Women, Action & the Media

For day 14 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence, we would like to talk about WAM!mer Jessica Valenti.

In addition to co-editing Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, she has also written extensively in books, blogs and newspapers on the subject of feminism and women’s rights.

She is the founder of the blog Feministing, which is said to be “head and shoulders above almost any writing on women’s issues in mainstream media” by Columbia Journalism. As her website says:

Feministing draws attention to issues that are under-covered in mainstream media, analyze pop culture, media, and advertising through a feminist lens, push elected officials and media gatekeepers to be more accountable, highlight and amplify social justice activism (of the feminist and many other varieties), and disprove the stereotype of “humorless feminists” on a daily basis. Every Friday, we post a video about something notably positive or negative in the news that week — the Friday Feminist Fuck You/Fuck Yeah.

She has also written three books:

Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters

Valenti knows better than anyone that young women need a smart-ass book that deals with real-life issues in a style they can relate to. No rehashing the same old issues. No belaboring where today’s young women have gone wrong. Feminism should be something young women feel comfortable with, something they can own. Full Frontal Feminism is sending out a message to readers: Yeah, you’re feminists, and that’s actually pretty frigging cool.

Click here to see her giving a reading.

He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut…and 49 OthIer Double Standards Every Woman Should Know

“Jessica Valenti is shrewed, foul-mouthed and extremely funny. He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut should be mandatory reading. If everyone would just listen to Jessica, the war of the sexes would be over in no time.” – Ada Calhoun, Editor-in-Chief, Babble.com

and The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women

The United States is obsessed with virginity from the media to schools to government agencies. The Purity Myth is an important and timely critique of about why this is so, and why it’s problematic for girls and women. Analyzing cultural stereotypes and media messages, Jessica Valenti reveals the overt and hidden ways our society links a woman’s worth to her sexuality rather than to values like honesty, kindness, and altruism. Valenti takes on issues ranging from abstinence-only education to pornography and exposes the legal and social punishments that women who dare to have sex endure. Importantly, she also offers solutions that pave the way for a future without a damaging emphasis on virginity, including a call to rethink male sexuality and reframe the idea of “losing it.” With Valenti’s usual balance of intelligence and wit, The Purity Myth presents a powerful and revolutionary argument that valuing girls and women for their sexuality needs to stop–and outlines a new vision for how it can happen.

This latest book has recently been made into a documentary film, which is now available on DVD! Have a look at the trailer below:

Click here to see a preview

In order for big changes to happen in terms of gender equality, we have to change the conversation to include multiple forms of gender violence, like slut shaming or double standards, in our understanding of what hurts and oppresses women. In addition to writing prolifically on these subjects, Jessica Valenti also speaks at universities and events all around the country, so if your event could use a dose of awesome, maybe you should invite her.

If you like Jessica Valenti as much as we do (and how could you not?) you should head over to her website or see the new film. Or better yet, why not both?

Our feature for Day 13, Spectra Speaks knows something crucial: true community is a powerful antidote to gender violence. That’s one of the reasons she founded QWOC+ Boston, a vibrant community organization bringing together queer women of color and allies in ways that foster both social connections and deeper understanding across identity lines.

From QWOC+’s Power Mingle (tagline: “Networking Event for Awesome People”), to dig-deep discussions like “Voices of the African and Immigrant Diaspora Against Violence and Homophobia,” to nightlife celebrations that feature hip-hop, spoken word, drag, films, even “Activist Karaoke,” Spectra focuses on producing events that have multiple points of entry and center complexity, connection and understanding, building a cross-issue community which makes plenty of room for dissent and disparate points of view, but won’t stand for violence against any of its members or allies. (Or anyone, for that matter!)

Spectra also writes at her own voice at her blog, where she takes on homophobia in Nigeria and racism and transphobia in Boston with equal power. WAM! is proud to have collaborated with Spectra and QWOC+ over the years, most recently helping to promote and distribute her WAM! It Yourself 2011 podcast Kitchen Table Conversations: LGBT African Diaspora Speak on Culture, Queerness, and Media. Check it out here!

