Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

 

Note: I posted my actual questions and rubric a couple of posts down, but I thought it might be useful to also provide the examples I drew from to form my questions, so here are my responses to the various steps of the question-and-answer making process: 

5 key concepts or ways of thinking about something that you learned either from faculty or fromyour peers:

1) The importance of cutting things up and reorganizing them to create a different perspective or reveal creative, unexpected ideas like Julia did in “The Paper Suit.”

2) The importance of “the blind spots, or the space-off” DeLauretis mentions on page 25.  While going through my notes from Julia’s “Mugshots and Screentests” lecture I also found a quote from Julia that reminded me of this idea of DeLauretis’.  In regards to Greta Garbo’s 1949 screentest Julia said, “Backgrounds are important to get a sense of what’s not there.”

3) From Elizabeth, the way the body’s behavior reflects the hierarchical position of a space.  For instance, a person with their hands in their pockets, walking single-file is evident of a demand for order in a highly regarded space, whereas outdoor markets with no walls or carpeting are lower in the hierarchy and one does not have to adhere to the same bodily performance demands that are expected in a “high space.”    

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    Due to time constraits earlier today I feel I was unable to talk about one of the interesting facets of second life: sexuality and gender in a world where physical and moral limitation are thrown out.  Starting in second life your are asexual, although you have a gender (as being defined my whether your character appears masculine or femine not by the relationship dynamic) you are incapable of sexual activities and in fact lack genitilia.  It was residents who eventually began the business of designing and selling genitilia, sexual gestures and movements, along with objects lke beds which came with linked sex animations.  Genitilia ranges in price form the basic unmoving free object to the higher-end male genitilia (which can change from hard to flacid, urinate, and enjaculate) which reach up to 16,000L (~about 60$)(female genitilia tops off at 3500L).  In a world where feminine appearal outweight masculine appearal  3 to 1 it is interseting that there is twice as many male genitilia as female.  
    

    The ability of self-representation of gender is alive in Second Life (at least in terms of De Lauretis indeas of gender) by the prevailance of non-traditional sexual practices, one's which lack physical or moral constraints.  The large furry / beastiality (prominent animal include horses, dogs, and dragons, along with the occasianaol monster) community, along with numerous problems highlighted by he media having to do with "age play" (http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/02/dutch_to_prosec.html) causing some countries to not allow their residents to enter Second Life.  I question the effects that this has on ones real-life sexual practices, would a man have to be gay to practice (and find sexual enjoyment) from homosexual activities in second life or could it stem from some form of Uranian gender?  What about a women playing as a man without the physical sense of being, only the avatar representation can having virtual sex with a man confine her to being lesbian or is she disconnected from the gender of her avatar?  
    

the other day I got into a conversation about techno music and its authenticity as music. I argued that it is music, just not organic music. The other person argued that it wasn't music at all because it didn't involve instruments. Valid enough, except that, potentially, anything that you use to make a rhythm or melody could be thought of as music. . .maybe? Is that a stretch, and does that create "cyborg" music? I thought about the idea of organic music. . .that if thinking that technology inhibits or depreciates music, then electric guitars wouldn't be music. . .neither would listening to a record, or any media that requires energy or electricity to play! ? Is organic music only hearing flutes and strings and the like firsthand? No recordings? Does this relate to the passage in Tomorrow's Eve about the recording changing what is recorded. . .or when Edison says "It [the phonograph] can't record an eloquent silence or the sound of rumors. In fact, as far as voices go, it is helpless to represent the voice of conscious."  You can never REALLY recreate or represent the true meaning of what you're doing. . . Or perhaps the semiotics of music. . .the signifier is not the signified. The CD is not the music, and itunes is not the music. Even at a live show, could you consider amplified music as NOT organic music?

 

Here's what I'm thinking in my philosophical banter head space : Music that involves electricity is a cyborg, and is not organic music. This is a really blatant, unresearched statement, and not that I actually am applying this to my life, but please, refute me on this, for humor's sake.

On Tuesday evening at the Port of Olympia, 41 women, including myself, were arrested for  forming a human blockade of the exit  of the port to the street. The point of an all-women blockade was to stand in solidarity with the women of Iraq. We held a banner that had a women's symbol and the word "solidarity" written on it.  We were waiting for the riot cops or the military shipments to come through- whichever was first, and it turned out to be the riot cops.

