9 Feb talk

Synne Laastad Dyvik will talk about Feminism, the politics of representation, and the ‘rhetoric of rescue’ of Afghan Women.

Join us at 1pm in SB317.

Synopsis

The invasion and counter-insurgency campaigns led by US and NATO Afghanistan, was preceded and followed by a particular vision of who Afghan women were and who they could become, post-invasion and through appropriate reconstruction policies. Afghan women were hailed as being one of the main reasons for the invasion, through the use of a ‘rhetoric of rescue’ and liberation. This act of representation relies on an image of the Afghan women as victimized, lacking in agency and in need of liberation by western forces. In this representation, feminist rhetoric and policies have been utilized as a means to justify and explain the invasion, and the current counter-insurgency and reconstruction efforts. The question is, what kind of feminism is here being (mis)-used and how has this utilization become possible?

This paper argues that this particular act of representation, through the ‘rhetoric of rescue’ is not altogether new; it is embedded into large parts of the history of feminism. Using examples from the UK, US and Norway, this paper will provide a historical explanation to how the politics of representation and the ‘rhetoric of rescue’ has been, and continues to be a challenge for feminism. This will be done through considering critiques from black feminism and postcolonial feminism and through analyzing academic and public debates within the US, UK and Norway. In all these cases and conversations, one of the primary challenges for a feminist perspective has been coming to terms with difference, and questions of how ‘generous’ a feminist agenda can be in terms of incorporating alternative feminist interpretations. Following this, the paper will aim at raising the question whether the politics of representation and the ‘rhetoric of rescue’ which is so explicit in the case of Afghanistan, underlies all of feminism and in turn, whether feminism can overcome its historical instinct to save.

Disclaimer

This paper is part of a thesis, provisionally titled: ‘Women and the question of liberation in military operations, counter-insurgency and reconstruction’.

About the author

Synne Laastad Dyvik is a 2nd year DPhil, from the Department of International Relations. Her interests are: feminisms, postcolonial theory, critical theory, international political theory and masculinities.

NGender seminar programme – Spring 2009

The Spring 2009 NGender Seminar Series talks will be held in Silverstone Building 317, on the campus of the University of Sussex, Tuesdays 1:00-2:00 pm, from 19 of January. To view the full programme: ngender_programme

You can bring your lunch with you and eat it during the seminar if you wish. All of the seminars are open to everyone that is interested.

1st Talk on Jan, 19

Our first speaker, Ana Porroche Escudero, will talk about “Hidden Pleasures for Women: Forbidden Nipple Eroticism and the Implications of Nipplectomy for Breast Cancer Patients Institution”. 

Abstract .The feminist critique of the emphasis on breast reconstruction and breast prosthesis is usually invoked as a way of highlighting the commodification of women´s breasts as objects of sexual pleasure for men (Wilkinson & Kitzinger 1994; Blum 2003). They claim that prostheses and breast reconstruction give primacy to how women look to the male world, rather than to how women feel to themselves (Young 1990). The reconstructed breast is defined as a “dildo”(Broom 2001) or “eye candy” whose mere aim is arouse women’s male partners. Indeed, from the point of view of larger society, the breast is assumed to have only a dual function: that of lactation and that of erotic decoration to stimulate men. So entrenched is our belief that the eroticism of the breast is purely visual that climax caused by the stimulation of the breasts and nipples, defined as ‘nippleism’ and ‘breastism’, are almost completely absent from our dictionaries of sexuality. Hence, it should not be surprising that the discourse on breast reconstruction frequently reduces the cancerous breast to an object which can be changeable or improved with breast reconstruction, rather than to see it as a site of lived experience or a bodily extension of the self. In this paper I use nippleism, a concrete and embodied instance of orgasm, to explore hidden pleasures for women’s (and men’s too) overlooked in the breast cancer research agenda. This paper is based on a case study of an informant during my PhD fieldwork in Spain during 2007-2008. Federico, partner of a breast cancer patient, brings into sharp focus the idea of the mindful nipples as an important erotic and erogenous site for sexual excitement, arousal, and even orgasm. Thus, mastectomy and nipplectomy would be understood as an euphemism embedded in the medical risk free sounding word `ectomy´ to refer to a castration of his partner’s key sexual body part.

taking part INSPIRE Project

I am excited about my new role, as the INSPIRE Project Liaisons Officer for Survivors’ Network.

INSPIRE aims at providing a holistic approach to women offenders or at risk of offending. Women will be able to access services on a one stop shop basis, with integrated packages of support beeing offered to meet their different needs.

Besides Survivors’ Network, INSPIRE comprises other four local organisations: Threshold, Rise, Brighton Women’s Centre and Brighton Oasis Project.

Gender seminar series at Sussex coming soon

We are organising a seminar series about Gender, which will be launched in the spring term at Sussex University.

The series has the aim to get researchers in gender and gender-related issues from both Sussex and Brighton universities to showcase their work as well as getting to know people from other disciplines who are researching and/or are interested in this area.

A call for papers will be shortly announced.

Seeking participants for new experiments

I have started to recruit participants for two new and exciting experiments on language skills.

I need male and female heterosexuals aged between 18-50. They will come to our Sound Lab at Sussex University and will be paid £3 for their participation (unless they are Sussex students, in which case they can opt to get 2 credits).

If interested, drop me an email at: v.cartei@sussex.ax.uk.

It’s worth it!

Dealing with the abuse: Writing

note: This blog post is part of the posts relating to my experience as a volunteer for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

In the latest drop-in sessions, I discovered how writing can be important in the healing process that this women are going through. Thus, I think it is important to share some “tips” that they found useful,in the hope that others will also find them beneficial.

Writing about…

…Voices
If you hear voices, you are not going crazy. Don’t dismiss them, they won’t go away.
Write them down instead, as they come up to you.Just by the mere fact that you write them down, you acknowledge them and take care of them. You take care of the parts of you they represent. It doesn’t matter if you follow what they say.
In fact, You’ll find that they conflict with each other, most likely. You may want to follow one, and the others will accuse you you are neglecting them. But you are not. You are telling them, loook I can take care of you, because I am listening to this voice now, next time I may listen to any of you.

…Your Abuse
When you talk about your abuse, you often do it in general terms. You may do so because it is too painful to explain the details, or you can’t find the words, or you are afraid to upset your listener.
But what you feel is miles away from that general statement. You may recall the sensory emotions related to your abuse: the curtains, the smell in the room, the abuser’s touch, what you were wearing, how the light filtered in the room, the time of the day and so on.
Write all this down.
Writing your memories is important: if you write your memories, you will start to take that lid off, the cap that is pressing you down. You can go back to them and use them as a validation of your experience, even if, as sometimes happens, you forget some of the memories you wrote down. It doesn’t mean that you invented them, your brain can switch them on and off and this may leave you with a sense of confusion and doubt.
Also writing your memories will help you release what you feel you can’t say. And you can let someone read what you wrote or keep it to yourself.
Often your memories won’t be in sequence and you will feel that you can’t make sense of them. It doesn’t matter, write what you have got. If you feel that there’s something you can’t write, then write that there is something you cannot write yet. It helps you identifying particularly painful areas.