Germany Allows Newborn Genderless Babies

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/germany-to-allow-newborns-to-be-registered-with-no-gender

When I saw this article pop up on my endless scrolling through BuzzFeed, I got super excited! During one of our last class discussions, we discussed the negative implications associated with identifying intersex babies as a particular gender immediately upon being born. Starting on November 1st, German parents can start identifying their newborn children as genderless, which is such a huge step for Germany!

This article touches a lot on how parents will feel much less pressure to identify their children as a specific gender, specifically for infants that lack the gender-determining anatomy to do so. Personally, I think it means so much more than this. Don't get me wrong, I think that does take away a lot of pressure from parents, making it so they do not have to pick which gender their child identifies with right from the get-go, but it means so much for the infant that it is positively impacting. Like we discussed in class, suicide rates among intersex individuals are drastically high because parents are forced to choose between their child being male or female almost immediately upon their birth.

As the end of the article mentions, however, it is necessary to note that no third gender has been created in Germany, but rather, a gender is simply not identified immediately.

So how do you guys feel about this? Think it could maybe be a turning point on how culture view intersex individuals? Or do you think kids will be even more confused not growing up with a particular "gender?" Society thrives on labels and the meanings behind them, so will not having a label in regards to gender be detrimental to these individuals? I like to think that it is going to make a gigantic difference, potentially helping to lower suicide rates, yet at the same time, I get nervous that being an intersex individual could become even more of a negative concept if it is much more out in the open. At the same time, it gives individuals the chance to grow up and see which gender they identify with even more, if they choose a particular gender at all.

I know I had a lot of conflicting thoughts in the previous paragraph, but I am curious as to what you guys think. It seems like such a phenomenal idea, but I still fear the negative feedback from a number of different people. Rome wasn't built in a day, hence, I don't know how accepting people will be of this immediately...I also don't know much about the German culture, so I would love to hear your feedback!

1 in 3 Campaign

The 1 in 3 Campaign is a grassroots movement created by Advocates of Youth to start a new conversation about abortion. They refer to it as "telling our stories, on our terms." The goal of this project is to end the stigma and shame of abortion. They use storytelling to engage and inspire action and strengthen support for abortion.





The website features videos and written stories of women who have had abortions. Any woman can submit a video or story to share on the website, with the option of sharing anonymous. The website also offers resources for information about abortion and also how to start a 1 in 3 student chapter on college campuses.  There is also a 1 in 3 book available for sale that features the stories of 40 different women.

I found this to be a really cool activism project. What I really liked about this project is that it is more than just statistics. It actually personalizes the problem. By sharing their own personal stories the women show that they actually have valid reasons for getting an abortion and get rid of this view that women who have abortions are just monsters out to kill babies.

Website: http://www.1in3campaign.org/#

Shadeism In The Media

Today in class we talked a little bit about the shadeism that goes on in different racial communities and today I came across a good example of how shadeism is not just an intragroup problem.



The picture on the left features Naomi Campbell on the cover Vogue Thailand's November issue. The other picture is real life snap shot of Naomi Campbell.

As you can see in the two pictures she could almost pass for two different women. On the magazine cover her skin has been lightening, her eyes look blue, her nose is smaller and her famous super model jawline has been softened.

It all basically comes down to this controlled idea of beauty standards. White or fair skin is considered  "beauty" in many cultures. The issue of having lighter skin equating to "better-ness" creates things like shadeism with in communities, hurts the self esteem of females as the struggle to obtain this view of "beauty", and just overall makes it hard to except people for who they are and not what they look like.

Naomi Campbell looks great in both pictures but lightening her skin does a disservice to identity and her own personal beauty.

Masturbating menstruating vagina t-shirt

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/american-apparel-vagina-shirt-photos_n_4058572.html

If you didn't read my last post, a 20 year old Canadian photographer named Petra Collins is pushing the limits when it comes to depicting the female body. Before posting a photo to Instagram showing her pubic hair, Petra designed a racy t-shirt for American Apparel. The t-shirt shows a drawing of a woman who is masturbating while on her period.

