fAituar has 14 post(s)

We all have emotions and Sarah Ahmed in the article “Affective Economies” discusses how these emotions affects us as people and individuals. She examines how different emotions and feelings occur and how they make us do or think different things that sometimes can lead to unpleasant conclusion. On the other hand, good feelings and emotions can lead to resolution of some problems we face every day. Although, Sara Ahmed begins her article with a description of how the emotion of “hate” occurs towards people who are different. She says that hatred occurs not because someone thinks that the other one is different but because it threatens one’s stability in life. We as readers understand that Ahmed is making a parallel to a modern day problem in society of a certain country. She adds that these emotions lead to loathing and it becomes unstoppable because after a certain point this conviction that someone is bad cannot be changed.

Ahmed talks about immigrants also, she discusses that white people fell a certain negative emotion because immigrants come to their country and they take away their jobs and threaten their “purity” in a way. However, from the immigrants stand point, they probably don’t share “white people” opinion because they have their own problems to solve and threatening people is not in their agenda. Ahmed then goes to discuss the feeling of fear and that it always leads to some thoughtless actions. Thus, different emotions can make one’s life either better or worse. And, we as people are driven by emotions every single day. Our feelings and beliefs make us  create examples of caricatures of what is considered bad or good. So, we create images of a bad immigrant or a dangerous convict. It’s all in our head and it is hard to think logically and not be driven by emotions.

Ever since 9/11 the war on terrorism has become a crucial topic in our society. Government started spending billions of dollars to fight the war. Radical Muslim movements became a reason for the government to continue funding different military campaigns. However not all Muslim people should be blamed. There is a saying that there are no bad nations, there are bad individuals.

In the article “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving” by Lila Abu-Lughod discuses that media has a big influence on people’s opinion. Although, as Lila Aby-Lughod states media does not really discuses the crucial topic in understanding Muslim women, culture and especially beliefs. Lila also adds media gave a different representation of this war on terror. Somehow it became a question of saving and liberating. Media mostly concentrated on villainous Muslim terrorist but it does not really mention regular people who try to survive in this war. However, later on media started concentrating on Muslim women and on their culture. Muslim women were correspondingly used to justify the countless bombings. The reasoning behind it was simple because US government wanted to liberate women from the homes and give them an opportunity to be women and not fell afraid of punishment by Muslim men. Somehow, the war on terrorism turned into a fight for women’s rights. The reason was almost the same as it was before in a previous three hundred years that was used by colonizers. As we remember first colonizers, who stumbled upon indigenous people, wanted to “civilize them.” The similarity is pretty obvious. More privileged people want to make other’s people’s lives “better” even though not everybody wants that or even need that.

However, in the beginning of twenty first century countless lives were taken away. In addition to that, in the article we see that not everyone needs saving because even after rescuing women from Taliban control, women still decided to keep their burqas. Thus, the rescuing missions probably did not worth it since Muslim women strongly believe in their culture and beliefs.

In Amelia Cabezas article, “Between Love and Money,” she discuses important questions of a tourism, economics, sexuality and prostitution in Cuba and Dominican Republic. In the past twenty years Cuba and Dominican Republic had a major change in their political and economical systems. Before the change, however, these two countries were more closed and inaccessible.  However, in the end of twentieth century Cuba and Dominican Republic had to adapt to the new world order. So, tourism had become one of the main source of revenue for these countries.

Tourism was a way to go because Cuba and Dominican Republic have very beautiful nature and they are surrounded by water. So, economical systems of these two countries are very dependent on the endless waves of tourists coming to towns. Although, the decision to adapt and to be dependent on tourism had some drawbacks for native people who have to live and sustain themselves there. The author discusses that the regular tourism quickly turned to the “sex tourism.” Tourist would come to a Cuba or Dominican Republic and they would have a choice of exploiting prostitution. According to Cabezas, the government does not really mind the prostitutions in the tourist areas. It is also possible to say and assume that the government supports the “sex tourism” since the economy of both Cuba and Dominican Republic fully depend on those type of income. Cabezas also discusses the concept of citizenship and relationship. Sometimes through the process of “sex tourism” people made relationship and it could lead to the gain a certain citizenship in a certain country. Thus, trough their sexuality “sex workers” could support themselves and their families and there was always a possibility of migration, if relationships with a tourist were genuine.

Also from the interviews in the article we can conclude that people in Cuba and Dominican Republic were not against “sex tourism” because it could lead them to a better life even though they had to make a lot of sacrifices along the way. It threatened their sexuality and identity but they still continued this practice.

The article “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?” Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi discusses the global economical systems that exist in the world and how it affects different counties. Economics play a huge role in people’s lives because the economical instability in certain countries forces people to migrate.

