Do you even feminist, bro??- Including Men in Feminism // Marissa Floro

Last night after a long day of practicum, a colleague and I were sharing views on the agents of change in therapy, interpersonal connection, personal growth- you know, typical Thursday night small talk. The conversation took a turn towards our relationships- my colleague is newly married to a man and I live with my male partner of two years. She began to talk about how her partner is struggling with finding his identity, his core sense of self, even his ideas of self-care. We then moved into a broader discussion about American views of masculinity, how narrow and confining “being a man” actually is.

In trying to think of what has not been discussed at length on this blog, and perusing the different posts and writers, I began to not only notice a patterns of posts, but a pattern of writers. Save this post by Megan Mansfield earlier this academic year, there has not been a whole lot of conversation about how men fit into feminism, and how they can benefit from joining the cause too- not just how they hurt it. And, all of us campus reps for Div. 35 are women (or so it seems from our webpage). And this is not just us, but our society as a whole- continuing to separate men and women from each other with multiple barriers, including feminism.

From what I’ve gleaned from feminism, and I know I’m preaching to the choir here but bear with me- the pressures and confines of traditional and stereotypical gender roles hurts us all and pervades every part of our society, from work to our relationships. It affects men and women, with men being much more likely to be successful in suicide, hurt others and be hurt, be unable to create lasting friendships, just to name a few.

So how do we engage more men in this conversation? I have found that screaming “f--- the patriarchy” in the streets of Boston doesn’t get a whole lot of converts, male or female, so I’m fresh out of ideas*. As with many issues, perhaps peer to peer outreach is the way to go. Men typically listen to other men more intently and longer (bummer am I right?), so maybe this post should be aimed at our feminist brothers in arms. More celebrity men are identifying as feminist in the current trend of feminism and perhaps this is a farther reaching, more effective way to reach men. Perhaps as more women who may not fit the stereotype of feminist identify as well, perhaps this will not also expand public perception of feminism, but make it more accessible to all genders.  

I hope that as we, defenders and spokeswomen of feminism (insert Xena Warrior Princess war cry), move forward in the world, that we can continue to brainstorm how we can get men to join our ranks. 

* other things I’ve said in bars that haven’t recruited new feminists: “so how do you personally combat rape culture”, “I think the Olympics are a staged capitalist consumer good that glorifies athleticism to a detriment”, and “did you know that domestic violence and sex trafficking increases around the Superbowl?”

Image from https://www.google.com/search?q=male+feminist&rlz=1C1EODB_enUS595US595&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=879&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiw-NeA_JXLAhVBXR4KHZL3AWYQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=ji--n2RPqf78AM%3A

Empowered Women Empower Women: Ageism as a Feminist Issue // Katie Hannah Fisher

This election has brought the divide between “older” and “younger” women to my attention. For the first time in United States history, there is a real chance a woman could be elected president. I don’t think women, or anyone for that matter, should vote for a person based solely on their genitalia. The fact that many women don’t support Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate does not surprise me or upset me. However, I am surprised by the way this election has highlighted this divide. Of course, I have heard the phrase “ageism is a feminist issue” but have honestly never really understood it until now.

Currently, all of my clients are all over the age of 70. I lead a women’s group for elders every week. These experiences have shown me how pervasive ageism really is. This election has come up a lot throughout our time together. Hearing the elders I work with or whom I am close to outside of work talk about the election and hearing my peers talk about the election are two very different experiences, but the issues being discussed are almost identical. In my experience, older women understand what it means to be a young woman- the struggles we face, the way we are viewed by the world-all of it. A lot has changed in the last 30 plus years, but there is also a lot that hasn’t. Young women can’t really understand what it means to be an elder. We haven’t lived that life yet. Ageism is real and it’s pervasive. This is not a type of oppression I have yet faced. If things don’t change and change fast I will understand the struggles of the elders who have come before me. Sadly, as it stands, this is not an experience I wish to share.

This divide has been forming for a long time. It has become a systemic problem that needs to be addressed. The feminist movement of the 60’s was, in large part, a young woman’s game. We live in a youth-obsessed culture, which only perpetuates these issues. The fight for reproductive rights has long been at the forefront of the feminist agenda. This has been thought of as an issue only young women worry about. There seems to be some false general understanding that women who are no longer fertile no longer care about reproductive rights. Yet, older men who never have the ability to birth a child play a huge part in creating policies regarding reproductive rights for women. There also seems to me a societal misconception that older women grow more conservative with age because men tend to. This is simply not true. Men tend to grow more conservative because they gain power and privilege as they age. The same is not true for women. As Gloria Steinem points out, “women get more radical because they lose power as they age.”

