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The 10x10 Film: Girl Rising | 10x10

Final Conclusions on Juarez Femicide Reporting

The murders of thousands of women (femicides) in Ciudad Juarez have been happening for over a decade. In March of 2008, that number was 500. Today scholars estimate that number is in the thousands. Since the recent crisis of the narco war continues to receive a lot of international and local press, it is important not to forget the issue of the femicides and how they tie into the broader context of the social, political and economical issues at the U.S.-Mexico border. The media has always played a crucial role in informing the public about crime and violence, and, in this region, this reporting is also vital to the exposure of the issue, as women’s voices are not traditionally recognized in international conflicts.

Based on the research that I conducted in my paper I learned that the femicides of women in Juarez, Mexico happen too often, and I believe that the media has a duty as storytellers to help spread awareness on this issue accurately. While media coverage on the issue is apparent, the portrayals and descriptions of each case do not seem to do the victim’s justice. The literature review on this topic should be used as a model of what can be done in the future to aide in the advocacy of women’s voices in international conflict, but especially in the realm of femicide. Although it is admirable that journalists put their lives on the line to provide such coverage about the femicides, the victim-blaming, sensationalism and stereotyping that is coming out of these stories should be re-evaluated from an ethical journalism standpoint.

When you are a journalist, it is your duty to get the story right and share its importance and value with the community. To alter a story in an effort to shock people or to garner attention is dangerous and dishonest to the entire profession. Media coverage on this topic is extremely important, as it is common that the women in this region that are abducted are from low socio-economic backgrounds, and when looking at the patriarchal structure, the murders of women and the inaccurate media reporting on the issue, we see a consistency of voices being left behind and of truth being smothered—similar to what is happening to the women of Juarez.

We need advocates to share the truth on femicide, not only in Juarez, but across the world. One of the strongest tools to aide in this discussion is media. As discussed before, the media has the power to not only shed light on this issue but apply pressure to international and national political figures who must have some stake in wanting to protect the lives of women—which is exactly what is missing from this discussion.

If you are interested more in this topic, here is a great resource. I visited this organization when I was in Juarez in 2007.

Google Reader: What's the Controversy About?

This week, Google announced that on July 1^st, it will be retiring its service Google Reader, the company’s service for viewing blogs through an RSS (“rich site summary”) feed.

The demise of this service, covered here and here, has caused two common reactions, as USA Today reports: “What’s Google Reader?” and “How could you?” Indeed, I had heard of Google reader as a service to use to keep updated on news, events, etc. but did not use the service myself; I do, however, know many people that are upset about the end of its run. Google Reader, as the article continues,  “was late to the field when this free service debuted in 2005, but it soon offered a tantalizing combination to RSS fans: a great Web interface, plus the ability to check the same feeds in standalone apps in computers and mobile devices.”

For many people, it is a core part of their internet use; a way for them to get information from a variety of sources in one feed on a daily (or even more frequent) basis. While there are plenty of other applications out now that serve similar functions (I am partial to Flipboard), it would appear that Google Reader is affecting a wide segment of the population, one that is uproarious, at least in the digital world.

This made me consider our conversations about technology’s role in communication that we had in class; we have come to a point where we cannot seem to live without digital communication. From blogs to news sources, Flipboard to Facebook, the majority of us get most of our news in digital form. As Damien Smith-Pfister and Jordan Soliz explain in their piece, “(Re)conceptualizing Intercultural Communication in a Networked Society”: “The internet, by reducing cost and access barriers, albeit unevenly, produces a range of for a from websites to blogs to social networking…these new sites…help constitute communities of discourse united by shared interest and, in some cases, even produce novel styles of communication” (247). Indeed, we are all part of various digital communities when we take part in using a specific website, or aggregator like Google Reader, in our daily lives.

The controversy over Google Readers’ decision to shut down will eventually die out, and a new leader in RSS feed/information gathering will emerge for the digital community. The question is, what do these websites have to provide to get people to become loyal to their services? And how was Google Reader able to do so?

How Racism is Bad for our Bodies

Featured yesterday in the Atlantic:

How Racism Is Bad for Our Bodies

The piece goes into detail about how racism has been shown recently to be linked to raising the risk of many emotional and physical problems:

Discrimination has been shown to increase the risk of stress, depression, the common cold, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and mortality. Recently, two journals -- The American Journal of Public Health and The Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race -- dedicated entire issues to the subject. These collections push us to consider how discrimination becomes what social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger, one of the field's leaders, terms ‘embodied inequality.’”

