Neda Aria's Blog, page 15

The role of Metaverse in Education; Everything about future training!

When it comes to the future, our subconscious mind goes to 50 to 100 years later. Unaware that the assumed future can be much closer than we imagine. The concept of 'Avatar' was very popular at the time of its release in 2009 and for many years was the best-selling movie in history! But why did we randomly threw avatar movie into this topic? Well... If you remember, in Avatar, there are technologies that allow people to be in a virtual body and step into another world. This idea that once was just fiction, now it's being implemented. In this post, we are going to go to the world of Metaverse and through our journey to this parallel world to explore educational opportunities in it. So let's look at the future of education and research in the context of Metaverse.

Table of Contents

What is Metaverse

The role of Metaverse in learning and teaching

Learning languages through Metaverse

Real example of teaching and learning in Metaverse

Positive features of learning and teaching in Metaverse

Conclusion

Photo Source: Nikkei Asia

A concept image from Bandai Namco's Gundam metaverse. The Japanese video game and toy company is turning to the platform to boost business. (Photo courtesy of Bandai Namco)

What is Metaverse

I bet you've seen Facebook and all related companies changed their name to 'metaverse'. But what does it mean? The word Metaverse is a combination of the English words Meta meaning beyond and Universe meaning world. So the main meaning of this word is "beyond the world ". As Zuckerberg in an interview explained metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. In futurism and science fiction, metaverse is often described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal virtual world that is combined with the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. (source) This term is originated in the 1992 science fiction novel 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson as a portmanteau of "meta" and "universe." Recent interest in metaverse development is influenced by Web3 and the idea for a decentralized use of the internet. As a result, Metaverse can be considered the parallel world we have always been talking about. Of course, with one small difference, that not everything in the meta-world is supposed to be the opposite of reality, like the imaginary parallel world in our minds. But what is the atmosphere like?

Metaverse is in fact a platform made of the latest technologies in the world. Of course, this is not the end, Metaverse is a space where you can live! An experience that may seem strange, but it may not be far off. Let's go back to the beginning of this article and movie of Avatar. If at the time of making this film, in 2009, we were asked, "How many years do you think this technology will be introduced?" Our response was probably not less than 30 to 40 years. But as we observe, in this short period of time since 2009, great progress has been made in this field. And if you are a gamer, you have probably already experienced it in computer games. The experience of playing with virtual reality or VR glasses is very similar to what we will see in Metaverse. With the difference that our senses will also be active. Now, what will be the impact of Metaverse on teaching and learning?

Image Source: ,Semantic Scholar

Changes in Student Motivation During Online Learning | Semantic Sch

The role of Metaverse in learning and teaching

Well, let's get to the point! The Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of universities and schools have largely introduced us to virtual education and distance learning. Although distance learning has its own advantages , for example, saves us time and money, it also has some disadvantages. Perhaps the most important disadvantage of virtual education that almost everyone has encountered is that it is soulless, which has become almost one of the barriers to our learning. Yes, majority of us may enjoy our space when experiencing an online class but in fact, some of the tools available for online education can be boring for the new generation after a while. For this reason, learning experience and motivation can decreases very quickly.

But if we could find ourselves in a virtual classroom, with a virtual chair and bench and a space designed to our liking, how much would our learning progress? The most important feature of the metatarsal space that has made us think of using it for learning and teaching is this sense transfer. Even recently, Zuckerberg unveiled a glove that conveys the feeling of touching objects in the virtual world! Isn't that wonderful? You can attend the right class without moving out of your comfort of home only with the help of a virtual reality glasses and tools. A classroom that is far more vivid, real, and engaging than your past experiences.

Of course, the important role of these tools should not be overlooked. Skyrim, Adobe Connect, WhatsApp, Zoom, Second Life, MineCraft or any other space where your class was held during this period have actually done you a great favor. These tools prepared your mind to enter the world of meta-learning.

Learning languages through Metaverse

One of the most important things you can do to learn English or any language quickly is to use a variety of resources. From videos and photos to music and lyrics, they can all increase the speed and quality of your language learning. But do you think a teacher can give you all of them together? After all, do classroom spaces and facilities allow him or her to use all of these to improve your learning? of course not!

This is where Metaverse comes into play. As we said, the recent Pandemic apart from all its negative impacts introduced us to the online learning environment. During this time we used a variety of applications to learn. For this reason, both the student and the teacher are now more or less familiar with this type of learning. The difference is that with the growth and development of the Metaverse, this learning takes place in a more attractive environment. For example, the teacher can easily play the desired video by clicking a button.

However, there are problems with virtual classrooms such as the students' lack of commitment to the classroom. But this problem will be largely solved in meta-classes. Why? Because even though your body is away from the classroom, your virtual body or avatar is always in the classroom. That's why you always have to be vigilant in class. Other weakness of online English language teaching is that language learners are not very interested in participating in the class. Most importantly, many group activities are almost useless. Fortunately, Metaverse provides an opportunity for people to participate in class and group activities from home more efficiently.

Image Source: ,Back button

Real example of teaching and learning in Metaverse

If you think Metaverse is unattainable right now, we will give you some proof to believe it's a technology that we have to adapt to sooner or later. A similar example of Metaverse was conducted recently at the Seoul Urban Education Office decided to hold science classes for some students in a virtual reality space. This helped them to have a better experience of science lessons. This project is a virtual science exhibition hall called "Gather Town," where about 2,100 elementary and middle school students can participate in various science activities with their avatars. Students can freely look around the hall using Google's Chrome browser. Through a VR-based platform, students can have hands-on experiences using their own avatars. South Korea's online giant Naver has gained more than 200 million users through its avatar platform Zepeto.

Seoul education office director Kim Yeon-bae quoted that they "will provide virtual reality and artificial intelligence programs through the operation of metaverse-based creative science classrooms and do our best to serve as a hub for convergence science education," The office also conduct its virtual music classes, observations of astronomical objects and AI-based art classes. This experience helped the students to learn better. Without wanting to harm themselves or others, and more importantly, without losing the pleasure of conducting scientific experiments.

So, Seoul is the first City to enter Metaverse. Korean government began capitalizing on that metaverse future and the South Korean city of Seoul says that it’ll be the first major city government to “enter the metaverse.” Their platform will kick off with a virtual new year’s bell-ringing ceremony this December. In 2023, the city plans to open “Metaverse 120 Center,” a place for virtual public services where avatars will handle citizen concerns that could previously only be addressed by physically going to city hall. If the plan is successful, Seoul residents can visit a virtual city hall to do everything from touring a historic site to filing a civil complaint by donning virtual reality goggles. The $3.3 million investment is part of mayor Oh Se-hoon’s 10-year plan for the city, which aims to improve social mobility among citizens and raising the city’s global competitiveness. It also taps into South Korea’s Digital New Deal, a nationwide plan to embrace digital and AI tools to improve healthcare, central infrastructure, and the economy in its recovery from the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

Of course, this example is far from what we are about to see in the role of the Metaverse in learning and teaching. However, given the tremendous speed of technology growth and development, the time interval between access to this technology will not be long.

