The Paula Principle
Not even sure what it is to become of this.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Mad Dogs
About two months ago
The dogs got into big
trouble. I thought they were tired of me yelling, “No Fighting,” “Not
a Toy,” and “No Digging” and went to the bedroom to take a nap. I thought I would join
them. Instead I caught them trying to dig a hole in the mattress. The
punishment for the huge hole in the sheet and mattress cover involved a lot of
verbal abuse, an hour-long time out in the crate, and NO TV. A new rule was
created: no dogs in the bedroom unsupervised. At first I just kept the door closed, but the
dogs kept pawing it trying to open the door.
Next I decided to post a sign.
Payback is a bitch, and they're so mad.
Dippers pouted and occupied the bedroom door |
Du Bois went to the couch and refused to look at me. |
When I yelled at him to look at me,this the look he gave me. |
An hour later.....
I asked them, "What wrong?" |
"You so mad, dawgs?" |
And later that night.....
They were still so mad that they refused to go bed with me.
|
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Birth of My Groundhog
Seventeen years ago on this day, I
had a profound, personal experience with a groundhog. As the snow patches clung
to the frigid ground in the wee hours, a sharp pain in my back rudely woke me
up and became the snooze button from hell. I grumbled, “Oh great, I pulled a
back muscle while sleeping,” and crawled into a lukewarm bath with a book
trying to ignore the persistent pain. Little did I know that I just entered a
scary, creepy movie bathtub scene. A massive, white pile of mucus came floating
to the surface, and it wasn’t me that sneeze. I freaked out when I realized
that snot just came out of my vagina. Who am I gonna call? Ghostbusters!
Instead I called a friend who calmly explained to me that I was having back
labor pains and that she will be there shortly to take me to the hospital. At
that moment I became more terrified than I ever have been before in my life. I
was more afraid of what was to come than childbirth itself. My god, what have I
created? What will I do with this newborn stranger? Why can’t I just have Aids
instead so that I can just die? With these panicking thoughts, sheepishly I
went to wake Megan who was overly enthusiastic about this situation. Her
excitement invaded and mixed with my fears.
On the way to the hospital, I sat
in the backseat of the car and belted out my favorite 80s songs while rocking
my body back and forth trying to keep the back pains, the excitement, and the
fear at bay. I became too insane to realize my own insanity. I became too
enrage with the pain. I stubbornly lay on my side arguing with the nurses that
my back was killing me and only would lie on my back to allow the nurses to see
the places where the sun does not shine. “Did your water break,” asked one
nurse. I didn’t know. What if it did, and I didn’t noticed because I was
sitting in the tub freaking over floating pussy snot! “Can’t you wait until my
back stop hurting for a few minutes before you stab my hand with the IV,” I
screamed. “No, your contractions are coming too fast,” replied the demon
sadistically doing her job. Megan started singing attempting to make me feel
better. Her brilliant idea was the wrong move. She became the focus of my
anger, and I threatened to get up and slap her if she did not leave the room.
She left and would unintentionally get me back by calling my family members.
As a nurse entered my room, all
hell broke loose and flooded the gurney. Wide-eyed and loss for abusive words,
I turned on my back. The nurse peeked underneath my soaked gown and then looked
back at me with wide eyes. She hurriedly called out to the others. “Don’t
push,” I was told while they wheeled me into the cold, sterilized room. As I
struggled to not push the groundhog out of my hole, a masked man stepped into
the bright lights and said, “let us know when.” I didn’t know when, but my body
with a mind of it own did all the shoving. There was no doubt in my mind that
my groundhog has manly shoulders when I felt my vagina being torn apart enough
to need three stitches and many kegel exercises. Thankfully the groundhog didn’t see her shadow.
While I lay exhausted in the waste
that was emptied out of my body, I watched three nurses surrounding and
cleaning up my groundhog to the side. They started to giggle. One of the nurses
turned toward me and explained that my groundhog had her first bowel movement.
Is this an omen? As the doctor continued to reach inside me and pull out the
rest of the afterbirth, I slowly emerge out of my shock. I became very cold and
felt like I was being fingered by Freddy Krueger. I found my voice and asked
the doctor to take his hand out of my pussy and give me a blanket. The epidural
that I signed for still remains missing to this day.
