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The issue of asking questions has come up in several comment threads I've been involved in lately.  Lots of others have written great comments on the topic, but because it comes up over and over again I think it deserves its own post.  When it ends up being addressed in comments only, the topic of when and where and how to ask questions ends up being a derail of its own. 

There is a commenting pattern in posts covering topics about social minority groups (trans people, for example) that goes something like this: 

Commenter A:  I don't understand something about your minority group.  Would you like to explain it to me? 

Commenter B:  Asking minorities to explain themselves is a form of privilege.  Please look this information up yourself. 

Commenter A:   But how am I supposed to learn if you don't teach me?  Why are you calling me privileged when I'm trying to help? 

This kind of exchange has also gotten uglier than this, on both sides of the conversation, with accusations of arrogance and snottiness and overprivilegedness.  What the "Commenter A" types are saying often seems to boil down to "I'm willing to listen if you disagree with something I say, but you seem to be saying that I don't have the right to ask a question.  You don't have the right to tell me not to ask questions!" 

Here's part of what I think is going on.  In the culture in which most of us grew up, we are taught that asking questions is the key to our own educational progress.  We spend at least 12 years, often more, in formal schooling asking teachers our questions, and being encouraged to do so.  We are told that there is no such thing as a stupid question, and we spend the grand majority of our days and weeks with professional question-answerers. 

Then you go on a blog, ask a question, and suddenly the rules change.  People tell you that it isn't ok to ask a question, which goes directly against your entire formal education.  You feel like you're a good person, and you're trying to do the right thing.  This feels like rejection, and it makes you angry. 

Your feelings make sense.  They're also, respectfully, your own problem .  Let me explain. 

For so many reasons, the conversations we have on blogs are not the same as formal schooling.  When you ask a question, you are probably thinking of yourself as a student.  When you were a student, you asked questions of your teachers.  Your teachers were in a position of power over you in several ways:  they had the ability to assign you work and to grade your performance, they were sanctioned by an entire hierarchy of school officials, they were generally older than you.  They also had had the opportunity to choose to be question-answerers:  they chose and trained for the profession, and they received monetary rewards and possibly also symbolic rewards such as certifications and prizes for their work.  Importantly, they also had the opportunity to choose NOT to be question-answerers. 

Today I was asked in speech class to talk about "If I were God, what would I change?" and "What do you like or dislike about the opposite gender?"

Two very biased questions from the beginning, right? Well, I expected a little bit more from a world traveler that is my teacher.

The first question, which someone even said they didn't believe in God so they wouldn't answer it, I answered that I wouldn't change anything. We live in a world that isn't blissful for a reason--it insteads allows us to realize compassion, tolerance, understanding, and right from wrong.

Without a yen there is no yang. But I would have an average person be eliminated of ignorance about the realities of the world to perhaps inspire or urge them to change what they feel is wrong. We are the ones to change this world, not God. We have to accept and try to change our actions.

The second answer was a doozy.

There was already sexist remarks about "Well I don't think girls are funny" and bull. So I knew this wouldn't be understood by this crowd -- the word misogyny. I said I would change misogyny, insecurities, and ignorance of the other gender.

The teacher (who makes u watch a playback in another room on the tv) asked "Is misogyny the marriage of two races?"

Wow. Yah, I was sort of shocked by this woman's question, especially since she said "I'm married to a misogynist Republican but he's a good guy" when introducing herself.

Community, I come to you today with a dilemma that has been weighing heavily on my mind recently. I am currently in the fourth year of my PhD program in English and anticipate going on the job market in the next year or so. During my studies, I've also nearly completed a graduate certificate in Women's Studies and certainly intend to finish it. The thing is, I'm a while, male, middle class, and heterosexual. As you all know, that makes me a member of an extraordinarily privileged group in our society. I believe that I've come to terms with this, though I still struggle with finding effective ways to put this privilege aside.

In any case, here's my question: once I land a job (let's just assume that I do instead of getting into all the reasons why the humanities market is overcrowded), can I legitimately teach classes about feminism? With all of my studies, I hope that I'm assembling some form of expertise, but, unlike other areas, this doesn't automatically give me credibility. Could I even hope to be a driving force in a classroom when I'm a part of such a privileged group?

A followup question to this would be, SHOULD I teach classes like this if the opportunity arises? Is that the place of a man in this field/movement? My concern is the education of young men and women. Can I reach the people who take these classes? Will they take me seriously? Can I only be an ally and not an educator?

So that's the dilemma I've been wrestling with for the last few months. Any opinions are helpful, or if you know of any feminist writers who have tackled this subject, pointing me their way would also help.

Thanks for listening.

This post has two parts - the first is real simple: I need to find out if any of you knows of Women's Studies courses that can be taken online.

I am currently deployed, and have had to put my studies on hold. Lately, I've felt as though I've slipped from academia, and need to continue to learn, to ready myself for my senior thesis/law school for when I get back.

So, does anyone know of any schools that'll offer women's studies online? I've done an extensive Google search, and haven't found much.

Secondly, I want to explore the areas of feminist growth: at one point can a feminist no longer learn? What are the areas in epistemology and feminist research can we start to take on, after having exhausted courses/studies academically? In short, how does one continue to learn and at the same time, contribute to feminist academia? At a certain point, it seems feminist primers and theories no longer apply, and the bodies of literature are no longer good enough to draw from, if one wishes to go on to engage a career in feminism/social justice.

So, to Women's Studies majors - what did you end up studying after graduation, and how did you continue to grow as feminists? More specifically, what are some of the challenges of continuing to learn as Women's Studies scholars? How can we expand WMST programs to feed the academic needs of students, and, lastly what areas of feminism do you think is lacking in Women's Studies?

Marc.

I've been reading about how teachers tend to call male students to speak in class much more than female students. One reason is that boys are faster to raise their hands, while girls tend to wait until they've thought over their answer. Another is that teachers feel more need to keep boys engaged to prevent goofing off. This is a subconcious problem that needs an active correction, and I am looking for tactics and strategies. Has anyone used or seen smart efforts in classrooms to keep everyone (in this case, boys and girls) equally involved?

There is a group on Facebook that I've joined that is striving to keep Latinas in school and on their way to earning a high school diploma. I really encourage everyone, Latina or not, to join.

Some of the statistics are:

41% of Latinas do not graduate with their class, if at all.

At least 53% become pregnant before the age of 20.

Here is the link.

Comments are appreciated, thanks!

Cross-posted at The (not so) Little Things.

Evidently, the misogynist, creepy, a-hole responsible for the Pennsylvania fitness club shooting didn't have any friends, not just women. He left his entire estate ($225,000 worth) to the University of Pittsburgh.

Rightly so, the school declined the bequest:

"The university community continues to grieve about the tragic loss of lives. And we believe that any available funds should benefit Mr. Sodini's victims and members of their families. Our thoughts and prayers remain with them. We at Pitt will do what we can to assist them in receiving any funds that have been bequeathed to Pitt."

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it would have been kind of awesome for the school to accept the money and give it all to the Women's Studies Department?

A little final "fuck you" might have been nice.

I have recently taken a teaching position at a university that has a Women's Center for female students and, presumably, faculty and staff. Having been a student and/or instructor at several universities, I can't remember ever seeing something like this before.

The Women's Center is not a medical facility, nor is it the Women's Studies department. It is an office dedicated to addressing the needs of women on campus as well as providing a space for women to get together and hang out.

This same university, several years ago, had a rather serious gang rape alligation from a female student against several athletes. At the time, there was a lot of victim-blaming and harrassment, so I was plesantly surprised when I returned this year to see the new Women's Center.

Often, I think universities tend to be unsupportive of rape victims/survivors, even convincing them not to press charges and allow the university to handle the alligations. I hope that this trend is changing.

Do other universities have similar organizations? Are they helpful/successful?

Just, you know, in case you were worried, they address that fear in the lede of this article that is supposed to be celebrating the continued relevance of women's colleges:

Kateri Benjamin, a 2009 graduate of Barnard College, hadn't planned to attend an all-women's school, but the high-caliber academics, sophisticated student body and opportunity to live in New York beckoned. Still, her friends didn't make her choice easy. "They said, 'Are you a feminist? All feminists are lesbians. You're going to come back a lesbian,'" laughs the 22-year-old New Jersey native.

The article goes on to (sort of) debunk these assumptions and paint both feminism and women's colleges as sensible and empowering. So why am I burned up by one stupid paragraph in a larger article supposed to be favorable for women's colleges? Well, because that one paragraph (the lede, after all) perpetuates a stereotype so constantly used to discredit them. As those who spend time in or around women's colleges are undoubtedly familiar with, a public fear of feminism and lesbianism are hurdles that women's colleges are expected to address before they can be evaluated for their academic and professional merits, and this article is no exception. In public examination of women's colleges, the F word and L word are always lurking nearby.

I have no doubt that Ms. Benjamin encountered a lot of these kinds of sexist, anti-feminist and homophobic assumptions. They are sadly very pervasive. (I recently graduated from a former women's college that went coeducational more than three decades ago and I still encountered the "that school is for lesbians" meme.) But Heidi Brown's article focuses on these assumptions before addressing the academic qualifications of these schools. She makes the journalistic decision to present "You're going to come back a lesbian" as the norm, as the most noteworthy perception of these schools, before acknowledging impressive job placement statistics. Therefore, even in an article trying to celebrate women's colleges--which frankly, doesn't happen enough--it manages to relegate the important and oft-ignored qualities of these institutions to secondary status, reinforcing these sexist, homophobic and anti-feminist seeds.

From chron.com, Houston and Texas news: At some schools, health classes no longer mandatory

The most infuriating quote from the article?

State Rep. Rob Eissler, who sponsored the bill changing the graduation standards, said he expects districts will adopt them over time. “Our aim … was to make school more relevant to kids,” said the Republican from The Woodlands.

