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Systematic Inequality, Part 2: Culture, Culture, Culture

In my last blog post, I discussed the ways in which culture influences the media that we create, consume, and how we interpret it. Expanding upon that this month, I will explore how culture affects every aspect of our lives. Every single thing that humans do is cultural. We are a product of the culture that we are raised in – but that’s not to discount the existence of free will. This means that everything that we do, from what that we eat, to the way we eat is all culturally defined. And there is more variation than you might initially think. The first time I experienced any amount of “culture shock” was a couple of hours after I landed in Romania. Thinking my Romanian upbringing would have prepared me for anything, I was utterly taken aback when my well-meaning family members ordered Pizza for my sister and I. The pizza had a whole fish on it, and everyone ate the pizza with a fork and knife. After spending over ten hours on a plane, and adding the jet lag, I was actually shocked by this (literally) fishy pizza. My family found my shock amusing. To them, fish pizza is normal; and eating pizza with your hands, well that’s borderline barbaric.

Culture is what tells us what “normal” is. The process of learning this “normal”  is called socialization; which describes a variety of processes that can range from overt to so subtle you probably didn’t even notice it. An overt process would be something like a company handbook with a list of values and typically a page that you sign agreeing to act accordingly while on the clock. More subtle socialization could be in the form of negative repercussions and/or positive reinforcement. For example, I have developed the mouth of a sailor. As a complete coincidence (it wasn’t a coincidence), my cursing increased drastically when I started working as a stagehand. My cursing was positively received and therefore reinforced, while the use of what I like to call “SAT vocab words” was met with mostly confusion and a dash of resentment for being pretentious. That’s how I learned what sort of vernacular (that would be an example of a pretentious “SAT Vocab Word”) was “normal” for stagehands. It happened pretty quickly, and I didn’t really notice until my cursing started to bleed into my personal life.

 

One of the “normal”s of the live event industry is the predominantly male workforce. When I show up on the show site and am the only woman, that is normal for me and everyone in the room. In a different cultural context, this lack of a female presence would be very noticeable. However, we in the industry have been socialized into this normalcy. Male is the default and female being different, creates a situation in which I arrive on show site and I am the other. I feel this on the daily from comments about “you’re a young and competent tech, and a woman!”  to dress codes and apparel not taking the possibility of women into account.

The inherent masculinity of the industry is yet another roadblock that women face. Recognizing these cultural norms, and then challenging them is an essential step in achieving a more equal workspace. We need to actively socialize current and incoming industry members in a manner that includes more than just white men. Changing the whole culture of an industry will be a long and arduous process, but it will be well worth it. Studies have shown again and again that more diverse and inclusive workplaces are more productive. So if the ethical standpoint that women are human beings that deserve to be treated equally isn’t enough of an argument for you – there is an economic incentive as well.

As always, work hard, do your best, and make yourself proud.

Tia Azimioara interest in live sound engineering began while studying the clarinet at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where she took a class on music technology. She would go on to double major in Anthropology and Classics at Lawrence University while working as a sound tech. She googled and youtubed her way through shows and concerts. She fell in love with the fast-paced, trial by fire world of live production. After graduating she began working any live events that she could. After two years she has completely fallen in love with her varied and fast-paced life; today you can find her doing anything from slinging deck at a concert venue in Doc Martens, to working as in IT specialist for a corporate event in a suit. She is not sure what the future holds, but would like to use her training in anthropology to help make the industry more inclusive for everyone. 

 

 

Systematic Inequality, Part 1: Lessons from Athena

Much of Western culture is heavily influenced by the ancient Greeks and Romans. However, we have this way of idealizing the past and forgetting the bad, while still maintaining the negative influences in our culture. It’s as if we managed to throw the bathwater without the baby but completely forgot about the diapers. Greek democracy was not a true democracy. Women, slaves, and even some freemen were not allowed to participate. We don’t get to pick and choose what we inherit from history; it’s up to us to take critical looks at our culture and its influences to weed out the sources of inequality.

Although much of ancient literature was lost with the burning of the library at Alexandria, a surviving Greek tragedy is Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In this trilogy of plays, the Queen of Mycenae, Clytemnestra, kills her husband Agamemnon when he comes back from the Trojan war. To solidify her position, she banishes her young son, Orestes, so that he will not challenge her for the throne. When he is a grown man, Orestes goes back home to avenge his father. Before she is killed, Clytemnestra curses Orestes for matricide and the Furies (ancient goddesses of justice) descend upon him to avenge her. Orestes begs the Gods for assistance, so Athena hosts the first ever trial to decide who is in the right: Orestes for avenging his father, or Clytemnestra/the furies for avenging matricide. A jury of peers vote, and it is a tie, so Athena casts the tie-breaking vote. She says that since she is borne of Zeus and has no mother, mothers have done nothing for her and cast her vote for Orestes. The furies are granted a new place in the pantheon, and Orestes is free to live his life.

I spend a lot of time thinking about Athena choosing Orestes’ side. To me, Clytemnestra’s motivations make sense. She killed her husband in cold blood – but Agamemnon was a horrible husband who sacrificed their daughter for “favorable winds” at sea and then left for ten years to fight a ridiculous war. Meanwhile, Clytemnestra was left to run the kingdom, and by all accounts, she was a great ruler – maybe even better than Agamemnon. She had just spent ten years as close to a free woman as is possible. Clytemnestra was a fierce and strong woman who had a choice to make: kill her husband and continue to rule or return to her subservient position.

From a modern perspective, Athena siding with Orestes doesn’t make sense. However, this play was written by someone who lived in a world where women were second-class citizens. Athena sides with Orestes because she was written by an ancient Greek man who probably didn’t care about the female perspective in his play. Her justifications made sense to the author and the intended audience of the play.

