Regaining My Hopefulness

I decided to pursue graduate school in part to become involved in research and advocacy efforts related to preventing men’s violence against women.  So much progress has been achieved in this area over the past few decades, I thought, “How hard can it be?”  Little did I know untangling the mess of male socialization and the ways it contributes to our rape culture would be so difficult. 

I was reminded of the ways male socialization contributes to our rape culture when news of the gang of boys from the football team who raped a young woman while she was passed out in Steubenville, Ohio was released.  Despite referring to the girl as “dead,” some boys proceeded to rape her while others watched, not questioning the action at all.  Although similar situations are unfortunately common, this particular story made it to the news only because some of the boys who watched also taped the situation, recording the rape and the conversation among the boys in the room.

The recording also indicates that other boys, however, questioned the behavior.  Some challenged their peers by saying, “That’s not so funny” and one even asked, “What if that was your daughter?”  Clearly, some boys in this high school are willing to challenge the rape culture. 

Hearing about the boys who challenged their peers inspires me to want to understand more about the men who are willing to speak out against their socialization and challenge their friends who engage in rape-supportive behaviors.  In fact, I am currently working on a research project to understand what motivates these men to become social justice allies who work to prevent men’s violence against women.  I become more convinced every day that increasingly more men are becoming aware of the male socialization that contributes to the current rape culture and are unwilling to participate in it, some even actively working against it.  These men are slowly creating a critical mass who speak out against men’s violence against women and encourage their friend’s to do the same.  Hearing their stories can provide us with a deeper understanding of their experience to engage even more men in the process.  Maybe my initial hopefulness about preventing men’s violence against women was not so wrong…

written by Allie Minieri

Fat Shaming

On February 11^th, Neil Cavuto’s Your World on Fox News focused on Adele and Kelly Clarkson’s bodies during the 2013 Grammys.  After public criticisms laced with blatant fat shaming, including Twitter posts like “Can Adele lose some weight please? It’s not healthy. And little kids might follow,” Cavuto invited nutritionist Karen Gilbert to give an “expert” opinion.  I’ll start by saying that while I found Cavuto interruptive, I have to hand it to them* for occasionally calling Gilbert out.  And Gilbert needed some calling out given their* clear message: Adele and Clarkson’s bodies are problematic and could negatively influence our youth into becoming “overweight” like them. 

Gilbert juxtaposed both performers’ hard working and disciplined lifestyles with their “fatter than normal” bodies.  What exactly does this imply?  Well, for starters, that it’s surprising or uncommon that fat or fatter-bodied individuals could also be successful.  Indeed, research has demonstrated that we, as a society, stigmatize fat bodies and characterize them as lazy, unattractive, unsuccessful and undisciplined as well as hinder access to education and work opportunities.  This pervasive characterization adds insult to injury when coupled with the moralizing and fear mongering headlines about fat bodies that they certainly result to negative health ramifications, and if you just exercise hard enough and eat less you too can be a “normal” weight.  Aside from this taking into account other, more nuanced explanations of health disparities and diverse body types, this, of course, is ironic, given that the average size for American females is between a 12 to 14 – the approximate size that Adele, a successful performer and recipient of numerous awards proudly wears. 

However, I do not want to focus the fact that Adele is indeed the “average” or “normal” among societal comparison.  That’d be defeating the purpose of this blog and merely revamping Gilbert’s stance.  Instead, I think it is more important to note that she is generally happy with her body or finds it “normal” and appropriate for herself.  Gilbert noted that they’d* recommend to Adele and Clarkson to lose 10-15 pounds if they wanted to lose weight.  The operative word here is if.  While this might not be the case for Clarkson, Adele has unabashedly stymied body-focused criticisms.  Indeed, in 2012, Adele noted that she’d only lose weight if it affected her health or sex life – both of which have not been the case.  Sex AND body positive?  Adele, you’re a real role model!  But Gilbert doesn't think so.  Instead, they* express concern over Adele (and Clarkson’s) potential effect on our youth, noting that seeing the likes of Adele might encourage young kids that they could be overweight like her. 

Initially supporting the notion that any individual above the medicalized BMI standard of 25 is overweight, Gilbert seemingly changed opinions when Cavuto questioned whether Gilbert might be too thin.  Indeed, Gilbert quickly responded to this that everyone has a “different profile.”  In other words, if your fat-bodied, a medicalized standard should be used to deem you healthy or unhealthy, but if you’re thin-bodied, then each individual should be considered as unique and viewed for their personal health. 

We, as psychologists, are particularly conflicted given the current environment (namely, APA’s recently waged war on fat bodies) as well as our research and clinical opinions that often times pathologize body dissatisfaction, food restriction and excessive exercising among individuals who are deemed “too thin,” while we advocate for such behaviors and perceptions in those “too fat.”  Instead of quickly jumping on the medicalized notion of adiposity, I suggest that we remain critical of body standardization and fat shaming as well as demand better, more responsible research and clinical judgment that questions the social constructions and milieu surrounding the body. 