I woke up with the nurse bringing me this tiny
groundhog with eggshell-colored skin, dark curly hair, bluish gray eyes, and a
wide button nose to breastfeed. At that moment I felt that she was the most
beautiful thing in this world. She was too beautiful to be my child. I named my
precious groundhog Oasis Colleen. Right now, I am too blinded by emotions. The
ending of this story is told with my tears, runny nose, and blubbering.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
THE BIRTH OF STONE MOUNTAIN: A Geological Biography
The story of Stone Mountain’s origin is just as any
birth, just as any beginning: the story starts before conception. In the same
manner as biology is used to explain reproduction of living things, geology is
used to explain the formation of mountains. The familiarity of plate tectonics
helps create a stage on which this story will unfold. Plate tectonics, which is
a new theory that is widely accepted yet debated on its smaller details among
geologists, basically states that the Earth’s surface consists of several
different plates that are consistently moving at the rate of a few centimeters
per year. Literally, “all the world’s a stage” where Stone Mountain makes its
début and remains a present-day legend.
Once upon a time, about 300 million years ago, while
all the continents were shifting toward each other to form one supercontinent
called Pangaea, there was a landmass named Laurentia on a collision path with a
much bigger landmass named Gondwana. Because they were traveling as slow as a
fingernail grows, their seemingly gradual encounter actually ended up as a
violent crash with dramatic changes to the Earth’s surface. The two advancing
continents shattered the ocean’s crust and dislodged the smaller bodies of land
located in between. Gondwana with its powerful, gigantic structure uplifted and
thrust the fragmented ocean’s crust and the small bodies of land into
Laurentia. Because the crust and the firmer, cooler part of the outer mantle,
which are referred together as the lithosphere, are floating on top of a
mushier, extremely hotter part of the outer mantle, which is referred to as the
asthenosphere, the pile-up was steadily intensified resulting in the buckling,
folding, and wielding of the two landmasses. The Alleghenian orogeny is what
the geologists call this monstrous mountain formation that gave the final rise
to the Appalachian Mountain chain’s lower, much longer section. Yet underneath,
more upheaval arose.
Because of the newly, exceedingly thickened crust,
there were additional tremendous pressure and extreme heat that caused the
rocks within the crust to partial melt forming many pools of magma. In Mother
Earth’s womb, Stone Mountain was implanted about 8 miles deep as one of these
huge pools of magma. This egg-shaped pool of magma was incubated by the complex
dynamics of extreme force and temperature including the subduction of the
oceanic crust, which occurred when the ocean between the two shifting
continents was swallowed and shoved underneath. In just a few million years or
so, the magma cooled, solidified, crystallized, and eventually evolved into a
huge igneous rock, or even more precisely a huge granite rock. By the late
Triassic period, 200 million years ago, the continents started to drift apart
awfully slowly that during the Jurassic period, the dinosaurs and other species
roamed the partially connected continents. By the end of the Cretaceous period,
roughly 65 million years ago, the buried Stone Mountain was left behind in the
continent that will become the modern day North America, and the other
continent will become the modern day Africa.
As the periods in the Cenozoic era started to creep
by, Stone Mountain nested protectively below as a pluton, which is a geological
term for a body of intrusive igneous rock that is usually huge in size and not
tabular. This particular type of igneous rock is classified as granite that is
mostly made up of quartz, feldspar, and mica. Meanwhile above, Mother Nature’s
powerful forces were busy at work eroding, wearing down, and reshaping the
Earth’s surface. Due to this persistent process of erosion, Stone Mountain shyly,
yet boldly peeped over the worn down land. Weathering kept on breaking up and
pushing away the surrounding soil. Around 10 million years ago, the forces of
nature had unearthed over 200 feet of the seemingly growing, young Stone
Mountain. Despite that some of the minerals—especially quartz—giving the
granite its steel-like hardness, Stone Mountain is vulnerable to nature’s
elements. The dome shape is enriched by these weathering elements exfoliating
the exterior layer by layer, sheet by sheet: hence the geological term,
exfoliation sheeting. Just a million year ago, in the Quaternary period, Stone
Mountain became a unique monadnock, which is a geological term for an isolated
mountain, permanently rooted in the Piedmont region of Georgia.
