Hormones and Chemicals in Food Production

Hormones and Chemicals in Food Production: Additives to our Energy Source and Their Effects

Chemical Composition of Bisphenol A

http://www.viewzone.com/plastic-BPA.png

Chemicals that are used as fertilizers, used to prolong food shelf life, and used to package our food have been around for awhile. The first chemical fertilizer was created in "1908 by German chemist Fritz Haber" which now the creation of such fertilizers is now called "the Haber Process". (Cornell, 2010) Since then the production of fertilizer has grown immensely and has become a corporate industry. This is present to our friends to the north where, "nine companies make and market almost all of the insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides used in Canada". (Qualman, 2001) However, it is not just the fertilizer that is corporately owned but also the seed production industries with, "Four companies (DuPont/Pioneer, Monsanto, NMovartis, and Dow) control 69% of the North American seed corn market and 47% of the soybean seed market" as of 2001. (Qualman, 2001) With such a powerful grip on the market, the production of their products can be done without massive regulations because their money can buy their way through the hoops and ladders of politics and ethics.

One of the chemicals that passes these boundaries is Bisphenol A, or BPA, which has been in commercial use since 1957 "commonly (as) plastic food and beverage containers and in the coating of food cans". (Dunham, 2008) BPA is not a friendly chemical to the sexual production, with multiple reports finding effects to male reproductive system. According to a study done in China, men who worked in BPA producing facilities, "had quadruple the risk of erectile dysfunction, and seven times more risk of ejaculation difficulty". (Dunham, 2008) Beyond the functional reasons, developmental reasons also occur. Some of these were found by Hiroshi Iida and his study team in 2003 when they tested BPA's effects on Sertoli Cells, which main purpose is to nourish developing sperm cells. They concluded "exposure to BPA revealed morphological changes, such as membrane blebs, cell rounding, cytoskeletal collapse, and chromatin condensation or fragmentation" (Iida et. al, 2003). This essentially means that during the growth of the sperm cell that the cell would be weaker than normal, abnormal in shape, and the chromosome of the sperm would not develop correctly. Also, "problems with the Steroli cells can lead to cryptorchidism, in which the testicles fail to descend". (Langston, 2010) These effects however have are not specific to males. Studies are expanding to female reproductive systems as well with the FDA releasing a statement pronouncing concern for "the potential effects of BPA in the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants, and young children". (Dunham, 2008) While all these studies are not all focused on fetal development, the effects are now being acknowledged in the early stages of child development. On top of that, a study done on mice found that female mice injected with small doses of BPA "made adult female mice more timid and unwilling to explore, a typically masculine behavior for mice. In addition to masculinizing female mouse behavior, the chemical also changed female mouse brain structure, reducing the size of a part of the brain that is usually larger in females". (Langston, 2010) As far as I have found these results have not been significant in humans, but the possibility is still frightening.

Recently, however, many companies like Nalgene have been producing products like my water bottle that are BPA free. Even with this being said Steven Silverman general manager of Nalgene in a statement said, "Based on all available scientific evidence, we continue to believe that Nalgene products containing BPA are safe for their intended use. However, our customers indicated they preferred BPA- free alternatives, and we acted in response to those concerns". (Austen, 2008) With this being said Nalgene still creates products that contain BPA, they are just bought less frequently than the BPA free options. Regardless, many companies are starting to produce products that are BPA free. These companies include Brita, SC Johnson, and in some but not all Rubbermaid products. Having these options available is becoming a trend in United States society, which is a positive turn away from chemical additives used in food production and distribution. Online stores such as Ebay and Amazon have jumped on the BPA free train as well with products becoming available on their sites. In fact Amazon has a section that is specifically dedicated to BPA free water bottles, baby bottles, and sippy cups. (Payne, 2008) These forward movements, however small, are the start the United States needs to create awareness about the issues that can occur from the types of chemicals used in our food industry. With acknowledgments about BPA being present in the news other chemicals like DES which falls under the same category of BPA of endocrine disruptor. With these two chemicals under fire citizens of the United States want to know they are safe consuming the food they purchase and not have to worry about any sexual defects that might occur in the parents, in the fetus during pregnancy, or even in a child during early development. As Langston from Toxic Bodies details, "A healthy Pregnancy does not exist in static, disconnected space; rather, it is a complex set of systems, forged by connections between the mother and developing fetus, between genes and hormones, between past generations and future generations". (Langston, 2008) Such a statement reveals the delicacy of pregnancy and from now into the future should be understood as such. With such a delicate process, knowledge of these chemicals should be continued to be a focus for environmental, biological, and social change.

