and it would seem, not always enough time to say it. I have been thinking and talking a little bit more recently about some of the specifics of using blogs as a medium for independent study and education. I have noticed in the past few weeks that I've gotten really far astray from my initial project, and while I've certainly produced a lot of posts comparatively, they're all over the map. I think it's because I was allowing myself to be so influenced by everything else that was out there to link to and experience, but I am going to definitely try to do some reigning in this week so that I get back on the right page before the end of the month and the end of the semester.
I was thinking too, though, about my posting style and the difficulty I have had in posting rapidly and thoroughly about a lot of the things I'm experiencing and working with because, since I know they are "for class," I feel like they are supposed to be of a certain caliber and academic value. I was observing one of my friend's own process for blogging, and found that there is a distinct difference in the ways in which we post. I made a comment on his most recent post exploring some of these issues, but I'm not exactly sure where to go from there. I just know that I think this medium is really worthwhile, I just have to figure out how to keep it focused enough to always be relevant to its mission.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Sexual Assault Awareness Week II & CAP Projects
I am super happy that the intro women's studies classes are doing their Community Action Projects (CAPs) again this year. It seems to create this really wonderful, open space where women can talk about body issues, sexuality issues, fashion issues, abuse issues, etc. because of the various groups that are hosting all of these really wonderful events, talks, displays, and whatnot around campus. It also certainly doesn't hurt that some of them were during Sexual Assault Awareness week which is a similarly inclined opportunity to talk openly about some pretty serious issues.
I attended a couple of events during the week, including one I posted on earlier and also the pilot for a new co-ed program run collectively by members of 1 in 4 and Every Two Minutes that will allow freshmen to engage in an open dialogue about giving and receiving consent, particularly when it comes to sexual situations and will help them think about the involvement of alcohol. I wish I could tell you more about the program, but because of the fact that is is currently just a pilot, it was agreed that we would preserve the safe space of the room by allowing all of the discussion that took place to remain between those who were there. I am excited, though, that there is at least an ongoing discussion taking place.
The other events I wanted to mention, though, are both CAP projects. The first was a wall that had pictures of various women in different amounts of clothing that was meant to address body image and show pictures of real women. I am always glad to have this sort of display, but I was walking through with a male friend and his comment was: "All of the women who are less clothed are the ones we would typically think of as being more comfortable with their bodies." I also felt like maybe there wasn't enough of an opportunity for the people photographed to have their feelings about the pictures directly attached. I'd love to see a picture of a really pretty girl with the description "Looking at magazines makes me feel fat and ugly." Surely, I don't want people to feel fat and ugly, but I think that it would demonstrate that there are a lot of people who feel negatively about their bodies who others of us look at and are jealous of. I think it would help my understanding of my own body image to know what other women actually think about their bodies.
Finally, I went to an event called "Fashion Shouldn't Hurt," which was all about the different ways that fashion is bad for women. It included several sections including one that depicted the W&M approach to fashion, a lecture from a local doctor on the potential hazards of high heels and a fashion show of cute but healthy fashions. The group also maintains a website about their issue. The models were legitimately all shapes and sizes and the room was packed full of people who were supportive of everything that was being discussed. I felt like I learned at least a little bit, and I have been way more conscious of the things that I personally do on a regular basis for the sake of fashion that might not be the healthiest for me, and I guess that's the point, but my friend pointed out that most of the people in the room were probably already concerned about the issue and that it was the people who weren't there who really needed all of the information the most. I would agree that a lot of events are based on preaching to the choir. At least, though, the events are being held and the ideas are getting talked about.
I attended a couple of events during the week, including one I posted on earlier and also the pilot for a new co-ed program run collectively by members of 1 in 4 and Every Two Minutes that will allow freshmen to engage in an open dialogue about giving and receiving consent, particularly when it comes to sexual situations and will help them think about the involvement of alcohol. I wish I could tell you more about the program, but because of the fact that is is currently just a pilot, it was agreed that we would preserve the safe space of the room by allowing all of the discussion that took place to remain between those who were there. I am excited, though, that there is at least an ongoing discussion taking place.
