suggests that the one thing that can make you feel 1,000 times better in a swim suit is “a cute coverup.” Fantastic, one should hide their body if it’s not “optimally beautiful” like the ones we saw and dress like on the fashion runways. It would also seem that a woman’s life is composed of shopping, beautifying, and attempting to date, hook up with, be proposed to by, and marry a man. Their “Sex, Love, And Life” section, the only section that mentions “Life” is altogether consumed with “Sex Tips,” “What Men Want,” “Dating,” “Romance,” “Hooking Up,” “Getting Engaged,” “Brides,” “Bridesmaids,” and “Real Weddings.” It would seem these women’s only goal is to find a man, please him with her body, keep him interested romantically by putting forth tremendous effort at remaining beautiful, alluring, and mysterious enough to keep him interested enough to inveigle a proposal and wedding out of him. And then, the wedding is not about love or a partnership between two people but more about the clothing, decorations, and food that will be seen at the event.

InStyle Magazine seemed most preoccupied with celebrity fashion and how one could look like, act like, and appear to be a celebrity. The writers of the magazine assume their readers are obsessed with which celebrities are dating each other, what they are wearing for a casual evening out, to the grocery store, and to high end events. They are also interested in their weddings, what kinds of gowns they wore, decorations they used, and cakes they had. There is a great interest in what kinds of parties they have, who attends, and what they all wear there. It also seems to be of great importance to compare and contrast what the celebrities have chosen to wear on all occasions.

InStyle’s Fashion section then goes on to describe which celebrities are wearing which designer labels and where they are doing so. One can search an extensive photo gallery of women celebrities (and by celebrity they mean famous actresses) by Designer or by the name of the celebrity to narrow down the set of images you are viewing. They have exclusive information of what new clothing trends need to be obsessed over and followed by their readers through their coverage of Fashion Week. Overall, their beauty and shopping sections were all about how to look more like a celebrity. They describe how one should style one’s hair and dress to transform one’s appearance to be more like those of the “optimally beautiful” stars.

In order to view Maxim’s website, one must first be subjected to ten seconds of “Devil’s Cut” advertisement which consists of a photograph of a large bottle of alcohol and a woman in a corset and miniskirt wearing a painted on mask, fishnets, and little else while she licks her lips and holds out a shot to the viewer. Once one reaches the website’s main site there are alternating slides of boxers, recipients of the Medal of Honor, Rugby fouls, and supermodels posing as well as all the girls who were rewarded the high honor of “Hometown Hottie” by the readership. The website offered articles on gaming, movies, and sports while touting “girls girls girls.” It has offers a girl of the day, today’s girl was Christina Hendricks who is “so hot she makes us all Mad Men.”  And featured videos of Tiki Barber’s girlfriend “baring all.” Listed under its most popular section were “Seven Odd Places to Take Your Summer Fling” implying that sexual relationships with women should be short term and flippant. They also listed the “19 Best Man Movie Moments,” “Nine Classic Beards,” “40 Best Man Cities,” and the “10 Dumbest Dumb-Asses in Sports.” The best man movie moments included exploding heads from zombie movies, the best disemboweling from a slasher movie, the best three-girls-on-one-guy action scene, best house party which included a naked woman shooting out a chimney. This is apparently both sexually exciting and humorous.

Instead of having a woman of the day, GQ featured a Look of the Day alongside a video of Zoe Saldana lying on the floor taking off her clothes. It also offered a fall fashion report on the latest men’s fashions to come out this fall. It implies that if one dresses according to the fashion, one will attract women who look like Hollywood stars. It suggests that the items which will make you the most eligible bachelor are “tipped polos,” “sneakers,” “the Blue Steel watch,” “Varsity jackets,” and “tweed suits.” Their “Women” section was basically a set of slideshows featuring semi-naked women on display. Including a woman sexually soliciting adolescent boy scouts (not at all illegal). Otherwise it highlighted extremely athletic (but simultaneously stylish) men, food and travel (and how they can help you in seducing women), and cars and gear (and which ones will best attract women to you).

