Bianca I. Laureano is a first generation Puerto Rican sexologist living in NYC. Raised in the Washington, DC area in an activist environment, Bianca is the daughter of an artist and educator and a product of the public school system. In the field of sexuality for over a decade, Bianca has worked with and taught youth of Color, working class communities, national and international organizations advocating sex-positive social justice agendas. She has presented both locally and internationally on various topics concerning activism, Latino sexual health, feminisms, youth and hip-hop culture, Latinos and race, curriculum development, and teaching. Bianca is an instructor with CUNY and a freelance writer. She hosts the website LatinoSexuality.com and identifies as a LatiNegra, media maker, radical woman of Color, activist, sex-positive, pro-choice femme. Find out more about Bianca by visiting her website www.BiancaLaureano.com or follower her on twitter @BiancaLaureano
Media_Justice
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by Bianca Laureano
Media Justice is often something people talk about but find it hard to do. I’ve been fortunate enough to have amazing media makers in my life and wanted to share with you their projects and how you can get involved! I’d like to introduce you to my homeboy, who is a scholar, father, activist, and media maker: Nezua. He is the creator of The Unapologetic Mexican, co-creator/founder of The Sanctuary, creator of News With Nezua and writes fiction and more “personal stuff” online. and he agreed to answer some questions about the projects he is a part of, how he came to become a media maker, ways to get YOU involved, and future projects.
Here’s one of Nezua’s most retweeted and shared video of the summer; a documentary of the mock checkpoint created by several activists (including Nezua) at this year’s Netroots Nation which racially profiled “European immigrants and their descendants, and required them to show papers that proved they had a right to trespass on native land.”
News With Nezua | The Illegal Europeans from nezua on Vimeo.
News With Nezua | The Illegal Europeans from nezua on Vimeo.
How do you want to be identified (name, title, etc.)Nezua is my professional and screen name. My given name is Joaquín Ramón Herrera. I am an artist in multiple mediums, including paint, ink, music, word, film, & video.
What identities/social location do you embody? (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, primary language, ability, age, etc.)
Mexican American male, with Eastern European blood as well (Romanian, German, Polish). I come from poor and scrabbly origins, so while I don’t think of myself as of a “class,” I generally get along easier with others who come from humble beginnings and don’t reek of financial privilege. But I draw no hard lines because life is always surprising you.
I’m generally heterosexual, was born in the city of angels, and speak English mostly. Though I do have certain challenges physically and mentally, I have no “disability” that stands out beyond the normal human condition, and so I do not consider myself “disabled.” (Truth is, I don’t naturally think that way. We all have gifts and curses/challenges—some apparent, some invisible—and that’s how I tend to think about it.)
I am 41 and still get carded far too often for such an old man!
When did you create The Unapologetic Mexican? What were/are your motivations?
I created the blog in May of 2006. My motivations were to stop hiding, stop holding back, and start shouting. I wanted to give my spin on politics and culture, and my people, as I see it and as I live it. I was tired of the lies. And of the stream of derision, unanswered.
I did have very specific goals. I wanted people to be able to Google and find my writings when they looked for commentary on topics that would affect me or that I care about. I wanted to enjoin the conversation, I wanted to find solidarity out there, I wanted to strongly challenge and confront the hate, and I wanted there to be no doubt of my pride in my ethnicity.
Media_Justicethink twice before you laugh at antoine dodson. i know everything is supposed to take a backseat to short-lived fame and exposure. but how would you feel if your sister was attacked by a rapist and people did nothing about it? officials laughed at you, police took their time coming to investigate, media crews didn’t arrive until you called them, and then your time on the news gets spoofed to entertain others instead of warn them. antoine’s taking his time in the spotlight in stride, and i think he’s doing it for kelly’s sake. i hope all the people laughing and singing “hide your kids, hide your wife” are writing all of the people in kelly’s community and state to do something about catching the rapist.
Media_JusticeI have never written about my youth and adolescence and when I chose to begin having sex with my partners. Part of me knows I rarely share these stories because I will be judged and who needs that type of virtual and 3D negativity in their life? But today, I think there are important ways I can learn to heal and learn to see how I’ve evolved in sharing my testimonio.
When I was 14 years old I chose to have sex. I partnered with someone in my high school who was five years older than me. Since then, I’ve often been in intergenerational relationships with people who are 5-10 years older. You see when I was 14 I looked the way I do right now: tall, full figured, and I took that opportunity to lie about my age to some of my partners.