It is also not just racism but the fear of racism that brings stress upon people of minorities. These individuals are also less likely to seek help to extinguish the stress, due to many already being at a social disadvantage. The last sentence of the article explains this best: “Racial profiling should be considered a social determinant of health, because it exposes people to discrimination and the fear of discrimination. Race may be a social construct, but racism materializes in poor health.”

Indeed, here we can look at racism using performance theory – racism being embodied physically, especially within a person, as part of a political and social construct in society. As Dwight Conquergood wrote in his piece “Performance Studies: Intervention and Radical Research”: “It is no longer easy to sort out the local from the global: transnational circulations of images get reworked on the ground and redeployed for local, tactical struggles. And global flows simultaneously are encumbered and energized by these local makeovers” (145).  In this case of racism, the body is the local and the issue the global; the issue of racism is reflected in individual health and well-being. 

We cannot just look at racism now from an outer, critical perspective – as these studies show, a more performative-based, interpretive approach is needed to address this issue and work towards solutions. 

Iran to sue Hollywood over ‘Argo’ film

Iran is suing Hollywood for allegedly portraying the country in a negative light in the film Argo.

According to therawstory.com, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre has been hired as the lawyer on the case, who says Hollywood directors and producers have "promoted Iranophobia." The film Argo won best picture this year and was directed by Ben Affleck.

In the article, it is noted that the controversial Coutant-Peyre is married to terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who she is also representing, for killing two French police officers and an informant in 1975. (The article provides this information to provide background on the lawyer, but it makes the article sound bias in my opinion).

In case you haven't seen the film, it tells the story about six diplomats who were held hostage in 1979 in Tehran. All of them were rescued in a CIA mission in which the diplomats were able to escape the embassy compound before its "full seizure by young revolutionaries."

Between Argo and Zero Dark Thirty coming out this year in theaters, I have found both of these films to attract a lot of socio-political controversy. I did see Zero Dark Thirty, which was about the siege of Osama Bin Laden, and I thought the film was done pretty well. There were some undertones of American imperialism in the film (i.e. torture scenes), but I thought the film was good overall.

For class we read the Orbe and Everett reading about Interracial and Interethnic Conflict and Communication. Based on this reading, I would argue that the case between Affleck and the rest of Hollywood (which we also learned was 80% comprised of white men) is directly related to race, ethnicity and conflict (p.575). In this regard, we see that the different cultural styles of individuals, like Affleck and Coutant-Peyre, are more problematic than the conflict itself (Ting-Toomey, 1988). This can also be true due to the fact that the actual conflict happened so long ago.

I really enjoy how film and music can move people into political action, and this is exactly what has happened in Iran, but from an international perspective. Zero Dark Thirty was more controversial in the U.S. Thus, I am very interested in how this case will pan out. It's quite thought provoking that Affleck is being sued by Iran. Think about that for a second...from a culture perspective...from a communications perspective...and so on. Pretty good stuff.

Did you see either of the films and, if so, what did you think?

Cry Your Way to the Top

In case we hadn’t heard enough about Sheryl Sandberg’s new book…

Cry Your Way to the Top, Ladies

In a recent speech (also covered here), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, author of the new controversial novel Lean In, discussed her career success – and that part of it could be attributed to crying at the workplace. While making a plea for business leaders to be empathetic, and get to know “the real you”, she said the following:

“I’ve cried at work. I've told people I've cried at work. And it's been reported in the press that Sheryl Sandberg cried on Mark Zuckerberg's shoulder, which is not exactly what happened. I talk about my hopes and fears and ask people about theirs. I try to be myself. Honest about my strengths and weaknesses and I encourage others to do the same. It is all professional and it is all personal, all at the very same time.”

I found this idea to be in intriguing on a few levels, but mainly on the level of female identity, both in its appearance and within self. While Ms. Sandberg has been “able” to cry at work – why is this something that needs to be discussed with women, specifically? Or is this something more specific to Ms. Sandberg’s career, something that cannot necessarily be applied to every woman’s working world? Another novel published two years ago by Kelly Cutrone, a PR exec infamous on reality TV for her mentorship of Lauren Conrad, has also addressed this issue, in the title alone: If You Have to Cry, Go Outside. The book goes into detail about how crying should not be at the workplace, that it is personal and should not be something associated with your professional identity.  So whose perception is more valid? Which identity is better?

