Yes, No, Maybe So: A Sexual Inventory Stocklist

Hey y'all,
Tomorrow we'll be talking about consent and sexual violence.  We'll be passing out the first two pages of this yes/no/maybe checklist from scarletten, but I wanted to share a link to the full list in case anyone was interested.  It's a great tool to reflect on your boundaries, triggers, and desires around relationship models, safer sex, sexual practices, and body boundaries. Check it out!
http://www.scarleteen.com/article/advice/yes_no_maybe_so_a_sexual_inventory_stocklist

Dean Spade on Trickle-Up Social Justice and Impossible People

Hey y'all,

I just went to this really inspiring lecture by Dean Spade, the first trans law professor in the country.  He talked about approaching feminist and queer issues like sexual violence and hate crimes in a way that does not depend on the criminal justice system.  And a lot of other things.  Here are some youtube videos that I found, to share some of his wisdom with y'all.  Let me know what you think. 

Tampons

Hey WCRG,

Here's the poem I read in class. I think it is an entry point for a more positive and empowering relationship to menstruation.

Love Rudi

Tampons, By Ellen Bass (1985)

My periods have changed. It is years

since I have swallowed pink and gray, round

chalky midols from the bottle with the smiling girl.

Now I plan a quiet space,

protect myself those first few days when my uterus lets

go and I am an open anemone. I know

when my flow will come. I watch my mucous pace

changes like a dancer, follow the fall

and rise of my body heat. All this

and yet I never questioned them, those slim white handies.

It took me years to learn to use them

starting with a jar of Vaseline.

I didn't even know where the hole was.

I didn't even know enough

to try to find one. I pushed until

only a little stuck out and hoped

that was far enough.

I tried every month through high school.

And now that I can change it in a moving car–

like Audrey Hepburn changing dresses in the taxi

in the last scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's–

I've got to give them up.

Tampons, I read, are

bleached, are

chemically treated to

compress better,

contain asbestos.

Good old asbestos. Once we learned not to shake it–

Johnson & Johnson's – on our babies or diaphragms,

we thought we had it licked.

So what do we do? They're universal.

Even macrobiotics and lesbian separatists are hooked on them.

Go back to sanitary napkins?

Junior high, double napkins

on the heavy days, walking home damp underpants

chafing thighs. It's been a full twelve years

since I have worn one, since Spain when Marjorie pierced my ears

and I unloaded half a suitcase of the big gauze pads in the hotel trash.

Someone in my workshop suggested Tassaways, little

cups that catch the flow.

They've stopped making them,

we're told. Women found they could reuse them

and the company couldn't make enough

money that way. Besides,

the suction pulled the cervix out of shape.

Then diaphragms

It presses on me, one woman says.

So swollen these days. Too tender.

Menstrual extraction, a young woman says.

I heard about that. Ten minutes

and it's done.

But I do not trust putting tubes into my uterus each month.

We're told everything is safe

in the beginning.

Mosses.

The Indians used mosses.

I live in Aptos. We grow

succulents and pine.

I will buy mosses

when they sell them at the co-op.

Okay. It's like the whole birth control schmeer.

There just isn't a good way. Women bleed.

We bleed.

The blood flows out of us. So we will bleed.

Blood paintings on our thighs, patterns

like river beds, blood on the chairs in

insurance offices, blood on Greyhound buses

and 747s, blood blots, flower forms

on the blue skirts of the stewardesses.

Blood on restaurant floors, supermarket aisles, the steps of government

buildings. Sidewalks will have blood trails,

like Gretel's bread

crumbs. We can always find our way.

We will ease into rhythm together, it happens

when women live closely -- African tribes, college sororities --

our blood flowing on the same days. The first day

of our heaviest flow we will gather in Palmer, Massachusetts,

on the steps of Tampax, Inc. We'll have a bleed-in.

We'll smear blood on our faces. Max Factor

will join OB in bankruptcy. The perfume industry

will collapse, who needs

whale sperm, turtle oil, when we have free blood?

For a little while cleaning products will boom,

409, Lysol, Windex. But

the executives will give up. The cleaning woman is leaving a

red wet rivulet, as she scrubs down the previous stains.

It's no use. The men would have to

do it themselves, and that will never come up

for a vote at the Board. Women's clothing manufacturers, fancy

furniture, plush carpet, all will phase out. It's just not

practical. We will live the old ways.

