Sushi & Stupid People

Anyone who has ever dined at Japanese Village would be familiar with the practice of eating around the communal table with 5 or 6 other guests, most of whom unknown to you before that evening. Usually, this is a fun and interesting experience but tonight my dad and I, as we enjoyed our very tasty meals, were subjected to the complete irritation and ignorance of a couple that could only be described as “white trash.” I don’t usually like to judge or use such statements but this couple truly fit the mold. They were racist and out right rude to our Japanese server who spoke little English, a point of great contention and ridicule. Why the Hell would you go to Japanese village if you don’t like being “surrounded by Asians?” I have no idea!

My point is I hate stupid people! No not entirely, but rather, this “couple,” who strongly believed in the wisdom of George Bush and Ralph Klein and the superiority of true “white” Canadians, reinforced the importance of institutions like the U of A and professors like Heather, who encourage individuals to look beyond such close minded discourses. Tonight, the importance of critically analyzing ones beliefs and the materialization of such ideological practices, characterized by an individual’s words and actions, was reinforced within a real life context. It was this couple who believed unceasingly in their close minded views, failing to consider any one else’s political, religious or cultural analysis and as a result, I recognized my fortune in attending the U of A and thus having the opportunity to expand my own knowledge base within a critical and creative framework.

Thanks U of A

Kelly Mac.

Global Valium Use-A Feminist Deconstruction

Yesterday I read an interesting article discussing the use of Benzodiazepines (Valium®, Lithium® etc) by Afghani woman in response to Taliban oppression. This article detailed the lives of two university educated women who had both held positions of power, prestige, and affluence in pre-Taliban Afghanistan, one as a school principle and the other as a TV journalist. Unfortunately, upon Taliban takeover in 1992 woman’s “education and professionalism became irrelevant” and these woman, along with many others, were forced, by law, to exist only within the domestic sphere, prohibited from public association with men and women outside their families as even woman’s “laughter…was banned from the streets” (Burkett, 2002). Such women began living lives of solitude, with no medium of public expression, and in constant fear of punishment. Due to this lack of intellectual stimulation and community, many Afghani women turned to sedatives in attempt to deal with the monotony, boredom, and fear that characterized everyday life.

In reading the above article I was reminded of the Friedan piece, The Problem That Has No Name, in which the use of prescription sedatives to treat the “plight” of the 1960’s housewives, described by women as the search for something more or a validation of their worth outside of the domestic sphere, was examined. It occurred to me that woman of every class, race, country, or time period have felt stifled by the confinements and pronouncements of traditional femininity, whether defined by Taliban radicals or middle class American suburbia. Woman across the globe have and still continue to fight the same battle and it is no coincidence that in 1990 alone 800 hundred tons of Valium® was prescribed to American citizens, most of whom were women (Ksir, 2006). While I pose no solution to this problem, as its magnitude is global, I do, however, recognize the power of shared sensibilities within this universal problematic. Maybe, just maybe if women could unite under the banner of Hooks’ shared sensibilities, leaving their racial and class differences aside, traditional feminine constructs could be challenged and a solidified feminist community could generate cultural and social change that crosses global class and race divisions.

(Above Picture: Traditional Burka meets Ameriacn High Fashion)

Kelly Mac.

Burkett, Elinor. “It Was a Slow Poison.” Elle Magazine. 2002. Vol. 199. pp 214-217.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Norton: NY, 1963. pp 15-32.
Hooks, Bell. Post Modern Blackness. 1990. pp 1-6.
Ksir et al. Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior, NY, 2006. pp 221-225.

Dove: Real Beauty Campaign

Last week I posted a video by Dove, Evolution, showing the transformation of an everyday gal into a sex-pot billboard model. In the beginning, a woman, probably in her mid 20s’ undergoes major cosmetic reconstruction allowing her to morph from beast to beauty. While I found the Dove video impressive, many do not and subsequently see serious flaws and contradictions in Doves Real Beauty campaign (Take a look at the website and watch the video, www.campaignforrealbeauty.com). Some believe Dove’s campaign manipulates “real” women to merely bolster product sales rather than create a message of feminine empowerment and a positive and realistic female body image. In addition, others argue that Dove continues the commodification of women, as both consumer and commodity, in which woman, only partially clothed in their ads, are again subjected to the male patriarchical gaze. While I do not entirely disagree with the above statements, I must, however, commend Dove for challenging age old patriarchical understandings of femininity by using models who look relatively “normal” in comparison to their industry counterparts.

