newsletter of the ucla Center for the TG09 study of women
SPECIAL CSISSUE onW THINKING GENDER 2009 Collaborative Film Authorship Writing Latinas into the Picture EXCERPT FROM PLENARY SESSION by Mirasol Riojas
U.S.-based Latinas have generally been Women in the Top 250 Films of 2007,” found Feminist film theory has repeatedly called included in film history through an analysis women represented only 6% of directors that for the redefinition of authorship in order to of their on-screen representations and year.1 Although there are no statistics available account for women filmmakers. Yet most calls contributions as directors of short, experimental, with regard to what percentage of these women for alternative models of authorship do, for the and documentary films. Unfortunately, as far were Latinas, they account for only a fraction most part, maintain the director at the center as the filmmakers are concerned, the shorter of that 6%. It is also important to note that of their work. 3 The notion of authorship, still formats I mention fail to receive the level of even Latina directors who do gain access to tightly bound popular, critical, and scholarly recognition the means of production still have only limited to the director, that feature films receive. Particularly since opportunities within the industry.2 The small contributes the 1990s, the number of Latinas working on number of Latina-made feature films available for significantly to features has increased significantly. To put this in analysis reflects Latinas’ marginalization within the relegation perspective, Martha M. Lauzen’s, “The Celluloid the industry, which has been reproduced in the of Latina Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of writing of film history. filmmakers to
1 toc TG09 in this issue
FEbRUARY 6, 2009, 11:30 AM TO Thinkıng Gender 12:30 PM, UCLA FACULTY CENTER PLENARY SESSION Excerpt from Plenary Session Documenting GABRIELA ( Changing the his)story) WOMEN IN FILM Writing Latinas into the Picture Network, an Activist Filipina AND TELEvISION ModERATEd by Kathleen McHugh
Director, center for the StuDy of Women • ProfeSSor, engliSh anD cinema anD meDia StuDieS Women’s Organization And FEATURInG Mis-Remembering Lucille Kallen: Mirasol Riojas The Erased Career of Your Show of Shows' Lone Woman Writer FELICIA D. HENDERSON, CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, UCLA Collaborative Film Authorship: Writing Latinas into the Picture 1 MIRASOL RIOjAS, CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, UCLA Making the Cut: Female Editors and Rebecca Dean Representation in the Film and Media Industry jULIA WRIgHT, CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, UCLA 13
Thinkıng Gender is an annual public conference sponsored by the UCLA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN. It brings together graduate students from across the disciplines to share feminist research on women and/or gender. Parking at UCLA is $9. To view the conference program, please visit www.csw.ucla.edu/thinkinggender.html PANEL REVIEWS Coordinator’s Notes THINKING GENDER 2009 Vivian Davis, Jonathan Cohn, T-Kay Sangwand, Mirasol Riojas and Leila Pazargadi 3 15
FEbRUARY 6, 2009, 11:30 AM TO Thinkıng Gender 12:30 PM, UCLA FACULTY CENTER PLENARY SESSION Excerpt from Plenary Session ( Changing the his)story) WOMEN IN FILM Female Editors and Representation AND TELEvISION ModERATEd by Kathleen McHugh
Director, center for the StuDy of Women • ProfeSSor, engliSh anD cinema anD meDia StuDieS in the Film And Media Industry And FEATURInG Mis-Remembering Lucille Kallen: The Erased Career of Your Show of Shows' Lone Woman Writer FELICIA D. HENDERSON, CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, UCLA Collaborative Film Authorship: Writing Latinas into the Picture MIRASOL RIOjAS, CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, UCLA Making the Cut: Female Editors and Julia Wright 7 Representation in the Film and Media Industry jULIA WRIgHT, CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, UCLA
Thinkıng Gender is an annual public conference sponsored by the UCLA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN. It brings together graduate students from across the disciplines to share feminist research on women and/or gender. Parking at UCLA is $9. To view the conference program, please visit www.csw.ucla.edu/thinkinggender.html DEPARTMENTS
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2 TG09 COORDINATOR’s NOTES
Thinking Gender 2009
Usually, when I wake up to the sound of Thankfully, that fear was completely interesting lineup that promised to provoke raindrops hitting the roof over my head, unfounded. UCLA’s Center for the Study stimulating conversations, but it wasn’t it genuinely makes me smile. Whether of Women has a reputation for bringing until I heard the buzz in the California I head out to face the big, bad world or together some amazing scholars who are Room at the UCLA Faculty Center at have the luxury of hibernating under a committed to doing work on women, around 7:30 in the morning that I realized pile of blankets with some hot tea and gender, and sexuality. On February 6th, everyone else was just as excited to begin a stack of good books and movies, the the CSW community showed up in the day as I was. It would take more than rain is welcomed, especially in L.A. But droves to take part in what proved to be a little water to put a damper on Thinking on the first Friday of this past February, an extraordinary day, proving once again Gender. We shook off the rain and got to when my alarm went off and I heard that their commitment to their work. business. pitter patter coming from somewhere The Thinking Gender conference Attendees had a difficult task of overhead, all I could think was, “Oh no!” I is typically comprised of four sessions choosing between panels covering a wide was terrified that six months of planning of five panels each, as well as the range of historical periods. While sessions were about to go down the drain. I had plenary session, all of which are included topics as vast and varied as this fear that the rain was going to keep scattered throughout the course of gender and disability, spirituality, women people from heading out to CSW’s the day. This year, the 20 panels, along in sports, and representations of femininity Thinking Gender conference, an event with the plenary, amounted to 86 (just to name a few), selecting from the that so many people had worked so hard student presenters. As the Conference day’s offerings was a task that everyone to make happen. Coordinator, I knew that we had an seemed happy to have to do. The panels 3 TG09 COORDINATOR’s NOTES
were well attended from early morning students who came from as near as our would be made, and that everything until the end of the day, and in fact, for own UCLA campus and as far as Turkey, would go according to plan, the day “Between Girls,” “From Our Doorstep: the West Indies, and New Zealand, I felt passed in a flash. It was truly a whirlwind Contemporary Politics,” and “Changing personally invested in seeing each of the that I wish I’d been able to more fully the (his)story: Women in Film and presentations, in person. It was a pleasure experience. I am happy to report that Television,” attendance was so strong that to meet so many of the students and what I remember most about the day the rooms were filled to capacity. In some faculty I had come to know electronically, is being surrounded by a sea of smiling cases, the rooms were actually overflowing. face to face. I am only sorry that I was faces, satisfied by successful presentations Thinking Gender comes but once a year not able to be present for each and every and the provocative discussions that our and is a special opportunity for people one of the papers that was given. Gladly, fantastic moderators helped to facilitate to gather with like-minded individuals. I have been able to continue to watch after each set of papers. In the end, that is This conference is important to our podcasts of the select few panels that we what it’s all about: engaging in a dialogue community, not only on a professional were able to film (http://www.csw.ucla. with colleagues and being challenged level, but for most, also a deeply personal edu/podcasts.html), as well as read the to do our best work in a supportive level. It was a true joy to be a part of majority of the papers, as most have been environment. I am proud to say that CSW making it happen. posted on-line (http://repositories.cdlib. provides exactly the kind of space where In between attending to my duties as org/csw/thinkinggender/). I do hope that that can happen. the Conference Coordinator throughout the rest of our readers will do the same. Now that the 2009 conference has the day, I was lucky enough to be able to The day of the conference come to a close, I find myself checking sit in on several of the panels, all of which passed quickly and before I knew it, what seems like a terribly empty more than met my expectations. Each of unfortunately, it was over. After months of inbox a little too often, but life after the papers had been carefully chosen from preparation and anticipation, attending to the conference is slowly returning to a pool of very competitive applicants, all the details to ensure that everyone had normal. I will be passing the torch on to and after much correspondence with what they needed, that good memories the next Thinking Gender Conference 4 TG09
