foibles of a psychology researcher & more

[manifesta]

So. I wake up at 6:30AM so that our group can meet at 7:30AM in the clinic. After arranging the room to our specifications, we went into the back where the hidden camera equipment is located... and discovered that no one had brought a DVD. No DVD, no tape of the room, no data, no experiment. We had less than 15 minutes before participants would be arriving. One of our group members booked it to the other side of campus, bought two DVDs, and got back in 14. We set up, we're awesome, we're waiting for participants to arrive... and waiting...

Turns out our experiment wasn't posted online. Which meant that no one could even sign-up let alone arrive.

After all the stress, one of our group members burst into tears and had to leave. The rest of us tried to pull it together and rescheduled the experiment, which is now online and hopefully being signed-up for. The graduate TA was very kind and didn't look at all pissed off that we had just wasted her time. She even tried to help us find DVDs when we realized we didn't have any. We're going to buy her coffee in thanks and apology.


In contrast to last week's racefail, I stumbled onto The Advantages of Being a White Writer on Justine Larbalestier's blog. Not only is the entry itself is good, the comments are either well moderated or the general community of her blog is thoughtful and articulate.

As someone who's sick of the bullshit, I really appreciated her beginning statement:

"I know that the title of this post is going to lead to some comments insisting that it’s not true that white writers have any advantages and that many white people are just as oppressed as people of colour. I don’t want to have that conversation. So I’m going to oppress the white people who make those comments by deleting them. I don’t do it with any malice. I do it because I want to have a conversation about white privilege in publishing. We can have the discussion about class privilege and regional privilege and other kinds of privilege some other time. Those other privileges are very real. But I don’t want this discussion to turn into some kind of oppression Olympics."

Go read it; it touches on some points regarding the intersection of race, white privilege, and publishing that I hadn't thought of. I only wish more blogs were moderated this way.

I also really liked Larbalestier's On Hating Female Characters entry:

"Yet still readers call Isabelle (of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments trilogy) a “slut” and have crushes on Jace who’s much more slutty than Isabelle. What can we do to shift such sexist assumptions when they’re so deeply ingrained in so many of us? Because even when we write books that challenge such stereotypes, readers put them back into the text by reading Isabelle as a slut and Jace as Hotty McHott Hero."

And I think this comment said it well:

"Which is why no one has a problem with girls reading a book about a boy written by a girl (Harry Potter), but people think it’s cool and different if a boy reads a book about a girl written by a girl (Twilight). And why Nora Roberts is not the same household name as Stephen King."

Comments

[theinkymuse.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you've had an incredibly stressful morning. But, as I've recently learned, it will passss. Eventually. I promise. :)

And I'm thinking I should subscribe to Justine's blog, because it's chalk full of controversial issues to discuss.

About the perception of female characters in relation to male ones: Honestly? Society. That's where I place the blame. Or, to go a little farther, media. During our childhoods and the early stages of our lives, we are each programmed to think in a certain manner, perceive the world in this way or that, and it is fed to use either through television, posters, radio, music, etc, or through family teachings.

And so, I think, that is where many of use develop this inherent belief that female characters do not deserve the right or freedom to be promiscuous or dynamic; that they should be tempered and stoic. If anything, it's likely the archaic idosyncrasies of the past trickling down into the mind-frame of the present. It is a rationale that must be watered down in the same manner as racism or, really, discrimination of any kind: with time.

And I don't think it's a fair assumption to say, "If Harry Potter were Harriet Potter, she would not be liked as much because of such and such." Personally, I disagree. What many people found so charming and riveting about Harry was his personality, his faults, his adventures, and the manner in which he matured and evolved into a hero. If this same evolution of character, self, and heroics were done with a female character, I think I'd still find it an appealing and kickass series.

But then again, that's just me.

(Incidentally, I always thought Jace AND Isabelle were sluts. Only I called Jace a man-whore. Because he was--is--whatever. >.>)

[theinkymuse.livejournal.com]

Wow, I write annoyingly lengthy comments. x]

[manifesta]

Also: I like your lengthy comments. :)

[manifesta]

It got better. :) Thanks!

I've always really enjoyed Justine's blod. She tells it like it is.

I definitely agree that the way we perceive is gender based on what society tells us we should think and how we should behave. As you said, unfortunately a lot of it comes from our history. Worse yet, it's stuff from the past we continue to perpetuate, a lot of times without realizing it.

I've never read the books! I may have to now.

[theinkymuse.livejournal.com]

You've never read Harry Potter!? Hop to it, woman!

I kid, I kid. :p

...Only not. The series is pretty good. Srsly.

[seeyouupside.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you had such a stressful morning. I hope the next few days were better and that the weekend is as well. <3

I love Justine's blog. She (and Scott Westerfeld; they're married and all sorts of adorable) discuss such interesting, thought-provoking things. The whole thing with her cover was just...wow. I was so taken aback at what was going on and I thought she handled it really well. I am dying to read her books because she seems like such a interesting woman.

Uh...hi! I don't think I formally said that but hi I'm Rachel and I love my Northface as much as you love yours. ;-) I'm really glad and eager to be reading/read your blog because I am really interested in social justice (although I don't do much with my interest in it) and, uh, I'm in college too. :-)

--Rachel

[manifesta]

It's alright! We actually laughed about it afterwards. And our lab went off without a hitch today, too.

I love Justine and Scott's blogs. :) I love how they're alternating doing NaNo tips this month. I thought she handled the cover debacle really well, too. She was put in a tough position and dealt with it with class. I'm glad it ended well. Oddly, I haven't read any of her books, either! Though I did recently read Scott's Uglies series.

Hi! I'm Kayla. I don't believe I've said hi, either... I just thought your blog was interesting and finally had a chance to comment. :) We can be Northface buddies.