I Am Not My Body

This set of readings all talked about the effects of expectations of outward “beauty” and expectations to look perfect. I was interested by how the world sees perfect, which was most usually achieving whiteness. “Facial features have long been considered in much the same way skin color has: the whiter, the better...Anglo facial features provide a similar kind of social capital that can be used esteem in employment, education, community and the marriage market,”( 54 Hunter). Being white means being normal for these people, thus they feel the have to do everything to change themselves. Having a base point seems to be essential for the world, and that way we are able to make comparison. Thus, any one that falls outside of those normal bounds, is marked and stands out. “People who inhabit 'dissimilar' bodies are read as both inferior and threatening: inferior in terms of beauty and threatening in terms of downward mobility,” (Lebesco 54). The objective has become to falls inside the normal bounds as close as possible. I was very intrigued when the other referred to cosmetic surgery as 'choice of conformity' rather then an individual decision. Many doctors try to advertise these types of surgeries as a freedom of choice, but in reality, the patients are being told what to do by society. So not only are people being pressure by the media to change, now doctors, a profession the population holds to great esteem and respect, are telling us how to change ourselves as well. As a result, people trust the doctor's words more highly and there is more pressure and obligation placed upon us to fit the mold.
As always, using intersectionality when looking at gender to study body image is important. Using a one sided view or using it as your only perspective in life seems to be dangerous. “We have to be careful not to fall into the trap of only of having our bodies and our images speak for who we are-what we think, what we feel, what we do,” (199 Richards). If a person is consumed with how they are perceived outwardly, they allow themselves only to be defined by that. In reality, people are complexities that deserve to define themselves in multiple ways simultaneously. I, and other women in college, struggled with the transition of becoming comfortable without my family right behind me. I was very confused how to handle this change in my life, but I found that what made me the happiest was when I could tell myself that I was healthy, happy student that had everything going for her. Sometimes it helps for me to remind myself to see the bigger picture, rather then looking at the minute details that often lead to criticism of ones self. This correlates to the importance for using intersectionality to look at your life.

Final Project Ideas

This will be a research paper, and my audience is all women.

I sought to answer the question, how can women seek to take control of their own health and the power of education? Availiablity of information is one important aspect that needs to be addressed.

The specific example that prompted me to think about all of this was the article about Norplant. I can use Norplant as an example of how restriction of access to personal health information can have a negative impact on women. First, I should talk about a general background on birth control and The Pill, making light of the major changes it brought for women. Norplant was used as contraceptive that which women didn’t have to remember to take everyday. The main problem with Norplant was that its implantation would be paid for by Medicaid, however, not to remove them except for ‘medical reasons’. “They were told that they would have to pay $300, and reimburse the state the cost of insertion if they had implants removed before the end of two years,” (284 Petchesky). Norplant is referred to by some “as a means to curb the fertility of poor women, particularly those on welfare…and to reduce the underclass and urged incentives for inner city black women on welfare,” (138 May). This brings up the point that women must have the right to question medical treatment and to seek a second opinion if they so wish. However, many women still have trouble exerting their power. While is it certainly not the women’s fault for being purposefully mislead in the transactions of implanting this birth control in their arm, it is that there did not push the doctors to give them the information. In a way, they allowed the drug companies policies to take place. Eventually Norplant fell out of favor due to all of the lawsuits filed against it. “Out of one million women using the drug, 25,000 signed on to a lawsuit against it,” (140 May).

Nadia Farah wrote an article “The Eqyptian Women’s Health Book Collective” about how health education around the world is redefining itself. For example, she says it is important for health education to be taught “from the perspective of women,” (133 IWS) and also should go into more detail about all the different aspects that affect health, such as work, nutrition, social pressures etc. The goal is to cover more topics and information.

Other things I might touch on:

-What does this mean as a result of learning about our bodies, the health care alternatives and availabilities? There are obviously positive aspects, but are there negative consequences?

-Another thing I want to explore is about how mainstream media addresses the stigma of gaining information. Mass media has a big effect on what products are used regularly by women, as well as tells us what women should do to stay healthy. They do this by advertising products from drugs to face wash.

I already have a bunch of things I am thinking about and researching, but is there anything big I am overlooking?

