Sexual Empowerment vs. Sexual Objectification // Adriana Doerr, B.A., B.S.W.

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Generally, women’s sexuality has been stifled by most cultures throughout most of known history. Currently in the U.S. sex culture, a new wave of feminism has emerged that has been fueled by our media, of course. Many young women in pop culture have proclaimed their new found feminism and their proud feelings of sexual empowerment and liberation. They will dress how they want, when they want to, and have sexual encounters with who they want, how they want, and when they want to. They will dance however they want to in front of whoever they want to, will post sexy ‘selfies’ all over the internet because they are not ashamed of their bodies or sexuality, and if they so choose will earn their living performing sexual acts. Other women have also viewed choosing to use contraceptives and protection (condoms, spermicide, etc.), and being able to navigate their world without fearing rape or sexual assault as representative of sexual empowerment.

On the other hand, there has also been a wave of raised awareness of sexual objectification, which we all know has long been prominent and perpetuated in our media. Using terms such as ‘empowerment’ and ‘modern female sexuality’ have become means of exploitation to sell goods and services. Despite the fact that both men and women are targeted for sexual objectification, because women are targeted more than men and for the sake of brevity I will focus on the relevance of this issue for women. As a result of the aforementioned exploitation, women constantly receive and internalize messages such as, ‘you will only be sexy if you do this and you will feel sexy if you wear that.’ The problem is that sexually objectifying standards and images are masquerading around telling us all that its empowerment. That we should do what they do, pose in pictures like they do, and think like they do so that we all approve of each other’s bodies, and can be proud to be sexual beings who are sexually desired, and enjoy bringing pleasure to others. 

So then I wonder, how do we actually tell the difference between sexual objectification and sexual empowerment?  What does sexual empowerment versus sexual objectification look like? Well, let’s think about defining these terms. Sexual objectification has been defined as what occurs whenever a person’s body, body parts, or sexual functions are separated out from the person, reduced to the status of mere instruments, or regarded as if their body alone were capable of representing the individual. Basically, this means that people are treated as bodies…but still, how does that look different from sexual empowerment? According to my own investigation of images in our media, there is very little difference between sexual objectification and empowerment. A simple ‘google image’ inquiry would support my point.

Why is this important? As a review for most of us, research tell us that the impact of the sexual objectification on women includes increased chances for sexually transmitted infections, sexual assault and violence, rape, and unplanned pregnancies, male partners who care little about pleasing their female sexual partner, women neglecting their own sexual needs, and overall dissatisfaction with sex. In addition, women are overly preoccupied with their bodies, experience chronic body dissatisfaction, objectify themselves, objectify each other, criticize each other’s bodies, and let us not forget the slew of associated mental illnesses. What I find troubling and worth further consideration is that knowing the impact of objectifying women, the emergence of this faux feminism and its covert sexual objectification may perpetuate the damage, creating more pervasive problems and negative outcomes for women throughout the lifespan.

While the discussion I’ve presented here is not unfamiliar to any of us, I feel that in a world where we are bombarded by exploitive messages, I think it benefits us women to provide simple reminders to each other that at the very least sexual empowerment should not require that you abandon your own sexual needs and pleasure. Empowerment does not require that you abandon your identity just to be visually pleasing to someone else. I think as women, we should periodically ask ourselves questions such as, ‘What does sexual empowerment mean to me?’ I believe that part of sexual empowerment is having an awareness of the sexual environment, asking and answering questions such as:

What is society telling me I should do?

What is society and media telling me about how to have sex and who I should have sex with?

How do these messages make me feel about myself?

Are there laws about the sexual decisions I make? What are they?

I also believe that part of sexual empowerment that benefits developing young women is having knowledge about the potential consequences of sexual behaviors, asking and answering questions such as:

What could happen if I do this?

What couldn’t happen if I do this?

What do I want out of sex?  What pleases me?

What does my partner want out of sex? What pleases them?

In essence, sexual empowerment in a philosophical sense ought to be regarded as a personal journey, and be a topic of discussion with each other and with emerging young women, empowering each other more without letting media create and dictate the conditions by which we approve of each other’s sexuality. I encourage us to be women that that enjoy sex, not just bodies that have sex.

