Julia

Sorry I haven't posted for the longest time, and I'm definitely going to make up for it. For instance, from a recent Newsweek article about pregnant surrogates:

"many conservative Christians decry the practice as tampering with the miracle of life, while far-left feminists liken gestational carriers to prostitutes who degrade themselves by renting out their bodies."

What? I have literally never heard that once in my years (admittedly few, but whatever) as a feminist. Of course, there were no sources to accompany this bold statement. On examining the statement, I found that the only source to really condemn the practice was an old edition of OBOS. And we all know that the Boston's Women Health Book Collective, while a group that I am immensely grateful for and respect deeply, certainly does not speak for all feminists.

Recently, in health class, we watched the film, "What if I'm Gay?" Needless to say, I was thinking that there must be a better video than this. Later, when completing the worksheet that accompanies the video, they asked how it feels for students questioning their sexuality to be called dykes, fairies, or queers.

My first thought was: "They think those names are so gay!"

While this material had good intentions, it failed in its delivery to teens. We don't use the words dyke, or fairy. In fact, the only real place I've heard those words would be the media trying to portray teenagers. Today, the term "gay" in itself is an insult, and far more prevalent than stupid words like "fairy." In fact, all of our health videos are made in the 70's and 80's, and I recently found out why.

"My short skirt is not proof
that I am stupid
or undecided
or a malleable little girl.

My short skirt is a liberation
flag in the women's army
I declare these streets, any streets
my vagina's country."
-Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues, "My Short Skirt"

This is just an excerpt from this monologue, which is my favorite of the collection. I think it speaks for itself in that it shows how what a woman is wearing can be not only oppression, but liberation. It also speaks for me, as a very feminine type of girl. I hear constantly that because I like to wear dresses and paint my room pink, that I'm somehow less of a feminist (or a ditz, or a bitch, or what have you) for it.

At the supermarket today, I grabbed my favorite magazines off the rack- a terrible habit of mine, considering the money I would save by subscribing. Pausing between Seventeen and Newsweek, I realized how amusing and nearly contradictory it is to be a teenage feminist.

Even for all of the books on my shelves marked "Women's Studies," I am still 15. And that means that in order to survive the oppressive society known as high school, I have to be a member of the patriarchy, just like Guy Montag in the oppressive society of Farenheit 451. Always questioning, but unquestionably in line with the group.

I still remember when I finally bubbled over with anger, feminism, and activism. It came out in a blog post in December of the 8th grade, where I condemned the use of the word 'slut', among other things. My friends and acquaintances paid attention. It generated 26 comments and began my personal revolution.

As I began writing more blogs, all frankly expressing my opinion, Julie began to talk to me. She expressed that wide-eyed disbelief of a new feminist at how gender biased the world could be. She had converted, and this, more than anything, made my political agitating worthwhile. The idea that I had made a personal difference in someone's beliefs was incredible, and it was by Julie's persuasion that Feminisme was born.

I don't have that much of a problem with a sexualized society. My problem is with a sexualized society that refuses to deal with the aftermath of sex, namely, STDs and pregnancy and its prevention.

Recently, in an action alert, Planned Parenthood stated that several major networks like FOX refuses to air commercials for contraception. What? These are networks that air sex all day, but somehow think it isn't family friendly to air condom commercials? It totally makes sense to me. Expose impressionable youth to sexual content through pop culture, because they'll understand the difference between celebrity and real life. But tell them about safety and pregnancy prevention? Give them vaccines to prevent sexually transmitted diseases? Goodness gracious, then the kids will be having orgies all over the place!

http://www.alternet.org/sex/51408/

Well, IS stripping feminism?

The article above asserts that it is, because the money earned from it helps women economically achieve equality to men.

True. But the question is, must we give up one principle of equality for another? Let's not forget that feminism is striving towards political, economical, and social justice. Do we have to give up the idea of social (i.e. sexual) equality in the name of advancing economic equilibrium?

And it isn't as if women are even the major profiteers of sex work anyway. Behind every whore is the pimp, and behind every stripper on the pole is the manager of the bar.

It's been almost two weeks since Seung-Hui Cho (usually it's reported the other way around, but Cho is technically a family name) shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.

My sister, who is a freshman there, lost her best friend.

She was a beautiful young woman who had dreams, goals, and passions. She helped create housing for the homeless and loved helping those less fortunate than her- despite the fact that Cho went on his rampage to try and kill snobby, rich elites. She cared about international issues- she was a member of Model UN and was going to major in International Studies. She played sports like basketball, and she was a lifeguard.

