6 Overused Creepy Sentences That I Wish Always Had These Surprise Endings

Check out this article and let me know what you think. This article was brought to me by the staff member behind the "LGBT? Fine By Me" shirts. While I think the message is good, I believe the presentation could be problematic. This campaign attempts to use familiar language to send a new message, but I'm afraid the new message might be overshadowed by the size of the familiar language. Too often in cases like this, the public easily sees the most visible part of the poster and doesn't take time to read the rest of it. I'm afraid this could happen with this campaign.
Any other critiques? I'm genuinely trying to learn what makes these on-the-surface good campaigns problematic. Or is it problematic?
~ Brooke

Say What?!?

Since we’re talking a lot about sexuality and rape this week, I thought I’d bring in some politics. With President’s Day and Flag Day quickly approaching, I am reminded of this great nation in which we live. Yes, we have our issues, but I am one of the most patriotic young people you might know. I have been raised in a military family: both my mother, father, and grandfather were in the Navy, my other grandfather was in the Army, and my sister is currently a midshipmen fourth class in the Marine Corps ROTC program at Ole Miss. Then, there’s this guy: 

His name is Richard (ironically, “Dick”) Black. I stumbled upon this article, which relates how he has talked about rape in the military and marital rape. He’s not been very politically correct to say the least. But first, a little background: From 1992 to 1994, Black served as the head of the Army’s Criminal Law Division, giving legal advice to military commanders regarding military justice, disciplinary, and adverse administrative matters. Following his stint in the military, Black, a member of the Republican party, secured a Virginian congressional seat in the House of Delegates and currently serves in the Virginia Senate. Recently, he announced his intention to run against Barbara Comstock for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, following the retirement of incumbent Frank Wolf.

Upon his announcement to run in the House race, the media got to work on him, publishing pieces criticizing him for his controversial statements about rape and sexual abuse. As it relates to rape in the military, he spoke frequently to media outlets about sexual assault in the military, and called military rape 'as predictable as human nature.' 'Think of yourself at 25,' Black told a newspaper in 1996. 'Wouldn't you love to have a group of 19-year-old girls under your control, day in, day out?' Remember how I said he served as head of the Army’s Criminal Law Division? This means that for at least a two-year period in the U.S. Army, the man charged with advising commanders on sexual assault cases thought rape was just "human nature." Clearly, as Zerlina Maxwell passionately asserts on Hannity, “If [guns prevented rape], the military would be the safest place for women. And we know that’s not true.” In fact, According to a 2011 Newsweek report, women are more likely to be assaulted by a fellow soldier than killed in combat. Additionally, the Department of Defense estimates there are about 19,000 sexual assaults in the military per year but according to the latest Pentagon statistics (2013), only 1,108 troops filed for an investigation during the most recent yearly reporting period and during that period, only 575 cases were processed. Of those 575, only 96 went to court-martial. Much of the to-do around this topic focuses on the (un)likelihood of victims to report military sexual assault, most claims revolving around the power dynamic inherent in the military – that more senior officers can sexually assault women under their command with little worry of report because of his position of power. Indeed, an investigation found that only one in 5 females and one in 15 males in the United States Air Force would report having been sexually assaulted by service members. We’ve discussed Mackinnon’s views of sexuality as a power dynamic, and here the power dynamic is all the more real and official.

He also has some shocking things to say about marital rape:"I do not know how on Earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape where they're living together, sleeping in the same bed, she's in a nightie, and so forth, there is no injury, there's no separation or anything." His comments suggest he's not sure what rape is. It might not be surprising, considering all of this, that he withdrew from the House race (click here), citing his desire to maintain partisan balance in the state Senate. We can only speculate if that is really the reason.

The military sexual assault is especially relevant for me for two reasons: 1) I plan to fund medical school through a military scholarship which requires 4 years of active duty service, making me as a woman in the military susceptible to this epidemic and 2) I plan to serve as a psychiatrist while serving in the military, and as such would  be faced with many patients suffering from PTSD as a result of rape/sexual assault. God Bless the U.S.A.!

Rape Culture: a view from outside (Respond to Zerlina Maxwell’s lecture)

What stroke me first was the number of rapes in US, according to Miss Maxwell.  After that lecture US seem much more dangerous than Russia to me now. I’m not saying that there are no rapes in Russia. It’s just not that common: the numbers are not so frightening and most of rapes are performed by maniacs. So I can say I feel absolutely safe in my town, with my friends, at parties. And I never experienced any sexual assault in my lifetime.

