Beginning to conclude

Haste suggests in Sexual Metaphors that feminism must work to re-inform the ideologies that shape our institutions in order to actually create change, and it is largely the input we get from various sources that shapes our ideologies--what we buy, who we vote for, what we believe. That makes it important to read/receive the best knowledge possible in order to allow for the ideal shaping of our ideologies. Now, when there is so much information in so many forms readily available, this can be an extremely challenging task.

When I started work on my independent study, I was challenged by the incredible number of resources out there, and the lack of helpful information when it came to selecting the best/most relevant. Part of this problem is that the best academic criticism is only really available in elite places--like inaccessible theory in databases and academic publications that can't benefit anyone without the time, discernment and support systems afforded only in specific situations (like being a college student). I could read on university websites or in JSTOR reviews and suggested lists about which books would be the most useful (which I did), but at the end of the day I had to order my books from somewhere else. On Amazon, the reviews and comments about all of these dense theoretical books and compilations of essays were spare and generally not very helpful.

Because of this, I greatly overshot on reading materials for the semester, and have had a hard time figuring out what comes first. I realized that there needed to be a space out there where someone really provided information on what theory/books to read and what movies to watch. One of the most meaningful ways to have my work this semester make an impact on the larger discipline of women's studies, especially since as an undergrad it is hard to get ones work into more traditional public (and academic) forums, was to post reviews of the sources I was consulting on very mainstream resources, like Amazon, imdb, and Netflix.

Originally I thought that the most important thing in electronic resources was to keep each topic focused on a separate weblog, but now I think that I need to have everything in one place, linked to my identity. So, I m rolling this site over into my larger, new Wordpress account. I am calling this site "Collection Plate." I am eventually going to ask the women's studies department, Reves Center, IR department, Monroe Scholars/Charles Center staff and maybe even the English department to link my site on their pages once I get it fully up and running. I would hope they would continue to keep it accessible at least while I am studying at Oxford next year where I think I'll be moving towards research in nonviolent methods for sustainable international development with a focus on women. I want to keep my new site live then and update regularly, and in the future work towards featuring sections on each of topics in which I am engaged along the course of my studies in and outside the classroom. I am planning to have several pages including freshman year; Kyoto, Japan: classwork and case study; mytwolips; my classwork in my masters program at Oxford; and my case study international peace work/research in Rwanda in 2009-2010.

Academic blogging thoughts continued

I wanted to include here a segment from the first post of another blog project I am planning to work on in the future that documents a lot of my ideas about academic blogging and contains a significant number of links to sites/blogs/articles that address some of the issues central to the discussion around using blogs for academic purposes. The excerpt, in it's original context here, follows:

I feel like blogging will continue to be important for me, at least while I'm in school and maybe even particularly once I'm out in the world working. I know some people say that blogs are meaningless drabble and worthless, but I think that they are a really exciting tool that allows nearly immediate and virtually free access to various forms of knowledge produced not just by those in our immediate geographical/academic/traditional social communities, but actually worldwide. I also recently found out that there are projects to collect this knowledge and organize/legitimize it for general and academic use. There are certainly problems that exist for blogging academically including: academic refereeing (peer-review) and reliability/verifiability/legitimacy as a source and issues of plagiarism (particularly because of potential differences in copyright law since there is not an official international law) and citation both for the blogger and those who want to use its content. Even just in that set of links about academic blogging, a fair number of them are blogs and, regardless of whether the moderators are said to be librarians or college students, it is almost impossible to know for a fact who is actually producing the ideas and words because of the lack of a definite connection between an actual and an online identity. And even then, all these thoughts are tied into traditional systems of valuing information which are constantly under scrutiny and revision.

That concludes the excerpt. I think this post is really important, because as I've been working on this blog for my independent study, I've realized that I have had to do as much research on utilizing this medium for academic purposes as I have actually gotten to research my initial topic.

I've got a lot to say...

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.

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.

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.

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.