Lecture 4

 

 


Presenting the research of the Faculty of Education continues as Values, Ideologies and Social Context of Education (VISE) presenting their work. 

I found this presentation to be a bit of a culture shock for me specifically in the Gender Studies section. I will freely admit that all the knowledge that I have about feminism has come from my periphery. My undergraduate university is located in a community where the LGBTQIA+ community has a lot of input, and its members are quite visible, specifically lesbians. So, although I had never taken a class in gender studies, I have received an education by simply attending classes. Professors across all disciplines integrate intersectionality into their lesson plans and curriculum design. There was more than one instance in which I said something ignorant/biased/steeped in privilege and was checked by a peer or a tutor, sometimes gently, sometimes not so much.

My perception of the term “white feminism” is entirely negative. The book which can be found here:(https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/White-Feminism/Koa-Beck/9781982134426) details the history of racism within feminist movements throughout the history of feminism. Essentially white feminism can be defined as white women wanting to be equal to white men in society. This is highly problematic for reasons that should be obvious to the reader and if they are not please leave a comment on this blog post. 

When I learned that there is a class on non-white feminism that is taught here at our university, it really took me by surprise. I look forward to auditing this class so that I may learn if the title of the course is misleading. I contend that identifying as a white feminist is the same as identifying as a white conservative, white socialist, white fascist etc.

This leads nicely into Huuki 2019 about exploring gender materializations in the artwork of preteens. I found this article to be highly intriguing. Firstly, I think that preteens are an apt group for this type of study because they have enough social awareness that they are beginning to understand themselves in the larger context of society as well as what that society expects from them. However, they have yet to come out the other side of the human chrysalis that is puberty; not to mention they are still creatively kids and haven’t been beat down by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune(hopefully).

            The aspect of this study that impacted me the most was that many of the female participants portrayed themselves in a form that was above human, often extending their bodies to reach out and occupy more space in the portrait. While the male participants on the other hand often portrayed themselves in a more compact fashion often in domestic settings. Granted, I have the perspective of an outsider looking into a culture that is not my own. However, I found the physical self-portraits to be indicative of the expectations that society places on youngsters(Huuki, 2019). The way that the males portrayed themselves relatively

unimaginatively and in a way that doesn’t leave much room for interpretation doesn’t show a lack of creativity or overall capability; it reveals that many of them are likely insecure to portray themselves as anything other than what the outside world expects them to be. 

 References

Beck, K. (2021). White feminism: from the suffragettes to influencers and who they leave behind. Unabridged. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Audio.

Huuki, T. (2019). Collaging the virtual: Exploring gender materialisations in the artwork of pre-teen children. Childhood, 26(4), 430–447. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568219862321


 

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