A Video on Gender

What is the world without gender? Without Race, sexual orientation, sex, anatomy, or any of these broad definitions that place us into tiny boxes that are anything but who we really are? What does it mean for a boy to be a boy? A girl to be a girl? a penis? a Vagina? even then what constitutes a vagina? A penis?

When it comes down to it on an indivudal level, my challenges to these social archytypes are not because I want there to be anarchy, but my ideal world would ask us to at least acknowledge these differnces, but not to let differences such as mannerisms, phyiscal makeup, race, etc, etc, to define us as human beings. To me everything is relative, hard for some in my philosophy classes to believe in, but true none the less...Your life is your life, no matter what you make of it, and you are who you are, no matter what anyone, especially society tells you you're supposed be. In my world right is niether right nor wrong and vise versa....wrong is niether wrong or right. We are made from our life experiences, our love for one another and our hate for one another and when it comes down to it it is not the tiny box we tried fitting into, but rather the way we feel when we are old (or young) and on our death beds and when we look back on our lives. Will we be happy with the choices we made to walk past that homeless person on the street, to ignore poverty and AIDS around the world, to distance ourselves from those closest to us, to pretend that everything in the world is okay, when in reality it is not. What will we do on that day and what is life when there is so much in between.

Look between the black and white and that is where you will find me....WATCH MY VIDEO

How Homophobia Affects Straight People

How homophobia affects straight people
AbstractA considerable amount of debate has developed over the issue of homosexuality and the acceptance of gay and lesbian persons as full people into our society. When looking at gay and lesbian issues, it is important to investigate the issues that have led up to the oppression of the gay and lesbian culture and examine how history and time have affected this category of people and how these person’s existence has played a part in society at large. Gender roles have been a part of Western society since the hunter/gather days of the past millennia. These roles have contributed to the current social norms that have inadvertently abused and neglected the gay and lesbian population resulting in dramatic and unnecessary annihilation and discrimination of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community. The social construct of gender role stereotypes, has adversely affected both men and women. These adverse affects resulting in discrimination and fear of the gay and lesbian community have left the American culture in a state of disarray resulting in gender norms that are not conducive to the whole human person, gay or straight. The purpose of this study is to examine how homophobia adversely affects the way the world is perceived by our society and how not only are LGBT persons affected dramatically by this discrimination, but that our own biases and judgments have resulted in oppression based on gender as well. The implications of these findings are discussed at the conclusion of this report. Gender Role Discrimination towards Gay and Lesbian Personsand its Adverse Effect on Society. It is important for us as a nation and also as humanity to recognize that we share this globe with billions of people. Because of this it is important to understand how we interrelate culture to culture and how our actions play a part in the lives of others and how their lives can adversely affect our own. Thus, if in our own culture we see a great number of discriminatory acts towards homosexual persons, we have to examine how those acts then reflect back upon our society as a whole. In order to do this we must first understand issues the greater society has with the homosexual population and be able to comprehend the ins and outs of why our society is so “anti-gay”. Unfortunately, to date the majority of research published in relation to homosexuality has been concerned with the homosexual's problems, and with the etiology of homosexuality. As little as 8% of published research has dealt with attitudes toward homosexuals, and less still has been concerned with perceptions of and beliefs about homosexuals. Existing research on the latter is reviewed, and research is outlined that investigates perceptions of homosexuals. Stereotypes of male and female homosexuals are examined in the context of masculine-feminine traits using the Personality Attributes Questionnaire. Results strongly support the view that sex role definitions are a highly salient reference point for the public definition of homosexuals (Taylor, 1983). As we can see, a huge part of our culture’s issues with homosexual persons is our own understandings of sex roles and what we view as “male” and “female”, “masculine” and “feminine”, “men” and “women” and the various roles for which each camp is responsible (Bornstein, 1994).Bornstein suggests that society’s issues with sexual orientation may have to do more with gender itself, as opposed to sexuality, for what exactly does it mean for a man to be attracted to a man, a woman to be attracted to a woman, or a man to be attracted to a woman? To what point does a friendship turn into something more, and how do we tell? Is it just a sexual act, or is there something more behind who we end up falling for? What exactly makes up a physical attraction to a person of