Popular Culture and Society

In our most recent discussion class on 9/28, which was led by Diego, we watched an interesting documentary, Celluliod Closet, which discussed the transition of homosexuality portrayal in film. I found it very interesting that the portrayal of homosexuality in film was a direct parrallel to homosexuality at each given time period.

For example, in the 1920's homosexuality was more openly shown in hollywood films. According to historymatters.gmu.edu, "in the 1920's, due in part to Prohibition and the emergence of speakeasies, homosexuality became even more open." I find it interesting that the social acceptance of homosexuality came along with the more open minded portrayal in Hollywood during the "roaring 20's."

When our culture entered into the 1930's, all of this began to change. The 1930's was a time of the Great Depression and religious revival. During this time, Hollywood films began to tone down the appearance of homosexuality. Homosexuality appeared less in mainstream films during this time due to criticisms aimed at Hollywood from religious groups claiming the industry contributed to immortality. This decline in homosexual portrayals on the big screen was partnered by a more taboo outlook on homosexuality in general. It is interesting to note this societal change that seemed to mirror the change in popular culture because it brings up the question of which change occured first and how does society and popular culture affect one another.

Through some research on several different sites (listed at the end of this post) I came to the conclusion that the change in society began before the change in pop culture, but the change in pop culture seemed to always become a catalyst for more widespread and faster change in society. This can easily be seen in the change that occured in the 1930's. Due to the Great Depression and the hardships it tolled upon many Americans, religion became of greater importance than it had been in the 1920's because it gave people hope and a more optomistic view on their lives. This religious revival then provoked Hollywood to turn to more "moral" themes and characters (in this case, heterosexuality) than it had previously. Due to this change in Hollywood's depiction of our society, society itself began to shape itself at an ever increasing rate to conform to the popular images devised by the films. This shows the basic idea that slight changes of societal viewpoints cause a circular effect of Hollywood conforming to societal standards follwed by society conforming to Hollywood's standards and so on.

www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/gays_and_lesbians/gay_film

www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=53837

www.theoryofthephil.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/the-function-of-popular-culture-in-society/

Homosexuality in Current Day Films

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/gays_and_lesbians/gay_film.cfm

In today's discussion, which we had with Diego, I was really interested in the video that we had watched regarding homosexuality in films. What I found most interesting was the amount of innuendo slipped into films that were made as early as the 20's! However, one thing that bothered me was that whenever a gay was portrayed it was often in a negative, stereotypical way. As they had mentioned in the film, Celluloid Closet, homosexuality was only something to laugh at, pity or fear, and gay characters never played a role that was fleshed out and explored beyond the gay stereotype. Interested in seeing if we have progressed any farther since the time when gay men were used I decided to look at films in the current day to see if they have improved at all in their stereotyping.

The first film I looked at was probably the most mainstream and obvious choice, Brokeback Mountain, which tells the tale of two male sheepherders who fall in love and pursue a rather tragic romance. While the movie focuses on two bisexual (not gay) males who do end up getting married and having children of their own, their homosexual relationship is definitely the main plot of the film and is a deep and complex one at that. The fact that they have to cheat on their wives in order to be together does sort of portray the men as lying, lustful, and manipulative, which may lead some to believe that this film paints gays in a negative light, but I think this just adds a whole different layer of complexity to the characters, making the audience see how difficult it really is to have a homosexual relationship. Thus, I think this film does a really great job of revealing the hardships that gay men face, while additionally avoiding the feminine stereotype that most gays are portrayed in in most modern films. I'd definitely say this film is a huge step forward from the time of 20's films with "sissy" gay characters.

Another film I examined was a scene within Easy A, in which the protagonist, Olive, helps her gay friend, Brandon, find acceptance in high school by "pretending to be straight". In order to do so, she pretends to have sex with him and the scene is played largely for laughs, and a good amount of them are made at Brandon's sexuality's expense (lavender curtains joke, gnome in underwear, etc). While Brandon's character may seem like a total stereotype who sets gays back simply by existing in film, I think he is actually a rather progressive character. He reveals the discomfort that a lot of gays have while being closeted in high school and even gives a really great speech within the film about the pain that he suffers as people are constantly mocking and bullying him. Through mixing a combination of gay stereotypes and real personality, I think that Brandon's character comes across as genuine and offers a great insight into the lives of a struggling gay teenager (while simultaneously keeping things lighthearted).

All in all, I'd say that the portrayal of gays in films today has been getting way better since the early films of the 20's-50's, and while there might still be a lot of offensive stereotypes, I think things are headed in a positive direction. Here's to hoping things might continue getting better!