Because nothing is more relevant than ignorance.

Since i'm deciding to go along with starting a feminist club- which im going to aim for both boys and girls. Im going to try to give people the feelings that the club isnt only about women but how men have to live up to expectations that not all of them are comforable with.
In order to get attention, i was hoping to find some random interesting facts, that teenagers can relate too, about women and male issues.
Can anyone help me out?

Hello, I am new to Feministing but have always read about the website in Bust and Ms. Magazine. I attend a Catholic college in Boston, MA that no longer has a FemCo. After many excuses and what ifs, I am finally looking forward to founding the coalition at my school. However, I am obviously new to the fact.

I am a Media Studies and Women's Studies major, and not religious--however the fact I go to a catholic school makes the coalition even more interesting. I am really into learning about how the media portrays women and unconsciously forces women and men into thinking and consuming in a stereotypical manner. There will always be a need for women's studies, and I'd like to further spread and share our opinions and thoughts concerning feminism with as many people as possible.

Do any of you fabulous feminists have any pointers/ideas/ for a new founder of what could be an intense change to my school and the city of Boston? I am passionate about starting this and becoming active in it, and having as many followers and feminist friends as possible. Throw me a bone girls!

Hello everyone. I need your help. I am an editor for the National PTA and am developing with some of the best people in the field online articles with practical advice about how to raise children in a gender neutral way, and particularly, how to ensure that boys and girls get equal education through nonbiased course materials, teaching styles, testing, etc. My plan is to post this information on PTA's website, but I'm a little stuck. How often should it be posted--weekly, monthly? Should it be sent out in emails as well? How do we reach less-advantaged parents who may not have a fast Internet connection or even a computer? How about schools and teachers?

I really want this to be a success, but I don't have all the answers, nor do I have a lot of people to rely on for advice. That's why I hope you'll leave helpful comments here. Or you can send them to my personal email if you wish: pokerface_2001 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 I was having a conversation with a dear friend of mine about feminism. He asked me to point out anything on the books, now in the Supreme Court or other lawmaking body that is oppressive to women, outside of reproductive rights ( which always ends in a huge ideological fight for us).  I couldn't think of anything outside of the wage gap, and when I offered him the fact that women make 30%-40% less the men, he asked me where I might find that fact that wasn't here on Feministing, or another such source.

I couldn't, and I told him the reason why is because of the law that was put into effect, that you couldn't ask someone how much they make legally, basically speaking to the obfuscated truth of it.

So, where do I go from here? He keeps asking for facts I can't give to him because I am not the world's best researcher, and it feels like a silencing tactic since I cant just point to something and say "Here, Here it is!"

What do I do now?

I now have MA in Women's & Gender Studies. Problematic for a few reasons.

First, the issue here is that after over three decades of disciplinedom (or inter-disciplinedom), there are still few who know what Women's & Gender Studies is. At least this is what I am suspecting, as I am currently in post-grad purgatory. The transcript reads:

Me: Yes, I just finished my MA in Women's & Gender Studies

Confused Person: Women's Studies?

Me: Yes, Women's Studies...uh, Gender Studies

Confused Person: What is that?

Me: Well, it is an interdisciplinary program where I studied the role that gender plays in the world

Confused Person: Huh?

Me: I used a mixture of Political Science, International Studies, Sociology, History, English - you name it, to study gender and social inequality.

Confused Person: Cool?!

So, my question here for all of my fellow gender scholars is how we relay our Women's/Gender Studies training in marketable ways? It is my conviction that we come out of our programs with profound analytical and creative thinking skills; we can read critically, we can write persuasively, we can think beyond disciplinary boundaries. We have a lot to contribute to all sorts of industries, but how do we get there?

No, this is not a rhetorical question.

Feministing readers:

I'm working on writing a piece for a newsmagazine at my university (the College of William and Mary) as part of a series that informs incoming freshman and transfer students about things that can easily get left out of official admissions materials. The topic of this week's piece is sexual health.

So what I wanted to do was ask other readers the kind of sexual health services––for both men and women––that we think college campuses should provide to their students. I want to get a broader view than just my own on what a progressive, feminist student needs and wants from his or her college.

Thanks! Please feel free to respond with anything. I won't be directly or indirectly quoting anyone from this site, but I want just get a sort of litmus test on the topic.

Today we celebrate the 37th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the landmark civil rights law which banned gender discrimination from all education programs and extracurricular activities in federally funded schools.

I don’t think I need to go into a huge description all that Title IX has done, but for the sake of discussion I’ll just outline two:

1). Although the law did not originally make any reference to athletics, it has since become famous for altering schools' athletic policies to increase female participation in sports and establish gender equality in athletic budgets and competitions. Before its passage girls made up only 7 percent of high school sports participants; that number now stands at more than 40 percent according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

2). Title IX also vastly improved educational opportunities for women and increased their participation in higher education across the US. Before it was passed, 42 percent of college students were women; that number now stands at around 57 percent of the students in universities and colleges.

While Title IX has opened many doors, there are many left to break down. I just thought we should take a minute and think about how much progress has been made since 1972.

Also, in the interest of advancing feminism are there questions we should be asking ourselves at this point that we aren’t? Do we still need Title IX? Does it go far enough? Would women in collegiate athletic and educational programs be on equal footing with their male counterparts if Title IX was taken away? If not, how much have we really progressed?

I've long been the lecturing friend.  Or at least that's what they consider me until someone comes up with a problem.  The cashier at CVS told them they couldn't buy condoms under 18, they weren't sure how to go about getting on the pill, or wondering if you really couldn't get pregnant from being on top.  Then I was the life saver.  It's a dual role I'm well acquainted with.  When I turned 18, I still had younger friends who were completely clueless about their rights as a minor, what they could and couldn't do.  Wonderful sites like Scarleteen, SIECUS' Community Action Kit among countless others were great resources to them.  

Growing up in Georgia, and attending private schools for a time, I was frustrated with sex ed.  I only ever had one sex ed class (which didn't even really qualify), which I remember vividly because of it's stupidity.  I was in 4th grade, I had no interest in sex, no one in the room had an interest in it, because we were all told at the time it was immoral and evil.  After fighting with the VCR, we watched a video in black and white.  It was easily older then the ages of all the girls in the room combined, vintage '50s or so.  We saw a diagram of a uterus and ovaries, and were taught about our period.  The "sex ed" part of it consisted of being told via diagram that one day the uterus would hold our "babies."  It was mostly about periods, and was so not informative that it was ridiculous.  They had brought mothers of some girls in the room, thinking somehow this would make things less awkward.  I remember thinking, "I love adults, they're so cute, thinking that their very presence would instantly explain and make us understand."  The video ended, there was no discussion, and we went back to putting blocks up our noses, or whatever we did in 4th grade.  Keep in mind, this is public school.  I didn't ask my mom, she's extremely ab-only and I've never in my 18 years heard her refer to female anatomy by name.

My entire sexual education started when I was introduced to the internet.  Because my family is about as computer savvy as a ground squirrel, I had access to whatever I could get into.  Luckily, I found strong feminists early.  I wish I could remember the writers that started me, but it was he farthest thing from my mind.  Four years ago I found Feministing, and your link page.  There simply was no going back.  I refused to let my state, county and city govt keep me from being educated about my body, and took it upon myself to keep others out of that same dark.  After surviving a few years of Christian private, kinda secular private, and public, I ended up homeschooled because of my health.

In the fall I am going to the University of Louisville.  So far, I've been impressed by them, but I can also see areas I hope to work to change.  That, however, is another post entirely!

What I've been leading up to here with my long-windedness is, as a young woman looking to take feminism, sex education, positive body image and awareness into a more proactive realm, where do I go from here?  I was very fortunate to get into a Gender & Public Dialogue course for my first semester, the only WGS course available to incoming freshman, and I'm hoping to use that as a platform for future work.  I'm an equine business major, and with such a woman-dominated field, I plan on continuing it into my professional life.

All comments are welcome!  Thank you all so much for reading this.  And a thank you to the Feministing crew, you've helped me get to where I am today.

Comments on a recent community post suggest that there are many people on Feministing and probably in general who have experienced unhealthy relationships in which partners have begged, persuaded or coerced individuals into sexual activities. I have had the experience myself and strongly believe that consent and characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships need to be taught as part of comprehensive sex ed instruction. I know that my reaction, after the relationship ended, was to reflect upon such experiences and realize how they made me feel and made me wonder why I didn't get out sooner.

The idea that being in a relationship with someone gives someone else access to their body and/or sexuality is incredibly disturbing, but seems to be out there. It makes it that much more confusing when a partner that we are supposed to love and trust (and who is supposed to love and trust us as well) treats us with such a lack of respect. I would love to hear any suggestions that the Feministing community has for educating people about this and for offering support for those who have experienced such situations/relationships. I believe there are a lot of people in unhealthy relationships and not enough dialogue about what an unhealthy/healthy relationship actually looks like.

I am female. I attend a private, 9-12, coed boarding school.

Last month, as I sat in the auditorium during our weekly All-School Meeting, a horde of senior boys suddenly leapt on stage, clad in only short-shorts and wacky accessories. Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move it" (popularized by the movie "Madagascar") blasted over the sound system, and the audience realized that this year's highly anticipated Senior School Meeting had officially begun.

Senior School Meeting is a time-honored tradition at my school. It always hits at the peak of spring term, when the weather is nice and so-called senioritis is in full swing. It's always kept under close wraps, the details pronounced highly confidential so as to not spoil the surprise. And it always involves scantily clad senior boys - the jocks, the hunks, the creme de la creme - engaged in some provocative, pelvis-thrusting dance.

