https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8 Richa and Angela: Women and Embodied Protest en-us 2021-05-10 03:50:44 UTC 2026-01-29 10:11:43 UTC hello@padlet.com richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507650090 2021-05-10 03:51:05 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507650090 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507660379 Throughout this semester, we spent a lot of time discussing stereotypes, systems of oppression, and ways to counter both of these phenomenons. This project aims to discuss women participating in embodied protest as well as “everyday” protest and analyze how their actions work to counter these stereotypes and systems of oppression. We will also discuss the implications of this type of protest.]]> 2021-05-10 03:58:11 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507660379 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507665233 Embodied protest is a type of activism in which the body is not just a mediator for protest, but IS the protest. The concept of embodied protest recognizes that bodies hold social meanings within wider political contexts. ]]> 2021-05-10 04:01:51 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507665233 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507670286 Embodied protest enables women to participate in “everyday protest.” Their bodies are the source of activism. Everyday protest introduces routine acts to the realm of activism and allows women to resist in small, powerful ways. As Azadeh Moaveni outlines in her TED talk, “Iran from a different perspective,” women challenge Iran’s dress codes by wearing leggings or lipstick.  The concept of “embodied protest” in itself implies a subjectivity, so by choosing this topic, we are inherently pushing back against the monolithic idea of protest, and changing the vocabularies around women’s bodies as a site to be colonized, governed and weaponized into a means for self-expression, subversiveness and self-empowerment. This topic also allows us to adopt a framework that recognizes the intersectionality of gender-based and race-based violence.]]> 2021-05-10 04:05:27 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507670286 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507676938 She shows that women not only have a place in political protests but that they can express themselves with class and strength.]]> 2021-05-10 04:10:25 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507676938 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507697921 Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, women in Iran have been required to wear a headscarf in public. Many women have come together to fight against this law by taking the hijab off and waving it as a form of protest. One woman held a sign saying: “I love my hijab but I’m against compulsory hijab.”]]> 2021-05-10 04:24:09 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507697921 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507709703 "Everyday" protest combines the acts symbolic of routine practice with those of activism. ]]> 2021-05-10 04:31:34 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507709703 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507724772 Following Azadeh Moaveni discussion, a significant implication of women and embodied protest is punishment. Specifically, rape and virginity tests as a form of punishment. Marwan Kraidy expands on these experiences in "The Naked Blogger of Cairo" as she describes the acts of performing virginity tests and rape as legal methods of suppressing and humiliating women in hopes that it would stop them from protesting. States felt a need to inscribe their power onto the bodies it governs. One of the women in the book described how she wanted nothing more than death in the moment of getting a virginity test. It then makes sense why sexual defiance emerged alongside political protest in Egypt. The naked blogger was using the vessel that was subjugated to assault as a means of regaining her existence and freedom. Her body became a symbol of resistance that was condemned by many but widely spoken about and in turn, introduced this concept of using one's body as defiance to the world: embodied protest]]> 2021-05-10 04:39:55 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507724772 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507727108 2021-05-10 04:41:14 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507727108 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507728343 The “us” and “them” narrative is embedded in society whether it's those in power against civilians, men against women, or the Western world against the Eastern world. I’m currently writing a paper for another class where I discuss the “othering” of individuals in Papua New Guinea for the benefit of American companies who hope to profit off stereotypes. These examples make me think about where we are in terms of breaking down these barriers. Are we even close? Is it getting worse? The truth is, I don’t believe the “us” and “them” narrative is going anywhere. However, as the child of immigrants, a first-generation college student, and an individual stuck between two identities, the “us” and “them” narrative is getting old. Countering stereotypes is a daily battle that is made increasingly difficult because I identify as the “us” in some situations the “them” in others. When my brown dad consistently gets “random” extra security checks at airports, I am part of the “them.” When I am told that I am “white-washed Indian,” I am part of the “us.” When I am told I smell like curry by zoom bombers in my high school government class when I speak up against them, I am part of the “them.” These tribulations are devastatingly a reality in today’s society. The question is how do we break down these boundaries and honestly, I do not have a concrete answer for the world. What I do know is that I have come to love the curls on my head and the melanin in my skin and I believe this form of self-love is protest. Packing “smelly” Indian food for school lunch is a form of protest. Dressing in crop tops and shorts is a form of protest. Eating meat is a form of protest. In my life, I break down boundaries by engaging in everyday protest and being unapologetically myself while advocating for others to do the same.]]> 2021-05-10 04:41:56 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507728343 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507737886 Many women took an alternative approach and organized a topless protest against the mandatory hijab law. The action performed by members of the Iranian Communist Party and the Organization Against Violence on Women in Iran took place in the center of the Swedish capital, Stockholm in dedication to International Women’s Day.]]> 2021-05-10 04:46:22 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507737886 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507766709

• With a better understanding of “everyday” protest, think about ways you practice everyday protest in your life (whether it’s against society, culture, institutions, etc.). 
• What are some ways you work to counter stereotypes and break down boundaries between “us” and “them” in your own life?
• What are some ways you believe one’s body can symbolize something greater than what it is perceived to be?
• What are your thoughts on the concept of individuals across different cultures and regions being interconnected through trauma?
• Do you believe there needs to be a shift in the way society talks about women’s bodies?

