“On the moon we wore feathers in our hair, and rubies on our hands. On the moon we had gold spoons.”
Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Social Justice

1. The Gaming Industry's Greatest Adversary Is Just Getting Started

This article is about Anita Sarkeesian, feminist and advocate for gender equality in video games. The Canadian-American launched a series of videos called “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games”on her website  Feminist Frequency detailed and attacked stereotypes and sexism both in video games and the gaming community. The controversy and backlash that has stemmed from the webseries has been deemed by the media as “gamergate.” Both the harrassment targeted at Sarkeesian and sexism when it comes to games are examples of injustice. The video games themselves are bad enough; women are tied to a handful of overused tropes. The damsel in distress, prostitute, princess, all used to be plot devices who push along the men and fail to be their own characters. One way that this is injustice because it furthers the objectification of women in today’s society. Often in video games, because the women are only used to push up the male characters and be sexy eye candy for the gamers, they feel less like people and more like scenery. For gamers who spend so much time playing video games, these perceptions can start to carry over and turn into real-life misogyny. Another reason this is injustice is because of the lack of representation for women who play video games. While there is a stereotype of gamers being all antisocial men, there has always been a female fan-following of gamers. Video games, like other forms of entertainment, is often used as an escape from reality. Unfortunately, this escape is tailored for men, making all the real characters male. This changes the feeling for women, who now find it hard to get lost in a world of which they are not major parts. This makes the gaming world unfair for women.
It isn’t just the games themselves that are sexist, it’s the gaming community as well. When Sarkeesian released her web series about inequality in games, she suffered major harassment from people in the gaming community.  This backlash ranged from respectful disagreement to insults to death threats. One person tweeted “I hate ovaries with brains big enough to post videos,” another “f-‍-‍- you feminist f-‍-‍-s you already have equality. In fact you have better s-‍-‍- than most males be glad what you got bitch.” One man even threatened mass murder, “This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history, and I’m giving you a chance to stop it,” the email read. “I have at my disposal a semiautomatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs,” it went on. “I will write my manifesto in her spilled blood, and you will all bear witness to what feminist lies and poison have done to the men of America.” Hate like this illustrates just how rampant injustice and sexism is in the gaming community. Female gamers are excluded by male gamers who think they don’t deserve representation in the community.  The fact that a woman who just wanted to spread her opinion about video games was receiving death threats shows you how major the misogyny is.
This makes me think about my place as a women with a voice in today’s sexist geek community. I have been called a “fake geek girl”, as have many of my friends. An important thing, I believe, for girls in these communities to learn is that you have to make your voice heard. If we stay silent then the men who would like to think we are inferior will push us out of communities we love so much. I think that what we have to unlearn this idea of pop-culture communities being predominantly male and shutting out the women who hold it up.
  1. Daily Injustice in my Neighborhood
  • Longtime residents being evicted from rent controlled apartments so that their homes can be sold at higher prices.
  • Low-performing schools are the only option for kids in a disadvantaged neighborhood.
  • Immigrant families who are separated from relatives back in their home countries.
  • Immigrants being taken advantage of in low-paying jobs with long hours.
  • Systematic gentrification forcing out low-income, longtime residents.
  • Real estate agents forcing out local small businesses so that they can charge high rent for corporate businesses, putting people out of work.
  • Construction workers harassing women in the neighborhood.  
My neighborhood, like so many others, is home to schools that exist to perpetuate a cycle of poverty that way too many children are stuck in. In a district that has a high population of poor and lower middle class families, good schools are nonexistent. Children who come from disadvantaged families, who are unable to find a school outside of their zone, are forced into underperforming schools. In MS51, we are lucky to be getting an education with parents who, for the majority, have steady jobs that allow them to donate to the school and get time off so that they can participate in activities like the PTA. The majority of kids who go to schools where I live have parents who work without salary for long hours of the day and little money to show for it. These parents don’t have a flexible schedule or wallet that allows them to better their children's education. These kids, who are not getting the education or money they need to go to college, will likely be stuck in the same position their parents are, sending their kids to receive a below-average education, thus adding to this seemingly endless system of poverty that traps people in their low socio-economic position. This system also traps people of color in this unbreachable prison, not allowing for great progress in racial equality. This frustrates me greatly. How are we, as a city and as a country, expecting to dig ourselves out of this ditch of racism and classism if we are unable to break this cycle? In order for us to progress, we need to better the schools of the indigent districts as opposed to focusing on the kids that don’t need saving.      
  1. An Interview With my Mother, Laura Frenzer
Me: What do you think is fair about the world?
Laura: This is difficult, I think unfair will be easier. It’s really all relative. I guess it’s fair that I get paid to work, and that I can choose the course of my life and be responsible for the consequences. Compared to some I have a plentiful life, and I’m grateful for that, but it’s not fair. It just is. And the universe will seek to keep it in balance, not fair to someone else. I feel that I can’t say what is definately fair because it’s a matter of personal experience. It is fair that I get paid to work, but many others in the world do not. It is fair that I can vote, but many can not. Maybe science is fair. It’s impartial, action and reaction and laws of physics.  Keeping things in balance.
