EqualityQuilt

Life in the real whirl’d.

You should know that before I begin my update about life in the “real world” (whatever that means), that I've been working on this blog post for quite some time, writing and re-writing several drafts. There's a lot of pressure when you're writing about yourself. What wisdom can I impart? What do I envision myself doing in 10 years? Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?

Yes, I find myself drifting off in my work station ('cubicle' is pre-recession speak), contemplating the possibilities to the answers of Monster.com's Top 100 interview questions. After seven interviews and completing countless job applications, this exhaustive, sometimes invasive, list has been so etched into my mind that I can almost recite it in my sleep.

Job searching during the recession has not been totally futile, however. I'm currently doing a paid internship at USAction, a fantastic progressive organization that does advocacy work through grassroots and grass-tops organizing and has many state affiliates, including Take Action Minnesota. Currently, our campaign has centered around (what else?) health care.

RSVP today for First Latinas Economic Forum!

Here's the flyer with more details about the magnificent Latina leaders with whom you can connect on November 13.   If the donation registration system explained below is too hard, you can register by simply emailing Silvia Alvarez with your name and the names of any others you are bringing with you.   (All friends of Latinas are welcome.)  Please make sure she has your name by end of the day tomorrow, November 4 - after all there are dinners to be ordered, tables to be set, stemware to be polished, folders to be stuffed full of connections and resources to help you move forward in your career and your life!   After Silvia has your name, she can send details about driving directions and parking.  See you there!  - Bonnie

 

National Comprehensive Sex Education Call-In TODAY!

The Feminist Majority Foundation says we must stop the Hatch Amendment, which was added onto a Senate health care reform bill and would restore abstinence-only federal funding.  FMF asks you to:

• Call 1-888-423-5983.
• Tell them your state.
• Ask to speak to your US Senator.  (You can ask to leave a message for either or both Senator Franken and Senator Klobuchar.) 
  
• Tell them reinstating $50 million to failed abstinence-only programs is unacceptable!

Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Beauty Contraptions

A little bit of humor from Sarah Haskins.

Running Up that Hill

In this month's edition of Women's Press, an On Your Mind article talks about running as a feminist pursuit. This may seem like a stretch at first glance, in the same vein that Tampax might tell consumers that using tampons is a feminist pursuit against the tyranny of Aunt Flo, but the author does have a very important point: "nothing-especially nothing involving women and their bodies-can remain neutral for very long."

I don't exercise much or at all these days, chalking it up to undergraduate stress and time management, but when I did, one of my workout buddies Shivaun told me once that she has to make the time to hit the gym, and she always feels good about it because exercising was one of the few things she gets to do for herself alone, and how often does that happen? 

Tech Chauvinism

The Internet and technology provide new opportunities for those seeking to expand their chauvinist outlets. In the last couple of months there has been a rash of chauvinism in the tech world. Ryan Tate over at Gawker has listed a few: 

• Booth babes" were explicitly discouraged at the TechCrunch 50; some people still hired the attractive spokesgirls.
• On stage at the same event, Penn Jilette promoted his iPhone magic app by explaining how it helped a stripper increase her tips.
• When the fit, female co-founder of the startup TotalTrainer gave a presentation at VentureBeat's Demo conference, some male geeks in the audience got snarky about her body on Twitter, provoking a backlash against their "sexist tweets." 
• Attendees at TechCrunch had to be warned not to mock the accents of speakers from foreign countries, according to co-organizer Jason Calacanis.

I would like to add a few he missed:

• Pepsi released a iPhone app called “AMP Up Before You Score.” This app provided men with twenty-four different female stereotypes and gave tips to help him score with that type.
• Other sexist apps include a PMSTracker for men so they can avoid the women in their lives during her time, and “I am a Man” which allows men to track several women at once.
• LG marketed cell phones as stalking devices.

As a gadget lover, it is no surprise to me that technology is heavily marketed to men. Furthermore, it is very apparent that regardless of the rise of women in technological careers, it is still a male dominated industry. With the rapid fire development of new technology and the incredible power of social networking sites and the blogosphere, sexism has found new ways to infect our society. All the more reason for women young and old to embrace technology! - Erin Parrish

Women are Doing Great!

Time Magazine recently published "The State of the American Woman" special, which is basically an update of an article published in 1972. According to the writers of this article, women today are doing great! Their evidence: things used to be much worse. Today women enjoy the same freedom from discrimination as men and the problems we face are sorting out laundry problems at home and juggling our kids' soccer practice and a career.