My first thought, honestly, was "umm..gross.." but then I wondered why I had that reaction. I'm not grossed out by blood. So, why am I grossed out by a vagina bleeding? It is a completely natural function of the female body, and yet the majority of people would say it was gross, just like female pubic hair. Is it the masturbation aspect that makes the shirt gross? All of these things are natural, and yet they are so taboo.

What to you all think? Is this shirt an expression of feminist ideals? Or is it too vulgar? Would you wear this shirt? Do you think you would be allowed to wear this shirt in public?

Instagram isn't down with female pubic hair

http://theblot.com/why-petra-collins-instagram-account-came-down-vaginas-censorship-and-icky-bikini-lines-777839


A 20 year old Canadian photographer named Petra Collins was recently kicked off of Instagram for posting a photo herself in a bikini bottom with some pubic hair coming out of the top of the bottoms. Keep in mind that this photo does not violate any of the terms of Instagram. I'll give you a moment to let this ridiculousness set in...

Yeah, some visible pubic hair forced Instagram to delete Petra's account. I was made aware of this story when watching the Wendy William's Show (please don't judge me for watching the Wendy William's Show). To my surprise, all of the women on the show who were discussing this topic, were completely supportive of Petra! They even brought up how patriarchal this view of women's pubic hair is. Of course, the one male on the panel disagreed with the showing of pubic hair, and even pubic hair on women in general. He said something like, "aren't we past stuff like this?"

Why is it that a woman in her natural state is unacceptable? We are supposed to hide our natural faces with make up and do things to our hair to make it more presentable. We are supposed to be hairless beings. Why do women have to shave EVERYTHING while men get to be as hairy as they want? God forbid that I let my body be natural. Have we really let men decide how our vaginas are supposed to look? I'm afraid so.

You should all really read the article above! It is very empowering!

Underwear For All Women

I came across the kickstarter for a womens underwear company. Supporting Kickstarters can be a great form of activism and this project seems to be one that all women can benefit from.




The women behind the brand talk about how the underwear industry is controlled by a few companies who don't always offer the best selection. They believe "everyone deserves underwear that fits well, fits good, and is affordable." I totally agree. What really caught my attention was that they refer to this as a political project for women, which really ties into our class.

I also loved how they mentioned wanting to make brand where a daughter, a mother, and a grandmother can all go shopping at the same place.

I will definitely be supporting this company!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2101511591/trace-underwear-for-all-women

One White Feminist's Slow Bumbling Slightly Embarrassing Road To Understanding Intersectionality

http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-10-16/one-white-feminists-slow-bumbling-slightly-embarrassing-road-to-understanding-intersectionality/

I came across this interesting article about a feminist who was not aware of intersectionality and thus held privilege feminist views. In the article she discusses how she came to learn about intersectionality and shed her privileged feminisms.

The main point that she makes in this article si that she did not have an academic background in feminism. I really liked how she addressed that issue first because I know women who are feminist and hold very feminist views but don't often think of themselves as feminist because they don't terms for it. Feminism has this academic realm that includes things like theory and word like intersectionality and I often have to remind myself that not everyone has taken women and gender studies classes. This is something that I'm going to have to take into consideration while I'm doing my major project. I don't want things that I do and produce in regards to feminism to be so academic that not all women can benefit from it.

Another thing that I liked about this article was how she addressed another feminist's response to another article. Long story short, Quest Love, who is a musician wrote this article about how people view and treat him as a large dark black man. He talked about a time when he was in the elevator with a woman that he thought was attractive and he wanted to talk to her but the woman acted terrified of him. After he wrote this article a feminist wrote a response  to his article about women and safety and it really pissed me off. She took the whole focus away from his point and used it to push her own "feminist" agenda. She totally disregarded interstectionality and then slapped the term feminism on it and it bothered me so much, and I felt it was such a bad representation of what feminism truly is.

I thought this article offered a great perspective on learning acknowledging personal privilege with in feminism.

Where are all the female scientists?

