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Virago A BAN DO N T HE WORD Why the Lumberjack will no longer use the word accuser to describe victims.

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SHE PREVAIL S Political gains for women and maintaining their momentum.

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REFLECTION A wrap up on the fall 2018 semester in women’s studies.

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by Megan Bender With some photogrpahy by Deija Zavala December 9, 2018

reflection.

In pieces like “Guadalupe, the Sex Goddess, � by Sandra Cisneros, I discovered a common shared sense of guilt in my heritage and my cultures inability to embrace sexuality or provide more education.

Other sections of this course such as the readings and the Adam Ruins Everything video on incarcerated women and their access to health care and education, or lack considered myself a there of, opened my eyes to feminist. But a quiet prominent issues I was not one. giving the proper time of day.

After discovering and As someone interested in understanding what the welfare of others and the it means to be a femminist and general state of our country, how to define femminsim, I I was frustrated to realize realized I had nothing to be how small my understanding silent about. I have long felt I of the world around me was. never had the right words to This realization was a part of join the conversation and lend the learning process in this a valuable opinion and voice course. Understanding my own to the movement. I have since privelages, my positionality, discovered confidence and and how they shape the way I a vocabulary to back up the seek and digest information as voice inside of me and loudly well as the level of comfort I discuss how much of a feminist feel in society was an importnt I am and want to be. wake up call for me.

After completing women’s As a journalist I hold myself studies this semester. I have to expectations of using found out a lot about myself my writing, my voice, to but even more about the world objectively tell stories. I do around me. This class was this because the profession is equal parts a history class, important to democracy and at a politicaal science and self its core aims to give a voice to the voiceless and hold authority accountable. Those stories can range from hard news, features

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or the less objective opinion based writing. However, I have commmitted to factually represent a story or person as objectively as I can to provide an accurate experience.

Knowig there was more still to do in how I source my stories, how I support my opinions and how I use the privelage I have was an important lesson for me this semester.

Feminism is a movement and now a soap box and bullhorn through which I can address those in power and hold them accountable for their actions or wrongdoings. Feminism is a lens I can apply to my writing to accurately represent the world around me as I know it, and create even opportunities for other women. Journalism is a still a profession dominated by white men and I look forward to making my way to the top and changing that.

This class gave me the tools I need to be the loud feminist I always knew I could be.

This mock magazine is hopefully proof of that understanding and of my action project work this semester.

Sincerely,

Megan Bender Megan Bender n Loud Feminist REFLECTION

N O D N A B A THE WORD Mainstream media must stop using the word accuser to describe victims of sexual harrassment and assault

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BY M The Virago editorial board recognizes the sensitivity of this topic and the affect this discussion can have on victims and survivors. We would like to remind readers that the North Coast Rape Crisis team has a 24-hour hotline for those in need. You can reach the NCRC hotline at 707-445-2881

Brett Kavanaugh Bill Cosby, Larry Nassar Kobe Bryant Donald Trump Harvey Weinstein.

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his brief and incomplete list of men with sexual violence and harassment charges are referred to by the media with their formal titles: Judge, doctor, priest, actor, athlete, president of the United States and so on.

The women, and in some cases men, who came forward to speak up against these perpetrators, alleged or guilty, were almost always addressed as “accuser” or “accused.”

Moving forward and after publication of this article we have decided to stop using this word in reference to victims of all forms of sexual violence or harassment and urge all news and media to do the same.

We reached this decision after Humboldt State University’s Journalism professor Victoria Sama gave a presentation on Oct. 23 on the history of the use of the word accuser by mainstream media.

In law, when referring to a victim of other crimes such as murder or robbery, we never call those victims “accusers.”

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Who’s a victim? Who’s an ‘accuser?’ The loaded language of sexual assault.”

— MICHELE SHARPE FORMER ATTORNEY

Former trial attorney Michele Sharpe addresses this concept in an opinion on the Washington Post called “Who’s a victim?

Who’s an ‘accuser?’ The loaded language of sexual assault.”

“American law has never had special terms for victims of crimes other than rape: We have only the generic terms ‘victim’ or ‘witness,’ as in murder victim and robbery witness,” Sharpe said.

