Here is a little study from the Kinsey Institute that the gender essentialists won't appreciate. Apparently, men and women don't actually differ that much in how often they want some lovin' - and individual men (much like individual women) vary a great deal in what gets them going. According to one researcher involved with the study, Dr. Erick Janssen:
Taken together, the findings provide a much more nuanced picture of men's sexuality than is promoted by men's magazines... "There's huge variability among men in how easily they're turned on or turned off, how easily they experience sexual desire and arousal," he explained. "The differences among men and the differences among women are much larger than the average difference between the sexes in almost anything sexual."
So, science tells us that rather than relying on stereotypes about 'what men like' vs 'what women like,' we're all just going to have to take the time to learn our partners' needs and desires, as though they were distinct individuals. Shocking, huh? Now, if someone could just get that memo over to Cosmo and Maxim...
Dear Sen. Clinton, As someone who cares enough about our nation to keep informed about the challenges facing regular Americans in their daily lives, you must have noticed that Fox 'News' is sexist and racist, has nothing to do with news, and sometimes includes complete fabrications. Your husband, at least, has some first-hand experience with the Fox News team not being honest brokers, as he has perhaps mentioned. Senator, I believe that you and I share many values, and that you will readily admit that an organization that spreads hateful propaganda and fear in the guise of news is not only irresponsible, but also a threat to our citizens' understanding of themselves and the world that surrounds them. An organization that spreads misinformation and promotes intolerance must be seen as a determent to democracy. I believe that you would not wish to give credibility to such a harmful organization, or imply that their 'news' is legitimate. That's why I was appalled to see that you had appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show:
Perhaps you did not notice, but you were being baited. Bill O'Reilly encouraged you to attack you opponent on superficial grounds, and you obliged. You might have said that, while you disagree with some - or even most - of the things Rev. Wright has said about the United States and its government, you are proud to live in a country where individuals can criticize their government, free from fear of imprisonment or harm. You might have pointed out that Bill O'Reilly enjoys this same freedom to say incendiary things, and exercises that freedom on a daily basis - and for personal gain. Instead, you took the bait and gave Fox viewers the pleasure of watching yet another frivolous attack on Sen. Obama's credibility.
You must understand that the people who watch this program are never going to vote for you. And, while I know that recently you haven't needed much prompting to turn away from thoughtfully discussion of the issues and to sound-bite style attacks, your doing so on the Fox News platform - essentially embracing the propaganda arm of the current administration -made me question my assumption that you were actually dedicated to undoing the harm that the last administration has wrought.
Women, whether or not we voted for you in our states' primaries, want to be proud of your candidacy. And, should you be elected as our nominee, we want to be able to vote for you knowing that you have the courage to recognize entrenched intolerance and stupidity for what it is, and fight to correct it. Even if that honesty means risking your own personal gain.
This race is, in fact, a proud moment for our country. Please, quit messing this up.
Don't think we don't see all of your searching for "feminist poems." We know what you want. And today, on this last day of poetry month, we're ready to give it to you. Yeah - a feminist poetry bonanza. Hold on to your hats, we're gonna take you places.
Perhaps my all-time favorite feminist poet is Neko Case. You read it right, the singer. She's also the song-writer who wrote the haunting lyrics of the song "Pretty Girls." Seriously beautiful poetry, that. Here is just a pair of verses, to give you an idea:
But there's millions to count you and keep you And lovers that don't understand Don't let them tell you you're nothing 'Cause you'll change the world, pretty girls.
Come chain yourself from my ankle You'll see the world like a bird Diving down low, flying up high Through all of these saccharine gutters we'll ride and I
Won't say that I told you so...
Also brilliant is Alfonsina Storni's Hombre pequeñito. Not afraid to admit that women have fleeting desires too, she ends the poem with the line "...te amé media hora/ no me pidas más" - "I loved you for half an hour/ don't ask more of me."