One of the things that is missing in sexuality education, and in many curriculums people are attempting to create and implement with youth, especially young working class and youth of Color, is a discussion of power. I knew I had a lot of power when I was 14 simply based on my appearance. My racially White and ethnically Puerto Rican parents had no idea how to raise a woman of Color, one who racially identifies as Black and whose body is not valued or protected in the same way theirs may have been in the US at that time. Nobody ever told me that I would experience a jolt in the power I have when it comes to obtaining certain things: attention, material goods, transportation, food, affection, and the like. For some people this list of things may not be impressive, but for me at 14 in the early 1990s, a bushy haired fat brown girl living in the south, it was everything to me.
Media_JusticeI have several friends who have taken this summer to decide that they will begin writing blogs. Many of them are amazing writers and I’m excited to share their work with you when they get themselves and their blogs together! One of the reasons I’m so excited about this is because they are creating media on their own and representing themselves. They will learn so much about their own thought process, evolve in their writing, and learn all they need to about moderating comments!
Representing ourselves in the media is a huge part of why I love the Internets and I promise, I promise, I promise a post on net neutrality is coming! Although the Internet is available, self publishing on the rise, and zines still extremely popular, there are people who do not have the opportunity to create media that represents themselves. There is still a huge lack of resources and access, millions of stories that are not told, thousands of people who want to share, and no outlet to support or give them that opportunity.
I began to think about this when I read the book Lady Q: The Rise And Fall Of A Latin Queen, written by Reymundo Sanchez and Sonia Rodriguez. The story is the testimony of Sonia, who while in the Latin Kings/Queens went by the name Lady Q. As Lady Q, Sonia became the Queen of all Kings, one of the highest ranking Latin Queens. She shared her story with Reymundo, who is the author of “My Bloody Life” and “Once A King Always A King,” where he shares his life stories and experiences as a Latin King who left the life.
Media_JusticeAs summer begins I am often looking forward to the sun kissing all parts of my skin. I can't wait to visit the beach, which is one of the few spaces I find peace of mind and am reminded that there's so many bigger things out there and that my problems are just a small speck of something larger. In addition to this ritual beach trip and the sun kissing my skin, I know I must prepare for another type of exposure: showing my ink.
As a fat sexologist of Color who is also inked and over six feet tall with a disability, there is often an additional element of awareness that my body is being read by others. This is something that has come up for me since I was 18 years old and began to adorn my body with images, words, and symbols that are meaningful to me. As I've aged, I've continued the journey of using my body as a canvas, it sounds cliché, but it's true! There have been many issues that have come up for me as someone who is getting older and my multiple identities intersecting in various spaces have resulted in extremely diverse interactions with people and amazing opportunities to share and create knowledge.
One of the reasons I chose to write about tattooing, or ink as I like to call it, is because I believe that tattooing is a form of creating media. As someone who started their first ever tattoo with symbols and words, I've had a very interesting path to figuring out why and how I want to choose an image or term and on what part of my body I wish to do so. I know today, that just as I put glitter on my camouflage jacket back in the early 90s, that my tattoos also send a message about who I am, what I wish to represent, and how I choose to move my social justice agenda forward.
Media_Justice***I began writing this early last week prior to my computer needing repair. It is now a bit dated, but I think it’s a dope read nonetheless!***
While attending my sister’s wedding in DC a few weeks ago I got into a disagreement with my father about the FIFA World Cup. You see, I’ve started to watch the FIFA World Cup and, to the surprise of no one, have been cheering for the African countries with teams. I’ll be honest; I want to see an African team play in the final in South Africa. At the same time I am cheering for teams that are more African than others; i.e. Brasil, Honduras, and Switzerland (I have affectionately named the Black Swiss players: Bliss). Our disagreement came about when I said to him that I think the World Cup can educate and bring to light a lot of social issues and possibly lead to some forms of social change and social justice. He disagreed.
I gave him two examples of how I see the FIFA World Cup being an important space for beginning work around activism, and both have come out of the media. First, the history of FIFA World Cup players speaking out against racism is phenomenal. In 2006 there was an entire campaign regarding ending racism that FIFA World Cup teams and players participated in while in Munich. The themes were “make new friends” and the anti-racism message of “say no to racism.” Granted, the racism message from the last World Cup reminds me of the “just say no [to drugs]” campaign the Reagan Administration promoted; I still find the efforts useful and important.
Media_JusticeThis is the second interview in a series of interviews with various media makers who have agreed to share with us their motivations, process and hopes for the media they create. Read the first interview with youth media maker Espie Hernandez.