Coordinator in the very near future. To that person I can honestly say that you have a phenomenal group of people upon which to depend while you are at CSW. Our Director, Kathleen McHugh, has assembled one of the best teams I have ever had the pleasure to work with, and you will enjoy every minute you are in the office. At first glance you may think it is the colorful walls and the sophisticated decor, but you will quickly come to realize it is the people who work here, volunteer their time, and come through our doors who make CSW such a bright and pleasant place to be. People are doing their work with smiles on their faces because they believe so strongly in what they do. Those smiles come from their hearts. Make no mistake, it can be infectious! Thinking Gender 2009 I look forward to attending Thinking Gender on February 5, 2010, as our community continues to thrive and grow. Until then…
– Mirasol Riojas Conference Coordinator, TG 2009
5 Writing Latinas into the Picture, continued from page 1 the margins. For although they have rarely and why? Who is invested in defining authorship in occupied the roles that earn them recognition particular ways, and what is at stake in each case? according to the auteur model, Latinas’ If we begin exploring these types of questions, we absence from the director’s chair should not have a remarkable opportunity to document the be confused with a lack of participation in the important work that Latina filmmakers are doing. creative process. By developing a collaborative We have the opportunity to write them into the model of authorship that expands beyond picture. the director as the principle creative force to include screenwriters, producers, and Mirasol Riojas is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department cinematographers who contribute their labor of Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA. She was the and creative ideas to the making of feature- conference coordinator for this year's Thinking Gender conference. length films, the history of Latina filmmakers becomes more accessible. Notes In order to account for the wide range of 1. Lauzen, Martha M. The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the- Latina filmmakers’ contributions, we must Scenes Employment of Women in the Top 250 Films of reconsider the ways in which we think of 2007. (Same study available for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, Thinking Gender and 2005.) authorship while taking into account the 2. Nancy Savoca and Darnell Martin, for example, have both industrial factors that influence how the been the subject of numerous scholarly articles and have 2010 discourse around authorship develops, as well received attention in the popular press. 3. The list of titles that follow in this vein includes (but is as what cultural forces bring to bear in the is not limited to) books such as Judith Mayne’s Woman at process. We must consider not only theoretical the Keyhole: Feminism and Women’s Cinema, Bloomington issues related to the way that creative control and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990; Annette Feb 5 is conceptualized, but also more materialist Kuhn, ed., Queen of the ‘B’s: Ida Lupino Behind the Camera, New York: Praeger Paperback, 1995; Christina Lane’s concerns such as legal and economic issues Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break, associated with assigning authorship to Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000; Geetha particular individuals. Who has artistic control Ramanathan, Feminist Auteurs: Reading Women’s Films, London: Wallflower Press, 2006. over the films? How are the films marketed TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 6 CSupdateW toc Making the Cut Female Editors and Representation in the Film
and MediaE XICERndustrPT FROM PLENARy Y SESSION by JULIA WRIGHT
In the past decade, a higher percentage knowledge they are presenting. I will also rather than emphasizing their versatility; and it of women have worked as editors than as consider what challenges my interviews with also risks undermining the creative importance directors, writers, cinematographers, and female editors have posed in historicizing of the director, an understandable job hazard executive producers,1 yet they are rarely them from a feminist perspective. echoed in many interviews with editors.3 represented in histories by film historians and General cinema history books do not Texts created within the film and media feminist film scholars. The purpose of this historicize editors, but instead celebrate industry by editors and trade organizations paper is not to reveal the “reality” of female directors who have advanced editing: Edwin account for the majority of the historical editors, but to understand what challenges Porter and D.W. Griffith; Sergei Eisenstein information about female editors. These arise in constructing them as historical and Dziga Vertov; and Jean-Luc Godard.2 texts typically subjects. In what frameworks have female Authorship then serves as the dominant characterize the editors been permitted or omitted from historical methodology, which explains the pre-sound era in historicization? What counts as historical omission of the editor and with good reasons: Hollywood as a knowledge and evidence? It is important to the editor’s job, if done correctly, is supposed period when the consider the author, and what impact their to be unnoticed; crediting an editor with a majority of editors politics of location have on the historical discernable style pigeonholes their abilities were women.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 7 CSupdateW toc Referred to as “cutters,” they edited film with while giving historical credit to male editors, narrates, “the invisible style of editing kept scissors, and were not seen as a creative force diminishes the work of female editors that editors invisible and unappreciated as well. For but a set of hands. Men began replacing the facilitated many of these celebrated men and years they have been the best kept secret of ranks of women at approximately the same moments: Agnès Guillemot edited the majority the movies.” No mention is made of a female- time that sound technology was introduced of Godard’s films in the 1960s and was the gendered workforce, despite photographs in 1927. The narrative arc continues by only editor to work with both Godard and overlaid with Bates’ voiceover depicting rooms recognizing a series of “token” female editors, Truffaut; yet, she is completely omitted from of women cutters. This history of a pink- and underscores a brief comeback of a female the documentary. James Smith is credited collar workforce is co-opted by the ACE, who workforce during World War II. as D.W. Griffith’s editor, but the documentary reinterpret the lack of professional distinction In response to the increasing employment gives only brief mention of Rose Smith, his given to female cutters as the editors’ of non-workers beginning in the early 1990s, wife, despite her own 20-year career as an genderless story of origin and their humble industry guilds and societies spearheaded editor in which she edited 11 Griffith films, beginnings. a movement towards legitimatizing and including Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. Texts on editing theory are usually authored historicizing their own professions (Caldwell Similarly, Dziga Vertov’s