Vocality, Gender, Sexuality and Cyborgs in "GLEE" with Xavia Publius

On February 7^th, in Brown Bag form, Xavia Publius presented hir honors thesis research on vocality, gender, sexuality, and cyborgs in the popular TV show, “Glee.” Ze is a member of the senior class and the second LGBTQ Studies Minor to graduate from Colgate! Xavia put together an engaging presentation that featured television clips from the first seasons of “Glee” to explain the theory behind them in a more relatable way.

Xavia explained the varied ways that “Glee” has created gender neutral spaces and challenged the gender binary. Beginning with the first episode, rather than highlighting a heterosexual couple as the female and male protagonists of the series, “Glee” instead introduced Finn, a student and football stud, and Mr. Shuester, the Glee club director, as the leading characters.

In another scene that Xavia showed the audience, Glee club members assumed one another’s identities in a dream sequence. Men were dressed as women, women as men, women as other women, and men as other men. This technique portrayed characters exploring the spectrum of identities, suggesting to the viewers that gender and sexuality can be fluid constructs, rather than strict and fixed entities.

Finally, one season featured a collective scene that combined three simultaneous and independent sub-scenes of couples singing to one another.  By way of cutting and pasting, the merger resulted in a blurring of the lines as it became more difficult to discern who was singing to whom, thus opening the possibility of any gender singing to any gender.

This summary only scratches the surface of Xavia’s work! While “Glee” has its flaws – Xavia mentioned during the question and answer portion of the Brown Bag that “Glee” has a record of ignoring and silencing the transgender experience – the television series lends important examples of looser gender norms through its characters, themes and media techniques.

GENDER REINFORCEMENT IN COMMERCIALIZED PRODUCTS

In today’s society, companies are unconsciously or perhaps consciously re emphasizing gender differences through separating their products to specifically indicate what products are manufactured for women. Interestingly though, men’s items are seen as default and what is viewed as normal with no need to clearly state that products specifically targeted for the male population are labelled as male. For example in many stores even with little kids’ items, so many times you will find toys such as “Girls T ball set” and “T ball set” as indicated in the image below. You ask yourself what the difference in the toy is as though they don’t do the same thing.Some people may view this as a marketing strategy in order to capture certain groups of consumers but not considering the reinforcement of gender disparity. We then wonder why these gender differences continue to be emphasized. I hope this one illustration gets you to start being more aware of commercialized products that reinforce the gender divide.

2/19/13: Colgate's Bias-Related Incident Policy

The Brown Bag on 2/19/13 was about Colgate’s Bias-Related Incident Policy. The purpose of this brown bag was to inform the student body of the new rules and regulations regarding reporting and dealing with bias incidents on campus. The Associate Dean of Conduct, Kim Taylor, and Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity and Professor, Marilyn Rugg were at hand to discuss these new changes. In terms of complaints of discriminatory harassment and bias-related conduct, one should know that:

•  The use of alcohol and drugs is not an excuse or defense to an allegation of a violation of this policy

• This policy also applies to off-campus residences and spaces when these incidents impact the campus environment

•  Retaliation against an individual for alleging harassment, supporting a complaint or for assisting in providing information relevant to a claim of harassment is a serious violation and will be treated as another instance of harassment or discrimination

In terms of the sexual misconduct policy, one should know that:

•  If an instance of sexual misconduct occurs, then the person should seek medical attention, choose whether or not to report the incident, and talk with someone about all of the possible options

• Consent is a requirement before any type of sexual contact and a person has the right to change their mind at any point in time.

•  Once again, being under the influence is not an excuse or can be used as a defense against an allegation.

There is also an Equity Grievance Panel, which is made up of faculty who will be very supportive. If you want more information check out the video: Brown Bag

So You Think You're A Feminist?: My Experience with Soapbox, Inc.'s Feminist Bootcamp

2013 Feminist Winter Bootcamp Participants; Photo by Carly Romero of Two Spoons Photography

During winter break, I had the benefit of being part of the annual winter feminist intensive provided by SopaBox, Inc. The Feminist Bootcamp is an immersion trip allowing folks to see what "professional feminism" looks like; this was a particular interest to me being a soon-to-be-graduating Women's Studies major who wants to continue social justice work.

The week is based in New York City, and, during my time at Colgate, I've made more than a few visits there only to find myself overwhelmed and physically drained by its constant vibrancy. "I would never be able to live here" is what I thought before spending a week talking to to people who work at nonprofit organizations like the Third Wave Foundation and National Advocates for Pregnant Women. Spending my time with Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards, and fifteen other feminists of varying ages and backgrounds probably had a lot to do with my sudden comfort with NYC. I got to know and bond with individuals who are dynamic leaders in various places throughout the US; some were strong feminists and others decided to attend this trip because they had no idea what "feminism" means. We also spent quite a deal of time together; often needing to be on the subway by 8:00am, only to finish our final visit for the day after 5:00pm. It's probably unnecessary to say each day was fast-paced and filled with activity. But since each day of the week had a distinct theme, I'll provide some of my highlights from the week:

Philanthropy Day

This day we spent visiting the "funding arm" of the feminist movement. We spent time with long running billion-dollar organizations such as the NoVo Foundation, which has its hands in multiple organizations worldwide that improve the lives of girls and women, and brand new ones like Catapult, which is part of the organization Women Deliver and akin to a crossbreeding of Kickstarter and Kiva. This day was dedicated to answering the question of "where does the money for feminist organizing come from anyway?" So, we got to talk about grant-making and even went through the process of judging which nonprofits deserved funds while visiting the Third Wave Foundation.

