12.17.07
Posted in Gender, Outings, TV and movie at 16:01 by krause
I don’t know what to think. Art or not? But this is the never-ending question. Sally Mann’s exhibition in Helsinki makes the news in a not-so-positive way.
I realize people, also and maybe especially children need media literacy and critical social thinking, and this can only be achieved by (in this case) looking at pictures – without forgetting the discussion and critique. But how many H&M ads are enough to achieve media literacy of that kind? How many thousand naked ladies do I have to see in order to get it – of is it possible that at this stage I am not only well-educated, but totally fed up, brainwashed, and – unfortunately – used to all the public female nudity around me? I am overeducated. My sons and daughters will also be, in just a few months after I take them outside the home. They will soon make notions of how “the lady is naked” and “a man drives the car.” There are two things to see here: the verbs “is” and “drives” and “naked” and “car”. If you can see the disturbing part in the two latter, ok, but how about the previous ones? “Is” is a static, “drives” is dynamic. But you’re right, “naked” was the issue now.
I do not wish to raise children to be illiterate, without no possibilities to practice criticism, reverse reading, without the possibility to become socially aware. If I “protect” them from everything they grow up tu use no judgement. But how many Sally Mann’s photographs, commercial ads, fan service movies are enough? When does it become exessive, even for an adult? At around 20 I thought I already had enough. And now? Just very, very annoyed, and able to educate others and able and willing to boycott just about anything.
I saw the Salvador Dalí exhibition at Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA at WeeGee) and must say that it only made me remember Teemu Mäki and the Lynching of the Cat and Whacking Off Video and on the other hand, ARS95 body secretions. Is this art, may one ask.
In the past, pictures or other visual representations had to be made by painting, drawing, sculpting, and later, by woodblock printing etc. There were no photographs, no video, no movies, no TV. What was on a man’s mind back then? The same as now, nude women – well, it’s true. In ancient Greece also nude men, beautiful and perfect, of course, as always, when depicting the object of desire. In Greece men were considered more desirable partners than women, and so ancient Greek art is six pack after six pack – in other cultures and especially towards modern days it seems that the objectified body is that of the female. There are nude women in frames all over the western world on walls of dining rooms, drawing rooms, lounges, and museums. The nude female body in all variations of seductive, innocent, hinting or straight forward positions is probably the most captured form on canvas or paper. But because the medium is oil colour and canvas, pastels, charcoal, pencil or water color, it is art.
Then came the camera, celluloid, and hardwear. Female nudity became the most captured form on the monitor screen, too. Even if Playboy claims to be art, most people seem to regard nude ladies on paper, film, or as bits, as someting else than art. I’m no exception. But contrary to most others, I sometimes articulate my view on framed or sculpted nudes. I tend to think that they represent the porn of their time. Mind you, a dress showing too much – no, not cleveage – ankles was was not socially accepted, let alone nudity. No reputable woman would expose too much, undress privately or publicly, or in any case have a picture painted of her and displayed. I don’t think models were average mothers, reputable women, elite or middle class – nor are they today. Has anything changed? Oh yes, the medium and how efficiently the “artwork” can be spread and copied.
What Dalí has on his mind (at least accirding to the photos) is probably what many male (and presumably mostly heterosexual) painters and other artists have and have had on their mind. Sorry for being a bad sport.
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Posted in Gender, TV and movie at 13:59 by krause
Male pastor refuses to work with female colleague in Vammala. Again. The original piece of news in Helsingin Sanomat.
I realize this is so passé, and it also concerns mostly conservative Lutherans, but hey, this is modern Finland, not Saudi Arabia. The law against discrimination and the law about equality also concerns the Lutheran Church of Finland. Luckily we only have a few hotheads here, unlike in a big place there is room for many… The first piece of news reports a smaller congregation than usually in Vammala, because of the behavior of the male pastor. Read our lips, man.
But hey, there are those who refuse the staleness. The Lutheran parishes of Helsinki have launched a controversial campaign whose base station is www.uskotoivorakkaus.fi (although the hardest critique will come from the inside). How about a Lutheran ad and t-shirt featuring gays in bed? 
The text reads: “What would Jesus do…?” And below:
“We have a bult-in natural urge to seek company, acceptance, and love. While seeking, one asks, sometimes desperately, how many (persons) one has to experience in order to recognize the right one? THere is no right answer, but faith gives strength to seek and also in relationships. With the help of faith you will understand and accept yourself and the other (others) better. Relationships are a difficult question also for the Church. Even if same-sex relationships are a part of the life in our community, the Church has not been able to form a qlear opinion of the matter. We would like you to join the discussion, because the broadmindedness of the Church is determined also by its members.”
There is also a TV commercial and videos that are part of the campaign.
Needless to say, the discussion around this issue is somewhat heated, but as the fundamental wing of Christians form a minority in Finland, the debate will probably not get ridiculously wild.
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Posted in Dance, Gender at 12:38 by krause
A woman of foreign descent didn’t get accepted to dance class in Pori – What is this!!!??? The original piece of news in Helsingin Sanomat.
I’d like to say this is unheard of in Finland, but as shooting dramas, evil things do happen. I realize that this is not a tried case, but it is not nameless or faceless. I will, for now, assume this really happened.
This incident, in my mind, is disturbing in at least two ways. I wouldn’t like to see discrimination in any form in Finland, as our laws and also the undertone of the communal awareness is against it. Also, it makes me sad that dancers, partner dancers, of all people, have chosen to act this way. Of course, there is no hard evidence, only word against word or actually only a statement at this point, but I hope no-one seeks publicity like that without fair grounds. Originally, the incident was published in HS as a letter to the editor sent in by Anastassia Joukovskaja, the alledgedly discriminated against woman. If this proves to be true I hope it is the last one of the kind, at least of the sort where dancers are at fault. Partner dancing is a nonverbal form of communication, and we, of all people, should see the power of body language, the possibilities of communicating without a spoken or written language – and, in this case, Joukovskaja even speaks Finnish, so only her background was discriminated against. The answer she got, she reports, was that the course was intended for “natural Finnish people.” What’s more, the dance club representative had even had the nerve to tell Joukovskaja that the reason for accepting only natural born Finns was that it was in the club rules. What crap! HS, by the way, chacked the rules: Surprise, surprise – no mention of ethincity whatsoever. Luckily there is a minorities ombudsman to turn to, and Rainer Hiltunen, an officer of the ombudsman office, reports that the minorities ombudsman will take the case under investigation if Joukovskaja wants to contact them and file a report.
Luckily the standard of the discussion around the subject on HS site is slightly higher than similar discussions on sites like suomi24 and the like. Most users have not accepted this kind of behavior, and only a handful of “preservers of Finnish culture” have joined in. The best arguments include one posting where the writer asks whether it would be the best way to preserve and promote Finnish (dance) culture by teaching it to those of foreign descent and other newcomers, and not refusing Finnish culture of them. Also, luckily a qick-thinking dance school representative in Pori (the town on the Finnish west coast where this happened) welcomed all and everybody regardless of background to join their classes. And how about the writing asking the ones rigorously promoting all-Finnishness whether they also believed in following the oh-so-Finnish penal code, the law of Finland… Good, good. Well, we’ll stay on the case.
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