Today, over 800 feet of Stone Mountain (7.5 billion
cubic feet, 1.3 miles long, and 0.6 miles wide, and coverage of 583 acres) is
exposed, yet underneath much more is left for millions of years to come. This
gigantic granite rock’s birth may be similar to other births such as the nearby
Panola Mountain, but it flourished into an appealing, distinctive, well-rounded
individual. Evidence like ancient artifacts, granite quarry, memorial carving,
numerous man-made recreational structures like the sky-ride, and worn footpaths
attests to humans’ attraction and growing presence at Stone Mountain. On one
hand, the increased flocking of humankind over the years adds to the
environmental destruction, and on the other hand countless people such as
geologists, historians, environmentalists, nature-lovers, and so forth work
hard to protect and preserve Stone Mountain. To this day, Stone Mountain bares
noticeable scars and other features depicting its life history.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sizing Up Gattaca’s Designer Genes: Exploring Genoism through Heterosexism, Sexism, and Ableism.
By
Paula Drammeh-Davis
English 1102 Honors
Dr. Rosemary Cox
December 7, 2009
New discoveries and advancements in genetic engineering are
springing up at an alarming speed. Not only many people are concerned with the
long-term effects of existing developments such as genetic modified foods and
synthetic human insulin but also are worried about the impact that future
breakthroughs in genetic engineering might have on humanity. The film Gattaca
envisions a world where human genetic engineering is a reality and heightens
the audience’s anxiety with the appearance of the words—“The not-too-distance
future.” Gattaca is a 1997 biopunk1 science fiction film
written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman,
and Jude Law.
The “unnaturalness” of genetic
engineering is reflected in Gattaca’s man-made, monochrome, sterile
environment. The background of the film is filled with people dressed uniformly
and moving in a steady, even pace among the vast, cold structures made of
metal, stone, and glass. Gattaca’s genetic technology generates a new
form of discrimination. The film’s hero, Vincent explains: “I belong to a new
underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. We
now have discrimination down to a science.” Vincent also informs the audience:
“Of course, it's illegal to discriminate, 'genoism' it's called. But no one
takes the law seriously.” Despite all the laws against discrimination in
contemporary society, discrimination is still practiced because it is
institutionalized2 in society. In David A. Kirby’s article, he
refers to Antonio Gramsci’s “common sense” mentality to explain the purpose of
institutionalized discrimination. In order for the ruling class to uphold its
predominant position, it has to convince society that the ruling class’s
position is “the natural order of things” (Kirby “Extrapolating” 186). In other
words, discrimination functions to regulate people’s positions in society.
Discrimination is society’s essential character—its nature. The film uses
genoism to represent the complex discriminating nature of society. By using a
futuristic unnatural world, Gattaca exposes modern society’s complex
nature through heterosexism, sexism, and ableism3.
Heterosexism can be seen in genoism.
On his website, Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D., an internationally leading authority
on sexual prejudice, defines heterosexism as “a term analogous to sexism and
racism, describing an ideological system that denies, denigrates, and
stigmatizes any nonheterosexual form of behavior, identity, relationship, or
community.” Homophobia is a term often used to describe discrimination against
homosexuality, but Herek explains the difference between homophobia and
heterosexism. Homophobia is normally used to describe individuals with antigay
views and actions, and heterosexism refers to institutionalized oppression of
people that participate in non-heterosexual activities. Some common examples of
heterosexism are when one just simply assumes a person is heterosexual and when
one believes that heterosexuality is the “natural way of things.” Heterosexism
exists in both Gattaca’s and modern society.
Gattaca hints at homosexual
and homoerotic concepts throughout the film. In their article, Laura Briggs and
Jodi I. Kelber-Kaye point out two suggestive homosexual relationships. The
first one is the relationship between Dr. Lamar and Vincent. In the scene when
Vincent gives a urine sample, Dr. Lamar refers to Vincent’s penis as “a
beautiful piece of equipment.” Indirect homoerotic implications become clearer
later in their conversation. After Dr. Lamar removes his latex gloves, which
symbolizes shifting from a clinical to a personal setting, he states: “So,
about to go up. One week left. Please tell me you’re the least bit excited”
(emphasis added). The authors interpret this statement as Dr. Lamar begging
Vincent to show him some excitement in exchange for keeping Vincent’s
secret identity (108).
Briggs and Kelber-Kaye’s second
suggestive homosexual relationship is between Vincent and Jerome (108). Jay
Clayton also discusses this relationship in his book. He states: “Jerome’s
decadent world-weariness, his aristocratic manners, his incessant affected
smoking, and his supercilious tone all contribute to the period flavor, invoking
stereotypes of the homosexual culture of Berlin between the Wars” (187-88)4.