The language used to refer to sexual assault victims separates them from the definition of victims of other crimes. In the end, the word “accuser” implies that victims of sexual assault have something to prove.

Sharpe encourages journalists reporting on sexual assault to include both names or to use identifying titles for both parties in case of requests for anonymity.

Sama said in California state system, dating back to 1850, she found uses of the word “accuser,” but generally in reference to policy and law rather than an individual or party. Sama said the word began to carry

with it “inferences of doubt,” in the 17th century for common English law and carried over to American law.

During this time English Chief Justice Matthew Hale required instruction for juries to judge women. Women were the ones who primarily brought rape cases to trial in the 17th century. Hale claimed that rape was an easy charge to make and defend and juries should require cautionary examination of female persons in question.

Eventually in 1975, this cautionary instruction was done away with after People vs. Rincon Pineda. A case concerning a woman who left her window open for her cat and was sexually assaulted by a drunk man who entered her home through the window.

On a religious spectrum, the term accuser has adversarial or enemy implications. In the King James bible, the term accuser is a term used to reference the devil as the “accuser of the brethren.”

The use of the word accuser is also written into some journal-

ism standards.

The Associated Press Style Book, quite often referred to as the journalist’s bible, guides journalists on grammar, punctuation, ethics and how to address people in specific circumstances and more.

The style book is updated to reflect current happenings and terms every year.

AP has updated entries in its 2018 edition with victim and survivor. According to this entry, “use those terms with care because they can be imprecise and politically and legally fraught.”

As news publications that lead in responsibility to accurately report the news with clarity, we strongly urge them to stop using the word accuser.

We ask that the Associated Press edit the terms victim and survivor in their style book.

We ask that the media starts to consider the seriousness of separating victims of sexual assault from victims of other crimes.

“The word accuser is a superficially neutral term. The word accuser is a superficially neutral term. The word accuser is a superficially neutral term. The word accuser is a superficial 4

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ACCUSER

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Prevail More than a wave, the rise of women in congress and why we can’t stop here

BY MEGAN BENDER

Thanks to fed up women and voters who took action, the Nov. 7 primary election was a night of firsts. The change we are witnessing is groundbreaking and we must sustain this shift in political power and build on it.

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ne hundred and twenty three women were elected to the United States House of Representatives, 12 women were elected to the U.S. Senate, 9 women were elected to serve as governor and out of a grand total of 123 women elected, 42 of them were women of color.

And of those 43, at least three are LGBTQ. These numbers are still rising as results are still being calculated.

To put these numbers in perspective, one out of five congress members are women.

Prior to this election, 84 women served in the House out of 435 members, and in the Senate, 23 women served in the Senate out of 100. Six women served as governors, out of 50.

All of these women in positions of political power represent a beacon of hope during a polarized and dangerous political climate.

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Election by election, women, women of color and people of color must fill offices of power and influence until we are accurately and fairly represented in our government.

Let’s rewind to how many women won nominations for state legislatures.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the amount of women who decided to run for office was also a record high number, “more than any other election in U.S. history.”

According to the Center for American Women and Politics 3,379 women won nomination for state legislatures across the country, breaking 2016’s record of 2,649.

Two hundred and thirty five women won nominations in U.S. House races. This broke 2016’s record of 167. In addition, 22 women won major-party nominations for the U.S. Senate. The record previously stood at 18 in

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2012.

The numbers are proof of change that isn’t coming in waves, but rather in tsunami proportions. However, to any young women of color looking toward a future in politics, we still need you.

Though what women have accomplished this election cycle is substantial, women are still not the majority in congress and we can not lose momentum.

Do not forget the youngest you can be to run for office, per the constitution, is 35 years old for President or Vice President.

California specifically requires a candidate to be at least 18 years of age and registered to vote.

When the women elected take their well earned seats among the men who have grown comfortable there, we must not forget what it took for them to get there. It’s more than a foot in the door but there is more work to be done.

Let the storm rage on.

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Above: (From left to right) Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sharice Davids, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley.

Getty Images

Democrat Sharice Davids gives her victory speech after winning the state’s 3rd congressional district race.

