Attraction and Beauty in Women who are Visually Impaired: Project Summary

In my gender identity video, I introduced my gender identity as: a female x a student x middle class x white x not religious x heterosexual x a traveler x an employee x a twin x a Nebraskan x an American x a reader x a daughter x a friend x reserved x 5'7" tall x giving x dislikes dresses x dislikes makeup x favorite color is blue x a cat lover x trustworthy x a hard worker x a TOMS wearer x believe in equal rights x self-conscious x a questioner x wears glasses x wants to make  a difference me.

I then chose a gender identity different from my own to research, to help me not only understand both identities better, but also gender and communication as a whole. I have spent the past semester looking at ideas of beauty and attraction in women who are visually impaired, through the lens of Butler's ideas of gender as performance. Since beauty and attraction seem like such visual things to me, propelled by the media, I wanted to know how women who are visually impaired embody these concepts. I found (in a nutshell) that it is much the same way that people who are sighted embody beauty and attraction, shaped somewhat by the media. Even though they may have limited vision, these women still know the 'ideals' set forth by the media, combined with aspects such as a person's smell, the way in which they speak, and a person's inner qualities. According to Spurgas (2005), "Differences in reception to media messages exist across races and within sexes. However, even though images may be understood as unobtainable and hence are less powerful, they still influence self-perception" (DeFrancisco & Palczewski, 2007, p. 242).

Researching further, I was not able to collect any more in-person interviews, but I did get the chance to look at the book Nicole suggested, called Crashing Through. The book is about a man who had lost his sight at a young age, but was able to have it restored as an adult. After his vision was restored, he saw his wife's face for the first time, and his own reflection in a mirror. '"That's me," he thought. "But I'm too close to him. I'm invading his space. I'm right up in his face. This is too personal. I shouldn't do this in public." "Oh, what an ugly cuss!" he joked aloud, still gazing at his reflection' (Kurson, 2007, p. 131). Our perception of both our self and others can change drastically when we have a new frame in which to see the world.

From this experience, I think there are three main takeaways.
1) It is important to explore gender identities that differ from your own  because it allows you to further examine your own gender identity and beliefs, and helps you to understand other people better- it helps to remove stereotypes you may have about people, because you get to know them.
2) Studying about women who are visually impaired has allowed me to see beauty and attraction from a lens I had never thought about consciously - that verbal cues play such a large role in their identity. Also, it allowed me to see how much commonality there is between myself and women who are visually impaired, shaped by society and the media.
3) In the field of communication, studying about different gender identities allows us to apply textbook concepts to real life and learn how to become better, more understanding communicators.

I feel like I have learned a lot from spending this semester studying women who are visually impaired, although I know there is still a lot out there to be discovered: looking at women of different levels of visual impairment, looking at men, looking at couples who are visually impaired or disabled... the list could go on. While it was a little uncomfortable reaching out to people I didn't know to interview them about something that I thought may be sensitive, I was surprised by the positive reaction and willingness to talk that I received.

I would like to conclude with a video about visual impairment, and the way other people see people who are visually impaired. While not specifically about beauty or attraction, I hope you keep this in mind the next time you see someone who is visually impaired on the street.

How Does It Feel to be Blind?

(artbeyondsight, 2009)

DeFrancisco, V. P., & Palczewski, C. H. (2007). Communicating gender diversity: A critical 

      approach. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Kurson, Robert. (2007). Crashing through. New York: Random House.