It would seem that these magazines (both those for men and women) are primarily concerned with celebrity fashion, what the elite classes are wearing, and how to attract members of the opposite sex. Men are supposed to be active in the seduction and casual sexual encounters with women while women are supposed to passively attract, allure, and mystify men until they decide to marry them so that they can have a big fancy party and wear another fashionable outfit. They assume that women should be passive, work very hard and spend a lot of money on being attractive to men and should only be concerned with getting married. It should be their life goal, along with looking and dressing like a celebrity which will help you in your pursuit of married bliss. Men, however, should be obsessed with finding ways through fashion, sports, cars, and fancy gizmos to attract women just long enough to get them to have sex with them. They provide insights into how every man can become James Bond, but without any of the personal health risks. Both magazines push a heteronormative agenda as well as the idea that designer fashion will help you in your endeavors to attract and bed a member of the opposite sex. However, they suggest the different genders have different roles for these “hook ups.” Women should look for ways to trap men who would otherwise only be interested in them for sex into marriage. Men, however, should be doing their best to avoid any long term commitments and have sex with as many women as humanly possible, while fantasizing about the women they cannot obtain precisely because they are mere fictive inventions of the advertising and fashion world. 

Advocacy

Each of the groups introduced to us through this second blog post assignment have different goals and agendas due to their various foci on issues regarding gender, sex, and gender and sexual identity. However, all of them seek to make a difference by making educational resources available to those who are struggling with the issues they outline or those who are seeking to understand and know more about LGBTI experience. They all recognize that change can occur only with full disclosure (this applies to medical full disclosure as well as open, direct discourse about gender, sexual identity, and sexual orientation) and the availability of the resources individuals need to better understand themselves, the institutions they must operate within (and through an understanding of the way those institutions operate come to an understanding of how they may also be changed), and resources for others who may not be facing the same oppression or medical problems to be able to understand and sympathize with their experiences. 

GenderPac has helped over 200 major corporations add gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policies. They initiated “National Gender Lobby Day.” They advocated for gender protections in ENDA. As members of the Hate Crimes Coalition they advocated for gender protections in the federal hate crimes bill. They have provided support for student leaders who wanted their colleges to address gender identity and expression in their anti-bullying policies. They made reports on gender-based violence to document “the underreported tide of violence against the predominantly Black and Latina/o transgender and gay youth. And they even focused on masculinity and the challenges faced by young men of color.

GenderPAC’s argument that “Discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity at some level are all discrimination based on stereotypes about what is or is not appropriate for men and women” has helped to build “broader coalitions and bring gender issues into the mainstream.” While GenderPac is no longer an advocacy organization,  their work continues through ChoiceUSA. GenderPac sought to raise awareness of the need for legal and societal protections for members of the LGBTI community. They refused to allow bullying and hate crimes to be underreported or unquestioned. By raising awareness of discrimination and by expanding their coverage of these issues to include masculinity and the special challenges of gender and sexual identity within racial and cultural contexts they were totally inclusive and sensitive to the very different problems which face members of different cross-sections of our society. Their emphasis on the idea that discrimination "based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity" is "based on stereotypes about what is or is not appropriate for men and women" helps make the issue of protections for members of the LGBTI (protections which are readily available for those who do not self-identify as members of the LGBTI community) seem more sensible, just, and less threatening for those who might consider them as such. Even in their most basic definitions of discrimination, they sought to emphasize that the reasons that people discriminate against others are not "facts" or "truths" but rather socially constructed stereotypes based in fear and hate. That kind of language and awareness is crucial to changing the face of discrimination protection and acceptance and tolerance in our society. 

The Intersex Society of North America is “devoted to systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female.”

