Protection Post #1 --Marcus Allen

          Awareness is the first step to remedy a problem. Not being part of a protected class of the U.S. constitution is a pretty serious matter. In a way it says those individuals do not pass as a United States citizen.  I have linked a YouTube video that shows just how negligent the country's officials are toward this matter. Here is the description: City Councilwoman Karen Goldner pulled the transgender protection bill from the table Tuesday night because she says there weren't enough people on council who cared. This is from 2010.

Transgender protection bill put on hold

--Marcus Allen

Protect these people! Intro from Marcus Allen

Hello all, my name is Marcus Allen and I have decided to publish blogs on gender identity awareness and protection. So, just let me ask this question: What justifies hate crimes? Who is even protected from them? There is still much work to be done protecting everyone from hateful violence. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has heavily influenced the way that courts determine the protected groups under discrimination laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents discrimination in educational facilities and public workplaces. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a person may not be discriminated against due to the following:

• Age
• Pregnancy
• National Origin
• Race
• Ethnic Background
• Religious Beliefs
• Sexual Orientation

Gender Identities are not listed in this group. Therefore, if someone is victimized on basis of gender, it is not a valid claim. Awareness is the first step to solution.

--Marcus Allen

Third Article Review Kassandra Barber

Kassandra Barber

WGST 202

T/Th 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Rights Movement

Joke Swiebel (2009) Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights: the search for an international strategy, Contemporary Politics, 15:1, 19-35

            I am reviewing an article by Joke Swiebel titled “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights: the search for an international strategy.”  The author's main point in the article is explaining why the EU (European Union) is so involved with the LGBT rights movement, and why exactly the UN (United Nations) deflected the LGBT communities campaign for equal rights.

            The author begins to break down why it is that the International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to listen to what they have to say.  Swiebel talks about the social movement theory which will help to better understand how it is that INGOs have the ability to raise awareness about the LGBT community.  The author points out that it’s much easier to communicate with the EU, and very difficult to get through to the UN.  This mainly stems from cultural and religious views of the UN’s main members. 

            Swiebel then moves on to describe the “agenda-setting model” (Swiebel 20).  First, the movement (LGBT) must gain access to the organization (EU), which they successfully did.  Next, they  have to present the issue in a way that the International Organization feels they will be able to contribute to it.  In other words, they want some form of credit for what’s about to happen.  Third, they must make sure that the issue at hand is put into the agenda that the organization will be going over.  After that the issue must be broken down in to demands that ultimately need to be fulfilled.  And as the last step, LGBT should make sure that they have political support so ensure that what they are demanding actually has a surviving chance to come to fruition.  These are the five steps that are crucial for the movement to really make a stride with the European Union.  Swiebel also points out that in order for a movement to really get the ball rolling, they really have to know the “rules of the game” (Swiebel 21). 

            The author then dives into the history of the LGBT rights movement and the European Union.  This helps to understand exactly why the LGBT community had an easier time coming through and making strides with the EU.  The push for LGBT rights started with the EU in 1980s.  The movement initially started off with bringing attention to discrimination against homosexuals in employment (Swiebel 22).  By the 1990s the movement had access to European Parliament and the European commission, which was very important.  In 1997, the movement made great strides.  An article was passed that actually exceeded the expectations for the labor market.  One of these stipulations involved sexual orientation.  This means that the LGBT community cannot be discriminated against at a place of employment because of their sex or gender. 

            The next section breaks down how difficult it really is for the LGBT to get through to the UN.  As stated before the UN did not want to budge on where it stood with the LGBT rights movement.  Due to the cultural and religious views of some of the members, it was very difficult to make any sort of stride with the United Nations.  However, a sliver of progress was made, and a sliver is not an exaggeration.  This occurred when a Dutch Junior Minister, that just so happened to be a woman, decided to present a case for lesbian rights in front of her fellow members of the UN.  In light of the occurrence, the LGBT community was granted speaking rights during UN conferences. This doesn’t necessarily mean that anything was going to be truly taken into consideration about the issue.  The movement for LGBT rights  has definitely made some progress within the EU but as far as the UN id concerned the issued is planted right where it stands.  With the European Union, the LGBT community has better structure, and people with an “in” to the EU that people supported the movement.  What really hurt the LGBT movement as far as the UN is concerned is the serious lack of political support. 

