Author Archives: Usira Ali

Side effects include an ORGASM!!

Exercise is a dreaded activity for most but for some, the idea of gaining a booty and experiencing an orgasm makes excising more appealing than ever.

A Victoria’s Secret model boldly reported experiencing an orgasm while doing squats!… this drove the internet bananas!  The idea of experiencing an orgasm in the gym was a foreign idea, so the tabloid and women around the world hit the gym hoping to experience an orgasm, CRAZY I know.

Interestingly, there are a set of exercises known as ‘Corgasm’ where researchers promise a less intense version of vaginal orgasm. The steps to experiencing these interesting side effects to excising start with at least 30 minutes of cardio excise which activates the sympathetic nervous system making one more likely to ‘corgasm’. After the 30-minute cardio workout, it is suggested that you immediately go into some intense ab workouts. They suggest keeping up these intense ab workouts even when the core muscles reach maximum capacity. After muscle fatigue is reached, you will be on your way to the promised O world!!!

The gym as a new location to search for orgasm for women shows the long-standing struggle which is women experiencing an orgasm far less frequently than their male partners. I think it is interesting that of all places the gym is sucked into the search for an orgasm. Excising is great and all but telling women that a gym is a place they can experience an orgasm shows the lack of effort in our society to teach healthy sex education. Women are again given the responsibility of figuring out the best possible way to experience an orgasm rather than teaching their partners how to meet their needs. The gym is sexualized I think with reports of weirdos staring at women running on the treadmill to the type of workout clothes promising that you will get attention from your gym crush.

 

The imposter among us.

 

Harry Styles wore a dress becoming the first male given a solo feature on Vogue. This milestone achievement reached more audience than ever as this magazine never featured a solo male on the cover. For context, Harry is very vocal about his straight tendencies and so for him to be in a dress did not have anything to do with his gender as far as the public is concerned. Billy Porter, a gay man was the first man to wear a dress on the red carpet to push gender boundaries, but he was snubbed the opportunity to grace the cover. Billy publicly called out Vogue and Harry in disagreement with the cover saying that allowing a straight white man to be given this opportunity to influence so many people highlights the ‘erasure’ of the contribution of queer individuals to popular culture.

As Kendall Gerdes wrote, “Gender is performative because it inscribes itself as a discourse each time it inscribes itself on a body, as a lived experience.” The issue with the cover is not that Harry wore a dress but that he is portraying a gender identity that is not a lived experience for him. Neither is he part of the community that has this gender identity as part of their daily experiences.

Since birth we have been taught how to act our gender and avoid looking like, acting like, and talking like the opposite gender. Before social media, gender was learned from those around us but in this age of mass media consumption, it is what is depicted online/in magazines that inform how gender is performed. Gender is something we do together that influences who we are and how we belong in communities. When one deviates from gender norms and does gender alone they are met with heavy criticism. Gender is reinforced through others who share the same gender identities because we don’t invent gender spontaneously but pick up on clues that inform our idea of the self in the larger community. That is why representation matters especially who is given the power (through social media) to influence others. Meaning members within communities should be the ones granted to grace the covers of pop culture bibles like Vogue to show others that they matter.

One individual’s utopia is another’s dystopia

Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer. Saturday, April 3, 2010. A topless march by women and supporting men, down Congress St. sidewalk from Longfellow Square to Tommy’s Park to promote the freedom of women to be topless in public like men, attracted many supporters of the idea. Here the lead five are crossing at the corner of Free Street and Congress to a welcoming and supportive crowd.

 It was a beautiful hot summer day, perfect weather for one brave woman to march shirtless down Congress Street. The woman welcomed all the reactions from the shocked public with an expressionless face. She looked straight ahead not looking around to validate/nullify anyone’s reaction. It was clear that this brave woman risked being harassed in hopes that she would liberate her constricted female body from its garments. She attempted to disrupt the norm by pushing the boundary in a public manner which forced bystanders to reevaluate their idea of how the female body should be presented in public.

The most interesting thing about the event was the reaction from bystanders which would go to proof why her public performance was/is needed. Among the crowd were my sister and me along with other younger women who cheered the performer, encouraging her on. Then there were those in shock and confused about what was happening. Then there were the men who cheered for a whole different reason as they lustfully followed the women with their eyes and cheerful applauds. The most interesting spectators were mothers who rushed to cover their children’s eyes and stared at the woman with disapproving and disgustful eyes.

One quick google search showed results of similar performances down Congress Street before were, “Hundreds of men attended the march – some to take off their shirts in solidarity with the female marchers and some to shout, take pictures and gawk” and “One man had climbed a traffic light and others shouted “boobs!” at the top of their lungs” (The Free Press). Marchers also reported that “The only negative things I heard today were from other women, comments like ‘it’s just lesbians’” (The Free Press).

I find it interesting that the quotes above from the topless march in 2010 and the one I witnessed about 3 years later had similar reactions. The women in 2010 and the woman in 2013 were marching for a queer-oriented future. A future that does not define women by their bodies, a future where women will be able to roam shirtless and not be subjected to similar reactions. I am guessing their idea of a queer future allows self-expression in that people will not be defined by their bodies and the body will be taken for what it is- just a body.

The men who easily neglected to acknowledge the message of the march were in the moment living in their own ideal utopian world- free access to “boobs”. I think with such contrasting ideas of what a utopian world might look like, the question becomes, who should have a say in what the ideal utopian world entails?

Now for the mothers/women who had the most negative reaction, do women become anti-feminist, anti-queer-oriented future once they become mothers? How do you help work towards a queer future if the oppressed do not fully support the transformative effort?

The difference between the women who marched and those who judged is the difference between what Munaños calls abstract vs concrete utopia. Mothers often dream of a better world for their children but the women who marched are making that dream come through. Indeed, the efforts towards a queer-oriented future cannot be the work of only a few but require equal participation from all.