Teach people what feminism really means

I only went on Saturday but it was well worth the trip. The Women’s Action & Media Conference (WAM 2008) is an annual event where women (and men) come from all over to discuss women’s issues, feminism in news and media. Some of the finest women’s authors and web bloggers come to present workshops and lectures on how feminism has changed the lives of women in media, how the media has portrayed women, and how women web bloggers are attacked and harassed on their web blog sites.

The three day conference is hosted by the Center of New Words (CNW) located in Cambridge, MA. This is my second year at the event and it was even more organized and included over 600 people at this year’s event.

Jaclyn Friedman, Program Director of CNW, performer and poet ming out with a new book in early 2009, hosts many of the workshops including the “Feminism & Desert” events and is assisted by new

Event Coordinator KL Periera, who is a poet and writer, through all their hard work and the volunteers made this years WAM even better. Every person who registered for the event received a WAM 2008 messenger bag (pictured above) full of information, the WAM 2008 booklet with schedules of workshops, maps and other information on the wonderful speakers and presenters. WAM had many sponsors including AlternetBitch MagazineFeminist.com and Feministing.com
If you ever in the Boston/Cambridge MA area please check out the CNW for the best in feminism, poetry, women’s stories and a host for the LGBT community. Their motta is “Where Women’s Words Matter.”

I subcribe to the WAM listserve, it’s a feminist listserve and I receive emails from feminists all over the world. Tonight I saw that Director of Wimonline Jennifer Pozner, was appearing on MSNBC’s Scarbourgh Country as a guest journalist on a panel along with media analysts from MSNBC, magazine writers from Newweek and the NY Times. The topic was about Rosie O’Donnell leaving the “View” and what was the reaction from the media panel.

Jennifer’s Pozner’s website and Video

Jennifer has been critized before because of her appearance, they told her she needed a haircut. I didn’t think so. So, after watching the video I wrote joe@msnbc.com a letter expressing my delight that his show featured a feminist point of view. Jennifer’s point was not about Rosie leaving the View, it was that women are often brushed aside when they bring up feminist issues to the media and that there should be more women lined up and express more important women’s issues. I truely believe that.

So Jennifer asked me if I would not mind posting my email on her blog and that she remembers me from WAM 2007.

If you would like to help her, watch the video and judge how she had to defend her right to speak against the other four media people. She stuck to her guns. If you do so please send an email to joe@msnbc.com in her web site and tell them she did great on the show. Thank you.

(((((((((((((huggs)))))))))))))

Love,

George :)

I have been dealing with this issue about myself, feminity and my feminism for a long time now. About two weeks ago, I had an experience at WAM 2007 involving a bond between a large group of women and myself. The experience was amazing and empowering, I was beginning to finally understand what women go through when they bond with other women for friendship and maybe more. As a man, we don’t feel this type of connection, at least not me. Never the less, I did and it was wonderful.

Last night, I felt a similar experience, in a different way. I hosted a Pro Choice House Party, it was a small gathering of 12-13 people, including two men and myself. While the guest speaker was talking, I started to think, am I doing all of this, planning, organizing for the party because I just want to have a stronger connection to them? I mean the guest speaker was talking about the new problem with the abortion rights bill effecting hundreds of women but I wonder that if she was talking about anything else, Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives or a new nail polish color, would I have been just as intrigued? Do I love feminism because it involves mostly women and not men? Is all of this an act? a sham? Am I just fooling myself? Normal men do not think like this? They are mostly women because Pro Choice affects more women than men. There were three men last night and I know for a fact one man was there because he came with his girlfriend, and they both know me. Why do these topics involving women’s causes effect me
so much, so pasionately? Why?

Then this morning, I woke, with tears in my eyes, I realized that, “No!” It is all not a sham, I love the topics and the causes. Feminism is great! I love reading the books and discussing them in our feminist book club, I love planning the party, greeting the guests, bringing the abortion movie and handing out the Pro Choice books. I love the applause I received last night when one women told the group at the end of the evening, “let’s give George a big hand for planning and organizing this party,” and they all did even though I was slightly embarassed. She even asked me to help plan her House Party she wants to have later this year. Everyone I spoke with came up to me and told me they had a great time.

