A Body on Display

The unfortunate circumstances of the Hottentot Venus, or Sara Bartman, were that of a women who was owned by others and was out on display for all to see her exposed and differently shaped body. In Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully's novel Sara Bartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography, as well as the film The Life and Times of Saara Bartman, Sara's life was explained in a narrative and focused on her origins as well as where she finally ended up. These biographies followed her from living at home as a young girl, so being married to a soldier, having three children, and leading up to her life as a sexual marvel in London as well as Paris. After her death, her genitals were cut off and have gone missing and have been missing ever since. Her body was eventually returned to her homeland where she had a proper burial...however wax figures of her body remain in European museums.

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Sara was known as the woman with the large genitals that were typical of the Khoi-khoi women from which she was from. This strange and foreign sexuality was put on display and was seen as wild and strange compared to the, as they said, 'sophisticated' Victorian women in London and Paris where she was put on display for money by her owners. Over time she did remain Sara Bartman - she was The Hottentot Venus. A woman from a far away place with a strange sexuality that should be stared at when on display. She belonged to public and her owners: her body was no longer her own. Even after her death, her body was made into a wax figure so people can still see her body. Though she is no longer with us, in a way, her body still belongs to the world.

In modern day, the concept of someone being on display would be obviously frowned upon. Even in public, it's rude to stare or as people questions about why they look a certain way or to point and say "Wow, look how different they look from me!". Also, Sara Bartman was not the only sexualized woman that was put on display for all to see: in fact, some are still doing it today. Just like Sara, the museums of Ripley's Believe It or Not contain thousands of examples of strange bodies that we would consider different from our own. Just like Sara's body was sexually objectified, there are other wax women who are experiencing the same afterlife she is: as a culturally different display.

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There are plenty of bodies in museums, especially Ripley's Believe It or Not that objectify the bodies of women from different cultures and make what they see as normal to their culture as strange and foreign. The following examples are of women who out brass rings around their necks and add one every year after getting it started (left), and African lip plates where an incision is made in their lip to make the plates fit and is seen as beautiful in that culture (right).

Even today, these women (well, their wax figures at least) are put on display and seen as 'strange' and bizarre, just like Sara's body was, and still is, in European museums. Even though they are gone, in a dark and, almost creepy sense, their bodies, including Sara's, still belong to us in some sense. I cannot help but wonder if the sexuality of women remains to be the thing that is the most 'display' worthy. In past articles, men's sexuality and orgasms have a dominant place over women's, so why are they not on display? I suppose it is only a matter of time until they are.

Text
(a) Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully. 2009. Sara Bartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography. Princeton University Press.
(b) (Film) The Life and Times of Saara Bartman. 2000. (53 min)
Images
(1) http://afrodiaspores.tumblr.com/post/52405147167/face-of-the-full-body-plaster-cast-made-from-the
(2) http://www.minitime.com/Ripley_s_Believe_it_or_Not_Museum-Ocean_City-MD-attraction-photos
(3) http://www.gregdemcydias.com/2012_08_01_archive.html

Re-flower the De-flowered

When one thinks of circumcision, well at least when I do, the idea of male circumcision immediately comes to mind. In our western culture, you don't hear to much about what female circumcision - in fact when we do, it's usually something that people see as horrible and disgusting. In Kirsten Bell's article "Genital Cutting and Western Discourses on Sexuality", Bell explains the female circumcision practice in Africa, and that they do it to discourage masturbation and to calm a woman's 'wild and outrageous' sexuality. This article emphasizes that the clitoris is seen as an equivalent to the penis, and that the only similar procedure to men as removing a woman's clitoris is a full castration, and that removing the clitoris would ruin a female's sexuality and that a men's sexuality is all based on their orgasm. In Africa, male circumcision (also female circumcision) is to discourage masturbation because it is considered 'unclean' and can lead to multiple health problems. Most negative views on genital cutting are western perspectives, while African women claim that their sexuality is unaffected by the procedure. In the end, it all just comes down to judging a culture on their own terms rather than your own.

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I found this article a bit disturbing to be totally honest, but also interesting because it gave me a perspective on something that I thought to be so taboo and, well, gross that I have never been exposed to before. While looking at the procedure images online to better understand how these procedures were done, i couldn't help but shiver, especially the ones with the removal of the female clitoris or the sewing together of the vaginal walls. There are activists for stopping female genital mutilation, and ones for men too, but I cannot help but wonder if the ones who are the activists have even spoken to the women and men in Africa (for the sake argument) who have undergone these procedures and how it affected them. By living in a different culture and society all together, these activist groups may just be fighting for a cause that they don't really know anything about. 

