Does Online Feminism Have an Agenda?

For my public policy class I decided to adjust my paper (that is due on Wednesday) to focus on the #FemFuture report. Specifically I'll be writing about online feminism and agenda setting. While I was reading about online feminism, agenda setting and online organizing and networks, I thought "Feministas should know this!" Especially since I thought that the #FemFuture report was devoid of historical context including acknowledgement of research done about online feminism, that could have given the report more muscle. So I'm writing up my literature review notes on my PhD tumblr...yeah, it's back. Feel free to follow along and yes, please comment! Back to work!

Back to the #FemFuture

This is the longest post I think I have ever written. Thus I have created some quick links to areas you might be more interested in or to allow for skipping around. Thanks for reading! ~VLF

The Origins of Online Feminism…For Reals This Time
Who Are Online Feminists?
The Feminist Reward Card
The Future is making coffee
Who Leads?


The Origins of Online Feminism…For Reals This Time

Little did the engineers who created the Internet know what they were unleashing. In an attempt to ease sharing of scientific and military work, they created an international organizing tool. It took little time for activists to realize the power that a computer connected to a phone line (kids, back then, we needed wires to be connected) had to their organizing lives.

When I opened an account on Geocities (RIP) in the mid-1990s, I never imagined how much it would change my life. At the same time I knew that the revolution would include online communications and wanted to contribute what I could. My entry into online feminism was my invitation to a listserv for Women Leaders Online (WLO), a totally virtual organization focused on feminism and politics. A weekly newsletter was sent to update members as to what Newt Gingrich and the GOP were attempting to do to the USA. There was also a vibrant discussion on the listserv as to tactics to thwart Speaker Gingrich, how to work across the country and how we could be feminist while supporting the Clinton administration despite its anti-feminist policies such as so-called welfare reform. I should note that MoveOn was born during this era. WLO also launched the first online women’s voter guide.

None of this was an accident.

The initial release of the “Fem Future” report/call to action misrepresented the origins of online feminism. This history takes up less than half of a page, but it was used to frame how active today’s online feminism is. As a pioneer of online feminism, in fact my work is cited as one of three early efforts, and someone who continues to use online tools to push a feminist agenda, I took personal offense to the framing of online feminism as a happy accident. It ignored the work feminist activists did to pair handmade zines with online zine distributions, the hand-coding to make that table look just right and trying to decipher if behind a handle was a feminist or a creep. What we are doing today from Feministing to UltraViolet is not the result of someone leaving cheese out to mold. Rather it is a culmination of years of hard work combined with the evolution of online engagement tools (YouTube and online petitions) and the online population boom. Before RSS feeds we had to check in on blogs every day to see if there was something new or wait for the asterisk to pop up in your blogroll. In an effort to connect feminists, I created the Pro-Choice web-ring. A web-ring was a piece of html code that we put on our websites and proto-blogs that allowed visitors and ourselves to click “next” to visit the next pro-choice site. It literally connected us.

As feminists, we know all too well that “history is written by the victors.” It could be the fault of feminism 1.0 participants that we have not fully documented our history in any form. But as feminists, we know that one should ask. It is not like we are all dead. Heck, Jennifer Pozner, who was at the convening of #FemFuture and in WLO (as well as one of my best friends) could had been consulted as to our collective history. After bringing this discrepancy to light, “Fem Future” authors, Valenti & Martin, have corrected the document and struck the language that frames the creation of online feminism as “accidental."

Now that history has been corrected…the document itself.

Who Are Online Feminists?

Before the future of feminism can even be debated and planned, we need to recognize that feminism is a diverse community. While we all share a basic goal of improving the status of women, we disagree on the means to achieve this goal. This is where much of the critique is centered.

#FemFuture is calling on the community to:
• Identify how to sustain our work, yet it fails to define sustainability. I presume they mean money as the next call to action point is;
• To develop an infrastructure to support the online feminist community. Of course the idea of a grand infrastructure scares people and honestly, it should. The feminist community is too diverse to be housed under one roof or within one structure. But I am not convinced this is exactly what Valenti & Martin are suggesting. More later.

The difficulty in discussing or planning out big-F Feminist ideas is that we are far too much of a motley crew for the biggest F to have enough room to breath, much less, plan the next step in the revolution. Part of me wants to call for us to label our feminism. Are we liberal feminists, as I believe I embody, working to dismantle the master’s house with his tools? I often feel that I have the heart of a radical, but act in a very liberal manner. Or are we more radical feminists who eschew those tools for ones we create ourselves? And then there are our conservative sisters, who are rarely discussed except to tell them they aren’t feminist enough (I admit to doing that on occasion). Is this in reality the #LiberalFemFuture report?

Most of the critique of #FemFuture, that I have seen, falls under difference in what individuals view as feminism and what tactics should be used to get to the finish line.

The Feminist Reward Card

My first critique of the report itself is the assumption that we do not receive rewards. Again, a lack of definition is central. For me, online feminism has rewarded me over and over again. I feel that online feminism gives me as much, if not more, than I give it. This also does not account for the exponential number of feminist friends I have enriching my life. WLO introduced me to, my best friend and sister-in-so-many-ways, Jennifer Pozner and other friends I won’t name-drop here. When I was struggling to figure out what to do with my life after college and expressed an interest in “becoming a writer,” Katha Pollitt (also a member of WLO) said, then write. And that’s exactly what I did. I have blogged my way to becoming a leading feminist pundit. It has given me opportunities to not only voice my opinion on feminist politics, but also a platform to raise the issue of women in science and engineering to new audiences. I have merged the life of an academic with an online activist, not seamlessly, but pretty close.

And yes, that means I fall into the category that Martin & Valenti discuss as someone who works full-time to pay the bills and goes home to blog. I am lucky in that my “paying the bills” job is a feminist job. Yet, blogging today comes after my doctoral studies and my family. For me, blogging is the fourth or fifth shift. I was so lucky to have this report incorporated into one of my class papers, thus I can count this as homework. Do I wish I could be paid to blog all day, every day? Yes. Do I think that a foundation is going to give me a grant to do that? No.

#FemFuture’s funding plan is unachievable. Perhaps that means I have little vision. I prefer to think it reflects my ten years of grant seeking success and failure. They call on foundations and other funders to disregard grant deadlines and operating costs. Deadlines operate not to control grantees, but rather to organize foundations. With my experience with the philanthropic world, including being married to a foundation officer, and having run a mini-grant program myself, without budgeting of funds, you will run out of money before the fiscal year is over. This would put the feminist community at the whim of the calendar versus planning dates. Pick your poison. I also know far too well that foundations prefer to support programming versus operating costs and far more than political advocacy. Even women’s foundations prioritize services over advocacy, even if it is a determent to the overall feminist movement. Those who can give want to see tangible results such as women finding shelter after deciding to leave abusers or see increases in women plumbers through job training programs. They want results and I doubt telling them what we want to do with their money will work.

I do agree that women's foundations should have a plan to engage with their communities using online tools and not just by tweeting out news pieces. I have had this discussion with a few others in the Chicago women's philanthropic community. And if we want to have it again, let me know. Let's grab coffee.

I see courting an angel funder is far more reasonable, although this will most likely to benefit those of us in large urban areas such as NYC, DC, Chicago and LA. That is unless Warren Buffet decides to send out random $100,000 checks to online feminist entities. An angel funder should be looking at sites like The Broad Side (and not just because I do contribute there) as the venue to have women discuss politics and push the agenda forward. This is why legacy women’s organizations depend on membership fees or publications on subscriptions. This is why we see (at least those of us who have seen the backroom antics of the feminist community) turf wars over names and mailing lists. That is currency. This is where Martin & Valenti are correct is saying that it is time for us to “stand confidently…and ask for the resources…that will create fundamental change (p 29).”

