The Argues About The Media Play In Shaping And Our Perceptions Of Beauty And Normalcy

I asked them to recall the January 2006 Vogue spread by the designers Dolce & Gabbana

, where five women appear in several sexually suggestive poses in relation to each other. I questioned, "If our advertising is predominantly heterosexist, then how do we explain D&G advertisements that suggestively portray women engaged with women in sex? Is there a double standard here?" There was an initial choral "yes" response, but several students further developed the analysis. Cansu reminded the class of what they learned from watching a video and reading an essay by Jean Kilbourne (see Kilbourne and Pipher; Killing). "As Kilbourne has pointed out, women are treated as 'things' for men's pleasure. What we see in the D&G ads relate to our history with harems. The same thing in Persia and elsewhere in the East. It doesn't seem to change."

We talked about several media connections and I shared with them that I consulted with a gay colleague to prepare this lesson. Midway through my story a voice squeaked, "Oh." We all looked at Sedef. She spoke to me, but her gaze swept around the room. "We all know a gay person." There were whispers, "Who?" She said, "We all have a teacher." She paused. There was recognition around the room. A couple of students said, "No." There were more gasps, some smiles, and some heads shook back and forth. One student said, "We must not say anything." Another said, "He could get into trouble."

I added that whether or not a person is gay and who they wish to reveal it to is something personal. It is part of their story and GHD MK4 it is their story to tell, but only if they wish to. But I asked them to expand on what they mean by "get in trouble," for I hoped they would reveal tangible examples of how homophobia manifests itself in Turkey.

Selim said, "Media reflects culture. In the United States there are shows like Will and Grace, but that's because there are so many gay people in the United States. Here being gay is not normal so people could get in trouble."

Ash stared in shock at Selim and countered, "But maybe we try to hide homosexuality here. We act as if it should be invisible, as if it is humiliating." Her classmates, most of them at least, supported her with nods and yeses. "Our society does not want to see that, to see positive images. They are not ready for it."

Agreeing, Gizem drew our attention to the bulletin boards in the room covered with quotations. "It's like what Anai's Nin said, 'we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.' So maybe we try too much to believe there are no gay people in Turkey so we try to see it like that."

As the time for the class meeting neared an end, I paused and asked the students if they wanted to continue with this discussion the following day. I told them that if we continued, they would need to read about twelve pages before they came to class, a memoir I wrote, "Michael's Story: The Struggle to Be Open-Minded." They were unanimous in wanting to continue, and they did not object to the unplanned reading. In our Angela's Ashes unit we examined the art of memoir and the GHD IV MK4 Pink students wrote their own. Through that unit we had made numerous links between "emotion" and "memory" and "truth." We also had talked about the need to be respectful of people's stories in a community of writers. I confessed that I was hesitant to share this memoir with them because it was so personal and honest, reflecting aspects of my life history that I was not proud of. I wrote this piece in 1992 as a way of confronting and seeking to overcome my homophobia, but also as an educator who wanted to challenge others to do the same. I told them I wanted to keep this, for now, within the classroom community, and they agreed.

by: FIRELEAVES

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