Fem Spring/Summer 2012 Issue

FEM

is for everybody

fem•i•nism \‘fe-mə-ni-zem\ n 1 : the theo-

ry of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes 2 : organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests

insert your definition here: __________________________________________ __________________________________________

UCLA’s feminist newsmagazine since 1973

Spring/Summer 2012

Table of Contents: Spring/Summer 2012 Features

Fixtures 03. Editor’s Note & Picks 04. News Briefs & By the Numbers 05. Sound Bites

8. A Few Feminist Moments in

10. Being a Male Feminist

An illustrated guide to some historic events in U.S. history.

A man’s take on gender rights, privilege and acceptance.

History

06. Q&A: Ferial Masry 07. Q&A: Hannah Bo Petri, aka Catsexual 16. HEALTH: Conceptualizing the Biological Clock 18. JUSTICE: A Story of Survival 19. JOBS: Life as a UCLA Housekeeper 19. POETRY CORNER: A Sister’s Love by Jewel Pereyra 20. MILITARY: Life as a Woman in the Military

11. Confronting Feminism’s

12. Our Feminist Favorites:

The movement’s not perfect. Here’s what’s wrong and how we can fix it.

Fem staffers breaks down their feminist favorites, from songs to books to superheroes.

Problems

Top 5 Lists

21. SEX: Uniting Sexual and Social Identities 22. FILM: Is “The Avengers” Combatting Sexism?

23. MUSIC: Girls, we Ru[i]n the World?

24. TELEVISION: Ode to “The Daily Show’s” Samantha Bee 25. CONFESSIONS OF A HOPELESS ROMANTIC: I was Co=Dependent Before it was Cool 26. LIBERATED COOKING: My Grandmother’s Kitchen (Latkes & Apple Sauce Recipes)

14. Abortion Rights in the

17. A Change in Name

27. CROSSWORD PUZZLE: A Few Famous Feminists

A look at the current state of reproductive rights and health care.

The Women’s Studies department at UCLA is changing its name to “Gender Studies.”

28. BACKCOVER: Quotes

United States

2 | Fem | Table of Contents

FEM

Newsmagazine EDITOR IN CHIEF Melissa van Gelder MANAGING EDITOR Nora Daly CONTENT EDITORS Connie Shen Dominique Silva COPY CHIEF Ti f fa n y C h ow BLOG EDITORS Emily Clark Ya m u n a H a ro u t u n i a n Sahar Shiralian STAFF WRITERS Kerry Esrey Allison Green Valerie Hasson Carolina Huezo Carla Juarez Kara Kedrick Lauren McQuade Amanda Ramont A n g e l a Tu Curtis Wu CONTRIBUTOR Francesca Nicol COPY EDITORS Barbara Bensoussan Kelsey Sharpe ILLUSTRATOR Kara Kedrick DESIGNERS Patricia Delgado Ya m u n a H a ro u t u n i a n Jewel Pereyra Melissa van Gelder MEDIA DIRECTOR Arvli Ward MEDIA ADVISER Amy Emmert SPECIAL THANKS TO: O u r fa m i l i e s , fr i e n d s , re a d e r s a n d everyone who has supported Fem since 1973.

Feminists unite!

Editor’s Note

The original concept for this issue’s cover was actually quite simple – it was going to be a definition of feminism.

As feminists, we’re constantly being asked what it means to identify as such, and it initially made sense to put that explanation front and center. But what we quickly discovered in the meeting to write that definition was that we had no obvious answer. “A belief in equality” was one of the first proposed definitions. But that just led to a debate on what we meant by equality. Someone else brought up the fact that intersectionality had to be in the definition, at which point we struggled to find a way to explain such a complex concept in only a few words. But we also agreed it wouldn’t be a true definition without making sure it was clear that feminism isn’t just about gender and women.

At this point, we reached the sometimes scary place of questioning whether you can identify as certain terms or like certain things and still be a feminist. For example, can you identify as “pro-life” and still be a feminist? Can you wear high heels and red lipstick every day and be a feminist? Can you like the Kardashians and be a feminist? What about Disney movies? While the debates raged on, it was clear that there was no way we were going to come up with a common definition for feminism. For one, the word simply means different things to different people. And two, the word and the movement are constantly evolving. What it means to be a feminist today is not necessarily what it meant to be a feminist ten years ago and it probably won’t be what it means ten years from now.

Which is mind-boggling, frightening and, quite honestly, exhilarating. Because it proves just how relevant our movement still is and will continue to be. For whatever words you choose to use to define your feminism – “equality,” “intersectionality,” “respect” – it’s vital that we continue to work together and make sure that our voices are heard and people’s opinions are valued. Ultimately, that’s all we can really ask for.

On that note, this is my final issue of Fem and I want to extend my sincere gratitude to everyone who has made this year’s issues so amazing and inspiring. Thank you so much to all of the staff members who have contributed their invaluable words and skills to the print issue and the website. And thank you to our readers, who have Melissa van Gelder made all of this work so worthwhile. I’m so excited to see what next year’s Editor in Chief editor in chief, Dominique Silva, does with Fem and I can’t wait to continue reading the magazine for the next 40 years. Feminists unite! mvangelder@media.ucla.edu

Editor’s Picks

Now that finals are over, check out Yahoo!’s new web series, “Burning Love.” A parody of “The Bachelor” and other dating shows, this series has a surprising number of well-known stars including Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Michael Ian Black, Kristen Bell, Malin Ackerman, Ken Jeong and even a cameo from Jennifer Aniston. Not to mention, it’s actually funny.

Check it out online at www.screen.yahoo.com/burning-love “Quest for Honor” explores the practice of “honor killings” around the world, a form of punishment in which women are beaten, burned, shot or thrown into the sea by male relatives because of the alleged dishonor they’ve brought to their families. This documentary follows the work of organizers and journalists working to end the murders in Kurdistan, and talks about different ways women around the globe can work together to make sure that this practice comes to an end.

Fem is published and copyrighted by the ASUCLA Communications Board which supports the University of California’s policy on non-discrimination. The student media reserves the right to reject or modify advertising portraying disability, age, sex or sexual orientation. It is the expectation of the Communications Board that the student media will exercise the right fairly and with sensitivity. Any person believing that any advertising in

Gone are the wondrous days of cartoons like “Kim Possible,” “Daria,” “Pepper Ann” and “Recess.” Which is why Nickelodeon’s new show, “Avatar: Legend of Korra” is so refreshing. The protagonist is a kickass teenager who just happens to be a woman. As the only person who can control all four elements, the balance and harmony of the world rests on her shoulders. You can’t really get more badass than that. Also, did I mention that there’s no pink in sight?

Did you know that “The Daily Show” was created by two women?

I didn’t until I learned about cocreator Lizz Winsread’s new book “Lizz Free or Die.” In it she shares stories from her life growing up in Minneapolis, discovering her love of the comedy scene, creating the Daily Show (she was inspired by news coverage of the first Gulf War) and working with Rachel Maddow on Air America Radio.

the student media violates the Board’s policy on non-discrimination should communicate her or his complaints in writing to the management of Fem. All columns, cartoons and let ters represent the opinion of the author.

Fem is UCLA’s feminist newsmagazine, dedicated to promoting human rights, gender diversity, feminism and the issues surrounding gender and sexuality.

Fem Newsmagazine 118 Kerckhoff Hall 308 Wilson Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310)206-6168 fem@media.ucla.edu www.femmagazine.com Copyright 2012 ASUCLA Communications Board.

Fem is published with support from Campus Progress, a division of the Center for American Progress.

Online at CampusProgress.org.

Campus Progress funds, trains, and mentors students running a diverse and growing group of progressive campus media organizations.

For more, visit CampusProgress.org/JournalismNetwork.

Editor’s Note | Fem |

3

News You Might Have Missed April 24: The California Commission on the Status of Women was renewed, several months after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed slashing it as part of next year’s budget cuts. The 47-year-old commission advocates for equality in education and health care, as well as reproductive rights.

April 30: Fourteen-year-old Julia Bluhm started an online petition asking Sev-

May 22: A man was kicked off a Brazilian plane by a woman pilot after he

shouted, “Someone should have told me the captain was a woman. I’m not flying with a female at the controls.” Trip Airlines later backed its pilot’s decision with a statement that it wouldn’t tolerate disparaging commments made about any of the 140,000 women on staff.

enteen magazine to not use photoshop in at least one photo spread every month.

She later brought her protest to the headquarters in New York City, where she was invited to meet with editor in chief Ann Shoket.

May 30: A rape victim was refused treatment and emergency contraception

May 16: Voters in North Carolina passed Amendment One, which not only

June 2: The New York Times published an article claiming that men created

outlaws same-sex marriages but also civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Couples – gay and straight – are now worried that they and their children will lose their health benefits.

May 16: Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has written a measure, the Gen-

der Equality in Combat Act, that would give the secretary of defense one year to deliver a report on how he would end the old policy of not allowing woman to officially be in combat.

May 21: Time magazine released a controversial cover that read “Are you

mom enough?” and featured a mom breastfeeding her three-year old son. The accompanying feature story profiled the practice of adaptive parenting and the work of Dr. Bill Sears.

at a hospital in Oklahoma because the doctor alledgedly claimed that it went against her moral beliefs.

the Internet and the world should “give them their due.” The article was in response to a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by Ellen Pao, a junior partner at the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

June 5: The Senate blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act with a 52-47 vote. Not

one Republican senator voted for the act, and the party claims that the bill is not necessary because of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

June 7: Nearly 2,000 women filed sex discrimination claims against Walmart in

all but two states. The lawsuits come after last year’s Supreme Court decision in Dukes v. Walmart Stores, Inc. that the women could not file one lawsuit together.

The charges alledge that the current and former employees faced discrimation when it came to pay and promotions because of their gender.

By the Numbers 160

47

33%

number of girls poisoned at an all-girls school in Afghanistan on May 29, 2012. Three teachers and 120 girls were poisoned at another school a week earlier.

number of senators who voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act. Senator Reid (D-Nev.) changed his vote from “yea” to “nay” so that he could bring back the bill at a later date.

percentage of all characters in Hollywood films in 2011 who were women. Meanwhile, only 11% of the protagonists in movies were women.

80

221

$600,000

number of reported rapes the Department of Justice is reviewing after it determined that the Missoula Police Department and the University of Montana mishandled the cases.

4 | Fem | News Briefs

number of Republicans in the House who voted for a version of the Violence Against Women Act that didn’t include protections for LGBT, undocumented immigrant and Native women.

value of the assets of two human traffickers from Texas. A judge recently ruled that all the money will go to five of their teenaged survivors. The human traffickers were sentenced to over 25 years in prison.

Sound Bites “ I take that criticism very seriously ... this show isn’t supposed to

feel exclusionary. It’s supposed to feel honest, and it’s supposed to feel true to many aspects of my experience. But for me to ignore that criticism and not to take it in would really go against my beliefs and my education in so many ways.”

- Lena Dunham on NPR’s “Fresh Air” discussing the criticism leveled against her new HBO show “Girls” lack of diversity. Dunham has pledged to address this in the next season (5/7/12).

“ Put on your lipstick! Square your shoulders! Suit up and let’s fight for a new American revolution where women are paid for equal work! Let’s end wage discrimination in this century once and for all.”

- Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) after Republican Senators blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act (6/5/12).

“ I reject Chris Brown’s comeback. Lemon out.”

- Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) in NBCs “30 Rock” at the end of her 2011/2012 year in review (5/10/12).

“ The outrage of Sandra Fluke will not be matched on my side ... It

seems that feminism has devolved into an institution that has picked losers and winners and has decided that some women qualify for respect and other women do not.”

