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week2femst150b-ControllingSexuality.pptx
Controlling Sexuality
week 2 lecture
femstw 150, summer session a, 2020
ms. mariah webber
adapted from j. victorian and dr. miller-young
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overview
check announcements that were sent out
some objectives for the week:
examine the gender and racial constructions of innocence, chastity, and sexual morality
discuss racialized histories and functions of reproductive politics and discourses
explore how feminists analyze and respond to issues of sexual violence as well as the cultures and systems that perpetuate it
lecture sections:
controlling girls’ and women’s sexuality
race and reproduction
rape and sexual violence
content warning!!!
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themes and potential project topics (project proposals due friday, august 21st)
racialized sexuality
abstinence-only sex education vs. comprehensive sex ed
social, legal, and historical context of sexual cultures
respectability
politicization and social control of reproduction
sexual subjectivity
(disrupting) the good girl/bad girl dichotomy
rape culture
consent
victim-blaming and rationalizing rape through gender norms
sexual violence, policy, crime, and justice
global discourses of sexual, gender-based, and/or domestic violence
antiviolence social movements resisting rape and gbv
artistic, cultural production against rape
intersectionality, structures of violence and the critique of mainstream feminist responses to woc and gender-based violence
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Sexual “Education” what do those socialized as girls get “educated on” via social construction?
lesson on girls’/women’s sexuality from school and family
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lorena garcia (2012) “the sexual (mis)education of latina girls”
garcia interviewed latina teens in the chicago public school system about their identities and experiences with sex, sex education, & sexual health practices.
key findings
these young women are aware of stereotypes and beliefs that they are overly and improperly sexual, and the stereotypes of latinas
interplay of heterosexism, racism, sexism
being taught not just to be heterosexual women, but how to adhere to norms of heterosexual femininity
they construct identities based on sexual respect, not sexual prudishness, and prioritize academic and career goals as a path to a type of empowered womanhood.
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“lessons” from sex ed
latina girls’ interactions with sex educators constituted:
a heterosexualizing process, supporting inequality between boys and girls, the good girl/bad girl dichotomy, and erasing non-heterosexual students
a racialized process, understanding latinas to be inherently bad girls predisposed to teen pregnancy (excessively reproductive) and sexual risk-taking, and latino boys to machismo (hypermasculine, manipulative, ignorant)
the power of the stigma of being at risk became something that informed their goals for sexual respectability and academic success.
upholds heteronormative, patriarchal, hierarchal family
race and gender
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lesson: be “good” (responsible and chaste)
“good girl / bad girl dichotomy” combines meanings around gender and sexuality:
good girls (ideal femininity): passive, receptive, dependent, innocent, virginal, moral, nurturing, domestic; objects of desire but not desiring subjects
bad girls (sexual agents): sexually active and desiring, independent, unchaste, stigmatized, immoral, “slutty”
also shaped by culture, race/ethnicity, nationality, religion
girls told to be the responsible ones and fulfill the “sexual gatekeeper role” (63), even for boys’ own actions
the girls critiqued aoe (abstinence only education), including its sexual shaming practices for sexually active youth
they wanted practical knowledge and skills for safer sex practices, to become better informed sexual subjects.
sexual respectability became a form of self-monitoring and discipline of the self
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lesson: don’t be gay
students learned not to feel safe in sex ed class, especially queer and gender non-conforming students
“[the teacher] started yelling, ‘who asked this?! who asked the question about books about lesbian teenagers?!’. . . . she got more pissed off and was like, “i don’t know who did it, but i hope it wasn’t one of you girls, because you should know better than to act so immature.” (65)
pressure to conform to heterosexuality by peers, reinforced by lessons from sex ed
teacher’s lack of training or comfort
lgbtq+ youth felt erased by the aoe curriculum that highlights heterosexual relations and marriage
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latina girls’ responses to aoe
they rejected stereotypes, stigma and the expectation of failure.
as second-generation im/migrants from mexico and puerto rico they were highly aware of how migration, gender, race, and class impacted their parents’ lack of opportunities—especially their mothers—and felt responsible for achieving socioeconomic success for their families.
