The Other Side of PRIDE

By Michael Duling

How many of you have been to a pride parade, seen rainbow ads, worn a pride pin? Probably a good number if not most of you. PRIDE is a wonderful symbol of community and inclusivity, and by 2016, it has permeated every facet of our culture. Our advertising, our media, our clothing. It’s also a Multi-Billion dollar industry run almost exclusively by rich white men. So how did it all get started? In 1969, Trans Women of color were tired of being brutalized and harassed and murdered by police officers. This culminated in the Stonewall Riots which started what would become the “Pride” movement. In this early movement, the major tenants included an end to police brutality, an end to homelessness, an end to discriminatory policies and, surprisingly, not marriage. Marriage didn’t actually enter the scene until much later in the movement, and it was actually introduced when the movement took on a very different face.

Bruce Bastian is the CEO of the Blogging site WordPress, and at one point his net worth was 1.4 BILLION dollars. But he’s also a senior board member for the Human Rights campaign. He is clearly a powerful fixture in the largest equality based nonprofit in America who also happens to be white, a billionaire, and 61 years old. That in itself is not an issue, but when I extensively researched the founders, presidents and governing boards of all of the other major LGBTQ foundations, a surprising trend started to emerge. They were all white, they were all prominent businessmen and women at other multi-million dollar companies, and none of them were trans identifying.

So if that’s what the leaders of today’s pride movement look like, what do you think the movement itself looks like nowadays? It’s actually quite surprising to see so many differences in modern PRIDE movements. Now, they’re fighting primarily for marriage equality, greater representation in the media, and an end to teenage suicide. These companies still do amazing work for a lot of good causes, but they’re increasingly putting out the idea that the most important battle is the battle for marriage, and after that, the battle is over, and we’ve achieved full equality among men. However, at the same time, police brutality is on the rise, and 40% of homeless youth are LGBT. These issues didn’t just go away after the Stonewall Riots; they’ve been systematically moved to the back-burner, and it’s our job to figure out why. See, in the 1980s, gay white men who didn’t have to deal with police violence or homelessness found themselves forced into the movement when the AIDS crisis began. Once these rich white dudes got into the movement, they used their money and their power to start their own groups or take over existing ones to better serve their interests. Interests that primarily included ,arriage, representation in the media, and queer suicide. All very important things, but we have to also look at the things that are taking a backseat. Police violence is still a HUGE issue, especially among trans women of color. Homelessness is on the rise among queer folks in major cities, and in some states, you can be turned away at a hospital because you are gay, trans, or are perceived as gay or trans. In addition, many places in the US still accept the “gay panic” defense, basically saying that if I were murdered, my murderer could have his charges lessened because he thought I was coming on to him. ALL of these are issues that could be swiftly dealt with on a political level if those with the power and the money to act on them actually gave two cares about them. When we put rich white men at the helm of our charities, however, the only charity that will be done will be in the service of rich white men.

So what is the solution? We need to stop giving our money to these faceless corporations that are trying to sell us this rainbow-colored lifestyle. We need to support grassroots organizations. Most of you have local LGBT centers you don’t even know about that affect real change in your communities, and are being overlooked in the face of these larger corporations with better marketing schemes to solicit donations. We must especially support intersectionality through organizations like Black Lives Matter, and most of all, never stop educating ourselves, and never stop educating others. We are in an age that allows us to make real change, we just need to work together to craft a real movement that can do it.

“When Will My Reflection Show?…”

By Emily Long & Autumn Meyer

Today in our culture, pop culture rules. From sports to social media, people are constantly talking about the popular things going on. Each pop culture item is a sign of what our society values. For this project, we picked the topic of feminism in Disney movies, and, more importantly, the progression of feministic characters in the princesses as time has gone on. Not only are both of us absolutely obsessed with Disney, but we find that this is quite an applicable topic to arguments of feminism today. As time as progresses, the princesses and strong women characters grew more independent, just like women at those times in history. Disney characters have taught young girls to be brave, strong, independent, women. They learned that different is okay and to embrace that.

As time progressed, we can say that Disney improved the promotion of feminism. We start out with the very first couple Disney movies and princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. She, along with several other princesses, are considered to be very bland in their personality. They follow what the gender normality line, by being housemaids. They clean the house, the cook, and they do not go away to work. That was their job. They are all very kind, sweet, and can be considered as submissive. They do not state what they want, or really what their opinion is about anything. They just go along with their life. They believe that their life is the way it is, and there is nothing they can do about it.

Then Disney starts to introduce the first couple of movies that show the princess speaking up for themselves. We see a little bit of this with Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Megeara, and Pocahontas. Disney adds in how culture plays a part in these girl’s gender-normality expectations. Yes, they do fall in love, but we see more independence and speaking out.

The next set of movies go a step up. We see Tiana, Mulan, Rapunzel, and Merida. In each of these movies, with exception of Rapunzel, these girls run in the opposite direction of marriage, or wanting to find that “prince.” Tiana is working to save up, so that she can buy her own restaurant. Mulan disguises herself as a man, so that she can save her family and her country. Mulan was the biggest step of Disney presenting that gender-normality line. Merida works to save her family, and in a way, “rebels” so that her kingdom isn’t ruined. Lastly, Rapunzel kind of sticks out among this group. She starts out as naïve and uneducated, due to being kidnapped. She later takes a step of independence, and learns who she really is. At the end, she does fall in love, and we see her becoming the true leader of her kingdom, and standing up to Mother Gothel.

The last movie we talked about was Frozen. We talked about the relationship between Anna and Elsa. Disney fooled the audience by thinking Anna found her first true love. Instead, a plot twist occurred, and the true love that was represented was family love. Disney showed that family love can and will overpower just regular true love. They broke the mold with this story, a mold that will hopefully be able to stay broken in the future.

Disney has really turned the page when it comes to their progression of feminist characters. From the bland characters of the 1950’s to the most recent princesses that break to mold of the the traditional Disney story, the progression of feministic ideals is quite eye opening. It shows that our culture today doesn’t want girls to feel like the prince needs to rescue them. They can rescue themselves.

What's Going On Here?

Hello and welcome to the ongoing class blog for the Fall 2016 course "Pop Culture America" at Millikin University. In this course, which fits into the larger first-year Critical Writing, Reading, and Research sequence, my students and I are exploring the semiotics of American popular culture. That is, we are examining the many aspects of our entertainment and consumer culture, and asking questions about what these might signify in terms of our larger cultural values and norms.

As part of the class, we are reading a lot of articles discussing the "deeper meanings" behind our popular culture. But we also realize that popular culture is not just the subject matter of academic literature -- rather, it is the stuff of our everyday lives. Thus, in order to enrich and expand our class discussions, I have assigned my students to look to the popular culture that surrounds them for artifacts that they feel reveal something significant about who we are as a society and what we believe. I have asked them to "curate" these artifacts of pop culture: alongside the item itself -- be it song, film, advertisement, social media, etc. -- they are to explain the larger ideas they see at work in the object, and to discuss the implications of the values and norms they feel are being reflected and reinforced, whether for better or worse. This blog continues similar ventures from 2014 and 2015.

I look forward to what is to come in the following weeks and months. One of the great pleasures of teaching for me has always been how much I can also learn from my students, and I have high hopes that this project will offer me -- and all of us -- a deeper glimpse into how we relate to (and are shaped by) the ever-changing world of American popular culture.