fem media individual blog

I watched a documentary the other day in The History of the Body. We watched “Southern Comfort,� centering on a FTM man during his final year with terminal ovarian cancer.

The film raises a lot of gender issues, and a lot of social stigma issues. Robert, the main focus in the film, passes very easily…so easily that he is invited to a KKK meeting by men he meets in a bar.

Robert’s girlfriend, Lola is a very different person. Lola identifies as Lola; yet, when she works, she works as John, the persona she was before she came out. I believe this was because she hasn’t come out to her clients yet, and it was just easier to avoid that conversation for the time being.

At any rate, I think that the documentary says a lot about what it is to create media in a queer subculture. It is important to look at who the filmmaker is, what their slant may be. It is also important to look at what tidbits the filmmaker includes.

I think that by including the two tidbits I included above speak to this. It seems to me that in trans culture, the idea of passing fully is sometimes what it takes to be considered “real.� Yet, I know that Susan Stryker, in her “Frankenstein� piece, points out the problem with gender and this idea that you have to identify with one side of the binary to be complete.

The goal of the film, in my perspective, was to empathies with the exclusion of transsexual persons, to tell the story of Robert’s ironic form of cancer, to show transgender persons as human, to show the social difficulties that prevented Robert from receiving treatment, among other things.

I wonder, though, if the juxtaposition of Lola and Robert meant something in the eyes of the filmmaker. The fact that Lola is shown, not fully transitioned, next to Robert, who probably couldn’t pass as a woman if he dressed in drag is very pertinent in my opinion. I see that as a forerunning piece of the film, and trans culture, from the little I know without actually experiencing it.

I just think it is something to think about here. The eye of the filmmaker is so important. What the filmmaker chooses to empathize with affects what the viewer empathizes with…

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Lindsay Lohan is the new Marylin Monroe? Apparently.

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In compiling the works of a number of women artists into one book, Diane Neumaier, editor of “Reframings: New American Feminist Photographies,� sought to create a feminist project that would showcase the works of feminist artists and, as such, share theories of feminist representations, critique various modes of feminist art, and reach out to more feminists to project their perspectives through the medium of art and creative display. Neumaier compiled the book before it became commonplace to access the works of various artists in such a way and with similar aims in one place online, through sites dedicated to such specific aims as “Reframings.� As such, “Reframings� becomes a source for aspiring artists, students, and feminists to uncover the work of a wide variety of women artists, and assists in the construction and understanding of various theories and practices of feminist art.

Similar themes reemerge throughout the various subcategories of the book. Because the focus of “Reframings� is feminist art, a great deal of the work represented focus on a gender study. Within many of the subcategories, an analysis of gender portrayal comes to the fore. Further, and similarly, identity plays a huge role in shaping many of the works. The third chapter, titled “Identity Formations,� focuses on just that. Many of the themes that run through the chapter are self identity, and the rejection of a particular projected identity. An example of this is a photograph shown in class of two women mimicking the exercises on a “Buns of Steel� video. In the image, the two women are copying exactly what is depicted on the television screen, and as such, the piece works to critique with mockery the ways in which the women are playing into social expectations on a number of levels; they are exercising to duplicate the image of an idealized body, but they are also shown as puppets with little agency, who imitate directly the performances of media images.
There are other examples of gender studies throughout the book, as well. These examples show the traditional matriarchic role of women within the private sphere, for example Margaret Stratton’s works which focus on the gendered pieces that constitute her mother’s home in Chapter Two. Further, themes such as race and sexuality based marginalization emerge in various pieces, speaking about the constraints constructed by a heteronormative society and a society in which whiteness is the overarching determining factor for who is granted the right to look and to speak, regardless of any effort to earn or deserve the privilege. Art provides a medium wherein women of color or queer sexualities are able to express their identities and be noticed, at least in a compilation like this. I cannot go so far as to say that the art world is a more accepting place for deviant identities than academia, literature, or any other outlet. We have already looked into the work and purpose of the Guerilla Girls, and their efforts to reveal the underrepresentation of women and artists of color in museums. However, efforts such as “Reframings,� and with the increasing use of technology and the internet to construct forums online and websites devoted to the focus on women artists to go even as narrow as only a theme of one particular chapter to a site, seem to be a useful means of putting the work of these artists on display, allowing their art to be studied and analized, so that the messages they seek to portray are heard and used to invoke some degree of social change and perhaps greater social acceptance.
A true benefit of the organization and collaboration of “Reframings� is that, by compiling the artistic techniques of so many women artists in one place, with such similar themes resonating throughout, it is easier to find a technique that meshes with individual personality. It provides a great deal from which to learn and from which to draw in one’s own artwork.
I think it is beneficial to look at the various approaches represented in “Reframings,� in order to find a method that works with your own message. The themes of these women are applicable to so many others. Identity is a personal and sometimes difficult thing to represent. A compilation such as this is a good starting point; it is a place wherein feminists can turn to find methods that speak to the messages they seek to produce and present to an audience. I think a lot of the issues presented by the feminist artists in this compilation are issues that are seen in feminist theory over and over again. However, I think that producing and reproducing the same themes in various mediums is an important way to reach out to different and diverse audiences. To study the work of various artists who utilize different techniques, and to study the apparent fearlessness with which they make their statements is an important and beneficial means for amateurs to garner courage and creative technique, as well as ideas about issues that they/we may want to produce for ourselves, is to benefit the ways in which we grow as artists and feminists ourselves. For myself, the gender representations are striking, and I would like to learn more about depict the ways in which gender barriers have shaped my life.

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I am interning for Sen. Moua this semester. I interviewed, and accidentally ran into Sen. Anderson’s legislative assistant, with whom I was concurrently setting up an interview. Long story short, I did both interviews in one visit. Long self-analysis short, I don’t know how to say “no.� I blame it on the fact that my class was the only year to be denied D.A.R.E. when I was in elementary school. Or wait, I think I read somewhere that dare has an adverse affect… Hmm…

Anyway, I digress. I agreed to the first internship. The internship with Senator Anderson involved more research than legislative experience, which is more of what I am looking for. However, her research is really interesting. I agreed to work in part, during low times, on that as well.

Sen. Anderson is working on legislation regarding health affects of cosmetics. There is a website:

cosmeticdatabase.com

wherein you can enter the product you use, and locate the risk factor. I wanted to post it here, because if people do read it, cosmetics are primarily—not by any means entirely—a women’s issue. The problem is that companies are not required to list all ingredients, so that they can keep “secret ingredients� secret.

I also watched Showcase Minnesota one day, and a woman was discussing the amount of lead a woman consumes annually as a result of wearing certain lipsticks. Things like this I take for granted. But, I think it is definitely important that women know what they are putting on their skin, their scalps, their nails, their eyes, their mouths…

California already passed legislation to monitor the cosmetic industry at a state level. That is what Sen. Anderson is working for. In my opinion, the Senator’s, and I’m sure many others, it would be most impactful at the federal level. I think the state is a decent place to start, of course! But check out the site and look into your products. Spread the word. Information is such a strong tool, and I think it is such an important thing to utilize and share. Especially when it can be costing women’s lives.

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