Posts by Ashley:
- The Undomestic Goddess posed the question to Twitter, and this is what they said.
- Laura discusses her decision not to change her name.
- A guy even took his wife’s name! (Why were people so upset about that?)
- News flash: All feminists are NOT man-haters. Maybe feminists getting married helps prove that. And feminists are not anti-marriage, either. If Jezebel says it, it must be true.
- News flash #2: A woman’s wedding planning is not selfish. Nothing wrong with knowing what you want. In fact, I’m finding that makes planning a lot easier.
- Jessica Valenti at Feministing and Laura at Adventures of a Young Feminist both blogged about marriage issues on a personal level.
- And, to be fair, not everyone is pro-marriage. But, hey, we have the right to choose!
- Androutsopoulos, Jannis. “Potentials and Limitations of Discourse-Centred Online Ethnography.” Language@Internet, 5 (2008), article 9. 7 July 2009 <http://www.languageatinternet.de>.
- Lindquist, Julie and David Seitz. The Elements of Literacy. New York: Longman, 2009.
- Miller, Carolyn R. and Dawn Shepherd. “Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog.” The Norton Book of Composition. Susan Miller, ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. 1450-1473.
The Feminist Lens: Anne of Green Gables
September 24th, 2009
Image via Wikipedia
As a kid, I was completely obsessed with Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I don’t remember many of the specifics of the books now, as it was a very long time ago that I read them, but I remember that I couldn’t get enough of Anne, the red-headed, hot-tempered orphan girl who warmed the hearts of everyone around her. She was so fiercely independent that she frequently found herself in quite a bit of trouble – from almost sinking in a boat while pretending to be the Lady of Shallot to breaking a slate over Gilbert Blithe’s head in class because he called her “carrots.”
I owned every part of this series – from each separate novel to the movies to the books on tape to paper cutouts of Anne and her friends. I even remember building a paper replica of Green Gables to bring to school for an oral book report.
I believe Anne of Green Gables was essential to my upbringing. I learned from her that it was OK to smash a slate over the boy’s head who irritated you. I learned from her that it was exciting to embark on crazy adventures and that everything would turn out. I learned from her that life is often confusing, especially when you’re young, but that everything that seemed to matter to you in your younger years – like red hair – doesn’t seem so important later on in life. I learned from her how to be curious and independent.
It saddens me when I ask my students who has read Anne of Green Gables and maybe one girl raises her hand. Are these books completely outdated? I loved them so much that I must believe that they still have some sort of purpose now. If nothing else, Anne can instill a sense of independence and confidence in young girls that they may lack now. What better role model for girls than the red-headed orphan girl, awkward at first, but confident and powerful and growing into a wonderful young woman as the stories progressed?
Can you think of any other literary role-models that our young girls are missing out on today?
More Feminists on Marriage (some Link Love)
September 23rd, 2009
Image by jcoterhals via Flickr
I’ve been doing a lot of research into the world of feminist blogs to find out what my fellow feminists have to say about marriage. Tim (the fiancé) thinks this is because I feel the need to justify my decisions to do things like have a diamond ring, a white dress, and a traditional ceremony or not change my name. At first, I did feel overly concerned about whether or not my feminist friends would support my decision, but you have all left such wondeful comments and are so supportive that I no longer feel the need to justify my decision. After all, it is my right to choose, and that’s what feminism is all about, right? I do, however, want to be educated about what modern feminists are saying about marriage so I can feel well-versed in their rhetoric and be armed with things to say to justify myself to those who question me.
What follows is a list of posts I’ve found so far. Have you been writing anything about marriage or have some links you’d like to share? Please post them in the comments! I’ll be compiling more lists like this as I go.
On the Name Game: (see also my Good Wife paper)
Some more feminist marriage musings:
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Feminism in Schools: Teaching Feminism When You’re Not a Feminist
September 22nd, 2009
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How do you teach feminism if you are not a feminist?
The question was originally asked of me by Laura, and I didn’t immediately have a comprehensive answer, but I think it is a vitally important question for teachers. Many, many people do not identify as feminists for various reasons, or just do not think about feminism on a daily basis, and it is important to recognize that when talking about what should and should not be taught in schools. Of course we, as feminists, thing about feminism every day and agree with the fact that it should be taught in school, but if a teacher does not believe something is important, and it is not explicitly written in the curriculum, it can very often fall through the cracks or be replaced by something else the teacher deems important enough to teach.
If someone decides not to teach feminism, this does not make him/her a bad teacher or a bad person. Perhaps they feel they don’t know enough about feminism to do it justice and, therefore, leave it alone. Perhaps they, unlike us, don’t think about feminism every day and, therefore, just haven’t thought about teaching it before. Perhaps they didn’t have time to teach feminism because they were busy teaching about another historically marginalized group. I highly doubt, in this day and age, with such progressive teachers in the classroom, that many teachers don’t teach feminism because they are anti-feminist.
Although I absolutely agree that the concept and historical aspect of feminism is important for our youth to understand, I don’t know that it is necessary to explicitly teach feminism in order for the same effect to happen. As L alluded to in her guest post, simply rearranging the classroom or, as Laura herself mentioned in her guest post, allowing girls to have as much as a say as boys can help girls feel empowered, which is as much a part of feminism as anything else. As Sophia suggested in her guest post, teaching the literature and history of women is also integral. And you don’t have to be a feminist or even talk about feminism to do any of these things.