Me: What do you think is unfair about the world?
Laura: Theres so much. That some women don’t have the same rights as men. That not all children can get an education. That some people have no food and others throw food away. That people born to privileged social classes get more advantages. That New York City students who can’t afford to pay for tutors have less of a chance to get into competitive schools. That schools in NYC in wealthier neighborhoods are higher performing than those in low income neighborhoods. That our rent keeps going up. That some people are imprisoned or put to death because they are homosexual. That slavery still exists. That racism still exists. That Broadway tickets cost so much. That some kids don’t get proper health care. That wars are fought for rich oligarchs. That selfish leaders use religion to manipulate people into war. That some American kids think evolution is a lie and ignorant adults are making them scientifically illiterate. Those are some things that are unfair.
My Reflection:
I think the struggle with finding what is fair is interesting when compared with all that is unfair. It’s easy to say what’s unfair, so much is. The unfairness of the world is the one thing I think mostly all humans can agree on. Whether it’s how nasty your boss is or the murder of your family, bad things happen to good people. It’s a fact of life. I really don’t think anything is fair. Sure, good things happen to people, they do all the time. While one may always be privileged with a right, there will always be more people denied that right. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “fair” as “treating one in a way that does not favor some over others.” While, for example, I have always been given the right to education and that may be fair to me, the reality of millions of girls around the world who are denied education puts me unfairly on top. I agree with the point my mother mad about science being the only true fairness of the world. While I eat and others starve, we are all controlled by universal laws, we all have to breathe, we all have blood pumping through our veins. Things like science, that are not constructs of human desire or need, level the playing field. This is why, when it comes to human rights, nothing is actually fair.
  1. News of Ferguson
The news is practically dominated by reports of Ferguson, Missouri. Protesters line the streets, not just in Ferguson, but all over the country to cry out against the jury’s decision not to convict police officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed young black man Michael Brown. What would I be feeling if I was a young, black girl rallying right now? I can never really put myself in a black young person’s shoes because I am not black, nor have I ever been discriminated against because of the color of my skin. I have grown up with the privilege that comes with being of European descent and I have no idea what it is like to live without that. I can say that I understand what it is like to feel so angry that it seems my mind will jump out of my skull. I know what it’s like to feel as if the world is against you because of something you can’t control. I can try and imagine the fear in the hearts of the protesters, faced with the bullets and tear gas of the police officers trying to keep them quiet. The uncertainty of whether or not their own police force, their own government cares about their lives and the urge to shake everyone who claims racism is over and ask if they are blind. That is what  I think of when I try to put myself in the place of the protesters around the country.
  1.  An Interview With my Uncle, Joel Frenzer  
Joel Frenzer is an independant artist and professional animator. He has been involved in several Cartoon Network projects as animator and voice actor. Joel has taught and assisted animation classes at Harvard University, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, WGBH, and is currently teaching full time at the School of Museum and Fine Arts in Boston. His independent films have been shown on the web, at various international film festivals, galleries, and workshops. He has a podcast about animation with his friend Alan Foreman called “The Frenzer Foreman Animation Forum”.  Joel has dedicated his life to film and passing on what he’s learned to the younger generation.
Daphne: What do you do everyday to change the world?
Joel: That’s a broad question… I teach college animation classes to students, and we’re also an art school where we’re trying to think about a career in the art world. And I try and get them to think a lot bigger than small assignments, it’s about being a creative person, being able to problem solve, and learning how to have a good routine, helping them to come up with a good routine to build their creative thinking, which I know has helped me in all aspects of my life. So not just being an artist or being an animator, also being an organized person with a work ethic in the world to solve things creatively. Did you know that the more you practice a creative life, you actually reform your brain? You create different, new pathways in your brain that...it is like anything, it is like if you were going to practice the violin for years to become a master, you can practice creative thinking over time to actually become fine-tuned in it and problem solve faster. And also I talk about not sweating the small stuff. So, yeah. Instilling that work ethic, showing them what that means. Try to guide them to projects that aren’t arbitrary, but actually can be meaningful in the world. So, artistic work in the gallery is one thing, but the impact, relating humanness to other humans, taking a big idea and being able to visualise it, being able to be visionary, which is something that is not talked a lot about in art school. I realized that not everyone is a visionary, and so when someone’s not like that they won’t talk about their artwork that way, but when someone is then the conversation changes. So I like to think that I change the world by helping my students think in this creative way, preparing them for creative lives.
Me: Thank you for speaking to me today.
Joel: Thank you.

