I’ve written about the intersections of folklore and sexuality in the past. Now, with the upcoming holiday season, I’d like to focus on two aspects of folklore – celebrations and rites of passage – that are both relevant and interesting to discuss, especially in light of gender and sexuality. If we define folklore as expressive culture, then most holiday celebrations are informed by and can be categorized as folklore. Whether the holidays or festivals celebrated today are sacred or secular or some mix of both, when people gather in groups they display important aspects of their identities. To be sure, holidays in America are also influenced by pop culture and the mass media, not to mention capitalism and commercialism. Continue Reading →
Jeana
Jeana Jorgensen, PhD recently completed her doctoral degree in folklore and gender studies at Indiana University. She studies fairy tales and other narratives, dance, body art, feminist theory, digital humanities, and gender identity.
Recent posts
Women’s Progress In Academia
Caroline Walker Bynum’s memoir-like essay of being a female professor in the 1960s and 1970s strikingly explains some of the cultural factors that allowed women to begin advancing in academia. At a time when women were not allowed to dine in the Harvard Faculty Club or join certain learned societies, there was of course backlash when women began breaching those bastions of old boys’ clubs. Yet as Bynum points out, “Women, who had never been in the club, didn’t notice much when it disappeared. Sometimes quietly, sometimes aggressively, they began to fill some of the few places that were available.” This is true in other spheres of society as well – and it carries warnings to women, not to get so caught up with in-fighting that we let distrust of each other weaken our already-tenuous positions. Continue Reading →
Unconscious Gender Bias Among Academics
While we may tend to think that educated and open-minded people are less likely to hold unconscious biases, a study by Yale found that scientists responded to the gender of names assigned to CVs as much as a control group did. They judged the men to be more competent candidates and deserving of higher pay. The female as well as male scientists made these assessments, demonstrating that both genders have internalized gendered values. Hopefully openly discussing the prevalence of gender bias will make people more aware of its influence on them. Follow us on Twitter @mysexprofessor. Continue Reading →
Straw Feminists: Do Feminists Really Hate Men?
The stereotype of the man-hating feminist is quite pervasive in contemporary American culture, as exemplified in this brilliant cartoon, Straw Feminists. But do feminists really hate men? How can we find out? Turns out that empirical research will go a long way toward dispelling such stereotypes. A study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly [pdf] reported on college students’ attitudes toward men, as measured with the Ambivalence toward Men Inventory (AMI). Continue Reading →
Why I Refuse To Use The Term “Pro-Life”
In light of Savita Halappanavar’s death due to being refused an abortion after miscarrying, using the term “pro-life” to mean “anti-abortion” is increasingly problematic. As therapist Lyla Cicero points out, “when a choice must be made between a mother’s life and a child’s, choosing abortion is still being pro-life, isn’t it?” Her piece on a pregnant teenager who identified as pro-life yet choose an abortion exemplifies this dilemma: the girl was choosing her life, choosing to delay having children, choosing to commit her time to working her way out of poverty. The irony, as Cicero notes, is that “The politicians who so vehemently call themselves pro-life are the same politicians who would resent [the teen mother's] living off the government.” That quote leads into the connections between pregnancy, poverty, and abuse. Continue Reading →
Larger Social Implications Of The 2012 Elections
If you check out my run-down on gender, sex, and sexuality topics that came up in the 2012 U.S. elections, there are a slew of significant things happening: women, sexual, and religious minorities are being represented greater numbers than ever before in elected positions. Male politicians who make ignorant or disparaging comments about rape (a.k.a. “Republican Rape Philosophers”) are not winning their campaigns. And so on. There are, however, a number of subtler changes that also impact sexual health – which is, no matter how you slice it, a public health issue. Continue Reading →
2012 Election Results: California Sex Laws
Last week, Californians voted on whether to make condom use mandatory in pornography shoots. Measure B passed, but remains controversial. Many adult performers believe that they already take adequate safety measures such as regular testing, and that the law only further marginalizes them. For those reasons, I prefer to hear more of their perspectives before I make up my mind on the law. In more California news (because that’s where I’m from), Prop 35 also passed, which approves harsher sentences for human trafficking. Continue Reading →
2012 Election Results: Gay and Lesbian Issues
In terms of gay rights, the 2012 election showed significant progress. In three states – Maryland, Maine, and Washington – citizens voted to allow gay marriage. Minnesota lagged a little behind, voting against a ban on gay marriage (which is not quite the same thing as legalizing it), but hey, progress is progress. Additionally, Tammy Baldwin is the first openly lesbian senator to serve in U.S. history, and Kyrsten Sinema is the first openly bi member of Congress. Hopefully more will follow in their footsteps. Continue Reading →
2012 Election Results: Women’s Issues
The 2012 U.S. elections were important for a number of reasons. From a women’s issues perspective, one of the most significant occurrences was the election of 20 female senators to Congress, the most who have ever served. Also notable is the fact that of these female officials, one is Buddhist and another is Hindu (both are the first elected senators of their religion in the U.S.). Further, some of the most notorious rape-commenting Republicans (such as Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock) have been defeated in their races. From a feminist perspective, it’s wonderful that there are more elected female officials, representing more diverse women’s experiences, and that ignorant remarks about rape are not going unnoticed. Continue Reading →
When Our Bodies Change
All human bodies go through some measure of change, because we all start as infants and, depending on factors such as life span and sex, go through a number of changes related to reproductive capacities, aging, and illness. I wonder, however, whether contemporary Western culture, with its emphasis on conformity and fashion, forces us to pay more attention to our changing bodies. If the current trend is skin-tight-whatevers, gaining or losing five pounds would make a huge difference in what you can wear. The capitalist and commercialist aspects of modern America also play a role in how we perceive our changing bodies. Try this weight-loss diet! Continue Reading →