Jungle Fever: A Modern Look @ Interracial Relationships.

This entry analyzes "Tainted Love? Exploring the Contours of Interracial Romance and Resistance to Interracial Intimacy". An article by biracial author Melinda Mills. The reader is introduced to the article by a personal story of Mill's in which she is thought to be her father's lover because they are closer in skin color even though her mother is present and is clearly closer in age to her father. This instance causes the author to begin studying the interactions between the races and how it is rewarded or punished in our society. What she finds is that there are attempts to prevent mixing of races in our culture; and if that separation does not work there are clear punishments suffered by those in interracial relationships.One way interracial relationships are avoided is through segregation. Throughout America (more in some places then in others) neighborhoods are separated not only by class and social status (amongst a laundry list of things) but also by race. This separation therefore results in the lack of mixing of races. Sociological studies show that one important way we meet our romantic partners is through proximity. This is further confirmed by the fact that only 3 percent of Americans are involved in an interracial relationship (Mills).Well what about those that are able to overcome the separation of races and find love in someone of a different race? Well, they must be aware that they have not escaped the long arm of society for their socially deviant behavior. For anyone that had been involved in an interracial relationship I'm sure they can identify with the punishment of which I speak. It's everywhere the long stares, the nodding of heads and the blatant assertions of their perceivably ill behavior. Even though this behavior is visible to any keen observer, when asked in a survey how they felt about interracial relationships many Americans saw no issue. So where is the disconnection between our behavior and what we say concerning this topic? It appears that the disconnection lies in the stage of the relationship. According to Mills, many Americans had no opposition of an interracial relationship before the stage of matrimony. It is at that point that many Americans reported more disapproval of the relationship. I hypothesize that in the society in which we live that dating someone of a different poses no threat because it could easily pass (Hi, my name is America and I am a serial monogamous:) but when this is further finalized by marriage and the possibility of children is real, there pops the problem.I thought the article was well written and I appreciated the personal as well as educated perspective from which it came. I vote that we all love each other’s character and not each other's skin:)

The Complexity of Comfort Women.

Joane Nagel’s article, “Rape and War: Fighting Men and Comfort Women”, explores the relationship between rape and war. What she finds is a direct correlation between rape and wars over the past few decades. She calls this connection an ethnosexual phenomenon. She explains this phenomenon to be a new form of warfare that uses sex as a weapon against individuals of a different ethnicity, especially women. Nagel comes to this conclusion after recognizing that in majority of the rape cases reported during the war times that she studies the victims (usually women) are of the opposite ethnicity than the soldier; in fact the victims are members of the ethnicity that these fighting men are in opposition with.
A major strength of Nagel’s argument is her diverse presentation of war time rape cases. By presenting this information she shows that these behaviors are not exclusive to one group of people. In fact she reports cases not just from around the world but also she reports crimes spanning over a large period of time. Her examples begin as early as 1938 in China and are as recent as the 1990s. In addition to this her examples are from a variety of cultures and countries from Africa to Asia to Europe.
One major weakness of the article was Nagel’s defense of the men that were raping these women, girls and men. I found her attempt to portray them as victims as an excuse for their behavior. I do respect her effort to try to understand the thought process of these men and to empathize with them. However, her emphasis of the environment of the soldiers and not the individual responsibility of them weakened her argument.
The rape of women during war is a form of sex as social control. Social control is the ability of social mechanisms to regulate individual and group behavior by using rewards and punishments. By using forceful sex as a means of war fare sex then takes on a strong, degrading and fearful message to the victim being raped. One example of this is how in many of the cases presented the goal of the rape was to impregnate local women with the seed of the enemy. This was one of the primary goals in Bosnia in the early 1990s. Serbian men were raping Muslim and Croatian women so that they would bear the enemy’s children, what they called “little Chetniks” (Nagel, 588). Another example of this social control is that of the Rape of Nanking that took place in China from 1938 to 1939 where according to Nagel a reported 80,000 Chinese women and girls were raped in during the conflict between Japan and China. Furthermore, the Japanese went on to create camps to keep what they called “comfort women” (Nagel, 588) as sex slaves. In both of these cases the primary goal is to create a consequence (by using sex) to the opposing community by having control over the women, wombs, girls and in cases the boys and other men of their enemy.
I found women’s evolving roles during war and in relation to soldiers very interesting and simultaneously disturbing. When I think of women in war I think of nurses and patriotic mothers. Although women have always served a sexual purpose during war (especially local women) this article’s exploration of those negative roles such as women as comfort women (sex slaves) and as rape victims shines light on yet another way women have been exploited in patriarchal societies.

Can Love get some love?

