femengitusb-blog - Tumblr blog

[femengitusb-blog]

I like this idea you talk about. Something I actually never thought about growing up while playing video games and I do agree, there should be better representation, or at least more options and ways to customize our protagonists. To second point, I do believe that representation, or options, in this arena is expanding. Games such as skyrim and pokemon do provide options for players to choose gender. Even then, we don’t get options of age, ethnicity, or sexuality. Perhaps this will be something to move forward to in the future, maybe more RPG games that function like Sims in how we as players are able to pick and choose attributes about our characters that directly reflect who we are as a person.

Even though this image is meant to be comedic it truly highlights one of the most prevalent issues in video games; a lack of diversity among protagonists. 

A lot of the best-selling franchises feature white, almost-always heterosexual, male lead characters that the player assumes the role of. This was especially common in the early 2000s, and thankfully game developers are beginning to include a bit more diversity in protagonists of their games to make playing the games a bit more personal for gamers. Even if it is not intentional, by having such a lack of diversity among its playable characters certain games and franchises are creating a barrier between the player and the game that removes the immersive aspect of video gaming. Not every person that plays video games is a 30 year-old, brown-haired, white heterosexual male…so why is that the most popular choice for the primary character of the game?

-Nicole H.

[femengitusb-blog]

Never really thought about this. When women pose sexually or provocatively online, they are owning their sexuality. They are comfortable in their own skin and embrace their being as empowered women. Females like Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Mia Li (porn star lol), etc take ownership of their bodies. Sex slaves and prostitutes, however, are letting, being forced to rather, by others as a means of exploitation. They are perceived as sexual objects and thus a lesser of a human. The line is drawn when one is able to own their sexuality without the input or validation of others, in my opinion.

[femengitusb-blog]

Interesting read. Law and order has always been one of my favorite shows to watch for exactly the reasons you mention. It’s raw. It’s explicit. It’s dark but brings levity to topics almost too uncomfortable to talk about in public, let alone privately. Domestic violence is no acceptation. Unfortunately, I did not actually watch this episode, but from your description, I could feel the classic onset of fear, anxiety, and darkness this show elicits set in. When a victim is exposed to abuse early in there life or during periods of extended times I’m sure they become conditioned into feeling that what is happening in their current situation is “normal”. It saddens me to hear stories like this because it makes me wonder what if it had been me. Or my friend. Or my mother. Or a coworker that I know. People going through this kind of pain may be unable to speak their truth or be too afraid, many times fearing not being taken seriously or hurt by their perpetrators. To those people I say stay strong. Seek help/resources. Hang in. 

“There’s No Such Thing As Raping Your Wife”:  Law and Order SVU

Keep reading

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 12/14/2016

After a long, insightful and intellectually-challenging semester, I have learned to understand my privileged along with the multifaceted elements of technology, the media, and gender. Themes of cyber-feminism, safe space, hacktivism, race and media, self-fashioning, and digital literacy will carry with me for the rest of my life. Until recent, I had not realized how I have been a victim of such ignorance. Everyday I am learning. As a scientist, I enjoy dissecting new ideas and concepts. To say that these new ideas learned in class have not affected how I now view the world would be a lie. Even ask my friends, they will tell you its all I talk about (opposed from how stressed out I am). I think the number one concept I took away from this class is to never be satisfied with the status quo, to always ask questions where questions are not asked. It is our right as humans to remain curious, aware, and educated. Change does not happen passively, it requires time and delayering. So, next time you see something unjust in the media, or on the streets, or in your life, remain curious and filled with wonder--who benefits from our silence? who benefits from our voices? how do we fine tune our hearing in a sea of clamor? how do we help those who just shut it all out? These are questions to ask. 

[femengitusb-blog]

This was a very interesting post. I never really thought about how antagonist women were portrayed in animated movies/shows. Growing up you don’t think about that kind of stuff, you just watch. It makes one wonder how these themes have affected the way people may associate with “evil”

The “Evil” Stepmother

The trope of the evil stepmother has been around since the Grimms brothers rewrote the classics they had been told as children. It’s pretty obvious that the archetype of the evil older woman is sexist, but what’s more interesting is the patterns that arise when character designers think “bad woman.” What does evil look like?

Not Classically Attractive

While there are a ton of female antagonists in your childhood movies, they all some suspiciously similar character design. Often, they are either shown as “too big,” like Ursula, “too skinny,” like Cruella DeVille or Maleficent, or just straight up called ugly, like Cinderella’s sisters. Meanwhile, the female protagonists are inevitably a pale, thin, european kind of just right. 

Old and Alone

Everyone knows you can’t be a sympathetic main character unless your parents die (looking at you Marvel) but if there is one parent to survive, it is often the mother or stepmother. Why? Well, to compound their unattractiveness, designers often make these antagonists older women (because youth is the ideal) and they are often without any sort of male companionship. You can tell these women are ‘bad’ because they have no husband and often no desire for one. If there is a love interest for the antagonist, it is often set up only to conflict with protagonist’s ultimate goal to woo a man. 

