WGS event: What Can Service Learning Offer to Women's & Gender Studies? Panel presentation

At the beginning of the semester, I attended a panel presentation about what Service learning has to offer community activism, with several women’s & gender studies professors from schools around the St. Louis area. I was kind of on a women’s studies high, having just started the semester and sitting in a room listening to what these intelligent women had to offer to their communities and world was incredible (I took 5 pages of notes). It was really cool to see how political or not these women decided to make their work, and how their own brands of feminism manifested in each one of them. Some talked about the important political nature of the past, some talked about the taxonomy of “women’s studies” and how the differences in the way each of the represented schools decided to label their programs was important, showing what their focus was.

I could write a TON about this, but some of the things/ideas that stuck out to me most were:

-Feminists can tend to “leak” into other events, making it a very flexible/all-encompassing field; there is overlap in activism projects (intersectionality!)

-Another definition of feminism: “Making individual opportunities available to women and other people that don’t have the resources”

-Women’s and Gender studies can learn from the real world as there is inevitably going to be some reflection on the social dynamics of the time

-There are multiple forms of leadership that should be appreciated, more than what or who is on top or in front (simply: appreciate everyone, everyone is valuable!!)

-Locally situated knowledge-important issues or what my community needs from me

-Dr. Laura Kramer said: Be ready to see the unexpected and react to it with something “feminist”--there are many opportunities for creative activism (then went on to explain the fake Champagne clubs the feminists of Iceland held to trick lecherous old men to call attention to the sex trafficking of women and young girls)

-Existing in a network is energizing! Networking and collaboration are key to activism

-Theories are messy, don’t always mix so we need to get into the real world and learn from experience

-Women’s studies has its roots in radical times-we stand on the shoulders of that time

-Service learning= a shared knowledge, high-impact educational experience

-Service model vs. Social change model--helping change the system, not just bandaging problems within the existing system

-Grassroots empowerment is everything!

Penny Weiss: feminist activism--“No” means “not yet” or “regroup and try again later” --be relentless!

Personally, I loved how political these women all seemed to be. That is something that I feel I have been lacking in at SLU: political, intellectual stimulation. It was so refreshing and empowering to hear these women talk about the ways they are changing the world around them.

Most Iconic Feminist Moments of 2013

Just a nice pick-me up, cause the work of the movement is exhausting.. 28 most iconic feminist moments of 2013! Keep it up!

http://www.policymic.com/articles/76145/28-most-iconic-feminist-moments-of-2013?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_content=feminist+moments&utm_campaign=ppacttionfb

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, ladies! It was an honor to be your classmate :) Let's stay in touch and keep up with this!

Social Activism Tastes Better When the Waiter is White

As I'm finishing my final paper for this incredible course, I have been pondering this article I found a few weeks ago, as it coincides with some of the conflict I discuss in my paper.

http://watercoolerconvos.com/2013/11/26/social-activism-tastes-better-when-the-waiter-is-white/

If you all are not familiar with Olivia Cole's writing, she writes a lot on white privilege and racial justice in this country. The link above is a social critique on Olivia's role as a sort of "white knight" for the cause of social justice and racial justice. It's pretty much like the epiphany I had in class, if ya'll remember, when I realized I was being super oppressive and counter productive to the cause as in my SGA role, I often times spoke for Black Student Alliance and for black students. It draws connections with the BlackGirlDangerous blog post about "Being an Ally"..

Give it a read, it's so to the point and truthful. Thoughts?

Michigan Passes "Rape Insurance" bill.. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?!!?!?

Michigan lawmakers passed a controversial measure on Wednesday that will ban all insurance plans in the state from covering abortion unless the woman's life is in danger. The law, which takes effect in March, will force women and employers to purchase a separate abortion rider if they would like the procedure covered, even in cases of rape and incest.

Supporters of the "Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act" argue that it allows people who are opposed to abortion to avoid paying into a plan that covers it. Opponents have nicknamed it the "rape insurance" initiative, because it would force some women to anticipate the possibility of being raped by purchasing the extra abortion insurance ahead of time.

Read more about it here: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/michigan-rape-insurance_n_4428432.html 

PEEPS Event

I attended the PEEPS event that Kirstin put on, and I really enjoyed it! Honestly, I was pretty surprised at how many people attended. I expected the only people to go to be from our class, and not only were there people in attendance from outside of our class, but there were also several people outside of the women's and gender studies program in attendance. It was really cool to see people who were not affiliated with the program in attendance. I was also really excited that a male was in attendance! My goal for the women's and gender program is to have more men affiliated with it.

I think that PEEPS mission is critical. Every time I tell someone that I am a women's and gender studies minor, they always want to know what I can do with that degree. I really hope that PEEPS continues to educate people on the versatility of  a degree in women's and gender studies.

