Gendered Social Construction of Obscenity?

The article linked below, entitled "What Makes a Body Obscene" makes some interesting points about gendered ideas about obscenity, what has to be covered up, and whether sex and or gender make a difference obscenity-wise.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/12/27/what-makes-a-body-obscene 

Below is a picture from the article in case you need encouragement to follow the link.

This article certainly fits under the WGS 201 second and fourth learning objectives/fundamental concepts/enduring understandings, eh?

·         ideas about bodies (male and female, raced, or classed, or ethnicized) are socially constructed 

·         the forms of subordination and power that influence gender are culturally specific and “constructed” through production, circulation, and consumption of representations (ideas and images that pervade the media)

A Woman's Place?

Take a look at this blog post from "The Society Pages" (a blog encouraging people to exercise and develop their sociological imaginations through discussions of compelling visuals that span the breadth of sociological inquiry).

This particular post is about a picture taken right here in Fairbanks a handful of years ago.

After you peruse the picture, check out the comments generated by the blog post (scroll down under the picture to see the comments). What points of view, ... waves of feminism, ... or backlashes to particular waves of feminism can you identify in the commentor's comments? (think about the first and second learning objectives/fundamental concepts/enduring understandings for WGS 201 when considering this question).

·         all areas of study arise in historical contexts and all fields and scholarly methods represent points of view (interdisciplinary nature of WMS, 3 waves of feminism, suffrage, diff settings of novels, etc.)

·         ideas about bodies (male and female, raced, or classed, or ethnicized) are socially constructed

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/08/21/a-womans-place-isin-her-union-nuff-said 

AND, then  take a look at this article from the journal Contexts (might take a bit for it to load)  http://lisawadedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/sharp-wade-2011-secrets-of-a-feminist-icon.pdf
Can you see connections between this article and the third and fourth learning objectives/fundamental concepts/enduring understandings for WGS 201?

·         ideas about bodies (male and female, raced, or classed, or ethnicized) are socially constructed 

·         the forms of subordination and power that influence gender are culturally specific and “constructed” through production, circulation, and consumption of representations (ideas and images that pervade the media)

"Social Construction" of ideas about gender - Afghan Women's Freedom In Jeopardy

Take a look at this CBS report on Afghan women's freedom being in jeopardy because of the Taliban. (Hope your internet connection is fast enough to watch the video clip! If not you can read the transcript. Always nicer to have the actual video though, eh!)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/14/eveningnews/main5384796.shtml

Think about the Enduring Understanding for Part One of WGS 201. How does the "social construction" of ideas about gender put women's freedoms (and women's lives) in danger in Afghanistan AND, here in Alaska as well? "…National research shows that Alaska has among the highest percentage of domestic violence in the nation. In recent years, Alaska has also often received the highest national ranking for women murdered by men." (from http://www.andvsa.org/facts-and-stats )

Controversy at UAF goes national & international through Facebook & media outlets

Here is another example of a blog post - UAF based!

Did you hear about, and have you been keeping up on the controversy here at UAF that went national and international thanks to Facebook and media outlets? This issue is tied right in with all of the WGS 201 Enduring Understandings we will be exploring in this Intro to Women's Studies. As you read and think about this controversy unfolding here at UAF, consider how Women's Studies scholars would think about this controversy. Identify the connections Women's and Gender Studies scholars would make with the Enduring Understandings for this course. We might each have our own deeply held opinions about controversies like this. Our job here in this class is to apply Women's and Gender Studies scholarship and the Enduring Understandings we are exploring in this course to understand and analyze these issues.

Check out this link to the Fairbanks News Miner article on the controversy http://newsminer.com/news/2009/sep/17/ex-gay-speaker-sparks-debate-uaf , and also check out the UAF Women's Center blog to watch a YouTube clip of the UAF Chancellor's words on this issue http://uafwomen.blogspot.com/2009/09/uaf-chancellor-brian-rogers-on-freedom.html . If you are on Facebook you can probably find lots of discussion on this issue going worldwide. See below for a picture that captures the root of the controversy, the original banner and a student group's response to the banner.

Feel free to comment on this post (with Women's Studies-worthy analysis, of course :-) Comments to other's posts won't be graded for your blog assignments, however. Only posts where you are the author will count for your blog posts.

(Click on the photo to see the full sized, readable version of the banners)

Book review in New York Times

Below is a link to an interesting book review in the New York Times. Although this book has been out for awhile, the book review relates so well to the global/international perspective we are taking in this class, that it is well worth reading. After reading this book review I feel like we should all give each other pats on the back for the explorations that we will be doing in this course, as this book review talks about the importance of the type of thinking we are doing here in Women's and Gender Studies 201, & the importance of Women's and Gender Studies itself to the core curriculum. Well worth reading and sharing with friends! I invite you to add your thoughts and comments about this book review in the comments area below this post. The book review is available at the link, below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html?ex=1203915600&en=696326dd17c71d7f&ei=5070&emc=eta1