 

Over at Jezebel, one blogger reports that the “article frames gender issues as small matters, individual squabbles between couple, instead of systemic issues.” Apparently, the issues that women face today are trivial and caused by women wanting equal rights. For a more realistic and honest view of the status of women today, download your copy of the Minnesota Women’s Consortium's 2009 Women’s Action Plan. -Erin Parrish

Heene Boys: "Not Pussified"

My house is currently in internet flux as we're having some cable issues, so I missed the boat on the Balloon Boy debacle yesterday.

But yo, what is going on here???

I cannot really make out everything the boys are saying, but I have a strong feeling that the majority of it is not good. And considering that the aforementioned debacle may in fact be a hoax, it makes me anxious to think about what goes on in the Heene household. - Linda Nguyen

Come to the First Latina Economic Forum

For more info, write Silvia Alvarez! 

 

A Bigger Red Book

Over the weekend, my friend Stacey emailed me an article from the Guardian about menstruation activists, people who talk candidly about their periods and make zines sharing their stories in the effort of breaking silencing taboos and encouraging access to more environmentally (this includes bodily too) friendly menstrual products. I thought this was absolutely fabulous! Women talking about and taking ownership of their bodies! Zines, y'all!

But yo, not everyone feels the same way. A disagreement came from Salon's Broadsheet, who feels that menstrual activism "seems like an overreaction to a taboo that has mostly dissipated," and is mostly grossed out by the photography of women wearing their own menstrual blood as lipstick. The article cites men who buy tampons without fear and advertisements that makes jokes on themselves as the primary indicators of this dissipation. Really?

The undoing of the argument is of course already written into the article, albeit marginalized in parentheses: "just because periods are out in the open doesn't mean there aren't still sexist ideas about them." Which is the heart of the matter more often than not -- sexism. Sexism is complex, insidious, and structural with very real material consequences and manifestations. It does not simply end when all genders are comfortable and complacent with partaking in consumerist consumption, encouraged by capitalist campaigns extolling tampons that don't ruin your white skirt (despite their pollution of both the earth with their waste and the bodies they enter with their dioxins).

Shunning and shaming of menstrual activists in favor of performing radical tactics does not help the cause of liberating women with their bodies, not from them. We should never limit the conversations started, as the issue of menstruation is key topic in discussing how women take care of their bodies, and is directly linked to the other topics that may be deemed more important: equal pay (women have historically been marginalized in the workplace because they are thought of as hysterical due to their menstrual cycles) or domestic violence (having to use toxic products due to lack of [access to] healthier options is an act of domestic violence [does it not get any more domestic than our own bodies?]) or human rights abuses committed against women (see domestic violence).

Linda Nguyen

Cecelia in Slovenia

(Hey that almost rhymes) This is a shameless insomniacal missing-you-dear-girl post from Cecelia's mother - but honest, she was a Consortium intern this summer so there IS a connection.   Cecelia Peace took the Capitol Bulletin with her to Slovenia last month.  Here she is with her dad John, who was born in a refugee camp not far from here.  In the background is one of the many famous churches - Cece says there is one on every hilltop.  Yes, I also have footage of her and John twirling around "Sound of Music" style.   Now the Mister is back home but Cecelia has moved on to her fall semester in Jordan, where she did manage to fast for Ramadan and is enjoying her Jordanian family, practicing Arabic, and visiting bedouins and ancient sites that look like Greek ruins.  - Bonnie

How Not to Blog

One of the nice things about interning at the Consortium is being able to keep up with feminist news. I should have included this in my introduction, but will make it known to the internet now, that I love my Google Reader. I check it multiple times a day as with my email, and get excited when my friends share the things they're reading and find fascinating. Since starting, I have added Salon's Broadsheet and Feministe, my new favorites.

However, as much as I love reading blogs, it is quite difficult for me to post to one. I saved a draft on Friday about the way we die now and how end-of-life care is a feminist issue, which reminded me of what I read in class last week on feeding tubes. But this morning I was too ashamed to finish it because it feels like old news (five days, actually) by internet standards. Everyone seems to be talking about Roman Polanski now, following his arrest over the weekend.

Though I have been having a hard time jumping in on that conversation. Despite reading about a dozen separate articles on the matter, I'm still trying to figure out how to talk about it. Or rather, how not to talk about it. As is the case with both end-of-life care and sexual violence, it is important to not forget and take into proper account that we are talking about real bodies with real lives and histories and desires. By the same token, trigger warnings are meant to be reminders that the words we transmit to be read do not enter bodies empty of histories and emotions. But as is wont with media portrayals, numerous bodies, particularly marginalized and vulnerable bodies, become instruments of representation, battlefields for journalists, celebrities, politicians, and anyone with a blog to wage word wars over.

And I do not want to participate in that. So I am just going to list some points that I've arrived at personally through all of my Google Reader musings and try to be respectful as I can.