Earlier this month my homegirl Jaz posted a video on Facebook called “Walking Home.” I watched the video and immediately shared it with people in my community. The responses were amazing and affirming of the video. “Walking Home” presents an interdisciplinary story of the street harassment women experience. I wrote a quick post about this film hoping a dialogue would begin among educators about how to use the film effectively in a classroom or with youth, especially young men. Take a moment to watch the video:
I reached out to filmmaker Nuala Cabral who agreed to a virtual interview about her film(s). In my communication with Nuala I asked if she would give me permission to use her film in my class. She was very supportive of her film being used by community members and in various spaces to produce discussion and education. My class in which I use her film is coming up next week and I’m very eager to hear how my students respond to her film. I encourage you all to please share here with Nuala your thoughts about her film as well! Below are her responses about her motivations in making the film, hopes for it’s use, future work, and media justice.
- What were some of your goals in creating this film?
- What makes this an “experimental piece” for you in comparison to your previous work?
Media_JusticeThis is the first in a series of interviews with various media makers who have agreed to share with us their motivations, process and hopes for the media they create.
It’s rare when film festivals are open to featuring the media created by young people. I can honestly say I can’t think of a film festival I’ve attended (New York International Latino Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, etc.) that has included a youth track of films created by youth in general. There are many films about youth at these events, but not ever a representation of youth as media makers. To say that it is rare is an understatement. When I was invited to the third edition of Youth Producing Change Film Festival presented by Adobe Youth Voices at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, I was too excited!
Looking at the list of films that were going to be featured I knew this was a phenomenal space to be invited to participate in. One film in particular, which was highlighted for me by festival staff member Sheila, also stood out because of the topic, was Espie Hernandez’s film MARIPOSA. Espie’s film was the only film that discussed aspects of sexuality and sexual orientation. Her film discusses the rite of passage of a Quinceañera, or as we may know it more clearly in the US a “Sweet 15.”
Espie documents her experiences preparing for her Quinceañera as a young Latina lesbian living on the west coast who has come out to her parents. She shares with us some of the challenges her family has experienced and continues to struggle with as her Quinceañera comes closer. We meet her partner and hear from her partner’s family as well.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Espie briefly after the film festival and she agreed to answer a few interview questions. Because she is always already fabulous she asked if it was all right that she film herself in NYC answering the questions I sent her. My analog-life-living self was too busy being amazed at her suggestion to say anything other than “YES!” Take a moment to watch her short film MARIPOSA and then check out her responses to my questions which I’ve tried to provide an accurate transcription for under each film.
Media_JusticeThe past several months have been amazing! Not only have I had a rewarding time teaching some fabulous students, and engaging with people here at Amplify, but I’ve also made 6 stunning new friends! In January of this year I saw a call for fat dancers at my friend Joe’s blog. When I heard about the Jiggly Boo Dance Crew (JBDC) it was like my life finally began to make sense.
I not only was I immediately interested, because I love to dance, but because this was a space that people were seeking to create with dancers who are often excluded from dance communities. The call stated:
Jiggly Boo Dance Crew is a much needed project for exploring the intellectual and creative potential of the fat dancing body. Within the Western performance context, fat bodies are systematically excluded or typecast into demeaning or ancillary roles.Regarding their use of the word “fat” co-founders Kantara and Alice write:
Within this framework, Jiggly Boo Dance Crew (founded by Alice Fu and Kantara Souffrant) will run a series of workshops which will culminate in a performance. These workshops will create a space in which other self-identified female “fat” dancers, movers, and performers, can dialogue about the following questions: What is a "fat dancing body"? How are fat bodies read, understood, felt (emotively and viscerally) and represented? What does it mean to identify oneself as a “fat dancing body” and what are the political implications of identifying oneself as such? How can (re)presentations of fat dancing bodies be understood alongside critical discussions of race, gender, sexuality, and the political movement of bodies that have been traditionally marginalized and invisibilized within Western stage dance?