I see the for-profit model the “best” answer to making money. Online feminist entities could produce apps, as suggested in the report, that would build on all of the boycott shopping lists. Do I buy this shirt or this one? Pull out your smart phone, open the “FeministBuy” app (don’t steal that, talk to me) and check to see if that company deserves your hard earned money. Yes, this idea ignores the larger economic forces of shopping, but this is a discussion about how feminists are trying to make money and I suspect big money. $1.99 here and there and you have a revenue stream.

And if online feminism wants to look at ad revenue and corporate sponsorship, they need to hook up with some of the kick ass mom bloggers who are not rolling in the dough, but making enough. Valenti & Martin also call for professional development. This sounds a lot like the 2012 Top Blogueras Retreat I was invited to attend. While their mini-MBA style retreat did not seem to fit my goals for my blog, a lot of Latinas who do want to make money from their blogs were excited. We had access to some of the biggest companies who are eager to connect to Latina pocketbooks. As I have said over the years, feminists shop, buy make-up, take vacations and clean their homes as much as the mom blogger. If a feminist blogger is up for partnering with Brand X, go for it. But seriously, give the LATISM folks a call; they know how to roll with the corporate sponsors. But if feminists are ready for that move, they better be ready for their funders to get pissed at what we write about or worse, wake up to find our biggest sponsor has a new CEO who sexually harasses the women in their office. As for ad revenue, we might end up like Jezebel, writing link bait SEO-awesome blog posts, that ultimately does little for the feminist revolution.

We can also contract out as consultants to political campaigns, corporations and others interested in knowing what feminists are thinking. They send us press releases all the time asking us to promote this latest finding or that Senator WhatsHisName will be introducing this bill. Pay us for the advertising and marketing of your work. Just because our interests align does not mean we should do it for free.

Hell, I'm even open to being compensated with a media pass to big fundraisers; which I have received from at least one Chicago organization. I will blog & tweet up an event, live tweet it and then post my blurry photos to Flickr for a ticket. I believe the amount of work I do is worth, at the very least, basic membership to certain magazines and organizations. My currency is my network. But the level of requests to “share this information” from far better funded organizations without even credit to their online store is shameful.

I do want to acknowledge that this underfunding and unsustainable model that Martin & Valenti use as the center of this work is how most progressive organizing have maintained themselves and continues to operate under. The revolution may have karaoke, but few of us will get rich or even make a living wage. This is a sad reality that Martin & Valenti are working to flip, but their framing borders on entitlement of the online feminist community over those providing services in the community who are taking out loans to cover payroll because our states (Howdy, Illinois) are broke and take months to pay for the services they are contracting for. We are all struggling to make ends meet, whether we are telling stories or creating history.

The bottom line is that if we are going to make money, big money, we will have to have some hard discussions about our values and how they do not usually align with money-getting-mechanisms.

The Future is making coffee

As an aging-young feminist; ok middle-aged feminist (I’m 38), I completely agree that a flaw in how some legacy organizations operate is by seeking to connect with young feminists, yet ignore or dismiss the suggestions of their young (staff) members. When I served on a national feminist organization’s board in my late 20s, a suggestion was made to invite a pop artist, who had espoused feminist ideas in interviews, to the annual conference. This idea was dismissed, as her image was too sexy. The level of media attention that year’s conference could have received would have been huge, if the pop star had said yes. The hierarchy in any organization will often find younger and less experienced voices silenced. Ask anyone in any entry-level position. This is the great victory of online feminism. Voices can be amplified regardless of age.

But...it took me until my 30s to realize the value of "making the coffee" jobs and learning under great leaders. What this document suggests to me is that we have a ton of young leaders with great ideas, but without all the skills needed to implement.

Ultimately, Martin & Valenti are concerned about the future existence of online feminism. A harsh view of this concern is that it will never die. Specific organizations may come and go, but as someone who has been following online feminism since 1995, from the ashes of a Ms. Musings will rise a Feministing. Some are still mourning the loss of The White House Project, but other candidate training organizations are popping up.

That said, Martin & Valenti are also (more?) concerned about the lack of long-term planning and our inability to do this without a structure to communicate and collaborate. As they say early on, if online feminists are to be proactive rather than reactive, we need a battle plan. What policy do we want to see enacted before the end of the Obama administration? I suggest crafting a big tent goal such as economic security which would then allow for those of us who prioritize increasing education and training programs along with those seeking real equal pay legislation as well as those working for affordable childcare so women can take advantage of increased pay and educational opportunities.

Who Leads?

Martin and Valenti are spot on when they highlight the emotional labor of feminist organizing. We draw our strength from that emotional labor; at the same time it is most likely killing us through late nights and stress. But as La Mala said, some of us have a heavier burden to carry. And that is why the erasure of early online feminist activities hit the radical women/feminists of color community hard. I would say we, but I’m mainstream enough I get a fair share of attention…They are often overlooked or plain ignored when it comes to conversations to feminism itself, much less what is happening online. We don’t need to forget our past in order to built a vibrant future. We can do both; we must do both. Otherwise we will repeat our mistakes…again and again.

This brings me to the convening.

Yes, the feminists at the table were diverse in ethnic background and sexuality. But from what I understand, the report was written by Valenti & Martin. This means they are the face of the report. This is just how we process things. Because there are some great ideas in this call to action, I wish Valenti & Martin had co-authored with a woman of color. If the masthead is not diverse, some will not accept the document as diverse.

There is also the issue of Valenti & Martin’s assertion that their convening was historic. This suggests that it was the first time a gathering of online activists sat down to discuss “next steps.” Rather this has been happening at conferences, including the 2009 Fem.20 conference. The call to have annual #FemFuture meetings would continue where Fem2.0 left off. Wow…can’t believe it’s been four years already.

So who will lead this #FemFuture? For me, this call to action read to me as a young feminist document. Just because young women are the power users of social media does not mean they are driving the online feminist community. A quick peek at the data reveals that overall 13% of women of all ages think it is very important to use social media to keep up with political news. Add in another 24% who think it is important. Age wise...

_______________VI_______Imp___Total importance
29yrs and under 12%_____30%___42%
30-39years______14%_____21%___35%
40-49years______16%_____20%___36%
50-59years______13%_____28%___41%
60yrs and up____08%_____17%___26%

I do want to point out there is a 90yo woman who says "very important." If you are reading this, can you ping me, so I can follow you?

There are plenty of amazing young feminists online, don't get me wrong. But the young feminist bias plays into the stereotype that no one over 30 is online. The cross-tabulations I just shared reveal that we're pretty even when it comes to simply getting political information. I will do more stats work on this, but that will come later. Who knows, maybe when it gets to being more active, the whippersnappers will eek us old ladies out?

Those of us over 30 set the groundwork for Rookie and the f-bomb and we love them! We are also those who have been in the waiting area of leadership of the legacy organizations. We might not be “young feminists” anymore, but we’re not ready to retire either. I’m not saying we’re going to fight for leadership, rather, don’t ignore our expertise and the work we have done. A diverse movement includes those of us who rocked “Grrrl Power” shirts and not because a Spice Girl told us to (but I will admit to dancing to them). We will continue to lead our parts of the movement and welcome the new ideas from the generations behind us.

In the legacy of Buffy Summers, there is no singular chosen one. We are the chosen ones.

