Lacanian philosophy . . . maybe :)

The student who came to class yesterday was interested in how the use of "beautiful" women as opposed to "normal" women in advertising played into the advertisement's effectiveness in marketing its product. I got to thinking about how funny it is that the word "beautiful" is clearly used to segregate this one population from the usual, but the positive connotation of this word places this group into a class of "other" which is not abject. This made me think of Lacan and his concept of the "little other" and the "big other."

If normal is defined as "conforming to the standard or common type; usual" (which it is because I looked it up LOL), then anything that does not meet those parameters is by default "abnormal." When we saw the picture of the man in women's clothing, we agreed the depiction was "abnormal," yet we did not use this term to define the beautiful women. Why? Because the "abnormal" women represented a state of achievement, an illustration of "the best" within the construction of our current culture. It was an "other" which we desire. Society finds value in those differences.

In cases in which society does not find value in the quality which makes someone/thing "other", those in possession of that quality are cast out -- they become the abject; therefore, the abject does not define all "other" as we have used it, but a specific category of "other" that implies intentional exclusion by the "normal" population; whereas, this other population of "other" possesses traits which we desire, but lack, leading to an exclusion by consequence rather than intent.

This deliniation is the basis of Lacan's concept of the "Little Other" and the "Big Other."

These women fall into the category of "Little Other."Although they meet the criteria of "other" as contrasted to "normal", the desire to emulate them thrusts them into a specialized category within that larger group. The "Big Other" contains all other "others", be they scorned (the abject) or simply different (not like us, but without any contention).

I know a football allegory is probably not the most effective in a class full of women, but to put into perspective -- I like Alabama. This is my "little other". I very much dislike Auburn. This is my abject. I don't particularly care either way about Clemson. This is simply "other." Both Auburn and Clemson fall into my "Big Other."

You might argue that you have no desire to look like these women. This can be very true. You may not want to look like them per se, but everyone wants to achieve this state of "beauty." When considering this argument, you have to really understand what symbology the word "beauty" really implies. It is not necessarily a physical manifestation observed by others, but rather a more ambiguous state of "something pleasing." The word "beauty" is defined as "the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind," so the state we are trying to achieve is this intangible element of satisfaction, "the state of fulfilling the desires, expectations, needs, or demands of." If you think of "beauty" in this broader context, we all want to be beautiful.

This is why we didn't consider these women as the abject in yesterday's discussion. How coincidental was the timing of this exercise with the explanation of Lacan's theory? LoL

Babies

On Tuesday we discussed the Lacan concept of "an infant experiencing his or her body in separate parts"(Davis Reading, pg.173).

My neighbors just had a baby girl this past November so it has been interesting to really get a look at a babies growth in the first few months. This past weekend the mom was telling my roommate and I that her favorite thing to do is give the baby a bath. She told us that the baby has just recently discovered her hands, and that in the bath she is constantly splashing and swirling her hands in the water. She also told us that the baby has no concept of her legs yet. She'll just sit there and let the parents wash her and her only fascination is with her hands.
I thought this story was not only cute, but an example of babies slowly discovering their body; how it works and what it is capable of.

Beauty in the abnormal

I've always had my body so everything it does is normal to me. I look around and see that I look like everybody else, more or less. When I had my son, I was glad that he was normal. But what do you do if your child is abnormal? There are a wide variety of birth defects that can make a child abnormal: Downs Syndrome, congenital hernia, the girl (Katie) who we saw interviewed that discovered she was a boy when she had her hernia fixed. Even twins are sometimes abnormal. One of my friends had twins at her first ultrasound but only one at the next, a disappearing twin. Conjoined twins are often the but of jokes (South Park Elementary nurse is a conjoined twin) and are featured on freak shows and county fairs.
One set of conjoined twins, however, has stepped out of the role of Freak and lead perfectly normal lives. I saw them on the TLC a few years ago and was fascinated by the fact that they were so normal! They are separate down to their navel, where their spines fuse into one, and they share the lower half. Each twin has control of her side of the body and they cooperate enough to bicycle, play soccer and piano, type, and even drive! It seems that 'normal' is what they are since that is all they have known, so it's normal for them. I checked for recent updates to find that they are now 18 and in college. They have two 'normal' siblings.
When asked the awkward question in class, would I 'fix' my child if he/she were born different, I opted for no, in part because of the interview I'd seen with the Hensel twins. Had they been separated at birth, had their parents chosen to make them look normal, they would not be able to do the things they do now. Many times when conjoined twins are separated, they do so only to sacrifice one twin to make the other look like everyone else. These girls' parents opted to keep them both, just the way they God made them. I like to think I'd be able to do that but it would be difficult since it's such an obvious abnormality. Unlike trans-gendered people who have both male and female parts, whose abnormal parts are generally kept from public view, conjoined twins have no way to hide their differences.
Here is a 5 minute minidocumentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKWApOAG2g&eurl=http://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/peers-into-the-lives-of-two-headed-twins/&feature=player_embedded

Lesbians on the Loose

Hey friends!
I was thinking about our discussion in class Thursday (for half of which, I'm sorry to say, I was spaced out on a cold medication buzz) about how women are portrayed in magazines. There really isn't much variation in how women are portrayed in the media in general! I was searching through some magazines to see if I could find something different, and I came across Lesbians on the Loose. It's an Australian Magazine (that now has international components). So I just looked through the site briefly but a lot of the pictures seem to fit the 3 categories in the Creed readings. I just thought it was an interesting addition to what we were talking about in class!

Here's the link:
LOTL homepage

GENDER AND SOCIETY

"Men have always been afraid that women could get along without them."

--Margaret Mead

Thought this would be interesting to read.

http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/gender.html

Bridgestone Commercial

I saw this commercial and was a little taken aback.  I understand that they are trying to be funny and appeal to men (usually the ones buying the tires), but I found it offensive to women! First the woman,  Mrs. Potato Head, is nagging so bad that Mr. potato Head feels the need to rip off her lips, second, the catch at the end is... "Bridgestone, for drivers that want to get the most out of their car", does that include taking away your wife's ability to talk? 

Click here to view the video

Burping

I babysit two girls, ages 11 and 6, and yesterday we went out to lunch together. The three of us were sitting eating lunch when the little one let out a large burp. Her face turned red with embarrassment and she started to uncontrollably giggle, her sister followed in with the laughter. I laughed as well and asked her "What was so funny?" She responded by saying, "I acted like a boy." I was kind of surprised by her answer, I expected her to just say, "I burped!"


But I got to thinking...
Everyone burps but if you were asked to put burping under a male or female trait it would no doubt be male. Burping is something that we socially link to males.
The little girl didn't feel embarrassed from burping, she felt embarrassed because she did something she thought was boyish.
So in conclusion this is really just a cute story to illustrate what we have been discussing in class regarding gender and social constraints.