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Masculinity and the 40 Year Old Virgin (6 mins, 5 MB)

I saw the movie. And while I was also in shock at the way women were discussed and treated, I laughed at the main character Andy while he tried to navigate the pressures to be what a man is ‘supposed’ to be and do what a man is ‘supposed’ to do.

Just as women face stereotypes to behave a certain way, so do men. Men are somehow supposed to be sexual experts, responsible for their own pleasure as well as somehow reading the minds of their partners in order to provide their pleasure as well. Stereotypes prescribing male behaviour are just as damaging as those proscribing that for females. Read more »

Tara McKee is a sex educator from Toronto, Ontario. In this audiocast she addresses issues surrounding the need for accurate education surrounding sexuality. She makes suggestions regarding negotiating sexual boundaries, and finding woman positive information about sex and also talks about the sexual pressures women face. In the true nature of third wave feminism, she recognizes the diversity of experience among women and encourages women to discover what gives them pleasure and to use this information when playing with a partner.

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SEXuality (10 mins 40 sec, 10MB)

Third wave feminism is characterized by its activism. Although some still argue that there is ‘no third wave’ I see plenty of proof peeking up all over that a re-emergence of feminism is upon us and hopefully this will be accompanied by progress towards gender equality.

Audiocasting is an ideal tool for combining third wave issues with a people’s media. This audiocast addresses some issues surrounding opportunities for activism and one woman’s experience in social justice issues and as a nun.

Enjoy!

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Activism (7 mins, 7 MB)

This semester is challenging me to come to terms with this beast called “feminism”. Between papers identifying whether or not suffrage has made a difference in women’s lives to critiquing the third wave I waver between thinking the movement is salvageable and becomeing enthused with reform to seeing the idea as too far gone a struggle and trying to decide how to get where we need to go, and how to include the good parts of feminism while discarding the parts that impede progress. I came across this which speaks strongly to to me although I don’t know if I agree with her.

“Feminism isn’t an employment agency for women;
it’s an alternative way of ordering the social space,
in which women are the prototype rather than men.
It is based on collaboration rather than competition.
As a youngster, I still remember my feeling of joy
that one could look at the earth differently.
That’s feminism: everything is differently oriented.
Seeing the same world through different eyes.”
~ Ursuala Franklin

The use of the term “feminist” inhibits the goals of the movement for equality. In her article “Why I’m a Feminist,” Lauren Anderson describes some of the many negative stereotypes associated with “feminism” and “feminists” like “hairy-legged, bitchy, [and] lesbian” (Anderson 32). According to this stereotype, feminists are destructive, hateful, selfish and angry. These stereotypes are created and reinforced in and by our culture, and are very difficult to change. The semantics of a word are determined by its usage. Regardless if a dictionary or encyclopaedia defines feminism as the “belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes” (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language qtd. at www.dictionary.com), popular use interprets feminism as a radical movement, full of militant extremists.

Some self-defined feminists choose to struggle against this popular definition, in a quest to open the eyes and ears of society to the important work of the women’s movements. They claim that the purpose of feminism is to open doors and break socially constructed barriers erected to maintain the patriarchal power structure and keep women out of the public sphere. They say nothing about hating men, only about an imbalance in the power structure of society. This challenge seems insurmountable. It is time to re-evaluate what the feminist movement stands for and find a less stigmatized vocabulary capable of describing the goals and purposes of the movement while at the same time maintaining an open and receptive audience in present-day society. Read more »

My house was robbed the weekend after finals. I’m just about put back together – luckily I had insurance. It’s been a great challenge trying to function without a computer for the past few weeks, borrowing and traveling to get the essentials met. Unfortunately the blog was one of the first things to go. My bank put a hold on the insurance cheque – said it coudl be fraudulent – and so between the sloth of the insurance company and the bank’s self-protection it took a month to get the funds to actually replace the things that can be replaced. My grandmother’s and aunt’s jewellery are irreplaceable. Read more »

Feminist discussions of gender neutrality in language have achieved some reform in spoken and written English language. Organizations like the American Philosophical Association (APA) provide guidelines to their members in the use of non-sexist language. Saul suggests similar strategies for creating gender-neutral language. This paper will discuss how the “Guidelines for Non-Sexist Use of Language” (Warren) call for concrete gender-neutral word choice and will identify where Saul’s discussion of gender-biased language differs in guidelines and in justifications.

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I struggle with the symbolism of the ballet tutu every day. I’m a ballet teacher: it’s a skill I have that allows me to buy groceries for my kids. Most of my students are girls under the age of 10. Many sign up because they’ve seen movies of beautiful Barbie princesses dancing beautifully about and they want to be just like her. The reality of classical ballet training is very different from the movies: it’s very disciplined, technical, hard work and lots of sweat.

