The landscape of my body, like that of my mind is not dictated by my race or my sexual identity delineating one territory from the other, in which a border crossing is negatively constructed as passing. Nor does a social script that may delimit my expressive possibilities also dictate the specific topography of my body. It is a site in which the borders of my identity are only limited by the reach of my desire. When I cross over those borders I pass – not passing as in denial but passing as in extending. I pass- not passing as in faking, but passing as in making myself known. (81 Butler)
Butler depicts that in her world, one can roam freely not as a separate entity from one point to the next, but rather that as a human being she is free to roam back and forth and at the same time between and within her multiple identities. It is a world in which one is not relegated to modes of behavior that run contrary to ones nature. You are who you are and there is not black and white dichotomous system in which people are cast into the dark edges of this or that, but rather are given the opportunity and chance to become whole and complete.
When we examine this ideal way of life that Butler proposed when looking at current cultural stratifications of masculinity within our global systems of patriarchy, we can see how this concept of what it means to be a man is spread throughout the world and can be seen in multiple forms and even more so can impact one another through the transcontinental exchange of culture and knowledge. Specifically examining masculinity within American Black culture and the use of homophobia as a reinforcement of masculinity, we can examine other cultures and their views of “masculinity” and the employment of homophobia as an indicator of cultural acceptance of patriarchy. Upon examining other cultures in comparison to the American Black experience of hegemonic masculinity, we can observe the disfluencies of masculinity itself and recognize its place not as a super structure to which we all must conform, but rather a system of control and oppression that we as a society must abandon if we are to reach true democracy.
It is this wholeness, this completeness that is shattered in systems of oppression that delineate the human person into a dichotomous sphere of this or that. Specifically examining the concept of masculinity within the realm of the United States, we see how masculinity is reinforced through homophobia as a use of power differentiation among affluent men within society. The implicit use of homophobia has left many people within the American society broken and isolated into camps that do not complete their whole experiences as human beings. Masculinity in itself has been used as a means of oppression in multiple forms that have resulted in a cramped and often isolating realm known as society. Masculinity is the arena in which men beat their chests and proclaim to the world, I am right and you are wrong. It is where men can prove to the world and most importantly themselves, that they fit into this historically situated, socially constructed ideal way of life that has been based on past presumptions of power and control. In order to maintain these levels of control and dominance, homophobia is employed as a way to establish power as well as to reinforce cultural norms revolving around the cultural “ideal” of perfection.
Hegemonic masculinity is the image of masculinity of those men who hold power, which has become the standard in psychological evaluations, sociological research and self-help and advice literature for teaching young men to become “real men”. The hegemonic definition of manhood is a man in power, a man with power, and a man of power. Masculinity is in essence the way by which our patriarchal society is defined and the way we go about our everyday lives. It is the system those in power have put in place to maintain systems of oppression for years and years. It is not an act of self fulfillment, of joy or sweet release but rather, an abandonment of these characteristics to establish levels of dominance and control.
To maintain these systems of dominance and control, in our culture homophobia is engaged as a buffer zone to not only compare size and strength from man to man, but also to serve as a guideline as what not to be. This then is the great secret of American manhood: We are afraid of other men. Homophobia is a central organizing principle of our cultural definition of manhood. Homophobia is more than the irrational fear of gay men, more than the fear that we might be perceived as gay. “The word ‘faggot’ has nothing to do with homosexual experience or even with fears of homosexuals,” writes Daved Leverenz (1986). “It comes out of the depths of manhood: a label of ultimate contempt for other men will unmask us, emasculate us, reveal to us and the world that we do no measure up, that we are not as manly as we pretend, that we are, like the young man in a poem by Yeats,” on that ruffles in a manly pose for all his timid heart.” Our fear is the fear of humiliation. We are ashamed to be afraid. (88 Kimmel) In our culture homophobia is a tool employed to say you are in and you are out, and as directly taken from the previous statement, we see how this inflicts a deep and dark wound in the hearts of men who are forced to conform to this great ideal. It has plagued our nation and this world for years now, and has affected everything from homophobia, to sexism to racism.
As a micro-cosim, looking at performing black masculinities within the African American culture we can see how masculinity has been taken to an extreme with great abandonment. The “real man” by the 19th century was neither noble nor serf. By the middle of the century, black slaves had replaced the effete nobleman. Slaves were seen as dependant, helpless men, incapable of defending their women and children and therefore less than manly. Native Americans were cast as foolish and naïve children, so they could be infantilized as the Red Children of the Great White Father and therefore excluded from full manhood. (90 Kimmel)To stray away from this ascribed submission and as a source of social acceptance and power and dominance, the black movement created a hyper masculinity that superimposed the idea of manhood on black culture. The structures of representation have had wide and varied permutations in the black community. For as we know the history of African Americans is marked by its noble demands for political tolerance from the larger society, but also by its paradoxical tendency to censure its own. W.E. B. Du Bois was rebuked by the NAACP for his nationalism in the 1930’s and then again for his socialism a decade or so later. James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison were victims of the Black Arts movement in the 1960’s, the former for his sexuality, the latter for his insistence upon individualism. Martin Luther King Jr., and Eartha Kitt, strange bedfellows at best, were roundly condemned for their early protests against the Vietnam War. Amiri Baraka repudiated a whole slew of writers in the 1960’s for being too “assimilationist,” then invented a whole new cannon of black targets when he became a Marxist a few years later. Michele Wallace, Ntosake Shange and Alice Walker have been accused of bashing black males and of calculated complicity with white racists. Not surprisingly, many black intellectuals are acutely aware of the hazards of falling out of favor with the thought police, whether in white face or black. In the case of artistic elites, the issues of representation arise with a vengeance. ( 230 Louis Gates) Looking at this rich history that has been subsided by masculinity within the Black community we can see how it has been abandoned and replaced with cultural representations that fulfill a hyper-masculinized version of what it means to be a black man. Thus status quo for black men is superimposed by a cultural mentality that says to be white is to be weak, to be weak is to be weak, to be anything that shows frailty means you are weak, and thus to be gay as in white upper-class culture, is to be weak. Black men in particular are faced with a day to day experience of having to subscribe to the dominant white male attitudes of how to live ones life, thus abandoning their performance of black masculinity or negating their white world and performing this delicate dance of identity to show the world they are not weak. Ultimately, it is a game they cannot win and ultimately one of oppression.
