Sally Jupiter. New York is her playground.

By Juan Ariado

Sex sells, and also catches the bad guys for this “Minute” woman. After watching the highly anticipated film “Watchmen” I brewed a particular interest in the only female in the team. Her daughter, Laurie Jupeczyk or the Silk Spectre II is one of the main characters the actual plot involves, but Sally Jupiter, Sally Jupeczyk or the original Silk Spectre character was more intriguing.

At first she was a waitress and burlesque dancer to pay the bills and help raise her daughter Laurie, but although she was objectified and seen as a sex symbol, a source of pleasure for men, she though of harnessing such attention and putting it to good use. Usually women who got/get such attention fall to using it with money, sex, vanity and prestige, but not Sally. I thought it was particulalrly interesting that amongst all the downs and negatives that a male dominanted patriarchal society would bring to a burlesque dancing mother, and where the conventional thing to do was to fall into the realm of sex and scandal just like her predecessors, she chose to fight crime. She used it for something more, more than herself and her daughter, to use the very symbols that were derrogatory for women and pleasureable for men and throw it back in their faces.

She became a sex symbol in the realm of heroes and villians, and because of this, villians and criminals did not mind getting caught thinking that she was just a woman looking for attention. She became more proud of her sex symbol status that now transcended into two different realms, her Sally self and then her Silk Spectre self. But everytime she would draw in criminals with her appeal, immediately she would not bask in the attention, she would beat the hell out of them and then lock them up. Her power was her beauty and her beauty brought justice. Taboo for women to have such a strong presence in her times as a masked vigilant (and hero to some) in the 1930s, Sally Jupiter uses her very pessimistic circumstance to her advantage.

I came across this video on youtube after having the lecture from the guest speaker.  His story about how his family reacted to his coming out got me wondering about the things people go through when finding out that they are homosexual.  This video is a video blog by a young lesbian.  She discusses a bit about her childhood life, which was greatly influenced by Christianity.  She attended mass every Sunday, Church camp, and other Christian related events, and was raised to be a good Christian by her parents.  The ideals of not having sex before marriage, marrying a man, and having a family were a constant influence in her life.  Most of us are influenced by these hetero-normative ideals as well, and we have had this image of heterosexuality as the only form sexuality that is considered ‘right’, embedded in our heads.  This young woman attempted to fulfill the expectations that her family and society have laid out for her, by dating men and having some kind of relationship with them.  However, she had never felt a sense of attraction to them, and soon came to realize her true sexual identity.  She has not told her parents, and does not know how she will be able to do it, for she fears that their relationship will change.  I find that the most difficult thing for people that have a sexual identity outside the hetero-normative realm is to confront their parents, because of the fear of disappointment.  Being raised, loved, and cared by someone your entire life, and then having to disappoint them and alter the relationship one has with them, is something almost no one wants to go through.  Watching this video shows, even for heterosexual people, how much pressure there is in satisfying the wishes of ones parents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjLTGbxPNC8

I happened upon this video the other day on Youtube and it just triggered a whole series of interesting topics racing through my mind. The video is a dissection of a college football coach apologizing for a gay slur. I decided to look into the story more and dug up some more articles, and actually managed to find the original audio clip. If you’re not familiar with the story, Hawaii’s head coach, Greg McMackin made this to and opposing team, Notre Dame: “[The Notre Dame football players] do this little F****t dance” (Rhymes with Maggot).

Where to begin? First of, I personally don’t find the word offensive, but I can easily see how someone else may. I liken it to the infamous “N-Word” used as a derogatory term against people of colour. However, as one of the commentators (Cenk) states in the Youtube video, he immediately redacted the statement. Even if he didn’t, he did tearfully apologize. He lost seven per cent of his salary, and suspended by 30 days from the league.

Moving on to point number two. Personally, I think what he went through was harsh enough, but there are people out there who say that he should be punished more! Alright, punish the guy who made the statement, but what about all the reporters in the conference who laughed at the statement? Listen to the audio clip again; you hear those bouts of laughter every time he mentions the word? Are they not just as guilty as he is? What about all of the anonymous commentators on Youtube and news sites who leave gay bashing remarks? Should we track them down and fine them as well?

Lastly, one of the other commentators in the Youtube video, Jayar, made an excellent point about how the football field is very heternormative, perhaps even homophobic. It reminded me of the recently released movie, Bruno. Growing up, I’ve always been exposed to media portrayals of the locker room as highly homophobic. Whether this is true or false in actuality is less important than the fact that it is publicly perceived to be this way. Why has no one tried to change this?

