Go West: "King of Wishful Thinking"
Introducing: Flyover Feminism
So, for quite some time now, Jessica Luther (scATX), Garland Grey (Tiger Beatdown), and I have been working on a TOP SECRET project which we are unveiling today! WOOT!
Introducing: Flyover Feminism.
Flyover Feminism is a project we've created with the objective of amplifying the voices typically left out of mainstream feminist/womanist discourse, by virtue of being outside of major media centers and/or by not fitting the mold of what a feminist is supposed to look like. This is our Mission Statement:
Flyover Feminism is a space for feminists/womanists/activists outside major media centers whose issues are given insufficient coverage and attention by the mainstream media outlets, and whose voices are frequently left out of the national dialogue. We believe that a space elevating the visibility of online and offline feminism across the country is important because such activism has traditionally been viewed skeptically by coastal and metropolitan activists.And we want you to participate.
Flyover Feminists often find themselves trapped in a cycle of limited support from big players, who express reluctance to dedicate resources to places where it appears that "nothing ever changes." But change is hard when there is little investment, and investment is hard to secure without evidence of change.
We are seeking to change the dynamic between feminist/womanist activists in the flyover states and feminist/womanist activists in major media centers. We want to facilitate understanding of the historical roots of the conflicts at hand, and we want to encourage more effective activism than the shallow, short-term bursts of effort centered around large-scale "moments of decision" that constitute big individual victories with no long-term follow-through or big individual failures that are used to justify institutional abandonment. Too often, when limited bursts of external attention centered around a single piece of legislation prove to be insufficient to turn the tide of entrenched political inequality, the local activists are asked: "Well, why don't you just move?"
We don't want to move. We want to facilitate progress in the places that most need it.
Although Flyover Feminism is a US concept, this space is for people around the world who are practicing activism outside of large-scale progressive networks of support, in places where their neighbors and communities are often hostile to their efforts, where activists are forced to beat back the wilderness and cut their own path. It is about people around the world who, by virtue of their identities, are practicing feminism or womanism outside mainstream ideas of What a Feminist Looks Like. Flyover Feminism is not about jetting down to your local progressive organization to brainstorm about ways to preach more fervently to the choir; it is about blazing new trails. It is about creating a space for activists to share their stories of how they made it and are making it in places where their rights are routinely stripped from them for political sport. It is about arming activists with the tools and arguments needed to win these fights and about shrinking the world to explore the ways geographically-marginalized activisms and intersectional feminisms/womanisms are similar and/or complementary to one another.
Flyover Feminism is about supporting local politicians who are getting it right and shaming the good goddamn out of the ones that are putting in overtime getting it wrong. It is about how, exactly, activists without media clout or attention bring immediacy and passion to a fight that will largely be ignored no matter the outcome. We want to teach the next generation of geographically-marginalized activists how to organize, learn new ideas from new activists, and document the stories of people who have been doing activism for decades in obscurity. We want to want to record the past, and nurture the future.
We don't want to simply start conversations; we want to proactively connect activists from all over the globe and unite them in their struggle to affect a better future.
This is not about Jessica, Garland, and me. This is about you, and the work you're doing in the world, and recognizing its value. This is about connecting people and sharing resources and nurturing big ideas from nontraditional places.
You don't have to be a published writer, or even a blogger. You just have to be someone who's passionate about how you practice feminism in your life, or the struggles you face practicing feminism in your life, whether it's about working with the local Democratic Party or negotiating diaper-changing duty with your partner.
Although the "flyover" concept is US-born, we invite people from all over the world to contribute.
The face of feminism can be yours.
Follow us on Twitter.
Generally Horrendo
GOOD MORNING! Has your enthusiasm returned to MAXIMUM LEVELS now that Mitt Romney has made the EXCITING announcement that his running mate is horrible bootstrap monster Paul Ryan?! I HOPE SO! If you are running on MAX ENTHUSIASM, please check this box: □
"Obama isn't working"—but these two gold-plated dipshits
lounging on the jewel-encrusted Romnibus definitely are.
Y'all, I have already started the most amazing Ro-Ry slashfic. It's called 50 Shades of Whooooooooops for America. It's so hot.
In the news today...
Paul Ryan's wife,
Mitt Romney says he loves Paul Ryan's nightmare budget and definitely would have signed it and sealed it with the sweetest kisses. So don't worry, America—Mitt Romney is only getting MORE terrible!
Ro-Ry will totally destroy the shit outta Medicare. Obviously.
President Obama says Paul Ryan "is a decent man, he is a family man, he is an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney's vision, but it is a vision that I fundamentally disagree with." Because it's garbage.