Simple floors, dirt or concrete, can be hosed down

or straw can be cycled through the compost.

Simple clothes, none in summer. No more swimming pools.

Swim in the river. Yes, swim in the river.

Dogs will fall in love with us.

We'll feed the fish with our blood. Our blood

will neutralize the chemicals and dissolve the old car parts.

Our blood will detoxify the phosphates and the

PCBs. Our blood will feed the depleted soils.

Our blood will water the dry, tired surface of the earth.

We will bleed. We will bleed. We will

bleed until we bathe her in our blood and she turns

slippery new like a baby birthing.

Pregnant Women Under State Control

Since we didn't get to discuss last week's topic, I thought I'd share this article. It's a pretty important topic to be aware of in the women's consciousness world. Thoughts?

"gender liberation beyond feminism" blog

What do you think about Pelle Billing's blog? I frequently tend to adore it. He really encourages male voices to help move into gender/sex liberation discourse. He's also just an absolute treasure of a person. I met him doing a week long workshop seminar on youth leadership a few years ago.

His core beliefs are:

- Gender liberation is a good thing
- Feminism is too one-sided to ever achieve gender liberation
- Men’s voices need to become part of the gender debate
- Both sexes have been oppressed by their gender role, not only women
- Gender roles have developed as a functional fit to historical circumstances

His most recent post is interesting - outlines a Cornell study about how women's choices, not abilities, are behind why women are not in more math-intensive fields. I ask - what inspires those choices though? - Social expectations affect personal decisions, right?

Cool to have on hand for anyone who starts spouting off that "chicks aren't good at math"!!!

s.

polite café talk or hardcore activism?

Hey consciousness-raisers. . . this post is about an experience I had just yesterday. Not a link, but one of my actual real-life consciousness raising experiences that was slightly shocking and disturbing - but salient.

What can happen when we take consciousness-raising to the streets? Perhaps it's not always good; which brings to light the importance of women's strength in numbers, and creating spaces that are safe to talk about and play with identities and expectations, and the importance of having clear boundaries and containment around those spaces and times we create to do this kind of transformational work.

So this person at a Berkeley café last night is sitting next to me. We start talking because I apologize for having a slightly long cell phone conversation in the cafe kind of near hir and I know ze's studying. I knew I was quiet enough, I knew it was fine - but I felt like I should apologize. Why should I apologize when I've done nothing wrong in a public space? In cafés people talk, and I was speaking even more quietly than a lot of other people were. Does my constructed idea or assumed gendered identity of being a 'nice' [woman] or 'sweet' [young lady?] have something to do with this? Or is it just that I'm a genuinely nice person? I've known males who are kind of unnecessarily hyper-courteous in the same way to the general public. Is it just a personal choice, gender-related, circumstantial/contextual, or psychic/spiritual, even - what motivates us to behave the way we do in any given moment? Sometimes over-apologizing can be an assertion of class, and sometimes an expression of submission. And sometimes it can be genuine concern for others, or an obsession with self.

These are the kinds of head trips I go through, dradz [is there a non-gender substitute for 'dudes'?]. . . . [case in point].

Ze starts asking me a lot of of questions. Ze's a political science major, I'm a sociology major, there's some crossover - OK, cool. I'm humoring hir, kind of. I need to study but I'm letting it go on for a few minutes. I start noticing everything is cool about our conversation except there's a tendency now that I notice coming up where ze doesn't let me finish a sentence to the full end - like ever. Ze's basically nudge nudge nudging me the whole time. But overall we are laughing, smiling, I can tell ze thinks I'm attractive, and I am trying not to be too charming because ze is getting a little excited about our conversation and I don't want it to go that way.

Now, WCRG, you know me. I'm not easily silenced or controlled in conversation, to the point of annoying other people sometimes. Furthermore, I've been doing research and calls to domestic violence hotlines all week, so I've got a keen eye out for typical dominant or controlling behaviors. This can start so subtly in conversations, with small motions, imposed assumptions and expectations of common gendered behavior in others.

Ze asks me what I want to do after graduation and is now acting a bit shocked that I say I want to work to support female leadership in general everywhere because that's where I think a balanced and peaceful world will truly begin: in balanced equal leadership, social relations, and institutions. Ideology is formed by institutions, not the other way around, as is so commonly believed - for more on this read Chapter 7, Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe:The Ideology of Redistribution (Alesina and Glaeser 2004).

