by: Zhiqi Zhou
In "Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism," the author not only depicts feminism but also feminism of colors which sparks my brain in a multi-racial way. We have been talking about feminism all along in this class, and I am not going to address feminism any more. I want to point out my concerns of racism on mass media nowadays. In 2010, US demographics census reports: Whites are 63.7%, Blacks are 12.2%, Hispanic or Latino are 16.3% of the US population. Now, let us move the focus of our eyes to the mass media, TV, advertisements, movies, newspaper. Generally, this demographic statistics tells us, for every 6 white people you see on mass media, there should be an appearance of a black person, or for every 4 white people, you should see a Hispanic person. Is it how things are in real life? My answers is no. To intuitively support my point of view, I want to use a Corona commercial as example. In the commercial, there are four people drinking on the beach, and three of them are white and one is black. The commercial majorly focus on a white couple flirting with each other and drinking corona. Surprisingly, the black person in the commercial only makes a "hard-to-see" appearance. What did I think when I saw the commercial? I thought the commercial maker didn't want the commercial to be too racist so he or she put a black clown there to make it appear less offensive. However, all of this seems to be so overly done that audience like me would obviously notice the commercial maker's intention and the black "clown."
Corona Commercial Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfsE-VMqQk
Zhou,
ReplyDeleteYou're addressing feminism in your post. Feminism is fighting for equality. In the commercial, it would be the inequality of a black man in the background while the white people are in the front and easier to see.
Patrisha Wright
I agree with Patrisha. Fighting against racism is also part of the feminism movement because it is fighting for the equality.
ReplyDeleteHi Zhiqi~~
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you said “the author not only depicts feminism but also feminism of colors which sparks my brain in a multi-racial way” in your initial response to the reading for third wave feminism "Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism” My brain also made me think of feminism not having anything to do with being a woman necessarily, but to highlight the differences within the race of women seemed to be what I thought the author focused on. What I did not understand is that it seemed like certain races were purposefully left out, as to create a racial divide within feminists. I understand that it would be difficult to focus on feminism as major topic in the blog after issues of the class that day were surrounding race, not feminism. The issue of “white privilege” was a major focus point, which made me feel uncomfortable. When there was an offensive racial slur uttered unconsciously during the discussion that day, I realized that it could be easy to say it backwards as a white person always experiencing instantly being called my color first, (“white person”) and yeah, it’s lame for us too. I felt more defensive when I spoke, as if because I have light skin I should have this elusive white privilege I hear about in all my women’s studies classes. Perhaps that was the case a generation earlier, but today it is clearly a dated term that does not apply to the current women of white color. The fourth wave of feminists will acknowledge differences between race and classes but not allow that to be a separation of rights or privileges. As a woman of light color, and as a feminist, I want to make sure that my identity does not define me. I have been looked down upon for my white skin, even though I am Native American Blackfoot Indian, mixed with Irish ancestry. The issue of skin color is prevalent in feminist theory, with a focus on privileged white women, forgetting all the unprivileged struggling white women, leaving us behind and tactfully denying us the same rights of identity and individuality. Women from all backgrounds must contribute to feminist theory, because all women deserve the same rights, but we do not have the same story, in fact nobody does, and that is why we have to include everybody as to move past instilling this “white privilege” notion. By continuing to construct race, especially the enormous umbrella of the “white” race, while deconstructing gender, looks good on paper, but in reality, categorizes women into groups based on their race, then denying them of the gendered activities within their cultures. Women are all races, all cultures, so this “white privilege” theory does not really advocate feminist rights or further rights for women. Because this is a dance/ WOMEN studies class, it is important to look at aspects of how women from different backgrounds have advanced women’s rights and how feminist theorists have credited those womens’ races for the most part per wave of feminism. It is way interesting and as time passes, the current feminist thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors will change again to adapt to the women’s need of tomorrow.
Anyways, I really enjoyed your post girlie, and the corona commercial was a good
example of what you are saying. Race is definitely prevalent in the commercial and
everywhere it seems, with people pointing it out often. I just think that we can add to the
racial awareness or we can go deeper than that to be aware of more important things
about people! Just know that you are a beautiful strong woman and whatever you feel
IS right, so do not let anybody tell you that it is wrong.
Your friend in resistance,
Stephanie Martyr