wife, Elizaveta Svilova, by renowned male editors, and reserve a 117-118). The Cutting Edge: The Magic of is credited as his wife and editor, but receives section for what might be described as a vague Movie Editing, co-produced by the American none of the long-overdue star treatment given evolution of the editor-as-artist.4 Adopting a Cinema Editors Society, the ACE, is as much a to the documentary’s male editors. Guillemot’s masculine pronoun, these descriptions are of documentary as it is a promotional campaign. complete omission may be the result of the an ahistorical subject who encounters various Actress Kathy Bates narrates the history of documentary’s focus on American editors; technological innovations that redefine “his” editing, highlighting the names of familiar however, Rose Smith and Elizaveta Svilova role as an editor, from the birth of cinema male directors: Porter, Griffith, Eisenstein, Vertov’s reductive treatment is the result of to the present day. It is precisely this type Vertov, Godard, and so on. This selective professional ambiguity—their roles as devoted of history, in the absence of any historical recollection of the general film history situates partners are somehow inseparable from the evidence, where the covert omission of women the editor as the directors’ chief collaborator, professional partnerships with their husbands. occurs. Female editors undergo a double and their historical presence is then afforded This professional discrediting of female invisibility: already invisible to film history by way of collaborative authorship as a editors continues as the documentary glosses by virtue of their “invisible art,” women are theoretical approach.Yet this same approach, over the early film industry, when, as Bates then edited out of books that intend to bring
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 8 CSupdateW toc visibility to the editing profession. Consider historicizing texts are primarily concerned with that the advent of sound technology led sexist Rene L. Ash’s 1974 book, The Motion Picture Film legitimizing editors more than reconsidering executives to discharge women from their Editor, which consistently refers to the editor as women, women’s compromised professional jobs. However, this explanation too easily puts “he,” but nonetheless opens with a quote from capital make them less lucrative candidates for blame on a few big bad men without enough Cecil B. DeMille on the invaluable role of the “worthy” historical subjects. consideration for larger circumstances. Massive film editor—never mind that Anne Bauchens, In Walter Murch’s bestselling book, In lay-offs by studios began at approximately the the first woman to receive an Academy Award the Blink of An Eye, the feminine pronoun same time as the advent of sound. Editor Dede in editing, was DeMille’s longtime collaborating is deliberately used to describe editors up Allen recounts that during the Depression and editor and devoted friend. until the “pre-mechanical era,” as a way of for several years after, women were openly Edward Dmytryk and Walter Murch, both recognizing women once made up a majority discouraged from taking jobs from men since well-respected male editors, have written of editors before the introduction of the they had families to support. Scholar Jane theoretical books that make brief reference Moviola. This subtle periodizing device Gaines’ recent work on early cinema cites to early female editors. In On Film Editing, becomes Murch’s way of suggesting that women’s presence and forced departure as Dmytryk uses a footnote to indicate a sexist views of women’s technical capabilities the result of industry economics that allowed discrepancy between the masculine pronouns were the reason for their “disappearance.” women to thrive as producers, directors, he prefers using in the main text, and his actual In interview, Murch remarks, “[editing] was writers, and editors in the industry’s unstable experience. Dmytryk states in a footnote on considered to be a woman’s job because it formative years, but were pushed out of such the second page of his book, that “in the silent was something like knitting, it was something roles when the industry began to realize its days a large portion of cutters with women. like tapestry, sewing. It was when sound came force as a major business enterprise. Prejudices At famous Player Lasky, where I worked, all in that the men began to infiltrate the ranks about women’s technical capabilities may have the cutters were women” (original emphasis). of the editors, because sound was somehow been an argument for explaining women’s Like Rene Ash, Dmytryk’s ahistorical male electrical…it was no longer knitting.” One disappearance, but greater economic stakes subject has less to do with history than it does might speculate this to be part of the reason and competition for jobs suggests larger with advancing an argument for the editor to Vertov and Rose are not given recognition industrial and socio-economic reasons for their be seen as a legitimate artist, submitting to for their contributions, since it so closely decrease in employment after 1927. the old double standard that women do arts resembled a “woman’s job.” Dmytryk offers a Of the female editors who remained and crafts, but men make art. Because these similar explanation in his footnote, suggesting employed after sound, a handful have been
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 9 CSupdateW toc written about in the pages of The Editors career. Williams believes it was their superior more about creating hierarchies along various Guild Magazine: Anne Bauchens as Cecil B. organizational skills that made women distinctions—for example, union workers DeMille’s editor; Barbara McLean, chief editor successful, adding, “they were better than the versus pre-union era or non-union workers, at Fox from 1949 to 1969; and Margaret Booth, men. At the time, we grudgingly accepted and a reverence for film production over supervising editor at MGM from 1939 to 1968. the fact that they were very capable” (Lewis). television and media. Margaret Booth stands out as being the most These reclaimed histories, coming from recent In order for feminist film theory to broaden celebrated of these women, whose career short articles from the Editors Guild Magazine, its study of historical subjects beyond the spanned from 1920 as a cutter for D.W. Griffith, demonstrate the best efforts made by director, there needs to be a paradigm shift to 1985 working for producer Ray Stark. Booth industry-generated texts in crediting women’s away from authorship and textual analysis was exceptionally powerful, and as MGM’s professionalism in the editing field. and a move toward analyzing industry supervising editor everything went through The primary challenge to historicizing practices and cultures of film and media her: “Maggie was probably the toughest and female editors has been in giving them credit production. A feminist approach to history most feared woman at MGM. I mean, people for their work. Since the early 1990s, research has many advantages: it can critique historical would shudder when they heard she was by feminist film scholars has brought attention assumptions, investigate the politics of on the phone,” recalls editor Frank Urioste to important women in early cinema.5 epistemologies, and advance more complex (The Cutting Edge). It was well-known among However, the study of editors has received little arguments for the various “whys” regarding editors, producers, and directors that Booth investigation, unlike the lively debates around historical phenomena, notably why there were had close professional relationships with authorship in feminism that justify the study so many female editors in the early years and Irving Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer, “a fact that of women as directors. A consideration for why they “disappeared.” some didn’t like, but there was nothing they female editors requires us to think about how There is also the issue of how to reconcile could do about it,” remembers editor Ralph E. to best theorize them as historical subjects. a feminist approach to history when the Winters. Other personal anecdotes suggest Collaborative authorship is problematic for historical subject negates the feminist label. Booth had a reputation for being overbearing, a few reasons: it is not the method editors In my interviews with female editors currently though male resentment invariably played themselves feel best articulates their talent working in the film and media industry, there some part in this interpretation. For example, and contribution; and the collaborative is a strong resistance to gender representation editor Elmo Williams had worked with Booth, authorship we saw employed in industry texts and any association with feminism.6 Seeing as well as Bauchens and McClean during his is less about professional recognition and feminism as outdated and too political,
