Farewell 2019

May the year to come bless us with patience, tolerance, and a sense of humour to deal with the passionately misinformed and with haters, with incorrigible racists, short-sighted ageists, ignorant ableists, inveterate sexists, narrow-minded homophobes, and islamophobes. Live long and prosper, dear subscribers, I wish you all the best for 2020!

Photographing Freaks: Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) was a US-American photographer known for capturing "the grand mélange of humanity" (via), for photographing "people on the fringes of society" (via). Since she became famous, her gaze has been celebrated and criticised: sideshow performers, nudists, dwarfs, transgender sex workers were the subjects she felt drawn to.



"But Arbus’s images in “Untitled” are, at first glance, unsettling. Why did she choose to train her lens repeatedly on people who were so vulnerable? There’s baggage to the work, knowing that she often proclaimed her love for photographing “freaks”—a caustic word to use today, though Arbus seemed to do so with affection. Critic Susan Sontag famously railed against Arbus’s practice in her 1977 collection of essays, On Photography, saying her work was “based on distance, on privilege, on a feeling that what the viewer is asked to look at is really other.”
“Othering” is a term we are especially cautious about today. Arbus did come from privilege—she was the middle child in a well-to-do Manhattan family that earned its wealth from her grandfather’s luxury department store. “One of the things I felt I suffered from as a kid was I never felt adversity,” Arbus herself once said. She sought out people with unusual stories, and titled them as such: Mexican Dwarf in his Hotel Room, N.Y.C 1970, and A Jewish Giant at Home with his Parents, in the Bronx, N.Y., 1970. Even in her portraits of people who were not marginalized, such as her widely known picture of twin girls, Identical twins, Roselle, N.J. (1966), she emphasized their strangeness. (...)
It wasn’t until a 2003 retrospective of Arbus’s work that many of her images, letters, and journal entries were made public. They clarified that she was empathetic, not voyeuristic, a word that continues to trail her legacy. (...)
Though there is always a power hierarchy between photographer and subject—a photographer is seeking honesty and vulnerability when the camera is raised—there is a difference between a photographer who takes the shot and leaves, and one who stays. Arbus was one to stay, giving her time and respect, and building a rapport with the people she photographed. She met Eddie Carmel, the Jewish giant, a decade before she snapped the now-famous image of him and his parents; she was invited to celebrate the birthday of a prostitute whom she photographed in bed, in front of a cake. And, late in her life, she returned to the residences of “Untitled” again and again, taking portraits that suggested friendship and closeness between her and her subjects."
Jacqui Palumbo

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photograph by Diane Arbus via

Quoting Joker

“The worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.”
Joker



- image (Joaquin Phoenix, Joker, 2019) via

(partly) interesting read:
- Joker's depiction of mental illness, The Guardian, link
- Impressive dramatic performances aside, Independent, link
- 'Joker' makes an explicit connection, Business Insider, link
- Trying to diagnose the 'Joker', Insider, link

Prejudice and Self-Perceived vs Psychometric Intelligence

Results of a study carried out in Belgium (n=183, adults from the general community) revealed that the link between ethnic prejudice and intelligence differs depending on whether intelligence is self-assessed (participants were asked to estimate their intelligence on a scale ranging from 0 to 100) or actual, i.e. psychometrically assessed. In fact, being intelligent (which undermines prejudice) vs believing to be intelligent (and probably perceiving the world in terms of superiority and inferiority) had opposite correlations with subtle racism.

Our results revealed opposite relationships: whereas individuals who scored higher (vs. lower) on an intelligence test showed lower levels of racial prejudice, individuals who perceived themselves as being more intelligent compared to others showed higher levels of racial prejudice. (...) The present results indicate that being more intelligent is related with less racial prejudice, but judging that one is more intelligent than others is related with more racial prejudice. (De Keersmaecker et al., 2017)

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- De Keersmaecker, J., Onraet, E., Lepouttre, N. & Roets, A. (2017). The opposite effects of actual and self-perceived intelligence on racial prejudice. Personality and Individual Differences, 112, 136-138.
- photograph by Magnum photographer Erich Lessing (1923-2018) (Cesenatico, 1960) via

White vs Black Offender + Length of Prison Sentence

According to an analysis of cases in which offenders were sentenced in the U.S. between 2011 and 2016, 1) black male offenders received sentences that were on average 19.1% longer than White male offenders sentenced for similar reasons, 2) black male offenders were 21.2% less likely to receive a non-government sponsored downward departure or variance and in case they did, their sentences were 16.8% longer than white male offenders' departure or variance, 3) in case of violence in an offender's criminal history black male offenders received sentences which were on average 20.4% longer than those of similar white male offenders, 4) female offenders received shorter sentences than white male offenders no matter what ethnicity (United State Sentencing Commission, 2017).



photograph by Vivian Maier via

Bank Robber Man (Lenny Kravitz, 2001)

"While on a break from the recording studio on Friday, Lenny Kravitz found himself handcuffed and questioned by Miami police searching for a bank robber.
Kravitz (...) was walking to the gym with his trainer when the two were surrounded by police cars and a canine unit. The rocker matched the description of a man who had just robbed a nearby bank -- black, unshaven, with an afro and wearing green pants and a T-shirt. Kravitz was unshaven, wearing olive khakis and was not carrying ID."



