Paradigm Shift

Who Will Rape Me? – Written by Andrea Grimes at Hay Ladies, this post discusses the reality of sexual assault against women and the lived experiences of women in rape culture.

MTV’s Shockingly Good Abortion Special – On December 28th, MTV aired a special episode of 16 and Pregnant which featured three teenagers that chose to have abortions… and it was “shockingly good.”

– As soon as I read these poems, I could not wait to share them with my friends.  At times touching, other times heartbreaking, these poems address many important issues affecting women around the world today.

Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies, and Along With It, Reason and Justice – I could not have said this better myself…

Tests of ‘Roe’ More Frequent since Justices Upheld Late-term Abortion Ban in ’07 – Read this to learn what these tests mean for our reproductive rights and why the 2007 decision was so significant.

Life-Saving Hospital May No Longer Consider Itself Catholic – During the eleventh week of her pregnancy, a woman rushed to St. Joseph’s hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.  She needed the doctors to perform a life-saving abortion, a procedure which went against the hospital’s Catholic, pro-life principles.

Feminism: A Moral Compass for Change – A great piece on one woman’s experiences with feminism.

Have you been reading or writing anything lately?  If so, please share!

What better way to spend the holiday season than cozying on up with a great book, some pumpkin bread, and a huge cup of coffee?  Now that school is out of session, I finally have time to catch up on reading books that aren’t found on my course syllabi.  My list of books to read is endless, so I have no choice but to narrow it down to a reasonable amount.

So far, I have read two amazing books by two amazing, feminist authors.  First, I read Gender Trouble by Judith Butler. I had already read numerous articles and excerpts written by Judith Butler, so I assumed I would love the book… I was right.  Her work is both theoretical and intellectual, revolutionary yet completely grounded in reality.  Gender Trouble is one of Butler’s earlier books and considered to be part of the canon for feminist and queer theory.  In this text, Butler completely challenges our understandings of gender, sexuality, and social constructionism.  This book is a must-read for anyone interested in identity politics!

After this, I decided it was time for a break from theory. I needed something easy to read, but equally thought-provoking and inspiring, so I turned to Overcoming Speechlessness by Alice Walker.  Before I delved into the text, I spent some time thinking about what it means to be speechless.  We are often speechless in light of a situation which elicits a strong emotional response; whether our reaction is positive or negative is irrelevant.  After spending a great deal of time pondering the meaning of the title, I turned to the first page and started reading.  Once I started, I did not stop until I reached the end.  As part of a trip organized by Women for Women International, Walker travelled to Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel.  She documents her experiences, which later turn into a poem known as Overcoming Speechlessness.  Needless to say, I was not left speechless after reading the text.  In fact, my mind was racing with thoughts at such a speed that I could barely keep up with them!  Walker transported me to a world full of terrible injustices and human rights violations, yet allowed me to see beyond this exterior.  Regardless of these terrible situations, there is still love, humanity, and a strong sense of community.  Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, Overcoming Speechlessness is definitely one of the most powerful texts I have ever read.

Next up on my never-ending list of books to read is Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio. When I first met my best friend, she told me that this book completely changed her life by re-introducing her to feminism and empowerment.  Having known nothing about the content of the book, I was intrigued to learn more.  I have finally gotten around to reading this book and must say I am pleasantly surprised!  I am only a few pages in to the text but can already recognize why my friend loves this book so much.  Muscio’s ideas can be controversial, challenging, and absolutely incredible.  In this text, she argues that women need to reclaim the word cunt because it represents womanhood, passion, and strength.  As Ophira Edut at Bust Magazine says, “Cunt does for feminism what smoothies did for high-fiber diets—it reinvents the oft-indigestible into something sweet and delicious.”

Once I finish reading Cunt, I hope to read a few more books before returning to school, including:

For Colored Girls that have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is not Enuf by Ntozake Shange – I had never heard of this book until it became a major motion picture.  From what I had heard, the film discussed issues such as abortion, sexual assault, identity poltiics, and more.  Before running to the theater to check out what sounded like a great movie, I decided to pick up a copy at my local bookstore.  I’m really looking forward to reading this book, watching the film, and comparing the two!

