Fourth Wave

Meet the new feminist hero on the block: Cat Abigail Daniels of My So-Called Secret Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:01:00 +0000

I have a new post up at Ms. Magazine's blog about the fabulous new comic book My So-Called Secret Identity. Here's a snippet of the original post, which you can read in its entirety here:

You may not know it yet, but there’s a new hero in town—specifically, in Gloria City, the Gotham-esque setting of the innovative online comic book My So-Called Secret Identity which just published its first issue last week. Rife with violence and bursting to the seams with a cadre of grandstanding superheroes, Gloria City is also home to Ph.D. student Cat Daniels, a cop’s daughter and ostensibly ordinary woman with a strong will and an abiding love of the city’s streets and secrets. She has a superpower, too, but not one that comes with a black latex bodysuit, décolletage cutout or star-spangled underwear: Cat is simply exceedingly smart.

Below, you can find the complete responses to my questions from the MSCSI creative team. I spoke with creator Dr. Will Brooker, artists Suze Shore and Sarah Zaidan, and social media manager Riven Alyx Buckley.

1. Will, you mention in the Guardian that you "took everything [you] hated about superhero comics and flipped the script," but I'd like to turn that idea around. What do you find productive/valuable about superhero comics and how do you hope MSCSI and Cat's character, specifically, will reflect those aspects of the genre that you find compelling?

Will Brooker: One of the things I like about superhero comics is exactly that -- the close overlap between form and medium. Most American comics are about superheroes, and I still think that comics are the best medium for superheroes -- the one place they are guaranteed to look cool rather than ridiculous.

I like the fun, visual stuff like the costumes, the logos, the masks, the gimmicks -- The Flash's outfit, for instance, is impossible to improve on, and has been pretty much consistent since 1956.

On a more thematic level, I think what appeals to me about superhero comics is the core motif of secret identities and hidden lives -- disguise and the fear of discovery -- and the very closely-linked idea that we can be someone more vibrant, more colourful, more magical than we appear to be in our civilian clothes.

I also really like the model of alternate earths and parallel universes that structures so many superhero comics -- the idea that there are other worlds where we evolved slightly differently.

In a word, I think superhero comics are surprisingly queer, for a genre that seems dominated by gender and sexual stereotypes, and traditional roles. I think they are secretly a lot queerer than they seem on the surface.

2. Suze, Sarah and Riven, what excites you most about this project and/or why did you choose to become involved?

Suze Shore:First I should say that MSCSI has been my introduction to superhero comics. So when I first joined the team as a concept artist, I was impressed by the writing and ideas even without making the comparison to the stuff available in mainstream superhero stories. Now that I am more aware of what exists in the superhero genre - especially in way of female protagonists - I'm recognizing the extent to which MSCSI is challenging those norms. It's increasingly evident that Cat is something new; she's not perfect or bigger than life in someway, she's the kind of girl anyone could know and maybe already does know. It's that relateable quality to her, the cast and the project as a whole that has me especially excited to introduce MSCSI to others.

Sarah Zaidan: When Will told me in late 2011 that he was embarking on a project to “build a better Batgirl”, and that he’d like me to contribute with my artwork, I could not have been more excited. I’d been a fan of Batgirl ever since my discovery of her at age six, and had never truly been satisfied with her portrayal—she never seemed to be truly allowed to reach her full potential as a character and a superhero. Will was my Ph.D. supervisor, and through our many talks on our respective research, I knew we wanted the same things for the character and I trusted his vision for Batgirl completely.

However, when the story and characters began to take on a life of their own, that moment when Barbara Gordon underwent her metamorphosis into Catherine Abigail Daniels was truly the “Eureka!” moment for the project. This was an opportunity to break new ground with an original heroine, and to be part of a like-minded team with a charitable mission.

I was invested, inspired and enraptured.

