It’s come up a couple of times in a few short days, so I thought instead of simmering until I boil over this time, I might address an issue sooner rather than later this time.
Women’s writing is not, en masse, to be called chick lit. Chick lit is a term used for a certain kind of fluffier, upwardly-mobile, sexually titillating kind of fiction or non-fiction about women’s lives.
Examples: Sex and the City, A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing.
Please do not refer to any book about women as chick lit, or to any book by a woman writer as chick lit.
Examples: Margaret Atwood is not chick lit.
For further clarification, you can check out the new(ish) anthology This is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America’s Best Women Writers.
Bordering on Misogyny
More thoughts on the MWMF controversy: I find sometimes the anger expressed toward the exclusionary policy-makers at the MWMF bordering on misogyny. Because relatively speaking, lesbians want to keep trans women out of a camp. But when I look around at the world, and what goes on with trans women, I see really horrible things, like rape and horribly brutal murders and cops and media using phrases like “he” or even “it.” & I wonder if sometimes the level of outrage against MWMF isn’t kind of – overamped. I mean they’re just keeping trans women out of a private music festival, not firing them or denying them housing or health treatment or hormones or life.
You know? I don’t think their policy is right, but I also think there are bigger eggs to fry, and using all this energy and rage over MWMF might find people exhausted when something else comes up.
I understand that it’s much easier to be very angry and disappointed with people who should know better, and yes, I think the organizers of the MWMF should know better. But their actions, in terms of comparison, are not as hateful as some of the anger describes it as being. Discriminaton and exclusion is horrible, yes, but it’s a music festival, not the right to live and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I’m just not sure the level of anger is – well, appropriate.
But then I don’t think the level of hate and suspicion being tossed around by MWMFers toward trans women is anything like appropriate, either.
Neither of these reflections, by the way, has anything to do with what people have been saying on our message boards – they’re observations taken from other things I’ve been reading.
86 Years (And Many More)
Today is the 86th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution – in other words, today marks the 86th year since women got the right to vote.
The right of citizens in the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
It’s an amazing thing to think about, isn’t it? The idea that this country used to keep a full half (more than half, actually) from voting? To allow them no say whatsoever in the laws that shaped our lives?
I’ve often thought that women who live in this country who don’t vote should have to trade places with women who would love to – and who can’t. In too many countries, that is still the case, but we take it for granted here.
My thanks to all the women who sacrificed so much to earn us this right, and to all the women who vote, who work in politics, and who raise daughters who vote. Some of those women are being celebrated at NYU today, if you can make it.
Between A Rock & A Hard Place
What with all the discussion going on about the MWMF policy, I’m finding myself once again heavy-hearted, confused, and feeling terribly unresolved.
I’ve met so many MTFs who would fit right in at MWMF. Others who could give a rat’s ass about not being allowed to attend something like that. But I’ve also met a ton who are clueless, demanding, completely lacking a feminist consciousness, & reeking of male privilege.
That said, as a heterosexual feminist, I’ve also been treated by lesbian separatists as a traitor just for liking men (which, as I’ve pointed out more than once, has got to be at least as innate as being born lesbian), and would feel it necessary to hide who I am if I were ever on “the Land.”
Saying ‘a pox on both your houses’ just doesn’t feel satisfying today, either, but this interstice I’m living in feels very, very small indeed today.
News from Camp Trans
See Jane Sand. See Jane Paint. Paint, Jane, Paint!
Two enterprising women named Jane are gearing their home self-improvement business to – other women. I’m pretty sure there isn’t much more we need guys around for after this. I’m’ sure we’ll pick up drinking beer and burping along the way.
I’m kidding, kidding. But with the way some women seem to see guys as more like impregnators/mortgage payers, I’m not that far off I don’t think. It’s just a slippery slope to Amazon culture.
Answers (to the Feminist Quiz)
- In what year, and how, did American women get the vote?
1920, 19th Amendment - Who is the only woman the United States government has ever honored with a commemorative coin?
Susan B. Anthony - Looking at a photograph of famous women at the formation of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Nixon asked his secretary of state what he thought it looked like. What was the response?
A burlesque - When did the first issue of Ms. Magazine appear?
first Dec 20, 1971 as a 40-pg supplement in New York magazine
first full issue was in the spring of 1972 - What important document was issued at Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848?
The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions - When, and by whom, was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) introduced?
1923, the National Woma(e?)n’s Party - What was referred to in Washington as the “Bunny Law”?
The sex provision in the Civil Rights Act - What common feminist slogan was first used at an anti-war protest in Washington DC in 1968?
Sisterhood is powerful - On the subject of slogans – The office of the editor-in-chief of a popular women’s magazine was taken over for nine hours on March 18, 1970 by a large group of women led by Susan Brownmiller. What magazine was it, and what was and is still the slogan of the magazine?
Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman - What was the Oak Room Invasion of 1969?
NOW sponsored an invasion of the men¹s-only clubroom at The Plaza in NYC - How was Our Bodies, Ourselves written? By whom?
12 white, middle-class women ages 24-40 in Boston, 1969 were involved in a group. The book emerged from a series of papers from the group. - When was the National Organization of Women (NOW) founded? What was its policy towards men at the time? Who was its first chair?
