Happy Earth Day! Today is the 40th celebration of Earth Day. It was the brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson in an attempt to bring what he believed - in 1962 – to be an “environmental crisis” to the forefront of social commentary. Only 4 years after the first Earth Day celebration we saw the emergence of ecofeminism. Ecofeminists believe that the oppression of women (as well as other races and the LGBTQ community) and the oppression of nature are interconnected, and that man’s domination over nature is what led to a patriarchal society. Obviously, the environmental movement would feel a kindred spirit, so to speak, in this ideology and vice versa.
I’m not one to box myself in with labels….wait, vegetarian, feminist, environmentalist, activist, communist……ok, maybe I am. So, since I’m already all boxed in, I definitely feel that the ecofeminist movement is most near and dear to my heart. There are critics of all tenets of feminism and we all seem to fall into one or another (but, maybe many) little sub-sects of the greater whole; I happen to fall here.
In 1970, the environmental movement was really just starting to blossom as a social movement. With the help of this article published in the New York Times Senator Nelson created an event that I think every Earth Day since should envy:
“Rising concern about the “environmental crisis” is sweeping the nation’s campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam…a national day of observance of environmental problems, analogous to the mass demonstrations on Vietnam is being planned for next April…..
Students, activists, environmentalists and ideologues sprang to action. And, just a few months later, an estimated 20 million Americans participated in Earth Day events on April 22, 1970. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeway and expressway revolts, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlifesuddenly realized they shared common values.
With all that invigorating history, a movement that today – of all times in history – is more active and energized, and my self-identification as an ecofeminist – you would think I’d be a lot more excited about Earth Day than I am.
The celebration of Earth Day 2010 seems to be something else altogether. With global climate change on everyother frontpage publication (despite doubters) and cheap t-shirts that say, “Recyle“ and “Eco Warrier” it seems that these issues have been appropriately brought to center stage….and appropriately transformed into something “consumable.” So, the people who truly care seem & believe in environmental responsibility have become….cheap t-shirt wearing, reusable bag carrying (sometimes), Prius driving zombies. And, the corporations who only want to seem like they care have done their jobs convincing consumers that they do. A la Walmart and Chevron’s greenwashing campaigns. Or, how about SunChips attempt to completely revamp their image? Your (genetically modified corn) chips even come in a compostable bag now! But…wait…aren’t they a Frito Lay company? And, Frito Lay is a PepsiCo company. And, PepsiCo is one of the worst environmental offenders. “Green?” Seriously? *Yawn*
So, here’s my Earth Day wish - do something real. Plant an organic garden (feminism and food are inextricably linked; and, it’s much easier than you think) or a tree. Volunteer for an environmental organization (even if just for a day). Try to reduce the number of times you flush your toilet (that’s 1.6 gallons of water EVERY time, California folks). Start to compost (also, much easier than you think). What I don’t want you to do…buy a ridiculous t-shirt that advertises your position on environmental issues and simply makes you feel like you’ve done something good for the Earth. We can’t all be No Impact Man, but actually making real, tangible changes in our daily lives is what creates the most change and sets an example for those who want to make change, but aren’t sure how.
Saturday, April 17, 2010 @ 800 N State College Blvd. Fullerton CA 92831
9:00am-5:00pm
The Social Justice Summit provides a forum for people to exchange ideas about improving the state of our communities, offers space to dialogue about the obstacles to creating effective change, provides effective tools for social action, and offers tangible grassroots solutions.
Learn about human rights issues, environmental concerns, inequality and oppression on a local, national and global level.
The Social Justice Summit is a FREE event, open to the public.
***Summit Highlights***
Empowering Workshops: Workshops will focus not only on educating participants, but also empowering them to bring about change in our community.
Resource Fair: The Resource Fair will feature campus and community organizations that provide attendees opportunities to get involved in social action.
Great music by: JAYAR
The Social Justice Summit is dedicated to providing a Green Summit through utilizing recycled and biodegradable materials, sweatshop-free apparel, organic and vegan food. The purpose of having a Green Summit is to encourage participants to make everyday choices based on environmentally conscious and socially responsible decisions.
