Miss Representation - What Are We Going to Do About It?!

Michelle Bachmann on Our Girls' Healthcare - Take a Stand!

Art Caplan and DSW students at the School of Social Policy and Practice

I am privileged have been in class yesterday with famed bioethicist Arthur Caplan.  His jovial nature by no means masks or underplays his steadfast commitment to medical ethics.  Case in point, Caplan this week took on a candidate for the GOP nomination for president, Michelle Bachmann.  She very irresponsibly and ignorantly misspoke about the side effects of the HPV vaccine Gardasil.  Bachmann stated as reported on the Iowa Caucuses website that "she met a woman whose daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of the vaccine... [t]here are very dangerous consequences."

Beyond the absolute absurdity of her statements which hold no medical or scientific accuracy, she is doing great harm to girls and young women nationally! Bachmann, through fear, is potentially taking away a powerful tool that could be of great benefit to girls. Take a look at this video!

How can we help in this situation?  We need more individuals, groups and community organizations to not let politicians, people of power and women to use reckless political tactics! Here are the facts:

1. There have been no reported major side effects such as "mental retardation" or death from the HPV vaccine.
2. You can not acquire mental retardation as a side effect!
3. 40 years ago cervical cancer used to be the leading cause of cancer related death among women.  
4.  Today protective measures such as the Pap test (or Pap smear) which screens for cervical cancer greatly reduces the risk of death.
5. Get tested annually!
6. HPV - the human papilloma virus - is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) where certain strands of the virus cause cancer.
7. Though abstinence is one way to protect yourself from a STD like HPV, it may (unfortunately) not always be in your control or ways in which you chose to engage in sexual relations change. Protect yourself.
8. Education is key to prevention! Know the facts and share them!
9. Speak out against misinformation and abuse of power such as Bachmann's or any other so called "figure of authority."
10. Share this post and others like it widely on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites!

Lesbians of Long Island - A Short Documentary

Hey there WCC community!  I wanted to share with you a shout out we received from Beryl Fine.  Beryl is a New York City based photographer and filmaker who contacted the WCC in the hopes of us sharing her newest endeavor - a short documentary film called Lesbians of Long Island.  Here is what she told us:

Lesbians of Long Island is a short documentary by yours truly Beryl Fine. The film centers around my aunt Lisa, her partner Lois, as well as their sidekick pooches Paddy and Abby (do you see how we love poetry?).

My exploration of my aunts began in August of 2010 when I moved from San Francisco to New York in hopes of expanding proverbial horizons (artistically and metaphorically). My aunt Lisa opened her home to me as I transitioned to a New York state of mind, (I grew up on the left coast in Santa Cruz, California). My family is not a traditional one bound by deep seeded ties. Growing up we rarely visited, moving in with Lisa was an introduction, but also developed into my first real experience getting to know her as a relative and friend. Soon I began to realize that Lisa and her partner Lois where quite the dynamic duo of smart ass antics and abrasive crass humor. They are two peas in a pod that complimented one another in perfect symmetry. I was living under my aunt’s roof for two short months before realizing I should begin to record my time spent in Long Island. What began to manifest was that these lovely ladies where not only totally normal (I use that phrase loosely) but also companions who are in love.

There is a prescribed notion in the media that love is bound by some kind of struggle and a battle which must be fought. What I want to communicate with Lesbians of Long Island is that love is not an intangible beast that must be conquered. Instead I pose the idea that it is normal and so essential that it fits seamlessly and effortlessly into the lives of Lisa and Lois. 

These lovely ladies don’t fit cultural personification of “gay”, actually that’s the furthest adjective anyone could use to describe their lives. My aunts are typical Jews living in Long Island. They posses no flamboyant qualities. They shop at Sam’s club and they watch CSI and King of Queens EVERY NIGHT and on the weekends they go to Carvel for chocolate soft serve ice cream. Paddy (a pit-bull mix) and Abby (a king Charles Cavalier Spaniel) act as their partners in crime following them at their heels and completing the equation of their amore.

I’m a believer that talk is cheap and that seeing is in fact believing. I have launched a fundraiser for my project on Kickstarter. I’m asking the world at large for help with the financing of this short. The money will be used to spread the love and joy that is Lesbians of Long Island. It will help pay for international and domestic film festival admission fees, it will also help with production costs, distribution and other miscellaneous fees that generally get racked up when producing a film. I’m asking the world to help me raise $3,500, a small feat which I know I can accomplish with your help. 

