The Roots of Lesbian and Gay Oppression: A Marxist View

 

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Wika at Katauhang Babae: Mula Mito Hanggang Panahong Moderno (Ruth Elynia Mabanglo)

“Mahalaga ang pangalan at panawag sa alinmang lipunan. Sa maraming pagkakataon, mapatutunayang nagagamit ang mga ito sa paglikom ng kapangyarihan o lakas para sa makasariling layon. Hindi mahirap unawaing nakatutulong ang panawag/diskripsyon o kasabihan at salawikain o imahen sa literatura at sining, sa pagbubuo ng tao ng sarili niyang palagay o konsepto ng kanyang sarili. Binibigyan ng kahulugan at kabuluhan ng wika ang pagkatao at katauhan ng tao. Sabi nga nina Francine Frank at Frank Ashen, ‘kung pag-aari ng pinangalanan ang pangalan, ang karapatan sa pagpapangalan ay nagtataglay ng kapangyarihang bigyang-kahulugan ang pinangalanan. Tinatalakay sa papel na ito ang ilang mga larawan at imahen ng babae na matatagpuan sa mga mito hanggang sa kasalukuyang panahon. Partikular na tinitingnan ang papel ng wika sa patuloy na pagpapanatili ng negatibong imahen na malayo sa tunay na katauhan ng babae.” (abstrak)

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Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Judith Butler)

“Ten years ago I completed the manuscript of Gender Trouble and sent it to Routledge for publication. I did not know that the text would have as wide an audience as it has had, nor did I know that it would constitute a provocative ‘intervention’ in feminist theory or be cited as one of the founding texts of queer theory.The life of the text has exceeded my intentions, and that is surely in part the result of the changing context of its reception. As I wrote it, I understood myself to be in an embattled and oppositional relation to certain forms of feminism, even as I understood the text to be part of feminism itself. I was writing in the tradition of immanent critique that seeks to provoke critical examination of the basic vocabulary of the movement of thought to which it belongs. There was and remains warrant for such a mode of criticism and to distinguish between self-criticism that promises a more democratic and inclusive life for the movement and criticism that seeks to undermine it altogether. Of course, it is always possible to misread the former as the latter, but I would hope that that will not be done in the case of Gender Trouble.” (Judith Butler’s preface to the 1999 edition)

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Fashion Models as Ideal Embodiments of Normative Identity (Patrícia Soley-Beltran)

“This paper examines fashion models as gender myths and cultural icons through a cultural history of modelling. It reveals the construction of models’ personas by the successive addition of meaningful signs: physique, manner, attitude, nationality, class, race, salary, chamaleonism, slenderness, and so on. The author argues that models’ glamour expresses economic and social power and promotes the values of consumerism, while exporting cultural ideals through visual neo-colonialism. On the basis of empirical material on models’ experiences gathered from interviews, second oral sources and autobiographical material, the author approaches models’ bodies, identities and public personas as artefacts performed through the reiteration of collectively defined gender standards and practices. This approach overcomes the contrast cast in fashion discourse between visibility/invisibility, private/public, real/unreal while disclosing the hegemonic beauty standards as fiction.” (abstract)

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Two Classics of Revolutionary Feminism

“We have written this paper to express and share with other women ideas for a new strategy for the women’s movement. Currently there are two ideological poles, representing the prevailing tendencies within the movement. One is the direction toward new lifestyles within a women’s culture, emphasizing personal liberation and growth, and the relationship of women to women. Given our real need to break loose from the old patterns–socially, psychologically, and economically–and given the necessity for new patterns in the post revolutionary society, we understand, support and enjoy this tendency. However, when it is the sole emphasis, we see it leading more toward a kind of formless insulation rather than to a condition in which we can fight for and win power over our own lives.” (from “Socialist Feminism: A Strategy for the Women’s Movement”)

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