Brokeback Mountain trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xuugq7fito

Olive and Brandon in Easy A:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzLbqkq-1ag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGIQQBEj9uU

Agent van Alden

Last week in class, Professor Velasco mentioned briefly about a character in HBO's Emmy award winning series, Boardwalk Empire. The character is prohibition agent van Alden, and he has been shown to self-flagellate when his work and beliefs are in conflict. To summarize quickly, van Alden is working in Atlantic City during the Prohibition era to try and bring down the kingpin of the bootlegging and illegal sale of alcohol. The reason he mutilates his body is because he believes he sins. In Atlantic City, where prostitution and all sorts of illegal activities occur, its very hard for a lone man to not get tempted. Even though his job essentially is to rid the city of the "sins", he himself falls victim to temptation.

Interestingly, we see this commonly. People who at first strive to do good for society become prey after they realize just what they are dealing with. Politicians, for example, come into office with a lofty and ideal agenda on how to better the world. Only a few years in, those same politicians become so enamored with power and control they become what they had hoped to stop in the first place. "If you can't beat them, join them" may sound cliche, but it holds some truth, ironically.

The teachings of Christianity is also similar in that it tells people how to be good and what exactly a good person is, but people still do what is considered bad or evil. We know the blueprint to leading a life that will eventually take us to "heaven" but along the way we encounter many of the temptations and desires that stray us. Thus, in order to repent for these sins, people believe that delivering physical pain to the body is an offering for God's forgiveness. Though there may be a higher entity somewhere, realistically speaking, we only do these things to straighten our conscience. The feeling of guilt and betrayal to God, who is always looking upon us, must somehow be quelled. The knowledge that one has made dues with God allows that same person to go on living his or her life. Many of the things we do are truly things we do for ourselves, in fact.

The Modern Day Baroque Attitude

In this post I have 3 sections that I want to address that all relate to the Baroque "attitude": Keira Knightly and airbrushing, a YouTube video posted by comedian JennaMarbels, as well as a question I had today in lecture.

First off, Keira Knightly was a principle role in the movie King Arthur. However, Keira also faced troubles with airbrushing. Keira's body lacks the voluptuousness in her breasts, which is why the editors of the movie poster decided to use their Photoshop techniques on her. This was also not the only occasion Knightly had to face this, but also with a Coco Chanel ad.

When Keira Knightly was interview in a People article, I found her comment about beauty very compelling,

"OK, I'm on the cover of a magazine but somebody else does the hair, and the makeup, and airbrushes the f--- out of me – it's not me, it's something other people have created."

I thought she captured the Baroque attitude of saying that visual enhancement is just a lie and not her true self. Similar to Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, both women were trying to falsify the portraits of themselves in telling the public that it is not the true image of them.

Moreover, a comedian JennaMarbels posted a YouTube video that is very satirical on female body image. Although Jenna is mocking girls that wear a lot of makeup, she indirectly raises the issue that women are very consumed with how they look. I also thought that Jenna took on this Baroque attitude by implying that makeup is just another way to cover up true beauty and is superficial. When watching the video, I couldn't help but think about the "deception of color" that we talked today about in class as it relates to makeup. The "foolishness" in Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz's sonnet about trying to hide ugliness is connected to Jenna's rant about the insanity of women's fixation of needing to deceive people that they are in pretty. After all, Jenna's video title is "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking."

Finally, I wanted to repost my question from today's class:

"Although the Baroque attitude has a negative perspective on superficial appearance change, what do you think the Baroque attitude would be towards transgendered people?"

In my opinion, I think that the Baroque attitude focuses on more on what is "true" and not hiding from reality. Therefore, I would think that if I lived in the Baroque era, my opinion would be this: There is no point in hiding behind deception because we are all going to die, so if someone is transgendered they should get a sex change to remain true at heart. Don't try to avoid fate, but rather embrace it, because hiding who you really are is the same as hiding behind an appearance.

Obviously this is just my opinion and I would love to hear your thoughts!

Link to People Article: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20052654,00.html

Link to JennaMarbels YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpwAtnywTk

Kim Kardashian is everywhere. With more endorsements than I even care to list, her fame and popularity has only increased in the last few years.

But I wonder, is Kim really that beautiful or is her beauty just the result of talented make-up artists, hair stylists, and airbrushing?

I've included in this post a few "candid" shots of Kim in her day-to-day life running errands, at the gym etc.

Now if we compare these first two pictures to a photo shoot Kim did for LIfe and Style Magazine that featured her "without makeup" there is an obvious difference! What's interesting is in the article she states she wanted to show people that she is "comfortable in her own skin" and not afraid to be seen without makeup. Yet, in this photo it looks like she has makeup on, and there's a clear difference between photos taken of her in her daily life and a photo taken during a photo shoot.