We at WAM! aren’t really the bragging type. But at the same time, there is such a thing as being too modest. On that note we would like to spotlight our founder and executive director, Jaclyn Friedman, for day 12 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence.

Since we have a slight bias in her favor, here’s what a few others have to say. According to Washington City Paper:

Jaclyn Friedman is, in short, a feminist rock star. She is the executive director of  WAM!: Women, Action & the Media. She edited the incredible Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, and continues the work of dismantling rape culture in her weekly pro-sex column. She writes as compellingly about taking off her shirt for fun as she does her college sexual assault. And she has been fucking under these conditions for nearly 20 years.

And in the spirit of ending gender violence, here’s what a few critics have to say about Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape:

“Yes Means Yes is a welcome and much needed resource to help all of us both value and respect female sexuality while eradicating a rape culture.”

- Aishah Shahidah Simmons, producer/writer/director, NO! The Rape Documentary

“Utopian novels have grappled with the idea of a world without rape, but what would the path to that world look like? The controversial essays that make up Yes Means Yes light the way along this very rough road and, not surprisingly, offer no easy solutions. It speaks volumes that in the 21st century we still need this anthology to explain whose fault it is when a young woman who agrees to make-out with her boyfriend ends up raped.”

- Ms. magazine

Part of what earns her the “feminist rock star” credibility is her attitude of sex positivity and the radical notion that we should enthusiastically consent to what we enjoy. In a society that pushes shame, blame and fear into our conversations about sexuality, Jaclyn is a loud, clear voice against harmful double standards. For people who aren’t exactly sure what they want to enthusiastically consent to in these confusing times, that is precisely the theme of her new book. In What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety, Jaclyn won’t tell you what it is you want, but she’ll help you figure it out. As Susie Bright puts it:

In a world full of Pussycat Dolls and virginity pledges, What You Really Really Want carves out a path for real women to have real sex on their own terms. The information and exercises in this book have the power to change your sex life for good.

If this sounds like something you might Really Really Want, you can read the book or visit her website. If you support WAM!’s mission of gender justice in the media (as we suspect you do, since you’re reading the WAM! blog) you might also consider donating or becoming a WAM! Member.

Because women who know that our bodies are our own are better equipped to resist violence, WAM!mer Tani Ikeda and the young women of ImMEDIAte Justice are our focus on Day 11.

ImMEDIAte justice puts young women from South & East LA in charge of their own sexual education by putting them in charge of their own media-making, so how could we not love it here at WAM!? This summer program pairs youth leaders with mentors and industry experts to produce their own youth-driven sex ed films. The results are the kind of messages we wish were broadcast every night in prime time:

You can watch more of them here. And there are lots of ways to get involved, too!

For day 10 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence, we would like to focus on former WAM! presenter, Audacia Ray, who is also the founder of The Red Umbrella Project.  As a self-described “media maker and sex worker rights activist” her work is a perfect intersection between WAM!’s feminist approach to media and the 16 Days  commitment to ending gender violence. In fact, you might remember her from WAM!’s series of interviews with feminist film creators where she discussed some ethical aspects of activism.

Audacia Ray on Making Ethical Activist Videos

As it says on RedUmbrellaProject.org:

The Red Umbrella Project amplifies the voices of people who have done transactional sex, through media, storytelling, and advocacy trainings, at our monthly storytelling series in New York City, and with support for advocacy projects and campaigns that promote the human rights of people who trade sex for something they need.

The Red Umbrella Project has several campaigns that seek to de-criminalize sex work and increase the safety of an often dangerous profession. This is done by emphasizing the fact that sex workers are human beings with rights. The “Protect, Don’t Prosecute” campaign, combined with the “I am a Sex Worker” video serves to counter the media’s tendency to criminalize and dehumanize the sex industry.

But Audacia Ray doesn’t stop there. Actually, she seems unstoppable. In addition to the work she does for the Red Umbrella Project, she adds:

I’m also the program officer for online communications at the International Women’s Health Coalition, where I edit the blog Akimbo. I’m a former sex worker, been blogging since 2004, and my book Naked on the Internet was published by Seal Press in 2007. I was an editor at $pread magazine from 2005-2008 and now do media and storytelling trainings with sex workers.