Photo Source: ,The Washington Post

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attends an event as an avatar in a metaverse, in a demonstration of the city’s plans to launch government services on a metaverse platform in 2022. (Seoul city government)

Positive features of learning and teaching in Metaverse

As we mentioned, the Metaverse environment provides a completely open and free space for the teacher and the student. In this way, they can make the classroom and educational space according to their taste and style. This very important point has several benefits, which include:

Increase classroom participation: By designing a good classroom, you can create an atmosphere that is similar to a real classroom. Because of this, the desire to participate in yourself or your students is strengthened. Continuous improvement: If someone had talked to you about a virtual classroom 20 years ago, you probably would not have taken them seriously. But over the last 20 years, there have been tremendous changes in various technologies. Metaverse is no exception to this rule and is advancing with the growth of technology. This is in stark contrast to our schools and universities, which continue to be run using traditional teaching systems. Sharing: The easy sharing feature in Metaverse is not seen even in real classes! With the help of learning and teaching in Metaverse space, you can easily share whatever you like with others. With Metaverse we learn how to enjoy learning. Saving: Training in the metatarsal space can help you save in various aspects of life. From taxi fares to the time it takes you to get to college and school, and even the energy and energy you need to do it. With this style of learning you can save on all of these things. Of course, this technology will certainly not be cheap. However, the future of education is tied to Metaverse.Conclusion

The speed of technological progress is so high that a new phenomenon is unveiled every moment. In the meantime, there are some of them, such as Metaverse, that can be counted on as the future of training. As we read in this article, this technology can also enhance your learning. So we have to prepare for it now. Remember that time does not stand still for anyone, so it is better to coordinate ourselves with it.

Writer vs. Writer: James Jenkins

James Jenkins is a Suffolk based writer of gritty noir fiction. That's how I found him and I approached him for an interview. He's a humble person and has work published or forthcoming in Bristol Noir, Punch-Riot Mag, Bullshit Lit, A Thin Slice of Anxiety and Punk Noir Magazine. One of his short stories appears in Grinning Skull Press Anthology – Deathlehem. He has recently signed with Alien Buddha to release his debut novel Parochial Pigs.

Hi James. Thank you for joining us. To begin this interview, can you tell us why ‘writing’? What is it about writing that you find attractive?

Hi Neda, thank you for asking me. I’ve always had a love for reading but my writing was somewhat thwarted in high school by a less than helpful teacher. It only delayed the inevitable. I’ve spent most of my life putting my words into songs, but the itch was always there to write a novel. I love the escapism it allows me from the daily grind. The ability to create my own world without distraction is a great coping mechanism to the anxieties all around us.

Your debut novel “Parochial Pigs”. Can you tell us a bit about it without spoilers?

I’m always the worse person to describe my own work. In short, Parochial Pigs follows the lives of two equally depraved characters from opposite sides of the law. It is a story of retribution and justice served in a realist way. There’s justice but not always in the way we would see fit. Other people have described it as Guy Ritchie meets Wicker Man.

What inspired you to write this book?

My good friend Bam Barrow asked me to play a part in his indie gangster short film. After we finished, Bam asked if I had any ideas for more and I started to write them out. Ten thousand words later and I realised this was more than a short film idea. It was the most I had ever written at that point and so pushed on until I had my first novel.

Very interesting. I couldn't guess that at all. I see your writings appear in magazines such as Bristol Noir, Punch-Riot Mag, Bullshit Lit, A Thin Slice of Anxiety and Punk Noir Magazine. Many of which Transgressive authors would submit to. Do you count yourself as a transgressive writer? If no, why? If yes, why transgressive fiction? What about it is interesting for you?

Due to my lack of further education in English I feel this is quite a new term for me. I recognise that I do share some of the same traits as other transgressive writers but I’m not sure I’m qualified to identify myself as one. I write for pleasure and like to do things my way but try to stay somewhere near the confines of traditional writing. I am a storyteller primarily and I enjoy mixing a healthy dose of reality to surrealism. I have no idea if that qualifies me as a transgressive writer. Those who I have had the honour of reading and describe themselves as such have never failed to impress me. It’s usually the style of writing that resonates with me and my own style. So maybe I am?

You can be but I agree that not all stories fit under one genre or category. Creative writing is a very personal process. I believe it’s directly related to our emotions. May I know what mood do you find yourself when you write?

Being creative has always been an emotional process to me. As I said before, it’s my escapism. That doesn’t mean that I have to be in a bad place to write though. I find that it’s usually the subject or character I’m writing that shapes my mood after I take myself back to reality. I have had to learn to shut down those emotions at times as some of my characters are quite awful people and you don’t want that sort of thing bleeding into your real life. It definitely helps if I’ve had a bad day at work though. A few of my bosses have inspired some pretty horrid characters.

What inspires you the most to write? Where do you get your inspirations from?

I work in the building trade and this has definitely been one of the biggest sources of my inspiration. Many of the stories in my works have been adapted from real life scenarios I’ve seen from colleagues or customers. These are the type of tales I’d spend my weekends telling my friends about down the pub. Writing is a much more constructive way of telling these tales.

What is your ultimate goal in writing? I mean, do you aspire to become a full-time author?

I know it’s probably the first thing any writer says but it’s true, I just want to share my art. I love hearing what people think about my stories and how they perceived it. I’d be lying if I didn’t also want to be filthy rich and celebrated worldwide for my work though – who wouldn’t? But seriously, if you told me I would have written and had a novel published this time five years ago I’d bite your hand off for it. That’s the thing though, our goals change as we reach them. It’s never enough and you’re only as good as your last piece.

Thank you James. It was a fun and insightful interview. Short and sweet :)

If you're interested to know James more, visit the following links:

Follow James @ https://twitter.com/JamesCJenkins4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesJenkins...

Rousseau - Genre and Writing

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778), besides being a genius was a musician, vagabond, philosopher, prose stylist, novelist, educator, and acknowledged father of the French Revolution and Romanticism. Today he remains a colorful character — both derided and revered; yet unacknowledged as an original thinker.

In this article, I will focus on his Confessions to explore his contribution not only to the genre but also to writing. While Rousseau was a serious writer, deep as an ocean in his philosophy, yet shallow as a brook in his Confessions.

Rousseau labors in Augustine's shadow:Thus begins Rousseau's Confessions: "I am commencing an undertaking, hitherto without precedent, and which will never find an imitator." Only a fool or a genius could dare open a book with a statement that will prove to be wrong in its two assertions.

Asserting that the undertaking is not "without precedent" is wrong because Augustine's Confessions is a definite precedent; and furthermore, we know Rousseau was familiar with Augustine's book, as he cites and mentions Augustine's book in his own Confessions. Today, Rousseau's Confessions have a constellation of imitators.

Let's be fair and say that Augustine's Confessions followed the traditional catholic confessions in which the offender would seek to expiate his sins by means of a voiced acknowledgment of his transgressions. With Rousseau confessions become more of a psychological and fictional narrative, initiating in this sense a 'modern' way of autobiographical confessions.

Faced with severe criticism from his enemies, Rousseau decides to write a book that would show him as "a man in all the truth of nature." In the process, he assures us that every bit of detail that he tells us is nothing but pure fact: "This is what I have done, what I have thought, what I was. I have told the good and the bad with equal frankness. I have neither omitted anything bad nor interpolated anything good."