one gender over the other, and more so how do these physical and psychological characteristics play a greater perception on our society’s views towards homosexual and heterosexual persons? These are the questions that this study will attempt to identify. We will explore whether or not gender roles effect the discrimination towards GLBT person, as opposed to sexual acts commonly seen of the GLBT community amongst society. Elizabeth Haste (1998) uses metaphor to illustrate how social constructs of gender perpetuate gender roles in Western society. Haste examines how feminist theories have confronted existing social theories. She describes the metaphor of dualism that exists primarily in Western culture in which the world is viewed in terms of "either/or." Masculinity is the point of departure from almost any cultural perspective, with femininity being "other" (Derr, 1995). Gender roles themselves are the conclave that separate gay and lesbian persons from society. These social norms have ostracized so many from society at large, and these do not just pertain to homosexual persons, rather any person lying just outside these gender rules. Everything in our society tells us that we must conform to these social constructs of gender roles in order to be a part of a society that is based solely on the fact that a majority of persons are born with either a penis or a vagina. Findings suggest that college-level textbooks may be reinforcing rigid gender distinctions while neglecting young women's needs to develop greater flexibility in their gender role conceptions (Anonymous, 2000). So, within the classroom we can see reinforcement of what men are supposed to do and what women are supposed to do. Males have become so accustomed to masking their true emotions, that it seems like second nature (Zmarkly, 1998) Through these gender roles society has created a binary view of the world that all are expected to mold into, when in reality there are several truths, several visions of what a person honestly is. “Research confirms that boy’s groups are more exclusionary; boys tend to reject girls or anything girl like, including boys whom like to do girl things” (Golden, 1998). “During adolescence, girls undergo a process of feminization as their identity becomes tied to a feminine expression while they are learning to conform to the norms and rules governing femininity” (Kaplan, 1997). This explains how right from the beginning we are systematically separated into two distinct categories where we must learn to obey and trust the norms of our society. Think about it, we have pink shoes for baby girls, and blue shoes for baby boys, automatically separating them into what gender they are. However, these rules do not apply to those persons that do not fit along distinct gender lines, and have created harsh biases and negative sentiments towards those that do not fit those distinct gender roles. One of these major groups is the homosexual population. Stereotypes of Gay and Lesbian PersonsFor many in the gay and lesbian community, biases favoring the social construct that gender norms have been the biggest hurdle to participation in society as full and complete human beings. For many, these social norms have cast a dark shadow over the entire community forcing upon those that are gay or lesbian for years a sense of shame, closeting most in the community. G.M. Herek 1990 reports that society’s views on homosexuality can be described through the words homophobia and heterosexuality. Society’s rethinking of sexual orientation was crystallized in the term “homophobia”, which heterosexual psychologist George Weinberg coined in the late 1960s. Weinberg used homophobia to label heterosexuals' dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals as well as homosexuals' self loathing. The word first appeared in print in 1969 and was subsequently discussed at length in Weinberg's 1972 book, Society and the Healthy Homosexual. The American Heritage Dictionary (1992 edition) defines homophobia as "aversion to gay or homosexual people or their lifestyle or culture" and "behavior or an act based on this aversion." Other definitions identify homophobia as an irrational fear of homosexuality. Around the same time, heterosexism began to be used as a term analogous to sexism and racism, describing an ideological system that denies, denigrates, and stigmatizes any non-heterosexual form of behavior, identity, relationship, or community (Herek, 1990). The term heterosexism highlights the parallels between antigay sentiment and other forms of prejudice, such as racism, antisemitism, and sexism. We can see this “ideal” as a primary reason why gay and lesbians of our society are considered outcasts. Like institutional racism and sexism, heterosexism pervades societal customs and institutions. It operates through a dual process of invisibility and attack. Homosexuality usually remains culturally invisible; when people who engage in homosexual behavior or who are identified as homosexual become visible, they are subject to attack by society (Herek, 1990). This is evident not only in the physical number of hate crimes throughout the United States, but also in the psychological attacks on persons such as bullying and harassment that take on many different forms such as denying someone a job based on their sexual orientation or in policies that either exclude gays or restrict gays from being visible persons within the greater society. Examples of heterosexism in the United States include the continuing ban against lesbian and gay military personnel; widespread lack of legal