Happy Post

http://www.policymic.com/articles/76145/28-most-iconic-feminist-moments-of-2013

BRACE YOURSELF!! I actually found something positive to post!

This article is the bomb. It is filled with the best feminist moments of 2013. It made me laugh and cry, literally. I know we have so much further to go, but being reminded of the progress we have made is always refreshing.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did!

Ads You Won't Believe

http://justsomething.co/23-sexist-and-discriminating-ads-that-wouldnt-be-published-today/

Okay....this is the most appalling thing I have seen in a while.

I know that the media has always portrayed women poorly but wow. How could these ever be considered okay for publishing? The ads that disturbed me the most were the ads that demonstrated violence against women. The "Is it ever okay to kill a woman?" and the "If your husband ever found out that you bought store-tested coffee" made me sick. Today, women are still discriminated against, but I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a woman in this time period. The issues that are reflected in these ads are still relevant today, but aren't as socially acceptable, at least most of them anyways. Also, the ads that featured black people were very disturbing. I am more thankful than ever to not live in that time period.

These ads were so extremely disgusting that I kept saying to myself: "this can't be real." Does anyone have more knowledge in this department and could tell me whether these ads are accurate? I really hope they aren't, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were real.

Flawless: We Should All Be Feminist

Last night Beyonce unexpectedly released her album. The album which is titled, Beyonce is actually a visual album that included 14 songs and 17 videos. I love the album and the videos but as soon as I started listening to I thought to myself that some feminist are going to have problems with it, probably calling it anti-feminist or something again.

However in the middle of her song Flawless, Beyonce features a sample of a speech from Nigerian author Chimamamda Ngozi Adichie. Adichie wrote the novels Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sky (great book btw). The sample comes from a TED speech Adichie did earlier this year called We Should All Be Feminist.

I thought this was a great speech for Beyonce to feature in her song, especially because of all the critiques she gets from feminist and about being a feminist. The speech also sums up all the things that Beyonce sings about in her new album. I personally do think we do need to look to famous people to be feminist in order for feminism to be valid but its always nice to find out that people you like are feminist.

Here's the portion of the speech that Beyonce featured in her song.

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”

“Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, economic equality of the sexes.”

Entire Speech:

Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/powerful-feminist-speech-beyonce-new-album

Feminist Selfies!

Soooo, you all have probably heard of the #feministselfies that took to Twitter last week and I just wanted to see what you all thought of this as a form of activism. Never though a hashtag could be activism but, if you think about it, it's a GREAT WAY to get people at least talking and thinking about things they maybe wouldn't before. Or get Google going crazy with all sorts of feminist theory definitions and stuff. Hahaha, I thought back to the feminist Ryan Gosling meme and the impact that had...

Anyway, for those of you not familiar, #feministselfies took to Twitter after an article on Jezebel was written
claiming that “Selfies aren’t empowering; they’re a high tech reflection of the fucked up way society teaches women that their most important quality is their physical attractiveness,” which, prior to looking into this, I definitely agree with to some extent. But the #feministselfies concept is that women who don't fit the beauty standard in this country- women who are heavy, short, dark-skinned, hair other than straight or perfectly curly hair, taking pictures of themselves, claiming their bodies and faces as beautiful for themselves and empowering themselves in the process. Here's an interesting article in response to the Jezebel article:
http://www.bustle.com/articles/9421-feministselfie-reinforces-why-selfies-are-empowering

And another cool one:
http://hyperallergic.com/95150/the-radical-politics-of-selfies/

And another:
http://www.mommyish.com/2013/11/21/feminist-selfie/

Google #feministselfies on "images" and some pretty neat women have showcased themselves defiantly and oh so badass.

I personally never take selfies, because I think that it reinforces beauty standards as the only way that a woman can feel beautiful. But, in the same breath, I fit the traditional beauty standard. I look in the mirror and love what I see. I think hard about this, especially since my sister struggles with body image- but I never feel like it's my place to talk about it since- it's easy for me to say with my size 2 jeans and extra small-small tops.. What are ya'll's thoughts on this? Definitely a great form of activism!

Activism or Harmful Images?

I recently found this New York artist's social commentary on status and power in regards to race. It's called "Trophy Scarves", not sure if anyone has heard of it? He drapes naked white women over his shoulders, essentially wearing them. The women look lifeless, and if they are wearing clothes it's not much. Here is the link to the website.

http://trophyscarves.com/

There is this article on the artist's purpose, since the only mission on the website is "I wear white women for status and power."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/07/nate-hill-trophy-scarves_n_4393518.html

Initially I was disturbed and not gonna lie, frightened at the images before me. The artist himself is African American and evidently makes social and political commentaries with his art, but this one has such violent undertones, I'm not sure I can say I understand what his purpose is. I thought maybe he was poking fun at black male celebrities and how often times they marry and have children with white celebrities or white women? I'm trying to get what he means to accomplish with his suggestive work... Thoughts?

women's studies event

Today I attended the women's studies writing day event in McGannon- can I just say I love that the department holds these things. Not only does it allow a space for the WGS community to gather, but a space for productive work to be done as well. I am not aware of too many departments in this school that host such things to allow people to come together without additional agenda, and I love that WGS does. This was simply a nice space for people to gather, work, share ideas, etc. Please continue holding these in the future WGS!