Nimos War, Emmas War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War by Cynthia Enloe – Next semester, I will be taking on an independent project on women and Islam.  When I first approached my professor to discuss this, she gave me some suggestions of texts which I could include in the syllabus.  I chose not to use this book because it was slightly unrelated to the other books I would be reading, but it definitely fits in to my areas of interest.  Enloe’s text follows the life of eight women during the Iraq War – four from the United States and four from Iraq.  In doing so, she offers a realistic portrayal of women’s lived experiences during wartime which challenges the stories which are presented by mainstream news and media sources.

So what have you been reading recently?

Earlier this morning, President Obama signed a bill which will put an end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  This policy, implemented during the Clinton era, banned openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the United States military.  Over the past seventeen years, approximately fourteen thousands troops were discharged because of this discriminatory law.  Although the law has not been officially repealed yet, Obama has asked Defense Secretary, Robert M. Gates, to suspend all current investigations and discharges relating to a service member’s sexual orientation.

The next step requires the military to meet certain requirements.  Troops must undergo new training and education programs.  Then, the military will have to draft new policies which will recognize the needs and rights of all service members.  Following this, Obama, along with Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of Joint Chief of Staff, will inform Congress that the military is prepared for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  Once this is done, there will be a sixty-day interim period before the law is officially repealed.

Stay tuned for more news about DADT repeal!

Until a few days ago I did not know how to put on makeup. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but at eighteen and already through my first semester of college I’m more than a little bit behind the curve. Most of my female friends started experimenting in middle school by rimming their eyes with heavy black lines. As time progressed they began to experiment with color, most eventually settling for what would be considered a natural, everyday look. Personally, I was just far too lazy to wakeup even a few minutes earlier to put makeup on and then stay up a few minutes later to properly remove it. However, now that I’ve been inculcated in the process I can’t help but wonder, why do women wear makeup?

Makeup isn’t new or exclusively Western. Ancient Egyptians used kohl as eyeliner. Japanese geishas wore lipstick. Women in Europe as far back as the Renaissance used face powder to achieve a paler and more aristocratic look. In early America, makeup was largely unpopular, mostly because it was considered immodest. Flappers in the 1920s began wearing dark eye makeup, red lipstick, and suntanned skin in order to protest the Puritanical standards of the day, hopping to draw attention to their sexuality and individuality. As movie stars began wearing makeup in the 1930s, it gradually became more acceptable and was soon widely adopted by most American women. By the 1950s every housewife did her dishes and vacuumed her floors with a fully made-up face. Second-wave feminist in the 1970s opposed makeup, claiming it contributed to the patriarchy’s view of women solely as sexual objects.

So, where does that leave the modern woman? Unfortunately, I don’t have a definitive proclamation. Some women enjoy putting on makeup the way others enjoy wearing dresses; just because they are both characteristically “female” habits, is no reason to force women to stop either. Feminism should offer women more choices, not less. Some women wear makeup to enhance certain facial features. I can find no fault in this approach either. I wear things that best show off my assets, noses and eyes and lips should be no exceptions. It’s a form of body confidence to be able to say, “I don’t care that my lips don’t have a cupid’s bow, I like them anyways.” Some women even wear makeup to keep themselves healthy; all foundations contain at least some level of SPF.

Yet, some women wear makeup to hide their faces and this I cannot condone. If the only way a woman can feel “confident” about their face is under layers of artificial colors and anti-wrinkle serums, then there’s a problem, and it’s not with her. The problem lies in the constant media bombardment, which enforces ideas that allow women to believe there is only one definition of beauty and without makeup they’re not it.

But, I haven’t been fair. I’ve been pointing the finger at other women, when I started this post talking about me. Why did I learn to make myself up? The answer makes me want to cringe. I’ve been desperately applying for jobs and I figured I would look more hirable while wearing basic makeup. So where does that put me? In the last category. Like the women I was most anxious for, I too am seeking patriarchal approval.

However, in writing this post I’ve seen the hypocrisy and I promise myself, and you, in the future I will never wear makeup for anyone but myself. All I ask is that if you wear makeup you seriously consider why you do it.

Meet Erik Kondo, the founder of NOT-ME!, a non-profit organization that completely transforms the art of self-defense.  His workshops incorporate skills and strategies beyond the scope of traditional, physical self-defense workshops; participants are encouraged to understand their own potential, build confidence in their abilities, and follow a system of preventative strategies.  If you can’t make it to one of his workshops, check out his incredible blog about street harassment.