protection from antigay discrimination in employment, housing, and services; hostility to lesbian and gay committed relationships, recently dramatized by passage of federal and state laws against same-gender marriage; and the existence of sodomy laws in more than one-third of the states. (Herek 1990) It was not until only 5 years ago, that the sodomy laws were over turned in Lawrence vs. Texas during a Supreme Court Decision. Up until 5 years ago, people were still being arrested for engaging in forms of sodomy. The assumption that everyone in the world is straight has been a very detrimental subject for the gay and lesbian community, especially when orientation is dependent on a social construct such as gender. Even within the gay community, there are even more struggles with gender roles where we see gay men being more socially ousted than lesbians. Prior research examining gender role transgressions has generally observed that, although both males and females are likely to be evaluated less positively when they do not conform to gender role stereotypes, males tend to be viewed more negatively than females when they transgress gender roles (Antill, 1987; Archer, 1984; [McCreary], 1994) While there still remains a sense of privilege in the homosexual community, primarily favoring upper class white men, it seems that this is one of the biggest transgressions. Our country is phalo-centric (Bornstein, 1994). Everything is dependent on a male perspective, and thus when a male is observed pulling away from that cultural ideal, then he is seen as less than and considered more deviant than a woman who tries to obtain the cultural ideal by becoming more masculine (Bornstein, 1994) The perceived value dissimilarity (PVD) model provides a third explanation for the harsher evaluation of men who transgress their gender-based roles. The PVD model is based on Schwartz’s theory of the psychological structure of human values and the extent to which people believe that members of an out-group differ from themselves with regard to these values (see Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987). According to this perspective, those who are thought to violate a group's shared norms (i.e., by holding, or being perceived to hold, a different set of values from those of the observer) present a threat to the group and, as a result, will be perceived more negatively than those who are thought to share the group's norms (Esses, Haddock, & [Zanna, M.P.], 1993). Haddock and his colleagues have examined attitudes toward gays (Haddock, Zanna, & Esses, 1993) and men's attitudes toward women (Haddock & Zanna, 1994) using the PVD approach and found that individuals who perceived a greater degree of value dissimilarity between themselves and either women or homosexuals held more negative attitudes about those groups. Thus, because greater perceived value dissimilarity is associated with more negative attitudes, it is possible that male gender role transgressors are treated more harshly than female gender role transgressors in part because they are perceived to differ from the perceiver vis a vis these universal values (Sirin, 2004). Another study done adds more to the argument that gender roles play a huge part in the negative attitudes towards gays. Following the procedure used by Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz, & Vogel (1970), Page had male and female undergraduates describe a male homosexual, lesbian, and normal adult in terms of 41 adjective rating scales, each scale having a masculine and a feminine poll. Results indicated that compared to ratings of the normal adult, the male homosexual was viewed unfavorably and was significantly different from "normality" on 27 scales. Ratings of the lesbian were closer to those for the normal adult, although significant differences appeared on 11 scales. Ratings for the lesbian differed significantly from those for the male homosexual on 20 scales. On all but two scales, lesbian ratings were closer to the more favorable poll than were male homosexual ratings. The position seems supported that male gender nonconformity is viewed more seriously than female gender nonconformity (Page, 1985). We can see that gays and lesbians are judged more so, on the basis that they stray away from traditional gender roles, rather than for the sexual acts they may or may not engage in. This is imperative to understanding how the discrimination of gay and lesbian persons not only affects the homosexual population, but also those who are perceived as homosexual, or those who stray away from traditional gender roles. It is the instigation of fear that to be different is to be homosexual, that usually keeps people on one end or the other of the gender spectrum. There is a negative correlation between gender roles and sexual orientation due to the straying from gender norms. It has had such a negative impact on the gay and lesbian communities, as well as those who are perceived to be homosexual. 