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 10 CSupdateW toc they opted for a post-feminist viewpoint is then a fallacy since women feel they have Notes that emphasizes individual responsibility in little choice but to conform to other peoples’ 1. Martha M. Lauzen, “The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind- the-Scenes and On-Screen Employment of Women negotiating their professional interactions. standards. in the Top 250 Films of 2007,” Center for the Study For these women, being a feminist meant not Essentialist views of feminists as well as of Women in Television and Film, San Diego State being “a team player,” and being perceived women’s professionalism perpetuate unfair University, 2008. Interviews, books by editors, trade as difficult to work with. Yet I would argue industry practices that, in depoliticizing the magazine articles, and recent academic research by Ally Acker and Jane Gaines have consistently this post-, anti-feminist attitude couches the workplace and diminishing the female editor’s affirmed that women made up the majority of the shortcomings of the industry’s flexible labor agency, keep sexism from being addressed. editors in the film industry until the middle to late market in which most work is freelance and Decrying sexism isn’t enough—to properly 1920s. Martha M. Lauzen’s “Celluloid Ceiling” research series is an annual survey tracking the percentage temporary, requiring editors to maintain contextualize such problems we would have of women employed in various job sectors of the a strong social network to secure future to consider the consequences of the industry’s industry. The most recent survey from 2007 confirms employment. In this context, editors feel they flexible economics that stifle employee that of the male and female editors employed in the have little agency to address sexism directly, sustainability. In work environments defined by top 250 films each year for the past 10 years, women have always been a minority but have maintained and instead “perform” against undesirable intense competition and frequent exploitation, consistently higher numbers than directors, writers, gender stereotypes that questioned their old social hierarchies come back into play and executive producers, and cinematographers; only professionalism: women described dressing women are again marginalized. If feminist producers maintained a comparatively higher percentage of women in their sector than editors. more “masculine” in baggy slacks and t-shirts to history is about critiquing and changing the 2. Books researched for this project include David avoid unwanted attention or being seen as too past and present, then refocusing beyond Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film History: An concerned with their appearance; they refused a gender-based analysis that considers Introduction, 2nd ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003; to file justifiable sexual harassment claims; economic conditions and labor practices can David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 8th ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008; and in the case of one editor I interviewed, reveal the specific bind in which female editors David Cook, A History of Narrative Film, 4th ed., New she never wears her wedding ring or mentions find themselves—in 1927, and especially today. York: W.W. Norton, 2004; and Pam Cook, The Cinema she has children, and at one point after her Book, 3rd ed., London : BFI, 2007. 3. Vincent LoBrutto, Selected Takes: Film Editors on pregnancy, Fed-Exed her breast milk home to Julia Wright is doctoral student in the Department Editing, New York: Praeger, 1991; Gabriella Oldham, a caretaker in order to avoid taking time off of Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA. First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors, Berkeley: work, since being a mother is seen as a liability University of California Press, 1992. In these by employers. This postfeminist individualism published collections of interviews, editors freely
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 11 CSupdateW toc theorize their approaches to post-production work. Bibliography Lewis, Kevin. “The Moviola Mavens and Moguls: Three However, if there is any ambiguity about who is in Ash, Rene L. The Motion Picture Editor. Metuchen, NJ: Pioneering Women Editors Who Had the Respect of charge, they are always firm in crediting the director, Scarecrow Press, 1974. Early Hollywood’s Power-Brokers.” Editors Guild and in some cases the producer, with the ultimate Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Magazine 27:2 (March-April 2006). vision of a film. Editors are necessarily there to Introduction. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 12 CSupdateW toc Imagining the Archive Documenting GABRIELA Network, an Activist Filipina Women’s Organization by Rebecca Dean
t the 2009 Thinking Gender Conference, Filipina women’s organization, has provided me is being kept through text and traces of women’s AI was not the only person struck with the with many lessons, most especially the role of organizing, film, and repertoire is novel to the feverish plague known as “archive fever.” As imagining the archives. The process of imagining world of archives that has for so long only famously theorized by Jacques Derrida, the is to redefine and develop the notion of the ar- concerned itself with the official documents condition of archive fever makes us more alert chive for the future in order to meet the goals of and correspondence of high power entities and to our compulsion to store the past and also, feminist struggle. What I quickly observed at the individuals. Organizational memory such as more importantly, to consider the relationship conference panel aptly titled “Lost and Found,” those like GABNet’s is a part of contextualizing of the archive to the future. For Derrida, the was that scholars from film and media studies feminist knowledge production and re-writing archive “is a question of the future, a question of were well advanced at reinterpreting the meaning history. the future itself, the question of a response, of a of the archive, repertoire, and narrative. Thinking Gender 2009 was an open platform promise and of a responsibility for tomorrow.” 1 As an archivist I am just as concerned about for this type of feminist history making. Tess L. Documenting GABRIELA Network, an activist what the archive will contain, as I am with how Takahashi has recognized a “deluge of ‘imagi-
1. Derrida , J., & Prenowitz, E. (1998). Archive Fever: A the archive will change and shape our interac- nary’ archives” produced by artists and critics, in- Freudian Impression (p. 36). University of Chicago Press. tions with the past and future. The memory that cluding a recent set of contributions in the jour-
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 13 CSupdateW toc nal Camera Obscura where authors were asked to fantasize, imagine, and speculate an archive of the future. Takahashi writes, “These imaginary archives often envision unrecorded pasts, pro- duce other means of legitimizing information, make old systems signify differently, and imagine as yet undetermined futures through the evoca- tion of everyday people’s personal experiences.”2 The archive as a feverish imaginative project has illuminated its power as irony, new meaning, women’s organizing, and narratives of despera- tion. In this view, Thinking Gender offered an inquiry into the concept and symbols that the archive represents in relation to feminist knowl- edge production. Such a view can supply further applications to research on gender. In other words, I hope that the various archival projects explored at Thinking Gender 2009 inspire future imagining, speculation, and deconstruction of the archives we encounter in our scholarship and activism on gender and sexuality.
