On Wednesday the Planned Parenthood of NYC Action Fund hosted a panel that brought together three awesome New York feminists: Feministing's own Jessica Valenti, Lynn Harris of Salon's Broadsheet, and former Planned Parenthood Federation president Gloria Feldt .
The discussion roamed from women in the comedy world to Abby Johnson , the Planned Parenthood director turned anti-choice activist, to the weaknesses of the term "pro-choice" in the rhetorical battle over abortion rights. But the conversation centered on the speakers' relationship to feminism--how they came to identify as feminists, how it is has influenced their lives at various stages, and how we can get more young people to embrace the label.
I was especially fascinated to hear about their paths to feminism. Both Jessica and Lynn said their first moments of feminist awareness came at a young age--in 3rd grade--before they had the language to give a name to their sense of injustice. For Lynn it was listening to her gym teacher explain to the class how to do "push-ups" and "girl push-ups." For Jessica it was when the boys on her team told her to pretend to be sick when it was her turn at bat in a class softball game. Yet, despite growing up in feminist-minded families--Jessica even attended pro-choice protests with her mom as a kid--both said it wasn't until they were young adults--going off to college, taking their first Women's Studies courses--that they came to identify with feminism on a personal level.
Gloria's path to feminism, on the other hand, was a bit different. A self-described "desperate housewife in Texas," who had three children by the time she was 20, Gloria said the invention of the birth control pill literally saved her life. Eventually she discovered a new magazine called Ms., sought out the NOW chapter in her small-town community, and never looked back. For her--coming to feminism in that way, in that time period--the personal was political and vice versa from the very beginning.
As a woman in my early 20s, I identify with Jessica and Lynn's path--and I'd wager a lot of younger feminists have had a similar journey. Growing up in a family and community in which a belief in gender equality was kind of taken for granted, I certainly signed onto the political goals of feminism long before I came to appreciate feminism on a personal level. I believed in it--in a kind of abstract way--before I really felt it. And it was only when I started to make the link between how I felt and what I believed--between the personal and the political--and realized that feminism really does provide a lens through which to look at the entire world, that I came to identify as a feminist.
How about you? What was your path? When did you start to really feel the power of feminism?
Crossposted at the NOW-NYS Young Feminist Task Force blog .
Just an absolutely amazing interview.
Hey Feministing Community!
I'm trying to find some information on how midwifery and other alternative birthing options are treated in all the health care reform bills, but finding comparisons about this topic is proving difficult.
Anyone know of any resources that could be useful?
Thanks!
I know that there have been posts before about The Proposal, but I really just feel like I need to rant.
So, I finally went to see The Proposal with a couple of friends of mine. I really liked it, it was cute and funny and had a love story and happily ever after, etc. etc. I think romantic comedies are adorable, but it's also difficult to watch them because as a feminist, you inevitably find things you don't quite appreciate.
When the movie opened, for the first few scenes, I thought Sandra Bullock's character, Margaret, was awesome. I respected her for being strong and not taking crap from anyone. I especially respected her for continuing to do what she wanted despite the fact that everyone called her "it" or a "witch".
But the movie paints her out to be a complete bitch. Why does every strong woman have to be portrayed as a bitch? And why are strong men portrayed positively? I just didn't like that just because she did not take crap from people, all of a sudden it makes her a horrible, horrible person.
Also, the movie makes it seem like she was basically cured by love. Here's a strong woman who falls in love and then proceeds to let out every vulnerability she's ever had. Like the time she cried in the bathroom when someone called her a bitch. Really?? So, the people who made the movie wanted to portray her as either a bitch or not a strong woman at all.
And the entire time, Ryan Reynolds' character Andrew is trying to rise above her. Because heaven forbid a woman ever be more powerful than a man.
And finally, when he is trying to convince her that they love each other, blah blah blah, and she tries to protest, he yells for her to shut up. And then, when he's kissing her, someone in the background says, "Yeah, show her who's boss, Andrew."
Margaret is also painted as an incredibly lonely woman. Why in the world does her life suck so much when she's a strong woman who doesn't take crap from anyone and all of a sudden brightens up when she unravels all of her vulnerabilities, etc.? I'm not saying that if you are vulnerable or cry that you are not strong. No, not at all. But apparently, that's what the creators of the movie think because at the end, she doesn't even have power over her employees anymore. No one is scared of her now.
And what's also frustrating is that when I left the movie, I mentioned to my friend Joanna that I liked it, but from a feminist viewpoint, I was iffy about it. She then proceeded to tell me to "shut up" and that "it was just a movie".
Yes, I know it was just a movie, and that romantic comedies don't really have the responsibility to be all socially aware, but I don't think I was wrong in being frustrated.
What do you guys think? Should I just leave it at that, that it is just a movie, or am I justified in being frustrated about all of this?
Stumbled upon the Disney wedding website, and this video stuck out for its infantilization of women and creepy daddy/daughter complex.
Recently I've been reading a well-received biography of Andrew Jackson written by Jon Meacham entitled American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House . Meacham devotes much time to an exhaustive retelling of the so-called Petticoat Affair, a controversy that sprang up in reaction to the wife of Jackson's Secretary of War, a beautiful, but headstrong, and as such, highly controversial woman by the name of Peggy Eaton.