The account of one such individual experience is described by Bryant Alexander as follows: My face is black and notably not mean, though that is my own assignment. It shows my joy and my pain. It reveals my disposition of angst of frustration, of fear and overwhelming insecurity and more often than not, my joy, passion and compassion. “ Regardless of how I perform identity, my body is marked with signs that signify identities that exist outside of my desires, signs that exact, (mis) recognitions. It is these (mis) recognitions that acute the border patrol, that necessitate border inspections.” The visage of my sometimes stern Black male expression in staged performances or in daily wear which are almost indistinguishable always seems to be jarring for some reason. Even to those who claim to know me and see me narrowly as Good Man, a distinction that is its own place of entrapment. In this case I am relegated to a limited space within a margin of their comfort with me and with black men in general. (88 Alexander)
For a black man in today’s world, whose stereotyped image is that of this intimidating, strong and deviant beast. This is a stereotype that he must fulfill to be seen in many hours, but also a stereotype that he can choose to either embrace or to abandon, but either at a cost to his soul or full self. From the way one dresses, to the where one chooses to go, to even the type of language and dialect a person use is all under this guise of masculinity that deviates from the true identity of the individual. This point touches on the truism in studies of black discourse. Smitherman herself implies the testament to masculine prowess embodied in the black “rap”, explaining that, While some raps convey social and cultural information, others are used for conquering foes and women. And she further acknowledges the power with which the spoken word is imbued in the African-American tradition especially insofar as it is employed in masculine “image making” through braggadocio and other highly self assertive strategies. (Harper 247) These ascriptions on the individual are from the greater society and the picture that has been painted in all of our heads as to what an individual that looks like a black man, should act like. This image is also reinforced from within as well, as the black community has struggled to gain acceptance and respect from the much more powerful and controlling white society that has cast this dark shadow on the black person through masculinity.
If we can then imagine with this double entandra, what it must be like for someone in this culture who is gay or lesbian. With the Langston Hughes and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s abandoned by this culture, imagine just being a young person who does not conform to these cultural identities. Imagine a world where you don’t seem to belong in either camp and in which the identities to which you subscribe put you at the bottom of the totem pole. One of the biggest fears delineating from this homophobia was the travesty of AIDS on the African community. “From June 1981 through February 1991, 167,803 people in the United States were diagnosed as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Of that number of total reported cases, 38, 361 –or roughly 26 percent – occurred in male dos African descent, although black makes account for less than 6 percent of the total U.S. population. (Harper 239) It was and is something that is associated with homosexuality and therefore was and is not addressed a lot within this community of people. People pretend it doesn’t happen and more so go on to lead there lives pretending that something like this does not occur to people like them, because how could they have people like that in their community, making them one and of the same.
Ultimately, in every aspect of masculinity and homophobia, this guise of what it means to be a man has hindered and impacted this specific community within American culture. It has abandoned some of our greatest hero’s and left an entire people vanquished in denial and doubt as to taking into account ones whole self. By comparing and contrasting this with issues faced by other minority populations in other countries, we can examine how each group dealt with the particular situation and we can see how culturally masculinity is defined in different ways. Following societies which have dealt with similar Afro experiences, we can compare contrast different cultural norms that might contribute to our greater understanding and comparative analysis of black culture in America and that of minorities in other parts of the world.
Looking at Brazil where over 40% of the African slave trade ended up creating a rich and vibrant community of Afro-Brazilians in this culture that were just as oppressed taken advantage of like American history. Reading an article that dealt with a small tribe within Brazil that found sexuality to be a fluid and accepted thing by society, we could see how the roles of masculinity and definitions of masculinity were changed as to what was acceptable and what was not. “The Peneleiros lovers are socially recognized as typical men. Men and women an equally fulfill their sexual desires. Classic studies such as Kinsey (1948) would consider them bisexual, but that is an undistinguished category in Anzois. Several studies based in cultures outside the Northern European /North American realm distinguish roles similar to the Anzois community: sexuality is understood relative to position rather than sex of the partner, and homosexuals assume characteristic social roles that are neither male nor female nor marginalized. They are not put out of the social interaction. “(Cardoso 66-67) A culture that is so forthcoming about sexuality and its fluidity can illustrate what the boundaries are between masculinity and femininity. The study conducted on this small Latin village shows how in a comparative country like Brazil, masculinity is more based on social stratification in regards to class than it has anything to do with race or gender, as well as the need for a sense of community as well as for reciprocity within the tight nit community. This small but very important village does not use homophobia as a tool to reinforce masculinity but rather ones income and skill.
Transcribing this small local villages experience onto the country as a whole and my own personal observations of such things like Carnival, I can conclude that even within the Afro-Brazilian community, masculinity and femininity are two extremes that have a high gray area in which both sexes stray in and out of. This illustrates that masculinity within this country is something that is not as formed or developed as within the United States, specifically the African culture. Given historical backgrounds of trading and cultural exchange, we must also ask ourselves how the transnational influence of music, television, arts, economies, and goods and services will affect these social archetypes of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman in Brazil?
