Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Rewriting the Story
This week we're supposed to focus on one of the questions from the e-mail but I am tired, I am sick, and I have probably taken too much cold medicine to form a coherent answer to any of them so I've decided to just spout off some thoughts about last Thursday's class. Professor Hurley asked us where we would intervene in the story of Herculine or Caster if we were given the opportunity. The options that came up in class were either the utopian, happy ending or the sad, hopeless ending. But I was thinking about it after and I think I'd want to intervene by giving them a voice. I'd actually like to know what Caster has to say and her reaction to the accusations. You Magazine gave her a makeover but I wanted to know whether they actually did an interview with her as well. From what I could find it was basically a photospread and a quote that says "I'd like to dress up more often and wear dresses but I never get the chance." She goes on to say that she sees the scandal as a joke and that she's not upset by it. "God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself." (http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-09-08-caster-is-a-cover-girl - this is the link to the website I found). Really... that's it? I mean it seems pretty obvious that she is upset about it because she's now on suicide watch. To be honest, I'm kind of angry at You Magazine. I mean they have the opportunity to humanize this poor girl... to show people what she's feeling and how the situation has affected her life and to maybe invoke some sympathy instead of harsh jusgment. Instead, they give her a makeover to make her seem more feminine. I guess it just confuses me because I'm more interested in what she has to say about who she is than what she looks like.
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I felt the same way when we were looking at and talking about the article. I wonder if Caster had a say in what the article would encompass or not. Instead of telling her story to the public, which includes many people who are probably uninformed, curious, or feel threatened by Caster and the idea of a hermanphrodite, You magazine instead just showed a bunch of pictures that made Caster look almost transexual (I thought). This didn't help to make her more relatable and real to anyone. They are sending the message to girls everywhere that if you appear too masculine or if you have ambiguous genitals, then you don't really belong anywhere and don't deserve what you earn (a gold medal for example). Our society and media has started to slowly move to include plus sized and or minority women in magazines, TV, and movies, and I think it's only right that we keep making more inclusions, such as hermanphrodites or transexuals.
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