WELCOME TO MAI ISSUE TWO

Dearest MAI Readers,

Since we brought out the inaugural issue of MAI in May of 2018, a great deal has happened globally to give those of us working within any space of critique — whether this takes the form of scholarship, artistic practice, or activism — great cause for concern. The two collectively authored letters, written out of a keen sense of urgency, and the eloquent and precise dissections in the form of critical response by Rebecca Harrison, Emma Spruce, Jacob Breslow & Tomás Ojeda that open this second issue of MAI outline the scale of the problem we are facing right now.

In short, those of us who work assiduously to critique the structures of power, which maintain a system that profits from discrimination against women, black and brown communities, ethnic minorities, Roma, Latinx, Indigenous, gay, lesbian and bisexual, trans and non-binary, single mothers, working poor, differently-abled, immigrant, homeless, refugees, are under attack right now. In its extreme form, this manifests itself through the actions of right-wing governments who strive to denounce and ban our work. In its most pedestrian form, it is apparent in the daily micro-aggressions that wreak a devastating effect of attrition on those trying to work against the grain of systems that are damaging and oppressing to those who are most vulnerable.

We dedicate this issue, with its special focus on queer sexuality, to all of those who feel terrified by what is happening in our world. We want you to know that you are not alone: we see you, we stand with you and we will not stop doing the vital work of intersectional feminism. With this issue, we create a space dedicated to all of you. Despite the backlash, we are growing stronger. We know you are tired. We know you are angry. We are, too. Let us do this work together. Because together, we shall not be trounced.

We want to thank, in particular, Connor Winterton and Amy McCauley who have worked tirelessly to bring this issue together. Their work, between creative and critical response, is the backbone of MAI 2, which speaks to so many of the pressing concerns we need to address right now.

Finally, all of us here at MAI wish to express our profound gratitude for all the monetary donations and social media promotion and support that has come from our readers and contributors over the past year and a half.  Your continuous help got us to this point: we are here, still pushing back, because of you all.

We also thank the University of Gothenburg for their recent offer to support MAI and house us within their walls, whilst allowing us to continue our work without compromise.

We are so proud of what we have achieved with this issue. And we hope that these pages will furnish our readers of all genders with joy, solace, a sense of community and inspiration.

Long may this intersectional space continue to thrive.

In solidarity,

Anna Backman Rogers and Anna Misiak

November 2018

Gothenburg, Sweden and Falmouth, UK

Collective Letter in Support of Feminist Pedagogy

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Letter

This letter, co-authored and signed by many, represents a call for institutions of higher education to put measures in place to protect those of us doing the work of feminist pedagogy: whether as scholars, filmmakers, writers or activists.

1

Letter in Support of Gender Studies: We Are Not an Empty #Line15

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Letter

A letter, co-authored and signed by many in support of and in solidarity with Gender Studies, especially those in Hungary, but also globally.

2

Study Your Grievances

by , Tomás Ojeda & Jacob Breslow

Critical Reflection

The political strategy behind the so-called Grievance Studies hoax is one that is regressive, pernicious and deliberately aimed at taking down critical theorists working in feminism, race, queer and decolonial studies.

3

Fuck the Canon (Or, How Do You Solve a Problem Like von Trier?): Teaching, Screening and Writing about Cinema in the Age of #MeToo

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Critical Reflection

Rebecca Harrison reflects on why we are not living in a Post-Weinstein age and outlines some of the inherent difficulties of teaching cinema studies in the wake of #MeToo.

 

4

TV’s New Sexual Narratives? Unconventional Sex and Intimacy in Transparent and Broad City

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Critical Reflection

Theresa Trimmel examines how recent television shows, Transparent and Broad City portray sexual intercourse to address different sexual preferences.

5

To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Sex, Power and Female Subjectivity in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal

by & Yelizaveta (Liza) Shapiro

Critical Reflection

When a single TV show with multiple characters of colour would be pigeonholed as niche, Scandal breaks ground with its black female protagonist who doesn’t only stand for black experience.