Like Brazil, when we start to examine the cultural norms of yet another country in contrast with the United Sates in regards to performing masculinity within a minority population, again we can see some striking differences that further develop the idea that masculinity itself is a social construct and contributes to the detriment the human person, rather than to the development. As we turn towards South Africa it is important to look at the historical attributes to this young country in regards to race relations and the history of racism within the Country prior to Apartheid rule. The amount of hate and bias that existed in the pre-apartheid era was nauseating and with so much bloodshed over issues of race and class, one would make drastic conclusions that the ultimate result for any victory in any war of South Africa would conclude in even more bloodshed in the spirit of reciprocity. However, what is interesting to not in the case of South Africa is the fact that both cultures, full of masculine signals such as puffing the chest, violence, etc, etc…much culture of which was inherited from the colonizers the Dutch and the British, was not present at the end of the Apartheid. In fact what happened was quite the opposite in that at the end of the Apartheid a very stereotypically feminine attribute took place and that was one of forgiveness, compassion and reconciliation. This is an interesting note to observe, especially when comparing contrasting masculinity between cultures, but if we examine the ultimate outcomes of this particular society and the black community in America, we can see a remarkable difference between oppressed and former oppressed. In the span of only 10 years, South Africa has moved into this great spirit of equality and acceptance. To move from such intolerance and in my mind evil, to be able to so easily forgive and move forward living side by side with someone that murdered your child is fascinating. It says so much about the people there and can tell us a little bit about the ideas of masculinity and what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, especially coming from the historically black population that was significantly beaten down and torn a part. If as a community these people were to come together, to bring together their community and to rebuild their shattered homes and hearts, this says a lot about their cultural attitudes and tells above their so called “masculinity” and what is valued within this subgroup of Africans.
Another Component to this astounding ability to come out of a horrible situation, was the communities ability to include gender as a primary concern in their country as well. As a nation to see that women are an intricate part of the system, that they contribute to this idea of “Ubuntu” in multiple ways, really demonstrates that what we have in the states is quite unique, one in which we are constantly vying for power and control, rather than to share in resources and to prosper as a community. We can see this sense of equality when we look at the number of women that serve in high positions within the South African government. We can also see this in recent legislation that extended the rights of marriage to Lesbian and Gay couples. This is one of four countries in the world who allows for this kind of gender equality. Ultimately, the communities within South Africa have demonstrated the great complexity of masculinity and femininity, but also illustrate the hyper masculinization we experience back in the States.
Coming back to America, examining the parts and pieces that are masculinity in its proud and boasting way, it is a cultural system that creates forms of oppression in multiple ways that affect multiple communities in adverse ways. It is important that as a country we examine our ideals against those of other countries to see the whole part of what we presume to be the human experience. In order to end systems of oppression and suppression, we must acknowledge one another’s humanity and allow one another to be full human beings without disgracing someone for who they might be.
In the end we are all wandering spirits that transcend the borders of identity from lover, to father, to mother, to sister, to brother, to star gazer to adventurer, when we are whole we are human and that is what we must work towards to inevitably have equality one day.
Bibliography
Alexander, Bryant Keith “Passing, Cultural Performance and Individual Agency” Performing Black Masculinities, 2006, p 69
Butler, Judith “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of Identity” New York 1990 p 84
Cardoso, Fernando “’Fisherman’: Masculinity and Sexuality in Brazilian Fishing Community” Santa Catarina University, UDSEC, 2002, p 66
Gates, Henry Louis, “The Black Man’s Burden”, Fear of a Queer Planet, 1993, p230
Harper, Philip Brian, “Eloquence and Epitaph: Black Nationalism and the Homophobic Impulse in Responses to the Death of Max Robinson”, Fear of a Queer Planet, 1993, p239
Kimmel, Michael S “Masculinity as Homophobia” Race, Class and Gender in the United States, Sixth Edition, 2004, p 81
AUTHORS NOTES:
Fortunately and Unfortunately this paper was published before my journey around the world was completed. The paper was published somewhere between south Africa and India...and I so wish I could have gone to India before publishing this paper because it was one of the most fascinating experiences of my life in regards to gender and masculinity. Going to India caused many more questions in my head. Self identifying as an out, caucasian gay male, it was so interesting for me, an American to observe masculinity in India where is is illegal to be gay, and women are seen as second class citizens, and YET the intimate relationships between men is incredible!!! Everywhere I looked I was forced to challenge my conceptions of "gay" because the men were all over each other, and yet they were all just friends. They were intimate, holding hands, touching each other and being what I feel is a natural part of ourselves which idealism in the West has done away with and why it is so important for me to tackle issues of masculinity and femininity because I don't feel we get to be our authentic selves when we are so worried about what the world will think of us. I loved INDIA in relation to this paper, because it challenges EVERY NOTION we in the western world have of what it means to be a "man" and a "woman". I loved india!! LOVED IT!
Showing posts with label femininity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label femininity. Show all posts
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Observations of Masculinity and Femininity in China
It was such an interesting experience for me visiting China in the last month of my life. It was one of those life changing events that I don’t know if I will ever be able to formulate into words. I had grown up learning so differently about the way China was that it was one of the most incredible culture shocks of my life.
I participated in a University visit to Peking University and had the time of my life. There I truly gained a new understanding for the people of China and the way of life they lead. Looking at Gender roles was quite unique for me. I had the opportunity to observe gender roles in three different cities as well as the opportunity to experience many different aspects of Chinese culture. I was in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Qingdao where I went to a couple lesbian and gay bars, Disneyland, a university, several temples and tourist attractions, and cultural experiences. I would say my Chinese experience was the most well rounded and culturally rich experience I had thus far on the journey.
What I noticed most of all was the gender roles and how on the surface it seemed pretty equal. There was still a lot of inequality in regards to gender.
The first day in Hong Kong we went to Disneyland where I observed gender roles in ways that I think might be a western import. They had all of their costumes on and performing roles such as waitresses and things like that. But one of the most shocking things about Hong Kong was when I visited the gay and lesbian bars that night with several of my friends. The bars were segregated into two distinct bars that were for only women and only men. On top of that they were closely associated with the sex parlors that would line every other floor in the back of a deep dark ally. This told me that it was still a backwards underground part of the society, but a part of the society none the less.
When we would walk into the bars we would notice that they were exclusively for men and for women and when we tried walking into a gay bar, they physically pushed us out of the doors because we had so many women there with us. We then went to another bar where we were welcomed because we had only two guys with us and many more women.