Intersectionality Works Again

After reading about the Maquiladora's in Mexico, it is clear that there is a real problem present. Most appalling statistic for me was the although the businesses possibly contribute billions of dollars the local economy, a worker makes on average 1 dollar an hour. “The maquiladora worker is among the least expensive in the world,” (466 IWS). However devastating the information presented is, there are even worse things happening behind that statistic, which brings up the term intersectionality. We first were introduced to intersectionality by Crenshaw, who defines it as the idea that many aspects make up a person’s entire identity. Essentially, every person belongs to multiple groups simultaneously, and these groups have the ability to overlap. After reading these articles and Ciudad Jaurez, we can see how the concept overlaps. These reading specifically focused on the “Systemati[matic] violat[tion of] women's fundamental rights,” (468 IWS). Although the focus in these reading tends to be on the fact that the majority of workers are women, its it also found that these women have many other identities. These identities include: mother, daughter, wife, friend and many more. These multiple identities make them important contributors to society in other ways, and important to many other people. For example, many of the women who work in the factories are also mothers, and the long work time seriously compromises their ability to be a good mother for their children. “Mothers who work on the assembly lines often have no choice by to leave their children at home to look after themselves, and they often turn to drugs or gang violence as the grow older(464 IWS). Not only does their work hours and low pay effect the people depending on them, as does the horrible conditions that can be toxic, hot and dangerous. There is a real problem with defining women in one way, and this is also seen in prejudice against pregnant women. “...she had to take a pregnancy test...[and] were tested when they were hired,” (467 IWS). The women who were tested positive were turned down for being hired. Furthermore, for the women who were already hired and get pregnant, the companies are very unaccommodating. These women should not have been discriminated against just because they undertook a new identity. It is imperative that women, whether they are pregnant, a mother or anything else, are treated accordingly and specifically. Lastly, in Ciudad, Juares the girl Claudia is a girl just coming into a woman who was working at a Maquiladora then murdered. When reading the entire story, we see that she is a girl of many layers. “Put on a white blouse with a lace overlay, even if the uniform will cover it, its nice to know you've got something nice underneath, even if no one will see it.” I think this is a summation of how while she was a women working in factory in Mexico, she was also a lot of other things. The book pointed out that it is important to approach her murder with importance and care for this reason.

Context, Context, Context

Horace Miner's story of the “Nacirema“ is a distinguish and valued article by many. As one reads it for the first time, they are likely confused at the story and perhaps even fascinated with the intricacies of this culture. However, when looking back very carefully, we see that this anthropological study is one based on American (Nacirema backwards) culture and practices. Miner uses this writing to above all show how bizarre our cultural practice can be from an outsiders perspective. When we look at any culture's practices, we must look within the context of their culture, meaning their location, resources available, religious beliefs etc. When we are able to look at these things, we are more understanding of what they do. For example, Miner describes a cultural practice about the mouth. “Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them,” (Miner). Of course what Miner is referring to is that many American's brush and floss their teeth everyday to keep them from rotting, falling out and to also keep them white. From an outsiders perspective, as Miner as written, this ritual could seem as going overboard and “depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body and its functions,” (Miner). On the other hand, looking contextually at all these practices we can see that we do these things to be clean, healthy and to look healthy, because those are things that are important in our culture.

Another example of this type of cultural context being used in a real anthropological study is in assisted suicide and death hastening practices around the world. To American's, we see assisted suicide as very complicated because of the ethical dilemma present. We usually see this type of behavior as cruel or unnecessary. However, we can look at any nonindustrial culture, and see that these types of practices are normal and seen as necessary. Anthony Glascock looks at the context of killing or abused people in these cultures. He finds that these are in :areas of harsh climates...[and]lack systems of social stratification,” are usually non-sedentary and do not have health technology that we have to sustain life (67 Glascock). In this context, their practices are acceptable.

Furthermore, by looking at the context, it helps to see the similarities and differences in comparing our cultures. Miner says, “If all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe,” (Miner). It is important that besides looking at a culture holistically, anthropologist's main goal is to look for the exotic in the familiar, as well as, the familiar in the exotic.

Glascock, Anthony P. (1997). When Killing is Acceptable: The Moral Dilemma surrounding Assisted Suicide in America and Other Soceities. The Cultural Context of Aging (Second ed., pp. 56 -70). Westport: Bergin and Garvey.

Questions for Demere Woolway

First of all, this might be a simple question, but I wanted someone to clear up what the difference between being queer and gay? I hear these terms being uses interchangeable, so I always thought they were the same thing.

Leslie Feinberg talks about transgender people in her piece “We are All Works in Progress”. She talks briefly about transgender people being subjected to abuse, verbally and physically. Do you know more about this? I had never heard about this type of abuse, and for that reason I don’t think it is typically broadcasted. Why do you think this is?

I was also very interested in the piece by Carole Vance about Social Constructionism. I would like to better understand how this works at the global level, and talk about how it works even at a much smaller lever, such as at this University. Do you think this theory applies or us used in the same way by every person? I’m curious, being that I am a scientist myself, do you think this theory disregards science? I am concerned that people who use this theory as their only view point are just as hopeless as those who take a Essentialist point of view solely