Yet, Voltaire wrote that Rousseau placed his five sons in orphanages. Who shall we trust? Is Rousseau a hypocrite attempting to cleanse his personal record with a sanitized 'confession?'

Rousseau on psychology and language:While Augustine pondered the mansion and the many chambers of memory, Rousseau theorized on 'the self,' the complexity of identity, and language. In his "Essay on the Origin of Languages" (Essai sur l'origine des langues) he speculates on the possible sources of speech. But it is in the Confessions that he puts into practice those sources of speech: the signs and supplements --chain of substitutions-- of the original objects and presences.

Rousseau writes:I would never finish if I were to describe in detail all the follies that the recollection of my dear maman made me commit when I was no longer in her presence. How often I kissed my bed, recalling that she had slept in it, my curtain, and all the furniture in the room since they belonged to her and her beautiful hand had touched them, even the floor, on which I prostrated myself, thinking that she had walked upon it.

As Derrida has made clear, Rousseau is using signs --written words-- to bring about a presence ('maman') that is absent. And though such absence will never materialize, it has the power to move him as if it were the real "thing-in-itself." Therefore, the bed, the curtains, the furniture, the room itself, are all signs of objects that enable him to seize 'the recollection' and thus by mental impressions and signifiers shape the signified.In his own informal way, Rousseau expected not only Freudian psychology but also the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, Structuralism, Deconstruction, the linguistic turn, and other theorists.

One has to wonder if the much-admired work of many writers of the 19th and 20th centuries would have gotten so far, had not Rousseau laid the foundations? Althougha many intellectuals have little respect for his personal adventures, lies, and the grotesques acts of a rascal, his work is serious and original.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Marciano_Guerrero/243097

,http://EzineArticles.com/3716738

I am the Circus: The Secret of Writing Transgressive Erotic

Imagine this!

You are a woman who grew up in a society in which sex is seen as filthy, forbidden, and illegal for girls. You have been taught about your sexual worth and marriage since age 6. You’ve been encouraged and forced to keep your virginity until a man knocks on the door of your father’s house and asks if he can marry you. Before that invisible man is sent to your house, if you lose that precious virginity, you lose your dignity and you’re nothing but a whore! You have an option to accept this title or go secretly sew yourself up by a specially designated surgeon and pretend you’ve never been penetrated! That costs a lot both financially and spiritually!

Now. Let’s say the invisible man is talking to your father. If your father accepts then a transaction happens. Your virginity is sold officially in return for honor and in some cases real money! There and then you will have to have sex with a man who you’ve married by your father’s choice. There… sex is angelic, free, and legal. There and then you can experiment with whatever position possible in the whole sexual history of humankind. You want it or not. I grew up in such a society and everyone around me had the same mentality. As a writer, especially as a woman who writes about taboos, it’s a curse! Because I find it difficult to finally accept to put down words about a story I’ve been dying to tell. Not an autobiography but a transgressive erotic. I’ve written and published short stories and novels that were categorized under transgressive fiction with some sexual elements in them. But writing this new novel is a constant battle me vs a demonic embedded subconscious sense of self-censorship.

I gave up religion a long time ago but if you grow up in a society in which you’ve been brainwashed with theological gibberish from the time of your conception until death and following you even after you would understand what I’m saying. This brings me to my novel. I first like to define what is Transgressive Erotic which I can’t find anywhere on Google or any academic paper. It has never been defined and here I am to coin this term. Transgressive fiction is a genre focusing highly on characters. These characters feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and break free of those confines in unusual or illicit ways. The erotic fiction genre is about the sexual aspects of love front and center. Blunt description of very typical awkward sex. Mixing these two genres makes a deeper version of the latter one. The difference between erotic fiction and transgressive erotic is the depth of the story and the development of the characters. Their backstories, who they are, what do they think about, what is their thought process, who they evolve to become. It’s about how they step in self-improvement or self-destruction, sometimes it’s a mix of both. Erotica is focusing highly on sexual tension and romance between two people who are normally a dominant male who is a rich entrepreneur or a CEO and a weak naïve girl who is, generally, a virgin. That’s not what we’re talking about in my novel.

In my novel, we have a woman who is brainwashed just like me. Since childhood. However, unlike me, she was a believer and a type of woman who believe in sin and grew up in a stricter Islamic environment. A woman who carries guilt and self-doubt. A woman who apart from all such beliefs marries a non-Muslim and leaves everything behind. That is her first transgression against who she thought she is. But still having faith in a failed marriage, bad circumstances, and believing in being weak, she falls into the trap of earning easy money for luxury and from there learning gradually about the forbidden fruit of sexual adventure and fetishism. Hence, Transgressive eroticism is not only the rejection of taboos or merely a blunt description of sex and pleasure.

Sure, I will describe the deepest darkest desires as I always do. But it goes way beyond that and completes it. Transgressive erotic is scoffing at, slandering, or savoring every gruesome detail of a shock value in a transgressive art or fiction from a perspective of the sexual adventure of women with will and power. And maybe diving into fetishism, the darkest untouched aspects of it. Here, we don’t talk about little virgin girls who are into older hairy guys who only know the top position. Here we are talking about dark desires, humans with depth, with history, with real needs and flaws. So, transgressive eroticism is characterized by eroticism that destroys the self-contained character as they are in their normal lives. Here mental prohibition and transgression form an ensemble that defines the character’s social life and identity. It forms characters that are not the victims of circumstances as they assume or seem to be, not the clowns they imagine themselves as, but they are the whole circus. They are the whole show!

Writer vs. Writer: Natalie Wigg

When I first read a review on Transgressive Devotion: Theology as Performance Art I thought I need to interview the author of the book. Dr. Natalie Wigg-Stevenson was so kind to accept my offer on Twitter. A very humble person with a mind I would like to explore. Natalie is an Associate Professor of Contextual Education and Theology at Emmanuel College. Her current research delves into how ethnographic methods, liturgical, feminist, and queer theologies, cultural theories of practice, aesthetics, pop culture, and decolonizing pedagogies. Wanna know more? Read!

Hi Natalie! I’m very glad to have you here. After stalking you on Google I figured out that you’re a theology professor at the University of Toronto. Can you tell us why theology?

That’s a great question! I’m sure your readership might not expect theologians to write transgressively. But I am, myself, a Christian, and as I graduated from my undergrad I realized I wanted to learn much, much more about what was possible for my faith. I quickly moved into scholarly disciplines of feminist and queer theology, as well as ethnographic approaches that sought to centre the experiences of everyday people in theological reasoning. Along the way, I became inspired by an Argentinian theologian, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and the theological genre she created and called Indecent Theology. Her goal was to dismantle the heteronormative underpinnings of what Christians typically believe, deploying narratives of non-normative sexual practice to do so. In her writing, God is queer, voyeuristic and masochistic—as well as many other things, besides. The Trinity – a Christian doctrine that God is three-in-one – is an orgy. Althaus-Reid argued for writing about God beginning from the sweaty scent of lemon vendors on the streets of Argentina who don’t wear underwear. She blew my mind!

This kind of transgression wasn’t entirely new in the discipline. The Bible has some intensely erotic stories in it. Medieval mystics used erotic language to talk about their experiences of the Sacred. But Althaus-Reid opened up transgression as a site for Divine revelation in some new ways for sexual and decolonial liberation. And that’s where my own work takes off.