Rebecca Dean is a doctoral student in the Depart- ment of Information Studies. 20th Thinking Gender Conference is February 5, 2010 2. Takahashi, T. (2007). “The Imaginary Archive: Current Practice.” Camera Obscura 22(3): 179.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 14 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by Vivian Davis Illness, Re-reading Deformity, and Disabi Shock:lit \ y
n 1995’s Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness Professor Helen Deutsch, Department of in the wake of Lorde’s radical mastectomy, The Iand the Body, Lennard Davis famously defined English, UCLA, noted, the aim of the panel Cancer Journals deftly intertwines the personal disability as a “disruption in the visual field.”1 was therefore to unsettle rather than cement and political by foregrounding the experience Over the course of the following decade, this the foundations of what has historically been a of bodily trauma alongside Lorde’s subject theorization of disability as a “specular moment” highly innovative and deeply interdisciplinary position of black lesbian feminist. In light of would come to greatly impact the emergent field. As such, the panel’s participants employed this maneuvering, Barager suggested that we field of disability studies.2 By emphasizing the a broad range of analyses to engage in acts of look to The Cancer Journals as an example of disabled body’s potential for erasure, whether in communal re-reading. an intersectional approach which might be scholarship or society at large, Davis’s work both Jennifer Barager, used to effectively situate disability within a opened new avenues of academic inquiry and Department of English, larger constellation of race, class, and gender. readied a political agenda in which disability was USC, began the panel with Lorde’s account, Barager pointed out, also figured as a transformative category of political a paper entitled, “‘From provides another valuable lesson for academic identity. 3 However, as the papers presented the Periphery Towards fields in that it emphasizes the importance of during the Thinking Gender conference panel, the Center’: Locating an collaboration and communication. Though such “Illness, Deformity, and Shock: Re-Reading Alternative Genealogy ideas are not always prioritized in academia, Disability,” suggested, structures of visibility for Disability Studies a sphere in which the pursuit of individual and invisibility are but one of many ways of in Audre Lorde’s Cancer Journals.” Barager research agendas sometimes trumps ideas constructing disabledness. While the alliance proposed Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals concerning collectivity, the formation of between disability and issues of visibility has (1980) as an inspiring model for renovating the community is often the very engine of social long given the field political traction, the set of field of disability. Lorde’s text combines various justice issues. Barager’s paper, therefore, offered papers which emerged from the panel indicated formal characteristics (for example, essay, poetry, Lorde’s personal account of illness as a means to that many of disability studies’ core tenets memoir) in order to chronicle the author’s expand and strengthen the existing purview of require a fresh reexamination. As moderator experiences as a breast cancer patient. Written disability studies as a politically charged field.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 15 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by Vivian Davis
Annessa C. apparently always been. Stagner provocatively Camilla.” Locke’s Stagner, Department linked this cultural understanding of shell shock presentation offered an of History, UC to “the deep national wounds in the civic body.” analysis of the ways in Irvine, delivered the These representations, she argued, with their which Frances Burney’s panel’s second paper, scientific certainty and confidence in traditional eighteenth-century novel “Recovering the gender roles, exuded a palpable optimism in Camilla, with its narrative Masculine Hero: Post- America’s national character. In this sense, of two sisters, Camilla World War I Shell the portrayal of exterior ailments was always and Eugenia, “examines Shock in American Culture.” Stagner’s work overshadowed by the inevitable revelation of and dismantles cultural fictions about the female investigated representations of shell shock in interior masculine heroics. These narratives body” and the trajectory of women’s lives. Locke American films, magazines, and print mediums about male heroism, she added insightfully, also focused on a reading of the sister Eugenia, whose in the aftermath of World War I. Shell shock, functioned as a cover for the ways in which the disfigurement, she argued, resisted dominant she explained, was typically categorized in symptomsPanel Rofevie shellw bshocky Vivian (behavior Davis manifesting modes of reading the body. Though in possession the period as a wide range of physical injuries mentally and physically) often shared many of an atypical body, Eugenia is of particularly and mental disturbances; however, in the characteristics with constructions of female sound mind; what’s more, Eugenia’s disability, mediums Stagner explored, shell shock was also hysteria. Ultimately, Stagner’s paper explored while suggesting her illegibility, inevitably usually represented as a curable and temporary the relationship between body, mind, and gender allows her access to educational opportunities condition that cloaked an otherwise heroic in order to provide a thorough and convincing which defy gender norms. In this sense, Locke manliness. In her analysis, Stagner revealed examination of the cultural anxieties expressed argued, Eugenia’s narrative is offered as an a pattern in which a cure for this nebulous by representations of shell shock in Post-World alternative to her sister Camilla’s limited set of cluster of ailments was usually brought about War I America. choices. The titular heroine, for example, while through a romantic narrative of courtship or Turning the conversation toward in possession of an abled, and therefore legible, love involving a wholesome and nurturing constructions of femininity and female bodies, body, must follow normative gendered plots. woman. With domestic femininity firmly the panel’s third participant, Jennifer Locke, Locke also connected constructions of gender, established as the means by which recovery Department of English, UC Irvine, delivered the body, and disfigurement with the discourse was brought about, shell shock sufferers were the paper, “Reading Female Bodies: Deformity, on fortunetelling in the eighteenth century. She then revealed to be the war heroes they had Gender and Fortunetelling in Frances Burney’s deftly framed her paper with a discussion of
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 16 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by Vivian Davis
how fortunetelling manuals manifested cultural mental instability is frequently tied to her physical by seriously considering the relationship of anxieties about gender through their connection impairment or confinement. Maple offered several disability to other identity categories, such as of women’s fates with their bodies. Burney’s examples from the novel, ranging from Esther’s race, class, gender, and sexuality, the panel’s novel, Locke argued, can be read as a challenge inability to perform in a professional capacity, papers were able to question the lines drawn to this method of reading (and in many ways, her encounters with predatory men, and her between mind and body, visibility and invisibility, controlling) women’s bodies and lives. Inevitably, trials with the institutions that seek to confine and disability and any number of other identity Locke’s paper functions as a thoughtful response and rehabilitate the mentally ill. Maple’s analysis categories. In doing so, the panelists collectively to much of the existing work on disability in highlighted the relationship between body and modeled a new and invigorating approach which eighteenth-century studies, especially from mind and addressed how the representation of could expand and enliven the field of disability scholars such as Lennard Davis and the panel’s both often circle around, at least in Plath’s work, studies. chair, Helen Deutsch, both of whom have attempts to assert control. As such, Maple agued treated the subject of disability in relation to that a feminist framework must also be married Vivian Davis is a doctoral student in the Depart- literary figures such as Samuel Johnson and to an attention to disability studies in order to ment of English at UCLA and a writer for CSW Alexander Pope. more fully assess the novel’s portrayal of a woman Update. The panel’s final paper was given by Jeni whose identity is shaped by experiences stemming Maple, Department of English, Oklahoma State from her position as both a gendered and disabled NOTES University. In “The Intersection of Feminism subject. This critical move, Maple suggested, 1. Lennard J. Davis, Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, and Disability Theory in Sylvia Plath’s The usefully aligns feminist concerns with a disability Deafness and the Body (London, New York: Verso, Bell Jar,” Maple built upon the work of scholar studies agenda. 