Reflections on a Mirror-less Life

Eva Gonzales's "Le Petit Lever," 1875.

If you could boost your self-esteem by thinking less about your body image, or beauty standards, simply by cutting down on time spent in front of the mirror, would you?

For UCLA sociology grad student Kjerstin Gruys, the answer is yes. For an entire year, Gruys is refraining from looking at herself in the mirror. She reflects upon her, er, reflection-less new lifestyle on the blog “Mirror, Mirror...OFF The Wall” in the hopes that, in the run up to her wedding day, she can boost her self-confidence rather than obsessing over what is traditionally the most beauty-centric day of a woman’s life.

But is there any validity to the theory that not looking in the mirror will help one’s self-esteem? Renee Engeln-Maddox, a psychology professor and body image expert at Northwestern University, told the website YouBeauty.com:

“When you look in the mirror, you’re increasing your tendency to see yourself as an outsider would. A lot of research has shown that lowers your body satisfaction and depletes your cognitive resources, meaning that your brain — which has limited resources — is less able to think about other things.”

Kjerstin Gruys may not have been thinking about protecting her “cognitive resources,” exactly, when she began the project. She said she had her “lightening” moment while reading a story about a religious practice where nuns banned the use of mirrors for the rest of their lives in order to focus on worship. Gruys says on her blog:

"A lifetime without seeing oneself. It made me pause. What a different life those nuns had lived, compared my appearance-obsessed world of Los Angeles! Could I go even one day without looking at myself in a mirror? Maybe I should. Actually, how about a year??”

Women look at themselves an average of 70 times per day, according to Professor Engeln-Maddox. An online survey commissioned by the group Transformulas International, published in the UK last year, claimed women look at themselves 71 times per day. They also claimed that women reapplied their lipstick and make-up roughly 11 times per day.

To this blogger, the numbers are so high they seem unbelievable. Yet somehow, with beauty standards being what they are, and a billion-dollar beauty industry that will do anything to support those seemingly impossible standards, it appears entirely plausible that we women are spending an unnatural amount of time thinking about our looks in front of the mirror. In fact, there is a clinical diagnosis for it—it’s called dysmorphic disorder. Those with the disorder compulsively look at themselves throughout the day, sometimes for hours at a time.

I wonder, however, if the fact that women spend an inordinate amount of time before the mirror is purely a result of our beauty culture, or something more.

Reading all the hype surrounding one woman’s mirror-less new way of life made me think of the art critic John Berger and his historical analysis of women’s presence in the art world. In his classic BBC documentary, “Ways of Seeing,”Berger claims that the objectification of women is rooted in the oil paintings of the masters, and he explores the ways in which this tradition has both inspired and predicated the objectification of women today. I was particularly fascinated by the following passage, which considers the role that women play in their own objectification:

“To be born a woman has to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of women is developed as a result of their ingenuity in living under such tutelage within such a limited space. But this has been at the cost of a woman's self being split into two. A woman must continually watch herself…She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life. Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another....One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object -- and most particularly an object of vision: a sight."

Is our own sense of self-worth really that different from the women of centuries past? Kjerstin Gruys’s mirror experiment may seem like a cheap publicity stunt, but if it’s made more women think about cutting down on beauty and body image-obsession, allowing them to turn inward rather than focusing on outward appearances, I'd say she’s succeeded well beyond her own personal goals.

Running on the Streets of Dakar

[Editor's Note: Please welcome our newest contributor, Rachael Cullins. Rachael is an American living in Dakar. Learn more about Rachael on our Contributors page.]

A street in Dakar / Rachael Cullins

A woman running, much less alone, is an unfamiliar sight in Corniche, the stretch of scenic road and sidewalk that runs along Dakar’s western coastline.

Recently, however, in the middle of three male joggers -- a more than common sight here in Senegal because of how important fitness is to men’s lives -- I watched a woman, clad in braids, a faded white t-shirt and long gray sweatpants run by. From my side of the street, I noted she had the easy, natural loping gait of most Senegalese runners, one they achieve without the aid of the latest in athletic garb such as wicking-material or the latest in running shoes. She fit right in with her male running companions.

Since I arrived in Dakar nearly a month ago, this female Senegalese runner is the first I’ve seen. Although Senegal is much more advanced in women’s rights than some African or Islamic countries, the concept of fitness for females hasn’t yet taken a strong hold. I see men jogging everywhere, quickened by with their long strides while my short ones are not able to keep up with even the slowest of the local runners. But I am almost always the lone female, matched only occasionally by a fellow expatriate.