The best, however, we've saved for last. Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman is an ode to empowerment and unabashed sexuality like no other. It will leave you breathless, its that good. I can't resist posting the last stanza:
Now you understand Just why my head's not bowed. I don't shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It's in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need of my care, 'Cause I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me.
Go read it all - it will make you feel little tingles all over.
Once a year, I enjoy shaking things up for my students by teaching Alfonsina Storni's “Tú me quieres blanca." Basically, it is a poem that rails against the hypocrisy of the sexual double standard that faces women even to this day. I'm not absolutely sure I've converted any young people to feminism, but it does get them thinking, which is always nice to see.
Tobes over at Hear Me Roar also enjoys pulling off the occasional feminist coup, and managed to do a little something to subvert the patriarchy last week when she was asked by her boss to retype 100 pages of text from old management pamphlets into a Word document:
If you can't imagine it being any worse.. jut wait. There were entire sections on, "What a partner's golf swing says about his business style." *head desk* It gets even better. All the references to secretaries-- female pronouns and all the mangers and sales people-- you guessed it-- male pronouns. Naturally I had to do SOMETHING.
So I switched all these references so now the women are out golfing and making business deals and the men are working the front desk -- it's my mini-revolution.
If you've pulled off any similar mini-revolutions recently, we want to hear about them. If not, here are some ideas of things to do this week.
Like deja vu all over again, here comes another South Dakota initiative to ban abortion. Come fall, South Dakota voters will once again be asked to vote in favor of a bill that would make abortion illegal in their state. This new ban will be slightly different from the old proposed ban that barely failed two years ago:
This time the ban includes some exceptions for rape, incest, or the life and health of the mother. Some South Dakotans said the absence of such exceptions led them to vote against the 2006 proposal, which lost by 56 percent to 44 percent.
Since many of my favorite feminist blogs are hosted by Wordpress, I thought I'd help spread the word about a new "feature" that automatically links all new articles to "possibly related posts" without the author's knowledge. As you might could guess, the computerized matching system is absolutely disastrous and essentially serves as a troll dating service, matching up trolls with their ideal targets.
Most of us assume that, with advances in medicine and increasing awareness of the heath risks associated with poor diet and smoking, each generation of Americans will enjoy a longer life expectancy than the the generations that came before. Indeed, this has been the case throughout the 20th century. Yet, as the New York Times reports:
...new research shows that those reassuring nationwide gains mask a darker and more complex reality. A pair of reports out this month affirm that the rising tide of American health is not lifting all boats, and that there are widening gaps in life expectancy based on the interwoven variables of income, race, sex, education and geography. ... The most startling evidence came last week in a government-sponsored study by Harvard researchers who found that life expectancy actually declined in a substantial number of counties from 1983 to 1999, particularly for women. Most of the counties with declines are in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, and in Appalachia, as well as in the southern Plains and Texas. ... The researchers found statistically significant declines for women in 180 of the 3,141 counties in the United States and in 11 counties for men. In an additional 783 counties for women and 48 for men, there were declines that did not reach the threshold of statistical significance.
UPDATE: Since I posted the above, this news has been picked up by Women's Bioethics Blog. Sue Trinidad rightly notes that, since this decline in life expectancy mainly affects poor women, this is not just a health concern, but a social justice issue as well.
In recent comments here at The Feminist Underground, Outcrazyophelia of Feminocracy wrote "Not being on the ball all the time doesn't make you a bad person, but refusing to open your eyes to the choices you make in adapting your focus is pretty inexcusable." What I'd like to hear from readers is whether or not you feel like these apologies reflect that 'opening of eyes' and 'adapting of focus' or not.
We are taking action immediately to remove the offensive images from It's A Jungle Out There. We are currently reprinting, and we will make these changes now. We apologize for any pain or concern these images have caused.
We do not believe it is appropriate for a book about feminism, albeit a book of humor, to have any images or illustrations that are offensive to anyone.