They argue that intersexuality is a problem of “stigma and trauma, not gender.” That surgery is not the answer to parents’ distress about the fact that their child is intersex. That “professional mental health care is essential.” That “honest, complete disclosure is good medicine.” And that all children should “be assigned as boy or girl, without early surgery.” Again, they present the idea that intersexuality is a problem because of the "systemic" issues which result in shame and secrecy. The true problem, according to the ISNA is "stigma" not the inability of an intersex individual to "fit" into the gender binary of our society. The organization seeks to raise awareness of the issues concerning DSDs and the options available to patients and their families so that individuals don't rush into what are often damaging and traumatic "medical solutions" to their situations.

As an organization, they work to “advocate for patients and families who felt they had been harmed by their experience with the health care system” and to be a “resource for clinicians, parents, and affected individuals who require basic information about disorders of sex development )DSDs) and for how to improve the health care and overall well-being of people with DSDs. “

They put together a Consensus Statement which includes the following: “Progress in patient-centered care” to encourage psycghological support for patients and families struggling with DSDs. And that “genital exams and medical photography should be limited.” They also argue that “care should be more focused on addressing stigma not solely on gender assignment and genital appearance.” They recommend “no vaginoplasty in children, clitoroplasty only in more ‘severe’ cases, and no vaginal dilation before puberty.” It stresses that “functional outcome of genital surgeries” “not just cosmetic appearance.” They also are attempting to get rid of misleading language to ”help clinicians move away from the almost exclusive focus on gender and genitals to the real medical problems people with DSD face.

The ISNA has met with some resistance in implementing these ideas however so in 2007, they “sponsored and convened a national group of health care and advocacy professionals to establish a nonprofit organization charged with making sure the new ideas about appropriate care are known and implemented across the country.” Accord Alliance began operating in 2008 and they seek to “improve the way health care is made available and delivered” so that “people receive the services and support they need to lead happy, healthy lives.” The organization is also focused on changing perceptions and language so that individuals can find greater self-acceptance, tolerance in wider society and answers to their questions and problems that don't discount and discredit their sex as abberant. 

Gender Education and Advocacy is “a national organization focused on the needs, issues, and concerns of gender variant people in human society.” They support LGBTI Health Summits. They raise awareness about dangerous cosmetic procedures such as “silicone use.” They draw attention to and raise awareness about crimes against LGBTI individuals.  They include articles which help others to understand aspects of the LGBTI community and the struggles of individuals within it. And they seek to inform people about medical conditions which specifically affect members of the LGBTI community and which would otherwise maybe remain obscure or unknown to them. They post articles about societal and medical concerns which directly impact members of the LGBTI community and also provide resources for legal, medical, and cosmetic interests, LGBTI individuals may have. As a whole. they also help to raise awareness of issues which affect LGBTI individuals because of a dearth of acceptance, tolerance, and policies which include their distinctive needs in our society. I found the article on the new airport security scanners especially interesting because I'd never thought of them from the perspective of a transgendered individual. Many people claimed serious problems with the new full body imaging scanners because they violated privacy and might be misused in ways which violated those who were subjected to them but I'd never considered the problems they might pose for a transgendered individual. Firstly, there is the problem of being "escorted" through the search by a member of your own sex. If your sex is at odds with the way you are presenting or identifying that is difficult to explain to a security guard (and one shouldn't have to). And if the security scan shows an "anomaly" such as a prosthesis or bound breasts what kind of ridicule, discrimination, and unnecessary searches and profiling might they then be subject to? This website provides members of the LGBTI community resources for dealing with discriminatory problems and other issues which pertain to their specific subset of society and also raise awareness for those who do not have those same concerns to better understand their experiences. This understanding allows for an avenue to change which would make society and its institutions less hostile and prejudiced against the LGBTI community and ways in which their needs and desires can be accommodated so that their dignity and rights are preserved.

