First, I would like to say that this class has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had at this school. Secondly, and most importantly, I think this class challenged me more than any other class I have ever had.
When we first got into theory it was foreign and difficult to understand but one day along the way it just clicked and I started to see some of what we are talking about. I feel that I have come a long way since then. I enjoyed and engaged in all of the theories covered by this class however I took a strong liking to post-structuralism, post-modernism, and psycho-analytic theory. Over the semester my class reading became my casual reading as I began to purchase works by Jean Baudrillard and Guy Debord. I am planning on reading a collection of essays by Derrida in the near future. I can’t wait.
As for theory being dead, all I have to say is “… ….. …… …. .. … . …… .. ….. …….. … .. . … .. … …. …. .. ……”
By that I mean there is so much to say and still it is all nonexistent in many ways. So much that is beneath the surface, waiting to be uncovered by theory but ultimately who cares? It is after all just theory and cannot be put into practice. How are we ever supposed to take down the dominant, hegemonic, masculine structure that oppresses us all when the people we are trying to help don’t see it or interpret what we say as being crazy jargon? Look at the way Baudrillard was received. I think the man has a lot of great ideas but he was treated like a fraud pretending to be a philosopher. All I can really say is that I am thankful for the knowledge I now have but it may only aid in alienating myself from others even more.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
This post about feminism, simulacra, the hyperreal, and ME!
I would first like to address one of Tonya Krause’s questions for discussion,
“How have you tended to define feminism in your own life, and how does thinking about feminist theoretical perspectives and approaches affect your personal definition?”
I recognize that my understanding of feminism on a personal, social, and enigmatic level has greatly changed during my life. When I was in my elementary years my understanding of the opposite sex was dominated by my conscious/unconscious need to “other” them. I played with boys almost exclusively. It was us and them as I’m sure it was for all of us growing up. As I got older I was beginning to approach the “logic” behind why we treat women and men the way that we do. Why were men privileged? “They just are.” I couldn’t help but give in to what I had been living inside of for my entire life. I gave in to the patriarchal hegemony that catered me so well. It was hard not to. It wasn’t until my high school years that I began to think about feminism on even a rudimentary level. I sympathized with the girls I went to school with when they discussed women’s issues on a national or global level. However I am not sure for which reasons. I had begun understanding women’s plight in a male dominated world but only in a physical sense. I thought their problem was that they were weaker then men and thus could never really overpower them or even be equal. I thought they were screwed for the rest of their lives and there was nothing they could do about it. And those reasons that I had for why women are oppressed are an example of me trying to think about feminism through a masculine discourse. I was trapped and I didn’t even know it. I was blind to the deep-seeded patriarchal influences that that exist in the social and the political. It consumed my entire perspective on the opposite sex. Since then I feel that my understanding has grown a fair amount but I am still far from getting it. I can now look back on my younger years and see that I too am oppressed by this masculine discourse. How can I really know what I am or what I like about myself and others if I have a model of what I am supposed to be, reinforced in all aspects of my life, acting almost like a stencil with which I am told to construct my identity?
I drew this in class the other day while thinking about this post:
I feel it visually demonstrates the way in which I think about feminism. I have made a mistake in the diagram. If you can, imagine a layer of “masculinity” under the “masculine discourse” layer. I should pay more attention to what I write. That aside, the socially constructed ideas of gender have molded us in the image of what we think we are or must be. Those false models are 4th order simulacra of the sexes. Our identity is lost in the hyperreal.
“How have you tended to define feminism in your own life, and how does thinking about feminist theoretical perspectives and approaches affect your personal definition?”
I recognize that my understanding of feminism on a personal, social, and enigmatic level has greatly changed during my life. When I was in my elementary years my understanding of the opposite sex was dominated by my conscious/unconscious need to “other” them. I played with boys almost exclusively. It was us and them as I’m sure it was for all of us growing up. As I got older I was beginning to approach the “logic” behind why we treat women and men the way that we do. Why were men privileged? “They just are.” I couldn’t help but give in to what I had been living inside of for my entire life. I gave in to the patriarchal hegemony that catered me so well. It was hard not to. It wasn’t until my high school years that I began to think about feminism on even a rudimentary level. I sympathized with the girls I went to school with when they discussed women’s issues on a national or global level. However I am not sure for which reasons. I had begun understanding women’s plight in a male dominated world but only in a physical sense. I thought their problem was that they were weaker then men and thus could never really overpower them or even be equal. I thought they were screwed for the rest of their lives and there was nothing they could do about it. And those reasons that I had for why women are oppressed are an example of me trying to think about feminism through a masculine discourse. I was trapped and I didn’t even know it. I was blind to the deep-seeded patriarchal influences that that exist in the social and the political. It consumed my entire perspective on the opposite sex. Since then I feel that my understanding has grown a fair amount but I am still far from getting it. I can now look back on my younger years and see that I too am oppressed by this masculine discourse. How can I really know what I am or what I like about myself and others if I have a model of what I am supposed to be, reinforced in all aspects of my life, acting almost like a stencil with which I am told to construct my identity?
I drew this in class the other day while thinking about this post:
I feel it visually demonstrates the way in which I think about feminism. I have made a mistake in the diagram. If you can, imagine a layer of “masculinity” under the “masculine discourse” layer. I should pay more attention to what I write. That aside, the socially constructed ideas of gender have molded us in the image of what we think we are or must be. Those false models are 4th order simulacra of the sexes. Our identity is lost in the hyperreal.
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