Erchull, M. M., & Liss, M. (2014). The object of one’s desire: How perceived sexual empowerment through objectification is related to sexual outcomes. Sexuality & Culture, 18(4), 773-788.

Frederickson, B.L., & Roberts, T.A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 2(2), 173-206. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb001108.x

Grose, R.D. (2014). Sexual Education Gender Ideology, and Youth Sexual Empowerment. Journal of Sex Research, 51(7), 742-753.

Halliwell, E. Malson, H., & Tischner, I. (2011). Are contemporary media images which seem to display women as sexually empowered actually harmful to women? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(1), 38-45. doi:10.1177/0361684310385217.

Written by Adriana Doerr, B.A., B.S.W.

Abuse to Prison Pipeline - How We Fail Women // Vanessa Facemire, MA, LPC

 

I have had the unique opportunity starting in August 2015 to be placed in the mental health unit of a minimum-security women’s prison for my clinical practicum experience. As someone who finds passion and meaning through working with survivors of trauma and my identity as a feminist, the prison was a very appealing site for me in a multitude of ways. I have been astounded by the strength and resilience of the women that I have had the pleasure to provide services to. However, through working with these women I have had to face some harsh truths about the different ways that the criminal justice system fails women including the expanding incarceration of women and the cruel reality of the rampant amount of trauma these women have survived.

Rates of Incarcerated Women//

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There is much discussion and political debate surrounding men in the criminal justice system, but there is very little discussion about women offenders. Recent studies have found that there has been a 757% increase in women’s imprisonment since 1977 with women of color being incarcerated at 3x the rate of white women. Women are the single fastest growing demographic in U.S. prisons.

Harsh reality//

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Contemporary research has found an estimated 75-90% of women in state prisons have experienced interpersonal trauma. The impact of victimization in terms of domestic violence, sexual abuse, severe neglect, physical abuse, human trafficking, and other forms of exposure to traumatic stress is profound and multi-dimensional for the female inmate population

Violence against young girls is a painful crisis of national proportions that cuts across every divide of race, class, and ethnicity. According to the Human Rights Project for Girls: one in four American girls will experience some form of sexual violence by the age of 18, 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 12; nearly half of all female rape survivors were victimized before the age of 18, and girls between the ages of 16 and 19 are 4x more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. These facts are staggering and in a perverse twist of justice, many girls who experience sexual abuse are routed into the juvenile justice system because of their victimization. For example, victims of sex trafficking are habitually arrested on prostitution charges and are often punished as perpetrators rather than being supported as survivors of abuse; a devastating practice of victim blaming.

Further, often times victimization from interpersonal violence and related trauma becomes a gateway to crime, particularly for impoverished women. In trying to support themselves through prostitution and low-level drug dealing, they eventually become ensnared in the justice system. Often women are attempting to self-medicate the pain of trauma or of mental illness. Studies have found that more than half of women offenders are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of their offenses. Further, many women are pulled into crime by men (e.g., abusers, pimps, drug dealers) and violence/power are used routinely to confine them.

Informing Practitioners//

Given the high rates of trauma and mental health concerns of the female inmate population, a high percentage of women in America's jails and prisons have unique needs and challenges. Examples include the need for safe housing, protection, trauma-informed mental health and substance abuse services, child care, parenting and vocational supports.

The pattern of women offender’s lives are often woven from these threads: past trauma, low self-esteem, poor education, restricted opportunities to earn a living and support children, substance abuse, mental illness, and/or financial and/or emotional dependence on men who are involved in crime. Mental health professionals both inside and outside of the criminal justice system need to be informed of these unique needs. I am fortunate to work in an institution that values and promotes trauma-informed care of incarcerated women. Trauma-informed treatment must include a woman-centered focus to care, which emphasizes participation, social justice, empowerment, safety, relationships, the individual, and is comprehensive and respectful of diversity.