Both of these sources find that Vincent and Jerome live together, celebrate,
and quarrel in a similar fashion to married couples (Briggs and Kelber-Kaye
108; and Clayton 188). Clayton goes further by claiming that the scene when
Jerome kisses Irene represents the consummating of Vincent and Jerome’s bond
because the kiss is an exchange of a shared woman and is witnessed by Vincent’s
rival brother (188).
Although these homosexual concepts
do not come across as homophobic, the way Gattaca uses homosexuality to
stress the “unnaturalness” of genetically enhanced reproduction is a form of
heterosexism. Briggs and Kelber-Kaye reinforce this concept by claiming that
the film pits homosexuality, characterized by unnatural, masculine, scientific
reproduction, against natural, feminine, maternal reproduction. They claim that
the film warns that when genetic technology becomes the norm and proper
maternity is absent, it will lead to a “societal decay” (94). Because Gattaca’s
“god-children” are considered weak and vulnerable, Vincent’s mother overly
coddles him. The authors find that Vincent’s “gayness” (106) is the consequence
of his mother’s excess coddling (94-95). Science is commonly associated with
masculinity and logic, and faith is commonly associated with femininity and
emotion. Therefore, the homosexuality in the film emphasizes the manly,
logical, and scientific aspects of genetic reproduction technology. By using homosexuality in this manner, the
film is indirectly reflecting modern society’s institutionalized heterosexism.
An article on the Gay, Lesbian,
and Straight Educational Network (GLSEN) website shows how
institutionalized heterosexism can be found in every level of society:
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
policy, for example, excludes all gay men who have “engaged in any homosexual
behavior since 1997” from giving blood and the community instinctively assumes
that such guidelines are in our best interest. Religious doctrine instructs
followers to “love the sinner, but hate the sin” and flocks of parishioners
unquestioningly accept that homosexuality is inherently depraved. Pentagon
policy assures us that not asking or telling is the best way to deal with our
LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] service members and the public
takes for granted that silence is golden (while cases of anti-LGBT harassment
in the armed services rose 23% to 1,075 documented incidents in 2001). (“From
Denial”)
Heterosexism is different from the other “ism” prejudices.
Unlike racism and sexism, sexual minorities can choose to reveal or hide their
identities. According to Shaun Pichler’s online article, the ability to conceal
one’s invisible stigma5 may seem like an advantage, yet repressing one’s
true identity is “extremely challenging—and stressful.” “Coming out of the
closet” is hardly an all or nothing concept, and most sexual minorities hide
their identities when they fear damaging reactions from others (Pichler). In
other words, a person who is “outted” in his personal life but “closeted” in
his professional life faces a different set of conflicts than what a black
person or a female would face. There is a reference to this invisible stigma of
modern society in Gattaca. When Jerome asked Vincent what the surface of
Titan is like, Vincent blows cigarette smoke into his wine glass in a subtly
seductive manner and says, “Clouds around it so thick no one can tell what’s
underneath.”
Sexism can
be seen in genoism. According to most dictionaries, sexism is simply defined as
discrimination based on gender, mostly against women (“Sexism,” Free Dictionary6).
Because sexism typically affects women, the term “feminism” is sometimes used
interchangeably. By using the sociological definitions of these terms, the
diverse political and personal perspectives of these terms can be excluded. The
sociological perception of sexism includes stereotyping based on gender and
favoritism toward the gender with power (“Sexism,” Online Dictionary), and the
sociological perception of feminism refers to various political and
intellectual movements that seek to change women’s positions in society
(“Feminism”). Although these terms are
closely related, the term “sexism” does not assume that only women are
oppressed and functions more as an umbrella to include discrimination against
both genders. Sexism exists in both Gattaca’s society and modern
society.
Sexism is
echoed throughout the film. Future improvements in reproductive technology
would be expected to be in women’s favor, but that is not the case in Gattaca. In her article, Susan A. George’s observation on the scene of
Vincent’s birth is that the childbirth process in Gattaca remains the
same as today. George finds that the goal of Gattaca’s advanced reproductive
technology is not to make it safer or easier for women during the birthing
process—“but to improve the product” (178). The product is the genetically
enhanced offspring. Women’s primary purpose is to act as “mere incubators”
(177).