I’m not the only one who has noticed the distinct lack of woman athletes in this country, either. Running Times magazine ran a feature in early 2009 about female Senegalese runners, noting that it’s often difficult for them to find places to train, to receive athletic encouragement the same way a man would, and to dedicate their lives and talents to something other than child-rearing. As one interviewee in the article said, cleaning house and raising children is “what it means to be a Senegalese woman.”

The Senegalese Olympic team has had precisely zero female medal winners in the history of the games, according to the International Olympic Committee –- although the country does field men’s and women’s teams in some sports each year. Some traditional Muslims perceive women’s athletics as inappropriate due to the “revealing” clothing they must wear, such as a jersey and shorts on the track field. Others are just too steeped in traditional gender roles to see women as strong and capable when it comes to sports.

My time in Dakar will end in the summer of 2013, when my husband and I will pack up our belongings and two dogs and head to another foreign post as part of his career with the United States government. But I’d love to come back to Senegal someday, perhaps decades from now when our first abroad post seems like a distant memory, to see how the place might have changed since our time here. I’m hopeful those changes will include seeing many, many more women jogging along the Corniche, with just as much commonality and athleticism as the men who match them stride for stride –- and maybe even struggle to keep up.

Skin Lightening: Dangers and Cultural Perils

Many people are aware of the dangers of tanning from UV exposure, with the link between skin cancer being well documented. On another shade of the spectrum, the use of skin lightening creams among almost every non-European race on the planet is far less documented and researched. Yet today in the West, women of all cultures and races are a growing clientele in dermatologist's offices, as a result of the side effects of harsh, often toxic, and sometimes carcinogenic skin lightening creams.

There is a wide range of reasons for skin lightening in non-white cultures. Most commonly, colonization is blamed, and the promotion of lighter skinned women in the media seems to have a direct link with the self esteem of women and their skin color. Sociologists have found that the idea of skin color and social success are linked. There are clear connections with lighter skinned individuals having greater socio-economic success in western economies. In countries like India, Thailand and the Philippines, marital success is considered to be related to the lightness of your skin.

Women may be aware of the dangers of skin lightening treatments, but as shown on the Tyra Banks show, no matter how great the risk to the woman’s health, the idea of being considered more "beautiful" or accepted in society negates the risk for many women. Furthermore, skin lightening has remained an underground movement. Most cultures who have grown up with it are aware of their mothers, sisters and aunts caking their skin in white lotions on the weekends or even nightly, yet no one talks about it. It is considered the secret beauty treatment. There has been no sustained campaign from medical bodies about the dangers of skin lightening (as there has been with UV exposure). Individual communities sometimes host awareness events, but the scale of such events hardly compares to the imprint of mass media and social norms.

Health risks with skin lightening comes from the unregulated and toxic products used in the creams. These include Hydroquinone, a substance banned in Europe and Japan for it’s direct carcinogenic link, with prolonged use it accumulates in the skin. However it is widely available in ‘alternative’ beauty stores in the USA, Canada and Europe. Mercury which strips the skin of it’s natural pigmentation, is well known for its toxicity, which can cause kidney and liver failure. More commonly known is the ingredient Hydrogen Peroxide which temporarily whitens the skin through oxidation. It is absorbed by the skin and can cause metabolic problems, resulting in pain and gastric issues. Its most visible side effect is the patchy depigmentation of the skin known as Vitiligo. Many times these unregulated underground creams do not list ingredients fully, so consumers can't know what is going on their skin. Side effects are vast and can include toxicity, burning, bruising and thinning of the skin as well as acne and depigmentation.

The reality is that no matter how much we preach about the dangers of certain chemicals, the message falls on dead ears. A sustained public health campaign is needed, with more research from the medical community resulting in an evidence campaign to warn against damages. Further action is needed by communities to tackle the social impact; this has been initiated by documentaries such as ‘Dark Girls’, which has done a fantastic job of highlighting the roots of this health destructive and overpowering detrimental process.

Strong, Gentle, and Beautiful: Judo's Star is Honored

Keiko Fukuda proves it’s never too late to attain greatness. At 98 years old, she has just been awarded a 10th-degree black belt, judo's highest level. Not only is this an honor never before granted to a woman, but it is also a tremendous achievement considering that for 30 years Fukuda was restricted to a 5th degree black belt simply because she was "onna desu," meaning a woman. Fukuda now joins only three living men in the entire world (and about a dozen since judo’s inception) with this prestigious rank.