this achievement included attempts to avoid being the “bad girl,” promiscuous latina, or teen mom, instead concentrating on academic success.
the girls were critical of how sex educators pushed long-term contraception technologies like depo provera (the shot) — a connection to the davis reading
recognized the relevance and importance of sex ed to their lives
celia: “…it was weird because i really didn’t know how to bring it up [condom use]. i did, but i remember thinking, ‘why don’t they teach you about this in sex ed, you know, the stuff that really happens and how to handle it?’” (77)
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Race and reproduction
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angela davis (1983; 2003 reprint) “racism, birth control, and reproductive rights”
key concepts:
ideological underpinnings of the birth control movement
birth control and abortion rights campaigns
history and shifts in strategies
racial and class differences
influence of eugenics: the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.
how do we decide what characteristics are desirable? who becomes undesirable? what groups have historically been looked upon as undesirable?
sterilization abuse
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sterilization abuse
non-consensual, coerced, or compulsory forms of sterilization, a medical procedures that intentionally leaves a person unable to reproduce. for example: having your “tubes tied” (tubal ligation) or getting a vasectomy.
indiana first legalized involuntary sterilization, prompting similar statutes among other states that typically. had greater impact on poorer people who were more likely to be confined to state institutions.
early 1930s, sterilization policies focused on women seen as mentally deficient and thus unfit mothers — and women could be labeled “feebleminded” and thus sterilized for being promiscuous or pregnant while unmarried.
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coerced sterilization
many women were coerced into sterilization by being threatened with withdrawal of welfare benefits; medicaid beneficiaries were particularly targeted by coercion
a doctor in aiken county, south carolina had his own policy “to require sterilization after delivery of a welfare mother’s third baby, a measure he said was to reduce the welfare rolls”
“carl shultz, director of hew’s population affairs office, estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 sterilizations had actually been funded that year by the federal government.” (davis 363)
policies like welfare family caps may not have required sterilization, but they often compelled women to use more intense types of birth control, including sterilization, or to get unwanted abortions to avoid childbirths for which they would receive no financial assistance
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sterilization and race
middle-class white women faced a vastly different dynamic with sterilization: doctors often refused to allow them to be sterilized
this dynamic led to divergent political agendas toward sterilization among white activists and women of color activists
this disparity highlights how agents of the medical establishment, fueled by social ideologies and their own politicized agendas, sought to affirm white women’s gender roles
at the same time, motivations to sterilize black women reveal the severity with which state, medical, and other social agents found black reproductivity so dangerous as to justify violent ends to restrict black reproduction
importance of movements reflecting on themselves and on history of issues
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eugenics and the birth control movement
eugenic thinking
that reproductive strategies can improve society by reducing the births of socially marginalized people
locates social problems in reproduction instead of social structures, making the solution then to eliminate people instead of social inequities
“its chief epistemological device is to make the social order seem natural by casting its features as biological facts.”
dorothy roberts, “race, gender, and genetic technologies,” 180–81.
“race-suicide” anxieties around less white birth rate
their solution was limiting black, immigrant, and poor people’s reproduction — ideology that continued through welfare reform and through today
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eugenics and the birth control movement
“race suicide could be prevented by the introduction of birth control among black people, immigrants and the poor in general…. what was demanded as a ‘right’ for the privileged came to be interpreted as a ‘duty’ for the poor.” (358)
compare to call for “voluntary motherhood”
sanger’s embrace of eugenics, and forced sterilization
while procreative sex is usually less stigmatized (think charmed circle), we see how the reproduction of black people, people of color, and at times poor people is seen as dangerous
response is extensive systems of control rather than social support programs that could truly be helpful
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“this episode in the birth control movement confirmed the ideological victory of the racism associated with eugenic ideas. it had been robbed of its progressive potential, advocating for people of color not the individual right to birth control, but rather the racist strategy of population control.”
(davis 2003, 361)
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https://www.revealnews.org/article/female-inmates-sterilized-in-california-prisons-without-approval/
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Toward Reproductive Justice
Framework for activism and thinking that combines reproductive rights with social justice aims
Expands beyond “pro-choice” / “pro-life” framing to encompass three core principles:
The right not to have a child
The right to have a child
The right to parent children in safe and healthy environments.