A groundbreaking report by the National Resource Center on Justice Involved Women (NRCJIW), outlined Ten Truths that Matter When Working with Justice Involved Women:

1. Women are a fast-growing inmate population; yet pose a lower public safety risk than men.

2. Women follow unique relational and trauma driven paths into crime and require different intervention needs.

3. Women's engagement in criminal behavior is often relationship driven.

4. Traditional criminal justice policies and practices have largely been developed through male and traditional lens.

5. Justice involved women have a high prevalence of sexual victimization and trauma and continue to be vulnerable in correctional settings.

6. Traditional prison classification systems tend to result in unreliable custody designations for incarcerated women.

7. Gender responsive assessment tools can enhance case management efforts for justice-involved women.

8. Women are likely to respond favorably to gender-specific and trauma-informed cultures.

9. Incarceration and reentry are particularly challenging for mothers of minor children.

10. The costs of involving women in criminal justice system are high, with multi-dimensional consequences.

A Call to Action//

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These women represent the aftermath of failed and oppressive policies and practices. While my role (as a clinician) in remediation is necessary and valuable, these women will be faced with an endless daunting cycle unless the true sources of the problem are changed (e.g., systemic oppression, rape culture).  All current research, experience, and data speaks to the fact that it is time for an extreme makeover of how the criminal justice system approaches women in terms of embracing the evidence base pertaining to trauma. Mental health treatment and services must be adequately funded and geared to meet the unique intervention needs and challenges of women. Jail diversion and prison reentry planning must support women with housing, childcare services, peer mentoring and employability training.

“No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones” – Nelson Mandela

Written by//

Vanessa Facemire, MA, LPC

Selected references and resources for further inquiry//

http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=138

http://cjinvolvedwomen.org

http://rights4girls.org

Chesney-Lind, M. & Pasko, L. (2013). The female offender: Girls, women, and crime (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Raphael, J. (2007). Freeing Tammy: Women, drugs, and incarceration. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Who gets to define the characteristics of a “strong” woman? // Simrun Kaur

          What does it mean to be a “strong” woman? Why is it that the Western definition of female “strength” often seems to dominate the narrative around what it means to be a “strong” woman? Why do westerners get to determine what being a “strong” woman means? The western definition of strength is much more dependent on the values of individualism, while my South Asian culture’s definition of strength is in line with its collectivistic values. The Western, more individualistic, conception of “strength” requires women to be more independent and assertive. This Western model of a “strong” woman will at times be incompatible with the way other cultural groups define female strength. South Asian women may deem “strength in a more collectivistic framework in which interdependence is seen as requiring more strength than independence” (Patel, 2007, p. 59). These women may view prioritizing what is best for the individual as being “selfish” and an easier task than maintaining a strong emotional bond with the family. Being willing to set aside their own needs in order to make sacrifices for the sake of the greater good of the family may be perceived as taking greater “strength.” However, members from Western cultures may perceive these women as being weak or submissive because of the conflict between these differing cultural values.

            Oftentimes, being a “strong” woman in the Western, American culture means leaving an abusive relationship. Those women are labeled “survivors,” while those still in “the situation” are labeled as “victims.” In the heterosexual context, the expectation is for the woman to stand up to the man by ending the relationship and not allowing him to harm her anymore. However, this particular cultural ideal is not present in every cultural group. I grew up in a home with heterosexual South Asian parents, where my father was the abuser. I am in no way condoning the violence that my father perpetrated, or saying abuse is excusable from my cultural context. Instead, I would like to talk about how my mother is one of the strongest women I have ever met. It kills me to think that there are people out there that would label my mother as being weak. She never left “the situation,” despite how terrible my father was to her, as her individual feelings were not her salient priority. Her needs and desires took a back seat to the needs and future of her children. I am forever grateful for all of the sacrifices she made for us. She endured a lot of hardship, hurt and abuse in order to provide her children with the best opportunities possible. It is because she stayed with my father that I was able to grow up in a middle class family and have the privilege of being in a doctoral program. Due to her dedication to provide me with the best future possible, I have not had to take out any loans throughout my undergraduate and graduate education. I get to start out my professional life free of debt, which is an enormous blessing! Leaving my father would have meant that my brother and I would have grown up in poverty, with far less opportunities available. I was able to spend time volunteering for organizations focusing on the social justice issues I was most passionate about, rather than having to work 30 hours a week at a job that was meaningless but I had to do in order to fulfill my basic. I am privileged and blessed to have had such an incredibly strong mother. So while some Western, Americans may wonder why she stayed in an abusive, unfulfilling relationship, I am eternally thankful for her strength and determination.

