July 2009 – Page 3

Because She Had It Coming, Right?

A few weeks ago, someone posted a video online of Erin Andrews, an ESPN sideline reporter, in the nude in a hotel room. The video was taken without her knowledge, and the whole incident has left her understandably shaken. She has said she will sue the person responsible, as well as anyone that spreads the video (a list which would presumably now include the NY Post, whose reporters ESPN has summarily banned from the network in response).

And then Christine Brennan of USA Today weighed in, suggesting that Andrews beared responsibility.

On the Erin Andrews situation, a quick thought for those who have asked: There are hundreds of women covering sports in this country who haven’t had this happen to them. I wish it didn’t happen to Erin, but I also would suggest to her if she asked (and she hasn’t) that she rely on her talent and brains and not succumb to the lowest common denominator in sports media by playing to the frat house.

Got that, folks? She was a tease who brought this violation on herself.

*headdesk*

Farewell

My stint here has come to a close. Once again, thanks so much to Jill and the other great bloggers here for inviting me, and thanks to all of you readers for your numerous fascinating comments. It was incredible to have the oppotunity to talk with all of you. Your words will be on my mind for a long time to come.

I hope to see you all again over at Dear Diaspora and elsewhere around blogosphere.

Love,
Daisy

Guest Blogger Introduction: Audacia Ray

Hi there Feministe community! I’ll be guest blogging here for the next two weeks, so I’m kicking it off with a bit of an introduction to my work and my perspective.

I’m celebrating my fifth anniversary as a blogger tomorrow – my blogging started with my site Waking Vixen, which initially was my designated space to explore issues around sexuality in both the personal (aka explicit sex blogging) sense and the political/professional/activist senses. Not to get all mushy about it, but blogging has really been a defining thing in my life – I don’t think my life would look even remotely the way it does now without it. And what, exactly, does my life look like?

Well: I’m a white cisgendered bisexual/queer woman, a former sex worker, and a sexuality rights activist with geek and history nerd tendencies. I live in New York and have for the past 10 years, and that geographic and cultural fact has very much shaped my worldview.

I work full time as the Program Officer for Online Communications and Campaigns at the International Women’s Health Coalition. At IWHC I run a blog, Akimbo, which features writing and videos on sexual and reproductive rights and health around the world, written by staff members plus partners and colleagues of IWHC, especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Prior to working at IWHC my focus was very much on domestic issues, and it’s been a real eye-opener and a kick in the ass to think about sexual and reproductive health and rights in very different contexts than my own. It’s spurred me to think a lot, too, about the peculiar and often problematic relationships that feminists in the global north have to women and youth in developing nations (and that’s one of the things I plan to write about a bit here).

As I mentioned above I’m a former sex worker and I’ve become intensely involved in the sex worker rights movement over the past several years. I was an executive editor of $pread magazine from 2005-2008 and left the mag to co-found Sex Work Awareness, where I do media training, advocacy, and capacity building for sex workers. Our big project, which looks like it will happen once a year (of course depending on funding), is a media training workshop called Speak Up!. Our public eduction project Sex Work 101 is a resource for people who want to understand a bit more about the sex industry and the people who work in or are affected by it. In addition to all this stuff, I’m about to launch a monthly reading series in NYC called Sex Worker Literati – the first one is August 6th.

A few more things and then I’ll wrap this up: I wrote a book called Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing In on Internet Sexploration (Seal Press, 2007), and I directed/produced a Feminist Porn Award-winning feature porn film called The Bi Apple. I’m also an adjunct professor at Rutgers University, Newark, where I teach a Human Sexuality course to undergraduates. You can view the syllabus and follow links to most of the readings and videos for the course here. So, that’s my work in a nutshell.

I have a few things in mind that I’m planning to blog about over the next two weeks, but if anything I’ve talked about here particularly strikes your fancy or raises questions for you and you’d like to hear more about it, please let me know either in comments or via email: aray [at] iwhc.org. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook if you want to chat me up elsewhere.