Well this is obviously upsetting to hir. What? ze asks. Well. Hm. What do you think of Hillary Clinton?

There's clear aggression and only a small portion of genuine curiosity being offered here in these two questions.

I say, rather authoritatively, though aiming for the tone of a real United Nations diplomat (and failing a bit I think, in honest reflection) -

I don't think that the larger domain of the greater effects of balanced global female leadership should be analyzed piecemeal by critical analyses of individuals. I think that idea - an obsessive focus on the individual rather than the collective - is part of the overarching problem. It takes away focus on collective responsibility, collective bargaining, collective reasoning, and collective interests. Sure, I have some good things and some negative things I could say about Clinton, but the whole of her contributions to society can not yet be accurately defined or praised by dissecting any manifestation of her persona or politics on any given day, past or present. Change is inherent, and no one person is ever to blame, punish, or praise: I think this awareness needs to be brought into politics and social discourse of all kinds in general in the States. And I think adding more female voices will lead to that kind of holistic analysis. And I think that's when we can even begin to start analyzing what is working and what isn't.

Behind every movie star are cinematographers, writers, Port-o-pottie clean up crews, friends, parents, teachers, directors, trailer maintenance crews, lovers from years ago that brought depth to a small special gesture now infused into words spoken under a camera.

Isn't the source of true grace nearly untraceable? I am not talking Jesus here, for the record.

[OK, I didn't say the movies/grace/Jesus part to hir. And ze probably wouldn't have understood me anyways. Maybe you don't either. That's fine, ask me later if you feel like it.]

Anyhoo. Ze was hardly going to allow this epic monologue to occur without interruptions beginning less than halfway through - whatever, fine, I roll with it, I'm being what again? - 'nice'. Hmmm.

Ze relentlessly, though somewhat gently, continues bullying us on in conversation, bringing to light that society is so much more sex-imbalanced in other countries than the U.S.; ze is shocked that I might suggest that things are so terrible here still.

I cite that domestic violence occurs much more frequently to females in this country than males. I don't have the exact statistics, but I am absolutely sure of it. But I ask hir, if ze believes things are better here, wouldn't the impetus continue to be on the American people to support every last inch of women's full equality - if we are to "set a good example" - or however one might choose to (non-arrogantly) phrase it - for these other extremely polarized countries?

Ze asks me how I will do all this. (Awesome question!) Where the hell should we start? Well. . . talking to each other is the best way, I think and say. Then I mention that I do agree what many Americans are expressing now in that altering our legislative process and electoral system is a huge first step towards better social equality since, again, institutions and policies shape ideologies, personal lives and individual opportunities. I explain that I want to lobby for no lobbying, basically. Not much different than much of what we are seeing many Americans want right now, and have for years: I want corporations and media-driven politics out of government. I want real democracy.

Ze is supportive of this idea. Ze tells me ze might want to study law. Fantastic. Cool, let's both take Reich's public policy class next semester! - ze says. I think we're working up some energy and a similar platform to work with and then. . . .

oh, then.

I begin to look up the class, my laptop on my actual lap. I have trouble for a moment with it and then ze takes my laptop off my lap and starts searching for it hirself.

In those first moments I act natural but wonder why I suddenly feel invaded. Then I realize, oh, it's because my property has been appropriated and controlled without my permission. [I could insert a lot here about my issues regarding the construction of the illusive idea of "private property" at all. . . but I'll save that for another diatribe.]

It's obvious that ze doesn't want to steal the laptop, but that ze simply got frustrated that I didn't pull up the information quickly enough (for hir!). Ze finds the department name in the schedule list quickly and then I say, I'll take my laptop back now - with some gravity in my voice. Ze looks surprised, just totally unaware of what just happened.

Didn't you just take my laptop from my hands without permission just now? I'll take it back, thanks.HA! - I say - see, I'm guessing (I get clearly abrasive for a moment)that you would never have done that to a man.