20 Reasons I Am a Feminist // Carly Trask-Kuchta

Image from Wikipedia

I can be like Buzzfeed! Here's my list of reasons why I'm a feminist:

1) All of the hatred that Caitlyn Jenner has received for her brave, courageous transition. She is allowed to be recognized for her bravery because it is brave to be who you truly are on the inside. That is not a threat to anyone. Transgender discrimination exists globally, and that is a feminist issue.

2) Because women are still making less than men monetarily, and are treated as less than men in professional settings. (IT'S LEGIT 2015 WHY ARE WOMEN STILL MAKING 77 CENTS TO EVERY DOLLAR A MAN MAKES)

3) "Throwing like a girl" is an insult that people of all sexes use when someone has athletic "difficulties."

4) Being called "fat" is an insult, not an adjective about a person's body. The overwhelming truth of this statement applies to women more so than men. Calling a woman "fat" in our society somehow cuts right to a woman's soul and is just as much a comment on her identity and personhood as it is about her body.

5) Women are often viewed in terms of their physical appearance, and this physical appearance is often attached to society's view of a woman's inner worth.

6) One of the top songs on the radio earlier in 2015 was a song called "Cheerleader," where the chorus is straight-up about a man choosing to not cheat on his girlfriend because she's his "cheerleader." Supporting your boyfriend is not a bad thing. But, it should be equal. And not the only reason to stay with a person. Plus, he talks about how great he is in a variety of ways throughout the song...and always coming back to having a beautiful "cheerleader" on his sidelines.

7) Tess Holliday is the first size-22 plus-size model. The mere representation of a different body size in the media and the fashion industry is enough to have people state that she's "promoting obesity." Seeing someone who is obese, or who is not a "typical" model does not mean that these people are "promoting" an unhealthy lifestyle. It means we get to see a diversity of bodies. We have no idea what another person's health and lifestyle is by merely looking at them. Saying that having a curvy person in the media is promoting obesity is like saying that looking at a model who always wears a red shirt is promoting that everyone should wear red shirts forever-and- always-amen.

8) Child prostitution exists.

9) Women are being raped and then being blamed for being raped.

10) Slut-shaming exists.

11) A woman's sexuality is always up for a debate: is she being too sexy? Should she wear that? Why does she like sex so much? Does she like sex too little? Why are the answers to these questions other people's decisions? (the answer to the last question = why Carly is a feminist)

12) Modesty debates exist within conservative Christian circles. I hate them. I hate them with a fiery passion. No. No modesty debates.

13) Not only does equality amongst sexes not exist (across all mediums), people actually argue against equality of the sexes.

14) I have gone to Christian colleges in undergrad and in grad school, and it amazes me how the Bible is theologically interpreted and skewed so that women are the lesser sex, or the weaker sex. More on this in my next point.

15) While I do not have a complementarian perspective on marriage and do not practice it in my own marriage, I want to respect how other people's marriages work for them. However, I cannot support a Biblical interpretation that endorses that all women need to serve all men. Even if you interpret the key passages in Ephesians and 1 Timothy as women need to be helpmeets, it applies to one's husband, not to all of mankind.

16) There is a theme in society where women are perceived as dumber than men, and somehow it's acceptable flirting if one acts stupid or like we need to be taught about various subjects.


17) People criticize lesbian relationships because they don't understand how both women can be romantically involved if there isn't a man in the relationship; unless it's lesbian porn - that's somehow more acceptable.

18) We have yet to have a female president for IDIOTIC reasons.

19) The sexual objectification of women along with women only being presented in the media as their sexuality and for sexual purposes...women are completely judged not only based on their physicality, but also on their perceived sexuality.

20) Young girls are sending naked pictures of themselves at the demand of their boyfriends or other guys, and then these guys are sending these pictures around to their friends...this is slut- shaming, blackmailing, humiliating, and disgusting all into one. Feminist issue. Must empower my young girls. Because this drives me crazy.

