Culture : Space

Catcalling video: public response

 

I agree with Hanna Rosin's critique of "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman".  The video effectively makes the point that women are routinely harassed by men on the street.  However, because of poor editing choices harassment is framed as a racial issue as the majority of men featured in the video are black or Latino.  And after reading some of the YouTube comments (63K to date), some men self-identifying as white don't believe harassment on the street is a problem, because *they* don't do that!  As one commenter argued:

"Did U notice that those who "harassed" her were mostly black low-life people? I mean U should be aware that there are many different people with different cultural or other differences in attitude or manners. U can't blame all men for that. P.S. I think they were "harassing" that girl because she has a fat ass which is considered as a beauty nowadays among this group of people."

Like Rosin, I remembered the earlier video by Jessica Williams on the Daily Show, which does a great job of illustrating the extent of the problem (using a map with pins!) by featuring men, both black and white and across various socioeconomic occupations harassing a diverse group of women.

The Daily Show
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Stereotypes and Orange Is the New Black

Source: Netflix.com

 

Noah Berlastsky in the Atlantic argues that representations of men in Orange Is the New Black is inadequate considering the much higher rates of incarceration in comparison to women. In his words:

"According to Orange Is the New Black, though, men in prison are 'super-predators' while women in prison are, often, innocent victims, doomed by circumstances and their own painful but touching character flaws."

Yes, representations of men are stereotypical, primarily obsessed with power and sex (and sometimes violence) on the show.  However, while Season 2 seems to want to deal primarily with race, gender, class and inequities in the prison system, watching the show (I am only 7 episodes in) I sometimes feel like it is pandering to men, i.e., the sex scenes and depictions of inequitable relationships.  I find myself asking: "Are they trying to increase male viewership?"

So while I appreciate the diverse cast and focus on women, I find the spectacle of women trapped in prison (a key space of power and control!), shifting between empowerment and objectification, problematic as many of the sex scenes to date reinforce dominant representations of women performing sexual acts for male visual pleasure, undermining some of the noteworthy representations on the show.  

"Miss Representation"

I have been meaning to recommend the documentary film "Miss Representation" by Jennifer Lynn Siebel (available on Netflix).  The film looks at depictions of women in the media and is a good introduction to gender issues for high school and college students.