In Borderlands, Anzaldua makes a surprsing statement on page 4 saying, “Being lesbian and raised Catholic, indoctrinated straight, I made the choice to be queer (for some it is genetically inherent).”  The class discussed this statement as possibly meaning that Anzaldua “chose” to accept her queerness rather than “choosing” to be gay.  Gayness as a choice is a discussion that used to be highly debated but is less debated in contemporary times, with society accepting that people can be born “not straight”.  This led to a more detailed discussion outlining the problem with the binary system of either being born gay or born straight because this does not allow room for gender fluidity.  In light of our class discussion, which will be resumed during a later class; I found this photograph on social media, which illustrates the idea of “choosing to be gay” as if it were simply a switch in the body.

Today in class we analyzed Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera and Walker’s In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens.  Both of these pieces did a wonderful job of discussing their own experiences with intersectionality.  These authors were different than others because they wrote in a non/semi academic style, expressing a lot of literary creativity and imagery.  My favorite example of vivid/artistic language from these two pieces was in In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens, when Walker is describing her mother’s love using her mother’s knack of gardening to say, “the woman who literally covered the holes in our walls with sunflower”.  I thought that this was absolutely beautiful; the idea that her mother used everything she had and loved to help the family.  I think it is important for language to create mental images in the reader’s mind.  After procrastinating and wasting time on Buzz Feed I came across an interesting article about beautiful Instagrams that portray queer love.  This Buzz Feed article reminded me of the “artistic” values found in the readings because the Instagram pictures are incredibly artistic and thought-provoking about how different love can look.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/never-too-early-to-daydream#.eh4gJXm4e

http://www.hercampus.com/love/sex/how-get-what-you-need-want-sex

In an article written recently for Her Campus, it gives advice to girls for how to get what they need and what they want from sex.  Her Campus’s advice it to: first talk about sex with your partner, then figure out what you like and what you don’t like, and how it is normal and okay to have different preferences than your partner.  I found this article intriguing because the idea of women enjoying sex and wanting sex as much as males is still somewhat new for society.  I say this because when I saw the article I even blushed a little because society has taught girls that they shouldn’t discuss or talk about sex because it is “unlady like”.  The idea of sex having the capacity to be pleasurable for women reminded me of Katz and how he discussed the human body serving as “a means towards procreation and production” because the “penis and vagina were instruments of reproduction, not pleasure”.  This transition from sex being a biological necessity to it serving as an act of gratification served as a turning point for sexual relations.  Today the exploration of sexual acts for pleasure can serve as an integral part for some relationships.

The age old question of how significantly our parents influence who we are (and by extension who we grow up to be) has been long debated and disputed. In her piece In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens Alice Walker argues that our parents and those who come before us have a great impact on who we become and, furthermore, that we exist as marks of what they achieved. She says “Perhaps Phillis Wheatley’s mother was also an artist. Perhaps in more than Phillis Wheatley’s biological life is her mother’s signature made clear” (409). This sentiment reminded me of the very first slam poem I ever heard, “Knock knock” by Daniel Beaty. In the poem Beaty, speaking from his father’s perspective, says “the best of me still lives in you.” Both Walker and Beaty explore the idea that we exist as the legacies of our parents, of those that came before us. It is not an uncommon philosophy that humans, on a fundamental level, are working to leave their mark on this world and I am intrigued by the notion that one of the ways through which we try to do this, as evinced by Beaty and Walker, is through our children.

No matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to ditch Rich. Since reading about Adrienne Rich’s theory of compulsory heterosexuality I see evidence of Rich’s theory (and its theoretical successor, heteronormativity) everywhere. Last night, when I was mindlessly scrolling through the –rather angsty- late night Yaks (as one does) I came across a Yak where someone was asking for advice on how to handle their unrequited love of a Davidson girl. The first commenter, assuming the original poster was a guy because they were pining for a girl, recommended that OP “whip out the dong” to which OP responded “Sorry, don’t have one of those.” The OP was a girl. The fact that the first commenter immediately assumed OP was heterosexual and, thus, must be a guy demonstrates how pervasive heteronormativity is in today’s society and, further, reminds us all to be mindful of that when posting on social media.

During Thursday’s class we were supposed to discuss potential blind spots in the thirteen point agenda produced by Bumgarder and Richards. Carolina and I found issues with point 4: “To bring down the double standard in sex and sexual health, and foster male responsibility and assertiveness in the following areas: achieving freedom from STD’s more fairly dividing the burden of family planning as well as responsibilities such as child care; and eliminating violence against women”

The wording of this point tends to leave out lesbian and gay couples. We created this meme to point out how the point should have been worded along the lines of “equal sexual responsibility among partners, regardless of sex” so that the sexual health of lesbian couples is also included.

