Coming into this class, I had no idea what to expect. It was definitely. more interesting and intriguing than I initially thought. It has opened my mind and my eyes to a lot of new ideas and ways to view things. I was taken back by a lot of the theories that I didn’t agree with. As a woman I always thought I was a feminist but after reading those articles I now know that I am not. At least not to the extent some people are. This class has definitely taught me a lot. I think my biggest take away from it will be the importance of our language. How we identify matters way more than I thought it did. Our descriptive words hold a lot more weight in society than before. I don’t think I will talk to people the same way again. With knowledge comes a new level of respect and now knowing what I do, I definitely have a new level of respect for people. I did not like the format of this class. Once I became use to the open lab site it made me miss being on blackboard. I got so many emails form the class and so much spam. Also checking if I uploaded an assignment sent me all over the place. I feel like there was a lot of clicking around, whereas blackboard is one stop. I felt that I had to keep the class tab open on my laptop to remember to login and get the assignments done. I enjoyed the class but the structure did make it difficult to stay motivated.
Author: Adynah Richardson
Institutional Artifact Project: Damaging Disney Narratives
Can you think back to when you were a child and you used to dream of being a princess? They seemed to have the perfect life, they were pretty, lived in a big castle, and more than that a handsome prince always swooped in to save them. Like many young girls I grew up wanting to be a princess for those exact reasons. Disney made it look so glamorous, who wouldn’t want to be one? It wasn’t until I got older that I realized that those movies, those stories, were not really what they seemed to be. There were subtle messages of matricide, beastiality, cannibalism, and an unhealthy expectation on women. It is unfortunate to look back on once beloved movies and now feel disgusted. For this paper I will examine one of the first Disney princesses, Snow White, and what her image and story does to push the narrative of dim yet pretty women, maternal resentment, gender roles, and coded language.
The story of Snow White starts off very sweet. She is a happy child loved by both parents. From an infant her beauty is praised. She has skin so pale it’s compared to porcelain and lips so red they are compared to roses. While Snow White is a child her mother falls ill and dies. Her father, who is a king, remarries. The stepmother has a magic mirror that she asks the same question to every day, “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all.” The mirror always says that she is. One day when Snow White reaches ‘maturity’ the stepmother asks the question again but this time the mirror says that Snow White is the fairest. This enrages the stepmother, who by this point in the story has been nicknamed the wicked stepmother.. The mirror has told her if she eats Snow Whites heart she will be the most beautiful woman in the land. Engulfed in anger the wicked stepmother decides she will have Snow White killed. She hires a huntsman to kill Snow White. The huntsman feels bad for Snow white and is taken with her beauty so he lets her go. He kills an animal and gives the stepmother its heart. Snow White is now wandering through the woods looking for safety. She stumbles upon a house that she thinks is empty and decides to make herself at home. Soon after she arrives seven dwarfs, whose home she’s in return. They are upset but let her live with them in exchange for her cooking and cleaning. The wicked stepmother soon realizes that snow white is alive and decides to kill her herself. She makes three attempts to kill snow white. The first time snow white is saved by the dwarves. The last time they were too late. Snow White ate the poison apple her step mother gave her and she stopped breathing. The dwarves are sad. They put snow white in a glass coffin. At her funeral service a handsome price comes by. He has never met Snow White but even in death he finds her beautiful. He gives her a kiss. She wakes up and they ride off into the sunset happily ever after together.
I wanted to tell most of the story to give context. From a very young age Snow White was sexualized. In the movie, even though her dress covers
her, her hips are still very prominent. Her skin is smooth, her lips are pouty, and her eyes are doe-like. Throughout the movie various characters, even animals, are so taken with her beauty that they follow her round. A theme that is very prominent in Disney movies is that there is an evil stepmother. The matriarch figure is always the bad guy and needs to be dethroned by the younger, more beautiful princess. It pushed the narrative that when women reach a certain age they become angry and have outlived their usefulness. There is also the theme of the male savior and princesses being too dim to not know what was good for them. Even though Snow White knew her life was in danger and that her step mother wanted to kill her, she kept opening the door for her. She kept inviting the danger inside and the men had to step in and protect her. Snow White is shown to be very naive, however, that doesn’t matter because she is so darn pretty. Even after death the men didn’t want her beauty to go to waste so they put her on display. Then again another male savior came in and made all her problems go away with one kiss.