That's fascinating. I believe that's true in all holy books. As you guessed I found you through your book, ‘Transgressive Devotion’. Can you tell us a bit about it? How does it relate to the subject matter you’re teaching?

Transgressive Devotion weaves together historic Christian theologies (what the dead white guys said) with ethnographic fieldwork I did in a conservative Christian church with performance artworks (e.g., Chris Burden’s Shoot, Vito Acconci’s Seedbed, ORLAN’s The Reincarnation of St. Orlan) with some more radical, cutting edge contemporary theologies to do edge play with Christian doctrines. In the book, I wanted to work at the place where Christians feel God rather than think God, and explore what would happen if we let ourselves feel the things we’re not supposed to feel. So, for example, I explore the experience of losing faith by diagnosing God the Father with Dementia and salvation as a form of erotic overflow. I’m not trying to write something true about God in the book (which is what most theology tries to do). Rather, I was trying to write potent lies to see where God might appear in and through them. My goal was to use words to lure God into our midst.

The Bible has some intensely erotic stories in it. Medieval mystics used erotic language to talk about their experiences of the Sacred.

I teach in a seminary and direct an MDiv program that equips ministers to lead churches. A lot of what’s in Transgressive Devotion doesn’t translate directly to that work. That being said, I see my vocation as a writer and teacher to be to help people expand their theological imaginations. This can only happen – in my view – when we bring all the messy parts of our lives into conversation with our sacred traditions. I want to keep it all on the table! If early feminists argued that the personal is political, I want to argue that the personal is theological.

That's an argument I won't argue against. The whole concept of this book is transgressive and it’s not just a title. Why transgressive?

Christians have always understood God as being – to varying degrees – transcendent. This means that if we’re to encounter the Divine, we need to transcend our selves as we reach towards Her. In other words, for Divine/human encounter to occur, both God and the human need to transcend – transgress – what we are. That’s the beauty of Christianity, I believe, that gets lost in the terrible culture wars that define so much of the way that we relate to the public sphere: not only do we transgress what we are to encounter God, but God actually chooses to transgress what God is to encounter us. I mean, that’s bananas! God becomes human and we become divine in that transaction…which I prefer to think of as a transgression, because transaction is just too economic and thereby capitalist a metaphor.

The problem, though, is that we too often long to protect ourselves from the immensity of transcendence. Transcendence is actually terrifying when you think about it. It’s the ultimate loss of control. So Christians tend to stop short of the edge we’re not supposed to transcend (we call this orthodoxy). But I worry that we stop much, much to short of it. And in so doing, our fear of transgression undermines our capacities for transcendence.

Feel God rather than think God

How did you connect BDSM to divine-human power?

Yeah, so this is where the edge play comes in. There’s a story in the Christian traditions that Jesus Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Virgin Mary. Conservative Christians would maintain Mary’s virginity to various degrees. Liberal Christians typically just dismiss this as myth. Neither, however, take seriously the erotic dimension of the story. Lately, a few theologians have explored the narrative as Mary’s #mettoo moment. And while I find that a fascinating and important question to engage, I worried that it undermined Mary’s agency – sexual and otherwise – in the story. So, I wanted to find a third way.

Christians believe (to varying degrees and in various ways) that Jesus Christ is the saviour of the world. So, in the book I ask, was it as good for Mary as it was for the world? I wanted to explore the possibility that her divine encounter – the conception of Jesus – was pleasurable for her. Did she come? And if she didn’t, is there another form of pleasure she enjoyed? And how do we even begin to think about pleasure when the power differential is so high? These are questions we’re exploring right now as a society coming to reckoning around cultures of sexual abuse. We need to grapple with them in our sacred stories too.

BDSM gave me a framework for exploring that power differential because BDSM eroticizes power rather than pretending it doesn’t exist. BDSM is shaped by significantly structured, ethical practices of complex consent. And that consent creates capacities for transgressions that create transcendence. The philosopher Karman MacKendrick has some brilliant work on how the prayer practices of Medieval ascetics/mystics resonates with contemporary BDSM practices. She argues that both pushed their practitioners up against the limits of their selves – not to negate the self but rather to intensify it. Given that Mary is the prototype for prayer in the Christian traditions, I wanted to explore how these sexual practices might open up a new understanding of how desire for God and sexual desire might entangle in our lives.

I wanted to explore the possibility that her divine encounter – the conception of Jesus – was pleasurable for her.

It inspires me how you look at all this. What is your definition of ‘transgressive spirit’ as you’ve mentioned it before?

I’ve actually been surprised though to see how many readers get hung up on the chapter with Mary’s orgasm (as it’s come to be called), because the one about the Holy Spirit seems to be much more radical (offensive?) to me.

The Holy Spirit is one of the three in Christianity’s triune God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Christians believe that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, I wanted to play with this idea of the Spirit as seed. (Interestingly, the image of Divine seed is not new, with an ancient doctrine calls the logos spermatikos. But I won’t get into that). To push the transgression further, though, I wanted to explore how dangerous it might be to take God’s seed into ourselves. And I used the cultural practice of ‘bugchasing’ to do so.

Bugchasers are a queer subcultural group who eroticize HIV and seek to catch it. It’s a sexual practice that is roundly condemned and which has devoted adherents. I drew on work by Tim Dean (an anthropologist of the culture) and Kent Brintnall (a philosopher of religion and theologian) to grapple with the theological questions we miss when we reduce fringe practices like these to an ethics of either/or, rather than exploring what visions of ‘the human’ are buried in or produced by them. I neither condone nor condemn the practice in the book because I want to hold the reader in that uncomfortable space of looking directly at what we don’t want to see—that there are ways to be human that undo rather than shore up the self, and that Christians are called to certain versions of these. I wanted readers to ask what it is about the bugchasers that terrifies them, and then to ask themselves what that could teach them about the ways they deny Divine power in their lives.

That's a whole new concept for me. The world today is becoming more and more complex. A mold of people who has no thought process when it comes to following random trends. What inspired you to write it? What inspires you in general in writing?

I think here we go back to my vocation, my call as a writer and teacher and, even, minister, to help people expand their theological imaginations. I write drawing on all the scholars, teachers, theologians, artists, friends, people in my care, lovers, etc., who have transformed my own theological imagination. And I do so to try to create something similar for others. I have no interest in converting anyone! But I do want Christians who read my work to see that the God we worship is so, so much more than the one who makes the headlines. That faith, spirituality – however we want to frame it – is a risky and wild journey that sometimes requires telling a little lie to find the truth. I want to tell great stories about what it is to be a human. That’s what inspires me.

at some point I just gave up

Do you think writing is connected to human emotions and experiences?

Yes! All that is to say yes! Both writing and reading are exercises in thinking and feeling. As a scholar, I believe my community spends much too much time on the former to the sacrifice of the latter. All ideas carry and produce emotional heft. All feelings shape and are shaped by the knowledge we carry in our hearts, minds and bodies. Writing is, for me, a way to process that, a way to bring it to words, and a way create experiences through which the reader can do the same. I want to churn readers’ guts as they read. I want them to close the book transformed – even if they don’t yet know how.

Why do you find the process of finding ideas scary?