I finally understand why ageism is a feminist issue. It’s because men grow more powerful with age while women become more oppressed, patronized, and othered. This is something all women are facing, and won’t go away on its own. The same systemic sexism that makes it harder for us young women to be taken seriously ONLY. GETS. WORSE.

When I bring up feminist issues in class or point out what to me are very clear gender biases in our field, I sometimes feel met with exasperation. Fortunately, I am surrounded by a group of strong, intelligent women who I will be growing more radical with as the years pass. We can’t tear each other down. I don’t care who you vote for for president. I do care about aiming to change the way we talk about it. There is no need for this to be another “damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation” for women. You’re not less of a feminist if you vote for a man, and you’re not biased if you vote for a woman. It is going to take cohesion to continue to climb this stupid ladder because, as Madeleine Albright bluntly puts it, “It’s not done. There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”

The Double Standard of Ambition // Kristen Anna

I have a group of female friends where we all share the same qualities: we are all ambitious, hardworking, and very much single. As females in our early twenties, we are all going through the stages of trying to figure out our futures. One of my friends recently got a prestigious internship, another is applying for business jobs in Denver, and I have my research and graduate schools plans ahead of me. However, we have all noticed that as we begin to become more career-oriented, it has affected our relationships with others and as well as others' perceptions of us.

Never before had I realized the underlying sexism that follows around a woman who is ambitious. Although my family supports me in whatever path I choose, I have received many underhanded comments from the other females in my family about the fact that I am single and not ready to settle down. My grandmother keeps telling me that I will find "the one" although I am not particularly looking to find "the one" at the moment. Despite the fact that I am only twenty-two, people constantly ask me about when I plan on getting married and having children. In fact, when I told my mother that I certainly did not want those anytime in the next several years, she was shocked.

My friends have faced this as well. My one friend was in a serious relationship with a man for over a year. He graduated and moved to Denver while she continued to finish her studies. They ended up breaking up almost a year ago because he kept pressuring her to marry him and settle down with him in Denver, despite her telling him she wasn't ready and she wanted to finish school and have a stable career first. She was nineteen years old. For refusing to marry him, she became a "heartless bitch" that was shunned by him and all of his friends.

This has become a serious problem for all of us women who are still young and career-oriented. No matter how successful we are, there is always that lingering doubt of "Should I be settling down? Is it bad that I am alone?" I hate the way this standard in society has made me feel. I am happy to be single, but society also makes us feel guilty us for not having boyfriends or husbands or children by a certain age. Whenever my friends and I get together for "singles night" we celebrate our lack of attachment, but it almost feels like we have to justify being single. 

This is certainly a double standard in society. We applaud men who are ambitious and career-oriented without ever questioning their commitment to their significant others or their children. Research I have done on this topic shows that men are more likely to get promotions and tenure-track positions regardless if they have children or not. However, women that we interviewed in my research were hesitant to have children, knowing that this could drastically affect their careers. When women have children, they are far less likely to receive the promotions and positions that men do. Yet, if a woman is single and works hard for her job, she is often referred to as a "workaholic," "bitch," or sometimes more derogatory words. I have experienced all of those, from coworkers to romantic partners.

This attitude is something that desperately needs to change, both from men and other women. We cannot help women to progress in the workforce if we try to undermine their work and make them feel like they are not successful until they have married and had children. Some women do derive success from this, and that is absolutely fine. But women should not have to feel shame from receiving their happiness from work, as it has always been acceptable for men to do so. Although I believe attitudes are changing as we strive to reach equality in the workplace, there is still much to be done.

Picture taken from Pantene Ad Campaign, http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/amazing-pantene-ad-defiantly-tackles-how-women-workplace-are-labeled-154385

Baby Blues // Alexis Hershfield, Ed.M.

Thanks to celebrities such as Brooke Shields and Gwyneth Paltrow, postpartum depression is now included in our pop cultural lexicon. While Sheilds’ and Paltrow’s openness about their own struggles with postpartum brought the topic into the public domain, many people still hold misconceptions about the illness.