Also, I would hope that any good teacher would do what is best for his/her students, which means confronting bullying and harassment within a school setting and alleviating any threat of both – stopping a boy from pushing his girlfriend around in the hallway, stopping someone from making unwanted advances, stopping a boy from whistling at a girl in class, etc. This may not be explicitly teaching feminism, but it does help boys and girls understand what their actions mean, and what the implications of their actions are.
The bottom line in teaching is that you have to do what is best for the students. This means empowering young women in the classroom. Giving girls a sense of ownership over their education helps them as well as the male students understand the basic concepts of feminism and implement them in their every day lives. That is, after all, what we want, right?
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Wedding Dresses, Magazines, and White, oh my!
September 21st, 2009
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For those of you who are getting married or who have gotten married, have you been looking through many bridal magazines and catalogs? I have, mostly because I’ve received many of them for free from various vendors, and because I’m the type of person who likes to gather a lot of ideas before I decide on anything.
So, I’m flipping through the pages and I was shocked at what I saw – or didn’t see. There were almost no people of color (Is that a good term to use? I will correct this term if this is offensive in any way, just let me know.) on the pages of any of the magazines. In a sea of white dresses were white faces, and I was really surprised that the wedding industry hasn’t yet incorporated racial diversity into their pages.
Does anyone have any insights into this? It seems to me that there are beautiful brides of all races and ethnicities and beautiful weddings that aren’t Christian or Jewish or Secular (those are the three I read about most often in these magazines) that should be featured, as well as beautiful models of all races and ethnicities to show off the couture gowns (the ones that no one can possibly afford) in the bajillion adds that appear. Why don’t the pages and pictures in these magazines reflect that?
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Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community
September 20th, 2009
Image by Mexicanwave via Flickr
Speaking of blogging for social good, I’m beginning the second part of the Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community project for my master’s thesis (which will be finished in May!), which means I need more people to participate in the interview! If you are a blogger and you write for women, about women, or even about equality in general, I want YOU! Send me an e-mail at samsanator(at)gmail(dot)com to participate!
What follows is the (yet again) updated proposal for the project.
Topic and Background
I am fascinated by technological literacy and how social media, blogging in particular, is becoming the new face of activism. People are using social media to write and distribute their ideas to a broad audience and, unlike pamphlets or other hard-copy documents, the information presented in these blogs is both easily shared – via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, etc. – and is part of a conversation. Instead of Socrates’ concern with the written word “that it stabilizes ideas, so that writing falsely represents ideas as frozen in time, ripped from the living, human situations in which they naturally move” (Lindquist and Seitz 27), a blog is instead a living, breathing, changeable document to which an audience can respond, and an author can change as he/she sees fit. Although Miller and Shepherd argue that blogs “seem to serve no immediate practical purpose” (1451), I believe that this kind of easily distributable dialogue is rapidly changing the way activists find and share their information.
Miller and Shepherd go on to say that “The blog is a new rhetorical opportunity, made possible by technology that is becoming more available and easier to use, but it was adopted so quickly and widely that it must be serving well established rhetorical needs” (1451). These rhetorical needs may include a voyeuristic need to share and read personal information, as Miller and Shepherd posit (1454), but it may also include a need to distribute political information quickly and effectively. In order to better find and share information, as well as cultivate a loyal audience, bloggers tend to form communities of people who have the same goals in mind. Each blogger has his/her own unique style (some might post cartoons, others might post academic responses, some might just muse on or share opinions about certain subjects, etc.), but bloggers with the same end goal are likely to combine efforts, collaborate, comment on each other’s stories, and share each other’s information. There is a whole set of rules and etiquette that goes along with participating in a community such as this, and literacy – reading, writing, and conversation – takes on a whole new meaning. Through Twitter and my own blog (https://smallstrokesbigoaks.com), I have become involved in the feminist blogging community, and I am interested in exploring the definitions and uses of literacy within this community.
Method
The nature of the internet is such that there is no real “site” to observe, and because each blogger’s style can be so different and it takes a community of people to spread the word about blogs in order to get the kind of readership needed for real change, I will combine a participant-observation research of a field site and ethnographic interviews in order to complete a discourse centered online ethnography. According to Jannis Androutsopoulos in her article “Potentials and Limitations of Discourse-Centred Online Ethnography,” an online ethnography “combines the systematic observation of selected sites of online discourse with direct contact with its social actors” (2). I will be using several feminist blogs as sites and evidence of texts, and I will also conduct several interviews with the bloggers themselves to collect their ideas of literacy and how this burgeoning technology effects how they read, write, discuss, and share information.
Because the bloggers chosen for this project are all over the world, interviews must be conducted via e-mail. I will introduce myself and give pertinent background information (age, location, occupation, education) to the bloggers, and ask them to send me the same. I will then ask the first set of preliminary questions, which ask them to tell me stories about their blogging and internet community experiences and include guiding questions to help the interviewee think of specific literacy events in their experiences:
1. Define the online feminist blogging community. How does it exist online? Is it beneficial for feminists to have a presence on the internet? Explain. How did you become involved in the community? How do you, personally, use the community? Does it benefit you in any way? How? Does such a community make online writing a commodity to be promoted and “sold,” or does it help provide awareness in a different way?
2. Tell me about how you came to be a blogger. Why did you start blogging? What did you write about at first?
3. Tell me about your blogging experience now. Why do you blog? What do you write about? If it is not the same as when you started, why did you change?
