Feminism and prospective LVC students: That Went Over like Abgail Adams Asking Her Husband to "Remember the Women."

So, today Teddi and I set up a table at LVC Live in hopes to recruit some incoming Freshmen to feminism.
*Smile*
It was more like preying on innocent young high school students with their parents in toe. The bribery began before they even walked in the Arnold Sports Center door, for they were given a little card for each table to sign off on and when it was all full they were entered into a $50 college bookstore certificate--yeah, these kids had a lot to learn...the bookstore isn't all the grand.

Well, besides Freedom Rings, I'm pretty sure the F-word was the most uncomfortable table at the event. Personally, I loved our table. It was stationed on the upper level of the gym where it found itself sharing a table with the Chem Club... maybe LVC Live planners thought we had a lot in common, certainly more than we do with Freedom rings who was on the opposite side of the gym.

Our table displayed ample about of feminist lit. ie. The Beauty Myth, The Feminist Mystique, The F-word, Bitch (just to name a few), there was a picture frame of the Monologues entitled "Vagina Cast." But my most favorite was the tee shirt play strategically on the wall with the claim "I <3 Feminist Men" (well, because really I do!). Oh, and we had a email sign up sheet and fliers, too.

Some would pass by glancing at our table then quickly return to looking down at the feet. Others would detour around us completely by swerving through the bleacher-seat obstacle course, which was a breeze compared to saying "hello" to the crazy feminists.

Oh, and then there were the people who engaged in conversation for...the fun of torturing us.
These were our favorites.

Mother to son: I bet you can meet a lot of girls there, just not ones who will do your laundry.

A father points to our tee shirt on the wall: I love feminist men. I work at F&M with the environmental program, I always wanted to print a tee shirt that says: My mother recycles. And then walked away.

A girl and her mother listening to our spiel, Girl to us: oh, you want me to sign your list.
Girl to mother: Can I sign it?
Goes signs the list and walks away.
We look and it says Jordan, no last name, no email address.
Jimmy: What does she want us to do, facebook stalk her.

A girl, father and mother visit our table. Hi, we're the feminist club on...
Obnoxious Father to Teddi: What's your name?
Teddi: Teddi.
Obnoxious Father: Like Teddi Roosevelt.
Obnoxious Father turns to Chem Club Dude: Did you know the president with the name Teddi?
Chem Club Dude: No.
Obnoxious Father to Chem Club Dude: What's his last name?
Chem Club Dude: Roosevelt.

Some time later, Obnoxious Father to Teddi: Hey, can you sign our box?
Teddi: Okay
Teddi to Mother (trying to one last time to sell the f-word just one more time): Would you like a newsletter?
Mother: Okay
Obnoxious Father to Mother: Don't take that, you can't read.

Mother to son: Oh, look you'll fit right in.

To pass the time, Teddi and I thought up some schemes to raise recruitment:

1. Signing fake names to the email list to look like people signed up already in case they were nervous about it. Teddi thought its was very psychological.
2. Putting out my own stash of peach rings on the table for the good of the club. Chem clubs cookies seemed to work well.
3. Having our newsletters already in hand to pass out on the fly.
4. If a person looks at our table for more than 10 seconds--Get Them!
5. Tell them we aren't that radical.
6. Stop saying "Vagina" when saying Vagina Monologues.
7. Since no one was visiting on the top level and all on the floor--if they won't come to us, we'll take the F-word to them.
8. If feminism isn't their thing, talk to them about: where they are from, their major, other college choices, or anything else that would make them like us. Teddi and I could so be Valley Ambassadors.
9. If all else fails, "borrow" from LVEP's growing list
10. Randomly place our newsletter on other organizations' tables.

The best part of the day was that our truest interest came from the Asian boy from NJ asking me how we felt about men and women's equality. And he'll probably end up going to E-town.

