College Feminists Connect!

"Embracing Female Masturbation", by: Chloe Vraney... (also, last week was Clitoris Awareness Week!)

Female masturbation is perhaps the “last sexual taboo,” according to Globe writer Zosia Bielski. Whereas male masturbation is often the butt of jokes, is part of a coming-of-age process in movies and literature, and even has its own physical hand signal, many consider self-stimulation of the female genitals to be shocking and sickening. Society has created excuses for the male's need to ejaculate, as demonstrated in Bielski's research, whether for biological reasons or due to the claimed "superior male sex drive."

Oppositely, many works of literature and film such as Goobie's Hello Groin and Apatow's The 40 Year Old Virgin that actually do include a female protagonist masturbating give these characters a marginalized identity so their sexual behavior is considered abnormal and freakish. Studies such as those in Michael Gordon's Women and Language even show that the language we use is systematically more inclusive of male autoeroticism, with both sexes more familiar with its informal language than with that of the female counterpart.

So why is this biologically normal, sexually safe, and immensely self-pleasurable act so stigmatized for women? Due to its liberating qualities that imply that women can be sexually satisfied without any part of the male, let alone his penis, female masturbation is a powerful and self-determining act, addressing the woman's needs and only the woman's needs. Women who masturbate rebel against the patriarchal system, rejecting the phallic penis in exchange for their own sexual self-exploration on a healthy quest to connect body and mind by establishing and fulfilling their own sexual needs. Although masturbation in general is very stigmatized, feminists are aware of and challenge the fact that sexual self-exploration for men is more socially accepted. This social acceptance is proven in studies that show that males masturbate more than females, and there are several different hypotheses as to why.

Goodbye CFC! Love, Kelsey the Intern

My internship with CFC is ending, and I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on this semester.  I like to think of my feminist beliefs and general perspective as always being in flux. They are ephemeral parts of my identity, anchored in my self-understanding and acceptance that I will never stop having questions, that there is no end goal, and that I will always remain self-critical.  So, what have I learned this semester?

I have learned that being a feminist is hard.  Maintaining your passion and gumption about deeply intimate themes (gender, sexuality, race) in a culture that does not value cultivating an equally complicated and extensive vocabulary in order to discuss these things, is tough.  

Confronting your own privilege, not once or twice, but as a pinky-swear, forever kind of commitment, does not always feel intuitive, accessible, or powerful.  But maybe that's the point.

Community matters, but it might just always leave someone out.  Inclusion/exclusion sometimes feels like a balancing act of political correctness that makes me uncomfortable.  

But community is also empowering (duh).  And sometimes, it is the imagined communities that send me on three-hour long Internet benders reading articles and comments, that I love the most. 

I have learned that there are so so so so so many wonderful, humble, dedicated people out there doing work that makes me feel both paralyzed in awe and ambitious beyond all get-out. And to them I am grateful.  

Thanks MN Women's Consortium!  It's been lovely. 

Toward Feminist Accountability

    As I shared in a previous post, I have been reading Colonize This! with fervor and enthusiasm for a couple of weeks now.  In my WGSS Senior Seminar, we have discussed extensively the complications of reading this text as a white-identified person; I am not the intended audience as outlined in the essays, nor as defined in most women of color feminisms.  However, I struggle with my alienation from these texts, because on emotionally real and visceral levels, they resonate with day-to-day experiences I have had as a feminist, as a student, and as a woman.  It is too simple to merely highlight difference or draw a line where my experiences end as a white woman and where theirs begin as women of color; it is also too simple to take advantage of our similarities and shared knowledges as women dealing with similar gender-based oppressions.  My professor, Sonita Sarker, assured us that this messy space between camaraderie and respectful distance is okay – and she urged us to consider that while the text may be provoking our acknowledgment of white privilege, it also might be provoking us to engage in a dialogue about whiteness as it is racialized (not as a neutral default or non-race). 

            So this is my attempt to speak from my position as a white, middle-class, woman, who has to negotiate the everyday experience of these identities while also practicing a feminist perspective.  I want to hold myself accountable by acknowledging my privilege, but I don’t want to assume that my experiences of oppression are therefore invalid.  I want to live in the mess of what it means to be a feminist, who cannot always combat sexist or racist encounters with a cool wit or charisma; who cannot always muster the courage or energy to confront people who have hurt me; who is not an expert, but a careful listener and deeply sensitive being; who makes mistakes, that I can only promise to try and learn from.

