In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Well, hello there.

Jaclyn

Fine readers of Feministe, thanks for having me! I’m Jaclyn (sometimes Jac, never, ever Jackie) and I’m tickled and, well, kinda nervous and excited to be joining the fray here for the next two weeks.

About me: I’m a white Jewish queer able-bodied fat cisgender femme from the real Jersey Shore. I’m founder and executive director of Women, Action & the Media, a charter member of CounterQuo (a coalition dedicated to changing the ways we respond to sexual violence), and an editor of Yes Means Yes, a fine volume which includes essays from Jill & Cara as well as tons of other smartypants-type folks. I’ll mostly be mouthing off about sexuality, sexual violence, body image and media, because those are the things I perseverate on all day anyhow, but who knows what else I might stick my nose into. If you want to, you can get a sense of my writing here and here (forgive the cheesy, sorta broken-down website, it’s being totally redesigned as we speak), and follow my erratic (and only occasionally erotic) tweeting here.

On the housekeeping front, I’m not going to tolerate personal attacks, hate speech, unfounded assumptions, opinion presented as fact, or derailments in the comments, but as long as you stick to the subject at hand, back up your assertions, and challenge each others’ ideas, not identities, we’ll probably be good. I reserve the right to amend that as we go, I haven’t moderated comments this active very often. I’ll also be cross-posting many of my posts to the Yes Means Yes Blog, so please do check out the conversations over there, too. I’ll ‘fess up front that I’m a little unsure about when trigger warnings are useful, so I’m going to work hard on getting them right but if you see something that needs one that I missed, or you think I’m erring too far in the other direction, I welcome that feedback.

Lessseee… what else? OK: if you want me to write about anything in particular, let me know – I can’t make promises, but I’m definitely open to requests. There’s hardly anything you can ask me that’s too personal if it’s asked respectfully – talking about some of the most personal parts of my life is part of my activism, in that I try to model the rejection of shame, blame and fear that I preach. Sunlight is the best disinfectant and alla that. A side effect of that is that I can get a little sentimental at times, so consider yourself warned. To wit: flash mobs make me cry.

Alright, enough of this. I’ll be back in the next day or two with a real post, in the meantime, please do check out my piece at TheNation.com today on the media’s dangerous and irresponsible mishandling of the Gore sexual assault allegations. (Mild trigger warning if you haven’t read her account of what happened before.)

Thanks again for having me – can’t wait to get started.

14 thoughts on Well, hello there.

  3. Thrilled you’re blogging here, Jaclyn. Loved your Al Gore piece, which was perfect in its puncturing of our myth about who is — and isn’t — a sexual predator.

  4. Jaclyn,

    I really enjoyed your piece on the Gore allegations- I had no idea that such flimsy excuses were bing offered. While I agreed with everything you said, and I feel a bit strange in saying this, but I can’t see where you say how the media should treat the sexual assault allegations against Al Gore. (Like the title states…) I think your examples of how they shouldn’t treat the allegations are great and have no doubt that there are plenty more egregious ones out there. However, the question of the right way to handle these things was never answered.

    Would love to hear you expound further…

    1. Fat Steve, it’s true that I didn’t clearly outline that – in my defense, I didn’t pick the headline. But since you asked, here are the relevant bits from the piece:

      interview an expert on sexual violence who might be able to provide context and comment on the likely credibility of the story.

      what we really need is a sober dose of reality: that these are credible charges against a very powerful and influential man. It’s in our shared interest to take them seriously, evaluate them based on whatever information comes to light, and demand answers and accountability.

      Basically, I think the story should be reported just as it would be if Gore were accused of punching someone in the face. Report that there are serious charges, get statements from both sides, investigate what law enforcement is doing and if they’re handling the case well, interview experts and witnesses that can provide background (even if they’re *gasp* homeless!!!), possibly, depending on the investigative budget of the media outlet, conduct an independent investigation into some of the potential evidence (i.e. – she claims she needed medical care for her knee – can she provide her medical records to support that? No one has even bothered to find out yet). Above all: keep an open-minded, fact-based journalistic tone. Does that help?

  5. OK: if you want me to write about anything in particular, let me know – I can’t make promises, but I’m definitely open to requests.

    I would be interested in hearing what you have to say about body image and media. My suggestion would be that you write a post about how much of an impact the censorship of media that perpetuates dangerous or unhealthy body images would have on the prevalence of eating disorders.

    1. Austin, I think this is a great topic, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it justice, as I haven’t read the necessary research. Medically categorized eating disorders are certainly a concern of mine, bu they’re not within my area of expertise, and I don’t want to make hash of a very serious subject that some people do know lots about.

  6. “I’m Jaclyn (sometimes Jac, never, ever Jackie)” is how I frequently introduce myself, and I’ve never seen anyone else do that before. I’m also originally from NJ. Hey there, nametwin!

  7. Hey Jaclyn! I’m Amelia Garcia. I don’t know if you remember, but I had dinner with you when you visited Knox College in Galesburg, IL. I was so excited to see that you were going to be guest blogging here, as I will be starting my guest blogging stint in August.

    Can’t wait to hear more from you. 🙂

    1. Hi Amelia! Of course I remember you – so cool you’ll be blogging here too, can’t wait to read your stuff.

      Jaclyn: that is super-weird. At my age, and with a name spelled like mine, I’ve never had a name-twin before. When I was growing up, I couldn’t even get those cheesy plastic license plates or pens or whatever that came in a range of names, because they never had mine. Jaclyns from Jersey represent!

      And generally, thanks, all, for the warm welcome. This is such a powerful community, I’m honored to get to hang out here for a bit.

  8. I don’t want to get in one of these nit-picky semantic arguments- but if “what we really need is a sober dose of reality: that these are credible charges against a very powerful and influential man,” then what is the point of having an interview with someone about their credibility?

    What is your opinion of the practice (in many EU countries) of not naming people involved in a crime until it has been adjudicated?

    1. The point is, if the reporters had questions about her credibility, which they obviously did, they should have gone to an expert to help them contextualize those concerns, which are certainly shared by their readers.

      I’m of two minds about the EU practice. I get why they instituted it, but let’s take this case: the police investigation was closed until the Enquirer broke the story, and now voila! it’s open again. Our judicial system is pretty messed up in lots of ways, and the press has a role to play in pressuring the police and courts to actually pursue justice. If only it would take that role more seriously.

  9. Hmmm…I don’t know if I’m comfortable with a tabloid having that much power over the criminal justice system. (I noticed you used the term ‘the press’ to describe The Enquirer, very unique.)

    I do agree wholeheartedly with the point in your original article that is is easy to be blinded by the ‘he’s not that kind of guy,’ so I try to imagine that the perpetrator was Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin.

    1. Fat Steve, don’t forget that The Enquirer broke the story about the Edwards affair, and was nominated for a Pulitzer this year. I’m not unique in thinking they’re a more credible source than they used to be.

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