6

Sense8: Aspiring for ‘A different story about difference’

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Critical Reflection

Vassilis Gerasopoulos unpacks representations of sexual expression and the construction of postmodern erotic identity in Wachowskis’ TV show Sense8.

7

Rewriting the Gaze: Hearing Sex in Cinema

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Critical Reflection

Discussing Anomalisa (2015), Lucy Benjamin shows that the vocal, and hence aural, quality of sex permits a form of bodily ownership, rejecting the consuming and sexualizing masculine gaze.

8

Sex with 007: Daniel Craig’s James Bond and the reconstruction of masculine sexuality

by & Karen Brooks

Critical Reflection

Craig-era Bond eschews much of what typified the ‘old’ 007s. While embracing some of the attributes of his predecessors, Craig’s incarnation is defined by a liminality that challenges conventional binaries.

9

‘What Did Your Mother Do To You?’ The Grotesque, Abjection and Motherhood in The Others (2001), Mama (2013) and The Conjuring (2013)

by & Shannon Power

Critical Reflection

A feminist analysis of three contemporary films that feature both biological mothers and maternal figures who kill or attempt to kill children.

10

‘The Flutter of Pleasure’: Jane Austen Adaptations & Sexual Desire

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Critical Reflection

In late September 1995, the BBC aired an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that forever changed the face of Austen adaptations: no small part of this influence was its attempt to ‘sex up’ Austen’s most adapted novel.

 

11

The Production of Television’s Female Audience: Early BBC Audience Research and Gender Classification

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Critical Reflection

Sarah Arnold traces the category of ‘the female viewer’ formed in early audience research at the BBC, later pointing to the persistence of gender framing in the contemporary TV/online streaming industry research practices.

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A Hetero- Homonormative Cautionary Tale of Debauchery: The Trope of Hypersexual Bisexuality on the ‘A Shot at Love’ Series

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Critical Reflection

Sasha Cocarla examines the MTV reality dating series A Shot at Love which, despite foregrounding bi-visibility, replicates one of the most prominent bisexual tropes – hypersexuality.

13

The Politics of Beyoncé’s Pregnancy: Re-articulating Lemonade’s Narrative Agency through the Public Construction of Black Motherhood.

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Critical Reflection

On 12 February 2016, Beyoncé performed songs from her visual album Lemonade at the Grammy Awards ceremony. The performance rearticulated the themes of black womanhood and motherhood explored on the album.

14

Solicitations, or Asking For It: The Violations of Anish Kapoor’s Dirty Corner

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Critical Reflection

In the summer of 2015, British artist Anish Kapoor was invited to create a temporary public artwork in the gardens of Versailles. The not quite abstract representation was admitted by Kapoor to be ‘very sexual’.

15

Gendered Sufi Music: Mapping female voices in Qawwali performance from Bollywood to YouTube Channels

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Critical Reflection

Benson Rajan examines women’s position in Sufism and more specifically in Qawwali performances. Are sites of contestation for female performers opening up?

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Re-viewing the Other: Locating Subversion in IndoFijian Cultural Performances

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Critical Reflection

The body in movement is, in and of itself, a political body. Vicky Shandil explores this notion in relation to IndoFijian Cultural Performances.

17

Love won’t save us: LGBT politics and the couple form

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Critical Reflection

The proliferation of the term ‘love’ in the  LGBT community in the past years has marked a significant shift in gay politics. Does this presage harm?

18

Heritage Hypocrisy? A personal perspective on plaques

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Critical Reflection

Kate Levey gives a personal account of trying to obtain a Blue Plaque from English Heritage for her mother, the critic, writer and campaigner Brigid Brophy.

19

MAI Interview with Natasha Kermani

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Interview

A talented MAI contributor and recent film school graduate, Noel Nuccioni meets film director Natasha Kermani for a short chat about women, feminism and cinema.