At the lesbian bar, it was interesting because all of the Chinese women hhung out together in a little click and they there was us. It was fun, we noticed there were a few men in the group but we soon realized that they were men. We learned after talking to them that in lesbian culture, they take on gender roles. So in lesbian relationships, they will still play into the roles assigned to men and women in society. Now maybe this is more to do with social pressures of fiting the norms, but at the same time it may just be because they are still getting used to the idea of two women being together as women o two men being together as men. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was just the simple fact that there was no transgender identity. It was you were either gay or tstraight and while there were cross dressing people, there was still no identity associated with them No label that they could form a community around. If I was a t ransgendered person in this society I would have to align myself with the gay and lesban community also still associated with deviancy.
While I was in Bejing visiting the university another thing I noticed was the cultural shiness of the women in the room. It’s not that they weren’t outgoing or open, but they were all very reserved and quiet. Maybe this has something to do with the religious practice of respecting space and not interfering with it, just like I noticed in Japan, but at the same time I also felt it had a little more to do with gender roles and gender construction. The women of the group seemed to be reserved and quiet which I attributed to their roles in society as passive and non-aggressive compared to the men who were very outgoing and very willing to do things that the women were more reserved to doing. In fact I noticed in our questioning of them that the men seemed to be more willing to engage in dialogue about social politics and things of that nature than the women were. Maybe that had something to with their views on confrontation or not, but that is something I definitely noticed.
Another striking component dealing with both masculinity and femininity was the fact that when I would speak to people they were all very soft spoken. Maybe they aren’t and I am just very loud, but for instance, our tour guide was a very soft spoken man and we had a hard time understanding him over the mike. We kept saying could you turn it up please, could you turn it up? But then our trip leader go ton and we understood her just fine and could hear her clearly. It was something I noticed not only in Chinese but in eastern cultures. Everywhere I went people were so quiet which I really valued. Like when I was in Hiroshima and I could here the jingling of keys in a mans pockets several meters away. It is something that I really liked and reminded me of why I like morning so much, because everything seems to be in so much peace and harmony.
Ultimately in China I realized greatly the gender disparities between men and women and these I feel stem primarily from a historical identity surrounded by the differences in men and women. These differences vary from the jobs that people have, to the every day roles that they undertake. The people I spoke with and the things I saw around the city would dictate to me this gender disparity, but as I examine it, not as much as when I’m in the United States. The advertising was nothing like Japan where women became objectified. No, women in China didn’t seem to be seen as sexually explicit, which I appreciated, and yet at the same time I wonder how open sexuality is there.
All in all, China was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I truly loved every minute of it!!
I participated in a University visit to Peking University and had the time of my life. There I truly gained a new understanding for the people of China and the way of life they lead. Looking at Gender roles was quite unique for me. I had the opportunity to observe gender roles in three different cities as well as the opportunity to experience many different aspects of Chinese culture. I was in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Qingdao where I went to a couple lesbian and gay bars, Disneyland, a university, several temples and tourist attractions, and cultural experiences. I would say my Chinese experience was the most well rounded and culturally rich experience I had thus far on the journey.
What I noticed most of all was the gender roles and how on the surface it seemed pretty equal. There was still a lot of inequality in regards to gender.
The first day in Hong Kong we went to Disneyland where I observed gender roles in ways that I think might be a western import. They had all of their costumes on and performing roles such as waitresses and things like that. But one of the most shocking things about Hong Kong was when I visited the gay and lesbian bars that night with several of my friends. The bars were segregated into two distinct bars that were for only women and only men. On top of that they were closely associated with the sex parlors that would line every other floor in the back of a deep dark ally. This told me that it was still a backwards underground part of the society, but a part of the society none the less.
When we would walk into the bars we would notice that they were exclusively for men and for women and when we tried walking into a gay bar, they physically pushed us out of the doors because we had so many women there with us. We then went to another bar where we were welcomed because we had only two guys with us and many more women.
At the lesbian bar, it was interesting because all of the Chinese women hhung out together in a little click and they there was us. It was fun, we noticed there were a few men in the group but we soon realized that they were men. We learned after talking to them that in lesbian culture, they take on gender roles. So in lesbian relationships, they will still play into the roles assigned to men and women in society. Now maybe this is more to do with social pressures of fiting the norms, but at the same time it may just be because they are still getting used to the idea of two women being together as women o two men being together as men. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was just the simple fact that there was no transgender identity. It was you were either gay or tstraight and while there were cross dressing people, there was still no identity associated with them No label that they could form a community around. If I was a t ransgendered person in this society I would have to align myself with the gay and lesban community also still associated with deviancy.
While I was in Bejing visiting the university another thing I noticed was the cultural shiness of the women in the room. It’s not that they weren’t outgoing or open, but they were all very reserved and quiet. Maybe this has something to do with the religious practice of respecting space and not interfering with it, just like I noticed in Japan, but at the same time I also felt it had a little more to do with gender roles and gender construction. The women of the group seemed to be reserved and quiet which I attributed to their roles in society as passive and non-aggressive compared to the men who were very outgoing and very willing to do things that the women were more reserved to doing. In fact I noticed in our questioning of them that the men seemed to be more willing to engage in dialogue about social politics and things of that nature than the women were. Maybe that had something to with their views on confrontation or not, but that is something I definitely noticed.
Another striking component dealing with both masculinity and femininity was the fact that when I would speak to people they were all very soft spoken. Maybe they aren’t and I am just very loud, but for instance, our tour guide was a very soft spoken man and we had a hard time understanding him over the mike. We kept saying could you turn it up please, could you turn it up? But then our trip leader go ton and we understood her just fine and could hear her clearly. It was something I noticed not only in Chinese but in eastern cultures. Everywhere I went people were so quiet which I really valued. Like when I was in Hiroshima and I could here the jingling of keys in a mans pockets several meters away. It is something that I really liked and reminded me of why I like morning so much, because everything seems to be in so much peace and harmony.