One of the videos we watched this semester “Shrinking Women” spoke about women losing their sense of self in relation towards men. “You (she says referring to her brother) have been taught to grow out, I have been taught to grown in.” That quote is a perfect mete fore for the story of Snow White. Her entire life because she was a woman she was confined while the men around her, whether it was the huntsman, the dwarves or Prince Charming, made decisions for her and held all the power. And along with telling women their place in the world this story also perpetuates unhealthy narratives for me. ‘Prince Charming’ doesn’t even have a real name, he is rooted in his good looks and duty to just save a damsel in destress. Snow White’s father is absent thought the story only appearing when he marries the wicked step mother so he wouldn’t have to raise Snow White. And the dwarves, they are hard working men not very bright or handsome but they work themselves ragged to provide. These gender roles are what we are taught define us. They my be subliminal in the movie but they carry over into our real lives. I get angry watching this movie now. I find it to be very destructive to the psyche of young girls and boys. This movie puts gender in a very structured box. It tells that a woman’s place is at home taking care of the chores and that a man’s place is out working and that a mans is to be out working or to be a woman’s savior. It devalues the older women in our lives and suggests that a woman’s value lies solely in her beauty. I find solace in the fact that this move was mad in 1937 and there has been much princess evolution since then. It is unfortunate that many generations had this type of princess to look up and aspire too.
Discussion 7
The institution I want to explore and analyze is Disney princess movies. Because there are quite a few of them I want to focus on the original set of princesses. That would be Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Belle. I want to focus on these specifically because they play a very big part in how I believe we define beauty, stereotype the gender roles of both men and women, and how we view consent. Through all the readings then thing that stuck out to me the most is how important language is. How we describe ourselves matter, how we identify matters, and the words we choose matter. For all these Disney princesses it is interesting to hear how the narrator describes the women, they are spoken of more as objects than as people. These movies also play very heavily on stereotypes and gender roles. The woman stays home, she cooks and cleans, she isn’t very smart but man is she pretty. Then here comes a strapping young man to save her, to rescue her from a a tragic end. Most of the time kissing her whiles is unconscious. I just find it very interesting now that I can go back to these movies with a fresh pair of eyes. As a young girl you don’t pick up on the messages these movies are telling you. You just know that one day I want to be a princess and I want my Prince Charming to come and save me.
Discussion 5
When you are a privileged individual you never really think of your privilege. It is just something that you are born with. Certain things just aren’t your problem or don’t affect you, this is no fault of your own. How could you know you are privileges if oppressions were never placed on you or people who look like you. I myself am very grateful that I can say I was privileged growing up. Because I did not grow up on the continental US, I didn’t have to deal with what typical people of color in this country go through. I didn’t experience racism until I was an adult and I always felt safe in my environment. My skin color, thank goodness, was never a problem for me. Micro-aggression, however, is a different story. I couldn’t count on all my fingers and toes how many times I have been micro-assaulted or micro- insulted. As a women I can recount anytime that I have been cat called or someone is talking to my boobs instead of to my face. There have been times where I’m told it doesn’t matter if I’m smart because I’m pretty or they are surprised that I am smart. Being from a Caribbean island also seems to be a trigger for people. They assume English wasn’t my first language, they talk to me slowly as if I don’t understand. I’ve been told that the homes in the US must be amazing compared to where I come from because they assume I lived in a hut. People have come up with the craziest theories.
To keep my sanity I just chop it up to ignorance. I try to inform people on how their words can be offensive. Education seems to be the best way to fix this problem. Teaching people to break their set stereotypes and gender norms. Information and knowledge are the best tools against ignorance. Besides educating others on what is offensive to me I try to brake every stereotype a person might have prescribed to me. I don’t want to fit any of their boxes. It helps, shocking people into having open mind.
Reading Journal #4
This weeks readings were very interesting. Starting off with ‘Identity Terms’, I never really thought of all the language people used describe themselves. I’ve heard of majority of these terms but can say I never really understood them fully. I didn’t realize that a ‘disabled person’ was differently identified than a ‘person with disabilities’. However, when reading that portion of the text, the differences became clear. This reading just furthermore proves the fact that language is extremely important. The way we phase our identities me see similar but they can be very very different. The second reading ‘Feminist Philosophy of Language’ also focused on how important our language is. I must say before I read it I had my own interpretation on what it might have been about. Although I love what feminist stand for I do know that some have very drastic ideas and theories. Reading the section titled ‘Invisibility of women’ kind of proved my point of drastic theories. By saying words like ‘he’ and ‘man’ make women feel invisible is like saying ‘she’ and ‘woman’ have the exact same affect. I believe being very careful with our language is important and both these readings show that very well, even if I don’t completely agree with everything they say.
Adynah R Discussion 4
Like many people who come from immigrants or ancestry of displaced people I have struggled with how I identify. It became increasingly harder in recent years when I moved back to the continental United States. When people ask who I am and where I come from I never have a straight answer. I always say, “It’s complicated.” It makes it easier than going through the long jumbled up history that is my life. Until recently I didn’t really think of my identity as anything important. I never had the words to describe myself so I just didn’t. The reading “Identity Terms” was very informative. Although these are not all the terms people use to identify themselves with, there are still so many of them. You never really think of all of them until you see them written down.
