sisterhood

I've yet to fully understand or blog about the difficulties of working in a location that on the surface seems completely woman-friendly, yet deep down still maintains sexist roots. I'm still not completely sure how to judge my boss, as a sexist pig or just a typical boss.

A recent situation make it even more difficult to separate work, friendships, feminism and attitudes. Even worse to determine if what I was seeing was sexism maybe even sexual harassment in action or a simply a stupid joke. In my workplace nothing is simple and sides are never easy to choose.

What occurred was that one night one of my co-workers complained that the contractors who were remodeling the store kept staring at her breasts and checking out every girl that worked in the store. I couldn't really do much about this unless they were being extremely obvious or made a comment which they did not do. So I went on doing other things I needed to get done. While I was working in customer service, this co-worker starts talking to our computer guy who usually only comes in late at night or early in the morning. Lately he also had been working on the remodel. She starts telling him about how the contractors were staring at her "tits". He comments that they should have been staring at her ass. My co-worker stomps off.

About a year ago, when I first signed up with the AGA, I left a blank where I was asked to list my feminist heros. Now that I've spent some time actively participating in the feminist community, there are a few names I'd feel comfortable putting in that blank. One of them is that of Alice Schwarzer. Earlier tonight, I went to see her read from her new book, 'Die Antwort' (The Answer).

The first thing that I noticed when I got there was the demographics. I admit it, I expected a lot of dreadlocks, earth tones and Birkenstocks. Instead, the average audience member was in their 50s and sporting conservative dress. My age group was the minority, rivaling for most under-represented only with males. But if I felt a bit alien, the feeling was lifted as soon as the lights went out and a representative from the bookstore came on stage.

For those of us in or who have been in the collegiate environment, ambivalence toward the Greek system, especially the female end of it, is a fact of life. Sisterhood? Sign us up! Dressing alike, sounding alike, having all the same friends (forgive the stereotype)? Eh, not so much.

But the DePauw University Delta Zetas (known familiarly as DZ) have gone a step too far in their pursuit of the ideal sorority. When a psych professor surveyed students on the impressions they got from certain sororities, the response for DePauw DZ was "socially awkward." The result was the eviction of 23 overweight women and women of color from the DZ house under the guise of "lack of commitment". Six of their appropriately committed sisters also left the sorority but in protest, which is perhaps the best indicator that something was wrong here. Altogether more than half of the sorority was gone after the purge.

My first article is going to be published in off our backs! It's about Gabriela Flores, a woman jailed for inducing her miscarriage even though she had no other options. Which leads me to the topic I'm blogging about today: feminist zine communities.

off our backs (oob) is only one of many of these. The All Girl Army is another! I love the idea of a collective because, unlike most other media, it's completely self-sufficient. Most other magazines, or newspapers, or websites rely on advertising to stay afloat financially. This would be fine except for that advertisors end up censoring and trying to control content. The magazines end up giving in to their demands or folding because they don't have enough money to continue. I've read about this in both The Beauty Myth and Manifesta.

"And you'll have to come visit for Best Friend Weekend! They all have a Best Friend Weekend, did you know that?"

My best friends. I always laugh to myself when I think about the looks that we get – people cannot seem to believe that the friendship works as well as it does. We are an incredibly diverse group, but our individual puzzle pieces somehow fit together perfectly. Different ages, different backgrounds, different interests, but bound into the same tight family. We always joke that the quote "friends are the people who know everything about you, but like you anyway" must have been written about us.

I’m reading the ‘Sisterhood Is Forever’ anthology of essays by Robin Morgan…I’m not even a third way into the book, and I’m already super inspired – Pat Schroeder, an accidental congresswoman; Andrea Dworkin, Angry and Outspoken activist extraordinaire; Florence Howe, Feminist Press founder, professor, leader in the emerging Women’s Studies…

There’s something about art by women that makes me feel energized, like I’ve just drunk a huge cup of coffee – like I need to do something productive, or else the energy will fade and be worthless. When I had this feeling as a kid, I would play guitar or bass or piano or violin – practice for the multiple grrrl bands I was destined to be in. But right now, I think writing is working for me.