The Feminist Critic

If You're Not a Feminist, Then You're a Bigot by Gloria Allred

2012-02-08T04:20:00.000-08:00

I happened upon the funny video "Sh*t White Feminists Say" and after it finished, saw the Gloria Allred video come up in the feed on the side and clicked on it. She is basically saying that feminism is about human rights and social justice and if you're not for those issues, then you are against human rights and social justice, making you a bigot.

I really like her comment dismissing "we've come a long way" in that we need to be looking at a vision to where we should be rather than what we have accomplished. But what is amazing to me about this video are the comments below it. My first question is, if you were anti-feminist, why would you even spend time watching a video about feminism? Why is there such vile hatred for someone working for social justice? The descriptors below her include comments like "cunt" and "I don't think she swallows."

What does someone's sexual acts in bed have to do with their politics? Who are these people cruising You Tube and making random comments on these videos? Furthermore, the comments about humanism are also frustrating. If one is to look up the definition of humanism, it is "an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns, attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters." It is more about being an atheist than being someone for equal rights.

I guess I shouldn't be so astonished, in this day when a backlash against women seems to be clearer than the one Susan Faludi wrote about in 1992. A new documentary that is sweeping Women's Studies Programs and Women's Centers, Miss Representation demonstrates how little women are represented in the news, in the mainstream media, in children's books and in movies. And when they are represented, they are depicted as female bombshells with no brains, characterized only by their supposed beauty. This film is also promoting DOING something about the lack of women. Their tagline "You can't be what you can't see" makes sense.

For this year's Superbowl their blog promoted a #NotBuyingIt campaign where people could tweet their dislike of commercials that were sexist. The biggest offender so far is GoDaddy. I'm glad something is finally being done about this in a pro-active way, but those few followers of my blog know I've been harping on this representation piece for years.

Maybe I'm just starting to become old and jaded a week before my 43rd birthday. Maybe I'm becoming tired of feeling like it's always three steps forward and two steps back. Maybe working at university means I'm always educating the same group of students year after year who come to me with the same cultural biases and brainwashing. Maybe change isn't happening fast enough for my lifetime and I don't want to die wondering if we'll ever get an ERA.

But I promise to try to keep writing, even though once a week is clearly a challenge for this blogger. And for today, I'm with Gloria Allred.

Time is Short: Be Present Now

2012-01-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

Normally I spend some time critiquing the latest attack on women or LGBT people in the media. And I am quite happy that Michele Bachmann has left the race for President and could certainly blog about that for hours. However, a colleague of mine died right before Christmas, out of the blue, and I am really trying to honor who she was by living more in the moment. This is always a challenge for me. For those who know me well, I like to plan. I like to make lists. I constantly make lists. I keep some for months at a time as I try to get to that one item that hasn't risen to the top, like getting our passport pictures taken. I have the forms all filled out with our old passports in a nice file in the kitchen, but to actually make it to the CVS, looking presentable, hasn't happened.

So for Louise, a woman who was the most professional, moral and non-judgmental person I have probably ever met, I vow to live life moment to moment. This, of course, is a constant challenge but striving for it alone is a Zen-like journey. I will begin to let go of what I want to do when I grow up, let go of my dreams of being a university professor, let go of my dreams to teach theatre, and just be here now.

Living moment to moment does not curtail one from setting goals and accomplishing them, but it enables us to take more joy in the here and now. When I did my yoga teacher training I learned that of all the thoughts we have every day (thousands of them), somewhere around 80% of them are about the past. About the things we cannot change.

And in those moments of anger, frustration, traffic, people who annoy you, it is easy to go someplace else, mentally at least, and not be there in the moment. It's hard work and not anything I expect to come easy, especially to Juli "the dreamer" Parker. But for Louise, this vow I take in your memory. I can only hope that somewhere you have been reincarnated into a cat or a dog who lives with a loving owner just like you were.

Dr. Juli Parker on murderous women

2011-11-16T04:38:00.000-08:00

Introducing My Book

2011-11-16T04:16:00.000-08:00

Last November, my book, Representations of Murdering Women in Literature, Theatre, Film and Television: Examining the Patriarchal Presuppositions Behind the Treatment of Murderesses in Fiction and Reality was published. This anthology includes sixteen other writers exploring the murdering woman throughout time in the genres of film, literature, theatre and television.

My interest in this subject centers around plays about women who murder, particularly plays that I feel give the murderess a second day in court. Many of the playwrights I am drawn to explore how the "system" responds to these women. In a nutshell, women who murder are considered bad or evil or crazy, while men who murder are an inevitability, as in boys will be boys.

The book was published by the Edwin Mellen Press, a scholarly press. I make no money on the project until I sell 500 books. A former student of mine interviewed me for this video on the book as a project for her graduate journalism course. I was unfortunately getting over a cold at the time.

UPDATE

2011-10-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

I wanted to apologize to my FIVE followers that I haven't posted in a while. I was in the process of getting a new blog/website since finishing my 200 hour yoga teacher training and it didn't work out. So with a fresh new look, I'm back on my Wednesday posts. I'm also happy to see your ideas for something to critique from a feminist lens.

The Big O

2011-05-23T13:42:00.001-07:00

This essay was written for 2nd Story Theatre's current production of Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, directed by Vanessa Gilbert.

The big O. For centuries, the subject of orgasm as applied to men bore nary a thought as it was expected as part of procreation. Even in the millennia this subject remains controversial and is often embarrassing for women. Many of you who came to see this play were embarrassed or even hesitant to attend. Admit it. Why?