Dove, in my opinion, represents what Fisk terms the “people,” individuals characterized by an “ever shifting set of social interests” who through the use of popular discrimination redefine and reshape mass cultural products for their own purposes (Fisk, 2). Dove uses the products of mass culture, cosmetics and body care paraphernalia, in a reappropriation of accepted social norms concerning female body image and challenge viewers to revaluate their own notions of body image and femininity, even if they are making profit. It is easy for individuals to find fault and criticize the Real Beauty campaign but it is many of these individuals, however, that fail to provide a realistic alternative cultural practice, other than abolishing corporate America and thus Dove. As discussed by Baudrillard, the consumer-commodity marketplace will forever remain and if Dove vanished another beauty company would merely take its place, therefore losing the innovative message of Real Beauty. Dove’s Real Beauty campaign represents a time of transition in which a “political mobilization posing a challenge to capitalist hegemony” occurs and an alternative discourse, concerning realistic female body image, is encourged and because of this I give the Real Beauty campaign my support (Kipnis, 34).

Kelly Mac.

Baudrillard, Jean. The illusion of the end. pp 1-8.
Kipnis, Laura. ‘Refunctioning’ reconsidered: towards a left popular culture. pp 12-35.
Fisk, John. Popular Culture: pp 1-15.

Hey Everyone,

You may have seen this already but it’s a great mini documentary commenting on the fact the fashion industry produces mass cultural bullshit and ridiculous feminine ideals. Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz5IRdFIpvA

Kelly Mac.

(P.S Heather this is not my post)

I Need Another Drink!

After writing the midterm on Thursday night I left class frustrated and in need of a strong Vodka Paralyzer and the company of a good friend to drown my exaggerated sorrows. In the midst of this little pity party I began to contemplate my discontent for failing to answer each exam question correctly or understanding every concept perfectly. After my third Paralyzer, my academic predicament unfolded and I came to realize my obsession with a cultural “model of perfection” (Baudrillard, 8). Baudrillard’s Illusion of the End discusses this phenomenon as a process of neutralization in which the individual becomes a member of the “silent masses,” failing to contemplate the significance of the information presented. On Thursday night I became a member of this silent majority. Regardless of the fact the material discussed in Women’s Studies 320 has provided me the tools to re-examine and challenge my own understanding of identity politics and the social framework within which I exist, I failed to abandon my “strong desire to anticipate the end” and therefore, my primary concern became obtaining that perfectly-packaged 4.0 (Baudrillard, 7).

Call me crazy, call Dr. Phil or his Freudian sidekicks but it pisses me off when I don’t do well! I just can’t brush it off and say “better luck next time,” to me there is no next time (my mother always said I was a bit dramatic)! I become consumed with my failure to live up to standards set not only by myself, but by dominant capitalist ideals, and the Pharmacy schools to which I will be applying this spring. I view my subjectivity as stagnant and forever defined by my inability to be an example of successful and independent femininity. My conformity to this repressive social identity strengthen the “chains that bind” me within my “own mind and spirit” and perpetuate the belief that I possess little intellectual and cultural value (Friedan, 30). I plant my feet firmly on the path of temporary self destruction and begin picturing myself at thirty, with five children and minivan, concerned only with how to buy a “dishwasher, bake bread, cook gourmet snails…how to dress, how to look and act more feminine and make marriage more exciting,” rather than contemplating both the science and feminist theory that truly excites me (Friedan, 15). In this state of perpetual foolishness the future is analyzed from a position of complete pessimism and no matter how often I tell myself “No ones perfect” I can’t seem to abandon the discourse that tells me otherwise. I think I need another drink!

Kelly Mac.

Baudrillard, Jean. The Illusion of the End. pp 1-8.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Norton: NY, 1963. pp 15-32.

Warning: May Cause Insanity

Hello all...

Remember when Heather discussed the possibility of "snapping," due to Post-Modern theory overload, and the possibility of her forgetting to "wear pants" on the bus!! Well... I found a similar example of theory induced craziness. A true testimony to why theory has the potential to make everyone, even respected academics, go insane! I found this little tid bit of information on our friend Louis Althusser on Wikipedia...read on (funny yet very distrubing)!

