fJanely has 11 post(s)

Sara Ahmed discusses in her article “Affective Economies,” her own explanation to emotions and how people create them. She also discusses how the littlest outside factors can effect ones emotions about something. She begins by stating different examples of “hate” that are common in the United States like a white man scowling at a mixed race couple or a farmer furious that the government loans billions of dollars to foreigners when he can’t get a loan to save his farm and she names this love. This gives a perfect example of what she explains in her article, which is that hate is not really hate. The hate is not based on the subject but it comes from within the person that expresses it. That because they love something so much, whatever interferes with what they love they express anger towards them. This anger can be effected by other smaller problems that build up to hate and soon enough anyone that even comes close to what they hate for example being the same race, having similar looks, religion, or even names become a part of it. Sara Ahmed tells that hate is made from within the person and move outwards onto people, things, places, or anything. She similarly addressed her explanation to fear. Fear is not actually being afraid of something but it is a way of avoiding something much bigger that the person themselves might not really notice. Fear of a certain object is supposed to be the symptom of what you actually fear. For example she includes that Hans had a fear of horses which is actually replacing his fear of castration (125). For the fears replacing the real fear can be managed but is kept because their real fear can’t be managed. Ahmed argues that emotions are all within ourselves and the subject of our emotions is not the problem but only the victim.

In Lila Abu-Lughod’s work, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving” she explains how the culture of Muslim people are judged and used as an excuse for the United States to intervene in Afghanistan problems and try to take over or control them. She explains how Americans have created this idea that the way people are treated or act here is the way everyone should be treated in other countries. Muslim women in their countries are fighting for rights because they are constantly oppressed and seen as inferior which brings up ideas of whether they need assistance in order to change their situation. In reality these problems are recognized but nothing is done about it as it is only used as an excuse to get involved. Through a different perspective Abu-Lughod also argues that just because the people of Afghanistan are used to different customs and traditions it doesn’t mean that they need “saving”. In Afghanistan many women are covered from head to toe which they have been used to for years and it is very symbolic in their culture. The difference are not a cry for help which Abu-Lughod is trying to et across. Instead of judging cultural differences and using them against the people we should accept them. These differences have been used to make Afghans seem like bad people who are often blamed for any terrorism in America. For example after 9/11, muslims have been widely blamed for the attack and from then on for many more. Although, from the outside Afghan women may seem like they need help, according to the United Stated their religious beliefs and cultural preferences are not a cry for help. Abu-lughod also includes that Muslim women are able to teach their daughters, express themselves, and have gained many rights without being afraid of punishments.

In the book Between Love and Money by Amalia L. Cabezas, we learn that in places like Cuba and Dominican Republic, who struggle economically throughout their country, they turn to their most valuable possession in order to increase financially. In this case tourism would be their most prized possession being that their countries are beautiful and attract many people from much richer countries who love to travel. The people of these countries relied on tour related jobs in order to make a better income and it was mostly what they relied on to feed their families. Eventually the people found a way to increase their income and hopefully find a way to move to a better country. The people started rely more on sex tourism since it was more popular and it allowed them to establish relationships with the tourists. Men and women both participated as sex workers in order to establish relationships with people from richer countries in hopes of finding a way to gain citizenship in these countries or in other cases to find romance. Sex tourism is the act of traveling to other countries with less restrictions on prostitution and other sexual activities in order to take advantage of the lack of laws. As income started to increase through this type of tourism police officers and the government turned a blind eye since it was beneficial to the country. Although many knew that this was being done in order to raise their income and obtain other benefits women were still judged. It was unapproved for women to do this since women in these countries were not allowed to express sexuality in any way. On the other hand for men it was okay. Other than women people of darker complexion were also oppressed. They are stereotyped and incarcerated if they happen to appear to be sex workers. Sex tourism had definitely caused complications between citizenship and nationality because it is used as a way to leave their country and shows the true struggle of the people to make a decent income.

