Abstract
In this work, anthropologist Gili Hammer presents an analysis of blind women’s perceptions of their own vulnerabilities, alongside their creativity and defiance, in negotiating gendered norms in a visual-centric culture. Hammer complements her in-depth interviews with 42 blind women in Israel with ethnographic research she conducted in “places where blind and sighted people meet,” including public streets, a beauty class for blind girls, and a tandem bike riding group made up of both blind and sighted riders. Hammer’s work furthers scholarly understanding of the ways disability and blindness are socially constructed, culturally specific, and generated in interaction with gender norms.
Hammer’s richest empirical analyses are found in part one of the book, where she presents findings from her interviews and observations conducted with 42 congenitally blind Israeli women from diverse cultural, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The blind women Hammer interviewed shatter the common assumption that they are untouched by the visual-centric norms embedded in the male gaze. In fact, these women expressed a profound commitment to “learning” to embody visual gender norms. Participants regularly sought out visual information and adjusted their self-presentation in response to feedback they received from others about their clothing, make-up, and bodily comportment. Though the women interviewed had a range of styles, from high fashion to casual, all expressed a keen interest in making sure they presented themselves within visual standards of acceptable femininity.
Hammer’s participants also leaned into feminine visual performances to resist deeply negative stereotypes about blindness and disability within the Israeli context. The women she interviewed frequently expressed a desire, not only to be seen as attractive according to dominant standards of femininity but also to be seen as “normal.” They work to be recognized by others as blind women who also accomplish femininity, attractiveness, and even motherhood in opposition to stereotypes that paint blind women as asexual, passive, and undesirable partners.
In part two of the book, Hammer makes her most powerful theoretical contributions as she engages with these women’s experiences of invasive staring from sighted people in public spaces. Disability studies scholars have juxtaposed “staring” with the “male gaze,” arguing disabled people receive a more intense form of public scrutiny, that of being a spectacle, than the male gaze nondisabled women negotiate. Hammer challenges this dichotomy, however, arguing the “stare” and the “male gaze” are intertwined. The women she interviewed recognize the public magnifying glass under which they are placed is imbued with gendered and ableist meanings. Yet, they also “stare back,” using this public attention to defy stereotypes and claim their femininity.
Hammer devotes part three to understanding the embodiment of the senses. In chapter eight, she describes the ways the blind women she interviewed hold on to their own sensory pleasure from touch, hearing, and smell, even as they seek to perform an acceptable form of visual femininity. In chapter nine, she describes blind and sighted people’s shared sensory experiences when tandem bike riding in a group, conveying how participants coconstruct sensory experiences and pleasure as they share their observations riding together through the Israeli countryside. I found this portion of the book to be a bit disconnected from Hammer’s more powerful analyses of gender, but scholars working within the fields of “sociology of embodiment” and “anthropology of the senses” might find this section useful.
Finally, returning to the beginning of the book, Hammer’s methodological reflections in chapter two are a surprise gem. Hammer reflects upon what it meant to carry out this research as a sighted woman, yet she simultaneously challenges traditional conceptions of power dynamics between researchers and marginalized subjects. Far from being vulnerable victims, Hammer’s participants often challenged the underlying assumptions embedded in her research orientation and questions, thereby shaping the research to be a richer portrayal of their lives. Hammer also provides a uniquely compelling analysis of how she, herself, experienced profound discomfort as she was stared at in public along with her participants. This chapter would be a great resource for discussions in undergraduate and graduate methods courses.
In sum, this study is an excellent resource for scholars wanting to engage more meaningfully with disability and its interaction with gender systems. The book is an accessible read and would complement classes on the sociology of gender, intersectionality, and body/embodiment. Hammer’s work also serves as a model for how scholars can respectfully engage with the vulnerabilities people with disabilities negotiate, while simultaneously illuminating the power of their agency.