This report will stand as a historical record in our collective movement. This is why I asked for the correction. Not for my work, but for all of us who toiled hand coding our online space before...hell, I don't even know when the tipping point it. This is why I robbed myself of sleep to respond. One of my mentors from undergraduate (even though I just talked to her a few weeks ago) had a mantra - "Don't throw it out!" She knew all the brochures, buttons, minutes and notes we use to have in physical form is history. The same applies online. The worst part of this call to action is that it continued a practice of erasure that continues to push some of our most brilliant minds away from this space we call "online feminism." No one document can reverse that trend, but small things like asking, including and acknowledging people's work can go a long way. Some can and will dismiss #FemFuture due to who wrote it, but it will live on. This is why our responses are important - whether we are liberal feminists, like me, invested in the mainstream structure or radical women of color who will discard this report as they have the label "feminist."

I know it took me so long to write this because I had a lot in my head. I'm sure I've missed things I wanted to say and all that. I know there will be those who think I am too hard on this report and some who will think I haven’t gone far enough. I welcome constructive comments.


Other #FemFuture responses to read:
Jessica Luther's Storify of her live-tweeting her reading
Blackamazon: Loveletters to MamitaMala thank you for my #femfuture
#FemFuture, History & Loving Each Other Harder , which also has a list of recommended readings including illegal plum pudding



Footnote: Yes, I alternated between Valenti & Martin and Martin & Valenti. Just trying to share the citation.

My daughter just shook her head...

then dramatically put it on the dinner table. She's nine and she gets that telling girls to not wear leggings in order to not distract boys is ridiculous*.

I'm not using the term "rape culture" with her yet, but I hope I'm setting her up for that "Oh...this is what Mom's been talking about!" I didn't even address her when talking about the story. Rather I addressed the table where my husband & daughter were waiting patiently for the server to bring us dinner, "So, there's a middle school..."

*OK, she is my daughter, so she might be swearing in her head, but let me believe she's immune to my foul mouth.

"The Ugly Truth" About the Sex Trade

Hollywood has sanitized sex work by romanticizing it, as in "Pretty Woman," to a point that many people will wave off criticism of people who pay for sex by claiming that women "choose" to do it. While the feminist debate over sex work continues, there is no debate that much is wrong with the sex trade. An organization, End Demand Illinois has launched a campaign with these outdoor signs:

"The Ugly Truth" is a multi-media advertising campaign that seeks to raise awareness of the harm inflicted on women who are trafficked or prostituted, while calling the public to clear and measurable action on their behalf. Created through a dialogue with our partners at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), who are currently working to pass critical anti-sexual exploitation legislation in Springfield.

Lynne Johnson, leader of End Demand Illinois and a colleague in the Chicago feminist scene, wrote an eloquent op-ed about ending the policy to charge those in prostitution with a felony:

It’s time to call it off. A 13-year-old experiment of charging prostitution as a felony in Illinois has failed. People in prostitution are being cycled through the criminal justice system without access to the help they really need, and the people causing the harm are going unpunished.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the signs around the city. And hopefully having some constructive conversations with people who may have never thought of how to address the sex trade in Illinois.

Review: Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines

Perhaps you might remember a Kickstarter from last year that was about Wonder Woman? Well, the final product is finally here! And it kicks ass.

"Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines" by Vaquera Productions premieres on Independent Lens on PBS April 15th (check your local listings) and it is a much watch.

Ella, my 9-year-old daughter, and I watched the preview DVD together on a Saturday afternoon during a study break. Bottomline? We loved it.

I grew up on the Linda Carter "Wonder Women," so I enjoyed learning about Wonder Woman's history. I knew she was created to fight the Nazis - that you could get from the show, but I also picked up that elsewhere. But I did not know, or forgot, that Wonder Woman was stripped of her powers at one point! And other lady comic book heroes turned away from saving the day to pining over men. Talk about feminist backlash!

Along the way, we not only learn more about our favorite Amazon princess (Sorry, Gabby), but we  hear from Linda Carter and Lindsay Wagner about how playing feminist icons changed them. We also hear from Gloria Steinem, Shelby Knox, and other women on their view of Wonder Woman. Thus, the title, "Wonder Women."

I tried to keep a tally of men versus women experts and that went out the window once Jack Halberstam, a queer* person, popped up on screen. I can't remember any other time seeing a documentary, even feminist ones, where someone was clearly not gender conforming. So yes, I cheered. Honestly, the overwhelming number of experts used were women, so that was good. I mean, come on, this is Wonder Woman, we need women's voices! I was disappointed in the lack of women of color voices though. I could only identify one Latina, one Asian-American and one African-American, Jamia Wilson of the Women's Media Center (founded by Gloria Steniem).

The best part of the documentary though was Kathleen Hanna's take on the "Spice Girls." I won't spoil it for you, because you must watch it.

Edited on 4/5/2013 to add:
One theme of this documentary is that Wonder Woman wasn't created to be a feminist icon and as I mentioned before, was stripped of her feminist agency at one point. But in the end, it doesn't matter. We made her the feminist icon. There are plenty of critiques, especially of her costume, that go along with critiques of Xena, Buffy, and every other kick ass feminist icon that is not a perfect icon. Perhaps Joss did set out to create a feminist character, but it is our fandom that really molded Buffy in a feminist icon. If we hadn't done that, would Joss still have given us such a powerful Season 7 finale? Perhaps. I'm rewatching Xena with my 9-year-old daughter and it is far more apparent of Xena's use of her sexiness to beat the bad guys. Does that negate her strength, courage and intellect? OK, I'm drifting into another blog post...Don't forget to watch "Wonder Women" when it comes to a TV near you.

Watch Coming Soon to Independent Lens: Wonder Women! on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

* When I looked Jack up I enjoyed reading his struggle with whether to label himself transgender or not, as well as if he will transition or not. Jack also still uses women's locker rooms, which I presume as a safety issue with men's locker rooms. Thus I went with queer. If this is incorrect, please just let me know.

Damsel turned Hero

A quick post to point y'all to this awesome video of Pauline saving Mario in Donkey Kong:



After you enjoy it, check out Anita Sarkeesia's latest video "Damsel in Distress: Part 1 - Tropes vs Women in Video Games." 

Don't be afraid to dream big...Sometimes the impossible happens

Two things happened recently that most people would had sworn would never, ever, ever happen (Cue, Taylor Swift).

The first was the retraction and honest apology from the Onion about their C-word tweet about Quvenzhane Wallis. During the twitter outrage, a friend who works in journalism and had worked for the Onion, tweeted that the Onion would only eat up the publicity. Our outrage is only fueling them. It made sense. As my bestie, Jennifer Pozner, documents in "Reality Bites Back", feminist outrage is eaten up and sometimes sought after as free publicity. Within an hour, the Onion took down the tweet. Why was the next question, especially since the internet is forever and screen shots were taken around the world. But on Monday an apology was released. There was no hedging, no sorry if you were offended...' Just a simple, we screwed up and we are sorry, apology. I'll take that as a victory and vindication for the outrage that fueled social media and blogs.

The second thing that happened was that the Violence Against Women Act was renewed and it includes more women than before. "VAWA 2013 is a strong reauthorization that includes landmark protections for women on Tribal lands, improves protections for immigrant victims, ensures services for LGBT survivors, and adds important housing protections for victims. The bill also preserves and maintains core funding for life-saving victim services"

During the fight to pass the renewal, some people asked if having no VAWA was worth it to fight for immigrant women, LGBT persons and American Indian women. For me, the answer was always, HELL YES. Through my work in the reproductive justice movement, I know far too well that women without high social status are often jettisoned in an effort to move feminist issues along. The thing is that doing that is not feminist! VAWA 2012, now 2013, offered the feminist community a chance to prove we are learning to never leave a sister behind.

