Feminism isfor everyone.

a celebration of feminism at UVA.
become a fan on facebook!
Oct 31, 2008,3:04 PM
halloween!!!!!!!

from campuscalm's website:

This month is Halloween, which is a great reminder that our bodies are not enemies that slow us down, create shame, or remain flawed despite our Herculean efforts. They are fun! When you dress up this October 31st (‘cause come on, everyone should dress up), notice how nice it is to have a playful relationship with your body. This doesn’t have to mean being sexual; God knows there are more creative costumes than another frickin’ French maid! Try something totally unlike you in everyday life. Isn’t it nice to take yourself less seriously for once?

~Courtney E. Martin, body image expert
Oct 28, 2008,7:53 PM
former editor of MS. supports sarah palin

Here's what jezebel had to say about Elaine Lafferty's endorsement of Sarah Palin, and how it is possible to be pro-Palin and feminist.

This article is rather one-sided, (as you might guess from its title)...but it provides a few interesting talking-points, nonetheless.
4:36 PM
more election coverage!

In honor of our Feminist Politics meeting tonight, here's a few articles I've gathered over the past few weeks about the election...

First the woman we love to debate, Palin...
The Sexy Puritan?
"Sexy Puritans engage in the culture war on two levels—not simply by advocating conservative positions on hot-button social issues but by embodying nonthreatening mainstream standards of female beauty and behavior at the same time. The net result is a paradox, a bit of cognitive dissonance very useful to the cultural right: You get a little thrill along with your traditional values, a wink along with the wagging finger."
A GOP Feminist?
"Conservative Republicans have suddenly embraced the assertion that women can do it all, even those conservative Republicans who have made careers out of trashing that notion."
(This addresses aspects of the 'Palin as feminist' debate that Nora raised in her blog a couple weeks ago.)

Here's a great article on Michelle Obama and Jill Biden's trip to UVa:
Barack's Angels

and the Feminist Majority Get Out Her Vote Campaign website
Oct 27, 2008,8:55 PM
"When the Bough Breaks"

Here's an event that you all might be interested in (I copied and pasted this from an email I got):

We are two first year med students working with the Department of Health to increase awareness about racial disparities in infant mortality. A recent Health Status Assessment of Charlottesville-Albemarle found a striking racial disparity in infant mortality right here in our community, and we are screening a documentary segment "When the Bough Breaks" that gives context and background to these statistics. A facilitated discussion after the screening will connect the documentary back to the Charlottesville data. Refreshments will be served!

What: A screening of "When the Bough Breaks" segment from the “Unnatural Causes”documentary

When: Wednesday, October 29th, at 7:00 pm

Where: Jordan Hall 1-5(classroom auditorium, just to the right inside front lobby of Jordan Hall)

Discussion facilitated by:

-Dr. Norm Oliver, Director of the Center for Health Disparities

-Karen Waters, Executive Director of the Quality Community Council


Best Regards,

Stephanie Gold and Gauri Raval

UVA School of Medicine Class of 2012




Oct 26, 2008,3:58 PM
FIFE T-shirts!

So, for the back of the T-shirts this semester we're going to have a list of our "heroes." In case you aren't familiar with all of them (I know I wasn't!) here's a brief description:

Sojourner Truth- abolitionist and women's rights activist, speech "Ain't I a Woman?"
Eleanor Roosevelt- First Lady, promote status of working women, civil rights
Katherine Hepburn- film actress
Sally Ride- first American woman to go into space
Susan B. Anthony- women's rights and women's suffrage in 19th century
Harriet Tubman- abolitionist, Underground Railroad
Mary Wollstonecraft- A Vindication for the Rights of Women, first woman to run for president,
Judy Chicago- feminist artist, The Dinner Party & The Holocaust Project
Coretta Scott King- Civil Rights Movement (wife of Martin Luther King Jr.)
Amelia Earhart- first woman to fly solo across Atlantic Ocean
Lillian Hellman- playwright
Eartha Kitt- actress and singer
Sacagawea- accompanied Lewis and Clark
Golda Meir- Prime Minister of Israel
Ella Fitzgerald- jazz vocalist
Dorthea Dix- activist for insane, 1st mental asylums
Louisa May Alcott- novelist, Little Women
Billie Jean King- tennis player, beat Bobby Rigs in tennis match ("Battle of the Sexes")
Emily Dickenson- poet, writer
Lucy Stone- abolitionist, suffragist, 1st woman recorded to keep name after marriage
Margaret Sanger- birth control, negative eugenics (founded American Birth Control League which eventually became Planned Parenthood)
Clara Barton- American Red Cross
Billie Holiday- jazz singer and songwriter, nicknamed Lady Day
Betty Friedan- writer, The Feminine Mystique
Elizabeth Blackwell- abolitionist, women's rights, 1st female doctor in US
Rosa Parks- Civil Rights Movement, refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white woman
Alice Paul- suffragist leader, campaigned for 19th Amendment
Barbara Jordan- US House of Representatives
Annie Sullivan- tutored Helen Keller
Agnes de Mille- dancer and choreographer
Corazon Aquino- 1st female president of Philippines, women's empowerment, peace, democracy, religious piety
Gloria Steinem- journalist, social and political activist in 2nd wave feminism, founded Ms. magazine
Rachel Carson- environmental movement, Silent Spring
Joan of Arc- lead French army to victories in Hundred Years' War
Babe Zaharias- athlete (golf, basketball, track and field), named one of most versatile female competators of all time
Marlene Dietrich- actress, singer. & entertainer during World War II
Mother Teresa- humanitarain, won Nobel Peace Prize and Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilain honor)
Anne Frank- victim of the Holocaust, diary is one of world's most widely read books
Simone de Beauvoir- author and philosopher, The Second Sex

(I'm sure there's tons of stuff I've left out- I just did a quick Wikipedia search. Feel free to add anything!)
Oct 24, 2008,10:25 PM
costume ideass

hey check out some costume ideas, tis the season!
http://www.now.org/issues/election/elections2008/halloween/index.html
Oct 23, 2008,3:25 PM
wow, CNN, you're just figuring this out?

DUH
12:52 PM
feminist halloween articles

http://media.www.versusmag.org/media/storage/paper584/news/2005/10/26/Features/Feminist.Halloween-1027236.shtml

http://feministgal.blogspot.com/2008/10/halloween-if-nothing-else-allows.html

http://community.feministing.com/2008/10/feminist-friendly-halloween-co.html
11:46 AM
Feminism, sexuality, and college students

In my class, Judaism, Medicine, and Healing, we made hypothetical contracts for incoming Jewish freshmen regarding sex. My professor (Vanessa Ochs who came to speak at the Feminism and Religion meeting) suggested to the class that we could create a seminar for real incoming freshmen called something like "The Birds and the Bees Part II" to talk about having a healthy sexual life. This would not be a religious seminar, and I hope to contribute by adding in some of my feminist sensibilities. If anyone has any suggestions for how to incorporate feminist sensibilities into attitudes towards sex, hooking up, relationships, etc, that would be particularly useful to freshmen, let me know!
Oct 21, 2008,11:09 AM
Tips to get the Pay you Deserve

For women who want to get the wages they deserve, here are a few tips when your going to job interviews:

1) Research the company/employer as well as the typical salaries for your profession. Bring a copy to the interview and if they offer something less, you can whip that list out of your purse and demand to be paid fairly.

2) If asked how much you would like to be paid, always suggest a figure higher than what you are expecting (you never know, they just might give it to you!)

3) Learn how to negotiate. Talk about your strengths and what you can bring to the company/organization.