Global migration was going for almost three hundred years. People leave their homelands in a search of a better place and a better pay. This is a reasoning behind migrations. People are always looking for a comfort place to live. However, this articles explores a more darker side of the migration because it goes dipper into people’s lives as a migrant individuals. Mainly this article focuses on women and sacrifices they had to make in order to achieve what the were looking for. As authors stated women had to leave their homes, relatives and children, so they could leave to another country and work there. Daughters left hometowns and travelled to north in a search of a better pay. Most available jobs were in the home care. So, basically women could find jobs only as caretakers or nanny’s. At this point another discussion starts by the authors because women were looking after children of their employers and not their own. Unfortunately, children, who were left in third world countries, were left without mothers and sometimes children would even forget their mothers. Thus, women, who left, had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to provide for their families. We can also make a parallel with a time of slavery, when slave women had to take care of children of their masters.

In case of “the commons” the migration of women disrupts this whole concept. According to the authors “the commons” concept is based on a community that works on sharing and helping each other. However, this concept does not work if one crucial detail is missing. That detail is a model of mother and motherhood. Thus, everything comes down to the economical system of the world. If every third world country would be as developed as a first world country, in economical and financial way, then the need for migration would disappear. People wouldn’t have a need to migrate in a search of a better pay because they would be satisfied with what the get in their homelands.

It is very hard to share the experience of when I felt like an outsider. Of course, as every individual I felt that feeling and it is not a pleasant one. We as individuals need people around us because it is completely impossible to live like a lone wolf. Even wolves live in packs. So, the feeling of being left alone is a very strong feeling and it evokes different kinds of emotions. In my case I felt like an outsider was when me and my family moved to Moscow.

However before that I need to give a little backstory. Originally I’m from country called Kazakhstan and this country is known for its friendliness to other people from other nationalities. There are about one hundred and twenty different nationalities that live in my country right now. Since childhood we are taught to respect others and respect their customs. So, at the age of twelve me and my family moved to Moscow and it was completely different experience. I will not say that Russia is racist to other people and I will not imply that because it is dissuasion for another day. However, I started to first feel like an outsider when I went to a new school. Kids were not very glad to see me so there was a special kind of oppression. It was based just on the understanding that I look different, that I’m Asian even though Kazakhstan is partly in Europe and I’m a mix between European and Asian. So, there was an oppression on race and it was simply a discrimination. Even my parents, as they said me later, experienced it on work in some way.

Thus, these kinds of oppressive experiences perhaps make us stronger and more aware of these problems. In addition, Patricia Hill-Clinton mentions it too. Her understanding of this, I believe, is very simple and true. She states that these experiences bond us together and it does not matter where we come from and who we are.

In the chapter called “Periodization” Michael Foucault talks about the technology of sex and how it has progressed thought out different centuries. As Foucault explains before nineteenth century themes of sex and sexuality were connected to church and it was controlled by religious people in power. Sex was still considered a sin and it was still a restricted topic to talk about. Foucault also stated that there was a new technology of sex. He additionally classified these technologies into three categories such as education, medicine and economics.

Education as he stated had a function of teaching people and especially children in sexuality. Since education played a huge role in this new technology, people have been exposed to the different aspect of sexuality. In addition, children were also under control of adults. Then, medicine had a role in this technology and mostly as Foucault explained it had roots in women’s physiology. After that the demography also was a part of this new of technology of sex. Demography had maybe the most crucial part because society had to understand how to regulate and establish the birth control. All these aspects forced people to hide their sexuality and put stop talking about it. However, with a turn of a new century things started to get different, “mutated” as Foucault suggested. Technology of sex started to shape up and new subcategories appeared. Medicine divided into two parts with medicine of sex and body. So, people became more aware since everything kind of become clear. Education and economics also changed into a different testimonial.

Foucault also added that sex was repressed and people were led into obscurity with sex. Privileged people and bourgeoisie wanted to contain sex and prevent people from economical and demographical development. And, there were religious people who did not want people to understand that sex was not a sin because they would lose their power. Under this circumstances, sex was subjugated and controlled the society of people in power.

Michael Foucault discusses the concept of sex and sexuality throughout the ages. It is interesting how sex was used to control people and make them suspicious or frightened. Especially at the times when church and religion had a huge effect on people’s lives. Since sex was considered a sin, people were worried by the idea that they have sinned. Foucault also pointed out how society and the way of life made the topic of sex controversial. People don’t usually discuss sex and sexuality in depth, so most of the time this topic stays clandestine. Everybody knows about it but nobody speaks. Different regimes also change people’s opinions on certain aspects of sexuality. If we go back and compare how people discussed sex in early seventeenth century or any other century and how they discuss it now, we can clearly see that the societies’ understanding of this topic have changed. Nowadays people discuss sex and sexuality very openly because it is something that every individual should know. Especially, when it comes to sexual education. Although, the topic of sex was not so openly discussed in the past and it even became taboo in some parts of the world.

