Feminist Roots: Know Your Local Feminist!

As usual it is Sunday night in Harrisonburg and Rachelle Rucker and I are at the Blue Nile sopping up unpronounceable Ethiopian dishes with injera bread and talking about abortion laws, and, as usual, the table next to us has started staring. It must be an unusual sight – two young women engaging in feminist conversation over dinner, but it is a common factor that has kept our friendship alive for the past two years.

When I met Rachelle I never thought I would be writing a blog about her. She was that shy girl in class, the one you know has great things to say but denies the world by keeping them to herself. As a JMU student and Harrisonburg native, Rachelle inhabits the cross-section of the cities demographic, providing her with a unique view of feminism in this area. Not only does she have feminist roots of her own to share, but she has helped me develop and keep mine alive, watering them through daily conversation.

Pussy Riot, Human Rights, and Rebel Girls

When I started college, I went through what can only be called a very intense punk period. I started listening to Leftover Crack, Black Flag, Bikini Kill, and Against Me!. I dyed my hair bright purple and sewed patches onto the only suit jacket I have ever owned (my favorite was a large one that said “ANTI-TAMPON, ASK ME WHY”). I would tell anyone who would listen about anarcha-feminism and how patriarchy was just a giant continuation of pointless, fascist government control of the people. I even spent one evening smashing old televisions with an axe, screaming “SMASH THE STATE.”

Obviously, I have calmed down since then.

But when news started pouring in about Pussy Riot’s conviction this morning, it reminded me why I felt so justified in my anger at totalitarian governments. Why I felt such an urgent need to take down the state in any way I could.

For anyone that doesn’t pay attention to Russian news (so, a lot of people), Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist performance art/punk collective. They are known for their flashmob-style performances in high profile, public places. One such performance is what landed them in trouble. In February 2012, Pussy Riot gave an impromptu performance at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They performed a “punk prayer,” that included lines imploring “Virgin Mary drive Putin away,” “Virgin Mary become a feminist” and the appropriately thrown-in, “holy shit.”

The performance was given in protest of the Russian Orthodox Church’s support of Putin’s presidential campaign. Putin has long been criticized by liberal Russians for his human rights violations, treatment of journalists, and in general, his silencing (aka killing) of anyone who opposes him in the public arena.

Veena Malik vs. Men’s Lifestyle

 

 

Recently, a Pakistani Bollywood actor, Veena Malik, recently sued FHM, a men’s “lifestyle” magazine, for turning her cover shots into nude photographs.  Malik admits that she did a topless shoot with her arms covering her body; however, she claims she was wearing a bikini bottom and that FHM indicated the rest of her upper body would be covered with tattoos.

Malik is seeking $2 million in damages after she has received death threats and constant criticism of her “un-Islamic” choices.  Several news sources also suggested that Malik’s family has disowned her because of the photos.

African ‘Her’story: The powers of women

To celebrate Eastern Mennonite University’s homecoming, Leymah Gbowee a 2007 Master’s degree graduate from Liberia, came to speak about her work and receive EMU’s alumnus of the year award. It seems fitting for her to win the recognition from EMU, considering she was just announced as one of the Nobel Peace Prize winners. She won the Nobel Peace Prize along with two other women–Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman.

Leymah received the Nobel Peace Prize because of her leadership in bringing peace to Liberia following years of violence and oppression in the 1990s and 2000s.

Charles Taylor, one of the most oppressive and corrupt war lords in Africa, was president of Liberia at the time and was using his oppressive regime to rape and kill Liberians across the country. In addition to the violence, the country was short on food and extremely impoverished thanks to Taylor’s apathy for taking care of his citizens.

According to the award-winning documentary “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” at the height of the violence, one woman remembers watching Taylor’s followers slowly murder her husband to her left while witnessing the rape of her 12-year-old daughter to her right.

Leymah remembers having to tell her son he couldn’t have a bite of food because they didn’t have any left and praying every night that a better world would exist the next day.

Because of the uncontrolled violence and oppression in the country, she decided to do something about it.

“If we allow evil, what do we tell our children in the future?”

JMU CCM: A conversation

As many of you all may have read in my March 20th post on JMU CCM’s “Man” Retreat, it sparked quite a bit of discussion. There was even an article in the Breeze mentioning the post. True to my implications that I would be more than willing to follow up with some of the members in CCM if they would be willing to meet and talk with me–I met up with Colleen Brookfield and Pat Dunford, two members and leaders in CCM to talk about the retreat. Pat was also one of the men who planned the retreat.

I would first like to acknowledge the fact that the purpose of my criticisms of the ad put out by CCM was to provide a lens with which to look at the ad from a feminist perspective, not a lens with which to look at the Catholic Church itself. It was, and still is, an interesting conversation to have on the patriarchal background of the institution and theological discussion around queer and women’s issues, but for the purpose of this follow-up, I will be focusing on the retreat itself and the ad used to advertise it.

True Love Waits (For Pressure)

When I was fourteen I met my first “boyfriend” at church. He was sixteen and had a car, so my parents were convinced that he was going to take advantage of me. In all reality, he was a nice guy who gave me the wonderful memory of my first kiss on a bridge in the woods and that’s it. However, during the short time we were “dating” (aka talking on the phone and holding hands) our church youth group decided to feature a program called “True Love Waits.” Considering that a lot of my friends were starting to date and experiment with sex, I don’t think the timing was coincidental.