            This article relates to my blog topic because it deals heavily with the LGBT rights movement overseas.  The movement isn’t just happening in the United States, which is what makes this article important to my topic because it shows that this movement is a concern all over the world.  This article and my previous article called “Voting Behaviour among the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered electorate” by Andrea M.L. Brown, Steven D. Kay, and J. Barry, relate to each other because both  of them deal with how other governments or organizations deal with the growing issue of the LGBT rights movement. Although the second article touches base on Canada and this one connects with the EU and the UN.  I think it’s comforting to know that the LGBT rights movement is making some sort of progress at an international level, sure things won’t happen right away but even the baby steps in the rights movement throughout the world make a difference to the community.  I don’t feel that there is anything that the author left unaddressed; I think that Joke Swiebel did a very good job breaking down the differences between the EU and UN and how the movement is making progress with at least one Intergovernmental Organization.  

Second Article Review Kassandra Barber

Kassandra Barber

WGST 202 T/Th 9:30

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Rights Movement.

Article Review #2

Perella, Andrea M.L. Brown, Steven D. Kay, Barry J. "Voting Behaviour among the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Electorate." Canadian Journal of Political Science 45.1 (2012): 89-117. Print.

                I am reviewing the article titled “Voting Behaviour among the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Electorate”.  This article was written by multiple authors whose names are Andrea M.L. Perella, Steven D. Brown, and Barry J. Kay. The authors which focus on LGBT people they tend to side with and why.  This article is about the GLBT community of Canada.  This article compares a lot of its data to the data that the United States.

                One of the most interesting facts that I discovered while reading this article was that Canada does not refer to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community as the LGBT community as the United States does, but as the GLBT community instead. The first topic they discuss is that the GLBT community has focused on in the aspect of political research which mostly included equal rights, identity, as well as how the GLBT movement has progressed throughout history (Parella, Brown, Barry 90).  This section goes on to point out that the GLBT community in Canada is extremely understudied.  It’s very hard to gather data on the community without having a national comparison.  Canada mostly uses data that the United States has gathered to base theirs off of.  An interesting point that this section makes is that the United States LGBT community is mostly Democrat (Parella, Brown, Barry 91).  Some say it’s because of the advancement of human rights fight that the democrats have pushed for.  It’s also clear that Democrats are much more understanding of the GLBT community as a whole.  This section then goes on to break the discussion down into males and females and how they tend to vote right or left.  Why does this happen? It’s because males and females are raised with different values, as well as a different way to think and act. 

                In the next section of the article the authors discuss what makes the GLBT community stand out.  Or in other words, that makes them a community so to speak.  This is not addressing the fact that obviously, being a member of the community means that one is either, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender.  This is discussing what makes the majority of the community side with the left.  Before diving right into the details, one must understand that most of the GLBT community of Canada lives in urban areas with slightly lower incomes (Parella, Brown, Barry 100).  To support their idea that most of the community is democrat the authors test different areas of Canada with non-weighted data (Parella, Brown, Barry 100).  Afterward they include variables such as income but divide them into certain denominations instead of having the persons give the exact amount.  This is important because it shows the correlation between the lifestyle of the GLBT and the income they make as well as their education.  This proves that most of the GLBT lives in urban areas with slightly lower incomes.

                In the conclusion of this article the authors discuss how the GLBT community has become such an important factor in the political world.  It continues to stand that the group is fighting for their rights  the respect that they deserve as human beings. As stated before the group is severely understudied.  The article goes on to mention again that the GLBT community does have a distinctive voting pattern (Parella, Brown, Barry 110).  It states that same sex marriage and equal rights play an extremely important role in which side GLBT tends to lean to. 