 We forms a blockade by sitting down on the street and linking arms. We were told by police repeatedly to disperse or we would be arrested or have force used against us. We were shouting, among other things, "we are nonviolent, no force is neccesary" "we will not resist arrest" "we are mothers we are sisters we support the war resisters" "no justice, no peace, US out of the middle east". In return, our supporters chanted, "thank you sisters, you are not alone" "sisters, united, will never be defeated," etc.

The riot cops came forward, after about  20 minutes of our blockade. This was the most difficult part of the experience, because we were not sure if they were going to use force against us. Apparently, as a lawyer pointed out to our friend on the megaphone, if you state that you are not resisting arrest, it is illegal to use chemical weapons such as pepper spray or tear gas against people. So, the riot cops dragged or walked all 39 of us away over the course of an hour or so. I was the third to last to be arrested. We all chanted until the end, with the last remaining woman chanting by herself.

Since there were so many women arrested and only one paddy wagon, the last 17 of us were held, in plasticuffs, on an intercity transit bus. What is important about this is that TJ Johnson, the city council member, chair of the Intercity Transit Authority, and vocal anti-war activist was out of town on Tuesday. He had said repeatedly that intercity transit busses will not be used during protests, but they did this night because he wasn't there to say anything about it.

While we were held on the bus, a counter-protester exposed himself to us. We yelled out the window to passing cops and they all ignored us, when finally one told us to just "not look then." Finally one officer walked over to tell him to put it away, which he did, but he was not arrested. This is particularly disturbing because he was doing a blatant illegal act, to the extent that the offender has to register as a sex offender, but he was not given more than a slap on the wrist. This may have been a good thing in some ways, however, because if he were arrested then he would have been on the bus with us.

From the windows of the bus, we could see the action taking place outside. This is incredibly traumatic for the arrestees, because we could see our nonviolent supporters, friends, family, etc. being pepper sprayed and have tear gas used against them. We saw them running down the street to block the shipments that were going out the other exit, and the utter chaos that broke out. It was, of course, very difficult to watch, especially from the vantage point of having nothing to do with it.

We were taken to Olympia City Jail (the same building where you may have paid your city of olympia water bill) and held for about 3 hours. None of us left with charges, and none of us have received charges yet.

We heard from our clandestine telephone calls on the bus and from after being released from jail, the hell that broke loose after we were arrested. People were throwing dumpsters into the streets, unsuccessfully attempting to block shipments by any means possible. A few protesters threw rocks at cop cars and at the US Bank downtown. However, just because of few activists threw rocks does not mean it represents the entire group! In return, the police used pepper spray, tear gas, concussion grenades, and rubber bullets.

The media's portrayal of these events is, of course, skewed in a lot of ways. First of all, most mainstream outlets are not reporting that it was 41 women and three men that were arrested, and that human blockade was quite obviously a "women's blockade." One of the AP photographs from that night shows one of the three men that were arrested, rather than one of the 41 women that were. They also make it seem that the 45 people that were arrested that night were arrested because of the things that happened after we were all handcuffed!

This is the best video I could find of the women's blockade:

Hay every one, here it the link to the Bush gets a MySpace videos. It manages to lampoon Bush, Chaney, Carl Rove, Britney Spears, Kevin Federline. I can't figure out how to make the link a hipper link so just copy it, it should take you to YourDailyMedia.com.

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1145188343/President_Bush_Gets_A_Myspace_Profile

Myspace has three primary functions: The Form, The Search Engine, and the Locus Point for Communication.
In functioning as a form, individuals are allowed to catalog themselves by choosing information and being selective for the portrayal of his/her personhood. When you first set up your account, you are asked to fill in a form regarding specifications of who you are, your identity - like what job do you have? - your life - how much money do you make in one year? - and most interestingly, your body. Height, Weight, physique type - even asking you to talk about what you want to do with your body, as in, do you want kids? what is your sexual orientation? Are you a smoker and/or a drinker? Who would you like to meet? What type of person are you considering having sex with?
With Myspace, people present images of themselves by filling out a visual form. The practice of putting a series o��(f photos from one's regular day or diaries of one's day on a blog on myspace can be understood as a form of social interaction. We could say that in this case, as in the case of the photobook, the person is engaged in a presentation of a persona or identity that one adopts; which may resemble their everyday world, or not. Who actually knows what one really looks like in this way?
One can also post a blog which can include information such as poetry, tour date information, current social events, how to bake apple struedel, The blog extends t��áhe everyday; making known or public the private world of the individual. We also get feedback as others (sometimes strangers) give us feedback about ourselves.