In our day, her presumed offenses might lend themselves to some unkind remarks and assorted snickering but would not carry the full weight of scandal as they did then. In short, she was assumed to be a fallen woman who had engaged in promiscious behavior, was rumored to have driven her first husband to suicide as a result of her dalliances, and furthermore engaged in the indignity of not waiting a respectable length of time before being remarried to her second husband. That she was also not an especially tactful, nor restrained person with a quick temper, her strong opinions made an unfortunate situation much worse. The President, however, liked the Eatons and made it known that he wished that they be allowed to live in peace and that those who shunned the couple ought to be seen as personally affronting him.
However, even so, other cabinet members, particularly their wives refused to call on Eaton, a direct snub according to the social conventions of the day. Social divisions within Jackson's inner circle that had been papered over unskillfully prior to Jackson's election now found themselves in open display as two camps broke out: those in favor of Peggy Eaton and those not. Washington society spread one salacious rumor after another, further encouraging the discord. Soon, the entire cabinet had to be dissolved, with prominent members being dispersed to cities and locations well away from Washington. As the reader, I still find it incredible that some took such lengths to dissociate themselves from one person knowing that doing so would created tremendous problems within the Presidency itself and compromising the governance of an entire nation.
Continue reading "The Petticoat Affair"A recent Feministing post on transgender people having sex with cisgender people attracted many negative comments focusing on the "dishonesty" of transgender people.
First of I'd like to say that I completely agree that it is dishonest for a transgender person and a cisgender person to have sex, full-stop. We live in a world where notions of sexual orientation and gender are defined from a cisgender persective. Since transgender people don't fit neatly into these cisgender definitions, we are always going to be viewed as dishonest from a cis-only perspective.
The whole notion of gender is commonly defined in terms of "biological sex". Interestingly very few people seem to see any need to decide what "biological sex" actually is, given that it has about a million different scientific meanings. Transgender people don't fit into these ideas of gender, so we are dishonest always. I can't say I am female without being accused of lying about what my assigned biological sex. And I can't say I'm male, because that isn't my gender identity nor is how I'm usually perceived, so that of cause would make me dishonest as well. And I certainly couldn't say my gender identity is anything other than female or male, because those options don't even exist in a lot of people's eyes. So yes I am completely dishonest, because I can't even give an honest (cisgender) answer to what my gender is.
Thankfully comments along the above lines have become rarer at Feministing, and transgender people are less often accused of being dishonest about their gender.
But now with this recent post, there was a lot of people making comments based on similar thinking. That transgender people should reveal their transgender status, because it's something a partner needs to know. Yet the reason usually given is that its relevant to the sexual orientation of the cisgender person.
Continue reading "Being Transgender is Dishonest"The folks at Raising Women's Voices have put together a wonderful fact sheet about what women's issues are at stake with health care reform. It outlines specifics about what women want in health care, and whether or not the bills in the House and Senate will help us or hurt us.
It's under "Our Publications" in the Resources tab on our webpage raisingwomensvoices.net
The Washington Post has an article on interns at PETA. It describes a few of the protests that PETA has held recently. Many of which, of course, involve naked women:
This self-assured knowledge is useful when the PETA interns are naked, which happens occasionally, like at a recent Friday demonstration when Kelsey Jaye stands with another "PETA Beauty" in a makeshift shower on Pennsylvania Avenue by the National Archives. They languidly wash each other with cruelty-free soap and ignore heckles from the gathering crowd.
This isn't an unusual display, of course. PETA has a long history of objectifying women in the name of animal rights. What I found to be interesting about the article was a quote from one of the female interns. Jaye, from the shower scene above, has participated in many demonstrations. She describes another naked protest, this one against bull-fighting:
"There were 50 demonstrators in a big naked pile, with arrows sticking out everywhere....It was totally empowering. It's great to be able to use your body as a tool."
I don't like PETA's tactics, but THIS woman finds those tactics empowering. I am uncomfortable getting all paternalistic towards another woman regarding what she chooses to do with her body: "Honey, I know you THINK this is empowering, but that's because you're too cold to feel the sexism."
This isn't too far from the "sex work as empowering/degrading" argument. I don't have a particular point I'm trying to make here. I just wanted to put the article out there for the rest of the community to think about.
Hi--
My friend, Jessica, and I have started a blog to deal with issues having to do with beauty--in particular, women's problems with boobs. The way boobs are sexualized (and of course they are sexual), the way images are more and and more pornographic, how girls are taught to both be ashamed of their breasts and at the same time, willing to show them off in tight shirts.
The blog is a social justice project that aims to give women a space to explore the many issues surrounding our ideas and our physical experiences with our boobs. We have posted some stories, some news items, and a poll and questionnaire. It would be helpful if we could receive a lot of responses to our survey as well as some new stories.
Please check it out and tell us your own stories or give us suggestions as to how we can make the blog better or more relevant.
Thanks,
Bridgett Jensen