- S.E. Cupp (a conservative pundit) to The Blaze (a conservative news and opinion website) after Hustler magazine ran a faked explicit photo of her with the headline, “What would S.E. Cupp look like with a dick in her mouth?” Sandra Fluke and Planned Parenthood tweeted their support for Cupp, but NOW remained silent (5/23/12).

Sound Bites | Fem |

5

Q&A: Ferial Masry I

by Emily Clark

n 2004, Ferial Masry became the first Saudi American to run for political office in the United States. A Democrat who ran for California State Assembly in a very conservative district, her story made the news nationwide and she was named ABC’s Person of the Week, thus garnering even more attention. Along with being a high school teacher in Los Angeles, she also coauthored the book “Running for All the Right Reasons: A Saudi-born Woman’s Pursuit of Democracy” in 2008.

FEM: What were your reasons for running for office?

FM: My reason for running for office was that I’d been asked to run for office. What happened is that the two candidates before me quit, because it is a Republican area and no one wanted to lose. And they couldn’t find anybody to run, so a friend of mine who knew me went and told them, “I know one lady. She has the guts and she will do that.” So he called me and asked me to run. I accepted and that’s how I entered politics.

So when you began to run, what kept you going, what were your reasons for your campaign?

You didn’t simply just run, you ran a total of four times, so what made you keep going?

You see, I am against the idea of money to hijack our democracy. I felt like we are selling our democracy to the highest bidder and I thought that we have to start looking at the quality of the candidates, especially when I was running against my opponent who had never met the people, never talked to the people. So I run the first time and people were very excited, especially when I won the Person of the Week, and I get all that attention locally and the media was shocked, and very friendly to me...I was just the second person in California to win the write-in. It really shook everybody, and they started taking me seriously. I lost by about 6,000 votes, which is still 20,000 votes above the normal Democratic vote, which is unheard of. So when I lost, of course, I wasn’t bitter. I would love to win, but it’s not about that, it’s about working very hard...to get the people’s respect.

When you work hard for democracy, nothing is losing, everything you do is a gain. That’s the reason I ran four times.

My opponents called me a terrorist...Here I am representing the best of what America is all about...as a Saudi born in Saudi Arabia, after 9/11, people count not understand what to make of me, so sometimes I had some hostile emails and some people behind my back saying things.

Actually, several things. The first thing is, you know, I’m teaching the American government and the principle of American democracy. So for me, it was a great opportunity to [become] involved in the political process because I’m teaching it. Now, as an immigrant, I find it a great opportunity...to know this country and get involved. Another reason, as an Arab and American, it was really another opportunity for... the people to see a woman like me, to see what the Arab women, what the Muslim women are. There is a lot of biases and misunderstanding because people don’t understand who we are. The fourth one, being a Saudi woman, I felt like this was really a great opportunity to build the bridges between America and Saudi Arabia...and at the same time, I will introduce the American way of life to the people in the Middle East. So that’s some of the reasons I was running.

During your campaign, what sort of opposition did you face?

Of course, I have a lot of opposition. One of them, my opponents, called me [a] terrorist. That really gets them upset that I came from nowhere with no money, with no backing, with nothing, and that I could command all this attention. So they were frustrated. Here, I am really representing the best of what America is all about. So they could not understand that. Another thing is that as a Saudi born in Saudi Arabia, after 9/11, people could not understand what to make out of me, so sometimes I had some hostile emails and some people behind my back saying things. So there is a lot of misconceptions about me. So those are the

6 | Fem | Q&A

biggest issues, that I have to face all those stereotypes, misunderstandings, my background, all this, and I have to show them that I am really serious.

If you could name one thing, what do you think is your biggest achievement?

I think that my biggest achievement is I’ve learned the idea of winning or losing. I could change the losing into winning, and you know, I think that’s what I’m proud of, that I show that everything I do, yes, I do it from my heart, so nobody ever called me a loser. That, to me, is a great achievement.

How do you think growing up in Saudi Arabia has changed who you are today?

Ferial Masry, a Democrat who ran for California State Assembly in the 37th District, is the author of “Running for All the Right Reasons: A Saudi-born Woman’s Pursuit of Democracy.” it doesn’t matter the material you put on your face or your body, what matters is your spirit inside you.

What kind of advice would you then give to other young women in college?

To the people in college, first of all, you have to do what you really love, you have to find your passion.

And when you do something, don’t give up. Keep going. You have know your ability, your weakness, your strength, and your focus. You know because that will give you... the ability to experience and adventure, and I think you should not be afraid of mistakes. Every failure give[s] you the opportunity to succeed. Because you learn something, as long as you are trying to learn from your mistakes, then it is the best thing, because sometimes it is good to do them.

You have to do what you really love, you have to find your passion, And when you do something, don’t give up.

Keep going. You have your ability, your weakness, your strength, and your focus.

I think being born in a family and in a city where I was born, really helped who I am...As a little girl, I see people from all over the world coming to Mecca, coming for a spiritual journey, you see black, white, brown, all colors, and all languages, and the world is around me...And I saw how each of the women in my family were very strong and I saw also my father how he had respect to women. It’s funny, I was brought up in a very liberal and traditional way. My mother, she was the one who took care of us...so I saw a woman dominating...and that’s one of the things I saw in my life in Saudi Arabia and really shaped the way I looked at myself as a human being. It’s not about gender, it’s the way I exist in this world and act, and before that, I’m a human being and...the tradition, it can never stop you from doing what you want to do. In the end,

Are you planning on writing a second book, and if so, on what and when?

Yes, I’m planning on writing a book on my trips to Saudi Arabia. I think it is interesting to see what the women in Saudi Arabia are doing, because they are struggling, fighting to correct the tradition, but they don’t want to get rid of the tradition, they want to reform tradition. It’s really refreshing to see how they are trying to jump into the 21st century.

Q&A: Hannah Bo Petri aka Catsexual H

annah Bo Petri, aka Catsexual, enjoys making people sweat. She is a young, Los Angeles-based DJ, the founder/creator of the event company Gold Lion, and a third-year gender studies student at UCLA. Having already made a name for herself in the music industry, she has worked with by the likes of Kreayshawn, Too Short, Felix Cartal, Sub Zero, and DJ Falcon, just to name a few. We were able to talk to Hannah before she kicks off her U.S. tour this summer. We discussed the industry, where she got her DJ name, and the contemporary women of pop music.

FEM: Your DJ name is Catsexual, why?

HBP: When I first started DJing, I had this friend that I was working with a lot, he used to live in Florida and then he moved here. I decided to buy him a cat for his birthday. It was this little kitten, and it was really cute, but it was breaking all his stuff, and we thought if we would mate him, he would calm down. So, Catsexual was born in that creepy cat-mating world that I had.

How do you feel being a female DJ in an industry that is predominantly male?

by Connie Shen & Dominique Silva So, staying along those lines, have you ever been denied jobs because you didn’t want to be that naked girl DJing?

Well, I have not gotten jobs because I am a girl period. A lot of guy promoters don’t want to hire girls.

Have they said that outright?

girl, that’s your loss, and I prefer to not work with you. But yeah, it is still very sexist.

I know a lot of promoters don’t want to hire me because I am a girl. They feel like I don’t know what I’m doing and that I’m just doing this for the sake of doing it.

I had one guy that said that to me outright, which was super insulting. But I know a lot of promoters don’t want to hire me because I am a girl. They feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, and that I am just doing this for the sake of doing it. So, I kind of have to prove myself to a lot of people, but the people that do know me know that I’m really good at what I do, and know that I’m a lot better than a lot of the guys in the industry. It kind of just depends on the promoter, and I couldn’t care less if you don’t want to hire me because I’m a

One last question, what are your thoughts on mainstream women in music?

I know a lot of them do it because they need to make money and they need to support themselves and I respect that, but they don’t have minds of their own and it’s very stupid. What I want to empower in girls is to know that they have to be themselves and they shouldn’t follow the record companies in making them be a certain way.

Follow Catsexual this summer to sweat to some awesome music, maybe catch her on tour, or just see what she will be doing next. www.facebook.com/CATSXUAL & www.livegoldlion.com

I feel the same way. I only know a few girls that do DJ regularly and want to do it as their future. I am one of the few girls I know, while other girls do it as fun. The style of music I play is a harder style that mostly guys play. A lot of the girls play a much lighter style, and I question if they feel as if they can’t compete or if they do it because they like it. Guys look down on me and a lot of times they feel like I am less than them. They feel they can take control of me, which is not the case.

It can be very stressful.

What do you think about women being in the industry and trying to be that “strong woman” but really just buying in to all the same, very male gaze oriented, image as they perform? Because it isn’t only music, you are essentially performing.

I know that guys enjoy the whole sexuality thing that I have and I had that at an early age and I have that with Gold Lion. It is a very sexually oriented event company, which people enjoy. But I mean, people ask me to be more naked on stage and I won’t. I just have my own rules. But I don’t really care if it is a more feminist kind of rule, and I don’t really care if guys enjoy it or not. I don’t really care what people think, I have a sexual image and I am going to continue to have that sexual image, but I will never be naked, and I will never do certain things that guys want me to do. But at the same time, it is a very male dominated industry, so me being a girl, I set that aside for myself so whether I’m sexual or not, I have that to my advantage.

Courtesy of Hannah Bo Petri

Ferial Masry, a Democrat who ran for California State Assembly in the 37th District, is the author of Running for All the Right Reasons: A Saudi-born Woman’s Pursuit of Democracy.

Q&A | Fem |

7

A Few Feminist Moments in U.S. History illustrations by Kara Kedrick & text by Melissa van Gelder

The Feminine Mystique (1963) When Betty Friedan’s iconic book hit stores, women were at an impasse – many were stuck in the kitchen and unhappy with their lives as housewives. Credited for sparking second-wave feminism, “The Feminine Mystique,” gave a voice to many women who felt silenced and oppressed. It did not, however, represent everyone. Friedan, who co-founded NOW in 1966, was criticized for only focusing on the experiences of white middle-class women. Meanwhile, her homophobic statements in 1969 contributed to the rise of the ‘Lavendar Menaces’ and their zap outside the Second Congress to Unite Women in 1970 (the women were angered by the fact that the event had no lesbians on its program).

Consciousness-Raising Groups (1968) When the feminist organization New York Radical Women first introduced the idea of creating groups in which women spoke about their experiences in order to raise each other’s conciouses, it sparked a shift in the movement that led to more progress than anyone could have previously imagined. These meetings came to feared by many in the patriarchy as women learned from each other and joined forces to fight oppression together.

The Equal Rights Amendment (1972-1982) The ERA was atually first drafted in 1923 by Alice Paul, a suffragist leader, and was first taken to Congress by the National Woman’s Party later that year. From 1923 to 1970, it was introduced in every Congressional session but failed to make it to the floor. Opposed by many labor groups that feared it would get rid of labor protections for women, early feminists were unsure of their feelings about it. Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to show support for the ERA and though John F. Kennedy ran on a pro-ERA platform, he never mentioned it once elected because of his commitments to labor groups. In 1967, NOW promoted the amerndment and convinced the majority of feminists to join them in advocating for its success. In 1972, it finally made it through Congress, only to be held up by the fact that not enough states were willing to ratify it before the deadline. While it still gets brought up on the federal level, many states, including California, have their own version of the ERA in their constitutions.

8 | Fem | Timeline

Roe v. Wade (1973) Before Roe v. Wade, a woman could only receive a legal abortion in cases of rape or incest. As a result, most women engaged in dangerous practices such as backalley abortions that involved using coat hangers. The case ultimately reached the Supreme Court, where the justices voted 7-2 in favor of Roe and claimed that abortion was a fundamental right under the Constitution. Abortion remains a controversial issue, and many opponents are working to get a new case to the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, states are allowed to vote on their own restrictions on abortion (see pages 16-17 for more information).