 All in all I agree with Miss Maxwell – victim blaming isn’t fair. But, I think that accusing a man in raping you when you don’t even remember if you have given consent is not fair too! I saw how some girls (Russian and American) behave when being drunk. I mean, what did they want when they were rubbing their buts against guys pants when dancing? Why did they do that? And o’k, why if drunk girls are not to blame drunk guys are? I’m absolutely sure that most of them thought that they aren’t raping anyone. Cause the girl agreed to have sex with him. She didn’t fight. She didn’t say no. And she didn’t look unconscious. Oh, probably, she even said yes, but the next morning ashamed of her behavior she accuses an innocent guy in raping her (I’m not talking right now about cases of marital rape, child sexual abuse and raping of unconscious girls). And that’s very serious. It leads to imprisonment. I mean, if rape is a legal case why don’t we ask for proves? Just believing every girl reporting rape without any proves is another extreme. Both accused and accuser should be interrogated and trusted – cause we are fighting for equal treatment, not for men oppression instead of women, right?

And the other fact that stroke me is that miss Maxwell said that most of rapists are your friends, whom you didn’t expect it from. So my question, apart from drinking so much that you don’t remember anything, is that why do you call friends such awful people? I’m absolutely sure that all my friends in Russia and my brother and my husband have never raped anyone in their life. And they wouldn’t. I refuse to believe that a nice person, whom you know very well can just appear to be rapist. Cause rape isn’t a nice walk, that anyone can take. Only a defective person can do that. So, you either don’t call rapist a friend or don’t call a rape the situation when both people aren’t conscious about what they are doing. And by the way, I’d never call a friend a person who won’t interfere when something obviously bad happens to me. 

My conclusion is: we should educate both – men not to rape and women to take responsibility for their actions.

sexually funded academics.

interesting, and relevant article here. as per our discussion about the capability of sexual agency, the potential for capitalism upon sexuality, the power dynamic of sexuality, and the devaluation of the humanity of sexual acts as a response to evidences of sexuality as a male construct.

The NFL's Test

Lately, there seems to be an increase in LGBT discussions within the sports world. LZ Granderson, a reporter for ESPN, openly declared his sexual preferences. Jared Max has also come out to fans. Thomas Hitzlsperger, following athletic leaders like Robbie Rodgers, has stepped out of the closet. So it is natural that a young man waiting to be drafted would also come out.

When Michael Sam came out to his team, most of the players already knew. They had an idea, brought about by Michael’s relationship with a member of the swim team. When he talked to his agents Joe Barkett and Cameron Weiss, they expressed their support. They told him to make this decision regardless of the pressure one way or another from others. So last Sunday, Michael stepped out into the public as an openly gay man.

Now the media has been exploring this new story. In scanning the pages of the internet, most of these responses have been positive. Online sources like outsports.com have complemented Michael Sam on his bravery. Other news sources, like the Washington Post and ESPN, have called him brave.

It’s great to know that declaring your sexuality doesn’t immediately result in a backlash from the media. It’s even better to realize that most of these news sources have been commenting on the bravery and courage of Michael Sam. However, this focus seems a bit strange. Not all people who come out of the closet are positively identified as brave – Just Michael Sam. Even then, it’s suspected that he’ll soon receive negative comments.

This is not a surprising guess. Some would argue that Michael’s decision to come out was semi-forced. Reporters from sport news sources had been sniffing around his trail for a few months now, trying to discover the answer to questions about his sexuality. Was this truly his decision? Or did Michael come out, knowing that it’s better to control the situation himself rather than let others control it for him.

An interesting point to note on this is the frequent inclusion of his stats as a football player near the quotes which identify him as homosexual. These stats can be seen as positive or negative. Player’s stats are often discussed whenever the player is mentioned. The inclusion of Michael’s stats in these articles means that he is still regarded as a valuable asset. This would mean that the statistics can be seen as positive. However, maybe they should be regarded as anomalous. Every player’s stats and sexuality are not examined and reported. Only the players who are publicly not heterosexual. 

Here are a few links to the main articles I have found. Look to them, and see for yourselves:

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10429030/michael-sam-missouri-tigers-says-gay

http://www.outsports.com/2014/2/9/5395570/michael-sam-gay-nfl-draft-missouri-coming-out

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/02/10/michael-sam-wade-davis-gay-nfl/

Oppressed Majority

http://www.upworthy.com/a-french-film-showing-men-what-being-a-woman-feels-like-kinda?g=2

After watching the film Oppressed Majority (OM) I can actually imagine living in a culture where the male bodies are "protected" and sexualized while the female bodies are the opposite: exposed, confident, and normal.

