The shit that's flying around the feminist blogosphere over Nubian's questioning of Jessica's book cover has got me a thinking...and not just about feminist infighting.

But what is default?

When I think about a large default that pisses me off, breast cancer research comes to mind. It's really a statement about all health related research before say 1990. Did you know that some of the biggest health studies excluded women as subjects? Would it floor you if you knew it happened with breast cancer? The medical community had two reasons why: One was due to standardization (all white men) and two was the elimination of female hormones! That pesky period gets in the way again! Of course we can jest about this (kinda) because we know it's pretty much bullshit. There's almost no way one can replicate those mistakes again.

On a lighter subject, JK Rowling is JK Rowling because her editors didn't think that boys would read a book from a woman. The implication is of course that girls will read a book by either a man or a woman.

Flip thru TV and you see mostly white actors or white characters (Wonder Woman was a Latina!). Racism? Perhaps. But I bet it's mostly the default thing going on. Will whites watch a show about a black family? Will Latinas watch a show about a white family?

Women's sports is like this as well. Women will watch the NFL, but no one believes that men would WANT to watch the WNBA.

I believe the bottom line question is this: What do we self-identify with?

Do white people identify with black/Latina/Asian/Native images?

Do boys identify with girl images?

Do Latinas identify with white boys?

Maybe not a "I know what he's feeling" way, but considering how rarely we see ourselves out in the media in a positive light, we already know how to identify with the angsty white teen. I'm betting that white teen women can identify with a Latina on TV. Does corporate media think you can? I'm betting no.

So while my objection to Jessica's choice of book cover has more to do with the flat tummy than the color of the tummy, I can see Nubian's point. And this is what the publishers know as well. I, as a Latina, will pick up a book with a white woman on the cover to read about "feminism." But will a white woman pick up a book with a Latina on the cover to read about "feminism"?

I don't see it as racism...but I can't think of the appro term to label actions like this.

Labels: feminism, latina