When I read about what happened to Kesha yesterday I thought of a quote from Cixous. Even though Cixous was writing in the 1970s I think this quote still holds some relevance in today’s society. She writes, “When I say woman, I’m speaking of woman in her inevitable struggle against conventional man.” Kesha claimed she was sexaully abused by her music producer Dr. Luke and yesterday the judge ruled that she could not leave her contract with Sony. Kesha cannot make music with any other company and she cannot leave Sony. The injustice of the situation is not even that surprising considering how unjustly sexual assault is often treated in courtrooms. With the decision regarding Kesha’s contract with Sony not going in her favor, many fans and celebrities have taken to twitter to spread messages of love and support for the singer. However as this article points out, many proclaimed feminist singers/celebrities have not spoken out for Kesha. The article chalks this up to how feminism is now something that celebrities claim they are when convenient for their careers. A tweet that’s currently gaining traction says, “Silence about #FreeKesha makes it even more clear certain pop stars only call themselves “feminists bc it’s good for their brand.” A big example of this is Taylor Swift (she has only recently said that she is a feminist). For a female artist to proclaims she is a feminist is good for her image now that fans invest so much time into carving idealized role models out of anyone on a top ten chart. Maybe 21st century fans are putting too much pressure on celebrities (especially female celebrities) to be the voice of feminism BUT still just calling yourself a feminist is not the same as “practicing feminism.” The injustice happening to Kesha deserves attention because ultimately her case is another example of the “inevitable struggle” against our patriarchal society.http://mic.com/articles/135773/one-tweet-about-kesha-reveals-a-double-standard-in-the-music-industry#.2I3O6c84x

For anyone who watches Younger, the T.V. show, their recent episode talks about a male author who is trying to find his inner feminism and trying to find ways in feeling like and being like a female. In the beginning of the episode, the editor said that when his book on feminism publishes, he would be the new Betty Friedan. In this video, the male authors states that men cannot help feminism from the outside no matter how hard he tries to do certain things that only females can do.

Similar to Friedan’s writing, he does not consider other factors that can come into play. Friedan’s work only portray white middle class females and does not consider racial factors as well as other identity factors. The white male author in this video is similar in the manner that he does not consider other identity factors as well. I do like how the male author mentions the situation with urinals and that men are literally standing above in order to assert their power, which was discussed in previous class discussion when mentioning reverse racisms and how that does not exist. Additionally, he explains how menstruation is considered to be disgusting in our society similar to how Cixous explain in her text that sexual activities and other natural activities have to be kept in secret and that females have to repress their natural biological needs.

In our lecture on Thursday, we reevaluated Katz and Foucault’s stance on experts, especially in relation to “Our Bodies, Ourselves”.  “Our Bodies, Ourselves” says “once we had learned what the ‘experts’ had to tell us, we found that we still had a lot to teach and to learn from one another,” implying that experts are not the only source of information, and are not always a reputable source of information.  As Katz and Foucault argue, experts themselves are members of society and as such are swayed by society.

Last year I was in a Davidson doctor’s office.  After waiting 2 hours past my appointment time, I was finally called back.  The first publicized rapes on campus were coming out, and the media was having a field day.  So of course my nurse wanted to ask me all about it.  I have to say, I have heard stories and seen arguments about how awful rape culture is, but it never really stuck to me.  This is the first day I became truly angry about how rape is handled.  The nurse used all the arguments I have heard before, they were probably drunk, they were probably dressed provocatively, etc., but for the first time these arguments felt like attacks on me personally.

The nurse admitted that she had a 17 year old son in high school in the Davidson area.  She argued that 13 year old girls were walking down the street wearing barely anything.  She said “how am I supposed to stop my son from viewing them sexually and raping them if they are dressed in that kind of way.”  I was dumbfounded.  Had someone in the medical community really just said that?  In our last class, I got to thinking.  How would this nurse had viewed things differently if her 17 year old had been a daughter and not a son?  Would she have expressed concern the other way?  Would she have fought this victim-shaming rape culture which she was a part of?  And my goodness, what type of parenting is being taught nowadays?!?

Experts are effected.  Experts are not only effected by the changes and waves of society’s thinking, but also by their own bubble.  Their own friends, their own family structures.  This nurse was in no way right, and in no way was it acceptable to say all of this to me, a person she had just met.  However, this example shows us (an extreme way) of how society and family culture effects views.  Experts cannot be trusted for everything.

The other day for class we read The Laugh of the Medusa by Hélène Cixous. In this piece she argues the need for women to write.  She holds the claim that all women must write in order to liberate themselves, as well as to help transform the culture.  She places a significant importance on writing by saying, “To write. An act which will not only “realize” the censored relation of woman to her sexuality, to her womanly being, giving her access to her native strength; it will give her back her goods, her pleasures, her organs, her immense bodily territories which have been kept under seal”.  I believe that this excerpt from the article can be applied to the queer community in our generation today.  I found online a “teaching tool” for how to construct a class in order to encourage teenagers of the queer community to write about their bodies and their “coming-out” stories in order to reconnect with their sexuality or just simply express it.  I believe that Cixous would encourage exactly what this teacher is advocating for because writing helps you gain a better understanding of yourself and contributes to self-confidence.