In this interview, Kondo speaks about the importance of self-defense, the prevalence and underlying causes of street harassment, and issues relating to power, communication, and fear.

What was your motivation for starting the organization, Not Me?

I started NOT-ME! with the intention to advance self-defense education for at-risk populations. As a long time practitioner of the martial arts, I came to the realization that the majority of self-defense instruction is based on teaching mostly physical technique. As a person with a disability, I understand the limitations of using physical technique for self-defense. Most attackers are bigger and stronger than their intended victims. Therefore, it is far more effective to outsmart an attacker with a powerful strategy such as the 5D’s of Self-Defense, then it is try to “out fight” them. I created NOT-ME! in order to advocate the importance of using strategy and incorporating the mental and emotional realities into self-defense education and training.

What can people take away from your self defense workshops?

Truly learning self-defense is similar to learning how to swim. It takes a lot of time and effort. But, the first part of learning how to swim is how “not to drown”. In terms of self-defense, “not drowning” means having a realistic understanding of your personal strengths, weaknesses, and instinctive nature. It means understanding that the most effective means of self-defense is prevention executed by active deterrence. That is the message I convey in a workshop.

What has been the most rewarding story you have heard from a participant in your program?

Not long ago, I did a private session with a young woman who was planning to travel alone to Chile for the summer. Along with personal instruction, I provided her with reading materials for the plane. While, in Chile she encountered a young female traveler who had just been robbed. She passed the materials on to her.

The goal of self-defense is to minimize the consequences of aggression and to provide peace of mind. When she returned, she had no problems to report. But she had felt better prepared for her trip than her unlucky fellow traveler. To me, this is a great example of the purpose of self-defense instruction, to provide people with a means to be better prepared and for them to pass on their knowledge to others.

What makes certain individuals more at-risk for street harassment?

It is impossible to answer this question without running into the danger of “victim blaming”. One of the difficulties of street harassment is that in most situations the harassing behavior cannot be avoided or deterred by the target of harassment. The term “street harassment” encompasses a wide variety of behaviors, starting with leers and comments and ending with predatory testing and stalking. It is simply not possible to prevent someone from making inappropriate public comments about you, nor do I believe it is advisable. Avoiding street harassment by wearing baggy clothes or by limiting public travel has the effect of magnifying the overall negative effects of harassment.

An episode of street harassment differs from a self-defense situation in that the damage caused by street harassment is by definition not physical. Street harassment is an attack against the target of harassment’s psychological well-being. It is the constant repetition of the incidents combined with the target’s feeling of powerlessness than creates long term damage, especially among adolescent girls.

What advice would you give to someone that is experiencing street harassment?

While every incident of street harassment has similar elements, the particular circumstance of each incident differs widely. Therefore, my advice is a flexible strategy that follows the three steps; Acknowledge, Assess, and Act.

Acknowledge that you or someone else is being harassed. It is impossible to take positive action without first recognizing and confirming that there is a problem. You must break the destructive cycle of deny, delay, and do nothing.

Assess the situation. The type of response you make is totally dependant upon the type of person that you are dealing with, your own personal strengths and weaknesses and the existence of potential helpful bystanders or harassing confederates. For example, dealing with the Charmer Wannabe is less threatening than the Overgrown Bully, unless the Charmer Wannabe is really a Predatory Tester in disguise.

Act in a proactive manner. The type of action executed is determined by what has been previously assessed and taking into consideration your ability and willingness to confront the harasser. While an assertive statement is typically the most effect response, it is also difficult for many women (and men too) to be assertive without practice.

Assertiveness is not an emotion. Anger, fear, irritation, and uncertainty are examples of emotions. Assertiveness is a method of communication, in the same way that whispering and yelling are methods of communication. People are born with the inherent ability to feel emotions. They are not born with the ability to be assertive. Assertiveness must be practiced and perfected over time. The two most common reactions to harassment are variations of the powerful emotions of fear or anger. These emotions lead to either passive behavior or an angry outburst.

In order to be assertive, you must be neither fearful nor angry. You need to have the stern matter of fact voice and demeanor of a tough elementary school teacher. Therefore, if your idea of assertiveness is “Please pass the salt.” as opposed to “Now pull up your pants little Johnny. And don’t let me catch you doing that again!”, then you need to create an action response that works for you.