So on Friday afternoon I went to a talk provided by the Psychology Department on females in science. The woman presenting (Dr. Bettina Casad) was interested in how threatening school environments related to women's underrepresentation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). This hour long presentation opened many students, and faculty eyes to how dreadful it is for some women entering a scientific field of study. Even though women make up 51% of the US population only 24% of women are in STEM fields, and only 8% of minorities are in STEM fields! I was interesting to discover that women and men in STEM jobs have almost equal pay, but many people believe that  the underrepresentation of women makes pay-out increasingly equal. Of all the STEM jobs that have the most women majors it was Biology at 53%. This encompasses pure Biology, Pre-Med, Nursing, PT, OT, etc. The speaker explained that there is a high rate of women in this STEM field because a lot of the professors are also women. Female students entering into the Biology Fields of STEM will have strong female mentors, or role models to show the female students how to navigate through univeristy. The worst offender of STEM was Engineering with only 11% of majors being female.

Dr. Casad then began explaining why STEM is extremely imporatant for our economy right now. Many companies are going overseas of STEM majors because the US STEM field is not advancing. The vast majoring of majors in STEM are white, middle-class men who seem to have a lot of the same ideas. For instance, when airbags came out in cars many more women and children died in car crashes. This was not because of the car crashes but because the airbags were too strong sometimes. It was later discovered that the MEN who has designed the air bags had only tested the air bags on men! Well no shit women and children died. Another interesting one was the when SIRI was about to be launched it was discovered that she only responded to MEN. The apple Eingenners had not thought that women and children would need to use SIRI, and so SIRI was at first not programmed for women and children.

As the talk progressed Dr. Casad mentioned a lot of factors that effect the way women preform in STEM classes. One of the most interesting things about the whole talk was that Female Math and Science teachers have the most negative effect on female STEM majors. Many female STEM majors reported to Casad that the female math, and science professors made them feel inadequate and less than men! Most of the female STEM majors said that their awareness of stigma was heightened when female professors othered them. Casad called this the 'Queen Bee Syndrome,' and stated that many women in powerful STEM positions treat students negatively because they need to be perceived as less feminine in their fields. It was also found in Casad's study that students perceive male teachers as all knowing, while female professors have to prove that they are intelligent. If at anytime a female professor does not know the answer, or is harsh the female professor is discredited intellectually.

This is a light at the end of the tunnel though! Women will keep entering into more STEM fields if things are done to decrease their stigma. Casad's main point was that if female students are given: respect, less discrimination, less gender-stereotyping, a good campus climate, and a sense of belonging then the female will stay in STEM programs. It was found that if the female students felt that they belonged in STEM their GPA rose, and they entered into the more male dominated STEM fields. The main mediator though that keeps women, and minorities in STEM is that they have contact with female, and minority STEM professors. The more contact they have with these types of professors they longer they will stay in STEM.

How does everyone in the class feel about this? I know that when I started in a STEM major I left if because I felt inadiquate. Has anyone else had to deal with sexism, racism, or just  plain ignorance in STEM classes?

Stripping

So I have to pose a question to the class because I have conflicted views of strip clubs. A couple of days ago I was with a guy friend whose wife works at Penthouse. Penthouse is a 'high class' strip club that caters to 'everyone.' There is even a vip lounge that has fax machines, sound proof rooms, and conference rooms. My friends wife is a bartender there, and both of them are 100% supportive of strip clubs. To them Penthouse caters to women too, and these women want this job because it pays good money. If you go to Penthouses website it is pretty explicit about what they sell. The women who preform do not get completely naked, but they are at the beck-and-call to anyone who wants them. Does anyone feel like this is legalized prostitution? It even says on the website that Penthouse will prepare lovely (expensive) meals to eat in the VIP room, and you can pick 'your favorite girl' to eat with you. My experience with strip clubs was that a lot of the performers needed this job because of how much money they got. Because society insists on paying women less than men (and hiring men more) many women have to take strip jobs to pay their bills etc. Sometime I wonder if these women are trapped into the strip business, or are secretly strippers because of how society views people that work in places like Penthouse. This double bind allows for these women to be exploited by men, and women who come to places like Penthouse. So class what do you think? Are strip clubs a black-and-white matter, or in the grey area?

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

For my Young Adult Literature class, we read a book entitled The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Frankie herself is a teenage girl attempting to be a feminist, but at the same time, appease her super popular, super hot boyfriend, Matthew.