1966, men were very specifically INCLUDED, Dr. Kathryn F. Clarenbach - Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is one of the most famous feminist works, and the theory is widely known. It is less well known that she has also written about the feminist mystique, in her later book, The Second Stage. What is this feminist mystique?
A false polarization of feminist and family‹a denial that the core of who a woman is is fulfilled by love, nurture, and home. It is possible to have a home, family and love and still be feminist, she says. - Who wrote the book Confessions of a Feminist Man?
Floyd Dell - On the fiftieth anniversary of women’s suffrage, there was a large demonstration on 5th Ave, NYC. What was the march?
[The first annual (not critical)] Women¹s March For Equality - Who was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1975?
Twelve women - Who released the popular children’s album Free to Be You and Me?
Marlo Thomas - Explain the original purpose of the “powder room.”
men powdered their wigs there in Colonial times - When was the UN Decade for Women?
began in 1976, of all years! - When did NASA accept its first women astronauts?
1978 - Since what year have women outnumbered men in America?
1950 - What US college was first to allow women?
Oberlin (1833) - Describe the origin of the I.U.D.
pits were inserted into the uterus of a camel so it would not get pregnant on long desert voyages.
Thanks to Williams College for the quiz and the answers.
Feminist Quiz
- In what year, and how, did American women get the vote?
- Who is the only woman the United States government has ever honored with a commemorative coin?
- Looking at a photograph of famous women at the formation of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Nixon asked his secretary of state what he thought it looked like. What was the response?
- When did the first issue of Ms. Magazine appear?
- What important document was issued at Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848?
- When, and by whom, was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) introduced?
- What was referred to in Washington as the “Bunny Law”?
- What common feminist slogan was first used at an anti-war protest in Washington DC in 1968?
- On the subject of slogans – The office of the editor-in-chief of a popular women’s magazine was taken over for nine hours on March 18, 1970 by a large group of women led by Susan Brownmiller. What magazine was it, and what was and is still the slogan of the magazine?
- What was the Oak Room Invasion of 1969?
- How was Our Bodies, Ourselves written? By whom?
- When was the National Organization of Women (NOW) founded? What was its policy towards men at the time? Who was its first chair?
- Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is one of the most famous feminist works, and the theory is widely known. It is less well known that she has also written about the feminist mystique, in her later book, The Second Stage. What is this feminist mystique?
- Who wrote the book Confessions of a Feminist Man?
- On the fiftieth anniversary of women’s suffrage, there was a large demonstration on 5th Ave, NYC. What was the march?
- Who was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1975?
- Who released the popular children’s album Free to Be You and Me?
- Explain the original purpose of the “powder room.”
- When was the UN Decade for Women?
- When did NASA accept its first women astronauts?
- Since what year have women outnumbered men in America?
- What US college was first to allow women?
- Describe the origin of the I.U.D.
(Answers tomorrow!)
Not Barbie, Skipper
Lisa Hix wrote a nice rant about having an A cup for the SF Chronicle in response to hearing a show where a plastic surgeon waxed enthusiastically about implants. She points out that there are in fact health risks (including possibilities of hematoma, infection, deformity, toxic shock syndrome, plus the usual risks of anesthesia, the chance of losing sensation, decreasing the likeliness of breast cancer detection or the inability to nurse) but moreso points out that having an A cup is having a breast, and tires of the kind of talk that somehow equates A cups with not having breasts at all.
As a former A cup, I can tesitfy that you do in fact have breasts when you have A cups. I really enjoyed having A cups. I miss them.
I’ve found my recent re-sizing something to think about. For starters, I’ve been finding it harder to find nice bras now that i’m a D cup, much as I had a hard time finding ones when I was an A cup. The difference is that with a D, you absolutely do not want to compromise on support – in fact, you can’t. But I also had a moment of revelation while reading the beginning of Gerrie Lim’s book about the porn industry, which had more than one reference to pendulous D cups within 10 pages, and so caused me to think, “Huh, who knew? I’ve got pornstar-sized breasts now,” but the idea didn’t thrill me; I took it more like I would someone telling me I had the perfect size foot for shoe fetishists. Basically, I don’t care, because they don’t do me any good. It might have mattered some when I was 25 and single, but I’m not sure I would have cared then, either. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy them; I do. But I’d enjoy them more if I could take them off when I want to go to the hardware store or the grocery or to do other errands, all those times when I don’t want to be looked at. Not wanting your breasts stared at by every guy on the streets is exactly why you can’t sacrifice support at this size: if you do, they bounce more, which is not really what you want unless – ba rum bump! – you’re a porn star.
I find myself wearing a sports bra most days now, actually. Mostly I’ve realized that I’m glad I don’t get to choose, since both sizes have pros and cons, and the only real advantage resides in being one of those grow-up dolls that enabled me to change sizes with a quick, full rotation of one arm.
Breaking the Glass Ceiling
A new study shows why it’s important for women to break the glass ceiling and get themselves into senior management positions. Not that this is a huge shock to anyone who’s a feminist, but it’s nice to have the evidence to back it up.