Dancing Around Objectification

The piece illustrates the difference and similarities between two texts. The Harlem Dancer includes a black woman and the Invisible Man has a white woman. Both these women have to entertain their audience but are treated very differently and this is highlighted. The Harlem dancer is praised for her looks and admired because of the perception she gives off, whereas, the white dancer is used as a form of fear for the black teenagers and amusement for the white men. The white dancer has some power in determining who can touch her and what she is perceived as but the black dancer does not. I feel this is connected to the fact that the black dancer stands for the concept metaphor of being black therefore you can be used and perceived in any way. Whereas, being white, the dancer has some choice and is exclusive even though she is not completely admired like the Harlem dancer. The black dancer being an object and the white dancer having some power, merely adds to the unfair treatment that blacks faced back then and even today.

Intersectionality 101

Intersectionality is identifying multiple lenses and using them to reveal how they connect to create a perception. When looking at oppression, I never actually looked at it through this perspective in which many lenses intertwine and affect each other to create a certain view on a situation. It is as if it followed a road map and could follow different directions, as the passage states, being affected by other lenses to have the outcome of different reactions. This reminds me of how metaphors are given reactions based on stereotypes and different factors. However, these factors are from what society makes the metaphor to be and they all intertwine to create the reaction whether it be negative or positive.

The Urgency of Intersectionality

There are many intersections that get lost in discrimination reform. It is the different roads that are identified and supported, however, those that are in the intersections of these pathways are unidentified in society because there is no frame or identification to recognize them. I think this is very eyeopening because everyone is different and they have different characteristics that do not always fit into specific categories. Intersectionality includes those that fall through the cracks. This relates directly to the police shootings because all we really know of is the men that fell but there are rarely ever mentionings of women that have endured the same violence and are under the same issue.

The Bechdel Test

The Bechdel Test is actually very interesting because its purpose is to diminish female inequality and presence in films and in media as a whole. It follows requirements of two women, both named, being in a film talking to each other about any topic other than about a man. Therefore, these women have to be important characters that add to the value of the film because they have to be named and they have to hold a conversation, making them noticed and remembered. I think this test helped many women get further into acting and land more famous roles. I also think it helps the roles of women, as seen in “Dancing Around Objection,” to make a reputation for themselves in acting and entertainment as a whole.

“Dancing Around Objectification,” by Victoria Merlino, Refract

The essay “Dancing around Objectification,” explain intersectionality in the form of being an African-American woman in the setting of a Harlem performance. Women who were performing The Harlem Dancer and the Invisible Man were both objectified, and their purpose was to appeal to men. McKay’s Harlem dancer has been deprived of her wonderful act compromised with singing and forced into a position of an idealized object. Additionally, she is black and cannot retaliate to what her audience thought of her. This was also because she had a low social status for being a black person during a time period where black people did not have equal rights.

“Intersectionality 101”

The thread “Intersectionality 101” explains to us what intersectionality is and how it is applied in our world. The author of this post describes intersectionality as ways that parts of our identity are bound together and related to cultural patterns of oppression. In other words, our identity is made up of small categories that can be used to define us and depending on what identity we take on, we can be discriminated for those small things that make us who we are. Like the example given, black women shows intersectionality being used because during times of segregation in America, women did not have as many rights as men, and black people were treated with disdainful treatment.

“The Urgency of Intersectionality” Kimberle Crenshaw

In this talk, Crenshaw uses the word, intersectionality to describe the situation that black women are facing. She explains that we do not perceive this as an active issue because we simply do not have a “frame” to help us see them. Crenshaw gives an example, Emma, a black woman who disputes that a local car manufacturing plant did not hire her because she was a black woman. When Emma filed a complaint to the judge, the judge sees that the manufacturing plant hired people of race and people of gender. However, the judge failed to see was that all the African-Americans that were hired were men and those who were female were white. The reason the judge failed to see the dilemma Emma was in was because of intersectionality, which was the crossing of between two types of discrimination.

“Bechdel test”

The Bechdel test is a method to evaluate the representation of women in fiction. The requirements for a work to pass the Bechdel test is if the work features at least two female characters and that they are named. Even though this is a simple requirement to pass, only half of the works of fictions we see meet these requirements. The purpose of this test is to raise awareness of gender inequality in fiction work. It was also brought to my attention when I realized most movies I watch do not pass the Bechdel test as well.

Connection and Response

The situation of McKay’s Harlem dancer reminds me of the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God because of the constant theme of “black women are mules of the world” and it is being shown in this scenario. It posed a struggle for such people because of the discriminatory factors that we possess, and we cannot simply change it to please others. This relates to some of the social issues we face in the world discussed in class with the Nike ad showing their support for Kaepernick’s silent protest against police brutality.