Women Athletes: Figure over Physical Ability

Pictured above is Brittney Griner, now a professional basketball player for Phoenix Mercury, was one of the most if not the most successful women's college basketball athletes. Standing tall at 6'8"and having a 86 inch wingspan, this is no person who you want to defend down in the paint. She is strong, swift, and talented. She holds the title of being one of the total of six WNBA athletes to have a slam dunk during a professional game. These types of statistics shows her physical ability of dominance on the court over other players, and because she is so talented she is respected as an athlete. However, when a google image search for 'female athletes' is done, it does not show Brittney in any picture at all. All of the athletes that are shown are not being demonstrated for their athletic prowess, just simply for their body. Out of the first twenty pictures, only four display a women participating in her sport in an action shot. The others are mostly professionally taken where the athlete is wearing no more than a bikini. The pictures that are not professional are of track athletes and are what I would consider a paparazzi shot of them on the track because it is mostly of their backside or caught when the athlete may not have been looking. Scrolling down a bit farther, the first pictures with words on the picture state "The 10 Highest-Paid Female Athletes of 2013" and "The 100 Hottest Female Athletes Ever". To me that says that women in an athletic context are generally represented and recognized either for how much money or how attractive they are as opposed to talent, teamwork, and athletic dedication like how males are represented. Besides that, four of the six presented alternate search options after searching for female athletes are relating to the women's bodies such as 'abs' and 'wardrobe malfunctions' which to me shows a complete sexualization of the female body. The other two were for 'ads' and 'sports illustrated' which sports illustrated was cover pages of women athletes, only two of which were fully clothed. Then for 'ads' almost all of the ads, again, were of sexualized images. When searching 'famous female athletes' however, these are more predominantly showing women in their athletic setting preforming or showing a successful pose after defeating their opponent. This I feel shows that women in their sport mean not much more than their body unless they are successful and get paid a huge salary to do it. Even when doing a search for 'olympic female athletes' around half of the pictures are of women displaying their bodies in a sexualized fashion as opposed to showing them compete in a world encompassing sporting event. Doing a quick search for 'male athletes' I discovered it was almost the opposite representation to the 'female athletes' search. Five of the first twenty pictures are of men displaying their bodies in professional photographs and the rest are of the man participating in his sport. Another thing I found interesting was when the other searches options that come up at the top of the photos came up for the male search, they all were for individual male athletes while none of the six options for the female search represented individuals. 

What does this say about our society? In our Bodies, Babes, and the WNBA reading conveyed by Heywood and Dworkin, "It is the context of the image, not whether there is nudity, that is important, as the naked male and female images of…. And many others appearing in Life magazine in 1996 demonstrated- images that communicated power, self-possession, and beauty, not sexual access." I agree with this sentiment, and a few of the photos I found during the google search do represent these qualities but for the majority it is representative of sexuality. In an article published in 2011, a slide show is presented of the "6 Ways the Media Represents Female Athletes". The ideas presented start off with a statement by the author saying that the justification of hyper-sexualizing female athletes will bring more fans to the sport but in fact "as Mary Jo Kane reports in her article in this week's special Sports issue, far from piquing interest in female sports, hyper-sexualized media images actually serve to suppress interest in - and respect for - women's sports." I believe this to be true, just simply from the fact of things I have heard said from people I know on this campus. I told a couple guys what my topic of this blog was and they were not timid in telling me how stupid of an idea it was. I asked them why they thought it was dumb and they responded that nobody goes to women's sporting events, and that women athletes only mattered if they were hot anyways. I told them that women play sports because they like preforming on a team or individually, and pushing themselves to become more talented at their respective sport, not to display themselves. They agreed with me, but said that women's sports are not as exciting so they are not interested in watching their sports. This misogynistic approach to the concept of women's sports is telltale that women are not respected for their athletic ability. Their closed-minded and superficial approach to this topic is exactly why things are not changing and moving towards displaying athletes like the ad below: 

There is no reference anywhere in the ad mentioning the high quality of Nike products, or how the product will improve her athletic performance. It is literally all about her physique and empowering her body to be the reason she is independent and self empowered. Being an athlete should be about displaying ones passion for their sport not the body that being active creates. Going back to the six ways of media representation which are: Athletic Competence, Ambivalence, All-American Girl Next Door, Hyper-Heterosexual, Sexy Babe, and Soft Pornography. The representations start off with an on the field example and gradually shows a more sexualized approach in each example. These ideas have evolved over time as female sports and athletes have gradually become more present in the media. I believe this representation comes from society perceiving women as cute, small, and fragile, so they present them in the media as so. In Throwing Like a Girl Young says, "For feminine bodily existence, however, the body is often lived as a thing which is other than it". By this she is saying that her body is represented as object instead of subject. The female body in sports is not represented for its capabilities but for its perceived purpose of a sexual figure. It seems almost impossible to change that perception, but I believe it should so women in sports can be understood for being capable and strong when preforming and not simply what they look like off the field. 