On the usage of “fat”: Jiggly Boo Dance Crew intentionally reclaims and uses the word "fat" as opposed to other euphemisms (i.e. "plus-sized" or "big-boned") to explore the politics of size-deviant bodies. Our reclamatory gesture also pays homage to area studies, such as queer studies, that have viewed the reappropriation of words as part of a larger political process of creating visibility and challenging hegemonic discourses and systems of oppression.I knew I wanted to join. Every part of my body and mind and spirit needed this. I even began to shamelessly plug the crew to my friends, encouraging them to join with me. One of my current homegirls, Sparkle, who I’ve mentioned before , decided to go for it and signed up for an interview. When we first met Kantara and Alice at the NYU campus, of which I graduated from 10 years ago with a masters degree but still got lost, I knew it was love. Not just love like puppy, butterflies-in-the-stomach love, but love in all the most revolutionary ways. Love for our bodies, love for how we move, love for what we bring, love for simply surviving in a world that doesn’t love us back in the same way we love the world.
Media_JusticeIt’s not often that we celebrate what goes on in Hip Hop. Speaking solely for myself (and maybe for some of my homies) watching the BET Awards is really about who can have the more witty commentary about how to diss the show. As someone who used to identify as a “Hip-Hop feminist,” and still identifies as a “Hip-Hop activist” I still understand the importance and need of the community and its cultural practices and artifacts. For that reason, I’d like to focus on and celebrate some amazing songs that really do connect for me and that I use in my classroom when discussing sexuality and sex.
One of the first songs I began to really use in my classroom was by the group Dead Prez. This song was only one I enjoyed in my personal life and when I introduced it to my students when I began to teach their response was extremely favorable. The next time the song came back into my working-professional life was when I was doing interviews with Puerto Rican men living in the US between the ages of 18-30 and asked them what cultural images, artifacts, songs, poems, narratives, etc. One of them shared that the way they learned about intimate sexual relationships that they defined as “healthy” was through the Dead Prez song “Mind Sex.” If you are not familiar with the song take some time to check it out below. I’d suggest you listen to the song first then watch the video to see the difference:
This video gives a different impression versus just listening to the song. In the video there is more of a “why would I not have sex with you on a regular basis? Oh because I’m incarcerated.” However, I can still find ways to use this video and song as a way to teach abstinence in the classroom. I really adore the line: “for me making love is just as much mental. I like to know what I’m gettin’ into.”
Media_JusticeThe past few months and weeks have been an incredibly busy time around social justice issues in the US and abroad. Sometimes when multiple topics are occurring it's difficult to get a good grasp of what is going on without being distracted, at least that’s how I feel about current events at times! One of the ways I've come to love learning and staying on top of current events are through “traditional” and “non-traditional” media makers.
One of the many issues that has been on my radar for several months: SB1070, the Arizona law that has legalized racial profiling and violates our 4th Amendment rights. I believe that regardless of where you stand on the topic of immigration reform in the US, there is absolutely NO reason for us to give up our constitutional rights. Often, people don't realize how we give up our rights on a daily basis because we don’t know what our rights are to begin with!
One of the first pieces of media that I came across was The Pinky Show regarding Immigration in an episode called "How To Solve Illegal Immigration." The Pinky Show website states that they:
The Pinky Show is the original super lo-tech hand-drawn educational TV show. We focus on information & ideas that have been misrepresented, suppressed, ignored, or otherwise excluded from mainstream discussion. Pinky presents and analyzes the material in an informal, easy-to-understand way, with helpful illustrations that she draws herself. Episodes are available on the internet for free at www.PinkyShow.org.That sounds like my kind of show! Plus I find the imagery (although not always the language and vernacular used) extremely accessible. As a child of immigrants, I’m not a fan of the term “illegal,” but as an educator I am a fan of the approach. The gender non-conforming names of the characters, the youth-friendly symbols and imagery, and how humor is used. Check out the video, it’s about 15 minutes long.
Shortly after seeing The Pinky Show, a friend posted a video by rapper Talib Kweli of a new single he released regarding Arizona. This is not the first time that the Hip-Hop community has created media and messaging about what Arizona has done. In 1991 Public Enemy created the song "By The Time I Get To Arizona" when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday was not celebrated in Arizona. Kweli's song "Paper's Please" samples the Public Enemy song and I love when he says “Stopping you in the streets, demanding identification. If you of the brown persuasion, maybe you could be native, maybe you Mexican, it’s whatever you not Caucasian so you have no place in this country. Illegal immigration got them scared of losing their faith, they fearing assimilation. Give us your tired and your poor and your huddled masses, we’ll be havin’em serving another master homeless and under passes.” (thanks to my homeboy Hugo for helping with the lyrics) Have a listen:
Then, Shakira was interviewed by Ryan Seacrest for his site and radio show. He asks her why she is going to speak to the Mayor of Arizona regarding SB1070. Shakira has an eloquent statement regarding her motivations and convictions, which as a child of immigrants to the US, I find interesting. Shakira acknowledges that she was not born in the US and does not live in the US (full-time) but recognizes that "nobody should be detained in the streets become of the color of their skin." Hear her interview below:
Media_Justice
Media_JusticeIt’s not often that I have conversations about abstinence that are completely in-depth and devoted just to that topic. Often, the conversation is introduced in a larger conversation about choices, healing, sexual assault, contraception, and communication. As I prepare to teach a sexuality course at the private Catholic college I work at, I realize that I need to have a good selection of media (specifically songs) that discuss this reality.
