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Lastly, I want to address the One billion rising video. That video was so empowering!!! To see all these women from difference cultures and backgrounds go threw horrible situations which happen everyday and is over looked was crazy!! To see them in the end stand up and fight back really touched my heart, it was like we are finally fighting for us, fighting for our rights!! After watching that I got excited that we are taking back our power and it made me want to get out there and be apart of this fight as well. |
Croteau: While Eve Ensler certainly has great intentions, does this video really disrupt the narrative already in place? Or does it simply appear to be offering a contradictory message but all the while serve to re-uphold dominant discourses and ideologies already in place? In order to truly challenge the hegemony we must question all assumptions we once took for granted. A video asking for the end of gendered violence is something that we should accept with open arms, or so it seems. However, do we really want to unquestionably accept such a movement that would put forth a video that has many problematic moments? We can certainly embrace this video and movement, but we should not do so without analysis. One example of problematic representation in the video is the fact that the only relationships shown are (read as) heterosexual, which completely ignores the violence that occurs in same-sex relationships. Beyond that, there is no mention of the way in which our society upholds gendered and racialized violence. Without a critique of the dominant ideologies and the structures that uphold them, how does this truly serve to disrupt what is already in place?
Wesch: If I may jump in for just a moment, I'd also like to state that this is a perfect example of why we must make the move from teaching our students to be consumers to being producers. If we recognize ourselves as more than just consumers, if we have learned the tools to analyze and criticize the information that comes our way, we will be better able to recognize what causes we really want to stand behind. We'd be able to better see when a cause/video/movement/etc may be working to further marginalize or erase the experience of marginalized groups. But, if we do not learn how to operate with an analytical eye then we may more easily fall prey to mediated images that merely seem like they are subverting the dominant culture.