                This article related to my topic because I am looking into the rights movement of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual community. It’s not difficult to see how this article relates and differs from my first article I chose to review.  My first article review was about how the Obama Administration was addressing and dealing with some of the issues the LGBT community is dealing with in the United States.  In this article the authors compare a lot of their data to that of the United States and how they have dealt with these issues.  It goes into the actual detail of voting and which political party that the GLBT community tends to side with and why that’s the case.  Both articles make it clear that the community and the movement are not receiving the attention they really need to be able to solve issues or figure out any type of answers.  I was aware that in the United States most of the LGBT communities were democrat merely because this party clearly supports the community. Both of the articles I have chosen to review thus far have shown that fighting for Gay, Bisexual, and Lesbian rights is not just a major movement in the United States but all over the world and right next door to the US in Canada.  Both articles confirm that there is a liberal side (democrats for the US, Left side for Canada) that show more support for the communities and the fight for their movement.  After reading this article I am now aware that it’s not just the LBGT community in the United States that sides this way but the GLBT community in Canada was well.  While countries have different views on most laws or a different way of handling them it seems like the communities and actions taken are very similar in both countries.  Both countries still seem to have a strong sense of homophobia, which I was also unaware of until reading this article .In conclusion I learned that both countries are very similar as far as the LGBT or GLBT communities go.  

Article Review #3 Aidan Munn

Aidan Munn

WGST 202

T/Th 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Women and Hip-Hop

Article Review #3

Hunter, Margaret; Soto, Kathleen (2009). “Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze.” 170-191.

In “Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze”, Hunter and Soto discuss how the representation of women have spiraled downward in mainstream rap music (170).  Over time, women have started wearing less clothing and doing more sexual acts in music videos. Rap music has had a trend toward pornography since the beginning, but it’s relationship has only expanded in recent years. The main point of this article is how rap music has a pornographic trend. This means that it is very sexualized in both the lyrics and the videos.

            One way the pornographic trend of rap is shown is by the lyrics. Some research has even shown that adolescents who listen to rap are at increased risk for violence, substance abuse, and risky sexual behavior (172). Not only are rap lyrics sexual, they have specific gender roles that accompany that. Many young women do not have a problem with these lyrics because they think the girls being talked about in the songs are “bad girls” while they see themselves as good girls (172). This pornographic content in rap lyrics has happened a lot more recently. Rap music has moved away from political lyrics and now focuses more on strip clubs and sex workers (173).

            Another way the pornography influences rap music is in the music videos. Some videos show a “pornographic gender relation” which includes scenes with women being sexually humiliated, used for male sexual pleasure, and exchanging money for sex (172). If you were to turn on BET or MTV you could almost be guaranteed to see a rap music video, each one more objectifying than the next (174). Seeing these half naked women in videos make them appear to the viewers to be available for sex to men and also implies a lesser worth (174).  This is because the music videos today change the whole listening experience. This is partly because women of color’s bodies are increasingly used to sell all kinds products, including popularity of a music video (174).

            This article relates a lot to my blog topic and what I have been posting about on my blog already. In one blog post, I posted a rap music video and discussed both the lyrics of it and the way the women are portrayed in the music video. This relates a lot to this article because this article discusses the pornographic nature of the lyrics and videos. In my blog post, I discuss the pornographic nature of a specific video, “Do My Dance” by Tyga. This article also relates to course themes. One course theme this article really addresses is gender discrimination. This article discusses how rap lyrics are sexist. The lyrics convey a particular gender ideology about women and also use offensive language towards women. Women are referenced and thought about a lot differently than men are. This article also relates to my previous article, “Hip-Hop Women Shredding the Veil: Race and Class in Popular Feminists Identity”. In that article, Morgan talked about women trying to break the stereotypes they have in hip-hop industry. Women is this article challenge the men and they way they are disrespected by them. This relates to the current article because it also talks about and gives examples of women empowerment. This article tells us how Queen Latifah even went as far as to make a song, “U.N.I.T.Y.” which was a response to the lyrics being made about women in rap music. The articles are also different. The previous article focuses mostly on how women are treated whereas this article talks more about how they are represented.  In the previous article,  it discusses how women are treated very differently form men based off of no fact other than that they are women. This article doesn’t focus much on how they are treated, but more on how they are seen. It focuses on how women are seen as sexual objects and the previous article focuses on how they are treated as sexual objects. The article definitely increased my knowledge about women and hip-hop, specifically the lyrics and music videos. The article taught me that regardless of the intent of the lyrics or videos, they can still be damaging to women and influence the way guys who listen or see them treat women. This article really opened my eyes to the fact that if you are being shown off as simply a sex object, people might mistake that for all you are good for. I think the author did a very good job describing this and did not leave anything unaddressed.