So what do we learn from Clytemnestra and a problematic Athena? It’s easy to dismiss a life you haven’t lived. Although a woman, Athena is a goddess and doesn’t relate to Clytemnestra. She can’t understand Clytemnestra because the people who wrote her couldn’t. If she did, she probably would have sided with the furies. Sometimes I have to remind myself that with my privilege I am like Athena. As a straight, white, middle-class, and educated woman, my experience is very different from other women. I have the ethical imperative to learn from Athena and be better. To remember that just because I can’t always empathize, I can still listen and sympathize. More importantly, I can support my fellow women. We all have people in our lives who we have a difficult time understanding, taking a step back and being conscientious of the fact that we haven’t lived their life is incredibly helpful for understanding and compassion.

We also learn that just like the Oresteia is a product of greek culture, the industry we work in is a product of western culture. It’s important to see these patterns and systems because that is what needs to change. Individual victories are important (and often the beginning of systematic change), but making a productive and positive difference for all happens with systematic cultural change. Everything from altering the language of employee handbooks to be gender neutral, to educating employees about what sexual harassment is, helps to change the culture. Clytemnestra wouldn’t have been driven to kill her husband if she had been given an equal opportunity to rule.

We have to remember to keep the baby, but throw out the bathwater and the diapers. To be conscientious about how we see the past and not idealize it, and to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We need to take critical looks at influences on the industry. Where do we see the past influences of misogyny, patriarchy, and other forms of injustice? How can we remove these injustices so that everyone is given equal opportunity? Where are we Athena, and need to come down to earth and try to understand a life that is different from our own? The Ancients did a lot of good – now we need to make it our own. A place where Clytemnestra can rule, Athena is more understanding, and with hopefully a lot less murder.

As always, work hard, do your best, and make yourself proud.

Tia Azimioara interest in live sound engineering began while studying the clarinet at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where she took a class on music technology. She would go on to double major in Anthropology and Classics at Lawrence University while working as a sound tech. She googled and YouTubed her way through shows and concerts. She fell in love with the fast-paced, trial by fire world of live production. After graduating she began working any live events that she could. After two years she has completely fallen in love with her varied and fast-paced life; today you can find her doing anything from slinging deck at a concert venue in Doc Martens, to working in IT specialist for a corporate event in a suit. She is not sure what the future holds but would like to use her training in anthropology to help make the industry more inclusive for everyone. 

Read Tia’s Blog

Freelance or Full-time?

I was recently offered a full-time position, and although I turned it down — it got me thinking: Freelance or Full-time? Which path should I pursue?

Ever since I read the line in a cheesy Arthurian lore novel, I’ve been a huge fan of the idea that our best decisions are made when our head and our hearts agree. But what happens when there doesn’t seem to be a compromise? My heart screams freelance, and my brain desperately wants me to just go full-time. On the one hand, freelancing is exciting, and I’ve worked hard building contacts that I’m scared would all but disappear if I chain myself to one company. On the other hand, full-time means security. Full-stop.

I could spend most of next year working as a stagehand, a pusher, doing neck-down work, or I could spend the next year getting awesome gigs and further pursuing relationships. Getting experience, I would never have gotten with only one company. Since I can’t predict the future, how do I even begin to decide what route I want to take?

Luckily, I get to work with people that have been doing this as long as I’ve been alive (literally, in some cases). So I spent some time asking my coworkers about their experiences with being full-time. I have found that there are three basic categories:

The takeaway that I see from these responses is that their reasons are much more emotionally driven than I had initially though

Maybe making decisions based on our emotional needs is the logical thing to do. And maybe making rational decisions is good for our emotional health. There is a balance somewhere in there. Finding a way to pursue your career dreams and goals while also balancing the stresses that come with finances.

What I have found myself doing is working part-time, on-call for an in-house hotel AV company in addition to the freelancing that I do. The pay isn’t great, but it is work that is somewhat consistent and doesn’t add to my tax stresses. Of course, I’m young, I’m fortunate enough to be on my parents’ health insurance, and my only dependent is my cat. So this not-so-compromise works for me. My thoughts and feeling on this all might change in a couple of years.

“What do you want to do when you grow up?” is a question that everyone answers a thousand times; it can make you feel as though when you become an adult, you pick a career and that’s your job. The end. However, the reality is much more complicated. Life happens, and things change. I think the most important thing I’ve learned is that when the situation changes, don’t be afraid to change your approach. People are constantly changing their paths. Some even have said that they ask themselves the question of freelance or full-time on a yearly basis  We are fortunate to work in an industry that has many options, and many paths to success.

Compromising with your head and your heart is a daunting task, but I think seeing them as intertwined gives us clarity. The dichotomy of the logical or emotional decision is a false one. We are emotional beings, and every decision we make will have an emotional facet to it. At the end of the day, you’re the only one that can make this decision, so go forth and know that your path is not set in stone.

Work hard, do your best, and make yourself proud.

Tia Azimioara interest in live sound engineering began while studying the clarinet at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where she took a class on music technology. She would go on to double major in Anthropology and Classics at Lawrence University while working as a sound tech. She googled and YouTubed her way through shows and concerts. She fell in love with the fast-paced, trial by fire world of live production. After graduating she began working any live events that she could. After two years she has completely fallen in love with her varied and fast-paced life; today you can find her doing anything from slinging deck at a concert venue in Doc Martens, to working in IT specialist for a corporate event in a suit. She is not sure what the future holds but would like to use her training in anthropology to help make the industry more inclusive for everyone. 

Read Tia’s Blog

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