Private bodies, public assault: TSA body scans and national security

--Lindsey Cohen

The recent uproar over the TSA’s use of the full body scans in airports across the United States presents an interesting study over the way in which personal privacy is protected in the face of national security. After September 11, 2001, airport security measures increased dramatically. This happened rightfully so, taking into consideration that if such measures had been in place before the incident, then it might not have happened. However, at what point do these security measures become too much? Is it worth it to risk personal civil liberties protected by the Bill of Rights in order to further enhance airline security?

Beginning in 2007, full body scanners were introduced to airports nationwide. The concept behind the scanners is that they produce a black and white three-dimensional image of the person being scanned, and any anomalies (i.e. potential items of harm) will be further investigated. However, as evidenced by the images shown here, the images produced by the scanners are clearly quite invasive, because, essentially, all clothes have been removed from the person being scanned; and the image is left to be scrutinized by a TSA officer. However invasive this may seem, the alternative does not offer that much of a greater option. Should someone choose to not go through the body scanner; they must receive a full-body pat down by one of the TSA officers. For both males and females, this pat down is highly intrusive for the person’s body. TSA officers are required to feel up into the groin region and also in-between the breasts in females. Is this really any better than a random TSA officer viewing an almost naked picture of you?

According to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Surely, through both the body scans and the pat down, most people will begin to feel at least some levels of discomfort; this contradicting the right of a person to be “secure” in their own body. Furthermore, if any random person on the street were to touch another person in the way the TSA officers do during a pat down; then it would be akin to sexual assault; clearly, another injustice of the U.S. legal system. Following the ideals of Luce Irigaray in “The Sex Which is Not One,” it is clear how men and women are reduced purely to their physical bodies and nothing else, when images are produced of them in the body scanners.

On November 24^th, the day before Thanksgiving (an extremely busy transport day for airports), thousands of people against the body scanners participated in “National Opt Out Day,” where instead of being scanned, passengers would opt out and receive a pat-down by one of the TSA officers. While acts of the constituent public like this are not enough to completely disregard the flagrancies of the TSA, in order to show disapproval; action must be taken in order to uphold personal rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Homogenity and curiosity in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands

-Lindsey Cohen



In Tim Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, Burton portrays the highly stigmatized society of suburban life in the late 1970s and the repercussions that ensue when something threatens this homogenized lifestyle. Everything from the neighborhood to the men and women that live in it are extremely one-dimensional and display the quintessential values and appearance of a suburban neighborhood of the 70’s.

The residents of the neighborhood are comprised of the standard nuclear family, with a mother, a father, and kids; leaving little room for any exceptions to this norm. In creating these characters, Burton displays a highly satirical view of essentialist philosophy to produce such one-sided individuals. All of the women are very much the same in regards to roles and characteristics. Jobless, as per the standard of suburbia, during the day, the women will get together on the street corner to gossip about the latest news, and rush home to see to their husbands when they arrive home from work.

In the same way, all of the men follow the same pattern. They all drive the same cars, and leave and arrive home all at the same time. While families may strive for individuality in their sickly pastel colored homes, as every home in the neighborhood displays similar sorts of garish coatings; all desire for separation and distinction is forgotten in the face of an overwhelming sense of sameness.

Upon the arrival of Edward Scissorhands to the neighborhood, everything from his physiognomy to his attire is a complete deviation from the norm expressed in this community. The fact that he has had little social interaction with others is practically negligible in a space where appearance defines who you are. Thus, someone who has scissors for hands is clearly not going to be accepted. Furthermore, Edward’s outlandish attire sets himself even further apart with his dark clothing set against an otherwise colorful place. While Edward is clearly an outsider to this community, a curious thing happens when Edward is taken up by the community as an object of curiosity. Once Edward’s skills of cutting greenery and hair are discovered, all pretenses of abnormality and rejection are disregarded.
The acceptance of Edward into the community represents the fickle nature of the members of this neighborhood. Once it is seen that is the trendy thing to do to be enamored by such an anomaly as Edward clearly is, pretenses of his initial abnormality are forgotten. Perhaps everyone is so enchanted by Edward because he is such a stark contrast to the community; where all sense of individuality has been lost.
Overall, many foils exist between the many differences of Edward in comparison to the neighborhood he is brought to. Before he was brought into the neighborhood, he lived upon a dark, dilapidated mountain home, a stark contrast to the perfect pastel homes below. Despite the dreariness of Edward’s home though, he relished in the landscaping of bushes to create garden images. Edward brings his landscaping skills with him and begins creating them all over the neighborhood. While these garden fixtures would have been viewed as garish and outlandish; the hype placed over Edward makes them acceptable.

Further expressing the neighborhood’s fickle nature, when Edward is taken advantage of by several of the kids in the neighborhood and tricked into breaking into a house; everyone suddenly turns on Edward as if he is some vile creature and forget whatever fascination they had with him to begin with. Burton’s expression of the flippant nature of the community display how afraid everyone is of being ousted to the margins of society. Thus, the bandwagon effect almost exists in hyper mode in this community where ostracism is akin to social suicide.
In all, Burton strives to express the dangers of a community becoming a solidified homogenized group wherein all sense of distinctiveness is lost. Such a community faces the loss of ability to think for themselves and decide what they themselves truly believe in as opposed to the majority as a whole.