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When my grandmothers were having babies (in Canada before WWII) going to the hospital was for middle class women, poor and isolated women had their babies at home. By the time my mother was having babies almost no one was having babies at home anymore. (And almost no one was breastfeeding). Science, medicine, and technology were the heroes of the 70s.

When I had my first baby in the 90s there was a growing midwifery movement in Canada but midwifery was not yet covered by Ontario’s health insurance. Only those who could afford a midwife could have one. Even with a sliding scale it was a challenge to pay, but it was the only way to have an attended home birth. Most of the clients of the practice were highly educated and all the ones during the time I was there were white.

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In “The Power of Self-Definition” Patricia Hill Collins describes identity self-construction in terms of race and gender. Bell and Valentine’s article, ““The Sexed Self: Strategies of Performance, Sites of Resistance” concentrates on how sexual identity impacts life. Both show how the multiple dimensions of identity impact an individual.

According to Hill Collins, Black women’s standpoint provides them with an “alternative worldview to that embedded in institutional locations of domination” (1990, p. 103). Alexis DeVeaux says that in order to understand the larger groups around us it is important to first understand the “space between” (qtd in Hill Collins, 1990, p. 104). Black women seek to do this by exploring their relationships with each other and between themselves and dominant culture. Other methods which contribute to self-definition include music, specifically blues, and scholarship and literature (Hill Collins, 1990).

Self-defining in these ways allows Black women to move from victim to freedom to action. Blues music empowers women to act by using their individual voices to sing about issues experienced collectively (Hill Collins, 1990, p.100). Through music, Black women give voice to the relationship between respect and power (Hill Collins, 1990, p. 108). Self-definition through music, literature, and community provides Black women with “the spirit of independence”, skills to become “self-reliant”, and the support and encouragement required to challenge traditional stereotypes about Black women. (Hill Collins, 1990, p.109). By creating their own definitions, Black women place “the power to save the self within the self” rather than looking outside for rescue (Hill Collins, 1990, p. 112). The process of self-definition is also one of consciousness raising. This creates the locus for social change, that is, to be valued as Black women by their own definition, rather than to live the struggle “of two lives, one for them [the concept of the Black woman as defined by the dominant culture] and one for ourselves” (Gwaltney qtd in Hill Collins, 1990, p. 94).

Bell and Valentine’s article “The Sexed Self” focuses on people with marginalized sexual identities. As an invisible group, lesbians do not have the ease in forming community (Bell and Valentine, 1995, 145) afforded the Black women described in Hill Collins (1990). Bell and Valentine also describe the multiple identities that gays and lesbians often carry in order to “pass” (Bell and Valentine, 1995, 145). This is similar to Hill Collins saying Black women need to understand the dominant culture while at the same time creating their own identities (Hill Collins p. 91). Like Black women, lesbians must also “manage their identities in order to ‘fit’ within the boundaries of the hegemonic heterosexual discourse” (Bell and Valentine p.146).

Lesbian women have not had the same history of music and literary expression that has been so helpful to Black women in self-definition. Coming-out is inherent with risks (Bell and Valentine, 1995, pp.117-118). But Black women do not share lesbian potential for invisibility. Because the “notion of ‘what a lesbian looks like’” (Bell and Valentine, 1995, p.149) lacks a concrete answer, defining and identifying a “lesbian” is much more difficult than defining or identifying a “Black woman”. Lesbians may decide to define themselves as ‘bisexual ‘or as ‘heterosexual but having relationships with other women’ (Bell and Valentine, 1995, p.146). The label “lesbian” is fraught with complications and loss of power. Both groups are constantly aware of their audience (Hill Collins, 1990, p. 94, Bell and Valentine, 1995, p. 156) and must choose how to perform. The fluid definition of lesbian suggests that heterosexual remains the only socially acceptable orientation or else self-identity is also a fluid construct.

Bell and Valentine describe body modification as a way to identify one’s self as “other”. These choices remove invisibility and then like a different skin colour they serve as markers of difference (1995 p.150).

Bell and Valentine’s description of anger in AIDS activism shows a community that can mobilize. Like a pride parade, a Black women’s music festival provides an opportunity to engage with others, celebrate positive action and continue the struggle of the subordinated. Exposing queer practices (Bell and Valentine, 1995, p.153) forces the dominant culture to take notice of the marginalization of gays and lesbians, much like the music and literature of Black women calls attention to their concerns.

In Bell and Valentine’s conclusion they suggest, “the very notion of stable identities becomes destabilised, opening up new radical spaces for subjectivities freed from rigid binarisms and cultural matrices” (1995, p.157). Deconstructing identities does not provide the same political impetus created by constructing an identity. (1995, p. 157). Perhaps this is why Black women have had more success in organizing for social recognition and change. Bell and Valentine conclude that “rethinking our (sexed) selves” may provide help in defining spaces for marginalized bodies (1995, p.157). Looking to the womanist movement may provide some ideas on how this could be done.

Works Cited