Riven Alyx Buckley: As both a fan and an academic, the stories that I'm drawn to the most are the ones that explore intelligence, how people think and dream; I'm basically fascinated by how storytellers and artists present what goes on inside people's heads. When Will contacted me about helping him launch a comic in which the protagonist's main power is her intelligence, there was very little possibility I was going to say no. But what's occurred to me the deeper I get involved with the project, and the more I'm looking at Cat as a character, is how novel she is. Usually, an intelligent woman in ANY narrative is the sidekick, the overlooked Brain who delivers important plot points and never gets the guy she wants. She's very rarely the central figure. Think about Sherlock Holmes, and how many variations of that character we've seen over the years - Batman, House, every CSI lead character. Now think about how many female equivalents there are. I could think about it for a while, and come up with maybe one or two, but I can bet you that they aren't young attractive women with everything going for them.

Cat is a genius, AND she's an attractive, likeable woman. That's an extremely rare combination, and I wish that I'd had her as a role model growing up. Thankfully, I had Buffy, and Scully, but there's something about how Cat uses her intelligence that's unique, and important to me personally. She has the kind of brain I aspire to having, and I can't say that about any other comic book character - male or female.

3. Suze and Sarah, in what ways do you feel the comic's artwork reflects its feminist ambitions? What aspects of "mainstream" superhero comics are you trying to emulate and what aspects are you trying to subvert or revise?

Suze: I'd say the most predominant way the MSCSI art supports its ideals is the way the characters and their actions are presented to the reader. The first thing in my mind while drawing a page is the personality of the characters, and keeping their reactions and interactions realistic. The goal of each panel isn't to fit as many eye-candy poses in as possible (you won't find any broken spines or Escher girls here), but to tell the story of each member of the cast in a way that the reader can relate to that character and their experiences. That isn't to say that sexiness in comics is a bad thing, but rather I disagree with how it tends to be used; More often than not, sex-appeal seems to be shoehorned into a comic with total disregard to character personality and the situation, and it feels like the female characters are around more as good-looking accessories instead of people. I think one of the biggest revisions to mainstream comics we are undertaking is this consideration of a character and their situation when staging and posing. Our cast is full of strong, capable women who would not appreciate being constantly reduced to centerfolds. They're going to have sex-appeal when and where they want to, but not when they're brushing their teeth or trying to beat rush hour. I don't want the reader to forget that everyone in MSCSI is a human being, just like them.

Sarah: The comic’s artwork has the goal of storytelling in mind. It’s there to communicate characters’ actions, expressions, and thoughts. The artwork isn’t aimed at any sort of “male gaze” or even “female gaze” in mind; it’s trying to achieve what I think of as a “human gaze”. The art invites the reader to become a part of Gloria City, and of Cat’s thought process.

My cover illustration of Cat leads into the first page of Suze’s artwork, where Cat is getting dressed. I deliberately avoided portraying Cat as sexy for the sake of it, which is an aspect of mainstream superhero comics I am making a conscious effort to revise. My sketchbook is full of images where I was trying to get the pose just right; not emulating a pin-up, or cheesecake illustration, as well as conveying a sense of Cat’s personality and demeanor. I finally ended up putting on a side-fastening skirt in front of a mirror, and as luck would have it, that everyday act has a lot in common with the classic hands-on-hips superhero pose!

4. Will, MSCSI touts an "almost" entirely female creative team and yet it's notable that you (it's founder, let's say) are a man. What do you feel that you specifically bring to the table vis-a-vis representations of gender and/or women's roles in superhero comics? In what way do you think your own gender is (or is not) relevant to the creation of or continued work on the comic?

Will: In terms of my own personal approach to the writing, I don't think it matters or is relevant; I would want other people to be the judge of that, but so far, out of all the feedback we've received, nobody has said anything like "this seems to be written by a man with a misguided view of women."

My own view of gender is informed by transfeminism, and I genuinely feel gender is more of a spectrum than a binary. As such, while I certainly haven't had all the experiences that Cat has, and some of her experiences are based on what other people (including Sarah, for instance) have told me about being an intelligent woman within academia, she is also based on me to some extent (or me in the 1990s).