And other stuff. But, basically, what you need to know is: Mitt Romney is terrible and he picked a terrible running mate, and, in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two-thousand and twelve, the "Big Tent" of the Republican Party is running a ticket with two straight, white, cis, thin, tall, traditionally handsome, dark-haired men who have straight, white, cis, thin, traditionally pretty, blonde wives.
"Kyriarchetypes," by Rorman Nockwell.
The Republican Party has nothing—nothing—to offer working USians except an aspirational image of what they could be if only they work those bootstraps, an image that references a "Golden Era" that recasts bigotry as tradition, an image that is an oppressive lie.
The Romney-Ryan ticket is an illusion, a promise that will never be fulfilled. They are the carrot at the end of a stick being dangled by the plutocrats who run the Republican Party, to keep the plebs chasing the bullshit promise of the American Dream forever and ever and ever, while it is moved ever further out of their reach.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Open Thread
Hosted by: "Sorry for the interruption, folks, but I always do the last dance of the season. This year somebody told me not to. So I'm gonna do my kind of dancing with a great partner, who's not only a terrific dancer, but somebody who's taught me that there are people willing to stand up for other people no matter what it costs them—somebody who's taught me about the kind of person I wanna be: Miss Frances Houseman."
Romney Picks Paul Ryan as Running Mate
So, Mitt Romney has made his selection, and the paperclip he picked is Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republicans' budgeteer, who believes in trickle-down economics, deficit reduction, bootstraps, and gutting domestic discretionary spending. Basically, he's a total garbage nightmare, so it's no wonder Mitt Romney likes him.
Also: Last night, GoldFishy, The Captain, Iain, and I were sitting around talking politics (surprise!), and I put my money on Paul Ryan as Romney's veep pick. (Pay up, universe!) I said, "Not only is he sufficiently terrible, but he sort of looks like a young Mitt Romney. Romney's just arrogant enough I can imagine him looking at Ryan and thinking, 'There's just something appealing about that guy I can't quite put my finger on...'" He's like the sixth Romney son.
"Look, he's a perfect stand-in for Ben when Ben's at his bowling league."
As an additional benefit, Romney may fool some dumbasses into thinking he picked Ron Paul. "I guess we don't have to protest at the convention then! Pass the apple bong, dude."
Anyway. Congratulations to Paul Ryan. Good luck in your debate with
UPDATE 1: Ahhhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahaha! At the official announcement, Romney introduced Ryan thusly: "Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States—Paul Ryan!" Whooooooooooops! He then had to make a correction that Ryan would not, in fact, be the next President of the United States. OMG. LOL FOREVER.
UPDATE 2: @PeterHambyCNN: "another mistake: Romney just teed up ad featuring his arm around Ryan saying 'every now and then I make a mistake'." OMG.
UPDATE 3: Ryan then comes on and calls Romney the "right man for this moment" (LADIES), and then says they'll "restore America's greatness." Hear that, America? Team RomneyRyan thinks you're garbage!
Yiiiiiiiiiiiiikes. Worst running mate roll-out ever.
UPDATE 4: Igor Volsky: 12 Things You Should Know about Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan.
UPDATE 5: An image of the Dystopian Duo from the actual event this morning:
"Every now and then I make a mistake. But I can tell you I did not make a mistake with this guy!"
Yeesh. Photo via Richard Adams, whose coverage is, as usual, recommended reading.
UPDATE 6: Eastsidekate volunteered to be the one to sign up for Mitt's Awesome App so she could get the veep announcement five seconds before everyone else. And here's what you missed:
Meet AMERICA'S COMEBACK TEAM.America's Comeback Team? LOL! That is HORRIBLE. That is the worst slogan I've heard since "Nixon '68: Less Sweaty!"
I'm proud to announce Paul Ryan as my VP! Together we will offer a plan to restore American greatness and help build a stronger middle class. Stand with America's Comeback Team.
Anyway, I'd rather stand with AMERCIA's Comeback Team, thankyouverymuch.
Open Thread
Hosted by: "Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you."
Blog Note
A couple of friends, better known in these parts as GoldFishy and The Captain, are coming to visit, so I will be taking the day off.
If, as has been hinted, Mitt Romney announces his running mate today, I will be sure to post whichever goat or paperclip he chooses.
If not, I'll see you Monday!
Question of the Day
What is your least favorite thing about Mitt Romney?
[Please note the commenting policy still applies, so comments citing his policies, political positions, professional record, and/or public behavior are on-topic, and comments mocking his appearance, religion, family, etc. are not.]
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Religious supremacy; homophobia; anti-single parent bullshit.]
"I believe that people of faith by and large have a great interest in the institution of family and that a family is a great place to learn leadership skills. I'm sure I benefited by having a Mom and Dad, both of whom were actively involved in the community and in various enterprises."—Republican presidential candidate and world-class jerk Mitt Romney, in response to a question about why he thinks Mormonism produces such a disproportionate number of political and business leaders. (Which, for the record, is a stupid question.)