Research shows that postpartum depression is chronic and episodic in nature, meaning that it reoccurs in thirty to fifty percent of people. While symptoms tend to glean after delivery, vulnerability to depression begins for many women before delivery.  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) currently uses the term perinatal depression to describe this mood disorder. Perinatal depression encompasses both the period during pregnancy and the period after the birth of a child.  The misunderstanding among many is that postpartum depression is an isolated event and that fallacy puts many women and their children at-risk. The longer one waits to detect or treat depression, the more difficult it is for the episode to remit.  Severity of a reoccurrence also rises with increased episodes. Untreated perinatal depression can be extremely detrimental the child.  Risk factors for the child include lower I.Q. s, language delays, lower birth weights, emotional and behavioral problems and issues with mother-infant bonding.  

On January 26, 2016, the United States Preventative Services Task force - a government appointed health panel - called for the need for screening of maternal mental illness. This initiative underscored the political community’s growing concern about the prevalence of perinatal depression.  The hope is that with the increased use of screening measures by physicians, rates of perinatal depression will decline.

Unfortunately, the road does not end at improved screening measures.  Women with perinatal depression face significant challenges about how to best treat the disorder given the lack of evidence-based treatment options currently available.  A number of studies suggest adverse effects from antidepressants and other psychotropic medications on children, with mounting questions surrounding the lack of data available on the long-term impact medications given during pregnancy and breastfeeding have on children.  This dilemma prevents many women from seeking help. Luckily, there is evidence that suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy (C.B.T) and interpersonal therapy (I.T.P) are effective in reducing depressive symptoms. Promotion of these services by medical practitioners is necessary.

Women need to create conversations around these topics in order to promote early detection and treatment.  Awareness is key.

Citations

Belluck, P. (2016, January 26). Panel Calls for Depression Screening During and After Pregnancy. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/health/post-partum-depression-test-epds-screening-guidelines.html

Bornstein, D. (2014, October 16). Treating Depression Before it Becomes Postpartum. New York Times. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/treating-depression-before-it-becomes-postpartum/

de Mello, M. F., de Jesus Mari, J., Bacaltchuk, J., Verdeli, H., & Neugebauer, R. (2005). A systematic review of research findings on the efficacy of interpersonal therapy for depressive disorders. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 255(2), 75-82.

Department of Health (August, 2006). Perinatal Depression. New York State Department of Health. Retrieved from, https://www.health.ny.gov/community/pregnancy/health_care/perinatal/perinatal_depression.htm

Fitelson, Elizabeth et al. Treatment of Postpartum Depression: Clinical, Psychological and Pharmacological Options. International Journal of Women’s Health 3 (2011): 1–14. PMC.

Grigoriadis, S., & Ravitz, P. (2007). An approach to interpersonal psychotherapy for postpartum depression Focusing on interpersonal changes.Canadian Family Physician, 53(9), 1469-1475.

O'Hara, M. W., Stuart, S., Gorman, L. L., & Wenzel, A. (2000). Efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy for postpartum depression. Archives of general psychiatry, 57(11)

O'Hara, M. W., Rehm, L. P., & Campbell, S. B. (1982). Predicting depressive symptomatology: cognitive-behavioral models and postpartum depression.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91(6), 457.

Pearlstein T. Perinatal depression: treatment options and dilemmas. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience : JPN. 2008; 33(4):302-318.

Solomon, A. (2015, May 28). The Secret Sadness of Pregnancy with Depression. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/magazine/the-secret-sadness-of-pregnancy-with-depression.html

Image from https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvNm-D-Y8uC4fnPptP6y5UcSAlBbklIuNPkcJDZArpD5iBq3Uu

Trans Women are Women // Kendall Betts, MA

We as feminists have failed our trans sisters in many ways. As transgender issues have been receiving more attention in the media, pop culture, and even anti-discriminatory legislature, transgender women have had their legitimacy as women called into question, often by women who call themselves feminists. Let me assure you that calling the legitimacy of someone’s gender into question is not feminism, that is oppression.

Society is obsessed with trans women in particular. The media sensationalizes and hypersexualizes trans women at every given opportunity, with television shows exposing every gory detail of sex reassignment surgery as if it is some horrific bedtime ghost story and scenes of trans women putting on makeup and heels. In her book Whipping Girl, trans activist Julia Serano discusses how this phenomenon is inherently misogynistic, as we all gawk in disbelief at the idea that a man would voluntarily forfeit his penis in the service of becoming a woman. Second, these depictions of trans women perpetuate negative stereotypes of females. Trans women have been led to believe what many of us have come to believe, which is that we must be frilly, pink, flirty, and globally feminine to be a woman. These stereotypes equate femininity to femaleness, which is an inherent flaw as all women run the gamut of femininity, and yet are still very much women.

