Heteronormativity on The Real World
Heteronormativity Real World

I just watched Season 32, Episode 1 of the Real World. I was particularly struck by the emphasis on certain heteronormative traditions. In one scene, the characters (contestants?) play a game of truth or dare, and one of the males has to bite the lip of the person across from him — it just so […]

Read more
Disidentification in America’s Next Top Model
Disidentification America's Next Top Model

In Episode 5 of Cycle 4 of America’s Next Top Model the ladies are asked to model for the classic “Got Milk?” campaign. In an attempt to make the ad campaign more “diverse looking” each girl was portrayed as a race other than their own. Many of the “white” women were made up to portray […]

Read more
Response to The Guardian’s Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

This week I am responding to an article from The Guardian that is itself a response to criticisms of the Women’s March on Washington and related protests and marches across the country (and the world!) that occurred after Trump’s inauguration. I found this article while scrolling through my Facebook feed after our class a few […]

Read more
Passing Privilege and Discrimination
Passing Privilege and Discrimination

In this YouTube video, Joy DeGruy shares a story of her trip the the grocery store with her white-passing sister-in-law where Joy is discriminated against for paying with a check, even though her sister-in-law had no issue paying with a check just moments earlier. By using this video, we can see that the decision to […]

Read more
Intersectionality in the Women’s March

  In light of the recent events, I thought it would be appropriate to share a video of actress America Ferrera’s opening speech for the Women’s March on Washington. In her speech, she addresses the refusal that a single politician can represent the great diversity of the United States, and highlights the necessity for unity […]

Read more
The Urgency of Intersectionality

This Ted Talk by Kimberle Crenshaw directly correlates to her literature piece we read in class. Her Ted Talk begins with an elimination activity where the audience stands and she begins naming off names of people who have died as a result of police violence. If anyone in the audience does not recognize the name, […]

Read more
Grey’s Anatomy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJyZeTzLIY (Links to an external site.) I chose this clip from Season 4 of Grey’s Anatomy, episode 9, titled “Crash Into Me” because it’s from a very popular television show that discusses intersectionality frequently, and it relates very well to the piece we read by Kimberlé Crenshaw. In this clip, a man comes into the Emergency […]

Read more
Lookin Ass and the Oppositional Gaze

Going off of Melissa’s initial posting of Nicki Minaj’s music video, “Lookin Ass,” I was immediately reminded of Bell Hooks’s, “The Oppositional Gaze.” I was particularly struck by Melissa’s analysis, “In Nicki’s video, close ups of her body, specifically her butt, represent the typical sexualization of black women. This makes the critique that follows in […]

Read more