Farewell to My Post

As ridiculous as the title sounds, it is true, as of tonight I will no longer be President of F-word. It's really bittersweet for me. I can no longer hold onto the head-in-the-clouds notion that I am in control of the feminist agenda at LVC--whether or not this is a reality is something entirely different. I am giving up deadlines, planning, and being the official speaker for F-word's stance on matters. I am happy to get rid of this, it was a wonderfully stressful position to have-I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Now what do I do?

I have have undertaken women's issues as my personal mission statement. This mission statement of sorts has spilled over into all parts of my life, not just my extracurriculars. I have catered my courses to focus on women, I have worked at a domestic violence shelter for two years, I've been the Vagina Monologues for 3 years and directed for 2. I spearheaded all kinds of events and campaigns in the name of women. I've gotten everything that I've aspired to achieve--I've received the highest Vagina award, the Vagina Warrior.

Now what do I do?

Part of me feels a little lost. I'm not graduating with all my friends this year. I'll stick around for another semester to finish up. I can't start looking for a real job, but it really is time for me to move on from campus activism. So, what am I left to do? I feel like I'm stuck in limbo.

Luckily, I'm not worried about the future of the f-word, or even feminism on campus. I know that next year it will be taken care of by a group of wonderful people. It's like giving away your baby, or letting go of it all just praying it will work out. It will be OK without me.

I'm being overly dramatic-it's just a club. But, it has helped me find myself. I realized that I love organizing awareness campaigns. I love fighting for women. I have sort of found my ideal career--I want to be an educational coordinator. I want to help young women and girls with body image and self esteem. Or talk to teens about dating violence. Oh, it would be grand.

So, yeah, farewell to my post. Ya know if I were president of a country I would be bound for tell-all books and guest lecturing on the virtue of something or other. I guess it could be worse, for me, this is only the beginning.

A Love Affair With Your Cleaning Supplies

"Oh, Mr. Mop, I love you but I can't do this, I know we've been together for so long, but we must part , for I have found a new cleaning supply love, Sir Swiffer."

Are you for real?

Cleaning supply commercials are always geared towards women. In all my years of TV watching I have never seen a man in a cleaning supply commercial--unless of course he is making the mess and wifey to the rescue to save the helpless cleaning-impared family. They manage to somehow glorify cleaning--super mom with super strong paper towels, super mom with magic sponges, and super mom with a super light vacuum. Wow, what more could super mom ask for? Since her family is just helpless without her and they life would become dirt-filled if she didn't have her "super" cleaning supplies.

Is this society's way of making women feel important? Super mom cleaning commericals makes cleaning a sacred womanly task and if any other being would try their hand at it, they'd somehow screw it up. Nevermind, it reinforces gender stereotypes, the stay at home mom making sure the house is in neat order OR the mom who does it all--work all day and needs her trusty cleaning supplies to do the job in half the time.

Just where is husband in all this?

He should certainly worry because apparently according to Swiffer, Mr. Mop is trying to make a move on super mom. Their commercials are never more rediculous than most commericals, usually they just showcase their cleaning power, but this, this displays that women and their mops have a secret love affair with eachother. Women love their sacred duty so much that they have relationships with their mops. Replacing their mop for something new is an emotional task that requires putting it all in a closet and burning it (kinda like putting love notes in a shoebox and burning it.). Then Mr. Mop is so lovestruck that he stalks her, sends her flowers, and a singing telegram. Yes, your cleaning supplies and you are a lot like Love.

When Your Actions Follow Your Words

Today President Obama's signed his first bill as president into law--The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.It is a great moment in history when a president's first law enacted ensures equality for women in the workplace.



The Bush Administration blocked the bill in the last session of Congress. But Obama strongly supported it — he talked often about Ledbetter during his campaign. But rarely does a president do what he has promised when he finally gets in office. And instead he makes it his priority.

Imagine that...women's rights a Presidential priority.

I feel it is safe to say there have been more advances in human rights, and more specifically in women's rights in the last two weeks than there have been in the last 8 years.

End of an Era

Barack Obama overturned the Global Gag Rule--I feel like crying.