Futhermore, we are hurting the feminist cause when we call into question the authenticity of someone’s gender identity. When we watch a documentary or television show on transgender women, the images often display women as they put on lipstick or slip into a dress and heels. These images attempt to portray an unnatural or contrived external process of “becoming female”, which undermines the authenticity of the trans woman’s identity as female. We do not allow trans women into many women’s conferences, based on the accusation that they are not “natural women”. Regardless of whether someone identifies internally as female, is perceived and treated by society as female, and biologically checks all of the boxes as hormonally and physically female, we as women maintain that we may exclude them because their sex assigned at birth was male. Despite being in every way female, trans women are treated as if their “true inner maleness” will come out. We deprive someone of being able to tell us about their own gender identity and gender experience.

After Caitlyn Jenner was honored as Glamour’s 2015 Woman of the Year, actress Rose McGowan wrote on her facebook wall, “Caitlyn Jenner you do not know what being a woman is all about…” and raised the issue of Caitlyn Jenner’s life of male privilege. McGowan wrote, “we are more than deciding what to wear,” in response to Caitlyn stating that she has been asked many questions about what her style will look like. First, Caitlyn’s experience of being bombarded with questions about her style seems more representative of society’s perception of where being a woman starts and ends than representative of Caitlyn’s history of male privilege. Second, this was a major subversion of Caitlyn’s gender identity. This raises the question of what allows someone to truly “know what being a woman is all about.” What makes us “true” women and what allows us to invalidate someone else’s femaleness? If being self and other-identified as a woman for 30 years is the only thing that truly makes you female, then how should a 6-year-old girl identify? If having a functional reproductive uterus makes you a female, then what of women with hysterectomies or women who are post-menopausal? If you must be a “biological woman” to understand what being a woman is all about, then why would trans women who have had hormone therapy not fit that category?

Trans women are women. When we start drawing lines in the sand about what makes someone’s gender legitimate or natural, we have lost sight of our own cause. On a personal level, being a feminist means that my gender identity and gender expression should not dictate my abilities, my values, or my rights. This does not stop and end with the sex that we are assigned at birth. Creating arbitrary criteria for gender does not make me feel like more of a natural woman, it simply creates rules around what my gender identity can mean. If your goal is to expand your sense of what it means to be a woman, then do not reinforce a restrictive stereotype of what it can mean. If your goal is to support your sisters, then support all of your sisters. 

Image from www.everydayfeminism.com

Let's all get into formation to minimize a woman: Beyoncé and patriarchal criticism // Madeline Brodt

I unabashedly love Beyoncé. So when she surprise dropped the video for Formation the day before the Superbowl I about lost my mind. I immediately loved it, who wouldn’t with it’s great beat and positive empowering message? Apparently, a lot of people do not love it. It has been a significant cultural moment for many to start a conversation about creating media that is speaking to Black people (Robinson, 2016), where White people should be in that conversation (Hillman, 2016) and some White people’s inappropriate response to the conversation (Gilbert, 2016). All of this is influenced by her SuperBowl performance where she made choices that were purposefully displaying a message about #BlackLivesMatter and other topics (BBC, 2016). Many have written about the performance and the video including about her capitalist message (London, 2016), the colorism she perpetuates (Blay, 2016), and even Saturday Night Live has commented on it (http://bit.ly/1QLyEF7). Others have written about the validity or appropriateness of Beyoncé making statements like these in her music and performances (Caramanica, Morris, & Wortham, 2016; Chu, 2016; Przetak, 2016; Tinsley & O'Neill, 2016).  The conversation within the media and more specifically the Black community has been very thought provoking for me to follow and read about. As a White person, I do not feel that it is appropriate for me to add to the conversation about the Black American experience. To me however, there is a big part of the conversation surrounding Formation that is missing: the fact that she is a woman making these statements and how that might be influencing the reaction just as much as her ethnicity.

The conversation about Beyoncé’s activist roots are perhaps the greatest example of this sexist treatment. Many of the articles surrounding her activism seem to be “surprised” by her “new” identity. One article even made this clear in the title “Beyoncé’s Formation reveals an activist and political side to pop queen's brand” (Bowden, 2016, emphasis added). This is not a new fad for Beyoncé and it is easily evidenced by her actions in the past. In 2013, Beyoncé released ***Flawless where she included a speech from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the meaning of feminism. That was a surprising activist choice at the time (Dockterman, 2013) and she was criticized for the activist choices that she made (Danielle, 2014). Beyoncé also wrote an essay for The Shriver Report on gender inequality (Shriver, 2014). Even though this was a more traditional activist choice, she was still marginalized and called a “Budding Social Activist” (Improper Staff, 2014). Last year, Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z provided money to bail out protesters who were arrested in Ferguson and Baltimore (Glenza, 2015).