Ultimately in China I realized greatly the gender disparities between men and women and these I feel stem primarily from a historical identity surrounded by the differences in men and women. These differences vary from the jobs that people have, to the every day roles that they undertake. The people I spoke with and the things I saw around the city would dictate to me this gender disparity, but as I examine it, not as much as when I’m in the United States. The advertising was nothing like Japan where women became objectified. No, women in China didn’t seem to be seen as sexually explicit, which I appreciated, and yet at the same time I wonder how open sexuality is there.
All in all, China was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I truly loved every minute of it!!
Gay Identity and Capitalism...A Challenge to D'Emillio
In my mind the concept of being socially constructed is two fold…its not so much that things in life are not inaliable or concrete, but rather our own perceptions of what is are based on social constructs that determine exactly what things are. From there when we organize our thoughts around a particular group of people or truths we tend to form generalizations or stereotypes that dictate how we are to perceive that group. This leads into the concept of historically situated when we start to interpret things not based on our own life conclusions but rather the historical context in which the particular item is in. For instance taking into account race, we now associate the idea of slavery with race whereas previously slavery was a part of war and was cross cultural and not dependent on ones race. Historically situated to me has everything to do with the way society is structured in that particular time and place. Even from our own time and place it’s interesting how we view other times and places.
Looking at the gay identity we can see that this in and of itself a social construction and so is the heterosexual identity. Historically speaking we can examine this in looking back into our past as we can see that from the dawn of man sexuality has been something that everyone engages in at one point or another in their lives and in many different ways. The whole concept of gay or straight actually has just come about as an identity, either or. We look to the romans, the greeks, and centuries before and we have to wonder, what was sexuality to them. For one thing, it wasn’t about love and it wasn’t about children. It was just a natural way of life. Some African tribes didn’t even know that children were a result of intercourse till later in their lives. They treated it as some miracle that simply happened to a woman slowly after she started to show signs of pregnancy. So historically it makes sense that to form an identity around ones sexuality is actually dependent on the historical relevance. So when D’Emillo makes the statement that the gay identity is a social construction around the concept of sexuality, I can understand what he means by that. That through the context of history we have socially constructed an identity surrounding ones sexual orientation. Where I think D’Emillo misses the point is looking only at the gay identity and not looking or examining the historical identity that surrounded concepts of heterosexuality that became normalized. When sexuality became a taboo and suddenly to have sex was not only sinful, but also only heterosexual, we created an identity, while not named, around the idea of a man and a woman being exclusively together.
We can also use this same comparison to examine gender itself and how in our world we have constructed this very notion that there are only to genders, and two sexes. Male and Female. When in reality, there are multiple genders and multiple sexes that do not fall within the subscribed categories that are required of our current social and political climate. We can look at our own culture in comparison with that of India where we see an acknowledgment of a third gender. Nanda describes in her article the identity of the Hijra, who are a group of people born intersexed or considered Eunuchs. They are seen as sacred and given an identity as such. These people are in fact individuals who exist within contemporary Indian culture that are regarded as sacred and majestic and to see that this exists in another country really says something about the way the rest of the world views and observes gender. It is a social construction and in India one that has a historical identity that relates quite strongly to Hinduism. If these concepts and ideas are so fluid as they are in India then what does it mean about gender. As a gender advocate I know first had in that there are more than one type of male or female or intersexed person and that these identities of male and or female are based solely on ones genitalia but just like mentioned above, are socially constructed ideals of what a man should be and what a woman should be.
Finally on the idea of their interconnectedness as presented by Hill Collins raises an interesting connection to the historically situated question and the socially constructed. What is all of these things if in the back of our minds we already have all of these ideas that our oppressed lives have already put into us. She states that many women in the early women’s movement actually forgot to examine their own oppressive powers from either their class or their skin color. And how each of us has some insights into the way the world is based on our certain innate characteristics that become socially ascribed. When we look at things in such a way as to become the oppressed when we take no initiative to see our own short comings than we can’t be true liberators for freedom and justice. We have to realize that we area all individuals apart of a society that directs us in various ways that have been socially constructed over time. Generalizations turn into stereotypes which turn into identities about the way a person is.
Ultimately for me, it has been about the idea or concept that we are all a part of a global system. What does it mean to be human, what is the common characteristic that all of us have? Why do we separate ourselves into these tiny boxes that do not match our personalities and whom we have to mask our true selves under. Your not back enough, or your too black. Your too gay or not gay enough. Your too girly or not girly enough. All of these things that play on a social construct that is neither true nor relevant to the lives we lead. I personally am who I am, and whatever box I may fit into, is a box I and I alone can fit into.
Where we go from here, the idea of agency is to recognize this and to recognize everyone for that individuality and find our common threads rather than divide ourselves through our various differences.
Question #3
I think one of the most important tasks in any life circumstance is the idea of agency or what a person does with what they have been given in life. I think Patricia’s point of even acknowledging that she had hidden biased that were bred into her from our own cultural systems was a huge step in understanding the cultural, social, historical and socially constructed way the world works. When we apply agency to our lives and allow ourselves to see it in others we have the chance to not see the world as such a dreary, unimaginable place.
I think when we are looking at Michael Yates piece about class, we can see that the man has done a lot to raise himself out of the poverty he faced as a youth. There is something to be said about all of the horrible institutions that force a person into poverty and the various ideologies and cultural issues that make life miserable for people. With people like Yates however, they find ways out of the systems they are in. Yates found his way in to the educational system and truly has found a way to change his social situation that has affected his life in such a deep and profound way. Yates showed through his life work that human agency can truly be utilized to create a better world for oneself. His class became a small obstacle in his life, even though he had gone through so much.
All in all I think human agency is a key ingredient to making the world a better place and ensuring that all people, not matter who they are, are given a fair chance at life.