Overall, I feel such images of stars without make-up on are positive, and important for women to see. As the Dove commercial shown in class mentioned, our perception of what is beautiful is distorted because the images that the media provides us are distorted themselves.

If we continue to see examples of celebrities in their day-to-day looking like the rest of us, maybe some of the pressure will start to fade, and we can go back to appreciating what's really important.

Painting Our Identity?

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/04/13/new-j-crew-ad-sparks-debate-on-gender-identity-confusion/

It's just a normal advertisement for J.Crew, and there seems to be nothing wrong... except for the bright pink nail polish on the young boy's toes. The verdict has always been blue is for boys and pink is for girls, but this ad has a pink color painted on a male child. Some people take this as simply an ad that expresses the mother's love for the child, but others don't take this ad very lightly. Conservative columnists believe this is a form of celebration of "propaganda pushing the celebration of gender-confused boys wanting to dress and act like girls is a growing trend, seeping into mainstream culture." If I were asked about this ad, I would say it conveys nothing more than a cute child enjoying his time with his mother who is having a little fun with toenail polish, but I would personally never be caught dead wearing pink toenail polish. This is an advertisement that confuses some about gender identity, and it goes back to the problem of the re-defining gender, which is never a simple task. Yes, it is odd in society for a male to be wearing pink, but can we really judge our gender identity with the paint on our body? Gender can be juggled in the social norms of culture and ideals, but in the end, we can't judge our gender identities based on a color. In the most objective viewpoint, pink is only an idea, a figment of our imagination, a memory. Colors are based off the frequency of light that is reflected, and yet something so intangible as pink, is conceived as feminine or girly. The only reason why we believe it is girly is because that's what we're told to believe. Society can change the expectations we must meet in order to fulfill a gender identity, but it can't define nor limit our gender identities. 
-Fred Kim

Male/female Underwear Models

After looking at all the images in class today, I thought it was interesting that the male models were frequently shown without heads. The framing only included their chests and crotches. I searched female Calvin Klein underwear ads as well, and with a few exceptions, the women are almost always depicted with their heads on. Female bodies are cut up in most other advertisements, so I wondered why Calvin Klein would remove the occasional male head but present whole females. Does this mean that advertisers were uncomfortable about the male model's face? Or did they feel the need to direct the consumer's gaze to the 'underwear'? I think it indicates that even though both kinds of bodies are on display for objectification, people gaze at men and women differently and process them differently. In female ads the seductive gaze of the female model seems important to the overall appeal of the image. Maybe male consumers are not used to having sexy naked men stare them down? Female-directed advertising successfully uses this trope but maybe the lack of male heads suggests it only works in the one market. I don't know what year most of these were taken, but it would be interesting to see if there's been a trend towards either less male faces or more.

I'm just posting the female model results because this link is ridiculously long, but this is the general trend.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Fb4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=calvin+klein+rossetti+poem&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=4309l4436l0l4716l2l1l0l0l0l0l180l180l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&biw=1342&bih=739&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=calvin+klein+women+underwear+ads&oq=calvin+klein+women+underwear+ads&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=44208l44615l6l44767l4l4l0l2l0l1l248l397l0.1.1l2l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=6a724fd66067ec27&biw=1440&bih=766

Sexy Ads!

I found some more advertisements that use sexual desire to lure in an audience...

These definitely caught my eye, especially the Calvin Klein one! I think the Calvin Klein one is pretty self explanatory to why this relates to what we talked about in class today, since it's like examples Professor Velasco showed us.

As for the Tom Ford advertisement, I think this one is pretty risque! Although we have become immune to sexual

marketing, I think that this one in particular is risque. It obviously appeals to men because the camera perspective would be from the model's partner during sexual activity. Personally, I find the advertisement disgusting, but I do see the shock value in it, which is why I decided to share!

Anorexia in Children

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-444646/Children-young-suffering-anorexia.html

In this article, it stated how the youngest child diagnosed with anorexia is 6 years old. I found that fact extremely surprising. When we think about anorexia, we don't really associate it amongst young children, but really only associate it with teenagers and young adults. There are about 60,000 to 90,000 adults being treated for anorexia at any time in the UK; however, we can see the disease spreading, with the article stating how 206 pre-teenaged children were admitted with the disease of anorexia or bulimia. To have this many children already fall to the holds of this disease is unacceptable.

Due to the insane social standards people are placed on today with being skinny and thin, many children are falling victims of diseases like anorexia and bulimia. In the stories, Holy Anorexia and Holy Feast Holy Fast, we see that the women in that time period were starving themselves for the reward of sainthood. On the other hand, in present day, women are doing the same thing instead for the reward of being socially beautiful. Today, it seems that physical looks are being weighed as heavily as sainthood did in the past. Even young six year olds feel the pressure of being thin and beautiful, under the standards of society.