Obsessed with Beauty

From the talking mirror in Snow White, to the deliberately garish transition of Mother Gothel in Tangled, it seems like the only motivation older women have is to be prettier than younger women. Even if it’s not directly in conflict with the protagonist’s beauty: Cruella wants a new coat because she’s vain, Ursula wants Ariel’s beautiful voice, Gothel needs to stay young because… she does? Because obviously all women should want to? It’s fine, I’m sure they’ll write in some motivation later. 

BONUS Intersectionality

Most of the media from your childhood define “evil” as “dark” both literally and figuratively. Evil characters are often shown with a darker skin tone, even if it’s not a natural color, such as the purple of Ursula or the dark green of Maleficent in the cartoon. Interestingly, during the reboot of Maleficent, while it focused on a tale designed to empower women, the redesign of Maleficent from villain to hero involved a much lighter skin tone, much more modern makeup, and considerable softening of her previously “unattractive” traits. 

[femengitusb-blog]

I love how comedians like Chappelle can shed light and laughter on some very apparent problems that plague Americans. I did not actually watch his monologue, only the skits he was apart of, but I am glad you guys posted this. I’m curious to know, what is you personal opinion on Donald Trump? Do they mirror that of Chappelle’s? Or do they diverge? 

@ Paloma

-Paloma

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 12/7/2016

Intrinsically, there is a claim that the selfie is a western mode of expression. In other words, the selfie westernizes the subject. The selfie reinforces the misconception that is it a linguistic formation of western culture. Al-Chaar is a relatable victim for Western consuming audiences because of his participation in the selfie and his general background as a whole. He is represented as an upper middle class, English-speaking, secular, urban teenager who wants to move to America and play for the NBA. Brager argues that the practice of selfie-taking makes the third-world selfie taker legible as a grievable subject for Western social media spectators. Whether this observation of the selfie be considered a tool for social advancement or weapon, there is still an underlying westernization of the selfie. One may argue that the selfie itself provides a lens that allows westerners to look into the culture of another, thus good. But others may argue that this observing through western eyes may actually harm the third-world image as a whole. I from, my own experience, can understand how the selfie has universally taken the world by a storm. By better understanding this process better, people arm themselves with a more wholistic idea of the many layers and forms of structural power that go into a selfie. 

[femengitusb-blog]

https://digitalculturist.com/how-selfies-became-my-tool-for-empathy-2a222ed2ce83#.bregya2h7

[femengitusb-blog]

Also they used a picture that makes him look somewhat positive. It’s ridiculous how far media will go to protect white male privilege.

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 11/30/2016

This week we discussed how Facebook serves in circulating power. More specifically, we talked in depth about how it emphasizes user authenticity and truth in order to place us into paradoxical gender binaries. These binaries are used as a source of data to improve marketing for companies that directly parallel what a user identifies as in terms of gender as well as the content they have been liking, looking up, and processing. The issue with these binaries is that it creates power division between the major gender binaries and among queer and non-binary identifying groups. To be queer or non-binary is to be outside of what the system understands to be quantifiable. If you cannot be quantifiable into something someone can use, your relevance becomes essentially erased, irrelevant. Essentially to exist in the internet one must be fundamentally linked to capitalism. Additionally, queer and non-binary conforming individuals, in terms of power, are unable to partake in as many social milestones that straight cis-gendered individuals can such as posting baby photos, (what was unavailable then) marriage, etc. I never really thought about these issue before this lecture and will continue to think about it moving forward. 

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 11/23/2016

Sexting. We all do it at some point or another. What’s interesting about this week’s topic is how skewed so many of our perspectives about this intimate act truly is. The media and our society’s current upbringing shame women into believing they are the perpetrators of many acts committed on or by themselves. Acts such as rape, sexual assault, and sexual misconduct have been pinned against women by how they dress, act, and look rather than the men who have committed the crime. The same goes for sexting. While sexting is a two-way street, many still pin it on the women for showing/expressing far too much. It is an act that has been on going since the beginning of the technological era. Not only that, many authorities are using harsh child pornography laws against minors, and give teenagers the advice to simply abstain, contextualizing further the idea that young girls are helpless. I think it is important for us as a society to delve further and discuss this topic in greater detail in order for our children and grandchildren to thrive in this rapidly growing technological era. 

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 11/16/2016

Lisa Nakamura’s piece, “Indigenous Circuits: Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic Manufacture”, she explores the phenomena and creates the conversation behind how indigenous women of color are mass producing much of what society thrives on, technology. Nakamura bridges the gap between these indigenous laborers and the technological consumers. What I found particular interesting about this read and topic is, is that I never really thought about where my technology really comes from. I understand that, for example, my iPhone, MacBook, television, etc etc is mass produced in another country, usually China; what I never really paid mind to was who exactly is involved in the production and assembly of these technologies. The Fairchild plant company, for instance, was one of the first chip manufacturers to outsource production to Asia. By doing so, the advancement and development of digital technology increases almost exponentially into what we were are feeling now in the 21st century. This story runs parallel as well to the chip manufacturing within and across US borders, specifically on Navajo land in that women workers were at the forefront of this movement from the primitive past into a post-modern, creative, and capitalistic future with the use of technology. This idea itself decontextualized my idea of technology. There is finally a face to who have and continually further our advancement as a society through technology