Thus, I started to ask my friends about songs that discuss abstinence but that are also accessible and non-corny. When I do have conversations about abstinence I usually ask the youth I’m working with what type of sex they think people can have. I break down “sex” to include at the very least: vaginal penetration, anal penetration, and oral sex. We talk about how there are various body parts that people can do different things with by themselves or with a partner. I then share with them how some people think abstinence means maintaining their “virginity,” which is defined as a hymen. This means that some people may engage in oral or anal sex to remain a “virgin” and consider themselves abstinent. I share how it’s important for them to define how they want to define abstinence for themselves because potential partners may define it differently. It’s important to know what boundaries you have prior to someone asking to cross over them.
I’ve just fallen in love all over again with some classic songs I’ve been reminded of recently. As I prepare to teach a new summer course on sociology and sexuality these are some jams I’m thinking of teaching.
Janet Jackson’s “Let’s Wait Awhile” which features Taimak for those of you who are old enough to remember the fantabulous film “The Last Dragon.” Her lines “Let’s wait awhile, before we go too far. I didn’t really know to let all my feelings who. To save some for later, so our love could be greater” are amazing teaching tools that help promote discussions about assertive and passive communication.
Media_JusticeThey’d played “Gay Vatos in Love” live on several recent tour stops, and the reaction was sometimes mixed, Pacheco said. “It can be polarizing.” So, he added, “we had to find a way to suck people in without giving it away.”The singer says he now prefaces the song by asking audiences: “Do you believe in love?” The response is almost always enthusiastically affirmative. “People are like, ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’ And we just start singing.” Pacheco laughed.Still, the song consistently challenges comfort levels among some listeners, the singer admitted. “I think people get confused, they don’t know where we’re coming from. Some people ask, especially in the Spanish press, ‘Who’s gay in the band?’ So there’s an assumption there.”(When reporters ask about the sexuality of the band’s membership, Pacheco says he sometimes responds with a purposely blank, “I don’t know.”)“For us it’s a bigger issue,” Pacheco went on. “We felt that [gay rights] is just another in a long line of underdogs, so I think we connected to it on that level. It was totally natural for us to take that stance.”
Media_JusticeSome of you may never have guessed with all my critique and commentary on popular culture, I don’t have cable. Not only do I not have cable, but also I only get about four channels since the conversion as I still use rabbit ear antennas. Much of my consuming of media occurs between these four channels and catching things online. So, forgive me if I’m super late with discussing the anti-sexting campaigns that I just recently saw a advertisement for earlier this month.
While staying in a hotel in a very secluded city for a conference, I watched cable for the first time in months. As I watched MTV, I saw a commercial sponsored and created by MTV regarding anti-sexting. This topic is not new for you Amplify readers or parents of Amplify readers , nor is this topic new in the sexuality and sex education conversations. What is new for me is interacting with this new cyber-specific support, resources, and laws.
You see, I grew up without a computer or cell phone. I had to memorize telephone numbers! When I was in undergrad I was using a word processor. I know what dial-up sounds like, and that the Internet used to be called the “information superhighway.” Today, for me, is the future! With all this technology (i.e. “modernization”) there do come more challenges and laws about monitoring such activities (a post about “Net Neutrality” and what that means for all of us regarding protecting Internet freedom is forthcoming).
Media_JusticeThis post is 5 months in the making! Last year I heard the song Pon De Floor somehow, I really can’t remember since it’s been years since I listened to the radio. Then while watching So You Think You Can Dance, the remaining dancers did a group number to the song. That’s when I knew the song was at a new popular high. It’s rare when a Dancehall song becomes so popular we see it on primetime television. So my interest in the song, the performers, and the origins was piqued.
After doing some searching I found the video for Major Lazer’s Pon De Floor. I was immediately excited because the dancing in the video was very much the kind of Dancehall I find fascinating, yet also complex as it is overly sexually graphic. Basically performers are reenacting some sexual activities on the dance floor, yet are doing so in a way that challenges our ideas of athleticism in dancing in this way. Another aspect of the video that I was excited about was that the women dancing were large bodied women. Some may even call them “fat dancers” yet for me their bodies were so much like my own it was as though I was watching myself dance.