George also
observes that the film has the same sexist stereotypical jobs as modern
society. For example, two delivery nurses, a teacher, and a restaurant hostess
are played by females, and the doctor who delivers Vincent, the geneticist who
enhances Vincent’s brother’s DNA, and the majority of the workers at Gattaca,
the fictional company resembling NASA, are played by males. Therefore, the film
projects “a man’s world” controlling the reproduction process (178-79).
Gattaca
does address sexism by applying the “glass ceiling”7 scenario to its
hero. While Vincent is working on the cleaning crew at Gattaca, he is literally
gazing through the glass structures that he is cleaning—gazing at the employees
that have his dream job. George, as well, mentions that the film applies the glass
ceiling to the in-valids (179). When Vincent applies for his dream job with
Jerome’s genetically enhanced DNA, the interviewer just looks at the DNA
profile assuming that it provides all the information he needs to know.
Vincent’s voiceover makes it evident: “My real résumé was in my cells.” Vincent
is not able to break through this invisible barrier without using Jerome’s DNA
profile.
Despite
feminists’ progress, modern society’s glass ceiling is still holding strong. In
her article, Hannah Clark points out that a 2006 survey of 1,200 executives in
eight countries (including U.S., Australia, Austria, and the Philippines) by
Accenture, a prominent, global consulting firm, found that about seventy
percent of women and fifty-seven percent of men believe that a glass ceiling
does exist. She brings up an interesting point:
“But if women are unhappy about
making 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man, it is not reflected in
Accenture’s statistics. Globally, the same percentage of men and
women—58%--felt they were fairly compensated. In the U.S., 67% of men were
happy with their salaries, compared with 60% of women. But American women were
almost as satisfied as men with the professional levels they had achieved.”
(Clark)
Clark’s article may provide some answers to why the glass
ceiling still exists. She asks several different experts, “Are women happy
under the glass ceiling?” The following examples are some of the responses. In
his book, Why Men Earn More, Warren Farrell states that women tend to
place a higher priority on their families than their jobs. A study by the
Center for Work-Life Policy, “The Hidden Brain Drain: Off-Ramps and On-Ramps in
Women’s Careers,” suggests that even ambitious women tend to measure success
more with their relationship with colleagues and their involvement within their
communities as opposed to men’s measurement of success with salaries and job
titles. Susan Solovic, CEO of sbTV.com [Small Business Television], refers to
the statistics from the Center for Women’s Business Research that show between
1997 and 2004, the number of women-owned firms increased seventeen percent
while the total number of firms only grew nine percent to make her point:
“There is really no glass ceiling when it comes to owning your own business”
(qtd. in Clark). Because sexism is embedded so well in modern society, women
often unintentionally contribute to sexism.
A unique
example that shows how deeply sexism is institutionalized in modern society is
revealed in the experiences of male to female transgenders8. In her
essay, Judith A. Howard notes that several transsexuals discover sexism after
their male to female transition. For example, in 1996 the Chronicle of
Higher Education reported the sex change of Donald McCloskey, a
distinguished male economist at the University of Iowa. This article focuses on
how his authority and the influence of his work were affected by his transition
(Howard 550). One colleague commented, “Some people’s reaction is that this is
a real shame because we are going to lose a strong male voice standing up for
female economists” (qtd. in Howard 550).
On one hand, this statement expresses the desire to have more
influential men with feminist views, and on the other hand, this statement is
echoing sexism by expressing that a “strong male voice” is needed to defend
females. Another quote by a journal editor reflects sexism: “Those who
disagreed with Donald’s criticisms of the field may now discount what Deirdre
[McCloskey’s female name] has to say…” (qtd. in Howard 550). There is a
reference to modern society’s unintended acceptance of sexism in Gattaca.
When Irene catches Vincent watching the rocket ships shooting upward into space
through the skylight, she tells him, “If you’re going to pretend like you don’t
care, don’t look up.”
Ableism can be seen in genoism. In
his blog, Tim Moore defines ableism as discrimination against disabled people,
which includes the preference and favoritism toward people without
disabilities, the perspective that disability is not normal or acceptable, and
the act of excluding and preventing the disabled from participating in common
activities. The term “ableism” was coined in the early 1980’s as disability
rights became a frequently discussed topic in politics. Moore clarifies that
disableism has the same meaning as ableism because the word “disabled” seems
more appropriate to describe discrimination against those who have
disabilities; hence, some people choose to use the term “disableism” instead.
