Tag: feminism

"Tramp Stamp"? How classy of you.

tekanji

Update: I’ve been in touch with Tian (which was basically why I was waiting to make a final decision… which I meant to mention in the original post and totally forgot). Apparently “moderated” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing on Blogger than it does here — as it was set up to filter spam. Since he agrees with me that the comment was inappropriate, he has removed it. I’m keeping the original post below, although I no longer have any question on whether or not to keep it on my blogroll. Thank you all for your replies.

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I’ve had a few qualms with Hanzi Smatter in the past when it’s come to women’s issues, but they were always minor enough to be outweighed by the good I see it as doing. You see, the purpose of the blog is to poke fun at the (mis)appropriation of Asian language (specifically Chinese and Japanese) for tatoos, products, and other items. It’s not exactly the hotbed for critical analysis of race relations or oppression, but I see it as fluff for a good cause.

Except, a recent post has made me rethink whether or not I want it on my blogroll. It’s not what Tian says, but rather what he has approved in the comments. For the link-phobic, the picture in question is of a woman who has a lower back tatoo.

The first one is from Pappi:

It reminded me of 貞 when I first saw it, maybe she’s aiming for “unfaithful” (as in “player” or “cheater”)? The location of the tattoo and the picture certainly don’t contradict that guess O.o

Although I wince at the stereotype that a lower back tatoo on a woman (it’s always a woman, you see) is slutty, that one itself wouldn’t be enough to cause a strong reaction from me. After all, it can be argued that the argument, while tasteless, is based on the tatoo and isn’t attacking the woman herself.

Emily’s comment, however, makes me wonder what Tian’s criteria is for moderation:

I can’t believe people are still getting tramp stamps. In addition to simply being ugly and skanky, having one is like wearing a sign around your neck that says I DO WHATEVER’S TRENDY.

Gendered slurs like “tramp stamp” and “skanky” are specifically attacking the woman herself, not commenting on the tatoo quality. In fact, they have nothing to do with the tatoo hanzi smatter at all, but are instead making a moral judgement on the woman in question, shaming her for being (assumedly) slutty, which of course is bad because good girls don’t enjoy sex.

I fail to see why this is an acceptable comment, and because Tian believes it is, I’m wondering if it’s worth my time (and my link space) to endorse his site anymore. Gender is not the only important issue, but I would be no more accepting of a feminist who allowed racist comments to be published unquestioned on her site. I don’t believe that you can fight one type of oppression and ignore the other one — even if the expressions differ, oppression is oppression and I don’t think you can rightfully battle one while endorsing another.

So, what do you think, folks? I’ve taken people off of my blogroll for less. In my position, what would you do?

Feminist Dating Woes

tekanji

Over at her blog, Mary has a rant about being a heterosexual feminist in a world where men just don’t get it:

So yeah, it sucks and it’s hard blah blah blah fishcakes. And I’ll never be the girl who does anything for a man, and I’ll never be that girl who thinks her man can Do No Wrong, for He Is Man. That’ll suck some of the (twisted, unhealthy, movie-style) “romance” out of your life. And maybe I’m worse off for not being able to feel that way, for not being able to “love” in that sense. Except I’m not. I expect more from my partner, and he will give it to me, or I will walk away. I expect respect and consideration, and he will give it to me, or I will walk away. I expect thoughtfulness, and he will give it to me, or I will walk away. I expect a man to have as much anger at the patriarchy as I do, and he will show it to me, or I will walk away. He will prove to me that he IS the exception, or–you guessed it–I will walk away.

Since I’m mostly confined to looking at men as potential parnters at the moment, I am really feeling her pain. I’ve never been the “normal” kind of girl. Even when I believed in the concept of “true love”, I was never into that romantic bullshit. I always thought it was off, and when I was with my first boyfriend I finally understood why: because it’s about abuse and control, not love and partnership. Even when I find a guy who genuinely likes women — a rarity among heterosexual men, unfortunately — that doesn’t mean he likes a girl like me.

It’s annoying, but at least I have a great life going for me. A partner would be an addition, not the thing that makes or breaks my happiness. Yay feminism.

In Lieu of Pop-Culture Part Deux

tekanji

I have the next installment of my series mostly written, but it’s already 6 here and I haven’t eaten nor done my homework yet. So, I’m going to point you in the direction of an interesting post instead.

