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.

Hope Springs – Men’s Feminism Activist Groups

I’ve never been one for activist groups. I remember sophomore year in high school a teacher horrified and enraged all of my friends and I at the atrocities being committed in Darfur. Under the idea we could actually end it, (yes we did actually believe we could,) we  began holding awareness meetings, which turned into a club, which turned into bake sales and t-shirt sales, which then turned into benefit concerts and more. Eventually though, we all met a reality that no matter what we did, there was some other obstacle we had to climb, a constant up-hill battle that seemed to not only get steeper but more slippery as we ascended. The club eventually dissolved the following year after we lost our hope and drive in our impact.

Most recently I came across several male activist organizations that advocate stopping sexual assault of women and sexual discrimination in general. While I knew many activist groups against rape existed, I didn’t know of ones that were focused on men’s roles and reforming men. Not only did the majority of these explain the depth of injustices our patriarchal society have caused, but also the breadth in men’s ability to change the world around him for the benefit of those oppressed by the patriarchy.

Assault, Consent, and the Internet

When trying to decide what to write about for this Friday’s post, I went searching through the depths of the internet. What I found was an unnerving reaction to a recent assault report at the University of Missouri.

The report reads as follows:

A woman said she was walking to Ellis Library when a man she didn’t know passed her, then turned around and grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her in a “bear hug,” police said. She said she struggled but could not get away. The man eventually released her when another person approached on the sidewalk; the man let the woman go — saying “I thought you were someone else” — and ran off.

Mythbusting Mondays: Everyone Knows Their Right to Stop Harassment

A friend of mine was recently telling me about a situation in her practicum class where middle school girls were being verbally sexually harassed by a classmate and, much to the surprise of the faculty, were not speaking out about it. And even when they did, she told me, they did so in a way that the teachers had to work hard to understand what the real story was. The thought of anyone being harassed and not knowing how to verbalize what had happened to them baffled me. Didn’t those girls know what verbal harassment was? I realized that, as my friend had pointed out to me, not everyone has the power to communicate abuse.

In reflecting on this issue, I remembered that there had been occasions when a friend or I had been harassed in a place where we were supposed to feel encouraged to speak out on it, yet had not done so either. Even in places like school or work, where there are sexual harassment policies in place to protect us, why do we not utilize them?

Bitchin’ Table: Is the humiliation really necessary?!

Carly Quaglio (displayed as ‘carly’) and Katie Sensabaugh (displayed as ‘me’), bitch it out about guys who find someway or another to add an extra touch of humiliation on an already embarrassing moment. Why do they always have to do that?!

me: hey carly!

carly: Hey katie, what’s up?

me: just studying in the library..blah

carly: that’s finals week for you…except i’m at home

me: yeah..I wish I was..but the new puppy is SO distracting and there’s a cute guy who works here so it’s not too bad he’s your type

carly: oh yeah? i wonder what his name is.  SO listen to what happened to me the other day

me: k. I need a break from studying anyway

carly: I went for a run and i was waiting at one of the intersections near campus. near forest hills actually. you know, minding my business waiting for the pedestrian signal to change so i can safely cross right?

me: yeah, got it got it

carly: hahaha

me: (equivalent to head nods)

carly: okay so these two guys are in this big suv, they have their windows down and they’re being goofy and BLASTING this music and rapping and dancing to it and just generally being obnoxious. so they start looking at me at rapping to me and doing all these goofy dance moves towards me when their light turns green

me: that’s awkward

carly: everyone behind them is honking and yelling but they can’t hear anything because they have their music too loud and are harrassing me. so finally seeing the people behind them, I gesture to them that the light is green and they should go (usually a nice thing to do)

me: sounds nice

carly: as I do this we make eye contact, and they see they were holding everyone up. naturally, being the HUMAN that I am I see the guy move his hand up (assuming to wave or give a sign of thanks) so simultaneously I give him a thumbs up

me: hahahaha

carly: only to find that he gives me the middle finger, screams “BITCH!!!” and drives off with his friend

me: what?! that’s so obnoxious. seriously that pisses me off

carly: isn’t that so rude? I mean i was just trying to help him out

me: were they college students?

carly: yes, definitely. i don’t wanna say they had a frat vibe to them because that’s stereotyping…but they had a frat vibe to them

me: ugh. that’s disgusting. you should write a dart to them. or a letter to the editor. seriously, that’s ridiculous

carly: i know there was so much going on in my head. it’s like they felt they had to publicly humiliate me just because i corrected them. ”corrected.” all i was trying to do was help

Quick Hit – Holly Kearl Speaks On Street Harassment 2/24

          Holly Kearl,” Street Harassment: What it is, why it matters, and what YOU can do about it!”

                     Thursday, February 24, at 6:30 pm in Miller 1101

Kearl is a national expert on street harassment and author of  Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women. She is based in the Washington D.C. area and has written for numerous feminist publications. Currently she works full time for a non-profit organization known as AAUW, which works to address issues surrounding sexual harassment and workplace discrimination. Please join us for this exciting,  informative, and FREE event!

And mark your calenders for Marty Langelan’s bystander intervention training workshop on Saturday, March 26, 1-5 in Keezel 107. She is the former president of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center and author of Back Off! How to Confront and Stop Sexual Harassment and Harassers. This event is also free, but space is limited. Please email Dr. Mary Thompson at thompsmx@jmu.edu if you plan to attend.

                               **Brought to you by Sister Speak**

Sister Speak wants YOU!

Oppression can only survive in silence.

Make your voice heard!

 Sister Speak is now accepting new members and/or submissions for our Spring 2010 issue.

Have you ever been publicly harassed because of your race, class, gender, age, or sexual orientation? Help us raise awareness to the JMU community that these incidences are NOT isolated, they are NOT harmless, and that we the student body will NOT stand for it!

Oppression through harassment can take many forms, and so can your story. Tell us through narration, poetry, art, or a comic.

Email SisterSpeak@gmail.com and ask Katie O. or AliasMitch for  details.

Submission Deadline: March 1       

Remeber for change to happen you have to SPEAK!

The Bitchin’ Table: A Few Knock Knock Jokes I Don’t Want to Hear

Hi again, welcome to another fabulous Bitchin’ Table. Each week 2 of your favorite and most beautiful ShoutOut! writers chew it out over any topic that comes to mind. This week we’re bitchin’ about Rape Jokes, they definitely don’t have us laughing. Because feminists haven’t got a sense of humor. That was sarcasm.

KillerTofu: Hey Katie O. Why is rape so rare?
Katie O.: You know, KillerTofu, I’m not sure. Why is it so rare?
KillerTofu: Because women with their skirts over their heads run faster than men with their pants around their ankles.

Call Out: Send Us Your Stories On Street Harassment.

Girl, I rather be out at the club sippin' that bub

So last friday, I wrote a piece on Street Harrassment. By using our very scientific WordPress bar graphs, Venn diagrams and the Table of Elements, our team of mad scientists at ShoutOut! JMU have determined this article struck a nerve! (If you doubt their credentials, they wear goggles. So there!)

Readers, we want you! We want you to send us your own stories of street and public harassment (of the woman/queer/POC varieties) and we will compile them in a very special post! You can sign anonomously, with your first name, pen name, nick name, or alias: we don’t care! Just send them in!

Slut Shaming and Street Harassment: At a Bar Near You!

      

I was just giving you a compliment...cuntwhorebag.

Overheard near JMU: Slut Shaming! Street Harassment! (Insert more phrases from my title!) Is anyone shocked, surprised? Sadly, unless you live in some kind of crazy isolated dorm-cave, the answer is probably a predictable “No!” After an anecdote, we investigate!