April 22-24, 2010 Carl Hancock Rux will be performing at The Redcat in Los Angeles, California. He will be presenting Poesia Negra: Race, Sex and the Myth of the American Mytopia. It will be a “lec/dem that blends his paper-bag storytelling, hip-bop-fueled poetic reveries and plenty of trenchant critical analysis on American mythologies and controversies new and old.” For a little more about Rux…..
Tickets are on sale on The Redcat’s website, and student prices ($16!) are available!
CNN reported on the latest [apparently, not the latest: see comment below] atrocious video game that allows the player to rape a woman over and over again while choosing a variety of methods to initiate the assault.
That’s right.
RapeLay, a video game that has gone viral since people, especially women’s rights groups, have reacted in outrage (and rightly so). Rapelay, a video game that, as CNN reports, makes Grand Theft Auto (the game that stirred up a firestorm of criticism upon its release in 2008) appear as harmless and “clean as Pac-man.”
Given the statistics on domestic violence, assault, and rape, it is difficult for me to conceptualize this video game as a “game.” Our media landscape is (and has been) populated with endless streams of images and messages glorifying, eroticizing and diminishing the serious nature of violence against women, an issue that some have called a hidden pandemic and others have labeled an epidemic of global proportions.
Viewing repetitive and stable images decreases our sensitivity to an issue, it normalizes the images and themes contained therein. Violence against women is an issue that we, as a culture, are already desensitized to on many levels. The systematic objectification and dismemberment of women (see Jean Kilbourne‘s film Killing Us Softly 3 and read her book, Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel) is rampant in and a staple fixture of our mediated culture, reinforcing images of aggression and violence against women as normative and unremarkable.
“Games” that continue to use images of gratuitous and unapologetic violence as a source of “entertainment” frighten me because the inevitable results are horrifying. We know that dating violence among young people is increasing. We also know that the level of mediation and amount of time young people are exposed to messages constructed by the mass media, including video game makers, is increasing (there are even treatment programs for young people addicted to video games). Taking these variables into consideration and recognizing the correlation between the level of mediation and one’s attitudes, expectations and behaviors creates a dismal picture for girls and women (and this isn’t even taking the construction of gender and the corresponding expectation of violent masculinity and submissive femininity as normative into consideration).
Given that, I think it is safe to say that rape, virtual or real, is never simply a game, at least not for the victims of that violence, virtual or real, and its social, physical and emotional consequences. In the end, we’re all negatively effected by a culture that makes violence against *anyone* a game.
Anita Sarkeesian rocked WAM! LA Thursday night. We can’t wait for her to return to LA. Check out her incredible playlist. Originally posted at Feminist Frequency, March 26, 2010. Cross-posted with permission.
I had such a fantastic time presenting at Women, Action and Media (WAM) in LA on March 25th, 2010. I curated a show of online videos including remixes, vlogs, vids and short documentaries made by women. Staying true with WAM’s mission, these videos represent women taking action through media to talk about issues important to their lives and talking back to the media that so often misrepresents, stereotypes and victimizes us.
As Thursday’s presenter Carla Ohrendorff said, “the bad-assery” was tangible. WAM! Los Angeles brought together media makers, activists, and feminists for 2 days of films, video remix, critical analysis, and collaboration.
Blogging/videoblogging, tweeting, and lecturing are powerful tools that allow the feminist movement’s momentum to continue, connecting and expanding the community of activists. But, nothing beats the opportunity to get a bunch of fabulous people together providing the time and space to teach, learn and inspire, leaving us all feeling connected to something larger than ourselves and our immediate peer group. And that’s what WAM! allowed us to do.
After 2 days of events that included the opportunity to socialize, laugh and share ideas for future projects over the communal potluck at Friday night’s movie mixer, I felt high. The collective spirit was palpable and energizing. And while we were “waming” it in Los Angeles, feminist media activists were waming it in Boston, Chicago, New York, D.C., and San Antonio. Knowing that women and men were taking part in similar events, tapping into and invoking the “bad-assery” in their respective communities, not only connected me to the larger national collective but to the spirit of consciousness-raising groups of the second wave of feminism that were integral in creating social and political change.