However, the world is bigger than my own little personal bubble, and we do not live a gender-fluid society any more than we live in a color-blind society. So on a broader level, it would be ridiculous to pretend that I haven't been dealt a very lucky hand in terms of cultural privilege, and that I have a pretty easy time within patriarchy compared to a lot of other people.

As such, the fundamental and sad truth is that what I bring to the table -- apart from my writing -- is the fact people react to me differently as a white, English, professional, educated man than they would if I had been born into or grown up in a different cultural group or context. On the whole, I think I get an easier ride than Suze or Sarah would, and I think the project is getting an easier ride because I'm fronting it, most of the time.

We have not, as far as I know, received any of the misogynistic responses that Anita Sarkeesian did, for instance, when she launched her Kickstarter about sexist tropes in video games.

So, given those factors, and the fact that I'm older and have managed to establish a profile within cultural studies and comics scholarship, I think I'm able to open certain doors for the project and maybe make it seem more acceptable and accessible to certain readers. It is a means to an end. If you live and work within patriarchy, I think you have to recognise its structures and try to strategise within them.

5. What do you hope readers will take away from MSCSI?

Suze: Our tag line, 'Smart is a superpower' sums it up pretty nicely! One of the ideas in MSCSI is that a person doesn't need to fly or lift a car to be 'super'. Even though Cat feels like she is at the mercy of others sometimes ("The problem's not me; The problem's other people."), she recognizes and utilizes the power within herself. We'll see her use intellectual strength and determination to fight her battles, and it's my hope that readers will come away with the idea that they can do the same.

Sarah: I hope readers come away from MSCSI believing that intelligence is something to be proud of and celebrated, and that Cat can become a role model for readers regardless of gender. I also hope that this project demonstrates how teamwork and collaboration can lead to truly amazing creations!

6. Can you give us any hints about Cat's future adventures? What's in store for the next issue?

Will: One of the most interesting things to me about Cat's future adventures is that not only do we see alternate-world versions of her, where she's a different size, gender and ethnicity, but that her body type and physique change dramatically. She tones up and gains muscle; she's injured and gains weight. I would also like to follow her adventures as she gets older. Cat would be about 42 in 2013. How often do we see an intelligent 42 year-old superheroine? I think she's such a strong character that we could follow her back and forth, visiting her past, present and future.

Tales of my disappearance were grossly exagerrated

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:16:00 +0000

I'm well aware that it's been almost a year since I posted anything to this blog and, for that, I am deeply sorry. Things that have changed: I have a new job (as an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University) and a new position (as Website Content Manager of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies). Things that have not changed: I am busy, busy, busy--but I'm also newly dedicated to sharing fun, interesting and thought-provoking feminist content with you here at FWF. That said, there will be a new post coming soon!

A 72-Hour Wait for Santorum

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:43:00 +0000

This past weekend, a student sent me an email with a question about the "Born Alive Infant Bill" (the bill that Obama's opposition to when he was still a Senator had him slapped with accusations of supporting "infanticide") and I found myself writing back a 500+ word response about fetal pain laws, how gestational age affects legislation around abortion, and pro-life politics/policies while simultaneously trying to temper my response so that I wouldn't scare my student off.

(I don't think that politics of this type really have a place in the classroom; it's my job to make my students think and learn how to ask difficult questions, not to preach or "convert" them to my way of thinking--that never works, anyway.)

It turns out my student was appreciative of my, unnecessarily verbose, explanation and the whole back-and-forth got me thinking that I need/want to formulate a more extensive response to the state of the reproductive rights debate in America these days. That said, consider this blog post a placeholder for that analysis, as I have something like 75 papers to grade in the next week and should be focusing my efforts on that.

In the meantime, enjoy this related video made by Ashley Judd (my new hero) and a number of other recognizable faces. I'm not usually one to joke about reproductive rights, but in this case I'll make an exception because this video is amazing:

Rick Santorum Aborts Presidential Campaign from Ashley Judd

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:41:00 +0000

I can't say I'm thrilled with the direction we're heading in as a country (understatement of the century), but I do find it heartening that, perhaps because of the absurd way women have and continue to be treated by the socio-political matrix and media institutions, more and more women and men are crying "foul."