Let's first start with a bit of history. Yes, doctors invented this vibrating device to treat women with hysteria, often thought to be the womb or excess fluid moving inside the body. Yet this treatment was never connected with sex, as Ruhl depicts in the play.

The Victorian approach of men controlling women's sexual feelings continued for years, particularly as Sigmund Freud's work told women that young girl's feelings in her clitoris transferred to her vagina as she passed into adulthood. Hundreds of thousands of women were then left frustrated that they couldn't climax during intercourse. We know today that approximately 30% of women cannot have an orgasm during intercourse and this is based on simple biology. Yet somehow much of this information has not translated to the average women's experience. Furthermore, we know that girls and women are not socialized to masturbate, leaving it up to men to figure out how best to pleasure women. Men are socialized to believe they have an innate sense of how to please women, even though they are not provided with a how-to guide when they reach adolescence, even when every woman is different.

Orgasm, Inc: The Strange Science of Female Pleasure, a recent documentary by Liz Canner, addresses the subject of FSD or Female Sexual Dysfunction. In this film, Canner examines two pharmaceutical companies who want to market a pill to women who have trouble achieving orgasms. These companies (not doctors!) have developed this term, FSD, to somehow convince women there is something medically wrong with them. What lies beneath this corporate ploy, however, is the lack of discussion on the reality of women's sexual experiences and abilities.

The vibrator has been part of our households since the early 1900s when Hamilton Beach patented the first electric vibrator sale. Yet using the vibrator has long been a secret and something for which to be ashamed or embarrassed. In fact, until recently, it was illegal to sell them in five southern states. I have been teaching a workshop called "The Female Orgasm" to college students for over 16 years. I am still amazed at how much they have bought into a somewhat Victorian way of thinking of women's bodies. Most of them still think they are supposed to have orgasms during intercourse and there is something wrong with them if they don't. Numerous college aged women are not familiar with their own bodies and cannot articulate to their partners what gives them pleasure. Many of them think that masturbation is only for single women. I'm certain much of this has to do with the amount of pornography available to them today (but that is a subject for a different essay!).

The good news, however, is that sex toys, today's version of Dr. Givings electrical device, are generally well known and appreciated by many of the woman who cross my office door. Students sponsor sex toy parties in their dorm rooms demonstrating that while they might not be comfortable touching themselves, they are at least in control of their sexuality. And this is the crux of Ruhl's play.

Ruhl posits that women must be in charge of their sexuality which is evident in the last scene when Mrs. Givings takes charge of her sex life. She instructs Dr. Givings and explores his body in a way she never has before. In some ways, Ruhl is turning the typical representation of women on its head by making Dr. Givings nude on stage. Mrs. Givings is in command and the implication is that she then too will be in command of her orgasm. Ruhl's subtle, but significant message is that women must develop their own self agency and not let men control their sexuality.

If you haven't seen the play, you must. It runs through May 29th.

2011-04-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

I like beer. In fact, I loved micro-brews and Imports in college. Amstel Light was one of my favorites. And I'm still a sucker for an occasional Poor Man's Black Velvet (Guiness & Cider). Then I got a little older and couldn't handle the richer, thicker beers (or my waistline couldn't!) and got into drinking lighter beers.

Fortunately Miller Light is not my light beer of choice as their recent ad campaign mocking men for being like women is so blatantly sexist I can't even believe it is on TV in 2011. Each one of these advertisements is not only sexist but also reinforces the already limited gender roles that men get to play in our culture. The one that inspired me to write this blog, shows a man teeing off from the women's tees at a golf course and ordering a Bud Light. His friends tease him from the men's tees telling him to "man up." This one I couldn't find on the Internet.

A similar commercial shows a man ordering "any light beer" at a bar, with the female bartender commenting negatively on his choice, implying that he is wearing a skirt.
What is fascinating about this commercial is that women are actually colluding with sexism in order to enforce this limited view of men's masculinity. Men should be disgusted by this portrayal of them but women should be appalled that they are being used as enforcers of limited roles for men.

The story gets even more interesting when doing a little digging on the corporation which is now MillerCoors. Ah! It makes so much sense now. Coors has always been known in feminist circles as an anti-abortion, anti-gay company. Ironically they have a commitment to diversity in their company, which is not represented in their commercials. http://www.greatbeergreatresponsibility.com/SocialResponsibility/ValuingDiversity.aspx

Will you join me in boycotting Miller Light? And all of Miller? If you commit to boycott all of MillerCoors, there is a list of approximately 33 beers you will have to avoid. First, the domestics: Miller Light, Coors Light, ExtraGold Lager, Hamms, Icehouse, Keystone Light, MGD 64, Magnum Malt Liquor, Mickeys, Miller Chill, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life (one of my personal favorites), Miller Life, Milwaukee's Best Light, Old English 800, Southpaw Light, Steel Reserve High Gravity. Now these imports, I'm sure many of you didn't know were distributed by MillerCoors: Cristal, Cusquena, Molson Canadian, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell, Tyskie, Aguila. The crafts: Blue Moon Beligian White, Henry Winehard's Private Reserve, Leinenkugal's Sunset Wheat. And finally the specialty beers: Coors Non Alcoholic, Fosters, George Killian's Irish Red, Sharps, and Sparks. Or at least write them and tell them how their advertisement hurts men and women. https://www.millercoors.com/feedback.aspx

Do it for the children, the future, a place where limits won't be set on who we can be, who can wear a skirt, or how far we can hit a ball.

International Women’s Day in Review

2011-03-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

In the U.S. no one knows it is International Women’s Day. It’s not even listed on half the calendars. It says “Mardi Gras” on most calendars I saw. Of course we would be celebrating a big party with booze flowing than the rights of over half the population.