When women openly state that they are feminists they are perceived as men-haters, crazy, and bitches. I have personally experienced these judgments, and I'm sure I am getting some of these responses from this blog post. But, it makes me wonder, why is a woman who is fighting for the equality across sexes and genders not allowed to be angry about the persistent inequality that still exists? I am allowed to be angry and still be a good person. I can be a feminist and be angry. I am allowed to exist equally alongside all people because I am powerful and human, and that is a basic right, as a woman, that I am fighting for. 

Written by Carly Trask-Kuchta

Women Can Empower Themselves // Annahita Mahdavi

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          “Let’s Empower Women”, that is the slogan we hear all the time from many women organizations. Although it is a great concept and one that must be one of the main goals in this endless fight of women and equality, it is also a peculiar one. It almost is like the concept of the “magic wand” and how it is in the hands of the beholder and with one spin can magically solve the problem. It comes across as an outer element not an inner element.

          This idea of liberating and empowering women has generated from the western societies. As we have witnessed in the past two decades, the west has invaded many countries with the claim of liberating and freeing the people of those nations in the name of “war”, and we are all witnessing the disastrous results of those invasions. Systems cannot change by only an outside force or only an inside force. Systems change by the force of a mixture of both outer and inner elements.

          I have worked with groups of women from a diverse background in the past few years, especially women from refugees and immigrant population. The groups were all focused on the concept of “empowerment”, but empowerment was defined as the already existing skills and abilities within those women, but also how the social learnings have covered them and given a false identity to the women. The work was aimed towards gaining access to those internal abilities and skills, and at the same time gaining insight of what are the forces to make women lose those internal abilities and strengthens. And last but not the least step was how to gain it all back. This is one of the very lost concepts in the issue of empowering women. Often, our own internal interpretations of who we are is the main force of how we are in our lives. And often those internal interruptions have been influenced by our social learnings and the impact of our environmental learnings. For those very reasons, the interpretations are not the real identity and thus taking us to a weakening path. This becomes the core element of many dysfunctionalities in our lives, e.g. staying in unhealthy relationships, having co-dependencies, staying in unhealthy work environments and not perusing our own dreams and desires, and of course most of all not moving towards a social and economic equality and justice. It is a noble effort to be the voice of unheard and silenced, but it is also a vital effort to make those voices to make their own noise and send their own messages. To become an empower women, first step is to become internally empowered. This must be included in all teachings and policies of women organizations.

          The external empowerment, then; can come to the picture. The external empowerment must include domestic and global support, cause advocacy to change policies toward equality, social justice and equality, providing opportunities for involvement in the movement and organizations. It is only when we adhere the concept of internal empowerment that we can be successful with our efforts in our organizations towards the empowerment of women as a whole.

         A gardener plants the seed of the tree, waters and cares for the tree. The environment, Sun and Air, do their job too, but it is from within that the seed starts spreading and growing, by its own given abilities. The seed has everything it needs to grow within itself.

Written by: Annahita Mahdavi

What's in a Name? // Amandahbeth Tilus

Image from Picture retrieved from http://cliparts.co/cliparts/8TA/EnM/8TAEnMEAc.jpg

My husband and I were married this summer after ten short years of dating, plus one year of being engaged, much to the relief of both of our anguished and aging families. My side of the family knew me well enough to not push the issue of marriage often, if at all, as my consistent response over the years was either, “If we do get married it will be when I’m ready,” or “I’m not planning on getting married just to make other people more comfortable with our relationship.” Obviously, I’m more of a realist than a romantic and saw no need to rush into a covenant which I believe to be a spiritual and physical lifelong commitment to another human being. In addition, planning and executing a wedding is an emotionally and financially expensive expedition.