Male Anorexia

I find it interesting that in modern society, anorexia seems to be thought of as a disease exclusively for women- when, in fact, male anorexia is becoming increasingly more present in modern culture. To be more exact, according to a study conducted by the University of Toronto, 1 out of every 6 men have some form of anorexia.

What may be misleading for most people is that, while female anorexia mostly involves the quest to be thin, male anorexia incorporates a desire to be lean and chiseled- often resulting in an obsessive workout routine and "healthy," protein filled diet. An article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/health/thinner-the-male-battle-with-anorexia.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm) helps to explain male anorexia, explaining that while women fear having "a little meat on (their) thighs," men fear having "too many fat on (their) delts."

If this increasing trend of male anorexia continues, it may soon be as common as it's female counterpart.

Barbie Dolls and Anorexia

Our discussion today in class reminded me of something I saw in the news earlier this year.

First off, let's start with this picture posted above. This is what barbie would look like if her measurements were converted to that of a life size real person. She would be six feet tall with a 39 inch bust, 18 inch waist and 33 inch hips. Clearly, this "body" is not realistic, and to me it is a representation of the unrealistic pressures society has placed on women to look a certain way, to look "perfect." The way barbie looks is NOT healthy and is NOT "normal" (whatever normal may in fact be).

Just like in the medieval writings we had to read for class, women in today's society feel the pressure to be thin, to match the size 0 of the models and actresses shown on the covers of the magazines in the supermarket.

Women strive for bodily perfection similarly to the way the women in the medieval stories sought sainthood. It's all about depriving oneself of pleasures (in this case, food) to reach that "level" of "perfection."

By showing this image of barbie, I also wanted to just touch on the role of the environment in shaping the idea that women need to reach this level of perfection.

Holy Anorexia & Buddhism

Buddha Under the Bodhi Tree

Just a quick thought about what we talked about in class today...

Holy anorexia in the Christian religion is very similar to the legends of Siddhartha Gautama in Buddhism.

Here's a brief summary of the story:

Siddhartha Gautama was a prince that was confined to the walls of his palace and protected from the outside world under his father's command. When Siddhartha was older, he escaped but he was then exposed to all the suffering in the world. To understand this better, Siddhartha sat under the sacred Bodhi tree and lived in extreme asceticism. Starving, he only rose when he reached enlightenment. Through this transformation Siddhartha became Buddha.

There's an obvious connection between the lifestyle choice to deprive oneself across both religions. What I found interesting was that it was women in Christianity, instead of a male role in Buddhism, that took on this lifestyle initially.

Another thought I had was that in ancient times, Buddha's choice was deemed virtuous and the monk in The DaVinci Code was looked upon as a little...crazy.

Funny how religions have a crossover in sacraments that apply to the opposite gender roles, but as time moves on they seem to fade away.

Meeting a Transgender Person

One thing that I thought would be interesting to share with the rest of you is my recent experience meeting a transgendered person myself. She goes by the name of Nadine, although I had spent most of my time knowing her as Nik. She attended my high school and I had worked closely with her (while she was still Nik) within my school's drama club. Although he always had a penchant for some feminine things, he never really stuck out to me as a person who had any inner struggles, let alone with ones concerning gender identity. However he came out at the end of the year as identifying as a female and began his final year of high school by completely dressing and acting as a female. She is currently on hormones and plans to get the sex-change surgery when she is 18.

What I find most interesting about her, (and the reason I'm sharing this story with all of you) is that it was only recently that she decided she was indeed a she. After exploring a little, I found that a good amount of transgendered people discover the incongruousness between their gender and body at a very young age, but that is not the case for Nadine. She only started to identify as a female over the course of her high school years. She said that as a child she thought of herself as a boy and she really only started to think otherwise once she hit around high school. For the most part she was confused as to what she may be, but as she thought more about it and realized that she liked more feminine things and had always wanted a daughter and wanted to be associated with all things female, that she was a woman. This worries me, since I think she may be jumping the gun, since hormone taking and (obviously) the surgery has irreversible effects and I think she may regret the switch as she hasn't given the gravity of the situation enough thought. Do you think that she is getting ahead of herself and should give the idea of switching genders more time or do you think she is in the right for wanting to switch over immediately? I'd actually legitimately like to hear back from you guys because I'd love to carry this information over to Nik/Nadine. Thanks!