*Gender neutral pronouns for Gilbert and Cavuto were used intentionally so as not to imposed gender identification in either of them without their consent. 

+For more on this subject as well as a great read, I’d recommend The Fat Studies Reader edited by Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay.  

written by Jessica A. Joseph

Our Work is Never Done

The 2012 U.S. election is old news by now. Thinking back, it was like a collective loosening of tension once it was over. That night I could go to bed after the returns with a sigh of relief. Well, not just a sigh of relief. I actually felt pretty excited. This had been an exceptionally notable election for female politicians. New Hampshire had elected a delegation consisting of only women. A record number of female representatives and senators were going to Washington, one of which was the first Asian American woman and first Buddhist, one the first Hindu, and one the first openly gay senator. There were same-sex marriage victories in four states. This was not just exciting for women and the country but also personally. Many of my minority identities would finally be represented in the Senate. An exciting time indeed!

I personally found the election to be emotionally draining. In addition to the typical political mudslinging, there was an exceptional amount of misogyny. There were negative comments about female candidate’s physical appearance and quips about them in traditional gender roles. The War on Women surged onward with attacks against reproductive healthcare and rape apologism was prevalent. My enthusiasm for the election was long gone by the time it was over. Yet, here we were with a record 101 Congresswomen. The progress was overshadowed by the fact that, while the U.S. population is slightly over 50% women, female representation in our federal government was only about 19%. It was overshadowed by constant reminders that female politicians are not taken as seriously as their male counterparts. Women were not taken seriously.

While the election has wound down and the news has packed up its coverage the misogyny continues. The news coverage since the election has highlighted terrible, violent things. Things like mass shootings in which the mother of a perpetrator and several innocent children were murdered. Like the injustice for rape victims in India and Texas. Like the blocking and eventual lack of renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. More recent news alerted us that Rush Limbaugh has said yet another despicable thing by stating that abortion could be outlawed with a gunshot, alleging more violence against women. Anonymous posted the tweet, “When internet activists are getting longer prison sentences than rapists you have to wonder what kind of world we're leaving for our kids.” I have been wondering for a long time now.

Despite the progress this country has made with the election, there is still more work to be done. I don’t think us women really expected the hard work to be over anytime soon. I know my spirit is bolstered whenever there is groundbreaking progress. It hurts enough when we don’t progress but I am disheartened every time we go backwards. Women before us fought hard to get us where we are today. We need to continue fighting just as hard or harder to keep moving forward.

written by Victoria Wu

Call for SPW Campus and Section Representatives!

Undergraduate and graduate students interested in developing programs to advance the principles of the Society for the Psychology of Women and gaining leadership experience can consider applying to be a SPW Campus Representative or Section Representative/Section Leader for the 2013-2014 academic year! The application can be found at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vOfypBgScFcF_8_nKqIMO5KM2eHtXfYqisk3e_l4yNo/viewform

Questions about what it means to be a campus representative? Check out the current listing of campus reps and the programs they are developing: http://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/leadership/campus-representatives/index.aspx

Completed applications are due by Friday, April 5th at 5pm Pacific. Good luck!

Free Membership Campaign!

Interested in issues that face a range of women in society today? Join the Society for the Psychology of Women!

SPW is hosting a free membership campaign during 2013. Membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students as well as professionals. You do not have to be a member of APA to join the division. To learn more, check out the website: http://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/index.aspx

Psychology of Women Quarterly

Subscribe to Psychology of Women Quarterly, a benefit of being a member of the Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35 of the American Psychological Association)!

The most recent “Practitioner’s Digest” includes Abstracts from the manuscripts published in the March 2013 issue as well as “Practice Implications” from each of the papers that address ways the findings may inform your practice, activism, teaching, and everyday life.

For psychologists wanting Continuing Education credits, there are two new papers and an open access podcast on “Health Risk and Sexual Assault among Ethnically Diverse Women” that you can retrieve through SPW’s Home Study Program.

Click on http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/current to access the information! And you can regularly visit pwq.sagepub.com for information helpful to your career!

Happy 40th Birthday to the Committee on Women in Psychology

The Committee on Women in Psychology (CWP) turns 40 this year! The Committee seeks to support the advancement of women both in the American Psychological Association and throughout the world through research, policy work, and advocacy. It works very closely with Division 35 by making recommendations about ways to improve the status of women.

Going to the annual APA convention in Hawai'i this year? Celebrate the Committee on Women in Psychology's 40th birthday during the Division 35 social hour Saturday, August 3, 2013, at 3:00 p.m.!