The history of her activist choices seems pretty clear and one does not have to agree with them to acknowledge her efforts. What is it that allows for them to continue to go unnoticed and to have the same narrative repeat over and over again? In large part I think it has to do with her being a woman and the tendency to denigrate women’s contributions as leaders. A recent meta-analysis gives some evidence to this claim, Williams and Tiedens (2016) evaluated the negative impacts that female leaders experience compared to male leaders. They identified that “it is interpersonal (rather than instrumental) evaluations that obstruct women leaders” (p. 165) and that because of these negative evaluations women face a difficult catch-22 “To get ahead, women must project competence, and yet if they prioritize being seen as competent, they are likely to be penalized in terms of actual leadership positions” (p. 179). Beyoncé’s activist narrative very much embodies this catch-22. Other celebrities have jumped on the activist bandwagon but because they have different identities they are not subtly undermined in this way such as Aziz Ansari’s feminist statements (Marcotte, 2014). I was not able to find any articles that denigrate him as a newcomer or other barbs that were used in reference to Beyoncé.

I wish to note the importance of Beyoncé’s intersecting identities that impact her ability to effectively walk the line on this catch-22. Her race and ethnicity are incredibly important here. Other women, more specifically White women, are “allowed” to be activists such as Emma Watson (Robinson, 2014). Her activist efforts are called “game changing” instead of the newcomer, dismissive appraisal that Beyoncé receives. It is disheartening to see this difference side by side and it speaks to the larger issue within feminist communities of a focus on “White feminism” (Zeilinger, 2015). It is important that we recognize the discourse occurring when Beyoncé is being constantly minimized as a Black feminist activist because we all are in this fight together. You do not have to agree with all of her choices and can be critical of them but please recognize the sexism that is playing out before us.

BBC. (2016, February 8). Beyonce's Super Bowl performance: Why was it so significant? - BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35520636

Blay, Y. (2016, February 08). On 'Jackson Five Nostrils,' Creole vs. 'Negro' and Beefing Over Beyoncé's 'Formation' Retrieved from http://www.colorlines.com/articles/jackson-five-nostrils-creole-vs-negro-and-beefing-over-beyoncés-formation

Bowden, E. (2016, February 8). Beyonce's Formation reveals an activist and political side to pop queen's brand. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/beyonces-formation-reveals-an-activist-and-political-side-to-pop-queens-brand-20160208-gmo1s2.html

Caramanica, J., Morris, W., & Wortham, J. (2016, February 07). Beyoncé in ‘Formation’: Entertainer, Activist, Both? Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/arts/music/beyonce-formation-super-bowl-video.html?_r=0

Chu, A. (2016, February 9). Beyoncé’s Black Lives Matter Tribute Defies the Laws of Celebrity Activism. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/09/beyonc-s-black-lives-matter-tribute-defies-the-laws-of-celebrity-activism.html

Danielle, B. (2014, April). Bell hooks on Beyoncé: She Is a 'Terrorist' Because of Her 'Impact On Young Girls' Retrieved from http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/05/bell-hooks-beyonce-terrorist-impact-young-girls/

Dockterman, E. (2013, December 17). Flawless: 5 Lessons in Modern Feminism From Beyoncé. Retrieved from http://time.com/1851/flawless-5-lessons-in-modern-feminism-from-beyonce/

Gilbert, J. (2016, February 08). Conservatives Are Pissed About Beyonce's Super Bowl Performance. Retrieved from http://fusion.net/story/265557/beyonce-super-bowl-racist-conservatives-black-lives-matter/

Glenza, J. (2015, May 18). Jay Z and Beyoncé bailed out protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, activist says. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/18/jay-z-beyonce-baltimore-ferguson-protests-bail-money

Hillman, M. (2016, February 08). White People: Shut Up About Beyoncé. Retrieved from http://bittergertrude.com/2016/02/08/white-people-shut-up-about-beyonce/

Improper Staff. (2014, January 13). Beyonce, a Budding Social Activist, Adds New Cause to Resume. Retrieved from http://www.theimproper.com/96775/beyonce-budding-social-activist-adds-resume/

London, D. (2016, February 09). Beyoncé's capitalism, masquerading as radical change. Retrieved from http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/280129/beyonce-capitalism-black-activism/?utm_source=sc-tw