Check out her project and support the film!

Behind the Scenes at the WCC - TEDx Philadelphia Coming Your Way!

Well, what can I say - I am TED obsessed (as you can see by the various posts here on this blog with TED speakers)! Then, I was invited by TEDx Philadelphia committee member E Bond of rough draft books (a totally amazing, creative and awesome woman and bookbinder) to share my ideas for the upcoming TEDx Philadelphia event.  Well, I was honored.  I never have a shortage of ideas so I couldn't wait to meet with like minded folks and brainstorm.  This idea hour did not fail!  There were so many amazing men and woman from various walks of life in Philadelphia.  I wanted to share with you a sneak peak of the behind the scenes look of the making of the November 8, 2011 event at Temple University's Performing Arts Center!

Behind the Scenes at the WCC

What motivates us to do all the hard work we do at the WCC? You!  That means you in all your unique and multiple identities and experiences of self.  Without it and without your stories,  I am certain our world would be a really boring place.  Sometimes, though, all of these unique parts of ourselves and our numerous life roles can get very confusing and overwhelming, and at times we can feel lost.  But at the WCC we recognize that navigating multiple identities is a fact of our 21st century global and interconnected lives.

So what does this all mean exactly?  Well, take a look at the following videos from TED, for example.  TED is a global platform to share and spread ideas worth knowing about.  The WCC thinks that YOU and your stories are worth knowing about.  Sharing pieces of ourselves with each other may help us feel more comfortable in our own skins and generate greater clarity and purpose in our lives.  I love these TED videos where actress Thandie Newton and novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speak about their stories, identities, and experiences within a larger cultural context.

 

What is your story?  How do you experience your self and your multiple and complex roles? Do you at times feel overwhelmed?  Share your thoughts with us; we would love to hear them.

Working Towards the End of Poverty?

Following on the heals of President Barak Obama on The View, I would like to take a more concentrated look into joblessness and poverty in the US and around the world.  Poverty is insidious and spares no one.  One group in particular who are affected by poverty at alarming rates are lesbians.  Curvemag.com shares an article by Victoria A. Brownworth The Silent Majority: Lesbians and Poverty questioning and examining why lesbians are falling below the poverty line and at such alarming rates.  What is so striking to me in this article is that it recognizes that women who are self identified as lesbians and live beyond the poverty line and fall victim to silence and invisibility; therefore, their needs go unnoticed, unaddressed and unmet. 

Brownworth writes in her article that "factors for lesbians in poverty include the number of young lesbians forced out of their families of origin. These young women start out at an economic disadvantage that may never be bridged. Homelessness impacts queers under 25 at a rate nearly ten times that of their heterosexual peers.

Lesbian activist Jeanne Cordova notes that butch lesbians have more difficulty finding jobs because of their looks, and thus are also more likely to fall into poverty. In her award-winning book Stone Butch Blues, writer Leslie Feinberg, who experienced such discrimination herself, charted the difficulties this presents for many butch lesbians...'No one wants to be poor...[b]ut being poor makes you hidden. It’s a whole other closet we have to climb out of.'"

Globally movements through media such as The End of Poverty?  are a call to raise consciousness, perspective and an outlet to take action against poverty globally.  The End of Poverty? boldly asks the question "with so much wealth in the world, why is there still so much poverty?"       



With the development of the new Women's Collaborative Circle website coming soon, stay tuned for various interactive opportunities for social action, activism and ways to take action in the fight against poverty domestically and globally!

Speaking Their Voices - Goals for Girls

“Please Donate to Spread the Word: Girls Can Play Soccer, Too”

What would you do if everyone around you – even your own family – stood in the way of your ambitions simply because you are a girl? That’s exactly the question Argentine filmmakers Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky are pursuing in their upcoming documentary film Goals for Girls: The Movie. Currently in production, the film chronicles the challenges of a girls’ soccer team from the slums of Buenos Aires struggling to play soccer, a sport that is off-limits to women in Argentina.

Despite the fact that soccer is a national obsession in Argentina, women have largely been kept on the sidelines of the sport. Unlike in the United States, there are no professional women’s soccer teams in Argentina and no laws equivalent to Title IX that would guarantee equal government funding for women’s soccer programs. On top of these institutional barriers to women’s soccer there are societal ones as well. It is less culturally accepted for women to play soccer and the sport is primarily followed by male fans.