When I realized I needed to learn more about the group I did some online searching and put in a request for a Gchat conversation with my homeboy, musical genre guru extraordinaire: Hugo who writes about DJ music and its connections to identity and society and provides his own mixes for free at his online home American Pupusa. I like to call Hugo my “musical mentor.” My online searching led me to the shocking knowledge that Major Lazer is a fictional Black cyborg created by two White men, Diplo from Philidelphia (of M.I.A. fame), and Switch from the UK who specializes in “House” music. When I realized that two White men created this image of Major Lazer, created the music, and then used Black and brown bodies in the videos I knew I had to talk to Hugo as soon as possible! There was just too much to unpack on my own.
Media_JusticeWhile visiting Trinity College this week I asked some female-identified students what their thoughts were regarding Kiely Williams’ new video “Spectacular.” I have yet to hear too many conversations among their/your community about this video. This question is similar to my question asking you all what you thought about Eryka Badu’s video that was getting so much attention a few weeks ago.
One hundred percent of all the people present had no idea who or what I was talking about. So we went to the Internet and found the video. Upon seeing her face, several of the women identified Kiely from her Cheetah Girls days and we watched and listened to the video together. It was a very fascinating conversation. If you have yet to see the video check it out.
We then watched Kiely’s response to the public’s discussion on her video, which you can see below:
Many of my favorite homegirls are writing about the video. I first read the analysis from the Crunk Feminist Collective that my homegirl Maegan La Mamita Mala Ortiz had shared. Then my homegirl Janna wrote a piece about how this song seems to be an anthem for “drunken blackout sex” which teases out a few areas that are often overlooked. My homegirl AJ, who is the Sexual Correspondent for Racialicious.com has a recent piece up: Not So “Spectacular”: Kiely Williams, Black Erotics, and Sexual Responsibility which highlights several points regarding sexual assault, imagery, and HIV and STI rates among Black people living in the US. AJ then shared the writing of Carolyn Edgar who wrote Pimps Up, Hoes Up: Sexing Your Way To Your 15 Minutes of Fame which analyses this and a recent video created by a young woman of Color named Kat Stacks who identifies as having slept with numerous singers, rappers and/or celebrities.
Media_Justice Media_JusticeI really can't continue where I said I would about open relationships when two artists of Color have created media in ways that are producing so many reactions! This weekend, as I moved my life into a new apartment friends on twitter and facebook encouraged others to check out the new video by Erykah Badu for her upcoming album New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh, which was released on Tuesday March 30, 2010.
I took a 20-minute break from moving boxes and watched the video. Here's the one I saw:
As you can imagine there have been many responses regarding this video. My homegirl Sylvia shared with me another video that was created for this song here:
What I find is missing from these discussions are the conversations, ideas, thoughts, impressions, and critique from all of YOU. There are a lot of older folks (think over 25) who are talking about this video and it's representations and meanings. Yet, I want to hear you all talk about what this video may mean and represent for you. So share your thoughts! For those of you who don't know the video was shot at the same location as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Here's an article discussing how/why Badu and company did not get arrested.
Media_JusticeI know I said that I’d follow up on the conversation I started in my last post regarding open relationships, and I do plan to pick back up, however I wanted to share an amazing experience I had recently. Last week I was the keynote speaker at the Get The Facts NY Youth Leadership Conference. This conference focuses on young activists from New York state organized by the Family Planning Advocates of New York State. Each year hundreds of youth from NY travel to Albany to attend the conference and learn leadership skills and take advantage of opportunities to speak to their representatives about issues in sexual and reproductive health important to them.
This year was the largest gathering of student activists with 300 participants! One of the central themes was “Real Sex Ed Saves!” To say that this experience was amazing is a huge understatement. I had four goals in my keynote, and I did touch all those points. At the same time there were things I had planned to share but had been so caught up in the energy in the room that I forgot a few of them and want to include them here.
My four goals included:
- Activism comes in various forms
- Everyone in the room is a media maker
- Everyone in the room has power and with that power comes accountability and responsibility.
- Activist need rest too.