Like most, I am prone to moments of doubt and self-sabotage (do I have anything to say? does this make a difference?), but the solidarity evident last week in Los Angeles and knowing there other cites across the United States were drumming up the same collective momentum in the same way second-wavers did in CR groups is more than enough to shake off the self-doubt and move forward.
The revolution will be televised by people like me and people like you (thanks to Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency who ended her segment on Thursday with the following clip.)
By the end of 2010 there will officially be more women in the workforce than men. Both the Speaker of the House and the Secretary of State are women. And, 20% of U.S. armed forces are female. Because of these aberrant shifts we feel like we’ve won the war when the reality is that those are only a few battles. We tend to take for granted the positions that most women in America find themselves in in this “post-feminist” society.
In recent weeks, both Time magazine and The New York Times have published articles on the egregious number of women being raped in the military. Time reported that…
“…a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.”
I was shocked to read that female soldiers stop drinking water at 7 p.m. so that they don’t have to go the bathroom in the middle of the night as this reduces their risk of being raped. Though the NY Timesreported that the number of assults reported is up 11% from last year, Timestatesthat the Defense Department still estimates that 80-90% of sexual assaults go unreported. Additionally, they differentiate an assault from sexual harassment which undoubtedly brings the number of women assaulted OR harassed up exponentially. They may as well just say, “If you’re female and you join the military you will be abused in some way.”
We live in a world where we fight to have universities install campus security buttons and cameras and we teach women how to protect & defend themselves against attackers and we create program upon program for victims of sexual assault. All of the security measures we take only further perpetuate the idea that WOMEN need to learn how to protect themselves. Why aren’t we teaching men how to be respectful and responsible? How do we transform the dialogue from Women’s Issues to EVERY ONE’S issues??
I don’t say any of this to discourage women from joining the military or going to college (or from leaving your house!) or to promote the fear that is already so rampant, I say this because as a woman living in a supposedly “post-feminist” world, I believe we need to inspire more people – NOT just women - to struggle, to act!
There was a great article in The Guardian, the UK based newspaper about men and feminism. In it they mentioned a program that was started by Oxfam called “Gender Equality and Men.” Here is a quote from their page:
There are potential gains from focusing on men and boys. As Kaufman has suggested [1], such efforts may:
create a broad social consensus among men and women on issues that previously have been marginalised as only of importance to women;
mobilise resources and institutions controlled by men, resulting in a net gain in resources available to meet the needs of women and girls;
isolate those men working to preserve men’s power and privilege and to deny rights to women and children;
contribute to raising the next generation of boys and girls in a framework of gender equality;
change the attitudes and behaviour of men and boys, and improve the lives of women and girls in the home, workplace, and community.
That about sums it up! So, instead of continuing to shake my fist and scream about men not taking responsibility for violence and ignorance - I’ve made a list of some ways in which men (and women!) can become involved in the movement…..which despite those post-feminist doubters…..is still very much moving!
1) Start simple: Read This
2) Take a Women’s Studies class!
3) Join the feminist club on campus or START one!
4) Get involved in community outreach organizations. Lead by example and show young men and boys how to be!
5) Encourage local organization to implement programs like Oxfam UK did!
6) Be creative! Find ways to encourage change through things you like to do or are good at! Activism isn’t the only way. Music and art speak volumes!
And, if you’re still confused and wondering what you can do – come to WAM! Los Angeles next week Thursday, March 25, 2010!
Rielle had sex with a married man and has thus become the modern day scarlet woman. She made no promises to Elizabeth Edwards and in fact had no relationship with Ms. Edwards, therefore; it puzzles me why she is being shamed alongside John Edwards.
If he had truly wanted to stay faithful to his wife, nothing that Rielle did could have caused him to sway. Edwards made an active choice to be unfaithful and therefore; if we are going to judge or blame (though I feel we should do neither) it should be him. Edwards was the one that was deceitful.
People have latched onto the photos [in her GQ interview] of Rielle to justify the slut shaming. Attacking how a woman chooses to dress and then making a correlation to sexual behaviour, is one of the most obvious ways in which patriarchy works to eliminate female agency. What disturbs me most, is watching women jump on their high horse to finger wag, completely oblivious to the fact that they are supporting their own oppression.