In many parts of the world, women get the day off from work and men give them flowers. How can we start that tradition here? We hold an annual event for IWD every year, co-hosted by our International Student & Scholar center, but I think next year we should have every woman take a personal day and let the university see what it would be like to function without women, just for a day.

The Republicans are attacking reproductive rights in our country with only two and a half months in office. And it isn’t just happening at the federal level. State legislatures are already gearing up to limit access and to try to pass laws given fetal rights over a woman’s. Here’s an interesting attack in Georgia “H.B. 1, a law proposed in the House of Representatives of the Georgia General Assembly by State Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta). This law would not only make abortion completely illegal in Georgia (the bill refers to it as ‘prenatal murder’), but it would also put a burden on any woman who has a miscarriage to prove that it happened naturally and was not induced in any way. The result would be that every single miscarriage in the state of Georgia would have to be reported to state officials. Many could be potentially investigated by the authorities, a daunting proposition given that anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of known pregnancies miscarry. The penalties for this so-called prenatal murder, whether by abortion or by a miscarriage that authorities determine had “human involvement,” include life in prison—or even death.”

In South Dakota, Iowa, & Nebraska lawmakers are looking at making the killing of abortion doctors “justifiable homicide.” Justifiable homicide? Sometimes I wonder if I went to sleep in October 2010 and woke up in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale this year. If we want to make the world a better place for women, we know that giving them freedom in deciding when to bear children makes a huge difference. According to today’s Huffington Post, “an estimated 215 million women in the developing world want to avoid a pregnancy, but are not currently using a modern method of birth control.”

As we move into Women’s History Month, perhaps we can begin reflecting on what we are doing to make this a better world for women and staying on top of what our elected officials are trying to do in the name of budget deficits to limit our freedom.

The Biggest Loser is Sexist

2011-02-23T13:05:00.001-08:00

This week I am going to write about the only Reality show I watch: The Biggest Loser. My office mate watches it, as well, and every Wednesday we talk about the night before. We have two huge issues with the show, but continue to be sucked in by it. The show has some underlying sexism that needs to be explored.

First off, last night, the black team had low weight loss. All but two of the contestants on the black team are women. My husband turns to me and says "They're all having their period." I said he was probably right. Then he says "don't women get on the same cycle when they live together?" Why he is asking this is beyond me as we had a roommate for over a year who was a woman and she and I were most definitely in sync. What interests me most about this topic is that the show NEVER addresses it. They never say that women tend to fluctuate water weight throughout the month based on their menstrual cycle. In fact, statistics show that women can fluctuate as much as 2-4 lbs during their period. This might not seem a lot, but when you're on The Biggest Loser, a four pound gain can mean you are going home. For me, this is more about addressing all the reasons that people gain weight and if they are going to ignore a natural bodily process because it is too controversial or "dirty," I probably should stop watching it.

The other sexist thing that occurs on this show is what people wear. Early on, the women have to wear sports bras while the men get to wear t-shirts. And the men get to take off their t-shirts for the weigh-ins, but the women have to keep theirs on. Why would anyone make obese people show off their stomachs on national television? My suggestion is to keep them all in tank tops. It's not fair to the women to have to wear sports bras and also not fair that the men get to take off their shirts.

So that's my rant for the week. February is a crazy month for me with birthdays and V-Week, so my brain is not in its normal Feminist Critic mode. I promise to get it there for next week's posting.

Where are all the Women Playwrights?

2011-02-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know me, I often lament the lack of women's plays being performed on the American stage. Approximately 17% of all plays produced in the U.S. are written by women. We’ll break these stats down by race another time. We also know that only one woman has ever won an Oscar for best director and only four women have ever won Tony Awards for best direction of a play or musical. Marsha Norman, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of ‘night, Mother recently addressed my concerns in an article for Theatre Communications Group. What is even more compelling about this topic, however, is that women playwrights are not the only female artists not achieving parity; almost all women artists are affected. (Unless you play in an orchestra where they hold blind auditions).

She writes that
the U.S. Department of Labor considers any profession with less than 25 percent female employment, like being a machinist or firefighter, to be ‘untraditional’ for women. Using the 2008 numbers, that makes playwriting, directing, set design, lighting design, sound design, choreography, composing and lyric writing all untraditional occupations for women. . . If it goes on like this, women will either quit writing plays, all start using pseudonyms, or move to musicals and TV, where the bias against women's work is not so pervasive http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/nov09/women.cfm.

Playwright Gina Gionfriddo, whose play I recently saw at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren, Rhode Island (www.2ndstorytheatre.com), protested the lack of plays produced in New York that are written by women. "Producers, directors and perhaps audiences, she said, seem much more willing to accept unappealing male characters than unappealing women" www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/theater/30gina.html.

And her play, Becky Shaw, is full of unappealing women. It is the second of her plays I have seen, being blessed to attend the Humana Festival of New Plays in 2005 and seeing After Ashley. But I’m not going to write about how much I loved this play and what it is about. You can get that information in the local paper. The RI Monthly has a great review of it and asks the question where all the young theatre goers are?

I want you to go see this play because I want all of us to recognize the lack of women artists in our culture. If we don’t attend their art shows, go to their plays, listen to them sing, watch them dance, than we are buying into this mythical notion of a “human” experience that can somehow only be represented from a male world view. This is the crux, you see.

Let me give you an example. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is considered one of the best plays ever written because of its ability to connect with “everyman.” This play was considered an excellent representation of the human struggle. And while I love much of what Mr. Miller has put down on paper, this play does not represent MY struggle. I feel alienated from that play, particularly as a woman and even more so because of the way the women are portrayed in the play. On the other side, numerous plays by women have not been “mainstreamed” because they were too much about a “woman’s” experience rather than the “human” one. Huh? Are women aliens and nobody told me?

