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Making Women’s History Personal Sally Hodges-Copple Nannerl Mozart Esther Tang Nadia Me Contó (and Translation) Veronica Mendez Harvard Computers Esther Tang The Gendered History of Science Julian Wilson Who Tells Your Story? Taegan Howells Music by Women You Should Know About Taegan Howells Feminist Blogs Sam Love
This zine is a collection of thoughts, comments, and research on gender and related topics. It is a continuation of the discussions that are already happening within the Rice community and beyond. The purpose of this zine is to create a platform that consolidates ideas and perspectives to give voice to concerns specific to our Rice community.Our goal is to engage the entire campus by exposing students to conversations on gender and sexuality, among other things, through a unique lens—a lens created by and for our community!
Letter from the Editors
This month’s issue is centered around Women’s History Month, an important but perhaps insufficient holiday created to acknowledge the contributions of women from every color and class. From scientific research to artistic creation, women throughout time have enhanced the world, making it a better place one step at a time. We here at Engender are excited to offer poetry, historical analysis, beautiful artwork, and more for this March issue, all with the goal of drawing attention to the valuable contributions of women to our history here on campus and in the world. We hope that you enjoy reading, but also that this issue inspires further research and respect into women’s history generally. We hope that this zine will engender discussion among friends, classmates, and colleagues about the many ways in which gender and sexuality shape and are shaped by our culture. We welcome your feedback and contributions—contact us at womenrc@rice.edu or stop by the Rice Women’s Resource Center in the RMC. Thank you for reading, and be on the lookout for future issues of engender! Anna Durham and Julian Wilson Editors-in-Chief
Making Women’s History Personal By Sally Hodges-Copple
I love stories and I love women, so Women’s History Month, in my humble opinion, is basically one of the greatest things ever. It’s a time when I get to recall the well-known stories of great suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony, whose work made it possible for me to mail in my absentee ballot last week. This month also reminds me to learn more about the stories of women who weren’t featured as prominently in my history books, such as Pauli Murray – she was a civil rights activist who grew up in my hometown of Durham, North Carolina, and was the first Black woman (and one of the first women, period) to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church.
This Women’s History Month, though, there’s something else I’d like to keep in mind: women’s history isn’t found only in textbooks, archives, and the bottomless pit that is the internet. It’s found all around me, in the lives and stories of the women I love most.
Women’s history is my grandmother’s personal history of growing up in a rural town in West Texas, becoming a high school principal in the big city of Dallas, and being the primary breadwinner for her family for many years. Women’s history is my mom’s personal history of following in Pauli Murray’s footsteps to become an Episcopal priest and later a bishop, a profession still dominated by men. Women’s history is the stories of my aunts who chose to put their careers on hold to start a family, and who have taken the leap to begin second careers now that my cousins are older.
These incredible women have surrounded me my entire life, and yet I am realizing that I only know fragments of their stories. This March, I’m going to try harder to make women’s history personal. When I visit my grandmother’s house for Easter in a few weeks, I’m going to sit down with her, pull out the old family photo albums, and ask to hear her stories. This month, I’m going to listen and learn from the history that is right at my fingertips. I hope others will do the same.
Nannerl Mozart By Esther Tang
Nadia Me Contó
Luisa Capetillo:
Veronica Mendez
Agitadora. Julia de Burgos: Poeta. Nadie me contó de la pasión de Luisa Capetillo Nadie me contó sobre la percepción de Julia de Burgos Mujeres puertorriqueñas Mujeres visibles Mujeres impactantes Y aun así sus nombres Se me permanecieron desconocidos Porque nadie me contó…
No one told me
Translation by Veronica Mendez Luisa Capetillo: Agitator. Julia de Burgos: Poet. No one told be about Luisa Capetillo’s passion No one told me about Julia de Burgos’s insight Puerto Rican women Visible women Impactful women Yet thier names Remained unknown to me Because no one told me…
Harvard Computers By Esther Tang
The Gendered History of Science By Julian Wilson As a woman majoring in both Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, I often find myself delving into the overlap between these two fields. People are generally surprised or confused by my choice to combine these topics, as public discourses often portray feminist studies as inherently critical and oppositional to the “boy’s club” that historically characterizes research in the natural sciences. As challenging as it can occasionally be to navigate between these worlds, I am not alone in my passion for participation in and creation of feminist science. Both historical and contemporary scientific research has had many women as active participants, although they are not always adequately recognized for their efforts. One of the most well-known instances of a female biologist’s work being ignored by history (and at the time) is Rosalind Franklin. Biology textbooks and courses continually teach that Watson and Crick discovered the double-helical structure of the DNA molecule. Yet this discovery hinged on the information gained from their viewing of an x-ray image Franklin had taken of DNA, an image shown to them by Maurice Wilkins (who shared a lab with Franklin) without any attempt to get her permission. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins published on the structure and received a Nobel Prize, while Franklin’s contribution is typically a footnote at best in the memory of history. Yet scientific research itself has often exploited women, further complicating this relationship. A vast majority of biochemical and cell-level biological research is done inside of HeLa cells, which were extracted from the cervical cancer of a poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks (hence the name HeLa). Not only did Lacks not receive recognition or monetary compensation for her contribution to science in the form of the first “immortal” cell line, but the sample was taken and used without her knowledge or informed consent. Historically (and I would argue sometimes even currently), the very questions that are asked in scientific research are informed by the relative lack of representation of women in the field, particularly women in positions of power that can dictate and determine the research that is done. For example, during the ****, one of the major questions in early anatomical research was whether African women had elongated outer labia. One example of a woman exploited by this “research” is Sarah Baartman, a South African woman known as the “Hottentot Venus”,
who was paraded around Europe as an oddity. Upon Baartman’s death, the famous anatomist Cuvier dissected her body and mounted her genitals for display in a museum. Another question up for debate in the scientific community at this time was whether women and non-European men were even capable of abstract thought. Although questions such as these seem blatantly wrong to most today, it is important to interrogate all scientific research with this same critical lens. In order to create a more feminist study of science, one must always consider the motives behind what research is being done and who is participating, both as researcher and as an object of study. I would argue that we should be particularly skeptical of research that seems only to uphold existing societal ideas. Not that this means any research that confirms what we know is inherently wrong, just that it should especially be able to able to stand up to critical scrutiny. I encourage you to always ask: who does this research benefit? Why are we asking this question and not another? How broadly can any answers to this question be applied? More importantly, I encourage you to join me in pursuing a world in which our science is more feminist, more willing to acknowledge that the social world in which our knowledge is created shapes that very knowledge itself.