Why do you think street harassment is often justified and trivialized?

Those are two separate questions. I believe that street harassment is trivialized because as I stated earlier, it encompasses such a wide variety of behaviors. Very few people would say that when an adult man stalks or engages in predatory testing of an adolescent girl, it is a trivial matter. But, on the other end of the scale, if a man says to a fully grown woman he passes on the street “Looking good today!” it is possible to wonder “what’s the big deal?”

The issue is not the words; it is the context and implication of the statement that create the problem. For instance, in the Middle Ages, that type of statement to a Queen would most likely get a man upside down in a kettle of boiling oil. Why? Because the implication of the statement is the existence of disrespectful familiarity, one that has a sexual context. What should exist between strangers is a common desire to treat each other with respect. Therefore, keeping one’s head out of boiling oil, means changing disrespectful comments to simple acknowledgement greetings such as “Hello” or a nod of the head.

Why street harassment is justified is another matter. Typically a behavior is justified by one person or group when another person or group places blame for the behavior. Assessing blame is a sure fire way to guarantee a justification response. Women blame men for harassing them. Men blame women for blaming them. Women blame men for blaming them. This is a self-enforcing destructive cycle.

Justification is similar to an excuse, and excuses are for those who need them. There is no logical or rational reason to be disrespectful to a stranger on the street. Therefore, that type of behavior needs to be “rationalized” and “justified” in order it to continue.

Studies have shown that women all across the world experience street harassment, regardless of race, class, and ethnicity. Why is it that street harassment is such a global phenomenon?

Cultural based street harassment such as that seen in NYC, is a toxic byproduct of three main ingredients. They are (1) a male dominated power culture, (2) a cultural fear of male violence among women, and (3) a culture of disempowered bystanders. When these three ingredients exist in a society somewhere in the world, that society is likely to experience its own version of street harassment.

What do you see as the most effective measure in preventing and combating street harassment?

I believe that street harassment can be defeated by a three petal plan that involves Prevention, Intervention, and Mitigation. That means preventing street harassment from occurring, intervening to stop it when it occurs, and mitigating the negative effects after it has occurred.

This plan must be implemented by society as a whole, by bystanders to incidents of street harassment, and by women as targets of harassment. The harasser’s themselves are part of the plan in that their behavior is the central focus of the plan. Specifically,

1. Society must create a culture of intolerance for street harassment in order to eliminate the behavior.

2. Bystanders – must learn strategies and methods to intervene and mitigate when observing incidents of harassment.

3. Targets of Harassment must learn strategies and methods to directly voice their disapproval when harassed.

Every situation of street harassment is different. Each situation requires a different response. But the overall strategy is the same: Society, Bystanders, and Targets need to communicate that street harassment is unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated.

What do you think street harassment tells us about society?

I believe that street harassment is not just a “cancer” than needs to be eradicated. I think it is a symptom of a greater problem. This problem is more than just a power struggle between the genders. Street harassment is evidence of a break down in people’s ability to effectively communicate with each other on a face to face level when removed from controlled social situations.

Street harassment is in effect unwanted or forced communication. The harasser uses his method of communication to not only intimidate, silence, or anger the target of harassment, but also the surrounding male and female bystanders. Neither the target nor the bystanders know how to communicate their displeasure to the harasser. Despite the fact that the balance of power is in the hands of the bystanders, but in most situations, they do nothing.

In a typical harassment situation on a subway train with a captive audience, the Target doesn’t effectively communicate her displeasure to the Harasser. She doesn’t effectively communicate her desire for assistance from the male and female Bystanders. Neither the male or female Bystanders effectively communicate their willingness to support the Target, or their displeasure of the behavior to the Harasser. The Harasser is able to capitalize on this breakdown in communication and take control of the situation.

Therefore, while it is possible to point the finger of blame squarely on the Harasser, it is the inaction of the majority that enables the Harasser to do his dirty work.

Street harassment is everyone’s problem. Everyone must share responsibility for its existence and for its defeat. While everyone may not be directly involved in incidents of street harassment, everyone suffers to some degree from the same problem with intrapersonal communication. Every man that silently watches another man harass a woman is at fault in the same way that every woman who automatically looks down at the approach of a male is at fault. These behaviors create the environment that makes cultural street harassment possible.