Now, Senior School Meeting has never bothered me in the past. I understood that the pelvis thrusts, gyrations, and simulated sex acts were all done in good fun, if not good taste. I screamed and squealed with all the other girls. And the guys seemed to delight even more in this sexually charged, blatantly homoerotic spectacle.

But the hype reached a new level this year when the dancers came into a new, strange formation. Two boys facing each other spread their arms vertically, their palms touching. Other boys would enter the narrow space created by the arms, barging through downstage toward the audience. Check it out (skip to 4:10 to see what I'm talking about):

I have a confession to make.

I completely forgot about this website about a month after I made my last, and only, post. When I discovered this blog last summer, I was amazed by the community and the great stories that everyone had to tell and, eventually, I made that first great leap of faith and wrote something myself. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when a few people actually took the time to appreciate what I had written and comment on my entry. I was excited. I was enthusiastic. I was full of ideas and ready to make them a reality.

And then senior year started and there were five AP classes and twelve college applications to the most selective schools on the east coast and hours and hours of figure skating practice every week and, just like that, all thoughts of feminism and my love of writing for the sake of writing were lost. I suddenly found myself drowning in the chaos that I had always prided myself on being in control of. After three years of thinking of myself as a master of the art of 'time-management and organization with minimal to no stress', I couldn't take anymore and was officially done. Only problem? I was six months too early. So after eleven years (and three months) of private school and great grades, when those big, fat envelopes from Ivy League institutions were so close to landing in my mailbox, I was suddenly a high school dropout.

I am female. I go to a private, 9-12, coed boarding school.

Last month, as I sat in the auditorium during our weekly All-School Meeting, a horde of senior boys suddenly leapt on stage, clad in only short-shorts and wacky accessories. Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move it" (popularized by the movie "Madagascar") blasted over the sound system, and so we in the audience realized that this year's highly anticipated Senior School Meeting had officially begun.

Senior School Meeting is a time-honored tradition at my school. It always hits at the peak of Spring term, when the weather is nice and so-called senioritis is in full swing. It always is kept under wraps, the details pronounced highly confidential so as not to spoil the surprise. And it always involves scantily clad senior boys - the jocks, the hunks, the creme de la creme - engaged in some provocative, pelvis-thrusting dance.

Now, Senior School Meeting has never bothered me in the past. I understood that the pelvis thrusts, gyrations, and simulated sex acts were all done in good fun, if not good taste. I screamed and squealed just like all the other girls. And the guys seemed to delight even more in this sexually charged, blatantly homoerotic spectacle.

But the hype reached a new level this year when the dancers came into a new, strange formation. Two boys facing each other spread their arms vertically, their palms touching. Other boys would enter the narrow space created by the arms, barging through downstage toward the audience. Check it out here (skip to 4:10 to see what I'm talking about):

It didn't take the crowd long to figure out what was going on. The screaming grew louder and peaked when two boys, who were repeatedly colliding with the "vagina," finally crashed through.

I admit that, at the time, the implications of what I was seeing didn't fully register. It was only later, as I sat in my dorm room, that I began to feel uneasy. I brought up the subject with my friend, and we realized that we shared that same feeling. It was a feeling of confusion, awkwardness, and marginalization.

Boarding schools have rebranded themselves in the past few decades as diverse, inclusive, egalitarian institutions. And this is true to a large extent. (Wealthy WASP males are now a minority in many schools.) Last year, my school celebrated its 25th year of coeducation (it is 200 years old), touting the achievements of its female students, both past and present. Indeed, it is girls and not boys who dominate on campus. For example, the prize awarded to the dorm with the highest GPA has gone to a girls' dorm every year since 1991.

Yet female students have been largely failed by the institution that benefits so much from their personal success. Just look at our Senior Meeting. It was boys who directed it, boys who starred in it, and boys who left feeling good about it. I can't speak for every girl in the audience, but I for one (plus my friend, two) felt a little sick.

"I don't think I've ever been in a room so testosterone-concentrated in my entire life," I said later to my friend.

"Yeah," she responded. "It was like being a girl at an all-boys' school."

The following is an excerpt from Religion Dispatches , an online daily magazine for intelligent analysis of religion and public life.

A recent headline in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Muslim Women May Defy Fathers’ Wishes and Go to University, Legal Authority Rules” pointed to a Lebanon fatwa (defined as similar to a court ruling). The ruling was quoted as follows:

“If a father wanted to prevent his daughter from seeking an education and she wanted otherwise, then she is not obliged to obey his wishes in this matter… because obeying the father is an obligation but only under the condition that no harm comes of it to the child,” according to Mr. Gomaa’s reasoning, which is derived from Islamic jurisprudence.

“The harm that befalls a girl for not receiving an education is clear and known. If she abandons her college education, then she will miss a great deal of enlightenment about her religion and about everyday knowledge,” the reasoning continued. “She will have a limited awareness of the world around her as compared to … her educated counterparts in society.”

Of course, not all Muslims agree with this ruling, including the unnamed author of a Web site entitled Read Islamic Books where shariah is marshaled to argue against sending daughters to college. And, as I was reminded, reading comments on that same Chronicle article, nor do all the non-Muslim religious people in the United States (or elsewhere) believe their daughters should be exposed to college or university education; some Americans, it turns out... READ MORE : http://bit.ly/h23rm

I come from a southern state (Texas to be exact) and was raised by a fairly religious and conservative family. I attended a catholic all-female high school that hosted fashion shows and had us graduate in long white dresses. Those experiences have shaped my feminist views. 

Growing up, I was often admonished to 'act like a lady.' My co-ed schools invariably addressed female students as 'young ladies.' Boys could be 'guys' or 'boys,' but girls were 'young ladies.'

Being called a 'lady' and urged to act like a 'lady' are two things that simultaneously irritate me and make me laugh. There are some 'ladylike' qualities I admire. For example, one of the finest southern ladies I know served as the director of a nature center for years, crawling through dirt, catching snapping turtles and teaching hundreds of children about the earth and how to care for it. She is also unfailingly polite and kind, two ladylike qualities I deeply admire.

But the term 'lady' has also been used as weapon, particularly by my high school. They wanted to produce ladies who could room curtsy properly, didn't speak loudly and were submissive to the will of god (of course, this will is and was transmitted exclusively by the church). They also wanted us to be 'pure' by not having sex except in marriage and obedient to our elders, something that meant we should never argue with the rules, even stupid ones about calling the cafeteria the 'dining room.' Homosexuality wasn't ever mentioned in our joke of a sex education class and the school was one of the most homophobic places I have ever been.

I attend a fairly liberal college now and most of my friends are from the west coast or the northeast. Most of them laugh at my stories and I like that I am able to share them with people who are open and accepting. But I fear sometimes they see the world I come from as something from the past, out of Gone With The Wind, but not a modern day concern. But it is a 'modern day concern.' My high school hasn't changed in the five years since I graduated (I know this because I still have contacts there). Girls in the south are still urged to be 'young ladies.' Some of them may come to a healthy understanding of what that means. If being a lady means being like the director of the nature center I described above, sign me up. But if being a young lady means squishing myself into a box of conformity, I'll have to decline the honor.

I want to redefine the term 'lady.' I want it to mean something about being strong and brave, yet kind and polite. I want it to mean you can be sexual or not, like men, women, both or neither. I want 'young lady' to be an empowering term. Because currently it isn't and with the way the term is thrown around in the south, it needs to be. I am planning to return to the south someday, after graduate school. In some ways, the south is a different world. I want to have a hand in helping girls who, like me, were and are caught between different ideas of 'how to be a lady' and who need to know you can be a lady without cramming yourself into a box of conformity.

Has anyone else here been called a 'young lady' or urged to 'act like a lady?' What did that say to you? Do you think the term 'lady' can be empowering? How do you want it to be defined?

I was reading dame_elphaba's recent post about the dress code talk to girls in her auditorium, and it reminded me of an incident that really sits with me that I'd like to share.

Of course, we all deal with criticism from friends and peers growing up when it comes to our bodies, our dress style, and how we groom.  Some of those moments really stuck with me for a very long time - my aunt suggesting that we go to a beauty parlor to wax the hair on my neck off at age fourteen, a neighborhood boy standing at the bottom of my driveway making fun of the "trees" growing under my arms, a letter from my entire group of friends at thirteen suggesting that the way to get boys would be to shower a little more often and comb my hair more carefully.  And yeah, I don't think these people really should have been saying these things, but they were friends, peers, and family.  Even in my aunt's case, she wasn't someone trained to deal with children or in a position of professional authority.  And now, being a happily hairy grown woman, I forgive her, and the kids who were well-meaning but grew up in an environment where criticism is part of life.

Here's what I don't think is appropriate.  When I was twelve, I was called into the guidance counselor's office.  At that age I was tall, a little pudgy, with big breasts and a "style" that consisted of big baggy t-shirts, unattractive pale denim shorts that went to the knee, sneakers, and a ratty ponytail.  The guidance counselor shared some platitudes, pretended to be my friend, and then got down to business.  My seventh grade science teacher (rail thin, probably an A cup if that) had noticed that I didn't wear a bra.  This was a problem, the guidance counselor explained, because it would distract the boys.  It wasn't my fault, she assured me many times, it's just that boys at this age can't think of anything else, and they'll be distracted from their studies.  Of course, I was mortified.  She made me wear her jacket the rest of the day and promise to come in the next day in proper under-attire.  My mother was furious, but I was duly chastened and started wearing painful bras with that wretched underwire.  I wore them for maybe six years and have a permanent dark red line under my breasts.  The bruising took about a year to heal, and I now wear sports bras most of the time, nothing if I have on something dark and fitted.  It took my an awful long time to figure out that my mom was right, and even longer to get the ridiculous double standard.  Because of course it's my job to protect the boys' virtue.  Let alone the fact that it was fairly obvious no boy was actually attracted by someone dressed like me, breasts wobbling to and fro under a t-shirt.  I wasn't trying to be attractive, I was just trying to have fun.  You know, like kids do? 