Sources:

Heywood, Leslie. Dworkin, Shari.  "Built to Win: The Female Athlete as a Cultural Icon." Sport and Culture Series v.5. University of Minnesota Press.

Leftfoot, Lucas. "New Nike Women Ad– “My Butt Is Big”." NikeBlogcom. Nike, n.d. 

Simpson, Jake. "Why It Matters That Brittney Griner Is a Female Basketball Player Who Can Dunk." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 21 Mar. 2013. 

"Slide Show: 6 Ways the Media Represents Female Athletes | The Nation." Slide Show: 6 Ways the Media Represents Female Athletes | The Nation. The Nation, n.d. 

Young, Iris Marion. "Throwing like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality." JSTOR. Springer, 14 Jan. 2013.

Comfort with all bodies, how do we define them?

Comparing the readings about transbodies and body image representation of women and the conception of space I have been led to a couple conclusions. The idea of space is difficult to portray to everyone because there is very many perceptions about space. Every person has their own comfort level of space, some people are very private while at the same time people would walk around naked in public if they could. These different levels of comfort map to both women and men in separate ways. Men are supposed to be comfortable with their bodies no matter what and show of their masculinity that they have, while women are supposed to wear skimpy dresses and show off a lot of skin while being conscious and hiding as much as possible at the same time. These ideas of body presentation are what drives sexuality in our society, we are supposed to look our best and show off our best features so someone will be attracted to us, so ultimately a hookup, relationship, or something develops and happiness ensues.

The person you are attracted to should be of the opposite sex so when marriage rolls around you two can make babies and live happily ever after. This is the image that our society and media creates and therefore we must follow or else we will be cast out of our social circles, looked down upon, and get called weird, different, and categorized as the other. I believe this occurs because it makes people feel uncomfortable when someone wont follow whats normal, so the easiest thing to do is completely disregard it, ignore it, or just make fun of it. But there are more layers to it than that. When people are labeled as weird its when they don't wear whats popular, listen to music thats not popular, or conduct themselves in a polite and generally respectable manner. As a male because I listen to death metal, heavy electronic music, play the piano, like to spend months on end away from everyone in the mountains, and at the same time trim my nails, pluck my eyebrows, and put on the occasional mask I should be cast away as a social weirdo, but I'm not because of the community I am in. However, we are lucky here at Allegheny where our social bubble is small and filled with societies weirdos, which makes the weird normal and everyone is alright with it. Outside of Allegheny that comfort is not there, and people are ridiculed for who they are or how they act. This concept I feel really shines through in Chris Edwards Huffington Post article Sharing the Bathroom With Someone Who's Transgender: What's Everyone So Afraid Of?, many of the concerns that arose about having a transgender in the office was, as the title states, about the restroom. As a man I can put myself in those mens shoes. Having a woman who is dressed as a man using the same bathroom as me can cause some discomfort. What if I farts and she hears? What if she farts!? And the worst of it all, would she use the urinal, and if she did would she do it next to me?!? These kinds of things, to me at least, are silly and I feel if I was put in that situation I would get over it fairly quickly, and according to the article it seemed like many of the men did get over it after a couple weeks of getting used to it.

It all comes down to space. I have my own and I should be able to choose who I let into that space. When it comes to public spaces, there are designated spaces that separate males and females because of the comfort felt in those specific spaces. Many people do not want those spaces invaded and are uncomfortable when someone tries to break that space. Transgender and transsexual people are the ones who break these boundaries and cause a sense of discomfort, which causes the reaction I stated above of rejection and to make fun of such an individual because they are not like the way you are. Our most recent reading from The Politics of Women's Bodies by Rose Weitz spoke about how women are trained to present their bodies and it got me thinking about how trans people present their own bodies. If a transgender man dresses like a woman but still sits, walks, and shows a sense of masculinity is she still transgender or simply a cross-dresser at that point. The image of a woman presented through a mans body causes more conflict in my brain than the image of a man presented through a woman's body. I suppose that feeling comes from the perception of my own body. I don't shave my armpits or my legs, so I guess the image of a man through a woman's body is presented through hair being present. I then also suppose that a womanly image being presented through a mans body could come through the lack of body hair. But at the same time I feel like that is not enough for a man to present himself as womanly. He needs long hair, softer facial features, and maybe the appearance of makeup and breasts. I feel as if I am being insensitive by making such a comment, but thats where the definition of transgender becomes a point of confusion in my mind. I define myself as a straight male because I have a penis and I seek, or am most interested in having a woman partner. I guess the only way to help my confusion would be to talk to a transgender individual and get a sense of how they feel on the inside and how they feel most comfortable projecting it on the outside.