Hiromi Goto is the author of The Body Politic, a poem depicting racialized identity struggle. She is a Japanese-Canadian writer, whose poem is based upon her own personal experience. Goto presents this first-hand experience of the identity crisis immigrants and those who do not fit into rigid binary stereotypes face in daily life. She highlights her internal struggle to extend into public spaces when she doesn’t fit into the normative structures around her. The Body Politic is a journey for Goto that shows her audience her struggle to accept and understand herself. For Goto, this ability to understand her difference and the binary she fails to be apart of is the first step for her to begin to navigate an alternative way to extend through spaces within socially constructed institutions where her body does not fit in accordingly. Throughout this essay I explore the way binaries work in our world, and culture through the use of Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phemenology and the implications of …show more content…
She provides useful insights into both queer studies and phenomenological perspectives. Phenomenology is the philosophical study of experience and consciousness, which is going to be further explored in this essay, through personal experience. Her chapter focuses on the ways in which we experience and orient ourselves within space, especially for those who engage in queer perspectives, first focusing on queer without a sexual connotation. For the purposes of this paper, I will not be discussing queerness in a sexual context, but rather in the way that it was originally defined as a spatial term, meaning strange, odd or to “twist” (Ahmed, 67) from the normative. In other words it is to deviate away from the norm binary previously discussed. Ahmed uses examples of vertical lines for the normative and in this example the deviant is the queer perspective since it fails to remain on this
Ever since the abolition of slavery in the United States, America has been an ever-evolving nation, but it cannot permanently erase the imprint prejudice has left. The realities of a ‘post-race world’ include the acts of everyday racism – those off-handed remarks, glances, implied judgments –which flourish in a place where explicit acts of discrimination have been outlawed. It has become a wound that leaves a scar on every generation, where all have felt what Rankine had showcased the words in Ligon’s art, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background” (53). Furthermore, her book works in constant concert with itself as seen in the setting of the drugstore as a man cuts in front of the speaker saying, “Oh my god, I didn’t see you./ You must be in a hurry, you offer./ No, no, no, I really didn’t see you” (77). Particularly troublesome to the reader, as the man’s initial alarm, containing an assumed sense of fear, immediately changing tone to overtly insistent over what should be an accidental mistake. It is in these moments that meaning becomes complex and attention is heightened, illuminating everyday prejudice. Thus, her use of the second person instigates curiosity, ultimately reaching its motive of self-reflections, when juxtaposed with the other pieces in
Although language manipulation can be broken into countless categories and sub-categories, diction is arguably the common denominator. When one conducts an analysis of another’s words, it is both logical and necessary for one to address the author’s word choice. Vàzquez’s essay is full of strategically placed adjectives and transitions to pull the reader to her message. She refers to society’s gender roles as being a “straitjacket” that “suffocates” (p. 493, 3rd paragraph). Both of the words “straitjacket” and “suffocates” not only embody the frustration felt by homosexuals, but also suggest that society is bound by its own unreasonable expectations. The author’s metaphorical suffocating straightjacket serves as a signal to the reader that society’s treatment of gender roles is in dire need of reform.
On that viscerally vibrant Friday morning, in that urbanized oasis, a group of primarily Black and Hispanic students united at El Cerrito High School to discuss their parents and peers very real struggle to achieve the American dream. The stories of racism, oppression, gentrification, and deportation filled the classroom with the voices of varied languages and vernaculars, a majority of which felt caught between cultures and pulled away at the seams by opposing orientations. These fourteen and fifteen year olds spoke of parents requiring them to speak the language of a place they’ve never been, of teachers demanding a “Standard English” they’ve never been taught, of friends questioning their “Americaness” because they didn’t know the difference between Disneyland and Disney World. This youthful minority-majority population is faced with cultural double identity; a term that reflects the cognitive dissonance an individual feels when their identity is fragmented along cultural, racial, linguistic or ethnic lines. This conflict of self is not isolated in this classroom in San Francisco’s East Bay area. It brims over into every classroom within California, where “no race or ethnic group constitutes a majority of the state’s population” (Johnson). It must be said then, that the culturally and linguistically diverse California classrooms must integrate texts that examine the psychological state of double identity. Turning to Luis Valdez’ play “Zoot Suit”, Chester Himes’s protest novel If He Hollers Let Him Go, and Al Young’s prose poem “Coastal Nights and Inland Afternoons”, we encounter literature and characters with double identities that assist in navigating marginalized adolescents with their own struggles in understanding their mu...
Sociologists often employ intersectionality theory to describe and explain facets of human interactions. This particular methodology operates on the notion that sociologically defining characteristics, such as that of race, gender, and class, are not independent of one another but function simultaneously to determine our individual social experiences. This is evident in poetry as well. The combination of one poet’s work that expresses issues on class with another poet’s work that voices issues on race, and so forth, can be analyzed through a literary lens, and collectively embody the sociological intersectionality theory.
Have you ever gone to Chinatown supposing to find a culture full of African Americans? Probably not, because that is not where they’re expected to be. We live in a world where colonies of different colored people are expected, or otherwise discriminated into populating distinct spaces; African Americans are supposed to be in the ghetto, Chinese belong in Chinatown, and Caucasians reserve more elite communities. For centuries, each race has been striving to belong in a society where people are accepted as equals and certain jobs are not handed out to favored ethnicities. This form of discrimination has somewhat dwindled down, however, it still has an undeniable impact on the lives of every single generation since mankind was created. In Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For (WWALF), we view and contrast the lives of four different but very similar characters in which they negotiate different aspects of their lives in order to find their own unique and comfortable place in the powerful and diverse city of Toronto. The following essay examines the depiction of global spaces and the effects on diasporic identity through characters Tuyen and Carla from WWALF. I will analyze and contrast the adaptation of the characters to the city, the influence from the characters’ homes, and the connection to the emotional spaces; illustrating the effects on identification.
