Hello :)
Good old Facebook recently introduced me to this wonderful poster. A friend of mine was tagged in it but I also found the original location of it.
Plus, I posted it here for y'all's lovely viewing.
I hope you like it!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
War Zone - a Sad Reality (And what to do about it)
In the last week, our campus has had an alarming and unusally high reporting of community notifications on everything from robbery, indecent exposure, and sexual assualt. It is scary. In beautiful, charming Charleston, I wouldn't think that I should be afraid to walk around by myself.
However, after watching the film "War Zone" in my class this week, I realized, as a woman, I always walk around afraid - of dirty comments, sleazy stares, inappropriate touching or worse, some sort of attack. All women do.
This chilling documentary by Maggie Hadleigh-West articulates this fear and brings the issue to light. The concept of the film was summarized perfectly in a review by the EdChange Multicultural Pavilion: "The context for War Zone is powerful in its simplicity. Hadleigh-West, equipped with a video camera, walks through four major cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans) to record the day-to-day abuse—sexualized comments, objectifying stares, uninvited physical contact, and other forms of harassment and sexism—women experience that rob them of the basic right to walk safely and comfortably in their own neighborhoods (or anywhere else). She challenges the continued institutional denial of sexism and its implications by documenting what may be its most pervasive and effective element—that even in the most public spaces, women must operate and function in a war zone.
"But instead of interviewing street harassment scholars or centering her own reactions to and perspectives on her abuse, Hadleigh-West turns the camera, and the heat of the spotlight, on her abusers. The film documents her confrontations with those abusers, but focuses tightly on their reactions to the turning of the tables. Every time she experiences harassment (which runs the gamut from objectifying stares to being followed) she directly turns the camera on the perpetrator. As a result, her abusers as well as (or including) male War Zone viewers, are forced to think and reflect more critically about the ways men maintain dominance and control. More specifically, the film illustrates how men continuously cycle sexism through what many men have traditionally argued to be harmless or natural interactions."
I highly recommend the film. It is scary but impactful.
But here's a fun follow-up. You CAN TAKE ACTION against any of these street harassers. Check out HollaBack Charleston, inspired by Hollaback NYC whose motto is "If you can't slap 'em, Snap 'em." You can vent, take pictures/video, and warn other women to steer clear of certain creepers and locations where they could face the annoyance and/or danger of street harassment.
So, do it :)
Stand up for yourself and give those harrassers a taste of their own medicine!
However, after watching the film "War Zone" in my class this week, I realized, as a woman, I always walk around afraid - of dirty comments, sleazy stares, inappropriate touching or worse, some sort of attack. All women do.
This chilling documentary by Maggie Hadleigh-West articulates this fear and brings the issue to light. The concept of the film was summarized perfectly in a review by the EdChange Multicultural Pavilion: "The context for War Zone is powerful in its simplicity. Hadleigh-West, equipped with a video camera, walks through four major cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans) to record the day-to-day abuse—sexualized comments, objectifying stares, uninvited physical contact, and other forms of harassment and sexism—women experience that rob them of the basic right to walk safely and comfortably in their own neighborhoods (or anywhere else). She challenges the continued institutional denial of sexism and its implications by documenting what may be its most pervasive and effective element—that even in the most public spaces, women must operate and function in a war zone.
"But instead of interviewing street harassment scholars or centering her own reactions to and perspectives on her abuse, Hadleigh-West turns the camera, and the heat of the spotlight, on her abusers. The film documents her confrontations with those abusers, but focuses tightly on their reactions to the turning of the tables. Every time she experiences harassment (which runs the gamut from objectifying stares to being followed) she directly turns the camera on the perpetrator. As a result, her abusers as well as (or including) male War Zone viewers, are forced to think and reflect more critically about the ways men maintain dominance and control. More specifically, the film illustrates how men continuously cycle sexism through what many men have traditionally argued to be harmless or natural interactions."
I highly recommend the film. It is scary but impactful.
But here's a fun follow-up. You CAN TAKE ACTION against any of these street harassers. Check out HollaBack Charleston, inspired by Hollaback NYC whose motto is "If you can't slap 'em, Snap 'em." You can vent, take pictures/video, and warn other women to steer clear of certain creepers and locations where they could face the annoyance and/or danger of street harassment.
So, do it :)
Stand up for yourself and give those harrassers a taste of their own medicine!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Awesome Local Non-Profit
The Center for Women is almost 20 years old and doing great things for women in the local area. Four fantastic women work there. They are a pro-active non-profit assisting women to achieve personal and professional success. They do this through a number of ways including several events such as a writers forum and purse auction. Check out their other events. Support this great organization!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Wake Up and Smell the Wage Gap
The Wage Gap. Please tell me you know what I’m talking about. AND, please tell me you are pissed off.
The Wage Gap is the difference in what women and men make for the same work. I.e. it is not just that more men are engineers and more women are secretaries – another blog post altogether. It is talking about a male professional and a female one, within the same field and position, making entirely different salaries.
For example, my Public Relations textbook Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics updated just this year for the 9th edition shows (on page 32) that with experience of more than five years, men make an average of $124,000 while women make $85,000 doing the SAME thing!?! Sucks since this is what I want to go into :(
But it is not just PR that has this problem. Across the board, women make 77 cents to every man’s dollar. This is not right. I have spoken to some of my friends that say, oh well that is not too bad, right.
Wrong.