Because people so often read them contrary to how you intended them to be read. I’m a control freak, haha. I can read my stuff later and feel like I got it so wrong or said it so poorly or didn’t do an interlocuter justice, or something else from the myriad of writer sins I’ve inevitably committed. There’s a terror to putting things down on the page AND to giving that page to others to read. It requires a letting go that I’m not all that great at. But the terror is what makes the whole thing worthwhile. Which, you know, is nevertheless kind of rough!

Understandable. How do you compare academic writing with nonacademic works? Which do you prefer?

This is a tricky one. I read much more non-academic writing than academic writing. And I’ve always struggled to write truly academic prose. So, at some point I just gave up. Perhaps that’s just because I’m not great at it. But my hope is that it’s because I don’t think standard academic prose is adequate to the task of shaping the kinds of ideas we want to communicate in the Humanities (and particularly in theology). Nonacademic writing has more freedom to be creative. And in the past few years that freedom has drawn my desire more and more.

Finally. Are you currently working on any fiction/nonfiction? If yes, tell us about it.

Yes, so in light of my desire to expand the creative possibilities of sacred writing, I’ve been taking a bunch of creative nonfiction writing classes and working on my ‘voice’ as a nonacademic writer. I’ve entered a few writing competitions and am working on some nonacademic publications. But the big project right now is a memoire weaving together stories from walking the Camino de Santiago and the pregnancy/labour narratives of my three kids. It’s tough to find time to work on it, unfortunately, amidst all the rest of life. But I’m hoping to have it done in the next year or so! In the meantime, you can find some of my other work in a forthcoming volume from The BC Writers’ Federation and the magazine Geez.

Thank you so much Natalie to join us today. This was an inspiring and thought-provoking discussion. Look forward to reading your memoir.

If you're interested to know Dr. Natalie more please check the following links:

Amazon

Twitter: @nataliews

A "Brief", Yet Important Writing Exercise - Ficbits

One of the best writing exercises I've found is writing what's called a "ficbit". A ficbit is 50 words or less version of a story. The purpose is to tell some part of a story, whether for example it's the plot development, individual or group character interactions, or scenes of action. Th focus is to tell this scene as concise as possible. The following is an example of a ficbit;

"Silent, calm, empty. Darkness surrounds me. I'm all alone. Past transgressions have resurfaced. I'm paying for my mistakes. I had it all. Perfection in every sense of the word. But now, full speed spiral into nothingness. I sit here, starring at the solution, starring at eternity in one swift act."

As you can see from the previous example, there are a lot of advantages to this type of writing exercise:

By forcing yourself to limit the ficbit to 50 words, it really stresses the word choices you make. You need to look at your vocabulary and determine which word best suits the situation you are attempting to describe. If you can't find that specific word, it forces you to expand your vocabulary through resources such as a thesaurus. For example, the first word of the ficbit is "silent". I could have chosen other single words or said "it's quiet out tonight" or "there is no sound anywhere". Instead, I chose the word "silent" because it gives a sense of finality and since that is what the rest of my ficbit is about, "silent" was the best word choice for me. Even though it is only 50 words, you can really learn a lot about the scene you are trying to describe. For example, if you were writing a story and didn't know exactly how you wanted to portray your character either in a specific situation or in general, write a ficbit about that character. In doing that, the word choices that you make or the scene that you put them in may tell you a lot about how you want to portray your character in a larger story. The sentence structure you choose is almost as important as the word choice. By shortening your sentences, you can practice creating suspenseful scenes because each sentence is short and concise, leaving the reader wanting more information. If you expand your sentence length, you can create a happier scene, or a character who is not tied down in their emotions as much. By writing different types of ficbits, you can really learn what type of writing you enjoy. For example, in my own experience, I've learned through these practices that I enjoy writing suspense. I like to keep the reader guessing, and get into the mind of the characters I'm portraying. Through other papers I've written, I've seen that I know how to say what I want in a short amount of words, and thus, I can leave a lot to the reader's imagination in that way.

At the same time though, there are also some disadvantages to writing ficbits:

By limiting yourself to 50 words, you can fall into the habit of always choosing words that carefully. That isn't necessarily a bad thing when describing certain scenes, but you limit yourself when you want to describe something in more detail, which is sometimes necessary. Tying into this, short sentences are great in certain cases, and especially in ficbits because you want to give as much information as possible in a short period of time. The problem however is that short sentences, and concise word choices don't allow for other important word plays such as analogies. For example, by simply saying it's "silent" does tell a lot about the scene, especially taken with the rest of the information laid out in the ficbit. But if I wanted to show just how silent it is by using an analogy, the concise word choice habit is one that would have to be broken, and that can be really tough.

Ficbits can benefit writers of all skill levels. For novice writers, it can open up your eyes to choosing words carefully, expanding specific scenes, and/or finding where your talents in writing lie. For more seasoned writers, ficbits can help you find new topics to write about or how to best portray a specific character or scene. For all types of writers, I would recommend trying this writing exercise at least once in your writing career.

Article Source:

https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Kolin_Kasten/221105

,http://EzineArticles.com/1268240

Absurdism - An Approach to Writing Meaningful Fiction

I've had readers accuse me of being an absurdist. "Putting God on trial is an absurd premise," they say. "Having your characters debate whether the afterlife grants us virgins or whores is absurd," they say. "It's absurd to make your central character a Jewish Muslim," they say. Oh, well. These illustrative fragments of absurd experience are part of a larger existence teeming with the absurd. After all, how can we find meaning in a world where national leaders adopt a policy of pre-emptive strike while publicly professing eternal allegiance to the teachings of a philosopher who implored us to turn the other cheek?

And so I accept the designation. Picture my face filling the entire screen of your living room TV. Now hear me tell you: "My name's Mohamed Mughal and I am an absurdist." The fact is that I don't feel the slightest compulsion to deny the charge. After all, absurdism is a badge of literary courage worn by Kafka, Camus, Vonnegut and, more recently, Douglas Adams.

But absurdism isn't an invocation of the absurd for the sole sake of absurdity. Absurdism's absurdity is a reflection of truth. Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five has many elements of the absurd. One of my favorites is the fate of poor old Edgar Derby. In the bloody transgressions of a world war that killed 50 to 70 million people and in the immediate aftermath of the Allied bombing of Dresden, a bombing that killed tens of thousands of civilians in a strategically unimportant city of museums and churches, an American soldier named Edgar Derby is caught taking a teapot that isn't his. Poor old Edgar Derby is arrested, tried and shot for this transgression. Absurd? Vonnegut maintains that someone he knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that didn't belong to him. And therein lies the truth that informs absurdism. In his Amazon review of Resolution 786, Charles Ashbacher cites a point of absurdity in the story where a senior military officer warns soldiers in his command about the unauthorized use of personal money to buy toilet paper that supports a Federal government mission. Folks...this really happened.

Absurdism is not a slapstick skit.

Absurdism is truth offered on a tray of humor, truth that is pushed to almost nihilist limits when the most brutish and narrow-minded character in Resolution 786 falls into an inexplicable trance and issues the robotic monologue: "The things we say, the things we do, night and day - they're all contradictions. Life is an unending stream of contradictions held together by some improbable matrix of beautiful, savage accidents. We struggle and contrive to assign some meaning, any meaning, to our accidents. Then we realize that our assigned meaning is merely our own interpretation and projection, surely bearing no semblance to the meaning. We begrudgingly concede that that which is observed is solely contingent to the observer. In laughable and final defeat, we confess that to be alive itself seems an ill-intentioned anomaly in a largely inert and dead cosmos."