4. Tell me about a time you were misread or misunderstood on your blog. How did you feel? How did you react? Did other readers/members of the community come to your aide?
5. Describe your process of writing online. How is it different than your other writing practices? Do you have a routine you follow when you are writing online?
6. Describe your online reading habits. How do you find interesting online reading material? How do you share reading material? Does this finding and sharing help create an online community? Explain.
After receiving the first round of answers to these questions, I may follow up with other questions, depending on the responses I receive. The second round of questions will be particular to each interviewee, and will only be conducted if necessary.
Participants and Sites
• Sabrina P. Caprioli – http://hunterequality.blogspot.com
• Liza Donnelly – http://lizadonnelly.com/
• Sharna Fulton – http://www.chloepinkcartoon.blogspot.com/
• Sally Mercedes – http://jumpoffthebridge.com
• Amanda ReCupido – http://www.undomesticgoddess.com
• Mary Lee Shalvoy – http://maryleeshalvoy.wordpress.com/
• Laura Sundstrom – http://adventuresofayoungfeminist.com
• Esmeralda Tijhoff – http://www.fonkel.net/
• Rebecca Welzenbach – http://littlehelpplease.blogspot.com
Because every week or so I receive a new set of answers to these interview questions, the raw interview material and a complete list of participants can be found at https://smallstrokesbigoaks.com/?tag=literacy-interview.
Analysis
I am interested in “the cultural identities [the bloggers] claim for themselves” and how they “affect the kinds of literacy behaviors they practice in different parts of their lives” (Lindquist and Seitz 231). Through the interviews and the monitoring of the participants’ individual sites, I hope to gain a greater understanding of how feminism exists as an online culture and how participation in that culture affects the ways in which they read and write. As Miller and Shepherd write, “When bloggers talk about blogging, two themes relevant to these questions are ubiquitous: self-expression and community development” (1461). I will be focusing on both of these themes in my study; I will be studying their literacy practices within the feminist blogging community to discover how they use their unique forms of self-expression to create a community by linking to and commenting on each other’s blogs (Miller and Shepherd 1462).
As I interview the participants and read their blogs, I will be looking for patterns or discrepancies in the way the participants think about their own literacy practices. In this way, I will be performing a sort of rhetorical analysis on the blogging community in which the rhetor is the writer of the blog, the audience are the other community members and readers, and the issue is feminism. Particularly, I will use Szwed’s five elements of literacy – text, context, function, participants, and motivation – to analyze the literacy events the participants share with me. I will then be using this information to discuss how literacy works and what types of literacy are employed within the culture of feminist bloggers, and hopefully I will come to a greater understanding of participation within this community.
Works Cited
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Blogging as a Social Act vs. for Social Good
September 19th, 2009
Image by Stephanie Booth via Flickr
For those of us in the blogosphere, it is no secret that blogging is a social action. We may say we write for ourselves only, and that may be true to some extent. We may not care what other people say about our blogs, but we do hope someone says something about it. After all, isn’t that what we publish our writings for – to be noticed in some way? We love getting comments and checking blog stats and passing along good information from each other. I know I do.
I was reading a very interesting article about blogging as a social action (by Miller and Shepherd – I’d post it if it didn’t violate copyright laws). Although the article seemed a little dated, it made a few interesting points. I did, however, get the sense from the article that the authors thought that blogging was voyeuristic and a little bit self-centered. I know when I first started blogging back in undergrad, this was definitely the case. My blog was solely to update friends and family about my life. I wrote about me and me only.
Now, however, I have been welcomed wholeheartedly into what I like to call the feminist blogging community. I feel as if blogging for social good as opposed to simply as a social act is a relatively recent phenomenon (or maybe I’m just new to the scene). The writings I read from within the feminist blogging community are certainly personal, but I don’t feel like a voyeur reading them. I feel more like you’ve shared stories with a point that may help your audience think deeper about a situation.
I wonder how you all feel about blogging. Is it simply a social act? Are we a bunch of women (and men) hanging around a water-cooler swapping stories? Or is it for social good? Are we really getting out there and opening the eyes of our audiences and promoting discussions that will help change our world?
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Carnival of Feminists
September 18th, 2009My teaching feminism in schools series (well, actually this post) has been included in the newest Carnival of Feminists hosted by the wonderful frau sally benz over at Jump off the Bridge. There are some really great posts in this one, and frau sally has broken them up into easy-to-navigate categories for your reading pleasure. Check it out!
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Small Strokes Podcast: Does Confidence Attract Bullies?
September 14th, 2009
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Today’s podcast is an excerpt of my “good wife” paper about whether or not my confidence caused some of my former coworkers to bully me. The original piece was inspired by Dara Chadwick and her blog post of the same title, which you can find here.
The Name Game (and More Wedding Stuff!)
September 11th, 2009
Image by ronsho © via Flickr
There has been lots of stuff rumbling around in my head lately about names and weddings, and since you all seemed to want to know more about my wedding planning, I’ll rumble that stuff here.
I don’t know about you, but I think the debate over whether or not a woman should “be able to” keep her own name or not when she gets married is a little tired. I know, I write about it frequently on here, but I can’t help it! I am getting married, after all, and this is an issue on my mind.