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These theme of being an activist for something that is unfamiliar to someone can be seen in multiple places in our society. One example is the wearing of a hijab in the Islamic religion. Just like the anti-genital cutting activists, there are groups that go against wearing a hijab and they are typically, as you may have guessed, groups of people who are not involved with the Islamic culture in any way and are probably from the West. Little do these so-called 'activists' know is that (1) In no where in the Qua'ran does it say that women must where one and (2) Not every Muslim women even wears a hijab. Wearing a hijab is rather considered a form of identity and is accepted among Muslim women as something that they want to wear, not something they have to wear. 

Though I am completely aware that there are obvious differences between the wearing or a hijab and the removal or a piece of flesh from a woman's body, I wanted to point out the idea that activists who make these 'women's rights' issues seem so catastrophic and deal with the objectification of women truly do not have an understanding or that culture at all...usually anyway. I can't help but wonder if this idea of cultural relativism will ever sink in to societies and that people can understand that not all cultures are the same or have the same ideals - but I fear that will not be the case. Especially not in the near future. So I suppose the key question here is to ask the following question: is genital mutilation wrong? Also, will we ever truly have an answer to this question that isn't varied between cultures? As I said earlier, most likely not. 

Text
(a) Kirsten Bell. 2005. "Genital Cutting and Western Discourses on Sexuality". Medical Anthropology Quarterly 19(2):125-148.
Images

(1) http://www.notcot.org/post/7741/Amnesty-Sweden-release-three-campaign-posters-against-f/

(2) http://www.youngchicagoauthors.org/girlspeak/features_bridging_the_disconnect_unveiling_the_hijab_and_islamic_feminism_by_diamond_sharp.htm

Too Young To Know

With the amount of impact the media and consumer culture has one people today, it's really a wonder if people can consider themselves as a 'unique individual' at all. Seeing as there are so many huge impacts on society, such as movies, books, ads, magazines, and many more, people's personalities are no longer, well, 'original'.

The novel by Debra Curtis, Girls' Sexuality in a Caribbean Consumer Culture is a perfect example of how media and consumer culture have such a massive effect on how people interpret they should be and act. In her novel, she did some field work in Nevis where she interviewed many young girls to see what sexuality and sex meant to them in their culture. Her findings came back that these girls looks to consumer culture, specifically American, to understand how to be sexy and to get what they want out of a relationship, whether it be things, like a purse, or sexual pleasure. Through music videos, romance novels and many other forms of media, these girls learned about oral sex, 'sexy' poses, and how to attract men. This massive impact from consumer culture on the young girls in Nevis is something that is not specific to that Caribbean culture - we can see it just as well at home.

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I'll admit that I too have been affected by media and consumer culture. I constantly am online looking at magazines and famous celebrity dresses for style tips and how my make-up should be or what is seen as pretty or out of fashion. I can honestly say that I am old enough to at least acknowledge that media has an impact on me and who I have become and formed myself to be. However, sometimes this impact on media hits people when they are very young, specifically girls, and they get turnmean. 
ed into 'beauty' and sometimes even sexual icons before they know what those words even

A good example of this early consumer culture impact is from the show Toddlers and Tiaras; a show where little girls (and occasionally boys...but mostly girls) are put into beauty pageants against other kids who who are just as done up as they are. There is some controversy however, of how these girls are being made into sex symbols more than anything, and are being taught how to be "sexy" at such an early age...here's a clip of a overly-sexualized mom and daughter pageant practice...with body touching, bikini tops, the ripping off of clothes...the whole shabang. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLgoimu4nZE

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This exposure to American media culture to young girls at an early age will (as stated by the elders in Curtis's novel) lead to and be the cause of promiscuous behavior in the future. Music videos, magazines, even Barbie dolls, all have a role to play in giving these girls unrealistic expectations of how a girl should grow up to look or to be. If these ideas of becoming sexual/beauty focused figure is all they focus on in their childhood, and if it is being supported as much as it is by people in society who watch the shows (also the mothers of the girls and their coaches), then their future of who they will become is inevitable: young, promiscuous girls/boys who focus so much on what media and society makes them feel they should be, when really they should just be, well, a kid!