Article Review #2 Aidan Munn

Aidan Munn

WGST 202

T/Th 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Women and Hip-Hop

Article Review #2

Morgan, Marcyliena. (2005). “Hip-Hop Women Shredding the Veil: Race and Class in Popular Feminist Identity.” South Atlantic Quarterly 104:3 pp 425-444

In “Hip-Hop Women Shredding the Veil: Race and Class in Popular Feminist Identity,” Marcyliena Morgan brings up many points. She starts off by giving some background information about black women in history. Black women have it the worst when it comes to repression because of being both non-white and a woman. The representation and involvement of women in hip-hop has been controversial because of how it is normally a male-dominated culture. Females that are in the hip-hop world rhyme a lot about black women’s history, social life, and dreams of being treated with respect. The main point of this article is the history of black women, specifically on women in the hip-hop world and their relation to men. Women of hip-hop challenge the men and the prescribed notions of feminism.

            One way we learn about the history of black women is by how other people see and treat them. There are multiple voices and messages about what it means to be a woman and what it means to be black in relation to men. The situation for black women today is where she is routinely ridiculed for her sexuality, social class, determination, commitment to family, passion, and public displays of womanhood. They are definitely judged more than men for the things that they do. Women in the hip-hop culture are especially stereotyped. Although they are stereotyped more, they can use hip-hop as a way to display their skills as well as to present and challenge what it means to be a young black woman in America and the world.

            Another way we learn about black women MC’s is through their lyrics. Women can express themselves a lot through their lyrics. Some women sing about change and representation and some sing about being treated fair and equal. In the song “Your Revolution” by Sarah Jones, some of the lyrics are about standing up to a man such as “Your revolution will not happen between these thighs”. This lyric is a woman basically telling a man that she won’t have sex with him. In one of Queen Latifah’s songs she has the line, “Enough about myself, I think it’s time that I tell you About the evil that men do.” (437) This is a very significant line because it shows her identity as a woman of power. The things that women talk about in their rap songs are very different from what men talk about in their rap songs. Men usually talk about cheating, how great they are in bed, and how much money they have. Women talk more about the issues facing young women such as relationships, sex, desire, and friendship.

            This article definitely relates to my blog topic. My blog topic is women and hip-hop. This article focuses on the way black women are perceived and treated, especially MC’s. This article talks about how black women have been considered lower, and in some points in history they weren’t even considered to be women. Even though those times are long gone, that could still have influenced the way black women are treated today. A lot of the time, the way black women are sung about and portrayed in rap lyrics and videos are ignored, but sometimes women make a stand. Some students at Spelman College, a prominent black women’s college in Atlanta, successfully pressured the rapper Nelly to cancel an appearance their school because they found his song “Tip Drill” and its accompanying video offensive. This also relates to our course themes. One of our main course objectives is examining how one’s own gender, sexual, and racial identities relate to others. This is shown is this article between it tells how black women are treated in comparison to white women and how women in the hip-hop world are treated differently than men are.

This article also relates back to the previous article I reviewed, “Hotep and Hip-Hop: Can Black Muslim Women Be Down With Hip-Hop?” In “Hotep and Hip-Hop,” McMurray discusses black Muslim women involved in hip-hop life. The article also talks about the gender roles and different ways communities react to Muslim women going against their culture. The Muslim women going against what is normally expected of them is a lot like the women in “Hip-Hop Women Shredding the Veil” going against being just passive women. They rap about being independent women and sticking up for themselves. This article definitely added to my knowledge about the subject. I learned a lot about the construct of the hip-hop world. It definitely showed how women in hip-hop have worked to show themselves in a good light as strong, independent women. There are also differences between the two articles. In “Hotep and Hip-Hop,” it is more of a questioning of a woman’s place in the hip-hop world and how they are treated in it. In “Hip-Hop Women Shredding the Veil:…”, it is more of what women are doing to counteract the ridicule they may face or go against what is expected of them. I don’t think there is anything the author left unaddressed.