There are several women out there (yea, I’ve done some feminist wedding research…) who say that changing their name never occurred to them or they would never consider it. I don’t know that I ever really considered it, but I know a few possibilities have passed through my mind. I’ll never drop my last name completely, but I have thought about the possibility of making it another middle name or hyphenating it or using it solely as a writing pseudonym. It makes me extremely sad to think about changing my name, so I probably won’t ever (in fact, I’m almost 99% sure I won’t ever), but I want to state right now that I am a feminist who has considered changing her last name to her husband-to-be’s.
However, I was speaking with a few friends today who were completely shocked that I’m not changing my name, which sort of confused me. They read this blog and talk to me about it, so I know they’re up-to-date on my feminist status, so it surprised me that they would be surprised that I had decided not to change my name. They told me that since I seemed so psyched about a traditional wedding that it would only follow that I would be traditional about the name change.
I disagree. I believe that deciding to become someone’s partner for the rest of your life is a very important decision, and a very feminist thing. My fiancé is a wonderful man who cares for me, loves me, respects me, and wants to share his life with me, and I feel the same about him. And deciding to share that love and commitment with our friends and family in a big way is fitting for such a big decision.
But, we have decided to share our lives. I have not decided to become engulfed into his, nor has he decided to become engulfed into mine. So it also seems fitting that we would keep our own names.
I feel that it is such a common thing now to keep your own names that it doesn’t really matter, and will matter even less by the time when (if) we get around to having kids and those kids are in school or have to explain it to their friends. And, as such a common thing, I’m completely shocked every time I call a venue or vendor for my wedding and they ask me my first name, my fiancé’s first name, and my fiancé’s last name. This has seriously happened about 5 times already, and I bet it will continue to happen in the future. Maybe I’m so immersed in feminism and I surround myself with so many feminists that I am shocked when people don’t exercise caution when talking about names. I still haven’t quite figured out how I want to respond to people when they ask me this, but most recently I’ve just started saying: “Well, MY last name is ______ and his is _______.” Usually after that they figure out my master feminist keep-my-own-name plan.
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Comment/Posting Policy
September 8th, 2009Hello gentle readers! I’m very glad to have you on board with the Small Strokes blog. This project has taken off in ways I can’t even imagine, and mostly because of participation from people like you! While my inbox is exploding with awesome comments, guest posts, and podcast ideas, I think this might be a good time to remind you of my posting and comment policy. No matter how awesome your comment is – and they all are! – it still must adhere to the policy. You can find the entire policy here, what follows is merely an excerpt.
My blog ground rules:
I don’t swear. Or I try not to. I know swearing in blogs can be seen as women taking control of language that they have been encouraged not to use by men. I appreciate that. I just don’t think it’s necessary to make a point. And I don’t tolerate the over use of vulgar language from commenters. I reserve the right to edit and remove any comments that violate this rule. I will try my best to take out any vulgarity out and keep the integrity of your comment, but if you’re just being mean, that’s not cool.
This blog is not overtly political. You may think I’m a bad feminist because of this, but I will not post anything here (written by me or written by others) about super-controversial topics. You all know the kinds of topics I’m talking about here, so I won’t run down the ENTIRE list, but one of my favorite coworkers from my last job used to tell her students that, when it came to writing topics, there was to be “no booze, no drugs, no sex, no God, no wackos.” I follow sort of the same idea here. I don’t write about this stuff, and I don’t post links about this stuff.
My hope for this blog is that it helps empower women (young and old and everywhere in between) to do what they feel is right, and to know that they are not alone. I hope that, by sharing some of my experiences without talking politics, I can share with people the personal side of feminism – what women think about, talk about, struggle with, and do on a daily basis that sometimes has larger, political implications, but more often than not feels intensely individual. It is, in this way, that I hope to make a few small strokes of my own.
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Loud and Proud: I am a Feminist!
September 5th, 2009This is a cross-post of a guest post at the awesome http://feministcampus.blogspot.com. You have probably read most of this before on here, but it never hurts to see it twice!
I don’t remember a specific moment of revelation during which I came to the conclusion that I am a feminist; I’ve just grown up this way. When I was a little girl, my parents – my mother especially – encouraged my assertiveness and independence.
I didn’t actually use the term “feminist” to define myself until my undergrad years when a series of wonderful teachers helped me explore the feminist movements throughout history and come to my own definition of feminism. Feminism, as I define it, involves taking note of the marginalization of women, exploring the reasons why women are marginalized, and making an outward effort to minimize that marginalization. As feminists, we should applaud any attempt at social progress, and participate as we see fit.
I have been very fortunate to be welcomed in to a wonderful feminist community through my blog and other social networking sites. The feminist online presence is particularly strong and, I think, a modern form of activism. I didn’t become an activist, or an active feminist, until I started blogging, and now I see feminism and being a woman in a whole new way.
I see women differently, now. I see being a woman differently now. When you understand the relationships between women, and when you begin to associate with women who empower you, not with those who cut you down, you begin to see how powerful women could collectively be if we all stopped competing with each other.
I even see my relationship differently. I used to think being a feminist in a relationship was all about asserting your independence, to the point of pushing your partner away. Now, I see that feminist relationships are about having an equal partnership, and that being partners is even more fulfilling than just being independent.
I now see blogging as having a purpose. I started with my personal blog about a year ago, just as a way to update people on the happenings of my life, but I didn’t really see a purpose to all the time I had spent on it. Now, thanks to my interaction with the wonderful women who have participated in my literacy interview, I see blogging as a form of activism. We are spreading important information, we are tweeting-up, we are talking about important things, and it can only get better from here.