I asked Kim Gandy, President and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, about how this miracle came about:

All of the organizations stood together -- even those that had much to lose if VAWA failed -- because there was no other path to success for all of us. There was a real determination not to leave anyone behind. If there had been a single defection, a crack in the solid wall of support, it would have been the beginning of “compromises” – which is only a bad word if it means some victims don’t get justice.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Social justice work is hard. It can wear us down, even as we are trying to lift up the world. Why not take a moment to celebrate when we have victories? Take a deep breath and on to the next challenge.

McCain Breaks With Romney, Won't Continue To Back Mourdock

Presented without comment...because, well it says it all, right?



Although, if you need your memory jogged on who the hell Mourdock is, he's running for the U.S. Senate from Indiana and said

"And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

A must watch TED talk on abortion shame

Presented without comment:

I Had an Abortion... Or Maybe I Didn't: Leslie Cannold at TEDxCanberra 2012

What is a 21st Century Feminist?

With all the talk of a “war on women” during this explosive election year, the notion of feminism is once again in the news – and open to debate. Especially among women.

Nothing illustrates that better than the rash of commentary following the recent death of sexual-revolution era author Helen Gurley Brown, says Heather Huffman, a 35-year-old author whose newest book, “Devil in Disguise,” continues her tradition of upbeat romances featuring strong female protagonists.

“Some writers took her to task for advocating sexual freedom for women,” Huffman says. “They say she wasn’t a ‘feminist’ because she was all for promiscuity, not women’s rights, and her actions led to an explosion of single moms and STDs.

“Others viewed her as the ultimate ‘feminist,’ a heroine who chopped through a cultural thicket to break down repressive social mores.”

The truth is, Huffman says, that Brown did important work on behalf of women.

“While I don’t advocate promiscuity, I do acknowledge that Gurley Brown’s boundary-pushing stance brought the topic of women’s rights to the forefront, paving the way for change,” she says.

The problem is, she says, that when people hear the word “feminist,” they picture a woman from another time, like Helen Gurley Brown. They don’t see themselves at all.

“I hear some women say, ‘I’m not a feminist!’ They think a feminist is a strident, angry man-hater who gets up in arms over any perceived slight,” Huffman says. “That’s too bad, because the world needs feminists as much as it needs any group that advocates for human rights.”

Feminism changes with the times, she says. So what is a 21st century feminist? Huffman offers her observations:

• She (or he) supports a woman’s right to be a mom – or not. When women won acceptance and equal rights in the workplace, we were released from one box and plopped right into another one. “We went from raising children to raising children and working. Too often, that’s the expectation now,” Huffman says. Feminists support a woman’s right to choose her life’s direction, whether that’s staying at home and being mothers, choosing never to become mothers, or some hybrid of work and motherhood. “Having equal rights is having the freedom to choose our life’s direction without being subjected to discrimination because of what other people expect our role to be,” Huffman says.

• Supports removing double standards. “You still see, in the workplace and at home, the tough guy gets praised, and the tough woman, well, she’s a ‘witch’ or worse,” Huffman says. More smart, savvy women have earned respect professionally – Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright – and that’s progress, but we still have work to do. “Professional women still get criticized about their hair style, their fashion choices. Rarely are professional men snubbed for these things.”

• Understands what rights are being legislated and by whom. We all know the hot-button “values” issues that polarize voters. “The reality is a politician’s party affiliation doesn’t paint an accurate picture of who they are or what they stand for. Voting records, corporate associations, and actions are much more telling. As citizens, as women with a voice, we must do our homework to ensure our values are being reflected in Washington. And, in truth, feminism is more than a political movement – it’s the empowerment of women to live the life they were created for.”

About Heather Huffman

Heather Huffman is a women’s advocate, writer, former human relations specialist and mother of three. She and her family are currently homesteading 10 acres in the Ozarks. Huffman is the author of seven novels, including “Throwaway” and its prequel, “Tumbleweed.” A portion of proceeds from sales of her books benefit groups fighting human trafficking.

This PR article was sent to me and I thought it was thought provoking enough to post. I hope you enjoy. If you're rather not see articles like this here, just say so. ~ v  

Our Bodies, Our Votes

My submission to the Our Bodies, Our Votes tumblr

Get your own bumpersticker!

What's missing from the DNC? Talk of repealing the ban on abortions for women in uniform

My Twitter stream has been a flutter this week with feminist joy at how often speakers have mentioned women's rights and 'choice' at the Democratic National Convention. Sandra Fluke knocked it out of the park with her speech, but we still have a lot of work to do if in six months our President does have our back.

One area where I want to see President Obama have our collective backs is the issue of military women and abortion. Current law bans servicewomen from using their own insurance to pay for abortion services if they become pregnant as the result of rape. According to Stand Up for Servicewomen:

Current law forbids military hospitals from providing abortion care except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment— even if the woman pays with her own funds. Because physicians on military bases are prohibited from providing abortion care, servicewomen are often forced to choose between taking leave and traveling far distances to an American provider, seeking services from a local, unfamiliar health care facility (if abortion is legal and they are not in a combat zone), having an unsafe procedure, or attempting to self-induce an abortion.

 While their ads are powerful (see below), I want more than just the Shaheen Amendment. I want every woman who serves this country to have their legal right to abortion met in every military hospital. Not just in case of rape, but when a woman decides she cannot carry a pregnancy to term. I will accept that we need to take small steps sometimes, but I fear that this small step will be all that we will get.

Book Review: A Little F'd Up by Julie Zeilinger

A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word by Julie Zeilinger is a valiant attempt to claim the crown of “the” young feminist. While still in high school, Zeilinger launched the well-respected blog, “f-bomb.” She has certainly helped to bring feminism to a new and younger generation.

F’d Up tries to be the teen feminist guide as well as an explanation to anyone older than 25 as to what “kids these days” think of feminism and other issues. By trying to be both, Zeilinger falls short in both realms. There are places where Zeilinger does a brilliant job and others where it is clear she has bitten off more than she can handle. I read this book as a feminist scholar but will admit that part of my brain remained in “I’m the mom of a tween girl!” mode as well.

As a mom, I appreciated Zeilinger’s laying out how teens today think. Zeilinger shined when she explained how tiring it must be for teens to be constantly performing in person and online as the same time teens are just trying to figure out who the hell they are. It’s as if teens are constantly starring in their own soap opera and no one is yelling “CUT!” Her examination of hook up culture is spot on in how it both empowers girls to embrace their sexuality, but also maintains gender roles. I know it makes some older feminists heads spin...imagine being a 15-year-old trying to live through it.

Zeilinger’s honesty in calling out moms on contributing to teen girls’ body issues is important. Bonding with your daughter by going to Weight Watchers together isn’t all that healthy. I know there are moms today who struggle with how to talk about our bodies without passing on our body image issues, but also want to teach our daughters to live a healthy lifestyle.

Zeilinger also does a bang-up job at deconstructing mean girl behavior. Sadly it doesn’t end once you graduate, but if more teens listened to Zeilinger’s advice perhaps we can nip it in the bud. there are few worse things than having a mean girl coworker when you’re 40.

But where Zeilinger falters is in her grasp of feminist history and a global sense of where the broad range of feminist action is today.

When describing global women’s issues, Zeilinger stays safe by selecting four issues that are fairly non-controversial (sex trafficking, female feticide/infanticide, female genital mutilation and honor crimes). This is super smart for a book wanting to engage teens who may not call themselves feminists. But in her section on so-called honor killings she disappoints. Zeilinger fails to mention activists like Rana Husseini who has been documenting and fighting for harsher penalties for the murder of young women in Jordan. For Zeilinger to state that women in these countries are paralyzed with fear ignores the important work that is currently being done. It erases their work and can not be excused by her inexperience.