"Meaning" in a relativistic universe void of absolutes?Absurd.Sigh.Poor old Edgar Derby.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mohamed_Mughal/588622

,http://EzineArticles.com/3948716

Writer vs. Writer: C. E. Hoffman

In this post, we will get to know C. H. Hoffman, is a talented writer who transgresses norms and barriers and bravely explores the world of sex workers. Let's dive in!

Hello C. Thank you for joining us for this interview and thank you for the copy of your book ‘Sluts and Whores’. Let’s start with that. I’d like to hear from you as the author of this book, what is it about?

Sluts and Whores is an exploration of sexuality, sex work, and the trauma and beauty of both, via a dark magical landscape. The stories follow a variety of characters on various adventures in The Big City, a desolate urban environment with magic around every corner.

This book has a shock factor to it. Was there any intention for it?

As I wrote about sex work via an #OwnVoices perspective, I perceive little shock value in the work myself- same too for its depictions of mental illness. As for the title, I enjoy how it immediately challenges the readers’ preconceptions of femme sexuality, and the negative spotlight we often hold on it.

Interesting. Then, why did you focus on sex work as the main concept in this book?

I believe it’s important for writers to create from a place of self-knowledge. Given my personal experience with sex work, and many pre-existing stories featuring sex workers, the theme was easy to spot.

I agree with the connection between experience and any creative process. You’ve been writing since age 11. What was the first piece you finished by that age and how different do you think your mentality is comparing with that time? How much has your writing in sense of concept and meaning changed?

I wrote my first novel (around 140K) when I was eleven years old. It’s a YA high fantasy I’m currently rewriting, and has a special place in my heart. My literary devices have of course matured, and inspirations like Martin Millar, Irvine Welsh, Michelle Tea and the Beats have brought an edge to my fantastical universe. Punk music did the same!

You identify yourself as ,They, if I’m not mistaken. How do you feel your writings are connected to your identity? Does gender make a different in writing as a process?

Any good writer knows writing is an extension of the psyche while not belonging to the psyche at all, but arriving from the much broader expanse of the collective unconscious. My identity as a bisexual genderfluid femme informs my writing, but does not define it. Like my experience in sex work, it is a perspective I can build certain stories around, but I hope my writing can hold space for readers of multiple identities.

Great answer. So, what are your writing routines and process? In writing, do you think it directly connects to your emotions?

I’m highly emotional and highly intellectual, and write from both. I’m both a pantser and a plotter; I let certain works stew for years, while others I pitch the day of completion. Every project demands its own rules, and as Ntozake Shange says, “a writer’s first commitment is to the piece itself.”

Any good writer knows writing is an extension of the psyche while not belonging to the psyche at all.

How did you get your book published?

I queried two traditional publishers who accepted unagented submissions, as well as two different agents. Of these, Thurston Howl Publications expressed interest. This was extremely lucky; I’ve had short stories submitted to dozens of magazines that never found publication. As with anything worthwhile, writing demands resilience!

Absolute truth. Last question. Are you currently working on any books?

Sluts and Whores’ sister collection Losers and Freaks is ready for a publisher or agent! I have two completed novels ready for publication after that, with more on the way. I also released a short animated film based on a story in Sluts and Whores, animated by the amazing Winston Rowntree, which you can view on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5PV3_88pJo&ab_channel=WinstonRowntree

Fantastic. Thank you for sharing your story with us and looking for future collaborations. If you'd like to know more about C, please visit the following links:

Website

Amazon

Twitter: @CEHoffman2

Matilda Effect: Women Writers

Today is 8th March. The day all of us women get excited. Some of us possibly for no reason at all and some maybe for the reason that we are being recognized as part of humanity and not just for our reproductive organs. As a woman coming from a country in which mostly a woman is identified with a male peer (someone's daughter, sister, wife), I allow myself to talk about Matilda Effect in which women's achievements were erased from history by men or been stolen by them or women who hide their name behind a male Pseudonyms for recognition. Spoiler alert: I'm not gonna trash men. I'm not that type of feminist so please bear with me ;)

Matilda Effect

Why of Matilda Effect

Matilda Effect in Literary works

The Power of Patriarchy, gender harassment, and pen name

The empress of the Jazz Age, Zelda Fitzgerald

Image source

Matilda Effect

Overall, Matilda Effect is a bias against the achievements of women whose work is attributed to their male colleagues. We normally define this in the science field as we have a long list of women who were subjected to Matilda Effect such as:

Nettie Stevens: the discoverer of the XY sex-determination system Gerty Cori: Nobel-laureate biochemist, worked for years as her husband's assistant, despite having equal qualification as him for a professorial position. Rosalind Franklin: now recognized as an important contributor to the 1953 discovery of DNA structure.

Or women who lost a Nobel Prize because their men scientists favored over them such as:

In 1944 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was given to Otto Hahn as the sole recipient however Lise Meitner had worked with Hahn and had laid the theoretical foundations for nuclear fission (she coined the term "nuclear fission").

Matilda effect was first described by Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–98) in her essay, "Woman as Inventor". Science historian Margaret W. Rossiter coined the term in 1993 (source).

Why of Matilda Effect

Matilda Effect is not a historical concept, and it's still happening all around the globe. In August 2020, the Women’s Prize for Fiction and launched Reclaim Her Name, a joint initiative honoring the literary award’s 25th anniversary for the goal to "giving female writers the credit they deserve," the campaign centered on 25 classic and lesser-known books who historically wrote under male pseudonyms. To reclaim these titles, organizers republished them as free e-books featuring the writers’ actual names on the covers.

On Bailey's website they announce that "throughout history, many female writers have used male pen names for their work to be published or taken seriously." Hence, Baileys put their real names on the front of their work for the first time to honor their achievements. The intention was good, however, Reclaim Her Name quickly attracted criticism from scholars and authors mentioning that there are several historical inaccuracies embedded in the project. Bailey’s later removed the incorrect cover and apologized for the error.

Catherine Taylor, writer, and critic, explains in the that this "one-size-fits-all approach overlooks the complexities of publishing history, in which pseudonyms aren’t always about conforming to patriarchal or other obvious standards." such as many writers used their own name like Mary Wollstonecraft and Elizabeth Barrett Browning to publish their books. Rutigliano argues that the choice to republish authors under their so-called 'real' names erases their agency, ignoring "their own decisions about how to present their works, and in some instances, perhaps even how to present themselves."

Some critics bring up the idea of gender identity. In a 2019 blog post, Lavery explained that Eliot, born Mary Anne Evans in 1819, "relished being thought of as male, and was disappointed when people thought otherwise." The only reason we typically refer Eliot to as 'she,' according to Lavery, is because Charles Dickens outed her in a widely circulated 1858 letter. Rutigliano goes further by saying that even the name of the Baileys campaign which uses the 'her' pronoun to refer to its authors assumes the complex historical gender identities of these authors.