The Global Gag Rule, which was reinstated by President Bush on his first day in office, prohibits any international organization that receives U.S. funds from counseling women on abortion as an option, providing referrals, or discussing the dangers of unsafe abortions - even if the organization uses its own money to do so. The impact of the mandate has been deadly for women worldwide. About 70,000 women die every year from unsafe or illegal abortions - a number that could be significantly lowered by access to information and sexual health care.

Never an Easy Choice. Sometimes the Best Choice. Always a Woman's Choice.

Being pro-choice or pro-life is never an easy decision. I've struggled with whether or not to be pro-choice for awhile, and while in my Senior Seminar in Legal Foundations I found my belief.

I am pro-choice, I also feel being so does mean I am not pro-life. I am both. I am not pro-abortion. It is a difficult procedure, a life changing procedure, but ultimately, it is a woman's choice.

In my Seminar I had the opportunity to read feminist perspectives on jurisprudence. In not so many words, unwanted pregnancy could be seen as a parasite living in her body--it would be an unwanted living thing. Choosing whether or not to have an abortion or when life is a religious question and making laws dependent on them is entangling religion and the state.

Using privacy to keep abortion legal is a patriarchal guise. Pro-choice isn't about privacy, it's about a woman's body. Below is the President's view on a woman's right to choose;

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 22, 2009

Statement of President Obama on the 36th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose.

While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.

On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere.

THE WHITE HOUSE, January 22, 2009.

The Reason I am a Feminist Started When I was in High School...Maybe This Will Help You Understand Why