A time in which I was treated as an outsider was when I was in high school I had joined the junior varsity volleyball team in high school. I had felt like an outsider because the high school I attended was predominantly white people school. Being a Mexican I knew I was a minority and that fitting in wasn’t so easy. I had a diverse group of friends in the school but the team was mostly made up of tall white girls. They were always with each other in a group and I had initially joined the team with one of my best friends who was Puerto Rican but she had quit. It was difficult fitting in at times though they were nice to me they wouldn’t include me in events outside of the team while the rest of the team was invited. Eventually I made friends with other people who also were not in their group. Patricia Hill Collins in her essay “Learning from the Outsiders Within” states how these oppressive experiences can give us a lot to learn from. If we look at these experiences in a new light we can learn how by being exposed to this sort of treatments make us stronger and help us find ways of dealing and fighting against these forms of oppression. Instead of giving in and changing our habits in order to avoid the stereotypes, we should embrace it and use it to our advantage. Collins gives an example of this by using the stereotype that is targeted against black women about them being too assertive and not feminine enough. These statements are often used to oppress them but Collin says how instead black women should use their assertiveness to get what they need. By embracing these stereotypes that are meant to put us down we can gain confidence, learn how to deal with these issues, and learn to value oneself.

In part four chapter four of Foucault’s text he brings up the “technology of sex” which he explains to be the transformation of the treatment of sex through the centuries. By the “technology of sex” Foucault means that the discussion of sex has stepped out into the spotlight. People are asking more questions, being more open about it and to the extent that the state is even involved in it. Through pedagogy, medicine, and economics sex had stopped being a private manner and become something that should be discussed. Foucault also states that sex had stop being mostly about religion in which it was almost treated as a sin. No one was to talk about it, it was supposed to stay in the dark and was only to be known by the two people in the relationship. In the chapter he says that it had been put under surveillance and that new questions and research of the topic expanded in three areas. It opened questions of of child sexuality, in medicine how it functioned particularly in women and its relation to birth. For centuries sex had been repressed and no one was to talk about it since it was viewed as a sin. Foucault calls it the technology of sex since during this time from the 18th century to the 19th century it was really being explored and made better by better understanding it. I believe that since technology is always something that it explored to help our world Foucault relates it to sex in this way. I believe that it is important to bring this subject into the light and that it should not be avoided by the people. To help us understand it he writes about the different ways it was explored and how the state went about handling it.

Bell Hooks introduces the idea of “the other” in her essay “Eating the other” as people of different races, cultures, and ethnicity than oneself. She talks about people who look for “the other” in order to discover new experiences and know about different sexual pleasures of different racial groups. In the essay we are informed that different races have different experiences during sex and that many times people look for different partners of different backgrounds in order to try something new. In the beginning we’re told about a group of white men talking about different partners they would like to conquer and the main priority were Asians because they were easy and blacks were a must on the list. It is understood that if someone has been with not only multiple people but of different backgrounds that they are looked up to because of more experience. Hooks also informs us that by men openly expressing their interest in women of color that they are considered more masculine to other people. This is because it shows their openness and their acceptance in other people that are not of their own race. This dilemma is also most common in white people since they are seen as the “original” race and everyone else are the different, exotic ones. It seems that “the otherness” is mostly a way for white people to diversify their lives and it is portrayed through magazines, movies, and all sorts of advertisement. For example, in the movie hairspray the main characters break boundaries by dancing with black people and therefore making them more liked by viewer by showing they are different and accepting of other races. Hooks also writes about the photo shoot in Egypt that barely focus on the Egyptian people, but mainly on their land and the white people visiting. Showing us how Whites desire diversity yet still want to be distinguished as better or “the others” be distinguished as not good enough. So they blurred them out of the photos to establish this.

C.J Pascoe discusses how society easily affects topics concerning sexual identity, gender roles, and being able to talk comfortably about these feelings even when they are a large part of a teenagers life. Especially during high school where many students are trying to find themselves and fit in. Teachers and fellow students are imposing roles on people and many times they may not notice or students might follow them in order to fit in. Pascoe initiates the argument of the staff and students affect on gender and sexuality at River High by first informing the us about the skit that the students perform. The skit is about two nerds who are very feminine and are taken advantage of by tough masculine gangsters. The students go through intense training and shed their feminine attributes in order to get their girlfriends back. Throughout the skit since the two boys where first feminine in their dance moves and voices it cause people to laugh at these non gender norms. The nerds also show that they must be masculine in order to be accepted and taken serious. Gender roles are imposed on us since the moment we’re born and if it someone expresses themselves outside of these norms they’re hushed or people may try to “correct” them. Pascoe also tells about the proposal she makes for River High concerning certain interviews she’d like to conduct at the school. Right away the principal told Pascoe that he was concerned about the gender and sexuality questions (Pascoe 28). This shows how students aren’t encouraged to talk about these things because they may make others uncomfortable. Pascoe also includes how one student laughed at the thought of students being questioned about their sexual behavior. Discussions on sexuality is to be avoided at schools and as pascoe says, disruptive.