Hashing out the details of what was and was not important to us for the big event, with a small budget, was a fun time of bonding and problem solving between my husband and I. Unsurprisingly, after eleven years together we knew each other pretty well and were flexible in areas where one had a stronger emotional investment. One small exception to this was in the area of the word that would follow our respective “Mr.” and “Mrs.”, that is, our last name(s). Yes, it’s true, I had been a lazy feminist in never fully exploring what this process would mean to me in the future. In my defense I had been busy doing other important feminist things such as exploring the relation of feminism to my spiritual system of belief and advocating for greater equality in that realm. I had purposely avoided the feeling in the pit of my stomach that marriage would mean becoming “Mrs. Someone-else’s-last-name” and that as a doctoral student, I would be giving up the ability to one day become “Dr. Tilus” in the footsteps of my father.  

I have a tendency to be direct, and therefore asked my husband point blank if he would be upset with me if I didn’t take his last name, to which he replied that he wouldn’t as long as he knew my reasoning. I explained that I loved my last name, that it was rare, and that I was proud of the heritage behind it. Being a gentle and kind man, he was receptive, but I could tell that he wasn’t wholly convinced of the merit behind my choice. I then asked him, in a serious manner, if he had considered taking my last name. His eyes first grew wide and then became lost as he scrunched his face in confusion, shook his head, and sputtered “That...idea…makes me…really uncomfortable.” Seizing the opportunity, I quickly responded back “What you are feeling right now is exactly how I feel” and then waited for the gates of feminist understanding to be joyously thrust open. In a happy ending, he did understand and the issue dissolved as a point of possible contention between us (we are both feminists after all). I was, and am, so grateful for the partner that I have and his ability to create a space where I feel safe bringing up such a non-traditional view. For many of my married friends, getting married and changing their name brought a sense of the loss of a unique aspect of their personal identity, family heritage, and/or independence. In discussion, they admit that although they were distressed about the issue they never thought to bring it up with their partner. This needs to change.

In sum, although my husband and I are happily Mr. and Mrs. Our-own-last-name(s), the expectations of others are always more complicated than we would like. As such, questions from “the concerned” regarding the future stress and confusion this decision will decidedly curse our as yet unplanned, unconceived, unborn children with still remain. If we decide to have children, when we are ready, the important and uncomfortable task of choosing their last name will occur. Until then, I hope to continue doing important feminist things to ensure that in the future these types of discussions aren’t as uncomfortable or as uncommon as they are now.  

Written by Amandahbeth Tilus

Book Review: Egalia’s Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes // Amanda Backer Lappin, MS

Image from Amazon.com

            I often find myself clicking on the Buzzfeed-type articles with lists of books. Anything about books in a list format immediately draws my eye. As a feminist, I am looking for books that promote feminist scholarship and act as social commentaries on what it means to be a woman. Many of the same books pop up over and over again on all the various lists (see links below). But one book is seemingly absent from these lists: Egalia’s Daughters. A good friend of mine, who was a Women and Gender Studies major in college, lent me this book calling it a “must read.” I had never heard of it and dove in, not knowing what to expect.

            Egalia’s Daughters is a satire and social commentary on the role of gender socialization and power. In Egalia’s Daughters, many of the gender roles are reversed. The Wim (women) are in control and the Menwim (men) are the “lesser sex.” Women rule the primary industry of fishing. Men are expected to stay at home with the children and spend time curling their beards and embroidering. Gerd Brantenberg, a Norwegian author and feminist writer, wrote the novel in 1977* but many of the observations ring true for today’s social landscape.

            Egalia’s Daughters covers everything from government, politics, sex, and work, to relationships, clothing, and rape. Wim rule the society, hold all major public offices, and are sexually dominant. This book is not a utopia of what it would be like if women ruled the world (not a later iteration of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, for example). Brantenberg is not saying that society would be better if women were solely in charge. The main message in Egalia’s Daughters is that gender classification may not be the enemy of society. Rather, the way gender classification is used to assert dominance and power is what we should be weary of. In the book, women have power and it has always been that way. They cannot imagine anything different. Because they have always had the power, they are in charge of how history is recorded and interpreted. The women in charge assert their dominance and list biological reasons that they are superior. They cite “scientific” evidence to support their claims, reminiscent of conversations in our own history of intelligence based on physical brain size or having a penis.