Without giving too much away, the thing I love about this novel is that it tells a realistic story about a teenage feminist. Frankie believes in her feminist ideals of standing up to societal norms by being outspoken about her beliefs and fighting Matthew's oppressive actions. You can really see her feminist roots in the fact that she wants to be EQUAL to her boyfriend and all of his friends and wants to be included in their stupid, all male club, the Basset Hounds. (sorry if this seems like a weak summary, but I do not want to give too much of this phenomenal book away).

Even though Frankie frequently shows these feminist ideals, Frankie is always in conflict with herself about how being a feminist will impact her social life. She's scared that if she is outspoken, intelligent, and cunning, Matthew will break-up with her and she will no longer be allowed to sit at the "popular kids table."

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book AGAIN not trying to give too much of the story away:

"The problem was that to them - to Uncle Ben and her mother, and maybe even to Uncle Paul, Frankie was Bunny Rabbit. Not a person with intelligence, a sense of direction, and the ability to use a cell phone. Not a person who could solve a problem. Not even a person who could walk fifteen blocks all by herself without getting run over by a car. To them, she was Bunny Rabbit. Innocent. In need of protecting, Inconsequential."

[in response to Matthew asking Frankie out] "There isn't a girl at Alabaster who'd say no. He's Matthew Livingston. So the alpha guy had prior claim, but he backed off when Matthew got hold of you."
"You're making me sound like a piece of meat."

[when Frankie decides to go out with the boys because Matthew asked her too...this quote shows the conflicting thoughts of what feminism really is] "Frankie found her friend's attitude infuriating. By opting out of what the boys were doing in favor of a typically feminist pursuit, Trish had closed the door...she could open the door again. But another summer spent making crumbles in the kitchen, and the boys would stop asking her to come out. Instead, they'd expect warm dessert to be waiting for them on their return."

[Matthew gives Frankie her t-shirt. Her sister's reaction] "But wearing his t-shirt is like wearing a sign that says Property of Matthew Livingston on your breasts....It's like a dog peeing on a hydrant. He's marking you with his scent."

These are just a couple of the points where Frankie is conflicted by a crush on Matthew, yet still wants to remain true to herself. I would definitely recommend this book. Sometimes, I am afraid I am not a feminist because of some of my actions. Frankie, however, shows me that being a feminist is not so black and white and that being a feminist can have a number of conflicting ideals. Frankie helped to reaffirm that just because I may like my boyfriend to open a door for me, that does not make any less of a feminist. I love how realistic The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks is, especially for a female college student like myself!

sick bastards on the internet

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/un-ad-campaign-shows-what-the-internet-thinks-of-women

This has been going around, so I'm sure some of you have seen it. I thought it was worth posting and discussing however, as I found this campaign to be moving and powerful.

Not only do I love that they used actual searches as proof of how women are seen by many, but I loved that they seem to be targeting women with this campaign. Beneath all of the search terms it says something like "women cannot accept the way things are," and "women need to be seen as equal." I don't think that they would have gone about the campaign in this way if they were trying to persuade the sick bastards who searched this stuff. Rather, I felt this was more of a call for women to stand up for their rights and become mobilized. We need to recognize that sexism and discrimination are not in the past, and actively fight for a more just society.

What did you all think? Did you find this as powerful as I did, and did you interpret its audience in the same way?

Let's make SLU "Sexy"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2013/10/16/20-sexiest-colleges-photos.html?source=socialflow&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter

When I first happened upon this link, I was very skeptical at first to see the 20 SEXXXIEST (triple x of course) colleges in the United States. Hell, I’m still not even ecstatic about one of the criteria being good-looking students. One thing I LOVE about this list, however, is that it also factors in sexual health as part of the criteria! The sexual health was taken from the annual sexual health report card by Trojan, which examines student accessibility to resources pertaining to sexual health.

Like I said, I’m not sold on ranking students by their “hotness.” But I love how this list actually takes into consideration what programs the colleges have to offer. I actually believe we touched on this topic before in class, but it is so cool to see that a “sexy” college is one that promotes safe-sex! And this time, I don't think it's a hoax/hacker. 