Media_Justice“Polyamory goes beyond non-monogamy. It is negotiated, ethical non-monogamy.Polyamory is the non-possessive, honest, responsible and ethical philosophy and practice of interacting intimately with multiple people simultaneously. It gives one the option of having relationships outside of social norms. Polyamory is from the root words Poly (meaning "many") and Amour (meaning "love/lovers"); hence "many loves" orPolyamory.Polyamory is an umbrella term, it can mean many things, such as being in a triad (when there are three people who are intimate with each other), having a primary partner, being single but having multiple lovers or relationships. To us, revolutionary polyamory means purging the seeds of oppression that try to corner us into ownership, control of our bodies, and illusions of security through something outside of yourself.”
“This year I have been active about discussing alternative models of having relationships , considering that the dominant model we hear about relationships does not work for many of us. In fact, it does not work for about 50% of the population, if you take a look at how high divorce rates are. I have also been more active around learning more about my own sexuality, and challenging ourselves, as people of color, to reconsider sexuality as something that is constantly changing, adapting, being reinvented.In our own communities (black and brown) I feel that we often regergitate [sic] heterosexist, oppressive models around sex, for example, in many brown families young women are not talked to about sex unless the message is "Don't have any!" There tends to be an emphasis on "waiting for marriage" for young Latinas, I mean, I definitely got conditioned that way, not by my parents, but by all the culture around me. I was also not encouraged to learn about masturbation, about open relationships, about questioning whether I liked men or women - I was conditioned to believe that I would fall in love with one really awesome guy, have babies with him and be monogamous, and that that should be one of my main life purposes. That's not where I am today, and at age 30, all I hear at family parties is "Favi when you gonna have your own babies! Cuando te casas??”
“i think that if you are clear about what it is you want, what it is your potential/current partner can offer and are honest with one another that it can and does work. i also think many people of Color who have opinions on it are very much unaware of what poly relationships are and confuse it with polygamy and cheating. i think they are also far too comfortable assuming they have control over other people's actions, and buying into the illusion that there is only one person who can fulfill everything we need in this lifetime from another person. talk about STRESS!!!sometimes open relationships don't work for a lot of reasons, that are just the same as why monogamous relationships don't work (scheduling, values, belief systems, politics, family, dishonesty, death, changing needs etc.) but not because they are open. sometimes monogamous relationships [sic] dont work because they are not open!what would happen if every person was raised with love and acceptance to our opinions of open relationships? i think for many people the fear of losing love, giving love, exchanging love is so overwhelming it leads us to want something that may not be very realistic for some people like monogamy.i also think many people project their own ish onto the open relationships we may have. what if people not in our relationsip [sic] realized our relationships are about our needs not theirs? what if we all realized that we do what is best for us at that time and if having one or more primary partners or primary lovers or companions etc. is what is best for us that is what we need to do at that time. we are always evolving.i also think monogamy is a result of colonization but that will take me on a tangent.”
Media_JusticeBianca I Laureano
Last week the internets were a blaze with a particular story about the “sexual risk taking” of Latino youth. Surprisingly, or not so, most of the people in the sexual science field who shared the story either via email or on twitter had nothing to say about the article. I found that interesting because I have a lot to say about this topic! The articles that have been written reference a piece of literature titled “Sexuality and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latino Adolescents and Young Adults” written by Marcela Raffaelli and Maria I. Iturbide.
Both researchers are academics with a focus on sexuality and Latino communities. Marcela Raffaelli’s biography can be read here and from what I can tell Maria I. Iturbide may still be a graduate student working with Marcela Raffaelli. I have to say that I think if this is the case, this is great to have an advisor agree to publish with a student; this is rare in graduate school (usually we do bibliography and research and get an thank you at the end of the article)!
I share a few of my initial thoughts on Love Isn’t Enough (LIE) (formally Anti-Racist Parent) yet wanted to go more in depth with my ideas and thoughts about the literature and findings. There are a few areas that stand out to me and these include the date of publication, how Latino is defined, how Whiteness and Blackness is defined, gender discussions, cultural values, and issues of consent.
Media_JusticeEach semester when I begin to teach my students about the social construction of race, I use several popular culture references to introduce the conversation. My class is not one of those that are separated into discussing each social construction such as “gender week” or “race week.” Instead, I implement an intersectional framework into my syllabus so that students know we are always already talking about race, class, gender, ethnicity, citizenship status, primary language, ability, and sexual orientation (to name a few). If my students are complex, and if I’m complex, how is it ethical to make a “simple” syllabus? I don’t think it is.