4) Most of all, be confident! It's usually a good idea to practice in front of the mirror or with friends so that you can be confident and prepared when you walk into your interview!

for more tips go to http://www.careerwomen.com/
Oct 16, 2008,5:32 PM
late term ("partial birth") abortions

This article represents the issue of late term abortions in a way that I had never considered. I'm pretty pro-choice but I definitely struggle with how late you can go into a pregnancy and still get an abortion. This article provided very disturbing insight on the implications of banning late term abortions through an arbitrary definition of partial birth. It showcases a woman's personal account of choosing to abort a baby with severe birth defects, who would not have enjoyed any quality of life.

Writes Gretchen Voss, "At the heart of the debate [over late term abortions] is a term that legislators concocted. They created a nonexistent procedure -- partial-birth abortion -- and then banned it. They then gave it such a purposely vague definition that, according to abortion providers as well as the Supreme Court, which ruled a similar law in Nebraska unconstitutional, it could apply to all abortions after the first trimester."

Her baby's health issues were not discovered by ultrasound until she was well into her second trimester.
2:06 AM
abortion in the debates

We finally talked about it!!!
(near the end of this clip)

Barack is unapologetically pro-choice, which is so FASCINATING to me, because, like Christina explained, this unabashed support for women's rights is so unprecedented.

Here
it is again, with the relevant part starting about 2:30.

I really thought this debate was a lot of trash, with John McCain making really strong accusations which were somehow all completely unfounded (Isn't there some sort of issue with slanderous claims?), and Barack Obama spending the whole time defending himself, and both of them largely ignoring their stances on the issues. However, I thought Barack's defense of abortion and women's rights rose above this and was particularly eloquent.
Oct 14, 2008,6:04 PM
Feminist Majority Endorses Obama/Biden

“Obama/Biden are running on the strongest platform for women’s rights of any major party in U.S. history”

Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority



Check out this short video:
http://feministsforobama.org/
Oct 13, 2008,1:26 PM
sarah palin and conservative women's groups

i just read a really interesting article from RH Reality Check that brought up a really interesting point about Sarah Palin and the differences within the conservative movement. the article says:

Sarah Palin may represent a tremendous step forward for women long term in ways that one might not imagine. As women attain higher levels of leadership and more powerful positions, conservative women or otherwise, it will be more and more difficult for the larger far right, conservative movement to deny women's equality and autonomy. In turn this can only mean that it will be harder to continue to oppress women in the ways in which women have been oppressed - and this includes denying women's rights to bodily autonomy, an inherent human right that must be present for women's true equality.


while i am a self-described extremely liberal feminist, as well as ardently pro-choice, i am surprised in a good way that john mccain picked palin. while in no way do i support her as my choice for vp, i do think that she is good for conservatives. she is sticking it to those neo-christian groups who think that all women are capable of is raising children and keeping house. she has a huge (and growing) family and is a public official. while we don't really know how well those two are balanced, she is a model for young conservative women, pushing them to aspire to be more than just houswives- and showing them that its possible to do that without giving up "family values." my point is- look at palin within her context. you wouldn't look at kate chopin's the awakening and say "this isn't feminist, she doesn't have sex with the guy" because within the historical context it is highly radical to even suggest that a married woman, bored with her husband should be interested in a younger man. in the same vein, i don't think you should look at sarah palin and say "she isn't a feminist" who is a mother and politician among conservatives who want to confine women to the home.

also, the act of calling herself a feminist is an admirable one, regardless of your politics. we all know that the "f word" is taboo these days and all feminists should respect her for that alone. how she definines her feminism, i would be interested to hear; however, i know that feminism is a very personal thing, and is as nuanced as other values- therefore to say, "because sarah palin is pro-life and anti-gay she is not a feminist" a poor choice. sarah palin's feminism seems to be quite different from my own, founded on power over my own body, plentiful knowledge of sexuality issues, and opposition of traditional gender roles including being an ally of the LGBT community; however, i firmly believe that no one is the authority on feminism and we cannot ignore the diversity among feminists. we are not all lesbians (as many think we are), but some of us do identify that way and shouldn't be ignored. the same applies for being liberal, pro-choice, pro-life, christian, athiest, white, african american, hispanic, among many others.

while we may not think on the surface that we have anything in common with conservative women, i think we can find common ground. also, i think that you can appreciate sarah palin for who she is, a feminist within the republican party, without wanting to vote for her.