So, I don’t get involved with all of these activities just to be closer to the women, but because I really enjoy the issues and the causes we are concerned about, equality, equal pay for equal work, building women’s self esteem, abolishing sexism and racism and homophobia, I enjoy the company, and yes, I also enjoy the company of women more so than men, I must admit that. I also enjoy the bonding of friendship, I am not there to “pick up women,” I am married.

It does not matter what gender clothes I wear, what nail lacquer I useon my toes, which purse I carry, I will never be a women, I have no desire for a sex change operation, not that there is anything wrong with that, but I can still enjoy the bonding experiences with all the women, can’t I?

This was hard to write but I am glad I decided to do this. Thanks for listening. Peace.

((((((((((((((((huggs))))))))))))))))

Love,

George :)

Tonight our group went to hear Jennifer talk about her new book, “Look Both Ways:Bisexual Politics” and she was great. The audience loved her as she read from the book and discussed her own experiences with bisexuality in her life, and the complex nature of being bi, gay or transgender in an witty way.

I met her afterwards as she signed my copy of the book, and told her that I was planning to show her movie, “I had an abortion” next week and loved her other books, “Manifesta” and “Grassroots” This subject will make a fine topic of discussion on our blog “My G Spot” Yeah!!!

WAM was a WOW! Wonderful, Awesome and Marvelous. It greatly exceeded my expectations. So here is what happened this morning. I walked inside and saw a copy of the book, “Behind Every Choice is a Story” written by Gloria Feldt. The young women at the linrary table told me the copies were free and the author was around the conference yesterday. I asked if she thinks Gloria might contribute some of her books to my Pro Choice House Party I plan on having April 18 th. She told me, you would have to find her and we are not sure if she is going to be here today. I had some hopes of maybe finding her. My expectations were coming through.

So, I went into my first session on “Beyond Catfighting:Creating Strategic Collaborations within feminist media” and guess who came in late, was Gloria. I recognized her picture on her book and after the session was over, I asked her if she would not mind signing my copy of her book. I also asked her about obtaining additonal copies to hand out to the Pro Choice House Party. She told me, “How many copies do you need?” I ended up with a case of her books and her gratitude in distributing them to women who have a real interest in reproductive rights. I told her I would email her after the party was over.

I also attended and signed up for the POWER SOURCE project, a way to create a source of information of sources of women journalists, media people and non media people (women plumbers, and other experts in the field) and have this available to bridge and communicate with the outside media and the public. Jennifer Pozner, who is the executive director and founder of Women in Media & News (WIMN) and has appeared as a media expert on FOX News, MSNBC, PBS and Comedy Central. She does this all through no budget and through her home office, she is an amazing women, and I spoke to her earlier on how I could help her.

After lunch I watched the movie, “I had an Abortion” made by Gillian Aldrich & Jennifer Baumgardner and made through Women Makes Movies. I want to show this inspiring film during the Pro Choice House Party I plan on having, as well. It was great and had interviews of women who have had abortions, including Gloria Steinham.

So, I also signed up for the WAM list serve, which is a great source of information, once I learn how to use it. I made a lot of friends and hope they contact me as I will contact them, bloggers, media people, and others who have a passion for feminism.

Women Action Media (WAM) has been awesome! I volunteered on Friday morning and I unloaded their cars full of supplies for the conference, including 1,000 bottles of water. I even made some 7 layer cookies which were eaten by Saturday.

The sessions today and yesterday were great, I met with Andi Zeisler, B_tch Magazine, and

Jessica Valenti, who wrote her new book “Full Front Feminism;” and many other women who talked about writing a book proposal for a book idea I have later on. As I walked down the MIT campus and stopped at the booths of women who were showing their unique messages about NOW, feminist books, Pro Choice, movies, and saw the hundreds of women who were enthusied about their passion, it made me feel warm and happy. Feministing Link about WAM and the workshops.