" On November 16, 1980, Althusser strangled his wife to death. This had been preceded by a period of intense mental instability. The exact circumstances are debated, with some claiming it was deliberate, others accidental. Althusser himself claimed not to have a clear memory of the event. Since he was alone with his wife when she died, it is difficult to come to firm conclusions. Althusser was diagnosed as suffering from diminished responsibility, and he was not tried, but instead committed to the Sainte-Anne psychiatric hospital. Althusser remained in hospital until 1983. Upon release, he moved to Northern Paris and lived reclusively, seeing few people and no longer working, except for producing his autobiography. He died of a heart attack on October 22, 1990 at the age of 72."

Kelly Mac.
P.S Heather this is not my post for the week

Background Creation? I Think so!

First of all, I want to give a shout out to Heather for organizing a great feministeppin competition-it was FANTASTIC!

Ok…on to my real post

The Feministeppin competition was more than a bunch of ladies and one gentlemen (I have not forgotten you John) performing creative and well rehearsed routines but more importantly, an opportunity to challenge patriarchal domination and the subsequent promotion of submissive femininity. With each women studies 320 student stomping and shouting anti-patriarchal messages, Tory breezeway became a space where patriarchy was no longer accepted and instead the message of female mobility and independence heard. Mary Daly’s article Gyn/Ecology defines this dismantling of patriarchy as the creation of the “Background,” a space in which woman identified woman are valued and the “dormant senses,” of those previously repressed by patriarchy, “come alive.”

Thursday night represented the power and potential of taking up space, going against the grain, and the subsequent promotion of an important message. While some individuals passing by gave disapproving glances many stopped and took in the spectacle. It is my hope, that those who stopped experienced the “tactile touch,” the tangible character of each group’s words and actions, and reflected on the destructive nature of patriarchal hegemony. While Baudrillard may argue that presentations like the feministeppin competition hold little power over the masses, already accosted by information constantly, I choose to believe, however, that the stepping routines possessed the ability to encourage anti-patriarchal contemplation, even if only for one onlooker. But hey, maybe I am just an optimist.

Kelly Mac.

Information induced FREAK out!

Right now I am frantically studying for three midterms next week and like Baudrillard’s article discusses, I am bombarded with countless information and facts. My texts books, assignments, the internet, the radio I listen to while studying, and the five o’clock news I catch at dinner all feed me more information than I can possibly swallow. Some days, most days, it feels like information overload and I find myself drawing nearer and nearer to that “snapping point” discussed by Tapley last class. Information is constantly fired at me whether I like it or not; as such, I neutralize myself to everything I see and hear in a necessary effort to prevent an implosion of my senses.

At times like these I truly become part of the mobilized mass, accosted by information at a dizzying rate but choosing to no longer respond to its “tactile touch.” Information is simultaneously accelerating and decelerating and it is this phenomenon that has bred a culture of technological and information literate individuals apathetic to the thousands of fragmented pieces of info presented constantly. Right now I am one of them. I don’t care about anything other than the physiology textbook laying in front of me. I tune out the news, the radio, and all other information-it hits me, bounces off, and I merely keep going. Weeks like these make me ask myself if I am missing the big picutre? What am I really overlooking?

Kelly Mac.

Social Change and Popular Culture

Until I read Popular Culture by John Fisk my understanding of such an idea was skewed and inaccurate. Before my so called “enlightenment,” I defined popular culture as ideas, entertainment, and music enjoyed by the masses, rather than art or discourse “serve[ing] the interests of the people” defined by a “shifting set of social interests” (Fisk, 322). For myself, “popular” described what the social majority enjoyed and valued, a status quo of sorts. In analyzing the Fisk piece, however, it became apparent that my conceptualization of “popular” was really a definition of mass acceptability, what the masses recognize, take pleasure in, and consider worthy of their time and effort. Instead “popular,” as defined by Fisk, functions as a method of revolution in which new ideas and concepts are brought forward, explored, and injected into dominant culture and if successful, accepted by the masses.

Popular culture is generated by what Fisk terms the “people,” those detached or alienated from the majority, and through their revolutionary thinking permanent social change and momentum can be created. It is this introduction of innovative concepts that revitalization of the masses can occur. For example, in the 1950’s white domination and supremacy, as well as racial discrimination was practiced by the social majority; however, it was the ground-breaking ideals of individuals like Martin Luther King that racial equality was introduced and accepted by the social majority. The civil rights movement granted African American rights and freedoms but can also be remembered as a point in history in which popular culture functioned as a source of social inspiration, awakening the masses and creating a niche for new and novel thought. It is my challenge, this week, that those reading this blog (maybe no one) evaluate their own understanding of popular culture and its potentail for social change.