The Good: Ashley Judd's incredible missive indicting gender inequality and unrealistic media scrutiny. It's amazing; you should go read it. Here's a quote to convince you:

Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it. This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times—I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women.

[On a side note, this article reminded me that I've been meaning to watch Judd's new show Missing, particularly because I'm very interested in (and working toward writing an article about) the framing of the mother as the ideal woman warrior in contemporary culture--i.e. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Kill Bill films, etc.]

The Bad: It seems to be Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's deepest desire to see the status of women regress back to the 1950s, if his sneaky, Friday afternoon, pre-Easter passing of several anti-woman bills is anything to go by. From the Ms. blog:

For nearly a year, half of Wisconsin has been up in arms over Walker’s repeal of union rights, which the state Supreme Court upheld last June. Gov. Walker may have sealed his claim to infamy, however, when he sneakily passed 51 laws last Thursday, four of which target women. He waited until Friday, hours before the Easter weekend began, to make his public announcement—a way to sidestep the inevitable outcry.

Three of the bills curbed women’s reproductive rights: two heavy-handed abortion restrictions and a law mandating abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in lieu of comprehensive sex education.

The law causing the real uproar, however, might just be the most surprising blow to women dealt by any state government in 2012. Gov. Walker turned back the clock on gender equality in the workforce by repealing Wisconsin’s 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act (EPEA), which permitted victims of wage discrimination to take their cases to state circuit courts. The law not only protected women from pay discrimination, but also from sexual harassment in the workplace.

The Ugly: As if all that's not bad enough, both Arizona and Georgia recently passed 20-week abortion bans, the Georgia one specifically insisting abortions after 20 weeks be made illegal in all cases except "medically futile" pregnancies (where there is no chance that the fetus will survive the pregnancy or be able to live once born); no exceptions are to be made that relate to the mother's mental or emotional state and abortions performed because of medical futility must be performed in such a way as to avoid "fetal pain"--so the fetus is removed alive and dies "naturally." Yes, really. However, the real kicker is that in the original bill there was no such medical futility exemption; state representative Terry England went so far as to compare women to livestock, suggesting that mothers, like cows and pigs, should have to carry their offspring to term, dead or alive.

Yeah. I don't even know.

Let's focus on the good today, shall we?

How did I miss this???

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Considering my love of Mad Men and the fact that I just recently wrote an article myself about the role nostalgia plays in the show's construction (not yet published, but I'll link to it when it is), it's absolutely shameful that I missed Melissa Harris-Perry's discussion of the show (especially since the discussion also included Tim Wise and I just wrote about Harris-Perry for Ms.!). This is what happens when you cancel your cable. (Although I can honestly say that this might be the only downside. Watching New Girl and 30 Rock (among other things) on Hulu when I want to watch them is so much more fulfilling than wasting away hours staring, glazed-eyed and slack-jawed, at the Food Network.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Click through to Harris-Perry's website here.

[Also, I just discovered by accident that my Ms. essay on Mad Men is discussed and linked in the show's Wikipedia article under the "Sexism" section. Cool.]

Future of Feminism: The Complete Works

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:49:00 +0000

I got a little behind last week chronicling the final few Future of Feminism posts over at the Ms. blog, so I thought I would list them all, in order, here. All posts, unless otherwise noted, were written by me. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my tremendous editors over at Ms., Michele Kort and Jessica Stites, as well as the amazing fact-checkers, interns Catherine Scott and Kristen Schuetz!

Here's the 2012 Future of Feminism Complete Works:

March 1: Welcome to the Future of Feminism!