Whyyy Rap Whyyy?!

So I grew up listening to rap when my parents weren't watching. I hung around with kids at school that only listened to rap. I used to attend concerts for local artists in San Antonio and I had no problems with the lyrics. Wasn't until college (big surprise) that I started thinking, "hey, why do the artists only ever refer to women as 'bitches' or 'hoes'?"
When I look back, I think about how I listened to the Eminem, especially. I thought he was the best.
Has laregely been criticized for his misogynistic lyrics, especially to "Kim" where he raps about killing his girlfriend and stuffing her in a trunk. He has openly stated he hates women because of the way his mother treated him and the way his girlfriend Kim ended up treating him.
His newest single "Rap God" has been praised recently for it's style and art and often, Eminem is praised as a well, rap god. Even though in that song, the end goes a little something like this
They're asking me to eliminate some of the women hate, but if you take into consideration the bitter hatred
I had Then you may be a little patient and more sympathetic to the situation and understand the discrimination
But fuck it, life's handing you lemons, make lemonade then
But if I can't batter the women, how the fuck am I supposed to bake them a cake then?

Eminem also has a 17 year old daughter. He has recently stated that he would never want his daughter to date someone who likes his music.. WHAT!? But it's okay for the violent images and lyrics in his songs to be memorized and worshiped by other men (and women!) everywhere?!!?!?
What are some of ya'lls thoughts on rap music lyrics? The issue is multilayered and deeefinatley an issue that is centered around color, but just wondering if anyone's got any links to blog posts or articles that talk about this.

Spoken Word on the Rape Culture

This video was really uplifting and was shared on Facebook on lots of my friends walls and I even had one of my friends in a fraternity here said that this video should be shown to each fraternity at one of their chapter meetings.

http://www.upworthy.com/if-a-man-asks-what-women-have-been-asking-for-centuries-will-men-finally-listen?c=bl3

The author really goes into how deeply ingrained the culture of violence is when he speaks directly to the men and asks them how many times they referred or heard someone compare a victory to "raping" a test or the other team, and asks how many of them refer to a certain article of clothing as a "wife beater".

I think the video itself and the sharing that I saw throughout this week on Facebook of people that I didn't know were the "type" of people who would share things like this- things that challenged people and not cute friendship Buzzfeed articles...

It was nice to see so many people share it and hear conversations in class and work about the video and its impact. Thoughts?

Is Boehner done yet?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/boehner-says-i-do-to-gay-candidates-but-house-democrats-push

Once again John Boehner presents himself as an ignorant idiot. The article talks about how Boehner has said that he supports his openly gay Rep. candidates. Even though he doesn't want gays to get married, or have equal employment rights; Boehner seems to be okay with saying 'I do' when asked if he supports his gay candidates. Wow could he be anymore of an ass? What he said is the same as saying 'I'm not racist because I have minority friends.' Boehner you are still a homophobic prick. Also by saying I do you are poking fun at every gay American who wants to get married.

I completely agree with Mr. Hammill who quoted: “LGBT Americans are more interested in passing ENDA and expanding freedom and equality in our country than Speaker Boehner’s insincere efforts to marry himself to extreme gay Republican candidates.” How does everyone feel about Boehner's 'I do' quote? I know I'm not being to harsh, but could he really be opening up to gay America?

more on kid's toys...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/02/how-to-tell-if-a-toy-is-for-boys-or-girls_n_4372629.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

I thought this was pretty hilarious. Maybe we as buyers should take some of the responsibility in assuming that certain toys are for girls and others for boys.... sure, toy makers are advertising based on gender, but we can fight this gender- training by buying our boys dolls and our girls trucks! .... Maybe let's just try and raise all kids to be well-rounded people...