• Not everyone wants to have a feeding tube used to extend their life; some would rather have the choice to spend their days as they please.
• • And the people charged to take care of them during this time need to be adequately paid and benefited. 
• Not all victims of rape want to have their names spattered across media accounts and their stories re-told time and again for all to see and read.
• • But the perpetrators of that violence should be brought to justice, even if they did have enough wealth and fame to escape it.

Linda Nguyen

Longing for Riot Grrrls

Born on the cusp of the Gen X and Gen Y, I was exposed to the politics of the cold war and the aftermath of the Reagan era as well as new technological horizons. Murphy Brown of the late 1980s and riot grrrls of the 1990s were my feminist icons—even though I did not recognize them as that. The feminist icons that I knew stood for women’s rights. They made it ok to be a single, career woman and a mom. They made it ok for women to speak their minds and break through the male dominated music industry. They were not afraid to step up and say “Hey. Women are unfairly treated differently than men and that needs to change. And here’s how we change it.” These women embodied a women’s agenda that actually addressed women’s needs and experiences.

 After four years of a liberal women’s studies education and a handful of years working for a feminist organization, I’m saddened that many advocates for women’s rights have forgotten that there was a feminist agenda. Feminist has become a dirty word and is often replaced with humanist (which is inappropriately used but that is a different blog post). Instead of fighting for equal pay, rape prevention, or the elimination of gender stereotyping, many feminists believe the solution is more women politicians. However, I believe a woman candidate is not useful to the feminist movement unless she calls herself a feminist and creates policy that advances the status of women. I do not see this happening unless it is under the guise of families.

Meet the Newest Intern!

Happy Friday friends!

My name is Linda Nguyen and I love women. Which is one reason why I am very excited to be interning at the fabulous Minnesota Women's Consortium this fall. I am from Las Vegas, Nevada by way of a California childhood, but am doing my best to make the Twin Cities feel like home. This is my fourth year at Macalester College in Saint Paul, where I am majoring in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and American Studies, with a minor in English for good measure. Basically I read books about the rhetoric of identity and talk about contested power relations, then feel sad about the world, but empowered enough to try to change it.

Anyway, I am excited to be in the company of strong women at the Consortium, and continue the legacy of Macalester interns here (Suma L. Setty, where you at?) One project that will hopefully get off the ground with my help is Campus Feminist Connect. This program will work to bring Minnesota colleges and universities' women's (and gender and sexuality) studies departments together, along with the attendant women's resource centers, and provide shared resources for students. I would tell you more, but it's still a secret, even to me. So stay tuned to EqualityQuilt to find out more soon!

Introducing Belle!

Hello my name is Belle Khuu, and I am starting my first year at University of Minnesota School of Social Work. I'm really excited to be a part of the Minnesota Women's Consortium for my internship because it has been both an academic and personal interest of mine to get involved with women's issues. Growing up in a predominantly patriarchal society. I have always been discontented about the treatment of women. It wasn't until my freshman year in college through sociology classes that I began to learn about the unequal treatment of women on a systematic level in society. From those moments on, it has always been a mission of mine to work toward advancing women's rights. I completed my undergraduate studies in 2007 at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Science in sociology and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and philosophy. In conjunction with the internship, I also work as a research coordinator for the University of Minnesota Schizophrenia Program. My role with the program includes coordinating between clinical services and patient care as well as serving as the therapist for the metabolic studies and the being the neurocognitive assessor for the cognition trials.

I am looking forward to making a difference for women and elders. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or ideas that you have have. I can be contacted at eesi@mnwomen.org / 651-228-0338.

No Longer Weak Will

Lifetime's hit series, "Drop Dead Diva", staring Brooke Elliott as main character "Jane Bingum", portrays weight issues not as weak will or moral flaws more as a process of biological functioning. The premise essentially revolves around the possession of Jane's body (and life) by Deb-a former size zero aspiring model- when they coincidentally died at the same time. Deb, in Jane's body (and intellect), gets a second chance at life. The first few episodes connoted her struggles to accept her new identity as an "average" size woman. In one scene, Deb (in Jane's body) craves chocolate and it is funny to see how she reacts to her new life. The New York Times recently contrast this show with NBC's "The Biggest Loser" and how will power are often thought of as the key element to loosing weight. It is refreshing to hear that perhaps the lack of will power is not the only factor in the obesity problem in America. -Belle Khuu

Woman or Man?

