Author: Marea

I chose to watch the game, Gone Home. I initially did not understand how the game was played but quickly caught on. It didn’t feel like a game to me. It was more like an interactive audio book. I liked it. There was a lot going on in the game. Dad had lost his primary source of income and had shut down from his wife. He wasn’t talking to her and she was sharing her concerns with her friend. What I did notice is that everyone wrote letters and barely talked. The silence and lack of communication made me think of Lorde’s statement in. Audre Lorde (1977), “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”, “And I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. That the speaking profits me, beyond any other effect.”(p. 40). Dad wasn’t speaking about what was not speaking about what was important to him. Mom was not speaking of what was important to her. And Sam was not speaking of what was important to her. However, she did talk to her parents (even at the risk of hiving it bruised or misunderstood) after all her parent’s told her “You are not old enough to know what you want!” “It’s just a phase!” It is my belief that a lot of people who live a life differently from the “norm” silently go through what Sam was going through within her home. Sam didn’t quite know what she was feeling initially but she knew it was something different. She knew her parents did NOT understand what she was going through. The parents, as many of us parents are, think that it’s a phase and are in denial about what is right before our eyes. They didn’t want to accept that their daughter was not who they wanted her to be.

When Sam started at the new school. She introduced herself to everyone and told where she lives. There was a crumbled up letter from one of the other students, that made me think of Notes on a Sociology of Bullying by CJ Pascoe. Pascoe says, “Young people get bullied for a variety of reasons.” (p. 90). The fact that Sam lived in the “creepy house” began the bullying but as she and Lonnie began their relationship and Sam stated “everyone at school knows about us” and “Lonnie stood up for her at school” made me think that the bullying continued because of their relationship.

Lonnie and Sam’s relationship made me think of Kathleen Hanna (1991), “Riot Girl Manifesto” “BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock “you can do anything” idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours.”

Lonnie reminded me of Bikini Kill (1993), Rebel Girl and she was Sam’s Role Model from the song. I also felt that Sam and her parent’s relationship was strained and she expressed herself well in her creative writing. Sam’s story of Captain Allegra and her First Mate (Lonnie) made me think of X-Ray Spex (1977), “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” Throughout the game, there were glimpses of Women heros and leaders and she was fighting against patriarchy.

I thought about when bell hooks said in ,“Feminism is For Everybody”, “To end patriarchy (another way of naming the institutionalized sexism) we need to be clear that we are all participants in perpetuating sexism until we change our minds and hearts, until we let go of sexist thought and action and replace it with feminist thought and action.” (ix). Sam’s writing about Captain Allegra was her way of fighting for feminist rights. Women couldn’t be heroes or leaders.

Sam’s journal entry about “I don’t get Lonnie” was interesting because although Lonnie was rebellious, she was also willing to allow herself to follow the rules and authority to be in the military. For a second, I thought Sam was contemplating suicide because she couldn’t imagine her life without Lonnie and I thought of Sam as a Damsel in Distress but her writing was all about women in Power.

In the end, Sam followed her heart. Sam cared for herself. Audre Lorde says in “Thought of Self-Care as an Act of Political Warfare, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” She didn’t keep silent, she spoke her truth verbally. Sam spoke her truth in writing, and she followed her heart. She stood her ground. In her creative writing, she showed that WOMEN can be leaders and whatever and whoever they want to be!

I’m not quite sure as to what I am going to research. I am thinking about the Queer Umbrella, Drag Culture, or exploring more about the Damsel in Distress in video games and television.

What can I say about this weeks assignment? As a black woman in America, the first thing I’d like to say is THANK YOU. The readings and music resonated with me as a woman because I am that woman. While reading and listening to the music as well as playing the game, I’ve been that woman in some capacity. I have tried to take a different perspective in this reading in that I want to tie in the readings, music, and game but I’d also like to hit on something that I totally did not understand or maybe need to discuss more. So here we go….

(1977), “The Combahee River Collective Statement.” What caught my eye?? I highlighted and starred so many statements in this entire reading but I focused more on sections 1. The genesis of Contemporary Black Feminism “There is also undeniably a personal genesis for Black Feminism, that is, the political realization that comes from the seemingly personal experiences of individual Black women's lives. Black feminists and many more Black women who do not define themselves as feminists have all experienced sexual oppression as a constant factor in our day-to-day existence. As children we realized that we were different from boys and that we were treated differently. For example, we were told in the same breath to be quiet both for the sake of being "ladylike" and to make us less objectionable in the eyes of white people. As we grew older we became aware of the threat of physical and sexual abuse by men. However, we had no way of conceptualizing what was so apparent to us, what we knew was really happening.” I can resonate as one of the black women who does define myself as a feminist but I have experienced sexual oppression in my day-to-day existence as an only girl growing up with three boys and the “ladylike” image. And as i grew older, I became fully aware of the threat of sexual abuse in that I was raped by a family friend.

