Questions That Are Hard To Answer #1

I thought it might be good to start a reader participation blog,  which aimed to answer difficult questions. Here is the first round of questions:

Question #1 is inspired by reading Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks

1. How much of society’s sexism causes women to be sexist towards themselves politically, socially, etc?

2. What makes a parent passive toward his/her child’s domestic abuse?

 
You can post your comments here or on our Facebook page.

Can All Feminists Get Along? By Kate Krimson

I think that often in America we forget that a feminist is a person who believes that women and men should have equal rights. Many liberals and conservatives are feminists. Many men and women are feminists. Yet the media tries to make it look like that to be a feminist you must be a liberal woman. Why does the media create such a big divide between what they consider true feminists and what an actual feminist is? There is only one reason for the big divide and that’s the abortion issue. It is the main issue on which feminists disagree. As if one issue could possibly define a whole group of people who are fed up with inequality. While there is one issue that feminists disagree on, there are so many on which they agree: the end to child prostitution both in the U.S. and abroad, the end to the sexual assault that continues to go unpunished in the U.S. military, and more.

Many feminists can agree that when women run for office the media makes them bigger targets for harsh and often sexist criticism than their male counterparts.



In the last few minutes of this clip, Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin show how they agree on this issue, even though they belong to different parties. Also, Palin shows admiration and gratitude for what Ferraro has done in her political career which has paved the road for the women that have followed her into the political sphere.

Both liberal and conservative media agree that the so-called “honor killings” that have been taking place in the Middle East and elsewhere are backward and monstrous. Both Ms. Magazine’s Blog and the National Review discussed the attempted “honor killing” of Harry Potter movie star, Afshan Azad, by her father and brother for her dating a Hindu man. Anushay Hossain in her Ms. Blog called the event is part “an unfortunate but very real and rising trend amongst the British-Muslim community.” (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/03/harry-potter-star-may-have-been-in-attempted-honor-killing/)Phyllis Chesler in her National Review article called “honor killings” a problem that is “vast and growing.” (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/232735/honor-killings-rise-phyllis-chesler).

When it comes to feminism, politics, and life in general I think it is time that we stop dividing ourselves and start unifying ourselves. An issue has more power when more people are behind it, but with dividing lines between us we will never be strong enough to overturn vicious ways of past and present for the future.

Rock N' Rol Hall of Fame 2011 Nominations by Kate Krimson

I hate the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. My two big reasons are they are constantly inducting non-rock-n’-roll icons and that they seem to keep passing over great women in rock.



Here are this year’s nominees:


Alice Cooper
Beastie Boys
Bon Jovi
Chic
Neil Diamond
Donovan
Dr. John
J. Geils Band
LL Cool J
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
Donna Summer
Joe Tex
Tom Waits
Chuck Willis


4 out of 15 of these nominees are either solo female artists or bands that have female members and not a single one of them is a woman of rock. Even with numbers like these, I still find it shocking every year that Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Heart, and The Runaways are not on the nominees list. Why are they not on the list? The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame probably doesn’t want to induct any real rockin’ women. They tend to induct women pop stars/divas, like Madonna, the girls from Abba, and Aretha Franklin. Mariah Carey will be in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame way before Wendy O ever is. A powerful and aggressive female scares the supposed rock experts, who claim to be defenders of rock n’ roll and who vote for the nominees. Even the people who represent the form of music that says “Screw you. I am going to be true to myself whether you like it or not,” are trying to keep women in that little box known as the feminine mystique.

Another problem is that Hall of Fame rarely inducts actual rock n’ roll artists. 3 out of the 15 above nominees classify as some sort of rock. If the Hall of Fame wants to keep Rock N’ Roll in their name, they may want to stick to inducting rock n’ roll artists. There are plenty of worthy nominees. There are the rockin’ women I listed above. Kiss has been nominated, but not inducted. In four years Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana will be eligible.