OS.CB regular Dora has made a post, Repeat after me: “We are all individuals …”, on her livejournal inspired by my post on Superheroine’s Demise. In it, she talks about the difference between criticizing individuals and being aware of the institutions of oppression that influence our choices. I’m with her 100%.

An excerpt:

Superheroine’s Demise, and the people who hold that fetish, are individuals. I won’t tell an individual to change who he is, or the individual choices he makes. I will not even wholly condemn him, because he is not completely, or exclusively, guilty. All of us are at least partially culpable in maintaining sexism. Yes, this case is worse than others, but it isn’t the sole villain among innocents.

I will, however, continue to (vocally) expose the sexism beneath practices such as these, so that people will learn about it. And I will continue to believe that people have a responsibility to educate themselves when they are presented with the opportunity. Unquestionable acceptance of misogyny is inexcusable – especially when you’re given the chance to enlighten yourself.

If that’s your kink, then that’s your kink. Just be honest about what that means.

Seeing the Classism in Racism

tekanji

vegankid has an excellent post over at Ally Work debunking the myth of lazy “welfare queens”. The post traces the history of welfare, brings up statistics, cites sources… all you could want from a topic like this and more.

Here’s an excerpt:

Martin Gilens, in Why Americans Hate Welfare, finds that “the belief that blacks are lazy is the strongest predictor of the perception that welfare recipients are undeserving.” In a mid-90s study titled “White’s Stereotypes of Blacks: Sources and Political Consequences,” researchers Hurwitz and Peffley found that White people agree that most Black people are lazy (31 percent), not determined to succeed (22 percent), and lacking in discipline (60 percent). It was these stereotypes that fueled the racist attacks on welfare despite the fact that at the time, the majority of welfare recipients were White wimmin. By catering to racism through imagery and rhetoric, those with the agenda of wiping out welfare could convince the largest recipients of welfare (economically-poor White people) that it was a good idea.

All to often, people (white people especially) seem to conflate issues of race with class. But, really, they aren’t the same. At all. Anyway, vegankid says it better than I ever could, so go read the post.

The other side of… the other side?

tekanji

Apparently someone who can only be bitter about me banning him made the letters of a Salon article. Under the heading, “Are Feminists Necessary?” he writes this multi-paragraph treatise that, frankly, I didn’t read. I sort of thought that his invoking the idea that feminists = Republicans was close enough to invoking Godwin’s Law for me to pass him off at losing at the internet. But I did have to read the paragraph in which I got an honourable mention – no link though, too bad.

The guy, who signed off as Two Sides To The Story (not that you’ll ever learn that) — his aside is ironic, given that unless people find my site they won’t ever actually learn the true context behind what he claims — had this to say:

On one of the links off Carnival Of Feminists (provided in another Boradsheet post) – “Official Shrub” – there’s a rule that says male writers can’t post opinions on the message board that point out that men suffer from discrimination, as well. Preposterously, they actually have a term for it – they call it: “What About The Mens Phallusy?” – which is meant to be satiric and clever, but actually only proves how fascist feminists still are in their thinking, and their desire to completely control the conversation.

Ignoring the fact that this is a, you know, blog and not a message board (a small, but significant difference), let’s just take a gander at what I actually say about men’s issues:

No Hijacking of Threads
Off-topic discussions are tolerated to a certain extent. I understand that threads can, and often do, take a life of their own. However, an attempt to come into a discussion for the express purpose of disrupting the main conversation will be seen as trolling. This includes invoking The “What About the Mens?” Phallusy with arguments like, “but this happens to men, too!” or otherwise trying to shift the focus from an oppressed group onto the individual oppressions a majority group faces. It’s one thing to relate one’s experiences and opinions when appropriate, but bringing up how the poor mens/whites/heterosexuals/etc. have problems, too, when the author’s discussion was about the institutionalized or individual acts of oppression of a minority is not appropriate. Any comment that tries to de-rail a thread is subject to either a warning or deletion, depending on how severe the infraction.

What that means is that if I make a thread that includes a platform for discussion of masculinities, then of course it’s appropriate. But if I’m talking about women, then it’s so fucking rude to come on here and be like, “But [x] happens to men, too!” Okay, great, but that’s not anywhere near my point. If you want to talk about that and feel I don’t give it enough airtime, go elsewhere. I give links. Lots of links. This is my soapbox, you see. Mine. Not yours. And, frankly, if you’re so steeped in your own privilege that you are unable to see the distinction, well, then maybe you deserved whatever ban I gave you for whatever reason.