Nerd that I am, I like to explain this using a school analogy. Hopefully this will help paint the picture of how incredibly unfair this wage gap is. Let’s say you are in a class and your teacher returns your tests. For the exact same answers and content on that test, the teacher decides to give the boys in the class a 100 while all the girls can get – at best – a 77. Um, hello, an A verses a C. That is NOT fair!!!
In fact it is sad. I have a twin brother and we are both to graduate in May 2011. He will make more money that me because he is a boy – and because he is an engineering major but… different blog post again ;)
What truly is sad is that, in my textbook Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives also updated for the 5th edition this year, page 310 states that the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 to ensure that women would receive equal pay for equal work. At the time, women were earning 59 cents for every man’s dollar.
Do the math: 46 years and we have gained 18 cents. That is .39 of a penny we have gained each year. Aren’t we worth more than that? Minority women make noticeably less that this.
Fortunately, President Obama has noticed. His first bill signed into law this January was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to try to once and for all bring about equal pay for equal work. Hopefully this will help.
Until then, wake up and smell the wage gap. And do something about it! Even if it is just to talk to your friends or ask for a raise or write to your representative. YOU DESERVE IT!!!
The Wage Gap is the difference in what women and men make for the same work. I.e. it is not just that more men are engineers and more women are secretaries – another blog post altogether. It is talking about a male professional and a female one, within the same field and position, making entirely different salaries.
For example, my Public Relations textbook Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics updated just this year for the 9th edition shows (on page 32) that with experience of more than five years, men make an average of $124,000 while women make $85,000 doing the SAME thing!?! Sucks since this is what I want to go into :(
But it is not just PR that has this problem. Across the board, women make 77 cents to every man’s dollar. This is not right. I have spoken to some of my friends that say, oh well that is not too bad, right.
Wrong.
Nerd that I am, I like to explain this using a school analogy. Hopefully this will help paint the picture of how incredibly unfair this wage gap is. Let’s say you are in a class and your teacher returns your tests. For the exact same answers and content on that test, the teacher decides to give the boys in the class a 100 while all the girls can get – at best – a 77. Um, hello, an A verses a C. That is NOT fair!!!
In fact it is sad. I have a twin brother and we are both to graduate in May 2011. He will make more money that me because he is a boy – and because he is an engineering major but… different blog post again ;)
What truly is sad is that, in my textbook Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives also updated for the 5th edition this year, page 310 states that the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 to ensure that women would receive equal pay for equal work. At the time, women were earning 59 cents for every man’s dollar.
Do the math: 46 years and we have gained 18 cents. That is .39 of a penny we have gained each year. Aren’t we worth more than that? Minority women make noticeably less that this.
Fortunately, President Obama has noticed. His first bill signed into law this January was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to try to once and for all bring about equal pay for equal work. Hopefully this will help.
Until then, wake up and smell the wage gap. And do something about it! Even if it is just to talk to your friends or ask for a raise or write to your representative. YOU DESERVE IT!!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Pick of the Litter: It's all about perspective
As already mentioned, there are a ton of girls on my campus. In fact, across the nation, there are more girls than guys in higher education. And on this earth, there are more females than males: only 51% to 49%; don’t freak out ;) Of course, this can lead to more competition between us for guys and it certainly gives guys their choice of the girl they’d like to be with.
BUT, I recently realized this wonderful turning of the tables: we have the pick of the litter too :) Now, I’m not suggesting we all turn lesbian; what I’m saying is we can shift our perspective.
All these girls are a positive thing. We have the pick of the litter for good girl friends. Those are hard to come by. We don’t have to settle for half-hearted, ill-fitted relationships or acquaintances. We can weed out the girls that grate our nerves or have dissimilar interests and keep the ones who we truly enjoy being with.
These relationships are much more worth our time and attention because lets face it, unless we meet our future husbands, we are not likely to keep in touch with many of our dates from college. However, good girlfriends can last a long time – if we have the opportunity to find those that really suit us.
They are the ones to pour our secrets, ideas, and love into because they are trustworthy and reciprocate it. Not that boys can’t do that BUT we will probably only settle down with one guy and we don’t have to select just one girl friend.
Fortunately, we have the pick of the litter here. So look at it that way ladies, if you don’t currently have a boyfriend (or even if you do) to gush over and give all your time and attention to, SHARE that with a good girl friend. Call her randomly or give her a note or compliment or plan a girl’s night.
Good girl friends are likely to stick around longer than any boy so make a wise investment: sisters before misters!
BUT, I recently realized this wonderful turning of the tables: we have the pick of the litter too :) Now, I’m not suggesting we all turn lesbian; what I’m saying is we can shift our perspective.
All these girls are a positive thing. We have the pick of the litter for good girl friends. Those are hard to come by. We don’t have to settle for half-hearted, ill-fitted relationships or acquaintances. We can weed out the girls that grate our nerves or have dissimilar interests and keep the ones who we truly enjoy being with.
These relationships are much more worth our time and attention because lets face it, unless we meet our future husbands, we are not likely to keep in touch with many of our dates from college. However, good girlfriends can last a long time – if we have the opportunity to find those that really suit us.
They are the ones to pour our secrets, ideas, and love into because they are trustworthy and reciprocate it. Not that boys can’t do that BUT we will probably only settle down with one guy and we don’t have to select just one girl friend.
Fortunately, we have the pick of the litter here. So look at it that way ladies, if you don’t currently have a boyfriend (or even if you do) to gush over and give all your time and attention to, SHARE that with a good girl friend. Call her randomly or give her a note or compliment or plan a girl’s night.
Good girl friends are likely to stick around longer than any boy so make a wise investment: sisters before misters!
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