“Sexual identity is dead,” says Derrida; however, according to Hubbard[3] , it is not so much sexual identity that is dea...
In every walk of life, people seek refuge from the judgmental perception of their contemporaries. Thus, many people live in secrecy. For them, secrecy is an absolute necessity in dodging undesired scrutiny and maintaining normalcy in public. When it comes to gender and the expression of it, lines are often blurred. While some hide, others brazenly parade their sexuality in public and their alternative perspectives on gender roles. In “The Bowery as Haven and Spectacle” from Gay New York, by George Chauncey, explores the emergence of the Bowery “fairy” bars, and how they became a sanctuary for the queer and working-class of New York City. He discusses in great length the tension that arises between the middle-class and working-class, the bars as a spectacle and a place to be entertained, the solicitation of sex work, and the makings of gay culture in the bar scene. The lines of gender were blurred when men took up cross dressing and the mannerisms normally associated with women. On the other hand, Merril Mushroom, writer of "How to Engage in Courting Rituals 1950's Butch-Style in the Bar", complies a laundry list of rules for butch lesbians on methods of attracting other women. Here, females cross gender boundaries and take on masculine personas. With this said, both pieces show the development of alternative gender identities. However, this switch in gender roles seldom occur outside the bar scene. Despite the semi-public gender blurring, those who identify with this lifestyle still feel the need to express themselves in an environment most accommodating to their blatant disregard of gender norms. The aforementioned pieces answer questions in regards to why one must live in secrecy, and how this secrecy gives way to the developme...
The identities have tended to be divided into some different categories, such as gender, race, and class, and these sources have been judged in the different ways. In other words, the different determinant factors of the individuality have been considered separately, and these components have been regarded as a unrelated simple category. Under these points of view, however, it is hard to recognize the problems of interrelated individual component of the identity. Thus, to solve the disregarding crossover point, the new theory of the “intersectionality” are essential. This essay explores the key definition of the “intersectionality” from the viewpoint of gender studies, and how the concept is connected with the social system and individual identity
The social world in which all people co-exist is an unruly playing field. Separated by class, race, and gender, this world calls for all to assimilate in order to maintain the balance society imposes. Kenji Yoshino raises awareness to the discriminatory aspects of this world in his piece titled “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights”.Yoshino’s argument of the unjust abuse of covering, hiding one’s natural identity to meet the standards that are required of the individual, circle the topics of racial and sexual discrimination. Similarly on a smaller scale, the same concept is depicted through gender inequality (particularly in America) through Michael Kimmel 's “Girls in Guyland: Eyes on the Guys”. Kimmel expresses that both males
The past sixty years have been full of monumentally huge changes for society in the United States. From the civil rights movement and the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to the election of the first black President and the legalization of same-sex marriage, equality has been the subject on hand. While it may be a big pill to swallow for some, those that have been discriminated against for quite some time finally have the freedom to be themselves, knowing that they are protected under the law. Those minorities that celebrate this equality have a lot to teach the bigots of the country in such a wonderful day and age – pride. Zora Neale Hurston shows how important it is to have pride in yourself, your differences, and where you come from, in her four-sectioned essay, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.”
He uses this fictional character to illustrate how students who do not identify within the gender binary still do not have adequate recognition. He notes that most of the terms that these students use stem from scholarly beliefs that gender falls on a spectrum, and that refusing to accommodate these students’ silences and oppresses their “deeply and strongly” felt feeling of not fitting the binary. He compares denying non-binary students rights and services to denying “redheads or people who live in Wyoming” rights, and he cites other countries such as Sweden and Nepal who have already changed policies to accommodate these students. He argues that we need at least five genders recognized, although with the present situation, it might be best to work for
In “Queens, 1963”, the speaker narrates to her audience her observations that she has collected from living in her neighborhood located in Queens, New York in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The narrator is a thirteen-year-old female immigrant who moved from the Dominican Republic to America with her family. As she reflects on her past year of living in America, she reveals a superb understanding of the reasons why the people in her neighborhood act the way they do towards other neighbors. In “Queens, 1963” by Julia Alvarez, the poet utilizes diction, figurative language, and irony to effectively display to the readers that segregation is a strong part of the American melting pot.
The normalization of being a heterosexual presence would classify you as normal and you’d feel accepted by many different groups and communities by default. Certainly no one would deny that being true. What seems to be the issue is why is being heterosexual is the only type of normality society seems to accept. While reading Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/ La Frontera, the author brought up her personal struggles with her sexuality within her culture and with society. As well as other difficulties when being a female and being lesbian (Anzaldúa and Saldívar-Hull, 41). The scope of this essay should cover the many different borders we face as humans when it comes to where we draw the line on sexuality.
Gender Outlaws (Smith, 2010) breaks the laws of gender by defying gender normative rules that exclude trans, queer and other non-conforming gender expressions often oppressed by “gender-norming rules,” rules, “expected to observe” or be subject to ridicule and often times labeled as freak by those who consider themselves as normal (p. 28). A gender outlaw seeks to, redefine the notion of gender and are carving out spaces of their own” (p. 30).
Wilton, Tamsin. "Which One's the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbain Sex." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 157-70. Print.