It is also disappointing to read Zeilinger’s belief that feminism as it is today is about promoting women as “flawless (p 131)” or wanting “more power” than men. I can only chalk up her passion for men to join the movement and her inability to see decades of women (outside of separatists) trying to bring more men in as a result of her inexperience. While the husbands and male partners of women feminists are not always at the rallies or in leadership positions, their support of feminism is what allows some of us to “do it all.” We also need to recognize the work of men like Michael Kimmel and the men of Men Against Sexual Violence chapters around the country.Yes, we need more feminist men working on feminist issues, but we do have a few great ones.

Zeilinger’s weakness in how to deal with racism and white privilege within feminist history and today’s activists should fade in time. Her attempt to tackle it is equally brave and lacking. In her own statement on white privilege Zeilinger states: 

“I think it's really shitty that I'm not able to do a better job of writing about this element of feminism (being a privileged white girl) better. And I don't want to cop out, bbut if somebody out there thinks they can do better: You should. We need it. (p 84).”  

Many already have. While not exactly privileged white girl responses and also not perfect scholars have have been working on white privilege for years and they are worth directing teens towards. Get teens to look inside their backpack!

The struggle white suffragists found themselves in post-Civil War was glossed over. It is not a pretty or easy conversation, but it's one best had as soon as possible. There’s a lot we, as a movement, still need to learn from how Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass went from allies to being pitted against each other, not to mention their respective communities. As evidence that we haven’t learned from that moment we just need to peek back at the 2008 Democratic primary and how Black women were told to “choose sides.” It's difficult to acknowledge the racism and classism that went into the suffrage movements tactics and thoughts, but we must or we can't truly move forward. For me I'm still working on negotiating that space. Zeilinger will surely figure out where she stands in that space.

Much of F’d Up is a great introduction for teens to feminism. Zeilinger would had been well served to have had a co-author who could guide on feminist history/theory or more hands on editors. I have no idea if the swearing is truly representative of Zeilinger’s voice or an attempt (by the author and/or editors) to pander to teens. Either way, it should had been toned down because reading “bad ass” a zillion times was fucking annoying. (See?)

F’d Up has great points, but it also has a lot of flaws. I can’t recommend it as a whole, but I would certainly recommend her section on teens living life online (especially in light of Facebook trying to figure out how to get tweens on board). I look forward to Zeilinger’s future work. She has a passion that will carry her far. As a blogger, I believe that her growth as a feminist leader will be very public and hopefully that will ensure a new generation of feminists will follow her.

On the other hand, yes I'm conflicted about this book, if Zeilinger is the voice of the next generation of feminism, F'd Up is a must read because it's important for those of us older than 25 to know how they view feminism, how we have been dealing with issues and how important it is to have women's history taught in high school.

To get a copy for yourself, head over to Powells or Indiebooks.

Disclaimer:  I was asked to review this book and was happy to oblige, even if it turned out to be one of the hardest reviews to write.

* Book links are affiliate links. If you buy your book here I could make a very small amount of money that goes towards this blog by helping me purchase books for school. Thanks! 

EVENT and GIVEAWAY: 8th Annual Summer, Sex & Spirits (NYC)

I can't be there, but New York friends, I hope you will represent VLF at the 8th Annual Summer, Sex & Spirits hosted by the Planned Parenthood NYC Activist Council, Tuesday, June 26 at Hudson Terrace:

Featuring

• Performances by Lady Circus
• This Ambitious Orchestra
• Naughty balloon artistry by Mistress B
•  Music by DJ Tanner & DJ Louis XIX

Open bar all night

Visit the event page to see a list of fabulous silent auction & raffle prizes!

VLF is happy to be a sponsor of the event! And to celebrate, we're giving away a general admission ticket to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment by Monday, June 18th at 9 PM EST and I'll select a random winner. You can earn an extra entry by liking Viva la Feminista at Facebook (just leave another comment to alert me of this fact).

Easy, huh?

So hurry up and comment!

All proceeds go to benefit PPNYC's healthcare services, education programs, and legislative work.

Please contact activists@ppnyc.org with all event related questions.

Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Time: 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Address:
621 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036

Should Sheryl Sandberg be a Feminist Role Model?

Disclaimer: I began this post in August 2011 and with the flurry of activity that is graduate school, I just now completed this thought. Any datedness is my fault, not the fault of my awesome friends who contributed their voices to this conversation. ~veronica

Photo from The New Yorker profile

One day over the summer I realized that Sheryl Sandberg had taken over my inbox.

I had press releases about her TED talk and her Barnard commencement address, with pleas to blog about them. Then came emails about a profile in The New Yorker. People wanted me to know about her and friends wanted to know what I thought of her. Is she a feminist? Is her advice feminist? Should we be playing her TED talk to every woman and girl? Finally my curiosity took over. I dove into the pool that is Sheryl Sandberg.

And I jumped right back out.

My mind was spinning and I wasn’t sure what to think. This is where I usually email a friend or two to talk it out. Maybe start a conversation on Facebook or Twitter. But I didn’t even know where to really start. As I walked my way through Sandberg’s remarks, I knew what I had to do. Assemble a small flock of feminist thinkers:

* Cinnamon Cooper: Textbook editor by day, purse maker by night. She also is the author of Everything Cast-Iron Cooking. Not to mention one of my best friends.

* Kate D.: Fundraiser to feminist organizations aka she writes the grants that fund the revolution. She currently works at a reproductive rights organization in DC. We became friends when she lived in Chicago and we were in the same book club.

* Tina Johnson: Human Resources Consultant. We became friends when we both participated in Leadership Illinois.

* Courtney Martin: Editor at Feministing.com. We met when we spoke on a panel together in 2010.

* Claire Mysko: Author of You’re Amazing! and Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? I can’t recall how we actually met, but each time we chat I feel like we’ve been friends forever.

* Latoya Peterson: Editor of Racialious and all-around awesome hip hop feminist. We became friends during the third 2008 Progressive Women’s Voices class.

I chose this group of lady friends (including a few who wanted to join us, didn’t have time to contribute) because of their diverse vantage points in leadership, organizational management and feminist thought.
***********

Veronica: Do you think that Sandberg is a feminist? Why or why not? She has implemented a progressive family leave policy, but dismisses affirmative action for women. What does it mean to be a feminist in such a public role?

Latoya: She may not be a feminist in name, but I’d consider her actions and award her the title. True, she could use a bit of education as to what “structural issues” are, since she appears to think that everyone has an even shot - and life just doesn’t work that way. However, she does go out of her way to speak to and address women, and acts a mentor and advocate in the workplace. The sentiment is mixed, but I can think of many other women who don’t mentor, advocate, or even publicly discuss matters of gender.

Kate: I read the article about French feminist Elisabeth Badinter in the July 25th edition of the New Yorker and that piece also focused on this issue a bit. This is nothing new in feminism of course, but I like the acknowledgement (in both pieces) that oftentimes, taking this kind of position is grounded in a level of privilege that most women (or even most people) do not enjoy. So, as Cinnamon says below, I am supportive of practical approaches to advancement for women and I think they’re useful, but I cringe to see them offered as some kind of panacea. Like it’s just that easy, you know? Of course it’s not. It’s kinda like that whole brouhaha with Oprah and “The Secret” a few years back (which I know was blown up and overgeneralized and I’m sure misunderstood by many on both sides, but still) - sometimes there are very real barriers to achievement with which the more well-off feminist thinkers and businesswomen are wholly unfamiliar, and ignoring them is a huge blind spot.The “structural issues” issue, as Latoya mentions above.