I wonder if other women have had similar experiences with teachers and guidance counselors, and how you felt about it then, how you handled it, and how you feel about it now.

A few weeks ago in AP Government, one of my friends who sat in front of me was wearing a green tank top that was slightly low cut. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt that was about just as low. I have small, practically non-existent breasts. Hers are bigger. 

Guess who was told she would probably have to change? 

Everyone in our corner in the back agreed that our teacher was being an ass and that my shirt was just as low as hers. 

Seriously though, dress codes are such a load of shit sometimes. My freshman year, we were all called into the auditorium for a freshman class meeting. After some stupid power point about goal setting, the girls were asked to stay in the auditorium (because dress codes don't apply to boys, apparently). We were then told by a few upper classmen about the new dress code--no tank tops, no short skirts, no halter tops, no tube tops, no short shorts, and if we didn't abide by this, we "weren't respecting ourselves" and we "were distracting." 

Hi I'm new and had a question (maybe a series of questions?) related to starting a women's advocacy org. on my college campus. I don't know the best way to go about it, although I've already e-mailed various professors and staff for ideas and suggestions. I already have some support so I feel a bit better about starting the idea up again in the fall.

I would really appreciate any feedback (good, bad, whatever) so that I can really have this going ASAP. Some problems that I might face is the fact that my university is small (but 70% female, so hey!), and it's hard to get an organization recognized on campus (paperwork, nosy people, people taking their time to approve the org...). I don't have all the details about the org. worked out yet because I wanted other people's perspectives on it. But in general, the organization would focus on women's issues of course, possibly have officers or facilitators, and will invite anyone to participate in the discussions and events.

I suppose my questions might be along the lines of:

So I am planning on leading a women's issues discussion group at my college next semester. Last semester we had a small pilot group going but this summer I have to really nail some things down.

The main idea of my group is that every week we read some chapters from books (that I will assign) and then come in and discuss them in relation to American society, that of our college, our relationships, our lives and ourselves. The goal is to "decolonize our minds" and wake up from patriarchy (empowerment!), while creating a sisterhood of women (in whatever way) of all races (our school is somewhat socially segregated.) So it's about learning, growing, and making friends. And then we also might have a few days of-- how can we bring this knowledge to our wider community? type events.

Please help if you have any ideas about the following:

1. Group Name:
The Personal is Political (PIP)
Erasing Divisions in Female Youth (EDIFY) though we aren't really youth!!
Building Sisterhood Through Learning (BSTL)
??? other ideas?

2. universal "women's issues" topics that we can connect to our daily lives
pressure/desire to wear makeup, highheels, shave etc
portrayal of women in the media
...?

I also don't think I want it to be explicitly feminist (ie. have the word feminist in the title) because I am hoping to convert some people backhandedly (is that wrong?) I mean, the class itself will be, but I don't think I want it in the name overtly.

3. I am white, cis, straight... black studies minor.  and I want this class to include the intersection between race and gender. The pilot group we had was made up of one other white-straight-cis, black-bi-genderqueer, mexicana-straight-cis, and chinese-straight-cis, and they were all good friends. I'm a little uneasy presenting material that focuses on other races being white. Sort of like the "man leading a women's group" issue. But I do NOT want to ignore it as a large part of this group for me is about creating a sisterhood across races (and a lot of groups on campus either have to be designated for minorities, or it ends up being all white.) How do I say this in the beginning to the group? that I am assigning the reading material but I don't think I'm an expert obviously, nor do I want to put pressure on minorities and have them be tokenized. (I'm also self-conscious of how I am coming off in this post about this issue!) Basically, how do I get our group to discuss these things without crossing lines I shouldn't?

4. I'm also compiling a resource list of good blogs, books, magazines, movies, websites, organizations etc for people in the class. so if you have any... let em roll :)

Thanks!

The Alberta provincial government (Canada’s version of Texas ?) is currently in the process of legislating possibly the largest step backwards yet this century, in terms of human rights (in Canada). 

Bill 44 is a Trojan horse piece of legislation that the gov’t is using to effectively limit the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  Basically, while every other province has included sexual orientation in their human rights provincial legislation, since the historic (and Alberta created) Vriend case, Alberta has been able to avoid this responsibility for 10 years.  Finally, after pressure from just about everyone reasonable, the AB government has promised under bill 44 to include sexual orientation in it’s human rights legislation.

The story should end there. But it doesn’t. Included in bill 44 is a section that would enshrine “parental rights” as well.  This law would ‘protect’ the rights of parents to pull their children from "courses of study, educational programs or instructional materials, or instruction or exercises, prescribed under (the School)Act (which) include subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation."

I can’t even begin to describe the multitude of problems this starts to create. 

Restricting a teacher's ability to speak about certain topics has the danger of silencing them when it comes to "controversial topics."  At best this is problematic in an academic setting, where topics will be avoided or skimmed rather than rigorously examined. At worst, this will encourage staff members to stay silent when issues concerning human rights arise.  At times in schools, issues of sexual orientation are brought forth as a direct result of some sort of marginalization that occurs in the school setting.  For example, when a student is being harassed by other students for being (or being perceived as) gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered it is not be uncommon for a teacher to discuss issues of homophobia in order to foster a safe community, where acceptance is expected. Would that teacher need to send a form home for that? And what if some of the students who were responsible for the bullying were to 'opt' out? Traditionally LGBT youth have been linked to higher suicide rates . How can school be a safe place for these students when their peers are able to 'opt out' of any kind of discussion that might address homophobia?  Likewise, what might happen if a student asks a married gay male teacher if he has a "wife"? Will that teacher need to send home a form to be able to say that he is married to man? How is that not a violation of his rights when clearly no heterosexual teacher has needed to do the same this thus far?

Human rights legislation was created, in part, to protect groups of people who have been and continue to be, discriminated against.  As most of the parental groups who have vocalized their concern over this legislation have confirmed, parents in this regard are not marginalized and have not been consulted on this issue .  Parents have clear, outlined procedures and processes which to follow if there are concerns about their child’s education.  To enshrine these as ‘human rights,’ de-values the meaning of human rights and the experiences of those who are being discriminated against.

This bill was clearly meant to limit the protection and rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.  The fact that our provincial government is using the term 'human rights' to target an already marginalized group is dangerously Orwellian, shamelessly discriminatory and disgustingly embarrassing.

Provincial, National and International pressure can’t hurt:

1.Contact your MLA (Alberta residents)
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=mla_home ,

2. Lindsay Blackett (Minister of Culture and Community Spirit)
calgary.northwest@assembly.ab.ca, (780) 422-3559;

3. Dave Hancock (Minister of Education)
edmonton.whitemud@assembly.ab.ca, (780) 427-5010; and

4. Premier Ed Stelmach
fortsaskatchewan.vegreville@assembly.ab.ca, (780) 427-2251.

I wanted to give a shout out to my brother, John, who recently got an A+ in his Women's Health class at the University of Michigan. While I'm always proud of my brother, I'm especially proud because he was willing to take a class that isn't always popular among guys.

Throughout my college career, I encouraged my guy friends to take a Women's Studies class. I told them not only will it help them to think critically, but it fulfills a race and ethnicity requirement (at least at the University of Michigan). I even tried to appeal to their more primal instincts---the heterosexual guy to girl ratio is often drastically in their favor!

However, I was always met with a wall of skepticism.

I asked my brother what he learned from the class and he said that it was helpful to learn about a variety of viewpoints and issues that are different than his own. I also asked him if he would recommend the class to other guys--he said yes, especially for people who are interested in health.

My brother wants to become a pharmacist and it sounds like this class will be a definite asset for him. I think he will be a great pharmacist--not only for men, for women as well.

So here's my question for the feministing community, how do you encourage guys to learn about feminism?

Did you know that today is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day?

According to the website for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

Why a National Day? Since the early 1990s, the teen pregnancy rate has declined 38 percent and the teen birth rate has declined 32%. In fact, few social problems have improved quite as dramatically over the past decade plus. The most recent news on this front, however, has not been positive. According to data released in March 2009 by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the U.S. teen birth rate increased for the second year in a row since 2005. These increases follow 14 years of continuous decline in the teen birth rate. That is, after declining 34% between 1991 and 2005, the teen birth rate has now increased 5% between 2005 and 2007.

So what can we do to help prevent teen pregnancy?

We can give teens the right information

In an op-ed, Montana state legislator Teresa Henry explains:

In April 2007, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a study that showed federal abstinence-only-until-marriage programs neither delay the onset of sexual activity in young people nor reduce the number of partners of those who are sexually active.

Abstinence-only-until-marriage "education" denies young people honest and accurate information about contraceptive options. Abstinence-only programs often give false information, like exaggerating condom failure rates and teaching stereotyped gender roles.

Instead, shouldn't we be teaching teens how to be safe?

I'm just finishing up my Freshman year of college. Recently for my English class, we had to write a persuasive argument paper. I chose to write mine about the complicated and unfair nature of gender roles. Today in class, we had our final and received our papers back, along with the grade and a page of my instructor's comments.

If anyone was wondering, I got a B on the paper, but I was shocked by my professor's comments. Well, maybe shocked is a bit of an understatement- I was livid. Basically, she was counter-arguing my paper in a way that seemed to say, "Women are weaker than men, there's no such thing as gender roles, nobody really wants to be gay, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

She disagreed with my critique of The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality . She says, "It's actually a pretty good website: balanced, logical, and supported by research. It recognizes that some people are genuinely stressed over their feelings of homosexual attraction and want to overcome these feelings."

Um, WHAT?

What I was getting at in my paper (which I won't post here becase it's eleven pages long and we haven't got all day) is that the only reason people are "genuinely stressed" about their feelings of same-sex attraction is because society looks down on it.