So, in this perspective possibly as Sophie Coulombeau mentioned on Twitter, women used pseudonyms to express creativity, align with queer identities, make money, and an array of other reasons and it's not necessarily a result of suppression from the male dominant society. So, "One size of grand reclamatory gesture does not fit all women. It feels ham-fisted to lump all these women together and sell them as a 'reclaimed' set." (source) A very good and up-to-date example of such assumption is J.K. Rowling who published her 2013 crime mystery The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, which attracted some criticism when its true author was revealed. Rowling defended her choice, saying, "I was yearning to go back to the beginning of a writing career with this new genre, to work without hype or expectation and to receive totally unvarnished feedback." (source)

Matilda Effect in Literary works

Let's talk about Fitzgerald for a minute. We know that The Great Gatsby is going to be the most recognized work of F. Scott Fitzgerald who was neither a literary genius nor a nice person. Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, was actually a huge contributor and victim of his work. In The Great Gatsby, the character Daisy says,

"I hope she’ll be a fool! that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

This quote was not F. Scott’s own words, but Zelda’s after their daughter was born. Zelda was known for her quick wit and sharp tongue throughout her life. She, herself, was actually an accomplished dancer and writer. She frequently wrote in her diary which F. Scott must have absolutely adored to read through. In an interview with The New York Tribune Zelda Fitzgerald spoke about The Beautiful and the Damned, saying that "on one page I recognized a portion of an old diary of mine which mysteriously disappeared shortly after my marriage, and, also, scraps of letters which, though considerably edited, sound to me vaguely familiar."

A recent example of such a distressful situation is Susan Sontag who in her new biography claims she was the brains behind her first husband Philip Rieff’s most famous book, Freud: The Mind of the Moralist (1959). Sontag researched Rieff's study before their divorce in 1958 and contributed to the book so much that she has been considered an unofficial co-author (source). The cases are less and less in developed countries and women are increasingly taking control of their narratives, but this is not the case in other countries in which the government or cultural groups silence the women's voice and also we will need a lot more books and films to right all the wrongs regarding this topic.

The Power of Patriarchy, gender harassment, and pen name

To summarize today's thoughts for honoring the 8th of March as International Women's Day, I would like to talk about gender harassment as a reality that I personally faced with since I was young. Gender Harassment is about "disrespecting, demeaning, and deprecating women and their work, abilities, and accomplishments, simply because they are women" (source). What I see is that such a concept has gotten less attention than other forms of sexual harassment. Looking at Google Scholar you can see that in academic science, Gender harassment is by far the most prevalent form of sexual harassment, as Meredith Wadman highlighted.

It's true that today female scientists, researchers, writers and artists have made substantial progress and that women hold a wide range of significant positions, including some of the most powerful and prestigious in today's world, but even so, gender harassment continues to thrive, adversely affecting women as a whole. It is not hard to imagine that "the disrespect is still rampant, and the insecurity it can create could discourage today's brilliant women from taking the risk of putting forward offbeat, controversial, or not yet totally proven ideas." (source)

As the research on the subject shows there is an unbalance in statistics about women and academia, referred to as STEM fields of knowledge. Such reluctance not only robs individual researchers of deserved recognition and collaboration but also robs science of potentially significant insights and advances. This is the erasure of 'dangerous women' whose ideas may endanger the people in charge. If we don’t know that women were responsible for or contributed to these scientific breakthroughs or defining pieces of art, how do we teach young women that they too can strive to do the same?

I was taught about the significant work of inventions, literature, art, etc. of Fleming, Edison, Hawking, Newton, Einstein, and Sigmund Freud, of the Camus, Dickens, Allan Poe, Orwell, and Hemingway, of Klimt, da vinci, Degas, Cezanne, and van Gogh but the only female I can tell you I learned about in the school is Marie Curie who was mentioned alongside Pierre Curie. I am not a feminist in the sense of today's definition of it but let's be honest. The patriarchy is designed for men and their benefit after all and more credible works in different fields of art and science are by far belong to male gatekeepers.

And for women who had landed on discoveries, they believed that sharing the life-changing information with the world was more important than taking credit for it. As many women are like Mary Ann Evans — better known as George Eliot. We are the outcast living a socially unconventional life forced to work, invent, publish, write, and create under an assumed name, not only to escape having our work judged because of our gender but to avoid having it judged because of a scandalous life. Ironically, letting ourselves sink deeper and deeper into a world of secrets and deception.

Happy Women's Day to all women around the Globe

Thank you for Reading <3

Can you tell me about women writers whose work was stolen by a man or had to write under a pseudonym?

Fun Fact

The empress of the Jazz Age, Zelda Fitzgerald inspired fashion in much the same way she inspired her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing: firmly and fiercely. The two married in 1920, and soon after Scott achieved literary success with This Side of Paradise. Feisty, talented and a prodigious social butterfly, Zelda quickly made a name for herself as his charismatic muse. Dubbed the “first American flapper” by her husband, Zelda epitomized the Roaring Twenties with her bobbed hair, short skirts and unapologetic drinking as she made her way through the most exclusive social circles in New York and, later, Paris. She wore a flesh-colored bathing suit to fuel rumors that she swam nude–she liked the attention. However, in reality, life wasn’t quite so enchanting — the Fitzgeralds’ marriage was often turbulent. Zelda spent much time in and out of institutions being treated for mental illness. She was staying in an institution in North Carolina in 1948 when she died after a fire broke out. However, despite the personal hardships, Zelda had embodied everything that fabled era promised: defiance, recklessness and, above all, glamour. (source)

Should art be ethical? Writing for the sake of writing

Oscar Wilde believed that art is in need of expression of anything but itself. As he notoriously claimed in the preface to his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, "All art is quite useless." This indicates clearly that the value of making art is on artistry. He regarded life as a kind of art form, to be lived beautifully. Many of us who are creating a form of art, in my case writing, learned since childhood that art can be worthy only if you earn a living off it otherwise, it's nothing but a waste of time and only a hobby. My question is, should we attach Transgressive Writing to the money-making perspective? Or connect it with ethics and morals? Or the meaning and purpose by itself? Or should we write for the sake of writing itself?

Santiago Sierra, 10 PEOPLE PAID TO MASTURBATE, Tejadillo Street, Havana, Cuba. November 2000, 2000. © Santiago Sierra. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery.

As a transgressive writer, I would like to argue the mindset of financial value and ethics and even the end goal of the story as a whole. I agree 100% with Wilde and the concept of "art for art’s sake," though it doesn’t actually appear in his writing. What I believe is that the creation of any form of art doesn't necessarily need the applaud of a handful of audience or readers as for instance, Harry Potter did. An artist creates art just for the sake of art hence I am here to argue why we should write for the sake of writing without thinking about Ethics, Money, recognition, and Meaning.

The invisible hand vs. Art for the sake of art

It's true that we all need money to survive a day-to-day life in this absurd society of Adam Smith. But I can't imagine humiliating art to the level to please the majority of idiots. Wilde warned artists not to be interested in seeking approval or creating art for demand. It simply means that if you're creating any form of art for the sake of attention, money, and trends, and it's not good for you, it will never be good for anyone else. A true artist, according to Wilde, is someone who "takes no notice whatsoever of the public. The public to him are non-existent." What it means is that when you write, for example, the ones who should adapt are the audience rather than the writer and that the writer "should never try to be popular. Rather, the public should be more artistic."