Disableism is the preferred term in the United Kingdom. Ableism exists in both Gattaca’s
society and modern society.
In Gattaca, those who are
not genetically enhanced are considered and treated as disabled, and they are
called degrading terms such as “in-valids” and “degenerate” (pronounced
with a long “e”). The following are examples of how the ableist aspect of
genoism becomes institutionalized into Gattaca’s society. After
Vincent’s birth, the nurse reads aloud his genetic readout that predicts his
death at the age of thirty from a cardiac disorder. Later on, Vincent is denied
entry into school because the school’s insurance will not cover “god children.”
Because of these hardships, Vincent’s parents are pressured into using genetic
enhancements for their second child. In the film, the norms are changed so that
conceiving a child “naturally” is considered old-fashioned and genetic
engineering is considered the new “natural” way to procreate; therefore,
Vincent’s parents are pressured by society into conforming to these norms.
Vincent is only able to obtain a high-ranking job with Jerome’s DNA. When Irene
develops a romantic interest in Vincent, she privately pays for a genetic
readout on a strand of hair that was found at Vincent’s workstation. The
genetic readout makes a good impression, because it belongs to the genetically
enhanced Jerome. These scenes show how genetic technology impacts one’s social
class status in a similar fashion as birthright and financial situation impact
one’s social class status in modern society.
According to Rene Harrison’s blog,
the audience tends to overlook the fact that they too would be considered
disabled in Gattaca’s futuristic society. To explain one reason for this oversight, Harrison uses Mitchell
and Snyder’s narrative prosthesis concept.9 Harrison notes that
Vincent’s disabilities includes having a visual impairment, having a weak
heart, and being a “god child;” Jerome’s disabilities includes being
wheelchair-bound and lacking the spirit that Vincent has. Together Jerome and
Vincent represent the normative ideal. Referring to the narrative prosthesis
concept, Harrison explains that Jerome’s purpose is to serve as a support for
Vincent’s disability in the same manner as a prosthesis supports by
inconspicuously concealing the dependencies of the disability. In other words,
this narrative prosthesis makes it easy for the audience to not notice Vincent
and Jerome’s disabilities.
Harrison
also points out that that Vincent tends to be seen as “the everyman figure”
overcoming his obstacles and achieving his goals with determination. This view
of Vincent tends to blind the audience to the fact that Vincent is dependent on
others to help him and has to cheat to accomplish his goals. She believes that
the film’s almost-missed message is that “nobody makes it alone.” With this suggestion
that those who are considered able-bodied are just as dependent on others for
help as those who are considered disabled, the conflicting viewpoints toward
disability and advanced technology can be understood. On one hand, there is the
advantage of the assistance that the technology provides. On the other hand,
there is the disadvantage of being labeled negatively as dependent and disabled
by society.
Modern society’s ableism appears in
ethics discussions surrounding the prenatal genetic testing and selection
process. In their article, Aline K. Kalbian and Lois Shepherd maintain that the
consequences of prenatal genetic testing and selection that are often ignored
in the academic and clinical fields are addressed in the writings of the
“disability rights critique” and in pop culture narratives such as Gattaca.
Because the goals of prenatal testing and selection are assumed to be good,
most people do not question the motive of attempting to avoid genetic diseases
such as Tay-Sachs and Down’s syndrome (15). The process of avoiding inherited
disabilities is a form of ableism because there is preference and favoritism
toward the fetuses or embryos that test negatively for inherited disabilities.
The authors find that contemporary culture accepts these testing procedures as
preventive medical care by believing that the disabled person-to-be is better
off by not existing with his or her disability and by believing that the health
of society is improved without the existence of people with such genetic disabilities
(15). The authors show another viewpoint with David Wasserman’s argument that
states that this avoidance of certain inherited conditions should not be
considered medical procedure because it does not “protect or restore an
individual’s health” and that prenatal diagnosis is “typically, a procedure to
identify and destroy unwanted organisms” (qtd. in Kalbian and Shepherd 19).
They reinforce Wassermann’s points by claiming the goal should be to obtain
medical benefits—“not merely promote patient choice.” An example of patient choice is providing “testing for traits
not associated with disease or pathologies, such as testing sex selection or
(hypothetically) eye color” (Kalbian and Shepherd 19). The selection aspect of
the procedures leads to normalization, which is to conform to a certain
standard or norms.