Privileged

In Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" she gives an extensive outline of the ways white privilege acts in her daily life. She notes that the effects of these privileges include: feeling “at home in the world” thanks to the overwhelming representation of her race and culture in the media and in academia (FF 15). She also notes that her privileges allow her to “escape fear, anxiety, insult, injury, or a sense of not being welcome, not being real” (FF 15). She also comes to the realization that these privileges allowed her to “freely disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything outside the dominant cultural forms” (FF 15).

I find that these effects of white privilege (including all the others she listed) are consistent with my experiences as a white person. I consistently find that my race is represented positively in such a way that affirms my identity and culture and my “proper” place in society as an educated, middle-class, politically active, (etc.) individual. I do feel at ease in my home, work, and school environments as well as out and about utilizing the social facilities in my area, such as the grocery store, bank, and various cafes and restaurants I frequent. I rarely feel that my actions or words are going to reflect upon my race as a whole, either positively or negatively. However, as much as I am privileged to be white in a culture of white hegemony, I also am privileged to live, work, and socialize in spheres where race does not factor highly in social relations between myself and others.

I live in a diverse neighborhood comprised of equal numbers of black and white families, with a few Korean families interspersed. Certainly, we are all of the same socio-economic class (middle-class) but our differing races have not prevented us from living happily, peacefully, and quietly side by side. I don’t live in an “old school” neighborhood where we know all our neighbor’s names and sit on their porches with them in the evenings, but we all smile and wave to one another and assist our elderly neighbors with their yard work. Our friendliness is colorblind. I don’t think that the minority groups (whose represented members are not in the minority in my neighborhood) who live near me feel that they are unwelcome or put under any kind of special scrutiny or suspicion. They very well may, I’ve never asked them, but my family and I have never given them cause to.

I also labor in a diverse workplace. My boss, and owner of the store, is Malaysian.  His wife, and co-owner is white (but a woman and in a very high position). My shift managers (and seconds in command) are African American, Latina, and Caucasian. I work side by side with sandwich makers and order takers (the bottom line of the hierarchy) who are African American, Latino, Latina, Caucasian, and of Asian descent. There is no preferential treatment. There are no discriminatory hiring practices. There are even equal numbers of men and women in all job positions. There are times, when I notice cultural differences when socializing with my co-workers but these points of divergence have always been a way that we come to learn about each other’s personal lives and a forum for open discourse about our racial experiences. None of us are so ignorant to claim that racism is not real or prevalent, but we do not perpetuate it within our daily lives and interactions with one another. I am white, and I am privileged, but I live and work in environments that do not categorize, stereotype, advance, or oppress in racial or ethnic bounds.

Certainly, I cannot speak for the customers who enter into our sphere of cultural and racial security. I have seen a woman be surprised to find that the head manager was African American when I directed her to speak to Cortney when she requested to speak to the head manager. I have had customers look down on Trisha for being a proud Latina (but she, with our backing, fought back, because the customer is sometimes very, very wrong).  

My educational environment has been extremely homogenously white (with the occasional, rare, exception). This most certainly has affected the way that I learn, have come to view the world, and my subconscious understanding of race and my place within a global environment where my race and culture is, in fact, the minority. However, I like to believe that I have transcended this institutional racism and that I do not allow it to greatly influence my daily life, and particularly not my interactions with those of differing social backgrounds.

I am white. I am as racist as any other human being. I think to a great extent we all, subconsciously. These things are ingrained in us on an institutional level and that is hard to ignore or remove oneself from. However, I work hard every day to ensure my personal, work, and educational experiences take place in environments and with people who do not privilege one another based on ridiculous, superficial criteria, but rather on individual merit, centered around the idea that all humans are equal, regardless of skin color. I understand that I am privileged, because I am white. The institutions of this culture favor me for unearned and ridiculous reasons. However, I choose to actively engage and support those institutions which do their utmost to transcend those ideas. I couldn’t conscientiously do otherwise.