Marcotte, A. (2014, October 7). Aziz Ansari Is Better Than Most Celebrities at Talking About Feminism. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/07/aziz_ansari_embraces_feminism_on_the_late_show_with_david_letterman.html

Przetak, C. (2016, February 16). Factualism In Beyonce's Activism. Retrieved from http://theodysseyonline.com/coastal-carolina/factualism-in-beyonces-activism/316606

Robinson, J. (2014, September 21). Emma Watson Delivers Game-Changing Speech on Feminism for the U.N. Retrieved from http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/09/emma-watson-un-speech-feminism

Robinson, Z. (2016, February 06). We Slay, Part I. Retrieved from http://newsouthnegress.com/southernslayings/

Shriver, M. (Ed.). (2014). The Shriver report: A woman's nation pushes back from the brink.

Tinsley, O., & O'Neill, C. (2016, February 8). Beyonce's 'Formation' Is Activism for African Americans, Women and LGBTQ People. Retrieved from http://time.com/4211888/beyonce-formation-activism/

Williams, M. J., & Tiedens, L. Z. (2016). The subtle suspension of backlash: A meta-analysis of penalties for women’s implicit and explicit dominance behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 165-197. doi:10.1037/bul0000039

Zeilinger, J. (2015, September 11). The One Brutal Truth That Every White Feminist Needs to Hear. Retrieved from http://mic.com/articles/125084/the-brutal-truth-every-white-feminist-needs-to-hear#.vmma7cwXX

Image from: http://33.media.tumblr.com/156e0a4e58d597b681ce793fbf45f9ef/tumblr_o25ez0yXYc1utl296o1_500.gif

How Empowered is ‘Girl Empowerment?’ Shifting Normative to Transformative // Angelica Puzio

Empowerment – more often than not, it’s hard to hear this word without its automatic attachment to the word girl. You can picture her in your mind, a confident, agentic, authentic young girl who is limitless within the boundaries that her culture erects. She refuses to buy into a system that tells her that pleasing others comes before her own pleasure, that being silent is better than being wrong, that being female means being feminine, and that power and worth arise from anywhere but within. Each of these cultural messages – and they extend far beyond this short list – tell her exactly how to feel, how to act, how to be.

But what if some of the ways we try to reverse these norms work within and even perpetuate the status quo? Here, I explore the everywhere-but-nowhere status of girl empowerment in search of a paradigm that fits into the lives of diverse girls without leaving behind the very values that ‘empowerment’ sought to foster in the first place. My thoughts are another echo in a clarion call from feminist psychologists and girls’ studies scholars: girls deserve models of empowerment that go beyond lip service and dare to be subversive.  

When I asked my graduate cohort how they define empowerment, most said something along the lines of the cultivation of a confident sense of self. Others said the word implies the creation or recreation of previously absent personal agency or power. I think this is a fair definition, but something felt off. What empowerment – the word itself – fails to capture is that girls do not lack power in a fundamental sense, nor do we need to restore that agency or ‘cultivate’ it as if it were something they don’t already own. If I could rewrite the definition, empower would mean the cultivation of social knowledge that allows those whose agency has been systematically denied and devalued to identify toxic messages, deconstruct their contents, and challenge the power structures behind them.

Words like deconstruct don’t lend well to typical visions of 11, 14, and 17-year-old girls, so what does this really mean in the context of their worlds? Author Jessica Taft gives us two ways to think about empowerment: normative and transformative. She tells us that we can recognize transformative empowerment when organizations “engage girls in a sociological analysis of the conditions of their lives, believe that girls should have public authority, and encourage girls’ involvement in social change projects.” Normative empowerment portrays a girl’s world as full of barriers that to be need surmounted, but fails to provide her with real tools or teachings to do so.[1] 

Normative empowerment strategies are guised in good intentions. Like a fad that’s caught on, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find girl-centered products or media that don’t promote some kind of girl empowerment. As I walked through the girls’ department at Target, the examples were overwhelming. Shirts touting ‘Anyone can be anything,’ ‘Just be you,’ and ‘Fierce’ came in pink and lacy trim – it felt like a twisted attempt to celebrate girls, but only within the limits of what one should be (i.e., pink, pretty, precociously sexy). Make-up kits for 9 and 10 year olds claimed they would ‘bring out your inner sparkle,’ reminding me that companies can survive by identifying insecurities she may not have even formed yet – creating long term brand-loyalty to appearance altering products – all within the package of bringing out the empowered girl within. I use these examples for the sake of clarity, but variations and subtleties of these artificial empowerment attempts are everywhere.