 Here are the Hall of Fame’s qualifications for nomination: an artist’s first record must be 25 years old and the artist must have made a significant impact in rock n’ roll. What do you think? Do you think they are skipping over some artists on purpose or not? Why do you think they are driving away from the genre they claim to represent? Just like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

Woman Warrior Wednesdays #15 by Kate Krimson

Valkyrie #1 (“Tragic Opera”)-Marvel Comics-$3.99

Summary:


Under the name Valerie, Brunnhilde was working at a hotel in NYC. A male customer pushed her out of his hotel room window for not prostituting herself. She died, but an inner bolt of lightning sprung her back to life. The paramedics want her to stay with them to make sure that she was completely recovered. After she seems to regain some of her sense of self, she remembers that she has some unfinished business and busts out of the ambulance’s back doors. She goes back to hotel to find her attempted rapist/murderer (Ryan Sanduski), but also who she’s been for the past three years. The years of working at the hotel all seem to be a strange tale to her that she barely remembers. She doesn’t ever remember being Valerie, but she remembers being Brunnhilde. Unfortunately Sanduski checked out, but Brunnhilde decides to keep up her search for at least her real self.


She goes to Cresskill, NJ to visit her friend Janet van Dyne a.k.a. The Wasp. Brunnhilde seems now to be aware of the fact that her memory loss is due to being in the Slumber of Ragnarok and Thor, god of thunder, is the one who woke her up when she “died”. She doesn’t feel like she can go back to the Asgardians because Odin banished her. Janet tells her that was a long time ago and that she’s sure that they would be glad to see Brunnhilde. Janet tells Brunnhilde that she must follow her heart to make the right decision.


While putting back the puzzle pieces of herself, Brunnhilde starts putting other puzzles together. She realizes that Ryan Sanduski must be her old enemy Brian Calusky a.k.a. Piledriver and that her old friend Ziggy might be Siegfried, one of the paramedics who rushed to her rescue. After making this realization, she goes to Siegfried’s apartment where she finds Piledriver attacking Siegfried and his family. Piledriver almost kills her again, but Brunnhilde decides that dying once is enough and starts fighting back like she means it. During the fight, Piledriver calls Brunnhilde a man-hater and she teaches him a lesson:


“Those who fear me—Fear my strength, my independence…They are the ones who judge me in order to shield their own weakness…I am not cold and aloof; nor am I a hater of men…I am a woman of deep loyalty…Far beyond that which most mortals of this realm could ever hope to understand.”


Then she defeats him with one tough punch. Afterwards Siegfried begins to have a heart attack, Brunnhilde takes him and they ride off on a police officer’s horse to go to Asgard, so he can be healed. In her face is the pure look of absolute determination that she will never lose another battle, because she has “defended and avenged, fought the incredible and the mighty… and carried the worthy to their great reward” and she is “Valkyrior (female warrior), Brunnhilde, Shield Maiden of Asgard.” All of this is what truly defines Valkyrie.


Writer (Bryan J.L. Glass): Thank you, Bryan Glass, for writing the most feminist comic that I have come across thus far. Glass deals with women’s issues (rape and being deemed a man-hater just because one is a tough woman) and shows how a woman can overcome these obstacles by believing in who she really is.


Illustrator (Phil Winslade): Winslade also makes the comic a feminist one with his more than clear depictions of Brunnhilde as her true warrior self, who as Twisted Sister once said isn’t “gonna take it anymore.”

Women’s Equality Day by Kate Krimson

August 26th is Women’s Equality Day, which celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.


Here are several ways to celebrate:


1. Make a Mix CD of Pro-Woman Songs


               Here are some of my song selections:


                        “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy


                         “The Pill” by Loretta Lynn


                        “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer


                        “Respect” by Aretha Franklin


                         “Just a Girl” by No Doubt


                         “Can’t Hold Us Down” by Christina Aguilera and Lil Kim


                         “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore


                        “Too Big for My Skin” by Desdamona


                        “Stupid Girls” by Pink


                        “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton


2. Watch a feminist film


             Some of my favorites include A League of Their Own, 9 to 5, and Thelma and Louise.


3. Read excerpts from the works of inspiring women


            Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou


           Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan


          A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft


4. Volunteer at an organization that helps women

Kate Krimson’s Recommendations

* Comic Book: Scarlet by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev features a kick ass redhead, who is trying to change the world by teaching all bad guys, including bicycle’s thieves, that no bad deed goes unpunished.


*Magazine: The Summer 2010 issue of Ms. Magazine, which discusses the horrors of the sex-show industry in Thailand (“Ping Pong Hell” by Deena Guzder) and the child prostitution that is happening in the U.S. (“Jailing Girls for Men’s Crimes” by Carrie Baker). Both of these articles are eye-opening and make the reader want to take action to end these atrocities.