I think as a culture, we are just too quick to jump on some random scapegoat and ignore the problems at their roots. There are plenty of anti-gay and homophobic individuals in our society, but I think punishing this guy does not solve anything at all. If you want to do something constructive, go tackle some public spokesmen who say that homosexuality is unnatural, or that it goes against God’s will, or that it’s a punishment from God. Those statement are much more insulting and hurtful than what Mr. McMackin said.

Audio of event:

http://media.idahostatesman.com/smedia/2009/07/30/12/0730_audio_mcmackin.source.prod_affiliate.36.mp3

After taking this course, I was really interested at looking at the roles school plays in integrating new students. If not often, in many courses and readings, the message was told “school is a place where people learnt their role in society, where they were socialized”. I always wondered how this happens. This summer, my cousin from San Antonio, Texas visited me and somehow the discussion came to fraternities. So I asked her what they were as it was something that I would often hear about in the media. From what she had told me, it was interesting as it opened my eye as to what extent people can go to belong somewhere. University, for many first year students, may seem as a very intimidating place as not many of us know how the system works and we didn?t have that many friends. What happens in most of these campuses is that fraternities and sororities really shock me.

Students, in order to feel that they belong to a particular group, would join fraternities and sororities to become part of the “family.” However, to be part of the family, one needs to become a pledge and go through ridiculous initiation processes. These involve starting in isolated areas far from the fraternity home in extreme weather conditions and walk back while practicing extreme physical activities such as running, jogging, jumping, fighting and being intoxicated. In some cases, the brothers would engage in gang rape, binge drinking and violence. One fraternity my cousin had mentioned on campus was called the “deltas”. She said every fraternity member had to carve a “delta”symbol somewhere on their body so that after the wound would heal, the delta scar would remain proving their identity. Ironically, when I researched to write this blog, I found out that the delta fraternity had been kicked out from the campus for inhumane “hazing” practices. This is only one of thousands of fraternities that exist where many people get seriously injured or die from the initiation processes every year. It makes us wonder, how desperate are people for a sense of belonging?

While searching the internet for my research paper for GGR 313 I came across Canada’s Media Center Site. What caught my attention was the headline “Come flirt with us: Canada’s gay villages”.  Upon reading the article I was surprise at the language that was being used to show Canada as being ‘open’ to much diversity. The picture used shows a white, buff male is conversing with another buff male of another ethnicity. The picture is trying to allude to the Gay Culture and racial mixing but it could just be two men having a conversation. Also the picture reinforces the role model image of what a Canadian gay Male looks like. The image relates to the question brought up in class, aside from their sexuality, what is the accepted embodiment of masculinity?

The language that was used in the article was much commercialized, and seems to glamorize the Gay Communities, which I found slightly ironic. These communities have worked hard to create a space to feel free and accepted and yet the article demeans that. The language is very flirtatious to the point of sounding ditzy, and this is being advertised on a global scale. I have heard of the saying all publicity is good publicity, but I don’t agree with the Gay Culture “flair” being used in this manner. The article leaves out the ‘brain’ that exists from the bronze. The purpose is to advertise for tourism purposes, but it makes me wonder, must the Gay Community be ditzy and flirtatious to be accepted?

I came across this documentary series when I was surfing online and it brought up some of my childhood memories in Hong Kong. I remember when I was small; I liked to go to my grandparents? house to play. Besides
the fact that I was free to do whatever I want without anyone yelling “Stop it! what do you think you are doing?? No don’t do that, No, don?t touch that” I also liked to play with my grandparents’ next door neighbor. He was a tall and skinny man in his 40s, and why he caught my attention was the way he dressed. Obviously for a little girl, I was not sure what the moral dress code standards for male and female. At that time, I do not see what other adults viewed and what’s wrong with the neighbor dressing such way. I thought it would be the same since my mum dressed me both ways as well, even though I never saw my grandfather, father or uncles dressed the same way he does.