In defiance of these obstacles, a group of girls from a shantytown in Buenos Aires have formed their own soccer team. Even though their parents would prefer for them to stay home and clean house and the neighborhood boys mock their practices, these girls refuse to hang up their cleats. Instead, they hope to continue playing and use the sport to climb out of the cycle of poverty. A few girls are even participating in this year’s Homeless World Cup being held this September in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The slum girls’ soccer players portrayed in Goals for Girls: The Movie are sending the message to girls around the world that they don’t have to live inside the confines of the stereotypes that society often forces upon them. By proving that progress can be made when a group of girls come together to achieve a common goal, this story will motivate other females around the globe to fight for an equal opportunity to accomplish their own goals, whether on or off the soccer field.

The more girls who view Goals for Girls: The Movie, the stronger our communities will be. That is why your donation to the movie is so critical. By making a donation to support the production of Goals for Girls: The Movie you will help ensure that the film can reach the widest audience possible when it is released next summer during the Women’s World Cup in Germany. Your donation will also help fund an educational video workshop for the girls so that they can take part in the filming process and gain a valuable and marketable skill.

Please go to www.goalsforgirlsthemovie.org to donate today and help bolster the voices of this important girls’ soccer team and visit their facebook page.



Article written by guest contributor Emily Robbins, United States contact for “Goals for Girls: The Movie.” For more information please contact Emily at emily@goalsforgirlsthemovie.org.

Photo credit - Maciej Okraszewski

Taking Time to Turn Inward

I stumbled across this short film and I thought I would share it with you all.  I recently took a rare day to step away from my numerous email accounts, telephone calls, messages and the daily demands to be called upon.  Caution: taking time to turn inward may result in the reduction of stress, clarity of purpose and rekindling of passion.  Enjoy!

Speaking Their Voices - The Edge of Joy

In the U.S., a woman’s lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth is 1 in 4,800. In Nigeria it is 1 in 18.

In the one-hour documentary, The Edge of Joy, filmmaker Dawn Sinclair Shapiro closely follows an ensemble cast of Nigerian doctors, nurses, midwives and religious leaders as they battle the second largest maternal mortality rate in the world.

The Edge of Joy is a character driven, cinematic expedition ranging from deep within Nigeria’s semi-arid lands of the isolated Islamic north to the lush-savannahs of the volatile Christian south. Inside a maternity ward, the film chronicles distressed labors, deaths, and miraculous survival. Outside, lack of blood supply, transportation and family planning are examined as causes of the cycle that kills more than 36,000 Nigerian women a year. Through unprecedented access to antenatal visits, labor and delivery, family planning counseling, rural health seminars and reproductive health training for Islamic leaders, this unique film captures the dramatic story of pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria. The central characters in The Edge of Joy are the people deep within the Nigerian culture who know its misconceptions, its limitations, but also its capabilities.

Film Credits:
Director and Producer - Dawn Sinclair Shapiro
Executive Producer - Tod Lending
Editor - Michael S. O'Brien
Director of Photography - Nicola Marsh
Field Director - Bhagyashree RaoRane
Animation Director - Yoni Goodman
Original Music - Mark Bandy

For more information about The Edge of Joy contact Dawn Sinclair Shapiro at theedgeofjoy@gmail.com and visit their Facebook page - The Edge of Joy.

Speaking Their Voices - For the Next 7 Generations

For the Next 7 Generations tells the story in 2004, of thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers from all four corners, moved by their concern for our planet, came together at a historic gathering, where they decided to form an alliance: The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. This is their story. Four years in-the-making and shot on location in the Amazon rainforest, the mountains of Mexico, North America, and at a private meeting with the Dalai Lama in India, For the Next 7 Generations follows what happens when these wise women unite. Facing a world in crisis, they share with us their visions of healing and a call for change now, before it's too late. This film documents their unparalleled journey and timely perspectives on a timeless wisdom.

I am honored to share with you this spectacular documentary and story of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers who came together from all over the globe to harness their power and voice and work towards healing our planet and all her inhabitants.

Who Does She Think She Is?

Check out this amazing film and website - Who Does She Think She Is?  Literary Mama also offers an article on this topic.  Contact us with your thoughts about the topic and/or your experience as a mother and artist trying to to honor both of your identities.

And the (White-Male Dominated) Oscar Goes To...

In 2002 the Guerilla Girls posted on their website the following:

THE ANATOMICALLY CORRECT OSCAR

A billboard at Highland and Melrose in Hollywood, March 1-31, 2002 - Presented by the Guerrilla Girls and Alice Locas, a group of film makers.