And remember, ye anti-feminist trolls of jerkitutde, Feminists don’t hate men, we just hate you.

Via reader Darth Sidhe.

Carnival of Feminists Issue 13 out now!

Sour Duck

Issue number 13 of The Carnival of Feminists is out now!

Hosted by Terry of I See Invisible People, this issue offers up a diverse collection of writings from feminist blogs.

Well done Terry. Do stop by and leave a comment if you think she’s produced a good issue – comments are like manna from heaven for those hard-working Carnival Hosts.

Veganism: Stepping Stone to Feminism

lake-desire

When I was seventeen, I was eating a piece of chicken on the back porch when Quistis and Beula, two of the family hens, hovered begging. I indulged my pets with all fondness, and felt unsettled. How was the animal on my plate different than the pets I was sharing my meal with? Chickens were my favorite animals; I bonded with them like people bond with their dog or cats. So why was it I could eat a chicken I had never met, but the thought of doing the same to a cat turned my stomach? Identifying this discomfort was one of many catalysts that continues to shape who I am.

Continue reading

To my fellow sisters-in-arms:

tekanji

Stop it. Stop invalidating me because of my reproductive choices. Stop telling me what is and is not worthy of discussion. Stop calling me names because I have a different sexual expression than you. Stop discriminating against our sisters just because they don’t have the same naughty bits as you. Stop telling women that they should not be allowed to choose their life’s path. And, for the love of little green apples, stop trying to make the only valid path in life the one you want to take.

That’s what the patriarchy does, not us. Get it?

So, stop it. Just fucking STOP IT.

¡Viva la Campesina! Women Fighting Back

lake-desire

Searching for Activism

My feminist activism is far from isolating. I meet and connect with great women and men who are my peers on campus or online in the blog network. But I sometimes feel disconnected from the people beyond my immediate circle; I feel that the ways in which I’m a participant in a global world are invisible to me. In my Global Women class this quarter, my classmates and I tried to see some of those connections. As university students in the United States, we are privileged to ignore them. For my own term project, I chose look to into who grows the organic, local produce I enjoy so much. I wanted to know: who grows it, and why didn’t I know already?

I live in Bellingham, a city along the Puget Sound between Vancouver and Seattle. I seldom adventure beyond walking distance of my campus and apartment, so I see little of farms and most of that is from a distance on the highway. In spring and summer, I walk downtown to purchase local produce at the Saturday Farmer’s Market. The people selling the produce usually look like me, and I don’t give much thought beyond the cooking I will do when I get home.

My project led me to a local group called Community to Community Development, “a place-based, grassroots organization committed to creating alliances in order to strengthen local and global movements towards social, economic and environmental justice.”

¡Viva la Campesina!

How does this mission statement translate into practice? The panel I attended on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 is a good example; I’ll do my best to recount it. Pardon my slipping into pseudo-objective report mode, it’s not my usual writing style but I’m also turning this in for my class. I’m not sure how “accurate” this account is, but this is what I interpreted from what was said.

Organization director Rosalinda Guillen led the three panelists through sharing their experiences as farmworkers in my own Whatcom County and the adjacent Skagit County. The dialogue was held at Western Washington University and attended by both students and community members. I’m using fictional names of the panelists to preserve their privacy.

The presentation was bilingual, which challenged the pervasive English norm that surrounds me. Most of the farmworkers in the area are Hispanic. Language was used that the panelists were comfortable with, and the latter two speakers chose to talk to us in Spanish.

Anna

A woman named Anna was the first panelist to speak. She began with sharing her situation: fifty years old, in her thirty-first year of marriage, a mother of three, and grandmother of three. Originally from Texas, Anna’s family moved to the Skagit Valley when she was a young child and lived in labor camps for farmworkers. She began working in the labor camp at age five, and the fields at eight. When her family and their colleagues were able to find work, they were at it from dawn until dusk, seven days a week with no holidays. The labor camps were crowded–she recalled that the individual houses had bathrooms, but the camp shared communal showers. Labor camps are worse now than they were then, she said, because the same structures are used and are decaying with little or no maintenance.