In the world that 99% of content creators are copy machines of popular or viral content for the past two centuries, this is somehow in itself a transgressive perception that we should write without caring what the "customer" needs and wants. In a capitalist world in which the value of everything is attached to the demand and supply, how can one claim to write without caring what people want to read?

the ones who should adapt are the audience rather than the writer and that the writer "should never try to be popular. Rather, the public should be more artistic."

The meaning of VALUES and Postmodernism

In another article, "Postmodern Literature Characteristics: Define the moral and purpose of Transgressive fiction?" I defined postmodern fiction as "a form of literature characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues." Hence, I see no connection between this form of literature and value systems in general. Postmodernism, which I believe includes Transgressive Fiction, in general, is a movement that is against anything that is considered as the grand narratives and ideologies of modernism, as well as opposition to epistemic certainty and the stability of meaning.(source)

Living in the fluid period of the 21st century, it's idiotic to not think in the context of postmodernism. A time in which it rejects the "universal validity" of binary oppositions, stable identity, hierarchy, and categorization of any forms. We are living in a time in which objective facts are dismissed. And hence, the "universal validity" means nothing but a narration of the minority in control of the majority's thoughts and actions.

Santiago Sierra, 160 CM LINE TATTOOED ON 4 PEOPLE, El Gallo Arte Contemporaneo. Salamanca, Spain. December 2000, 2000. © Santiago Sierra. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery.

Art and Morality

If you are a writer or fan of Transgressive Literature (or any other form of art) or possibly the hater of it, you may come across the books, films, music,... to be banned because of certain transgressive elements like sex and gore that the 'hypersensitive brainwashed dingbats' dislikes.

Writing, as a form of art, should not have any limitations. Writing should be free of judgments when it comes to the concept of ethics. Otherwise, what are we writing about? Why are we writing? That superman has again evolved into a more muscular man who now learns to wear his underwear inside? What does ethics mean in writing? To not write from a perspective of a pedophile like Lolita because then the idiot majority may think the author was a pedo himself? Or that sexualizing kids by Hollywood is totally ok but if a movie like Cuties uses 11 years old actresses to portray 'real 11 years old girls' sexualizing them? This is absurd! We're living in an idiocracy.

Living in a dumb society like this makes Ethical and moral principles vital for sure because they need protection against their own corrupted minds. In art, specifically Transgressive Art, ethics needs to be approached from the viewpoint of postmodern ethics. As postmodernism, rejects the foundation of morality in a hierarchy of values on which codes of ethics are based. So, I believe ethical codes that are founded on the principles of morality as non-ambivalent and universal are outdated, manipulative and a means to control. Transgressive ethics instead should aim at "the emancipation of the autonomous moral self and the vindication of its moral responsibility" (source).

For the ones who believe artworks are bound to moral education art that is bad or immoral can causally affect our character, resulting in moral harm. Maria Caruso in her article explains that "moral harm is the idea that artworks possess a strong disposition to affect our moral beliefs such that we are less able to distinguish between what is good and what is bad." She argues that immoral artworks do not have this kind of causal power over our moral beliefs. So, proponents of the moral harm thesis are in error to attribute such a power to artworks.

Offense and Morality: Ethics Codes for WritersOffense

It is commonly seen as a parent category of disgust; that is, what disgusts us will also frequently offend us (source). Offense is not equal to harm. Actually it officially was first distinguished from harm by John Stuart Mill in 1978. People like Joel Feinberg (legal theorist) have expanded upon this idea of offense as displeasure by saying that offense typically covers a broad category of "universally disliked mental states". So it means that the offense is itself a type of insult. Hence, if reading a novel having your beliefs challenged does not necessarily "amount to having those beliefs insulted" (source).

Morality

"Most artworks will express only generalized attitudes" (source) so the person who claims that their beliefs have been insulted by a blah blah book or film cannot legitimately claim that his particular beliefs are being insulted. Likewise, if this book or film, for example, causes the mental displeasure that comes from experiencing offense is so slight, that it is implausible to categorize it as a real harm as well. For these reasons, we should not "take offense as a necessary or sufficient condition for immoral judgments" (source).

Art is about expression. In the case of Transgressive Writing, what we write is not about anything but as Bruce Vermazen argues, "attributing mental states, events, and processes to an imagined utterer of the work." This means in form of expression we're not making these attributions but that the work expresses it. Hence, as a writer, I believe that writing is bound to no ethics and needs no ethical codes. If reading a piece of writing damages your morality and questions your value system I either recommend you to be happy about it because that means growth or do not try to read something that is out of your tiny ethical box. As Maria Caruso in her paper indicates, "Immoral Art can't morally harm us".

Conclusion

As Edward Winkleman states any "abhorrent human behaviors are represented in artwork" and in our case, Transgressive Literature doesn’t make the work, "or even the artist, unethical for tackling such subjects". I want you to think about the Picasso’s Guernica who captures the extreme suffering of a brutal mass murder which is an immoral act. Will you see him as if he had done anything immoral himself? Or think about The Rape of the Sabine Women by Rubens or paintings by Jacques-Louis David or Nicholas Poussin was a good reason for arresting them?

In my opinion, how true the representation seems to be, the only valid issue to be concerned about any form of artwork is not the subject but if it is well-made or poorly made. As Transgressive Authors, we are not here to glorify the act of our characters but to express it as a form of art to convey a message. So, while there is an overwhelming amount of shocking elements in Transgressive writing and art that may result in moral outrage, reactions of moral condemnation are not appropriate in cases of offensive or disgusting subject matter. For this reason, an immoral artwork can be narrowed to exclude artworks that express a defensive attitude toward merely disgusting or offensive actions and not in form of expressionism.

To finish this article, even if any form of art were able to argue that such artworks were immoral, this would not lead to the conclusion that they are morally harmful. Of course, if a reader still wishes to project his or her disgust at certain behaviors onto an object I've written in any of my books, there’s no way for me to stop them. I’m not in the business of dictating which elements of human existence artists should or should not pretend doesn’t exist. I'm here to tell you to create art freely and with no fear.

Tell me what do you think? Tell me, can the end justify the means?Did I offend you? If yes, my pleasure ;)

Fun fact

Spanish artist Santiago Sierra’s use of anonymous individuals raises similar ethical questions, though rather than invading their privacy, he asks them to submit to him bodily. For 160cm Line Tattooed on 4 People (2000), he paid heroin-addicted prostitutes the price of a shot of the drug to allow him to tattoo them. For Group of Persons Facing a Wall (2002), he paid homeless women the price of a night in a hostel to stand facing a gallery wall. And for 10 People Paid to Masturbate (2000), he paid workers $20 to masturbate in front of a camera. Sierra does seek consent from his subjects, but the nature of this consent is highly questionable. These pieces draw attention to the exploitative, transactional nature of our society, pointing to the commodification of bodies and exposing the power structures that operate within our everyday lives. Conceptually and politically, the works might be seen as noble, but in actually using the bodies of vulnerable individuals, Sierra must enact the very exploitation and dehumanization he critiques. He forces us to ask if it is okay for an artist to use people. (source)