]]> 2021-05-10 05:00:55 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507766709 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507780590 2021-05-10 05:07:16 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507780590 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507799833 2021-05-10 05:16:53 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507799833 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507814505 2021-05-10 05:23:53 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507814505 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507819299 2021-05-10 05:26:14 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1507819299 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509879703 2021-05-10 16:12:04 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509879703 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509882120 Our project synthesizes both culture and gender in order to focus on how the embodiment of protest challenges the social construction of gender. By re-positioning the “body” back into the act of protest, we assume the significance of the female body in both understanding and disrupting asymmetrical gendered socio-political hierarchies. We acknowledge that discourse and social institutions are produced and reproduced through body practices and that the female body itself contains Stuart Hall’s idea of culture as an arena of “consent and resistance.” Historically, women’s bodies have been used as a site of legislation, interrogation, and governance. However, simultaneously, women’s bodies possess an intrinsic potential to resist domination and circumvent or intervene in the discourse of power-brokers. This is mostly done through everyday acts of protest (acts of civil disobedience), in which women’s bodies are a constant and fluid site of negotiation, moving through the realms of both consent to and resistance against normative codes of behavior. By emphasizing the centrality and specificity of the female body as a site of protest, we are also attempting to depart from the Eurocentric notion of the mind/body dualism. It is important to move away from a theoretical and intellectualized concept of protest into one that highlights women’s bodies as carriers of real trauma and relics of violence but also creative expressions of self-empowerment.

]]> 2021-05-10 16:12:33 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509882120 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509886937 Our project addresses two ways in which “embodied protest” functions in contemporary contexts: in China, how embodied protest serves as a mechanism for bypassing state censorship and “rewriting” the female bodily history, and in the US, how the framework of embodied protest can counteract a commercialized, profitable and performative co-optation of social movements. ]]> 2021-05-10 16:13:31 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509886937 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509923574 2021-05-10 16:20:48 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509923574 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509954885 This topic is so important to me because I believe in making our own bodies legible to our desires and the multitude of identities we inhabit. As a Chinese woman, the fact that I enjoy being a woman and that I claim my body and my mind as one is an act of protest. Girls in China are called “mouths to feed.” This meant that our bodies were considered a burden in themselves, an empty vehicle to be fed, maintained, and eventually, bargained off. Our ancestor’s bodies were literally sites of transaction. We were expected to be kept alive, but not to take up any space. It’s one thing to have a space carved out for your body and another thing to freely traverse a space that allows your body to move and grow. Some of the most powerful and transgressive acts of protest are seemingly simple, but take great courage and can provoke profound change. For me, this meant carving my own path and believing in the value of my own thoughts and my work. It also meant protesting in small ways within the context of our extended family-- I am “infamous” in our family for speaking up against my uncle, who is a perpetrator of domestic violence. I have tried to engage in a meaningful conversation with him many times, but every time he rejects the offer and backs away. Although he lives right next door to us, I almost never set foot in his house. Creating and adhering to this physical boundary is my act of protest against my uncle's behavior. In the Chinese context, protesting within the family not only demarcates and “others'' yourself within the eyes of outsiders but also within the eyes of insiders. I have been called "difficult," "stubborn," "arrogant," “unfilial" and "ruthless" for this. I recently learned that historically, Chinese women had to undergo a series of abusive and invasive tests to prove that they were not prostitutes when they immigrated to the US, and I was both shocked and heartbroken to find out how, again (and in a trans-national setting), Chinese women’s bodies were appropriated into a passive site of transaction, governance, and interrogation. Sometimes redefining our relationship to our bodies, choosing to lay claim to our own stories, and telling the "savage and dangerous" truth are all small but radical acts of protest. However, I also recognize the privilege in my ability to set boundaries with some members of my family and to ultimately have control over my body-- my parents understand me enough to protect and make my boundaries visible, even if it also comes at a cost for them. 

]]> 2021-05-10 16:27:08 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1509954885 ychen245 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510627336 2021-05-10 18:40:16 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510627336 ychen245 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510637109 "In August, several women shaved their heads in Beijing to protest against the growing trend in Chinese universities where women must score higher entry marks then men and face unofficial but commonly acknowledged gender inequality; in November, some women and men uploaded their own nude photos and appealed to cyber citizens to eliminate violence against women and promote the legislation of Anti-domestic Violence Law; in December, in Guangzhou and five other cities, young women walked down the streets in wedding gowns covered in blood stains as ‘Injured Brides’, advocating people to protest against domestic violence." ]]> 2021-05-10 18:42:27 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510637109 ychen245 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510689174 "In China, public nudity is generally considered shameful and art critics and fellow artists have chastised Ms. He for stripping. “They say I’m trying to attract attention,” she said. Yet she argues it serves a deeper purpose. She removed her shirt at the Great Wall because, “Women aren’t supposed to behave like that,” she said with a grin."]]> 2021-05-10 18:54:07 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510689174 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510947167 2021-05-10 20:03:39 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510947167 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510951434 2021-05-10 20:04:55 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510951434 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510953213 2021-05-10 20:05:29 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510953213 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510956313 2021-05-10 20:06:27 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510956313 richapari01 https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510972621 2021-05-10 20:11:52 UTC https://padlet.com/richapari01/eez6yb88e92t0ga8/wish/1510972621