The Problem with Race as a Category

In discussing the topic of race and racism, Storey brings up the idea of whiteness. It is considered to be the norm, despite white people not necessarily making up a majority of the world population. He explains that white exists outside of the idea of race and that only non-white people are considered to have a race, which is politically, not biologically determined. To further explain this idea, Storey suggests that if a white author writes a book, he/she will be described as an author; however, if a black author writes a book, he/she will be...

In-Game Avatar vs. Out-of-Game Self

In “Videogames, Avatars and Identity,” Zach Waggoner attempts to tackle some rather difficult questions, that I think all gamers regularly consider. He wants to know why we play video games and if they affect the development of our real-world identity. He admits the latter question  may be quite difficult, but questions many gamers, particularly those who play RPGs and finds out that while most people separate the concept of both their in-game and out-of-game identities, they are somewhat related.  Waggoner’s question, “can video game...

The Dangers of Labels

Butler begins her essay by admitting that she does not advocate for theories centralized around lesbians or gays. This is because she believes the act of theories puts a box on the concept of lesbian or gay, which can go against its purpose and become oppressing. She continues this skepticism with the labels 'lesbian' or 'gay,' because the labels set up expectations and limits on what the person can be. This is further complicated when those labels create a negative stereotype or the idea that a gay person is a lesser imitation version of a heterosexual...

Romance Novels: Feminist or Patriarchal?

According to Radway, this is not a question we can yet answer. She explains that there are many types of romance novels within the genre and they all have different types of readers. Important to consider is that the readers of these novels do so with different purposes. Some read them to observe the contradictions between the novels and feminism while others read them because of "pressures exerted by developments in the larger culture." What these have in common, is that all of the readers are participating in a female community within our culture....

Queer Discourse

Alexander and Wallace discuss the needed changes regarding LGBT discourse. They explain that while it is a start to address the negative factors, such as homophobia, this does not undermine our heterosexual society. The suggestions they offer are to challenge heteronormative privilege, consider how we are participants in dominative heteronormative discourse, and to avoid merely limited inclusion in discourse. The ideas of Alexander and Wallace are not unlike those of the feminist theorists, Weedon and Ang who suggest changing the discourse to...

Poststructuralism's Influence on Feminism

Weedon discusses the influences of poststructuralism on the way we talk about feminism. She elaborates on the importance of language, subjectivity and discourse within the context of feminism. She explains that not all poststructuralist lens are appropriate for feminism, Foucalt's works especially well due to its addressing of history, gender, class and race. She explains that the language used provides a social organization for feminism. This allows us to see that the term gender is "socially produced." This is important to see, because Saussure's...

Hollywood and High School Horrors

The Movie Blog reviews a movie called The Conjuring. In doing so, it comments on our expectations of horror movies and that this is movie would have been good, had it not relied on horror conventions halfway through. The second article, which was from Bitch Magazine, discusses the changes that have occurred in the way sex education is presented to teenagers. They also point at that this has impacted the number of teen pregnancies, which is now lower due to the changes in sex ed. The new way of presenting it is less based around abstinence only...