March for Women’s Lives (1992) On April 5, 1992, over 750,000 people marched for women’s rights in Washington, D.C. The NOW-organized event was, at the time, the largest march and rally in the capital. Women, men and children walked behind a large sign that read “We won’t go back! We will fight back!” In 2004, another march was organized on the National Mall, this one drawing between 800,000 and one million participants. Attendees protested the success of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 as well as other laws they deemed “anti-woman.”

Hillary’s Presidential Campaign (2008) When Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for the democratic nomination in 2008, she did more than prove that a woman could be a viable candidate for president.

She also showed that while sexism was still alive and well, there were millions of Americans who could look past gender and vote based on qualifications. And she renewed in girls everywhere the dream of being president one day. Meanwhile, she has proved to be a successful Secretary of State, advocating for girl’s and women’s rights as well as LGBT rights around the globe.

It should be noted that Clinton was not the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. That honor belongs to Shirley Chisholm, who ran in 1972 and survived three assassination attempts.

Timeline | Fem |

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Being a Male Feminist

A man’s take on gender rights, privilege and acceptance

by Curtis Wu

T

he first thing I learned as a man in Women’s Studies was to never be late.

Tardiness is bad enough, and that wasn’t counting the awkwardness. In my first upper division feminism course, I was the only sausage in a sea of clams.

Heads turned as soon as I opened the door, a tidal wave of inquisitive faces washing over me.

Instinct told me to scuttle to the nearest seat and hide. Except the nearest seat involved squeezing past ten women and blocking the chalkboard with my crotch. So I had to do exactly that, and by the time I waddled over to my seat, I’d sufficiently accosted half the class with my genitalia.

Even after I found my seat the class gaze never left. I was an outsider, maybe even considered an invader in this feminist safe space.

As a male feminist, I’m very conscious of these things. I’m very conscious of the fact that if there’s any lottery I’ve won, it’s the genetic one that landed me a Y chromosome.

In our imperfect world, this has afforded me unquantifiable amounts of opportunity and edge – privilege.

Privilege is Like M&Ms...

Having privilege, according to Sindelókë, is like having big feet. I have to be mindful of where I walk.

Whose toes I step on. Privilege is a reminder, but for me, it’s also a source of great unease.

I feel it when people ask me what my major is. It’s like a twisted “choose-your-own-adventure” story that always ends with me getting shot. “Biochemistry,” I’ll say, which is the fake happily-ever-after.

“Also women’s studies.” Plot twist.

It rarely ends well. Most days people chuckle at me being in women’s studies. Men often say, “Getting many numbers, I see?” followed by a teasing nudge. Other days, I get a curt “Oh” – followed by a subject change. And then occasionally people laugh their asses off before saying, “Wait, were you serious?”

On luckier days, people ask what the hell that is, or why, and I still can’t provide a sufficient answer. “Uh, women’s rights,” I’ll mumble, a response so utterly wrong, incorrect, and false that I should get dropkicked out of the major.

Because feminism is not just about women. Feminism is about everyone. When white people say Asian men are unattractive and too “feminine,” the insult is a two-for-one deal. It presumes there’s something wrong with Asians, and something wrong with being a woman. You can’t untie racism from sexism; the two intersect, as do classism, heterosexism, ableism. Feminism is the categorical opposition to all these injustices.

Having privilege is like having big feet. I have to be mindful of where I walk. Whose toes I step on. Privilege is a reminder, but for me, it’s also a source of great unease.

...because it comes in many colors, and nobody likes the brown one. For although people experience a different kind of privilege depending on race, gender, sexuality, and class, one can only have privilege at the expense of another – often women, and especially those of color and those who are poor.

For me, privilege is confidence. Privilege is the reassurance that even on my ugliest, unflattering days, I will be judged on my aptitude, not my appearance.

It’s not like there’s anything to show when the world curses the other gender with that two-hour beauty ritual. Besides, I’m a Chinese dude, which means the first thing people look for is my grades and aptitude, anyway, not face.

Privilege is also safety. Privilege is what lets me feel safe in a dark area or in a group of strangers. Privilege is what reassures me when the cops pass by – because I know I won’t get pulled over. A black man is born with a bull’s-eye on his head that grows as he does; but what could a happy-looking Asian kid like me be up to?

Privilege is ordinary life. Privilege is what lets me off the hook for what I drink, who makes my drink, how much I drink; who I sleep with, how many I sleep with; how I get home, when I get home.

Privilege is when I say these words and people listen.

Privilege is when a woman says these same words and gets called a “feminazi bitch.”

10 | Fem | Feminisms

Being a Women’s Studies Major

A Path to Inclusion

VickyBeeching/Creative Commons

An unidentified man at a march proves that feminism isn’t just for women anymore. much money, must have this career, must drive this car, must play sports, must compete, must be on top, must love sex, must attract women, demean women, degrade women, hunt women, hurt women, dog women, fuck women, so we feel like a man and the whole world can see we’re more of a man than anyone else ever could be.

Feminism is for everyone. It was this realization that made the class gaze less intense – that even amongst all these women, I had a place. As the class progressed, people got used to the string of high-pitched voices cut halfway by a deep gruff voice talking about patriarchy and systems of oppression. I remember halfway through the quarter a classmate, an older black woman, approached me. She tapped my arm and whispered to me in the middle of lecture: “Hey, thanks for always contributing in class. I can tell you really respect women.

Men, too. Just people. We need more guys like you in the world. Your mother would be proud.”

Men aren’t invulnerable, but we are told to be exactly that. Our whole lives are spent trying to fit this mold.

We are taught to be staid, stoic beings - calm, cool, collected. Men don’t cry; when they do, they are lesser. Weaker.

Worthless. We are taught a word for this: “woman.”

As a man in Women’s Studies, I’ve learned that feminism doesn’t leave us out. Men aren’t invulnerable, but we are told to be exactly that. Our whole lives are spent trying to fit this mold. We are taught to be staid, stoic beings – calm, cool, collected. Men don’t cry; when they do, they are lesser. Weaker.

Worthless. We are taught a word for this: “woman.”

As men, we are told to fix our bodies, that our physiques are wrong, that we’re dirty, that we must use this shampoo, this conditioner, must make this

Confronting Feminism’s Problems

The movement isn’t perfect.

Here’s what’s wrong and how we can fix it.

by Yamuna Haroutunian

I

love feminism and feminists. I truly do. Feminism has been a source of empowerment and optimism for me for years. That said, I think it’s time for feminists to collectively take a long look in the mirror.

The feminist movement in its current form could be so much more powerful than it is, but has been derailed by internal conflicts and exclusion. Many sectors of the feminist movement, especially pop feminist circles like Jezebel and SlutWalk, are deeply flawed. Feminism is great for those of us who are white, middle class, heterosexual, able-bodied and cisgender, but often fails to address issues that matter to the rest of us.

Of the many obstacles feminism faces, there are two main categories: prescriptivism and intersectionality.

Prescriptivism: You’re Not a Feminist – You’re Just a “Feminist”

intersectionality theory, the many different forms of oppression are connected, and none can be combated alone. Intersectionality includes racism, sexism, religious bigotry and homophobia, as well as lesser understood oppressions such as: - Ableism: oppression of people with disabilities.

- Transphobia/cissexism: oppression of trans* people.

- Classism: oppression of poor people.

- Islamophobia: oppression of Muslim people.

- And so many more.

This is not an exhaustive list. Everyone experiences sexism differently, depending on how different identities (and oppressions) intersect.

For many white, middle-class feminists, intersectionality is merely a clunky, invented word.

Pop feminists tend to avoid the word altogether, even though it is not a difficult concept to grasp.

Well-known feminist media outlet Jezebel is often embarrassingly bad at addressing intersectionality. In April, Jezebel’s editor in chief Jessica Coen tweeted that the word ableist is “crazy and lame.”

Last year, they posted a story entitled “In Defense of the Gay White Male,” which was a series of complaints from the (gay white male) author about being told he has no authority to speak about racism, sexism or transphobia.

SlutWalk has also been criticized for minimizing the concerns of women of color. A letter signed by dozens of black women’s rights groups and published in the Huffington Post in September 2011 described the discomfort these women of color feminists felt with SlutWalk. According to this letter, the organizers of SlutWalk failed to address the intersection of race, class and gender in issues of sexual assault.

Women of color are disproportionately represented among the number of rape victims, and unlike white women, women of color face the stigma of being perceived as sexually available regardless of what they are wearing.

Meanwhile, academic feminism fails to be intersectional when it is overly intellectual. Many people do

According to intersectionality theory, the many different forms of oppression are connected, and none can be combatted alone. Intersectionality includes racism, sexism, reliogious bigotry and homophobia, as well as lesser understood oppressions.

“You can’t be a feminist if you ____” is a statement many people try to make.

Most phrases inserted into that blank make that sentence false – with the exception of phrases like “hate women” or “are Rush Limbaugh.”

Anyone who chooses to identify as a feminist will be challenged at some point, due to its multiple definitions. When Laura Bush first identified as a feminist in May 2006, many immediately declared that there was no way she could truly be and identify as a feminist if she was pro-life. But in reality, there is no single correct way to practice and believe in feminism.

Feminism is one of the largest social justice movements there is, just considering the sheer amount of people it involves. As such, feminism draws people of many different perspectives, all with different ideas of what feminism should be. What it means to be a feminist is a topic of frequent, heated debate.

The title of feminist is claimed, not bestowed. Nobody has to agree with all feminists to be a feminist.

With so many of us, how could we all have the same beliefs?

Instead of closing feminism off, we should make a point of rethinking our own assumptions and creating discussion. Abortion is a controversial issue that elicits strong emotions in many people. The same is true of religion, politics, sexuality and many other topics.

These issues merit debate, not narrow-mindedness.

Intersectionality: a Constellation of –isms

The word intersectionality was coined by UCLA professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. According to

not have access to higher education, and many feminists face language barriers when confronted with the English-dominated world of feminism. Not all of us are working on our second women’s studies degree and not all of us can define (much less spell) the word kyriarchy. Feminism concerns everyday issues, so it makes no sense not to speak about it in everyday terms.

As the extraordinary bell hooks said, “feminism is for everybody.” Ignorance of intersectionality excludes people of color, differently-abled people, trans* individuals, impoverished people and countless others from feminism. It dilutes feminism’s aim of equality by only challenging the struggles of one group at the expense of minimizing other groups.

Jezebel and SlutWalk are popular names in the feminist movement. However, the narrow viewpoints of Jezebel’s writers and SlutWalk’s organizers are alienating. Feminism should be about more than freedom for only the most privileged women.

Feminism in the Future To make feminism accessible to all, we must make more than token efforts to combat prescriptivism and lack of intersectionality. Many feminist groups and publications – including Fem – have had problems in these two areas in the past. Without widespread, conscious action, intersectionality and prescriptivism will continue to fracture the feminist movement.

The problem of intersectionality is particularly thorny. Exclusion is often unconscious and unintended, but the consequences are deeply harmful. Making feminism more intersectional requires individual awareness of one’s own position of privilege, which takes the form of race, gender, class, religion and others.

Possibly the best way to address prescriptivism and intersectionality is personal responsibility. Exclusionary tendencies should not be overlooked or dismissed, but brought to light.

Criticizing feminism should be a regular part of feminist discussion. Every social justice movement is flawed and problems don’t go away if we ignore them. The best thing we can do for feminism is to keep it in check.

Ignorance of intersectionality excludes people of color, differently-abled people, trans* individuals, impoversihed people, and countless others from feminism. It dilutes feminism’s aim of equality by only challenging the struggles of one group at the expense of minimizing other groups.