We decided it was time for a little realism in Hollywood, so we erected a billboard at Melrose and Highland in Los Angeles where for the month of March, 2002 we presented THE ANATOMICALLY CORRECT OSCAR. We redesigned the old boy so he more closely resembled the white males who take him home each year! We got a lot of attention, from as far away as Europe and Australia, most of it very sympathetic. And guess what: at the Academy Awards Ceremony on March 25, Halle Berry became the first ever African-American woman to win Best Actress and Denzel Washington the second ever African-American man to win Best Actor. We're very happy about that, but the film industry still has a long way to go.

Did you know that no woman has ever won the Oscar for Best Director, and that only two have ever been nominated? That 94% of the writing awards have gone to men? Or that only 3% of all the acting awards--lead and supporting--have ever gone to people of color.

Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow on her historic win last night as Best Director.  But as Huffington Post contributor Scott Mendelson writes in his post Does the narrative behind Kathryn Bigelow's big Oscar win mars the event's power as a feminist triumph? As he states,"[w]hile it's terrific that the previously-undervalued Bigelow became the first female to win Best Director, it's more than a little depressing that such a big deal must be made of it. As I've always said, progress comes when you don't have to talk about it."

Additionally, last night's Oscar event was a big night for Geoffrey Fletcher.  Fletcher is the first African-American to win a writing award for the adapted screenplay for the movie Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

As Reed Johnson wrote for the Los Angeles Times, that "[o]nly three other women had ever been nominated for director: Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties" (1975); Jane Campion for "The Piano" (1993); and Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation" (2003)" and as "Mo'Nique won the award for supporting actress for her portrayal of an abusive mother in 'Precious,' she thanked Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Academy Award, for the 1939 film 'Gone With the Wind.' Backstage, Mo'Nique acknowledged that she'd worn a royal blue dress and a flower in her hair because that's what McDaniel wore when she won. Only five black women have won an acting Oscar."

Share with us your thoughts! Post a comment!

International Womens Day Event - March 4, 2010

One night only... Check local theatre listings for a showing near you! Read this Huffington Post article for more information.

Human Rights

To learn more, please read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Stoning of Soraya M. - A Look at the Unapologetic Lack of Rights for Women Around the Globe

[warning: the following post contains graphic and disturbing content]

This is the true story of Soraya Manutchehri.

A 35 year-old Iranian woman and mother of 7 children, who in her own words states that she had become an "inconvenient wife."

She was married off at the age of 13 years-old to a man, Ghorban-Ali, 7 years her senior who was a local criminal. In this marriage she incurred regular beatings and emotional abuse.
According to senior Washington correspondent, Carl M. Cannon in his article on the politicsdaily.com website, "Ghorban-Ali showed himself to be more than a garden variety sociopath and town bully; he was a sadistic monster, and Islamic fundamentalism was his enabler, his aider, his abettor. In the anarchic days of the Iranian Revolution, Ghorban-Ali had found work as a prison guard in a neighboring town. There, he met a 14-year-old girl whom he wanted to marry. Polygamy was encouraged in Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran, but Ghorban-Ali didn't want to support two families, and did not desire to return his wife's dowry. How to rid himself of his "old" wife? That was the easy part. Accuse her of infidelity. No matter that her husband had not actually seen anything untoward, or that Soraya was completely innocent, or that her husband's cynical accusations were only backed up by his cousin, who as it turned out had been coerced into concurring with the vaguest of accusations: a smile here, a brushed hand there. What court of law would find someone guilty on such flimsy evidence? A "sharia" court is the answer. And so Soraya was convicted. The sentence was death-death by stoning."



Soraya's story was bravely told by her aunt, Zahra Khanum to Freidoune Sahebjam, a stranded French-Iranian journalist traveling through the remote region. In a desperate attempt for justice for her sister and women tortured through similar circumstances, Zahra tells her story to Freidoune with the hopes that he escapes and communicates the violence of women to the world.

Cannon continues to write, "the practice of stoning is not only characteristic of rural Iran, but continues in such regions such as "Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, or anyplace where sharia is the law of the land. More common, by far, in the Muslim world is the perverse practice of "honor killings" -- the slaying of a woman or girl by male members of her own family on the basis of some presumed sexual indiscretion."

To learn more about stoning, female executions and the human rights violation against women throughout the globe, please visit: stop-stoning.org.