masculinities

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is scoping for homework topics or help looked down upon on ile???
oh well, that is what i'm doing now...i figure it's an interesting general topic - the paper is called masculinities.
trying to come up with some ideas of stuff for my essay; i have to be really into it cause it kind of goes through several pieces of assessment.

i have been considering:
performance art focussing on body fluids [eg. blood, come, urine etc] and/or perhaps on female performances that are do to with masculinity - i already know a bit about the former because it's one of my main areas of interest in art and i already have researched alot of it. however i want to write about it for my next semester paper "women and art" - but i guess i could just shift focuses. i thought anthony might be familiar with some of this...stuff like keith boadwee???
something to do with penises
something to do with anal sex
something to do with music though i think it might be hard to find sources for this or areas that haven't already been well covered, and bearing in mind i am a crap writer especially about music which is like my main "interest". i just felt inspired by this essay about axl rose though.
some particular cultural figure/famous person or trend
i guess war/terrorism would be fascinating areas for a masculinities essay but i think that's beyond me

any suggestions would be very highly appreciated, but smutty jokes won't be (well, okay, they might be...but.....)

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What subject is the essay for? It seems like a very broad essay topic.

― Penny Lane, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the subject is masculinities

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I did a paper on masculinity in popular music, and it was the best thing I wrote in college. In fact, the best papers I've ever written have been on men and music, hmmm.

― rosemary, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Though not strictly masculine, you should check out some of H.R. Giger's art... as far as penises go.

(In Victoria BC right now in an internet cafe.. woohoo!)

― Brian MacDonald, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

One of my last classes I took in college was a feminism and art history class.. and one of the pieces of art we examined was a b&w drawing of a nude Spock givin' it to a nude Captain Kirk in some sort of quasi-paisley setting. It might be worth googling for.

― Brian MacDonald, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Assuming there's Star Trek Porn on the internet...

― bnw, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yeah in my collection of body art gender stuff there's julie doucet's comix drawings of Spock and Kirk pissing on a planet to claim it and they keep pissing and pissing for ages and there's some other one. Also i think other people have done similar so it might not be Doucet y're refering to. yeah actually star trek new generation might be interesting....but tthen again....(i'm not a geek. although probably that would be a plus).

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Monday, 18 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Just as an exercise: if something seems like a good idea for "Masculinities," gender-flip it in your head, imagine it as an idea for a paper called "Femininities," and see if the idea makes you run screaming.

(Even if it does, it's not necessarily a bad idea. But try it.)

― Douglas, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

http://www.ekac.org/nae.html
There are robots

― anthony, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you might wish to try judith butler's work on gender as drag, in order to look into how gender is performed...find things that subvert masculinities, such as drag kings/queens, intergendered etc...perhaps look at the institutions which benefit the most from performtivity of these masculinites - ie church, politics etc, and what are the relationships of power (cf foucault) that are entered into.

― Queen G, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

agreed with Queen G - i think the book is called "gender trouble" - i found it very interesting but quite hard going - her prose is thicker than treacle! but well worth the slog.

― katie, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yes yes what geoff said, only female-to-male drag. it seems highly undertheorised.

― di, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

or or or you could just focus on axl rose and his bike shorts. really hair metal is a great subject for your essay. because i said so.

― ducklingmonster, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

or in the case of Axl Rose NO HAIR metal ho ho ho

― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I've been told that I walk like a woman. Sometimes I consciously try not to but I think it just makes me walk more womanly than before.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

with regards to female-to-male drag - anything except that stupid kd lang and cindy crawford thing. that ones been done to death and isn't as transgressive as it is made out to be for the simple reason that I'M SICK OF STRAIGHT GIRLS APPROPRIATING HOMO STYLES. (kd's drag don't bother me though - at least its authentically gay unlike that piece of fukkin fluff.)

gawd i know someone's gonna have issues with my use of the words "authentically gay" - so i better try to justify in advance. i mean just anyone who is obviously just trying to capitalize on gayness when they are clearly straight like cindy c.

― di, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

that didn't come off sounding well - i just wanna make it clear that i'm well aware that sexuality ain't a clear cut issue. its happened in my own life. but for some people, i think it is - many people define themselves as exclusively straight or gay or whatever. and thats cool. but when these people come and appropriate gay signifiers to get some kinda credibility it really fuxx me off. yeah, i know, i know i don't even KNOW what cindy defines herself as - but the fact that she's married to a guy is a fair clue. and you know i do think its cool that homophobia is breaking down and lotsa straight people are cool with gayness now - but there is lotsa dodgy kinda stuff surrounding the issue and i hope this has clarified my position a bit more...??

― di, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but the fact that she's married to a guy is a fair clue. should read "but the fact that she has been married ....

― di, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hey di you might like to read stuff by judith halberstam...i've got her book "female masculinity" out from the public libr at the moment. also she did the writing in one (that has lots of photos, by del lagrace volcano) called the drag king book. there is quite a lot of female-to-male/female masculinity/butch/transgender/gender outlaw/dyke/queer women stuff out there in the 300s sections, and ALSO in the art sections. books on lesbian art etc. like say check out the photos by claude cahun. not that i can get enough of this stuff. and a motivating factor for me is that i have a high chance of finding the photos/artwork pervalicious. but anyway. yeah. and i do remember reading lots of critiques of that stupid crawford shit (and the whole lesbian chic thing which is still around really - have you seen that new ad for textured wallpaper???????)

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you could interview toraneko about female masculinity! ;-)

― di, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

oh btw yes i would love to borrow that book.

― di, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ermm i guess its not really about masculinity at all but do you know anything about cosey fanni tutti's performance art? pat kraus has got a copy of a book about throbbing gristle and i could borrow it for you, it might be useful if that was an interest for you.

― di, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

del lagrace volcano did the most brilliant bit of lesb er "recruitment" (yes yes i know bear with me) i evah encountered: my fwend [x], who = v.unhappy woman pretty much all her life interviews dlv abt five years ago (well, she was still called della grace: how long is that?), and dlv is — as usual, so i gather — quite flirty in a perfectly appropriate and charming way and [x] is enjoying the interview which is doubtless v.interesting and challenging, and then towards the end dlv pretty much points at [x] and says to her, "Within six months you will realise you have always been a lesbian, [x]", and [x] is VERY SHAKEN, and comes back and tells everyone all about it in a "how dare she" kind of a way. Except w/i six months (or thereabouts) dlv proves perfectly korrekt, and [x] = suddenly a happy person at last.

― mark s, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Aw, that's sweet. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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