Letter to the Editor

I had to write a letter to the editor for a social policy class.  Below is my submission. 
 
Year of Misogyny

Pennsylvania lawmakers have recently declared 2012 to be the Year of the Bible.  Besides the obvious arguments of “What happened to the separation of church and state?” and “Aren’t there more pressing issues for lawmakers to discuss right now?,” I would like to argue that instead of the Year of the Bible, 2012 should be declared the Year of Misogyny.  

Legislators and politicians have proposed, supported and in some cases passed bills that are systematically stripping rights away from women.  The Georgia State Legislature has been debating a bill that would make it necessary for women to carry stillborn or dying fetuses until they ‘naturally’ go into labor, because this is how cows and pigs do it (the reason they actually used to support the bill).  Women are not farm animals.  This bill would remove the right of women to make private, medically-based, critical care decisions with their doctors.

In Pennsylvania they have proposed forcing women to undergo involuntary vaginal penetration (isn’t this the definition of rape?) with a 6-8 inch ultrasound probe as a requirement when considering abortion.  This is a violation of women’s bodily integrity and is used purely as a means of control and oppression.  Sometime pregnancies are not healthy or safe for the mother and sometimes they are a result of rape.  But I guess we’re just expected to make the best of the situation, right Santorum?

And now there is legislation being pushed that would allow employers to dig into women’s private lives and only pay for insurance when they agree, for religious reasons, with how she chooses to use birth control.  Explain to me how it’s fair that my employer and their religious beliefs get to dictate my personal reproductive plans.  Would we allow Christian Scientists to refuse to pay for coverage of life-saving blood transfusions for their employees?  These issues are not about religious freedom, life, or morality.  They are about control.  Religious freedom means that I get to choose whether or not to be religious and how.  It does not mean that I get to impose my religion on others.

I am a woman and I have the human right to life, the right to privacy, right to freedom, and the right to decide when and how I reproduce.  And I have the right to vote!

Multicultural/Global Feminism

I really liked this weeks readings, but honestly, I am becoming increasingly frustrated. It seems to me, as we progress through our readings, that the "feminist movement" is more and more disjointed and theoretical.  I like reading all of the different feminist thought and theories and how many different definitions of the problem there are.  Very interesting and thought provoking.  But come on!  How are we going to get anywhere?

Who do I speak for?  Just me.  But how do I make any changes?  I understand that lumping all women together - the privileged and the others - is counterproductive and completely unfair.  And I realize that the change I think should happen probably doesn't apply to most other women of the world.  But what then?  It seems that most political or social change happens when large groups of people come together for a common goal - and usually have someone that speaks for them. 

As I continue with these readings, I feel more educated but more helpless.  Is it just me?

Ecofeminism

I really enjoyed the readings this week on ecofeminism.  I have always been very interested in environmental issues and the relation of the environment to feminism makes a lot of sense to me.  Coincidentally, I also watched Food, Inc. this week. 

Food, Inc. is a 2008 American documentary film that examines corporate farming in the United States, concluding that agribusiness produces food that is unhealthy, in a way that is environmentally harmful and abusive of both animals and employees.  The film examines the industrial production of meat, grains and vegetables calling it inhumane and economically and environmentally unsustainable.  It also looks at the economic and legal power of the major food companies, the profits of which are based on supplying cheap but contaminated food, the heavy use of petroleum-based chemicals, and the promotion of unhealthy food consumption habits by the American public.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  It was especially interesting to view it through a feminist lens. 

Intersections Galore

The readings for this week were very thought provoking and interesting.  I particularly liked the Crenshaw article outlining the differential treatment that black women receive in the court system.  Apparently there's not a place in our system for the intersection of race and gender.  It's either a race issue (male standard) or a gender issue (white standard). 

The introduction of the Delgado article brought back some memories for me.  In the intro, they ask you to consider some situations and then consider the same situations as if you were a person of color.  I remember my first real experience being a minority.  I had just left Utah after high school and moved to Washington DC - Anacostia SW.  I was stationed there with my AmeriCorps NCCC group.  We had been warned that Anacostia was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country and had the highest murder rate per capita than any other area in the country.  But we were there to save the world, why would anyone hurt us?  :)  The first trip to the grocery store was amazing for me.  I was the only white person in the store and heard people telling their kids to stay away from me.  I got dirty looks and people that I interacted with made all kinds of assumptions about me.  It was a very isolating experience.  While I cannot compare my (white privledged) experience to a lifetime of prejudice, I feel like I got a (very) small taste of what that may be like.

I Knew It!

I have really enjoyed the articles for this week.  The reading just keep getting better and better!  My favorites so far: Judith Butler's Beside Oneself and The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm by Koedt.  When I first saw the title of Koedt's article, I yelled out, "I knew it!"  :)  I have long wondered about the idea of 2 types of female orgasms and why one was so elusive.  I would go back and forth between feeling sexually inferior to my female counterparts who claimed to experience them (what was wrong with me?) and later convinced they were lying to cover their own feelings of inadequacy.  After reading this article and doing further research on the matter this week, I'm convinced it's a myth - and a bullshit one at that!