So what do my fellow feminists think? Do you think SLU could become a “sexy” college? I mean, look-wise, we obviously can compete with these schools ;) But that department is not my concern. I think we have some awesome activist projects going on in our class that could improve sexual education, make sexual education more readily available to students, and protect students that have been sexually harassed or assaulted. Even though we are a religiously affiliated institution, I say we work our way up into becoming a “sexy” school by adding on these education programs, student groups, and lecture outreach programs like the Trojan article suggests! I don’t even know what options we have here for students that want more sexual education, which is obviously a major issue!

I don’t know about you guys, but I would love for SLU to become “sexy!” 

Valley Girls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHf089jl9H4

This makes me sick to my stomach. These women are in a show to see which one is a true valley girl. Men are the judges, and the women participating seem extremely uneducated. What is going on here? I was not around in the 80's, but I remember hearing about valley girls. The socialization of women to make them appear unintelligent allows for patriarchal domination to hinder our lives. Even though Moon Zappa said that this was a way to analyze the social media I don't care! This talking, and attitude allowed these women to belittle themselves unknowingly. The whole time I watched this my face was in total shock. Even my cat looked away in disgust. Does anyone else feel this way? maybe the Valley Girl is dead now, but where else do we see similar ideas?

Playhouse Creatures

This weekend, I went to see the Saint Louis University Theater's production of Playhouse Creatures, a production about the struggles of women actresses during the Restoration era in England. I had to attend the show for my ballet class and I honestly thought it was going to be the biggest drag ever..

But I really enjoyed it! The women in the play (the entire cast was 5 women) were extraordinary and tugged at heartstrings at the most difficult scenes, including an abortion scene and a scene that account's one of the character's rape.
What was most striking to me though, and what had me so upset at, was to see the problems that women in show business faced in 1669 are the SAME PROBLEMS WOMEN IN SHOW BUSINESS FACE TODAY! They are viewed as objects, as animals, as "playhouse creatures". The male actors can be as old as they want, but as soon as one of the actresses in the playhouse gets "old" (she's maybe 30 in the show) they let her go in the streets and replace her with younger, more "sexy" women for the men to gawk at. The play hits on some major problems then and it's obvious that it is meant to stun because the problems still persist int he media and show business. I thought back to "Miss Representation" and a reading that I had for my Intro to WGS If Shakespeare Had a Sister from "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolfe which connects the historical with the now.. Pretty dreary. I encourage you all to look up the summary or scenes from the play online, it was hard to watch, but it had a very clear message and characters that were strong and emotional.

Here are some links to "Playhouse Creatures" summary and If Shakespeare Had a Sister for your reference.

http://shsudramaturgyjameswhitla.blogspot.com/2011/06/plot-summary-for-playhouse-creatures.html

http://egophelia.free.fr/2femme/woolfroomsister.htm

Rob Delaney and the Friendly Sanchez

Hello everyone! This week I wanted to post about one of my favorite comedians, who also happens to be an outspoken feminist... Mr. Rob Delaney. I have struggled with comedy, particularly male comedians, since I started taking women's studies courses, as I have trouble reconciling some jokes with my beliefs as a feminist. On the one hand, the comedy community often notes that their aim is to make people feel uncomfortable with things we often sit complacent to. This seems to be a goal conducive to the feminist agenda; however, the jokes used to do this are often less than female friendly. For example, the Daniel Tosh rape joke controversy left a sour taste in my mouth (though, to be honest, I have been guilty of laughing at Tosh.0 bits before). I get frustrated because it seems that women aren't allowed to take offense to such things without being told they "don't have a sense of humor."

Anyway, I have long been a fan of Rob Delaney due to his being hilarious, but his firm stance on feminist issues has only made me love him more. As can be seen in the youtube clips and tweets below, he often attacks the misogynist male community that many of us have painfully encountered. To sweeten the pot, the dude has an ongoing twitter flirtation with acclaimed feminist poet, Margret Atwood. Dude is awesome and I love him.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNnczOJIITI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-id9-Wy_xfQ

Tweets:
-I love gay people. Or as I sometimes call them, "people."

-I was considering voting for @mittromney, but then I remembered I ENTERED THE WORLD THROUGH A VAGINA.

-If I were a woman, when I encountered sexism I’d be like “BRB, I’m gonna go *MAKE A HUMAN* IN MY BODY LIKE A MAGICAL GOD, YOU SAD OAF.”

-My dick just gets me in trouble. Yesterday it slashed a cop’s tires & called my cousin the R word.