I heard women authors and writers on how to set up a feminist blog, purchased the movie, “I had an Abortion” from Women Make Movies, which I plan to show with guest speakers at a House Party I am holding for NARAL Pro Choice next month.

A lot of women asked me, why as a man, I was attending WAM, and I explained this is my passion, to be involved with the feminist movement, support women’s causes, and I just love the entire experience. I feel an energy I never have felt before and it’s all due to this drive I have inside of me. I never attended a conference which I obtained such useful information before, and I attended many professional ones, left with a stack of papers and never used the information. This time was completely different and have already started using this stuff.

So, where do we go from here? How can a man preach this message that it’s cool to be a feminist woman and a feminist man in today’s society? I want to shout a voice and let the public know what it is all about and not to be afraid, to embrace feminism, take in the culture and not think it’s an enemy or too politically motivated that it scares people. It’s a wonderful movement that just needs more exploring and thought behind it all.

My first step is to start a web blog about feminism and I would like it to be a place where women will feel safe about themselves and their bodies, a place for women can seek pleasure and emjoyment and want to keep coming back again, and again and invite others to share comments, post their own topics, news articles about the feminist movement, or injustices they may face. It should be a forum that women can call their own. I want to be part of this adventure, and as a caring, feminist man, I want to help women all around the world do this.

I know, talk is cheap and some poeple can say they will do this, and the idea becomes just that, an idea, we should of done this, we should of done that. I am different, I learned today how to set up a blog in minutes using the tools through WAM. So, I would like to get some interest going in this, please send me your ideas, comments about this to gstamas@aol.com before I set this up. Thank you.

((((((((((((((((huggs))))))))))))))))

Love,

George :)

I have a chance to attend the three day Women Action & Media conference located at MIT, Cambridge, MA. It should be an amazing time with women authors, editors, bloggers, and special guests. Some of the Supporting Sponsors include: ColorLines, B_tch Magazine
(Andi Zeisler), Feminist.com, Feministing, Feminist Press, Girlistic, Women in Media & News, Women Make Movies and Women’s Media Center, it should be a feminist’s dream in print.

It’s time to put women back in the story.

That’s why the Center for New Words is hosting the fourth annual Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) conference. We want to hear your ideas whether you’re a media producer or a PR strategist, a journalist, an activist, an academic, a community organizer, a funder or philanthropist, a “citizen” media watchdog, a media policy advocate, an alternative-network-builder, a blogger, writer, teacher, artist, technology trainer, deejay, (etc!) — we welcome any progressive concerned about women’s voices and power in the media. This year’s conference will bring together more than 400 participants for a weekend of exchanging our observations, ideas, experiences, opinions, and tools for change—and planning together for action.

It’s going to be a WAM!

Tonight, on lifetime TV, Willow Bay interviewed young sucessful women. Aftet the show was a live chat, here is one of the questions she answered:

Raquel, MN: Do you think Gen Y women would consider themselves feminists?
Willow: This is a generation that doesn’t like the label feminist. I think they see the term as a bit old-fashioned and not relevant. They acknowledge that their extraordinary opportunities are a result of hard work on the part of generations that have preceded them. They also clearly believe they are equal to men, and expect the world to treat them that way. But they don’t identify that with feminism.

Why don’t they identify with that term? Is it because they feel as equals they don’t need to label themselves as feminists? Maybe she does already.

I just finsihed B_TCHFest: Ten Years of Cultural Critism from the pages of B_TCH magazine. The writing is very good and they raise many questions about feminism that I find fascinating.

1. Why when feminist women become famous they become (traitors?) to feminism, they talk about many women being jealous of Gloria Steinham because she has long legs and wears a miniskirt and how her 15 minutes of fame catapulted her to feminism stardom. Why can’t women be gracious of her sucess as the book mentions.

