Reproductive Apocalypse in a Post-Roe World? Hirshman in the Washington Post Today.

Linda Hirshman paints a grim picture of a post-Roe V. Wade United States in this morning's Washington Post. When we examined Linda Hirshman's Get to Work last year during our Feminism in Hardcover series, one of our critiques involved what was either an oversight or overt lack of sympathy for the non-professional caste of women. Hirshman vehemently argues that educated and professional women in the U.S. have a responsibility to stay in the workforce. She does not touch the issue of the implications of this on women of the working and lower middle-classes who inevitably are left to do the jobs commodified when this occurs. Her treatment of the abortion issue is a little more inclusive, outlining just how bad it could be for all women in the event of Roe's repeal. However, she still fails to acknowledge that it will be the same women she disavows in Get to Work that will suffer the most from these effects. It will be these women who will not be able to afford the trips out-of-state to places like California and New York, states that will resist anti-abortion legislation. It will be these women who will be forced to resort to back-alley varieties of the procedure and suffer countless health problems and even death as a result. The women you write for, Linda, will book flights to places that still offer abortions. And even if back-alley becomes the only alley, they would be the ones able to afford the high cost of the more credible black-market D&C's.

So yes -- it would royally suck if Roe is ever repealed. Not only would we see our reproductive rights washed down the proverbial tubes, but women's constitutional rights would be so greatly set back that we'd be operating from a position equivalent to the Dark Ages of the 21st Century. There's a lot more riding on Roe V. Wade than just our option to have abortions. So I both get and appreciate Hirshman's message: as feminists we have a pronounced responsibility to prevent that from happening by making informed decisions and taking action in the face of a growing pro-life movement. And I think it's intensely positive that the Post is getting feminists, even controversial and potentially conservative ones, to address these issues. Maureen Dowd can't be the only voice on Sunday mornings to offer a feminist perspective. But I also think it's important to at least open the door to the other issues buttoned up in the pro-choice discussion. Who's really going to be on the losing end of a no-Roe U.S.?

-- Andrea

The Guerrilla Gauge

At yesterday's Monday Night Feminism, we began hammering out the relationship between guerrilla feminism/ art and Upstate Feminists. Aside from the many covert ops we have in the works, we also thought it might be a good idea to start a working definition of guerrilla in its noun form. Many of us expressed different perspectives on some of the words involved. So we invite you, one and all, to start the discussion. Comment. We give you the definition. You give us feedback. Do you like these words? How do they feel (subversive, positive, negative, controversial, icky, yummy, etc.)? Do you feel compelled to redefine it? Go ahead. Have your way with it:

Main Entry: ¹guer·ril·la

Variant(s): or gue·ril·la \gə-ˈri-lə, ge-, g(y)i-\

Function: noun

Etymology: Spanish guerrilla, from diminutive of guerra war, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German werra strife — more at war

Date: 1809

: a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage*

*definition taken from Merriam-Webster Online.

-- Andrea

The Reel Deal

Last Thursday, September 18, 2008, was the screening of Ma Vie en Rose (My Life in Pink), the first film of Reel Genders International Film Series, that Upstate Feminists is co-sponsoring with the Center for Women's and Gender Studies this year. Beginning at 7pm in USC Upstate's Tukey Theater, the film, introduced by Pride Upstate Vice President, Stacey Haney, only lasted about a hour and half, with a student/professor led talk-back afterward. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at the large turn-out of about 50 people, especially since it was just a handful of faculty and mostly students. The French film centered around a trans-girl, Ludovic, who was born a little girl in a boys body and takes place over the course of about a year. Because being a girl feels natural to her, while her male sex does not, she begins to talk openly her about crush on a boy, Jerome, the son of his fathers boss and says she will marry him "when [she is] a girl." It, rather light-heartedly, shows the challenges and confusions seven-year-old Ludovic faces in the heteronormative community in which she lives as well as her coping mechanism of a fantasy world--a world that consists of toy-like imagery and a doll/cartoon character whom makes it safe for her to be and feel like a real girl. When her parents take her child therapy she cleverly develops her own theory of her a mix-up in her genes and refers to herself a girlboy. All the while the community as well as her family are slowly realizing that it isn't just a little boy playing dress-up or pretend, but Ludovic actually considers herself to be a girl. The hostility to Ludovic's actions rises when her father loses his job and the family has to move again. However, the film has a optimistic ending in when Ludovic meets a little trans-boy like him, who introduces himself as "Chris," right before his mother calls him "Christine," and Ludovic's parents finally accept her the way she is telling her to "do what feels best."

I really enjoyed the film as well as its depiction of what it is like to grow up trans and thought the little boy, Georges Du Fresne, did a phenomenal job in his portrayal of Ludovic. Dr. Lisa Johnson and Stacey Haney led the talk-back with the audience that followed the film and the interactive discussion was a great wrap-up to the screening. The reactions from the audience were quite positive and it was obvious that the film presented a lighter and better understanding of what trans people deal with in life, particularly at an early age. Please come out and join us for the next film, Show Me Love, on October 16, when Dr. George Williams and I will facilitate the talk-back after the screening.

--Lindsay

The Economy and Politics of Information à la Bitch

So our beloved feminist magazine Bitch finds itself in dire straits as the printing industry increasingly feels the effects of our less than stellar economy. The fate of the next issue is in our hands, feminists and proponents of alternative media, to help it get $40,000 by October 15. However, I'm broke. And though I write this as a reader of Bitch and someone who wants more than anything to see it succeed, this is not simply meant as a fundraising post (though if you do have for any miraculous reason any extra moolah and you appreciate their contribution to feminist media, I do encourage you to help them out this month). Rather, this is just one great example of how gender will steadily become more relevant in the face of our economic shit storm. The politics of "having", as in who has what (money, power), does not level out when the availability of things to have decreases. People already at a disadvantage, fringe groups in society, will feel it most acutely.