If you are interested in the her work, it might interest you to know that December 17^th is International Day to end Violence Against Sex Workers.

The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers was first organized nearly a decade ago by sex workers in San Francisco to memorialize the people murdered by serial killer Gary Ridgway. Ridgway captured the attitude that cultivates violence towards sex workers: “I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.” At the event, we create a space that challenges this assumption by demonstrating that we have a caring community.

If you’ll be in New York on December 17^th, click here for event details. For more information about the Red Umbrella Project, visit RedUmbrellaProject.org, and follow Audacia Ray on Tumblr.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative is a powerhouse organization because it’s run by and for global visionaries: female Nobel Peace Laureates including Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Maguire, and Rigoberta Menchú Tum. Together with a dedicated, talented staff, they’re “using the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and courageous women peace laureates to magnify the power and visibility of women working in countries around the world for peace, justice and equality.”

All of their work is transformative, but what earns them a spot on our 16 Days list is their brand-new International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict.

It may sound like an impossible goal: ending all rape and gender violence in conflict zones? But it’s not. I had the honor to attend a conference earlier this year as part of the development of this campaign, and let me tell you: everyone involved with this campaign is serious, and the women in the lead know how to get “impossible” things done on a global scale.

But they can’t do it without all of us. In NWI’s own words: “The UN Secretary General says 1 out of every 3. That is one billion women.  Imagine One Billion Women Rising to end the violence! And a billion men rising with us. Organizations and individuals around the world have been working long and hard to stop rape and gender violence in conflict.  The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, spearheaded by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, is bringing them together to develop and carry out coordinated plans of action to help end this wanton scourge.”

For today’s action, please read and consider endorsing or joining NWI’s Campaign Call. Because summarizing it would rob you of its full power, here’s their Call in full:

Because we envision a world without war, rape and gender violence where women and men are equal;

Because rape and gender violence destroy individuals and families, entire communities and the fabric of society;

Because rape and gender violence have increasingly become a deliberate tactic of terror in war and other conflict situations.

Because in recent years alone, massive numbers of women – and sometimes men and boys – have suffered not only the physical trauma of rape and gender violence in war and other conflict situations, but also the shame and stigma that often leaves survivors suffering in silence;

Because perpetrators of rape and gender violence go unpunished and impunity is the order of the day;

Because national, regional and international commitments to end rape and gender violence in war and other conflict situations are either seriously inadequate or are not being enforced; and

Because women and girls, men and boys across the world demand and expect justice.

We call for:

• Powerful and urgent leadership on the local, national, regional and international levels to prevent and stop rape and gender violence in war and conflict situations;
• A dramatic increase in resources for prevention and protection and for psychosocial and physical healing for survivors, their families and communities including concerted efforts to end stigma of survivors;
• Justice for victims, including prosecution of perpetrators at national, regional and international levels, and comprehensive reparation for survivors…”

To join or endorse the call, just click here. Imagine if one billion of us did exactly that, and then took action together. It can happen, and if the global leaders at NWI have anything to say about it, it will.

Menstruation is often jokingly referred to as a curse. But for women in developed countries, the damage usually doesn’t extend past the occasional ruined outfit or a few days feeling crampy.

In keeping with the theme of women’s rights as human rights, for day 8 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence, we would like to pose the following question:

What if not having feminine supplies kept you isolated during menstruation?

•             No study for days.

•             No income for days.

•             No access to hygiene … for days.

Many of us take the ability to safely and effectively manage our menstrual cycles for granted, as it is justifiably a basic human right. But for millions of girls and women in impoverished countries, having a period effectively stops them from living their lives normally. They are unable to attend school and work, which drastically reduces the number of opportunities available to them. Some resort to using whatever they can find in place of feminine hygiene supplies—saw dust, newspapers, cornhusks, mattress stuffing—which often results in dangerous infections. Many drop out of school entirely.

Thankfully, Days For Girls is working to correct this, and you can help.