I found this to be interesting in light of our recent discussion:

http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2011/09/pop_diva_one_million_moms_vers.html

The article first summarizes the "bold" placing of Chaz Bono in Dancing with the Stars, and how multiple online groups are petitioning against it. The article refers to Chaz as, "evoking the image of a bowling ball balanced on toothpicks" which is not necessarily wrong. However, the article mentions Onemillionmoms.com, they believe that the presence of Chaz is confusing for children. Sure it might be "confusing" for children, but just in the past season the show saw the appearance of unmarried teen mom Bristol Palin and nothing was mentioned. Not only does Onemillionmoms fight against Dancing with the Stars, they have a petition circulating that is aimed at preventing Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie from marriage, though the show has never suggested such was ever going to happen. I like that this article is trying to bring mass media-censorship sites like OMM to a humane and unbiased perspective, though I'm not sure how effective it will be in convincing over-protective moms.

Woman accused of cutting off husband's penis said he 'deserved' it
July 12, 2011 | 11:00 am


Ife After spontaneously telling officers that her husband "deserved" having his penis cut off, a 48-year-old woman being held as a suspect has said nothing to Garden Grove police, according to a department official.

Catherine Kieu Becker told police she had drugged her husband’s dinner to make him sleepy, then tied him to a bed before the assault Monday night in the 14000 block of Flower Street.

Becker has been booked on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse, said Garden Grove Police Lt. Jeff Nightengale.

The victim, who was not identified, told detectives that Becker made him dinner, but he believed something was wrong with his food. He went to lie down and when he woke up he found himself tied to the bed, with his wife tugging his clothes off, he said. She then allegedly cut off his penis and threw it in the garbage disposal.

Nightengale said police are trying to sort out a motive for the crime but that they would have to put off interviewing the victim further until he was out of surgery.

ALSO:

Three dead, two arrested in shooting at San Bernardino trailer park

Facebook feud that ended in stabbing leads to jail for teen

Jaycee Dugard’s memoir: Chilling details and a lonely existence

-- Tony Barboza and Andrew Blankstein

Photo: Catherine Kieu Becker. Credit: Garden Grove Police Department, KTLA -TV


I found this article very interesting since it depicted a woman very aggressive. I never imagined up to what extent a woman would react to a betrayal from their fiancé and husband in order to hurt them. Until I read the articles Portrait of a Monster and Woman accused of cutting off husband's penis… from different time periods. Both articles showed courageous women who want to defend their dignity and honor when they had been humiliated by their couples. Therefore, women took a stand and acted by themselves in order to take care of their reputation in different ways.

Is the Public More Comfortable with Transgendered People?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ieLG2Wrqew

To piggyback off of snughyun's post, there is an American model named Isis King who actually appeared on the popular TV show America's Next Top Model. The above link is a YouTube video I found of Isis's second appearance on the Tyra Show, hosted by Tyra Banks (which is the same host for America's Next Top Model).

In our class discussion, we touched on the question of if transgendered people are now more widely accepted in society. Comparing Tyra's interview with Isis King to Oprah's interview with Thomas Beatie, it's obvious that Tyra is quite comfortable in talking with Isis. In fact, the first time Isis was on the show, Tyra surprised her with introducing Isis to a doctor that was willing to perform on Isis a sex-change surgery, which has was a long-term dream of Isis's. In observing the audience, the people are in a standing ovation for Isis, rather than having jaw-dropping countenances.

Isis was quite was quite successful on America's Next Top Model and will be appearing in the All-Star season. I found her success inspiring in that in a model industry, where the appearance of femininity is valued the most, Isis has been able to break that mold, and has many supporters/fans. Therefore, I think that on a whole, we as a culture are becoming more progressive in accepting transgendered people Furthermore, we even deem it as beautiful.

Another aspect that I found intriguing was that Isis also has a boyfriend. This was also similar to Thomas Beatie and his wife Nancy because Isis boyfriend also knew Isis as a male before the sex-change. I thought it was touching to hear him talk about his love for her, because he saw past her physical body and loved her for her personality. Just like the Beaties, Isis and her boyfriend also consider themselves as a heterosexual couple. The bottom line is that it didn't matter what the physical body type was, the couples loved each other disregarding that they had the same sex organs as each other.

Seeing another transgendered person put themselves out there in the eyes of the public with supporters makes me believe that we are on the right track to accepting people who are different from the "norm."

Third Option on Passport Gender

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14926598

I just came across this on BBC. I thought it was great, and really interesting considering the discussions we've been having about legal gender. In class yesterday we talked about people who could legally change their gender status through passports and birth certificates, and I thought it was very progressive of countries to allow people the freedom to express their identity like that. But Australia takes it to a whole new level. I was wondering if anyone knew of other countries that allow this? Do you guys think we could ever get this kind of legislation in the states? I think it's an important step towards officially recognizing flaws in the male/female gender binary. It could help naturalize the transgender experience and even lead to more improvements, like bathrooms that don't rely so rigidly on traditionally defined gender and/or sexuality.

In response to the New York Times cartoon:
The bald man is wondering: Hmm is that a food baby
The pregnant man then responds: No, it's your baby.