The theory I chose was “sex-marking”. This was by far the most interesting theory I read. In all honesty, I had to read it a few times to understand and even after I did that it still struck me as a bit ridiculous. However, I do believe the statement made is extremely relevant in today’s climate. “If I am writing a book review, the use of personal pronouns to refer to the author creates the need to know whether that person’s reproductive cells are the sort which produce ova or the sort which produce sperm” (Frye 1983: 22). In a time when everyone is very sensitive and in tune with their gender, sexuality, and identity it is careless to reduce a preference of pronouns to just their cellular function. It is not new however, I see it all the time. People make statements that refer to gender identity as strictly biological. Just recently JK Rowling referred to trans male to females as ‘people who menstruate’. It is demeaning to undermine someone’s identity to what it has very very very little to do with.
Gender Identity project
My entire life I’ve questioned everything about myself. The questions always went back to what my place in the world was, and more than that what my purpose was. Looking back at my mind set growing up, I think I would describe it as being in a state of perpetual existential crisis. I questioned everything and was very insecure. I grew up on an island that I was not born on. The culture and heritage that the locals had ingrained in them, I had to fight for and learn. I was constantly trying to prove that I was worthy of just sharing in that part of their identity. This led me to constantly be an outcast. When people would ask me where I was from I would always se I was born in NJ but have lived on the island since I was 2. I guess deep down I thought that they would never accept me if I wasn’t born on the island so I never really tried to fit in. At one point, I thought I just had to accept that I was meant to be the outcast. No one would ever fully accept me or understand me, and so I never tried to understand or accept myself. I ostracized myself so much that my own family started calling me a black sheep.
Over the course of my adolescence, I knew I was unhappy. I put myself in many different groups trying to see if I could understand who I was or what I wanted. I felt that there was no one I could talk about my internal struggle with my sexuality with because I felt like I again would not be understood. When I got to highschool I thought I could start over. It was a clean slate. No one knew me. I tried again to find a group and fit in. I found people that were secure in their sexuality and tried to learn from them. I did not want to be a black sheep anymore. I did everything to be as ‘normal’ as I could. I mimicked other classmates’ mannerisms and styles. I dressed how they dressed and dated similar people. I participated in activities I had no interest in. I felt like I needed to be exactly like them. I quickly learned I could not fake the funk. Pretending to be as secure as they were made me even more uncomfortable. The truth was that I was still fining myself. My freshman year was the last year I went to school. My struggle with my sexuality and identity became so bad that I had a mental breakdown almost everyday. My anxiety fully started to manifest itself. What I previously thought was just a general unhappiness became so much more than that. After I left the school I was homeschooled for my remainder of my high school years. I completely secluded myself. I didn’t talk to anyone, I didn’t see anyone. I cut myself off from the world. I had no idea at the time but this was the best thing I ever did for myself.
Now alone and in my own little world I was able to really work on myself without fear of judgement from my peers. I unconsciously became more secure in who I was even if I didn’t have a specific group that I belonged to. After about 2 years of being by myself I believed I was able to take on the world again. As much as I believed I was mentally prepared for the world again I wasn’t. I was still searching for a group to fit into and now that I had access to so much more I went crazy. I push myself into a relationship that didn’t reflect who I was or what I wanted. I forgot all the healthy habits I learned and reverted right back into who I was in high school. Moreover I started outwardly criticizing and making fun of myself. I was so lost in my identity that I would call myself a little boy (referring to my looks and body), I questioned my sexuality and became extra promiscuous. I even got to the point were I started to use the pronouns he, him, his. My life was all over the place. I never really took in the severity of my actions and how they were affecting me. Once I finally hit rock bottom I decided I needed a change again. I removed myself once again and tried to figure who I really was and what I wanted.
After a few months of soul searching and meditation, as well as building healthy habits, I was able to come to a happy conclusion. I am a person that needs no labels or groups. I thrive when I am on my own. I don’t really fit into any group and I am learning that now I do not want to. I am a person that spreads love and operates off the feelings I have. I love who I love and express myself in whatever way that I feel comfortable. I do identify as a woman but embrace that I have an androgones side. I just am who I am and everyday I am learning something new about myself. I am a cisgendered Afro-Caribbean American woman who sexually fluid and enjoying life as it comes to me.
Journal #2
Through binary goggles is how we have been taught to see the world. We have learned that everything is supposed to be in very separate categories that have nothing to do with each other. People, however, are not that cut and dry, we are very complex beings. We live by a very ‘strict’ set of rules that given our day to day lives. These rules are based on assumptions that are rooted souls in our biology. Because of the chromosomes, hormones, genitalia we are given a sex/gender and once we are given this we must live by the rules that go along with that category. Society prescribes a set of characteristics called the sex/gender system that translates our biology into human activity. However, this activity is very male dominant and heteronormative. Society being so male driven, unfortunately, can make life harder for women. In certain professions even if they are female dominant, if a man gets the job he tends to make more than the women. This is referred to as the glass escalator.