Both Morgan and Davis portray the concept of Labor and enslaved women similarly in both their writings. Labor was only to be done by slaves including field work and house work. In Davis’ work she tells how women were degraded to the point where there were no difference in gender between the men and women. Both were used for the same work and seen as equals since the women were said to have muscular bodies. The purpose of the women was to tend to the field and the slave owners, same as the men. Davis mentions that the women would only become wives, mothers,and homemakers by accident. They were used solely for work or as breeder in which their children were either sold or used in order to make a bigger profit. The black women’s body was not seen as feminine by the europeans making them “useful” for various types of labor compared to men. Slaveowners actually preferred women over men or even animals because they were used as breeders to increase slave labor and they were able to work in the field, cook, sew, and more. In Morgans book the same idea that black women are not feminine and better used as workers because of their muscular traits is shown. The women were seen as productive and reproductive getting many uses out of one slave. Morgan explains how the women’s breast would hang so low when they would reach down to do their field work it looked as if they had multiple legs. She further explains that this showed the only things that the slave women were good for, which was bearing children and working in the fields. The women were much preferred over the men that they made up fifty percent of the slave workers as Davis informs us. The way the white men saw the black women’s bodies were the reason the women were subjected to this type of treatment. They were unattractive and unfeminine putting them in the same category as male workers.

Economic and political conditions caused many changes in women’s lives since they were often not thought of causing problems to arise in their everyday lives. Since women were never considered in anything it showed how much they were degraded through many decades. In the 17th century after the transition to capitalism caused prices to rise causing inflationary.At the same time wages were collapsing endangering many people, mostly women. People began to fight this by protesting and getting violent, known as the price revolution. Women were mostly affected by the conditions because they didn’t have easy access to money and men would easily take their jobs (Federici 92). Women were actually more concerned with difficultly to obtain food because they were the ones in charge of feeding their families making them feel responsible. This created a feeling of guilt that caused many women to protest. There were instances in which some of the riots consisted of only women. The price of food was so expensive that it had gone up eight times while the people’s wages had only gone up three times, barely keeping up and causing starvation (Hackett Fischer 1996:74, Ferderici 86). Women would see their children die of starvation and over time became violent. Women usually have that strong connection with their children where they would do anything to protect them. Federici told how in desperate times like this women and men came together to ambush food carts and steal sacks of food. Desperate times showed how it was the only time when men would team up with women because they were suffering too, but if it was only women not much would change. Diets were also very poor consisting of mainly bread and not much else. Food became such a big concern that many were believed to do dark ceremonies in attempts to get food. Food was so scarce and it is unbelievable that many women who didn’t have jobs or good pay survived.

In chapter three Davis tells us about the difficult journey of the women’s right movement. She compares gender, race, and class throughout the entire chapter showing how these different characteristics go hand in hand, but at the time many people refused to see it. Women began to fight for equality in education, the working field, and not be seen or treated as prizes men keep at home. Same as African American woman fought for education, the ability to obtain better jobs, and a voice. Through they fought for many of the same rights black women were rarely involved in protests or meetings in the beginning. Davis is showing us that race, gender, and class are a big divider between the people, but the fight for rights and equality unite the people.
In the London Convention as Davis mentions women were allowed to attend but were ultimately silenced allowing them only to watch, but two men William Lloyd Garrison along with Charles Remond, refused to take their seats and participate igniting the start of the women’s movements.Davis tells about the Grimke sisters who had noticed the lack of black woman in anti-slavery societies and said that they should be addressed in the convention. It was not until the Seneca Falls Convention that the people realized that no matter the color of their skin, both black and white people were fighting for equality, education, better working conditions and so on.After the Seneca Falls Convention Davis informs us that a Convention in Philadelphia invited black and white women and Lucretia Mott attended. Later on the first Women’s right convention was held in Massachusetts where people of any race can attend and both white and black women gave their speeches. At the convention was sojourner truth who spoke up against men. Davis writes about Sojourner Truth’s powerful speech and how she proved she, as well as a lot of women, were never pampered and worked just as hard as men in order to get what she wanted in life. Also with a lot of oppression from her peers Sojourner Truth fought that her fight for equality was no different from that of the white women. Lastly Davis tells about how Elizabeth Cady Staton and Susan B. Anthony attempted to unite the people by protesting that all rights be given to both women and African Americans showing the unity of the two groups in order to accomplish their goal of equality.