2. The same for authors Susan Brownmiller, “In our Time: Memoir of a Revolution, and Naomi Wolf, “the Beauty Myth” who books The Beauty Myth have been chastized for becoming sucessful in the publics eye, B_TCH Fest writer Rachel Fudge mentions how the media is hurting feminism.

3. Is Girl Power bad for feminism. we all hear about boosting girl’s and women’s self esteem but as rachel Fudge mentions maybe Girl Power has faded from the limelight because girl power is a free agent, standing alone without feminism to back itself up. Do you agree with this? I need to understand this more in book club today…

4. Marketing and Ads; Are women really attracted to the same ads as men see for clothing, jewelry and make-up? we see beautiful women and women see them also, do they really envy them? Or do they just analyze what they wear and how they carry it? Another phenomen for today’s book club meeting.

((huggs))

Love,

george ;)

The Femme in Feminist
Defining feminism

By Melissa Lemorie / Staff Writer
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2006

I’ve called myself a feminist ever since I learned the meaning of the word, on a base simplistic level that is. I was the kid on the playground arguing that the girls could run just as fast, jump just as high and score just as much (in sports people, in sports) as the boys.

As I got older, I tried to start conversations about oppression of women by foreign governments, speaking out against regimes like the Taliban before it was popular (I had yet to learn about women’s rights abuses taking place at home, or as a direct result of US foreign policy).

Later, I circulated a petition in my gym class that expressed that very sentiment after my teacher forced a handicap on the boy’s team in a “boys vs. girls” game of kickball.

I later organized a sit down during a similar game of volleyball, much to the consternation of the physical education faculty. In fact, by the end of one required year of phys ed, I’m sure the majority of those teachers were happy to give me up to the performing arts department, where I would spend the rest of my secondary educational career.

I was a feisty kid, and the simple ideas about equality and fairness that informed my views then continued to inform my ideas about the way the world works until I acquired the knowledge required to actually back them up.

While the acquisition of said knowledge is an ongoing process, as is the shaping of my (and hopefully everybody else’s) worldview, I have maintained the same basic ideas about social justice and equality. Ergo, I’ve always been, and will continue to be, proud to call myself a feminist, even as the connotation of such a title becomes more and more negative.

Feminism is likely one of the most commonly misunderstood and misinterpreted words in the English language, mainly because it is a word usually defined by its opponents rather than its advocates.

Searching “feminism” on abcnews.com returns nine search results, two of which link to the same article: not exactly ample space to cover such an expansive issue. CBS’s Web site returns 132 results. Better, but many results painted a picture of feminism that was less than rosy, which, to be fair, is not a bad thing in and of itself, as journalism should work to cover both sides of any issue and encourage informed dialogue.

The problem lies more in a small but vocal minority of commentators who repeatedly espouse the failures of the feminist movement and equate it with man-hating, stay-at-home-mom judging, irrational angry women.

Ann Coulter wrote, “Feminists have always stood for freedom of ‘choice’ (unless it involves something other than abortion, adultery, or sodomy)... ” Rush Limbaugh characterized feminism as having been “established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.”

I could list more (don’t even get me started on Pat Robertson and witchcraft), but such a list would just get exhaustive. But if I tried to list commentators with an audience as wide as Coulter’s or Limbaugh’s who were actually making accurate, or even (gasp!) positive assessments about the feminist movement, I wouldn’t get very far.

Feminism isn’t about hating men. It isn’t about not allowing women to stay home and raise their children. It isn’t even about forcing women to take off their high heels. Feminism is dynamic, continuing to evolve with the changing times. Feminism is multi-faceted, encompassing countless viewpoints on countless issues.

For me, it’s provided a lens through which to view the world. For the world it’s provided such things as domestic violence legislation (and even the word domestic violence), advocacy for the welfare of mother’s and children and some of the first social welfare programs.

It is impossible to summarize feminism, its contributions and its philosophies, in one 650-word column, which is why I’ve devoted the semester, and this section of the broadsheet, to exactly that: bringing feminist ideas and perspectives out of the feminist universe and into a more expansive forum.