Critique and Rebellion? June 30, 2007

Or just conspicuous consumption? Maybe both. Whatever it is, trashing bridal dresses for muddy, wet post-wedding photo-shoots is apparently all the rage. The letters in response to the article take a variety of views: (1) Why make such a big deal about brides letting off steam after a wedding? (2) It’s stupid, shallow, and excessive to spend lots of money on a wedding dress, whether you trash it or not (3) Quit with the reverse snobbery already and stop judging people who shell out for their weddings! (4) It’s terrible for women to attach such importance to their wedding days as if they have no worth on other days (5) It’s fun to do these photos! (6) The dresses aren’t really trashed– a bit of dry cleaning would fix them (7) Stop treating trends among a few wealthy elites as if they were an important social phenomenon! (8) There are some really lovely photos, and it’s great that people are actually starting to do some interesting wedding photography.

I find myself thinking each of these views holds appeal.  Despite my indecision about the phenomenon, I feel the need to note this development, if only because the web site devoted to it shows such good taste in choice of WordPress theme. Those who’d like to do something useful with used wedding dresses might like to consider donating them to this charity. (On an irrelevant note, my first taste of this phenomenon was in the movie The Wedding Director, a scene in which a famous film-maker intervenes to make a wedding video far more dramatic and interesting.)

Apology to gay and lesbian armed forces June 30, 2007

From the UK Ministry of Defence, more here. US readers will be shocked to hear that the UK military has not fallen apart since allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, in 2000. This suggests that perhaps the gay bomb the US considered developing in the 90s might not have been as effective as its proponents hoped. The brilliant idea behind that one was that a bomb which would turn people gay could destroy an enemy’s forces.  (Gayness and tampons: the weapons of the future?)

No more vs. Ms? June 29, 2007

Interesting article here on the need to ditch ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’. But problems with getting ‘Ms’ to be properly understood: Eve Kay reports that when entering her info for a CRB check, she discovered they assumed that ‘Ms’ meant ‘divorced woman’. Perhaps more widespread usage would help with avoiding such confusions… But:

Kay anecdotally notes that that she found women under 30 to be  unfamiliar with the title ‘Ms’. We need more high profile ‘Ms’s’, clearly! Here’s one.

For discussion of the ‘Ms, miss, mrs’ issues, see Saul (2003), Levin (he’s pro miss/mrs 1981), Soble (1981) and Purdy (1981).

Incredibly fat, ugly woman in yogurt ad June 28, 2007

Well, no. Actually she looks pretty great!

But we’re all supposed to find her ludicrous and repulsive. Tagline for the light yogurt ad: “Forget about it. Men’s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt.” Via The F-Word. Just another one of those messages that helps to tell women that their bodies are not OK.

UK Doctors Call for Abortion Reform June 27, 2007

UK doctors have voted that women should no longer be required to obtain the consent of two doctors in order to have an abortion. Currently, two doctors must agree that continuing the pregnancy poses a greater threat to the woman’s physical or mental health than terminating it. This has been a serious barrier for many women, slowing the process and making it more difficult to obtain abortions in some places. So the proposed change (the law still needs to be altered) is good. Unfortunately, more than this is actually needed to speed things up. As things are now, it is common for women to be approved but still have to wait weeks simply due to NHS waiting lists. Doctors considered increasing the availability of abortions by allowing them to be carried out at GP surgeries and by midwives and nurses, but rejected these ideas. Too bad. More here.

Gender Savings Gap June 27, 2007

Fawcett have recently reported on the gender savings gap – the inequality in the value of the savings of men and women, women’s savings being worth 33% less – being even greater than the pay gap (17%). Stats suggest that although men and women are as likely to save, women who do save have less money to put aside for savings – due to pay gap – and more financial commitments – caring, putting more spare income into the family rather than towards personal consumption. They also suggest that women are more likely to rely on male partners for saving for the future.

Another factor that leaves women economically and socially vulnerable – esp mothers and divorced women, the report claims. PDF downloadable from here, as well as summaryof key findings.