            One of the main characters, Petronius, longs to be a seawom (person, typically female, who fishes). The book opens with Petronius speaking with his mother, Bram, about wanting to live a life at sea like Wim (women). In Egalia, men are expected to stay home with children once they are born while the females return to work in government, the sea, etc. Bram is lecturing Petronius about the ways of the world and how,” a mother can never be like a father to a child” (Brantenberg, 1985, p. 9). Men are seen as having natural talents at caring for children that women do not possess. Petronius, in anger, laments, “It’s more dreary and depressing not being able to be what one wants!” Bram answers him, “Who said you can’t be what you want? All I’m saying is, you must be realistic. You can’t have your cake and eat it too…You’ll have to stop reading all of those adventure stories about the exploits of seawim and stick to books for boys instead. Then your dreams will be more realistic. No real menwim want to go to sea” (Brantenberg, 1985, p. 9).  

            Bram speaks to the assigned gender roles of men and women and how it “must be.” This passage is just from the first page of the book. The 269 page book packs in social commentary on almost every aspect of gender socialization and societal expectations and manages to be both serious and funny. The one aspect of this book that may be hard to get into at first is the language. Brantenberg plays with language to show how even the way we use language to talk about and classify individuals is highly gendered. The language is tedious but worth it.  It adds to the overall point that Brantenberg is trying to make. We must all seriously think about how gender socialization and power play a role in our society.  

*English translation printed in 1985

Written by: Amanda Backer Lappin, MS – The University of Kansas

References:

Brantenberg, G. (1985). Egalia’s Daughters: A satire of the sexes. Seattle, WA:  Seal Press.

Other feminist books:

http://www.bustle.com/articles/53474-15-feminist-books-to-read-in-2015-to-help-you-stay-passionate-all-year

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/a-reading-list-of-ones-own-10-essential-feminist-books/273337/#slide6

http://www.stylist.co.uk/books/50-essential-feminist-books#

http://www.buzzfeed.com/katieheaney/15-books-to-spark-your-feminist-awakening#.fqzpvEkKr1

http://www.elle.com/culture/books/news/a14971/11-books-for-the-feminist-reader/

http://bookriot.com/2015/10/20/of-your-favorite-feminist-books/

http://bookriot.com/2015/10/20/of-your-favorite-feminist-books/

‘Tis the season… for being a killjoy // Samantha D. Christopher

‘Tis the season for… denying all of the work I need to do and binging on TV and ‘fun books.’  However, with this break from school (and subsequent ‘ignoring of the work in question’) comes a choice for feminists – where is the line for enacting and advocating for our feminist sensibilities? 

What line? Well, popular culture kind of sucks sometimes. I have a giant list of shows I want to watch on Netflix – and I always watch shows with a critical lens. It can be exhausting.  If you haven’t seen this article about a woman taking a break from being a feminist so she can actually enjoy a TV show, you should check it out. 

And not just popular culture, but often in my personal life I’ve found myself try to “pick my battles,” so to speak.  I’ve found that it can be incredibly difficult to put feminist sensibilities to the side to just enjoy stuff and also to not be a feminist killjoy.  My mentor has told me time and time again that “being a feminist is living in discomfort” and damn, she’s right.  Feminist sensibilities bring our awareness to not just the obvious issues of sexism, racism, heterosexism (and other -isms), but feminism also brings our awareness to the nuances of these -isms.  The very discrete.  The seemingly “unnoticeable to the naked eye” kind of issues that surround us in our lives. 

One of my favorites… “freshman.” Being on a university campus we hear the word “freshman” everywhere.  We could choose to use gender-neutral terms like “first-year.” However, if we address how subtleties of language shape our lived experience of the world – we’re killjoys.  Don’t believe me?  Check out any comment related to Elon University officially making the switch to using First-Year instead of Freshman. 

Or people referring to college women as “girls.”  When I’ve addressed this I know I’ve got a “oh come on, quit being so serious” – even though calling someone a girl is defined as sexual harassment.

For many feminists (and everyone advocating for social justice), we’re addressing a lot of the big stuff. We can rally to confront shit like this (even though there were still some people who were using the “boys will be boys” justification) and the feminists who have continued to support and engage in #BlackLivesMatter.  It’s the seemingly “small things” that I think we have that choice – do we say something and risk the pushback? Or do we let it go, even if it hurts?