     Every week for the past eight months, I have taken the hour-long commute on the 21 westbound bus from Saint Paul to my boyfriend’s house in South Minneapolis.  Most of the time (maybe sixty-percent of the time, when it’s not negative blank degrees outside), I genuinely enjoy the unique solitude I find on the bus, surrounded by strangers and a self-consciousness that feels safe to explore in this setting.  I find myself thinking more about my class and race privilege on the bus than I do in school sometimes, and more about how I can articulate my feminism in a way that can materialize in real-life benefits for people other than myself.  Which sometimes makes getting off the bus, at a stop that is a ten-minute walk from my boyfriend’s home, a rough transition into the depressing realities of my position as a woman.  And this is where I hesitate to say, “as a white woman,” but where I NEED to in order to understand how the racialization and sexualization of my body socially construct my identity – via both privilege and discrimination.

    I have been catcalled or sexually harassed walking down the street more times than are worth counting; this is not something specific to me, but to all women (street/online harassment are not the focus of my musings here, but there is an abundance of scholarship and personal writings about this issue out there that I encourage everyone to explore).  Usually, my tactic for surviving these situations with as much dignity as possible is pure denial; I look ahead, keep a straight face and a quick stride.  But some of the most layered, twisted, and confusing harassment I have experienced is from Black men in South Minneapolis, who call me out on my whiteness while degrading and mocking my sex.

The Gender Politics of Ballroom Dance

Today I had the interesting and rare opportunity to take an hour social dance lesson at a neighborhood studio,Cinema Ballroom in Saint Paul.  A couple of weeks ago, my professor for my WGSS Senior Seminar revealed that she has been taking dance classes, and that a Macalester professor invited her and our class to join his Behavioral Neuroscience class in a dance lesson; his students were discussing the neuroscience of dance.  We enthusiastically RSVPed YES, thinking it would be a nice break from heavy theory and talking about gender - wow, were we wrong.

Understanding Women of Color Feminisms as a White Reader - Alliance, Difference, and Privilege

This week in my Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Senior Seminar we started reading an anthology of essays called Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism (2002).  The collection is edited by Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman, with a foreword by Cherrie Moraga - it is a response to and an expansion of both This Bridge Called my Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981) and Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation (2001).  The essays featured in Colonize This! are all written by women of color, and highlight their individual experiences with white, middle-class feminisms that live in the academy, as well as their experiences negotiating their multiple identities, honoring their mothers and re-defining feminism, and creating new communities around these conflicts and realities.  I have to say that so far, I absolutely love this collection, because it is not only radical and relevant, but utilizes accessible language.

That being said, in my class today, we discussed the complications of being a white reader of a book that is intended for a "women of color" audience.  While there is an immediate emotional connection that I made with these essays (as a woman, as a feminist, as a budding activist), I have to acknowledge and interrogate my position of privilege, and be careful to not consume these real material experiences of women of color.  We talked about the importance of acknowledging one's personal contributions to theories of feminism like this: what genealogies went into making me, as a white feminist? How did these layered histories contribute to/demand the formation of theories of difference and women of color feminisms?  How can I use this text to inform the ways I want to complicate and move away from these histories of colonization, oppression, privilege, and white feminisms?  

My Sheroes Part III

Continued...

 

I am stoked that it is still Women's History Month (and last week was International Women's day, with which I made many rants about intersectionality and appreciating and recognizing women from all over the globe and their tremendous efforts to promote women's roles, etc, as well as to progress all of our respected women's movements, etc). So in this week's "Sheroes" blog post, I'd like to focus on two international women who held significant roles in social justice movements in their communities:

 

Ani Pachen:

Ani Pachen(1933–2002) was a Tibetan Buddhist nun who led her clan in armed rebellion against China. She is known as the Tibetan Joan of Arc due to her peaceful protest and revolution against the Chinese invasion in Tibet. At the age of 17 she took her future into her hands and fled to a monastary after hearing of plans of an arranged marriage. She spent 18 years in the monastery. She inherited the leadership of the Lemdha Clan after he father died (and would also inherit accusations from the Chinese, due to her father's connections, helping to land her in jail). She led her clan in rebellion against the Communist Chinese. She led a guerrilla campaign of 600 fighters on horseback againstChinese tanks until her capture in late 1959. Pachen was released from prison in 1981, having endured many painful years full of torture (starvation, physical torture, etc). She dedicated her the rest of her life to resisting the Chinese in Lhasa and pushing towards Tibetan independence. She fled to the border upon learning that she was to be arrested again and wandered for several days in deep snow. She walked 25 days to Nepal and her lifelong dream to meet the Dalai Lama came true after she was granted a personal audience shortly after her arrival.

