Reflections from Wonderland: A Newfound Feminist’s Journey

If you didn’t know, the semester is wrapping up for the year.

When I look back on this semester I can only see a blur. It may not have been the toughest, but it certainly hasn’t been the greatest. Of the few real memories I can conjure up, I can distinctly remember every time I wrote for ShoutOut. Between long periods of writer’s block, cursing myself for again waiting until last minute and hollowly swearing I’ll start earlier the next week, I was actually doing something I was proud to be a part of.

Accurate, to say the least

This past semester I was introduced to another world. Unlike Alice’s journey into Wonderland or Dorothy’s to Oz, I couldn’t snap myself back to reality as I had unknowingly stepped into it. In this new environment I felt the patriarchy that held so many people back and created unrealistic expectations for all participants. I heard the language that was casually thrown around as if it didn’t sting like knives. I saw the pain in people’s eyes as they recounted events when they were affected by misogyny. The kicker though was the shame I felt realizing I played an active role in all of this like a chump.

Thanks to ShoutOut’s amazing writers and readers, I’ve begun changing my lifestyle. Taking small steps to turn my life around and lead it in an open-minded way, I’ve seen the positive it could do for the people around me. It’s been liberating to say the least, however I’ve recently felt like there was still something missing; a weight in my heart I couldn’t shack.

Ramblings of a Nostalgic Senior

So as my last post I kind of wanted to write I guess what would be considered a reflection of some shape or form.  There ultimately won’t be a general topic or subject heading, I honestly don’t know I’m going to title this…ramblings of nostalgic senior? I actually kind of like it but more to the point if I have one, I am a senior and have two weeks left of my college career, gosh it makes me feel so old.  I remember when I was a freshman older people would tell me to enjoy it while it lasts because it passes by so quickly and I never thought I’d see the day when I was that older person.

It feels like just yesterday that I was a little freshwoman, well I still am little but hopefully a lot wiser.  People always say that college is when you find yourself, you’ll experiment but along the road you’ll come into your own as a small person in this big world.  You make mistakes, you learn from them and grow plus hopefully don’t repeat them but there’s ups and downs, break ups, hook ups and fuck ups, you may get an underage charge, you may find a soul mate, or just a best friend that you will always stay in touch with and you may very well may streak the quad.  There are papers and tests but those aren’t the things that shape your college experience.  You won’t care what you got on your geology test Sophomore year but the night you stayed up all night talking to a complete stranger, you will.  Along this wild journey that people casually refer to as college, I found myself and I can 100% thank feminism for the woman I am today.

What’s So Scary About Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is scary. The number one predictor for having breast cancer known thus far is just being a woman. Though this may sound obvious to some, the fact that we do not know enough about this disease to be able to find any other conclusive causing factors is strange, given the amount of time in which it has been in the public focus and the billions of dollars of research money that has been donated in that time. One of the reasons that we don’t know much about the disease is because the money we spend when we purchase pink products goes to research for a cure, and not towards research to determine the cause. Finding a cure is important, as it allows us to be hopeful. But it cannot be our only focus.

This swim cap will help us, right?

Buffy: We Can Slay It

I’ve been considering doing a throwback post, taking something of the of the past and reevaluating it through a feminist lens.  For some of you this may be a throwback but for me, my past was void of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her female empowerment. Granted  I was six when it first aired so I guess it was good parenting that prevented me from watching it but even then I wish I had joined in the Sarah Michelle Geller craze.  I remember people raving about Buffy and her slaying but I jut never really go into it, primarily because I used to be a good ol’ scaredy cat and even the not so special effects of the 90′s would have scared the pants off of me.

But I am proud to announce that I am officially a member of the Buffy fan club.  I have recently become obsessed (thank goodness for Netflix) but am only halfway through season two and am thoroughly excited to watch all 7 seasons.Buffy is an excellent female role model for women of all ages she exhibits independence, rejection of gender roles and confidence in her identity through her battling of literal and symbolic demons.  Writer Joss Whedon announced in the first mission statement for the show, Buffy is about “the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it” and holy crap has she shared it with me.

Social Constraints: Emily’s Story

Sitting in the beautiful spring sun, a girl from my dorm and I were enjoying the welcomed breeze of fresh mountain air. We were on the subject of our perspective futures, brought up by the fact that our first year in college was drawing to a close and we were both considering switching majors. Emily (changed name) was upset by her parent’s disappointment in her decision to opt out of JMU’s prestigious nursing program for a major in social work. Trying to be a good friend, I listened and affirmed that her decision was good and could still prove a rewarding career. What occurred next would haunt me to this day as an spiritual awakening that would lay groundwork that turned me into a feminist.

She began explaining her thought process behind the decision, I expectantly listened, and when she ended her diatribe I turned towards her and asked if she could repeat her last statement.

Crab Mentality: How women hold each other back

That’s just crabby.

A friend of mine recently introduced me to the concept of “crab mentality.”  This concept refers to a common occurrence in buckets of crabs: if one crab attempts to escape from a bucket of live crabs, the other crabs will pull it back down, rather than allowing it to get free. Often, the crabs will wait until the brave crab has almost escaped before pulling it back into the bucket. This seems strange—why would the crabs pull each other down, instead of working together to get out of the bucket?

