(no subject)
At some point you just have to set down the Sociology of Religion Reader and say, you know what? That's enough for today.
I woke up at... well, the alarm started going off at 7:45, but thanks to snooze I stayed in bed until 8:36. I made it to my sociology course on neoliberalism five minutes late. I always feel bad because the professor is this amazing, intelligent woman (who I think is a grad student) who designed this whole class and only three people enrolled in it. On top of that, the other American and me keep missing class. We discussed the effects of privatisation (with an S because this is Ireland).
I got home and was already to write this paper for Human Sexuality at 6:00 when I got sidetracked by a Facebook group calling for articles for an undergraduate journal called "queer." with a period in their name and everything. I was like, hey, I want to write for an undergraduate journal all about exploring what it means to be queer. Then I read that the next issue is about temporalities. Yeah, temporalities. Sure, alright, queer and temporal... ness. They referenced an issue of a journal which I should "be in conversation with" (which made me love and hate these people simultaneously), so then I had to go look up this special issue.
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies did a special issue looking at how time (yes, time) is a patriarchal heteronormative construction which exists for the purpose of social control. Take a moment to absorb that, don't just dismiss it. They point to our idea of History (with a capital h) is removed from our present reality and representative only of the dominant groups in society. How major demarcations in life are born from heteronormativity (marriage, baby birth, [your sweet sixteen]). I read half of two articles before getting distracted by my Sociology of Religion syllabus.
What do you mean a 1,500 word essay is due on Wednesday? Well, crap. You want me to talk about theories? I don't know any theories, besides secularisation theory which is stupid. I read two articles about it, and I understood that all I need to know about secularisation theory is that it is stupid. I suppose the only thing to do now is distract myself by finding articles about the Tao Te Ching in this whole new database system.
Oh, NUI Galway only has like six databases, all ones HSU has. I guess when you go to the largest university system in the United States they cover things like access to databases. But I found a new article, which occupied me until I had to leave for Human Sexuality.
Which I guess I forgot to write that paper for. I guess I just don't care enough about pornography.
He lectured about prostitution today, going over arguments against it, perspectives, and counter arguments. My favorite was the "paternalistic critique" which said that prostitution (by which it meant street prostitution) is not safe (which is true) and so it should be illegal. Counterargument: just because something isn't safe doesn't mean it should be illegal.
Here's something that wasn't said, but is your basic feminist critique: don't blame prostitutes for being beaten and threatened and robbed. That's not something that's just going to happen. Those are men doing that. Here's a crazy idea, don't blame the person being beaten, blame the person beating her.
Jackass. Maybe there should be laws against beating people. Oh wait, there are, they just aren't enforced because to report the crime is to confess to another.
So I came home and realized this weeks reading for Sociology of Religion was totally gay. Literally. The first reading was about applying queer theory to the study of Wiccan festivals and practices. Awesome cool. The second was a boring survey of lesbian and gay Catholics in the United Kingdom. So, I guess that's a theory I can write about. 1,500 words here I come.
Then I realized it was three in the morning and I spent an entire day reading journal articles. What the hell?
I woke up at... well, the alarm started going off at 7:45, but thanks to snooze I stayed in bed until 8:36. I made it to my sociology course on neoliberalism five minutes late. I always feel bad because the professor is this amazing, intelligent woman (who I think is a grad student) who designed this whole class and only three people enrolled in it. On top of that, the other American and me keep missing class. We discussed the effects of privatisation (with an S because this is Ireland).
I got home and was already to write this paper for Human Sexuality at 6:00 when I got sidetracked by a Facebook group calling for articles for an undergraduate journal called "queer." with a period in their name and everything. I was like, hey, I want to write for an undergraduate journal all about exploring what it means to be queer. Then I read that the next issue is about temporalities. Yeah, temporalities. Sure, alright, queer and temporal... ness. They referenced an issue of a journal which I should "be in conversation with" (which made me love and hate these people simultaneously), so then I had to go look up this special issue.
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies did a special issue looking at how time (yes, time) is a patriarchal heteronormative construction which exists for the purpose of social control. Take a moment to absorb that, don't just dismiss it. They point to our idea of History (with a capital h) is removed from our present reality and representative only of the dominant groups in society. How major demarcations in life are born from heteronormativity (marriage, baby birth, [your sweet sixteen]). I read half of two articles before getting distracted by my Sociology of Religion syllabus.
What do you mean a 1,500 word essay is due on Wednesday? Well, crap. You want me to talk about theories? I don't know any theories, besides secularisation theory which is stupid. I read two articles about it, and I understood that all I need to know about secularisation theory is that it is stupid. I suppose the only thing to do now is distract myself by finding articles about the Tao Te Ching in this whole new database system.
Oh, NUI Galway only has like six databases, all ones HSU has. I guess when you go to the largest university system in the United States they cover things like access to databases. But I found a new article, which occupied me until I had to leave for Human Sexuality.
Which I guess I forgot to write that paper for. I guess I just don't care enough about pornography.
He lectured about prostitution today, going over arguments against it, perspectives, and counter arguments. My favorite was the "paternalistic critique" which said that prostitution (by which it meant street prostitution) is not safe (which is true) and so it should be illegal. Counterargument: just because something isn't safe doesn't mean it should be illegal.
Here's something that wasn't said, but is your basic feminist critique: don't blame prostitutes for being beaten and threatened and robbed. That's not something that's just going to happen. Those are men doing that. Here's a crazy idea, don't blame the person being beaten, blame the person beating her.
Jackass. Maybe there should be laws against beating people. Oh wait, there are, they just aren't enforced because to report the crime is to confess to another.
So I came home and realized this weeks reading for Sociology of Religion was totally gay. Literally. The first reading was about applying queer theory to the study of Wiccan festivals and practices. Awesome cool. The second was a boring survey of lesbian and gay Catholics in the United Kingdom. So, I guess that's a theory I can write about. 1,500 words here I come.
Then I realized it was three in the morning and I spent an entire day reading journal articles. What the hell?