Looking at the gay identity we can see that this in and of itself a social construction and so is the heterosexual identity. Historically speaking we can examine this in looking back into our past as we can see that from the dawn of man sexuality has been something that everyone engages in at one point or another in their lives and in many different ways. The whole concept of gay or straight actually has just come about as an identity, either or. We look to the romans, the greeks, and centuries before and we have to wonder, what was sexuality to them. For one thing, it wasn’t about love and it wasn’t about children. It was just a natural way of life. Some African tribes didn’t even know that children were a result of intercourse till later in their lives. They treated it as some miracle that simply happened to a woman slowly after she started to show signs of pregnancy. So historically it makes sense that to form an identity around ones sexuality is actually dependent on the historical relevance. So when D’Emillo makes the statement that the gay identity is a social construction around the concept of sexuality, I can understand what he means by that. That through the context of history we have socially constructed an identity surrounding ones sexual orientation. Where I think D’Emillo misses the point is looking only at the gay identity and not looking or examining the historical identity that surrounded concepts of heterosexuality that became normalized. When sexuality became a taboo and suddenly to have sex was not only sinful, but also only heterosexual, we created an identity, while not named, around the idea of a man and a woman being exclusively together.
We can also use this same comparison to examine gender itself and how in our world we have constructed this very notion that there are only to genders, and two sexes. Male and Female. When in reality, there are multiple genders and multiple sexes that do not fall within the subscribed categories that are required of our current social and political climate. We can look at our own culture in comparison with that of India where we see an acknowledgment of a third gender. Nanda describes in her article the identity of the Hijra, who are a group of people born intersexed or considered Eunuchs. They are seen as sacred and given an identity as such. These people are in fact individuals who exist within contemporary Indian culture that are regarded as sacred and majestic and to see that this exists in another country really says something about the way the rest of the world views and observes gender. It is a social construction and in India one that has a historical identity that relates quite strongly to Hinduism. If these concepts and ideas are so fluid as they are in India then what does it mean about gender. As a gender advocate I know first had in that there are more than one type of male or female or intersexed person and that these identities of male and or female are based solely on ones genitalia but just like mentioned above, are socially constructed ideals of what a man should be and what a woman should be.
Finally on the idea of their interconnectedness as presented by Hill Collins raises an interesting connection to the historically situated question and the socially constructed. What is all of these things if in the back of our minds we already have all of these ideas that our oppressed lives have already put into us. She states that many women in the early women’s movement actually forgot to examine their own oppressive powers from either their class or their skin color. And how each of us has some insights into the way the world is based on our certain innate characteristics that become socially ascribed. When we look at things in such a way as to become the oppressed when we take no initiative to see our own short comings than we can’t be true liberators for freedom and justice. We have to realize that we area all individuals apart of a society that directs us in various ways that have been socially constructed over time. Generalizations turn into stereotypes which turn into identities about the way a person is.
Ultimately for me, it has been about the idea or concept that we are all a part of a global system. What does it mean to be human, what is the common characteristic that all of us have? Why do we separate ourselves into these tiny boxes that do not match our personalities and whom we have to mask our true selves under. Your not back enough, or your too black. Your too gay or not gay enough. Your too girly or not girly enough. All of these things that play on a social construct that is neither true nor relevant to the lives we lead. I personally am who I am, and whatever box I may fit into, is a box I and I alone can fit into.
Where we go from here, the idea of agency is to recognize this and to recognize everyone for that individuality and find our common threads rather than divide ourselves through our various differences.
Question #3
I think one of the most important tasks in any life circumstance is the idea of agency or what a person does with what they have been given in life. I think Patricia’s point of even acknowledging that she had hidden biased that were bred into her from our own cultural systems was a huge step in understanding the cultural, social, historical and socially constructed way the world works. When we apply agency to our lives and allow ourselves to see it in others we have the chance to not see the world as such a dreary, unimaginable place.
I think when we are looking at Michael Yates piece about class, we can see that the man has done a lot to raise himself out of the poverty he faced as a youth. There is something to be said about all of the horrible institutions that force a person into poverty and the various ideologies and cultural issues that make life miserable for people. With people like Yates however, they find ways out of the systems they are in. Yates found his way in to the educational system and truly has found a way to change his social situation that has affected his life in such a deep and profound way. Yates showed through his life work that human agency can truly be utilized to create a better world for oneself. His class became a small obstacle in his life, even though he had gone through so much.
All in all I think human agency is a key ingredient to making the world a better place and ensuring that all people, not matter who they are, are given a fair chance at life.
My Observations of Masculinity in Brazil
My time in Brazil was a very eye opening experience. It allowed me to see the world through a whole new set of lenses and impacted my perceptions of how gender is played throughout the world.
One of the burning questions for me had to deal with the countries treatment towards it’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and it’s relation to the general heterosexual population. I found it interesting that compared to the United States, many areas of Brazil seemed to be far ahead in its ability for compassion and even acceptance.
Many of my observations come from contrasting my experience in the more traditional carnival in the older part of Salvador and my experiences in the highly energized and packed experience of carnival Bahia style. Both were full of examples that helped me to gain a greater appreciation for the way that the Brazilian society looks at and engages concepts of gender.
My first brush of gender in Brazil actually came the moment I stepped off the elevators that took you from the lower part of the city to the top. The very first thing I saw was a very public and open drag show competition to raise awareness about AIDS. It had an incredible impact on me. For this particular event to take place in a public square in a plaza that was so heavily trafficked, I couldn’t help but observe that it was not only a part of their culture but something that was accepted as a part of the norm.
I did notice however, that at this LGBT movement spectacle there weren’t as many open displays of affection and even more so, very few women present in the crowd. This would go well with one of the informal interviews I conducted with one of our tour guides, Carlos, who expressed in his own way to me, that being gay or lesbian in Brazil is socially accepted, as long as it is out of sight and out of mind. In that, just like mainstream America, it’s something that everyone knows about, but prefers to be left in the closet. Men will have relations with each other, but at the end of the day they go back to their “ordinary” lives complete with wife and child.
