After reading Brent Staples' piece, "Black Men and Public Space", it was interesting to see how, after segregating the class by gender, the girls and the boys collectively viewed their own impacts on space. (Equally entertaining was Zack's demonstration of a "Bleh!" face when a girl farts in public. Haha.)
The whole discussion of how space is perceived based on the race or gender of its constituents reminded me (and Sadie) of a slam poem performed at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational for Wesleyan College by Lily Myers.
Her poem, deeply moving and highly engrossing, was a commentary on (as one YouTuber said) the systematic oppression of women that subtly exists in this country. How women feel less and less entitled to the amount of space they are allowed to move in and how much space they physically occupy.
How often is this is paralleled in our own classrooms, our own workplaces? To name an example, let's look at the way men and women sit. Boys generally take on a visually more aggressive posture, legs splayed out in a confident slouch, occupying more space and room for functionality; whereas girls are seen as prim and proper with their legs crossed over and their backs straighter, learning to keep themselves small and a nonhindrance to others around them.*
In relation to our discussion, women sort of limit ourselves to a vulnerability stereotype that renders us paranoid and maybe even hypersensitive to judgments of appearance, which could explain Staples' experience with his first "victim". As a result of this, woman have learned to collapse into themselves, learned to place a fixation on appearance that isn't seen too oft in men.
Could this be an explanation for how women feel more comfortable beating each other emotionally? Emotions, feelings, thoughts, they're all implicitly effeminate topics because they are intrinsic, taking on the phenomenon of women shrinking and making physical space because it's safer there. It's way easier for girls to play with those impalpable, intangible emotions than it is to use their physical space and physical presence as a means of communication.
The idea of a shrinking woman. It's subtle, that's for sure. It's hard to notice and even more impressive for Myers to articulate in such an impassioned, pithy way.
Worth a watch. A few times.
Lily Myers - "Shrinking Women" (CUPSI 2013)
*Yes, I made up that word. Nonhindrance. Yeah.
The whole discussion of how space is perceived based on the race or gender of its constituents reminded me (and Sadie) of a slam poem performed at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational for Wesleyan College by Lily Myers.
Her poem, deeply moving and highly engrossing, was a commentary on (as one YouTuber said) the systematic oppression of women that subtly exists in this country. How women feel less and less entitled to the amount of space they are allowed to move in and how much space they physically occupy.
How often is this is paralleled in our own classrooms, our own workplaces? To name an example, let's look at the way men and women sit. Boys generally take on a visually more aggressive posture, legs splayed out in a confident slouch, occupying more space and room for functionality; whereas girls are seen as prim and proper with their legs crossed over and their backs straighter, learning to keep themselves small and a nonhindrance to others around them.*
In relation to our discussion, women sort of limit ourselves to a vulnerability stereotype that renders us paranoid and maybe even hypersensitive to judgments of appearance, which could explain Staples' experience with his first "victim". As a result of this, woman have learned to collapse into themselves, learned to place a fixation on appearance that isn't seen too oft in men.
Could this be an explanation for how women feel more comfortable beating each other emotionally? Emotions, feelings, thoughts, they're all implicitly effeminate topics because they are intrinsic, taking on the phenomenon of women shrinking and making physical space because it's safer there. It's way easier for girls to play with those impalpable, intangible emotions than it is to use their physical space and physical presence as a means of communication.
***
The idea of a shrinking woman. It's subtle, that's for sure. It's hard to notice and even more impressive for Myers to articulate in such an impassioned, pithy way.
Worth a watch. A few times.
Lily Myers - "Shrinking Women" (CUPSI 2013)
*Yes, I made up that word. Nonhindrance. Yeah.
Wow, nice post. I love how you incorporated the slam poetry vid (and mentioned me, yay!) in your blog so seamlessly, very well done.
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