1995) 94, 128, 142. Rosemary Garland Thompson by arguing for Ultimately, the four papers did much in the 2. Davis, Enforcing Normalcy, 12. a broadening of disability studies to include way of broadening horizons, demonstrating 3. For example, Davis’ discussion of “dismodernism” categories of mental illness. Her reading of the productivity of bringing an intersectional is buoyed by what he sees as the defining feature Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963) suggested the extent approach to bear on the study of disability. In her of disability: its instability as a category (what to which representations of mental illness are summation, Panel Chair Helen Deutsch suggested Davis reads as radical possibility). Lennard often hinged on also representing the body’s that disability often served as the “margin beyond J. Davis, Bending Over Backwards: Disability, debilitation. For example, throughout the course the margin,” the rhetorical ground against Dismodernism, and Other Difficult Positions (New of The Bell Jar, the central character Esther’s which other identities are constituted; however, York: New York University Press, 2002) 22.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 17 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by Jonathan Cohn
Cyberlicious with a Byte
s the title of this panel suggests, these papers and Guattari point out that people are made up one to actively play with one’s identity, there are Alargely dealt with the strong and often of an endless number of virtual personae and still limits to exploring alternative personae. For playful effect of cybernetics and cyberspace possibilities, and by performing these different example, statistics show that few men choose on the ways we conceive of gendered and personae, we are actively experimenting with to play a woman in the game, and most women queer bodies. It is also fitting that the title different ways of representing ourselves. This choose to play a male character. Mostly through uses the slightly dated term “cyber” instead pre-digital idea is particularly resonant with interviews with players, Kavetsky presented a of “new media” or “digital,” as James Hixon both the age of the avatar, and the queer number of possibilities for why this might be started the panel with a paper on the genealogy body—a body that actively investigates its own the case. She found that women often do not of information studies and its continual potentialities—a body without organs. As such, want to have to deal with sexism or gender issues focus on its relationship to the body. Titled Hixon helpfully pointed out that digital media while playing the game. On the other hand, “Bodies Into Bits: A Reparative Approach to often encourages people to rethink and reform those men who choose to have their avatars be Informationalizing the Body,” Hixon’s paper their bodies and subjectivities as bodies curvy females often do so specifically because discussed such luminaries as Claude Shannon, without organs. they want to look at something “pleasant” (that Warren Weaver, and Katherine Hayles, with Hixon’s presentation is, sexually stimulating) as they play. In her the main thrust of his argument addressing the flowed well into Jennifer research, Kavestsky also interestingly found that works of Gille Deleuze and Felix Guattari. In Kavetsky’s “There’s No males who created female avatars were more Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus, as Hixon Crying in WoW: Gender often than not adolescent boys playing the game eloquently described, Deleuze and Guattari and the Gaze in World of for the first time, and if they begin to play the break down some of the central issues of digital Warcraft,” a paper on how game more seriously, they often cast aside their culture and embodiment through an exploration gender is figured into the female avatars for ones which look more serious of the similarities between the natural body and creation and choosing of (that is, manly). As a result, these beautiful information. Hixon’s discussion focused on the avatars in this extremely female avatars are often castigated in high- “body without organs,” a phrase used to describe popular male-dominated level and end-game raiding as these particular the virtual dimensions of the body. Deleuze online game. While digital media may encourage aesthetic decisions are a marker of players who
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are not serious game players.While there are CrashPadSeries.com, an lgbtq porn website, in different things as you possibly can at once. The many ways to design an avatar’s appearance, their paper, “Fluid Sexualities and Blurred Gen- actors in CrashPadSeries.com treat queer per- Kavetsky importantly points out that many of derLines?: Mapping Sex, Sexuality and Gender formativity as a competition; while they all seem these choices depend on gender. Without an in Online Queer Pornography.” This website to be queer, some are perhaps more queer than obvious way to make a queer avatar in the game, includes photos, videos, and an ongoing episodic others. Ultimately, there seems to be a desire to the identity roles available are greatly reduced. porn series which features a plethora of sexual become the most queer person of all. To compound matters, while the female avatars practices and pleasures. The site actively puts After the panel, moderator Victoria Vesna, have obvious feminine physical characteristics, itself in contrast to other lesbian and gay porn a professor in the Department of Design and such as a large bust and often an hour-glass sites, which feature straight porn actors who are Media Arts at UCLA, asked the panel, and frame, the male characters are for the most part only showing off alternative sexualities for an specifically Hixon, how they thought Deleuze very boxy, with only their giant arm muscles implied male audience’s pleasure. The people and Guattari’s model of queerness might be giving away their hyper-masculinities. The on this site are supposedly not “real actors” and best expressed in a digital space. This question avatars’ gendered characteristics simply repeat all identity themselves as queer. These people prompted a lively debate, and the idea of using the sexist ideology that while men are supposed are as interested in pleasuring themselves and the morphing body/avatar to explore and to be active and powerful, women (and their experiencing their queer sexualities as they are in express digital hybrid identities was thought avatar/cyber analogs) are still structured as only giving a queer spectator pleasure. Hidalgo and of as having potential promise. With the body being useful as (cyberlicious) eye candy. Royce focused on an episode featuring Shawn constantly in flux and morphing from one image and Jiz, two people whom the site refers to as to another, this digital body could be seen as an “authentically queer.” In a behind the scenes aesthetic expression of a queer performativity—a interview, a female actor expresses a great deal performativitity that is always potentially present of excitement when learning that they will be within the realm of the virtual and the cyber. shooting a male on female sex scene, an experi- ence she has never had before. This raises serious Jonathan Cohn is a doctoral student in the De- questions about what a capitalist or commodi- partment of Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA. fied queerness looks like. The utopian value of He is currently interested in issues pertaining to Deleuze and Guattari’s “body without organs” auto-spectatorship, and he has published papers on gets inverted in such scenarios when queerness podcasting and video games. In contrast to World of Warcraft, Danielle Hi- becomes not just about being many different dalgo and Tracy Royce outlined their research on things at once, but also about being as many
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 19 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by T-KAY Sangwand
Pornography After theand FeminismSex Wars