"(...) The singer said that since some of the officers who detained him were Latino, he is unsure whether he was a victim of racial profiling. "You think that [there was racial profiling] on one hand, and on the other hand you say, 'Well, I did fit the description somewhat,' " Kravitz said. "I'm kind of torn between [the two]. But what I need to find out is why I was cuffed first."
MTV, 2000

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Bank Robber Man

I was walking down the street today
Just as somebody blew the doors off of the B of A
Just then I head them call my name
As I was thrown against the car
I was being framed

All units we've got our man
We've got the bank robber man
We don't need no reason
You're going in the can
You look like the bank robber man
I think you misunderstand
Do you think that I am the one that did it
Just because I'm tan?
Just then the officer at hand said
I don't give a damn that you are in a rock and roll band

All units we've got our man
We've got the bank robber man
We don't need no reason
You're going in the can
You look like the bank robber man

Just tell me what's going on ?
Can you tell me what I did wrong ?
Does busting me make you feel strong ?
Make you feel strong

All units we've got our man
We've got the bank robber man
We don't need no reason
You're going in the can
You look like the bank robber man

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Lenny Kravitz on YouTube:

::: Low: LISTEN/WATCH
::: It Ain't Over Til It's Over: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Fly Away: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Fields of Joy: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Are You Gonna Go My Way: LISTEN/WATCH
::: I Belong to You: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Circus: LISTEN/WATCH
::: I'll Be Waiting: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Can't Get You Off My Mind: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Be: LISTEN/WATCH
::: I Build This Garden for Us: LISTEN/WATCH
::: Stand by My Woman: LISTEN/WATCH

Related posting:
::: Mr Cab Driver & Black And White America: LINK

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photograph via, lyrics via

Girl + Black: Adultification Bias

According to research findings, adults view Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers - as young as five to nine years old. The results align with lived experiences (Blake & Epstein, 2019).



The main findings:

Black girls routinely experience adultification bias.
Adultification is linked to harsher treatment and higher standards for black girls in school.
Adults have less empathy for black girls than their white peers, who are viewed as more innocent and in need of protection and comforting.
Negative stereotypes of black women are mapped onto black girls, which can lay the foundation for adultification bias.
Adults attempt to enforce traditional white norms of femininity on black girls.
Adultification bias can lead educators to treat black girls in developmentally inappropriate ways.
Socialised adultification contributes to adultification bias.

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- Blake, J. J. & Epstein, R. (2019). Listening to Black Women and Girls: Lived Experiences of Adultification Bias. Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, link
- photograph by Vivian Maier via

Politeness. A Reflection of Cultural Norms.

Language is a reflection of culture and accepted cultural norms, polite conducted and interaction is inseparable to culture. Polite interaction takes on many forms in the way people interact, not only by the spoken word but also by the unspoken messages portrayed by behaviour, body language, eye contact and facial expressions. People from the same country speaking the same language and same cultural background have a basic common shared ideology and value system defining general accepted norms and rules of conduct to be followed. Accepted norms of behaviour and linguistic appropriateness in one culture are not necessarily acceptable in another culture. What is considered polite in one cultural society may be considered impolite in another. (...)



Politeness in any given society is conducted within a system of acceptable social behaviour and social linguistic cultural norms that govern the way in which citizens interact. (...) Accepted behaviour and politeness within a society and sharing the same value system and cultural understanding is part of the fibre of society. Rules within a language community guide behaviour and communication within the society; (not only guiding what people do or say but, equally important what people do not do or say). (...)