When Don Imus, a popular radio shock-jock host, called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos", did they wave it off?

Absolutely not. They fought his racism and sexism tooth and nail because it was unacceptable- specifically, "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and unconscionable," according to their coach, a black woman herself. Advertisers began to pull out of the show, and finally, both of his major hosts have fired him.

I find it rather ironic that while men's college basketball has recently been a celebrated event during March Madness, a women's team plays and enjoys great success as athletes and gets put down as "nappy-headed hos." As if those comments had anything to do with their achievements on the court or how they played the game. One of the players, Heather Zurich, felt vindicated of their athletic victory and said, "We were stripped of this moment by the degrading comments made by Mr. Imus. My team did nothing to deserve Mr. Imus’s, nor Mr. McGuirk’s , deplorable comments."

I have recently read many articles written by adults who are scared that their preteen girls are growing up in an enviornment that is too sexual and turns their bodies into sex objects.

My response: Um, duh? As a young teenager who sees the effects of rampant sexual objectification on her high school peers, it isn't hard to see where young girls get the idea.

Case in point: Deal or No Deal. The popular television show where the males (the host and the banker) manipulate the contestant in a series of intellectual hoops and enticing prizes, and the women hold boxes. In skimpy dresses. Oh, they pose and smile, too. This isn't a controversial fringe show, this is a game show blasting in millions of homes across America. A girl's parents probably watch it- and then wonder why their daughter wants to buy a tube top.

Imagine having to make a huge choice four days after coming into your new office. Your superiors and the media at large are pressuring you one way even as your beliefs go another way. How do you vote?

Before Hilary, Nancy, or Barbara ever had to make that choice, Jeanette Rankin did. And she voted against World War I in accordance with her beliefs as a feminist and pacifist.

She was also the first woman ever elected to Congress, in 1916, before women could even vote for her. After completing college and trying out various jobs, she decided to become a social worker to help the poor and children. She was the first woman to speak for the Montana legislature and helped the women of Montana get the vote. Then, she ran for the House of Representitives.

The Higher Power of Lucky is about a 10-year-old girl tapping into the power of herself. It was so powerful, apparently, that it won the Newbery Award.

But, like always, the parents came after it. What was Susan Patron's (the author) crime? She wrote about scrotum. Specifically, she wrote about an accident where a snake bites a dog on the scrotum.

Was it used in a sexual manner? No. Was it inappropriate? Not if you think that simply revealing a medical term to refer to one's body is inappropriate. What is wrong with speaking frankly about a part of one's body that half of our kids have already?

To add to Brooke's recent post about how cheap (and moral) being pro-choice is, it's also very expensive to be pro-life in this world. You see, I frequent a message board and group on Facebook called Support A Woman's Right To Choose, which is probably the biggest pro-choice group on the site, with over 90,000 members and counting.

While we often cite science or statistics from sources such as the Guttmacher Institute, today Trevor Sorenson created his own approximations on how much criminalizing abortion as murder would cost. Surprise! It doesn't exactly fit into the Republican party line, which seems to think that being pro-life and lowering taxes is within any realm of possibility.

My first article is going to be published in off our backs! It's about Gabriela Flores, a woman jailed for inducing her miscarriage even though she had no other options. Which leads me to the topic I'm blogging about today: feminist zine communities.

off our backs (oob) is only one of many of these. The All Girl Army is another! I love the idea of a collective because, unlike most other media, it's completely self-sufficient. Most other magazines, or newspapers, or websites rely on advertising to stay afloat financially. This would be fine except for that advertisors end up censoring and trying to control content. The magazines end up giving in to their demands or folding because they don't have enough money to continue. I've read about this in both The Beauty Myth and Manifesta.

In biology, we watched a video about Rosalind Franklin. I had never realized how much was wronged before- I had thought, "Oh, she wasn't considered for the Nobel Prize because she was dead, and posthumous nominations aren't allowed."

But it goes far beyond the Nobel Prize, or even any of the events after her death. She put up with sexism every day as a woman in the sciences, period. The male scientists dubbed her "Rosie" and "The Dark Lady." They belittled her based on her appearance rather than on her work, yet had the nerve to steal her data and findings to further their own studies.

That might seem biased, but James Watson freely admits to the nicknames, jokes about how supposedly unattractive she was, and even told the public that "Rosie, of course, did not directly give us her data," as stated in his book, The Double Helix. Maurice Wilkins, who has been said to be jealous of Franklin because she took over his lab at Kings College, gave some of her unpublished data to Watson and Crick.