Now of course, during carnival, I’m not sure if this is an example of the once a year type of treatment a gay or lesbian person gets to “fit” in, or maybe Carlos’ own homophobia that prevented him from feeling safe enough to attend such an event as the AIDs benefit in the older part of town. I also noted that with several people I spoke with who went to Rio De Janeiro and parts of Salvador, that there were gay areas in town much like Greenwich Village in NYC or the Castro in San Francisco. These parts of town were thriving gay communities and that they were in fact integrated into the society. Another interview conducted with another of our tour guides, Eddie, informed me that gays in Brazil were allowed to legally adopt and if they had been living in the same household for more than 5 years, they then became legally bound to one another.
Looking at these issues through the lens of an outsider, it’s hard to grasp exactly where everyone is at in regards to these issues, especially since it is one of those things that is generally under the table. I can only make informal conclusions about what the gay community must experience and to that extent I can conclude that there are many areas in which the gay and lesbian community is thriving and accepted in Brazil, where at the same time there are many strides to be made to understanding LGBT issues and seeing it as a gender issue. Not unlike the United States.
To tap more into the gender non-conformity aspect of Brazil, I would like to examine too the cross dressing that took place during carnival and its impact on the trans gender community as well as the general society. I found it to be quite enriching and amazing to see some of the most masculine men a society is supposed to have, the police officers, dressing in drag. What an awesome site to see and beyond that, what does that say about this countries views of gender, of gender conformity, etc, etc? Again I point back to the fact that we were there during carnival and wonder how these people would be treated on an average day? What I did notice is that most of these men were dressed in similar fashions, such as many of the police officers, and then I did notice several individuals who were cross dressed, but when I saw them I also noticed some awkward looks and glances of disapproval from people who seemed to be locals. This obviously is an assumption on my part, but I felt like these young men in drag that I saw were taking a greater risk than those police men who, while dressed in drag, were all still wearing the same uniform. I also had the opportunity to witness carnival in a very small town north of Salvador, and I noticed there several men dressed in drag, so it is my assumption as a young man coming from Greeley, CO, that through their acceptance in a small town, they were more accepted than a person doing the same thing in a small town in America. But for the most part, I assume that at least during carnival, a person can let their freak out on a leash and be whatever they want, which is pretty cool.
In regards to the difference between heterosexual men and women, I did notice some gender roles being exhibited that were both surprising and not so surprising. One of the main elements that stuck out to me was the concept of the Gandy’s, or men dressed in white garb who had beads on and would confront women in a very aggressive and open manner to place a kiss on them. Custom would dictate that if you want beads, you just go up to one of them and give them a kiss and they will give you their beads. What I noticed though, is that several of them felt free enough to throw their beads around someone’s head, as if catching them and then plant a big one on them. It reminded me of the scene in Borat where his traditional custom for marriage was to capture his wife in a potatoe sack. The treatment of women as property, the fluidity of sexuality was very apparent during carnival, and the Gandy’s were a prime example of how mostly heterosexual women can have an excuse to make out with as many men a they possible can.
Another component to carnival that I noticed was that there were more men participating in the streets than women, or so it seemed. I couldn’t actually take a poll, but from what I observed it seemed like most of the men were out in the streets, and a lot of the women that I did see were either foreigners or selling things on the side of the road working the event. Now, I did see a lot of women up in the Camorote where I was stationed at, which might have been a place where women might have felt safer away from the assaults in the streets, a place that allowed them to go back and forth between the activities of the street.
The place I did see a lot of women participating in carnival is up in the more traditional part of town where I saw women playing drums, and partaking in every aspect of carnival that the men were. Just as the Gandy’s were up there, I saw lots of women in their traditional garb with the hoops skirts and traditional dress. A lot of it had to do with the religion of Candomble, but I also believe that it was part of their views of women’s roles, which I must say was quite elegant.
Another area that I was able to observe men and women was at the luxurious beaches that we went to in Prior De Forte. What I observed was men’s comfort with the short shorts of the speedo. Now we can all laugh and poke fun at the fact that I of all people noticed such things, but what I also observed was that many women were wearing a wide variety of clothing that did not subscribe to weight, height or beauty. It seemed to me that many people in general in Brazil were not as concerned with their appearances, what people thought of them or the clothes they were, specifically the ones that outlined every inch of their bodies. What this says to me through my lens, is two things…one, that image is not as important to the people of this culture. I didn’t see a lot of overweight people, but also not many people gave a great deal of attention to the way the world perceived them, both men and women. And second, what this tells me is that while there are many images both in our media and in their media, that people of this country are not inundated with things telling them that they must look a certain way, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Images are a very important part of American society, and to be quite honest with you, it is not something I saw a whole lot of in Brazil while I was there. There were not very many billboards in Brazil, and the very few that I did see were not of women in skimpy uniforms and not all sexualizing every product that they sold, including toothpaste. On all of the beer advertisements it was more about the products. It was a great surprise to see, and something that was telling of the cultures’ attitudes towards marketing, how people are treated, etc, etc.
All in all I thought that Brazil was very fluid in it’s gender norms and sexuality. I recognize that my observations were from the perspective of a man in America as well as at a time that the society of Brazil was not at it’s every day pace. So ultimately, my observations are raw and generalized, but I hope that they were somewhat accurate to the actual culture there.
One of the burning questions for me had to deal with the countries treatment towards it’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and it’s relation to the general heterosexual population. I found it interesting that compared to the United States, many areas of Brazil seemed to be far ahead in its ability for compassion and even acceptance.
Many of my observations come from contrasting my experience in the more traditional carnival in the older part of Salvador and my experiences in the highly energized and packed experience of carnival Bahia style. Both were full of examples that helped me to gain a greater appreciation for the way that the Brazilian society looks at and engages concepts of gender.
My first brush of gender in Brazil actually came the moment I stepped off the elevators that took you from the lower part of the city to the top. The very first thing I saw was a very public and open drag show competition to raise awareness about AIDS. It had an incredible impact on me. For this particular event to take place in a public square in a plaza that was so heavily trafficked, I couldn’t help but observe that it was not only a part of their culture but something that was accepted as a part of the norm.