y deconstructing filmic representations, Osolinsky showed that feminism(s)’ relation interdependent kinds Bfeminist theoretical formations, and to pornography is always in a constant state of experiences that are the intersections of race, class, and gender, of becoming. However, she also noted that often hard to distinguish the provocative panel, “Pornography and within this formation process there is little from one another. Feminism: After the Sex Wars,” reached examination of the disconnect between Films like the 1996 film beyond the anti-porn/sex-positive dichotomy the rhetoric and the embodied experience adaptation of Joyce to theorize feminism and pornography’s of pornography. Rather than focusing on Carol Oates’ novel, complex relationship. The panel, comprised of dominant culture’s readings of pornography Foxfire: Confessions members of UC Santa Cruz’s Feminism and that re-inscribe heterosexist gender relations of a Girl Gang reflect Pornography Research Cluster, featured Allison and the victimization of women, Osolinsky this close connection. Day (Linguistics), Katie Kanagawa (Literature), proposed using Eve Sedgwick’s concepts Presenting the pro-sex position as a revision Lulu Meza (Sociology), Lydia Osolinsky of paranoid and surprise readings to probe and not a wholesale rejection, of the anti-porn (Politics), and Natalie Purcell (Sociology). The this disconnect and uncover the subversive position, Kanagawa explicitly discussed these panel was moderated by Professor H. Marshall possibilities of pornography and the agency of positions not as alternatives or oppositions but as Leicester, faculty advisor for the Feminism and its subjects. closely related, mutually informative discourses. Pornography Research Cluster. Following in this vein, Katie Kanagawa’s Returning to feminist theoretical formations, In her presentation, “History in the Making: presentation, “‘FOXFIRE REVENGE!: Natalie Purcell presented “A Materialist Feminism’s Second-Wave Sex Wars and the Feminist Avengers Revisit the ‘Wars’ Over Analysis of Feminist Discourse on Pornography.” Politics of Remembering,” Lydia Osolinsky Sex and Imagery,” was centrally concerned Engaging the audience with quotes from Annie proposed alternative theoretical approaches to with producing a feminist approach that does Sprinkle (Hardcore from the Heart, 2006) and the pro/anti-sex debates that emerged during not consider subjectification or subjugation, Andrea Dworkin (“Against the Male Flood: the feminist sex wars of the 1970s and 1980s. empowerment or victimization, as opposite Censorship, Pornography and Equality,” 1985), Presenting the narratives of the debates as well or alternative kinds of experiences. Instead, two prominent figures from the pro-sex and as how they have been subsequently described, she argued they are intimately related, anti-pornography camps, respectively, Purcell
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demonstrated that both works have the power sex toys and sex with strap-ons, Day showed how pornography. Meza observes that despite the to evoke affective responses from the reader, penetration in queer pornography divorces sexual film’s hypersexualization of the woman for her despite their opposing theoretical orientations. desire and dominance from males and destabilizes ethnicity and the accordant assumptions of her She then questioned how to link the affective notions of power between genders. While roles of “exotic-ness” and sexual availability, the woman with the material as well as how to define the domination and submission remain, they are not still managed to exercise agency and authorship material, particularly within pornography. While tied to gender and/or anatomy. Day also pointed through her gaze and overall presence in the film. anti-pornography feminists often conflate out that the cum shot, one of the most powerful After identifying both hypersexuality and agency, pornographic fantasy with reality, pro-sex symbols of male dominance within mainstream Meza spoke of yearning for better representations feminists attempt to preserve the fantasy with pornography, is noticeably absent within queer and realities for women of color. She proposed reality. In order to escape the limitations of porn. Instead of a clear or definitive climax, that by locating and representing women of both, Purcell offered Karen Barad’s notions of queer pornography features multiple orgasms, color’s joys, pleasures, and empowerment, there materialist feminism which joins the discursive acts of affection, and other acts of pleasure and lies great potential for forming new subjectivities with the material as well as the personal with desire that vary widely. The lack of a clear climax and crafting new knowledges. the relational. While there are increased risks also destabilizes positions of dominance and As these presentations demonstrate, feminisms’ in vulnerability by creating this aperture in submission that are tied to traditional gender relation to pornography is neither singular nor feminism’s pro/anti-pornography discussion, roles in mainstream pornography. Through static. Through critical, self-reflexive inquiry and there is also the great potential for developing thoughtful and critical analysis, Day demonstrated analysis, feminisms’ dialog with pornography (and more complex and robust theories on feminisms’ pornography’s radical and healing potential and arguably other forms of sex work) and sexuality relation to pornography. the importance of defending the medium for its will outgrow dichotomous pro/anti approaches In “Diversifying Pornography,” Allison Day possibilities. and further explore and theorize the complexities, queered the discussion by analyzing the new The final panelist, Lulu Meza, presented contradictions, and embodied experiences of significations that penetration presents in queer/ “Women of Color, Hypersexuality, and Porn.” women and pornography. lesbian pornography. If the act of penetration is Opening her presentation, Meza shared a personal mapped to dominance and power, and mainstream anecdote of watching a pornographic film T-Kay Sangwand recently graduated from UCLA’s pornography maps power to traditional gender featuring a woman of color that left her feeling joint master’s degrees program in Information Studies roles, does penetration in queer pornography still both disturbed and intrigued. She terms these and Latin American Studies. She is currently the represent dominance when it is divorced from conflicting feelings a “productive perversity,” one Human Rights Archivist at the University of Texas males? Giving examples of penetration divorced worth exploring in attempts to create critical at Austin. from a male penetrator, such as masturbation with new subjectivities for women of color within
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 21 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by Leila Pazargadi
Leila Pazargadi From Our Doorstep Contemporary Politics
s the Obamas settle into Washington a back and forth assessment of the campaign Aand the excitement of the election finale strategies of Democratic candidates Barack fades, many pundits, voters, and academics are Obama and Hillary Clinton. In so doing, she attempting to make sense of the political debacle attempted to neutralize issues concerning party that was Election 2008. It was very timely that at differences, instead focusing her discussion on this past February’s Thinking Gender conference gender differences and the subsequent current at UCLA, one set of panelists discussed of sexism running throughout the election. By contemporary American politics, with special analyzing the media headlines, news stories, attention to the linguistic and visual elements and campaign strategies, Avineri discerned that that both the candidates and media manipulated the media representations of each candidate to influence voters. Presenters from the panel could be broken down into the following five entitled, “From Our Doorstep: Contemporary themes: “fighting and competition,” “emotions, language. For example, they described Clinton Politics,” moderated by UCLA Professor Juliet personality, and temperament,” “being ‘real,’” as engaging in “trench warfare” with a “slashing Williams, spoke about current issues ranging and “independence and guilt.” By comparing the campaign” that was “bruising the Democratic from the media’s portrayal of the election, to portrayal of each candidate in these categories, Party.” Avineri maintained that these differences the emergence of neoconservative feminism Avineri attributed gender differences to the were due to gender differences that held Hillary resulting from Sarah Palin’s nomination, to the media’s privileging of Obama over Clinton Clinton to a higher standard than Barack confrontation of America’s occupation in Iraq. during the campaign. As an example, she spoke Obama. By presenting these categories of From a linguistic perspective, UCLA Applied about the theme of “fighting and competition.” the media’s portrayal of Obama and Clinton, Linguistics scholar, Netta Avineri, jump-started The media positively described Obama and his Avineri provided her audience with an the panel with her talk, “Language and Gender: campaign as “tougher” and “a fierce competitor,” innovative look at the gender bias of the election The Mass Media’s Portrayal of Two U.S. whereas in reference to Clinton and her from a linguistic perspective. What could have Presidential Candidates.” Avineri conducted strategies, the media used more combative been better developed was her inclusion of race.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 22 CSupdateW toc Panel Review by Leila Pazargadi