Transformative empowerment is both radical and realistic. It doesn’t require us to jettison all things we’ve come to know as ‘girly,’ nor does it stipulate what is good or bad for girls. Rather, transformative empowerment exists in the moments that girls are challenged to think critically and independently about the messages that compete for their attention. It can happen in little and big ways – from conversations in the car to the strategies of girl-centered organizations. Lyn Mikel Brown and Sharon Lamb share transformative conversation models in their book Packaging Girlhood, offering parents ways to engage with their daughters about stereotypes based in listening, questioning together, and re-investing attention in things that matter. Organizations like Girls Inc. work to foster media literacy. This program helps girls develop the tools they need to recognize patriarchal messages and encourages them to advocate for and even create media that is more reflective of their diverse lives. 

Transformative empowerment lets girls decide for themselves. It works outside of systems that benefit from keeping girls’ lives contained within the status quo. Its possibilities are liberating and endless. When girl culture finally shifts from normative to transformative, I can only imagine what their voices will teach us. 

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[1] Taft, J. (2010) Girlhood in Action: Contemporary U.S. Girls' Organizations and the Public Sphere. Girlhood Studies, 3(2), 11-29.

**Thank you to Kate T. Parker for your beautiful image. To see more of the Strong is the New Pretty collection, go to http://katetparkerphotography.com/STRONG-IS-THE-NEW-PRETTY/thumbs. 

Your Candidate Does Not Make You Sexist // Holly Brown

Whether you’re feeling the Bern or ready for Hillary, we’re in the middle of a contentious time for American progressives. Supporters on both sides are passionate about their candidate, and lately have made some statements accusing the other side of the aisle of allowing gender-based discrimination to factor into choosing their candidate. Some Hillary supporters claim that Bernie fans picked him over Clinton because of sexism, while some woman-identified Bernie supporters are offended that people make assumptions about their preferred candidate based on their gender.

While there are unfortunate examples of individuals who allow sexism to factor into choosing their preferred candidate, this is the exception rather than the rule. Both frontrunners vying for the Democratic nomination have strong histories supporting pro-feminist policies. So, at the end of the day, whether you want your pro-woman candidate to be a bigger, established name in politics or someone who leans a little further left is a matter of political taste, and neither choice makes you sexist.

Instead of attacking the other side of the progressive aisle, our priority needs to shift to making sure that our country’s next president is a politician who will support rather than tear down progress toward gender equality. The frontrunners on the Republican ticket have all expressed support of anti-woman and anti-trans policies, and we need to make sure that the next four years don’t send us 50 years back in time in terms of the rights available to women and gender minorities in this country.

I’ll be honest, Bernie is my preferred candidate this time around. As much as I would love to see a woman president in the U.S., I align more with Sanders’ platform and appreciate his strong track record for backing policies and movements that align with intersectional feminism. That said, I certainly still value Hillary’s experience in the national spotlight, her grace under pressure, her ability to get things done, and the real progress she has made toward being more inclusive and intersectional in the feminism she advances. And when the primaries are over, I’ll back whichever Democratic candidate is chosen 100%. Let’s avoid turning on ourselves and join together to make sure that the next American president is pro-woman, regardless of their specific gender.

Photo from https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pATL6rPbpvY/hqdefault.jpg

Mothers and Others // Alyssa Benedict

Anthropologist Sara Blaffer Hrdy has transformed our understanding of human evolution. In her epic work Mothers and Others she offers a new understanding of how human beings evolved and survived through the millennia. Drawing from anthropology, comparative primatology, developmental psychology and other fields, Hrdy offers a different story of humanity - one that has huge implications not only for women and their role in the family, but for the structure of families, communities and society at large.

One of Hrdy’s central claims is that  “alloparental care” - when helpers take care of young ones within the social group that are not their own - set the stage for infants to develop in new ways (Hrdy, 2009). Before birth and especially afterward, mothers did not parent alone; they received support and assistance from others (Hrdy, 2009). She suggests that human beings evolved in the context of and because of social relationships. In this relational context, the mother did not play the only role. Children without aunts, grandmothers and other kin to help nurture them would have been less likely to survive (Hrdy, 2009). So, survival was not simply a game of physical strength and perseverance, it also required that babies and children connect with others within a cooperative, relational environment. They had to learn to assess the intention of their mothers and other caregivers and elicit assistance and nurturing from others (Hrdy, 2009).