Veronica: Is Sandberg the epitome of “a guy’s feminist?” A strong and smart woman who is willing to do the work, has a family and above all rarely blames men or society for women’s lot. She instead points the finger at women. Or is she, as Latoya points out, just blind to the systemic and structural challenges that women face?

Courtney: I’m with others who have talked about her neglect of systemic issues and privilege. She leads the TED talk by admitting that many women in other countries are in a different boat, but doesn’t admit how different many American women’s realities are. The way she flattens out American women infuriates me, particularly as she is being given so much airtime to call attention to the ways in which class, race etc. are still beasts in determining women’s trajectories in life and leadership.

Tina: My personal opinion is Sandberg has been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time; now you can argue this is luck or strategic. There is no doubt she is a bright women who knows exactly how to get what she wants in life. She has been able to find the right mentors and people to help her climbing the corporate ladder. Finding a mentor is a tough thing for a woman (as we read in the article) I worked hard to find a mentor and never was able to make that happen, women didn’t want to help me because I looked like a threat to them and men didn’t want to citing that they were too busy, but I think it was most likely the same reason that was stated in the article.

Sandberg is fortunate to a nanny and people who work to help her at home. But I have to believe that she pays for that with trade-offs that are of her own choosing. I don’t believe she makes a decision without weighing all of the facts and honestly, raise your hands with me, haven’t we all paid someone to clean our houses and help with chores.

Claire: I agree with everyone who has pointed out Sandberg’s failure to address the real systemic barriers women face in the workplace. Pat Mitchell’s criticism of her networking dinners made up of a group of educated, elite women hit the nail on the head for me. It’s this “head in the sand” mentality that kept bothering me more each time I read the article.

And let’s not forget that Sheryl Sandberg’s mentor was Larry Summers. The same Larry Summers who, while president of Harvard, got himself into hot water after making public comments about how he believes there are differences between men’s and women’s “intrinsic aptitude” in engineering and science. The same Larry Summers who played a key role in deregulating financial markets. And we all know how that went. The article raised an interesting issue that most women lack sponsorship from senior male executives—and that Sandberg’s success is due in part to fact that she did have that kind of sponsorship from a man with a lot of power--but in all honesty the Summers brand of power doesn’t really jibe with my feminism. This is not to say that Sandberg necessarily espouses every one of Summers’ beliefs because she was mentored by him or even that Summers is an all-around bad guy. But I do think that when we talk about the importance of giving women access to power, we should also examine what kind of power we’re talking about.

Veronica: Does Sandberg need to “lean in” to Facebook’s board? She uses that term to describe how women need to jump into career opportunities, especially leadership opportunities. There is an importance of women in high positions. When women are a critical mass (at least three) in the board room, women and girls’ issues are on the table. Perhaps if enough women were on Facebook’s board, then the issue of pro-rape pages and groups wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

Latoya: Depends. Would that be a symbolic victory, or does being on the board just make sense for her career trajectory? She may want to use that energy for other projects or other things. I think that Facebook needs to look seriously at the composition of their board, but I don’t think that every woman in the spotlight has to do every single thing. I may be too green in my career to comment effectively, but I thought people joined boards for things they are very, very committed to. Especially folks with a high powered gig. Does she want to go from thinking about Facebook 10 hours a day to thinking about it 15?

Courtney: As others have articulated, I find some of Sheryl’s ideas really resonant, particularly the “lean in” idea. I’ve noticed moments in my own life when I’ve “leaned out” and it rarely had to do with systemic injustice as much as my own fears or insecurities. Her voice will now be in my head in those moments--a real gift. I also like her look at the ways in which women and men cast their success differently. I wrote about both of these elements.

Cinnamon: I think the thing that struck me the most was how her actions seem very inclusive of women and very family/female friendly, but yet she doesn’t seem to rattle the seats of those above her. I wish that was questioned more. Why doesn’t she want a seat on the board at Facebook? And why didn’t the interviewer get Mark Zuckerberg to answer the question about why she’s not on the board. It makes me wonder if she’s just gotten lucky to always find a male mentor who will help her advance, but only so far and when she hits her limit she moves to the next opportunity instead of just accepting the blockage. Considering her role and what she’s done at Facebook already, I think she deserves a board position and I’m shocked that she isn’t fighting for it. Unless she is fighting for it but decided to not make that fight public.

Veronica: Do you think Pat Mitchell and Gloria Steinem should be more public with their criticism or keep it public? Do you appreciate/have public debates with friends?

Courtney: I actually thought this was one of the most interesting things about the piece. Gloria and Pat were able to express their disagreements or disappointments with Sheryl’s analysis without being cast as catty or back-stabbing, as is so often the case when powerful women disagree with one another publicly. It was heartening to me that they felt comfortable being real about their differing view points, without making anything into a personal attack, and that the journalist respected the spirit in which these disagreements were communicated and didn’t manipulate it to create drama.

Veronica: What does a feminist leader/manager look like? What should leadership look like from a feminist?

Cinnamon: I was one of the bajillion viewers who watched her TED talk online a while ago and it has resonated with me. The 3 things she mentions in that talk are great and practical tips for any woman who is working. Her tone in the TED piece is encouraging without sounding antagonistic. And is presented in a way that I don’t feel is pointing the finger at women. However the finger-pointing came through stronger in this article. I think it is not only productive, but necessary to get women to change their actions so they can advance. But if that is done without looking at why women need to “learn” things later in life that men “pick up” along the way, then women can only advance so far. I would like to see her do a follow up video explaining 3 things men can do.

As a feminist and a manager I’ve done a lot of soul searching to make sure that my expectations of my staff and my interactions with them are not affected by any gender differences that I’m aware or unaware of. When assigning tasks, offering feedback, and doing reviews I think about what I’m going to say and why I’m saying it and ask myself if I would say it to someone else on the team who is of a different gender/age/etc. My approach may be different for each person I work with, but I try to make sure that those differences are because of the individuals’ personality and not something I’m bringing. I think this approach has made me a better feminist and a better manager and a better person. And I think Sandberg does that as well. Her making everyone in a meeting scoot together so everyone can fit at a table is one action. This inclusive attitude benefits women and I see it as being very feminist and am surprised she doesn’t.

Tina: While reading Sandberg’s article, I was immediately struck by the fact that at her core she is a servant leader which is probably why many of the things she professes ring true for me. A servant leader as described by Robert K. Greenleaf is “a person who is servant first, who has responsibility to be in the world, and so he/she contributes to the well-being of people and community.”

When I look at the article from that point, I don’t know whether I would call her a feminist leader or some hybrid of the two. I have a difficult time with the title of feminist and what that means to me so I have spent some time soul searching and will continue to see how this manifests itself with me.

I found several themes in the article in addition to servant leadership. I found pragmatic, righteous and social themes in the article which points to the fact Sandberg tries to appeal to all women. Being able to appeal to women is genius in my book. If she can move women toward a call of action, I am right behind her.

Sandberg works hard to hold woman accountable for their actions and to make certain they are held to a high standard. I really like how she talks about the fact we are not leading the lives our mothers and grandmothers led. That portion resonated for me since I have worked hard over my own career to make certain I don’t take for granted what women before me either gave up or fought for. Again, I see that her servant leadership heart is compelling her to reach out and push women to do more and be more and as I said above, her means to call them to action is varied and seems to work.