The Beach Harem June 26, 2007

Report here on the women’s only beach – the first of its kind – in Italy. What grabbed my attention was the following comment:

“Here I can allow myself to be less than perfect,” said Cinzia Donati, 43, of Milan.

I have found that, when discussing norms of appearance, students often claim that women adhere to norms of appearance to meet expectations of other women, as much as those of men (as well as in accordance with their own expectations). A similar thought prompted this post, on ‘labiaplasty to impress the girls’. At least some anecdotal evidence, then, against such claims; this woman feeling able to relax, in the absence of men (or the ‘male gaze’) but presence of women, from the stringent standards of appearance (see Bartky 1991 for more on norms of femininity). And that seems like a good thing…

However, for a more critical perspective on the ‘pink beach’, or at least, the way it has been presented , see here, over at Feministing (filed under June 25th). The article discussed there reports on some pretty awful claims: e.g. “The lifeguard must be a man. You clearly need a man to save women in the sea. It’s a question of muscles.”

Finally, an unfortunate ambiguity in meaning:

“Calling it a “beach harem”, Italian newspaper La Stampa said the woman-only beach reflected a growing demand for female rights in Italy.”

OED tells us, for ‘harem’

1. ‘part of a Muslim dwelling-house appropriated to the women, constructed so as to secure the utmost seclusion and privacy’, 2. ‘The occupants of a harem collectively; the female members of a Muslim family; esp. the wives and concubines collectively’…

Just what feminism needs? A beach harem?

10 year old rape victim “provocatively dressed” June 26, 2007

More on the “asking for it” front…. JP, in comments, called my attention to this appalling story. Two men, aged 24 and 34, raped a ten year old girl (one in a park, the other later in his home). One was given a 9 month sentence and the other will be free in four months (though his sentence is longer than that). The judge’s reasons for leniency? She “dressed provocatively” and looked older than her age. Bizarrely, “Judge Hall said in sentencing he faced a moral dilemma as the fact they had sex within 45 minutes of meeting was an absolute crime.”  Raping a 10 year old?  No problem. Having sex soon after meeting someone?  Now that’s a crime.  Perhaps the BBC took his quote out of context.

Feminist Philosopher Betsy Postow June 26, 2007

Many of you will remember Betsy Postow, from the SWIP conference in Stirling, in April of this year.  I was utterly shocked and saddened to learn, this morning, that she has died.  The following is an obituary, which I received on the SWIP listserv:

Betsy Carol Postow (1945-2007)
 
Betsy Postow suffered unexpected complications from a blood clot and died on the morning of Friday, June 22. Those who knew her even slightly will remember her as one of the most brilliant, yet also gentle and generous, and one of the most delightfully excitable, individuals they will ever know. Perhaps fostered by her devoted practice of Buddhist meditation (not to mention obsessively healthy diet, circle dancing and performance with the recorder), her youthful charm and angelic complexion will also be remembered, along with a somewhat childlike innocence: in the words of a former colleague, “when she encountered dishonesty, she was surprised. Evil astonished her.”
 
Betsy lived her first years in the Bronx, New York City: across the street, as it happened, from the paternal grandparents of her eventual colleague Sheldon Cohen. She graduated–summa cum laude–from Harpur College of the State University of New York, Binghamton, in 1966, and received her Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1970 from Yale. After a year of teaching in the University of Wisconsin system, she spent the rest of her career at the University of Tennessee, where, outside of her extremely conscientious devotion to the Philosophy department, her impact was by no means limited, but was strikingly characterized by early and consistent dedication, to the advancement of women in academics and society at large. Her first public presentation was a talk on “Philosophy and Women” in 1973; one of her last was as a discussion leader on “Feminist Ethics” for the Association of Women Faculty. In between, she published an influential anthology of articles on women in sports; a major book on reason and action; sixty academic papers and reviews, several of which have been reprinted (and one translated into Russian); and she gave 80 professional presentations in addition to numerous appearances on campus and before local organizations, besides service to the Faculty Senate, numerous committees, and the local chapter of the AAUP.
 