The other events I wanted to mention, though, are both CAP projects. The first was a wall that had pictures of various women in different amounts of clothing that was meant to address body image and show pictures of real women. I am always glad to have this sort of display, but I was walking through with a male friend and his comment was: "All of the women who are less clothed are the ones we would typically think of as being more comfortable with their bodies." I also felt like maybe there wasn't enough of an opportunity for the people photographed to have their feelings about the pictures directly attached. I'd love to see a picture of a really pretty girl with the description "Looking at magazines makes me feel fat and ugly." Surely, I don't want people to feel fat and ugly, but I think that it would demonstrate that there are a lot of people who feel negatively about their bodies who others of us look at and are jealous of. I think it would help my understanding of my own body image to know what other women actually think about their bodies.
Finally, I went to an event called "Fashion Shouldn't Hurt," which was all about the different ways that fashion is bad for women. It included several sections including one that depicted the W&M approach to fashion, a lecture from a local doctor on the potential hazards of high heels and a fashion show of cute but healthy fashions. The group also maintains a website about their issue. The models were legitimately all shapes and sizes and the room was packed full of people who were supportive of everything that was being discussed. I felt like I learned at least a little bit, and I have been way more conscious of the things that I personally do on a regular basis for the sake of fashion that might not be the healthiest for me, and I guess that's the point, but my friend pointed out that most of the people in the room were probably already concerned about the issue and that it was the people who weren't there who really needed all of the information the most. I would agree that a lot of events are based on preaching to the choir. At least, though, the events are being held and the ideas are getting talked about.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Academics in the military
Funny that I decided to write about women in the military last night because that topic carries over into what I'm looking at today, which is the position of academics in the military. I wrote a paper last semester about transnational feminism that included a section on its practical applications, one of which I believe is to assist in better understanding the gender relations within the countries with which we are at war or are occupying.
Tonight I attended the Reves Center's McSwain-Walker Lecture given by anthropologist Montgomery McFate. She was discussing the military's new Human Terrain System, a program that basically amounts to deploying people with cultural knowledge(read: people with PhDs) into the field with the military in an attempt to reduce the negative impact of the military. After listening to McFate's lecture, I was inclined to believe that it was a worthwhile program. It seems to make sense that if you're walking into a room with open eyes you're going to bump into fewer things than if you go in blindfolded. Having people in the field who actually know something about understanding the culture of Iraq means that they can work smartly instead of just slinging around big fists. At the same time, though, there are a number of people who are against the HTS including the friend I attended the talk with who discusses it on his blog where he mentions the Network of Concerned Anthropologists who are also pretty anti-HTS.
I guess I hadn't really thought about how complicated the practical application of things could be. The point the anti-HTS crowd stands firm on is that since these anthropologists (and other social scientists) are working for, therefore becoming a tool of, the military, they are complicit with the imperialist system. Their data is used to further the military's purpose which generally seems at odds with the academic discipline of anthropology. Their conclusion is that this can in no way be a good thing. Now, I don't know enough about it to say for certain, but I guess my own personal feelings are mixed.
My way of looking at it is this: while perhaps the entire system has flaws, most systems have flaws, and while it may be true that there are many evils in war, I don't think the HTS necessarily has to be one of them. If you have good people who go in and gather information and try to do some good with it, maybe some good will happen. War isn't ever good, but in the long run, if we have a bit of help with cleaning up the mess we've made over there that doesn't seem so bad. Surely the information gathered is not in itself bad or good, it is knowledge. If that is what the anthropologists are doing, gathering and passing on knowledge, that is a neutral action. It is how that knowledge is then used that is the problem. I'm not sure that I want the line between anthropology and military intelligence blurred, but I also think that where this knowledge is being employed to "fix" things or handle things in a non-violent manner, there is some merit.
