Author: serichardson

The video game Gone Home was a very interesting game. It was a very slow game, but it did hold a lot of emotions. I rarely see video games like this one, so it was interesting to see. I was happy at the end that Katie’s sister was able to go with her girlfriend and be happy.

I had no idea what the Riot Grrrl movement was until this assignment. Learning about them was fun. I enjoyed how they let their true feelings out and their personality felt like it was radiating out of the text as I read the text.

Audre Lorde (1977), “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”

Keywords: Silence, Language, Difference(s)

Lorde argues that silence brings about more harm than good. They state how speaking out. The statement that “language has been made to work against us” stood out to me the most as today’s society, people believe it is best to stay silent about certain things despite it desperately needing to be talked about as there are “many silences” that need to be broken (Lorde, Page 43). Language has become something to be feared though it helps set people free.

Kathleen Hanna (1991), “Riot Grrrl Manifesto”

Keywords: Sexism, Girl(s), Revolution

The silencing of voices can be found in both Gone Home, The Grrrls, and the work by Lorde. The way the silencing occurs in the game is from the homophobia that is riddled through it because two of the characters are gay. There are many connections to be found between the two, but these stood out the most to me. In the game, the mother tried to brush off the sister’s sexuality as only a phase. There are many more examples of this throughout the game that is not only from the parents but at school as well. They try to silence her and her girlfriend as they don’t want to accept them for who they are. Language and actions combined were used as a weapon to try to repress the girls and make them conform to what is considered acceptable. In Riot Grrrl, this is also the case. One quote that supports this is, “we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused or turned against us via the internalization of sexism” (Riot Grrrls). Their voices are being repressed due to the sexism that plagues society and the gender norms that try to constrain them from being who they are and want to be.

Some quotes that connect to this as well:

1. “Masculinity and heterosexuality are privileged, while femininity and homosexuality are denigrated.” (Valentine 2020, Page 6)
2. “Seven norms of the Western masculinity ideology: Avoidance of Femininity, Fear and Hatred of Homosexuals, Self-Reliance, Aggression, Achievement/Status, Non-Relational Attitudes Toward Sex, and Restrictive Emotionality.” (Yogachandra 2014, Page 4)

Research Essay

1. Found Family
2. Fandom/Fan Culture

For my research essay, I would like to explore mainly found family dynamics within the LGBTQ community. I like found families as it is a great way to show how anyone can be your family, even if they aren’t related to you by blood. I see gender roles may affect how families function or how they are made. I believe it would be a good fit for the research essay assignment because family is an incredibly important thing. Humans require communities to thrive, and this topic fits that perfectly. Having a family can aid you even in the worst of your days. I am unsure what cultural artifact I would use for it, but I may end up using a documentary, movie, or video game. If I don’t do found family, I will go with fan culture. I am in a lot of fandoms and see various takes on gender in each of them. The culture around fandoms has been built around the shared ideas of people within the fandoms, so it would be a great insight into what people think about gender and things like it. I would use various games and series that have large or small fandoms as my cultural artifact for this.

 (1977) “The Combahee River Collective Statement”

Key Terms: Feminist, Struggle, Politics, Oppression

The Combahee River Collective Statment starts off by defining who they are. They are a group of black feminists that formed in 1974 and have been “political work,” working alongside “other progressive organizations and movements” (1977). The work talks about the “issues black feminists face, the practices they do, their beliefs, and the genesis of contemporary black feminism” (1977). It further informs the reader that there is more than just feminism that they face. Alongside fighting for equal rights as a woman, they also faced racism and homophobia. Because of this, they had great “difficulty in their political work” because they had no “racial, sexual, heterosexual, or class privilege to rely on” (1977).

Quote(s):

1.) “Our liberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else’s may because of our need as human persons for autonomy.”

The message of this quote was very striking. Instead of viewing obtaining liberation as an act of fairness but as a necessity as a human being was very hard-hitting. Liberation is a human right.

2.) “The major source of difficulty in our political work is that we are not just trying to fight oppression on one front or even two, but instead to address a whole range of oppressions.”

This quote stood out to me because I find it very inspiring. Addressing oppression as a whole is a very difficult task. I agree it is important as it can create further disadvantages for those who are already oppressed.

 Ijeoma Oluo (2018), “So You Want to Talk About Race”

Key Terms: Race, Life, Oppression

The overall message of this video was how the conversation of race is ignored and treated with little care because people don’t want to be labeled as a racist for mentioning anything about race and that the system of power in regards to race is for meer “sheer convenience” because it is easy to find a scapegoat to take the fall while the other rises (Timestamp: 11:51). There are people that do want to talk about it, though. However, people fail to start a conversation about race because of the lack of tools provided to do so. The speaker in this video speaks about the conversation about it being silenced because people are “deliberately denied the tools needed to talk about it.” (Timestamp: 11:35).

Quote(s): “What if I get called racist? Oh, the last time I tried a couple of times, it ended really badly. Trust me, no conversation on race has ever ended nearly as bad for you as it ends for people of color.” [Timestamp: 21:07-21:24]

This quote stood out the most to me. I agree wholeheartedly that people of color, when speaking about race, have it worse than those who are white. I have witnessed people of color being shut down and silenced because they dared to speak out while a white person said whatever they wanted and received little to no backlash.

It is better to speak out about injustice than to sit back and let it happen, no matter the risk. It will help ignite the flame to bring about change in the world.