2. What We Believe “This may seem so obvious as to sound simplistic, but it is apparent that no other ostensibly progressive movement has ever consIdered our specific oppression as a priority or worked seriously for the ending of that oppression. Merely naming the pejorative stereotypes attributed to Black women (e.g. mammy, matriarch, Sapphire, whore, bulldagger), let alone cataloguing the cruel, often murderous, treatment we receive, Indicates how little value has been placed upon our lives during four centuries of bondage in the Western hemisphere. We realize that the only people who care enough about us to work consistently for our liberation are us. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sisters and our community which allows us to continue our struggle and work. What I took away from this section is that they haven’t seen a movement that has worked to end oppression and these women came to a realization that they are the only people who care enough to work for their own liberation…why??? Because of Self-Love!!!

Audre Lorde (1980), “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” Before reading this piece, I listened to Ijeoma Oluo (2018), “So You Want to Talk About Race” and while I was reading, some of the comments from Oluo came to mind. On page 114 of Lorde says “Traditionally, in american society, it is the members of oppressed, objectified groups who are expected to stretch and bridge the gap between the actualities of our lives and the consciousness of our oppressor.” Who is the Oppressor? Well, in my household growing up, this was “The Man…the white man”. I felt like Lord’s comment tied in well with Oluo presentation because she talks about racism, lived experiences, and the differences of how something may seem bad to the white person who is trying to talk about race but is afraid because he/she may be called a racist. Oluo says Oluo states if a white person is afraid they will be called a racist when they try to talk about race to a person of color. She says “Trust me, no conversation on race has ever ended nearly as bad for you as it ends for people of color.” that if a person of color is willing to talk to you about race, even if they don’t seem very friendly while they’re doing it, it’s a generosity.” And I believe that when a person of color is willing to talk, they are attempting to bridge the gap between the actuality of their live and the consciousness of the oppressor.

Solange (2016), “Don’t Touch My Hair” (lyrics) and Momo Pixel (2017), Hair Nah The song and the game are enough within itself. DO NOT TOUCH a BLACK woman’s hair!!!! My favorite verse “Don’t touch my hair when it’s the feelings I wear and I love the hook “what you say to me”

Nina Simone (1966), “Four Women” (lyrics)… My manner is tough. I’ll kill the first mother’ I see. My life has been rough. I’m awfully bitter these days because my parents were slaves. What do they call me My name is PEACHES! Who is Peaches? I want to know more about Peaches. I could visualize everyone else (Aunt Sara, Soffronia, and Sweet Thing) described in the song except Peaches. I absolutely loved this song and it was my first time hearing it. However, in reading the comments, I saw that Jay Z sampled the song. Does anyone know which of his songs, sampled Four Women?

Tupac Shakur (1993), “Keep Ya Head Up” (lyrics) I wonder why we take from our women Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it’s time to kill for our women Time to heal our women, be real to our women.. So this ties in well with the (1977) “The Combahee River Collective Statement” We believe that sexual politics under patriarchy is as pervasive in Black women's lives as are the politics of class and race. We also often find it difficult to separate race from class from sex oppression because in our lives they are most often experienced simultaneously. We know that there is such a thing as racial-sexual oppression which is neither solely racial nor solely sexual, e.g., the history of rape of Black women by white men as a weapon of political repression.

KEYWORDS: Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Hetersexism, Elitism, Classism, Feminism, Smart-Ugly, Lived-experiences

As a black woman born in the 70’s and a woman who has “lived-experiences”, I appreciate the readings and resonated with the hair, the racism, the politics, the different wages, etc. I feel like we are considered the lowest in the class. I don’t let that get me down, I keep moving forward and I am a PROUD BLACK WOMAN!!!

I would like to end with this one comment from this week’s work. “It is very hard to survive as a woman of color in this world, and I remember saying once if I stopped to feel, really feel the pain of the racism I encounter, I would start screaming and I would never stop!!!!” Ijeoma Oluo (2018). https://youtu.be/0P4A1K4lXDo

Keywords: Intersex, “Do Gender”, Androgynous, Gender Skepticism, Matrix of Domination, US Third World Feminism, Indigenous Feminism, Multicultural Feminism

Why so many different types of Feminism? How many are there?

Growing up, all I knew was male/female, males had penises and females had vaginas and breast. As I grew into a teenager, I learned that some boys liked boys and that meant that you were a fag or sissy. Homosexuality was not really mentioned in my home and “fag and sissy” were terms I heard from other kids or other adults. As I entered into young adulthood, I watched more television shows, met new people, began college and began to learn more about the world and the differences between gender, sexes, and sexualities. Catherine Valentine (2020) mentioned in the reading of The Prism of Gender “Most people in contemporary Western cultures, such as the United States, grow up learning that there are two and only two sexes, male and female; two and only two genders , feminine and masculine; and two and only two sexualities, heterosexual and homosexual (Bern, 1993; Budgeon, 2014 ; Luca!, 2008 ; Pfeffer, 2014 ; Wharton , 2005)” (Page 3). This resonated with me because this is exactly how I grew up except, I combined the them into one meaning, the sexes, male and female. Basically my mindset was if you were male you were masculine and if you were female, you were feminine. I never considered the sexualities until I was in my early twenties and I just knew that I was heterosexual because I liked men. I learned more about homosexuality because one of my friends shared with me that he liked boys. Hence my questions began about two genders, two sexes, two sexualities. Valentine’s discussion of the pink and blue syndrome and defining it in the reading was also a very strong point because it is so true when she says “This syndrome is deeply lodged in our minds and feelings and is reinforced through everyday talk , performance , and experience. It’s everywhere” (Page 4). Just think about it, for as long as I have known the color pink has been associated with a girl and the color blue has been associated with a boy. When a woman is pregnant and learns the sex of her baby, pink and blue are the first two colors that help to determine the sex. There are no longer just baby showers, a gender reveal also has to take place. If a parent wants it to be a surprise, they choose yellow or green as a neutral color, heck anything besides pink or blue. Valentine also says “pink and blue syndrome is so embedded within our culture and, consequently, within individual patterns of thinking and feeling that most of us cannot remember when we learned gender stereotypes and expectations or came to think about sex , gender, and sexuality as natural, immutable, and fixed. It all seems so simple and natural” (Page 4)