This also made me think of the case we read about Sarah Palin, who in the television coverage during the first week of her Vice Presidential run, had her identity represented in a variety of ways. As Harp et.al explained, “While Palin at times performs and is constructed as masculine, Palin’s gender is normalized (feminized) as her masculine performance is mixed with a normative feminine identity. The indication is that women are allowed to be tough as long as they continue to fit stereotypical notions of femininity” (305). This hybrid identity can be applied to women as well in the workplace – crying when appropriate, when it feels necessary, or comfortable, and when a woman accepts that it may then be associated with her at work.

Women today face many identity issues, especially in the working world, and in the end, a hybrid identity looks like it is the best option for women to maintain their success – but what can be done about this culture in the workplace?

To say no, or remain silent

I have been following this case in Steubenville, Ohio (as I am sure many of you are as well), which finally goes to trial today:

This is the trial of two high school football players charged with raping a 16 year old girl during a night of partying, both in a car and in a basement last August (see more here).  I heard about this case early on since it occurred in a town not one hour from my own, but it made national headlines after graphic cell phone photos and video (including one where a student jokes about the rape) went viral online.

As the article states, “Prosecutors appeared to try to show how drunk and nonparticipatory the alleged victim was, while the defense attempted to show that she was making decisions that night and at one point told friends she was fine and able to take care of herself.” While the prosecutors argue that the young girl was too drunk to say “no,” and was not in a conscious state when the incident occurred, the defense counters that she was able to make her own decisions that evening.

The “unable to say no” part of this case is most striking to me. We’ve all learned that “no means no” when it comes to this kind of abuse, but what about silence? How is one to judge if someone is capable of communicating this, especially in such a horrid situation as this rape? The girl has stated she does not remember the incident at all – showing that she certainly was not purvey to making any decisions that night, communicating what was permitted and not at that time. 

This situation can also be looked at in a performative way. Rape is an act, and this act enforces a continued rape culture, where rape is acceptable, as we discussed in class on January 28.  Rape is an embodiment of a violation of women’s rights, but in our society it has actually been normalized, to a point where we actually question if a woman said “yes” or “no” and was “part” of this act.

I am intrigued by what each side of the court will say on this case, and how the girl’s words that fateful night in August will be intertwined into this testimony, evidence and other witnesses – hopefully in a way that preserves the dignity and humility of this young woman, today and in her future.  

"World Music"

The term "World Music" is often used in the Western vernacular to describe music from Non-Western countries.  Obviously, this label can be interpreted as problematic.  Wikipedia (a totally reputable source) describes world music as "a musical category encompassing many different styles of music from around the world, including traditional music, quasi-traditional music, and music where more than one cultural tradition intermingle. World music's inclusive nature and elasticity as a musical category pose obstacles to a universal definition, but its ethic of interest in the culturally exotic is encapsulated in fRootsmagazine's description of the genre as "local music from out there".^[1] The term originated in the late 20th century as a marketing category and academic classification for non-Western traditional music. Globalization has facilitated the expansion of world music's audiences and scope. It has grown to include hybrid sub-genres such as world fusion, global fusion, ethnic fusion^[2] and worldbeat." If "local music from out there" describes the genre of World Music, what exactly are the qualifications?  This article by the Talking Heads' David Byrne, entitled "Why I hate World Music" is an excellent synopsis on why this problematic term dismisses the individuality of many types of music put under the umbrella of World Music.  Byrne believes that music (and art, in general) is an excellent way to share cultural experiences.  To Byrne, there is no real difference in a New Yorker listening to Appalachian Hillbilly music and a New Yorker listening to the Tuvan Throat Singers.  The New Yorker should take both experiences as opportunities to share valuable bits of that artists' cultural experience.  This excerpt is from that article:

Maybe it's naïve, but I would love to believe that once you grow to love some aspect of a culture — its music, for instance — you can never again think of the people of that culture as less than yourself. I would like to believe that if I am deeply moved by a song originating from some place other than my own hometown, then I have in some way shared an experience with the people of that culture. I have been pleasantly contaminated. I can identify in some small way with it and its people. Not that I will ever experience music exactly the same way as those who make it. I am not Hank Williams, or even Hank Jr., but I can still love his music and be moved by it. Doesn't mean I have to live like him. Or take as many drugs as he did, or, for that matter, as much as the great flamenco singer Cameron de la Isla did.