How We Teach Our Kids That Women Are Liars

How We Teach Our Kids That Women Are Liars

I thought this article was very thought-provoking. I have of course heard and read some about the "women as witches" myth/stereotype that is perpetuated, but this article take that to a whole different level. Those views of women as deceitful and manipulative, in my mind, were more limited to the image of the "witch". However, as this article points out, it seems to have even stronger roots in our country's Christian history, which can be seen even in the way that our children learn to speak about and view women.
I especially thought this paragraph was on point:  

"Ideas about women, credibility, legitimacy, authority and—notably—Catholic and Evangelical “priesthood” are important and have deep roots in religious thought and philosophy. And those ideas have contemporary expression (see links): Tertullian: "Women are the devil's gateway." Thomas Aquinas: "As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten." St. Clement of Alexandria: "Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman...the consciousness of their own nature must evoke feelings of shame." St. John Chrysostom: Women are "weak and flighty...For what is a woman but an enemy of friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a domestic danger, delectable mischief, a fault in nature, painted with beautiful colors?" St. Jerome: "Woman is the root of all evil." There’s Origen, one of Christianity’s greatest thinkers, a man who castrated himself and who considered women worse than animals. And, not to be left out, St. Augustine."

What do you guys think about this article? Do you think these sorts of connections to religious texts are outdated or irrelevant, or more indicative of just how extensive the misogynist thought in our society is?

Book Suggestion: Dangerous Women

                                   

A new book was recently released called Dangeoris Women. Its an anthology of 21 sci-fi and fantasty stories featuring authors like Jim Butcher, Lev Grossman and George R.R. Martin. I read books by Lev Grossman and George R.R Martin and they both always feature interesting and  complex female characters (Arya Stark is my favorite!!).

I bought this book but I haven't had time to start it yet but it's gotten great reviews on Amazon.

 And besides,  how bad could a book be with an introduction that starts with, "Here you'll find no hapless victims who stand by whimpering in dread while the male hero fights the monster or clashes swords with the villian...".


http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Women-George-R-R-Martin/dp/076533206X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386357184&sr=8-1&keywords=Dangerous+Women

Female For Hood Soldiers Recruited For Prostitution Ring

               

On Monday female soldiers at For Hood testified that they were recruited for a prostitution ring by a sergeant who was involved in their sexual assault and harassment program. The case arose after another officer involved in the sexual assault program was investigated for recruiting female soldier for the prostitution ring.

The latest sergeant charged is a 17 year Army vet and his defense attorney asked the judge to throw out the case because "At the end of the day, Master Sqt Grimes chose to do the right thing and not have sex with that young lady." He believed that the trial process is now bias the President and top federal officials are pressing for more prosecutions over military sexual assault allegations.

Ummm, what about the fact that he used his position in the sexual assault and harassment program (which probably benefits women the most) to recruit female soldiers for a prostitution ring. The case was not thrown out and I'm interested in seeing the verdict of this trial.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/female-fort-hood-soldiers-recruited-for-prostitution-ring-trial-hears

Inequality in Film

http://www.buzzfeed.com/samimain/the-truth-about-gender-inequality-in-film

I know we have discussed this in class before, but here is a very informative infographic on the gender inequality faced in film. Behind the scenes, men greatly control the directing, producing, screenwriting, etc. scene. In the past 85 years, only four women have been nominated for a best director award, and the first woman won in 2010. That just baffles me to see how the film industry, which seems to be a stereotypically feminine, is controlled by men. There are some absolutely incredible directors and producers that are female, yet we tend to never hear anything about them…

It also shocks me to see how these inequalities exist not only behind the scenes, but on screen as well. In the list of the highest paid actors/actresses, of the biggest 16 paychecks earned per film, not a single one was earned by a female actress! I believe there are a number of talented actors and actresses out there today, and it shocks me to think what could possibly differentiate some of those actors and actresses from one another. Like, how do we have an actress out there like Jennifer Lawrence who has made a number of empowering films making less than Adam Sandler, whose films have obviously gone downhill in quality over the past few years.

As mentioned previously, I also find it very ironic when the film industry is stereotyped as being very feminine. I remember when I did theatre in high school, a number of individuals would second guess a man’s sexuality for being in theatre, behind the scenes or on stage. It is interesting to see how that stereotype seems to completely change when a price and fame are put on it.

Overall, it shocks me to think of the inequalities that still exist in 2013 pertaining to women in film. Whether it is behind the scenes, on screen, or through the characters portrayed, women tend to either be seen as inferior to males or portrayed in a weaker light through characters that they act. 

What Lesbians Look like

 http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/what-do-straight-people-think-lesbians-look-like

Okay so I am getting sick and tired of being classed as not gay because of how I look. I am sick of Shannon because classes of DEFIANTLY gay because of how she looks. Well that is just not right! So I decided to post a cute '101 intro to lesbian looks'. This needs to be passed around campus so that there is less homophobia/homo-sterotyping on this campus. For instance, one woman in UNA stated that people assume she is gay because of the way she looks. Not cool y'all. Gays are not dogs (we cannot be picked out of a crowd by our looks!

The problem is that I know I sometimes do this myself. What could we as a campus do to reduce stereotyping?