“The Boston University Feminist Collective and Video Game Society invite you to join us for a discussion about the gendered minefield that is the online world. We are fortunate enough to have feminist and media critic, Anita Sarkeesian, join us to facilitate the discussion and speak to her own experiences of how gender intersects with online spaces.
Anita is the author of the video blog “Feminist Frequencies” and the video series “Tropes vs. Women” where she explores the tropes of the depiction of women in pop culture. In 2012 she started a Kickstarter campaign to help her create a new series entitled “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” and experienced harsh online harassment from some members of the gaming community. This backlash furthered her message to include an exploration of the overwhelming amounts of online sexual harassment of female identifying gamers. In 2012 Anita was a speaker at the TEDxWomen conference where she discussed online sexual harassment and how influential it is in the online world. You can see that talk here: – [X]
Neil deGrasse Tyson: “Astrophysicist, Am. Museum of Natural History. Author: Space Chronicles, Pluto Files, Inexplicable Universe [Video], Host: StarTalk Radio http://StarTalkRadio.net“
Hip-hop gets a bad rep in the feminist world. Songs like “Get Low”, “Lollipop”, “Slow Motion”, and “Golddigger” paint a pretty ugly picture for the rap artists out there. This is vastly unfair. Yeah, the majority of rappers and hip-hop artists are men who have a tendency to focus on a rather sexist male perspective. I recently looked up the lyrics to Freddie Gibb’s “Shame” and realized, yeah, it’s a song about the walk of shame. Oh, and how good Freddie Gibbs is in bed. (I’m still listening though. Gibbs is amazing.)
But the female hip-hop artist isn’t about to put up with this shit. They’re probably some of the most liberated voices out there, not just as shining beacons in a form known for its objectification of women, but also as the voice of women. Here are three albums all by female rap artists every feminist should be listening to:
Queen Latifah’s Black Reign
http://www.amazon.com/dp/images/B000001AL0
Instinct leads me to another flow everytime I hear a brother call a girl a bitch or a hoe trying to make a sister feel low you know all of that gots to go
This album is fantastic, 90’s rap from someone we (at least I) often forget used to rap. The song “U.N.I.T.Y” is an angry rant at the men who think they can just smack your ass whether you’re wearing cut off shorts (oh nineties, we miss you) or sweat pants, and will call girls a bitch. In “Mood is Right”, Queen Latifah tells us she thinks the sex is better if you’re in love and that she really doesn’t need anyone else. This icon was giving women a voice long before Chicago.
The articles and advice that Cosmo features regarding sex are heteronormative (a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the norm or preferred sexual orientation), sexist, and cissexist (“a cis person is one for whom assigned sex, internal sense of sex, and assigned gender and internal sense of gender all match up”, so cissexism is the discrimination or prejudice of individuals who do not fall into the “cis” category).
Cosmo promulgates advice and “crazy hot sex tips” that are disadvantageous for readers. Articles and tips almost always discuss pleasing “your guy” (ugh), but give no mention to pleasing yourself – not to mention, you would have to change your body to experience true pleasure. The sexual experience illustrated by Cosmo is laced with harmful power dynamics and fails to give their primarily female reader-base factual, unbiased, and inclusive information about anatomy, sexual psychology and the factors that influence it, sexually transmitted infections, and safer sex measures including consent. Next time you’re tempted to crack open a fresh issue of Cosmo with a retouched celebrity on the cover alongside a headline such as “75 Sex Moves Men Crave”, consider the personal implications and read it through a critical lens.
“I wonder if my lineage is one of women shrinking, making space for the entrance of men into their lives not knowing how to fill it back up once they leave” – Lily Myers’ Shrinking Women
Lily Myers performing for Wesleyan University at the 2013 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. This poem was awarded Best Love Poem at the tournament.
However I recommend unless you feel like being disgusted with a huge portion of humanity who has access to YouTube, do NOT read the comments below.
People constantly ask “why does feminism matter” or “when have you experienced sexism?” So many people are unaware of these seemingly minimal ways that society around us constructs views where men are empowered and women are persistently subdued. Myers is addressing a constant struggle that myself and many others I’ve talked with have faced.
It is about the enforced mindset that women cannot take up the same amount of room as men. This oppression is not usually a conscious decision on someone’s part where they actually think “hey I deserve more/less space than that woman/man”, but it is something that individuals should make a conscious decision to change.
It is also important to be aware about eating disorders so below is some more information.
Statistics: • Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder) in the U.S.
• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
• 91% of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting. 22% dieted “often” or “always.”
• An estimated 10-15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male.
• Men are less likely to seek treatment for eating disorders because of the perception that they are “woman’s diseases.”
Boston University Eating Disorders Program
Call: (617) 353-9610
Email: bonnieb@bu.edu Address: 648 Beacon St., 6th Floor Boston MA 02215
Additional Comment:
Within the past few days I’ve been talking to a friend a lot about this video and she brought to my attention that this video seems to imply that anorexia is a problem only women face when this is far from true. This is a problem that applies to both genders. It’s referred to as a “woman’s disease” which is why men frequently won’t admit to dealing with it. THIS SHOULD NOT BE THE CASE. ANYONE facing anorexia or other eating disorders should get help.
She was a genius at responding to her critics and her oppressors, especially the Catholic Church. Even her friends would joke that she would be nothing if it wasn’t for the Catholic Church constantly oppressing her. Whenever they did, they were always guaranteeing she would make headlines within a week. She’d always find a very clever way to turn it on its head and throw it right back at them, getting a lot of attention at the same time.
Peter Bagge's new book: Women Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story
When: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013
Where: Photonics Building 8 Saint Mary’s St, Boston,MA
Boston University’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism (CGSA) is hosting the New England Women’s Center Conference.
The conference “will be hosting speakers and organizations to discuss the importance of communities in the area that foster safer spaces for all individuals regardless of gender. We aim to do so by deconstructing the intersections of oppression and privilege in our communities and cultures.” – facebook page