Demands sexual autonomy and gender freedom
Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger, Reproductive Justice: An Introduction, 9
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Rape and Sexual Violence
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ucsb resources on sexual violence and prevention
ucsb sexual violence website provides the uc community with key information about university support services, your responsibilities as a member of the uc community, and steps uc is taking to address sexual violence.
resource guide ucsb offers a summary guide to campus and local resources for students who have been affected by sexual violence.
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kate harding (2015) “the power of myth”
key concepts
rape culture
rape myths, including the 7 she discusses
victim blaming
slut shaming
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rape myths
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she asked for it
it’s literally impossible to ask to be raped
it wasn’t really rape
there aren’t different categories like “rape rape,” gray rape, etc.
he didn’t mean to
rape is not an accident. most rapists rape more than once. it’s not just miscommunication.
she wanted it
either the person was raped, or the person wanted the act; both cannot be true at the same time.
she lied
only 2-8% of reports are estimated false. there’s a myth that women lie all the time. most don’t lie about victimization.
rape is a trivial event
rape is a deviant event
it’s hard to imagine friends, family, coworkers as rapists, but most rapists are known to their victims. experiences of rape or attempted rape are not “uncommon”: 1 in 6 women, 1 in 33 men; LGBQ and transgender/gender non-conforming people face specific risks as well.
rape is also traumatic for non-virgins. assumes rape is not a big deal.
what is rape culture?
a cultural context in which rape is pervasive, normalized, trivialized and rationalized. includes:
victim blaming: victims seen as responsible for violence and crimes against them
slut shaming: shaming of sexual behavior or expression as the supposed cause for one being raped. promiscuous women (or “bad girls”) seen as deserving of rape.
rape as entertainment or comedy
a cultural investment in rape myths
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consent
pop culture makers frame consent as a “grey area” that is open to interpretation, affords plausible deniability to representations of assault as normal sexual behavior
“retroactive consent” used in pop culture to ensure the viewer that no matter what she said or did to resist the encounter. “she wanted it” after all.
an example is …
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“blurred lines” and consent
project unbreakable featured portraits of sexual assault survivors holding signs with the most memorable comments made by their rapists. sociological images posted about the similarity with the lyrics from “blurred lines”
i know you want it... you’re a good girl
but you're an animal, baby, it's in your nature just let me liberate you
the implication in robin thicke’s song “blurred lines” is that because the woman is not responding to a man’s sexual advances, which of course are irresistible, she’s hiding her true sexual desire under a facade of disinterest.
calling an adult a “good girl” resonates with the the dichotomy.
thicke is singing about forcing a woman to perform both the good girl and bad girl roles in order to satisfy the man’s desires.
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affirmative consent
ucsb campus advocacy, resources & education (care) provides services around sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking and harassment issues
care defines affirmative consent:
also known as "yes means yes”
all individuals involved in sexual activity agree to participate.
it is the responsibility of each person involved to ensure they have consent from the other individual(s) involved. this can be as simple as asking or checking in with the other person to ensure that they are comfortable and interested in participating in the sexual activity.
consent is never silent and that the absence of a "no" does not mean "yes". this is what makes consent affirmative
is affirmative consent a reasonable expectation or a burden?
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party culture and gendered double standards
“boys will be boys” vs. “she’s an inebriated slut”
studies show male rapists are more likely to have been drinking than their female victims
warnings about drinking are aimed at women
what messages have you received (or not received) around partying and sexuality? from who?
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“what was she wearing?”
often victim blaming discourse cites the attire of victims
implies that provocative dress is an invitation for sex, consent
shifts responsibility to victims of crime
makes rape seem to be primarily about sex rather than about power, control, anger, and humiliation which take the form of sexual assault
excuses perpetrators as just having misunderstood intentions of the victim
1998 italian court ruling overturning the conviction of a jailed rapist cited the “jean alibi” or “denim defense”:
“jeans cannot be removed easily and certainly it is impossible to pull them off if the victim is fighting against her attacker with all her force.”
led to denim day, april 22, a protest around the world. repealed in 2008.