*TV Show: On Rizzoli and Isles, Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) is the cop and Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) is the medical examiner. These two women combine their skills to stop crime in Boston. Catch it on TNT at 9pm Central on Mondays.

Our Favorite Feminist Songs

Highly Recommended by Yes Ma'am

Just a Girl by No Doubt

"I like the song because it illustrates how people treat women sort of like children, feeling a need to protect our innocence and prevent us from attaining independence. It attacks the idea that women are less competent than men, and uses tongue-in-cheek language to indicate to the listener that the persona will not tolerate being looked upon as, "just a girl," anymore."-Athena Allred

"Gwen Stefani lists many of the reasons being a girl in this day and age can suck and says in a sarcastic tone “ I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite, so don’t let me have any rights” and states the general feeling of most women: “I’ve had it up to here.”-Kate Krimson

Athena Allred's Favorites

Fighter by Christina Aguilera. This song may or may not necessarily be about people discouraging the singer because of her gender, but it's a powerful song about overcoming what other people think of you and growing stronger through adversity.

Mother of Pearl by Nellie McKay. Nellie McKay simultaneously debunks the idea that, "Feminists don't have a sense of humor," and points out that the issues feminists deal with are not to be taken lightly. It's very cutesy, folksy, innocent sounding music--check out the ukelele-- but it has the powerful message the women are not going to stop fighting for their rights, even if we are told to sit down and shut up.



Woman is the Nigger of the World by John Lennon. Interesting that a man wrote such a powerful song about the way women are treated. It uses strong pejorative language to evoke the right feeling, that women are viewed and treated as less valuable than men, citing specific imagistic examples to support that point.



That I Would be Good by Alanis Morrissette. In this song, Alanis challenges the idea that our intrinsic value as people can somehow be muted or diminished by having traits that society deems undesirable. The "undesirable" things that are listed in the song can have special meaning for women, whose worth is seemingly based on outside opinion. The message is that we are all good and worthy, no matter how imperfect we are.





Precious Things by Tori Amos. As with much of her music, this song of Tori Amos deals with being a female child and what it feels like growing up as a girl. It details an incident when the persona was so desperate for male approval that she thanked a boy for calling her ugly. The song goes on to detail the persona's anger at the boys who placed expectations for femininity and purity on her and all the girls in the world that she saw who were easily fulfilling those expectations without challenging them. However, the point of the song is to let go of these things that we have internalized and that have caused us much harm.

 Kate Krimson's Favorites

 
You Don’t Own Me by Lesley Gore: Gore tells off the boys by telling them that she is not an object. They can’t control what she says or does, because they don’t own her. She loves being young and free. All she wants is “to live her life the way she wants.”



Too Big for My Skin by Desdamona : Is the ultimate positive body image song. A mother tells her daughter “That her hips, could never be too big” and “That those stretch marks don’t mean a thing.” It’s just her “flesh trying to sing.” The mother says,” And if they tell you you're too big for a woman, tell them you’re just too big for your skin” because “a body just can’t hold all this beauty.”





Can’t Hold Us Down by Christina Aguilera and Lil’ Kim: Addresses some of the double standards that women face: “The guy gets all the glory the more he can score, while the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore” or a woman’s bitch if she “speaks what’s on her mind.” It also tells the boys that think they can hold a woman down that “never can, never will.” It has one simple command for girls who are told to keep quiet: “Shout louder.”

Stupid Girls by Pink: Reminds us that feminism still has a long way to go: “What happened to the dream of a girl president? She’s dancing in the video next to 50 cent.” Pink declares that she doesn’t want girls to do whatever it takes to get a boy or to fit in, she wants to see “outcasts and girls with ambition.”




I am Woman by Helen Reddy: this song is considered by many to be THE feminist anthem and for good reason. Reddy declares women have unlimited capabilities: “ I can do anything. I am strong. I am invincible. I am woman.”






Queens of Noise by The Runaways: This rockin’ song by one of the first, if not the first, major all girl rock n’ roll bands shows that girls rock just as hard as boys and reminds them that they are “not just one of their toys” they are in fact the “Queens of Noise.”