Feminisms | Fem |

11

Our Feminist Favorites

12

Top 5 Songs

Top 5 Superheroes

Top 5 Hollywood Films

1. “Human Nature” by Madonna 2. “Do It” by the Spice Girls 3. “Unpretty” by TLC 4. “Control” by Janet Jackson 5. “Seneca Falls” by the Distillers

1. Wonder Woman 2. Xena 3. Rogue 4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5. The Crimson Avenger

1. “Thelma & Louise” 2. “A League of Their Own” 3.”The Color Purple” 4. “Green Fried Tomatoes” 5. “But I’m a Cheerleader”

- Yamuna Haroutunian

- Nora Daly

- Melissa van Gelder

Top 5 Memoirs

Top 5 Essays

1. “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name”

by Audre Lorde 2. “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” by Gloria Anzaldua 3. “The Woman Warrior: Memoir of a Girlhood Among Ghosts” by Maxine Hong Kingston 4. “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi 5. “Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood” by bell hooks

1. “Speaking In Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers” by Gloria Anzaldua 2. “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism” by Audre Lorde 3. “If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem 4. “The Hypersexuality of Race” by Celine Parrenas Shimizu 5. “Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness” by bell hooks

- Melissa van Gelder | Fem | Feminist Lists

- Dominique Silva

Top 5 Classics 1. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood 2. “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath 3. “Jayne Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte 4. “The Awakening “by Kate Chopin 5. “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution” by Mary Wollstonecraft

- Valerie Hasson

Fem staffers breaks down their top 5 feminist everything, from songs to books to superheroes. Disagree with us? Let us know at www.femmagazine.com/spring2012/top5

Top 5 Tumblrs 1. I Am A Teenage Feminist (iamateenagefeminist.tumblr.com) 2. Feminist Ryan Gosling (feministryangosling.tumblr.com) 3. Feminist Media (feministmedia.tumblr.com) 4. Privilege Check (privilegecheck.tumblr.com) 5. Historical Slut (historicalslut.tumblr.com)

- Curtis Wu

Top 5 Songs

Top 5 Riot Grrrl Songs

Top 5 Current TV Shows

1. “We Don’t Wanna Go Home” by The Frumpies 2.“Dig Me Out” by Sleater-Kinney 3. “Terrorist” by Heavens to Betsy 4. “Cool Schmool” by Bratmobile 5. “The Punk Singer” by Julie Ruin

1. “Parks & Recreation” 2. “Grey’s Anatomy” 3. “Mad Men” 4. “Revenge” 5. “30 Rock”

- Lauren McQuade

- Melissa van Gelder

Top 5 Books

1. “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” (feat.

Aretha Franklin) by Eurythmics 2. “Can’t Hold Us Down” (feat. Lil’ Kim) by Christina Aguilera 3. “Just a Girl” by No Doubt 4. “U + Ur Hand” by P!nk 5. “Fairytale” by Sara Bareilles

1. “Cunt: A Declaration of Independence”

by Inga Muscio 2. “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan 3. “Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters” by Jessica Valenti 4. “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women” by Susan Faludi 5. “The Female Eunuch” by Germaine Greer

Top 5 Past TV Shows

- Carolina Huezo

- Valerie Hasson

- Melissa van Gelder

1. “Veronica Mars” 2. “The Middleman” 3. “Cagney & Lacey” 4. “Charmed” 5. “Commander in Chief”

Feminist Lists | Fem |

13

Abortion Rights in the United States A look at the present state of reproductive health and rights

I

by Emily Clark & Nora Daly

t’s hard to read the news without hearing about abortion. It seems as if every day a new law is brought up, passed, or re-examined. Tensions are running high as states struggle to determine the best way to deal with these laws. This historic era is creating the first few attempts to define how American government views its role in abortions and evaluates its citizens’ constitutional rights. Recently, the conversation has been about the particularly thorny issue of ultrasound laws. These laws would require the patient to receive an ultrasound before an abortion and, in some cases, be given a description of the images and process by the attending physician. This topic is under discussion, as it is argued by some that requiring doctors to perform an ultrasound and verbally explain the images to the patient violates their first amendment rights while others maintain the necessity of clear and accurate information prior to such a procedure. With so many perspectives on such a hot-button issue, it is clear that the debate will not go away anytime soon.

Recent news: June 13: North Dakota voters turned down a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have allowed people to act in illegal ways as long as they followed their religious beliefs. The change had the potential to allow doctors or pharmacists to refuse to give birth control or other reproductive services if they claimed it went against their religion.

June 12: Louisiana joined the list of states with a 20-week abortion ban, meaning that abortion is prohibited 20 weeks after fertilization. In addition, on June 8, Gov. Jindal signed into law a measure that requires a 24 hour waiting period before receiving an abortion.

June 11: Conneticut declared abortion an “essential health benefit” and thus guaranteed it will be covered by the state’s health care plan.

June 7: The GOP-led House passed a Department of Homeland Security spending bill that included an anti-abortion rider that banned ICE from spending funds on abortion services for undocumented immigrant detainees. ICE, however, has never once provided an abortion to a detainee and the rider is being criticized as a political move rather than one that would affect actual policy.

May 31: The House defeated a bill that would have made it a crime to provide an abortion based on the sex or race of the fetus. Proponents claim that this is “prowoman” and “pro-civil rights” while critics say this is another attempt to restrict abortion access.

Want an abortion in Indiana? Here’s what you have to deal with in one of the worst states for reproductive rights and care (where 95% of counties don’t have an abortion provider):

Looking for more resources? Want to stay upto-date? Check out these websites: NARAL Pro-Choice America www.prochoiceamerica.org Named one of the top 10 advocacy groups in American by Fortune magazine, NARAL works to protect a woman’s right to choose.

Their websit has a very comprehensive and interactive guide to abortion laws on both state and federal levels.

Guttmacher Institute www.guttmacher.org Claiming to be “advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education,” this is the place to go for research and statistics on how abortion rights are faring around the globe. The latest research on the site focuses on the importance of Medicaid to family planning and the dangers of sex-selective abortion bans.

RH Reality Check www.rhrealitycheck.org Focused on reproductive & sexual health and justice, this site does a fantastic job of keeping track of all the new abortion-related bills across the country.

14 | Fem | Abortion Rights

Nora Daly/Fem

This map depicts the accessibilty of abortion care based on the number of restrictions (such as ultrasound requirements or 20-week abortion bans, among others) per state. Each ratio represents the number of reproductive-age women to a clinic that provides abortions in the state. To learn more about how states are doing when it comes to reproductive care and access, check out NARAL’s grades at www.prochoiceamerica.org. California currently holds an “A+” while Indiana has an “F.”

944

10

55%

number of provisions related to reproductive health and rights introduced by legislators in the first three months of 2012.

number of states with 20-week abortion bans: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma.

percentage of reproductive-age U.S. women who live in states hostile to reproductive rights.

$11 billion

9%

408,425

cost of unplanned pregnancies to the U.S. taxpayers every year.

decline in teen birth rate between 2009 and 2010. The Guttmacher Institute credits this change to an increase in contraceptive use.

number of children in the US foster care system at the end of 2010. Only 96,772 of those children were waiting to be adopted.

Abortion Rights | Fem |

15

Conceptualizing the Biological Clock How late is too late to talk about the timeline behind reproducing?

by Kerry Esrey

F

act: A woman’s best chance to conceive a healthy child without a birth defect is before age 35.

This biologic reality has in recent years become a visible social issue. The age of a woman’s first birth has risen dramatically in the Western world over the past decades, a phenomenon commonly attributed to contraception, college and career choice. Delaying childbearing can grant a woman time to pursue a profession or simply establish her identity. However, according to Dr. Michele Evans, the assistant medical director of Pacific Fertility Clinic-Glendale, “there is a biologic reality to our time when we can have kids.”

Dr. Evans remarked that there are great misconceptions about what assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) can do for people.

IVF entails hormonally inducing hyper-ovulation (the ovulation of multiple eggs at one time), removing those eggs from the ovaries, and fertilizing the eggs outside of the body with sperm from either the woman’s partner or a sperm donor. The resulting embryo is then re-implanted inside the woman’s uterus.

However, there comes a point when assisted reproductive technologies can no longer help women conceive biologic children. “Women come in when they are 44, 45 years old,” said Evans. “And they say okay, I’m ready, I’ve done all my stuff I want to do and I’m ready to have a baby; and they don’t realize that there is really nothing that I can do for them beyond helping them use an egg donor.” The stories portrayed in the media play a role in these misconceptions. Evans said that older women are hopeful because “they have read about these women who are 48 and having twins and 50 and having babies, and want to do the same. And what they’re not realizing is that most of those people who you hear about are either using donor eggs or they froze eggs or embryos in the past.”

“Around 35 is that age when women, if they feel like they don’t have a partner in their life but may meet someone in five years, think that it might be time to freeze their eggs,” said Dr. Pei Yun Lee, a lecturer in the department of molecular, cell and developmental biology (MCDB) at UCLA. Evans confirmed Lee’s statement, relating that in the past week she had seen three women, ages 34, 35 and 36, who were interested in freezing their eggs. Evans calls 35 a magic age: “It sounds very young, but when it comes to obstetrics, (35) is considered to be that threshold where things become more risky, pregnancy rates are decreasing and birth defects are increasing.” According to Evans, it is valuable for women to know the facts about reproduction so that they do not end up like many of her patients, who receive devastating statistics at age 44 and wish they had known their options earlier.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as IVF offer an opportunity for those seeking biologic parenthood who would otherwise have no option, said Dean Judith Daar, a professor of law at Whittier Law School and member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Ethics Committee.

Yet as a solution to delaying childbearing, IVF is very problematic, said Dr. Hannah Landecker, a sociology

16 | Fem | Health

professor at UCLA. “There’s something wrong with the problem if the solution is freezing your eggs. Or there’s something wrong with the problem if the solution is being treated for infertility,” said Landecker, who teaches a class about the politics of reproduction.

“There are all kinds of ways in which people might think about (IVF) as being something women just do.

But the physical and emotional toll of it is profound.

So it isn’t a solution.” What then is wrong with the problem? One social criticism is that in most work trajectories it is not made possible for the age range between 20 and 40 to be a good time to have a family.

“Why is it if you want a career and you want to be successful, then you have to think about when you’re going to have children?” asked Dr. Lee. “Why is it that we cannot have a system where we are more understanding and supportive of women who choose to have a child and choose to take six month or maybe a year off and be compensated?” The issue, she said, is that people want to have children, be with their babies when they are little and return back to work. Yet Lee has witnessed many women lose their careers or suffer a significant setback after having children. She has also seen “women who are very driven, who are very focused, come back to work very quickly because that is their only option.” Lee said that social pressure and the lack of pay for maternity benefits both contribute to their rapid return to work.

The fact that women are cultured to think about professional life before family life is a modern phenomenon. Dr. Landecker emphasized the suddenness of this cultural shift. “Major social changes have affected what women choose to do in their twenties.

More and more women are going to university, and what they do there is also changing,” said Landecker. “The very fact that the ratio of men to women in medical school or law school has shifted dramatically in just a few decades. You can see there’s a huge social shift in how women think of their possibilities in terms of careers. And it can happen so fast. My mom had me when she was 24; I had my first child when I was 36. And it never would have occurred to me to have children when I was 24.”

Shifting maternal age and the increasing visibility of infertility in the United States have created a thriving industry for assisted reproductive technologies.

Landecker said it is important to keep in mind that many reproductive services are offered in private clinics where prices are not regulated by federal or state agencies. Treatments are expensive and for the most part not covered by insurance; these technologies are therefore limited to those who can afford them. Furthermore, the marketing arm of the industry, said Dean Judith Daar, “does play upon women’s expectations in order to garner patients. That is what some people say is very troubling; I guess you could put it in the same box as any industry that aggressively markets their product.”

