Assignment 4

This course depicted how women and their desire for self determination, their various forms of art, and fights for equality have been ways in which the acceptability of dominant hegemonic forces in society has been challenged. In my opinion, the course relied heavily on the belief that art can be at the center of a reformation of the politics that govern society as a whole and its members individually. For most, if not all of the people taking this introductory course, an education in the fundamentals of Women Studies, feminist terminologies, concepts, and perspectives was necessary. To accomplish this in the semester time frame, we were given many reading materials, and the chance to view other relevant media to enhance our knowledge of things pertaining to this course. We were required to read various portions of about eight or nine books. Researching websites about class materials served to further immerse us in the world of feminist theory. The notes gathered from this class reflected an attempt get students to delve further in to the concepts developed in this class, the point was to ‘play’ with the class material and make sure we understood these somewhat alien philosophies. Free writes were an opportunity for us to examine these concepts in light of our own experiences and understanding, the assignments allowed us to expound upon these insights in a critical manner.
The question of ‘What counts as Art’ was presented to us quite early in the semester. I think the purpose of which was to highlight the hyper-visibility and invisibility experienced by various artists in various cultures, but also to encourage us to look at situations from alternative angles. Professor King noted in class that the question ‘What is Art’ implies that it is the same thing everywhere. She went on to say that what counts as Art is not the same thing everywhere and that the definition is relative and largely one constructed on the basis of privilege instead of things relating to artistic merit and skill. The story of this course is about understanding various forms of art, and the institutions that contributed to its creation. It also examines the history of these institutions, what purpose they serve, their meanings, and what this can teach us about ourselves and society. The main characters in this tale were the agency and the agent. Their relationship was one like that of a revolving door; they have a direct relationship where they are of mutual influence among one another. The purpose of this story was to examine this relationship on and macro and microscopic scale.
My place in this course is as an agent of change, and a member of the larger agency that is society. In different points of this story, I was familiarizing myself with my surroundings. I was kind of like Dana in Kindred when she would time travel and try to orient herself in her new time and place. That was how I felt at sometimes in this class because I was in a place relatively foreign to me. Later on, I finally understood the concepts presented to me and I started to embrace the class space. I have finally progressed to a place where I understand, and I feel like I can ‘play’ with the concepts presented to us in this course as I see how they resonate with me personally. I acquired knowledge of myself, others, and how we relate to one another. I learned about intersectionality, perspectives, politics, oppression, activism, and feminist theory.
Through the various exercises that we were required to partake in, I acquired Knowledge about different things. I am aware of my various sources of oppression and I am faced with this reality daily. Still, this course and the discussion sections in particular, provided an alternate view to my life. I was able to look at the people whose oppressions and privileges were often in direct contrast to mine. The ironic thing about this marked feeling was that it allowed me to view my oppressions as a source of enlightenment, dare I say, a privilege (at least on an individual scale). I saw my oppressions as points of intersectionality and identity that has left an indelible mark on me in a positive way.
Knowledge of myself and how I analyze things was something I was constantly aware of through out the class, my free write on March 6 reflected this. I believe it was a reflection on Assignment 2 and how we define feminism. I wrote
When I was introduced to feminism, I was introduced to womanism shortly thereafter, so my beliefs on feminism and how I define it has been quite critical. My definition has not changed… I am still a critical thinker of what I believe to be an abstract construct some call feminism…I am still asking more questions.
I think this was one of the best things I took away from this class; to analyze, define, and interpret things, especially those pertaining to self, by oneself. I do not mean to have a schema that is completely self-serving, and without regard to factors outside of ourselves, I mean that we should define ourselves, various parts of our identities, and what we believe, for ourselves. I now view feminism in a more positive light and have become less of a skeptic. Now that I view it as much more than theories on the victimization of women, I can honestly say that I embrace feminism (or most of it at least since it is so broad). I have finally made my own definition and I define it as a study, or an effort to allow people regardless of gender, sexuality, or any other construct, to be conceived, perceived, and portrayed in a socially responsible manner that reinforces the equality, autonomy, and self-determination of all persons. I think I contributed the most in the course during discussion sections. This was where we were able to reveal intimate experiences about ourselves. I think this benefited me the most because it is one thing to hear or be taught about things like injustice or oppression, it is another to hear first hand experiences and to see the people connected to these situations. I found this more enriching and a very fulfilling aspect of the course. I found that in retrospect, I enjoyed lecture because Katie King is an individual like I had never met before and she is unashamedly herself, which is really what feminism is all about to me. What I enjoyed more though were the assignments. They made me do the readings, which I found to be very interesting. I have noticed a long time ago that while I do enjoy reading, I need to be forced to do it. Even though I can foresee considerable enjoyment in the future from what I learned, the story still remains the same and I always need extrinsic motivation to read. For this reason, I am grateful that we had the 4 assignments and that they required us to take time to analyze things critically.
