Warning: This image will offend all those opposed to oppression

Having come across this on facebook, posted by a 'facebook friend', a guy I met while working with an anti-sweatshop organisation in London a few years ago. Being a liberal black male activist, his facebook posts are always critical of political and social issues, namely political hypocrisy and the subordination of minority's in society to name but a few. 

Looking at this picture of a leather-clad black mannequin supporting its 'owner' - a white Russian socialite, only highlights the relevance of intersectionality to not only feminism but to anyone who oppose the oppression of any social group. 

This picture struck me first, having recently done a project on Lily Allen's 'Hard Out Here' video which has been hugely criticised for using the bodies of black women to convey Allen's point of female objectification in modern popular culture. 

Furthermore, the original mannequin furniture by Allen Jones (1969) which is what inspired the piece of furniture in question makes clear that this objectification also touches on society's disregard for sex workers as crude objects as well as a wider subordination and objectification of women. 

Unfortunately, this is not the first time women have been so explicitly objectified either in the media or otherwise (Robyn Thicke's Blurred Lines in particular, comes to mind), but this is something that has got to be addressed before gender and racial equality (or the intersection of both) can ever be fully achieved. 

A response to a subtly sexist remark (without the drama)

Having recently read Caitlin Moran's newest book 'How to be a Woman', I found one piece of advice particularly impressionable and so I thought I'd share it.
 Moran describes the kind of blatant sexism that used to persist, the type that you didn't have to think twice about as anything other than putting you in your place as a woman. Today, Moran claims Sexism is alive and well in society however it has taken a different form, one that is more subtle and may take you until hours later while you are lying in bed to realise, he was being sexist! If however, you realise what is actually being said (as it is being said) and like me, you are shamefully slow-witted, take Moran's advice and hit him where it hurts, insult his manners!
 Say; "thats quite uncivil actually Pat" or "thats a bit impolite John", this way you're no crazed Feminist who is instantly discredited for being a man-hating lesbian, you are simply more polite than them and calmly getting the upper hand. In my opinion, you're doing yourself a favour here, sexist comments are irritating and disappointing but they're not worth the argument, instead oust him as a manner-less fool and let him secretly wallow in that for a bit while you move on.
This will not however work on all men, .i.e those who couldn't care less about such things as manners in which case, deal with them as you will.
We're not exactly beginning a rebellion here, we're just playing these men at their own game, avoiding the drama, that's for another day.
 

Masculinity in Crisis?

Masculinity = Margaret Thatcher

Femininity = Cillian Murphy

What a great day! The day that the movies 'Hunger' and 'Breakfast on Pluto' gave me the ideal argument why gender and sex, masculinity and men or femininity and women do not naturally coincide. In 'Hunger' it is Margaret Thatcher who performs the perfect hegemonic masculinity, while Cillian Murphy simply embodies the most gorgeous feminine woman.

Deranging the binary system as we now it:

As of today I say: If society insists on a binary gender scale with masculinity on one side and femininity on the other. FINE! But only if Margaret Thatcher is established as the ideal embodiment of masculinity and Cillian Murphy or better Petty Kitten as the ideal feminine! And something tells me, that society would no longer be so hesitant to the idea of abandoning this whole idea of a binary!

The Cinderella Complex- An anecdote on masculinity in crisis 

About a month ago my best friend and I went out, celebrating 10 years of wonderful friendship. That night my friend met someone, they chatted for quite a while and he even offered to walk us home. When finally arriving at my friend's place I gave them some space, waiting for her patiently inside. The moment she entered, I asked if they had exchanged numbers. Her answer: " No, he ran! When I asked if he'd like to give me his number he just said: Sorry, phones dead! And took off. Literally jogging away from me!!" We both bursted into laughter and agreed that it made no sense. A few days ago I remembered the situation when someone commented on a similar behaviour by calling it 'the cinderella complex'. Two aspects make this comment so brilliant: For one, it mocks the illusion of romantic love as a fairy tale, and two it jumbles internalised gender roles and invalidates the notion of masculinity belonging to men and femininity to women.

Men can be Cinderella without stopping being a men and a women can be the prince , putting an effort in the search for her 'love', can't they? And why should it be less of a love story, less of a fairy tale because of that?

Dr. Cox and the ‘male gaze’

There’s a scene in the TV show Scrubs where Dr. Cox is going through a mental breakdown. When he finally comes clean to the protagonist (JD) about his illness clear proof of his madness is given by the fact that, though they are talking face to face, Dr. Cox is actually watching himself have the conversation from the other side of the room. I watched this scene when I was younger and thought that I must be having a severe mental breakdown, though I was sure I was pretty fine; Dr. Cox described so vividly what I did each day, observing myself from the other side of the room, observing myself from another’s eyes as I went about my ordinary business in public.

Thanks to Mulvey, I know now that I am not ‘mad’ (insofar as who isn’t), but have grown up subjected to and subjectified by, the ‘male gaze. Since reaching awareness of the sexual nature of my body I have gone about my life watching myself from the other side of the room, something which Dr.Cox and the male writers of the show have never done.

When I watch myself I'm acutely aware that I am a bearer of meaning, not a maker. I make my face, I construct the outward presentation of my identity through my clothing and the books and films I like yet I am devoid of real personhood. Daily shouts at me from men in cars, gropes on a night out or even a patronising introduction to Marxist theory with a hand on my knee remind me that, for all my learning and careful colouring, I am not human but a sexual object and a signifier of male desire. All human beings in their desire relate and pedestal those they long for to an extent, plastering on them idolatry of heroines and heroes, using representations in books and film as a map to ‘true love’ or coolness. With most men, however, I have often found it goes deeper than idolatry. I find that I am lack, a vessel into which patriarchal ideals of who I am will be filled. I am the Manic Pixie Girl who never picks her nose and my learning and colouring merely add to the prettiness of a living doll.

This restriction on who and what I should be being ruled by men’s desires was recently made clear by a male friend. While I was laughing heartily with a group of friends he noted my behaviour and said ‘when you’re young it’s endearing but you can’t act like this when you’re an ugly old woman’. I am never happier than when I am this ‘endearing’ self with a biological clock and yet my happiness must be subsumed by what the male gaze requires of me. Hearty laughter into my wonderful old age will be a very enjoyable political act.

Paris Hilton demonstrates how the male gaze can be harmful to men

Testing the water...

Welcome to the MA in Gender, Globalisation and Rights student blog! We hope to share with you some interesting discussions and thoughts we come across during our year's exploration of feminism, globalisation and the human rights world. Scribbling away at the National University of Ireland, Galway, we felt it was important to practice the praxis and share our experiences.

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