March 2: Flipping the Gender Script

March 3: Ending Rape as a Tool of War

March 4: Building Bridges to World Peace

March 5: The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

March 6: Not Your Ordinary Mother's Blog by Avital Norman Nathman

March 7: Music to Our Ears by Avital Norman Nathman

March 8: 50 Global Solutions for Women and Girls by Amanda Montei

March 9: No More Media Sexualization of Women

March 10: Let's Talk About Sex

March 11: The Power of Local Journalism

March 12: Rachel Maddow and Melissa Harris-Perry

March 13: Beating the Gender Gap in Tech

March 14: It's Easy Being Green

March 15: Sex Workers Deserve Dignity and Care

March 16: One World, Many Gendered Voices

March 17: Girding Girls to Win Debates

March 18: Freedom from Body Shaming Regardless of Size

March 19: Encouraging Girls and Women in Sports

March 20: Transfeminism and Its Conundrums

March 21: Young, Queer and Sociologically Informed by Jessica Holden Sherwood

March 22: VAWA Goes Viral

March 23: The Hashtag is Mightier Than the Sword by Catherine Scott

March 24: Anti-Bully Pulpits

March 25: Shaping Feminist Spirituality

March 26: Hip Hop Critiques Gender

March 27: Telling Our Stories Out Loud

March 28: Sex Education as a Human Right by Kristen Schuetz

March 29: Girls and Women, Don't Be Camera-Shy!

March 30: Say No to Human Trafficking

March 31: Future of Feminism: Is Now!

Facebook Group

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:20:00 +0000

In the transition to the new groups pages, Facebook deleted all of the old group members for the Fourth Wave Feminism site there...and I just realized it. Now we only have five members!

Join Us!

Future of Feminism, Days Twenty thru Twenty-Five

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:05:00 +0000

I was at a conference in Boston Wednesday-Sunday, so I'm a little behind posting my Future of Feminism Ms. posts to this blog. Sorry! Here are the blog posts from the past few days:

Day Twenty, Transfeminism and Its Conundrums (this one has a super-contentious comment section!)

Day Twenty-one (a guest post), Young, Queer and Sociologically Informed

Day Twenty-two, VAWA Goes Viral

Day Twenty-three (a guest post), The Hashtag is Mightier Than the Sword

Day Twenty-four, Anti-Bully Pulpits

Day Twenty-five, Shaping Feminist Spirituality

Future of Feminism, Day Nineteen: Women and Sports

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:07:00 +0000

I'm not a huge follower of sports, but that doesn't mean I don't understand its importance...especially for women and girls:

I’m not much of a sports fan, but I can certainly appreciate the strength, time and sweat that goes into the training of a top athlete. Also, it’s hard to miss that in the hubbub around March Madness, women’s college basketball, despite its long history of stunning athleticism, is yet again being largely ignored in the media–or, at the very least, not receiving anywhere near the representation that men’s basketball does.

[...]

While the passing of Title IX in 1972 did much to encourage and support girls and women who wanted to take part in sports, there are still many prejudices with which women have to contend if they’re interested in sports–from automatic assumptions of weakness or inability to assertions like, “Oh, you’re pretty good for a girl.” These stereotypes, combined with the fact that women’s sports are still often thought of as less interesting/important/worthy/difficult than men’s sports mean that young girls need reassurance that being good at sports has absolutely nothing to do with sex or gender. See the UN’s 2007 report, “Women, gender equality and sport” for more on the benefits and stumbling blocks for women athletes.

Click here for more.

Future of Feminism, Day Eighteen: Size Acceptance

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:03:00 +0000

On day eighteen, I give a brief overview of the importance of the fat acceptance movement:

While I’ve already spent some time discussing the dangerous ways the media sexualizes women and girls, and how it gives the false impression that to be attractive, popular and interesting you must be skinny and hyper-feminine, today I want to switch things up little and talk about the body acceptance movement (also called “size acceptance” or “fat acceptance”), which attempts to combat the negative stereotypes around women and men who are conventionally considered overweight or obese.

