The task of all of these movements seems to me to be about distinguishing among the norms and conventions that permit people to breath, to desire, to love, and to live, and those norms and conventions that restrict or eviscerate the conditions of life itself. Sometimes norms function both ways at once, and sometimes they function one way for a given group, and another way for another group. What is most important is to stop legislating for all lives what is livable only for some, and similarly, to refrain from proscribing for all lives what is unlivable for some. The differences in position and desire set the universalizability as an ethical reflex. The critique of gender norms must be situated within the context of lives as they are lived and must be guided by the question of what maximizes the possibilities for a livable life, what minimizes the possibility of unbearable life or, indeed, social or literal death.
the fact that “love your body” rhetoric shifts the responsibility for body acceptance over to the individual, and away from communities, institutions, and power, is also problematic. individuals who do not love their bodies, who find their bodies difficult to love, are seen as being part of the problem. the underlying assumption is that if we all loved our bodies just as they are, our fat-shaming, beauty-policing culture would be different. if we don’t love our bodies, we are, in effect, perpetuating normative (read: impossible) beauty standards. if we don’t love our individual bodies, we are at fault for collectively continuing the oppressive and misogynistic culture. if you don’t love your body, you’re not trying hard enough to love it. in this framework, your body is still the paramount focus, and one way or another, you’re failing. it’s too close to the usual body-shaming, self-policing crap, albeit with a few quasi-feminist twists, for comfort.
forestfungus:
This poster series is simply awesome. Check it out www.crossbordersydney.org
“We don’t cross borders; borders cross us” is a 12 poster series organised by the Cross Border Collective. The objective of the posters is to invite an engaged audience to consider a series of propositions about the Australian border, labour, race and incarceration. The poster series aims to show that the Australian border is not a natural or inevitable thing. They explore the fact that the border is artificial, confront common assumptions about border-crossers, and consider how the border manages peoples’ movements to benefit industry and the state.
The process of collaboration in the production of the posters and the stories about their intention has been an important part of the project. The posters are a result of collaboration between the Cross Border Collective, individuals and groups active through art, politics and advocacy in resistance to the effects of the border on people’s lives. This includes individuals directly affected by border politics through their experiences of detention, their experiences as refugees, migrants and temporary workers, as well as those affected by border politics despite their Australian citizenship. Groups involved in collaboration include: Treaty Republic, the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Refugee Action Coalition, The Refugee Art Project, Scarlet Alliance Australian Sex Workers Association Migration Project, and prison and labour activist groups. The broad range of groups and individuals involved in the project reflects the many ways that the border shapes people’s lives. The process of initiating collaboration with campaigns and groups that don’t primarily see themselves as immersed in border politics was part of our broader intent to encourage conversations about the intersecting ways that the border shapes different arenas of social life. It is also about trying to find a political axis along which our commonality may form the basis for collective action.
I don’t believe that gender, race, or sexuality have to be identities, I think that they’re vectors of power.
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Judith Butler, The Body You Want: Liz Kotz Interviews Judith Butler (via carnivorousdreams)
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jadenoir:
one more from the Mosh vault…. :)
There are moments when you encounter a passage that so precisely captures some aspect of existence, great or small, never previously articulated to you, but which you instantly understand and recognize nonetheless. It’s a little shocking, and it’s joyful, and one feels, suddenly, access to the underpinnings of everything. I think art is that—an enhancement, often a spiritual one.