What I like, ahem, about his response is how he manages to take a passive-aggressive swipe at same-sex and single parents, while also denigrating atheists as anti-family. COOL. Cool candidate, Republicans.
Not for nothing, Mr. Romney, but a lot of female people who grow up in "families of faith" are explicitly taught not to be leaders. Not that they are part of this conversation, or any conservation you have, ever.
Sure
[Content Note: Fat bias; evo psych.]
Stress makes men appreciate larger women. A perfect article about a perfect study. Hooray for everyone.
My friend Miller sent the link to me with no commentary, aside from the subject line of her email: "Here's a gem."
LOL FOREVER.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Ways to Pass a Single Hour. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Intentions
by Aunt B., who can be found regularly blogging at her place, Tiny Cat Pants.
[Content Note: Rape culture; sexual harassment.]
I've been following the seemingly bizarre ouster of Marc Smirnoff from the Southern literary magazine, The Oxford American, since the first reports of him being mysteriously locked out of the OA's offices surfaced. The OA has had a long history of money difficulties and I assumed this story would end up being about some kind of financial malfeasance. You know, good, entertaining gossip.
But as the story began to emerge, it became clear that this wasn't about financial issues, but about male privilege and rape culture and, more specifically, how creepy men in our rape culture trade on male privilege in order to behave the ways they do. And, surprisingly enough, this also seems to be a story about what happens when people stop granting a man that privilege.
Smirnoff's story (which I'll get to in a minute) comes at the same time as this post and discussion over at Captain Awkward's about the phenomenon of the Creepy Dude and it gets into how women are socialized to just accept and smooth over hurt feelings resulting from the Creepy Dude because otherwise, it would be awkward–as if his behavior isn't already making things awkward. You should read the whole thing, but here's how it ends.
It's really fucking sad and unfair. Welcome to our culture, where it's always this sad and unfair whenever women's safety is on the line.But then, a commenter tells this awesome story in the comments about her husband having to protect a girl from a creepster and how, even as he knew something was wrong, and he kind of saw that the creepster was ruining the girl's weekend, his wife had to point out to him that the creepster was obviously looking to harm the girl, and the husband just missed it.
This is how far Rape Culture skews our vision. Being sexually harassed and assaulted is seen as something that you should be cool (i.e. quiet) about. But GOD FORBID you break up the weekly games night with the temerity to be a victim of such a crime! Don't you know that your harasser has the best table for playing Settlers of Cataan?
I don't know how we fix it, but one step has to be to stop tolerating it when it happens to us and when it happens to people we love. Making our social circles and spaces safe means making them AWKWARD AS HELL and UNSAFE for creeps and predators. It means constantly reframing the conversation away from the dominant narrative, so when stuff like the situations in these letters comes up we can say "That's called sexual assault and it's a crime. So I need you to stop talking to me about his feelings and pressuring me to invite him to parties."
With all that in the background, we can now turn to this flabbergasting article in the New York Times about Marc Smirnoff's abrupt departure from The Oxford American (seriously, if there ever were a story to waste on of your freebies on, this is it). I don't even know where to start to quote from it. Let's go with this:
The next morning he berated the female intern in front of the other staff members when she refused to help clean up a mess in the kitchen. Then, after insisting that the intern ride back to Conway with him, he asked her if she wanted to hold hands. She declined, he said, saying she'd rather "hold hands with a dead dog." Still, he told her he wanted to take her to his favorite make-out spot.A woman tells Marc Smirnoff that she would rather "hold hands with a dead dog" than hold hands with him, and he still claims that his behavior was "acceptable to her in that moment"?! Holy shit! I kind of want to drive to Arkansas just so I can laugh in his face. Forget "What part of ‘no' don't you understand?" What part of "I'd rather have putrid decaying flesh in my hand than your hand?" makes you think your advances are cool?
Mr. Smirnoff's account matched the description the intern provided the magazine's board. The intern said she was repeatedly humiliated, sexually harassed and intimidated by Mr. Smirnoff on that occasion and others, according to a written statement from her that was obtained by The New York Times.
During a conversation with the same intern earlier that week, Mr. Smirnoff said, he hugged her and kissed her on top of the head.
None of those things constitute harassment, he insisted.
"It was acceptable to her in that moment," he said, saying that she did not object to his behavior at the time. "My take of it was that we were trying to see if we could revive our relationship, professional and personal."
This isn't "he said, she said" because he's literally admitting to the things she said he did as a part of his defense. He's literally (and I'm sorry to keep using that word, but it is exactly right in this case) claiming that, in spite of her hostility as reported by him, since he intended no harm, she had no problem with his behavior. And he's trying to talk the motherfucking New York Times into accepting that, if his heart is pure, she must have been okay with it at the moment.