Audre Lorde (1980), “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”

Key Terms: Difference(s), Oppression, Society

This text spoke a majority about how every type of oppression should be recognized instead of generalizing it and that we must take into account every aspect that could affect it. The author lists many factors to account for, such as: “sexual preference, race, class, and age” (Page 116). By ignoring other aspects of it and only accounting for one, it isolates other people from a similar situation. For example, the author speaks about how white women “define woman in terms of their own experience alone,” which then isolated women of color because their experiences would be far too “alien to comprehend” (page 117). By doing this, it is creating even more oppression as they silence fellow women’s voices.

Quote(s):

1.) “By and large within the women’s movement today, white women focus upon their oppression as women and ignore differences of race, sexual preference, class, and
age. There is a pretense of homogeneity of experience covered by the word sisterhood that does not in fact exist.” (Page 116).

This quote is about how people focus on only one aspect of oppression instead of looking at oppression through a wider lens to see how it affects other groups of people in a similar way.

2.) “Refusing to recognize differences makes it impossible to see the different problems and pitfalls facing us as women.” (Page 118)

This quote helps bring a better understanding of how ignoring and avoiding the issues in society will bring about inequality for longer. If society refuses to recognize the issues that are currently hurting women and other oppressed groups, less work will be done to fix such injustice and possibly leading to more inequality in the long run.

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Multimedia: Momo Pixel (2017), Hair Nah and Solange (2016), “Don’t Touch My Hair”

The game, Hair Nah, is a great game that lets players get a view into situations that people of color face. The song also illustrates this. However, it allows the listener to get a deeper meaning as the singer relates their hair to their own soul.

“Define women in terms of their own experience alone” Audre Lorde (1980)

This game and song help illustrate specific struggles that white women would never face. As Audre Lorde said, some would base the definition based on their own specific experiences, which would disregard black women’s struggles like this- people touching your hair without permission because it’s different from their own hair.

Connections:

The Combahee River Collective, Ijeoma Oluo, and Audre Lorde would all agree with each other. They all mention looking at oppression from a wider scope. Instead of focusing on one given characteristic of a person, they should focus on more than that, as other factors call also play into oppression, like sexuality and race. Ijeoma Oluo and Audre Lorde also would agree on how people shouldn’t sit back and avoid tough conversations. They do contain their own unique characteristics but generally provide insight into how speaking out is essential to progress society forward.

Questions:

How can we stop oppression from occurring? Is that even possible? If not, why?

Can schools help in any way of mitigating oppression? Will teaching students about it help or make it worse?

The Spectrum of Genders: “The Prism of Gender” by Catherine G. Valentine

The author of “The Prism of Gender,” Catherine G. Valentine, argues in the article that gender is riddled with stereotypical labels in society and that it is actually something more vast and diverse. Catherine G. Valentine argues that gender is like a prism as they describe how researchers often underestimate “the complexity of the prism of gender” (Valentine page 7). This statement is extremely interesting and holds a lot of truth. Prisms are known to hold a wide variety of colors. Like a prism, gender is also a spectrum, something more complex. It isn’t something that is clear-cut and black and white. It is something that can be yellow-orange, blue-purple, or even yellow-green. It can come in many different shades. Unfortunately, as stated on page 7, “gender is reinforced, transformed, and articulated” in society (Valentine page 7). Many view gender as a black-and-white object that holds qualities that others cannot have.

Everywhere you go, there will be gendered products lining the shelves and advertisements telling you how you should behave based on your assigned sex at birth. Society will do everything in its power to tell you who you are and how you should behave because of the long-standing history it had with gender. For example, it is still widely believed that people who were assigned females at birth should always be polite, cross their legs, and wear cute frilly dresses, while men should be strong, providers, and rough. I have been told countless times when I wear a dress or do anything remotely feminine, I am not a real man because only women wear dresses. Because of gender roles that plague society, people cannot be who they truly are and feel stuck in a situation of either being an outcast and looked down upon by society or conforming to those norms and forcing themselves to be something they aren’t. Fortunately, not everyone sees it this way.

Key Words: Complex, Gender, Sex

Inequality: “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism” by Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill

In the piece “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism,” by Bell Hooks, they argue that feminism is for all genders across any religion, cultural background, and sexuality, but still lacks equality as it is currently, as people only focus on differences. On page 322, they say that “difference has replaced equality as the central concern of feminist theory” (Zinn & Dill page 322). This means that instead of focusing on obtaining true equality for everyone, they are looking at differences first, which prevents others from obtaining the equality they deserve. The differences among people have always been an issue and still are prevalent in today’s world.

People will look at others with a magnifying glass and determine their worth based on how different they are compared to themselves. In the article, on page 327, they state how “people of the same race will experience race differently” based on where they are in society (Zinn & Dill page 327). For example, two women of color could experience equality very differently because one of them might be a lesbian while the other is straight despite having similar circumstances otherwise. They might depict each other’s worth differently because they are different in one way. When focusing on differences, a divide amongst one another is created, which only causes more issues.

Key Words: Equality, Feminism, Experience

These two readings are like two sides of the same coin. Bell Hooks looks deeper into how gender and race are connected, while Catherine G. Valentine takes a more general look at gender in society. Though they have their differences, they still share the same idea that gender has divided society and that it determines many aspects of people’s lives, like equality. They may both agree that gender isn’t something that should divide people and equality should be given to all regardless of gender. In general, race and gender should not dictate anything.

A question to think about:

How can we break down these gender roles and inequality and make a freer society?