26% of gay adolescent males were forced to leave home as a result of their sexual identity (Gibson, 1989). Agencies serving street youth in Los Angeles estimate that 25-35% of homeless youth are lesbian and gay, and in Seattle, 40% of homeless youth are estimated to be lesbian or gay. (Ryan and Futterman, 1998) The National Network of Runaway and Youth Services has estimated that 20-40% of youths who become homeless each year are lesbian, gay, or bisexual (2001). According to Washington, DC’s Department of Health and Human Services, a study they conducted shows that gay and lesbian youth are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than other youths, and 30 percent of all completed youth suicides are related to the issue of sexual identity (Gibson, 1989). Please note, that this figure includes gay and lesbian youth as well as those who are perceived to be gay or lesbian. From these statistics we can also report that 84% of GLBT students report being verbally harassed at school(Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, 2003).It is alarming that in these United States, the land of the free and home to the brave, there are so many who are affected by our traditional gender role dichotomies and it is primarily the queer population that is most devastated by these social constructs. In a nation where same-sex couples live within 99.3% of all counties nation wide (Census/ Urban Institute 2000) who are raising over 1 million children, they are still seen as social outcasts. Our very own military discriminates against gay and lesbian persons with the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. And we know that they are in the military, because there are more than 1 million gay and lesbian veterans in the United States (Urban Institute, 2000) who have fought and served their country and yet are not recognized by that very democracy for which many have given their lives. In 36 states people can still be fired legally for self identifying as gay or lesbian. And finally if the United States were to allow same-sex couples to marry, the US would save over $1 billion dollars per year (Congressional Budget Office, 2004), but because of these hidden biases towards GLBT persons, they are not. These and more are just some of the many ways that GLBT persons are affected by traditional gender role expectations, which ultimately will play out in various ways throughout the rest of society. Adverse Affects on Society at Large:Not only do we see a huge correlation between suicide and gay youth, we also see an astonishing correlation between suicide and youth who are perceived to be gay or lesbian. One of the biggest ways homophobia affects heterosexual individuals is perception. Because homosexuality is not something one can see on the outside of a person, we have created stereotypes to tell what a “homosexual” is, and those stereotypes come directly from not presenting traditional gender roles. This is just one of many, many attributes that are connected to the gender role discrimination towards gay and lesbian persons and their relationships with the rest of the world. . One of the most dramatic effects on heterosexual and homosexual culture is in our personal relationships with one another. Homophobia, both internalized and realized, can be a barrier to the formation of deeper and more meaningful friendships. What happens when a heterosexual male gets too close to one of his friends? More so why is this some horrible thing? Imagine what that young man is missing out on by having to suppress his emotions for a close friend that could have nothing to do with sexuality, rather a deep appreciation for the person his close friend is? One person to examine this more thoroughly in her own words is Mary Hunt, who in her book, Fierce Tenderness: A Feminist Theology of Friendship details the distance in these friendships due to homophobia. Because she writes as a lesbian as well as a feminist theologian, Hunt, is also painfully aware of how homophobia has shaped and often thwarted same-gender friendships. Culturally embedded homophobia negatively affects same gendered affection--preventing men, for example, from developing deeply intimate and/or physically affectionate friendships--and, for gay men in particular, thwarts even appropriate self-love: "If one cannot love another person who is like oneself, it is very hard to develop the kind of ego strength necessary for healthy self-love" (pp. 53, 72). Conversely, of course, Hunt argues that we must learn to befriend ourselves, one another, and the pluriformity of all life (Clark, 1995). It is interesting to think about how many relationships out there, particularly between men, have been strung out to dry due to our cultures own homophobia. One investigative report done by the Seattle Times Newspaper, explored what happened when two men went out on what they deemed a “man date”. This was where two men, who were presumably straight, would do something like go to an art gallery together and a dinner as old friends. What the article uncovered was the things men do, in order to show to the rest of the world that they are heterosexual, going so far as to look at entirely different paintings within the art gallery, from posturing in ways that would give off the “I’m straight” look, paying for the bill separately and insisting to the waiter at the beginning of the meal that they pay separate to even how these old friends greeted each other, not with warmth and tenderness, rather a firm handshake and a pat on the back. Throughout the whole evening, they constantly were fighting what might be assumed of them, and this is the tragedy of homophobia. When two people who love and respect each other cannot express those feelings to each other; this is an issue that must be addressed. Another issue that homophobia and heterosexism impact in mainstream society is the roles and rights of women. In 1989, the US Supreme Court heard a case that involved a woman who had been refused partnership to a law firm on the basis of “sexual stereotyping” (Ertman, 1991). The Court defined sexual stereotyping as acting on the belief that "a woman cannot be aggressive," and in this case Ms. Hopkins was "abrasive", "harsh" and "impatient" with staff members (presumably secretaries or other support staff), and used profanity. Ms. Hopkins' employer's key blunder, (coup de grace), according to the Court, was advising Ms. Hopkins to "walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, wear make-up, have her hair styled, and wear jewelry." Id., 109 S.Ct. at 1782. The Court found, in short, that Ms. Hopkins, and all other women, have a right to act like men without losing their jobs. However positive this outcome was for women everywhere, we still have to look at the homophobia surrounding the case, and more so the gender roles that played into these biases. Had any man walked around the office doing the same things, he would have been considered a stern, yet efficient boss. What is wrong with a woman who is strong and confident and in charge? This would play into the idea that women are not to be masculine, or Lesbian, at all, or else they come off as “bitchy”. We can see homophobia here, because these fears come from the fact that for a woman to be masculine is to be abnormal, when in reality there are probably a majority of both men and women who represent both spectrums, masculine in some areas of life and feminine in others. It’s also important to note that under laws passed such as Title VII and other such laws that gave women the freedom and protections they so deserved during the women’s movement, gay and lesbian persons were not included under the new laws. Without overlooking the homophobia in the decision to exclude lesbians and gay men from protection under Title VII, the US court's decision regarding one of the plaintiffs, a gay man named Donald Strailey also demonstrates a lack of concern. He worked at a nursery school for two years, and was fired for wearing a small gold hoop earring. The court stated that Title VII does not protect against "discrimination because of effeminacy...homosexuality...or transsexualism." Id., 608 F.2d at 332. Especially in contrast to Price Waterhouse which supports the contention that the law, here Title VII, protects the right to act like a man but not like a woman. Implicit in both of these decisions is the idea that anyone in her right mind strives to be as much like men as possible, just as people of color must want the same rights as white people. The message is to assimilate to the white male heterosexual mold because no other counts or is respected. If they don't respect it, they won't protect it (Ertman, 1991). In both cases we see blatant acts of homophobia that linger in both the courts and employers who assume that a man is supposed to be masculine and a woman is supposed to be feminine. Straying from these gender norms cause uneasiness and resulted in one woman being fired and one man being fired for the same reasons with two different outcomes. Another issue that we will touch on is the issue of homosexuals who avoid coming out of the closet and marry into traditional roles of man and woman. There is not a whole lot of research done on this, but the fact that we force a certain minority to hide who it is they really are, leads to secrecy and cover-ups resulting in tragic endings to what was seen as beautiful stories. These poor heterosexual men and women, who marry these closeted homosexual women and men, end up wondering their whole lives, “why didn’t I see?” The internalized homophobia which drives these people to get married, even though they are gay is saddening, and leave many homes broken. The differences in divorce adjustment of women divorced from homosexual men compared to women divorced from heterosexual men have been explored. The results of the study indicated women divorced from homosexual men do not differ greatly from women divorced from heterosexual men in psychological symptoms or in overall divorce adjustment, although they appear to have more anger on divorce adjustment (Smith, 1990). The rates of men who are coming out of the closet and divorcing their wives is on the rise, and this has a direct affect on the heterosexual population. There is a part of us all that desires to fit into the mold of what society has told us we should be, but when concerning matters such as spending the rest of your life in a partnership with someone, disclosing information such as ones sexual orientation is still not the number one priority. Just imagine after 25 years of marriage, your spouse decides that he or she wants to come out of the closet and leave you for another person. This is what happens to many people, and is something that needs to be of concern to our society for the well being of all individuals both gay and straight. Is it the individual’s fault for hiding his or her true feelings, or is society to blame for making the individual stay closeted and getting themselves into these expected situations? Another interesting case was a study done on couples going to watch romantic movies. Now what’s interesting about this study is that what would be predictable according to gender roles would be that the women would more than likely prefer to see romantic movies. But what stereotypic gender roles in this study didn’t account for was the fact that the men as well enjoyed romantic movies. I think this is a huge view into how homophobia affects everything from our personal relationships, to our jobs, to what kind of things we can like or not like such as books, movies, or music. What is interesting is that both males and females in the study predicted that other men would not prefer romantic movies, according to societal expectations (Harris, 2004). What’s fascinating