But Becky Shaw appealed to me and certainly appealed to the 150 + people packed into 2nd Story Theatre on one of the first warm and sunny days of winter in Rhode Island (including the three people who came with me). Apparently part of her interest in developing the character of Becky Shaw was to expound on a literary topic covered in numerous books for centuries; that of women being judged for changing their class status, or “moving on up.” And I'm sure if you go see the wonderful actresses and actors and the pinpoint direction, you'll be glad you did.

No Waiting for Republicans

2011-02-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

In just a few weeks in office, the Republican run House is already set to start stripping away women's rights. Really? They have proposed legislation that would only provide federally funded abortion services if the woman was a victim of FORCIBLE rape, not just plain old every day run of the mill rape. So ladies, make sure you have your iphones ready to take a picture of your forcible attack so you can prove that you were forced into your sexual assault and that you were not willingly raped.

Even using the term forcible with the word rape doesn't seem appropriate. Like all other rapes are not forced? It just makes me sick to my stomach. Do they even realize how this makes victims/survivors feel when they see legislation like this? The right wing is so anti-choice that they will stoop to making women prove that they were raped by force so they don't have to carry their rapist's unborn fetus to term. Otherwise, tough luck, sister, enjoy your pregnancy, carrying your rapist's baby to term.

And that's not even all. But I can't even vent about it any more. Go to moveon.org for more information.

A Season of Light. A Season of Stress.

2010-01-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

I sent this to The Herald News for a December 26th run, or so I thought. The writer in charge of "Community Voices" never got back to me, and I couldn't find it in any archives, so who knows if it was ever published. Nevertheless, I've decided I just need to post more about what I'm thinking. . .

I watched a re-run of Family Guy last night. In this episode, Lois freaks out because she is exhausted from Christmas preparations. She sets fire to their tree and goes on a rampage through the town of Quahog. This episode really resonated with me, even though I don't have children. I have done the majority of the shopping for the approximately 40 people on our list, many of whom are nieces and nephews on my husband's side of the family. Last Saturday I spent hours wrapping all of those presents. And I'm still not done. I have to pick up something for my Dad, find the perfect book about trains for my Godson, get something for my neighbors who were overly generous last year, a gift certificate for my brother in law and his wife, go to Target and get dog toys for nine dogs, and maybe something else for my mother.

Then I have to buy the ingredients to make a Christmas Eve dessert, develop a shopping list for Christmas dinner, which will include making another dessert, and finish wrapping the gifts I haven't finished wrapping, including some I need to wrap when my husband is elsewhere.

Christmas has become a race to exhaustion. And while I love to buy Christmas presents, I wonder if we have stepped too far afield of its meaning. While we hear all the time that we have to "get back to the real meaning of Christmas," like a new group on Facebook called "Let's keep the Christ in Christmas," none of this addresses the pressure that, in most cases, women face during this time of year.

And why does the holiday pressure fall on women? I know I am the one who nagged my husband about decorating the house. I was the one who wanted our house to look "pretty" in my neighborhood. I was the one who went to get a tree and then decorated the whole thing while he cooked dinner one night. I did manage to get him to come shopping with me for some of our nieces and nephews, but I couldn't get him to move at the pace I needed. Am I the one who puts this pressure on me? Do women bring this on themselves? Or are men happy to let us take charge?

I often get a good cold this time of year. Women run themselves into exhaustion, staying up late wrapping presents or baking cookies or decorating. I wonder if next year, instead of getting back to the real meaning of Christmas, maybe we could begin to think of an equality of Christmas, where no one person in the home takes full responsibility for the increased chores that come with this beautiful season of lights.

2009-05-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

In June 2008 the new Bristol County Commission on the Status of Women was passed into legislation.

Nine months later, nine commissioners were appointed representing the following towns throughout Bristol County: Mansfield, Assonet, Norton, Swansea, Raynham, South Dartmouth, New Bedford and Berkley.

The move to make this legislation came out of a regional council of women brought together after a regional hearing of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, held in Bristol County.

The MCSW regularly travels throughout the state holding regional public hearings where citizens of the commonwealth may express concerns relating to the status of women and girls in Massachusetts.

After holding a hearing in Bristol County, a group of women, led by Gail Fortes, the Executive Director of the YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts and a new BCCSW commissioner, began to meet regularly to examine research and data on girls and women in Bristol County in order to develop an agenda and action plan on women’s issues.

Out of this agenda came the need to develop a county commission. Regional council members felt this was the best way to represent women, as developing specific city-based women’s commissions would be more difficult and time consuming. For example, having to develop commissions in Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford would have been all-consuming and the outlying towns would not have representation in those city commissions.

State Sen. Joan Menard and Rep. Pat Haddad were the envoys for the legislation, writing it and pushing it through both the House and the Senate. Strangely, the bill was stuck for months in the Ways and Means committee, even though the legislation does not include any funding from the state.

But after months of waiting, it was finally passed. And then the MCSW went to work trying to find commissioners in Bristol County. This task took nine months.

On March 31, seven of the nine appointees were sworn in before a small crowd of friends, local politicians and commissioners from the MCSW at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The first meeting was held following the swearing-in to examine by-laws and the rules of running a local state commission.

As there had been priorities set previously by the regional council, these issues were brought to the table. These five priorities are as follows:

1. Education: funding for education, particularly higher education, keeping girls in school and workforce development.

2. Pay equity: closing the wage gap and equal pay for equal work.

3. Health care: access to affordable health care and access to birth control options, including abortion.

4. Leadership development: providing opportunities for women and girls, developing a mutual support network for women and girls, and promoting advancement opportunities for women in the workforce.