20

Africa in Motion: Busting the Canon since 2006

by , Lizelle Bisschoff & Justine Atkinson

Report

Arguing for a participatory curatorial approach, the lead curators of Africa in Motion present the rationale behind their work to popularise, preserve and celebrate films made by African women.

21

Scribbling Sisters and Mad Wives in Kate Zambreno’s Heroines

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Book Review

Tessa Nunn discusses the topical Heroines by Kate Zambreno as a poetic memoir and a pertinent critique of sexism in academia and mental health care.

22

*a n e m o n e

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Creative Response

In her electric performance work *a n e m o n e, Gabrielle Civil considers myths around ‘the big black dick’ and reflects on softness, desire, and the specters of queerness.

23

Hannibal Lecter’s Magic Dick Therapy

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Creative Response

In poetry and essay, Bryony Bates examines romance, queer BDSM fantasies, fandom, and pornography through the lens of slash fic written by fans of the TV series Hannibal.

24

International Poetry Exchange

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Creative Response

Inspired by a casual remark, Nicky Arscott takes a satirical swipe at selfie culture, ego, pornography, power and narcissism in a provocative and ecstatic sequence of poetry cartoons.

25

Lustr* (1996)

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Creative Response

In this kaleidoscopic return to 1996, So Mayer explores emerging queer desire, ‘self’-hood and sex via song lyrics, Britpop heroines, Patrick Swayze and Shinjuku Boys.

26

IM/PROPER (AD)DRESS

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Creative Response

In a series of visual collages, Gracia Ramirez disrupts and aggravates ‘proper’ notions of beauty and ‘feminine’ sexuality as proposed by 1950s French fashion magazine Le Petit Echoe de la Mode.

27

Vocable Code

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Creative Response

Using a complex mixture of human voices and computer code, Winnie Soon’s audio-visual
queering of poetic process and form interrogates the ‘false dilemma’ of binary systems.

28

Hack All Genders

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Creative Response

D.I. explores ‘queer mystique’ in advertising, inspired by Jenny Himizu. D.I’s concept of the fairy – ‘the gender of verbal transgression’ – hacks ‘all genders’ in this subversive and powerful video poem.

29

Finding a Voice

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Creative Practice

Art has the ability to create reaction. It can open up a space for connection and compassion. It can heal trauma by bridging the void between what is seen as acceptable and the ‘othered,’ the vast sea of disconnect trauma can bring.

30

Silenced Voices of Everyday Sheroes

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Creative Practice

For far too long, women have been silenced by patriarchal societies in most, if not all, cultures. In communities worldwide there has been a persistent push to control women’s voices.

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Newsletter

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WHO SUPPORTS US

The team of MAI supporters and contributors is always expanding. We’re honoured to have a specialist collective of editors, whose enthusiasm & talent gave birth to MAI.

However, to turn our MAI dream into reality, we also relied on assistance from high-quality experts in web design, development and photography. Here we’d like to acknowledge their hard work and commitment to the feminist cause. Our feminist ‘thank you’ goes to:


Dots+Circles – a digital agency determined to make a difference, who’ve designed and built our MAI website. Their continuous support became a digital catalyst to our idealistic project.
Guy Martin – an award-winning and widely published British photographer who’s kindly agreed to share his images with our readers

Chandler Jernigan – a talented young American photographer whose portraits hugely enriched the visuals of MAI website
Matt Gillespie – a gifted professional British photographer who with no hesitation gave us permission to use some of his work
Julia Carbonell – an emerging Spanish photographer whose sharp outlook at contemporary women grasped our feminist attention
Ana Pedreira – a self-taught Portuguese photographer whose imagery from women protests beams with feminist aura
And other photographers whose images have been reproduced here: Cezanne Ali, Les Anderson, Mike Wilson, Annie Spratt, Cristian Newman, Peter Hershey