When I first heard about the death of Libyan Dictator, Moammar Gaddafi (who seems to be America’s favorite frenemy) my thoughts went to the women of Libya: what would it mean for them? I quickly realized I had no idea. I searched my mind, trying to remember what I’d heard about Libyan women in the news in the past months.
The fact is, I hadn’t heard much at all about Libyan women, because Libyan women are complicated. Okay, all women are complicated (I feel like this could be the title of a book), but the women’s rights situation in Libya is especially complex, because it turns out, Gaddafi was in many ways a supporter of women’s rights—and yes I cringe a little when I say something as general as …
Like many other college freshmen across the country, I enrolled in a prerequisite, required English class for my first semester of school. Unlike most other college freshmen, though, I wasn’t stuck reading the immortal words of old, dead White dudes. Instead, I enrolled in a course called “Women and Culture” which was, predictably, all about female writers and female-centric works.
Yeah, I know – a feminist blogger at a women’s college enrolled in “Women and Culture.” I am a walking, talking feminist stereotype. But in actuality, my thought process behind choosing that course over courses that focused on the literature of South America or the Mediterranean (my other choices) wasn’t exactly rooted in my feminist identity (at least not at face value). It was more that when I really thought …
Feminism | Posted by Brenna McCaffrey on 11/25/2011
Saying No To Rape Culture
My name is Brenna, I’m eighteen, and I’ve been glossy-magazine-free for nine months now. That’s right. Back at the advent of 2011, I decided to eschew Cosmo, Glamour, Seventeen, Vogue, Marie Claire, Lucky, etc., in hopes of escaping a culture that I continually noticed was telling me how to dress, how to look, how to act, and how to spend my money. I began to get more and more skeptical about this form of media which I had previously deemed as harmless.
I’ve had a handful of close encounters– an innocent trip to the magazine racks to find the latest issue of Ms. that quickly turns into a desire to peek and see some pretty picture of pretty clothes and pretty nail polish and pretty people. I haven’t caved, however, …
There has been too much sexism is surrounding me this week and it’s really getting me down.
To start, a boy I know who I considered one of my friends and who knew about my intolerance for sexism thought it’d be really hilarious to pull the: “Do you want to hear a joke? Women’s rights” joke on me. The first couple of times he said this I ignored him. But then after a few more times, I told him to fuck off. He has continued to repeat it to me all of this week. The worst thing is, he’s not even just being a jerk because he thinks it’s funny, he even said “It’s hard for a man not to be sexist,” which I find utterly appalling. It’s pretty damn …
A few months ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Jessica Valenti – founder of Feministing, author of Full Frontal Feminism and awesome person all around.
Support Women Artists Sunday: The Carolina Chocolate Drops
It’s time for some, bring out your fiddle, folk music!
The Carolina Chocolate Drops is an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina, United States. Its 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in FRoots magazine’s top 10 albums of 2010. Formed in November 2005 following the members’ attendance at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina, the group grew out of the success of Sankofa Strings, an ensemble that featured Flemons, Giddens and percussionist/banjoist Sule Greg Wilson, with Robinson as an occasional guest artist. The Drops are one of the two known full-time African American string bands. There were originally three members: Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons, and Justin Robinson, who were …
Starting on October 11th, PBS launched a fascinating 5-part mini-series entitled “Women, War and Peace.” As they describe it: “Women, War & Peace challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. The five-part series reveals that women have become primary targets in today’s armed conflicts and are suffering unprecedented casualties; yet, they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.”
Check out the trailer (embedded below). The full versions of the five episodes can be found here.