  As far as I know, if you are attracted to something, that means you like it. Therefore, if a woman feels attracted to other women, that means that she gets some degree of pleasure from them. Since a large chunk of society, along with brainwashing organizations like NARTH believe that "homosexuality is not a healthy, natural alternative to heterosexuality," some people who feel attracted to people of the same sex feel as if they are doing something wrong by having these attractions. (It's worth mentioning that I used that exact quote from NARTH in my paper.) NARTH tells people that they are wrong for feeling attracted to people of the same sex, but I'm going out on a limb here to say that NARTH is actually wrong.

Two girls were caught kissing in a high school bathroom in Kentucky.  Their principal decided that in order to prevent this from happening ever again, teachers were not to allow gay or lesbian students from using the restroom. (Pandagon )

The Kentucky equality federation spoke up about this.   But what is even more awesome:

Students protested this decision!

Echoing Student Activism, I think that it's great to see students recognize and speak out against such discrimination.

So a big "Feminist Fuck Yeah!" to them.

According to NPR, super-secret donor has given huge chunks of change to ($74.5 million, to be exact) to 14 colleges - all but one are public, and ALL have female presidents.

All 14 colleges that received money received almost identical instructions. Each time the money was mailed by an intermediary -- always a cashier's check or money order, and in every case the money was to go to female and minority students. Each time, the donor demanded anonymity.

Now, I love many things about this story (generosity, women-led institutions, and the mystery!), but I was put off by the conclusion drawn about the identity of the generous donor:

'The fact that this is so completely anonymous suggests someone who lived in a period of time in which for a woman to be so public about her wealth was not the standard way of operating,' Berman says. 'Of course I think it's a woman because these are all women-led institutions.'

OK, so, (a) women can't deal with having money, giving money, and admitting to money (and are unable to move beyond antiquated attitutes towards money); and (b) people can't possibly be generous without wanting fame and glory.

So, the mystery endures - who is this person!? And if you are reading this, generous donor, THANKS!

I was recently rewatching the newest Dollhouse episode, "Briar Rose," when I wanted to talk about the interpretation of Briar Rose in the episode.

Is the idea that because of the timing, it was not that the prince actually saved her but that Briar Rose's dreams and desires were what actually fufilled the breaking of the curse, the prince was simply the agent by which it happened.  Is that a good reclaiming?  Are there ways to reclaim these fairy tales?

I grew up on them, and I turned out quite well I feel.  But I would love to have something better to teach my children with, should they ever exist.  What options are there?  Are there similarly set stories that don't rely on the princess being rescued?

I was reading this on the ny times site

Apparently in North Carolina they have this cool program where kids can text to get TRUE answers to their EXISTING sexual questions. I am glad there is a program to help kids find some answers and not go blindly into bed with this non-effective abstinence crap. I only wish everyone would see that these kids want to be educated instead of treating them like they cant make decisions on their own.

What really bugged me though was the appreciation of this new program by someone quoted because it didn't cause shame and embarrassment. Maybe we should develop a  healthy school environment where students can feel comfortable and strong in their sexuality, rather than make them feel like complete idiots for not knowing about oh idk something they WILL experience in their lives. ugh

further more the article also states that politicians and school officials have for the last 15 YEARS, been debating whether to teach about contraception in the classroom.

Are they serious!? really! 15 years?! what!? did they all forget about what high school is like, or the fact that after high school you go to COLLEGE! Hello what are they debating? Should we tell them about condoms or not? Let's just let one of them get pregos and then pass the word around about contraception for fucks sake!

but on the whole I think that its cool that someone is taking the initiative to set these peeps free!

As reported by the New York Times on Friday , over a dozen colleges and universities have recently been the unexpected recipients of anonymous donations. In total, about $70 million has been given, with 50-80% of each donation earmarked for scholarship money. The remaining money can be spent at the discretion of the universities.

This is tremendous news for students, many of whom are struggling to cover tuition and educational costs in a weak economy. But it's even more exciting for two reasons:

1. The scholarship money is designated specifically for women and minorities.

2. Each insitution has a female president.

In fact, having a woman president is one of the only commonalities. The schools aren't linked by geography and are a mix of public and private. Female presidents are the one common denominator.

The president of Binghamton University, Lois B. Defleur, put it best, saying, "the actions say, 'I'm investing in an institution because it has made achievements and I blieve that with women leaders it will have future accomplishments... That's pretty powerful in my view.'"

I agree. It is pretty powerful.

So I'm currently working on an essay (which might turn out to be very, very long) about an issue that I think has been overlooked in regards to education.  I want to make it clear that I have enormous respect for educators.  They do their jobs and (most of the time) they do them extremely well.  However I have a major beef with the American educational system.  The recent news of the two 11-year-olds who committed suicide because of homophobic taunts has pushed me to this point now where I am quite frustrated and in trying to organize my thoughts I've come up with quite a few ideas.

"What does this have to do with sexism?" you may ask.  Well it has a lot to do with sexism, as well as racism, classism and various other -isms.  There are major, major issues with our schools the way they are now.  For example: it's no secret that some schools get more funding than others due to the way the system is set up, and this is a problem.  Various forms of discrimination still pervade in our schools, as the cases of the 11-year-olds demonstrate.  But there's more to it even than that.  This has to do with the very moral foundations on which America was built. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, "...if we think [the people] not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."  I am proposing not that kids should be taught what to think.  I am proposing that kids should be taught TO think.  Think about each other, think about consequences, think about everything they're taught, instead of just learning it.  Think about the meaning of truth and justice and compassion.

From my experience and in my humble opinion, our kids are not being taught the basic tenets of American citizenship, that is, HONESTY, ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPECT, COMPASSION, EQUALITY, and RULE OF LAW.  We teach our children work hard and "get ahead", in competitive environments which harbor dishonesty and an us-vs.-them mentality.  Those for whom the system doesn't work are denigrated; those for whom it does are rewarded with that great American promise of opportunity.

What I want to ask my fellow feminists, American or not, how hasthe system worked for you?  How has your education shaped your values?  How (if at all) has it changed the way you view your country and your citizenship?  Do you feel that your experiences with public education have helped you to become a better person?

Feel free to answer just one, none, or all of the above questions if you'd like.  The main question I will be asking in my essay is, "What is the role education must play in a democracy and are our needs being met by the current system?"  I'm still in the beginning stages of fleshing out my argument (still I haven't touched the tip of the iceberg here... this is gonna be a long one >.<), but I'm leaning toward "no" in response to the second half of the query.  Let me know your thoughts on this.  Thanks!

First Post - Thought I'd share this story with you all.

I was recently sitting down with my friend/housemate and we were talking about the Real World : Brooklyn Reunion Special ( Yes I feel bad already for watching but since I needed a form of procrastination this year, it became my drug of choice.) Anyhow we were discussing Katelyn - The MTF Transexual housemember - being mad at Chet ( the metrosexual Mormon) and Ryan ( the small town soldier) for cornering her about coming out as Transexual and specifically at JT ( the designated gay male) for telling them she was Transexual because she told him in private. I was talking to my friend, who is also a gay male, about the power of "coming out" and how forcing someone out is pretty traumatic and scary especially when you do not trust the people who are gaining this information. JT, who has worked with LGBT youth, knows this well and should have known better. As I begin to talk about the power  Ryan ( the straight male) has by asking her "if she was a man" because of his privileged social position and how it was a lose/lose situation for her to say yes/no/or none of your business, my friend becomes extremely angry with me.

It really shocked me.

I am a white female college student.  I have privelege.  I know I have privelege.  But, until a couple of days ago I didn't understand that I have white privelege.  I intellectually knew many of the aspects of privelege, but until I heard an African-American woman talk about her daughter's infant/toddler classroom and how her daughter, as less than half African-American with very light skin was treated differently than another little boy in that class who has darker skin, by adults who should know better, and probably do, and don't even realize they are doing so.  Until I heard out loud, in person, how much it was hurting her, I didn't get it in my heart, rather than just in my brain.  It was the first time I had a truly serious political discussion with an African-American person who identified as such. The areas I have lived in have a demographic that doesn't even make that surprising.

I have white privelege.  I understand that better than before.  I especially understand better what that entails.  I was practically in tears as that woman in my class talked, at the injustice of our society, at the pain that little girl and little boy are already being set up for.  I was nearly in tears for the young 4th grade girl at the childcare where I work, the second grade twins, in a way I have never been before, because I didn't realize, truly, what they will go through in the future.

Sometimes, that in-person experience is what is needed to make privelege be realized.  I wonder if the lesson from this is an idea for a method to explain privelege.  Get a group of eloquent people, ones lacking in certain kids of privelege, as many as possible... male, white, cis, straight, religious (and not just religious vs. non, but majority vs. minority), age (which goes in several directions), weight privelege... there's lots out there, and lots of people lacking in certain kinds.  I know hearing one woman talk about her experiences brought things home to me, maybe others can learn the same way.

Hi! I've been lurking for a long time and this is my first time posting.

I am a counselor at an after school program for girls ages 10-14. We constantly teach feminist topics and ideals but I'd like to teach a class specifically on feminism and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how to go about it. I can show videos, play games, do art projects, lead discussion... I just can't show anything from YouTube since we don't have internet access.

I'd really like the girls to be less scared of the word "feminist" and have some idea of what it can mean.

ANY thoughts are appreciated!!!

Thanks, Lauren

This was intended to be a comment on "This Teen's Take on The Virginia Suspension" , but it turned out to be rather long and more complicated than my original thought so I figured I might also work as its own post.  This can be summerized as "I personally also feel that the current 'Zero Tolerance' policies are too much.  Not every high schooler self-medicates safely.  What other solutions are possible?"