-A hairy armpit on a woman is like a yummy adult pussy RIGHT NEXT to a boob! If you ain’t into that, you ain’t into women.

-If you see a woman breastfeeding during the shutdown, call the police. That is socialism & it is illegal & #gay.

-.@FoxNews I’mNotRacist™, but I don’t want a black man dating my daughter/allowing her to purchase health insurance.

-First a woman nominated to head Fed, then one gets Nobel Prize for Lit. What’s next, a woman grows a man in her body & trains it to breathe?

Please everyone watch Malala talk! Amazing woman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/malala-jon-stewart_n_4073426.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

I cried while watching this. She is a feminist who risked her life for what she believes in, and now has written to tell the story.

Gender norms SUCK

 http://www.buzzfeed.com/video/bobbymiller/things-girls-do-thatd-be-creepy-if-a-guy-did-them

So I was surfing Buzzfeed, and thought after today's discussion on some male roles in society this would be a good video to watch. Some of them are a little bit silly, but the main point of this video to me was how sad it is that men would be looked at strangely for doing these things. Most importantly, I think that if men asked a friend to go to the bathroom with them, or surprised their friend with a piggy-back ride they would be labeled as a homo. In another class we are talking about machismo culture, and how that slowly destroys men. Women can be more masculine than men can be feminine, and I think this blocks men off from many family/societal/sexual relations. How did everyone respond to this video? Did it just seem stupid, or could it be used for change?

An Update of SGA Reform!

So after our little vent sesh last class, I wanted to let you know that we are going to actually have a dialogue on privilege and oppression and the responsibility of a member of government and positions of power to recognize their privilege!

I would love to hear you all's thoughts on some questions I could use for the dialogue, as I will be facilitating it.

Also, in my role o SGA, I stand on the UCSC hearing committee which listens to conduct hearings. I will be at training on Friday and our reading for tomorrow on Sexual Assault Policies at colleges has made me question whether we are or able to have separate hearings for sexual assault cases for people trained in the area of dealing with such cases..

Hope to talk to ya'll in class about I tomorrow!

Three Cheers for Derek!

http://www.newnownext.com/derek-schell-becomes-first-openly-gay-player-in-the-ncaa/10/2013/

In honor of National Coming Out Week, I wanted to share this awesome yet almost sad story in the grand scheme of things.

The NCAA can now boast about its first openly gay player, Derek Schell! As his story explains, Derek went to a Catholic high school, where it was extremely hard for him because of the still oppressive society that we live in today. It is sad to me to think that we live in a world where gay slurs are still part of a societal norm… Hell, it saddens me to think of all the derogatory slurs against women and African Americans that are still used to this day!

Nevertheless, Derek received a surprisingly positive reaction from each of his basketball teammates and his coaches when he was able to come out to them. I think it is absolutely incredible that the NCAA has its first openly gay player. I hope that this form of activism encourages other basketball players, not only in the NCAA but across the nation, to become much more comfortable in their sexuality and have the courage to come out as well. As we discussed many forms of activism in this class, I think this is a perfect form, showing how a celebrity can be an activist simply by discussing the oppressive issues he faced and how he overcame them.

The sad thing about this story? That this is the first openly gay NCAA player. Wake up, people! It is 2013, and I think it is pretty ridiculous how oppressive our society still is to this day just because a person is attracted to someone of the same sex.

I had this discussion with my friend about National Coming Out Week, and no matter how incredible I think it is, I told him that I will be extremely excited for the day when every single day can be National Coming Out Day because people will no longer give a fuck about sexual orientation!

But here is three cheers for Derek for having the courage to be the first NCAA player to come out! His actions, especially as a male athlete, are absolutely incredible and a fantastic form of the new types of activism that we are beginning to see today. 

Please Lend Your Voice!!!

Hello!

As some of you know, I am working on a flyer series for the Gender Studies department to raise awareness and enrollment in our classes. My aim is to feature as many people, and as diverse a group as possible. I am meeting with Jenny tomorrow and plan on getting some names, but I would love for all of you to be a part of this. It should only take five minutes of your time!