That's what art does; it communicates the vibe, the feeling, the attitude toward our lives, in a way that is personal and universal at the same time. And we don't have to go through all the personal torment that the artist went through to get it. I would like to think that if you love a piece of music, how can you help but love, or at least respect, the producers of it? On the other hand, I know plenty of racists who love "soul" music, rap and rhthym-and-blues, so dream on, Dave.

While reading this article, I thought about a piece of music I heard while in (ironically enough) a world music class in undergrad.  It was a recording from a post office in Ghana.  In the village the post office was located in, the local dialect had no word for 'music' because it was such an engrained part of their culture.  People went about their daily business in rhythmic, musical ways.  I wasn't able to find the exact piece I listened to in class, but this youtube video was pretty close: video

The World Baseball Classic; the Globalization of a (formerly) American Sport

Major League Baseball’s Spring Training is underway, and as teams get ready in Florida and Arizona for the grueling 162 games regular-season schedule, many Major Leaguers are abroad, representing their countries in the World Baseball Classic.  The 2013 WBC is the third of these tournaments – held every 3 or 4 years (2006, 2009, and 2013) and is being hosted by stadiums in Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and the United States.  When baseball was withdrawn from the Summer Olympics, the WBC emerged so that baseball players had an opportunity to represent their countries in an international competition.  Japan won the previous two competitions and though there are players from leagues throughout the world, about half the ballplayers in the WBC have played at some level, in America’s MLB.  This, perhaps, is why it’s so surprising that the WBC is not only unpopular in America, but considered an unnecessary distraction for the players who compete in the tournament.  The popularity of the Olympic games and the patriotism it inspires, barely exists with the WBC.

            The first Olympics of the modern era were held in April of 1896 in Athens, Greece.  Fourteen countries competed in a variety of athletic endeavors including swimming, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, tennis, weightlifting, and wresting; all events that are still held in the Summer Olympics of today.  All together, 241 athletes competed in 43 events that spanned 9 sports.  The winning man (no women were allowed to compete) of each event was given a silver medal, an olive branch, and a diploma.  Second place received a copper medal.  The United States were awarded first place in 14 events – leading all countries, an indicator, perhaps, of the domination within the international sporting community that the U.S. would go on to claim over the next hundred years or so. 

Today, the Olympics look very different.  This past year, London hosted the Games of the XXX Olympiad, which featured nearly 11,000 athletes from 203 National Olympic Committees – giving 11 more national members than the United Nations.  There were 302 events held that spanned 26 sports including Women’s Boxing, an Olympic first, which meant that women competed in all the same sports that the men competed in.  Most relevant to the focus of this paper, the 2012 Olympics were watched by half the world’s population.  While an alarming indicator of how technology has facilitated the spread of global sport, this is not an altogether new development.   “According to research commissioned by the governing International Olympic Committee (IOC), the 2004 Olympics in Athens were watched, at least in part, by 3.9 billion of the world’s population, producing a cumulative global audience of around 40 billion for the 17 day event (Giulianotti and Robertson 108).

            The unpopularity of the World Baseball Classic, in America, is perhaps most surprising because baseball is inherently American.  For a long time baseball was considered ‘The American Pastime” and though it’s been surpassed in popularity by American Football (and NASCAR, depending on who you ask), it remains a billion dollar industry.  The money involved in Major League Baseball, might actually be the reason teams are reticent to let their players compete in the WBC, as they see it as an unnecessary injury risk.  The following is from this article on why Major League Baseball continues to support the WBC, even if individual teams do not:

The good news is that despite the criticism in the United States, Major League Baseball seems determined to keep the WBC going. In a press conference before the United States vs. Mexico matchup, Bud Selig alluded to the fact that the goal of the WBC is to promote baseball in undeveloped baseball regions, like Europe and South America, and that support in the United States was arbitrary. He was quoted as saying, “The goal here is to internationalize the sport, this is what we’re trying to do.  In my judgment if we do it right, you won’t recognize the sport in a decade.” A decade might be an ambitious time frame, but the impact the WBC  has already had on baseball in countries such as the Netherlands and Italy, who are now bringing actual competitive teams to the fold, is undeniable.  Also in 2011 and 2012, Major League Baseball saw the debuts of Alex Liddi and Yan Gomes, the first Italian born and Brazilian born players to make it to the big leagues respectively.”

As American Sports scramble to increase their presence internationally, we’ll see more and more of this time of tournament.  The question is, will the globalization of American sports reduce their popularity domestically?