Although it’s been over 5 years that Dave Chappelle aired his skit “Racial Draft,” I still use it in my class. I’ve used a lot of his work from season 2 on my syllabus this semester, he is a genius and it is very fun and incredibly effective to talk about the sociological imagination and his skit “Black Bush.” But today, I want to talk about his “Racial Draft” and how media literacy is really at the center of this skit. If you are unfamiliar with the skit take a few minutes to watch it below:
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Media_JusticeThe US Census wants you to be “counted,” they are also paying folks to do the work (i.e. get access to communities they can’t) and honestly, they are paying pretty well. I’ve gotten a ton of emails and announcements about Latino organizations participating in getting young people to fill out the Census. They’ve gone as far ask asking several musical artists to contribute a song (that we’ve already heard and may already own) to a CD they will give people once they complete the Census. You may have also heard all the chatter about the term “Negro” being on the Census as well (fyi, it’s been on the Census for decades).
I remember when I was old enough to fill out a Census I was living outside my parent’s home and could fill one out by myself. I had looked at what my mother wrote and she said that she racially identifies as White and ethnically as Puerto Rican. That was one of the first times I realized that our racial identities did not match. I’ve mentioned a few times already about how multiple identities intersect and how they result in very specific experiences especially in different places. So I wonder not how the US Census is going to count LatiNegr@s (along with all the other multi-ethnic and racial people in the US), but I wonder how we can change the conversations we are having about the intersections of Blackness and Latinidad.
The first post I wrote this year I highlighted people who embodied both identities. I also shared that I had “a post brewing in my mind simply because of this man [Laz Alonso]. You see he was in Spike Lee’s “Miracle at Saint Anna” as the lead protagonists. In the film this Cuban-American actor portrays a Black Puerto Rican soldier. The marketing for this film was specifically dedicated to the Black identities of the characters and their work as (Buffalo) soldiers during WWII. What I find striking (and telling of the racism within our communities) is that there was limited to no Latino coverage of this film and he is the lead character. For this reason alone we must recognize and support the LatiNegr@s in various media positions because even within our own community we are ignored and overlooked.”
Have you heard of the film “Miracle At St. Anna”? It is one of Spike Lee’s most recent films (aka “joints”) based on the book of the same title by James McBride about the US Army's African-American 92nd Infantry Division who were called “Buffalo Soldiers.” Lee has spoken very publicly about the challenge he encountered trying to find funding for the film. A majority of the funds came from other parts of the world, specifically Italy and France with some money put in the pot from Disney. However, Lee has shared he feared the film was not ever going to be funded.
Before we continue check out the trailer for the film:
Media_Justiceby Bianca Laureano
One of the things I learned early on in college was that the philosophers, professors, and activists I looked up to and admired had a lot of their own flaws they were working out. As I’ve evolved into a sexologists of Color, one of the few I might add, the skill I’ve had to develop and nurture the most is: finesse. You see, there are many sexologists, sex educators, researchers and therapists in the US that have done amazing work and continue to do so, however often their work excludes poor people, people of Color, immigrants, people with disabilities, and youth.
I remember when I realized I had to take Betty Dodson to task for a video she uploaded about a trip to Cuba. She and her working partner Carlin had described the “big Black horny Cuban men” in a way that was demeaning, perpetuated the “fear” of the White female tourist, condescending, and oversexualized men of Color, especially LatiNegr@s. I’m sure neither of them saw or read that piece I wrote. And honestly, if they did they probably wouldn’t have to do anything about it. You see that’s because they have that privilege to identify people of Color in another country in such ways without having to consider any backlash. My small attempt at calling them out on their ethnocentrism, racism, classism, elitism, and being just plain triflin’, I see as one part of the reason why I came to this field. We deserve to be a part of the conversations about us and our sexuality.
There are not enough of us, people of Color, people from oppressed and marginalized communities speaking out and to the “foremothers” and “forefathers.” I remember being in a training and the White female trainer talking about how we can use the Kinsey scale to describe the behaviors of men who have sex with men (MSM). This trainer put adult MSM of Color at the same level as adolescents. I shared that from my perspective this was infantilizing adult men of Color, something that our society already does and that I’m not going to perpetuate that or what she suggested and use the scale in such a way. She was not prepared for me to challenge her in such an astute and intelligent way. Her response was that she “doesn’t think the scale was created for that intent.” Well duh, there were not many people of Color Kinsey even interviewed! After she came up to me and wanted to “make sure I was ok.” As if my speaking out and challenging what she said automatically made me someone who needed care of some sort, apparently questioning a White woman providing a training means you are not feeling well.
