Colorblind racism?

The projects that stuck in my head the most were Monday's presentations on colorblind racism. I was very bother by the idea that someone had created and coined the term "colorblind" racism. For starters, racism can never be colorblind. I recall be very upset listening to the presenters discuss this ridiculous term. Unpacking this, I asked myself why are you really upset? When someone  says they are colorblind (I understand now that neither of the presenters were saying this) I take that personally because as a person of color then what are they saying about my experiences as a person of color? Lets face it, the " we live in a post-racial America" is a myth. I think Travyon Martin, Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and the many more who have lost their lives proves that. I deal with a lot of micro-aggressions through out the year, and many of these micro-aggressions come from people who claim they are colorblind.

People say they are colorblind because they don't want to deal with or talk about racism. This is a privileged in itself. Some people are privileged to ignore racism and say that it does not exist. Others have to live through it. Colorblind racism is very problematic, and minimizing race in a situation that is racial does more harm than good. Below are few images that I think does a good job summing up colorblind racism.

Racial politics in online dating

The Eastern Asian presentation, inspired me to look online race statistic for myself. Primarily because I was fairly annoyed by the racial dating statistics posted by OkCupid. According to those statistics no one wants to date a black woman...not even a black man. As a black woman, I was very bothered by these statistics. In fact, at first I refused to accept them as true. However, I believe that the reason why black women are viewed as "unwanted" is primarily due to the stereotypes associated with black women. Black women are perceived as "loud, obnoxious, uneducated/ghetto, bossy/demanding, in your face (pushy) and the list goes on. Interestingly enough though, Asian women received the most replies, but then again what stereotypes are associated with them? Submissive, china dolls, very quiet etc etc. This got me thinking that online dating is not based off physical appearances, but perhaps it is based off gender roles and perceived attitudes. Black women seem like the least likely to be submissive in a relationship, and seem like they have the worst attitudes. Although this is not true, I do think this plays into the reason why Black women are the least likely to get a date in an online space.

Periods,and boobs

About two weeks ago, I learnt about this photographer named Rupi Kaur who posted a photographer to IG with a woman lying in bed with a period stain. IG deleted the image twice because it was deemed as inappropriate. At first, I was bothered by the idea that this woman would in fact want to capture a photo of her bloody stained behind and bed. As someone who also gets a monthly visit I just didn't understand the reason for posting. However, as I think more about the image, and the portrayal of women in the media, that in a way the media has painted a single story for womanhood. This reminds me of Chimamanda Ngozi's tedtalk the danger's of a single story. Now, grant the media actually has a few story lines for women such as the slut, good girl gone bad, the ugly fat chick, the superwoman, the nice girl who is too nice,  etc etc etc. This is not the single story I am referring too. When it comes to learning about how the female body works in the media, we only look at it at a sexual view. Women can be photographed in their underwear as long as they are selling sex--which is very ironic considering that society at-large does not appreciate or perhaps even value sexually liberated women. Nonetheless, the media is okay with selling the single story of objectifying women. Women are taught to feel embarrassed about something that is so natural. Periods are a fact of life. Yet,  many girls and women still believe a tampon can take her their own virginities because periods are seen as too taboo to discuss them.

Then there are the nipples. Women are taught to cover them up. Some girls, depending on their age, are embarrassed about their boobies. This might be because they are too big, and may cause them to look "sluttish" and bring them unwarranted attention. Others may be embarrassed because they are not big enough, and may cause them to look "boyish". What ever the reason, the idea of women celebrating her boobs seems taboo. Yet, men can "celebrate" (which is really them objectifying their boys, celebrated is said sarcastically) a woman's boobs and nipples, and that is just him being a boy. And take for example the breast cancer campaign Save the Boobs. Save the Boobs is suppose to end the battle against breast cancer, but what are people more concerned with? Saving the boobs or saving the woman with breast cancer?

This is just some food for your thought. In honor of creating more story lines of the female body in a non-sexually objectified way I've posted some images that I found on Google (plus some of  Rupi's work). If you are offended by these photos then oh well. This is real life, and the real experiences of many women.

Reed Chapter 7

In this week’s reading, Reed dives into the world of video games where he analyzes the effects video games has on culture. He discusses the blurred vision effect—blurring the lines between reality and fiction—that video games can create for people especially… for the youth.  I do agree with Reed that there is a lot of violence in video games. With that being said, both children and adults should play these games in moderation especially children. I think the real problem lays in the fact that there is a lack of education (for the players) of what is actually going on in the video games. For example, many people who play grand theft auto enjoy it because of the violence, but they are not unpacking the type of violence they are being exposed to in the game. Grand theft auto, like many other videos games, allow their players to be violent towards women while simultaneously sexually objectify them. So what happens when the lines become blurred? This is my point about people not being educated about the games they are playing. When lines are blurred people apply video game life to reality. What makes things worse is that violence against women occurs without the help of video games. So if anything, video games have the potential to support the idea that sexually objectifying women and physically harming them is okay. Video games are not the only materials that can potentially do this, music videos can also have the same effect. I think a good study would be to analyze the effects of excessive playing of violent video games has on children who come from abusive homes. Check out this video of violence against women in the gaming world.