Viva la Feminista

A few weeks ago a new blog popped up in my referral logs and on my Google alert: WS 299: Body Politics and Motherhood It's a class at Oregon State University that has the students blogging about the feminisms they are discovering and encountering through blogs and feminist websites. Which, obviously, I think is freaking awesome. While I know that there are some great text books on feminism and the different aspects/foci of feminists, it's hard to argue that the internet gives a great example of the diversity of thought within feminism. There are the academic labels - liberal feminism - but then there are the living and breathing labels that blogging feminists use on a daily basis. I also love this blog because it gave me an insight into how a couple of college students think of Viva la Feminista: I am actually pretty stoked on her reviews section where she suggests books for her readers. I hardly have time to read, but I'm always on the look out for new stuff that ...

"How did you get through the princess stage?" That is in the top 5 questions I get asked by other moms, especially those I truly believe are turning to me as a feminist to guide them through the forest of pink.So it intrigued me to learn that even the famed Peggy Orenstein struggls with the princess phase. Orenstein's book School Girls was pivotal in my growth as a young feminist. It detailed the trials of being a middle school girl with such genius that if she was a mom at my daughter's school, I would have totally turned to her for guidance. So why is the princess phase such a challenge for moms today? If it's a phase, can't we just sit back and wait it out? In her new book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture , Orenstein reveals why this phase isn't as innocent as the glitter makes it appear. Orenstein talks to the moms of her daughter's classmates to find that they also have rules about...

If you follow me on Flickr , you already knew this. I had no idea this information was embargoed until today. I swear! But hey, that's what happens when you invite people with digital cameras to an event, give them some awesome news and don't say "SHHHH!" Or maybe I was so freaking excited that Tiffany was going to be the next President of The White House Project that any shushing went over my head. Either way, CONGRATS TIFFANY! Here's to passing of the baton. Thanks to Marie Wilson for her amazing years of leadership. I'm sure she won't be retiring to her porch, so let's keep an eye out for her next thing. Again, congrats to Tiffany! From the press release: The White House Project...announces the appointment of its second President, Tiffany Dufu, on Inauguration Day, 2011. “I can think of no better time to transfer the reins of power of The White House Project to the next generation than today, our country’s official Inauguration Day,” says...

It's a rare moment when I call for a demerit on anyone's feminist card and almost unheard of for me to call for someone's card to be revoked outright. That's why the past month's debate about Naomi Wolf has me feeling a bit boxed in. It's not the first time feminism has fit me too snug for comfort, only the most recent. Do not read that as in support of all of what Wolf has been saying since Assange was arrested on rape charges. Rather this post is about how the full force of the online feminist community came charging against Wolf. Lori at Feministing wrote a good piece on how to respectfully disagree with Wolf, but that only scratches the surface. Wolf started responding to the arrest in a way, I think we would all want, questioning why HE deserved to be arrested on rape changes when there surely must be other accused rapists on the loose. When Wolf started to change the debate from whether or not a country used rape charges to arrest a man who released...

I know I'm totally slacking on this mayor thing here. I did add some informational links over on the sidebar (so click on over RSS readers) to help my fellow Chicagoans make their decision. I had planned to go a little crazy blogging over the semester break, but the lure of books won out. And I know that in part one of this series, I touched on libraries, but Chico's comments to the Sun-Times Editorial Board are forcing me to revisit: If he had to choose between giving every Chicago Public School a library or every public school student a lap-top computer, he would choose: “A laptop. It opens you to the library of the world. Instead of a teacher saying, ‘Open your books, we’re going to learn about India’, she could say, ‘Pull out your lap-tops. We’re going to Skype with your fifth-grade colleagues in Mumbai.’ The purpose of a library is not to simply have access to books, but to have access to a trained librarian who can teach and guide children as they learn to be re...

In Reading Women: How the Great Books of Feminism Changed My Life , Stephanie Staal confronts the all-too-familiar reality of finding yourself disconnected from your beloved college courses and their content. What prompts Staal to become disconnected is not so much leaving college and entering adulthood, but her journey into marriage and motherhood. In order to reconnect, Staal audits a series of courses she took at Barnard as an undergrad. So yes, there's that privilege to content with here. This memoir/analysis of the women's studies canon is not an indictment of marriage or motherhood. Rather it is an honest examination of what happens when feminism smashes into domestic life. On top of that, her husband and Staal flee NYC after the birth of their daughter and the 2001 terrorist attacks for suburbia. So yeah, this is a bit of an indictment on suburbia and how Stepford some moms can become with their obsession over themes for children's rooms. Staal uses the revisit...

This is cross-posted with permission from b-side chat Breakthrough’s  I AM THIS LAND contest, now calling on people to  make a video on diversity to celebrate our differences and win prizes , also wants to share the important work our partners are doing to uplift diversity. Read our interview with Julie Zeilinger, founder of The FBomb.org, a blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard.  Julie is also a judge for the I AM THIS LAND contest. Deadline is January 7, 2011! b-listed: What has your experience as a young feminist been with issues of diversity in America? photo courtesy of Julie Zeilinger Julie: Through submissions I’ve posted on the FBomb, I’ve had the opportunity to hear from teen girls (and guys!) from all across the country. While each submission has been unique, there seems to be a common thread: while there is still a lot of ignorance in our country about diversity and its importa...