Article Review #1 Aidan Munn

Aidan Munn

WGST 202

T/Th 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Women and Hip-hop

Article Review #1

McMurray, Anaya. (2008). “Hotep and Hip-Hop: Can Black Muslim Women Be Down With Hip-Hop?” Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, volume 8, no. I, pp 74-92.

In “Hotep and Hip-Hop”, Anaya McMurray discusses Muslims of the hip-hop generation (young African Americans born between 1965 and1984) and actual black Muslim women involved in the hip-hop culture. She discusses all the different Muslim people that are involved in hip-hop life. She questions whether black Muslim women should be “down” with hip-hop based off of society, Muslim customs, and much more. Her main argument is that Muslim women in hip-hop are treated way differently than other women and especially men. This article also discusses the gender roles and the different ways the Muslim communities and communities as a whole react differently to Muslim men going against customs versus Muslim women.

            When determining if black Muslim women should be “down” with hip-hop, it is important to look at what they bring to hip-hop. It is rarely discussed what these women contribute to hip-hop culture. The typical thought of what a Muslim women would look and act like is completely different from the roles women are encouraged to play in the hip-hop industry. People think of Muslim culture they usually imagine a quiet submissive woman, body completely covered up and no make up. This is the completely opposite in the hip-hop industry. Women are in very small, skimpy outfits with lots of make up and showing off their sexuality. Both of these examples are extremes of what the reality is, so this doesn’t make it so women can’t be down with hip-hop. Not all women of Muslim religion (especially in America) are covered up in long outfits with their hair wrapped. Along those lines, not all women in the hip-hop industry have to wear demeaning skimpy clothing.

            Another reason to wonder if black Muslim women should be down with hip-hop is looking at their cultural roles and double standards. We as Americans already have different stereotypes and judgments about men and women, but it is even more extreme in the Muslim community. Part of the reason black Muslim women are not well represented in the industry is because the roles that they play are not the roles women in the hip-hop industry are encouraged to play. Muslim women’s image of being the “good girl” is being at home, submissive, and many other things. Muslim women are not supposed to be promoting things that women in the music industry are supposed to be supporting such as any type of alcohol or something sexualized. This is not a reason for them to not be down with hip-hop. You don’t have to be into all the sex things and stuff like that just to be part of the music industry. Just focus purely on your music if you don’t want to participate in the things that a typical hip-hop artist would do.

            This article relates really well to my topic. My topic is women and hip-hop in general so this definitely had a lot of information for us. They had the answers to almost all questions and did a great job keeping us involved and in conversation. This shows us a great side of hip-hop and women, specifically focusing on those of Muslim decent. This is so closely related to course themes. The biggest one I saw here was the gender roles. McMurry described how if a Muslim man were to talk about drinking, hanging out late, hanging with opposite sex, anything like that they would be high frowned upon. Although the Muslim community wouldn’t be too happy, but they would open up the door and forgiven them a lot easier than if a women hip-hop artist were to do the same thing. I am comparing and contrasting this article to the article we read in class by Cecelia Ridgeway, “Framed Before We Know It: How Gender Frames Social Relations”. One way these articles are alike is because both describe how our assumptions of how a certain group should act is based off of our cultural upbringings and the things we’ve experienced. Like in the article by Ridgeway, we don’t mean to judge people based off of their gender, but we learn these prejudices from our parents and the expectations set by society. We start making judgments and assumptions without knowing it because that’s just how we were born and then raised. A way the articles are different is because of the content. They are both about gender and gender differences, but the article by McMurray incorporates a lot more. Besides just gender, McMurray’s article also includes race and religion. It discusses how the Muslim culture and religion is extra strict on their women. Muslim women are a lot more restricted than American women are.