Laura Kipnis' article “Against Love: A Treatise on the Tyranny of Two” challenges the American social acceptance of monogamous relationships. She compares the confines of those seemingly chosen relationships to those of other enforced social institutions like prisons and asylums. She argues that there is evidence all around us that suggests that a committed relationship to one person for eternity (in the case of marriage) or for an extended period of time is quite unrealistic. For example she uses the fifty percent divorce rate in America, amongst other data, as evidence of this.
A major strength of this article is Kipnis’ comparisons of monogamous relationships today to monogamous relationships over the course of history and to other social institutions. Kipnis begins by analyzing the Greeks and their beliefs about love. She reveals that the Greeks believed that love and passion was synonymous to pain. According to Kipnis, the Greeks strongly believed that love was meant to be a short lived experience, so much that they turned to the 12th century book, “De Amore et Amor is Remedio” (that translates into On Love an the Remedies of Love) to help them navigate the tricky and painful path that love leads one down (Kipnis, 332). She goes onto challenge the idea that love is a happy experience and that it can continue to be so over an eternity. She points out that before industrialization the family unit was mostly an economic structure as opposed to one where there was a presence of what she calls “happy love” (Kipnis, 332). Marriages were business arrangements at that time because the larger the family the more work that could be done by children and adults in the largely agricultural communities of that time. Kipnis argues that it was not until the 18th century that language that described happy love came into existence. Kippins’ turns to historian Michael Foccult to reify her conclusion of love as a social institutional comparable to prisons, factories, schools and more. Foucault argues that “modern power made its mark on the world by inventing new types of of enclosures…” (Kippins, 336). Kippins asserts that monogamous relationships with their restrictions on both individuals’ time and freedom counts as one of those man made institutions.
A major weakness of this article is Kipnis’ exaggerations of potentially negative aspects of monogamous relationships. She bases her conclusions about monogamous relationships on her research of various couples across all demographics. However, her data still seems exaggerated and generalized. Every couple has their own set of rules of acceptable conduct. In her findings there seems to be an assumption of certain rules for all couples. She discounts the diversity that now exists in modern monogamous relationships.
This article illustrates the ability of society to socially control our behavior. Social control is the ability of social mechanisms to regulate individual and group behavior by using rewards and punishments. This social control is best seen in the structure of monogamous relationships. One example of this social control lies in what Kipnis’ calls “opening up” (Kipins, 335). In this expected behavior in relationships both parties reveal their deeper selves to one another after a period of time. This implies that people are hiding parts of themselves and only their lover has the ability to help them reveal that inner self to their self and to others. According to this notion if you do not engage in these meaningful, monogamous relationships you will not be able to access your deeper self. In the second example of how we are socially controlled by monogamous relationships Kipins suggests that adulterers are “home grown social theorists because adultery is not just a referendum on the sustainability of monogamy; it is a veiled philosophical discussion about the social contract itself” (Kipins, 334). According to Kipins adulterers are proof that the renunciation of desire is much more than the amount of gratification in relationships; therefore some people cheat.
I found the Kipins’ challenge of such a traditional institution very interesting. I had never though of love or relationships as a social institution but after the evidence presented I realize that in many ways it is and the real interesting part is that we engage in these relationships by choice.

Lies in and out of the Bed Room.