Fukuda’s story is one of strength and persistence. Born in Japan in 1913, she turned away from a traditional lifestyle. Although she had been trained in calligraphy and the art of flower arranging, at the age of only 21, Fukuda on account of her samurai lineage, was summoned by Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo. H life was forever changed. Fukuda began to study under Kano despite the reservations of her uncle, who felt such a lifestyle was not proper for a woman.

Judo, a derivative of the historic martial art of jujitsu, is based on the principal of "maximum efficient use of physical and mental energy." Far beyond physical strength, and adeptness at hand-to-hand combat, Kano believed judo had the potential to "contribute much to human and social development, including mutual prosperity for self and others." He identified this as the proper goal of training.

In 1953, Fukuda traveled to California, the state that would eventually become her new home, at the request of an Oakland judo club to share her teachings. Since then, she has dedicated her life to teaching the art of judo to students around the world.

Flying Carp Productions has been working on a documentary showcasing the life of this extraordinary woman. Fittingly, the film’s title, Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful, is Fukada’s personal motto, as she believes the real goal of judo is to be "gentle on the outside" and "strong on the inside." Although the film is still a work-in-progress and as its producers work tirelessly to fundraise enough money to complete the documentary, the tentative release date is late 2011. If the trailer is any indication, the film will certainly be worth checking-out. (For those interested in making a donation, just visit the film’s home page: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful.)

Tunisia: Longing For A Place To Call Home

Since the outbreak of war in 1991, Somalia has been left with no central government. Located in the Horn of Africa, this east African country has managed to maintain an informal economy based on livestock, remittances from its expatriate community, and the telecommunications sector. However, two decades of civil war has disrupted many lives and forced many Somalis to flee their country in search of asylum.

Sixty-three year old Hawiyeh Awal is one of them. Eighteen years ago Hawiyeh embarked on a treacherous journey through the desert with her daughter after violence, which claimed the lives of her entire family, and caused severe damages to both of her hands.

"Both of my hands were hit during a gun battle and they were unable to save my small finger on my left hand. My right hand suffered many fractures. After losing my family it was hard to ignore the situation anymore," Awal told Her Blueprint. "The government in Mogadishu wasn't doing anything to protect us and I needed to find safety for me and my daughter."

Relying on middlemen, Hawiyeh was able to survive a four month journey through the desert to finally reach her destination in Libya. For eighteen years, she managed to rebuild her life working as a domestic worker for Libyan families but then the civil war broke out.

When we met, Hawiyeh was sitting outside her makeshift tent with her daughter and grandson as they tried to find a bit of shade from the Tunisian desert's scorching sun. She was sitting on a white bucket that she had turned upside down to function as a temporary chair, while her daughter -- who is in her late twenties -- nibbles at the couscous mixed with onions and tomatoes they were given for lunch.

"I'm scared that I'm going to die in this hot desert," she explains. "I have diabetes and I've lost more than eight kilos since coming here because of the hot weather."

Like many other migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, Hawiyeh was once again uprooted from her fairly stable situation and forced to flee to Libya's North African neighbor of Tunisia by bus several months ago.

"The situation was getting really bad. Many families were being held up at gunpoint in their homes and robbed," Hawiyeh adds. "I started to worry for my daughter because she is without a husband and emotionally I just couldn't bear going through another war."

Tens of thousands of individuals have crossed Ras Ajdir border crossing to the under-equipped and under-staffed Shousha refugee camp in Tunisia with what little belongings they manage to salvage. For many, Libya was a relatively stable economy where one could find modest work or flee political violence due to Muammar Gaddafi's Pan African stance in the 1990's, which opened the country's borders.

Now many just wait for another border to open.

"My daughter and I can't bear the situation in this camp anymore because all we do is sit and wait. We're just hoping to be resettled in a safe place where I can find medical treatment because here we must first get approval from the Tunisian military in order to access any kind of healthcare," Hawiyeh adds. "The problem is that the West decided to bomb Libya in order to protect people but also decided to close their borders so no one is interested in protecting us. We're trapped here."