If any of you are interested, or you know someone who is, please email me at hgentry1@slu.edu with the following:

-your name/ majors/minors
-a picture of yourself
-a small statement on why you support gender studies

For example:
 (I support gender studies because) It is a place where the free exchange of ideas is welcomed and where activism towards ending social, political, cultural and economic inequality is expected" - MIchael Zitzer

Thank you!

Hannah

Eating the Other

Have you all heard of the concept of "eating the other"? I think it was bell hooks who coined the term. Anyways, if you don't know, eating the other, (as I understand it) is when one race takes a custom from another race because they think that custom is cool, but they take this custom with a sense of superiority and leave the other race still feeling inferior. Okay, sorry if that is really confusing, but I'll use some examples to try to clarify.

What "eating the other" reminds me of is when my little brother would make a joke at home, and nobody would laugh. Then, 10 minutes later, my older brother would tell that same joke and everyone would laugh and say "good one!" While my little brother is left saying, "Hey! I just said that!"

The best example of "eating the other" that I can think of is white people with the hip-hop community. White people who "act black" are seen as cool or have "swag". Miley Cyrus is accused of eating the other with all of her twerking and the use of black women in her performances.

So, what do you guys think? Do you think this is a real problem? Is it an issue if white people start adopting black customs? To me, it kind of seems like another way to take power away from minority groups.

knowledge during breast cancer awareness month

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/04/nfl_s_a_crucial_catch_football_s_breast_cancer_awareness_initiative_is_about.html

Yesterday as I was surfing the web I stumbled across this article, which discusses  the effectiveness of using outlets like the NFL to promote breast cancer awareness. After reading this I was reminded of a documentary that has been in my netflix cue for a while, Pink Ribbons, Inc., which discusses the many problems within the Susan G. Koman organization, and our reliance on it for research. This film was both disturbing and eye-opening for me. I have not been a supporter of this organization since their recent attempts to  de-fund planned parenthood, nor since learning that their president was paying herself a six-figure salary; that being said, I was ignorant to the extent of dysfunction surrounding SGK.

Their failure to advocate for more thorough preventative research, especially in looking at the cosmetics industry, is disgusting. One statistic that shocked me was that only 20% of the chemicals in most products have been researched for safety. In other words, many of the products that we use, and which SGK stamps their pink ribbon on, have not been proven safe. Outside of this, both article and film make a compelling case about the inherent problems in making activism corporate. Companies, at the end of the day, are concerned about their bottom line, not the well-being of their customers. Furthermore, I agree that such activism seems to comfort people into apathy.... why would you march on Washington to demand more NIH funding for research when you can just donate money to SGK, ?

Has anyone else seen this documentary? What are your thoughts on this organization?


 If anyone doesn't have access to Netflix and would like to see this film, email me at hgentry1@slu.edu and I'd be happy to give you my account info!

TOTALFRATMOVE.COM is white patrisrchy in a nutshell...

Hello sisters!

Okay so sometimes I do this and it's totally unhealthy but I'm actually pretty sure most of you do it too, just remind yourselves there is much work to be done.... I troll websites that are anti-everything I fucking stand for and rad the comments of these websites.

Has anyone heard of the website "totalfratmove.com"?/ It's this awful "satirical" (in their own words) website that posts articles and pictures of college students in Greek life.. Kind of like a Greek Buzzfeed. Away, I stumbled upon this website when trying to look for some refreshing new activities on awareness of privilege.

Here are links to the most disgusting ones I found:

http://totalfratmove.com/50-ways-to-be-the-perfect-college-girlfriend/

WHAT?!!?!?!?!

http://totalfratmove.com/uw-superior-stands-by-white-guilt-campaign-where-white-students-write-unfair-on-their-faces/

http://totalfratmove.com/university-of-texas-tridelts-zetas-and-atos-offend-easily-offended-people-with-fiesta-parties/

I just want to cry now. I just wanted to complain and reinforce the AWFULNESS of fraternities like this and the impact they have on society and young people.. ya know, being on College campuses and all...

Blurred Lines Dance Routine

http://www.kctv5.com/story/23586526/teacher-loses-job-after-complaints-about-blurred-lines-halftime-routine

Even though I am sure that we are all sick of hearing about Blurred Lines, I thought this video was very appropriate to post this week since we are talking about activism and how it relates to education. As I am sure you saw, a high school dance team coach was fired three days after the high school dance team did a performance of Blurred Lines during a halftime show. Jolin said that students have always picked their own songs to dance to and that they edited the song to make it appropriate.