Feminist Work Day

The definite highlight from this day was my mini-internship at Bluestockings Independent Bookstore. There's a special place in my heart for radical bookstores, especially ones that make it a point to be as accessible and inclusive as possible. That's definitely the vibe I felt from the volunteers I spent my time with. By the way, all the Bluestockings employees are volunteers, which is impressive considering that it's open everyday from 11:00am to 11:00pm; it's one method of keeping the books there affordable. Being at Bluestockings was definitely a different feel since it wasn't an office on the twentieth floor of some building in Manhattan. And I spent most of my time talking to the other volunteers about why they dedicated their time to the bookstore, which I consider to be a more relational way of learning about the place of feminism in the "real world." And, of course, I couldn't leave without buying something so I was finally able to get a copy of Nobody Passes by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore.

Reproductive Justice Day

We spent the morning split into groups visiting several different clinics that provide reproductive services. My group got a tour of Choices Women's Medical Center in Queens. Choices has quite a large facility and has been around for decades. Merle Hoffman, the founder of Choices, was on the forefront of advocating for reproductive rights even pre-Roe v. Wade. So it was definitely an honor to sit with her and receive a signed copy of her memoir. The clinic stays true to its name, providing prenatal care, contraceptive options, and abortion care and by making efforts to be accessible for lower income individuals and families.

Feminist Art Day

Our day started with a workshop with spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Zsai, who I already had the pleasure of meeting during SORT's Africana Women's Week a couple of years ago. It was a new kind of bonding experience for the group since it was toward the end of the week and we did most of our activities in pairs, which included having to interview your partner and then writing a haiku about them. The meeting ended with Kelly performing two phenomenal spoke word pieces that I definitely ended up carrying with me throughout the day. After all, there's no more refreshing way to start off the day than with a bit of poetry and a new appreciation for the power of language.

International Feminisms Day

Our week ended by helping us think of doing feminisms on a global scale. We wanted to answer questions about what feminism looks like for activists in other countries and how to work in solidarity with other feminist movements without imposing Western ideology. For this, we talked with Amnesty International about the complexities of human trafficking and the International Women's Health Coalition about global reproductive rights, comprehensive sexual education, and the year feminist organizations "took over" the United Nations. Both of these organizations advocate on the behalf of issues that are often overlooked by those who have a US-centric focus in their feminist work. Talking to these organizations requires understanding the necessity of being aware of how our activism intersects with the struggles of organizations in other countries and acknowledging that for our work to have any significant impact it must be borderless.

I definitely think the Feminist Bootcamp is something everyone should have the opportunity to experience, whether they personally identify as a feminist or not. Although, the cost of the camp can be a definite deterrent for some who want to be involved with the program; it was definitely a struggle for me to navigate. But thanks to the Center for Women's Studies, the Office of LGBTQ Initiatives, and the Office of Undergraduate Studies,  I was able to gather enough support to have such an amazing opportunity. I'd encourage any Colgate student who wants to discover the career aspect of feminism to consider participating in next year's winter intensive or the summer program. And it isn't only for students, there's a program for professors and staff as well!

- Che J. Hatter '13

2/05 Celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day

            The second Brown Bag of this semester’s series featured a great panel of presenters who led discussions on the personal experiences of women athletes and coaches at Colgate. They touched on the history of women in sports and the opportunities that Title IX has afforded them personally and for women in athletics as a whole. The panel featured Vicky Chun, Director of the Division of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics, Ann-Marie Guglieri, Senior Associate Athletic Director, and  Chelsea Jones, Assistant Men's and Women's Tennis Coach. It also featured two student athletes, swimmer Cammie Kirby '16, and softball player Natalie Siedhof '13.  I really enjoyed hearing the different perspectives on the panel and learning about current issues that could improve women’s experience in sports. These issues included having to perform femininity on the field and stereotypes about women athletes. Suggested solutions included providing a wider array of uniform choices for athletes, being mindful of homophobic, transphobic, and sexist language, and responding appropriately and continuously to incidences of hate speech. I was surprised to learn that the athletic department at Colgate is unique in that it has a woman athletic director. It's remarkable that Colgate is one of eight colleges in the nation with a woman as the head of athletics, and is the only college with an Asian-American woman as the director.  While it is great to see that women are able to advancing in the field of athletics, it is also a testament to how much more progress there is to be made. Please come out to celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports day and to support the women’s basketball team this Saturday beginning at 4 p.m at Cotterell Court! You can also  celebrate LGBTQ awareness by supporting the men’s basketball team in their Colgate Against Hate game next Saturday!