Text
(a) Debra Curtis. 2009. Girls' Sexuality in a Caribbean Consumer Culture. Rutgers University Press.
Images
(1) http://blog.lib.umn.edu/vanm0049/psy1001section09spring2012/2012/04/toddlers-tiaras-eating-disorders.html
(2) https://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&q=pretty+woman+toddlers+and+tiaras&oq=pretty+woman+toddler&gs_l=img.1.1.0l2j0i10i24l2.6694.12838.0.14419.20.20.0.0.0.0.169.2042.9j11.20.0....0...1c.1.40.img..4.16.1342.3-djaIKTwt0&biw=1024&bih=539&dpr=1&cad=cbv&sei=dixHU-CECcrB0gWyvoC4BQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=uAbPlOesqHc5SM%253A%3Bvk3rDILRv59pDM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbrittanyeveleigh.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F10%252Fpost5-toddlers-in-tiaras.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbrittanyeveleigh.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F10%252F28%252Fthe-ugly-truth-about-child-beauty-pageants%252F%3B540%3B720

Internet: The Border Destroyer

The concept of "borders of transgression" is still something that interests me from when we discussed it in class. The idea that crossing borders and into a new and, I suppose one can say 'taboo', sexual realm is fascinating to me, and with the articles in class showing us these multiple borders people cross, such as normative marital roles (Wardlow's article on how Huli men have socially acceptable extra-marital affairs from their wives in fear of their wive's sexuality), 'work and play' (Weiss's article discussing the BDSM community and how the participants have classes and 'munches' that go against the stereotypical and boring 'vanialla' heterosexual sex), and also literal borders (Montomery's article on children prostitution in Thailand), it's interesting to see how these borders are interpreted and understood. When we think about it, these borders are understood differently depending on what culture we looks at, and can also be manipulated and changed extremely easily.

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I find that any kind of borders (especially distance) can be totally crushed by...you guessed it, the internet! People have total access to other people all over the world, and that makes any kind of relationship easy to start, or even end. Still on the topic of the western 'sanctity of marriage' borders, dating sites and chat rooms (even places like Facebook) are a place where meeting people and potentially starting something on the side of your relationship is very, very easy...and can be easily hidden. Very easily. For instance, (personal story time), I was dating a guy who I found out was cheating on me at the start and the end of our relationship and I had no idea - and both of these relationships started on, you guessed it, his computer. With all of the private, password protected accounts and sites that the internet holds, it's incredible how many people someone can privately meet and interact with on the internet: literally, you have contact with people from all over the world. This contact with people can be just as pleasurable as it is dangerous. 

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There has been a lot of problems lately, especially in our day and age, with sexual internet predators that go after kids for sexual pleasure via the internet. I found this to be a more Western idea of child prostitution in Thailand. Though these sexual predators, as far as I know anyway, except maybe those who do child pornography, a lot of age borders, as well as distance borders are broken. As horrific as child pornography is as well as internet sexual predators are, their ability to talk to people over borders on so many levels (age, distance, even sex/gender) can't really be stopped unless the internet is taken away...and we can't exactly do that. Similar to the travelers to Thailand use child prostitutes for sexual gratification, internet predetors are using unsuspecting kids as pleasure too, just through the internet rather than travelling to them (though I'm sure, that unfortunately happens in some cases). 

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The internet also offers an open door to new ideas based on, well, specifically new sex ideas that stem away from normal-old-boring vanilla sex. This isn't just limited to the internet however: this also stems to magazines, movies, books, and tons of other media to open people up to new sexual ideas. This cross over from "normal" or socially-expected sex to something crazy and new is another good example of border crossing, and is even present super close to home. In Winnipeg, a sex show called Taboo (here's the internet link if you wanted to check it out: http://www.tabooshow.com/). As seen through the city (and online), many ads for taboo show up and offer a new way to experience sex. Away from the traditional "vanilla" sex. No more missionary - some new positions and toys that go against the grain are what's hot! According to these guys, anyway. 

So as I said, there are more than just literal borders that people can cross - and the internet is there to help people do that. Through meeting new people, inviting them to community groups and get togethers, the normative borders of sexuality can be broken. I can't help but wonder - over time, how will the internet change in relation to people being in contact with another? Will sexuality and technology come together to develop something interactive and stimulating that goes against the "normal" sexual expectations: like a sex robot for instance? Though it may sound silly, you know what the future may hold. I'm sure that the concept of the internet, when first proposed, sounded pretty silly as well.

Text
(a) Holly Wardlow. 2008. "She Liked it Best When She was On Top:" Intimacies and Estrangements in Huli Men's Marital and Extramarital Relationships. Intimacies: Love and Sex Across Cultures. W. Jankowiak, ed. Columbia University Press.
(b) Heather Montomery. 2009. "What Constitutes Transgressive Sex? The Case of Child Prostitution in Thailand". Transgressive Sex: Subversion and Control in Erotic Economies. H. Donnan and F. Magowan, eds. Berghahn Books.
(c) Margot Weiss. 2006. "Working at Play: BDSM Sexuality in the San Francisco Bay Area". Anthropologica. 48(2):229-245.

