If you had a super power, and that super power could be either to fly or to be invisible, which would you choose?
Think for a moment about your answer...and when you have it, think another moment about why this might be your preference.
My sister asked me this a few weeks ago after it was going around her office. Turns out answers are rather gendered - women tend to say they'd rather be invisible, while men tend to say they'd rather be able to fly. I had already answered "invisible," so it was too late to pretend otherwise, but my sister had responded with the same. She said that the male coworkers who were asking this question indicated how weird it was all these women wanted to be invisible - the only justifiable reason they could think of for why anyone would want to be invisible was to spy on others, namely women, namely sexually. But women aren't inclined to be invisible so they can spy on naked women. Women are inclined to be invisible so they can live their lives in peace. Imagine, getting your groceries without changing out of your pj's! Walking downtown past the bars without a second thought! Running alone! In the woods!! At night!!!!
Social locations, as Edmonds-Cady (2009) explains, are different than standpoints. The locations are the social positions we occupy - race, gender, class, sexuality, etc. Standpoints emerge from the experiences we have based on the privilege or oppression of these positions. Our social positions inform our standpoint, the lens through which we view and interpret the world. Edmonds-Cady sees a standpoint especially as a "critical perspective that marginalized or oppressed individuals may have about the ways in which unequal power relations operate within society." Through looking 'up,' or centering the world through the lens of the marginalized, we are better able to understand how privilege and oppression work.
It is when we are looking through a privileged standpoint that we miss the greater picture. In the case of Edmonds-Cady, for example, the white allies to white and black welfare recipients commented on the 'militancy' of the black welfare recipients, because "their own privileged access to resources may have led to their tendency to be more comfortable with policy advocacy as opposed to direct confrontation." Similarly, in the case of the men who thought it was strange so many women were picking the creepy super power, their own acceptance and expectation that invisibility would be used to violate women's privacy (because surely that's what they would use it for!) imposed an incongruous judgment on women who choose invisibility.
It seems that when we think about the way we see things, we must note where we are standing.
I often do not take the typical view of men, and in this case it is true as well. I answered the question in my head before reading on and finding out the typical male and female answers, and I answered "invisibility" not so much for convince as it sounds like you hypothesize but more so that I could do things anonymously.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! Being able to go jogging at night w/out being afraid or thinking about defense tactics you would use to defend yourself (just in case). Anyhow, your post reminds me of the show: No Ordinary Family, the powers the characters have showed how gendered certain things can be. The mom has the power to be super fast, not only that she has a PHD 2 kids and is married. The husband works drawing out suspects in a police station and has the super strength power, the son has the super brain power and the daughter has the power to hear people's thoughts. I think in a way it shows society structures and things assigned to genders. Today women are expected to do it all, may be that has to do something with the mom's super power: fastness. I think your right Megan, Invisibility is awesome, imagine what the mom would choose if the power wasn't already assigned- if invisibility were the option, she'd be able to finally relax and take a day for herself. I definitely think positionality tells all, even the kinds of characters we create and what we assign them.
ReplyDeleteI answered in my own mind, Invisible, then you ask us to think of why and my reasoning was, well if you can fly you're definitely going to be shot down or otherwise experience violence from the government, but if you're invisible, you could eat whatever you want, never shave, and not have to take care of other people's feelings. Uber gendered. Especially the fear of violence. I'm assuming anyone in a marginalized group would answer with invisibility.
ReplyDeleteFunny you mention this, I recently listened to this -- http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers
ReplyDeleteYou can stream it by pressing "Play Episode." I loved the act on "Wonder Woman."
Reminds me of the study that asked women and men what they were most afraid of:
ReplyDeleteMen -- being laughed at
Women -- being murdered
Says a lot ...
I still kinda chuckle when I think of our exchange when you first asked me this question:
ReplyDelete"Flying, obviously! It's so much more awesome!"
Definitely proves that female-bodied, women-identified folks like myself can claim aspects of masculinity (the attention-hogging and ego-tripping and fascination with power), but still doesn't erase the material conditions of my life. In my experiences of gendered violence, I have mostly responded with silence, the kind of "if I pretend I am invisible then this will stop" sort of thinking that women are conditioned to have.