OR… and I think this is the case… there is a blurry gray area that all of this takes place.  Certain people, certain situations, certain times should all be taken into consideration before pursuing these little things.  So I’m curious…

What are your nuances and where is the line for you to say something?

Written by Samantha D. Christopher

Teenage Anxiety and Emotional Disorders in Female Youth // Alexis Hershfield, M.Ed.

Women are twice as likely to develop an internalizing disorder than men, a statistic that has given way to the term “the stressed sex.” All stress, however, is not created equally and some women may be at greater risk than others.

Emotional disorders seem to gain their prominence in adolescence, a period of rapid maturation and change. The prevalence of emotional disorders in female youth has also doubled in the last 20 years. This finding reverberates concern over the fate over our stressed sex.

Interestingly, in comparison to their lower and middle class counterparts, affluent teen girls – those whose families earn three times the American national average of $50,000 – were found to be three times more likely to report clinically significant levels of depression and anxiety. While some may scoff at the struggles of the privileged, research indicates that teenage girls of high socioeconomic backgrounds may be at significant risk for developing an emotional disorder.

Contrary to traditional thinking, privilege does not connote psychological well-being, as wealthy youth are confronted with a number of unique risk factors that make them especially vulnerable and prone to negative developmental pathways. Symptoms such as excessive worrying, difficulties sleeping, agitation, feeling of withdrawal, sadness, lack of interest, and restlessness have become commonplace for this female teenage group.

 Results from a study conducted by Luthar and Becker (2002), found that academic pressure on affluent youth was often strongly positively correlated with emotional disorders in affluent girls. The findings revealed that pressure from parents to succeed and excel in academics for long-term prospects, such as securing a spot in an elite top college, often caused significant distress in youth. Moreover, the findings indicated that “children with high perfectionist strivings – those who saw academic failures as personal failures – had relatively high depression [and anxiety], as did those children that indicated that their parents overemphasized their accomplishments, valuing them disproportionately more then their personal character”(Luthar & Latendresse, p. 2, 2005).

Many argue that this culture of hyper-achievement has fueled the rise of suicide clusters in elite academic communities. Research cites two distinctly different factors that may contribute to these startling rates (1) isolation from parents and (2) helicopter parenting, notably at two opposite extremes.

In a study of 374 seventh graders, Bogard (2005), found that parental closeness was the best predictor of adjustment for both males and females. Many affluent families did not have concrete family time, often as consequence of the busy nature of the children’s and the parents’ schedules. Girls that did not perceive their relationship with their parents as close tended to have significantly more depressive symptoms than their peers and we significantly more prone to suicidality. On the contrary, helicopter parenting, has also sounded many alarms. Among the children of the over-parented, high rates of psychological problems including suicidality, academic issues and life dissatisfaction prevail.

The jury is still out on the extent to which genetic, hormonal, biological and developmental differences of men and women differently predict the course and presentation of psychological disorders. However, there is no doubt that social and cultural factors influence adaptive functioning, as indicated by the case of the affluent teenage girls. It may seem illogical to stress about stress, but perhaps that is our first step forward.

References:

Bogard, K. L. (2005). Affluent adolescents, depression, and drug use: The role of adults in their lives. Adolescence, 40(158), 281.

Collishaw, S., Maughan, B., Natarajan, L., & Pickles, A. (2010). Trends in adolescent emotional problems in England: a comparison of two national cohorts twenty years apart. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,51(8), 885-894.

Finkel, E. & Fitzsimons G. (2013, May 10). When Helping Hurts. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/too-much-helicopter-parenting.html

Luthar, S. S. (2003). The culture of affluence: Psychological costs of material wealth. Child development, 74(6), 1581-1593.

Luthar, S. S., & Becker, B. E. (2002). Privileged but pressured? A study of affluent youth. Child development, 73(5), 1593.

Luthar, S. S., & Latendresse, S. J. (2005). Children of the affluent challenges to well-being. Current directions in psychological science, 14(1), 49-53.

Scelfo J. (2015, July 27). Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/education/edlife/stress-social-media-and-suicide-on-campus.html

Written by Alexis Hershfield, M.Ed.