According to Sandra J. Levi’s
article, ableist normalization is when one assumes that normal physical,
mental, and behavioral abilities are beneficial in spite of a person’s true
capabilities (2). Levi states that research shows that the belief that normal
traits are equaled to desirable traits may be harmful to the disabled: “For
example, educators and parents may assume that deaf children will better
negotiate the hearing world with oral language than with manual language (e.g.
sign language). A large body of research, however, demonstrates that deaf
children make greater educational achievements when manual, rather than verbal,
language skills are emphasized” (2). The damaging effect of this special
treatment toward those considered disabled is reflected in Gattaca.
Vincent explains that "From an early age, I came to think of myself as
others thought of me: chronically ill. Every skinned knee and runny nose was
treated as if it were life-threatening."
The
audience’s reactions to Gattaca’s original ending indicate that modern
society is not only uncomfortable with being confronted with its
institutionalized ableism but is also uncomfortable with being labeled as
disabled as individuals. The original
ending has a black background with the following messages:
In a few short years, scientists
will have completed the Human Genome Project, the mapping of all the genes that
make up a human being. We have evolved to the point where we can direct our own
evolution. Had we acquired this knowledge sooner the following people may never
have been born.
Next are pictures of people labeled with their names and
their inherited disorders:
Abraham Lincoln, Marfan Syndrome;
Emily Dickinson, Manic Depression; Vincent Van Gogh, epilepsy; Albert Einstein,
Dyslexia; John F. Kennedy, Addison’s disease; Rita Hayworth, Alzheimer’s
Disease; Ray Charles, Primary Glaucoma; Stephen Hawking, Amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Asthma.
A powerful, bleak statement follows this list: “Of course,
the other birth that may never have taken place is your own.” In his article,
Kirby explains why this ending was omitted (“New Eugenics” 209). According to
Gail Lyon, the film’s co-producer, the ending was cut after the members of the
non-scientist audience felt “personally attacked” as having genetic flaws (qtd.
in Kirby “New Eugenics” 209). If this
ending had not been cut in the theatrical releases, Harrison’s argument that
the audience tends to miss that they too are considered disabled in Gattaca’s
society would be moot.
Gattaca
illustrates society’s discriminating nature in the dark world of genoism. The
film shows the complexity of society’s discriminating nature beyond racism
through heterosexism, sexism, and ableism. Genoism includes many layers of
discrimination that are found in modern society. Gattaca is more about
showing society’s true nature than predicting society’s future. Ashley Montagu
captures this concept: “the dead hand of the past may continue to guide the
practice of the present as well of the future” (qtd. in Kirby “Extrapolating”
193).
Notes
1. Biopunk is a science fiction sub-genre that focuses
on scientific advancements in biology. The term is a spin off from the term
“cyberpunk,” which describes stories about information technology (Quinion).
2. “Institutionalized” is a verb
form for “institutionalization,” a sociological term meaning predictable social
interaction patterns within a social structure that are regulated by norms
(“Institutionalization”).
3.
Racism is obviously an aspect of genoism. Because racism is the topic in
several experts and critics’ writings, the focus will be on the discriminating
aspects of genoism that are not as noticeable.
4.
Clayton adds that these stereotypes are best known to movie fans from the 1972
film Cabaret (188).
5.
Pichler uses Goffman’s stigma theory, which “proposes that attributes about
individuals are devalued in certain social or cultural contexts and are,
therefore, stigmatized.” Using other sociological studies, he explains that
sexual orientation is referred to as an invisible stigma because it is not
readily visible.
6.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex is a website that offers
definitions from multiple dictionaries including The American Heritage
Dictionary of the English Language and Collins English Dictionary.
7.
The wiseGeek website describes the glass ceiling as a metaphor for an
invisible barrier that prevents women from climbing the corporate ladder
(Wallace).
8.
“Transsexual” refers to an individual who seeks to become the other gender. By
acknowledging an individual’s sexuality is different from an individual’s
gender, the more recent preferred term is transgender (“Transsexual”).
9.
Huff explains that narrative prosthesis is mostly used by literary
critics. This concept is also an
interest for scholars in other disciplines because one of this concept’s
central ideas is that identity is created within discourse and that in some
aspect the concept gets its influence from narratives (201).
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