5. Providing access to affordable housing, childcare and transportation.

Of the seven commissioners present, all were in agreement with these five priorities, but felt that adding the issue of domestic violence as a sixth priority was imperative.

The commissioners will meet again for their second meeting on May 6 at UMass Dartmouth and will begin their work.

Announcements will be forthcoming in the fall regarding local city and town hearings where citizens of Bristol County can provide input on issues facing girls and women in Bristol County. The commissioners will then make recommendations and propose solutions.

It is an exciting time to be a woman in Bristol County!

http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x50619358/COMMUNITY-VOICES-New-commission-strives-for-gender-equality-04-18-09

Should First Ladies Get a Paycheck?

2009-03-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

There is a debate on the Internet about first ladies getting a paycheck. This is an interesting debate, and of course one that brings up much larger issues than why the first lady does not get paid.
In fact, when I raised this question with my colleagues and family, I got to witness quite an interesting debate. I could not find any research that lists whether the first lady is “allowed” to work or not.
Some say the first lady should not get paid because her position is not elected. Her job does not have an official job description or official duties. The president, with his $400,000 a year salary makes enough for both of them, including all the perks they get.
Compared to the reasons why she should be paid, the argument against her getting paid seems very weak. For instance, hundreds of staffers at the White House are not elected positions, yet they get paid, including the first lady’s secretary. The two major jobs the first lady does are playing hostess to heads of state, or event planner, and meeting with various guests, which resembles the job of a lobbyist. Those two jobs make between $45,000 and $130,000 a year.
Another point to raise here is if Hillary Clinton had become our next president, would Bill Clinton stop doing lectures and speeches? Would he stop making money for the four or eight years she was in office? Would he turn down his annual presidential salary for that time?
There was talk during the inauguration that Dr. Jill Biden was interested in teaching at a local community college. Why should she be allowed to work, but not the first lady? She is obligated to give up her career and cannot earn an income, pay off old debts or build for retirement.
If Obama is re-elected, that would mean eight years of her not earning any Social Security or money toward her retirement, which could adversely affect her in the future, regardless if she gets some kind of “package” for being the president’s wife.
The larger issue surrounding the first lady not getting paid, however, is about sexism and the rigid sex roles we still assign to men and women in our culture.
While she is welcome to come up with a platform and champion a cause that is personal to her, working for charity is not valued as important work in our society. Planning events, managing a home and children, and entertaining guests are also not valued in our culture and these are tasks assigned to the first lady.
Women do not get paid for the work they do in the home and raising children. The United States is often criticized for our lack of support for housewives and mothers. And when the woman married to the man at the top of the country cannot earn money for the work she does in the home to support her husband, then why would any other woman expect to get paid for her time spent in the home?
Arlie Hochschild’s book, “The Second Shift,” written in 1990, examines couples in dual career marriages and the time they each put in for housework and childcare. Her 10-year study revealed that women, who work full time, also work more 24-hour days than their husbands taking care of the home and the children.
The old adage “a man may work from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done” will always remain part of our culture until something changes. Maybe at the top?

http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x1278515502/COMMUNITY-VOICES-Can-Obama-change-rigid-sex-roles-01-24-09

It Doesn't Take a Superhero to Defeat Gender Bias

2008-11-24T13:16:00.001-08:00

Four years ago, I wrote and directed a play about superhero women. Part of my reason for writing a play about superhero women was based on two Bravo Television specials about the top ten superheroes. The first show listed the top ten superheroes and they were all men. They were chosen based on their powers and their strength. The next night the top ten “supervixens” aired. These characters were chosen based on the size of their breasts and their looks. The Bond girls were included in this list. I was appalled.

I went to Toys R Us to shop for presents for the cast, hoping to find each actress an action figure version of her character. As I browsed the action figure department, I saw Batmans, Supermans, Spidermans and many other male superheroes and action figures. Perplexed, I wandered over to the Barbie section or the “pink” aisle as they call it. Seeing nothing but Barbie, I approached a salesperson. I asked her, “Why are there no action figures for girls?” She replied, “Girls like dolls and ponies.” I was aghast. “Well,” I replied, “maybe if girls had the option to buy female action figures, they would.” What girl wouldn’t want a Wonder Woman action figure?

Fortunately, EBay had Barbies designed as Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, and Poison Ivy. I noticed the packaging had several languages listed on it when I received them. I wondered if these Barbies were made or marketed in Europe as I had never seen them in the U.S. All of my nieces got them for Christmas that year.

Toy Stores, especially monopolies like Toys R Us, are great examples of where strict gender lines are still being drawn in our culture. But these gender lines are also drawn in the movies that portray superheroes. Of nine movies about superheroes, only one of them featured a woman: Catwoman. Some might even suggest she is not a role model, but a villain. The work of two progressive movements in our culture: civil and women’s rights has not trickled down into the places where gender lines continue to be drawn.

It matters very much that children have positive role models who look like them. We know that girls and boys have just started saying they want to be president of the United States because girls saw a powerful woman run for that office and boys saw a powerful African American man win that office. From all white superhero men to the lack of powerful women in the media, girls and children of different races and ethnicities have very few to look up to as role models. We need to find a way to start rejecting the white bread heroes that Hollywood and the media continue to push down our throats and demand role models who not only resemble us, but provide powerful examples to strive for.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinions/x541351705/COMMUNITY-VOICES-It-doesnt-take-a-superhero-to-defeat-gender-bias-11-15-08

Sarah Palin: Phyllis Schafly with a Pretty Face

2008-09-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled that the newspaper asked me to comment on Palin. One woman actually called my house on Saturday to thank me for it. But the best part is reading the comments on the paper's website! Woozer! "Sarah Palin exemplifies what most American women were like, not so long ago when this country was truly great."