Ze hands it back to me. Ze's clearly beginning to feel offended. We discuss what happened for a moment and then ze lectures me with a good deal of threat in hir voice that I have no idea how real Mexican machismo would really have reacted with in that moment, that I know nothing about what true domination is, or feels like. I voice my agreement with hir: they are two different things. But experience is relative - and here we are in America, and I'm just saying - this is why I want to raise consciousness. See? - I say - you probably didn't even know you had done that, right? I'm just trying to let you know < smile smile smile >.

Ze is shocked! SO SHOCKED! Are you for real?- ze asks. Yes, I am.

Ze starts packing up hir things. I thought you were cool, ze says, I was just trying to be helpful - I - I - I was being nice. If you were having a hard time finding that class, a real machismo man would have started telling you how stupid you are.

Hm, well it didn't look or feel that way to me, I say.

You. . . just. . . eww. . . I don't believe. . . whatever - I can't - ze looks betrayed. Deeply. Ze walks briskly away without saying goodbye.

I say to hir back as ze walks away - wait, like, really?

- Not in a mean-spirited way, just as disbelieving perhaps as ze had been, though more curiously baffled, less aggressive, with less sense of betrayal.

Was this a transformational experience for hir or me, or did it increase aggression and judgment toward women for hir, further entrenching machismo habits or customs from which maybe ze had applied real work in order to depart?

Was it peaceful, or inherently violent even from the beginning, when the nudging conversational pattern began?

These are the questions I'm left with now, and I wonder how much I have to trust others to discover, discuss, define, and share their own honest reflections with me, rather than whistle-blowing on others, or making what I think might be helpful suggestions of things to which to pay attention.

I got pretty scared and called a friend for a ride home. Maybe it was just my own PTSD 'talking' - but it was late, and I had an unshakeable feeling that ze might be waiting somewhere outside to let me know what a real machismo reaction might feel like. Ze was of diminutive size. . . but the emotional landscape that it seemed ze kept rigidly in place seemed enormous.

How can we all be encouraged to mine these powerful emotional spaces? To transform shock and betrayal into bridges of understanding? To heal from even recent past wounds, like myself, and not bleed these things out into casual café conversation?

I'm thinking compassion for self and others is a fantastic place to begin.

Does it begin with self-care? I think so. Then I should get to writing some papers now I guess ;)

s.

supporting women in the world at large

So, I know everyone is privy already to the whole idea of microfinancing, and some people have their criticisms about it too. But after I commented on Dane's posted video about the interconnected nature of women's rights, successes, and consciousness-raising with other issues/markets/fields of awareness, I recalled this article - The Women's Crusade: How Changing the Lives of Women and Girls In The Developing World Can Change Everything. It is definitely heartening to remember that affecting change can happen through investing just a little bit. The exceptional thing about investing in women (their education, businesses, and training) though, is that it more often benefits whole communities. Maybe everyone already knows that too. Well, tell your friends then :)

The most shocking statistic that I frequently rely on when people try to tell me women's equality has been achieved is this one: globally speaking, less than 1% of all property is owned by women. Just that statistic alone can get people thinking. I also like remembering that there's just no way we are utilizing our full potential as a species if some people aren't included as much as others in participating, designing, innovating, and organizing our society.

Call me a feminst ;) - but I think working for women's greater inclusion and representation in society very well might be the proximate way to effect creating new, more balanced systems overall - in politics, families, business, and even (or especially) in our own personal relationships with ourselves. Investing in women's plans and goals even at small levels is a good way to start moving into tackling redesigning bigger institutions (laws, education systems); with every penny comes a message to woman - you can do it and what you do is worth investing in. I think it's especially empowering when women invest in women - both sides get these messages about women in general, then, and start listening to and valuing each other and other women more.

So many women are still told more often that they just generally CAN'T - in both covert and overt ways, by large educational institutes, or even, in my case, some partners I've had. (Oh yes, in the 21st century.) Everyone, to some extent, walks around with fears inside themselves that they "can't" at some level, about something, in a society that really makes it so that some can't and some can.

If you don't have time for the whole article - here are a few snippets I like. The term "gendercide" really hit me reading it again this time around, especially with our DeCal's gender conversations still in my thoughts lately.

"The global statistics on the abuse of girls are numbing. It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine “gendercide” far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century."