One thing bears mentioning upfront: Fighting for body acceptance does not mean promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. In fact, according to Linda Bacon’s landmark book, Health at Every Size, and other recent studies, dieting is often ineffective at handling obesity, and sometimes the extreme measures used to combat obesity–surgery, liposuction, aggressive exercise programs–are more harmful than the extra weight. Not to mention that it’s far from true that all thin people are healthy. The myth that skinny equals healthy is rooted in our cultural obsession with weight and the media’s idolization of rail-thin actors and models.

Read the rest here.

Future of Feminism, Day Seventeen: Girls and Women in Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:58:00 +0000

Today's post features the great Women's Debate Institute:

Everyone has a right to speak out about the injustices they see in the world, but how to shape that rhetoric so that people actually listen? That’s something many of us spend years mastering. Mentoring girls in these skills is a central goal of the Women’s Debate Institute, a yearly summer workshop in debate for high school girls.

Debate not only helps students learn how to articulate themselves, it can also lead to successful careers in fields such as politics, business, the law and academia. And yet high school and college debate teams are not always welcoming for women; there’s a sharp drop-off in girls’ participation rates between the novice and senior divisions.

Read the rest here.

Future of Feminism, Day Sixteen: Gender Across Borders

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 01:10:00 +0000

Today's post features another wonderful global organization, one that highlights the many varied voices of speaking out for gender equality:

Profiling globally-minded organizations this month has reinforced for me one of the main underpinnings of feminism’s future: expanding the movement’s mission outside of our immediate comfort zones. In other words, moving beyond a personal-is-political philosophy to a politics of global humanity.

“Solely discussing gender [is] not enough,” says Colleen Hodgetts, associate editor of the collaborative blog Gender Across Borders. “Feminism as a movement needs to directly confront all other power struggles, namely racism, ableism and heterosexism, in order to be a movement that even attempt[s] to represent a broad spectrum of women.”

C0-founded as a “global voice for gender justice” in 2009 by a group of women, including executive editor Emily Heroy and staff writer Carrie Nelson, Gender Across Borders has quickly become a popular clearinghouse for a variety of perspectives on global issues. Its six staff writers, five monthly contributors, five interns and a host of other contributing writers collectively represent “10 different countries from every continent except Antarctica,” according to Hodgetts.

Click here to read the rest!

Future of Feminism, Day Fifteen: Advocating for Sex Workers

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:58:00 +0000

Today's post considers some of the initiatives out there designed to support, advocate for and protect sex workers:

There’s no doubt that sex work in its various manifestations, ranging from stripping to prostitution to pornography, remains a contentious issue. It’s one on which even feminists notoriously disagree–a “fracture in ideology,” according to Kate Holden–with discussions veering back and forth between victimization and empowerment.

Of course there’s a substantial difference between becoming a sex worker by choice and, say, being sex trafficked by force, and I doubt anyone would argue that forced prostitution is empowering. However, “sex slavery,” as popularized in films and on shows such as Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, represents a more extreme scenario, with many sex workers–at least in the U.S.–falling somewhere on a spectrum between choice and circumstance. One thing isn’t really up for debate, though: A sex worker, woman or man, cis- or transgender, shouldn’t be deprived of rights, protection or access to health care due to the social stigma that weighs on their profession. Today’s post features projects and organizations recognizing that no one should be left behind in our continual battle for equality.

Click here for more.

Future of Feminism, Day Fourteen: Women in Green

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Today's post features the organization Women in Green and, more generally, explores women's roles in the environmental sector:

Since yesterday’s post highlighted the need for women in the tech sector, it seems apropos to follow up with a further exploration of how women can and should make a difference in business and technology–in our present and for our future. Today, I’m featuring the Women in Green Forum, an annual conference that brings together entrepreneurs, environmental researchers, sustainability developers and other professional women in “green” fields.

Founded in 2010 by Jaime Nack, president of the environmental consulting firm three squares inc., the Women in Green Forum grew out of her all-too-common realization that women were sorely underrepresented at environmental conferences, in leadership positions at green businesses and as heads of eco-minded research projects. Designed to encourage collaboration, networking and innovation, the Forum has already attracted an international audience in its short tenure through in-person attendance and a series of YouTube videos chronicling some of its panels and speakers.

