Fall 2017 Gender, Identity, and Literature

In How We All Lose , Gay talks about the idea of making things better and more nuanced, rather than being right or funny.  I think it’s also true that we tend to think of women and men as competing, as if making things better for women will make things worse for men. But I would agree with Roxane Gay that that is how we all lose. I think the ways men lose out in the patriarchy are often overlooked; as we talk about violence against women, we forget about male victims of sexual harassment/assault and domestic violence. We also forget about women as perpetrators. I think it is easy to forget these things, because we view the patriarchy as oppressing women, rather than oppressing femininity. I think we all lose in forgetting the nuance, as Gay talks about, because part of this nuance is recognizing the difference between women, and that which is feminine. Of course, because of the way gender is constructed in our society, women bear most of the consequences of the patriarchy. But I t...

Growing up, I had my moments of being a whiny, little shit. My mom has always been my best friend, even when she would be trying her best to lay down the law, like a responsible mother. These attempts nearly always ended in her breaking character and us laughing together. We obviously have the kind of relationship that is light-hearted and playful, so in these instances of me being on my worst behavior, she would always say the same thing: “ Deidre Nicole, you should be kissing this floor right now. I didn ’t have to keep you, you know. Some girls your age are already married with a house full of kids! You ’ ve got it good, ” to which I would roll my eyes, laughing with her, thinking to myself how ridiculous she is. Now, looking back, all I ’ m thinking is how ridiculous I was. I was bathing in my privilege, whining about something I ’ m sure was insignificant, blind to the truth in her joke. I ’ ll give 13-year-old me a pass for being ignorant, but I sometimes still find myself act...

“ Clearly we have sent these messages with such alarming regularity and consistency we have encouraged you to willingly run toward something violent and terrible with your eyes and arms wide open. ” I found this quote from “ Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them ” by Gay to be heavy in meaning when taken out of the context of celebrity abuse and analyzed with a broader scope. Gay in writing this piece is making a clear stance regarding this specific topic under the umbrella of oppression that women endure in today ’ s society, although, this quote is applicable to the entire umbrella. There are a number of different messages that we send our young girls that lead to such a mentality regarding oneself- as a warped perspective on oneself and their gender as a whole is the only way in which a woman would happily run head-on into a danger zone that they are well-aware exists. At the root of these messages is an issue of trying to teach our girls...

Blog no. 13       12/8                 The Comedic Stylings of Offending People Addressing what entertains a reader or viewer is usually focused on media forms like TV and music, the messages of stand-up comedy shying away from the spot light (or worse, justified in the name of satire). To address another male dominated industry, and in light of recent sexual assault accusations of notable stand up comedic (Louis C.K, Andy Dick, Russell Simons) we need to address the societal reactions to offensive humor as it is another industry that feeds off a ‘supply and demand’ relation. Female comedians are not off the hook either as they are put in the position of sacrificing audience/ reputation for speaking against the famous male comedians. From Bad Feminist Section Some Jokes Are Funnier than Others , Roxanne Gay states             Inappr...