Earlier this evening I was talking to my sister and brother-in-law about this class and the different things that I am learning. Both my sister and brother are cisgender straight individuals. In our conversation I was explain how it can be confusing sometimes to understand others and how they identify and what their gender is. My brother said that he also doesn’t understand because their are only two genders. My sister then said she agreed and doesn’t know where it will end. In the reading it specifically speaks on cisgender people not understanding. It can be easy to just think that because something has been a certain way for so long and it has always been so simple, that that is just the way it should always be. It is hard to step outside your comfort zone and acknowledge there are so many differences in humanity and that we as beings are so complex. Overall this was an interesting ebook. I learned a lot and although I still cannot wrap my mind around a lot, I am interested to know more.
Discussion #2
I will be honest, gender has always confused me. Because I don’t know much about it, I’ve always just assumed that gender and sexuality were in the same category. I now know that they are not. The chart I would use to define me is the unicorn chart. Besides the pretty visuals, it sums up how I look at gender. I look at things through attraction and feelings. This chart seems to do the best with aligning with my views.
In writing my own chart the easiest thing to me was outlining my
gender and sexuality. Every other aspect of my identity was hard to define. I definitely know there have been very strong influences in my life that have made me who I am but putting those experiences in a box was hard.
The biggest influence that has contributed to who I am is my family. I have very few memories before the age of 9 but the ones that I do have are very vivid and distinct. I wrote on my chart that my sister is my best friend and she did raise me for a portion of my life. At the time that she was taking care of me I was in the bond developing stage of my life. Because it was just me and her I created very strong attachment issues as well as a very strong level of independence. Those traits have carried through into my adult life. The next big influence on me is my roots. My culture, my heritage, and the area that I grew up is a big deal to me. Growing up in the Caribbean and coming from a Caribbean American family gives me a very specific values. I value my traditions and carry that over into every aspect of my life. The last thing that I feel greatly influenced me is my spirituality. Going to catholic school for majority of my life really made me disagree with organized religion. On top of that my grandmother is a minister. Having religion forced onto me really made me want to branch out on my own and find my own lane in spirituality. I started exploring and found what made me most comfortable and relaxed. Going through the process of writing all of these things out has really given me a better understanding of myself.
Adynah Richardson Discussion #1
Hi everyone. My name is Adynah Richardson. I am a psychology major at BMCC. This is one of three classes that I am taking this semester, which happens to be my last. I will be transferring to CUNY Hunter next semester to study behavioral neuroscience. Human behavior is the most interesting thing to me. The mind is capable of so much, just learning a little bit about it is fascinating. After my time at Hunter, I plan to go though school until I get my PhD and MD.
When I first listened to what this assignment was and then listened to the gender stories of previous students, I realized that I have had very little to no gender identity questioning in my own life. I was raised in a household where everyone contributed. Although my parents divorced when I was very young, the responsibilities were shared equally. There was nothing that was specifically male or specifically female. I am very grateful for that. It wasn’t until I was more exposed to the world that I noticed that people struggle with defining what their identity is. I had to speak to my sister to really try an find something that I may have questioned.
In our discussion I was able to come up with a few times where I questioned the gender identity roles of others that I know. The first instance is with my grandmother. She comes from a very old, very deep rooted Caribbean culture. Although I did grow up with the same culture and traditions, because of the age difference her views on this topic differ from mine. The difference is in they way men are treated as fathers, sons, and husbands. I’ve heard her say on many occasions that men shouldn’t make their own plates and that he shouldn’t come get them either. They must be served. She also has the tendency to pacify men and treat them with kid gloves. I have noticed this with all the women of her generation and specific cultural background. In seeing the women before me treat men, I definitely did question their role in each others lives. It seemed to be that the women’s role was primarily to make the men happy at all costs and the men’s role is to simply exist. Like I said it is very different than the way I was raised, to me everyone no matter how they identify is an equal. However, from what I observe that isn’t the case for my elders.
The last story I want to share is about my upbringing. I feel very blessed to have been raised to feel very secure in my gender identity and have the views that I have. My father taught me what it was to be a ‘man’. He taught me how to fix cars and how to play basket ball. He taught me about sneakers and how to have swag. He taught me things that you typically wouldn’t expect of a girl. However, he also taught me how to be a ‘women’. He taught me how to cook and how to clean. How I should carry myself and present myself in public. There was never anything that was strictly male or strictly female. It was all one human experience. My mother did the same. There were no gender roles for me. I was just able to be. Personally for me I think this is an experience everyone should have. There is no longer man and woman. There is a variety of relationship combinations and ways people identify, I believe that the way we interact should reflect that.