Click here for more.

Future of Feminism, Day Thirteen: Technical Women

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:57:00 +0000

Today's post details some of the challenges faced by women in the technology sector, riffing off a longer article in the current print issue of Ms. to which I contributed a sidebar:

With much of the country still struggling to come out from under the recession, it’s always heartening to hear that some well-paying sectors are actively recruiting–especially when they’re actively recruiting women. The STEM sector (science, technology, engineering and math) seems to be one of the stubbornly impenetrable “old boys clubs,” but many tech companies have begun to recognize that bringing women and people of color more seamlessly into the fold is essential to the future of technological innovation.

Click here here to read more.

Future of Feminism, Day Twelve: Rachel Maddow and Melissa Harris-Perry

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Today's post was really fun to write because I got to re-watch a lot of great segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Show and the new and exciting Melissa Harris-Perry Show...an excellent way to spend yesterday afternoon!

Local reporting from regions around the globe is absolutely essential. And, with the rise of blogs and social media, increasing power resides in the voices of independent writers who have the courage to speak their minds.

However, mainstream media still has incredible reach and influence; and the sad truth is that women and people of color are underrepresented in almost all forms of mainstream journalism, be it print, broadcast or web. This is especially true in one of the most influential mediums of opinion journalism, TV punditry, making feminist and intersectional perspectives the exception there rather than the rule.

But today, instead of dwelling on the negative, I want to take a little time to celebrate the fact that there are a few tremendously popular TV personalities–each with loyal viewerships in the millions–who consistently report on topics that affect the lives of women and girls.

Read the rest (and watch the videos) here.

Future of Feminism, Day Eleven: Making the Global Local

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:20:00 +0000

Today's post features a great organization that trains and hires women around the world to work as reporters for global news outlets, thereby making the global local:

A few days ago, the Global Press Institute, an organization devoted to training women to report on local and regional stories for national and global news outlets, celebrated its sixth birthday, and with it, ushered in what hopes to be a new era of responsible, home-grown journalism. After all, who better to tell the stories and uncover the secrets of cities, towns and villages than women who already live in those communities and who know the people and the culture and the customs?

Read the rest here.

Future of Feminism, Day Ten: Let's Talk About Sex

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 02:59:00 +0000

In today's Future of Feminism post at the Ms. Blog, I feature organizations that promote healthy sexuality and reproductive justice for women of color and youth:

While yesterday’s post dealt with the negative sexualization of women and girls, it’s equally important to encourage a positive outlook on sex. In fact, the potentially self-esteem-ruining and otherwise problematic objectification of women and girls in media culture means that supporting healthy sexuality has become an even more pressing feminist goal for organizations.

Click here for more.

Future of Feminism, Days Eight and Nine

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:44:00 +0000

Yesterday, for International Women's Day, another great "guest post" (this one by Amanda Montei) over at the Ms. Blog as part of my Future of Feminism series: "Future of Feminism: 50 Global Solutions for Women and Girls"; you can read it here.

Also, today, I contributed a post for Day Nine on the sexualization of women and girls in media culture. Check it:

t’s hard to ignore the sexualization of women and girls in the media these days; it’s everywhere, from Carl’s Jr. ads to films supposedly meant to empower women. Dr. Jean Kilbourne, creator of the film series Killing Us Softly (1979-2010), has been tracking advertising images of women since the late 1960s. In a recent interview with Bitch magazine, she stresses that things are getting worse, not better...

Read the rest here.

Suffrage a la Lady Gaga

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:43:00 +0000

Feminist Law Professors just posted an awesome video made by the folks at Soomo Publishing. It's an ode to woman suffrage, Lady Gaga-style! Enjoy:

By the way, regarding the fact that all the performers in the video are white: the prevailing response (on FLP and in the Youtube comments section which, as we all know, is a bastion of truth and righteousness) is that woman suffrage was a largely white, middle-class movement and, hence, the video is historically accurate. But...I think that's a little bit of a cop out.

