CHECK OUT this link. WATCH this kickstarter video (the project has already been funded). And while you're at it, check out the rest of ANITA SARKEESIAN's website: FEMINIST FREQUENCY.
This is unreal. Shocking. Disturbing. Inspiring...
I feel the hit this woman must be taking in receiving these comments. While I receive much love and respect from women and men alike through my work with KULTUR SHOCK, there is another, very predominant side to the public position I am in as a female musician writing, recording, producing, and touring in the rock world, that all too often brings me face to face with this mentality, this language, this treatment, and these issues. Subtle or blatant - from male sound engineers who ignore me, to women who question/judge/make fun of the hair on my legs and my choice not to hide it, to audience members who think shoving a camera up my skirt while I'm performing is their right - the danger is the same.
The most disturbing part? Even though these comments (a reflection of comments/messages/interactions that I receive/experience on an almost daily basis ranging from subtly subversive and objectifying to wildly offensive and inappropriate) are so clearly hateful and illustrate the exact points SARKEESIAN is making, I can still observe a convolution within myself at the level of internal reaction as to their validity - their 'right' and 'wrong.' If I wear a tight skirt, is it my fault? Am I 'asking' for it? As soon as I let myself even ask those questions, the answers scream back, but clearly something remains unresolved at a deep level in even needing to ask...
PROGRAMMING. It is a huge player in this game. And in my opinion, at the root of why in 2012, we are still dealing with these issues so predominantly. The external manifestations may have changed since the days of MADMEN, but the fundamental issues remain and the subtle, unconscious ways they are perpetuated are almost more dangerous then the obvious and irrefutable.
At the moment, I'm not even necessarily talking about the pop-culture/media/advertising worlds (which are clearly HUGE components in the orchestration, perpetuation, and shaping of this mentality). I'm talking about the roles we continue to carry out even as we actively speak out and fight against them. I'm talking about the thoughts we continue to have in the privacy of our own minds, unaware of their toxicity and implications, because they are that deeply embedded into our social/cultural norms and belief systems. I'm talking about the difference between the advancements at the surface level of our minds that have given women a lot of power and freedom to choose their path and explore it as any man could, and the reactions against this that continue to surface from the depths - surprising us, driving us, holding us back. I'm talking about my personal beliefs that strongly expand the most common definitions of physical beauty to include leg hair on a woman and my gut reactions of disgust or embarrassment in seeing it on myself.
These are the real dangers - the aspects of internal programming that have been formed and shaped at such a deep level, they haven't caught up with the changes in our personal belief systems. Lurking in the shadows at the unconscious levels of reaction, they keep us from truly moving forward. They keep us silent, they make us hostile, they keep us accepting and acting out the same patterns. And when I say "us" in this context, I mean all of us - men and women, equally. We are all contributing to the continued acceptance and perpetuation of these issues. It is what SARKEESIAN is addressing through analyzing women's roles in pop culture and it is what I am working to address through my research, writing, making, and performing.
PROGRAMMING. It is a huge player in this game. And in my opinion, at the root of why in 2012, we are still dealing with these issues so predominantly. The external manifestations may have changed since the days of MADMEN, but the fundamental issues remain and the subtle, unconscious ways they are perpetuated are almost more dangerous then the obvious and irrefutable.
At the moment, I'm not even necessarily talking about the pop-culture/media/advertising worlds (which are clearly HUGE components in the orchestration, perpetuation, and shaping of this mentality). I'm talking about the roles we continue to carry out even as we actively speak out and fight against them. I'm talking about the thoughts we continue to have in the privacy of our own minds, unaware of their toxicity and implications, because they are that deeply embedded into our social/cultural norms and belief systems. I'm talking about the difference between the advancements at the surface level of our minds that have given women a lot of power and freedom to choose their path and explore it as any man could, and the reactions against this that continue to surface from the depths - surprising us, driving us, holding us back. I'm talking about my personal beliefs that strongly expand the most common definitions of physical beauty to include leg hair on a woman and my gut reactions of disgust or embarrassment in seeing it on myself.
These are the real dangers - the aspects of internal programming that have been formed and shaped at such a deep level, they haven't caught up with the changes in our personal belief systems. Lurking in the shadows at the unconscious levels of reaction, they keep us from truly moving forward. They keep us silent, they make us hostile, they keep us accepting and acting out the same patterns. And when I say "us" in this context, I mean all of us - men and women, equally. We are all contributing to the continued acceptance and perpetuation of these issues. It is what SARKEESIAN is addressing through analyzing women's roles in pop culture and it is what I am working to address through my research, writing, making, and performing.
As I search for effective, non-aggressive ways of calling out and clearly communicating these issues - and how we as a global community can shift them - I take great inspiration in the discovery of this woman and her work. Let us all lead by example and non-aggressively attack these issues at their core with TRUTH.
ANITA SARKEESIAN - THANK YOU.