Valentine suggested the exercise of “turning on our social radar and examine yourself and the people you know carefully . Do all the men you know fit the ideal of masculinity all the time, in all relationships, and in all situations? Do all the women in your life consistently behave in stereotypical feminine fashion? Do you always fit into one as opposed to the other culturally approved gender category? Or are most of the people you know capable of “doing” both masculinity and femininity, depending on the interactional context?” (Page 4).

I must say that 20 year old Marea would have “always” fit men into one and female into one as opposed to the other. However 51 year old Marea cannot fit all men into the ideal of masculinity or all women into the ideal of femininity. I’m so grateful that I no longer do “so”fit” people. I no longer think 222.

The truth is just as Valentine stated “There is no single pattern of masculinity or femininity” (Page 5). I learned in this reading about intersex and immediately thought about an episode on Law and Order SVU when a teenage boy did not know that he was born with both body parts. I never heard the term but saw in the reading that “intersex” and my understanding of intersex is when a child was born with a male and female body part “a larger clitoris or a smaller penis”. Where you familiar with Intersex? In the Law and Order episode (Season 6 Episode 12 John/Joan), the genetic male was being raised as a girl and was sexually assaulted and the child was unaware until the sexual assault it the issue was raised during the investigation. My mind then began to wonder about the sexualities of people and what they all meant. I’ve heard of Binary, Non-binary, Fluid, but have no idea of what they really mean. Valentine touched on some of these terms and I am so excited to learn more about all of it. I’m hoping that someone will share if they have knowledge of the different terminology. Valentine mentioned “people do gender” and that caught my eye because I thought how does one “do gender”? She explains in “One of the fascinating aspects of gender is the extent to which it is negotiable and dynamic. In effect, masculinity and femininity exist because people believe that women and men are distinct groups and, most important, because people “do gender,” day in and day out, and enforce gender conformity. It is now common for gender scholars to refer to gender as a performance or a masquerade, emphasizing that it is through the ways we present ourselves in our daily encounters with others that gender is created and recreated.” (Page 4) I believe that as people feel comfortable with discussing the differences of their sexuality, gender, and sex, we will find that in this world, there is not only two genders, two sexes, or two sexualities. Valentine talked about how in other countries, men lactate and breastfeed their infants just like women. She goes on to discuss how men have breast and women grow facial hair and how men can have breast cancer. I would have never known about men and breast cancer had my mom not been diagnosed with it and she chose not to get a double mastectomy because she said men can get breast cancer too. I was 27 years old when I learned this.

Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill (1996) says their perspective of Multiracial Feminism “is an attempt to go beyond a mere recognition of diversity and difference among women to examine structures of domination, specifically the importance of race in understanding the social construction of gender. Despite the varied concerns and multiple intellectual stances which characterize the feminisms of women of color, they share an emphasis on race as a primary force situating genders differently. It is the centrality of race, of institutionalized racism, and of struggles against racial oppression that link the various feminist perspectives within this framework. Together, they demonstrate that racial meanings offer new theoretical directions for feminist thought” (Page 321) (Zinn and Hill also stated in Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism “Once we acknowledge that all women are affected by the racial order of society, then it becomes clear that the insights of multiracial feminism provide an analytical framework, not solely for understanding the experiences of women of color but for understanding all women, and men, as well.” (Page 330)

Acknowledgement is the first step. Accepting and understanding that this affects all women and men is what is needed to move forward. If this does not happen, I’m afraid that things will remain the same.

Do you think that this acknowledgement will take place in our society?

Gender, Feminism, all of the different types of feminism, as well as Multiracial Feminism are like onions. They have so many layers and these readings so far have me wanting to reread everything over and over again and I still won’t fully understand it all. These readings leave you wanting to dive deeper and learn more. I wonder if I’ll ever totally understand it all. Finally, listening to The Replacements “Androgynous”. This was my first time hearing this song. I must say that I loved the lyrics and chorus. Two people popped in my mind when I hear the song, Prince and Dennis Rodman. I also thought about the Dave Chapelle skit from his True Hollywood Stories from Charlie Murphy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff8LEx9Mw54 check it out!