"Embodiment": DTC 475 Blog #5

"For this weeks blog I want you to reflect on 'what does embodiment mean'. Hawthorn shows us how the Internet has been used to exploit women and children in the global prostitution industry and it has in turn shaped how the internet is structured, "although the Internet offers open communication to people throughout the world, it should not be permitted to be dominated and controlled by men's interests..." How do our expectations of the Internet facilitate men's desires? What does this say about men's desires and expectations of 'real' (i.e. material) women? What does this say about power reasons in society?"

From http://www.merriam-webster.com :

em·body

transitive verb \im-ˈbä-dē\
: to represent (something) in a clear and obvious way : to be a symbol or example of (something)
: to include (something) as a part or feature

"Embodiment"

“The Internet is great” 'twas said.

“No one knows what paths you tread”

“No one knows where you log on

“Or who are, 'what hat you don'”

“Trust me, you've nought to dread”

So I logged on so I could see

what my options were to “broadcast me”

I soon found out that I could start

a fanbase for me, I was off the charts

And I had all my privacy

And when social media was all the craze

Getting Facebook likes, well, I had my ways

And dating sites allowed me to mingle

(I wondered how much longer I'd be single)

Ah yes, those were the glory daze (sic)

But I found, with no one watching

Websites for gazing upon debauching

And vigor for vice awakened within

I thought to myself “could this be a sin?”

But found myself ever more wanting

And so it went on, for day after day

I must admit, it didn't feel “okay

But no one knew . . . right?

I was completely out of sight!

And then I learned it always works that way

For I read a story in the news

About a girl who had to choose

When kidnapped one night

Faced a hellish plight

Of whether to die or face endless abuse

And so she was sold, and suffered long

at the hands of thugs, who did her wrong

sold over again, for a man to posses

so he could regain his “manliness”

And then sold again, to another she'd belong.

And all this went on, for year upon year

How much sadness? How many shed tears?

And all hidden in obscurity

For the sake of patrons' privacy

All because she “had a nice rear?”

I recoiled in sadness, and in grief and in pain

I realized that all I'd ever sought to gain

all my wants, my desires, my demands, my druthers

was forcefully dredged from the life of another

And so I sat there, to weep in the rain.

My happiness found in the shackles of a fellow

My entertainment revealed to be rotten and hollow

I sat there and pondered “what path shall I follow?”

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” John 3:20

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/tricked-the-documentary/trailers/3948188

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/meet-filmakers-behind-human-trafficking-documentary-tricked/

-- Drew Black, 2014.