In functioning as a search engine, myspace allows access to persons, music, general information, jobs, horoscopes, videos, news. . .the list goes on. It acts as public access to humans via personal information in a self-constructed library. If on a page youre particularly keen on, the space also acts as a directing course of interaction and connection, via the TOP 8. or top 12, or 32, etc. There is a very expansive inter-web within the myspace pages themselves in this way. . .��s

Feminist Film Art of the 70’s :

Is feminism a political movement – Is it a movement – Does it move – What does it move – Who does feminism move – Am I to be moved – Moved from what to what – Who is moved by anything political anyway – (You should ask yourself how you contribute to patriarchy) – Well then am I moved by art – {art?} – Feminist art might then move me – <I’m ripping out my patriarchy in pieces> –Yet how am I not moved by any of these five feminist films – {move?} – As follows :

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Vertical Roll. Jonas’ film is what? Twenty minutes of noise and flicker? Avant-garde experimentation? A joke at the viewers expens(e)<ive>? Deliciously audacious and disturbingly hypnotic?

Here’s the square : her film is not in the least feminist (and I don’t even have the slightest idea what “feminist” determines). It is feminine only in that a female body is the single object throughout. It is experimental film art, untainted by some message or agenda. Who deemed this film “feminist”? I doubt Jonas did, unless she was greatly confused.

Hi, friends! My name is Vanessa, and my last name means, "benefactor" in Italian. Which directly translates to, "I would be a great benefactor to your progress in the course of your winter studies!"

Ho, ho, ho!

But, really folks, I am a SWF seeking long walks on the beach with summer-stirred pina coladas and dancing pineapple mannequins and second star to your right, straight on til morning. Which brings us to the point that I am a night person-- a moonlight majestic; a midnight rider. I prefer late-night jaunts when possible, much more than I favor champagne sunrises...

Sunrises? Oh, right. My project. Back on track. Which brings us to another essential element... Personality speaking-wise and such, I am A.D.D. as they come. I am not devoid of concentration, but in fact, in excess of it. Depending on when you catch me, it can be channeled in either (or all. or any.) way. To the whole room or to a singular point of my stealthily-piercing laser beam focus.

I do not treat academics with serious decorum. At least, not in a rigid and proper kind of way. I believe academics should be pursued with a sense of freedom and genuinity. None of this false pretenses crap! C'mon.

My winter project? Here. But, be warned: It's quite personal. A little graphic, even. And disturbing... (Mostly to me, who is airing my deepest shit to the whole class. But I'm aiming at catharsis, so it's all in the bag! We'll see...)

My independent project for winter quarter will be comprised of one or several creative essays concerning my misadventures in the world of man; whereupon, one day, out of nowhere, I find myself awakened from a nothingness to discover that, somehow, I have come to embody a human form—and a female one, to boot! From the initial rude awakening on forth, I do nothing but grapple with my unexpected acquisition in seemingly endless forms— struggling with how this strange mechanism feels, struggling with how others feel about it, and struggling with the vast and disorienting jumble of everything-in-between that occurs in, on, and around my poor, solicitous human body. The deflating fact of my physical existence reaches a new low as I grow older and begin to fill out. And suddenly... Acne! Leg hair! Stomach cramps! Breasts! Lucky me. Mine happen not to look quite like the others-- the ones I have seen in pictures. In nudie magazines and late-night cable. Mine, as it would seem, are... well, different. The horror! No matter how I look at them, they are ugly. Lop-sided. Asymmetrical. Bad. Not like the rest. In other words-- ugly. There are other things, too. Thighs too jiggly. Neck too thick. Too masculine. Too tall. No chin. No beauty-- Or really?