about this is how we limit ourselves to choose only within our specified gender role, rather than simply based on what we like or dislike due to fear of repercussion for liking something outside of our specified “gender”. A man may refuse to listen to certain types of music for fear of being too feminine or “gay”. A man may pick a novel based upon his gender, and if he is caught reading the other type of novel, the fear instilled within him of homosexuality; if this, than that, a slippery slope way of looking at the world, when really the two have no connection. He will even choose what sports he participates in based solely on his sex, rather than what he prefers. The sole purpose not necessarily that one acts, rather that one does not act, is due to perception. What would he look like if he played a “girls” sport? Weak or in most cases, he would be considered “gay”. The issue of lesbianism in female sports is so controversial that few women, gay or straight, will speak on the record about it. Their fears are not unfounded. Being perceived as a lesbian in the women's sports world often carries the same stigma as being a lesbian. And the notion that many women in sports are lesbians is widespread (Cart, 1997). As our stereotypes of homosexual persons display themselves in all forms, it is important to see how our homophobia affects women as well and their abilities to be treated just as equally and fairly as men in the realm of athletics. It’s almost the opposite effect for gay men who are involved within sports. It is the assumption that gay men do not play sports, when in reality there are probably more professional gay male athletes than one can imagine. The homophobia in sports affects them in a way that requires them to be closeted about who they are or risk being ostracized or targeted as an outsider. At this time in society it is inconceivable that gay men participate in as many sports as their heterosexual friends on the same teams. For many gay youth, athletics is an experience away from harassment and bullying, when they “prove” their masculinity. Again, here we attribute homophobia not to a sex act, rather the fulfillment of sex role requirements created by society at large. My Utopian Vision of AmericaWhat we as a society must recognize if we are to eradicate our discrimination of not only gay and lesbian persons, but each other, is that ultimately what connects each of us is not our sex, race, sexual orientation, culture or creed, rather our common humanity. What we share in common is the mere fact that we are even here to begin with. When two straight men can’t love one another as fellow human beings because they fear that others might perceive that one or both of them are gay, there is an inherent bias that keeps people from being themselves completely. As I mentioned before, many groups besides gay and lesbian persons are affected under the sex-roles created by society including men, women, intersexed or hermaphrodite persons, transsexual persons, and cultural persons outside the US. When we recognize as a society that gender is as fluid and diverse as race is, then we will be able to truly start to break down the walls that we have created for ourselves. One day I hope that men will be able to openly express their feelings to other men and women, without feeling too feminine or gay. I hope that women everywhere will be able to stand confidently for who they are, and not have to dumb down to impress a potential suitor. I hope that gay men and women will feel comfortable enough to be themselves everywhere, whether they are naturally more masculine or feminine, and that their personal relationships will be looked upon not as deviant sexual episodes, rather romantic, fulfilling and loving partnerships. I hope that young men everywhere will recognize within women their true beauty, known as the human soul and will no longer look to women just to fulfill their sexual gratifications or a cultural role. I hope that women will no longer be afraid of being seen as anything less than a full human being in our society and will not have to fear walking to their car alone in the middle of the night. I hope that gay and lesbian persons will no longer be stereotyped as too masculine or too feminine and that they will feel welcome in church , medical facilities, universities, and public school classrooms without the fear of intimidation or harassment. In my Utopian world, we are all seen as equal, and while we have many differences, the one thing that does connect us, is our humanity. I hope when we look into the eyes of another, we will see who they are, rather than what they are. I hope we can afford to them the same amount of dignity and respect that they as human beings deserve. What I hope this study has brought to you, is not necessarily the full and complete answers to every burning desire one may have about these issues, but more the idea that our own words and actions do affect us in some way. Whether it is calling some kid a fag in middle school or denying someone full access to the same rights and privileges that we ourselves enjoy, it affects everyone. Through our own ignorance of the world, we neglect to see what truly matters, the human spirit.“When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.” -Charles Evans Hughes-

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Performing Black Masculinities and Homophobia as Reinforcement

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!

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.

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.