Street Artist Swoon's Creative Community

Paper cut out by Swoon. Image via Revel in New York. Photo by Joann Jovinelly 

If you've walked through any New York neighborhood within the past couple of years, you may have come across some street art that stopped you in your tracks. Artist Swoon (real name Caledonia Dance Curry) has been adorning the city's walls with her intricately detailed paper cutout pieces since 1999. A native of Daytona Florida, Swoon studied painting at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute and continues to live and work in the city. But as Swoon's work continues to grow in popularity, her ideas continue to evolve and grow more expansive in their scope. It's as if she's extending a hand to her audience and saying, "Like what you see? Come be a part of it."

Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea installation. Image via Deitch Projects. Photo by Kristy Leibowitz  

In 2008 Swoon and a team of collaborators created Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea, an installation of seven boats handmade from salvaged materials which were launched into New York's Hudson River for a 3 week journey. The boats made stops on their journey from upstate Troy, New York to Long Island City, Queens for riverside performances by the boats' crews (each one held between 9 and 13 people).

On World Humanitarian Day: Honoring Paul Farmer

Editor's Note: Rebecca Shore is guest blogging on Her Blueprint. She is a Communications Specialist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Knowledge for Health Project.

On the 2011 World Humanitarian Day web site, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon shares, “There is never a year without humanitarian crises. And wherever there are people in need, there are people who help them – men and women coming together to ease suffering and bring hope. From Japan to Sudan, from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa, aid workers help people who have lost their homes, loved ones and sources of income.”

In honor of World Humanitarian Day, I am highlighting Paul Farmer, an inspiring humanitarian and role model to many of us in public health. In 2007, while attending graduate school for public health I heard Farmer speak to an auditorium of students. He spoke earnestly about his first trip to Haiti as a medical student and how this pushed him forward into his dedicated career in medicine and public health. Paul Farmer’s inspiring organization Partners in Health (PIH) affects public health professionals all over the world, as does his role as United States Special Envoy to Haiti.

Farmer’s work with PIH and his work in Haiti encompasses who he is and what he does. Farmer is funny and charismatic, loves his patients, and breaks conventions to help the greatest number of people. Currently, Farmer is also a professor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and author of many poignant books and journal articles. His newest book Haiti After the Earthquake details the damage and destruction of Haiti in 2010 following the massive earthquake and his struggle to help the displaced and injured in a country where he had been working for more than twenty years.

Humanitarians improve the health and well-being of people all over the world from the smallest village to the largest of cities. On this day, reserved for those who come to aid the suffering in crisis we must acknowledge everyone but also one of the greatest humanitarians alive. Paul Farmer's compassion and care is an example for all of us.

Introducing the World's Newest Female Leader

There are several reasons to celebrate last week’s elections in Thailand. To begin, on August 5th, Yingluck Shinawatra made history in Thailand when she was elected the first female prime minister of Thailand. She now joins only eleven other women internationally in her role as prime minister. Many are hailing this as a major victory for the people of Thailand, particularly the rural poor, as the Puea Thai Party promises many positive reforms, such as an increase in minimum wage, major improvements to the healthcare system, and most ambitious of all: providing free tablet computers to primary schools students throughout Thailand. Secondly, Shinawatra's landslide victory over incumbent Abhisit Vejjajiv, and his subsequent peaceful resignation, hint that democracy may be back on the upswing in Thailand.

But, there are reasons to look nervously toward the future. To begin, as the youngest sister of exiled prime minister Thaksin many speculate that Shinawatra will be little more than a puppet, as her notoriously outspoken brother actually calls the shots from his home in Dubai. Second, Shinawatra is now the 6th prime minister in Thailand since 2006, a nation that has proven adept at staging military coups. Given the military’s well documented antipathy towards Thaksin, Shinawatra should heed warnings to tread lightly else the country could break into more fighting.

Despite these challenges, Shinawatra stands at an exciting crossroads. She has vowed “to lead the country to unity and reconciliation.” And lead, she must. A peaceful future in Thailand is dependent on goodwill and compromise from the now heavily fractioned populace. As Joshua Kurlantzick argues in an Op-Ed in the Financial Times:

In the longer run, both Thailand's urban middle classes and its poor must accept the need for painful change. The poor, and their allies in Ms Yingluck's party, must accept that they have to protect private property rights and the rule of law and also that they must not let Mr Thaksin back into Thailand, no matter how much they love him.

