Feminist Pedagogy & Calling Out The Advocate

In my Introduction to Women's Studies course, one of the writing assignments I assign students is to write a formal business letter. The motivation behind this assignment is in keeping with the spirit of making our voices be heard, whether in praise, in critique, or simply in struggle.

Students compose and mail a business letter, to a currently existing business, public figure, elected official, or newspaper/magazine publication of their choice. Over the years, the range of addressees students have choose has been wide: teachers who they praise for their anti-sexist and anti-racist pedagogy; elected officials who they urge to vote for pro-choice legislation; music artists whose inspirational lyrics they adore and ask for more; businesses who they encourage to explore eco-friendly practices; magazine editors that they criticize for including sexist advertisements that objectify women and promote heterosexism, etc.

(A note to fellow instructors: not only have students consistently enjoyed this writing assignment, but because they are mailing them, students also take extra care in crafting and editing their letters. In addition, many students receive replies to their letters which allows for the assignment and their learning to have a life beyond our classroom.)

In any case, this past fall I was moved to write my own letter--a letter to The Advocate in response to what I perceived to be a small, but not minor nor insignificant overlooking of various members of our community, specifically, but not limited to bisexuals and others who don't live their lives circumscribed by a monosexual paradigm that says they are attracted to and sexually desire only one sex or the other.

After reading the latest issue of The Advocate (January 31, 2006 featuring Jennifer Beals on the cover) I was again moved to write another letter in response to the article entitled "Murder and Hypocrisy" by Patrick Moore.



“Here’s to ‘Direct Action and Media Savvy’”

It’s really too unfortunate that Patrick Moore’s message of hypocrisy wasn’t taken to heart by the folks in charge of the photo layouts accompanying his article. Moore begins “Murder and Hypocrisy” (January 31, 2006) by discussing filmmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s newest project focusing on Islam’s attitude toward homosexuality. Given Moore’s focus on her, Hirsi Ali is fittingly pictured in Moore’s article.

Aside from Hirsi Ali, however, the message Moore emphasizes is that while there are indeed atrocities occurring abroad, the U.S. cannot tout its moral authority so long as injustices are perpetrated against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans people in the U.S. To fight the hypocrisy he makes clear that not only do we need to further the progress we’ve made in the U.S., but also that we need to work for justice globally. At the end of his article, Moore then goes on to advocate that “gay Americans must force their way into the U.S. foreign policy agenda using the same tools we utilized during the AIDS crisis: direct action and media savvy” (37).

In light of Moore’s messages decrying hypocrisy and championing media savvy, I was very disappointed to see that The Advocate had chosen to include the rather large and graphic photo of Iranian teens Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, who were hung for homosexual acts in July 2005. (Even more unfortunate is The Advocate’s choice to use this same image in the on-line version of Moore’s article).

Granted, initially I was dismayed to see the photo because it recalled the horrors of African American lynchings in the U.S., but not in a way that pointed to the cruelty and inhumanity of the (white) lynchers and lynch mob. Instead, these teens’ bodies, like so many lynched African Americans’ bodies were made spectacles, robbed of their humanity.

However, even in the specific context of Moore’s essay, there is still much to suggest the poor judgment of using this photo. In comparison, the photo of Asgari and Marhoni is at least three times the size of that of Hirsi Ali’s. In addition, Moore mentions the hanging in his article twice—never mentioning the teens by name, whereas Hirsi Ali is a central figure in the article. In using this photo The Advocate hasn’t shown media savvy, it’s merely shown itself well-versed and complicit in sensationalism and exploitation. Let’s hope Moore’s message of direct action isn’t similarly disregarded.


UPDATE Feb 11, 2006:

Well, they didn't print my letter in the following edition, but they did post it on-line.