And all of this has been because of the wonderful women who have shown me how wonderful it is to be, help, mentor, talk to, laugh with, share accomplishments with, and be a feminist with other amazing women.
I feel empowered now, and I want to make a difference, to go out into the world and make a real change. I hope this energy rubs off on a few other women, because that is the first important step toward women’s empowerment.
My (Not So) Feminist Wedding
September 4th, 2009
Image via Wikipedia
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on hiatus for a few days. You know you missed me; you can just admit it. 😉
For those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter or other social networking sites, you may not know that I am now engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. I’m biased, but that’s ok.
So, I have started the planning and the list-making and the budgeting and the thinking that comes along with being newly-engaged and, while Las Vegas is seeming like a seriously viable option (I kid), I’ve made the decision to have a relatively traditional wedding, despite the feminist implications, and I’m pretty excited about it. When I was discussing this with the lovely Amanda, I mentioned that I felt a little strange about seeing weddings through a feminist lens and noticing all of the patriarchal things within weddings but giving that up in favor of a traditional ceremony and reception, she reminded me that feminism isn’t about doing everything differently, but about having the choice to do what you want. And I have chosen to be more traditional than not, but I can’t help but notice some interesting intersections of a traditional wedding and my feminist beliefs.
So far, here’s what I have. With commentary, of course.
1. I have a diamond ring. I am biased, again, but it is probably the most beautiful diamond ring I’ve ever seen. When I was in the process of picking out rings, my brother said to me that he was surprised I wanted a diamond, but then he recanted that statement and called me a “traditional feminist.” I’ve held on to that term ever since. I do understand the political and social issues involved with buying diamonds, but the truth is, it meant something to Tim for him to buy me a diamond. And it definitely meant something to me, and it was personal on both counts.
2. I want the dress. You all know the dress I’m talking about: That beautiful white one that makes you feel like a princess and makes you look busty and skinny all at the same time. Yea, that one. Movies should be giving young girls more female rolemodels that aren’t just princesses, but it’s OK to feel like a princess on this day, I think.
3. I want my mother and father to give me away. This could be seen as feminist or not so feminist, considering I want my mom and my dad to walk me down the aisle, but I do understand the historical implications of being given away as more or less a piece of property. I, however, see it as being their child that they have guided through life and now they are guiding me into my new life.
OK, I’m getting a little choked up reading this. I am so girly. I’ll probably be blogging a bit about this for the next year or so because it (along with my master’s thesis on feminist blogging) will be consuming my life. But now it’s your turn. You know you’ve thought about it! What has been, is, or will be part of your perfect feminist or not so feminist wedding?
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A Reflection: Feminism and Personal Growth
August 31st, 2009This blog has grown so much in the past few months, and I feel I have grown so much with this blog and the sharing of ideas here, so I figured now is an appropriate time for a reflection. Warning: Some gushy, touchy-feely-ness ahead.
I started this blog in June as a way to keep track of my work for grad school – two feminist projects completed within two months. I just wanted a way to easily compile and organize information and I hoped to receive some feedback while I was at it. Thanks to all of you, it has gone much farther than that, and while this blog has been growing, I have been growing, too. I’ve been seeing feminism and being a woman in a new way, and it has helped me become a better person all around. I used to dislike dealing with women and girls. I was that girl who was always better friends with all the guys than with the other girls because I hated the competition between us that inevitably happened. Last year, I enjoyed having all boys in my classes because I felt they were easier to deal with than girls. I wanted sons eventually, not daughters. I hated when women would tell me how to act, and because of that, I rarely associated with them.
I see women differently, now. I see BEING a woman differently, now. When you understand the relationships between women, and when you begin to associate with women who empower you, not with those who cut you down, you begin to see how powerful women could collectively be if we all stopped competing with each other.
I even see my relationship differently. I used to think being a feminist in a relationship was all about asserting your independence, to the point of pushing your partner away. Now, I see that feminist relationships are about having an equal partnership, and that being partners is even more fulfilling than just being independent.
I now see blogging as having a purpose. I started with my personal blog about a year ago, just as a way to update people on the happenings of my life, but I didn’t really see a purpose to all the time I had spent on it. Now, thanks to my interaction with the wonderful women who have participated in my literacy interview, I see blogging as a form of activism. We are spreading important information, we are tweeting-up, we are talking about important things, and it can only get better from here.
And all of this has been all because of you wonderful women who have shown me how wonderful it is to be, help, mentor, talk to, laugh with, share accomplishments with, and be a feminist with other amazing women.
I feel empowered now, and I want to make a difference, to go out into the world and make a real change. And I have you to thank.
Please, before you leave this page, leave a comment about your reflection on being a feminist. And stop by a page or two (or all of them!) from my blogroll. These are the wonderful women who have made such a difference in my life.
Small Strokes Podcast: My Definition of Feminism
August 29th, 2009
Click here to subscribe via iTunes!
Transcript:
Hello and welcome to the Small Strokes podcast. This is Ashley Lauren here, and I am the author of the Small Strokes blog, which you can find at smallstrokesbigoaks.com. This will be an extension of the blog, and a place where I will be talking about all things feminist: sometimes it may just be me talking, and sometimes I may be interviewing another person or hosting a panel discussion to talk about feminist issues.