As far as her work to recruit people to Facebook from Google and other companies, well from my HR background there is nothing wrong with this, we all are guilty recruiting people we know, correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is called ”Networking” and all of the boys are doing it! Of this, for Sandberg it is just more public due to her level in the organization and the fact that she has put herself out there for people to watch her every move. I believe we are still fighting a double standard here, the boys are allowed to have their clubs and hire their buddies, but when women do it, OMG what is the world coming too. I also have to believe since people are calling her to ask about opportunities, they are not happy where they are and/or are looking for the next step. Kudos, to those women who are taking upon themselves to call and ask, isn’t what Sandberg is pushing women to do. Men to it all of the time, ask for the sale, ask for the deal, ask for the job, ask for the assignment and the list goes on. I would be remiss if I didn’t also point out that not only does she recruit people but she develops them. What better way to grow to the next level and again, we see her servant leadership side coming out.

So, is Sandberg a feminist or should we coin a new leadership style here and call her a Servant Leadership Feminist or a Servant Feminist Leader. I am still fuzzy on that whole title thing. I have never been a huge fan of titles, but in this work-a-day world we have to embrace them whether we like it or not. So for now, I think I will join the ranks of Sandberg and be a Feminist Servant Leader and explore what the leadership model looks like for all of us!

Claire: I thought the piece really illustrated the heap of conflicting rules of engagement women face when it comes to leadership. On the one hand, Sandberg used the example of her “aha!” moment when she was embarrassed about being invited to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, and was pushed by the event organizer to “own her power.” But wait! The truth is that she’s successful because she has ambition but she’s so modest and “low ego” (says Mark Zuckerberg). And then there’s all that research about the pitfalls of being perceived as incompetent if you’re too nurturing and you invest time and energy in helping others succeed. Which is, of course, exactly what Sandberg does herself when she encourages other women to “sit at the table.” Don’t ask “girly” questions, but okay, let’s talk about the dilemma women face when taking time off to have children. Don’t worry so much about balance. And yet…how the heck do we get to some models of feminist leadership that don’t end up making women feel like they’re performing a tightrope act?


***********
Since this conversation took place, Sandberg has only increased her visibility as a powerful woman who expresses concern over other women for leaning back or opting out. She continues to be asked to speak to young women about leadership and taking control of their careers.

And for the most part, I agree with her. I too have seen women step back, quit before they start. Hell, I've done it. But she rarely addresses the system where women make their choices is just wrong.

Put simply, for women, to choose to not do something is acceptable. It is a seductive choice to make. To "choose" to quit work and stay home is socially acceptable. Yes, I know stay-at-home-moms get a lot of shit about "not working," but as a working mom, their situation is freaking tempting when day after day I stay up far too late to get through my own homework. I'm not complaining about my life, rather I'm admitting that even this feminista mama who loves her work and is in the middle of a PhD program so she can do her job even more kick ass considers chucking it all to stay at home. Is the inertia to work outside the home as strong for SAHM as the pull to stay home in times of crisis or doubt for working outside the home mamas? I think it's that pull that keeps us stuck to the back of our chair, almost physically unable to "lean in" as Sandberg demands.

As we cheer on Sandberg as a role model, I want us to keep in mind where she has learned her business savvy. One of her mentors is Larry "Girls Can't Do Math" Summers. He also doesn't believe that women want to work the kind of hours that Sandberg puts in. He quotes her, not by name, in his infamous speech as he talks about women not wanting to work 80 hours a week:

Another way to put the point is to say, what fraction of young women in their mid-twenties make a decision that they don't want to have a job that they think about eighty hours a week...To buttress conviction and theory with anecdote, a young woman who worked very closely with me at the Treasury and who has subsequently gone on to work at Google highly successfully, is a 1994* graduate of Harvard Business School. She reports that of her first year section, there were twenty-two women, of whom three are working full time at this point. 

And yet, many women are waiting with baited breath for Sandberg to lean forward to demand her place on the Facebook Board of Directors. Not one woman sites on that board and who more worthy of the token girl spot than Sandberg? As CV Harquail says:

Leadership requires the leader to use her presence, her platform, and her power to make a difference. And authentic leadership requires a person to align her presence, her platform, and her power to maximize their impact and make her leadership real.

If Sandberg truly wants young women to follow her lead, I believe she needs to do more than become a billionaire and give truly amazing speeches. She can't extoll women to take the reins when she allows (she's second in command and must have some say in the matter) for the board to be composed of only white men.

And that's where Sandberg really gets my goat. Has she hit a glass ceiling herself and pushes young women to make up for her inability to change Facebook's board? Or is it that she doesn't care? The board isn't my only issue with Sandberg, but it's a great manifestation of all the smaller things that irk me. For the most part I like Sandberg's messages, I want young women to feel like they can do anything they set their mind to. However, there's something about Sandberg's messages that makes me hesitant to pay the dues for fan club access.

Many of the students I interact with see Sandberg as a role model. They find inspiration in her words. Perhaps her speeches will result in more women leaders. Only time will tell. Considering I remember what it was like in my early 20s, perhaps they are using Sandberg's words to fortify their own promise to themselves that they won't sit back and let life happen to them...until that day they do sit back. I just hope they don't beat themselves up too much over it.

Sandberg has branded herself a motivator of women. She has challenged us to be a leader in our own lives. And some of us are challenging her right back.



* Sandberg's official biography says she graduated in 1995, thus I assume Summers merely got the year incorrect. If anyone knows that Summers is talking about someone else, please let me know and I'll retract this point. 

2012 Blog for Choice Day

I know I'm supposed to be talking about 2012 elections today, but today I am in Mexico on the first full day of the Nobel Women's Initiative's delegation. And yes, I wrote this before I left...But I must reflect on my thoughts about being in Mexico on Roe v. Wade Day.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of unsafe abortions around the world are on the rise. Abortions are unsafe when performed by unskilled people and/or under unsanitary conditions. Here in the USA, I am sure we still have back alley abortions. But I think we consider them last resort or hope they are mostly a relic of the past, stories we hear about during abortion speak-outs. A few years ago, I was the emcee at a speak-out and heard Dr. Quentin Young talk about the days before Roe at Cook County Hospital. I'll never forget the look on his face as he described how many women came in bleeding, desperate for assistance.

But as you read this, I'm in a city, Mexico City, where abortion is legal. Just outside the city limits, "thirteen* of Mexico’s 31 states have ...amended their constitutions to protect the fetus from the moment of conception, which may set the stage for greater restrictions in these states’ abortion laws." "According to one analysis, the factors that made this reform possible were the presence of a liberal political party governing at the state level, favorable public opinion and pressure from nongovernmental women’s organizations that promote reproductive rights"[PDF citation] OK, so many I will touch on voting in pro-choice people.

Soon I'll be in Guatemala. There we find, as of 2003, 49% of unsafe abortions are performed by traditional providers. "In Guatemala, poor rural women are three times as likely as nonpoor urban women to have an abortion induced by a traditional birth attendant (60% vs. 18%), and they are far less likely than nonpoor urban women to obtain the services of a doctor (4% vs. 55%). " [PDF citation]

And in Honduras, abortion is prohibited altogether or has no explicit legal exception to save the life of a woman.

Don't fret, I'm not trying to make those of us in the USA feel bad for fighting for our lives. I'm just trying to bring an international perceptive to today's conversation. I will wrap this up by reminding us that the USA does impact women around the world. Our freedom is linked with theirs, theirs with ours. We can't truly celebrate victory in this country until our sisters around the world are also celebrating.

So get out there and register as many pro-choice folks as you can! And get them to the polls in November. 

And to see what we're up to in Mexico, head over to the Nobel Women's Initiative's delegation blog. See you back here in February!