Politeness is a fundamental part of culture which shapes human behaviour within a society. Goode et al. (2000) explains this politeness and behaviour as an ‘integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviours of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations.’ This view illustrates the importance of politeness in language teaching, culture and politeness is mirrored and represented in all the above human interactions, as a result politeness can not be considered a separate isolated component of language learning. The spectrum of politeness affects all human behaviour and interactions, therefore ‘linguistic competence alone is not enough for learners of a language to be competent in that language’ (Krasner, 1999). Language learners need to understand culture, context and politeness to be able to function and communicate appropriately in the target language. (...)

excerpts taken from O'Sullivan (2007)

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- O'Sullivan, W. (2007). A study on politeness teaching to English learners in China. The International Journal of Language Society and Culture, 23, 47-52.
- photograph (Elswick Kids, 1978) by Tish Murtha via

Women Wearing Swimsuits and Performing in Math

Fredrickson et al. (1998) tested the hypothesis that self-objectification diminishes math performance (n = 82 undergraduate students at the University of Michigan, 42 women and 40 men). Students completed the Self-Objectification Questionnaire, their tendency to body shame was measured, as well as their feelings associated with trying on swimwear; they were given a challenging math test, as well as sweets.



Female participants were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions: trying on a one-piece swimsuit or a V-neck jumper, male participants either wore a swim trunk or a crew neck jumper. In all cases, they did so alone in a dressing rom where they were asked to look at themselves in the full-length mirror and afterwards complete all questionnaires mentioned before. Then, they were given sweets and told to eat as much as they wanted and fill out another questionnaire.



Results show that only in the case of women trying on a swimsuit (i.e. manipulating the state of self-objectification) produced more body shame than trying on a jumper. Self-objectification, again, led to body shame in women. And most interestingly, women performed worse on the math test when wearing a swimsuit than when wearing a jumper (Fredrickson et al., 1998).
In 2004, Hebl, King and Lin replicated the study with 400 undergraduate students (with a focus on gender and ethnicity) and supported the findings that "sellf-objectification serves as a mechanism through which the experience of wearing a swimsuit affected psychological and behavioral outcomes", that women had lower self-esteem and body image than men. However, they added: "All individuals can be vulnerable to the consequences of self-objectification."



- Fredrickson, B. L., Noll, S. M., Roberts, T.-A., Quinn, D. M. & Twenge, J. M. (1998). That Swimsuit Becomes You: Sex Differences in Self-Objectification, Restrained Eating, and Math Performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 269-284.
- Hebl, M., King, E. B. & Lin, J. (2004). The Swimsuit Becomes Us All: Ethnicity, Gender and Vulnerability to Self-Objetcification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(10), link
- images of Alain Delon and Romy Schneider (La Piscine, 1969) via and via and via

The -ism Series (35): Environmental Racism

"Environmental racism is racial discrimination in environmental policy-making and enforcement of regulations of laws, the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the presence of life threatening poisons and pollutants for communities of color, and the history of excluding people of color from leadership of the environmental movement."
Chavis cited in Holifield (2001)

We strongly believe that the actions that led to the poisoning of Flint’s water and the slow response resulted in the abridgement of civil rights for the people of Flint. We are not suggesting that those making decisions related to this crisis were racists, or meant to treat Flint any differently because it is a community of color. Rather, the response is the result of implicit bias and the history of systemic racism that was built into the foundation of Flint.
Arthur Horwitz

Environmental racism means that ethnic minority groups are burdened disproportionally by both decision-making processes and distributive patterns (Holifield, 2001). Examples are locating polluting facilities mainly in communities of colour and introducing environmental laws that are racist in their implementation and application (Lazarus, 2000).

A report published back in 1987 found that ethnicity was "the predominant factor related to the presence of hazardous wastes in residential communities throughout the United States", even "the most significant determinant of the location of hazardous waste facilities" (Godsil, 1991). Things do not seem to have changed as study after study indicate the disproportionate risks from pollution ethnic minorities face. According to a report published in 2018, "people of colour" and people in poverty "are exposed to more fine particulate matter", a carcinogen and contributor to lung conditions, heart attacks, asthma, low birth weights, high blood pressure, and premature deaths. The more an area is segregated, the higher the levels of exposure (via).

Reasons discussed are, for instance, economic ones like locating facilities where it is the least costly to build and maintain - which happens to be in so-called communities in colour - to the residents' economic powerlessness and their limited economic ability to move to other residential areas. Minority groups are, in addition, usually politically weak and cannot conduct campaigns against the companies' decisions successfully. Neither are they sufficiently represented in governement (Fisher, 1994).

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- Fisher, M. R. (1994). On the Road from Environmental Racism to Environmental Justice. Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository, 5(2), 449-478, link
- Godsil, R. D. (1991). Remedying Environmental Racism. Michigan Law Review, 90(2), link
- Holifield, R. (2001). Defining Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism. Urban Geography, 22(1), 78-90.
- Lazarus, R. J. (2000). "Environmental Racism! That's What It Is." Georgetown University Law Center, link
- photograph of siblings Julie, Antonio, and India Abron collecting their daily allowance of bottled water from Fire Station 3, Flint, Michigan (by Wayne Lawrence, National Geographic) via