Because farm work is seasonal, Anna’s parents often couldn’t find work and therefor relied on government assistance and help from relatives. It was a stressful time for her parents, Anna said, so she learned to be quiet and cooperative to avoid being a target. She didn’t want her dad to strike her. Anna pointed out that this was a tool for survival for people in powerless situations. “I want to help people in similar situations,” she said. She now works at Group Health so she can help people from her community.

Isabela

Isabela was the second panelist to speak. She moved to Yakima–a city in Eastern Washington–from Jalisco, Mexico in 1990 and sorted and packed apples, cherries, and pears. Eventually she moved to Bellingham. She is thirty-five and the mother of a young daughter; Isabela is currently unemployed and is looking for farmwork to support her family.

Isabela’s father was a bracero who, when she was a girl, traveled seasonally to the United States to find work. He lived in barracks-like with bunk-beds that housed several men to a room, and hundreds of men in each camp. Jobs typically were, she described, dawn to dusk with no holidays. Isabela’s father earned American dollars, which was more valuable than pesos, to send home to his family. Isabela feels that this little bit of extra income didn’t make up for the time he missed with his family.

Isabela’s father warned her not to travel to the United States because she’d be treated so poorly as a farmworker. She pointed out that now there are more considerations being made for farmworkers, including an hourly wages being at minimum wage, which is currently $7.63 in Washington (the highest in the country). But it still isn’t enough to get by, Isabela said.

Alessandra

Alessandra was the third and last person to speak on the panel. She moved to Bellingham, from Mexico, in 1996. She shared that she was a mother of three children–the youngest, and infant, with her at the panel. She primarily worked at a local organic farm. Crops there included peppers, eggplant, corn, carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower. She described the work as physically hard, including moving soil with wheelbarrows and transferring plants from flats into soil. One crop was harvested right after another. “One must present quality work so he can get paid,” she said.

Alessandra said she was happy at the organic farm because she was allowed breaks and the owner was respectful in that she let Alessandra spend the time she needed being a mother, getting her children to and from school.

Alessandra was recently let go from another farm she had worked for because some of her documentation was invalid. “If they only give work to people with proper documentation,” she said. “There’d be no one to do the work.”

After the three women introduced themselves, the panel was open to questions from the audience. Some of the topics discussed included:

Housing

Workers are known by what labor camp they’re from, and people still live in the same deteriorating camps. This reminded me of well off, white family friends from Pasco who blame the “Mexicans” for ripping apart the houses the farmers are kind enough to provide. These friends don’t work in agriculture. What the women told is a very different story, and I believe them.

Pesticides

Isabela told a story of an incident that occurred when she worked in Yakima. Apples were being sprayed outside of her packing plant when fumes came inside and made the workers feel dizzy and sick. Many had to go home sick, and others were afraid to leave. Alessandra went home sick but had to be back the next day. No incident report was filed, no doctor’s visit was provided. Alessandra said she was kept ignorant of her rights.

Anna only recalled being near the planes that sprayed pesticides on fields adjacent to ones she and her coworkers were working in. She reiterated that they weren’t allowed to be sick.

Raspberries as are a big crop in the area, and Alessandra reported that the roots of the plants are covered in a dust she suspects is a pesticide. Workers are provided with no masks and only cloth gloves. The dust they inhale makes the workers feel sick with constant flu-like symptoms. Alessandra used doubtful language–who knew what was going on?–but I argue that it doesn’t matter if it’s pesticides or not the workers are getting sick from: they should have to tolerate constant illness at work.

Children

Supporting a family as a farmworker was tough. The children of the farmworkers no longer performed labor like they used to, according to the panelists, but many still come with their parents to the fields. This is technically prohibited, but done out of necessity, said Alessandra. When she worked on at “conventional” (non-organic) farms, her children were exposed to pesticides. Although none of the women had observed pesticides harming their children, the host Rosalinda pointed out that it still may be happening even if they can’t see the immediate damage.

The women reported facing discrimination against their children. Alessandra couldn’t find an apartment for her three energetic children, the owners of the farms she worked at refused to help her. One said his empty house needed to be remodeled, the others outright said no. Anna recalled that as a girl, public school didn’t want to spend time on her because children of the farm workers are barely there. She said that was true today.

Alessandra said her children were told they had to speak English while at school. (Washington State does have an English Language Learners program.) She confronted teachers and principal. They apologized but Alessandra did not think things would change.