Is it even possible to make that song “appropriate?”

Anyways, I wanted to gauge the opinion of the feminists in our class. We have discussed how educating students on the oppressions of the world could potentially work as a form of activism to end the subordination that women and minority groups face every day. Do you think Jolin should have been fired for allowing the girls to do this dance routine? Even though they picked the song, should she have stepped up and told the dancers that the song was sexist and demeaning towards women? Or do you think that it was ok that she allowed the girls to pick this song and dance to it? From the footage that the video shows, it does not seem like their dance was over sexualized by any means, but it is still the fact that a HIGH SCHOOL DANCE TEAM danced to this song!

For me personally, I have never been one to listen to the song lyrics much, and I have always really focused on the tune of the song. These girls obviously focused on the popularity of the song as a selling point for doing a dance routine on it. I am also a person that is firm in her belief in allowing students to express themselves in artistic manners like this At the same time, it is a school and it worries me that these young teenage girls may not even know what the song is about or be educated on the topic if they chose to do it as a dance routine.

Also, I think it bothered me even more considering we just heard of a male teacher violently raping a 14 year old girl and getting only 30 days in prison for it. Jolin allowed her dancers to do a dance to Blurred Lines, and she was fired for it! I obviously have some very conflicting thoughts about this and would like to hear from all of you. Schools are supposed to educate students but also allow them to intellectually, artistically, and athletically express themselves. Was this the most appropriate way to handle the situation? 

Intro vs Feminism in Action--Dove "Real Beauty" sketches

Dove's "real beauty" sketches

OK, so someone in the intro class I'm taking with Ina (Sorry for the repeat post, Ina) posted this to our class blog today. Everyone was very happy and gave nothing but really positive responses. They were happy to see different women represented, instead of the typical Giselle, or Tyra, or whoever. They were happy that it seemed to present a positive image of self-acceptance, and the idea that being ourselves is what is truly beautiful.

This is how I responded, because I don't know how quite feel about it...something didn't sit right with me.

I have some problems with this. Overall, yeah the message that women are our own harshest critics is nice and all, (because I know I sure am) but who is saying this... A COMPANY that SELLS beauty supplies. They're generally not in the business of making us feel good about ourselves (or they'd be out of business), so I can't help but be a little dubious at first...
The words they use as positives and negatives reinforce our pretty limited ideas of beauty... the women who are describing their self-perceived negative aspects of their faces were using words like "rounder", crows feet, (really? who gives a fuck, that's SO NORMAL, I HAVE CROWS FEET AT 23) whereas the "cute, short" nose was valued for one woman, or "nice" eyes (why do women have to look "nice"?). I don't know, I just can't help but really believe that dove's appeal to my emotions is all about me feeling good about myself. It's part of a system that is constantly making us feel like we're inadequate, our face isn't "thin" enough, or a larger chin isn't feminine enough, or prominent nose isn't as "CUTE" as a smaller one, so that we buy their products to improve our self-image. If these heart-warming feelings are connected in my head with my (narrow-minded) "positive" view of myself, I will remember that next time I'm buying shampoo or whatever it is, and am more likely to feel a companionship pr some bullshit like that with Dove, and buy their product.

Honestly, the best feeling or view I've had of myself and my image that I've had in a long time, came after watching MissRepresentation. The idea of you can't be what you can't see plays a huge role here. I got to see all of these intelligent, strong and yes, beautiful, women speak out against the idea that women and girls have to be a certain way. I felt empowered, I felt beautiful, I felt in control.

WOMEN CAN BE SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST "BEAUTIFUL".

ANOTHER one of my problems, why are the men present ONLY to describe that woman's eye's as "nice, blue".....reinforcing some male-centric views on how a woman should look and that she can only really be validated by him? and why aren't the women of color talking more?


What do you ladies think? Am I picking too much? Is this a step in the right direction by promoting self-love, body acceptance? Or is it more harmful than it appears, with some messages that there IS indeed a certain way to look that is good or bad when it comes to appearances?