Looking back to women's studies, though, what I would have to say is this: while I think that it is necessary to understand the customs relating to women of any given country in order to interact with them appropriately out of respect and cultural sensitivity, to act on their behalf or to tell them what they want or need is too much. We must instead seek to provide tools to a community that will allow them to act for themselves. When I think about how I personally want to shape my interactions with people from other cultures, I know that I want to try to facilitate workshops and programs that are desired by the participants rather than force upon them my own ideas about female empowerment, but I know that is easier said than done.
Tonight I attended the Reves Center's McSwain-Walker Lecture given by anthropologist Montgomery McFate. She was discussing the military's new Human Terrain System, a program that basically amounts to deploying people with cultural knowledge(read: people with PhDs) into the field with the military in an attempt to reduce the negative impact of the military. After listening to McFate's lecture, I was inclined to believe that it was a worthwhile program. It seems to make sense that if you're walking into a room with open eyes you're going to bump into fewer things than if you go in blindfolded. Having people in the field who actually know something about understanding the culture of Iraq means that they can work smartly instead of just slinging around big fists. At the same time, though, there are a number of people who are against the HTS including the friend I attended the talk with who discusses it on his blog where he mentions the Network of Concerned Anthropologists who are also pretty anti-HTS.
I guess I hadn't really thought about how complicated the practical application of things could be. The point the anti-HTS crowd stands firm on is that since these anthropologists (and other social scientists) are working for, therefore becoming a tool of, the military, they are complicit with the imperialist system. Their data is used to further the military's purpose which generally seems at odds with the academic discipline of anthropology. Their conclusion is that this can in no way be a good thing. Now, I don't know enough about it to say for certain, but I guess my own personal feelings are mixed.
My way of looking at it is this: while perhaps the entire system has flaws, most systems have flaws, and while it may be true that there are many evils in war, I don't think the HTS necessarily has to be one of them. If you have good people who go in and gather information and try to do some good with it, maybe some good will happen. War isn't ever good, but in the long run, if we have a bit of help with cleaning up the mess we've made over there that doesn't seem so bad. Surely the information gathered is not in itself bad or good, it is knowledge. If that is what the anthropologists are doing, gathering and passing on knowledge, that is a neutral action. It is how that knowledge is then used that is the problem. I'm not sure that I want the line between anthropology and military intelligence blurred, but I also think that where this knowledge is being employed to "fix" things or handle things in a non-violent manner, there is some merit.
Looking back to women's studies, though, what I would have to say is this: while I think that it is necessary to understand the customs relating to women of any given country in order to interact with them appropriately out of respect and cultural sensitivity, to act on their behalf or to tell them what they want or need is too much. We must instead seek to provide tools to a community that will allow them to act for themselves. When I think about how I personally want to shape my interactions with people from other cultures, I know that I want to try to facilitate workshops and programs that are desired by the participants rather than force upon them my own ideas about female empowerment, but I know that is easier said than done.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Women in the military
So a topic that I often confront is gender equality and the military is often a prime area where the discrepancies between the way men and women are viewed is the most clear. For instance, in this this story about a woman who served during WWII, her bravery and leadership in battle couldn't be rewarded because women were ineligible to receive certain honors. It's easy to think that in today's more gender equal world that women would face fewer restrictions, but that is not true. There are plenty of positions within multiple branches of the military that are completely off limits to women and as recently as 2005 there was discussion in Congress over whether or not to regulate some of these restrictions by law rather than simply military bylaw. My really good friend served in the National Guard and was a door gunner, but she ran into the problem of being infrequently selected for missions making it hard for her to rack up the number of hours she needed to become eligible for further training and other various positions. I understand that women are also not drafted, so quite obviously their role within the military is different, but I think that it's intolerable that a great woman who has sacrificed just as much for her country would be unable to be given the appropriate level of recognition. I don't know a lot about today's military, but I really hope no awards or honors have gender limitations or requirements.