Some have asked the valid question, "What were you thinking?"
Please know that neither the cover, nor the interior images, were meant to make any serious statement. We were hoping for a campy, retro package to complement the author's humor. That is all. We were not thinking.
As an organization, we need to look seriously at the effects of white privilege. We will be looking for anti-racist trainings offered here in the Bay Area. We want to incorporate race analysis into our work.
In the meantime, please know that all involved in the publishing of It's A Jungle Out There, from editorial to production were not trying to send a message to anyone about our feelings regarding race. If taken seriously as a representation of our intentions, these images are also not very feminist. By putting the big blonde in the skimpy bathing suit with the big breasts, the tiny waist, and the weapon on our cover, we are also not asserting that she is any kind of standard that anyone should aspire to. This 1950s Marvel comic is not an accurate reflection of our beauty standards, our beliefs regarding one's right to bear arms, nor our perspectives on race relations, foreign policy, or environmental policy.
We also extend this apology to the author, Amanda Marcotte, who did not select these images for her book. Writing humor is very difficult. While our intention was to complement your words, we see that these images have had the opposite effect, and for that, we are sorry.
I’m sorry. Plain and simple. I didn’t pick the offensive imagery in my book, but I should have caught it sooner than now. I didn’t and there’s no excuse. It was my first book, I was excited and happy, but I needed to have a more critical eye. I would do anything to remove racist images from the first printing of the book if I could, and I am relieved and happy to say that they will be removed from future printings. Seal Press has their note of apology up too, and they accept full responsibility for these mistakes. I really recommend reading it.
I can understand why anyone would choose to boycott a book with these images, and I respect that choice. Hopefully, once they are removed, people will reconsider supporting the book if they like the content. I, for one, will be ripping the pages out of my copy but keeping them as a reminder to be alert. Thank you to everyone who’s engaged in a conversation that’s been tough for me but productive nonetheless.
This is pretty much what I’ve got to say. I welcome your feedback below. I imagine things might get pretty intense, so I may not choose to say much more than this, but know that I’m reading and listening and respect your thoughts very much. Once again, I apologize for the images, my overlooking them, and any hurt this may have caused.
Where self-identified allies write to other people like themselves about why this or that oppression and prejudice is wrong...And when I say allies, I’m talking about any and every type. PoC can be (and should be) allies to other PoC, or to LGBTQ people if they are straight, or any number of other combinations. If you feel like you’re an ally and have something to say about that, you should submit to this carnival.
Go get your submissions in, I know tons of people have insights that the rest of us would benefit from hearing.
Sometimes I run across a sentence that I wish I had written myself. My current favorite comes from the article by Katha Pollitt, Men of the Cloth. She concludes her piece with the following:
FLDS men have many wives and the Pope has none, which goes to show there's more than one way to keep women pregnant and in their place.
Three cheers, Katha, for pointing out the irony of the massive media coverage that YFZ (Yearning for Zion? Seriously? If that doesn't have the ring of a cult I don't know what does!) has received while very little outrage, beyond the priest scandal, has been leveled at the Roman Catholic Church during the Pope's recent visit. Instead, we got to see a baseball stadium filled with people waiting to kiss the ring of a man in red shoes who is perfectly content to keep women barefoot and pregnant.
Pollitt points to a few examples of the Pope's master plan to maintain women in subservience. One such success is the recent defeat of Chile's plan for contraception access in public clinics. Kudos to those in Chile planning to renounce the Roman Catholic Church over this. What other way is there to enact change in the Church? The sad thing is, there are hundreds more who blindly follow the "faith" regardless of the consequences.
A central concern of her work is female creativity and its repression, how, beneath her learnt veneer of niceness, a woman can be seething with passionate hatred or love. The poems negotiate brilliantly between the two realities in a manner Matthew Sweeney has described as "domestic gothic".
I like her poem Marigolds, which you can read and hear here.
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