The middle classes, including their allies in the army and the royal palace, need to accept that if Thailand is to be a democracy, the will of the voters must triumph. Hardest of all, Mr Thaksin must accept that he really does have to retire, if he wants his country to flourish and his positive legacies – including political empowerment and poverty reduction – to stand the test of time. But if he and his sister insist on a comeback, he may yet have to take responsibility for the final fiery death of a once-promising democratic nation.

Photo credit: The Daily Beast

"That's Vaginal!": Summer's Eve Goes Viral?

[Editor's Note: This post was written by Cindy Kok, IMOW's summer programs and exhibitions volunteer.]

How would you describe something that you think is cool, incredible, fun, interesting, or a combination of all of the above? Awesome, perhaps? What about vaginal?

Summer’s Eve, a company that sells vaginal cleansing products, launched their “That’s Vaginal!” spot along with their “Hail to the V!” campaign earlier this summer. This bid to replace the word “awesome” with “vaginal” is part of a rebrand effort done by the Richards’ Group for Summer’s Eve after their widely-criticized sexist 2010 ad instructing women to wash their vaginas before asking for a raise.

In this video, Carlton the Cat calls vaginas the greatest “natural wonder” and scorns the societal attitude that relegates all “synonyms and euphemisms” of vagina to “slurs, bleeped out on broadcast TV.” He goes on to encourage people to “state boldly and proudly” their appreciation for vaginas by using the world “vaginal” in lieu of “awesome” and asking the audience to share things they find “vaginal” at thatsvaginal.com.

However, Carlton’s enthusiasm for vaginas (which he claims to be “entirely academic” in the interest of clearing his species’ good name) doesn’t seem to be catching. The video has only had 375,650 hits since its lauch two months ago and there seem to be few submissions to the site. Personally, it’s hard for me to ignore the underlying fact that this is a calculated marketing ploy; the video’s humor reads like a weak imitation of the Old Spice Guy commercials and its ulterior motive undercuts its genuineness. More than anything else, this viral video campaign is confusing: why is Summer's Eve advocating a message that, if widely embraced, would not be likely to help boost their sales (considering that healthy, self-loving women should know that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not advocate douching and other vaginal cleaning products)?

Despite their questionable intention, Summer’s Eve’s apparent effort to banish the shame associated with talking about vaginas is laudable. “Women tell us they’re ready to embrace talking about their bodies in an open, honest way…we wanted to invent an unexpected, fun way to give it a new, positive place in today's vernacular,” said Angela Bryant, director of U.S. marketing, feminine care for Summer’s Eve. And, if viewers choose to take it at face value, maybe this video—and the rest of Summer Eve’s campaign—actually will lead people to be more open-minded about this issue. The Summer’s Eve website seems to accurately reflect their wholehearted rebranding effort, including sections such as “V Power” and “V 101” to educate with expert articles and glossaries and spur further conversation. Overall, it may not be a "vaginal" advertising campaign, but at least the positive value in the message it presents is a step in the right direction.

Pussycat Puppet Tries to Make “That’s Vaginal” Happen [Jezebel]
“Hail to the V!”: Is Summer’s Eve’s new ad campaign empowering—or just crazy? [Salon]
“That’s Vaginal” is a Befuddling Stab at Viral Advertising [HyperVocal]

Mad Women: Not So Bad, Really

Does anyone remember the moment in Mad Men when Peggy encountered a beatnik/artist type named Abe, and it seemed that she had met an intellectual match?  Do we also remember the disheartening moment when enlightened Abe balked at Peggy's feminist approach to their well-intentioned discussion about civil rights? "Who needs to champion womens' rights in this day and age?" he argued.

This episode evoked a generally familiar dilemma--how do we voice our expectations and disappointments without it becoming a point of contention about who really needs attention? One of the worst aspects of this attitude is that it tends to position various social groups against each other. (In Mad Men, Abe was arguing for African-American rights while dismissing womens' rights).

It's enough to make you mad.  But is anger the worst thing to feel in the face of such blunt ignorance? No! It actually can lead to bright, satirical, and pleasant illustrations about experiences that aren't easily represented nowadays. The intersection of race and gender identities is engrossing for its constant tendency to be so narrowly understood yet increasingly visible and inspiring.

Health and Cultural Impacts of Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting (FGM/C)

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a cultural process that involves the cutting of the female genitalia. Although it is widely known as FGM, in the field prefer to address it as "cutting," so that the stigma of mutilation is not endowed upon women who have undergone this rite.