Yes, the suffrage movement was incredibly problematic in terms of race. Some suffragists believed, for example, that the 15th amendment--which gave black men and male naturalized citizens the right to vote--was an insult to women because it allowed men of lower standing (read: non-white, working class, less educated, etc.) to have power over white, educated, upper-middle class women, thereby degrading and corrupting the political system which (white, upper-middle class) women would be better able to keep pure. And suffrage organizations like the NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association) barred black women from membership.

So, yeah, that's pretty problematic.*

However, there were a lot of suffragists who were women and men of color (many of the former abolitionists turned to the suffrage movement after the Civil War): Sojourner Truth, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Dubois, to name a few.

Despite what some suffragists (including "heroes" of the movement like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton) would like us to think, the movement wasn't all white...why not at least acknowledge that in the video?

All that said...I do love this video.

* Professor Louise Michele Newman's written a fascinating book about race and the suffrage movement that discusses all this in much more detail: White Women's Rights: Racial Origins of Feminism in the United States (Oxford UP, 1999).

Future of Feminism, Days Six and Seven

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:25:00 +0000

The past two days of my Future of Feminism series at the Ms. blog have been "guest posts" by blogger Avital Norman Nathman. Her posts are on "Mommy Bloggers" and the Institute for Musical Arts, respectively.

Go check them out! The mommy blogger post has already garnered quite a few responses.

Future of Feminism, Day Five: Writing Women

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Today's post as part of my Future of Feminism series at the Ms. blogs chronicles a number of online organizations that support and encourage women writers:

The fact that blogging and social media have become such prominent avenues for discourse is of vital importance to the future of feminism. A powerfully articulated idea can spread like wildfire. Social media allows us to do in just a few days what physical protests and boycotts might have taken weeks or months to accomplish–take, for example, the swift reversal of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s plans to defund Planned Parenthood. So today I’d like to focus on three organizations that encourage and support women writers both on the internet and the “old-fashioned” way–in print.

Read the rest here.

Future of Feminism, Day Four: Join Me on the Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:19:00 +0000

Day 4 in the Future of Feminism series at the Ms. blog features the organization Join me on the Bridge:

As children we’re taught that even those who seem different from us share, at heart, the same hopes and dreams. We learn in school that world peace and equality are the ultimate of aspirations. But by the time we’re adults, most of us are more cynical, even jaded: World peace is nothing more than the punchline to a joke about beauty pageant contestants or the name of a basketball player.

So it’s all the more important to be reminded that, while world peace and equality may seem distant fantasies of a hard-won future, the key to eating an elephant (as the saying goes) is one bite at a time. That seems to be the motto that guides Join Me on the Bridge, an event designed by Women for Women International, an organization devoted to helping survivors of war rebuild their lives. The campaign’s mission is to bring together people from all walks of life, in communities all over the world, “in taking a stand for peace and women’s equality.”

Future of Feminism, Day Three: Ending Rape as a Tool of War

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:44:00 +0000

Today's installment in my Future of Feminism series at the Ms. blog profiles the organization Women Under Siege, which

has a two-part mission: to educate and to help change policy. “We’re starting with documentation as a way to bring this history into the public conversation,” [Director Lauren] Wolfe told the Ms. Blog. “When the story of women’s suffering remains hidden, there is no way to change it.”

After education comes change. Women Under Siege hopes that bringing visibility to these issues will spark changes in the way NGOs, the UN and local governments handle sexual violence against women during both wartime and in times of peace.

Click here for more.

Future of Feminism, Day Two: Interventions in the Reproductive Rights Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Aviva DV) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:05:00 +0000

Today's "Future of Feminism" post considers some of the innovative (and oft-humorous) ways a few women politicians have called attention to the ridiculousness of conservative legislators thinking they should have the right to dictate how women make decisions about their own bodies.

Read about it here.