Kansas City Star/Getty Images

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Women in the Media

BY MEGAN BENDER

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aturday morning as I served an older man his coffee he asked if our Starbucks sold the New York Times. I assured him we usually do but we happened to be out. As he settled for the Wall Street Journal I mentioned to him I had just gotten back from a trip to the New York Times where I was able to sit in on their Page 1 meeting where they decided the stories more or less competing for spots on the main page of the website.

The man looked up at me and smiled asking if I was a journalist. I told him I was and he told me he had worked for a newspaper once and hated it.

He told me it was filled with men and he was glad it was the profession I had chosen to study.

I think it is important for women in journalism to recognize their power in reporting and recognize it as a form of social activism.

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In spite of raising numbers in journalism and communication degrees awarded to women, women make up only a third of the media industry today. According to an American Society of News Editors survey women make up over just a third of newsrooms. The numbers are up from 2017 but less newsrooms are reporting to this survey.

After reading through Jessica Valenti’s Full Frontal Feminism I realized I was left a little wanting. The book itself does a an excellent job of guiding young woman to understanding what they are, have been and always can be: hardcore feminists. It’s a book I wish I had discovered a long time ago and one I know I’ll encourage my children to read.

Though not its purpose, I wish the book had more about the way women are represented in the media as a profession and industry. However, it sends important messages

about social activism and representation of women by the media. The book helped me understand how badly I want to change the way things are done in the media.

The chapter that I gathered the most from was “Sex and the City Voters, My Ass” and “A quick Academic Aside.”

Though “Sex and the City Voters, My Ass” deals directly with representation in politics and the young women voter responsibility to pick up the slack. I agree that the influence of the young woman voter is important to combat anti-women legislation.

However, it also drew my attention to the way the media surrounding politics works.

There are numerous studies and theories that tie the amount of media coverage a candidate running for office gets and their success. And if there’s anything this class has taught me about feminism and how to use it, its to apply it in all aspects of society.

Women in the media, and all

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journalists, need to take a stronger stance on how their coverage affects a political race and specifically how they cover other women.

“While are women are subject to being judged by their appearance, women in leadership positions get it like crazy. There is something about a woman in power that makes people feel like they need to put her in “her place,” Valenti said.

Between the way the mainstream media has treated Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump or even the simple decision to place a story honoring women in a Styles section instead of news, the mainstream media is guilty on all fronts of putting women in a place that does not equal their coverage of men in politics.

“I’m a big believer in social-justice activism, and i get as frustrated with U.S. politics as the next gal., but if we’re not going to get involved, we’re in trouble,” Valenti

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wrote.

And we are in trouble. This chapter specifically addresses the lack of taste and actual coverage done by some newspapers, such as a local Valenti points out ran a photo of a gubernatorial candidates cleavage. Women in journalism have the power to make a difference and I believe that can only come from us doing what we can to lock down editorial positions, or all of the positions, and change the way the profession handles politics and general coverage of newsworthy women in general.

Journalism is no stranger to racism, discrimination and sexual harassment in its newsrooms. If there was ever

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a profession that desperately needs diversity and specifically women, its journalism.

The Society of Professional Journalists has a code of ethics that is widely accepted and followed. It’s primary facet is to “Seek the Truth and Report It.” Under this pillar is the guideline to “Boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience. Seek sources whose voices we seldom hear.”

Without diversity in our profession, there is no way for journalism to hold up to this ethical standard.

As explored in our class, history is often told from the perspective of the white

male. We also explored how positionality can influence the amount of education and what kind of history you end up consuming. This can also influence the way you process facts or information.

I believe women in journalism must take it upon themselves as a form of social activism to dig deeper into the foundation of what journalism is supposed to be built on and provide a more accurate report of history in real time.

Journalists are writing history as it happens and as such we should be the first profession to embrace feminism and its influence into our processes and work ethic. We can not accurately, truthfully and di-

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versity report if our own voice does not match those we are giving a voice too.

I turned my other projects into a fake feminist magazine and took on the goal of writing pieces catered to women in politics and the way the media labels victims of sexual assault. I framed this report as an opinions article and added to the magazine as my alternative means of covering this book and presenting potentially new information to consider when learning about this topic.

Pictured on the left: Jenna Wortham Technology reporter and staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Pictured on the Right: Maria Hinojo sa, Host of NPR show Latino USA

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A woman of great strength; a female warrior

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