Sexual Assault Awareness Week Events, I
So, this week on campus is Sexual Assault Awareness Week. The event is participated in by a variety of different organizations and offices and is composed of a variety of events both enjoyable and educational, informative and "just for fun."
The event I attended tonight was a double film screening of Svetlana's Journey and Cargo: Innocence Lost presented by two students from the Third World Feminisms class being taught by instructor Hilary Marcus. The event information also linked the wikisite the two have produced in the course of their classwork.
Svetlana's Journey is a film by director Michael Cory Davis about a Bulgarian girl forced into prostitution. The project was an attempt to depict the brutal reality of sex work with three main purposes (as espoused by the website): show that that the victims of forced prostitution are not to be blamed for their situation, change the minds of any girls who had considered sex work as a viable option and to demonstrate that Bulgarians care about the rights of women. I would have to say that while I thought the film was able to show how terrible life was for one girl and did depict her struggles graphically and realistically, I didn't think it did a terrific job of meeting some of its other stated goals. If I hadn't been watching the film in an academic environment, I am not sure I would have understood that this was specifically a Bulgarian film or had access to information about how and why these women end up in forced prostitution situations. Certainly the project at large does raise awareness for the issue and the website provides a link to Face to Face, a non-profit group actually working against child and forced prostitution in Bulgaria.
The other film being screened, Cargo: Innocence Lost, was also directed by Davis, but did a much better job to to paint the bigger picture of international sex trafficking and the United States role within the larger transnational industry. Cargo blends reenactments of various parts of the trafficking process with interviews with victims and others involved in the fight against against forced prostitution including police officers, social workers and people involved in attempting to persecute the traffickers. The film illuminated the trafficking process, explaining how and why women were able to be convinced to come to the U.S. in the first place and showing the process of how they are eventually, often violently, wrangled into prostitution. I definitely thought this was a much more informative and interesting film and really thought the screening would have gone better had Cargo been showed first. Still, though, it was a worthwhile event and I am looking forward to the rest of Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
The event I attended tonight was a double film screening of Svetlana's Journey and Cargo: Innocence Lost presented by two students from the Third World Feminisms class being taught by instructor Hilary Marcus. The event information also linked the wikisite the two have produced in the course of their classwork.
Svetlana's Journey is a film by director Michael Cory Davis about a Bulgarian girl forced into prostitution. The project was an attempt to depict the brutal reality of sex work with three main purposes (as espoused by the website): show that that the victims of forced prostitution are not to be blamed for their situation, change the minds of any girls who had considered sex work as a viable option and to demonstrate that Bulgarians care about the rights of women. I would have to say that while I thought the film was able to show how terrible life was for one girl and did depict her struggles graphically and realistically, I didn't think it did a terrific job of meeting some of its other stated goals. If I hadn't been watching the film in an academic environment, I am not sure I would have understood that this was specifically a Bulgarian film or had access to information about how and why these women end up in forced prostitution situations. Certainly the project at large does raise awareness for the issue and the website provides a link to Face to Face, a non-profit group actually working against child and forced prostitution in Bulgaria.
The other film being screened, Cargo: Innocence Lost, was also directed by Davis, but did a much better job to to paint the bigger picture of international sex trafficking and the United States role within the larger transnational industry. Cargo blends reenactments of various parts of the trafficking process with interviews with victims and others involved in the fight against against forced prostitution including police officers, social workers and people involved in attempting to persecute the traffickers. The film illuminated the trafficking process, explaining how and why women were able to be convinced to come to the U.S. in the first place and showing the process of how they are eventually, often violently, wrangled into prostitution. I definitely thought this was a much more informative and interesting film and really thought the screening would have gone better had Cargo been showed first. Still, though, it was a worthwhile event and I am looking forward to the rest of Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Continuing to explore the potential of the Internet
So, I posted part of this as a comment a few days ago, but enough has developed with this situation recently that I wanted to put it on my main page:
Last night one of my good friends from high school contacted me to say that he found my weblog "inspiring." He and some of his friends who are at U Penn architecture school have thought about starting a weblog with a variety of information related to their field of study. It was cool to know that people are starting to use this sort of tool as an extension of their academic study.
