Day: April 23, 2018

In an article on lesbian photography, Jan Zita Grover analyses the positions taken by women and society in viewing lesbian sexual imagery in relation to a “burden of scarcity” (Grover 187).  With this Grover explains that within the mainstream culture of today’s world, lesbian women can be seen as being represented as either sexual deviants or rendered completely invisible within society.  They are represented as being outside of the stereotypes of our patriarchal society. In being outside of this narrow and familiar box of heterosexual stereotypes, Grover suggest that the scarce images that explore lesbian desire have an extra and heavy burden of expectation placed upon them. Grover states, “So few representations, so many expectations how can any image can possibly satisfy the yearning that it is born into?” (Grover 187).  Lesbians within imagery are often “un-represented, under-represented or mis-represented” (Grover 187).

The scarce images of lesbian desire and sexual practices do not represent all of lesbian bodies as they often portray a specific characteristic of a specific group or identity.  The burden of scarcity still exists today.  Images and even people take on the burden of representing a larger group as a whole.

 

Source:

Grover, Jan Zita. “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs.” Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs, edited by Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser, Pandora Press, 1991, pp. 184–190.

When referring to “the burden of scarcity” (Grover 187), Jan Zita Grover is speaking about the problematic nature of a certain subject or identity having no precedent for representation in society. As a result of this, there are a variety of viewpoints that may follow, all revolving around the interpretation of the significance of actions within a marginalized group.

For example, when there is no representation, “the unseemly [behavior] of even one member – or one representation – carries a far greater significance, a much heavier burden” (187). This can create pressure on certain individuals to either fit in with/recreate behaviors of others in order to identify with them or even make one feel like their identity and expression isn’t welcome. Both of these perspectives can be seen in response to mainstream media, which largely focuses on cishet, white narratives, characters, and storytelling. Through this, queer people and people of color may feel isolated and pressured to fit within these narratives where their struggle may be a side point, supplementary to the narrative, or completely ignored altogether. This also makes it difficult for those who have existed beforehand to leave a precedent for future generations to go after, a definite problem within queer culture and studies.

Grover, Jan Zita. “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs.” Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs, edited by Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser, Pandora Press, 1991, pp. 184–190.

 

In the context of Jan Zita Grover’s “Framing the Question: Positive Imagery and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs,” the burden of scarcity, in my interpretation, first necessitates a lack of media or popular exposure for or of an under-, mis-, or un-represented group of people. This creates the ‘scarcity.’ The burden is more complex. When it comes to portrayals of these groups of people, since there are not many making the rounds in popular culture, the portrayals that are seen become representative of the group as a whole. For instance, lesbian erotica. In the art exhibition Drawing the Line, by Kiss & Tell as discussed by Grover, the same lesbian couple was portrayed “in a variety of sexual desires and practices ranging from hugging and soft kissing through whipping, bondage and voyeurism.” [1] People’s recorded responses were limited to analyzing the particular pictures and the acts within, rather than the larger ‘picture’ if you will, of the fact that the depicted couple was the same as in previous images. These reactions were therefore to a representation of a romantic/sexual action rather than to the action itself. This brings us to the burden of scarcity. Without mass exposure, people only have small bits of information to go off of when interpreting the lived experiences of un-, under-, and mis-represented groups.

Such lacks of exposure persist to this day with the dominance of the white male in the film industry, for instance, among many others. As summarized by an article on two studies published by USC and UCLA, “When evaluating race and ethnicity of characters in film and television, 71.1 percent were white, 12.2 percent black, 5.8 percent Hispanic/Latino, 5.1 percent Asian, 2.3 percent Middle Eastern and 3.1 percent considered “‘other.'” [2] This whitewashing of media leads to a scarcity in exposure to the lived experiences of marginalized and oppressed groups thereby creating the burden of scarcity in the media that is released and in the privileged public’s interpretation of marginalized peoples.

[1] Grover, J. Z. (1991). Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs. In Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs(pp. 184-190). London: Pandora.

[2] Austin, P. (2016, February 22). Hollywood Whitewashed: White Men Dominate Film Industry, Studies Confirm. Retrieved from https://patch.com/california/hollywood/hollywood-whitewashed-white-men-dominate-film-industry-studies-confirm-0