By focusing her case study solely on the gender Another what many onliners were asking: “Is Sarah differences between Obama and Clinton, she panelist, John Farrell Palin a feminist?” Kelley concluded his talk by omitted critical race issues. If she had compared Kelley, a scholar in questioning the so-called feminist platform Clinton to McCain, for instance, she might have English at the University that Palin had been invoking throughout been able to discuss white privilege as well. of Alaska, remarked her campaign, one which simply recycled Like Avineri, Laurel Peacock, a literary that many women from neoconservative values. scholar from UC Santa Cruz, also discussed the his home state, Alaska, To conclude the panel, Susan MacDougal, a strategic use of emotion during the campaign. approved of Sarah Palin, Near Eastern Studies scholar at the University of She reviewed the instances that Clinton was stating, “I want her Arizona, finished the discussion of contemporary called “overly emotional” and considered the watching my kids.” In his talk “Be Afraid: Sarah American politics by evaluating the language ramifications for women. Peacock displayed a Palin and the Emergence of a Neoconservative concerning the American occupation of Iraq. network’s recap of the Vice Presidential debates Feminist Standpoint,” he investigated the She specifically discussed the framing of the using MSInteractive’s “Perception Analyzer,” changing ideologies of liberal feminists who war, which shifted from the threat of nuclear a device which measured the positive and are beginning to include neoconservative weapons to the liberation of Iraqi women. By negative responses of 32 undecided, mixed- perspectives within their feminisms. Kelley evaluating memoirs and blogs, MacDougal gender, Ohio voters. During the Biden/Palin noticed that many women were mistaking Palin’s investigated the writings of modern Iraqi faceoff, lines gauging the emotion of audience portrayal of über-femininity as feminism and women who are remembering life before and members streamed across the bottom of the that they were substituting appearance and the after the invasion. She made reference to Nadje screen like the electric currents of a heart ability to go head to head with a man as feminist Al-Ali’s What Kind monitor. The “Perception Analyzer Dial” was qualities. As liberal feminists advocate equal of Liberation?: Women used to anticipate the reactions of undecided rights, they push for the idea that women must and the Occupation of voters; however, like many bloggers and critics of “have every opportunity that a man has,” which Iraq (2009), a new these superficial technological advents, Peacock according to Kelley, signals the emergence of a book that investigates questioned the usefulness of the dial and what new feminism that is really an “anti-feminism.” the organization and it was meant to evaluate, as it seemed to reify By analyzing numerous blogs, articles, and progress of women’s Palin’s strategy of appealing to women voters. rhetoric written about Sarah Palin’s perception movements in Iraq throughout the election, Kelley reiterated from the 1940s to
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the present day. By doing so, MacDougal touched upon the various policies regarding women’s social mobility before the invasion and after, while also addressing the interference of liberal feminists who seek to supposedly “liberate” Iraqi women according to American values. I especially enjoyed MacDougal’s talk, because she spoke about the rising trend of Iraqi women’s memoirs in the market, a critical move which mirrors my own project of investigating the life narratives of Muslim immigrant writers in the US and Europe. Her findings corroborated mine, which demonstrate how the market has been sensationalizing Muslim women’s memoirs. By recycling orientalist stereotypes of the downtrodden Muslim women, some memoirs justify the colonizing mission, which operates on the platform that indigenous women are in need of saving by the so-called wisdom of the West.
Leila Pazargadi is currently a graduate student in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA with a concentration in Women’s Studies. Pazargadi focuses on Muslim women’s life writing and issues of immigration, exile, and diaspora, especially as they pertain to the social positioning of women. She engages in texts written in English, Persian, and French, in order to conduct research on the identity politics of third world women writers relo- cating to the U.S., U.K., and France.
TG09 SPECIAL ISSUE on THINKING GENDER 2009 24 CSupdateW toc TG09 VIDEOCASTS
NOW AVAILABLE ON THE CSW WEBSITE!
All these Thinking Gender presentations are Sisters Negotiating Modernity Through the pore’s First All-Female Mount Everest Team, now available for viewing on our website. Body, 1933-39, Elizabeth Dilkes Mullins Tan Leng Goh The Malleable Man: The International YMCA ‘Can You Say Fore?’: The Legal Implications of PLENARY SESSION : Changing the (his) and Christian Manhood, 1890-1940, Paul the LPGA’s Proposed English Rule and Apply- Story: Women in Film and Television Schwinn ing Title VII in Non-Traditional Employment Relationships, Philip L. Stutzman Mis-Remembering Lucille Kallen: The Erased SESSION 2: Curricular Politics Bodies, Gender and Social Structure: The Box- Career of Your Show of Shows’ Lone Woman ing Gym as Microcosm, Elise Paradis Writer, Felicia D. Henderson Abstinence makes the State Grow Stronger: Moderator Response, Toby Miller Collaborative Film Authorship: Writing Latinas The Politics of Sex Education in Croatia, Joan into the Picture, Mirasol Riojas Budesa SESSION 4: Performative Aggression Making the Cut: Female Editors and Represen- Mandatory Diversity Education with No Paren- tation in the Film and Media Industry, Julia tal Opt-Out, Danielle Nicole Dubé Gender Jammer: A Multimedia Exploration of Wright Narratives of Resistance: Kenyan Massai Roller Derby as Performative Transgression, Schoolgirls Make Themselves, Heather Switzer Sarah McCullough and Denise Green SESSION 1: In the World but not of it: Whose Gender?: Exploring Representations in ‘It’s Turning Into a Dance’: Locating and Gender and Spirituality Kenyan Social Studies Textbooks, Kim Foulds Valorizing Femininity in Capoeira Angola, Ana Paula Höfling In the Beginning, There Was Rhythm: Embodi- SESSION 3: Shove, Swing, Summit: Translatress, Translator, Translation, Miriam ment, Divinity and Punk Rock Spirituality in Women and Sports Margala (read by Vivian Davis) the Music of The Slits, Alexandra Apolloni Performing Militarized Moral Citizenship: The Pain, Desire, and Unattainable Ecstasy in Alba Shoves and Kisses: Female Athleticism in Minutemen, Katie Oliviero Tressina’s Vulnerasti cor meum, Lindsay John- All-Female, Amateur Roller Derby, Jennifer D. son (with Elisabeth Le Guin on cello) Carlson ‘In the World but not of it’: Adrian Dominican SWET for the Summit: Exploration of Singa-
25 TG09 STAFF
UCLA Center for the Study of Women CSW Update is published monthly during the academic DIRECTOR Kathleen McHugh Professor, English and Cinema and Media Studies year. UCLA faculty, staff, and students are welcome to sub- ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Juliet Williams Associate Professor, Women’s Studies mit articles for inclusion. If you have questions, please ASSISTANT DIRECTOR April de Stefano, Ph.D. email the publications staff at FINANCIAL MANAGER Van DoNguyen [email protected]
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STUDENT ASSISTANTS Jonathan Cohn, Sarah Cho, Chelsey Crowley, Sarah Cho, Vivian Davis, Rebecca Dean, Vivian Davis, Rebecca Dean, Corella Di Fede, Laura Katie Shields, and Marjan Yahyanejad Enriquez, Andrey Gordienko, Ayla Harrison, James Hixon, Jenny Kim, Jennifer McGee, Jennifer Moorman, Alfonso Orozco, Adrienne Posner, Mirasol Riojas, Ben Sher, Katie Shields, and Marjan Yahyanejad CAMPUS ADDRESS 1500 Public Affairs Building 722203 MAILING ADDRESS UCLA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN Box 957222 Los Angeles, CA 90095-7222 PHone/FAX 310 825 0590 / 310 825 0456 EMAIL [email protected]
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