Continuing our discussion about Eating In - Molly Wizenberg will be reading from her new book A Homemade Life at Skylight Books on March 30, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.! If you’re interested in creating community, generating less waste, and eating good food come and see her speak!
4:30-6PM Carla Ohrendorff, lecture and discussion on feminist activism and media, Q & A to follow
6:15-7:30PM Anita Sarkeesian, lecture and workshop on feminist activism via blogging/vlogging and video remix
7:45-9PM Mariko Passion presents Media Whores, a facilitated dialogue looking at Hollywood portrayals of street workers, strippers and other sex workers and a look at a few sex worker made sex worker rights films with Mariko Passion, educated whore and urban geisha. Freeway, Monster, Flashdance, The Players Club and the recent Girlfriend Experience…what do sex workers think of the portrayals in these films? What do YOU think about them?
Come hungry, folks! The Green Truck will be there from 2p-9p and will offer a special campus menu at a reduced rate. The Sweet Truck will arrive at 3p to satisfy your sweet tooth. The event is free but the food is not. Bring cash to enjoy.
PARKING: Enter the Bundy campus from Bundy by turning on College Avenue and entering the parking lot. The first lot you enter is the east student lot. Park here. Parking regulations will not be enforced between 1-10pm. Do not park in the west lot behind the building. This is reserved for faculty and staff.
*No registration required. First come basis. Please arrive early as we anticipate a full house for all 4 segments. Facebook event page to be created in the next few days. Contact: klein_melanie@smc.edu
Friday, March 26, 2010 at private residence in Culver City, CA
Film Social and Potluck: 6PM-9:30PM
Sarit McCarty, photographer, Melanie Klein, Feminist Fatale, and Lani Phillips Smith, fellow Feminist Fatale, will be hosting the showing of “Who Does She Think She Is?”
Facilitated discussion to follow screening
This event is a social and is limited in capacity. Official RSVPs to klein_melanie@smc.edu are required. Location will be given at that time. Guests are encouraged to bring food to share and get ready to have a good time.
BIOS:
Kamala Lopez is an actress, screenwriter, director and producer. Since 1995 Lopez’s Heroica Films has been creating media for women, about women and utilizing women both in front and behind the camera. She sits on the Jury and Advisory Board of The Women’s International Film and TV Showcase, the Advisory Board of Global Girl Media, and was on the Board of Young Artists United. In 2009 she was given a retrospective at the Museum of Latin American Art. She is also an official blogger for the Huffington Post.
Carla Ohrendorff is a media artist and activist. She combines her passion for feminism with her interest in film to share stories from underrepresented cultures and communities. Her first film, Thick Strings y Shredded Cheese, was exhibited at the 2009 San Diego Latino Film Festival. She has participated as a mentor for the ImMEDIAte Justice film program, which explored the intersection between reproductive and media justice in young women’s lives. Carla is currently working as a youth film and video instructor at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles.
Anita Sarkeesian is a Feminist cultural critic and social justice activist who has provided media support work for a variety of movements across the United States and Canada. In 2007, Anita co-founded the NYC Youth Chapter, a training collaborative dedicated to providing young activists with anti-oppression and media skills. In addition to her workshops on Media Strategy, Organization Building, and Anti-Oppression Skills, Anita recently facilitated youth public speaking trainings at the 2008 Fair Use Remix Institute. This coming Spring, she will be teaching a video-blogging workshop with Reel Grrls in Seattle and organizing an afternoon of curated shows about resisting traditional gender and sexuality norms with Remix Video at California State University, Northridge. She earned her BA in Communication Studies at California State University, Northridge. Anita is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Social and Political Thought at York University.
Mariko Passion is a performance artist, blogger and educator. She has worked for justice in the sex worker rights movement for 11 years, as well as worked in many different occupations in the sex industry. She can be found on twitter, myspace and youtube.
Co-host of Friday night’s movie mixer and potluck: Sarit McCarty, a local feminist photographer, will be hosting a social networking event in her home in Culver City, CA. We will have a plethora of local feminists, artists, activists and community members in attendance. Sarit is working on several conceptual projects, desirous of bringing a feminist perspective to a new batch of images. She uses her photography as a means of political activism and healing for women who have lost their ability to speak for themselves.