Her autobiography Sorrow Mountain: The Journey of a Tibetan Warrior Nun is one of my favorite reads. Much like the autobiography of the Dalai Lama, it portrays a young individual not much different than myself and my peers (snobby, selfish, rude) who learned from their mistakes and passions and grew up into one of the greatest heroes of our time. She pioneered the way for many revolutionists and is still a wonderful symbol of peace and justice.

 

 

 

 

Ani Pachen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wangari Maathai:

(1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. In the 1970s she founded the Green-Belt Movement, an environmental and non-governmental organization focused on planting trees, conservation and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.". She was an elected member of parliament and served as assistant minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. Furthermore she was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council. In 2011, Maathai died of complications from ovarian cancer.

 

I highly recommend reading Unbowed: A Memoir which highlights much of her achievements. Maathai was extremely involved in, not only her government, but globally, as well. In topics such as AIDS awareness, women's health, environmental justice, issues of racism, governmental/politics, etc. A prominent figure of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Wangari Maathai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Anna Ruhland

My Sheroes: Part II

Continuing on with my woman fighters, rebel rousers, top notch scientists, creative minds, goddesses and all the like (women I admire and aspire to be like) from last week (in celebration of Women's History Month), I would like to recognize the awesomeness that is...

Jane Goodall (or, Dame Jane Morris Goodall)

Jane Goodall is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. She is considered the foremost leader and expert on the study and preservation of chimpanzees. Having never had a formal scientific background, she championed her way into the field and research. She is known for her 45 yr study of social behaviours of chimpanzees, as well as being the founder of the Roots and Shoots program, apart of the Jane Goodall Institute. She travels several times a year to give talks all around the world (I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE HER in CHICAGO!!! xoxoxoxo), hardly ever being able to take a break, to advocate for animals and the environment. 

Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold is an African American artist, best known for her painted story quilts. She is professor emeritus in theUniversity of California, San Diego visual art department. She was born and raised in Harlem, NYC. She was greatly influnced by fabric because she lived with her mother who worked as a fashion designer. This interest in fabric and textile arts would transfer into her later years and creations. She is well known for her collage/combination creations that integrate "high-art" and "craft" by telling stories through quilts and painting. She modeled these quilts off of the Buddhist Thangkas. She has also written over 17 children's books and received the Coretta Scott King award or one of them (Tar Beach). She is a prominent individual in the African American/art community. She has also been very active in multiple feminist and anti-racist organizations and movements. She formed the Ad Hoc Women's Art Committee which protested the Whitney Museum and demanded that more woman artists be represented. She also founded/helped form:Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation, National Black Feminist Organization & "Where We At" Black Women Artists (a NY based black women's art collective of the Black Arts Movement). She is an awesome woman, artist, activist and individual of this earth who greatly empowers many 

 

 

 

 

 

Faith Ringgold

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Annah Ruhland

PBS Documentary "Makers: Women Who Make America" Thoughts and Criticism

I finally got to watch PBS' new documentary charting the women's rights movement in America (thanks PBS for posting the entire 3 hour film online for us to enjoy here).  As much as I (someone majoring in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) or anyone else may know about the eruption of second wave feminism in the 1960s and 70s, it is still powerful to reflect on these histories.  The film does a great job of featuring countless interviews with men and women, including people involved in organizations that countered feminist movements (pro-life activists, anti-ERA activists, etc).  It is impossible to feature every aspect of a social movement, especially one as far-reaching and revolutionary as the women's liberation movement - which affected men, women, children, the economy, popular culture, law, education policies, labor rights, etc.  However, I was a bit disappointed with the gentle highlight of women of color and their response to the second wave, which I think could have been better handled; especially considering that these fierce conversations between women of color feminisms and tradtionally white, middle-class feminism are what brought on the third wave.  As many others have recognized, I also wish that the film had ventured into the late 1990s up until now, with young feminist movements and their utilization of the Internet (hello!).  Perhaps they will continue making segments of "Makers," and continue this story, but for now, here are some articles and reviews that I find critical to the film:

Women's HERstory Month

Each year, I am ashamed to say, it always slips my mind that March is Women's History Month. I just totally forget that there is a month dedicated to the history of women. Why is that? It isn't because I don't think it's a good idea. It isn't because I don't love women (I think I have made it very clear that I do). It isn't because I don't consider myself a feminist (I mean...obviously...I'm interning at the Women's Consortium. I'm a die-hard feminist). I think the reason I forget is because, quite honestly, as a woman, as a women's studies student, EVERYday and EVERYmonth is Women's History month to me. I think about women, my makers and educators and those powerful individuals that have shaped me, I think about them and the stories they created, every waking second. These women are so powerful to me that they transcend a month of dedication. I'm not saying I disagree with this. I think it's wonderful (just as with Black History Month) that we have four weeks dedicated to the greatness of these oppressed peoples. I would hope, though, that after March (or February) is done that this awareness would continue on. However, despite the memoriams throughout these months, we tend to slip back into the rut of ourselves, of a patriarchal hegemonic society, once they are over. So I want to inspire us to notice these people (and, just in celebration of the impending month I will focus solely on women) in our everyday lives because, in all truth, they have impacted us in every way (even when we do not realize it).♀ I love ALL women (both transgender and cisgender women). I love womyn of all sizes, colors and sexualities. I love womyn of all ages, classes, nationalities and abilities. From all political backgrounds and passions. Women are my friends, my lover, my mentors and advisers, teachers, heroes, mother/grandmothers/aunts. I love women because they are strong, intelligent, capable and beautiful beings. I love women because they teach me how to be the woman I want to be. I love working with women, playing with women, collaborating with women, learning with women, talking to women and being artistic with women. Although the feminist movements had&have flaws, I am still proud to say that I am an advocate for feminism trying to champion and fix those failures. Because my love for all women is so strong, enduring, intense and true ♀ xoxo 

My SHEroes are the women who pioneered for me the notion that a woman is so much more than what societies allow her to be. A woman is more than a textbook history, more than a media portrayal. More than any of us may even know about ourselves. These women taught me how to be more...

♀♀♀♀For each week of this month

                  I will post a miniature bio

           of 2 of the women I most admire.♀♀♀♀

 Here is the beginning of the list of some of my personal SHEroes...

 

• Willa Cather: Was an American Novelist. Her stories detailed life on the Great Plains (some of her greatest works are O' Pioneer, Song of the Lark and My Antonia), her protagonists almost always were young women. She grew up in Nebraska, attended the University of Nebraska (where she often used the name "william", dressed in "man's clothes" and cut her hair short) and, later, won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours (set during WWI). There is a lot buzz around whether or not Cather was a lesbian, but not much proof either way. Some debate that her writings had queer tendencies or could be applied to queer theory. Despite whether or not these accusations are true Cather's most significant and impactful friendship was with the editor Edith Lewis of whom she lived with for 39 years, until her death. Towards the end of her career she started receiving negative criticism that attacked her supposed "romantic" (etc) manner of writing. This criticism was hard on her and she became reclusive. Due to this she destroyed most of her drafts, letters, notebooks, etc. Her style of writing can be dubbed romantic (which has negative connotations), but I believe it is better described as poetic and detailed. Her depiction of women is that of strong individuals who hold powerful positions (they aren't made out to be bimbos or femme fatales). As a young girl in home-school my mother had me read My Antonia, and later I would be drawn to O, Pioneers as well as Song of the Lark. As a thirteen year old I loved having a strong, literary, woman figure to idolize and admire (the way they adventured, made friends, followed their dreams, kept the farm running, held a business, inherited their father's land, etc). Her characters made me dream of this life. They inspired adventure in me.