Sarah Palin: Phyllis Schlafly With a Pretty Face

When the Republicans announced their nominee for Vice-President last Friday, I was not shocked, I was offended. I was offended that the GOP clearly thinks women are stupid, particularly women who were supporters of Hillary Clinton for President. Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have nothing in common except for their gender. Palin, more conservative than McCain, believes in creationism, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, abstinence only education and opposes gun control, stem cell research, and abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.

The media focus on Hillary supporters who would not vote for Obama was all hype. The few women who are distraught about Obama winning the primary are just that: a few. No intelligent Hillary supporter would ever confuse gender over belief. It's a pity that the Republicans think so little of the intelligent women in this country who care about issues like national health care, pay equity, the environment, sexual education, the right to choose when and if we bear children, childcare, education, maternity leave, the economy, affirmative action, and a war with no end in sight.

If McCain moves into the White House, I can assure you that many rights we now hold will continue to be destroyed as they have been under the Bush Administration. Our right to choose, our right to live in a country free from pollutants, our right to health care, and affirmative action will be set aside while we invade more countries, send more of our children to useless irresponsible wars and chip away at any rights that gays and lesbians have begun to get over the last decade.

Palin left her city in debt, she tried to ban books in her city's library and clearly her advocacy for abstinence only sex education has not been affective, as demonstrated in her own family.

When Palin was interviewed in July about being on the list for potential vice presidents, she said "I keep asking exactly what the VP does every day." A world where Sarah Palin is just a melanoma away from a Presidency with no federal or foreign experience is not a world I want to live in. And just because Alaska is next to Russia does not make her an expert in foreign policy. I want to live in a world where justice, equality and true democracy unite us as citizens and where other countries look at us as the progressive democratic country that our forefathers wanted us to be. To me, Ms Palin is just the right wing version of Phyllis Schlafly with a pretty face.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinions/x55303083/COMMUNITY-VOICES-Phyllis-Schlafly-with-a-pretty-face-09-13-08

Smart Start

2008-08-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

I did a training to be a facilitator for The Wage Project. Here's a picture of me and the other trainees. Basically what this means is that I can teach junior & senior college women about how to benchmark and negotiate their salaries as they get out of school. The average woman with a college degree will lose a million dollars over her lifetime because of wage inequity. Dr. Murphy's book Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What to do About it researches and exposes pay inequity in depth. Her website is incredible. I saw Dr. Murphy speak at the Massachusetts Women in Public Higher Education Conference. I was so moved by her talk that I jumped on board when asked by our local YWCA if we wanted to be a campus pilot for the Wage Project. www.wageproject.org

Hannah Crowley: A Little Known Playwright Ahead of Her Time

2008-08-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and acting mentor, Ed Shea, a brilliant director and the Artistic Director at 2nd Story Theatre, in Warren, RI asked me to write the scholarly essay for the current production. I was not only honored for the opportunity but thrilled to learn about yet another woman, ahead of her time, who changed the world for many. Check them out at www.2ndstorytheatre.com

Hannah Cowley was one of few women in the 18^th Century to make it as a playwright on the English stage, following behind Aphra Behn and Susanna Centlivre. Raised by a bookseller father, she was provided with a basic classical education unknown to most girls of her generation going on to support herself as a playwright, writing thirteen plays. Her entry into playwriting as a career reveals her personal agency as a woman. As the story goes, after a disappointing night at the theatre, Cowley told her husband that she could write a play just as good and did so. The early draft of The Runaway, her first play, was produced at Drury Lane. Her most successful play, The Belle’s Stratagem allowed her to become the breadwinner in her family, another rarity of the time.

The Belle’s Stratagem is also a perfect example of Cowley’s engaged female characters who examine women’s agency, the role of women’s education, and the institution of marriage. This play calls attention to the discrimination of women during a time when women were far from getting the vote in the U.S. or Britain.[i] In Act Two, Scene One, a discussion of women’s oppression ensues reminiscent of Marilyn Frye’s landmark 1982 essay “Oppression,” where she asks readers to consider a birdcage as a metaphor for oppression. When examining one wire at a time, the viewer is unable to see why a bird would not just fly by the wire to leave. Only when one steps back to see the entire cage do they can realize why the bird cannot escape. Frye writes, “It is perfectly obvious that the bird is surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers, no one of which would be the least hindrance to its flight, but which, by their relations to each other, are as confining as the solid walls of a dungeon.” Like that bird in the cage, Lady Frances Touchwood is asked by Mrs. Racket and Miss Ogle if she would like to stay longer to explore London and she replies “I have not the habit of consulting my own wishes.” Never given the opportunity to think for herself, Cowley’s feminists, Mrs. Racket and Miss Ogle, decide to encourage Lady Frances to do so.

Of course Sir George is quite alarmed by Mrs. Racket and Miss Ogle’s desire to take his wife out on the town and a discussion on what makes a “fine lady” ensues between Mrs. Racket and Sir George. His definition amounts to a worldly and independent woman being a traitor to her home and one who is controlled by vanity. Mrs. Racket accuses him of living in the old days and counters his definition by stating that a “fine lady” is one “for whom nature has done much and education more; she has taste, elegance, spirit, understanding . . . a fine lady is the life of conversation, the spirit of society, the joy of the public!” This debate mimics even today’s dualistic stereotype of woman as either Madonna or whore. Sir George implies that all women are alike and states that even Mrs. Racket fails in her proper position of widow. Jumping to her defense, Miss Ogle replies that Sir George wishes for a society of 150 years ago when families had dedicated roles assigned to them.