No daycare was provided for the farmworkers children, but the women did rely on each other for support in caring for children.

Gender

It was asked: why all women on the panel? Rosalinda replied that usually we think of workers as men. Women have different concerns that are often ignored. They bring a different perspective than the one we usually hear. The women farmworkers keep the family together, and must work full time and care for the children.

Moving Forward

The panel ended with a discussion of the future. Alessandra said that “hope is good” but she didn’t see how things were going to change as the rate of living rises faster than the minimum wage that traps people in poverty.

But by being there, we were moving towards change. The audience was asked to leave considering how their purchases affected the women they met that night.

“We’re here and we want to talk to you!”

Community to Community Development, by presenting such panels that open dialogues between the consumer community and farmworker community, want to educate the consumers so they will be allies when the farmworkers are ready to demand changes. The organization also wants local, family owned and sustainable systems that hold farm owners accountable.

Things to Come

The following day, I met with Rosalinda in her office. We reflected on the presentation. I shared how I’d just seen something I was oblivious to but realized I’d always know was there, and I thanked her for putting on a presentation that literally opened my eyes. I asked what was next. What activism was going on? What was to come?

In addition to the presentation I attended, Community to Community Development is working with farm owners to improve wages and working conditions. Beyond that, not much has been done yet. If more isn’t done, things may be grim. She shared stories of racism and hate crimes–such as cross burnings–the farmworkers have faced and continue to face. The Minutemen are the latest threat–these (white, as far as I saw on their website) men want to “help” border patrol keep aliens out. Rosalinda hopes that by establishing connections between the communities, we’ll remember meeting Alessandra and be ready will be prepared to stand up for immigrant rights. I’m listening and ready to be an ally.

In Defense of Domesticity [REPOST from Shrub.com]

tekanji

Note: This article was originally written on July 03, 2005 as a Shrub.com Article. In my process of switching all articles over to this blog, I will be reposting old entries. What follows is in its original form without any editing.

Because of some crossed wires, I’m taking this month instead of johnmoon (he’ll be up for August). Since I’m in the middle of moving, I’m going to shamelessly plagiarize my own comment from a thread over at reappropriate. On our blog, I argued for the ability for people to choose what, if any, parts of traditional femininity and masculinity are right for them. Taking the argument to its logical conclusion, everyone should have the right to choose what kind of life is right for them whether it be working a job or taking care of the house and kids.

When I was younger, I was pretty much against anything feminine. My personality, combined with my having a backlash against what was expected of me, caused me to get into a “male-normative” mindset (meaning that I thought that traditionally male things were “normal” and traditionally feminine things were “bad”): I hated makeup, and “girly” clothing like dresses and skirts, and, yes, I looked down on people who aspired to the domestic. It took me a long time to step away from that mindset but it wasn’t until I got a big dose of feminist theory that I really understood why it’s so important to see things such as domestic labour as valuable.

Now, I can understand fighting hard to give people a true choice in what they want to do with their lives. I understand that, right now, domestic labour is de-valued and, in many cases, can make a woman into nothing more than a domestic slave. However, I don’t think the solution is to further degrade that labour but to show society how valuable it is. To show society that “womanly” things are just as good as “manly” things.

The facts are, not everyone wants to aspire to a male-normative life. Some people, women and men, want to raise a family and keep their home functioning properly. And, frankly, that should be seen as a good thing. Homemakers, unlike the stereotype, don’t sit on their asses all day eating bonbons and watching soap operas. They do work: they can clean, they can cook, they can garden, they can decorate, they can be in charge of the finances, they can have time to have hobbies that they enjoy, if there are children around they can take care of them, too. Society is built not only by the breadwinners, but also on the backs of people (historically women) who have kept the less visible parts running smoothly.

These are people who have given all their time to making sure the people around them are healthy, happy, and in good order. These are people who have sacrificed much of themselves in order to benefit their families. Desiring to be a homemaker is, for many people, about loving one’s family above everything and wanting to be the domestic backbone that keeps things going.

Saying that these people have no ambition, degrading the valuable work they do… that’s what’s been done to them for ages. Calling their valuable labour worthless is calling them worthless for wanting to do that labour. And that is an anti-feminist value. To work for equality, we need to see the value in the traditionally feminine and not just try to make everyone into “men”.