So, as most people who know me know, I come from a cultural studies and critical theory perspective, which continues to be one of the greatest influences in how I view the world. I also firmly believe that a critical perspective, one that deconstructs the normative frameworks of different individuals who are differently positioned within society (usually by gender, race, and/or sexuality) is a crucial foundation that should be taught in, erm, kindergarten.
That being said, my current work, while informed by a critical/cultural perspective, deviates from said perspective. This happened for a few different reasons. I want to outline the frustrations I have with how I have seen research and issues approached from this perspective, which are admittedly more deconstructive in itself than constructive, but here goes. We can also call this, giving credit to straight white men who deserve it. I'm also giving fair warning that this is a bit brain vomity.
The biggest value that I feel a critical/cultural perspective provides is teaching people/students to think about the world in a different way. I feel this is the singular most valuable thing that this perspective brings, and it is one of the most valuable things I feel a member of any given society should be equipped with (which is so not the case). Beyond that, however, it seems like this particular perspective finds mostly flaws and lacks. When my work was firmly rooted in cultural studies, I found it hard to answer the question, "So you have all these problems. We have a patriarchal society, and even women in powerful positions still
fall victim to normalized gender roles. What is your solution and how can you realistically get there?" And I often was unable to provide a satisfactory answer. Satisfactory even to myself.
And a bit part of the problem is a temporal one (of course, I would think this way). Because of a certain, um, lack in our primary education system to effectively and adequately teach us about difference and about how "normal" is a constantly moving target, and the hegemonically patriarchal and white and heteronormative world in which we live, we carry this patriarchal, heteronormative, white-normative world view for the first several years, if not decades of life, until we decide to start the journey toward educating ourselves.
This process of education often happens in college, and if, like myself, you make bad life decisions, continues in graduate school. Herein lies the problem. College is a temporally restricted period in one's life. One class on cultural studies may not completely change the world view. There seems to be an expectation of cultural studies folks (and I am guilty of this myself) of wanting quick change, of a sincere hope of, "if I just explain this to a person, they will understand and change their behaviors and their attitudes in their life, diminish actions and words that will reinforce differences in power between different groups of people - women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, etc etc etc." I find this very idealistic. It is one thing to lay out facts, it is quite another to tell someone that their world view thus far is lacking. It's not surprising that accepting that the world view one grew up with (especially if one is of a privileged group or class) is deeply flawed
takes time. That's step one - an acceptance that one's world view is flawed. And this, admittedly is probably the most important step. I mean, if everyone could *poof* suddenly become aware and realize that these differences in power exist, that if you are a white, male, you move through the world very differently than a woman of color, we'd be in great shape. But the first step takes time. Often more time than people spend in college, so that we are hard pressed to educate people as to the next step, which is translating that knowledge into action. This already does happen to an extent - many activist movements, protests, discussions and discourse, happen on college campuses. Many activists who are working for social change are right out of college, before they get sucked back into the capitalist machine, or just realize that an apartment, food, pets, and babies can be really expensive. I hate the disillusionment that, in a sad way, seems almost inevitable for the vast majority of people, yet this seems to be the reality of the world we live in. Provided these educated people don't stop being educated and being sucked back into a normative world view, the next step is to moderate the conversations, to take a more nuanced look at the rupturing of that world view. Because, at the end of the day (and this is where I get frustrated with cultural studies), we live in a real world, and these power dynamics are real. It is one thing to sit around with others who share your world view and gripe about how awful patriarchy is, how awful white superiority and normalcy is, how awful heteronormativism is, and how the world
should be such and such way, how men shouldn't want to go to strip clubs for bachelor parties because that act objectifies women, how awful it is that men catcall women on the street, how black men shouldn't be incarcerated at an astronomically higher rate than white men (
more here on white privilege), how LGBTQ individuals shouldn't have to hide their sexual orientation or avoid the topic of their love life at work. Of course, of course, and absolutely of course. And yet, I can't help but feel like there's no roadmap to get there...and that's disheartening for me. And, I have also talked to friends who recognize just how difficult it is to get to where we want to go, who just want to give up, to stop engaging with people who have not quite stepped out of a normalized viewpoint, or who are utterly unwilling to entertain the thought that the cultural structures that frame their world might be flawed.
Does this mean we stop fighting? Of course not. The cyclical process of educating the next incoming batch of college freshmen, changing their hearts and minds, and having them graduate into the world with the hopes of translating education into behavioral changes on a micro level is imperative. It keeps us from not regressing as a society, hopefully. It keeps us treading water. But how do we move things forward?
I find the recent LGBTQ movement a useful example of how something does move forward, even though legislation can be surprisingly easy to influence in comparison to massive cultural shifts in framing. If it were up to LGBTQ people, and only LGBTQ people to vote for marriage equality, it would never have passed. The reason why marriage equality passed is because we had allies. Tons of allies. Straight allies who were part of the discourse of power, who had the numbers to sway votes, to influence what I hope is a fundamental cultural shift in attitudes toward LGBTQ individuals. I don't want to disregard the very real issue within the LGBTQ community itself in which much of the power within these communities lie in the hands of white men, but to recognize that allies are important.
As someone who is a triple minority (gay, Asian, female), I feel it is important to recognize that someone like me is NOT part of the discourse of power. Not naturally. My words and my voice will always be quieter, less heard, less authoritative than someone who is white and male.
And this is why I so appreciate my white male friends who recognize their privilege and make the effort to understand stories and experiences that they don't have to face. For me, my lack, my difference from being white, male, straight is something that I experience every single day. I can't escape it because I have to confront it every day. For me, it's a process of making more allies, for making the people who easily enter the discourse of power understand my experiences so they might speak for me when I can't speak for myself. Obviously the ideal situation is to have people like me in situations where we can reach large masses of people directly, yet the reality of the situation is that we can't. We simply aren't in the discourse of power. That doesn't mean we don't try though, but perhaps it does mean that in the meantime, we amplify our voices by making allies in high(er) places....
I will probably want to edit this later, but it's late right now and I'm tired, and I also highly doubt anyone will read this.
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