I seldom saw him step out of his house, but I could always see him playing with his dog in the backyard. Sometimes when he saw me watching, he would smile and waved at me, it seems like he was asking
me if I want to join them. I knew I couldn’t go since everyone had warned me not to get close to him, even though I didn’t know why at that time. As I grew older and moved to Canada, I slowly realized this “type” of person is what we now called as transgender. They are all people who think that they have born in the wrong gender and would like a change to it. As time goes, the acceptability of transgender raised, but I know there are still lots of people who couldn?t accept the fact that someone related or next to them are transgender or wanted to become one. They think that it is a “abnormal” act for someone to act in such way and they have to seek medical attentions. Maybe this issue wasn’t as serious in developed countries like United States or Canada, but for places like Hong Kong, it definitely is. For those who are nice, they might just give you that “look”, but for more serious ones, they would start attacking you verbally or even physically. I don’t know how long it is going to take for people to start accepting transgender people, but I am sure one day we will see this revolution, and everyone could seek the same equality and freedom no matter they are homosexuals, heterosexuals or even transgender.

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Te6hhWh8o&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX7-KDbHqkI&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF_QzmpHmAo&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch=hWVa0GEVc4k&feature=PlayList&p=EA08E8D2E888C97E&index=1

“Dazed and Confused” is a great movie that I think really shows an  interesting relationship between power hierarchies, gender and the use  of everyday space.  The movie is set on the last day of school in  1976.  The new seniors every year initiate the new freshman which establishes the social hierarchy of high school.  These initiation rituals are divided along gender lines. First of all the guys’ initiation involves physical violence.  The freshman males are forced to take the submissive ‘spread em’ pose while being beaten on the ass with paddles.  The girls are required to wear dog leashes, suck on soothers like babies, drop to the ground on command, and kneel before guys to make proposals with the promise that they will do “anything you like”.  How these initiations are carried out ties in nicely with the geographical focus of the class.  The guys respond to the threat of initiation in a stereotypical masculine manner. That is, they don’t willingly submit.  Instead their initiation might last an entire summer of running and dodging the initiation all over town.  On the other hand the girls are expected to willingly submit by making a strategic social choice to participate. The girls’ initiation lasts one day and is primarily confined to the same parking lot each year. I also thought it was interesting how clear it was that these gendered rituals were actively reproduced by the characters in the movie.   While the power hierarchies were challenged a few times in the movie I can’t think of one instance where gender roles were challenged.

I was watching the Teen Choice awards this past weekend and came along something new and interesting. It was a new award called the “FAB-U-LOUS” award, it was given out to males who contributed to the fashion industry. As seen below, Miss J. won the award (judge on America’s Next Top Model). The nominees were homosexual men and as much as I would have liked to see homosexual women in the category too, it was for “men who contributed to the fashion industry”. The winner of the award is a black openly gay men who is also on television and a runway model. Media is an institution which opens many doors and as seen through this new award category, it is promoting queer culture to our younger generation. Miss J also stated that he shares this award with all the gay, lesbian, transgendered, bi sexual and hetrosexual teenagers out there. He is showing the upcoming generation that sexual orientation or race does not matter, that an individual can “come out” and reach outstanding possibilites based on their personality and creativity AND be awarded for their achievements. The past ten years have changed the teen choice awards, when it started out in 1999, all you would see was Britney Spears or N’SYNC, but now it is incorporating all cultures and people of all sexual orientation. People like Ellen Degeneres, Kim Kardashian, Sean Kingston attended, hosted, and performed at the 2009 Teecn Choice Awards! This is a very positive message going out to the next generation and Yay to Fox !!

A home is a place of residence and comfort, where one feels at ease and is safe and secure. For many, however, it is the same place where domestic violence is recorded especially with regards to women and children. As Warrington says in her article, “domestic violence is the most common violence which is happening against women”. I agree with this statement. This type of violence is also shown, by the video clip, at the military level. The clip shows of the current happenings in the Canadian military society. The Canadian military is getting numerous reports about soldiers and their violent acts against their families. It is also that this violence is constantly increasing. This is evident in Dawn Black’s (MP for New Westminster Coquitlam in British Columbia) suggestion that this violence is increasing in the military families. She states that over the last months there are probably more than 50 percent reports of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting in more domestic violence. The MP further says that there has to be some kind of (psychological) treatment offered to the soldiers and their families in order for them to live a normal violence-free life.

A woman, who is a victim of domestic violence herself at the Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba, says that the military needs to take some actions against it. This woman also mentions that the behavior of her husband has changed after his return from the war and she can not believe the abuse she suffered from him: “How I kept quiet, I don’t know. I think it was just, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.” There are many more women out there that are facing the very same dilemma. Due to fear of shame and disgrace, however, they are unable to get a stance. Even in the modernized 21^st century, it remains one of the big issues. Is it going to increase with time or will it come to an end? Hence, remains the issue that is yet needs to be dealt with.