The opportunity to be enrolled in Sex/Myth/Power & Popular culture has provided me with a different perspective on how the media has affected both people and in the world where they live. Through the readings and films we have watched in this class it is easy to see that people tend to be aware of only one’s own existence, through their thoughts and surroundings and accept this to be the ‘normal’ way of life. We can see that media is able to tell us what in is considered ‘normal’/ socially acceptable in society; where each gender has a specific role to play based on the stereotypical nature on what it means to be male and female. Some authors, however, have challenged this notion of stereotypical behavior that we tend to have.
In Gloria Anzaldua’s…show more content… Anzaldua acts as a leader she is adamant in embodying herself in multiple cultures at the same time.
Another author who challenges society and gender norms is Sandra Cisneros, in Guadalupe the Sex Goddess because this reading is a life narrative we really feel like we can connect with the author. She discusses her issues with sexuality from the standpoint of a Mexican-American woman. She accomplishes this by examining the discrimination she faces through her religion and culture.
As a Mexican, religion is considered to be what drives her culture/daily life. Cisneros alienation and covering up of her own body was due to her religion and culture, she states that this “helped to create that blur, a vagueness about what went on ‘down there” (Cisneros, 46). Thus, she lacked the confidence and security she needed when having sex. Cisneros gives an example of the silentness she faced, “if I was a graduate student, was shy about talking to anyone about my body and sex, imagine how difficult it must be for a young girl in middle school or high school living with no information other than misinformation from the girlfriends and the boyfriend” (Cisneros 48). This type of experience is typical with other Latinas who grow up in a traditional household and…show more content… She is a character, an idea, a woman who loved women but was heavily male-identified more often than not. She was the unattractive girl, the tomboyish teen, the independent woman, or any black sister who repulsed the advances of men” (Bogus 30). Like Venus Boyz, Paris Is Burning gives the viewer a performative aspect of what it exactly means to be a butch/femme man. In Paris Is Burning we see that Dorian Corey is a true performer we see that he has to monitor himself when he is not in drag, but can do whatever he wants when he is in it. On the other hand in Venus Boyz, Dred/Mildred claims that everyone has a masculine and feminine side to them. It is clear to see that New York drag queens specifically are largely feminine offstage and perform masculinity on