In Gender Conflicts we study gender roles, from how they are constructed to their dismantling. We have focused on the nebulousness of gender and the way people are eager to consign an individual to a certain gender.

On the other hand, people appear to be as fascinated by gender flexibility as they seem to be uneasy about it. In the case of model Andrej Pejic, unclear sex appears to work to his advantage. First appearing in Australia, Andrej is now 19th of the top 50 male models in the world.

I want to talk about him because the nature of his job is highly visible, and he draws different reactions from people, who despite any protest cannot deny his chameleonlike ability to wear both female and male attire strikingly well.

When he first signed up at a modeling agency in his hometown Melbourne, the agency was eager to have him and at the same time told him it would be difficult for him, since he was "too beautiful to be an obvious choice for men’s campaigns, but...was not actually a woman" ("The Prettiest Boy in the World," New York Magazine).

He didn't become wildly popular with a coveted image until Carine Roitfeld, then editor-in-chief of French Vogue, decided to dress him as a woman for an editorial shoot. Since then he has gone on to model at numerous shows and shoots, until he is famou

s enough in Australia that he "has to wear sunglasses to go outside" ("The Prettiest Boy in the World").

Andrej himself states that he never thought of himself as exclusively male, yet also did not consider himself only female. He claims "At this point, I'm happy with the situation as it is."

At the same time, Andrej's androgyny hasn't been embraced by all. Barnes and Noble ordered copies of the magazine with the image of him walking bare-chested to be wrapped in opaque plastic, lest readers think he was a woman. Another magazine had to apologize for referring to him as an "it." Nevertheless, the controversy served to augment his career.

I want to point him out to the class, because even though fashion is a closed-off world to most of us, it is an image-driven world. Gender to me has a lot to do with the visible and obvious. The visible explains the discomfiture caused by this sort of image.

The image has shock value because clearly it is a man with all features masculine who is late in pregnancy. Contrast with this image:

This is Amanda Lepore, a famous transsexual who appeared for M.A.C. cosmetics and more advertising. Unlike the man in the preceding image, Amanda pregnant would not generate the same reaction.

Image has a lot to do with how we perceive gender, because we interpret gender depending largely on our vision.

It is interesting to consider Andrej because he is a model whose career is based on having an unclear sex. In spite of studying mainly people who are ostracized or demonized for that characteristic, there exist people who bridge the gender gap in a way attractive to the public, as Andrej's ranking of 19 proves.

Society's Perception

When we read "John Frog Gives Birth: An Interlude" I was very shocked at how open all of the jokes were regarding sexuality. This play did not stop at any boundaries when addressing the issues of homosexuality and feminine men, but the audience found all of the humor hilarious. I find it amusing that certain issues that are considered taboo subjects are often easilty accepted through the act of comedy. By making fun of certain lifestyles those who are opposed to them find it easier to listen to the topics because they do not feel threatened by the subject material. For example, in the television show "Glee", Kurt's father is able to accept his son's homosexuality when he demonstrates his dancing ability on the football field. Kurt's "Single Ladies" dance routine by Beyonce was entertaining, but it also was able to merge his father's aversion to his sexual orientation with his own style of expression despite the fact that dancing does not occur in football.

For John Frog's time period it was amazing that people still loved him even though they knew he had committed the forbidden crime of sodomy. Even back then people were able to look past sexual orientation and base their opinion of a person on their personality instead. Although John Frog is paraded around in women's clothing, at the end of the play the other mayors admit that they want to act like John Frog as well. If people merely focused on a person's personality rather than topics such as their religion, background, or sexual orientation, people might find that they have a lot more in common with others than they think. Many people are still shocked to hear that cases of transgenderism exist, but obviously there have been people like this for many years. I feel like society's judgment often constrains people so much that they choose to hide important parts of themselves in order to be accepted. I wonder how many more cases of transgenderism would come out if society did not react so controversely to it?

John Frog and Lois Eihorn

From the all readings we have been assigned in class thus far, the one-act comedy of “John Frog Gives Birth” has been one attention-grabbing story that relates to movies and television shows we have today.   John Frog was an entertainer during the 17^th century who was the center of amusement and outrage for having the ability to get pregnant and give birth.  Similarly, the 1994 American film, Ace Ventura – Pet Detective, has one character that became the focus of attention after being revealed as transgendered.    The police detective, Lois Einhorn, was discovered to be a transgendered woman and pro-football player, Ray Finkle, by Jim Carrey’s character that stripped the detective of her clothing and exposed her hidden penis.  Upon enlightening the truth about the detective’s gender, all of the people in the scene reacted with disgust.  Even though transgendered people are still humans, they have been used for humor and entertainment.  Often, they are also referred to as “it” instead of “he” or “she” suggesting them as not being human.  The topic of transgendered people has typically been uncomfortable for many people to understand because the exposure of the transgendered is only becoming prevalent in our society as improvements in medicine allow men to fully become woman and vice versa.  Various movies and shows often get a laugh from their audience with the use of transgender jokes that criticize individuals who were born the opposite gender and are now living as a man or woman. 