Of course, this seems obvious in terms of job loss and on an individual level. Who will suffer more during economic crisis than the workers who will inevitably see their jobs flying out the window? However, it is important to also remember that the effects will be far-reaching as well. Bitch's current predicament demonstrates just that: the economy continues to suck, the print industry (already a dying source of media) begins to feel the sharp pains of increased costs of materials and distribution, and then smaller publications fold. Smaller is often synonymous with being less mainstream and representative of the ideas of those outside of that culture. What we have left is mainstream media. Ick. Though I appreciate The New York Times and other monolithic purveyors of progressive information, I like those committed to niches in society, small and specific and political as all get-out.

However, there is still the internet. There are still the blogs and the websites and the emails. But take notice if you're someone like me who browses the magazine section at Barnes & Noble or, better yet - the library, because you can't afford the price of subscriptions to your favorites (yet another rabbit hole, eh?). The politics of getting information out are going to be more relevant than ever as our nation's economy puts the last nails into the coffin of printed media. What are the implications? Is it even a bad thing necessarily? Does it mean a massive return to smaller-scale, regionally based publications? I like to think that the more subversive the ideas are, the more creative our solutions to communicating them should be and the more responsibility we have to do so. Hmmm... things to ponder.

-- Andrea

Monday Night Feminism Kick-Off Event

"INTRA-VENUS" Series," 1992-93
Performalist self-portrait with Donald Goddard
chromagenic supergloss prints with overlaminate
2 panels: 71 1/2 x 47 1/2 inches each
edition of 3*

This past Monday, Professor Jane Nodine gave a fantastic and visually engaging lecture "The Goddess or the Bitch: An Artist's Perspective on Images of Women" to kick off Upstate Feminists' "Monday Night Feminism" series.   In almost the same breath Professor Nodine began her second sentence, scores of people filed in with professors Cara Tuttle-Bell and Rachel Snow and the event's attendance climbed well into the realm of standing-room only. Professor Nodine discussed at length the development and evolution of the feminist art movement, highlighting artists such as Judy Chicago and Hannah Wilke.  

I was completely captivated by the story of Wilke's last series of performance pieces, "Intra Venus," chronicling her ultimately fatal battle with lymphoma.  Wilke had long used her traditionally feminine beauty to expose and subvert the rigid expectations of the female form and its objectification throughout the history of art.  Perhaps, however, her most poignant piece is this last that portrays her physical transformation as her illness progressed.  It places images of the artist in the context of historically "significant" depictions of the conventionally beautiful female form.  It's startling.  It's honest.  And it's beautiful.  

The series was displayed posthumously in 1994 at the Ronald Feldman Gallery and included the works of several other artists.  

These images have been haunting me all week.

-- Andrea

*Note: These images were taken from the Ronald Feldman Gallery's site at : http://www.feldmangallery.com/media/wilke/wilexh_94/jun10may5-01.jpg

Are You Serious?!?! Amy Goodman Among Journalists Arrested at the RNC?!?!

As I sit nannying on this Friday night, I have decided to catch up on my own blogroll.  Admittedly, I'm a slack-ass when it comes to staying informed on current events.  I operate on a philosophy that pretty much figures if something's important enough, somebody's gonna tell me about it.  I'm more of a remedial newspaper reader.  BUT the truth of the matter is that some things should be found out sooner than later.  For example, the "free press" debacle at the Republican National Convention this week that I discovered while reading my back-logged Bitch posts.  

When sitting at my mother's house in Pennsylvania, secluded verging on sequestered, my one solace is the daily airing of Democracy Now!.  Its host, Amy Goodman, has long been one of my feminist role models.  And guess what -- she done got arrested while covering the RNC in St. Paul this past Wednesday.  That's right.  Charged with "misdemeanor obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer" according to Democracy Now!'s website.  While trying to inquire about the arrests of two of the show's producers, knocked over in what amounts to youtube-able harrassment (screaming their press status all the while), Goodman was handcuffed and hauled off.  The arrest toll for the week is pretty staggering in general; the Associated Press counts almost 400, journalists accounting for at least 19 of those.  Freedom of the press, anyone? Hmmm... 

Producer Nicole Salazar of Democracy Now!'s Arrest (this is a little bit horrifying...):

Amy Goodman's Arrest:

-Andrea

Deborah Siegel Makes Upstate Blog Savvy

Acclaimed feminist blogger and author Deborah Siegel dazzled Upstate this Tuesday with more than just her slamming new haircut.  Her lecture "Girl with Keyboard: Making Waves in the Feminist Blogosphere" was packed with advice for aspiring bloggers, laying out the basic principles of what is quickly becoming one of the most popular and accessible ways for just about anyone and everyone to make their voices heard.  After providing the knowledge to navigate the ever-growing pool of feminist blogs, Siegel then led students and faculty through several steps designed to find personal niches and prospective audiences.  We at Upstate Feminists owe her an enormous thank you for helping us take our first steps toward dipping our toes into that pool.  She was able to turn us from blogging neophytes into blogspot savvy in an hour and a half.  Miraculous!  

And now, here we are. The journey begins.  Upstate Feminists are bringin' it to the feminist blogosphere.  Thank you, Deborah!

-- Andrea