Another reason to exercise caution when dealing with ART, Landecker said, it that there is very little systematic epidemiological follow-up of babies born

lizmart/Creative Commons

Regardless of whether they want kids right now, women need to think about their options now in order to save themselves from heartbreak later. by different techniques, cultured in different media and frozen for different lengths of time. Landecker also questioned the health outcomes of hormone injections that cause super-ovulation in women who are donating eggs or undergoing IVF. “There are a lot of questions about long-term outcomes that we just don’t know about,” she said. “I think there are all kinds of fantastic things about not having to have a conventional heterosexual union in your 20s in order to have a family. I just want to say to be really careful; don’t put your faith in either biotechnology’s success or corporate control of these agencies to feel that you know everything.”

Socially, alerting women about their ticking biological clocks may be misconstrued as an attack on their autonomy. However, biologic awareness may be beneficial to women who see children in their future.

“I think it’s okay to say, ‘I’m a feminist, but I’m interested in reproduction or babies or motherhood,’” said Dr. Landecker. In order to be a feminist, she said, one does not have put everything associated with motherhood second. Perhaps a larger issue than the social association of women with motherhood is the neglect to associate men with reproduction. “Reproduction,” said Landecker, “is seen as a woman’s issue. Well, it is profoundly an issue for men as well.” Landecker listed behaviors that may affect men’s reproductive health from professional cycling to smoking. She added that there is currently great biomedical interest about the effects of advanced age of both parents, not just women: “To assume that it is all down to women to think about (reproduction) and worry about it and control it is a huge part of the problem.”

A Change in Name

UCLA Women’s Studies Department is changing its name to “Gender Studies”

by Amanda Ramont

U

CLA’s Women’s Studies department has officially changing the name to express a change that has been changed its name to “Gender Studies,” a change that happening since we became a department.”

The decision was unanimous among graduate stuwas made to keep up with the general shift in the attidents and faculty, who discussed other names includtudes of the field. The department hopes that the new ing “Gender and Sexuality Studies” and “Gender and name allows for the broadening of the perspective, Women’s Studies.”

However, they ultimately decided and for movement away from the binary that “Gender Studies” encompassed all opposition caused by traditional gender The shift to gender studi e s aspects of gender, sexuality, and femiassociations. nism.

“Gender can be seen as one of the Department Chair Jenny Sharpe de- [shows] that gender exists most basic organizations of human soscribed this change as recognition of the on a continuum... t hese social ciety,” said Sharpe.

She and the departfact that these classes do not just address ment worried that by restricting the issues that affect women but that affect ev- problems affect women, name to the study of women, they were eryone. “They are society’s problems that setting up an “artificial separation” beare visible when studied through the lens but they affect entire tween issues of masculinity, classism, of gender,” said Sharpe. “There are ques- communities as well. sexism, and indigeneity. tions surrounding equality, and the shift to The official title of the department gender studies is moving away from these Jenny Sharpe could certainly include each of these binaries, showing that gender exists on a Department Chair things, but gender represents the root continuum...Obviously these social probof the inequality being studied. “Gradlems affect women, but they affect entire uate students at the meeting felt that communities as well.” this name represented what everyone was doing, so Women’s Studies reached departmental status in everyone felt that what they were working on encom2008, and it has been considering a name change ever passed the name,” explained Sharpe. since. “Part of the idea is that it is an interdisciplinThe name change goes into effect on July 1, 2012 ary field, and part of what we do is build connections and those graduating after Fall 2012 will get their diwith other areas across campus, including male stuploma in gender studies. dents and academics,” stated Sharpe. “We are just

CAMPUS PERSPECTIVE: How do you feel about the change in name?

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAMS - Late 1960’s: Women’s Studies conceived as an academic department. It was modeled after American studies and Ethnic studies.

- 1969: First women’s studies course taught at Cornell University - 1970: San Diego State College and SUNY-Buffalo become first colleges to implement Women’s Studies Programs - 1977: Establishment of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) - 1972: Sarah Lawrence College offers first Master’s Degree program in Women’s History - 2007: Study by NWSA show that 576 institutions offer women’s/gender studies programs - 2012, November 8-11: NWSA will hold their annual conference in Oakland, CA - Compiled by Jewel Pereyra.

“I think the change is progressive and gives a chance for others to look at the major differently. In my experience so far we focus on a lot of women’s issues in relation to different forms of oppression (i.e. intersectionality), but these issues also affect males. Also, it’s not like the major completely excludes males or masculine topics, if anything we analyze them so its only fitting that we call it Gender Studies.”

“I think it’s always nice to have a broader area of study. I think it’s a comment on the fact that there are men and women, but there are also people who don’t define themselves as any gender, or perhaps define themselves as both genders. This better enables people to feel represented, whether they’re men, women, transgender, or members of other communities. This new title is better representative of people’s gender issues as a whole, and doesn’t feel as exclusive.”

Oriana Tuitama Gender Studies/English ‘13

Adam Swart Political Science ‘13

“I think it’s a good idea. At first I was skeptical because I thought the intention was to skirt around the negative stereotypes of feminism. Now I think it’s great because it is gender neutral which is beneficial to some of the people we learn about in these classes who don’t identify with either gender and also for students who choose not to identify with one gender. I think it also opens up the doors to some men’s studies courses.”

“I am not happy with the name change frankly. I think it neutralizes the conversation that needs to take place about female oppression, especially in these times of increasing globalization which places women and girls in more precariousness than men. We need to call it Women’s Studies, just like we need to call it ‘feminism’ because it is women we are working hard to rehabilitate.”

Marie LaSalle Psychology ‘13

Lepetka Ocanegra Gender Studies ‘13

“In a way, I am not bothered by the change. To those who don’t really know what Women’s Studies is, the major name suggests that all we do is discuss women’s issues.

In actuality, the discipline centers on a lot more, and is inclusive of all genders, sexualities, bodies of knowledge, etc, including those of men. ‘Gender Studies’ doesn’t address these concepts either, so I really think that any changes made to the name should have maintained the spirit of inclusiveness, maybe just by adding “gender” to the existing major to make it ‘Women’s and Gender Studies.’”

Eleanor Ryngler Gender Studies ‘13

Education | Fem |

17

A Story of Survival Shot in the face by her ex-boyfriend, Shaunna Heth has learned to be a survivor

by Lauren McQuade

S

haunna Heth was showering when she first noticed the faint smell of smoke. “That’s strange,” she thought.

She equated the smell to be just another quirk to her old home in Los Angeles’ Koreatown district.

Then she heard a weird sound: popping followed by the faint sound of screaming. She knew something was off.

Before she even had the chance to rationalize what might be happening outside the comfort of the steamy bathroom oasis, the door to the bathroom was violently kicked open with such force that it immediately slammed back shut.

Exiting the bathroom to see what was happening, Heth noticed the backdoor was wide open. In a house with strictly indoor cats, this was the final clue Heth needed before coming face-to-face with Mario Hernandez. Smoke was billowing out of the laundry room as she spotted her shooter in the kitchen.

Without saying a word, her ex-boyfriend of eight years and business partner raised his 22-caliber weapon and shot.

The first bullet entered Heth on the left side of her face and the shock and sheer force of the bullet knocked her to the ground.

“Don’t kill me!”she pleaded. But he took one more shot directed at her head.

The second shot hit her on the right side of her face and her right eye immediately went black.

Heth, a horror movie enthusiast, used what she had seen in the films and played dead.

As she laid there with a performance that would save her life, she slightly opened her one good eye and saw Hernandez raise the gun to his head. He uttered his final words, “We die together bitch,” and pulled the trigger taking his own life.

His lifeless body collapsed onto Heth, who was still lying on the floor with two gunshot wounds to the face.

Rapidly losing blood, she had to force his body off hers in order to get out of the house that he had set on fire before his shooting spree.

Heth was able to muscle his body off of hers and found her current boyfriend, Brad Guerrero-Smith, who had also been shot on the side of his head, already on the phone with 911. Heth was still naked from the shower, so he helped her to put on what clothes they could find to get out of the burning house.

She barely had a moment to think about the house that contained all of her most prized possessions: priceless family photos of her two children, furniture that had been passed down through her family for generations, and a lifetime of memories.

The couple stumbled out of the burning building to find a SWAT team with guns drawn.

After a brief interrogation, they were both brought to the hospital and treated for their near-fatal gunshot wounds.

“I just have to stay awake until we get to the ER then I can pass the fuck out,” she remembered thinking. “And that’s exactly what I did. Before long I was thinking ‘what a nice beautiful day!’”

When telling her story, Heth emphasized the fact that she views herself as a survivor and not the victim of domestic violence. “I feel like this couldn’t have happened any other way,” explained Heth.

While both Heth and Hernandez had been in a relationship, they were also business partners. The owned and operated a successful design company

The first bullet entered Heth on the left side of her face and the shock and sheer force of it knocked her to the ground. “Don’t kill me!” she pleaded. But he took one more shot directed at her head.

18 | Fem | Justice

Lauren McQaude/Fem

Heth (pictured with her son, Evan, a fourth-year English student) was shot in the face by her ex-boyfriend and business partner, Mario Hernandez, in February 2012. and when their relationship went sour, their business continued.

According to Heth, Hernandez could not maintain client relationships without her and, in turn, the business gravitated only to her.

“When he got too comfortable with a client he would make racist jokes and treat them like crap,” explained Heth.

“They would get mad but they liked me because I was level headed.”

When Hernandez’ livelihood was at stake, he confided in Heth his thoughts of suicide but she never expected for him to also turn homicidal.

What Heth takes away from this un-

avoidable turn of events is acceptance.

She chose to cope with the incident by trying to deal with what happened directly: “At first I was jumpy with loud noises and would wake up and have to turn on the light, but then I made the conscious effort to replay it in my head and relive it.”

Heth and Guerrero-Smith were not the only two people that Hernandez shot on February 16, 2012. One of their rommates died from injuries sustained in the attack, while another roommate, Laurel Choy, survived after being shot four times.

Life as a UCLA Housekeeper

Women talk about what it’s like to work in the dorms

by Angela Tu

Angela Tu/Fem

The women who clean dorm rooms in UCLA Housing prefer to be called “housekeepers” instead of “maids.” bers see the profession as an improvement in their lives and a stepping stone towards more opportunities.

Two braids, one on each side;

and fashion on her own.

holes and interstices she will need to fill

Between the braids, which become

Intentionally, I leave small gaps

and bridges.

Working in a wired network of connections

* Name was changed at the request of the woman interviewed.

under

Each lock twisting and folding over and

and I become the braid and weave through.

Pains and cries from her lips erupt,

I braid her hair and comb out the knots.

Of dual histories, of intersected importance.

between Black and Filipina.

Fixed into an intermediary:

mum wage of $8 an hour. “There are positive experiences working here,” concluded Gutierrez.

Elvia Huipe, a UCLA housekeeping staff member of three years, Huipe works 40 hours a week and sees her family only on the weekends. Despite the long hours and the time spent away from her family, she still enjoys working during summer. “Summer is a very good time to work here,” she said. “I like the people and I like to talk to them.”

Her positive experience does not stop there: UCLA does its best to accommodate the employees needs when incidents unexpectedly come up. “In the past, when the 405 freeway closed down, the school let the workers stay at UCLA for free,” said Gutierrez.

Even though the overall working conditions are better than most low wage jobs, there is always room for improvement. Once paid double for overtime, the staff is now paid time and a half.

Furthermore, UCLA pays housekeeping members on seniority, not adjusting pay with raising inflation and taxes, which is problematic. The allocation of bonuses can also improve. “Every year, supervisors randomly chose one person to give a bonus to,” said Maddie*. “The bonus is an additional $75 that is added to your pay, which is not much. In the past, the school used to give a bonus to everyone who worked but now they don’t.”

Funding for college is also a dilemma. The employees’ children who go to UCLA do not receive any form of financial benefits. This becomes problematic due to most employees having children.