                       
"Dear Mr. President"
(feat. Indigo Girls)

Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?

Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind.
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?

Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?
This song is written in the form of a letter from the artist (P!nk) to President George W. Bush. The song is asking the president to spend some time in the world he created and experience the repercussions of his actions.  For example, P!nk pens the lines:
“Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.”
This section of the song illustrates the high-horse politicians often ride that makes them see themselves as more important than the people they are supposed to serve. This ego is what allows politicians to ignore the real problems of the citizens and focus on personal gain.The president was able to make decisions that negatively impacted his nation and the world from a great enough distance that he himself could ignore the damage he caused, and P!nk presents clear examples of mistakes the president has made. An example of this is the lyric:
“Minimum wage with a baby on the way”
This line is referencing the dismal minimum wage during Bush’s presidency. Although the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour, it was still not nearly enough money for a family to live on. The minimum wage was the source of poverty for millions of people, and still is. Another line that addresses a presidential mistake is:
“Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away”
This deals with the ramifications of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the president brought to be.  At least 174,000 civilian casualties have occurred as a result of these wars, as American bombs fall on towns and villages.
This song also brings up the hypocrisy of President Bush. This theme is exemplified in this excerpt:
“What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?”
This references Bush’s views on same-sex marriage and homosexuality. George W. Bush is the only living ex-president not to endorse same-sex marriage, despite his father’s and sister’s open  support (according to usnews.com). The lyric brings the president’s views to his personal life, asking if his feelings towards the gay community would apply to family as well, thus making it easier for the president to understand the plight of LGBTQ+ Americans.
While this song is clearly addressed to President George W. Bush, the message can be assigned to many politicians. A clean conscience is almost non-existent in politics, as power and wealth can get to a person’s head. Politicians always make decisions that negatively impact someone they serve, and corruption, on varying levels,  is ubiquitous. This song is a reminder to people in power that people are not just numbers on a poll, they are flesh and blood with families and lives that are in your control. The major message for politicians to internalize from this song is that the people you represent are human beings, and that we have to stop making politics about power and privilege and start making it about making sure civilian’s voices are heard in government.
  1. Three’s Company
“Three’s Company” is an American sitcom based off the British sitcom “Man About the House”. The show, a comedy of errors, ran from March 15, 1977 to September 18, 1984. The plot revolves around two single girls and one single man who platonically share an apartment. The episode “The Crush” (season 3 episode 10) deals with a 13 year old girl who develops a crush on one of the roommates. The portrayal of teenage girls in this episode misses the mark by far. The girl, and all her friends, are exactly the same; white, with a mother and a father, living in a large home. The big houses and nice clothes imply that these families are all at least upper-middle class. A stereotype of the mindless teenage girl is perpetuated, as the girl in “The Crush” thinks about absolutely nothing but the boys she’s fallen for (and the other young women don’t think about much other than that either). I  know that today there are all kinds of thirteen year olds in America, one mother, two mothers, one father, two fathers, no father, no parents, white, black, latino, large home, big home, no home, etc. Teenagers are all different races and have different socioeconomic statuses and family lives. I also know that diversity is not new to American teenagers, and therefore that this show and shows of it’s time are misinterpreting or misrepresenting the adolescents of their time. This falsification makes me think about what the ideal teen was when this show aired. Television shows, especially sitcoms, tend to scrape away all the seriousness from their shows and fabricate a sort of escape from reality. Perhaps making teenagers mindless, white, well-off kids on television allows the viewers not to think about the fact that teenagers are thoughtful and angry at so many injustices and run away from the difficult realities of  children of color, children with single mothers, poor children, anyone who doesn’t fit the perfect suburban image. This makes me feel outraged and exasperated. Allowing people to escape from real-world problems so easily as watching television means that we as a people won’t be able to work towards fixing the privilege and prejudice that plagues our society. An informed public is a public that can make a difference. It also makes me think about all the kids that don’t fit this perfect image. What if they need someone on television to relate to, to understand, but they can’t find that character because of this filtering of reality? Representation is important for kids who need to feel like the lives their leading are equally as entertaining as other children.

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