Four of my friends passed away in junior and high school. One friend died from a reaction to Acetominaphen (aka Tylenol and Midol) that she borrowed from a friend and took for cramps.  Another friend died because he forgot/neglected to take his heart medication for two days.  He kept it on himself and the Nurse did not know about it.  He apparently excerted himself too hard and died in art class. These experience biase the rest of my post, which does, in fact, evolve to end with a suggested solution.

This is a column I wrote for a newsmagazine at my school, the College of William and Mary. This poster is in plain view at one of our three dining halls, and it upset me and some of my other progressive-minded friends. Here's the poster in question, and below is text of the article.

Any comments, anecdotes, stories of similar situations at other schools, etc. would be appreciated!

***

Good news: William and Mary students are healthier than you think!

Or at least that’s what’s being touted to onlookers by a series of posters around campus, most prominently in each of the campus’ three dining halls.

Recently in my adolescent psychology class, we were required to go to a local middle school and do observations/feedback from adolescent students.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to plant a seed of thought in young womens minds; well, it didn't work that way.  I have spent up to 6 hours a week the past four weeks going over topics such as objectification, exploitation, media obsession with sexualizing young girls, etc.  I even went into to topics like why it isn't ok to call anyone a bitch or the p word because why is the worst insult one could call another at a womens expense.  I brought in powerpoints about how normalizing sexually explicit material in our culture only perpetuates inequalites nationally and globally.  All these topics I thought were important and to increase self awareness. 

Well, some parents had other ideas, and either the young women misinterpreted what I said, or the parents, in my traditional small town didn't agree with what was said.  So I was called by an advisor at my local college and informed that I was not to set foot on the middle school campus.  The college is telling me I overstepped my boundaries and are trying to somehow screw with my record; like I could never teach because of this.  I feel I have not been given a chance to at least explain my goals and this has really discouraged me.  I just wanted to rant because I feel like this is society reinforcing that if young women are given info that is contrary to popular belief, they couldn't possibly make or form opinions for themselves.  What does everyone else think.  And by the way, my instructor at college and the teachers at the middle school knew what I was talking about; I feel if this were another subject, nobody would have siad anything.  Thoughts and opinions?

The following letter was forwarded to members of the Feminists of Smith Unite Club, as soon as we arrived back from WAM.

I am in the last weeks before my graduation from Smith College, and this Friday the Judicial Board made the decision to evict me from student housing on the grounds that I am responsible for the behavior of my husband. Under our current code of conduct, the actions of a student’s guest are the responsibility of the student who brought them to campus.

As many of you may know from the news or email, my husband was recently arrested at our home in Conway House, which is Smith housing for families with children. I filed a restraining order and signed a release for Public Safety to search our apartment.

When I took a stand against my husband’s physical threats, verbal abuse, and substance abuse problem, I knew that I would be giving up my primary means of support. My children and I now have no income and no vehicle, and their father is facing felony charges. And now I'm told that I have a week to vacate my apartment.

I believe it is incredibly problematic for a feminist institution to allow a woman and her young children to be defined and identified by, as well as unduly punished for, the actions of her husband, especially when she has taken a stance against those actions.

I did what I believed was right at the time. It has taken me months to find the courage to take decisive action, and now Smith's judicial process has decided that the months I took to deliberate and explore my options somehow negate the fact that I took action. In the course of these events unfolding, I have been advised several times by well-meaning people that I should lie. I was told to say "I don't know" when asked about the drugs and firearm my husband harbored in our space. I was told to pretend that I just found out about these things so I might save myself from any incrimination. But I refuse to lie. I will not feign ignorance when I know the truth.

Continue reading Victim Punishing at Smith College.

Posted by fsu - April 01, 2009, at 09:04AM | in Education

while i was in the middle schools today the health teachers were discussing the new sex. ed plan that will substitute the previous abstinence based curriculum. they were shocked at how explicit and crude the information was, how mechanical and graphic. i asked if i could read the lesson plan, and honestly i was surprised. it was very much like reading a car manual, an instruction booklet on sex: this is how you put on a condom. dry? use some lube. oral sex? use dental dam or rubbers.

it was full of statistics about who is having sex and how much. graphs, precisely. it was so cold and sterile. i am all for sex ed., but not one that equates knowing how to put on a condom with a safe, healthy sexual relationship.

the two teachers i spoke to at length were both men, and shared some of their experiences. one of them recalled that the only thing his parents told him about sex was to “keep it in his pants, and don’t get in no trouble”. the other teacher had a sister that became pregnant at 15, and remembered feeling safe in the fact that he, as a man, could not get pregnant and “screw his life”. they both thought that the information would not be helpful to the kids, because it was way over their heads, and inappropriate.

i don’t think it’s inappropriate because kids should not know about sex, but because it teaches nothing about the reality of sex. the much needed information is not only how to not get pregnant, or avoid STIs, but the foundation of trust, communication and mutuality that are necessary for having a healthy sex life. it’s either “no sex, you will ruin your life and go to hell”, or a superficial overview of the physiological reality of a variety of sexual acts.

i am nervous that it’s gonna make people feel even more pressured to have sex when they don’t even know what they think of it yet, because they get a sense that everyone is doing it. so many times as an advocate, or just a friend i listened to people that “gave in” to sex because it seemed like what they were supposed to do, or felt pressured by peers and boyfriends ( and sometimes girlfriend), and then felt like shit about it.

in the end it makes sense that the school system is either offering a firm no to sex, or a cut and dry instruction booklet. it’s easy! there is no discussions, or nuances, or difficult conversations about consent and safety. it’s just another sterile piece of information removed from the real, complicated lives of youth.

i am going to look more into this, because i have no idea about who is responsible for choosing one sex ed. program or another, but sitting here and bitching doesn’t feel right.

The underrepresentation of women in engineering is something that impacts the everyday lives of women.

Everyone is aware of the obvious benefits of increasing the number of women in engineering (breaking stereotypes, increasing women in high paying professions etc.) but far too often in the discussions about underrepresentation of women in engineering, one of the biggest points is missed.

Engineers build the world around us. Engineering as a profession impacts your life on a daily basis and everyday you use countless things that were designed by an engineer.

Currently we are living in a world where most of our technology is designed by men.  Increasing the role of women in engineering & technology is vital to shift towards a more female-friendly world (and no I'm not talking about pink everything!)

Engineering & technology are designed to make our lives easier and the innovations that have occured over the last 10 years are astounding. Imagine if more of that innovation could be harnessed to improve the lives of women and address needs that women have.

My hope, is to spread the message to young girls and young women that engineering is an important profession for impacting the world, the environment and the lives of women. I also want to let them know that they too fit the bill of "what an engineer looks like" because I think so often it is hard for young girls to imagine an engineer as anything other than a man, much less, to imagine themselves as an engineer.

This is why I've started the blog: This is what an Engineer looks like to increase visibility of women in engineering and showcase their stories.

So please, if you know of any girls in elementary school or high school please pass on the message and the blog!

Women in Engineering can change the world! (Also, check out Engineers without Borders for more great work being done by Engineers)

Hello all,

 I’m teaching a Women’s Studies class this summer in the Columbus, Ohio community. As I compile a reading list, I’m open to hearing suggestions. A little information about this class:

 -I’m designing this class for women who are not in the university. All are welcome, but the class will be directed toward women who are unlikely to encounter Women’s Studies or ideas about feminism in their everyday lives.

 -I’m looking for essays, articles, short stories, poetry, or books (relatively short works) that provide interesting or unusual descriptions of women’s everyday experiences. For example, Judy Syphers Brady’s “I Want a Wife” is not only accessible but unusual and thought-provoking.

 -We will meet weekly or bi-weekly (contingent on the schedules of the women able to participate) in mid to late summer for about 6-10 weeks.

 Thanks for your reading suggestions! 

By Allie Bohm, ACLU Washington Legislative Office

I did not have a sex education. I graduated from high school in 2003, when Congress was in the thick of its love affair with scientifically-discredited and constitutionally-questionable abstinence-only programming , which have received more than a billion dollars in federal funding since 1996. In fact, at a conference on sex ed last month, I was so disturbed by my inability to recall whether sexuality education ever came up in my school that I called my brother, who graduated from high school in 2006, to see if he remembered any such classes. He confirmed my recollection that our school did not teach sex ed.

I guess I should be glad that my school district did not teach abstinence-only and proud that my home state, New York, has since rejected Title V abstinence-only funds, concluding that they are a bad investment and counter to the interests of its students. After all, my peers and I were spared "education" that would have, according to a Congressionally-mandated study, had no impact on our decision to initiate or delay sex, but would have made us less likely to use condoms if we did decide to have sex. We did not have to hear about exaggerated condom failure rates. We were not subjected to a litany of gender stereotypes meant to color our future sexual relationships. ("Miniskirts turn boys on; if you wear one, you're asking to be raped ." "A wife must always please her husband, or he'll cheat on her .") I did not have to listen to presentations that would have stigmatized my peers from single-parent families or my lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender friends by insisting that sex is only acceptable within the context of legal (read: heterosexual) marriage. Nor did I have to endure programs suggesting that my sexually active classmates were somehow dirty and impure . I was not the captive audience of classes that violated the separation between church and state by promoting a religion that was not my own.

The University of Guelph is a medium-sized research university located in Southern Ontario. There isn't really a lot that sets it apart from its peers. But there might be soon.

Using the excuse of a budget crisis, the University of Guelph is trying to cut its Women's Studies program from its curriculum. This would make Guelph the only research university in Canada without a Women's Studies program, which is shameful. This news is particularly outrageous for a variety of reasons. Let me share some!

- Prototype Women's Studies programs are now popping up in the Ontario high school curriculum, thanks to the efforts of The Miss G___ Project. So at a time when enrollment into Women's Studies programs is poised to rise significantly, Guelph is cutting the program.