Images

(1) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1167718/Infidelity-Inc-The-boom-websites-offering-illicit-encounters-work-high-fliers.html

(2) http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/sexual-predators-cyber-space

(3) http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/columnists/laurie_mustard/2010/02/03/12730391.html 

Go Against the "Norm"

As I read through Jonathan N. Katz's book The Invention of Heterosexuality, Chrys Ingraham's "One is Not Born a Bride: How Weddings Regulate Heterosexuality", I found a lot of new and interesting ideas that I had never even considered before, such as the view that heterosexuality is invented, as stated in the title of the book, and that (according to all three articles) that heterosexuality is something that is assumed rather than something people should just ask about.

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I do agree with the book and article writer's main points stating that heterosexuality is seen as the norm in everyday society. I lost count how many times I have heard people ask my girlfriends what's his name is when they say they are dating someone new. Same goes for my guy friends. However, I do have a slight problem with the idea that he says heterosexuality is invented and that the term was taken from a medical dictionary. I believe that heterosexual is perfectly natural, just as any other form of sexuality. I believe that the reason for people to assume one is heterosexual is because of the whole idea of reproduction and having a family you make yourself, etc. This assumption of being homosexual doesn't just apply to humans - but animals too. For instance, I have never seen a nature show where on Discovery where there is a documentary on homosexual animal couples, and rather focus on the heterosexual ones that have growing families. In a scientific view, there is a need for reproduction, and as living beings, we need to repopulate and keep the human race going. However, just as heterosexuality is natural and normal, so is any other kind of sexual orientation. Also, people are 'wired' differently, and have different sexual orientations which is also scientifically normal, since our sexuality is a key part of our own personal identity and is what makes make you you. This expected heterosexual norm is seen all over society - especially in romantic and sexual relationships when they are made public.

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The Ingraham article focuses on how not everyone desires a heterosexual marriage and how it is considered the "norm" or expectation. This stereotypical "white dressed bride with a black suited groom" is not the happy ending for everyone. This obviously goes hand in hand with the assumption that everyone is homosexual which, as I stated earlier, is not the case. This idea is drilled into the heads of everyone in popular media, and whenever anything goes against those sexual norms it is seen as scandalous and 'offensive'. With this in mind, I wanted to put in this comic, "Astonishing X-Men Issue #51" in this blog to show that there is a bit more acceptance crawling in to our popular media showing that heterosexuality is not necessarily the norm anymore. Plus, the age groups that are (I am clearly just assuming this) reading this material are young - they are the societies future. If this idea that heterosexuality is not, and should not, be the assumed form of sexuality, then maybe the future holds a more accepting society where all sexual orientations will be more accepted.

Text
(a) Jonathan Ned Katz. 2007. The Invention of Heterosexuality. University of Chicago Press.
(b) Chrys Ingraham. 2011. "One is Not Born a Bride: How Weddings Regulate Heterosexuality". Introducing The New Sexuality Studies. S. Siedman, N. Fischer and C. Meeks, eds. Routledge.
Images
(1) http://projectqueer.tumblr.com/post/423445420/heterosexuality-isnt-normal-its-just-common
(2) http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/marvel-comics-hosts-first-gay-wedding-in-astonishing-x-men-20120522

Let's Start With a Greeting.

Hi everyone! 

I have been staring at my blog for a while and it seemed very, well, empty (though not for long!) so I decided that to make my pages first post virginity (because you know, this is a sex/sexuality course) into a hello from me to you and tell you a little bit about myself. I'm a little quiet in class, just shy I suppose, so I figured I would start with a mini informal bio about myself so you guys can know me a bit better! 

I'm a 3rd year anthropology student and will be graduating next year and, if all goes well, will be going after my doctorate if my Master's degree goes well. Let's hope for the best! I have a minor in world religions, and it is fascinating, and actually has a lot to do with sex roles in societies and cultures which can be related to the course. It's kind of cool to be able to put a bunch of things you are learning about in the context of a course your taking. Very cool indeed. On a much more relaxed note, I can never say no to a good book (usually a Stephan King) with a warm cup of coffee. And maybe a few video games tossed into the mix.  

So this blog is (if you are a part of my class then you know this already) for ANTH/WOMN 3330 course that is called Sex and Sexualities, and will be focusing on different readings we did in class and my responses to them. The more I thought about this assignment, the more I thought about how much I wanted to say, so I apologize if the posts are lengthy, but I shall try my best to keep it short and sweet, yet deep and informative. 

On that note, I hope you enjoy the blog and please don't feel shy to comment!