Kelly Mac.

Shared Sensibilites?

I would be lying if I said I fully understood or presently understand the concept of “shared sensibilities” as discussed in Bell Hooks article Postmodern Blackness. After class on Thursday I left with that “did I miss something?” feeling everyone experiences when a concept or idea seems out of their intellectual reach. Never the less, upon retuning home I began reanalyzing these ideas in order to locate some understanding for myself. Subsequently, I came to the realization that “shared sensibilities” is the opportunity in which members of minority racial, religious, and gender communities-all having experienced prejudicial judgements and stereotypes-find unity and strength in the commonality of minority alienation.

Current hip-hop and rap artists like 50-cent and Lil’ Kim, originating from lower-class Black families, are individuals who have found accord in their experiences of poverty, ghettos, alcoholism, and violence. Through their lyrics they capitalize on stereotypes that for generations have told African Americans they are primitive and will never amount to anything other than drug dealers, prostitutes, and poor wage earners. Artists like 50-cent and Lil’ Kim are reappropriating, reclaiming, and exaggerating these stereotype in order to regain their subjectivity while simultaneously makeing a huge profit . Whether you agree or disagree with their lyrical message you can't dispute the impact it has had on both the Balck and White communties in the United States and Canada; their message is powerful and commands atttention and as such cannot be ignored.

Kelly Mac.

You, Me and TV

In analyzing the Adorno and Horkheimer piece, The Cultural Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, it became apparent that television and media aim to alter the social and consumer conscious of viewers. It is this alternation of consciousness that enables the “ruling block,” defined as advertising executives, production companies, and advertisers, to benefit from television programming as it guarantees their product or service a niche within the consumer framework of the viewing audience[1]. While considered, by many, an outlet of enjoyment and pleasure, television is more than an evening escape from the monotony of everyday life. Television is not a “no strings attached” service provided by production companies but rather an industry that centers on profit and, in Marxist terms, the control of the proletariat by the bourgeoisies. TV programming forces the “whole world [to] pass through the filter of the cultural industry;” and as a result, an individual's understanding of their needs for goods, services, and even an answer to the meaning of life is constructed under the hegemonic presence of the ruling elite (Adorno and Horkheimer, 126).

For many, the “cultural industry” as defined by mass media “is the embodiment of authoritative pronouncements” within their lives and the lives of others (Adorno and Horkheimer, 147). How often have we heard ourselves or someone else say “I saw it on television?” Unfortunately, the answer to this question is “too often.” Those living within the western world have come to accept television and film as the sole creator of popular cultural. Within the twenty first century mass media defines an individuals understanding of family, politics, religion, education, and our relationship to the rest of the world by the click of the remote. While this ideological dominance is often an outlet for capitalist ideals, it too provides a positive platform in which negative, stereotypical, and prejudicial attitudes may be challenged and awareness of global concerns made possible. Just think, how much less would you or I know about global events if we could no longer turn on the six o’clock news, pick up a news paper, or go online? Television programming, like any other medium, has benefits and drawbacks and as a result needs to be evaluated and discussed from a critical perspective before any fact is accepted as truth. This week I challenge you to ask the question “What have I accepted as truth as produced, on mass, by the cultural industry today?”

Kelly Mac.

[1] The expression “ruling block” was taken from Dr. Heather Tapleys lecture on the Adorno and Horkheimer article The Cultural Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.

Vision Statement

I have never actually written a Vision Statement before but in pondering this task I remembered the following quote:

This is my Purpose
To make as meaningful as possible
This life that has been bestowed upon me
…to live in such a way
That I may be proud of myself
To act in such a way
That some part of me lives on
-Author Unknown

These words challenge me to post entries that are creative, honest, and critically evaluated. Over the next ten weeks, in response to the readings, discussion, and comments made in Women Studies 320, I will reevaluate and confront my own “beliefs that are taken as “natural” when in fact they perpetuate the status quo, continue the class system of oppression” and patriarchal domination that permeates western culture today (White, 165). It is my hope, through the creation of this Blog, that my thoughts and ideas may “serve as a springboard for subversive [feminist] thought” and will be an encouragement for others to do the same (Cixous, 337).

Kelly Mac.

Sources:
The Laugh of the Medusa, Helene Cixous

Ideological Analysis and Television, Mimi White