UCLA does, however, give a discount for employees who want to become students. They receive the benefit of paying only 33% of the tuition.

Despite minor problems, the housekeeping staff members all said that, overall, they enjoy their working experiences here. Many housekeeping staff mem-

and her hair bounces in soft curls.

pupils of my little one;

and looks into the wide-eyed, brown

I am the pale older one who peers

by Jewel Pereyra

A Sister’s Love

POETRY CORNER

very morning, Pamela* wakes up at 5:30 am to get to work on time. Once on campus, her busy day is filled with scrubbing, washing and tidying up in a matter of eight hours.

Pamela is one of the housekeeping staff members here at UCLA, and is responsible for cleaning the dorms and the public restrooms. Although socially invisible to the rest of the campus and even to our communities, housekeeping contributes much to UCLA’s campus life. Their narratives and voices, however, are usually missing from the public sphere.

Most students living in the dorms recognize that the housekeeping staff is responsible for cleaning the restrooms; however, that is only part of the story. During the school year, housekeeping cleans 21 restrooms on a single day, but when summer rolls around, the staff takes on more rooms.

In the summer, the dorms turn into a hotel for doctors, lawyers, nurses, and athletes from around the world. “It is hard work,” commented Cruc Gutierrez, a housekeeping staff member who works in the De Neve dorms.

Her words echo what other employess have said about the job. “When one woman is not in, you have to clean extra rooms,” agreed Marcela Mendez, who has worked at UCLA for nine years.

Despite the exhausting labor, all of the women interviewed, stated that they love their jobs. For Gutierrez, her job provides more opportunities and benefits than her last one, which was at a sewing factory.

“Working conditions were hard [at the sewing factory] and there was no health coverage. Plus, they paid us minimum wage,” said Gutierrez. In contrast, her current job at UCLA provides healthcare, holidays, sick days, English lessons, and much more. In addition to that, the average pay is about $13 an hour or more, making it slightly above California’s mini-

her eyes are long and curly

E

Jobs | Poetry | Fem |

19

Life as a Woman in the Military Between combat and families, these women have a lot to balance

by Allison Green

W

omen in fatigues are rare to see. In fact, the biggest face of women in the armed forces that we see often comes from movies or television and even then, we see them as the wives, girlfriends, or civilians coping with men at war. “A League of Their Own,” “Top Gun,” and most recently Lifetime’s television show “Army Wives” all place women in the context of the military.

Women have come a long way from the times when women serving our country consisted of growing gardens and becoming riveters. As of 2011, the Department of Defense reports that 14.6 percent of all soldiers serving on active duty are women. These women range from entry-level privates to high-ranking commanders – about 15 percent of these women hold officer titles within the branches.

Availability for positions for some branches are completely equal—the Air Force and Coast Guard let women attain 100% of all positions. However the Navy, Army, and the Marine corps offer 59%, 52%, and 20% respectively of all positions to women due to combat exclusion laws (which to this day is heavily contested in and out of the Armed Forces institution).

Despite actual military exclusion policies and even public disapproval of female participation, these sentiments do not stop some women from desiring careers in the Armed Forces.

Madelaine Estrabillo, a third year Anthropology student at UCLA, grew up in a naval family and it was her father’s dream for her to follow his path into the Navy through UCLA’s Naval ROTC. “Because I was the first child, my father wanted some one else to be in the military, because it had so many benefits.

You get to go to the base, there’s no [sales] tax on anything,” she said. “He just wanted a better life for me.”

Seeing her own father rise in the ranks and enjoying the naval lifestyle, Estrabillo made completing college and the ROTC program a goal in order to become a naval officer. “I was dead set on that… until I actually was in it!” Though percentages of female officers are very small, Estrabillo’s father still recognized her leadership potential. “He had seen so many Navy women,” said Estrabillo as she justified her father’s pressure on her. “He knew physically and mentally I could do it, but my heart wasn’t in it.” Though her decision disappointed her father, Estrabillo’s brother now carries their father’s wishes.

“You just know from people’s personalities and upbringing…I just wasn’t a good fit,” said Estrabillo.

Though the program was not a good fit for her, other women thrive in the military setting.

Captain Karensa Foxx of the United States Army grew up in a home similar to Estrabillo’s – in a military family as the youngest of four children. However, seeing her father and siblings serve, she felt no pressure from her family but rather had a personal desire to join them. “I was seeking different colleges and knew that I wanted to commission as an officer, I didn’t just want to join the military,” said Foxx. She

20 | Fem | Military

had intentions of joining the Army ROTC program in college at University of Southern Mississippi and serving her required service, but after completion she realized she loved the opportunities given to her and enjoyed leading her platoon.

“For the while I was the only female,” she recalled.

“But as time went by, we may have gotten up to 10 females.” Despite being chosen as captain to lead many, her equals and superiors treated her not necessarily with negative feelings but definitely regarded her as a “little sister” or one to be protected.

Captain Foxx saw no blatant sex disparities in terms of duties or performance. In fact, she recalled men acting chivalrous toward the few female colleagues. “We are an army of one where it shouldn’t matter what you’re doing, but at the same time a lot of men still have traditions as far as what a man should do and what a woman should do.”

After being deployed to several tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Captain Foxx now lives in Studio City with her husband and baby boy, employed as an ROTC Enrollment Officer.

She decorates her office to incorporate both her

military accolades as well as mementoes from her personal life, revealing her officer side as well as her personal side. She described her second deployment as being the hardest because she was leaving behind her husband, who is a civilian.

Now that Captain Foxx has a baby boy, she made it very clear that her family comes first over her job.

“I’m going to look at what’s available and what best meets the means of my family,” said Foxx about her next career move. She is hopeful about the army’s ability to accommodate her family in terms of guaranteed childcare (a privilege not afforded to many civilian working mothers). The saying “the military takes care of its own” hold true in terms of family of the soldiers – according to the National Military Family Organization, the military provides families with a Family Readiness Group (FRG), disaster preparedness, educational opportunities, and financial counseling.

Regardless of the sacrifices and stresses our armed forces face while serving our nation, it’s hard to ignore the brave women who cross one of the most difficult boundaries.

U.S. Navy/Creative Commons

A sailor is greeted by her family during a homecoming celebration at the naval base in San Diego.

Uniting Sexual and Social Identities

Does the fight for gender equality prevail in the bedroom?

by Valerie Hasson & Kara Kedrick

A

s gender equality floods the forefront of the battle for social justice, it isn’t clear if this fight penetrates our interpersonal and sexual identities. There is a more systematic way of determining inequalities within income distributions and who holds positions of power, but a precise calculation concerning emotional and sexual domination is more difficult to detect. With this article, we are attempting to uncover the difference between how a woman conducts herself in an intimate situation and how she acts within the social arena. Our interests extended to how both sexes interpret gender roles in relation to public/private aspects of life. In order to gather this information, we circulated an anonymous survey through Facebook. Our twenty five participants varied in social/occupational backgrounds, gender, sexual preference, and age, giving us a diverse outlook on our questions. This survey provided results concerning how the person acted socially and intimately in regards to their gender.

Social questions: The social questions measured the reality of degrading stereotypes. Although the majority of participants didn’t experience social setbacks, 40 percent of them acknowledged that women were

usually put at a disadvantage over men. We showed the Wrangler’s ad to judge participants’ reactions to women being defined as sexual entities. In the case of the Cosmopolitan magazine question, their answers provided insight on whether they believe women’s insight has expanded beyond materialistic outlook.

Sexual questions: It is fascinating that women act more frequently as equals during sex, but allow for a high amount of domination within their relationships. This curious conclusion leads one to question the accuracy of the answers. Since sexual behavior is such a personal subject, people might be apprehensive to discuss their submissive manner. Could it be that the characteristics of our biased society have infiltrated interpersonal relationships, but not our sexual activity as frequently? It is also worth noting that 33 percent claim that the dominating nature of men is biological.

Conclusion: Overall the fight for gender equivalence is strong in both categories. Our push to diminish degrading behavior towards women prevails both in the social and intimate/sexual spectrums.

Wrangler’s Jeans

Social Have you suffered any social setbacks or discrimination due to your gender?

How do you feel about the Wrangler’s Jeans advertisement (above)?

How do you feel about Cosmopolitan magazine?

Yes: 44% No: 56%

Offended: 60% Unaffected: 40%

Misrepresentation of women: 55% Support the message: 45%

How is the power distributed within your relationship?

Do you prefer to be dominated, submissive, or act as equals during sex?

Do you consider a male-dominated relationship to be acceptable and moral?

Equals: 58% One partner dominates: 42%

Equals: 62% One partner dominates: 38%

Acceptable: 41% Unacceptable: 59%

Sexual

Drowning in Sexual Self-Loathing

by Kara Kedrick

When drenched in sensual desire, is your ethical standpoint still intact? Some claim to reach their climax by expressing compassion and love towards another sexually. What about ones who allow their desires to ride them until they reach an orgasmic finish?

I have found myself in a disturbing situation. My disgust with all objectifying representations of women is present outside of the bedroom, but during sexual interactions I yearn to be that of which I despise. I desire to lose my willpower, allowing for domination by the other party. In order to do so I must create an altered reality, where my social identity doesn’t exist. Any criticism that I would ‘normally’ place on my sexual encounter is terminated. I come out of this dreamland disappointed with the creature I have become. I think, “Maybe I’m weak. How can I allow for my sexual side to continuously disrespect all that I ethically stand for.” Yet I’m not sure how to escape this pattern. I have tried ignoring my desire to be dominated, but I can’t seem to reach a climax. At the same time I wonder, “ Should I be that judgmental? Maybe I just need to accept these desires as apart of who I am.”

By pondering this situation, a new understanding has surfaced. I’m begging to think that domination acts to mask a deeper desire. It seems I have developed an association between another’s domination and their infatuation for me. The more dominate my sexual partner behaves, the more I feel desirable. It makes me believe I posses such characteristics that would lead someone to crave me uncontrollably. Exploring the true identity of my sexual and social discrepancy is a good start, which I hope will eventually allow me to embrace my sexual life.

Sex | Fem |

21

A look at Scarlett Johansson’s role in the new superhero film

Is “The Avengers” combatting sexism?

by Francesca Nicols

T

he Avengers has been one of the biggest blockbusters of recent years, with the biggest audience, and biggest impact on popular culture. It is thus exactly the kind of film we should be holding accountable for gender representation. Superhero films, and their roots in the comic book world, have historically been a realm of struggle for female representation. Following this, the modern mainstream has consistently been saturated with the crime fighting muscular power of a stoic male, honorably avenging the death of his parents or using his accidental great power with ‘great responsibility.’ As a result, the woman has been limited to stock character type roles: the occasional appearance of a sultry femme fatale who can deliver a fateful poison kiss, a naïve, Daily Planet work colleague, or a girl-next-door crush. In the 1950s, DC’s Editorial Policy Code outlined that females were to remain secondary characters, with no special attributes, or story of their own. And many twentieth and twenty-first century films and franchises have followed this archaic format. We see examples of these types of characters in the Batman films of the 1990s, and the Spider-Man franchise of the 2000s.

This is not, of course, to discredit the rest of the comic book world, a deep and colorful place which the mainstream does not begin to touch, where many series take a pro-feminist stance, like “Tank Girl,” or “Persepolis,” while others have no need for any stance at all, as seen in such examples as “Lost at Sea.” “The Avengers,” meanwhile, is directed by Joss Whedon (creator of everyone’s favorite sci-fi heroine, Buffy) and has Scarlett Johansson (star of the female-driven, comic-book-to-movie Ghost World, and a favorite of acclaimed feminist Sofia Coppola) as the main female star. Which is why I wasn’t too worried about gender representation as I sat in a theater ready to see the film.