In our society, we often label objects, people, or ideas as good or bad/right or wrong. This linear and more specially, binary thinking, often go unquestioned. It isn't until when things doesn't go as plan or go awry that we have to dig keep into our mental schema and sometime, if we are lucky, to adjust our web of belief. A good illustration is the much debated issue of whether Caster Semenya, the South African runner, should be strip of her gold medal after shattering record in the 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. After much speculation about Caster's gender, she was then subjected to numerous invasive testing procedures just to satisfy her accusers. While it is unclear which, if any, reports by media is accurate, several sources have noted that Caster was tricked by her coach to undergo sex testings. The testing process is an interesting topic itself, while there are some minute sex differences between men and women, for the most part, there are too much overlaps to even make a categorical distinction. Nonetheless, Semenya was found to be what medical experts termed "hermaphrodite" with both woman and men body organs and chemistry make up. This finding seems to satisfy the general public momentary understanding of how Caster was able to accomplish such an arduous physical challenge. However, the mere spectacle over her sex/gender overshadows her accomplishments as an individual regardless of sexual make up. It also forces individuals like Semenya to chose, or rather, to discard their own identify and adapt to one that is more fitting with societal standard. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to elucidate on the problem of categorizing people and ideas that does not fit neatly in our concrete good/bad binary paradigm.-Belle Khuu

 

Cómo criar niños saludables

(For our non-Spanish-speaking readers, this article is about raising children in a green, healthy environment.  For more info, write Latinas Coordinator Silvia Alvarez de Davila at latinasmn@gmail.com.  Thanks to  Liliana Tobón Gómez, M.D., M.P.H., Departamento de Servicios Humanos y Salud Pública del Condado de Hennepin, for sharing this information.)

Hogar, verde hogar: maneras de bajo costo para crear un lugar más saludable donde su familia puede vivir y crecer

 

     En estos días, “verde” está por todas partes y con una buena razón: Cada día aprendemos más acerca del impacto que nuestras acciones producen en el medio ambiente. Según la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (Environmental Protection Agency), Estados Unidos está cambiando hacia una “cultura verde” cuyos ciudadanos creen que todos desempeñamos un papel en la protección del medio ambiente. 

     Es muy probable que los padres sean los que están más al tanto de la necesidad de ser “ecologista”, ya que sus hijos y los hijos de sus hijos son un recordatorio diario de la necesidad de proteger el mundo que ellos heredarán. 

     Un buen lugar para comenzar es su propio hogar. A continuación se proveen algunas maneras de conservar energía y recursos, proporcionar un hogar saludable para su familia y ahorrar dinero en el proceso.

Para ahorrar energía:

·   Cuando una bombilla se funda, reemplácela con una luz fluorescente compacta, la cual usa un 60% menos de energía que una bombilla regular.

·   Al salir de la casa, baje el termostato y abra las persianas para que la casa se caliente con el sol.

Introducing Silvia Alvarez

Hi I'm Silvia Alvarez de Davila, the new Coordinator for the Association of Latina Women of Minnesota, a program of the Minnesota Women's Consortium.  (That's me on the right and my daughter Lucia on the left.)

I was born and raised in Guatemalan and moved to Minnesota with my husband and children. I have studied Anthropology, Education Policy Administration, and currently I am pursuing a Doctoral Degree at the Department of Work and Human Resource Education, University of Minnesota. 

I am interested on issues impacting the Latino community, and that is why I am excited about coordinating the Association of Latina Women of Minnesota.  I am currently planning the First Latinas Economic Forum with an  enthusiastic Advisory Board full of energy and good ideas.  The First Latinas Economic Forum will take place on November 13 from 1:30 to 8:00 PM at he Ameriprise Client Service Center in downtown Minneapolis. Please save the date and give me your valuable ideas to make this event unique.

By coordinating this Forum I’ll have the opportunity  to facilitate the space to discuss challenges and opportunities Latinas face in their  professional settings, to do networking and hto ave a good time honoring our culture.

Bethany & Health Care

Whew, long hot day with the AC down temporarily in the Consortium office - but a great day because Senator Al Franken plus his wonderful wife Frannie came to the Minnesota Women's Building to hear from us and 16 other women's-equality-supporting organizations about health care reform.  We are working on a big fat, data-laden report on this urgent topic, but for now I am just doting on the many pleasures of the women's community in Minnesota, and so happy the Consortium's mission is "to connect" everyone working on equality.  Listening to those 16 groups, all doing superb work on women and health care, full of stories from the people they serve right there in the trenches, great facts about the needs, and visionary eloquence about women needing special care for reproductive health AND special attention to issues like heart disease that affect women differently than men -- well, I am proud to know them.

Gigantic thanks to Bethany Snyder (pictured), former staffer for the Political Caucus, then the Heart Association, and now a Franken staffer, for pulling together an event like this.  Her knowledge that there IS a vibrant and diverse women's community out here, even though we don't get a lot of attention in the media, her respect for our expertise, and her political savvy to make sure the meeting did not get derailed by the antis -- well, I am proud to know her too.   - Bonnie