Sunday, March 6, 2011
Review of Vanessa's sex and media blog.
Vanessa Elridge is most well known for her influential combination of major works presented in an upper division class at PSU, Sex and Media, and the reality of the media and popular culture. She exposes how dangerously over-excessive sexualizing is within the mainstream, which can be found anywhere from the lyrical content of Brittney Spears and Rihanna, to Burger King ads and single’s websites such as dateacougar.com. Even the smaller, more seemingly innocent nuances seen in fringe media, such as the “hot girls” comment stated in Portlandia’s theme song doesn’t get by unscathed without her critical application of feminist, gender, and sex studies. I was impressed Vanessa’s depiction of Miley Cyrus’s evolution within popular culture, and how her nascence as a young adult is immediately sexualized. She may be getting too old for childrens' shows now, but is definitely young blood for the mainstream market which emphasizes sexuality over almost any other theme. Much of Vanessa’s synthesis of critical theories and studies with mediated images and artifacts was spot on, and intriguing. She has inspired me to pay attention more to popular culture, to suspend my apprehension, and see the way we depict our culture within this institution. Vanessa’s blog has opened my eyes and ears to the myriad mediums of popular culture, and through the use of a crucial lexicon one may acquire in such a class as Sex and Media, to deconstruct the messages that are reflected and being said to both us, and more importantly, to our younger generations. Therein, maybe through an active approach, we could enlighten ourselves and hopefully even others to critically read through the blurred lines, to see the ubiquity of pornography and patriarchy within media and popular culture, and how it affects sex and gender identity, ethnicity, and classism. Vanessa is clearly a brilliant provocateur and her blog is only a small extension of her magnitude as an empowered critical thinker and observer.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Sexualized minorities, “sexual otherness” and heterosexism in media
The heterosexual within the media is seen as the dominant form of sexuality, whether or not it mirrors the reality of diversity. And when we see anything but heterosexuality presented in the media, it comes as something beyond the normative. Homosexuality is typically seen as something slightly (to overwhelmingly) abstract from the stated norm of heterosexuality. Typical television programs don’t promote the concepts, conflicts, and issues surrounding heterosexuality, because for them, it is considered the normative. As soon as there is a program containing sexual otherness, immediately that becomes a controversial focal point of the theme. And of course, within capitalism, this can create an audience and capital. Sexualizing minorities and creating sexual otherness provides the detachment of everyday living from sexuality, or sexuality beyond the “normal” heterosexual.
Such would be seen in this first image, where a man is fashioned with a “gay, not gay” switch, as if sexuality is some type of man-made device which can be shut off and on as one pleases. The ignorance behind this image is appalling. Could we not say, then, for heterosexuals, we could create a switch that makes us “hetero, non-hetero” if indeed sexuality is some sort of choice, a mask we can wear and take off at the end of the day? And to add some froth on top of this steamy drink, we can then sexualize minorities, seen within the next picture.
We have two males kissing, seemingly one as an African American, and the other Caucasian. The text claims that “gayness has no boundaries.” So this presents homosexuality as disregarding race, color, and any other prejudice. Through sexualizing an African American male and a Caucasian male, this somehow itself breaks the quietude of racism and deems the comment to be appropriate and acceptable.
Other ways we can see the sexualizing of minorities is featured in this next picture, a comic illustration of a naked, old black man in a recliner chair.
He has an erection, and might I add, a massive erection, completely absurd when proportionally compared to his legs, which is roughly the same length. This cartoon exists from the age old myth and stereotype that ALL black men have enormous penises. Because this stereotype is so pervasively existent within culture, it allows this image to be socially acceptable, rather than objectifying and racist.
This photo, I am guessing, is a still shot from a Nelly video, infamous for the “ATM card ass-swipe.” We see African Americans completely sexualized, Nelly engulfed in exotic and erotic seeming women, literally climbing all over him. More what this photo presents to me is that African Americans are wild and primal, just as other social stereotypes which have existed throughout the Caucasian world for centuries. Maybe the video has greater conflicts with male dominance, but I think this issue presented should not be overlooked, reinforcing sexualizing minorities.
This final image is quite disturbing, so viewers should be forewarned.
This is an image of Sasha Grey, a porn-star gone celebrity. She has transformed from the lower rungs of entertainment, pornography, into the mainstream culture. Mainstream culture trumpets celebrities as talented people, worthy of the limelight, typically superior to the lower classes of society. So here we have Sasha Grey, a female with this status, but still an oppressed porn star. This image is horrifically telling of the way in which females are still treated, regardless of social status. This doesn’t even seem like porn. It seems like a serious power struggle, completely demeaning the female as tears of mascara run and she swallows the reality of dominance. Not only does it sexualize heterosexism, it purports the continuing idea of male dominance within heterosexual relations.
Such would be seen in this first image, where a man is fashioned with a “gay, not gay” switch, as if sexuality is some type of man-made device which can be shut off and on as one pleases. The ignorance behind this image is appalling. Could we not say, then, for heterosexuals, we could create a switch that makes us “hetero, non-hetero” if indeed sexuality is some sort of choice, a mask we can wear and take off at the end of the day? And to add some froth on top of this steamy drink, we can then sexualize minorities, seen within the next picture.
We have two males kissing, seemingly one as an African American, and the other Caucasian. The text claims that “gayness has no boundaries.” So this presents homosexuality as disregarding race, color, and any other prejudice. Through sexualizing an African American male and a Caucasian male, this somehow itself breaks the quietude of racism and deems the comment to be appropriate and acceptable.
Other ways we can see the sexualizing of minorities is featured in this next picture, a comic illustration of a naked, old black man in a recliner chair.
He has an erection, and might I add, a massive erection, completely absurd when proportionally compared to his legs, which is roughly the same length. This cartoon exists from the age old myth and stereotype that ALL black men have enormous penises. Because this stereotype is so pervasively existent within culture, it allows this image to be socially acceptable, rather than objectifying and racist.
This photo, I am guessing, is a still shot from a Nelly video, infamous for the “ATM card ass-swipe.” We see African Americans completely sexualized, Nelly engulfed in exotic and erotic seeming women, literally climbing all over him. More what this photo presents to me is that African Americans are wild and primal, just as other social stereotypes which have existed throughout the Caucasian world for centuries. Maybe the video has greater conflicts with male dominance, but I think this issue presented should not be overlooked, reinforcing sexualizing minorities.
This final image is quite disturbing, so viewers should be forewarned.
This is an image of Sasha Grey, a porn-star gone celebrity. She has transformed from the lower rungs of entertainment, pornography, into the mainstream culture. Mainstream culture trumpets celebrities as talented people, worthy of the limelight, typically superior to the lower classes of society. So here we have Sasha Grey, a female with this status, but still an oppressed porn star. This image is horrifically telling of the way in which females are still treated, regardless of social status. This doesn’t even seem like porn. It seems like a serious power struggle, completely demeaning the female as tears of mascara run and she swallows the reality of dominance. Not only does it sexualize heterosexism, it purports the continuing idea of male dominance within heterosexual relations.
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