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false allegations?
harding writes in 92-98% of cases, the victim is telling the truth, 2-8% are false, despite widespread view that false reporting is much higher
fabricated rape often mimics cultural idea of rape: a stranger with a weapon, often a “black brute” (i.e. ashley todd in 2008 claimed a black obama supporter raped her and cut a b in her cheek) or other racist/xenophobic stereotype
8 out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim
victims are often not believed, blamed, cases require physical evidence to overrule a “he said/ she said” dynamic.
it is believed that only 16–35% percent of all sexual assaults are reported
some victims recant when when faced with skepticism by investigators or other officials
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rape myths and discourses of rape
some see feminist movement against rape culture as discriminatory against men and fostering a culture of victimhood among young women.
myths that sexual assault is less prevalent than statistics show (1 in 5 college women, 11.2% of all students) and is being exaggerated by activists and false reporting
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miriam zoila pérez (2008) “when sexual autonomy isn’t enough”
takeaways
border crossing and im/migration involves particular risks, power imbalances, and vulnerabilities
broader politics and economics, as well as racism and xenophobia, structure immigrants’ vulnerability to sexual violence
addressing sexual violence for all people means considering intersecting issues and movements
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vulnerability of immigrant women
critiques individualized approaches (which themselves can be victim-blaming and slut-shaming forms of education)
fall short and often do not address or address enough the larger institutional structures: such as immigration policy and quotas, u.s. foreign economic policy, militarization of the border
linkage of immigration status to relationships (personal, romantic, and/or employment) fosters power imbalances and vulnerability to exploitation
coercive practices around reproduction: coerced or forced abortions, social discourses of so-called “anchor babies”
“these acts of sexual violence against immigrant women, while invariably very much connected to issues of gender and inequality, are also inseparable from issues of class and race.” (pérez 2008, 146)
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addressing the issues
focus on needs of women and children (and lgbtq+ migrants) in immigration policy and discussions
emphasize intersectionality and cross-movement organizing to address connected and overlapping issues
“immigrant women will not be free from rape until we see economic justice, until all people have access to living-wage jobs, education, healthcare services, and safe living environments…. the reproductive justice movement … focuses on how all of these aspects of a woman's life are intertwined and must be taken into account in order to effect change.” (pérez 2009, 149)
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rape in pop culture
popularity of rape (of women) in popular culture forms, from tv to music to film to social media
portrayal of rape and “ambiguous rape”
including rape for titillation and ratings
song lyrics and images that suggest and glorify sexual assault and harassment
mobilizing racist or sexist stereotypes
invoking rape myths such as the victim lied, wanted to be raped, asked for it, or dressed or acted in ways to invite assault
how can entertainment industries and artists be held accountable for rape culture?
does rape culture impact the rates of rape and victim blaming in society?
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hypersexuality and impossible victims of rape
sex workers, women of color, trans women, lesbians, and other women on the margins are perceived as being impossible victims of sexual violence, and even agents of violence themselves,
thus they are more vulnerable to sexualized violence and also more likely to not be believed, supported, or even abused by law enforcement.
when woc bodies made public property (think sterilization example), their personhood is dehumanized, their voices and testimonies lack credibility
alleged hypersexuality and seductive nature means they are always ready and consenting for sex
belief in anti-immigrant sentiments like “anchor babies” empowers border patrol and ice to abuse migrant women and girls.
stereotypes and controlling images of woc catalyzes abuse by law enforcement
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#SayHerName
launched in 2014 by the african american policy forum (aapf) and center for intersectionality and social policy studies (cisps)
campaign highlights the invisibilized names and stories of black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence and provides support to their families
should avoid being repurposed into #sayhisname, as #sayhername specifically addresses the erasure of black women from the Black live matter movement.
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From the report: Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women
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Tarana Burke, founder and executive director of The ‘me too.’ Movement, spoke at UCSB in 2018
‘me too.’
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UCSB Resources on Sexual Violence and Prevention
UCSB Sexual Violence website Provides the UC community with key information about university support services, your responsibilities as a member of the UC community, and steps UC is taking to address sexual violence.
Resource Guide UCSB offers a summary guide to campus and local resources for students who have been affected by sexual violence.
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