- The budget of the Women's Studies program at Guelph is a drop in the ocean of the University's budget problem, representing a mere 0.17% of the projected shortfall. And yet, this is the only program the University is attempting to cut. Apparently you can solve your budgetary concerns by cutting a program representing not even close to one percent of your problem.

- The coordinator of the program at Guelph, Norman Smith, re-wrote a budget this January that slashed the Women's Studies budget in half. This budget proposal was rejected, and instead the University has turned around and told Women's Studies that it's being cut.

And that's a few of the ridiculous facts that are making it obvious that this isn't so much about budget as it is about the University of Guelph thinking it can get rid of Women's Studies, and that no one will care or notice.

So I'm here to ask you to help us show that people do care, and will notice! Students are actively organizing on campus, along with professors from numerous disciplines, to prevent the Guelph Administration from pulling off this crime. But we need a lot of action, and we need it now. In order to cut a program, it needs to be voted on thrice, and it has already been approved for cutting by one of the voting processes.

So what can you do? You can send emails! let Guelph know that cutting Women's Studies anywhere is a blow to feminism everywhere!

A New York Times article features a New York school that is separating its students based on gender.

There are so many things that rub me the wrong way.  First of all, it adheres to a strict gender binary.  Secondly, it is suggesting that women have a detrimental effect on the ability of a male to learn, and vice versa.  Thirdly, the article starts right off by suggesting that girls respond better to a more "motherly" approach, where as boys respond to a competitive, coach-like rhetoric.

Most alarmingly, I see a precedent set for a "seperate but equal" policy.  Imagine: equal funding, but girls are more successful in art and music and boys in math and science, so their studies should be tailored to their strengths.  A problematic picture.

Context: For about a year, there has been a group at McMaster University advocating for and working toward the establishment of a Centre for Women and Trans People. The centre, as envisioned by the founding committee, would be a safe space for women and trans people where they would feel supported as equal and valued members of the community. It would provide referrals and resources as well as free support and a gathering space. It would be available to all students (undergraduate and graduate) as well as faculty and staff of the university.

Recently, the undergraduate student union (MSU ) was presented with a petition asking for a referendum on the subject of an MSU -directed "Women's Centre." As a result, there will be a vote tomorrow. The Founding Committee has pointed out that trans people have now been removed from the name of the centre and there is no explanation of what the centre would look like or how it would function under MSU direction.

I'm new to the site and new to this community. I was hoping to post this response in a blog form at the end of "University Feminism," but cannot do so. (I would appreciate help if offered).

I was most impressed and affected by this post. As a Doctoral Candidate of Rhetoric at a Woman's University, I found myself compelled to agree with many of the claims made by ZenFeministe, but also offer hope as to how feminism affects young women at a conservative woman's university (in a red state, no less)...

As an instructor of First Year Composition, my primary goal in my classes is to teach my students (99-100% women), the value of primary scholarly research, how to find this research through the university library's databases system, as well as encourage them to select research topics that are rhetorical i.e. "debatable" and compose a term research paper to illustrate their proficiency in finding credible research to support their claims. Its quite a task.

As I approach midterm with my students (3 days until spring break and counting) I am finding that my students are selecting topics that are *gasp* pro-feminist and pro-human rights in their research efforts. While I am not entirely shocked, I am most impressed with the sophistication that my students are demonstrating with regard to rhetorical skill, and with regard to 2nd wave feminist rights.

At this time, many of my students (the students of No Child Left Behind) are researching the conflict between abstinence-only education and comprehensive sex education in public schools. Though these students will research (and present)claims from both sides of the debate, my students are advocates of comprehensive sex education and are adamant about sharing this viewpoint in their essays. Also, several of my students are researching conflicts in the Sudan region, and are strong advocates of the intervention of the United States where the rape of women and the abuse of children are concerned. Finally, many of my students are researching the ways that popular media and capitalism portray and affect impressionable girls, and the possible link of anorexia to how women are portrayed in popular culture.

As an instructor of rhetoric and as a feminist, I am most proud of the ways in which my students are researching and arguing issues that are important in feminist studies. With each passing day, I am fortunate to witness advocacy for feminism in the form of scholarly rhetorical education in my classroom. I cannot take one ounce of credit for this fact, my students have chosen their topics while I proudly beam at their feminist agency.

I realize that ZenFeministe's argument is about advocacy and activism and not about classroom experience, but I wanted to share my experience in the classroom in hopes to convey that, at an academic level, my students are learning the tools and strategies needed to become advocates and activists within their own discourse community. Whether in the form of joining an organization, or producing change as nurses, doctors, social workers, teachers, pharmacists, I am observing beautiful feminist argument in my composition classroom. This observation is worth every penny that I currently owe t the Student Loan Servicing Center.

Emster

Today, in my introductory astronomy class, we were learning about classifying stars. As a part of that, we learned about the different classifications for the temperature of different stars. From hottest to coldest, the order is O B A F G K M. Our teacher presented two acronyms to help us remember the order. The first was: 'Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me'. The second was: 'Only Boys Accepting Feminism Get Kissed Meaningfully'. The second one was definitely my favourite.

*sigh*

ok so here's the thing.

I work in a boys' school in the UK, I'm training to teach Religious Education... I get 'advised' to say/do things that I JUST CAN'T DO.

the most recent piece of advice was:

"If they're not doing work, embarrass them, get them to stand up and make a show of them, get them to read out the work and ask the class if they think that student's done enough... if they're talking - say to them - 'stop talking, you're not a girl are you?! you're not on your period?!'..."

the worst bit? I was advised this by a female member of staff.... WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!?!

I just did the 'good student' smile and nod thinking to myself "only 5 more weeks and then this placement's over..."

I'm just going to calmly and collectedly ignore everything she said in that conversation and get on with things... my way...

glad to get that off my chest...

xLx

I'm sure many of you read my post last week (and if you didn't, here's the link).

To make a long story short, I (partly due to the efforts of the amazing women on this site) have advanced to regionals on zinch.com! Which means, yet again, I need more voting. I really hate to pester, but, please, if everyone could just take two minutes of their time to vote for me? Like I said in my first post, just go to zinch.com, create an account, and click on the "March Madnezz" link. This time my region is "South 1," and my name is "Amber Flood." Only 3 people advance this round, and it's going to be incredibly intense.

And a big cyber-hug and resounding "THANK YOU!!!!" to everyone who voted for me! The support I received on this sight was truly amazing. Thanks to all the lovely women (and guys) who voted for me! You all rawk!!!

But, please, vote!!!

(Oh, and I'll try to post something more in-depth later. Right now, I'm trying to get homework done for AP US History)

Hello, Feministing Community! My name is Amber Flood, and I'd like to tell you a little about me.

First off, I've been a feminist pretty much since the day my mom told me I couldn't play a videogame because my chores weren't done and "cleaning is a female's job." I've continued to develop in that respect, but that isn't why I'm posting today.

I'm a senior in high school, and my family is dirt poor. As in, I'm the oldest of ten children (no joke), my dad (who is the only parent in my family with a job) got in an accident so money was even tighter than normal, and he only made $28,000 last year. Subtract from that the cost of buying essentials for tweleve people, and that makes paying for a college education nigh-impossible.

However, I just so happen to be very smart and very driven, and I currently have a 3.94 GPA, got a 32 on the ACT the first time I took it, and am currently enrolled in 5 AP classes. (I had to get a part-time job to pay for the fees.) I've worked this hard because I am hell-bent on going to college; it's my one escape from poverty, and I refuse to live on welfare again!

And my work has been rewarded: I'm currently a semi-finalist for a $20,000 scholarship from zinch.com. However, to advance to the final rounds, I need to have at least the fourth-highest amount of votes, and that's where you lovely ladies (and men) come in.

If you all could please take five minutes of your time to go over to zinch.com, create an account, and vote for me, I'd really appreciate it. After you make an account, click on the "March Madnezz" link on the left. For state, select "Missouri" and for student, select "Amber Flood," and vote to send me on! Only the top four contestants from Missouri continue on, so every vote counts!

Please, Feministing community, I need your votes. I've overcome so much: discrimination because of my sexual orientation, abuse, poverty; and I've managed to achieve so much with the little I have.

Help me go to college! It'll only take a few minutes on your side, but the benefits for me will last the rest of my life.

(Also, if you could get other feminist friends to vote for me as well, that'd just rawk. =)

Hey everyone!

I am writing an essay for my "feminism and feminist activism" class about why access to abortion services is so vital and about the activism surrounding it.  Although I have many ideas of my own I was wondering if you all could throw some ideas around and give me a hand! Any help would be so awesome!  Thank you :)

On February 10, Senator Curt Bramble (R-Provo), Chairman of the Education Committee, introduced the Equal Recognition of School Parent Groups bill (S.B. 199). This bill would make it illegal for schools to work with parent groups that charge dues.

S.B. 199 is disguised as legislation supporting equal recognition for all school parent groups--but such protections already exist! This bill would eliminate Utah PTA and, with it, many resources which benefit Utah students, such as the Reflections Program and oversight of the School Trust Lands. Utah PTA has a long history of promoting the involvement of all of Utah's parents in schools, and S.B. 199 would bring that legacy to an immediate end. PTA truly supports equal access for all parents, regardless of which group they join--which begs the question of what is gained by excluding parent groups that require the payment of dues?

Unfortunately, Senator Bramble would not meet with Utah PTA prior to the introduction of the bill and, although PTA gave strong testimony against S.B. 199, it passed out of the education committee. This bill is now heading to the Senate floor for a full Senate vote.

It is not certain what prompted this bill, but there was controversy in Utah when the national PTA magazine accepted an ad from PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) offering scholarships to youth. This happened at least two years ago, but perhaps some people have long memories.

If you live in Utah, contact your state senator TODAY, and tell them to vote NO on S.B. 199. Contact informatin can be found here.