Judith Butler's article, although not an easy read, was very thought provoking.  Her idea that people are not solely autonomous but in our interactions with others we "become" for and of the other.  I plan to explore this further and probably re-read this article to fully comprehend her theory.

I watched Miss Representation this week and loved it!  (It can be viewed on our website temporarily http://www.usu.edu/womenandgender/)  What an amazing documentary.  This is something that I have been aware of and angry about for sometime and it's nice to see that there is a movement to end it, although it seems like an uphill and long battle.  I'm happy to say that I'm making an effort - I don't purchase magazines or tabloids and TV is not allowed at our house.  I talk to my son about these issues when they arise (at a 1st grade level) but I recognize that I'm fighting our entire society and culture in these discussions.    

Mansplaining

I really liked reading about ecofeminism.  I found the combination of feminist and ecological thinking to be very interesting.  I think having a connection to nature is very important and I can definitely see the parallels between the two thoughts.  I wonder if the combination of the two movements is detrimental to each individually...

While doing some extra reading on Postcolonial Feminism, I came across this quote.  "While a politics of inclusion is driven by an ambition for universal representation (of all women's interests), a politics of partiality does away with that ambition and accepts the principle that feminism can never ever be an encompassing political home for all women, not just because different groups of women have different and sometimes conflicting interests, but, more radically, because for many groups of 'other' women other interests, other identifications are sometimes more important and politically pressing than, or even incompatible with, those related to their being women." - Ien Ang

I think these last 3 chapters were particularly thought provoking and less black and white than the previous chapters.  

I came across a blog discussing the issue of mansplaining.  According to Karen Healey, cited on this blog, "Mansplaining isn’t just the act of explaining while male, of course; many men manage to explain things every day without in the least insulting their listeners.  Mansplaining is when a dude tells you, a woman, how to do something you already know how to do, or how you are wrong about something you are actually right about, or miscellaneous and inaccurate “facts” about something you know a hell of a lot more about than he does."

I found this to be both humorous and true and experience this all the time, but wasn't aware enough to actually label it.  But something else on this blog entry (it's very long) really hit home.  Read below.


"Like most women, I currently live in a society where violence, harassment and scary shit can break out at any moment, just because I told some random asshole “no” without bothering to be nice about it. Doing that is so dangerous that most women don’t dare; after a few scary incidents, they learn to make up excuses, to smile, to be sweet and welcoming, to act as if every single random asshole on the street is a precious new friend that they would just LOVE to stand outside of the Chipotle and chat with FOR HOURS, if only cruel fate had not intervened. That’s what it’s actually like, being a woman: Playing nice with every random asshole, because this random asshole might be the one who hurts you. And then, if he hurts you anyway, they’ll tell you that you led him on."
http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/08/29/chronicles-of-mansplaining-professor-feminism-and-the-deleted-comments-of-doom/

The rest of the blog is worth reading and I highly recommend it.  I don't know about you but I have experienced this.  And I always feel the pressure to be nice about it, while I have one hand on my pepper spray.  It's always enlightening when someone is able to put a common  and shared experience into language that enables us to see the absurdities of the situation and for what it really is.

Efeminate???

Wow, what a week!  I have really enjoyed the readings.  So far, I find that I most identify with Existential Feminism.  I think Simon de Beauvoir's exploration of man as the self and woman as the other to be fascinating.  Beauvoir argued that women have historically been considered deviant or abnormal. Aspiring toward the male ideal as other feminists have recommended, Mary Wollstonecraft - I'm looking at you, just serves to limit women's success by perpetuating the view that we are lacking in some way. Beauvoir believed that for feminism to move forward, this assumption must be set aside and I am inclined to agree.

Another resonating feature of Existential Feminism, a la Beauvoir, is the capability of choice.  Women have the ability to choose to elevate themselves and choose their own freedom.  I find this to be refreshing after reading in previous chapters which traits I need to adopt and which traits I need to banish forever.  Radical Feminism seems just as oppressive as our current patriarchal society, if not more so.  While I respect the attempted analysis of feminine vs. masculine traits, I disagree with radical-libertarian feminists in their efforts to rid the world of femininity.  Reproduction is our main weakness??  Come on.  I disagree with radical-cultural feminists in their acceptance of only feminine traits.  These both radical and yet opposing views seem to be very polarizing and restrictive.  I think people should have the right to express whatever traits they want and be treated equally regardless of their choice.

In other news, I've been thinking a lot lately about the word "emasculate."

e·mas·cu·late/iˈmaskyəˌlāt/

Verb:

Make (a person, idea, or piece of legislation) weaker or less effective. Deprive (a man) of his male role or identity: "he feels emasculated because he cannot control his sons' behavior"

The word "emasculate" implies that you are taking power away from someone.  For it to be taken away implies that you have held power at some point.  Is there an equal word that signifies the same removal of power for women?   

There is no word in our language for taking power from a woman because she typically doesn't hold any in our society.  

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this...

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

     - Simone de Beauvoir