If you find this topic interesting, I strongly encourage you to check out these books: 1. Nature’s Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science by Londa Schiebinger 2. Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People by Joan Roughgarden 3. Sex Itself: The Search for the Male and Female in the Human Genome by Sarah Richardson 4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot 5. Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science - and the World by Rachel Swaby
Who Tells Your Story?
A Review of Hamilton, the Musical
By Taegan Howells
Maybe you’ve heard of the new Broadway musical “Hamilton”? The one about the founding fathersperformed in rap? If not, it’s worth a listen. But it’s been on my mind a lot recently, what with Women’s History Month coming up. Yes, the album is about Alexander Hamilton. Yes, women from early American history are often ignored (wasn’t it Abigail Adams who told her husband to “remember the ladies,” which the founding fathers then proceed to do?). But, “Hamilton’s” last song poses a question and an answer, which brings a remarkable woman into the foreground. “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?” Spoiler alert: the answer is Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and Eliza Hamilton, in that order. However, the song focuses on Eliza, Alexander’s wife, who has definitely been overlooked in history textbooks. In the song, she touches hearts with her line “I put myself back in the narrative,” but this isn’t some cliché throw-away line. Eliza truly did spend years after Alexander’s death collecting his letters and writings and organizing them, recording them for posterity. Not only did she preserve Alexander’s writings, but she also set up charities, including New York’s first private orphanage. Who knew? Not many, but “Hamilton” is trying to fix that. Eliza is not presented as a helpless widow, she is taking charge of Alexander’s legacy and making sure that it lasts. This is why her role in the musical is so remarkable; the story about Alexander Hamilton, who does stand out in American history, ends with his wife. Not with his dual, not with his opponent Aaron Burr, but with a woman largely unknown to history. One can only hope that the last question Eliza poses will be answered with a positive: “Will they tell my story?” If Alexander’s is, then surely hers should be as well.
10 Online Feminist Blogs You Should Start Reading By Sam Love
bitchmedia.org The online version of Bitch magazine (which can be found in the RWRC office), Bitch focuses on a variety of topics ranging from pop culture to politics. Start with: “A Self-Care Guide to Counter Trump Fatigue”
Bust.com The online version of Bust magazine (which the RWRC also subscribes to). Similar in many ways to Bitch, but they produce much more online content. Start with: “Our Pop Stars, Ourselves”
Blackgirldangerous.org Founded by award-winning queer author Mia McKenzie, BGD is an intersectional feminist blog focused on amplifying the voices of queer and trans people of color. Start with: “‘How Can White Women Include People of Color in Feminism?’ is A Bad Question. Here’s Why. “
Jezebel.com Jezebel focuses on celebrity culture, sex, body image, women in the media, and pop culture- but with a feminist perspective. It’s like a feminist Buzzfeed. Start with: “Columbusing: A Word for When White People Claim to Discover Things”
Feministing.com In addition to articles and posts, Feministing publishes a daily feminist cheat sheet with links to feminist perspectives on major news and pop cultures issues of the day. Start with: “Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: The Women of the Supreme Court”
facebook.com/MrsaTomei/ Not technically a blog, but a Facebook page dedicated to uplifting feminist dialogue and giving helpful advice on how to deal with misogynists. “Like” it to fill your newsfeed with feminist memes, tumblr posts, articles, videos, and more.
facebook.com/feminismonbustle Another Facebook page, “My Favorite F Word is Feminism” posts daily links to articles on a variety of feminist online platforms and is a great source for discovering new feminist blogs. The page is run by the feminist media platform “Bustle”.
Transgriot.blogspot.com Authored by Monica Roberts, an African-American trans woman, TransGriot is an award-winning blog that takes an intersectional approach to pop culture and politics. Start with: “If #BlackLivesMatter…”
msmagazine.com/blog The blog platform for Ms. magazine, this blog publishes content on a wide range of topics from justice to the arts. Start with: “Rape: It’s Not About Miscommunication”
the-toast.net Like Buzzfeed, but with a queer feminist literary focus that is usually hilarious. Start with: “Songs from a Christmas Album in Which More Than A Few Aims of Feminism Have Been Achieved”.
Also check out the Rice Women’s Resource Center website at women.rice.edu
see you in the next issue of the engender zine! Editors in Chief
Anna Durham and Julian Wilson
Contributing Authors
Sally Hodges-Copple Veronica Mendez Julian Wilson Taegan Howells Sam Love
Contributing Artists
Esther Tang
Want to submit something to the next edition of engender? Send your submission to womenrc@rice.edu!