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 11/9/2016

This week we talked about how digital communication and the internet itself could be used as a means to disembody the concept of race, gender, and class. Throughout Fernandez’s work, she talks a lot about racism, in terms of its social construct, how even women of color experience this issue at a microlevel. It was interesting to read about and delve deeper into how racism affects the way our society functions and behaves on a macro scale. This idea that the internet has the ability to disembody our concept of race, gender, and class can be seen throughout the web in all different types of forms and platforms. For one, people on the internet, regardless of race, gender, or class, have access to resources that allow them to create content and discuss ideas without the need of a “profile picture” and are even encouraged to sign up under username aliases that do not directly project who or where they come from. This type of anonymous identity creates an ambiguity where those on the receiving end have no choice but to take the information for what it is, rather than project bias toward it if they were to know the identity of who wrote it. I think this kind of disembodiment is needed in order for us as humans to evolve further and to raise our consciousness to one that projects stronger love and understanding rather than hate and divide.’

@digitalfem 

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 11/2/2016

Technology is defined as “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry” according to Google. This week we talked about how femininity is used as a technology. In fact, I never really thought about anything other than technology as... well technology! The basis of this argument is centered around the concept that women are able to utilize their femininity to as a tool, the same way many of us utilize technology as a tool. By conforming to feminine ideas like cuteness, neatness, attention to presentation, etc, women are able to excel in the work place, even socially. Women have the ability to use the idea of femininity to their advantage when needed. For example, many successful female youtubers have used their hyperfeminine platform into furthering their careers. Qualities such as cuteness, politeness, neatness, and organizational are favored qualities and qualities many people look for in the work place along with those who can be trusted. Youtubers like Dakota Rose have capitalized on this technology. 

@digitalfem

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 10/26/2016

This week we talked about the Anonymous group, an organization comprised of activists and hacktivists. They first became known after a series of public stunts and DDoS attacks on government, religious, and corporate websites. They have a level of ambiguity of beliefs where the only thread of commonality may simply be their ability and knowledge to hack and dismantle intellectual property. Additionally, this group of loosely formed, trolls-turned-humanitarians poses the question for us all: what is truth and how is it viewed? Ultimately, truth is a socially constructed idea. Whether or not their choice to expose high ranking officials and politicians for their corruptness be viewed as heroic or criminal, at the end of the day, these acts reflect the truth and the truth is what we use in order to improve. Many have speculated about the DDoS attacker who targeted Rutgers internet system last year. Although it negatively affected the course work for all students living on campus, it also shed light on how Rutgers was not providing adequate internet security for their students. In a posed interview with the attacker them-self, they have revealed that their motives were fueled by how poor Rutgers internet service was for their students. So, in that regards, I would not consider anonymous to be a criminal group of individuals, but rather a group of brave activists providing truth for the public. 

@digitalfem

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post 10/19/2016

There is an interesting element of fandom’s and their connectedness with technology and the cyber-feminism. Due to technology’s ability to generate, store, and expand new information and methods of communication, people from all ages and walks of life are allowed and encouraged to create and foster fandoms. These fandoms have and can range from anything like Harry Potter, War Craft, Game of Thrones, anime, and the walking dead all the way to celebrity fandoms of pop-icons like Justin Bieber, the Kardashians, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift. Fandoms, from my experience and based on the readings, allow space for the fan to explore their own thoughts, sexuality, and experience further through their interactions with other fans as well as the one being fanned over. This kind of fan based community provides a place of support and encouragement that with which many, as Virpi Oksman states, “the girls created their own online venue for play outside of existing media institutions and generated their own interests”. Time and time again, I have seen that these fandoms bring out the best out of all parties involved. They feel a sense of belonging, needed-ness. Their value and self-worth improve and new ideas come flooding along. By utilizing this tool I believe feminists have the capabilities to not only move forward, but also foster support for one another with the “fandom” of change. 

@digitalfem

[femengitusb-blog]

Reflection Post (10/12/2016)

It was interesting to learn about content curation this week and its implication within specific communities, how this tool of community expression, solidarity, and recognition could be used to help educate the masses, sometimes even more than experts ever could. Content curation by google definitions is defined as Content curation as “the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme”. Aristea Fotopoulou and Nick Couldry talk about throughout their paper, “Telling the story of the stories: online content curation and digital engagement”, can be used to build infrastructure that ultimately results in organizational changes that push communities in positive directions. A space where a lot of content curation takes place is this very website, Tumblr. Tumblr provides a platform for many active users to discuss, post, post, and explore certain areas of particular interest in, many times, blogs that contain content curation. These blogs concentrate on a particular topic or theme. From any broad topic like comedy to very a specific topic like affects of GMO on health, content curated Tumblr blogs pull from the vast resources of the web into a focused and concentrated by product that can be used by others to gain knowledge from and access to. The blogs that our class was assigned to create with our groups is an example of content curation.

@femfinity