These readings are what helped me connect to this class. Bell Hooks’ Feminism is for Everybody connected with me intellectually. Her chapter on Feminist Masculinity was one of my favorites. One passage that I took notice of was on page 68 where she said, “ Feminist thinkers began to talk about the way in which patriarchy was harmful to men…feminist politics expanded to include the recognition that patriarchy stripped men of certain rights, imposing on them a sexist masculine identity” (Hooks, 68). I felt this feminist take on patriarchy was different and acknowledged complexities in response to people’s attempts to maintain rigid categorizations and definitions of various things pertaining to feminist theory. I have always felt that people will try to simplify things, even those that defy simplification. Fallacies created from attempts like these only serves to the detriment of all. Hooks explored the complex beginnings of feminism; the good, the bad, the truth, and the lies to allow for an honest evaluation of feminism. This mirrored the kind of analysis I had to perform on myself to evaluate my person as political. This chapter highlighted the importance of perception, a sentiment I echoed in my partner project with Jessica Cha.
Perceptions are not only things that often constitute one’s subjective reality, they are also the map by which many of us turn to guide us through the world. How we see things, how we view them, affects how we approach them and in turn, how they approach us. It is such that a cognitive construct transcends into a physical relationship from which a mark can be left on others (Assignment 3).
This shows how we are all political machines that contribute to the workings of society.
The chapter Total Bliss also interested me because it touched on many things I learned about in other courses. It touched on things like sexuality and familial structure. She made the point that men are not necessary for a woman to have a fulfilled life and she did so with out sentiments that were anti male. The situation of male partners being absent from families has been seen in many African American families, highlighting a familial structure divergent from that of the idealized, white, nuclear family. Bell did a good job of challenging the notion that different family structures outside of one man and one woman were inferior, and emphasizing the strengths that can be found in differences and alternative thinking.
The topic of sexuality became a primary interest of mine though the duration of this course. We talked about sexuality in discussion and we noted how sexuality in today’s society has come to mean sex. It has been reduced into a serious of sequential actions which fails to demonstrate the beauty of the actions in and of themselves and the possible motives behind them. Megan Seely in Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist, points out that
Society is uncomfortable with women’s sexualities. Perhaps nothing is more frightening to men, and to some women, than a woman whose sexuality is defined outside of the context of straight men. Moreover, when women are butch – strong, tough, and unfeminine – they are also threatening because they are seen as not needing male help. If women can take care of themselves and each other – physically and sexually – then what do they need men for? The irony is that we have a culture obsessed with lesbianism, well, faux lesbianism, at least. Sexual pairing of women is common in male-centered porn and advertising. Of course, these women are not there for the enjoyment of other women – but for men, they are the ultimate male fantasy (page 7).
In addition, to male fantasies and alternative forms of sexuality, there is the other aspect of female sexuality, where it is exploited and used as a particular point of oppression at the hands of others. In instances where entire peoples become subjugated, the oppression of women has been extremely painful. This is because in cases such as slavery in America, or places under outside military rule, the women were equal in their oppressions in relation to their male counterparts; accept when they became the target of specialized forms of abuse. The gender of female slaves was ignored when it came to doing arduous physical labor, but in cases of rape or sexual torture, their gender was conveniently realized by dominant hegemonic forces.
Laura Perez mentions this in the chapter entitled Face and Heart in Chicana Art. She highlights art by Patricia Valencia and Aida Salazar called Ramona. Their piece spoke about gendered violence and had a speech where Valencia begs the question
What really happens to women in war? Women are raped, mutilated, their pregnant bellies are sliced open and their babies chocked with their umbilical cords. That’s what happens to women in war (295).
She goes on to mention how people can sit around and watch bombing campaigns on TV, apparently oblivious, or perhaps ignoring the plight of women in these warring areas. This hyper-visibility when it comes to sex or sexually satisfying men, and the invisibility in regards to the oppressions suffered by women on the basis of sex and gender was something that has always intrigued me. I had become very familiar with homophobic and heterosexist rhetoric that lesbians are hot but to gay guys is just wrong, and I had always detested it. It was not until I entered academia that I was able to analyze this from a more intellectual standpoint.
I appreciated this course because of the things it has taught me and exposed me to. It has debunked many of my assumptions and reaffirmed many of my personal feelings about oppression and individuality. I never expected to get all of these things out of this class. In truth, I signed up for it on a total accident and I was confused after the first day of classes. I stayed anyway and I have to say I will be forever grateful. This experience has opened up my eyes to so many different things and I am looking forward to continue studying things in Women studies and feminism. I am thankful for all of the course materials provided to us by Professor King because they serve legitimate purposes in showing us the limitless possibilities when it comes to fighting oppression and expressing ourselves. I have used these materials for personal enrichment, and as a supplement to the perspectives I present in my other classes. Never before have I found art so important and central to the lives of others and as a source of profound commentaries on history and society in general.