                                                        Willa Cather

• Sophie Scholl: *9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943* (along with the other members of the White Rose non-violence resistance group). Executed because she was convicted of high-treason, because of her/their resistance and revolutionary ideas/actions against Nazi Germany (non-violent opposition). Initially the group just consisted of her brother and his friends, they later realized what a vital role S.Scholl would have in the movement (being a woman, she was less of a suspect for the SS). They co-authored several anti-Nazi pamphlets. One of my greatest heroes & role models. She taught me the power of peaceful resistance and dedication to what you believe in. A wonderful, inspirational and brave individual to recognize and look up to.

                                                            Sophie Scholl
        

 

To be Continued...

-Anna Ruhland

My Ode to Menstruation

Usually I am not the biggest fan of Vice Magazine, --->but this article<---Usually I am not the biggest fan of Vice Magazine, but an article that was posted on their blog brings up some issues/ideas/opinions that I don't normally feel towards most things written for/by them. It's an article that consists of everyday images of female/woman-bodied individuals, doing monotonous, mundane things. The aspect of these photoraphs that is so "unique" or, "unusual", however, is that they are all bleeding/menstruating and the blood is soaking their garments or dripping down their legs. At first I thought 'wow, cool, this is advocating for women to embrace their natural, bodily function rather than hide it away!" but again, I thought "but would I do that? I'm very open about my period and am verbal about how much I love and embrace it but I would never let it drip all over me for everybody to see, just like I would never let any of my bodily fluids drip all over me and my clothing". But I'm hesitant to liken menstruation to other natural bodily fluids or excrements, bowel movements or urine, which are dirty soils and are associated with dirty things, things our bodies want to dispose of, things that pop-culture and the media like to make fun of and use as fodder for crude jokes. I want periods to be discussed in a manner that provides an arena for this beautiful, natural occurence to receive the recognition and acknowledgement that it deserves. I don't want it to be made into a joke, to have to go as far as to be made into this intense-in your face-sexualized bodily function or to have to stoop to the level of being subdued or stiffled. I want menstruation to be something that women can talk about comfortably, ask questions about. Maybe not necessarily blab about it at volume 10 in their co-ed classroom. But, then again, maybe male-bodied individuals need to learn how to respect menstruation enough to understand that it isn't something to be grossed or weirded out by. That, even if you ignore it or don't want to listen to people talking about it doesn't stop it from happening ALL THE TIME. I want women to be able to understand their bodies, to leave shame behind and learn how to completely and totally feel free and one with their physical selves. I want women to know how to adequatly take care of themselves, dote on their bodies, know what the different textures and colors mean, what varying menstrual products are best for their bodies, for the environment. I also want female/woman-bodied individuals to feel comfortable reading about their periods, looking at art creations (see: May Ling Su "On My Period", Carolee Schneemann *pulling a scroll out of her vagina*, Zanele Muholi, Ingrid Berthon-Moine, Judy Chicago "Red Flag", etc etc) that depict periods in an aesthetically beautiful, abstract and artistically rendered way. I want women to know where to search these resources out. I want women to come together and embrace one another and their shared, united similarities/experiences as well as their wonderful, apparent differences. I want women to be able to feel whole, welcomed, to realize that NO aspect of their body is wicked or dirty. To be able to sucessfully do this, however, we need to find a means in which we can talk about menstruation but also avoid conflict. How can we create a menstrual imagery without simultaneously creating menstrual hate, or, furthering societal/media stereotypes? Many artists have tried and succeeded, but many have also been silenced and, in their wake, have left behind a movement, despite it being one that is equally silenced. I despise how I feel like my period is pornographic, X-rated. I hate how, even posting this, I feel like I need to censor myself. Replace "period" with childish, flowery phrases like "my monthly visitor" or "when mother nature calls". It's called a PERIOD, dammit! There is nothing wrong or evil about that. There is nothing shameful or wrong, and this is what I am thankful for these artists, social media (some) and individuals for attempting to do. I love my period because it reminds me of who I am, who the women before me were. And this is my personal account, because I am fortunate enough to have been born in a body that I feel right in. Menstruation is a constant reminder of that. I celebrate when it arrives, despite my groaning. I look forward to it coming because it makes me feel alive, like a woman, like a functioning body that operates the way I want it to operate. We need to reclaim menstruation, for ourselves (if our bodies are those that we are comfortable living in), and for others and to recognize the constant beauty and wonderful functions and creations that it can and does provide.

 

-Anna Ruhland