Allison Kavansgh Alavi’s study of sexual discourse in regards to male penises as represented by dildos and race is the primary focus in her article, “Little White Lies: Race, Dildos and American Culture.” She defines discourse as “a specific type of practice through which we communicate messages to and about one another.” (Alavi, 157) She compares black and white dildos to explore the discourse used in American society in dildo packaging. Alavi conducted a content analysis study to either confirm or disprove her hypothesis that black men’s sexuality is represented as hyper sexual and sexually aggressive in the adult novelty industry. What she found is a clearly racist discourse that presents black penises and in turn black men’s sexuality as dangerous and even sinful compared to the white dildos that were portrayed as sensual and erotic.
A major strength of Alavi’s article is her focus on the historical context from which she examines the information at hand. She explores the racist notions that shape the ideas of black men and their sexual behavior. Alavi’s research of black men’s sexuality begins in the fourteenth and fifteenth century (according Alavi this where she believes the stereotype was born). She argues that depictions and other works from this time period created the stereotype of black men having abnormally large penises that Europeans interpreted as a symbol of hyper sexuality. This was just one more way that white slaveholders justified slavery. According to the beliefs of some whites in during slavery blacks, especially black males, needed “enlightened Christians to help them control their sexual urges” (Alavi, 158) The hysteria that existed in the mid to late 1800s about the raping of white women by black men was also addressed by Alavi. This fear was so exaggerated that between 1889 and 1899, nine out of ten lynched men were black and were killed because they were accused of the rape of a white woman (Pieterse, 1992:177). Lastly her observation of how the media frames black men as unruly and uncontrollable was very relevant. “ Taken together, the history of racist sexual discourse, the media’s reliance on racist notions in its portrayal of black men, and the consequential control and institutionalization of racism, marginalize black men and label them as deviant and dangerous” (Alavi,159).
I found it difficult to find a weakness in this article. The only weakness in this piece was that there could be more facts presented in regards to the history of the discourse of black men and their sexuality.
Alavi’s study of dildos is a stellar example of how sex is socially constructed. Social construction is an idea that appears to be natural, normal and obvious to those who accept it but is actually an invention or artifact of a particular culture or society. What is happening in this instance is that a stereotype based upon a part of black men’s anatomy is being used to socially construct a negative and general idea about quite a large group of people. This stereotype of hypersexual and aggressive black men is apparent in two particular instances in this paper: the marketing of black dildos and black dildos themselves. There is a clear difference in the marketing of white and black dildos, the most dramatic examples include black dildos described as “massive” and as a “vibrating devil dong” while the white dildos are described as having an “exciting shape” and as made “to please”. The difference in language leads the consumer to think of the black dildos out of the norm with their incredibly large size and inhumane characteristics while the white dildos are characterized as normal and as a source of safe pleasure.
Not only does the packaging confirm Alavi’s hypothesis, but the actual dildos serve this purpose as well. She found that the darker dildos were on average almost 1.25 inches longer than the lighter dildos. In addition, the darker dildos were far more graphically constructed including veins, pubic hairs and scrotums (Alavi, 160) features that the lighter penises did not generally did not have.
I found the history of the dildo to be one of the most interesting parts of the article. It gave me more of an understanding of what we had briefly discussed in class. The dildo’s progressive transformation from a medical device to a sex toy is incredibly intriguing and is a clear example of how any idea in society has the potential to be socially constructed. I also appreciated the way she related that information to the racial and overall social discourse that was the main topic of the paper.

Yes, there is such a thing as pleasurable childbirth.

In The Pleasures of Childbirth, Ina May Gaskin explores the child birthing experience of women from a worldly perspective. In doing so she challenges the Western assumed notion that child birthing is a painful duty placed on woman kind. She explores various cultures and discovers that for many women childbirth is not only painless but also pleasurable.
As a mother of four and acclaimed midwife, a major strength of Gaskin’s argument lies in her personal experience. Her reputation as an acclaimed midwife with extensive knowledge in her field also supports her belief in pain free labors and births. She further validates that argument with her global research of women and their birthing experience.
Gaskin’s weakness in this piece lies in the ethnocentric perspective with which she views the foreign women of her research. Her use of words like “uncivilized” to describe these non Western women creates a dichotomy between Eastern and Western women. In this dichotomy Western mothers are over exposed to medications that other cultures believe to be unnecessary and therefore these mothers can not enjoy a painless childbirth. On the other side of this dichotomy their “uncivilized” counterparts have these painless births due to their lack of education and technology. In relation to childbirth this differentiation appears to be complimenting to these foreign women that are having pleasurable births, but what about the rest of their so called uncivilized lives outside of their birthing experience? A reader can’t help but wonder what Gaskin is implying about the lives of these women by the use of her ethnocentric language.
The article definitely sheds light on the amazing ability of social construction in relation to all aspects of sexuality including even procreation. Social construction is the ability that certain agents of society have to make an idea appear to be natural, normal and obvious to those who accept it but is actually an invention or artifact of a particular culture and or society. Western social construction of pregnancy and childbirth are drastically opposite to most Eastern societies. Women’s ability to give life has always been a power that has intimidated many men. In many Western societies fear has been used to construct a fearful idea of childbirth. The result of that is the ability to convince women that the punishment for being sexually liberated is pregnancy (amongst other dreadful things) which inevitably means a painful birth of that child. This social construction has altered the birthing experience for many women.
This construction was further explored by twentieth century physician Dr. Grantly Dick-Reid. Dick-Reid was one of the first physicians to explore alternate birthing experiences for women and while doing this he discovered what he called cultural childbirth, which was the “combination of fear and muscle tension caused by ignorance of the birthing process, isolation during labor, and uncompassionate care” (Grant Dick-Reid, p.403). According to Dick-Reid and Gaskin if these factors are removed than a pleasurable childbirth is possible. Feminist philosopher Elizabeth Cady Stanton confirms that women even in the nineteenth century realized this in her writings about her own birthing experience, “Dear me how much cruel bondage of mind and suffering of body poor woman will escape when she takes the liberty of being her own physician of both body and mind” (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, p.402).
I found it incredibly interesting that women were able to deliver babies in their sleep. That in itself re-iterates the difference in our ideas about child birth from culture. In fact I’m sure that many American women would think that to be impossible. All of this information just reconfirms to me the notion that a life lived as far outside of many social constructions can be widely fulfilling in many ways.