Creative Responses Blog

After reading Madras on Rainy Days, I was really touched by the way the body was restricted in several ways, both of men and of women. I believe that the body in itself is an outlet for control because it is physical. What is most interesting about the body, though, is that sometimes its physical manifestations arise from outside factors, those that may not be thoroughly explicit. I created this collage to show several activist movements, from the AIDS Act Up movement to the current feminist waves. I believe that in activism, though several different groups have different asks and different motives, we must all unite as one to push for basic human rights. One of my favorite feminists is Simone de Beauvoir. At first, she refused the title of feminism because she believed that over time, socialism would provide for full freedoms and equalities; she realized later that no system, regardless of its socioeconomic intents, will ever provide for people in the way that people will provide for people. And so she became a feminist because she realized that it was something to fight for. I think that we still need to fight for so many people, men, women, children, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, those who do not have proper healthcare, those who are disabled etc. Although each group has a different specific “ask,” we are still humans together, and I believe that if one activist group is calling for help, we should all step up to the plate and not put one social movement over the other. I think that the book really outlines a lot of social problems from the impurity that is often related to a woman’s menstruation, a very normal human cycle, to the control of sexuality and the ultimate shame that is cast when sexuality does not follow the “cultural norms.” I think that was must always challenge these cultural norms, especially when they unintentionally restrict people from expressing freedom of their body or their heart. I think that Simone was right; people need to fight for people because who else is going to do it?

~ by dmuhleisen on December 5, 2015.