I’d like to begin today by talking about my definition of a feminist. All too often, women are very reluctant to define themselves as feminists. The word, feminism, sometimes has negative associations with an extremely radical movement and, as such, many women shy away from defining themselves as feminists. I, however, will say it loud and proud: I am a feminist!
Feminism, as I define it, involves taking note of the marginalization of women, exploring the reasons why women are marginalized, and making an outward effort to minimize that marginalization. As feminists, we should applaud any attempt at social progress, and participate as we see fit; if radical movements are your style, then so be it. If, like me, small strokes are more your thing, then that’s great, too.
I have been very fortunate to be welcomed in to a wonderful feminist community through smallstrokesbigoaks.com and other social networking sites. The feminist online presence is particularly strong, and, I think, a modern form of activism. In fact, [r]adical feminists in the late 1960s and 1970s wrote massive amounts of ‘temporary,’ networked texts. These texts were often collaborative in nature and distributed quickly. These texts parallel today’s cyber-culture in many ways, especially in their emphasis on networking writings just like we do today through hyperlinks and social networking. The online feminist community is a powerful force, working not only to exterminate the marginalization of women, but working to empower women as well.
I believe feminism is necessary in the world today. We see all too many injustices against women, and we must work to correct them. Hopefully, through smallstrokesbigoaks.com and social networking, I’m starting to do just that. And I’d like your help! I’m currently accepting submissions for guest posts to my blog, as well as volunteers to participate in interactive podcasts. If you’d like more information about either of those, please visit smallstrokesbigoaks.com.
That’s all for today! Hopefully you enjoyed my first, and shortest podcast, and, if you did, be sure to subscribe for future updates, and, while you’re at it, subscribe to smallstrokesbigoaks.com, too!
Feminism in Schools: Women’s Studies vs. Core Classes
August 27th, 2009Let’s start with some business: There have been some great comments about teaching feminism in schools, and I’d love to respond to every one (I started to, but it became too time consuming and, being the good teacher I am, I like it when you respond to each other rather than when I bust in and break up the conversation). Keep it up, though, seriously! This is becoming a really fascinating series; who knew people were so jazzed about feminism in schools?!
There are a few things I’m seeing in the comments, though, that I want to address. There seem to be two seperate arguments going on: 1) Feminism should be incorporated in core curriculum classes (English, history, etc.), and 2) Women’s Studies classes should be offered in high school. While both of these are manifestations of feminism in school, and both arguments are similar and have similar rationale behind them, I do believe they are seperate arguments.
First of all, Women’s Studies classes, as we’ve all been saying, if present in a high school setting, would be elective classes. Students would have to choose to take these classes, and those that choose to take them probably don’t have to. Meaning they probably already have an interest in women’s rights and, therefore, don’t need to be “taught” to be progressive young adults. We can argue till we’re blue in the face that Women’s Studies classes should be required, but the fact of the matter is that will probably never happen. There are too many testing and funding issues for that to happen right now.
Core classes, however, are classes that students must take in order to graduate. In the interest of full disclosure, for those of you who don’t know, I am a high school English teacher, so I’ve been leaning toward ways to incorporate feminism into English classes. In fact, when I first started writing this series, I said “Why Feminism Should Be Taught In School,” but I meant “Why Feminism Should Be Taught In English.” It’s not that I don’t think other possibilities are just as important; it’s simply that I didn’t see them until your outstanding comments. It is impossible for me to talk about teaching without talking about teaching English, though, so that’s where I’m coming from.
However, I will argue that teaching feminism in a core class such as English or history may be more beneficial and influential to students. They must take these classes, so you are sure to reach a wider audience – perhaps an audience that wouldn’t normally be interested in women’s issues. Also, there is the added benefit of being able to teach multiple perspectives within these classes (the lit crit terms: Author Centered, Historical, Reader Response, Psychological, Formalist, “Otherness” Theory, etc.) which encourages studenst to look at everything from multiple perspectives. It also gives them resources to “walk a mile in their shoes,” to use an old cliché and become more tolerant, enlightened, and progressive members of society.
The Feminist Lens: The Yellow Wallpaper
August 26th, 2009
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman* is one of the most interesting short feminist texts I’ve ever read (need a refresher? Check Wikipedia!). I have a feeling several people agree, so this will be less of a book review and more of an overlap between several things I have going on all at once right now. Fortunately, I’m preparing to teach “The Yellow Wallpaper” as we speak. In fact, incorporating this text into my curriculum might fit very well into a way to teach feminism in the classroom! In order to overlap my Feminist Lens and my teaching feminism posts, as well as prepare for teaching today, I’ll share with you a glimpse into my classroom and tell you how I plan on teaching this wonderful story.
One of the most interesting things about this text is that it was originally categorized as a horror story or Gothic text because there was no “feminist genre” in which to place it when it was originally written. Some still see it as a horror story, thinking the women in the walls are ghosts rather than hallucinations. Because of this, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is perfect not only for an introduction to feminism, but an introduction to reading literature from different points of view.
My intended audience is college prep sophomores in an English 2 class during a 50-minute class period. This is the first full week of school, so I’m keeping that in mind as I create rigorous plans, yet ease them into thinking after a long summer.