Now It’s Time To Say Goodbye

Here are some things I learned:

Don’t try to guest blog if you are not going to be sitting around a computer a lot. I did all these awesome projects with you and you all said so many interesting things and then I was off in outer space aka clown school or my grandma’s house and though I could see what you wrote on my fancy phone, I couldn’t write back. I wish I had had more time to play, even though I honestly really needed the level of unplugging that I got. I like making things and it was important to remember that the internet is not the only venue — but then you guys were so interesting and smart and I didn’t get to participate fully.
Blogging is way more fun with a ton of commenters. Holy crap! I forgot that part, see #1 above, and then I couldn’t play along with all of you. I am going to try to go back and comment on some things that you said on the original posts, especially the migratory consent post and the clown school post, but THANK YOU for your level of engagement and insight and the things you taught me.
I came into this with a lot of trepidation. I am a political person, but I am not really a member of the feminist blogosphere, and most of the time in online political spaces I feel like I have not done the reading enough to have any meaningful contribution. I still kind of feel that.
I do feel like one big advantage of the feminist blogosphere is that it requires me to accept the fact I will never, ever be correct enough for everyone. I will always make some error out of privilege or blindness that other people will unfortunately have to catch. I like this, though, because it requires me to learn how to accept corrections in a way that does not derail the conversation, and because it also requires me to make decisions — how correct do I want to be sure I am before I post? It forces me to live with my own privilege blindness, which maybe sounds like I’m a jerk, but the thing is that I am who I am and I can’t somehow will away, say, my white supremacy just because I am really, really, really careful with my wording. Fucking up is a part of having privilege. That’s how the world is and until I accept it, I won’t really go anywhere except around in circles.
I wish I had not been so absentee because I would’ve written these things: more about being a good person of privilege; more about the non-profit industrial complex; more about women clowns; more about different kinds of porn; more about queer gender and drag; more about CLOWN SCHOOL. Hey everybody who was so excited about clown school: I LOVE YOU. Let’s be pals and start a clown army of progressive clowns.
I am going to keep working with all of the amazing things that came out of the Migratory Consent post. I will report back once I have things to report back. It was a big technical experiment and I learned a lot and now I want to make it a little more intelligible — the map is kind of hard to deal with right now and as a first step I want to figure out how to better order the information. I am about to learn more about GIS than I ever thought possible.

You can read my blogs here: http://www.interestinginteresting.net. I probably won’t be posting too much over the next few weeks because I will be busy trying to get ready for another short film shoot, but I like to post when I am thinking of things. You can also see some of my short movies @ Homo-a-Gogo‘s Experimental Film Screening in August, which I am still trying to decide if I can make it to. (Know anyone with free airline tickets to donate?), although my whole catalogue is here on YouTube. Come say internet hello!

xxxooo and a bientot. Thanks for playing with me and I hope I get to come back soon. Until then!

No, I said, ” ‘ello,” but close enough.

Hello, hello; is anyone out there? It’s another guest blogger for you to meet! My name is Steph, and I’m writing to you in the midst of a heatwave in otherwise beautiful Portland, Oregon. I suppose I’ll begin with the definitions, though beyond the basics, I’ve never been very good at them. I’m a 22-year-old cis-gendered woman. I am white, heterosexual, agnostic and Jewish. I’m non-neurotypical, to borrow a useful term that’s been floating around. I am a writer (well, I’m a writer in training—but then, does a writer ever leave her apprenticeship?) thinker, and blogger. When I’m not doing those things (or looking for more work,) I’m dancing, making delicious vegetarian dinners with my flatmate, or exploring more of Portland. I have (un)healthy obsessions with Virginia Woolf, Film Noir, and mystery novels. I dream of creating and promoting media ethically, but that’s in the future. Beyond that: I’m as confused as you are.