"If poor families spent only as much on educating their children as they do on beer and prostitutes, there would be a breakthrough in the prospects of poor countries. Girls, since they are the ones kept home from school now, would be the biggest beneficiaries. Moreover, one way to reallocate family expenditures in this way is to put more money in the hands of women. A series of studies has found that when women hold assets or gain incomes, family money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, medicine and housing, and consequently children are healthier."

"In many poor countries, the greatest unexploited resource isn’t oil fields or veins of gold; it is the women and girls who aren’t educated and never become a major presence in the formal economy. With education and with help starting businesses, impoverished women can earn money and support their countries as well as their families. They represent perhaps the best hope for fighting global poverty."

GirlUp: U.N.'s Global Leadership Program

The U.N. seemed even cooler than ever before to me when I learned about their program GirlUp a few months ago. The program is basically all about supporting getting more balanced representation in the sexes of global leaders, and thereby fostering more integrated, successfully organized, educated, peaceful societies. They help middle school and high school age girls in wealthier countries with advanced economies help other girls worldwide, thereby building global leadership skills for the young organizers - and supporting them in becoming more a part of creating global innovations, actions, and policies. I highly recommend their blog, it has real potential to make you feel awesome or at least give you some great ideas like how to donate $40 to help prevent a girl from being married before ze is 15 years old!. . . though that idea can be freaky, I realize, since of course it's kind of presumptuous for one culture or way of life to be mapped on to another (i.e. propagating the idea that girls shouldn't marry before 15 might be construed as imposing American culture onto other sovereign societies). But I think remembering that this is one integrated society can help alleviate that fear for a moment, especially in this era of still relatively burgeoning globalization. We all have a responsibility to help each other out, and blocking some people from full participation in society does not effect that possibility.

shanti

Disability and Sexuality Resources from "Are Cripples Screwed"

Hey y'all,

Here are some GREAT resources on disability and sexuality from our guests last class, "Are Cripples Screwed?"

http://vimeo.com/6842318 - "(Sex)abled: Disability Uncensored" a short, 15 min documentary (and Alex makes a few appearances!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-c-senelick-md/disabled-sex-how-wouldit-change_b_810748.html
- a quick article on some of the barriers that people with disabilities
face regarding sexuality.

http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/issues/sex-and-disability - the National Sexuality
Resource Center's section on sex & disability

XOXO,
WCRG

Disability, Sexuality, and Some Yoga Tips!

Hey guys! So I've been thinking about the topic of disability and
sexuality and found an interesting article about a girl in Spain with a
disability that has written a thesis on the topic:This article is in
Spanish so for all you Spanish speaking students--Here is the link!

http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/primer_beso

Another Spanish article:


http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/el_tab%C3%BA_de_la_sexualidad_y_la_discapacidadporque_no_son_personas_%E2%80%98asexuadas%E2%80%99

Also, a video on a woman who is combating sex and disability through art:
http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/media/patty_bernes_sins_invalid_sex_art_disability

As we are approaching the second round of midterms, I recommend exploring
de-stressing activities in the Berkeley/SF area! Maybe a weekend day bike
ride or bart visit to the SF Zen Center (One of the most peaceful places
to me around here :)) http://www.sfzc.org/.  They have many different free
community events throughout the week that are great personal boosters!
http://www.sfzc.org/cc/display.asp?catid=2,70.

Some fun free events I have found in the area!
Also, Donation-based yoga on Shattuck @ Yoga to the People.
Free Community Prostrations at Yoga Mandala on Telegraph, Ave.
Free Community Yoga at Yoga Kula on North Side on Thursdays!
Free first week of yoga @ Core power yoga down University!
Free fruit samples at Berkeley Farmers Market (haha!) on Center St.
Saturday Mornings Downtown Berkeley/Thursday afternoons on Rose St.
Free awesome slide/picnic area at Corondices Park on North Side
(BYOC(ardboard) if you want to slide fast!!)
Free trial of vespa scooters (at the green choice on Bancroft! Even if you
are underaged ;))

Hope Everyone has a wonderful week!
Peace,
Patrice

Dove Commercial

This commercial has always drawn my attention and brings me back to the topic we had a couple of weeks ago about the distortion of beauty we have in society. The majority of the time, many of us forget that these ads have been photoshopped and the models have cover-up covering all of their facial imperfections.