The same question can be asked of women who compete with other women.  Real talk:  whether we’re willing to admit it or not, all women are competitive with other women, to some extent.  I repeat:  ALL women.  I recently read Catfight by Leora Tanenbaum, which discusses the ways in which women compete, in every aspect of our day-to-day lives.  At first, I didn’t quite buy into her hyperbolic examples of lady bitchiness, a la Mean Girls.  I’m not passive-aggressive and under-the-table, I thought.  Therefore, this logic doesn’t apply to me, right?  Wrong.

We’re socialized to compete in some form or another, because as women, we all fall short of an ideal type:  we fall outside of the category of man.  We are conditioned to equate manhood with credibility, and because we were born with two X chromosomes, we are inherently “lacking”.  As Tanenbaum points out, “if a woman belittles other women, she can prove her superiority among women—and is one step closer to the inner circle of men.”

Fe(men)ism?

I recently had a conversation with one of my male classmates in a feminist rhetoric course.  We were discussing the broad topic of, you guessed it, “feminism”, and the subject quickly turned to the role men play in the movement.  He seemed a little uneasy to pose the question, but finally inquired, “Even if I’m a dude, if I support feminism, can I call myself a feminist too?”

At first, I was struck at how timid the usually unabashed fellow seemed in asking this question.  I’ve been aware of the controversy surrounding this question, but to me the answer always seemed obvious.  We all know what happens when we assume, though, so I decided to do some research into the matter.

According to the Free Dictionary online, a feminist is “a person who supports feminism.”  Alright, that was easy enough.  The same source defines “feminism” as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.”  Absent from this definition is a qualifier on the grounds of sex.  Granted, if the debate were as simple as referring to a dictionary definition, it would hardly be a debate.  Here are a few other points of consideration:

I’ve heard the concern that if we consider men to be feminists, then we’re running counter to the purpose of feminism in the first place.  We’d be admitting defeat, in a sense—we’d be implying that we need men to make changes happen.  At best, he can be a feminist ally.  This is so problematic.  This view implies that men are the enemy—indeed the antithesis of feminism—but they’re not.  Yes, they’re in a position of privilege, though this is afforded to them incidentally through the institution of patriarchy.  However, “man” is not inherently patriarchal.  Our very own definition section of this page reinforces my point:  “Patriarchy is not synonymous with men. Rather, it is a social system that both men and women participate in. It emphasizes the privileges of men and devalues the role of women. Patriarchy also reinforces the rigid social and cultural constraints on gender and sexuality.”  If a man wishes to fight patriarchal oppression, how is he not a feminist? 

The Millennium Trilogy: Firing Up the Upheaval

Fire is contradicting in almost every sense. While it brings warmth and comfort, it can also be destructive and deadly. Historically, fire was a sign for life and sustenance. Being so difficult to capture in its early discovery, fire was often sacred and used in ceremonies to appease Gods of all religions. Today fire is dangerous, often associated with wrath and pain. Fire is also figuratively seen as power, strength and will. A more befitting word couldn’t have been used to entitle Steig Larsson’s Dragon Tattoo sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire; a novel that’s deadly to the core, but oh so delightful to behold.

                Like its predecessor, the plot focuses on the two progressing storylines of its heroes, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Without any spoilers, the duo’s unrelated lives are interwoven beautifully, to finally unite in the Everest-proportioned climax and explosive cliffhanger. In this novel we find Lisbeth scornful of Blomkvist’s indiscretion, and hell-bent in shutting him out of her life for good. For Blomkvist, having restored his place in Millennium magazine, he is keenly interested in the mud raking potential a new story brought in by an aspiring journalist Dag Svensson. Dag presents several years of investigation into human trafficking and sexual violence that links many high ranking officials in government and the police force. It’s a scandal of monumental proportions that could not only set Dag on the map, but also bring Millennium up from the brink of bankruptcy.

Wage War: It’s time we waged war on the wage war

A man and his son are in a car accident. They are taken to the nearest hospital. The emergency room doctor says, “I can’t operate on this child. This is my son.” Who is the surgeon?

The Millennium Legacy: Dragon Tattoos and Social Taboos

The conception of this post was one part luck and seven parts desperation. Last week I experienced for the first time in my life, an extreme case of writer’s block. Having gone through seven drafts of ideas, each of poor enough quality or caliber to warrant dismissal, I was at my wits end. With hours to spare before my scheduled post was about to go live, I was about to write a cop-out “what would YOU, the reader of this blog, like to read” post when I was struck with an idea. While it was suggested early on to write an article reviewing a book, I had dismissed the notion because I limited my focus to outwardly feminist books like Manifesta, of which I have not touched. However, in my sullen desperation I remembered reading about domestic and sexual abuse of women and started to think about books that may be indirectly feminist. Immediately a whirl of storyline came flooding back to me in a memory of a personal favorite series known worldwide as the Millennium trilogy.

The trilogy, consisting of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, has become legend for challenging Swedish social practices and indirectly inciting a worldwide call for reform.  As I thought about it more and more, the pro-feminist lifestyle author Stieg Larsson lead, along with the message his books echoed made perfect sense to blog about and share. I realized early on though that to truly capture the narrative of these novels and accurately analyze them with a feminist perspective, I had to break it up into a series of three blog posts. Each post will be devoted to one of the Millennium novels and will focus on the events that occurred and how they mirrored Larsson’s own life. I hope to illuminate his social commentary and in the process explore the feminist implications of his final work. Let’s begin by exploring more of Larsson’s personal life before diving into his flagship novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.