By Maggie Kennell, Marie Naudus, Victoria Slade, and Emily Sneider
Both Dr. Buolamwini and Jodahs advocate for themselves in spaces where they are underrepresented or misunderstood, and in the process, they give people like them a champion. Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy and Dr. Joy Buolamwini’s Unmasking AI explore complex ideas such as self-advocacy, inclusion, and personal identity. As we explore these works, the development of each narrator’s sense of self and the gaining of their own voices becomes evident. In Imago, we see Jodahs evolve into an advocate for both its needs and its sibling, Aaor’s, throughout its metamorphosis. In Unmasking AI, Dr. Buolamwini becomes more confident in her decision to pursue her PhD and speak up during her campaign with Olay. Jodahs’ journey through Imago depicts the importance of advocating for yourself despite being different, and similarly, Unmasking AI details the importance of self-advocacy even when you have outside pressures influencing you. After reading Imago, we can further understand why Dr. Buolamwini wanted to advocate for herself and others like her throughout her partnership with Olay.
Butler’s Imago explores the main character, Jodahs’, metamorphosis and self-discovery. Readers see Jodahs start to accept itself early in the novel. In a conversation with its same sex parent Nikanj, it confesses, “I wouldn’t want to give up being what I am. I…I want to be ooloi. I really want it. And I wish I didn’t. How can I want to cause the family so much trouble?”(Butler 27). The quote emphasizes the internal conflict it feels regarding its identity. It truly wants to be an ooloi but struggles with the judgment it will face from the community. As the novel progresses, Jodahs’ confidence grows as it becomes an advocate for itself and Aaor. We begin to see Jodahs go through metamorphosis, a time in which he grows into an adult ooloi and goes through a period of self-discovery. The text reads, “My mother looks at Nikanj. When it did not speak, she said, ‘Jodahs…Jodahs is becoming ooloi’” (Butler 21). After Jodahs’ metamorphosis is complete, it begins to feel as though it has more of a purpose, making it want to help Aaor feel more confident in its ability to do so. The text states, “I think we can help it…. I wish it had come to me before it went away. I think we could have helped it even then” (Butler 151). The story shows how Jodahs helps Aaor through its metamorphosis as well. “‘What am I going to do?’ it asked just before we left it with Nikanj. ‘We’ll take care of you,’ I promised” (Butler 159). As Jodahs learns to advocate for itself, it is also able to advocate for its sibling. Throughout Butler’s Imago, we see Jodahs’ personal growth through its metamorphosis, which is then reflected by its desire to help its sibling, Aaor, through its metamorphosis as well.
In Dr. Buolamwini’s Unmasking AI, she describes several times when she has had to advocate for herself in both her educational and personal life. During her final stretch of obtaining her PhD, she was completely mentally and physically burnt out and needed to stop. She was compelled to make this decision when she saw the athlete Simone Biles drop out of the All-Around Final event due to a case of the “twisties.” Dr. Buolamwini detailed how she related to this need for a break, saying she had a case of the “doctoral twisties.” In a letter Dr. Buolamwini wrote to the gymnast in gratitude for the example that she has set, she says, “The Biles Refusal is a beautiful reminder of the power of saying yes to your well-being” (Buolamwini 238). Seeing another talented and successful woman advocate for her health was an important reminder to Dr. Buolamwini to do the same for herself.
In 2021, Dr. Buolamwini became the face of Olay’s #DecodeTheBias campaign, an effort to increase the number of women in STEM fields. In September of that same year, Dr. Buolamwini was featured in a Vogue ad for her collaboration with Olay. She describes the shock and excitement of seeing her face in the ad, “If you had told nine-year-old me that one day I would be the face of any beauty campaign that celebrated my dark skin and Ashanti features especially, I would not have believed you” (Buolamwini 247). Seeing herself being represented in the media shows how representation can encourage people to advocate for themselves. This campaign began as a way to represent women, and especially women of color, in the STEM field, but eventually turned into a way for Dr. Buolamwini to explore the racial bias in facial recognition technologies and promote her work through a Good Morning America interview.
When considering individuals who may hold different viewpoints regarding the importance of self-advocacy and the representation of minorities in media, there is much to consider about why these differences in opinions are present. For one, a lack of understanding. Naysayers typically find themselves represented in the media. They do not know how it feels to be excluded, and thus do not see the importance of it. In both Butler’s Imago and Unmasking AI, we can see criticism aimed toward the individuals who advocate for themselves or others, specifically minority groups. In Imago, Butler demonstrates criticism regarding self-advocacy when she writes, “Tino and Tomas seemed to find some common ground by the time Aaor had completed its metamorphosis, but Jesusa held an unyielding grudge. She hardly spoke to my mother from then on. And when it was time for us to go, and she learned that Aaor had to go with us, she almost stopped speaking to me. That was another battle. Aaor did have to go” (Butler 166). It is evident that characters who have no understanding of the needs of those who are unlike themselves, with Jesusa holding a grudge against Aaor and Jodahs for needing to leave and find mates. In Unmasking AI, Dr. Buolamwini shows some hesitancy/criticism for self-advocacy when working with Olay for the #DecodeTheBias campaign. The final part of this campaign was completing an audit of Olay’s Skin Advisor tool. Dr. Buolamwini had worries about the bias the facial recognition program might have against people of color. She feared the bias would reveal an aspect of bias that was unfixable and would exclude certain groups of people. Luckily, Olay agreed that if this was a reality they discovered, they would put an end to the project. Dr. Buolamwini recognizes that this is not a usual behavior for major companies, “While Olay sought the audit on a voluntary basis, we cannot assume all companies would do the same. While there may be some good actors, relying on the goodwill and moral motivations of the tech industry is not a responsible or reliable strategy” (Buolamwini 263). Dr. Buolamwini also discusses what the “costs of inclusion” could look like and what kind of work it would take to fix. For example, with her work with Olay, she poses the questions, “ If AJL launched a #SelfiesForInclusion campaign that improved facial recognition, are we inadvertently subjecting more vulnerable populations to unfair scrutiny? How can such risks be addressed? Who should address them?” (Buolamwini 258). In asking these questions, Dr. Buolamwini argues that not all advances in technology are worth pursuing or investing in because, no matter how much research goes into them, new technologies can still be harmful and discriminatory.
Upon analyzing Butler’s Imago and Unmasking AI, it is evident that now, more than ever, representation is important in our society. We see the need for representation in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy she began in 1987, and more current stories like Dr. Buolamwini’s 2023 book Unmasking AI. While Butler and Dr. Buolamwini tell two different stories, they boil down to the same message: no peace without inclusion. The construct ooloi fight to be recognized the same way Dr. Buolamwini advocates for women of color in academia, the STEM field, and the beauty scene. It is important to recognize our privilege as four white authors, as we express our views to make it known that we are unable to fully understand what these individuals, and other people of color, have experienced when it comes to standing up to the biases in our world. With current events happening in society, it would be easy for people with privilege to forget and or ignore the importance of diversity and inclusion, and weaponize self-advocacy rather than value its necessary role both socially and economically, therefore it is important to tell the stories of individuals fighting for change and working toward a more inclusive future.