Really, though, at the moment, the best way I can describe myself is as very, very pleased to meet you all. I was completely and utterly shocked and honored by Jill’s invitation, and I hope I can live up to the fantastic guest-bloggers who have come before me. I don’t always comment because, well, frankly, I’m shy, but I have been reading, and all of you rock.

I’m relatively new to the blogging scene. After graduating from college about a year ago, I created “From the Cracked Mirror,” which is my space to talk about art, media, and gender. The name comes both from named both after the mirror of Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott,” and a passage from the Zohar (a Jewish Kabbalistic text) which talks about the need to repair the world. At the beginning, I talked a lot about sexist subtext in advertising, but lately I’m more interested in questions surrounding creativity. I’m asking questions about why genre is gendered, the future of publishing, why people roll their eyes at “Lilith Fair music,” and the whiteness of the Western Canon. I’m examining how the fictional characters of the popular imagination enforce, and sometimes challenge, the way American culture believes people should behave. I’m trying to notice the people who get silenced along the way. I take stuff, run it through my subtext juicer, and see what comes out.

As for comment moderation, I think my rules are pretty standard. There’s just one thing I’d like to specify: I really don’t want to get into a “why are we talking about art and media when there are real-world issues out there?” debate. I believe media is important because it at once enforces and stretches what we deem to be acceptable behavior in our culture. The day I claim that it’s the only important issue is the day you get to argue with me. For now, I’ll just say that I think media and stories are important to discuss, and I look forward to discussing them with you.

So virtual tea and digital cupcakes to all (I make a mean vegan cupcake, for those of you who need ‘em.,) and I’m super-excited for the upcoming week! Also, I hope it’s cooler wherever you are; ugh–I can’t stand this heatwave!

Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday

Sorry this is going up late. Self-promote away.

The 2009 Blogathon: It Has Begun!

The 2009 Blogathon has begun. Head on over to have a read (and leave a comment!)

Remember, I’m not just doing this for fun (though I’m going to try to have as much as possible), but to raise money for SAFER. My pledges are currently up to $383.42 — and pledges can still be made throughout the day, giving us a decent shot at my original $500 goal. Please consider making a pledge yourself, whether it’s for $5 or $50. Every little bit helps! And whatever the total outcome, big, huge thanks to my sponsors so far — especially the anonymous ones who I can’t thank personally.

Okay, off to blog!

Covering Rape.

Samhita is rightly bothered by the unfortunate, predictable response (and ESPN’s non-coverage) of the lawsuit against Pittsburgh Steeler’s QB Ben Roethlisberger for an alleged rape.

We can still evaluate the way the media portrays women when they bring about rape charges, the extent to which the general public will defend and accept athletes that have been accused (or down right guilty) of sexual assault, sexual abuse and/or domestic violence and lastly, why ESPN has failed to cover the story.

The story has only been out a few days, but people are already asking if she is “woman scorned,” or comments on news sites continue to decry that she is “crazy and imagined it.” Rape apologists will deny anything that makes their heroes look bad, but the evidence is clear, when a woman brings up a rape lawsuit publicly, she is considered guilty of lying or is deemed “crazy,” “delusional” or “money hungry” before given any legal proceedings whatsoever.

Specifically in the arena of sports, rape apologisms permeate in damaging ways. …

Whether ESPN did it intentionally or not, failing to cover this case indicates that they have already taken a side. Let’s not let the American public get away with another butchering of a public rape case.

ESPN’s silence looks especially damning when one considers just how much airtime they typically give to athletes’ legal issues. Still, I wonder if there is a just or equitable way to cover high-profile (or any) rape cases. Obviously, the “accuser is crazy/an extortionist” defense will be made by plenty of fans and people with a vested interest in the suspect’s exoneration, regardless of the facts (or a dearth of them). But the coverage is often unavoidably prejudicial the other way. While the accuser’s identity is (understandably and necessarily) protected, we see b-roll of the defendant solemnly arriving at the courthouse in an understated suit and being mobbed by a throng of reporters while the charges against him are outlined by the newscaster. He doesn’t speak on his lawyer’s orders. Mug shots surface. He seems…guilty.