I have recently started talking with a graduate student here who has some academic interest in the Internet who is also keeping a blog. Right now it's largely just random thoughts, but a lot of them are based with the work he is doing in anthropology.
I would love for this sort of use of the Internet to be a growing trend, but I know one important thing will be for there to be some sort of way to make sure that people can actually find these blogs when they're looking for things online. I really do think that these links need to be all collected together in one place. I know that my old study abroad program used to link all student blogs from the college's homepage. Maybe if universities provide students with the ability to link their work from the Arts & Sciences page or even a subdivision of it it would allow these things to be getting read by other people interested in the same field. That's an issue I'm still working on.
Something else, though, is that reading these other blogs has made me realize how my own writing can be a bit pretentious sometimes. A la the discussion that was taking place on Will's livejournal about how college kids can use crazy terminology that makes everyday problems into these academic concepts and arguments, I think it's really true that a lot of what is said is inaccessible to others. I want people to read this and get it...not feel like they've opened up a text book or something. I think that's going to be a continuing goal of mine: to ensure that what I am writing isn't a Judith Butler piece, but is instead something that could be read by a college freshman endeavoring to understand female sexuality for the first time.
Last night one of my good friends from high school contacted me to say that he found my weblog "inspiring." He and some of his friends who are at U Penn architecture school have thought about starting a weblog with a variety of information related to their field of study. It was cool to know that people are starting to use this sort of tool as an extension of their academic study.
I have recently started talking with a graduate student here who has some academic interest in the Internet who is also keeping a blog. Right now it's largely just random thoughts, but a lot of them are based with the work he is doing in anthropology.
I would love for this sort of use of the Internet to be a growing trend, but I know one important thing will be for there to be some sort of way to make sure that people can actually find these blogs when they're looking for things online. I really do think that these links need to be all collected together in one place. I know that my old study abroad program used to link all student blogs from the college's homepage. Maybe if universities provide students with the ability to link their work from the Arts & Sciences page or even a subdivision of it it would allow these things to be getting read by other people interested in the same field. That's an issue I'm still working on.
Something else, though, is that reading these other blogs has made me realize how my own writing can be a bit pretentious sometimes. A la the discussion that was taking place on Will's livejournal about how college kids can use crazy terminology that makes everyday problems into these academic concepts and arguments, I think it's really true that a lot of what is said is inaccessible to others. I want people to read this and get it...not feel like they've opened up a text book or something. I think that's going to be a continuing goal of mine: to ensure that what I am writing isn't a Judith Butler piece, but is instead something that could be read by a college freshman endeavoring to understand female sexuality for the first time.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
two recent poems
These poems aren't super recent, but they do both mention some of the issues I've been thinking about with my independent study, though in a bit of an indirect way. I still wanted to link them here so that you could explore them at your leisure.
Train to Brugge
night driving
Also, I posted links today on Fork... for people to hopefully follow. I would love to get more regular traffic because that would encourage me to actually post every day instead of only once in a while. I also finally posted some information about my first sources although its way back in the archives at this point. I have a lot of other notes to transcribe from my notebook, but it's sort of a slow process since they're a bit scattered.
Train to Brugge
night driving
Also, I posted links today on Fork... for people to hopefully follow. I would love to get more regular traffic because that would encourage me to actually post every day instead of only once in a while. I also finally posted some information about my first sources although its way back in the archives at this point. I have a lot of other notes to transcribe from my notebook, but it's sort of a slow process since they're a bit scattered.
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