I read Hrdy’s book a few years ago in the midst of balancing the responsibilities of family, career, and post graduate studies. I had been steeped in the Western notion of the nuclear family and accompanying, common expectation that the mother in that family take responsibility for all things “child.” Hrdy’s book offered me a new, more dynamic vision of family, childcare and community; one that recognizes the critical roles of other adult players like fathers, aunts and uncles, and grandparents in the care and upbringing of children. It was and is ground-breaking.

Hrdy’s work demonstrates how important it is to have diverse analyses and perspectives. As we have seen time and time again, fields like anthropology and psychology have been dominated by male thinkers. Women were frequently left out of discussions and analyses and struggled to be taken seriously as researchers and scholars. This continues in various subtle forms today. The consequences have been significant, as male dominated theories have shaped so many aspects of society.  Hrdy writes (2009) “…from the early days of evolutionary anthropology to today’s textbooks in evolutionary psychology, the tendency has been to devote more space to aggression and our ‘killer instincts’ or to emphasize…chimpanzeelike tendencies for males to join with other males…and intimidate, beat, torture, and kill…” (p.19). Far less space has been devoted to humans’ cooperative capacities and “how much early humans shared with one another to jointly rear offspring.” (p. 21).

We have some catching up to do. There is a need to make space for the ever-growing contributions of women like Sarah Hrdy so we can rethink past theories and, where needed, correct assumptions and debunk myths.  Incorporating new perspectives like Hrdy’s won’t be easy. Old habits die hard. But if we do, we have a chance to make some intentional changes in our thinking about how we structure our families, who is responsible for our children, and how to create communities that will help us realize our greatest human potentials. We can break through our limited roles and work together to raise the next generation of children together.

Picture from:

http://www.gemartstudio.com/Contact.html  

Hrdy, S.B.  (2009). Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Human Understanding. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.  

Psychology is Sexist. // Lauren Weisberg

Image from http://media.cagle.com/95/2014/04/10/146977_600.jpg

Psychology is inherently sexist.  In academia, the overwhelming majority of respected psychological theorists are men.  When women are worthy of mention, they are presented as an exception to the norm, rather than as intertwined with the dominant academic discourse.  In clinical practice, these theories have resulted in therapeutic modalities that fail to acknowledge the intersectionality of an individual’s experience.  The field of psychology as a whole has started the long process of examining how we treat people who are marginalized, some of whom are a part of multiple marginalized groups.  In the past, with our White, male-dominated theories dictating the way therapy progressed, women, gender minorities, sexual minorities, people of color, and basically anyone not in the male, White, heterosexual hegemonic group were engaging in therapies that failed to acknowledge the complexity of their intersectional identities.  Theories such as Relational-Cultural Therapy and Feminist Therapy offer alternatives to therapies developed by and for the dominant cultural group, but these are still not necessarily considered mainstream in the same way that, for example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is.  I know a psychology professor who described feminist theory as “forcing your opinions onto the client”, rather than viewing it as an alternative to male-dominated pedagogy.  This illustrates one of many reasons why feminist theories should be taught in all academic programs.  Therapy cannot be done well if our theories ignore major parts of a person’s experiences or identity.  The theories that emphasize culture and emphasize relationship need to be underscored because they incorporate the person’s whole existence.  An alternative to this is to take a critical look at the theories that already exist and are well established, such as psychodynamic psychotherapies and CBT, so that we can consciously improve them so that they are appropriate for a multicultural population. 

Truthfully, it is difficult for a field as a whole to address gender inequality in its theories if there is a substantial pay gap based on gender.  Within our own field, women earn substantially less than men.  According to the APA’s Center for Workforce Studies, “the largest pay gap for psychology doctorates occurs in health services, where men earn an average of $39,648 more than women.  This work setting employs the largest number of psychologists” (2014).  It is important to note that people of color face a pay gap as well, compounding the issue of unequal pay for women of color, who are paid less than any other demographic group (American Association of University Women, 2014).  Professionals in the field of psychology work hard to establish themselves and to earn a living.  The argument that women are not as qualified, or that they are not as educated as the men in the same positions does not apply here, because this group is essentially equal on those two categories.  It is critical that sexism in the field of psychology, whether in academia or in clinical practice, is eradicated because it is the only way that as a field we can better serve the multicultural population we seek to understand and help.

References

American Association of University Women. (2014). “How does race affect the gender

wage gap”. http://www.aauw.org/2014/04/03/race-and-the-gender-wage-gap/

American Psychological Association Center for Workforce Studies. (2014). “Does the

gender pay gap in psychology differ by work setting”.

www.apa.org/monitor/2014/12/datapoint.aspx