At first, I wasn’t disappointed. Natasha Romanov is welcomed by the otherwise all male group as an integral founding member. With no need for Iron Man’s suit, or Captain America’s shield, Romanov can hold her own, weapon and shield free, and she kicks some

22 | Fem | Film

serious ass. She is also, without spoilers, particularly vital to the plot’s resolution and the end of the war. Interestingly, Johansson’s character also receives one of the largest portions of screen time, statistically greater than the Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye - two of which have been deemed interesting enough to have their own movies. That screen time is also largely valuable dialogue, rather than the action heavy scenes that we see take up large portions of the other characters’ time. Which is why I began to wonder if “The Avengers” could this finally be the attention and precedence that female characters deserve.

It was a butt close-up that started to change my mind.

As Romanov approaches the bad guy, Loki, in a tense scene of back-and-forth dialogue and mind games, a wide shot, at an unnecessarily low level, places Scarlett Johansson’s ass center screen. Distracting completely from the interrogation, it cries out for our gaze, and a Mulveyan reading.

As I returned to watch the film again, Romanov’s first scene stuck out. Tied to a chair and interrogated, she is clad in stockings and has an exposed chest. Her interrogator then threatens to literally cut out her tongue (how very appropriate) before she decides to break free and fight them. There is something very erotic about the way she bare-fistedly attacks her opponents, overpowering them swiftly and sexily, with full makeup and a low-cut dress. After subduing her male opposition by wrapping her legs around him, she walks away confidently, but not before picking up her pair of heels. In this respect, Romanov’s portrayal submits to the male target audience.

Aside from exotic Russian spy, Romanov takes on another female role - that of carer, or mother. She is at the side of many of her male colleagues in their time of need. She nurses Hawkeye back to health, attempts to save Bruce Banner from transforming into the Hulk, tries to protect Captain America from interrupting a fight, and is even there for Doctor Selvig as he confusedly returns to reality. In many respects, Romanov’s character submits to the feminist film theory

idea of woman often being limited to roles of mothersister-or-wife to male characters.

This is not quite what I was hoping for. Of course these films are also committed to their comic-book forefathers, and must remain faithful to the original characters and storylines. But as writer and director, Whedon undoubtedly had a great deal of control over these subtle intricacies, and could have more responsibly chosen to bring the female presence slightly more into the present day, without diverging from the original texts. We should remember that the inclusion of Natasha Romanov/Black Widow was never a guarantee. Not being part of the original Avengers group, but rather an addition later in the comic series, her position in the film was a conscious effort on Whedon’s part. Whedon seems to begin admirably, but then fails to develop Romanov’s character much further than her cinematic predecessors.

Despite its downfalls, I believe that “The Avengers” is still be a step in the right direction for female representation on the big screen. Natasha is still a respected member of the group, integral to the story and plot development. She holds her own, even amongst her demi-god colleagues. It is true that Natasha may not have been deemed worthy of her own film like many of the other characters, but this seems largely because she never had her own comic book series as they did.

We can again thank the 1950s and 1960s for that. In an interesting progression, following the release of “Iron Man 2,” in which Johansson first portrayed Romanov, the character was awarded her own self-titled comic series in 2010. Perhaps then, a Black Widow film is something we may be able to look forward to, her colorful back-story would provide a great foundation, and was teasingly hinted towards in “The Avengers.”

Provided we continue to hold directors and producers accountable, positively deconstructing their work in this way, maybe, just maybe, female characters won’t have to be restricted to wearing skin tight leather to prove that they are strong and independent.

Girls, we Ru[i]n the World?

How faux-feminism in music is hurting the gender rights movement

T

he Riot Grrrl movement of the early 1990s carved a place for feminism, grrrl power, and general kick-assery in the punk music scene. In 1994, mainstream pop grabbed grrrl power by its ankles, slapped a shiny Union-Jack jumpsuit on it and called it Girl Power. The Spice Girls’ watered down, bubble-gum version of feminism gave birth to a slew of pseudo-feminist pop artists that currently dominate the billboard charts.

Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and even Beyonce have appropriated and transformed certain qausifeminist qualities, packaging them into song lyrics, dance moves, and whole personas.

1. Nicki Minaj

Let’s first talk Nicki Minaj and her maybe-claim to feminist fame.

She is, without a doubt, a force to be reckoned with. Having made a space for herself in the heavily male-dominated hip-hop music scene, Minaj has raised quite a few questions about where she stands in the name of girl power and feminism. While there is something to be said about the progress she embodies as a woman of color in the pop industry and a female in hip-hop, a lot of her lyrics and aspects of her constructed identity are problematic. On the cover of her platinum album ‘Pink Friday,’ Minaj appears armless and doe-eyed. Her doll-like persona and multi-colored wigs send out a conflicted message. While she raps that she is “ fighting for the girls/ that never thought they could win,” Minaj’s aesthetic screams that her body is a toy you can play with and control.

2. Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga promotes safe sex and encourages her queer fans to create their own space in the world. This is feminist, along with her attempt at activist gender bending and work against bullying. And, at times, she seems to be a feminist role model for the ages. But then she says things like, “I’m not a feminist. I hail men, I love men, I celebrate American male culture – beer, bars, and muscle cars” and all of a sudden we’re back at square one, deep in the heart of the male gaze, trying to look Mother Monster in the eye while staring, instead, at her nearly-naked body.

by Connie Shen & Dominique Silva

1.

2.

3.

3. Rihanna

4.

5.

Rihanna and sex seem to go hand and hand these days, which could be seen as a good or a bad thing. Everything from her free and open sexuality, along with an “I don’t give a fuck attitude” have been recognized as radical, empowering, and problematic in a variety of circles. But take a look at her current lyrics, “I love it, I love it, I love it when you eat it.” These are not deep, or even “good” lyrics, but they make a point.

Rihanna gets shamed for singing about loving sex, ascribing to a pro-sex feminist thought, but men are free, and often praised when rapping about “beating the pussy up.” RiRi seems to walk a fine line between a powerful, feminist artist and just another artist ascribing to the dominant, and unproductive malegaze culture of the music industry.

Singing about girl power, and being about it, are two very different things. But luckily there are some bad-ass females being radical with their lyrics and smashing the cutesy “girl” power image and embracing being a powerful woman.

dex dresses courtesy of Jeremy Scott to just dancing/sweating around in her undergarments). And well, the term “dyke” is how she identifies. Being an openly gay woman from the beginning, and currently engaged to her long-time girlfriend, Ditoo refuses to keep her identity a secret, belting out danceable and empowering lyrics such as, “I don’t want the world/I just want what I deserve.” She brings about the feminist ideas of being equal, and deserving of all the universe has to offer.

M.I.A. commanded the attention of her audience. This year, M.I.A flipped the bird during the Superbowl, patriarchy’s commercial extravaganza, and then followed suit with her video, “Bad Girls,” in which she provided her own political commentary on Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving. Rarely featuring images of herself in the video, M.I.A. made a statement by placing the women in the driver’s seat of standard “iced-out whips” while their male counterparts stood on the sidelines.

4. Beth Ditto

5. M.I.A.

Personal politics and self identifying as anything other than what the makers of pop stars have deemed profitable is nearly impossible in an industry that functions on the reproduction of sexist images. It’s often difficult to reconcile the idea that the women who currently dominate billboard charts may not be in control of the identities they project.

But feminism is not dead in the music industry, it’s just harder to find.

The radical, in your face, lead singer of Gossip has taken lessons right out of the Riot Grrrl movement. Her music career began with loud punk, doing everything in her power to have a voice. The self-proclaimed “fat dyke” has empowered so many with those two little words. She refuses to use the word “fat” as an insult and hide behind it (Google photos of Beth and you will see her in anything from span-

M.I.A. is a feminist. She’s made a place for herself in pop music of the West while still identifying with the Global South and repping her Sri Lankan activist roots. A few years ago, in 2009, M.I.A. performed at the Grammy’s with four of the biggest names in androcentric hip-hop history (Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I., and Lil Wayne) and she was pregnant. Donning a skin-tight dress mere days before her due date,

Music | Fem |

23

Ode to Samantha Bee

How “The Daily Show” correspondent is saving the world, one joke at a time

by Carla Juarez

I

t’s very easy to turn left or right and find a political satirist, such as Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, talking about issues hitting America. But no one does it like Samantha Bee. Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Bee has made a name for herself with her quick wit on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” But, even before joining the Daily Show in 2003, Samantha Bee was already a storm of a comedienne. While still in Canada, she was one of the co-founding members of the sketch comedy troupe The Atomic Fireballs, On “The Daily Show,” she stands out as a fantastic comedian because of the different personas she adapts to emphasize her points. Not only does she try to make the audience laugh, but she also gets you to think about real life absurdities and learn from the ridiculous truth.

When I started watching “The Daily Show, I had no idea that Bee was of the only female correspondents. But even so, I thought of her as simply one of the sharpest and funniest actors on the show. I didn’t single her out because of her gender, but because I felt a connection to her satirical style of journalism which played upon stereotypes.

When I first saw Bee doing an interview titled “They So Horny?” I was immediately drawn in by her ability to cleverly lead her subject into caricaturing himself. The video follows a UC Davis professor who lamented the lack of Asian actors in pornography. The subject in itself is quite astonishing, but even more surprising is watching Bee actually going to a pornography film producer and asking ridiculous questions in order to highlight the professor’s absurdity. Afterwards, she pays a visit to Star Trek actor George Takei, famous for his portrayal of Sulu, and asks him to do a porno film to help diversify the range of porn actors in the industry. Even funnier is that she appeals to him as if this was a legitimate and important cause, like say, saving the rainforest. From that moment on, I looked forward to her appearances in “The Daily Show.”

I got to enjoy her comedic abilities again when she did segment on a smoking ban in New York City parks that was meant to create better and safer outdoor spaces. As she interviews various citizens about their support on this smoking ban, various people who could be considered by some as “unsavory” (they stare, scream, drink alcohol and even smoke) roam about, contradicting everything that the supporters of the ban are talking about. The irony is instantly visible in one scene where she talks to a supporter of the ban who claims that the parks are now safer, only to have two men behind them start hurling expletives at each other. “Don’t get stabbed,” whispers Bee, thus highlighting the absurdity of the situation. This is the kind of hilarious and effective humor Bee is incredibly good at creating. Later on in the clip, she suggests having a picnic since the place is so safe, only to have her interviewee tells her it is illegal to walk on the grass. “So this [park] is just for show?” asks Bee. Revealing the disparity and lack of priority

24 | Fem | Television

Samantha Bee, known for her scathing commentary on stereotypes, has worked as a correspondent for “The Daily Show” since 2003. for other pressing concerns is what Bee does best.

After this segment I realized that, despite being one of the only female correspondent on the show, she is not just limited to women’s issues or pigeonholed into a type of comedian because of her gender. Like the rest of the male correspondents (one of whom is her husband) she has the guts to sit down with government officials and tackle any issue and make it hilarious. She gives her journalistic abilities and “fake news” a new spin. When Jon Stewart addresses women issues currently debated in Congress, Bee takes the stand. It’s shocking how the majority of people making decisions related to women’s health, among other rights, tend to be male.

In one segment titled, “V-Jay Jay Day” Bee gives her controversial and satirical remarks on women in the U.S. Army. She ridicules the female commentator who made regressive comments on why women in the army become a problem for the men in the army.

Adapting a damsel in distress persona, Bee sits down patiently and coyly, but bluntly states how obvious it is that there are only going to incite two responses from men, either protective or aggressive. If during combat a male soldier sees a female soldier he becomes distracted by her because he wants to protect her; if he does not want to protect her, then the male soldier wants to rape her, and according to the female commentator, she distracts the soldier this way too.

Although her seeming agreement with the commentator aroused controversy, Bee’s demeanor and hy-

perbolic language, her face expressions and gestures signified the contrary. By adopting that side of the argument, she emphasized how obviously wrong both statements were – something that might not have been apparent if she didn’t exaggerate them.