Transgender In Our Society

Going back to the Newsweek article discussed earlier in the semester (I believe it was the first week), men are no longer seen as the sole providers, and women aren't confined to their traditional role as nurturers. As I mentioned in discussion last week, when the economy took a turn in 2009 my dad sold the family business and switched careers. Since then, he's been working from home and does a great deal of the "housework," from laundry to cleaning. In fact, he enjoys it. While both my parents work, I would have to say my mother is still the primary "nurturer" in my home.

This article also discusses gender identity, more specifically gender dysmorphia (identifying oneself as transgender). When I think about transgender issues, I immediately think of Chaz Bono and the recent controversy surrounding his joining the most recent cast of Dancing with the Stars. So many right-winged "mommy groups" have reached out the message boards insisting that parents not allow their children to watch Chaz out of fear that he will "confuse our children." Chaz Bono, son of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, was born Chastity Bono and in the last few years successfully transitioned to a man. In addition to fears that Chaz will be "confusing," these groups believe that Chaz will use his place on Dancing with the Stars to "convince" others to "become" Lesbian, Gay, or Transgendered. These angry outbursts are also influenced by the fact that Chaz has a female partner. There are so many articles on google that discuss these ideas, and it's amazing to me that these are actual concerns!

I believe we as a country are slowly beginning to accept a change in gender roles, but it may take more time for us as a whole to accept transgenders, transexuals, and transvestites.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/chaz-bono-paying-attention-dwts-controversy/story?id=14454987

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chaz-bonos-dancing-stars-selection-229868

Ancient Greece and Transsexualism

I know this is from a while back, but when I was reading the first couple of articles about the "Classical Medical Approaches to Gender, Sex, and Sexuality," I found it astonishing how these philosophers were describing the occurrence of transsexualism so casually. The idea that transsexuals would have existed even back then is pretty obvious, but I never realized or thought about it until now. With this in mind, I investigated a little further and found out that the ancient Greeks thought changing sexes/genders was close to a divine miracle. This was because the deities they worshiped had the abilities to change into other creatures, possess both male and female aspects at once, etc. If these immortal beings were capable of such feats, being able to do so as a mortal would be a high honor.

Another theory rather similar to what we learned from Galen and Huarte de San Juan, presented in the source I found, is that there is only one true gender on Earth: male. Heat can cause a female to become a male because her sex organs are just an inversion of a male's, but it won't happen the other way around because nature strives to become perfect with each change it makes. Even if these theorists made this phenomenon out to be a blessing, most common people of the era would consider it an abomination of sorts just out of pure instinct. Today, however, people are gradually accepting and even supporting transsexuals in their fight for recognition and rights, as seen in the Newsweek article we read about defining gender. My question is, why do you think the commoners of the time would abhor the occurrence if it could potentially bring them closer to the divine?

http://www.ftmaustralia.org/library/have-female-to-male-transsexuals-always-existed/devor-two

Women Versus Men

After reading the story on John Frog and participating in last week’s discussion, I wanted to analyze more about the circumstances of how society has changed their thinking of the “gendered clothes-line.” We no longer think that a man is gay if he decides to do the housework, while his wife works; however, we understand that a couple of centuries ago if such a scenario had occurred, the people then would have labeled the househusband as one who most likely committed sodomy. The ideology that men were superior to women has dissipated and we question now, how and when did that occur. Now, in today’s context, women are the equivalent of men. Generally speaking, women were physically weaker than men with an exception of a few outliers, but I noticed that that the strengths of women that people pointed out during discussion were largely casted or under the umbrella of a more emotional or mental type of forte. So what allowed women to become the equivalent of men and what made society come to be more accepting of that fact?

In the presentation about two weeks ago, the presenter mentioned the fact that women were able to rule in Egypt and hold the same status as their male counterparts do. She also mentioned that these women were given an education. I know I’m still missing key parts to answering this question, but I think that an education is a component that really enables a female to empower herself and become the equivalent of a man. An education gives or facilitates the ability to read, write, and the capacity to think more critically than before. If a male and female are from similar educational backgrounds, then it is difficult to say which gender is better, but if a woman is deprived of an education, it is much more challenging to be on the same level as a man.