I did notice however, that at this LGBT movement spectacle there weren’t as many open displays of affection and even more so, very few women present in the crowd. This would go well with one of the informal interviews I conducted with one of our tour guides, Carlos, who expressed in his own way to me, that being gay or lesbian in Brazil is socially accepted, as long as it is out of sight and out of mind. In that, just like mainstream America, it’s something that everyone knows about, but prefers to be left in the closet. Men will have relations with each other, but at the end of the day they go back to their “ordinary” lives complete with wife and child.
Now of course, during carnival, I’m not sure if this is an example of the once a year type of treatment a gay or lesbian person gets to “fit” in, or maybe Carlos’ own homophobia that prevented him from feeling safe enough to attend such an event as the AIDs benefit in the older part of town. I also noted that with several people I spoke with who went to Rio De Janeiro and parts of Salvador, that there were gay areas in town much like Greenwich Village in NYC or the Castro in San Francisco. These parts of town were thriving gay communities and that they were in fact integrated into the society. Another interview conducted with another of our tour guides, Eddie, informed me that gays in Brazil were allowed to legally adopt and if they had been living in the same household for more than 5 years, they then became legally bound to one another.
Looking at these issues through the lens of an outsider, it’s hard to grasp exactly where everyone is at in regards to these issues, especially since it is one of those things that is generally under the table. I can only make informal conclusions about what the gay community must experience and to that extent I can conclude that there are many areas in which the gay and lesbian community is thriving and accepted in Brazil, where at the same time there are many strides to be made to understanding LGBT issues and seeing it as a gender issue. Not unlike the United States.
To tap more into the gender non-conformity aspect of Brazil, I would like to examine too the cross dressing that took place during carnival and its impact on the trans gender community as well as the general society. I found it to be quite enriching and amazing to see some of the most masculine men a society is supposed to have, the police officers, dressing in drag. What an awesome site to see and beyond that, what does that say about this countries views of gender, of gender conformity, etc, etc? Again I point back to the fact that we were there during carnival and wonder how these people would be treated on an average day? What I did notice is that most of these men were dressed in similar fashions, such as many of the police officers, and then I did notice several individuals who were cross dressed, but when I saw them I also noticed some awkward looks and glances of disapproval from people who seemed to be locals. This obviously is an assumption on my part, but I felt like these young men in drag that I saw were taking a greater risk than those police men who, while dressed in drag, were all still wearing the same uniform. I also had the opportunity to witness carnival in a very small town north of Salvador, and I noticed there several men dressed in drag, so it is my assumption as a young man coming from Greeley, CO, that through their acceptance in a small town, they were more accepted than a person doing the same thing in a small town in America. But for the most part, I assume that at least during carnival, a person can let their freak out on a leash and be whatever they want, which is pretty cool.
In regards to the difference between heterosexual men and women, I did notice some gender roles being exhibited that were both surprising and not so surprising. One of the main elements that stuck out to me was the concept of the Gandy’s, or men dressed in white garb who had beads on and would confront women in a very aggressive and open manner to place a kiss on them. Custom would dictate that if you want beads, you just go up to one of them and give them a kiss and they will give you their beads. What I noticed though, is that several of them felt free enough to throw their beads around someone’s head, as if catching them and then plant a big one on them. It reminded me of the scene in Borat where his traditional custom for marriage was to capture his wife in a potatoe sack. The treatment of women as property, the fluidity of sexuality was very apparent during carnival, and the Gandy’s were a prime example of how mostly heterosexual women can have an excuse to make out with as many men a they possible can.
Another component to carnival that I noticed was that there were more men participating in the streets than women, or so it seemed. I couldn’t actually take a poll, but from what I observed it seemed like most of the men were out in the streets, and a lot of the women that I did see were either foreigners or selling things on the side of the road working the event. Now, I did see a lot of women up in the Camorote where I was stationed at, which might have been a place where women might have felt safer away from the assaults in the streets, a place that allowed them to go back and forth between the activities of the street.
The place I did see a lot of women participating in carnival is up in the more traditional part of town where I saw women playing drums, and partaking in every aspect of carnival that the men were. Just as the Gandy’s were up there, I saw lots of women in their traditional garb with the hoops skirts and traditional dress. A lot of it had to do with the religion of Candomble, but I also believe that it was part of their views of women’s roles, which I must say was quite elegant.
Another area that I was able to observe men and women was at the luxurious beaches that we went to in Prior De Forte. What I observed was men’s comfort with the short shorts of the speedo. Now we can all laugh and poke fun at the fact that I of all people noticed such things, but what I also observed was that many women were wearing a wide variety of clothing that did not subscribe to weight, height or beauty. It seemed to me that many people in general in Brazil were not as concerned with their appearances, what people thought of them or the clothes they were, specifically the ones that outlined every inch of their bodies. What this says to me through my lens, is two things…one, that image is not as important to the people of this culture. I didn’t see a lot of overweight people, but also not many people gave a great deal of attention to the way the world perceived them, both men and women. And second, what this tells me is that while there are many images both in our media and in their media, that people of this country are not inundated with things telling them that they must look a certain way, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Images are a very important part of American society, and to be quite honest with you, it is not something I saw a whole lot of in Brazil while I was there. There were not very many billboards in Brazil, and the very few that I did see were not of women in skimpy uniforms and not all sexualizing every product that they sold, including toothpaste. On all of the beer advertisements it was more about the products. It was a great surprise to see, and something that was telling of the cultures’ attitudes towards marketing, how people are treated, etc, etc.
All in all I thought that Brazil was very fluid in it’s gender norms and sexuality. I recognize that my observations were from the perspective of a man in America as well as at a time that the society of Brazil was not at it’s every day pace. So ultimately, my observations are raw and generalized, but I hope that they were somewhat accurate to the actual culture there.
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