Feminist hall design competition

A fellow WS100 instructor decided to do a modified version of the design competition exercise with her students. The instructions were to design a feminist dorm hall, paying attention to programming, the allocation of space, and potential spatial inhabitants. Here is what the students came up with:

Truth Hall (named after Sojourner Truth)
Goal: to develop residents’ understanding of equality, promote emotional, physical, intellectual, social growth that will turn them into exceptional feminists and citizens of their community
Space: somewhat traditional residence hall, accessible bathrooms and elevator; common space in the middle of the hall which includes kitchen, laundry room, study space, and, at the center, circular couches to promote discussion (thus furthering mission statement)
Selection of students: application included three interesting essay questions
Leadership: elected (to allow for development of leadership skills); conflicts handled by leadership, residents encouraged to submit questions on Learnlink conference
Rules: no gender or racial slurs, no gender-specific facilities, must use inclusive language
Events: volunteer requirements, group discussions, movie nights, hall would also plan a Feminism Awareness Night for the Emory community

Defying DefiNation
Goal: to reject essential identity categories
Space: space has no definite boundaries, lots of moveable partitions (based on the idea that defined spaces – i.e. kitchen, bedroom, etc. – have historically restricted women); also have common area for cooking, garage with communal vehicles
Leadership: leadership is shared equally, decisions made through discussion (vote if necessary)
Events: bi-weekly discussion dinners organized by 3 teams (cooking, cleaning, discussion); also require volunteer work; will participate in an existing Emory wide event


A Prescription for Society
Goal: to promote unity and community across genders. Its residents seek not only to explore their own personal views but the Emory community as a whole.
Space: Used existing Emory floor plan; designed “bitter pills” (facts about gender inequality) to decorate floor
Selection of students: students must complete one Women’s Studies class to live on the floor
Leadership/Conflicts: will have two RAs (one male, one female) to resolve disputes
Maintenance of common areas: designed a “chore wheel” to assign chores fairly
Events: will have monthly events based on theme for each month
Rules: residents must participate actively in the community, complete chores, and use respectful language

Results: The students who did not participate voted for the best proposal. Truth Hall received 2 votes, Defying DefiNation received 1 vote, and A Prescription for Society received 2 votes. Each proposal had strong elements and all groups had put a lot of work into their proposals. The instructor choose Defying DefiNation as the winner – they had clearly thought about the relationship between the goal of the floor (break down essentialist identity categories) and the space of the floor (no definite boundaries, moveable partitions). They had also thought carefully about other aspects of their proposal, including advertising, decision-making structure, events, and rules.

Profit and the deathly aesthetics of place: MAC cosmetics' Rodarte collection

--Lindsey Cohen




Going for that perfect “dead” look? Try adding some Sleepwalker eye shadow with some Bordertown in the crease. For extra deathliness you can try adding some Ghost Town to the lips.

Sounds crazy right? Not so much to MAC..


Exploitation in the name of beauty has sadly become a reality as evidenced by MAC Cosmetics’ release of the Rodarte Makeup collection. At first glance, the collection may seem innocent and unassuming, but greater insight to the collection tells a different story. With names of products like “ghost town,” “factory,” and “pale,” what was once inspiration for beauty, becomes much more entangled in deeper issues of exploitation.

Inspiration for the collection was drawn upon Rodarte designers Laura and Kate Mulleavy’s road trip from El Paso to Marfa, Texas. Upon their journey, they were struck by the “ethereal landscape and the impoverished factory workers floating to work at dawn in a sleepy, dreamlike state.” Out of context, these drawn upon inspirations may seem enchanting and glorified; however, the true background story of this inspiration is quite horrific in nature. In essence, the ‘inspiration’ for this collection was based off the mass femicides in Juarez that have been ongoing since 1993. The majority of the victims are women between the ages of 12 and 22 who work in maquiladora factories. While there have only been around 400 reported cases of women; many local residents estimate as many as 5,000 women have been killed. Given the current state of the police force in Mexico, the femicides have been given extremely minimal attention in the face of greater issues ongoing in Mexico, such as the drug wars; thus resulting in the underestimated amount of reported cases by police. Furthermore, inspiration for names such as “sleepless” and “sleepwalker,” was based off the fact that, because of the constant threat of rape and murder, women factory workers are forced to undertake the cover of night to travel to and from work just to get there safely.




Such glamorization of the wanton and unrecognized murder of women in Juarez for pure profit is completely unacceptable. MAC cosmetics, with their frequent release of new collections, are pure money-makers. Such that, the fact that MAC would take advantage of the plight of women in Juarez for money is of little importance to them.

In the face of such an egregious mistake in the release of this collection on MAC’s part; it is uplifting to know that the public would not stand for the release of this collection. Upon the initial promotion of the collection, there was uproar from the fans of MAC who disapproved. In response, MAC decided that it would change some of the most offending names in the collection and donate $100,000 to a non-profit organization benefiting the women of Juarez. However, after even further backlash, it was decided that the entire collection was to be pulled completely (the money would still be donated though).

While it’s comfortable to know that the public won’t stand for such a flagrant err in sensitivity; it’s unfortunate that this collection never fazed the creators as even being the slightest bit offensive. Clearly, there is so much focus on the profit aspect, that no attention is paid to whether or not such a collection is even socially acceptable. Furthermore, the initial advertising that was made for the collection brings into the question as to why no one ever stood up before the public backlash in questioning what might be seen as a sensitive topic to some. The women portrayed in the advertising photos essentially look like they’re dead. With their sunken in eyes and walls that look like blood is streaming down them; it is difficult to see how this type of photo could be celebrating beauty when the names and photos of the collection so blatantly connote a sense of death.