I am working on the forest images that will constitute background for my project. I am seeking for the best ideas- I have been searching for proper tutorials online and took out some books on Adobe Photoshop in hope of getting an inspiration. The effect I am interested in is forest of mystery and darkness- so not exactly what you can see in the left. This is my today's record of attempts and I am keeping it only because I find it aesthetically pleasing.
I keep reading for the theoretical part of my project. I picked Susan Faludi's Stiffed. The Betrayal Of Modern Men. I only read a few pages but found some inspiration towards my argument.
Another inspiration- this Saturday my friends and me wanted to attend the Reclaim The Night March in Central London. (Please have a look online http://www.reclaimthenight.org/) Unfortunately, I got ill and had to stay in bed. That's such a pity though. As a part of my "Forest of Femininity" will relate to the violence and rape, I deem the Reclaim The Night relevant to the issues I am concerned with in this project. As we can read on the website of The Reclaim The Night "An ICM poll commissioned by Amnesty International in 2005 found that over one third of the British public surveyed believed that women were sometimes wholly or partly to blame if they were raped, for example if they had been drinking, if they flirted or dressed outrageously(...) Today we march, as so many women have done before us to say that we are NEVER to blame for rape and male violence. Those men who choose to commit these crimes are to blame. We march today to demand our right to live without the fear or reality of rape."
This quote reminds me an article by Kate Clark* I used last year when I was doing an analysis of a sexist discourse of British tabloids. In this very interesting piece of writing Clark states that tabloids used to construct their stories on sexual violence in 2 distinct way. In the first, an aggressive man attacks an innocent woman and in such stories male is presented as a fiend and his victim as virtuous. In the second pattern of stories a man is constructed as normal and female is labelled as morally fallen. Clark argues that there is a rigid way of constructing the news stories- fiends attack sexually unavailable women such as wives or mothers, whereas the non-fiends attack sexually available women such as unmarried, sexually active girls. The recurrence of these patterns demonstrates clearly how the structure of the news reflects the patriarchal world view shared between the readers and editors of the newspaper. Clark's article shows how due to usage of certain language tools and methods meaning can be distorted and even responsibility for violence shifted from the aggressor to a victim. Language is a powerful tool indeed and can impact the way we think. The more we talk about something the more we make it real- that's my opinion. Using Michel Foucault's idea of discourse we reinforce some discourses simply by repeating them and talking about them. That's why I think is vital to clear up misunderstandings and talk about issues such as who is responsible for sexual violence. The data provided on the Reclaim The Night is striking- so many people are ready to blame a victim of a rape for 'provoking' the attacker. How ridiculous is that?! This is why I consider events such as the March yesterday very important. Maybe it's not going to change the entire situation immediately but it is something to kick off and raise people's awareness. It is a visible sign that society's way of thinking about rape has to alter.
FINITO for now. However, a completely new post is coming soon:)
*Clark, K. (1992) ‘The linguistics of blame: representations of women in The Sun’s reporting of crimes of sexual violence’, in M. Toolan (ed.) Language, Text and Context: Essays in Stylistics. London: Routledge.
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