During this debate, Mr. Flutter enters and reveals that Sir George had let Lady Frances’ bullfinch fly away because he was jealous of her love for the bird. Sir George then tells Mrs. Racket and Miss Ogle that Lady Frances will not be going out with them. Alarmed, she states this is the first time he has used the expression “shall not” in reference to her. Mrs. Racket and Miss Ogle insist she leave with them, even when Lady Frances expresses concern that Sir George is angry. They gently remind her that her husband got rid of her bird and that this moment will define their relationship from now on. Lady Frances agrees, saying “I won’t give up neither. If I should in this instance, he’ll expect it forever.”

Cowley uses the play, with comedic wit and characterization, to deconstruct 18^th century courtship, expose oppression in marriage, and explore women’s independence. Yet she simultaneously allows Lady Frances to make a choice about her life and her marriage. At the end of the day, Lady Frances returns to Sir George and tells him she missed him and that she would rather spend her time with him as “Every body about me seem’d happy but every body seem’d in a hurry to be happy somewhere else.” For Cowley, women’s independence is not about being without men, but in having the choice to be with them. Hannah Cowley, while absent from many theatre history texts, was two hundred years ahead of her time.

[i] Women could vote in 1918, two years before U.S. women, but they had to be at least 30 years old. In 1928 they were allowed to vote at the same age as men.

I Should Explain

2008-08-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

I was showing my husband my blog the other night and realized that I needed to explain what the other blog entries were. I have been writing what is called "Community Voices" for The Herald News of Fall River since last fall. I would love to do it more, like develop a woman's column. And often the online versions have very interesting and illuminating commentary by local readers.

Regulations Thwart Democratic Process

2008-08-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

The best part of this one was what I found out about federal regulations. I also love the comments made by a reader on the website. She thinks that global warming is a myth. We just had two tornados in our area for the first time in my life.

With only 156 days left in office, the Bush administration is advocating for a federal regulation expanding the definition of abortion to include contraceptive methods that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. Does the average person know what methods this includes? My guess is that many do not. This theory comes from sixteen years working with college students. When I ask college women if they know how their birth control pill prevents pregnancy, many are surprised when I tell them they don’t ovulate. The other contraceptives that prevent ovulation, like the pill, are the Nuvaring, Depo-Provera, and the birth control patch. The IUD (Intrauterine device), one of the oldest methods of birth control, does not prevent ovulation, but prevents a fertilized egg from implanting on the walls of the uterus, as does the Morning After Pill, a high dosage birth control taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

But the core of my commentary today isn’t to educate the readers about the various methods of birth control that stop fertilization. Instead, I want to explore this notion of a federal regulation. Federal regulations are rules enacted by federal agencies. Federal regulations are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Federal regulations generally are published in the Federal Register. When doing a quick internet search of federal regulations, I found www.regulations.gov. This website, “your voice in federal decision-making,” allows the average citizen to comment on regulations being proposed by various federal agencies, like the Department of Health and Human Services. I was neither successful in finding this proposed draft regulation nor clear on how these comments are reviewed nor taken into account and by whom. The only thing I know is that these department and agency heads are appointed by the President of the United States.

The abortion debate and when life begins is irrelevant to me if we have a system of government where regulations can be made that will gravely affect women’s rights to control their fertility outside of the democratic process that we so proudly espouse. Why is there nothing in the media addressing how these regulations are made and why they can be enacted and enforced outside of the regular democratic process?

It is disappointing, but not surprising, that in Bush’s last days in office he would choose to thwart the democratic process and continue to chip away at women’s rights instead of focusing on serious issues of the economy, the war in Iraq and the tragedy of global warming.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinions/x1835798082/COMMUNITY-VOICES-Regulations-thwart-democratic-process-08-16-08

Strip Clubs Degrade Women

2008-08-15T08:26:00.001-07:00

The Herald News put my strip club community commentary on YouTube as one of their first online videos. It is clear they were new to videography.

(I’m supporting Hillary Clinton for President because) I want to see more women at the top making policy, which is clearly lacking in the Southcoast where businessmen continue to make poor decisions about the region’s economic development. For an area that has been called the “armpit” of Massachusetts, as the beautiful coastline, untapped resources, and hard-working citizens are overlooked, community-based economic development continues to be ignored.

We are at a crucial moment in our history, as this newly named So-Co. With a Governor who actually recognizes our possibilities, including the need for our overdue rail service, and a burgeoning cultural explosion, particularly in New Bedford, the latest development, the urge to get adult entertainment in Westport and Fall River baffles me. How will more strip clubs enhance the positive growth we have begun toward culture, the arts, and a community development based in sustainability?

I spent two summers during graduate school working at what is now The Regatta (then Leones—or “Leave me Aloney’s” as many called it), and I was always surprised by the lack of any development on the waterfront. Growing up on the coast of Maine, the waterfront was often littered with boat slips, restaurants and shops that would fit in perfectly on this stretch of the Taunton River.

Sixteen years later, things aren’t much different. And instead of moving forward and figuring out a way to build the economy by developing the waterfront for everyone, a few brilliant men want to build a “high class men’s club” with “limousines picking up the girls.” A high class men’s club that hires “girls” and not women is not the economic boost that poor Fall River needs. In a community with the highest female dropout rate in the state, is that the message and the environment we want to bank our economic development on?