FGM is mainly practiced in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Its presence has been historically documented over thousands of years and it transcends religious affiliations. Until recently, many people in the West attributed to a practice of tribal communities. However, this is not always the case, because tradition seems to prevail regardless of social status. In the increasingly global community in which we live, the custom of FGM is often brought over with migrants who move to Europe or the United States. Young girls of immigrants may be sent back home on holiday to undergo the rite or a cutter, the person who performs the rite, may be in the community.

The awareness of FGM in the West has posed new problems both around cultural understanding and health management toward these female immigrants. In the West, FGM is generally viewed as a barbaric, cruel, and unnecessary procedure for women and girls. This view is valid and the World Health Organization (WHO) has also put weight behind eradication of the procedure. However, many people fail to acknowledge that communities practicing FGM do so out of custom. It is not seen as an act of punishment. This may be difficult to digest, but communities who do this to their daughters do so to preserve their honor in marriage. The cutting, and sometimes sewing, is what a man expects when he marries to ensure his wife’s honor has been preserved. Without this seal of approval a woman can be rejected and in parts of the world where a woman’s livelihood depends on her allegiance to a man, not having undergone this violation can result in a life spent in solitude.

Tears are wiped from the face of a 9-month old following her circumcision
Copyright: Stephanie Sinclair, New York Times

From a health perspective, the complications resulting from FGM are often not openly discussed in communities due to respectful discretion. Yet, the complications are often severe and can be lifelong. Cutting any of the vulva tissues causes intense pain; women can die from hemorrhage; and shock from the procedure is common. Then, there is the risk of infection. Most FGM is not practiced in sterile conditions, a blade may be used on a number of girls. Some cutters employ the alternative of sharp stones or broken glass. There is also the psychological trauma that these girls suffer and may continue to be affected by as women. Finally, there is the possibility of long-term complications. These can range from painful or blocked menses, difficulty in passing urine, urinary tract infections, infertility, increased risk of fistula and, finally, increased risk of maternal and child morbidity due to obstructed labor.

Women Gather for a Cutting Ceremony
Copyright: IRIN - Integrated Regional Information Networks

In traditional settings, herbal remedies and rest would be used to alleviate the symptoms. In the West, women may try health clinics to access treatment. This poses another problem: immigrant women often face a multitude of barriers preventing them adequate access to healthcare to begin with. Many women who have tried to access treatment express the cultural incompetency of health professionals who often judge the practice and express visible horror at the sight of their genitalia. Health professionals in the West have often not seen genitals that have been cut, and some minority women may feel too timid to even see a doctor. Furthermore, health professionals may not have an understanding about what the consequences of FGM are or how to effectively deal with the problems resulting from the procedure. Education on the topic among health professionals remains a highly specialized field and enough information has not trickled down to more generalized health professionals

On the upside, clinics have been formed in communities of immigrants to specially address health problems from FGM. On an international level, work from UNICEF, WHO, and other global health agencies as well as celebrity campaigns such as Waris Darie through the Desert Flower Foundation have helped reduce -- and sometimes eradicate --FGM from communities where it is practiced.

Through appropriate dialogue and education, communities can continue to make progress in this area as should the medical community.

Lorna Simpson's Gathered: Creating Myth and Mystery

A closeup of  a photo installation by Lorna Simpson at the Brooklyn Museum

      I recently had a chance to see Lorna Simpson: Gathered, now on display in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. With Gathered, the artist brings together unidentified photographs of African American women to create compelling narratives. According to the show's didactic, "Lorna Simpson: Gathered presents works that explores this Brooklyn-born artist's interests in the interplay between fact and fiction, identity and history. Through works that incorporate hundreds of original and found vintage photographs of African Americans that she collects from eBay and flea markets, Lorna Simpson undermines the assumption that archival materials are objective documents of history."

Lorna Simpson's installation of vintage photo booth pictures

   On one wall of the exhibition space, tiny vintage photo booth pictures of African American women are displayed in wooden frames, and spaced out so that when the viewer stands back, they almost look like a cloud. There are also small abstract ink pieces painted by the artist floating in between the photographs which are meant to represent the mystery of who these women are and what their lives were like. They are compared to that feeling of curiosity and loss one has when going through an old photo album and finding bits of paper and glue where pictures have been torn out. What piece of the puzzle is missing?