What started out as a single chapter created by their director, Celeste Mergens, has exploded into several chapters across the globe.

The hard working volunteers at DFG sew, assemble and distribute re-usable feminine hygiene kits for girls in need. So far they work in “Kenya, Indonesia, Haiti, Ghana, Tanzania, China, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, India, Niger, South Africa, and more.” Each kit helps in a very real way to give these girls days and weeks of their lives back. The stories of the girls and their gratitude are truly inspiring–we suggest keeping tissues handy if you cry easily.

Here’s how you can help:

Do you sew? If you do, there are patterns for the pads, liners and drawstring bags on the DFG website.

Not a sewer? Not to worry. They also take donations for other kit supplies like panties, washcloths, soap, and sturdy 1 gallon-sized ziplock baggies.

Or maybe you just want to cut out the mailing and sending part entirely. As they put it:

Thanks to our skilled and dedicated volunteer teams, 100% of your donation goes to sustainable solutions for women worldwide. Donations are completely tax deductible through Clay for Earth a 501©3 # 26-2560562

They accept donations through PayPal, and they are currently selling a necklace if you want your contribution to take the form of a stylish reminder and interesting conversation starter.  They also take suggestions if you know of a specific region that would benefit from these kits.

If you can’t sew and you’re light on cash, there are still ways you can help that cost nothing but a few moments of your time:

What can you do?

Talk about this vital issue.

Pass the word about Days for Girls International.

Join our team. Whatever your talents, whatever your interests– you can make a difference.

Hold DFG events; form a chapter.

Distribute kits

For more information, you can check out DaysForGirls.org or email them at info@daysforgirls.org.

WAM!mer Jina Moore covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs for the Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, and a host of other influential publications. Her journalistic voice is simulatneously expert and invitingly warm — no small feat. But it’s one particular article of hers that’s landed her on our 16 Days of Action list: her essay in the Columbia Journalism Review entitled “How Not To Write About Rape.”

Anyone who follows coverage of rape in the news media know it can do a lot more harm than good. From the New York Times focusing on the clothes and makeup of an 11-year-old gang rape victim, to the recent spate of headlines that characterized the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against Herman Cain as a “sex scandal” (as opposed to the violence and abuse-of-power scandal it actually is), there are no shortage of damning examples. And yet few journalists get any training in how to stay on the right side of the line between illuminating and exploitative.

That’s where Moore’s essay comes in. She writes:

If readers feel implicated, they will blame us. After all, it is in their name that we impose the discomfort of our nosy questions on trauma survivors. When Nicholas Kristof, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, named a nine- year-old Congolese rape victim in his New York Times column in January 2010 and broadcast her face in an online video, reader outcry was so strong that Kristof wrote a detailed follow-up on his blog, explaining what his column had not: that he’d secured the girl’s and her aunt’s permission to use the name, and that he’d weighed public exposure in an American newspaper against the likelihood that exposure would reach her village in Congo.

In other words: not only do a journalists intentions not matter in making rape reporting effective; their actions often don’t either unless the reader also knows about them. And for good reason. Here’s Moore again:

Most journalism seeks to convey information objectively, but trauma stories have an agenda: they call to the reader to witness, to agree with the writer that “This should not have been.” If there is no agreement between reader and writer, or if the writer fails, the story is an exercise in voyeurism. In rape stories, we are publicly exposing the personal suffering of survivors. If we do this with any other intention than that rape should not happen—or if we do this without any clear intention at all—we are indulging in a kind of storytelling that critics do not hesitate to call pornography.

But our favorite thing about this essay is her simple examples of what can go right in covering sexual violence. Moore’s model isn’t complicated — it takes little effort and even fewer column inches. It just requires a journalist who cares, and who knows which choices can make all the difference. For example:

Take this npr story by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton about the sexual abuse of women in Guinea last year, when soldiers killed 157 pro- democracy protestors. Before she even says the word “rape,” Quist-Arcton con- textualizes the graphic details we are about to hear: “It was the soldiers’ brutal assaults on women that have so shaken Guineans. They keep repeating: C’est du jamais vu—never before have we wit- nessed such acts.” This lessens the likelihood that the details we’ll soon hear will feel merely lurid; the Guineans, too, felt shocked, as we surely will.

