iFuk is a sex-radical/ sex-positive campaign highlighting the individual choice entailed in sexuality. It is committed to raising awareness of alternative forms of sexuality, sex education, and working toward breaking through culturally imposed barriers and limitations through activism and information. Utilizing a strategy that media scholar John Fiske terms "localized tactical resistance," iFuk intends to raise consciousness in the Upstate regarding issues of sexuality through guerrilla-stye feminist marketing.
So that means when the stickers are printed, they are going to be EVERYWHERE!!!!
-- Andrea
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5 comments:
Culture jamming is really kind of dubious. What difference exactly are these stickers going to make? Sexuality is a personal choice, not some kind of half-politicized, mildly offensive, self-indulgent graffiti. Throwing something in someone's face doesn't make them want to respect you anymore than they did before. Have you thought about whether or not flaunting it really helps your cause? And just out of curiosity, do you think the free love movement did anything truly positive for human relations? Am I for gay marriage? Absolutely. Equal rights for all walks of life? Most definitely. Are there better ways to get there? Probably.
The logo is one component of a much broader campaign. The stickers are just one element that is 1) a catchy and provocative image that plays not only on a largely unpopular word (apparently... eh hemmm...) but 2) also reappropriates a brand of consumer culture that connotes a whole other element of capitalist critique and inquiry. Controversy breeds interest and reactions (apparently again...)demonstrate discomfort. For instance, some people's skins crawl when they see the word "fuck," (eh-hemmm...) which might lead them to disavow an entire campaign because they can't stomach the implications of one of the dirtiest of words. All this before they even decide to do their homework on what the campaign entails. I would invite you, mediocritease, not only to reconsider such a reductive stance before engaging in discourse surrounding a subject, but also to do a little more research about the terms sex-positive and sex-radical, which engender a lot more than simply fucking. Sex-positive and sex-radical are not synonymous with the free love movement, either. Nor is the free love movement just about having lots of sex. I'll even provide you with the wikipedia pages to get you started:
Sex-positive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-positive
Free love: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_love
Also, there are many elements of Upstate Feminists that seek to be inclusive, take a less offensive approach to sort of placate people's discomforts. However, providing people with an innocent, feel-good sort of movement that they can feel entirely at ease with is not the aim of this campaign -- it is to draw attention to sexual stigmatizing that occurs on a constant basis in American society and the media and to bring awareness to sexual diversity (which includes but is not limited to the LGBTQ community, alternative forms of heterosexuality, and even asexuality). We want to make people uneasy. So, in-your-face is kinda the goal with this one. AND there is a body of evidence suggesting that short-term strategies such as toning down radical rhetoric to increase general interest are not always effective in the long-run, that they may even serve to compound and reinforce existing conservatism.
So yes, in short -- the stickers are at least (and thank you for demonstrating this) opening up discourse surrounding the subject. They also speak to the larger issues of sex in the media and consumer culture, and they reinforce in a very poignant and simple way the personal choice involved in sexuality.
Thanks for askin'...
-- Andrea
terrorist tap, 'Drea, terrorist tap.
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stacey
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