Day 1: I’m going to start class with a Bellringer (something that is on the board for the students to get started with as soon as the bell rings). I’ll ask them to answer these questions in a journal: Have you ever had something bother you that you just couldn’t get out of your head? Tell me about it. How did it make you feel? I will give them 10-15 minutes to finish this. We will discuss their answers for about 5 minutes before transitioning into reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” aloud in class. Since this is the first story in our short story unit, I will read it aloud to them while they follow along. We will discuss plot elements as we go along, and I will assign them a worksheet asking them to give examples from the story for plot, characters, theme, setting, etc.
Day 2: The Bellringer to start this day will be on the board. They will be asked to answer a journal question answering the following question: Would you categorize “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a horror story or as a story about women’s rights? Explain your answer. I will give them a few minutes to answer this question in writing, then we will discuss their answers. As we talk, I will explain to them the history behind the story’s categorization. We will find out if anyone changes their opinion, and I will give them a chance to add to their journals if this is the case. After I collect their journals, the students will get into their (already defined) cooperative learning groups to write about the story. Each group will be asked to answer “What does the story say about…?”, although each group will be assigned a different end to that question: psychology, women, work (writing), how men see women, how the narrator sees men (her husband in particular), marriage. They will write their answers down as a group, pulling examples from the text to support their answers, and they will share their answers with the class when everyone is finished.
So, here is a good way to teach a great story that is part of the curriculum while reviewing short story elements AND generating productive discussions about feminism in the classroom. See? Easy. 🙂
*Full Citation: Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Fiction: A Pocket Anthology. Ed. R.S. Gwynn. New York: Penguin, 2007. 86-101.
Liked this feminist book review? Read more by clicking here. Hated it? Completely disagree with it? Have something to add to it? Have a book to recommend? Leave a comment or e-mail me at smallstroke (at) gmail (dot) com.
How Feminism Should Be Taught in School (Part 1): How Feminism Should NOT Be Taught in School
August 25th, 2009I’m hoping this will be part 1 of many. I’m looking for questions, suggestions, and ideas, so feel free to add yours in the comments and I’ll try my best to incorporate them in further posts.
We’ve got the “why” feminism should be taught in school down, and we all seem to be in agreement on this fact. Now, how do we go about it?
In this post, I’ll start with how NOT to incorporate feminism in school: We should not, under any circumstances, treat women’s issues* as a box in the margin. This includes, but is not limited to: relegating feminism and women’s issues to a singular unit, making a few mentions about what is going on with the women of the time periods between war stories, teaching books and poetry by women in a condensed unit while teaching the “dead white guys” for the rest of the year. This makes women’s issues appear as just a tag to the canon and to history, not an integral part of either.
I am not saying that students should not learn about the wars and the voices of men throughtout history. I am, however, saying that women have a timeline and a canon of their own, not just a plug here and there. Think about the American Girl dolls. Remember when there were only a few of them before they were a multi-million dollar national company? Those dolls were so popular among girls because they had their own historical timeline, and the timeline that was taught in schools was just a backdrop to each doll’s stories. Perhaps having a women’s timeline and a men’s timeline running concurrently is a step in the right direction, although the true solution would be to have one huge timeline that incorporates everything.
Many teachers try to incorporate women’s issues and women’s writing in the curriculum, but often these important elements end up smushed between what’s always been taught. These teachers mean well, but the message they are really sending to young people – young girls in particular – is that women’s issues are important, but not important enough to take up the majority of the textbooks and the school years.
*This advice all goes for teaching the history and works of any marginalized people, not just women. Since this is a blog particularily devoted to feminism, I say “feminism” and “women’s rights,” but you can replace those with any group that experiences any sort of privilege.
Why Feminism Should Be Taught In School
August 24th, 2009Should feminism be taught in school?
It may not surprise you that my answer is an emphatic YES. Of course, it is important to present students with multiple perspectives so that they may see that, historically, people with different perspectives have caused much unrest and, from that unrest comes progress. I would hope that any literature or history teacher would agree with this.
Historically, women have been quite literally marginalized – relegated to boxes in the margins of textbooks as if to say, “This is what the women were doing back at home while the men were off at war. It fits into this little box which must mean that it wasn’t that important and it won’t be on the test.” This is not a new concept, and teachers have been incorporating texts regarding marginalized people into their curriculum for a very long time.
It is not really a question of whether or not this should be done, but I wonder how many people have really explored why it is important to incorporate feminism into the curriculum. If one
day such classes were taught in schools to liberal arts colleges, it
would be a day to celebrate.
First, the study of feminism can “reinvigorate girls’ sense of self-worth and to help pupils think about the gender implications of their language and image.” It is important for girls today to think about their role models. Who are young women looking to as role models today? Miley Cirus? Britney Spears? If these women are not good role models for young women, who is? Simone deBeauvoir? Susan B. Anthony? Think of all that today’s young women can learn from these strong, self-assured agents of historical change. By holding the work of these latter women up to be seen as at least as important as the wars fought by and the leaders who were typically men, we show young women that being strong and confident is nothing to be ashamed of, and we show young men that strong and confident women are to be respected, not coaxed into becoming something else, something they can control.
Which leads me to my second point: Girls are accepting sexual assault at school as a fact of life. I am not saying that young women are being joked about and taunted by young men at school because they lack confidence and strength. I am, however, saying that I think there is something that tells these girls that if they don’t let boys treat them this way, boys will not like them and there are few things worse when you’re in high school. By teaching students about feminism, we are showing both young women and young men that equality in human rights is important, and treating someone as if they are beneath you is unacceptable.