I thought this was a wonderful campaign by Dove. The video itself is pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/hibyAJOSW8U

Disability, Self-value, and Sex

Click Here for Inspirational Video

I don't know what the disability and sexuality session is going to be like today, because I'm posting this beforehand for my homework, but thinking about it reminded me of this video I saw once.

People value themselves often in terms of other people's views of them. I certainly experience this; if I apply or audition for something and don't receive the spot, I'm likely to feel inferior because of how someone else ranked me among the other applicants.

In the video, the speaker seems to have learned to value himself based on his own terms rather than other people's. He tells the girls, "You are beautiful" and the boys, "You da man", which, when received in the intended way, supports the students by assuring them that they don't have to meet other people's standards; they are good enough in their own way; beating themselves up about not meeting some cultural standard is self-degrading in an attempt to chisel themselves to meet an unnecessary expectation.

The rules I'm about to say aren't strictly categorized by male/female, but I think are common. It seems that women have a hard time accepting their natural appearance, while men have a hard time accepting their level of performance. I think both are in attempts to achieve the liking and respect of others. Hence, many women chisel themselves with eating disorders and many men chisel themselves with valuing messages like, "You are worthless unless you can win". Both conditions involve being discontent with life.

The only problem I have with the above video is that his separate messages to girls and boys "beautiful VS. the man" probably reinforce sex roles--that women are meant for appearance and that men are meant for performance. Or maybe it is an attempt to combat that message; it is hard to say. But it makes me uncomfortable when he says it.

Dane

Barbie? Is that you?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galia-slayen/the-scary-reality-of-a-re_b_845239.html

Here's an article (complete with a picture and everything) about what Barbie would really look like if she has the same dimensions but was made to be the size of a "real" human being.
It's disappointing to think that this freakish image is what children around the world are trained to idealize. This proves that not only is a likeness of Barbie impossible to attain, but it's also unrealistic, unnatural, and unhealthy. This ideal makes body consciousness a harsh reality, as young girls then try to achieve this unattainable goal or at least strive for something like it by starving themselves or desiring plastic surgery in order to change their bodies to fit this socially constructed "norm."

"I heard what you called me the other day"

This scene from "Will & Grace" demonstrates the conflict between societal constructs of homosexuality and two homosexual men. Will, who identifies as homosexual finds issue with his friend Jack's overtly homosexual behavior. In response to Will's derogatory comment, Jack protests with a stereotypically "straight" act at the gym. Here, we see that although these two men both identify as homosexual, there are various internal pressures and insecurities each face. Will struggles to maintain an outwardly "normal" appearance, while Jack embraces his homosexuality. Both use different means to embracing their homosexuality.

Women, Men, And The Bedroom

Given last week's talk, I wanted to share an article I came across in Jezebel.com  It highlights findings from a recent study looking at differences in the ways heterosexual men and women approach sex and relationships.  It takes on 6 basic myths like, "men want to sleep with more people than women do" or that men have more orgasms and think about sex more often than women do.

The gist:

"...some pretty simple experiments reveal that far from being hardwired into our brains, differences in sexual behavior may be conditioned by our very different gender roles. Imagine that."
Sounds basic, but definitely worth the read:

Read here

Self Image... Social Construct? Will Things Even Change?

http://www.sirc.org/publik/mirror.html

Hello!

I found this article online basically summarizing self-image and body-image. The theme of the article revolves around your reflections in the mirror and what different genders/types of people perceive. The site explains many cliches often mentioned in body-image topics, but they also included something that I found interesting... Those who are considered attractive don't have as high of self-confidence as many would think. These individuals often don't trust praise of their work or talents, believing positive evaluations to be influenced by their appearance. Additionally, men are more likely to be pleased with what they see in the mirror or indifferent.

I think that this is a good "Starter" article to explain the basics of body and self-image problems and will help to begin our philosophical discussion!

GET PUMPED FOR BODY POSITIVITY and SIZE ACCEPTANCE and a VERY SPECIAL F WORD

A Fat Rant.

“ ‘Fat’– is a descriptive, physical characteristic. It’s not an insult, or an obscenity, or a death sentence.”

I love hearing this woman say the word "fat." I just do.  Anyone feel me?