Nowadays, it is further encouraged to make the business world more diversified—women are entering the boardrooms. Research shows that “companies with women directors or even just more diverse boards tend to do better than those with executive teams made up entirely of men” (Merriman). Elin Hurvenes, founder and chair of the Professional Boards Forum, states that the reason for this improvement is due to the fact that “women have a different perspective, which can sometimes lead to better decision-making.” Since “women have a different experience of the world from the typical male corporate executive. They are often not afraid to look stupid by asking the most basic or difficult questions” (Merriman). These are cited quotations that are not necessarily categorically true if done by a case by case basis, but in a broad sense, women are, for the most part, different from men personality wise. The difference in opinion can be attributed to the way that women were brought up. They are on a different side of the “gendered clothes-line” than the male are and thus raised differently than males are. Values are inherently different since the day that males and females were children. Now, some are reluctant to admit that women throughout the world are becoming more and more qualified and permitted to do the very things that centuries ago would have been frowned upon.

Our acceptance that women are entering the very spheres that were once dominated by men is, in my opinion, paralleled by the ending in John Frog. John Frog was accepted despite being a pregnant male man who, in the end, gave birth to the “multitude [of] offspring [as] a hermaphrodite;” “peer pressure transformed” the last person, the scribe, “into another Juan Ranilla [John Frog Jr.] likeness” (Thompson 107). Just as how John Frog was accepted, women might have been accepted through a semblance of peer pressure as well. The true ability of a person may only be inhibited for so long and if a person is given the right tools he or she can succeed. With so many women succeeding in areas where their predecessors from hundreds of years ago could not, men can no longer ignore the women’s latent aptitude for the things that once separated men from women. If men can do the work, we now understand that women can also do it too. There are probably many more possible ways to how women were accepted into the realm of men, but this is currently my take on it. After rereading this, I most likely only scratched the surface of this whole question.

Sources:

Merriman, Jane. "In Business, a Woman's Place Is in the Boardroom Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News Reuters.com. Reuters, 05 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. .

Thompson, Peter E. The Triumphant Juan Rana: A Gay Actor of the Spanish Golden Age. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2006. Print

Transgender in Thailand

While reading the Newsweek article on transgender issues and how these people are generally frowned upon by the society, a country that popped up in my mind instantly was Thailand. As a Asian country, many may think that the Thai society is conservative in such "unorthodox" aspects, but it is not the case. In fact, it is part of the Thai culture - transsexual shows, transgender beauty pageants are just some examples of how transgenders lead the same life as any other individual. The prevalence of transgenderism in Thailand has always intrigued me, as I wonder what it takes for the society to be able to tolerate these issues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7529227.stm

This article talks about a local school in Thailand offering transsexual restrooms. As the society is so used to transgenderism (Thailand has about 500,000 transgenders - CNNgo), they are sometimes considered as the "third sex". By having the "pink" restroom, it helps transgender students feel more comfortable as they can feel more at ease. However, what I found interesting in the article is that transsexuals in Thailand cannot change their legal gender status, even though they are generally accepted in the society and are able to hold mainstream jobs.

Just for fun:

http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/life/miss-tiffany-universe-thailands-newest-transgender-queen-says-i-am-so-beautiful-887766
Pictures of the contestants in the transgender beauty pageants. Can you tell they are transgenders?


Man or Woman? Enjoy :)

Witch Hunts of the Early Modern Period

After reading the article, "Portrait of a Monster" by Pedro Manchego, I began to wonder when and why the famous witch hunts of the early modern period got their rise. This question befell me while reading about the punishment of the witch portrayed in the article. Though in modern times, we know that the thought of witches is merely make-believe, during the early modern period witchcraft was seen as a very real problem, that resulted in very real punishments such as being burned at the stake.

The first evidence of witch hunting arose in the famous text Malleus Maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches"). This book was written in 1486 and described standards for identification, interrogation, and conviction of witches (malleusmaleficarum.org). The reasoning behind the start of the witchcraft craze has many theories, two of which include, a way to better spread Christianity and a scapegoat for all the evils of the world (departments.kings.edu). Both of these arguments have much support, as do the many other theories, which means that there is no true way to be certain about the rise of the witchcraft persecutions.

If you are interested inn learning more about the rise of the witch hunts here are some links you can check out:

http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/

http://departments.kings.edu/womenshistory/witch/worigin.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/transsexuals/index.html

Hey guys,

I was going through some articles in the New York Times and I ran across this. He was fired from his job because his boss, a female, said that only a man can do his job, which was to watch former drug addicts urinate to make sure that their pee was being used for the drug test and not the urine of someone else. What I found interesting is that his boss herself is a female. How is it that she can tell him that because he used to be a female he can’t do the same job that she is doing? He has a new birth certificate; his drivers license and the social security administration all identify him as a male, as did she before she was informed about his surgery. This woman is extremely wrong for firing him and I do not blame him for filing a lawsuit against her. Agree?