I work for PTA but I am posting this as a private citizen who believes that no matter what promoted the bill, it is discriminatory.

This pretty much speaks for itself.  A University in Taiwan has created a course on porn, teaching students how to analyze and appreciate porn movies.  The article itself seems to treat the whole thing like a joke. . .  Thoughts?

I will be leaving New Zealand after 2 pretty fabulous, yet difficult, years as a international postgraduate student. With the current recession, discussing travel/study abroad will seemed privileged or even fiscally irresponsible but a majority of the student I have met saved for years, earned scholarships, worked multiple jobs, and lived on the cheap in order to fund their overseas education.

It is a hard slog, especially if you are intending to complete your entire degree in a foreign country and not just a semester. This post is for those women who are heading for international schooling for a duration of 1 academic year or more as they are more likely to be under the complete "care" of their institution instead of a program that operates in their home country. I only speak from the experience of a once-single hetero but I will try to be as all encompassing as I can. That said, this post is a balance between the economical costs of being a woman overseas and the educational issues that affect everyone

According to Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente (whose work I think has raised some eyebrows around here before), men are more adversely impacted by the recession because the downturn bruises their egos:

Men are far more sensitive to status. When they lose it, the psychological impact can be severe. When a man loses his job, he tends to experience it as a catastrophe. (With women, life goes on.) Low-status men also don't do well. They commit more crimes, get sicker, divorce more, and die earlier than high-status men.

This echoes a New York Times article that Ann posted last week, where a man named Jonathan Steuer rendered the male dilemma like so: "A lot of your ego eggs are in the job basket. I can't shake the psychology that I'm supposed to provide." And I get that; I mean, if you're socialised to believe that's your role, then you're going to feel inadequate when you can't do it. But as the NYT article points out, men do better when it comes to finding a new job post-layoff. And given that the recession has impacted women in every sense, from the academic study of gender and sexuality all the way on down to women's lived, everyday economic hardships, this news about the psychological impact of job loss on men just doesn't impress me much. According to Wente, men are more sensitive to job loss because evolution has made them natural breadwinners. Even if this is true, she implies that this is something we should accept uncritically and not attempt to confront.

What really gets me about Wente's piece, however, is that she goes on to say the following:

"Yet, for a generation the social sciences have more or less ignored, reviled and misunderstood evolution's powerful role in shaping us. The consequence has been a fair amount of dumb, misguided, sometimes harmful social policy.

"Take the matter of sex differences. We're beginning to realize some are irreducible. "If you had any evolutionary understanding, you'd understand why there are more men in science," says Dr. [Helena] Cronin [of the LSE]. It's all about math proficiency. The heavier the math content, the heavier the distribution of males. "There's been all kinds of wriggling and writhing to explain this, and much policy to try to amend it." But the real explanation lies in the evolved differences between male and female brains - especially the ability to rotate objects in space, which is "fundamental to deep math problem-solving." The distribution of male and female interests is also markedly different.

"... Not surprisingly, feminists tend to loathe Dr. Cronin (who calls herself a feminist Darwinist). But the facts don't care if you don't like them."

That's right. Never mind the fact that male superiority in science and mathematics has been disproven time and time again, and never mind that men and women are socialised from birth to gravitate towards and even prefer certain fields over others -- engineering, medicine, law, sciences for men; teaching, nursing, liberal arts for women. If a Darwinist says it, it must be true. Wente goes on to discuss Darwinian reasons behind racism and hating stepchildren... for some reason. This logic verges on social Darwinism which, as far as I know, Darwin himself abhorred. It's like hearing a psychologist say they didn't bother to keep reading beyond the chapter on Freud, so therefore girls really are just deformed boys with penis envy. Sure, we can reach a certain "maximum math potential," but we'll never be as good as the boys. But as that last quoted phrase so tellingly indicates, Wente isn't interested in critical engagement. Facts are facts... right?

At my high school, student groups (often sports teams) frequently dress up to publicize an upcoming event (often a game).

Last Friday, the hockey team dressed for their big game. Most of the team wore nice pants, their jerseys, and a tie. The goalies, however, wore short shorts (under their protective cups) and half a shirt.

When I asked a classmate (regular hockey player) why the goalies wore what they wore, he said that (1) goalies have to be a bit crazy by the nature of their role and (2) that it showed of their masculinity.

This really irked me. The message I got was that they were celebrating the fact that, as boys, they could get away with showing skin without being sexual. Or am I just missing the joke?

And what should my reaction be?
I imagined wearing my undies (complete with pad) over gym shorts and half a shirt to school, just to make the point that the administration has a different policy regarding female legs and bellies. Maybe I should just take one for the team and hit on all the goalies next time.

For now, I think a pointed letter to the school newspaper will do fine. Or am I just being a Debbie Downer?

Another study break, another WTF moment, this time coming courtesy of some high school in the U.K. 

That's right, school officials - get 'em while their young!  What I also love, is the poster in the background that says something about "The Art of Dance," as though it's part of some phys. ed curriculum (or is it career day?). Now, when I was a girl (insert granny voice here), we learned to square-dance and recoiled at the prospect of holding boys' sweaty hands...

Sheesh.

I am a fourteen year old girl attending High School.  I have always supported feminism, mainly because of it's effects on my life.  Firstly because my parents were divorced, and although it was hard on me, I realize that if my mother had been forbidden from divorcing my Dad, I would have hurt even more.  And secondly because I find living in a home with a mother who works and does housework very wonderful since now she is experienced in both areas and can help me with more open views.

However, I am still very young and am not sure how to approach accepting feminism into my everyday life.  What books should I read?  What artists should I study in my spare time?  What politicians should I keep track off (I'm Canadian, but I know quite a bit about American politics)?  How do I keep my ideas about sexuality strong and live them, not just preach them?  How do I talk about feminism with men and women fairly, maturely and at an appropriate time?  How do I explain myself as a Feminist to others who are curious about my reasoning?  Please don't give me lower level books or films, since I pride myself in being able to handle more mature topics.  So please be honest and say what books about feminism have really affected you.  Not some mediocre drabbles you picked up at Wal Mart.

I am Catholic, although I read a lot of books which explore and explain Atheist, Agnostic and other religious beliefs with a very open mind (At least I hope so!).  So while I prefer to read something that focus' just on Feminism in the Western World and throughout history, if something mentions or brings arguments from various religious or belief texts or ideas, I'm fine with those too.

Music can also be very interesting as a medium for Feminism (I am a die-hard Frank Sinatra/Paul Anka fan, though.), so if there is a particular Feminist musician who's music is particularity powerful, that'd be wonderful if you could tell me where I could find their work.

- Sincerely, Maria.

I dropped out of college because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. Now I'm re-enrolling this fall and want to pursue something in the women's studies area.

There are a lot of talented and intelligent women and men on here and I need some advice: What are some good careers for a feminist to go into? What are some good areas of study?

Any advice would be well appreciated!

Somebody posted a link to the Media Education Foundation's documentary on porn, titled 'The price of pleasure', but I have to post here about the MEF itself. I have been watching its documentaries for a long, long time, and I am IN LOVE with this foundation. It's made up of amazing feminists, male and female, and they produce the best documentaries on gender, race, class and commercialism I've ever seen. You can watch their videos in full length online now, so let me just tell you about my favourites:

Dreamworlds 3 - an in-depth study into music video and the effect it has on society's attitude towards women and minorities.

Wrestling with manhood - a study of the pro-wrestling culture and what it tells us about violence, sexual orientation and gender.

Tough Guise - modern masculinity and the struggle of young men to live up to expectations.

Michael Kimmel on gender - best lecture on gender I've ever heard, touches on race and gender priviledge, how feminism benefits men, and how men can stop rape.

Date rape backlash - explores people's attitudes towards date rape as symptomatic of an attack on women's autonomy.

Playing unfair - how male and female athletes are represented in media.

There's a lot more, too. These are mostly in the gender category, but the other topics are just as good. If you have time, please check these people out, they have raised my consciousness to so many issues I was never aware of. Every time I watch one of their videos I want to scream with joy that there are people talking sense for once. They are non-biased and insightful videos, and I learn something new every time I watch one.

I've been feeling a bit of dissatisfaction with the catch-all term "patriacrchy" lately, but until just now I didn't know of a good alternative term to use.

Kyriarchy - a neologism coined by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and derived from the Greek words for "lord" or "master" ( kyrios ) and "to rule or dominate" ( archein ) which seeks to redefine the analytic category of patriarchy in terms of multiplicative intersecting structures of domination...Kyriarchy is best theorized as a complex pyramidal system of intersecting multiplicative social structures of superordination and subordination, of ruling and oppression. 
Patriarchy - Literally means the rule of the father and is generally understood within feminist discourses in a dualistic sense as asserting the domination of all men over all women in equal terms.  The theoretical adequacy of patriarchy has been challenged because, for instance, black men to not have control over white wo/men and some women (slave/mistresses) have power over subaltern women and men (slaves). 

-Glossary, Wisdom Ways, Orbis Books New York 2001

Kyriarchy seems like a much better word to use for the general system of oppression in our culture. What do you folks think?

Source.

Just a heads- up for anyone currently in Women's Studies (in the CT area or willing to travel):

I'm running this conference along with a fellow graduate assistant and we welcome submissions from any grad students (or advanced undergrads) from the Feministing community!

The Southern Connecticut State University Women’s Studies Program  Celebrates Our Seventh Annual Graduate Conference:

“Feminisms and Popular Culture”
To be held on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at SCSU Deadline for Proposals: Friday, March 13, 2009 SCSU Women’s Studies Program invites graduate students in any discipline working toward a Master’s or a Ph.D. to submit proposals for presentation. Graduate students from all academic institutions and disciplines, or areas of feminist research and activism are encouraged to contribute proposals. The conference theme will be the effect of pop culture on feminism and feminism on pop culture.