Bee doesn’t merely take strong opposition, but uses humor and satire to reveal the disparity between higher authorities and supposedly educated representatives in a relaxed way. The unnerving subjects of some of her conversations with others might outrage you, but with her great humor, unthreatening appearance, and sharp wit, you can laugh it all out with irony.

CHECK OUT THESE SAMANTHA BEE CLIPS: * “V-Jay Jay Day” (2/14/2012) * “The Congressional Approver” (8/15/2011) * ”Driving Miss Crazy” (5/31/2011) * “Holier Than Dow” (6/17/2010) * “Sex and the City” (5/29/2008) Online at www.thedailyshow.com.

CONFESSIONS OF A HOPELESS ROMANTIC

I was Co-Dependent Before it was Cool Dysfunctional love and performative identity in indie pop

by Sahar Shiralian

A

dmit it. When you endured the pangs of a broken heart, you sought comfort in Adele’s “21.” In the world of alternative indie pop, however, songstresses treat broken hearts differently. A feminine identity crisis curiously seems to be the result of rejection and unrequited love. In their 2012 albums, indie pop queens Lana Del Rey and Marina and the Diamonds adopted the roles of cliché female tropes such as the beguiling Lolita or femme fatale as a means to allay the pain of feeling unloved and thus gain erotic power. These women also illuminate a frightening portrait of dysfunctional, co-dependent love not normally seen in Top 40 music.

In “Born to Die,” Lana creates an idealized world of a tragic Old Hollywood romance in which she plays a virginal innocent who has fallen prey to a jaded, troubled James Dean type. Lana’s vintage, yet inherently cliché love story carries problematic implications for feminism and masks a tortured tale of an obsessive unrequited love. Indeed, Lana Del Rey poses a serious feminist problem by romanticizing co-dependent love. In her hypnotic “Video Games,” Lana sings of love for a man who despite all her efforts, rather “go play a video game.” The genius of “Video Games” lies in its realistic depictions of a banal modern young love. However, this genius is undermined by an indulgence in a fantasy of female submission. Lyrics such as “I’m in his favorite sun dress/ watching me get undressed..put his favorite perfume on” suggest Lana’s subjugation to a man who simply does not love her back. Lana, obsessed with her love object, is happily resigned to being unloved. Ultimately, Lana is painting a dangerous picture of an unhealthy co-dependent love in which she is being consumed by her admiration for a narcissist. Indeed, in her video for the song “Blue Jeans,” Lana is killed by a love object that turns into an alligator in the posh pool of Chateau Marmont. In other words, she is literally dying of love for this man.

Lana responds to this rejection by creating the personas of an American gold digger and ruinous Lolita, characters that counter the exposed vulnerability of “Video Games.” Lana litters her album with references to Lolita and boasts about manipulating older men for their money. Anti-feminist in nature, these personas tout a regressive financial dependency and vapid materialism. In “Off to the Races,” Lana seductively croons “Light of my life/ fire of my loins/give me them gold coins.” Lana appears to be suffering from a split personality disorder in Born to Die. She is at once a slave to love and a gold-digging femme fatale.

But, this dichotomy reveals a problematic construction of femininity that results from failed love. Lana performs these roles to allay the jolt of romantic disillusionment. Yet, Lana ironically performs cliché and

In their 2012 albums, both Lana Del Rey and Marina and the Diamonds adopted female stereotypes that some would argue are anti-feminist and detrimental to women. misogynistic roles in a sphere of music that is supposedly cutting-edge and boasts avante-garde ideas about gender and music. Leland Jasperse, a thirdyear English student, remarked upon this paradox by saying that “Lana Del Rey channels a sense of alternativeness, while still residing in female tropes. She is creating a superficial persona that would appeal to an alternative audience.”

In the concept album “Electra Heart,” Marina Diamandis’s performance is more explicit and deliberate.

Her “world of Electra Heart” parodies Lana’s vintage Hollywood fantasy.

She plays four female archetypes who, despite their similarities, are all variations of heartless and egotistical femme fatales. These four archetypes are Teen Idle, Primadonna, Homewrecker and Su-Barbie-A. In her press release in April 2012, Marina explained her eccentric narrative to Telegraph.co.uk by stating “It’s an ode to dysfunctional love..I guess it was a way of dealing with the embarrassment that, for the first time in my life, I got ‘played.’ Rejection is a universally embarrassing topic and Electra Heart is my response to that.”

Once humiliated by rejection, Marina fantasizes about breaking “a million hearts just for fun” in the song “Homewrecker” and having a man “wrapped around her finger” in “Primadonna.”Indeed, the album opens with the delicious glam rock song “Bub-

ble Gum Bitch” in which Marina lives vicariously through a vicious fictional pin-up who carelessly “pops” hearts. She turns the tables of classic courting behavior and becomes the powerful pursuer. Aleen Mayelian, a fourth-year political science student, stated that “the album is about individuality and power. The character of Electra Heart is Marina’s way of expressing power over men because she was vulnerable at a point in the past. She adopts the role of a vixen to regain power and she puts her own unique spin on an otherwise cliché character.”

Despite the seemingly positive implications of the kind of gender performance that Lana and Marina depict in their albums, these roles are simply unhealthy reactions to a harmful co-dependent love. Their performances may be liberatory and empowering, but they also inevitably mask insecurities and obsessive love. Moreover, love should not be a game where women must battle for respect and love. “Born to Die” and “Electra Heart” are my favorite albums of 2012, but they are in danger of reducing modern love to a “play” in which women cannot simply play themselves, but must adopt roles to desperately win the admiration of men who simply are not deserving of their affection.

These roles are simply unhealthy reactions to a harmful a harmful codependent love. There performance may be liberatory and empowering, but they also inevitably mask insecurities and obsessive love.

Column | Fem |

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LIBERATED COOKING

My Grandmother’s Kitchen

The wonders of latkes & apple sauce

by Melissa van Gelder

I

n the corner of my grandmother’s kitchen sits a row of a dozen mixmatched canisters. In the first few there is a mix of dried fruits, the next couple some nuts, and in the few after that some cookies and biscuits. The last one, the tallest canister with the shiny metal surface and the ball on top of the lid, always has matzah. Always.

And for some reason that I have yet to comprehend, I have always found comfort in the fact that no matter what happens, that matzah will always be there.

When I was younger, going to my grandmother’s house always meant two things: good food and a holiday.

As far as I can remember, we tried to visit for every Thanksgiving and every Passover. And for each occasion, there was always a counter filled with huge plates of delicious food.

Turkey, gravy, stuffing and about everything else you could possibly think of was there in November. And in April, we ate the most delicious matzah ball soup in the entire world.

Hanukkah, however, was always my favorite holiday. We didn’t always visit my grandmother, but we always made her latke recipe. And we doubled or tripled the recipe, just to make sure we had the chance to eat a lot of latkes.

But as much as I love my grandmother for her fantastic taste in food and her delicious recipes, I’ve always loved her even more for how much she inspires me as a feminist.

Now 95 years old, she has lived a life

worthy of multiple memoirs. And her stories continue to amaze me, whether I’m hearing one for the first time or for the tenth time.

When my grandmother was born, women couldn’t vote. Housewives were all the rage; women were not expected to go to college but to find husbands and start families. And while she did find a husband, my grandmother also went to medical school to become a psychiatrist.

Back then, schools would only let in two women for every 100 men. And my grandmother got in when one of those two women got pregnant and was forced to drop out.

But no matter how much sexism and discrimination she dealt with, my grandmother triumphed and actually practiced medicine until her mid-80s when she finally retired.

And this steadfast determination and resilience has always inspired me to stand up for what I believe in and make sure I do my best no matter what.

Which is why I’ve always called her my feminist role model. But up until a month ago, I always added a quick disclaimer that I didn’t think she would actually identify as feminist.

I’m not sure why, but I was almost afraid to ask her. As though she might say no, and that had the potential to

“Of course I’m a feminist,” my grandmother responded. “Feminism is important because women still don’t have it easy.”

APPLE SAUCE 6 apples 1 cup water 1 tsp lemon juice 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp cinnamon Clean, peel, core and chop apples into squares.

Combine the apples, water, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice in a saucepan.

Cover with lid and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes (until apples are soft) Let them cool and then mash them with a fork.

26 | Fem | Column

break my heart. So I just didn’t ask the question.

Then, as we sat watching a Lakers game last month, I finally worked up the courage to ask her: “Granny, are you a feminist?”

Her answer shocked me.

Without hesitation, she responded: “Oh, yeah.”

“Wait, really?” I asked again.

“Of course I’m a feminist,” she responded.

“Feminism is important because women still don’t have it easy.”

I stood there, mouth gaping for a solid 30 seconds. And then I realized that her answer shouldn’t have surprised me. Of course she was a feminist. Why wouldn’t she be? In the almost century she’s been alive, she’s witnessed changes I can’t even attempt to fathom. And by not giving her the benefit of the doubt when it came to identifying as feminist, I was ignoring all of her lived experiences.

As she turned her attention back to television, I got up and went to the kitchen. Almost automatically, I grabbed the matzah from that last can-

My grandmother holds me at six weeks old (February 25, 1990). ister on the counter. And as I sat there eating, I couldn’t help but smile.

I come from a long line of self-proclaimed feminists, and I couldn’t be more proud.

LATKES (potato pancakes) 4 potatoes 1 onion 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil salt and pepper to taste Peel potatoes and then soak them in water.

With either a hand grater or a food processor, grate the potatoes and the onion until coarse.

Using paper towels, squeeze the excess water out of the potato mixture.

Mix in the egg, salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a frying pan and, when hot, add spoonfuls of potato mixture. Fry until brown and crispy.

Layer on a plate with paper towels in between latkes until ready to serve.

If you have too many, simply wrap them in parchment paper and freeze. When ready to eat them, just fry them up like before.

Crossword Puzzle: A Few Famous Feminists [last names only]

ACROSS

DOWN

2. Award-winning actress who starred in “Cagney & Lacey.”

4. Wrote “A Handmaid’s Tale” in 1985.

6. Coined the phrase “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” in 7. Wrote the essay “Can The Subaltern Speak?” in 1988.

9. Wrote “The Feminine Mystique” in 1963 and it credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the US. 11. Wrote “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts” in 1976.

12. Wrote extensively on the difference between sex and gender.

15. Wrote “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” in 1987.

17. An early member of the Gay Liberation Front, she edited “Out of the Closets” in 1972 18. Credited by Simone de Beauvoir as the first woman to “take up her pen in the name of her sex.”

19. Created the term “gender performativity” in 1990.

1. Founded Ms. magazine in 1972.

3. Famous for her poetry and her biomythography “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.”

5. Famous for her piece “Red Flag,” she founded the first feminist art program in the United States.

7. Principal author of the “Declaration of Sentiments,” a document signed by 100 attendees at the Seneca Falls Convention.

8. Coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989.

10. Co-edited “This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color” in 1981.

13. Famously quit NOW in 1970 after the organization distanced itself from lesbian organization.

14. Founded the blog Feministing in 2004.

16. Recently retired UCLA professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies.

Crossword | Fem |

27

“Activism is my rent for living on this planet.” - Alice Walker “I guess I don’t think of it as feminism versus anti-feminism; I sort of think of it as feminism versus the world. I don’t think of it as a competition; there’s no winning. In feminism, you’re always trying to make stuff better.” - Rachel Maddow “There really is a war on women in this country. They keep using that word ‘feminist’ like a weapon, like a lash.” - Geena Davis “When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.” - Bette Davis “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”

- Cheris Kramarae “Why do people say “grow some balls”? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.” - Betty White “I am a Woman./ Phenomenally./ Phenomenally Woman,/ that’s me.”

- Maya Angelou