Book Review: Intimate Wars by Merle Hoffman

Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Board Room by Merle Hoffman is a must read memoir by a no-holds-barred feminist activist trailblazer.

Her tale is one like no other I have read. She attacks her life story just as she would anything in life - without fear. It is hard to summarize the life of Merle Hoffman. She seems to be a pretty typical example of people with a lot of intellect and potential, as she floated through the first part of her life. She had high standards and life just never seemed to rise to them. Apparently, it was just waiting for the right moment to strike Merle with her life's purpose.

Merle opened one of the first abortion clinics in New York in pre-Roe days. She did most of her early abortion work without political consciousness. But she soon grows into her warrior life.

Merle's story of how she came to love abortion work is moving and one that should be heard by more people. She simply grew to love helping women through, as she put it in our interview, the "most powerful and vulnerable point" of their lives. She saw the connections between mothers and daughters who came in together, between race and class, especially post-Hyde Amendment and most of all she saw how disconnected some women were with their bodies and the political process. Merle quickly transformed her clinic from a mere health center to a radical place. The waiting room was inviting and filled with current information on abortion and reproductive justice issues.

This isn't an easy memoir to read though. Merle challenges feminists to consider the bifurcation in the woman-versus-fetus debate. She cedes ground and agrees that "abortion stops a beating heart." Because for Merle, an abortion is a sacrifice and we must acknowledge that in order to be a stronger movement. Merle also is not ashamed to acknowledge that she makes money from abortions. Although the price for a first trimester abortion hasn't changed in 25 years. Some will be taken aback by her personal life. She must be honest because reading through her affair-to-marriage story will make you wince.

Merle adopts a daughter late in life and this concluding chapter is poignant and still wrapped in Merle's ability to see everything through a reproductive justice lens. Which, of course I loved.  

Intimate Wars is a great peek back at the early days of the 1970s feminist movement, including their missteps that my generation (third wave/Gen X) often chide them over. Merle doesn't seem to hold back on her criticism of anyone, including herself. This memoir may be difficult to read, but it is also refreshing. Get your copy at Powells or IndieBound.

Disclaimer:  I was offered this book for review by a publicist, who also facilitated access to Merle for the interview previously posted. 

* Book links are affiliate links. If you buy your book here I could make a very small amount of money that goes towards this blog by helping me purchase books for school. Thanks! 

Interview with Merle Hoffman

Merle Hoffman is the publisher/editor-in-chief of On The Issues Magazine and one of the most outspoken advocates for progressive and feminist issues.

Merle established Choices Women's Medical Center to provide abortion services shortly after New York State legalized abortion in 1971. Today, Choices has grown to become one of the most comprehensive and nationally well respected providers of a full range of gynecological services for women, including abortion to 24 weeks of pregnancy, birth control and pre-natal care.

In 1983 Merle began On the Issues Magazine as a newsletter of Choices Women's Medical Center to communicate with other health care providers, pro-choice activists and the reproductive health care community generally. Within a few years it had developed into On the Issues, the Progressive Woman's Quarterly, gaining accolades as a motivating, challenging and controversial magazine of ideas and action. After ceasing publication in 1999, On the Issues Magazine was reborn as an online publication in Spring 2008 and publishes all-new, themed editions quarterly with new articles added weekly.

~ Biography from MerleHoffman.com

Loretta Ross (l) and Merle Hoffman (r)

I was privileged to grab 10 minutes of Merle's time at the 2011 National Women's Studies Association Conference. Her memoir, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Board Room, is out now. You can get a copy directly from Feminist Press, Powells or IndieBound.

VLF: Why now? What made you write this book now? 

MH: well it's the 40th anniversary of Choices. I thought it was time for me to look back and reflect on the whirlwind that was my life. I wanted to create a narrative for myself. I have also lost an lot of people recently and that put me in a place that was very self-reflective. It was very therapeutic. The other part is that I have a 10-year-old daughter and I wanted to leave her this testimony. I'm sure she'll read things about me when I am gone, so i want her to have my side. After all these years, this issue is front and center with more virulent attacks against abortion rights than ever before. Sometimes I feel like I'm that movie "Groundhog Day." I just woke up and it's 40 years later and it's still the 1970s. It is still just as difficult to have abortion without apology as it was all those years ago.

VLF: What has been your most memorable moment? 

MH: You mean from my life on the front lines? Going to Russia. That was amazing. I was going to save Russian women and being rushed by thousands of people because I had some condoms.The whole opening up of the consciousnesses. My civil disobedience action in front of St. Patrick's cathedral which was the first time pro-choice forces were ever arrested. It was a very powerful action. The first patent whose hand  I held [as she underwent an abortion]. That really was the most memorable because that's what catalyzed my involvement into the movement. I don't her name or her face, but basically it was her hand and that intimate personal connection. You know Euripides wrote that woman is woman's natural ally. And it was that connection at what I would say was her most powerful and vulnerable point of her life that actually was the catalyst to get so deeply, deeply involved.

VLF: Let's talk about the growing movement of abortion doulas, or rather the growing awareness of abortion doulas. 

MH: Choices has abortion doulas, we always have. Our doulas work with both our pre-natal and our abortion patients. And the patients love them, of course they would because they focus on the reactive part of the procedure, the emotional and psychological issues. We also have counselors, but the doulas are more specialized because they with the women in the recovery room, as they are waiting to be called in, they are there to ease the anxiety that comes up.

VLF: It's hard to reconcile that abortion is one of the most common outpatient procedures for women to go through, but it also the most isolating procedures for women to go through. They go through it alone.

MH. Absolutely. And they go through it alone, but once they lay themselves down on that table, they become by that act, an integral part of the sisterhood of what that reproductive choice connects them to. It is the challenge of the movement, the leadership, the activists, the scholars to help politicize the understanding that just by having an abortion women have done a political act. And to help them not distance themselves immediately afterwards. They want to deny, put it behind them. It's a very common reaction.

VLF: Do you have any personal regrets? 

MH: None. Every choice in my life has led me to point I am at now. Whether at that point of time they were difficult, the challenges I welcomed because they strengthen you, they give you courage and I made some very difficult ones. It was been a very singular life. But I see it as a privilege that I use my energy, my talents in this cause, in this movement.

VLF: Any critiques about the movement? What you wish it had done? 

MH: I wish they had come out thousands and thousands strong when Henry Hyde cut off Medicaid funding.  There is this bifurcation between providers and academics/activists. Abortion can be a dirty business, you get your hands dirty in the trenches with the women. One of the things that I've always wanted is for the activists to come to the clinics and see the women. Then the racial and class bifurcations that have gone on. That was very clear when Hyde cut off funding. Nobody marched because it was just the poor and the minorities and the young.

VLF: What does your daughter know of what you do? 

MH: She's ten. She knows the word abortion. She knows "My mommy fights for women's rights." She works at Choices and does some filing. She's learning about it. So yes, she knows.

VLF: Do you think she'll be proud of you?

MH: Oh, she's proud of me now.

VLF: When I read Dr. Wicklund's memoir she said a lot about her daughter. There are sacrifices we make to do the work we do. Sometimes our daughters pay a price. 

MH: Of course. It is very difficult. She was in my bed the night before I left and I explained to her that I have this work. I call and text the woman who is staying with her. I just got a photo from the soccer game. Being a mom is struggle. Every day, every day. Bring them into the movement, like my friend Jen Baumgardner. She's got her little ones running around her. Let them see. It's better than bringing them shopping.

* This is a summary of our conversation, not a complete transcript.

* *Powells and IndieBound book links are affiliate links. If you buy your book from them I could make a very small amount of money that goes towards this blog by helping me purchase books for school. Thanks!