Forget that I don't believe for a second that his intentions were good. And forget for a second how laughable it is to believe that a man as smart as Smirnoff envisions himself as some kind of bumbling, but well-intentioned fool who just doesn't understand the implications of what he does. Just focus on the idea that he believes, if he can just convince someone that he didn't mean anything by it, the damning facts which he himself presents should resolve themselves into something that leaves him with the moral high ground.
This is how the creepster gets by. It's uncomfortable for people to confront them and they get used to being able to use any old excuse to garner sympathy and get people to continue to make room for them. Smirnoff's story is so illuminating because he's so obviously angry and confused that asking people to consider his feelings and his intentions is not working this time. Which would seem to indicate that it's worked before.
On so many levels, this blows my mind.
“Because I want to be who I am!”
Last Thursday morning, at summer camp drop-off for youngest child
Fellow cabin member, little boy age 5, pointing at my kiddo's water bottle: "Your bottle has pink! Why do you want a bottle with pink! You're a boy!"
My kiddo, a bit taken aback: "It has lots of colors."
Little kid: "But...."
Me (firmly): "Pink is just a color, like any other."
My kiddo: "Yeah. And this isn't my water bottle, it's my dad's."
Little kid (confused): "Oh."
***
Yesterday Liss forwarded me this article in the NYT Magazine: What's So Bad About A Boy Who Wants to Wear A Dress?. I clicked with some trepidation (as Liss didn't mention if it sucked or was great, lol) and 8 pages later, I was all teary (and not because it sucked!).
On NPR's Very White Best Young Adult Books List
by Shaker Laurie, a Reading and English teacher in Minneapolis, escaped academic, spouse, and mom to the feistiest three-year-old on the block.
[Content Note: Racism.]
Earlier this week, National Public Radio published its "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" list. Voted on by NPR readers/listeners from a list of 1200 nominations, also audience-submitted, the list is loaded with amazing writing—amazing writing about white protagonists. Only two—yes, two—books on the list are written about main characters of color: House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.
As a teacher of reading and English in schools with large populations of students of color, young adult fiction about characters of color is high on my radar. Many of my students don't see themselves as readers when they walk into my classroom. Reader identity and engagement are a huge component of the work we do as we address student reading problems, and when students are handed books full of characters that are unlike them racially, culturally, and socio-economically, the chasm between their picture of themselves and their idea of books and who books are for only widens.
The problem is not that amazing books about teens of color don't exist. They do. My kids latch obsessively onto books about teens like them and read them voraciously because adolescents in all their self-involved glory enjoy reading texts that remind them of, well, themselves. Sherman Alexie and Sandra Cisneros certainly deserve their received accolades: The House on Mango Street is a beautifully poetic account of a Latina's coming of age, and Absolutely True Diary poignantly tells the story of a boy who struggles with life on a reservation and his desire for a strong education. Judith Ortiz Cofer, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, and Matt de la Peña's work also comes to mind, so when NPR comes along and declares 100 books the "Best-Ever" and leaves nearly every single young adult title written about people of color off the list without caveat or mention, damage is done.
Clearly, audience-selected "Best Ever" lists are dangerous and problematic, but the absence of any indication of NPR's awareness of the glaring neglect on their list is also troubling. A list of "Best-Ever" books that declares only two books about teens of color worthy keeps all of these amazing stories in the margins, and arguably marginalizes them even further. When the world of reading remains so predominantly white, children and teens of color receive the clear message that they don't belong. It sends a message directly from readers as well as NPR that writing about people of color is not valuable or valued, that their stories aren't as important as the trials and tribulations of Edward and Bella; the Twilight series ranks #27.
Such an exclusive list isn't just problematic for teens of color; when white teens are told that the "good" books are all about white people, it normalizes the white experience and bolsters white privilege. For me, growing up in a community that was 99% white, reading was one of the first ways I was able to interact with narratives of people of color. Books lay a foundation on which kids can reflect on social justice and understand that the lives, conflicts, and struggles of people of color are important—that people of color are equal actors in the world. Yes, kids want to read about themselves, and that is important, but it is also critical for kids living with privilege to read about people living without those privileges, not just for some requisite "exposure to diversity," but because, if we want them to be committed to changing the world, they have to understand it needs to change.
The walls of my classroom are covered in photos of my students—90% of whom are of color—reading books. For most of them, the visual of themselves with books is new and exciting. For most kids, reading is not inherently boring; it is a world of escape and imagination. Kids want to see themselves as smart and successful, and reading comes along with that image, so it is inexcusable that NPR publish material that screams, "Good reading=whiteness." Those who champion literacy fight daily against the cultural message that reading is for white people, and according to NPR and its audience, it is.