Most of the time sex and sexuality topics were suppressed. Sex was repressed and with it people’s right to have pleasure was also taken away. It was probably used as a power of control over people. Since they took away the pleasure then people would do anything to get it back. In addition to that more censorships and taboos appeared that could prohibit anything so people would end up only with something that their higher authority would want them to have. I believe that all this comes down to control of people. I might be wrong but many clues show that prohibition of sex and framing it as something unnatural, authorities gained their power.

Q1. Were there people at that time who thought that sex and sexuality was not a sin and It was normal to talk about it?

Q2. What was the moment when the modern understanding of sexuality emerged?

Bell Hook’s, in her writing piece “Eating the Other,” describes the relationships between different races. The interactions between different races is interesting and sometimes may be disturbing. For instance, if we go back in past, white people used and abused people of different races. Now, in a present Hook’s says that young people want to transcend the old ways and be open to new ways. However, it is not always that simple. If we look at the example she gave us about white guys who want to have interactions with females from different races, in a way it is still the intervention into their lives. Regarding to the “others” concept, I believe Bell Hook meant people of different races, cultures and genders.

She often uses the world “others” in her text, it might be an approach to show how different people are. Her relationship to it, I believe, is very strong because she tries to educate people on what is right and what is wrong. If everybody would go with a right route, then we would have probably lived in a more respectful society because everybody would understand the value of an individualism. In addition, “other” might also mean an individual because we are all different with our own beliefs and principals. Plus, people usually do not like when someone tries to change our beliefs our influence us somehow. In the example mentioned before, white guys want to influence girls of different races because for them it is some soft of a challenge to become someone new. Although, it is not always a good thing to do because it is very disrespectful to others.

Thus, I believe Hook’s meaning of the “others” is simple. “Others” are people who are just different and being different is normal. Hopefully in the future, people would not pay a lot of attention to where you came from and who you are and instead they would focus on your individuality.

After reading the first chapter of C.J. Pascoe book, I started to think how society dictates the way men and women have to behave in life. In the skit, that was the beginning of the book, Pascoe, as I understood, tried to show how people think and how there are determined to believe in a cultural norm created by society. If we take the subject of masculinity and sexuality and try to apply it in one person’s life. So we probably can see how parents, teachers and other people have an influence on one’s life.

In childhood, parents often decide to buy a blue colored clothes for a boy and pink colored clothes for a girl. In some families’ boys are taught to be brave and fearless and being strong and girls are taught to be care full, hospitable and kind. On the other hand, some other families give their child a right for a self-discovery. Little boy or a girls decide for themselves how and who the want to be. However as soon as a child gets to a school, the situations changes completely. Sometimes teachers take too much responsibility and try to tell a child who they have to be. A child is exposed to other children around him or her. In school a child interacts with other children and it brings some understanding what his or her place is. In case of boys they understand what it means to stand up for himself because conflicts always happen in the school environment. Thus, masculinity topic ascents. Sexuality begins with interactions between both genders. Teachers also play a huge part in this because they can explain these topics to the students. In the outside world adolescents are exposed to media, which often shows them who they need to be. Sometimes it’s a good thing, if there is a very good role model. However, other times media can give a bad influence and a bad role model. Thus I believe that parents, school and the environment plays  a huge role in defining masculinity and sexuality for girls and boys.

In all the reading that we made, I believe the most prominent topic was probably the motherhood. This particular concept of maternity was always in flux and changing. At some moment of time and some places of the world the concept of motherhood did not exist. On the other hand, and another part of the world motherhood was used as a tool to grow future labor force. Some other times motherhood was used just to stop the growth of women.

In Morgan’s work reader can clearly see that the concept of motherhood didn’t really take place in some tribes all over the world. Child birth was considered as something monstrous. As travelers stated they were shocked that these savage women gave birth with ease and no pain at all. In addition, the birth was in front of everyone and travelers were shocked at their absence of shame and dignity. So, these tribal women did not really care for their children and the concept of motherhood was nonexistent for them. On the contrary, in Davis’s work we can recognize that the concept of motherhood was very strong between women. Especially motherhood was solid in slave communities. Motherhood was used as a tool to grow a new labor force. Slave women were always afraid that some master would be able to take away a child to sell him or her to other master. However, the concept of mother hood quickly changed in nineteen century. . The capitalism era began with a bad sign for women because jobs were occupied with men in factories. Women could not find any jobs so they had to stay home. Degradation of women had a huge impact in women’s rights because even nowadays women have to stay home and take care of children and a husband.

The concept of motherhood had gone through a long process of struggle and misrepresentation. It took different forms and meanings. Some considered it unnatural and others thought it was a limitation.