A Rise in Efforts to Spot Abuse in Youth Dating
By ELIZABETH OLSON
She was 17 when she met her boyfriend, and 20 when she died at his hands. In between, Heather Norris tried several times to leave the relationship, which was fraught with control and abuse, before she was killed — stabbed, dismembered and discarded in trash bags.
Her death in 2007 in Indianapolis is one of several stemming from abuse in teenage dating relationships that have spurred states and communities to search for new ways to impress on adolescents — and their parents and teachers — the warning signs of dangerous dating behavior and what actions are not acceptable or healthy.
Texas recently adopted a law that requires school districts to define dating violence in school safety codes, after the 2003 stabbing death of Ortralla Mosley, 15, in a hallway of her Austin high school and the shooting death of Jennifer Ann Crecente, 18, two years ago. Rhode Island in 2007 adopted the Lindsay Ann Burke Act — prompted by the murder of a young woman by a former boyfriend — requiring school districts to teach students in grades 7 through 12 about dating abuse.
New York recently expanded its domestic violence law to allow victims, including teenagers in dating relationships, to obtain a restraining order against an abuser in family court rather than having to seek help from the criminal justice system. Legislators were moved to act after a survey by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene showed that dating violence had risen by more than 40 percent since 1999, when the department began asking students about the problem.
Although there are no definitive national studies on the prevalence of abuse in adolescent relationships, public health research indicates that the rate of such abusive relationships has hovered around 10 percent. Experts say the abuse appears to be increasing as more harassment, name-calling and ridicule takes place among teenagers on the Internet and by cellphone.
“We are identifying teen dating abuse and violence more than ever,” said Dr. Elizabeth Miller, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, who began doing research on abuse in teenage dating relationships nearly a decade ago.
Dr. Miller cited a survey last year of children ages 11 to 14 by Liz Claiborne Inc., a clothing retailer that finances teenage dating research, in which a quarter of the 1,000 respondents said they had been called names, harassed or ridiculed by their romantic partner by phone call or text message, often between midnight and 5 a.m., when their parents are sleeping.
Such behavior often falls under the radar of parents, teachers and counselors because adolescents are too embarrassed to admit they are being mistreated.
They can seek help from the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline, where calls and hits to its Web site, loveisrespect.org, doubled in November over the previous month. Awareness of the help line has grown since it was started in early 2007.
Most of the calls come from girls, often in response to relentless texting or efforts by boys to dictate what they do or wear.
While texting that runs to 200 or 300 messages a day can be a prelude to abusive behavior, William S. Pollack, a Harvard University psychologist and the author of “Real Boys” (1998) and “Real Boys’ Voices” (2000) about boys and masculinity, said his research had found that “usually when adolescent boys get involved with girls, they fall into the societal model which we call ‘macho,’ where they need to show they are the ones in control.”
Actions like nonstop texting or phoning often are efforts “to gain control back,” said Dr. Pollack, who is the director of the Center for Men and Young Men at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.
Reacting to the killings of Heather Norris and other girls by their romantic partners, Indianapolis recently started a program to train police officers in public schools to recognize the early signs of abuse in relationships. Last month, a group of Indianapolis organizations won a $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help schools tackle the issue, part of $18 million in grants to 10 communities to help break patterns where children exposed to violence at home repeat it in their adult relationships.
The foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., decided to fund preventive efforts based on research, including from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. In the C.D.C.’s 2007 survey of 15,000 adolescents, 10 percent reported physical abuse like being hit or slapped by a romantic partner. Nearly 8 percent of teenagers in the survey said they were forced to have sexual intercourse.
Dating abuse victims, the center found, are more likely to engage in binge drinking, suicide attempts, physical fights and sexual activity. And the rates of drug, alcohol and tobacco use are more than twice as high in abused girls as in other girls the same age.
“Few adolescents understand what a healthy relationship looks like,” Dr. Miller said.
Adolescents often mistake the excessive attention of boys as an expression of love, she said.
Kayla Brown, 18, was among them. At first, her high school boyfriend made a great impression last year when he “called my mother to introduce himself,” said Ms. Brown, a senior at an Indianapolis charter school.
Then he began “calling me every hour to see where I was and what I was doing,” she said. Finally, during an argument he slammed a chair into a cafeteria table and raised his fist.
She confided in her mother, who has suffered domestic violence, and followed her advice to break off the relationship. But it was not easy. For months, she had friends accompany her in the school hallways, even to the bathroom, to make sure she was not alone with him.
Deborah Norris, Heather Norris’s mother, said her daughter’s relationship with Joshua Bean also began innocuously but rapidly became threatening.
“When he would call or text her, she had to answer right away or there was trouble,” Ms. Norris said. “She became quiet and withdrawn around him, and that wasn’t like her.”
“She hadn’t seen him in four months,” she added, “and was getting ready to go to court because she had filed battery charges against him.”
Mr. Bean was convicted in Heather’s killing last September.
Ms. Norris, an accident investigator for the police, said, “What happened to Heather really opened the eyes of police, the people I work with, who used to look at domestic violence differently,” seeing it as a family matter.
What happened to Heather before she was killed is common in abusive relationships, said Stephanie Berry, the manager of community health at Clarian Health, a network of Indiana hospitals, which is leading the program being financed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Many teenagers, Ms. Berry said, “see the jealousy and protectiveness as ‘Oh, he loves me so much.’ Girls make excuses for it and don’t realize it’s not about love, but it’s about controlling you as a possession.”
For Ms. Berry, 43, the issue is personal. Her high school boyfriend “wanted a commitment right away, which was very flattering,” she said. But she soon found herself “walking on eggshells,” she said.
Even after he went to college, she said, the relationship was so “addictive” that she kept returning — until it “turned violent and he beat me up when I was 21.”
A study, published last July in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, suggests that such behavior is not unusual. The study found that more than one-third of the 920 students questioned were victims of emotional and physical abuse by romantic partners before they started college.
The Indianapolis program will train older teenagers as mentors and teachers, coaches and parents as “influencers” who will talk to sixth, seventh and eighth graders about what is acceptable behavior in dating.
In her grief, Ms. Norris created heathersvoice.net to help girls learn when things are amiss in a relationship. “Heather always thought she could change people,” she said, “so I guess I’m trying to follow what she wanted.”