Cason Honea

4/21/12

Communication of Gender and Sexuality

This week in Gender class, we were assigned some supplemental readings that dealt with the subject of rape. One article discussed on how the definition of rape has now been expanded. "Now, any kind of nonconsensual penetration, no matter the gender of the attacker or victim, will constitute rape-- meaning that attacks on men will be counted" (Basu p.1). When I first read this, I was really caught off guard, because I thought that this was always what was constituted as rape, but apparently, it has only been nonconsensual vaginal penetration by a penis that has been considered as rape up until now. I really find it rather disturbing, to be honest, because it almost seems as if the law was initially made with some intentional loopholes. I just don't understand how those running our county could not constitute these other acts as rape up until now. In a sense, it seems as if the law that was originally established in 1927 was almost an intentional decision to allow men to get away with forcible sexual advances as long as it was not nonconsensual vaginal penetration. “It’s about more than a definition,” Lynn Rosenthal, the White House adviser on violence against women, said in a conference call with reporters to discuss the change. “It’s a change of our understanding of rape and how seriously we take it as a country.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/politics/federal-crime-statistics-to-expand-rape-definition.html).  Hopefully this new expansion of the definition of rape will help prevent future acts that were once not considered as rape from happening, and bring some sense of residual justice to those women out there who have unfortunatley had to experience one or more of these forms of forcible sexual advances in the past. For it to take decades for the definition of rape to be expanded really makes me question even more the overall moral integrity and decision making of those running our country.

Sources

Basu, M., U.S. Broadens Archaic Definition of Rape, CNN

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/politics/federal-crime-statistics-to-expand-rape-definition.html

Cason Honea
Communication of Gender and Sexuality
4/6/12
This week in class, I presented a summary on Chapter 3 of Dude You're A Fag written by C.J. Pascoe. The section of this chapter that interested me most was titled Where The Fag Disappears: Drama Performance. In this section, Pascoe described how males who participated in drama performances tended to participate less in the act of "fag discourse". "It was as if, because they were in a space where they were all coded as fags any and couldn't be any lower socially, it didn't matter what they did"(Pascoe, p.81). After reading this, I began to consider that the act of fag discourse is just another way for some people to assert dominance over others, as well as preserve their own masculine image. I feel that like homosexuals,these drama students also have dealt with oppression and over critical judgment so it would make no sense for them to patronize a group of people with whom they share a similar struggle. Participation in fag discourse reminds me of the popular kids in high school. Like these males who participate in fag discourse to assert dominance and masculinity, the popular kids go to extremes in order to maintain a status of superiority over other groups in the school. It seems that at times, some of those highest up on the totem pole of social status feel some obligation to disassociate themselves with those deemed as different in order to salvage their own self image/reputation.

Sources

 Pascoe, C.J. (2007). Dude You're A Fag, (p. 7). University of California Press