Are genders as fluid and constructed as Judith Butler say they are? If she's right then why is it that ALL the cultures I know of are patriarchal? We can criticize Krygystan's tradition of kidnapping women all we want standing on the other side; complaining a tradition of taking sex slaves and servants (or wifes) is sexist and wrong, but why don't we step back and look at our own traditions first?

The OM shows us things that we have taken for granted in our daily lives, nothing as extreme as wife-kidnapping, and reverses the gender roles - it becomes immediately obvious how the gender binary is entirely constructed. Imagine all of the television series show things like OM, where the naked and sexualized is men and men's nipples. Watching OM, weirdly, makes me very happy and empowered as a female-bodies social actor. I start to be able to imagine what it is like to be a male and having my superiority reaffirmed every time I turn on television. This feeling of empowerment makes me question just how much of the concept of womanhood in our cultures around the world is constructed. Obviously we can say the "ancient tradition" in Krygystan functions as a part of the "stylized repetition of acts" that constitute the women identity (Butler); it is not so obvious however when we look at the things we do here in the US, since we are deep in it. The women of Krygystan internalize the repetition and perform their constructed identity in a "mode of belief": they don't even know when and why the traditions started and talk about it as if it being around for a long time is alone enough justification.

Can you think of anything else predominantly represented in our culture that amplifies the significance of the biological difference between the sexes? Males are in fact, or statistically, stronger and bigger than females; However just how much of that physical difference is itself constructed? Aren't women expected to be smaller, skinnier, and weaker in the first place? You would imagine in the world of OM, men will be weaker and smaller than women because that kind of physique is considered attractive for men, who are also constructed to be sexualized objects for which attractiveness is essential.

Is it possible to interpersonally lessen The Uncanny?

As James pointed out and Dr. J further elaborated, the experience of encountering a person who is transgendered can be likened to Freud’s concept of “The Uncanny”; in other words, the simultaneous experience of something that is familiar yet foreign. An encounter with someone who is transgendered (or more accurately, who one perceives or assumes is transgendered) demonstrates so blatantly that gender is a performance (thus the familiar), yet it manifests on a body that the subject assumes is sexed differently than it is gendered (thus the unfamiliar).  To clarify, the source of familiarity derives from the recognition of gender performativity whereas the unfamiliarity derives from one’s being accustomed to a penis meaning “man” and breasts and a vagina meaning “woman” (of course this is problematic as even one’s sex is never so visible nor dichotomous). 

However, the argument was made by another student that this experience of The Uncanny would dissipate after the initial shock had worn off. And what I heard as also being suggested in that idea is that one’s continued exposure to folks who are transgendered (or who otherwise perform gender in a non-traditional, non-binary fashion) would, too, wear down the experience - if at least the intensity - of The Uncanny. So, my question in this blog post is just that: does the experience of The Uncanny lessen with one’s increased exposure to and - more importantly - interactions with folks who are transgender or gender-queer/gender-nonconforming? Perhaps the question is more accurately posed as: would it be possible that through interpersonal experience, the phenomenon of transgender/gender-queer unbecome its unfamiliarity? And thus, the root of the question hinges upon what exactly familiarity/unfamiliarity is. 

I would posit that in this case, familiarity depends primarily upon an act’s being mirrored, confirmed, or otherwise validated by societal norms and cultures mores. As such, I would argue that until the superstructures of society and culture concede to gender’s being reified, and the reality that it is not “the really real,” that The Uncanny cannot be lessened. I think through interactions with folks who actively challenge gender binaries and gender norms one is better able to occupy a position of reflexivity, or rather, one becomes aware of gender’s artificiality. However, that individual awareness does not necessarily mean that being transgender or gender-queer thus becomes “familiar.” That would require one be able to escape heteronormativity to escape the experience of The Uncanny when interacting with someone who identifies as or who one perceives to be transgendered or gender-queer. And that would require that one be capable of separating oneself from society, of being able to occupy a purely hermetic position untainted by societal norms (which I don't think is possible). 

However, when taken to its conclusion, this logic suggests that even one who is transgender or gender-queer experiences The Uncanny when perceiving another as transgender or gender-queer, or even perhaps when perceiving oneself. I mean that inasmuch as one is familiar with one’s own gender performance, yet feels foreign in society. These are unpolished thoughts, so please, tell me what y’all think!