Labels: ,

Oct 9, 2008,2:37 PM
A Great Post from Feministing

Today a really interesting post came up on Feministing as a reply to the HUGE backlash within the conservative blogosphere re: Jessica Valenti's new book (which hasn't even been published yet, heh).

Her book is called "The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women" (cover image at the bottom of this post, so pretty!!) and will come out in April 2009.

The post at feministing shows a list of excerpts from irate/disgusted bloggers who say that her book is all about being "slutty whores" and claiming it as proof that The Feminist Movement hates purity and looooooooves sleeping around. HOWEVER, as Jessica puts it so aptly,
"What I find most interesting about Fiano and the other posts is that they're the ones who are talking about 'sluts', 'whores' and women being promiscuous. (In fact, one of Fiano's classy commenters suggests that I'm promiscuous and that's why I wrote the book.) The book cover says nothing about sex, promiscuity or the like - they make that jump. Why? Because for conservatives and purity pushers, the only alternative to being a virgin is being whore. There's no in-between for them, there's no complexity or nuance when it comes to sexuality. And that's why I wanted to write this book."


I really had an "a-ha!" moment when reading that--because it's entirely true. Jessica's stance is that the pressure put on young women to be "pure" (lest they become SLUTS!!!! WHORES!!! LADIES OF THE NIGHT!!) creates unhealthy attitudes about sexuality. And I think that's a really good point! Because there are certainly numbers on the spectrum of sexual partners between "none" and "dozens"!

So, check it out, and laugh at the stupid people!

9:54 AM
for your entertainment

if you need something to do over fall break that's strictly fun (and feminist, of course) i highly recommend watching margaret cho's tv show on vh1 "the cho show"- all the episodes are online now and if you aren't familiar with her, she's hysterical. 

hope everyone has a good break! 
Oct 7, 2008,6:58 PM
feminine cars vs. masculine cars

Apparently there is a difference.
Oct 5, 2008,9:36 PM
Amnesty's Stop Violence Against Women

The UVA chapter of Amnesty International is having a screening of the documentary "Mas Alla del Papel" ("More than Words") about domestic violence in Spain. The movie lasts about 30 minutes, and then Robin Goldsein from SHE (Shelter for Help in Emergency) will give a presentation.

The meeting is in the Kaleidoscope room (the same floor of Newcomb as the board room- where we have FIFE meetings). It's at 7 pm this Tuesday- so you can go to Amnesty International's meeting and then come to FIFE at 8:30 for our meeting on Feminism and Religion!



Oct 2, 2008,10:30 AM
Crazy Video about the media and sexism

Pretty much the video is showing how the media (Fox News) treats Hillary Clinton vs. Sarah Palin
Wow
10 previous posts
We've moved!N.O.M.Dropoutwell said.feminism + internet memes = awesome.the "F" word and the "L" word.Levy vs. Colbertthis is what I want our dessert parties to be like...the top ten fictional feminist icons of all time
Past posts by month
August 2006September 2006October 2006November 2006December 2006January 2007February 2007April 2007August 2007September 2007October 2007January 2008February 2008March 2008April 2008May 2008June 2008July 2008August 2008September 2008October 2008November 2008December 2008January 2009February 2009March 2009April 2009May 2009June 2009July 2009September 2009October 2009November 2009December 2009January 2010February 2010March 2010April 2010June 2010August 2010September 2010October 2010November 2010December 2010January 2011
Credits
Coded by wickedicy banner from Reviviscent.