<3 Audrey

Bodily Concerns

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/8-one-minute-better-body-tricks-2568780/

I thought that this link was particularly relevant to this class as all of the photos of people working out and getting fit (and thus those concerned about their physique and outward appearance) were women, with not one being of a man working out. It was posted on yahoo, presumably a place where both men and women might look to for the latest in news, etc. but only considered women as being the one's to need and want assistance in making their "bod[ies] better." This speaks to the societal norm of women being more concerned with their appearance than men, when this may or may not be the truth found in reality.

Conformity

Here is my homework for the week of Sep 27 - Oct 4. I know Wikipedia is not the best source. However, I already learned about this study in a class, and I think the wiki article is good enough.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments

The tendency for people to conform to a regular/widespread form of behavior is, I think, one big cause of some forms of deep-rooted sexism. One point I take from the article is that even when someone disagrees with what everyone around her/him is doing, ze is still likely to do what everyone else is doing. In the study, when the correct answer was obvious, fear of differing and desire to be alike are likely reasons for conforming. Maybe some subjects doubted themselves because they thought they missed some instruction that every other supposed subject (disguised) got. We do not know exactly how the study operated, so we cannot say. However, if we move from obvious tasks (such as judging lengths of bars) to more abstract, complex, and subtle issues, such as how to respond to traditional sex roles and expectations, now it is more difficult for an individual to identify when the majority is in the right. Ze might not even consciously recognize the issue while caught up in everyday life. Or, if the issue is one that nobody in society ever articulates, the individual probably won't identify the issue explicitly. Plus, in the real world, the majority is bigger than just a classroom of people; it is all of society firmly grounded in unwritten laws of behavior. When an individual has an instance of differing ever so slightly from the norm, ze might think there is something wrong with him/her to the point that ze considers seeking a psychologist. It is difficult to call the rest of the world wrong.

Crocker redefines masculinity

Intersecting identities can be indistinguishable and overlapping when attempting to analyze one person's identity. Chris Crocker's controversial, yet declarative, vlog updates redefine a gay man's role. Though embellished with comedic remarks, Crocker's vlogs entail aspects of his upbringing while he challenges the femininity often connected to homosexuality. To see more of Crocker's vlogs visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/itschriscrocker

"Beauty - Femininity with Masculinity"

http://www.thestudmagazine.com/interpretation

-One woman's reflections on the development of her gender identity as a "stud".   She describes the way her gender presentation was influenced by black male stereotypes and her conceptions of queerness.  Click on the picture of the person in the backwards baseball cap for the story to drop down (you might have to click one of the arrows in the picture window to see her).  From Stud Magazine: "An online based magazine founded in Toronto with an aim to redefine the term stud and introduce non gender conforming people to mainstream media."  It's short, simple, and a great example of the intersectionality exercise we did in last week's class.

<3 audrey

One more thing.....Disney Genders

If you need a study break anytime soon, here are some silly videos to continue our conversation about gender roles, children's media and the kinds of relationships they promote:

And here's the toy video from today's class:

If your looking for more of her videos (they're great), check out feministfrequency

This Guy Probably Changed My Life

So James Darling is a queer porn star and in most of this interview he is talking about his role in porn as a queer transman and his sexuality (in REALLY interesting ways), but around 2:30 he starts talking about "becoming a man" and his feminist identity in a way that I think is SUPER relevant to what came up in discussion today. Check it out if you have time and let me know what you think:

Also, this is a great interview where he answers some pretty direct questions about his gender identity and his thoughts about gender, privilege, and queer theory in general for a "Law and Sexuality" class:

Sex and Gender

Hey y'all.
  Here's links to some of the information in the hand outs from today in case you want to refer back to them later or are looking for more information:

Gender/sex

Intersex

Transgender

Expanded Cisgender Privilege Checklist and extra definitions

xoxo
audrey

Consciousness-Raising: A Radical Weapon

Hey y'all:

I wanted to share an inspiring article on the goals and methods of Consciousness-Raising. I think it's a great introduction to the class.

Enjoy!

-Audrey

Welcome!

Hello beautiful people,

Welcome to the blog for the Women's Consciousness Raising Group. On this blog, we will post links to articles, videos, poems, resources, and other blogs that relate to our class topics.  Feel free to use this as a forum to comment about anything that sparks your interest.

Below are links to a few of our favorite blogs to get you started. Enjoy!
Jezebel
Feministing
Ms Magazine
Autostraddle

With love love love,
Rudi, Danielle, Audrey