These messy public conversations about an athlete’s guilt or innocence in rape cases reflect the way actual rape trials play out. When there is an absence of physical evidence — as is very often the case — rape trials necessarily become about damaging the other side’s credibility. No matter the verdict in those cases, there’s plenty of fresh anger and little resolution. How, exactly, do we fix that?

(x-posted)

She Slices, She Dices

If you haven’t heard already, Pat Buchanan showed his racist colors recently by claiming that America was mostly built by white people, which is why white people deserve and get most of the positions of power. This was in the middle of condemning affirmative action, claiming that Sonia Sotomayor is stupid, and whining about how white men are the only people it’s OK to oppress. I was really glad to see that Rachel Maddow, whose show this happened on, went back to readdress the whole thing. And that she basically gave him the smackdown:

You know, I remember when Pat Buchanan used to be scary, back when I was a kid. I remember thinking of him as one of the scary Republican overlords, mouthpiece for Reagan, then the further-right presidential candidate who we were afraid might make it to the general election. (This was the first time I remember my parents telling us that we’d move to Canada if someone horrible became president, back in 1992.) But these days he seems like a tired old man who can’t back up his arguments anymore. Just another abuser who you realize isn’t scary anymore; it’s a good feeling. He’s writing himself into obsolescence, at least in the “mainstream media,” with this kind of blatantly racist crap, although maybe it’s a bid for the loyalty of the racist wingnuts that seem to form a disturbing chunk of the Republican base, not to mention all Freepers and people who yell racist crap at McCain/Palin rallies. Well fine, let the wingnuts have more prominent leaders; it’ll just splinter them faster from Republicans who want to retain some semblance of sanity and get any people of color voting for them at all.

Maddow has been cutting up Buchanan’s arguments for a while now, even before she got her own show. But now that she’s in the driver’s seat, I’m really glad to see her doing a journalist’s job and correcting the facts, and putting the goddamn truth out there. Plus she described the status quo (past and/or present) in America as “white supremacist” on cable news; it’s also the truth, and nobody says it. Everyone knows that sound bites are the huge problem with television news; they let anyone get away with saying practically any crap they want to. Maddow has often been brilliant at countering conservative lies in the moment (although I’d never claim she’s politically perfect) but even she can’t fact-check everything during a conversation. So she and her staff went back and did it later, and demolished his lies, and made a five-minute statement about race in America. She even had a hug for injured-feeling white people. Awww.

Her original debate with Pat Buchanan is behind the cut.

Sometimes, I’m a jerk

Yeah, that’s right. I can be a big jerk sometimes. I’m not proud of it. I’m just not in denial about it, either. You’re probably a jerk sometimes, too.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that as an insult. I think that there may be a lot of good reasons why you’re a jerk from time to time. I certainly have a few. Sometimes, I was a jerk because I had to start my day without breakfast, caffeine, or pain meds. Having a good attitude is a lot more difficult when I’m fatigued, hungry or hurting. Sometimes, my jerky behavior probably had something to do with the fact that I forgot to take my Lexapro and didn’t realize it until I saw that the dose was still there from the day before. Sometimes, I want to convince someone to go away and I simply don’t care if they think I’m “not a nice person”. Most of the time, though, I don’t even realize that I’m being a jerk.

I appreciate it when one of my loved ones takes the time to tell me how I’m inadvertently being a jerk, but when you’re standing on someone’s neck, it’s not reasonable to expect them to be patient with you. I’ve been in a lot of conversations on the internet where someone was being a jerk, but they still seemed to think that their needs should be catered to. I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen this occur in conversations where a marginalized person is telling someone that they are engaging in extremely privileged behavior.