Before Quist-Arcton quotes a survivor, she discloses her reporting practice, even acknowledging that her questions violate a boundary: “Through an intermediary, I met with some women in a small room in an opposition safe house to talk about their ordeals.” She goes on to admit that her journalism put her subjects at risk: “The woman who arranged the meetings for me . . . was herself terrified that she’d be found out and punished.” Now the audience knows these risks, too. We feel like we—and the vulnerable people we are listening to—are in safer hands when such risks are acknowleged.

Then, for nearly five minutes, Quist-Arcton, and her audience, sit with the same women. This generous amount of time has value; it gives these women presence. That, in turn, transforms the graphic details of their suffering, from “color” dropped in to bait the listener into telling detail.

For more telling detail, go read the whole thing here. And then make your action for today sharing this important article with everyone — especially the journalists — you know.

Back in January, a police officer in Toronto advised women to prevent rape by not dressing like sluts. This sparked a massive outcry that quickly spread to cities all over the world. The phenomenon came to be known as SlutWalk. For day 6 of WAM!’s 16 Days of Action Against Gender Violence, we would like to showcase Joanna Chiu, one of the many individuals behind SlutWalks worldwide.

Admittedly the name can be off-putting, and SlutWalk has received numerous criticisms about the nature and usage of the word “slut.” There have also been many thoughtful criticisms about how race fits in to their discussion of gender violence and where women of color fit into the movement. In response to the criticism, and in part to this very troubling photo, SlutWalk Toronto issued a statement, part of which says:

• We want SlutWalks in general and SlutWalk Toronto to be a safer space for all women and people and we acknowledge that is not what is happening, with the above incident and with other issues around the messaging, construction and approaches used within many SlutWalks, and we need to be accountable to this. We are so sorry this is not a safer space for all people, all women and all survivors.

• We also hope to do what we can, with help from others, to foster a culture throughout SlutWalks internationally where racism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated, where all participants and supporters are willing to work to understand that discrimination is their business beyond and not limited to discrimination that they feel affects them directly as individuals. Some things we have in the works are toolkits, modifications to messaging, and helpful resources for organizers and supporters.

Whether you support them,disagree with them, or are still somewhere in the middle, it’s pretty safe to say that SlutWalks have opened a powerful dialogue about sexuality and the gender double-standard. As the Slutwalk NYC webpage proudly states:

No matter who you are
No matter where you work
No matter how you identify
No matter how you flirt
No matter what you wear
No matter whom you choose to love
No matter what you said before:

NO ONE has the right to touch you without your consent. SlutWalk NYC is part of a worldwide grassroots movement challenging rape culture, victim-blaming and slut-shaming, and working to end sexual and domestic violence.

In addition to supporting SlutWalk’s mission and leading the Media Outreach Team for SlutWalk NYC , Joanna Chiu has written blogs and articles about SlutWalk for publications like Herizons and WIMNs Voices. She has also written about rape culture as a contributing factor to depression on college campuses. Her work is an excellent example of how writers can lend their talents to causes they support. And her enthusiasm is contagious. As she puts it:

That is why I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend a SlutWalk event to just go. Even if you end up concluding that the event was trivial or exclusionary, your opinion will have greater credibility and impact if you can draw from your own observations.

In my first-hand report on SlutWalk Vancouver for the Georgia Straight, I noted that almost half of the walk participants were men, that the organizers used the word “feminist” with pride, and that the speakers addressed complex issues, such as the intersectionality of oppression and impacts of the word slut with nuance and careful consideration.

She’ll be the first to tell you not to take her “young, starry-eyed liberal feminist word for it”, so if you’re inspired or curious, maybe you should take Chiu’s advice and attend (or march in, or start) a SlutWalk in your city. Then you can write or blog about it and add your voice to the conversation as well.

In addition to her writing an activism, Joanna Chiu is also the founder of WAM! Vancouver. Check out their website, or follow them on Twitter @wamvancity if you want to show our Canadian WAM!mers some support.