The program started out innocently enough. We learned about relationships in the Bible through the lives of couples like Sarah and Abraham, about love from Corinthians, and facts on the importance of marriage. “It is not good for man to be alone” exclaimed Genesis 2:18, but not all of it sounded bad. Ephesians 5:25 urges men to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Unconditional love from a partner like the Bible described sounded almost worth living a chaste life.

But not quite. I was young, but I had already made a plan in my mind regarding sex, which I followed out to a T. I didn’t want to have sex with this boyfriend, but maybe the next one. I wanted to loose my virginity when I was 16, so I did, a week before my 17^th birthday. At 14 I knew I wasn’t ready, but I also knew that it would be disrespectful to make a promise to God that I couldn’t keep.

 We all knew that True Love Waits was going to end with a big pizza party, and if one so chose, the opportunity to sign a promise to remain pure until marriage. They were also going to provide forms in case anyone wanted to order a ring or a tee-shirt exclaiming their virginal status. I planned to go for the pizza and to sneak a kiss from my boyfriend. To say the least, I did not bring a pen. I wasn’t expecting Pastor Dan to pull a fast one.

After pizza and games he gathered us in a circle for prayer. Anyone who felt moved by the spirit was supposed to leave the circle and go into a smaller room with a counselor to pray and sign the TLW pact. The pastor’s daughter was the first to leave the circle, followed by some deacon’s kids and my best friend who I knew was counting on oral as “not being sex” to get her through. I sat tight, but soon I was one of four people left in the room. The pastor was staring at me. I had to go.

As Pastor Dan prayed, “Oh Lord, we know Hannah will be led into temptation as she goes through high school and enters college, but we ask you to shield her from those temptations. Keep her strong and close to you,” I kept my fingers crossed in my coat pocket and prayed my own terrible prayer. “God, you know I didn’t want to do this. This is NOT my promise to you. I know it’s a sin, but don’t I get some points for telling you my true intentions? Doesn’t that make us close?”

When I got home my mom said she was proud of me and propped the certificate on her dresser. Eventually it fell down beside the wall and gathered so much dust I had to throw it away.

No one told us how to use contraceptives. No one talked about the ugly truths behind STD’s. No one explained that while kids are adorable, they truly do change your entire life. I watched my friends learn for themselves, and we learned from each other’s mistakes. I am one of the few that escaped unscathed. I understand the importance behind the message Shelby Knox delivered last week because I know what it is like to grow up in a community lacking in sex ed. The effects are detrimental.

And they say feminism is obsolete. Hah!

JMU Catholic Campus Ministry’s “Man” Retreat

Let me be clear. I am so for anyone having any kind of spiritual connection with anything, and am so glad that people find things like hope, faith and solidarity in religious communities across the world. But, oppression comes in all forms, and though the average Catholic JMU student may not be standing outside with a sign that says “Men > Women” or “God hates fags” what kind of message do you think the following ad, displayed in Grafton-Stovall Theatre on campus is sending to the world’s minorities and majorities?

Okay, first of all, everyone on the slide is a white male. Now, this is not so different from mainstream media ads, so let’s push further.  Tell me what, is an unmanly world? One with women in it? One with more femininity in it? Look at this picture of the Senior Administrative staff at JMU, the people who are at the tippy top of university power:

Notice anything? 4/5 men, all white, all–at least now–pretty well off. Now, who else has power at the university? Well, most definitely the Board of Visitors. 5 out of 17 of them are women. I couldn’t find pictures, but I’d be willing to wager a lot of them are white as well.

My point here is that the world, the people who are in charge of the world we as students live in, are men. So the “unmanly” world, seems pretty manly to me.

This is what a revolutionary looks like

“Success without democracy is improbable; democracy without women is impossible." - Madeline K. Albright

Amazing things have been occurring in Egypt in the past few weeks, and I, for one, have been captivated. This afternoon it was announced that Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak who had been in power for the past 30 years, had fled Cairo and renounced the presidency. Watching the mass groups of protesters celebrate on Al Jazeera’s live stream was simply incredible, and, it may be clichéd, but I’ll say it anyway, an astounding testament to the power of the people as a collective. Even more amazing, and a phenomenon that has not gone unnoticed, but perhaps deserves more attention, is the presence of women in the uprising. Women have hit the street with the same force as men; they have been just as active and passionate about overthrowing their old, repressive government. Women are present in every photograph depicting the protests, the riots, and now the joy. They have been interviewed in all of the coverage I have seen (for the record, I have predominantly paid attention to Al Jazeera because they have provided the best coverage of the events). Women are everywhere. And it’s beautiful.

Screw the Pope, but don’t forget your condoms (especially if you’re a male prostitute)

Pro-gay protesters demonstrating against a recent Papal visit to London

In the interest of full disclosure, and so my bias seems a little more warranted, I’d first like to say that I was raised Catholic. My mom’s family is Catholic, my dad’s family is Catholic, my grandma is probably the most terrifyingly Catholic person I have ever met. She could out-Catholic the Pope himself (who, incidentally, this post is about). As you will ascertain from this post, I do not like the Catholic Church. I do not like its teachings; I do not like a good portion of its followers. (And let’s be honest, I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t either). That is not to say, however, that good Catholic people don’t exist, or that I don’t love my family, or that it (in some cases) doesn’t do good work. But as an institution, frankly, it and those who retain inordinate amounts of power its upper echelons disgust me. I see the Catholic Church (based on research and my own experiences) as a paragon representing the issue of sexism, homophobia, racism and male supremacy/patriarchy as they are institutionalized within religions. And that takes us to the Pope.