I grew up in a state that took an old fishing city (Portland, Maine) and developed it into what is now called the Seattle of the East Coast. It wasn’t developed on the backs of “girls” taking off their clothes for men. It was developed through careful planning and economic development that would build community rather than ghettoize it.

How do parents explain to their children, while visiting Heritage Park, what that adult entertainment place next door is? There is already a strip club on Rt. 6 in Dartmouth called The King’s Inn. There is a second Foxy Lady in New Bedford. How many strip clubs does this community need? Are they booked to capacity every night? Are women clamoring to take pole dancing classes so they can strip for a living?

By offering employment opportunities to women that degrade them, we are setting a poor example for a community that needs to build upon its strengths, not its weaknesses.

http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x688581285

Money Matters in Decision to Stay Married

2008-08-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

You'll get the gist of this one.

Stand By Your Man

When Tammy Wynette first wrote the words “Stand by your man” she suggested it was hard to be a woman loving just one man because “he’ll have good times doing things that you don’t understand.” And that even if you don’t understand him, if you love him, you should forgive him because “after all he’s just a man.” When reading these lyrics closely, it seems Wynette did not think too highly of men’s intelligence. But what of the intelligence of those women who do “stand by their man” like Silda Spitzer, Suzanne Craig, Dina Matos McGreevey, Wendy Vitter, and Hillary Clinton?

In most of the commentaries written about these political wives who stood by their men, writers tend to express three views: 1) they are disgusted that these women accepted the infidelity; 2) they feel it is a political move to show the public that if she can stand by them, then their constituents still can; and 3) they feel she is standing by her man to support their children.

Yet, there is a reason that women stand by their men that has not gotten much attention. Money. Has anyone addressed what is at stake financially if these women pack up and leave their politically connected spouses? Statistically, a woman’s standard of living can decrease 10-25% after a divorce. If you are living a comfortable upper-class life, as most of the aforementioned women are, divorce is an economic gamble. Furthermore, women who divorce tend to lose their social networks. Would you be willing to lower your income and lose your friends? Even battered women stay with their batterers because of money. And being beaten up by your husband is far more damaging than being cheated on! These might be financial risks that women like Spitzer, Craig, Vitter and Clinton were not willing to make.

And in Clinton’s case, it is clear she had future goals in mind when she stood by her president. She knew the Senate and her own candidacy for president had a better chance in a political partnership than being single. Would she even be a viable candidate today if she was single? Marriage seems to be an unwritten requirement to run for president.

When we look at these women who stand by their cheating men, perhaps we should stop first and look at their checking accounts and think about how much they might be giving up before we judge them.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinion/community_voices/x1565514845

The Best Mother's Day Gift: Workplace Reform

2008-08-15T08:23:00.001-07:00

On the eve of Mother’s Day, the day when we spend thousands of dollars honoring our mothers, is a good time to reflect on how our country feels about motherhood. While millions of dollars go into the corporatization of celebrating Mothers Day, the U.S. is one of five developed countries that do not offer paid leave; nor do we provide affordable childcare or real breast feeding friendly workplaces for mothers.

One study (from Harvard University) shows that out of 173 countries, only five provided no paid maternity leave: Papua New Guinea, Lesotho, Swaziland, Liberia, and the United States. France and the Netherlands offer sixteen weeks of paid leave; six before the child is born and the remaining ten after the birth. Sweden, the most generous of all, gives women eighteen months of maternity leave and the option of a six hour work day with benefits until the child reaches school age.

Of course there are some “progressive” companies that do offer their employees paid leave in the U.S., but even that amount is paltry. Approximately 8% of women in this country actually get some sort of paid maternity leave. Furthermore, only 8% of the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” offer more than 12 weeks paid leave. 20% of them offer 7-8 weeks, but these numbers are minimal compared to 18 months in Sweden (Institute for Women’s Policy Research). At the state university where I work, the faculty and professional staff are given the federally required 12 weeks of FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act), but most women and men cannot afford to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave, so they take what they can from their personal, vacation and sick time, averaging seven or eight weeks at the most. New Jersey is currently considering a bill to provide six weeks paid leave to care for newborns.

When women do return to work, often sooner than they would like, they struggle to continue breastfeeding. While 70% of mothers breastfeed, only 36% continue when their children are 6 months old. Only 14% of children over 6 months old are exclusively breastfed (Breastfeeding Medicine). One of my colleagues wanted to breastfeed for a full year and stopped after her son was 6 months old. After returning to work, she could only manage to breastfeed for another six weeks because the only place she could pump was in the restroom in a residence hall, which is not the most sanitary place to pump nor was she offered the appropriate amount of time in which to take the time she needed to pump as often as she should and her milk dried up. She, of course, felt as many women in her situation do; that she had failed her child and was a bad mother for not breastfeeding for a year.

This same woman is not able to choose to have another child because having two children in childcare would cost her more than what she makes at her job. She would have to stop working if she and her spouse had another child. She wants to work and be a mother to more than one child, but cannot afford to do so.

So on this Mother’s Day, if you really care about mothers, perhaps along with sending your mom a card, you could also drop a note to your Congressperson to support reform on maternity leave that is dictated by family friendly policies rather than corporate greed.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinion/community_voices/x165087944/COMMUNITY-VOICES-The-best-Mothers-Day-gift-Workplace-reform-05-10-08?view=print

MCSW's Unsung Heroine Awards

2008-08-15T08:22:00.001-07:00

I got a really cool award this year, nominated by my colleague, the Executive Director of the YWCA of Southern Massachusetts. I'm nominating her again next year. She has stiffer competition being from New Bedford than I do.

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x396300662/Local-force-for-feminism-honored-as-Unsung-Heroine