The Fawcett Society organized shirts that say “this is what a feminist looks like.” There have been accusations that these shirts were made in sweatshops by women who are extremely  underpaid and experience poor working conditions. If these accusations are true, this really highlights the disconnect between Western and Third World feminism. Mohanty argues that we need to look at the lives of marginalized women to understand how to find social justice for all because looking at the lives of the privileged leaves out those that are not privileged. I think this is a pretty good current example of what Mohanty argues.

http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/92115825.html

http://www.refinery29.com/2014/11/77203/this-is-what-a-feminist-looks-like-shirts-sweatshop

I did a little research about the question I asked in class today about the ratings of films.  I didn’t find a check list of any sorts, but the general trend is that if a woman experiences sexual pleasure, the film will be rated NC-17, which really sets the film up for limited exposure. But a movie that shows rape, torture, or violence against women can be rated PG-13 or R.  Definitely messed up. Here’s one of the articles I found that is really interesting and a quick read.

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/blogs-main/advocates-blog/1743-twist-and-pout-the-mpaas-sick-rating-system

There is a disconnect about female sexuality in our society and what role sexuality should play in a woman’s life.  Women are objectified and sexualized by our media, but they cannot experience sexual pleasure in mainstream media. I read an article last year that argued  ignoring female sexual pleasure begins at a young age in school when taught about reproduction.  The story of reproduction involves the male orgasm, it’s one of the big contributing factors. But, the female orgasm is left right out of the lesson.  Sex is set up to be something men enjoy but women endure.

The ending of the latest of episode of How to Get Away With Murder shows Viola Davis taking off her wig and makeup after receiving some very shocking news.  It is such a powerful moment. The article associated with the clip compared the scene to lyrics in Beyonce’s song Flawless: “When you’re alone all by yourself/And you’re lying in your bed/Reflection stares right into you/Are you happy with yourself?/You stripped away the masquerade/The illusion has been changed/Are you happy with yourself?”

Definitely watch the clip because it is great, but the article and the end of the clip will spoil the plot for you, if that is a problem for anyone.

http://hellobeautiful.com/2014/10/17/viola-davis-takes-off-wig-how-to-get-away-with-murder/

Eyes on the Prize – 05- Mississippi, Is This America, 1962-1964 is a documentary about the efforts of citizens organizing and protesting for civil rights in Jackson, Mississippi, with a lot of the episode dedicated to fighting for African American voting rights. After watching this, I completely agree with Melissa Harris Perry’s opinion about The Help, which takes place in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi (the same time and location of the episode). The Help negates the very real, public, community efforts of organizing for social change that the people of Jackson took part in, which resulted in actual changes.  In mainstream media and pop culture, the amount of pieces that focus on African American female domestic workers living in the south during the 60’s is minimal.  I can’t even think of another example besides The Help. Since this topic is underrepresented, I think there is an obligation to ensure that the content being shown to the public is an actual representation of the lives of these women during these times. Racial inequality is still alive and well in this country, but at the end of The Help there is a feeling that things are going to be just fine for everyone, when in reality in the context of our society, things are still rough. For example, according to Michelle Alexander, mass incarnation rates of African Americans are the new Jim Crow laws.
An argument saying it’s fine for The Help to not be historically accurate is that there isn’t enough time in a movie to tell the whole story.  Eyes on the Prize – 05- Mississippi, Is This America, 1962-1964 told an historically accurate story in under an hour. Another argument is that it’s just a movie, and it’s meant to entertain. But when there are so few examples of this topic in mainstream media, The Help becomes associated with the reality of African American female domestic workers living in the south during the 60’s. This is dangerous territory.  The Help only barely touches on the terror of living in the south as an African American during this time and never shows any public, community organizing and protesting efforts.  The Help doesn’t convey the reality of living in the south during this time period, but it can be mistaken as the reality which I think is disrespectful to the people who protested for civil rights and fought for change.

As I have been working on the final draft of our assignment, I kept coming back to the idea of femme fatale and how she is the downfall for the male character. What I keep wondering is why can’t the male character just leave her alone to begin with? In The Last Seduction (Dahl, 1994), Bridget turns Mike down several times, but he keeps pursuing her. She eventually goes home with him and then continues to use him throughout the film until she ruins his life at the end. All of this could have been avoided if he would have just respected her initial rejection. She never asked him to pursue her; he could have just left her alone right from the start. Is this a flaw in our society where some guys are taught that they can eventually turn a no into a yes?

I couldn’t figure out what the allure was to these dangerous women that eventually led to male character’s demise. In Women in Film Noir by Janey Place, she said, “Self-interest over devotion to a man is often the original sin of the film noir woman and metaphor for the treat her sexuality represents to him.” (p. 47).   I assume this can be applied to femme fatale woman. Is her overt sexuality what draws him in? Does her self-interest make him continue to pursue her with the hope she might conform to society norms and make her devotion to him?  Why can’t he just let her be?

Sarah Baartman was a South African female sold into slavery in the 19^th century. She was showcased around Great Britain and France because she had a relatively large posterior. An obsession was created among these European societies with her different body type casting Baartman, and therefore all African females, as others against the white European norm. Her body was labeled as grotesque because she was curvy in a way white European women were not. She was overtly sexualized and objectified in front of paying crowds. Her body became an object of desire for white males due to what was considered obscure feminine characteristics thus, leading to the creation of the bustle. White women of higher class wore the bustle to make their rear ends appear larger than they were, but a large rear end was not considered overly sexual on them because at the end of the day, these women could remove the bustle making them superior to Baartman and African females. Baartman’s objectification and sexualization is noted as the origin of the obsession with objectifying and sexualizing women of color, especially their posteriors. The story of Baartman highlights intersectionality of ethnocentrism, race, class, and sexuality. Sarah Baartman’s stage name was Hottentot Venus.

When Marlene Dietrich’s character in Blonde Venus performs for the audience of the film for first time, the stage is a jungle with women of color dressed up in tribal garments performing behind Dietrich. Dietrich undresses from the gorilla costume and puts on the blonde Afro, and is objectified and sexualized by the audience in both the film and the viewers of the film. Dietrich’s character’s stage name in this scene is Blonde Venus. I thought this scene was interesting because I wonder if the name Blonde Venus is correlated to Hottentot Venus. Hottentot Venus being an object of foreign, erotic, African marvel, desire, and primitive sexuality during her parade around Europe. During her performance, Blonde Venus also being an object of primitive sexuality by being surrounded by women of color who are portraying primitive, tribal women.

I tried to research the connection, but there was not any free articles related to the subject.