Girls are not only under pressure when it comes to boys, but also when it comes to the clothes they wear and how that affects whether or not they will fit in with the right crowd in school. “According to the Girls Inc. Supergirl Dilemma report, 84% of all girls say it’s true that girls are under a lot of pressure to dress the right way.” I’m sure we all remember days in our youth (and maybe in our adulthood) when we wondered if we were wearing the right clothes or wanted to look just like someone we saw on television. Girls’ confidence can very often hinge on whether or not they feel they look “right” or fit in with the “right” other girls. Maybe, just maybe, by instilling in young women that the positive women role models in history (and today! Feminism is alive and well!) have been auspicious agents of change – as much as the men that fill the pages of their textbooks – we can show them that what matters most are not the styles of clothing they wear, but the restyling of history made possible by extraordinary women. And who knows; maybe they’ll even be inspired to take up feminism themselves.
Weekly Rundown: 8/15-8/21/2009
August 21st, 2009There is so much great stuff out there, I can’t possibly comment on all of it. I can, however, link it here for your enjoyment. Have you been reading or writing something interesting or important? Share a link in the comments!
Are you interested in participating in (or just reading/commenting on) an online feminist book club? (I know I am!) If so, comment here and let frau sally benz know! This is an awesome opportunity for online feminist collaboration!
Book Review AND Film Review of The Time Traveler’s Wife – Jump Off The Bridge
In this two-for-one special, frau sally benz tells us exactly what she thinks about the film and the book.
Hannah Montana: The Movie Review – Entertainment Realm
Just in case you didn’t get enough of Miley Cyrus at the Teen’s Choice Awards.
Friend count – Chloe Pink
The cutest cartoon ever! Be sure to check out Chloe’s adventures at this blog. She rocks!
I am Jane… still… and that’s okay – We Are the Real Deal
These bloggers do such a great job dealing with body image struggles. This is just another example of a powerful post from them.
Book Review: The Poetry of Iranian Women – Gender Across Borders
“The best way to understand a culture is to listen to what the people to whom it belongs have to say.”
The Undomestic Goddess In A Book! – The Undomestic Goddess
Well, this is exciting! Well done!
Making Fun of Your Baby on Facebook: A Game of Tag(s) – The Undomestic Goddess
On moms, babies, identity, and Facebook tagging.
The Carnival of Feminists is Back – Jump off the Bridge
Something all you feminist bloggers may be interested in.
Be a Smart Rider – Feminist Majority Foundation Choices Campus Blog
Something we should all keep in mind while in large, metro areas.
Trouble by Kate Christensen: A Book Review – Entertainment Realm
This sounds like a really great book! I’ll read it if I ever can find the time…
No One Can Be Perfect 100% of the Time – Adventures of a Young Feminist
It’s like I always say: Your entire life can’t be a cause…
Are Clothes More Important than Intellect – Adventures of a Young Feminist
On Michelle Obama’s shorts. A very well-written post.
The End of Anonymous Trolling – Feministing
Very thought-provoking and well-written. What does it mean when we have to come out from behind our anonymous internet presence? As with anything, there are pros and cons.
Tweeting Mad Men, and Living – Liza Donnelly
This is almost exactly how I felt after the season premier!
The Undomestic 10: frau sally benz – The Undomestic Goddess
Hey, she’s also in my Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community Series! Cool! 🙂
Blinded by Privilege: abelist language in critical discourse – Deeply Problematic
This was a really wonderful post that got me thinking about the metaphors we use in every day academia, without even thinking.
To read all the “Weekly Rundown” entries, click here.
Jack (Jill? Jane?) Of All Trades: How Do You Manage?
August 19th, 2009This blog has taken a turn for the personal lately. Oh well. It’ll turn back to the academic and professional soon enough. And, either way, you like reading about my personal struggles. I can tell. 🙂
As many of you know, this blog was started as part of dual-course project for my graduate classes this summer. Both the Good Wife paper and the Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community project began with my passion for feminism and activism (and with a little help from The Undomestic Goddess) and ended up being this blog with what seems like a loyal following – a good deal of readers and commenters. Although it was initially intended to be a place to simply publish and organize my research and writings for graduate school, I started writing more personal posts, and I am finding that I truly enjoy writing in this blog and conversing with all of you, both on here and on Twitter, about feminist issues. It’s a nice way to both receive feedback on my graduate school/thesis work, as well as explore women’s rights and feminist issues in a more personal way.
Now, summer is over and both graduate school and my full-time job as a high school English teacher are starting. I’m finding that I actually spent a lot more time on this blog and Twitter than I realized, and I’m starting to see that I’m going to have to figure out some way to do all of it, because I really enjoy all of it. I’m not worried about blog material so much, but I do feel that when I write posts at night and schedule them for a later date (and read starred tweets and schedule them to RT at a later time on HootSuite) that I’m not really adding to the conversation so much as planning out things for you to read. Like a true teacher, right? I’m also having trouble keeping up with the 200 or so people I follow on Twitter (cut down from around 260; I can’t cut any more!) and the 50 or so blogs I follow on my Google Reader. It’s time consuming to compose posts, read tweets/links, set up links to RT, AND feel like you’re participating in the conversation.
I can’t look at my internet presences very often while I’m at work, and I like to do things besides stare at the computer for hours after work, so I’m wondering: those of you who juggle multiple activities like this, what do you do to manage the load? Any advice for a fellow feminist blogger?