During the late 1970s and 80s, Betsy’s scholarly presentations and publications in ethics and social philosophy (including nine papers in “Analysis”, “Ethics”, “Philosophy and Phenomenological Research”, and “Philosophical Studies”) combined with participation in workshops and seminars on teaching philosophy, on which she published five pieces. Her very influential anthology on “Women, Philosophy, and Sport” (Rowman and Littlefield) appeared in 1983: a volume to which she contributed four substantial introductory essays and an Afterword, and for which the participating authors will recall her tireless efforts toward improvement of their own contributions. Beginning in the mid-80s there came a growing focus on rationality and reasons for action, continuing through the 90s alongside ongoing publication and presentations on classical issues in ethics, and culminating in 1999 in “Reasons for Action: Toward a Normative Theory and Meta-Level Criteria” (Kluwer). With the new century came the perception of duty’s call to help meet the department’s growing demand for higher-level courses in Business Ethics. This was something entirely new to Betsy, but she characteristically volunteered to learn the issues and did well enough to present several papers dealing with them. Characteristically as well, she was able to see the theoretical import of problems in the area for her developing work on ethical pluralism.
 
Betsy was particularly active throughout her career in the Society for Women in Philosophy, beginning with service on the SWIP Steering Committee for local meetings in 1976 and 1979 and on the Executive Committee as representative of the Southern region 1976-1977. She was also president of the Tennessee Philosophical Association in 1977, member of committees and of the Council of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology 1991-1996, and of committees of the American Philosophical Association 1994-1995. Needless to say, she was also a frequent contributor to programs of the APA.
 
Betsy was of course still working at the very highest level to the end. Of her most recently published article, “Toward Honest Ethical Pluralism” (“Philosophical Studies” 132 [2007]) one of its referees had predicted that the journal would be particularly proud to have published it, as it was a first-rate contribution and likely to be widely anthologized. In Fall 2006, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Ethics Institute of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, where she gave three scholarly presentations on rational decision-making (and from which she returned with a particular love for Dutch licorice in its various forms). She returned to Europe in April of this year to deliver a talk on “Care Ethics and Impartial Reasons,” in Stirling, Scotland, before the Society for Women in Philosophy.
 
Betsy believed in the power of human reason unlike few others, and she was in her own person as fair-minded and reasonable a friend and colleague as one could possibly imagine. In the words of a colleague, “Although for years she turned away practical ethical questions with the caveat that she did not do ‘applied ethics,’ she nonetheless tried in every way to make her daily living conform to what she rationally saw as the good way to live.” To her colleagues in Philosophy both at UT and afar, and to her students, she will also be long remembered for the generous time that she was ever willing to contribute to individual collaboration, instruction, and commentary. Her loss has been a shock and a sorrow from which it will be difficult to recover.
 
A Memorial Fund has been established in Betsy’s name through the UT Development Office, to be used by the Philosophy Department to fund scholarships and fellowships for students, with special focus on the recruitment and retention of women students: Betsy Postow Memorial Fund, University of Tennessee Office of Development, 600 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0165.
 
Richard E. Aquila, The University of Tennessee

“Philosophers For Thin Models” June 26, 2007

That’s a search that brought someone to our site: they may have been disappointed.  I’m happy to say that, to my knowledge, no such organization exists.

I Did Not Ask For It June 25, 2007

From The F-Word, I’ve learned of an interesting campaign:

Based on similar campaigns in India we are launching an “I DID NOT ASK FOR IT UK” campaign. We are asking women to send us garments they were wearing when they were sexually harassed, in any way. We would like you to add the message “I Did Not Ask For It” to the garment, sew it onto a tee-shirt or marker pen it onto a pair of jeans, embroider it onto a dress or boiler suit… Or draw, paint or digitise the message “I Did Not Ask For It” and then pin the drawing onto your chosen garment, photograph it and send it to us at our e.mail address or send with a comment to our myspace. Feel free to add other messages of your choice, be as creative as possible.We are going to make the pictures and garments into a washing line exhibition of art. The washing line will contain all types of clothing, therefore illustrating that sexual harrassment has nothing to do with what we wear, and everything to do with male power. From boiler suits and baggy jumpers to short skirts, this exhibition will say loud and clear that whatever we wear, we do not ask for sexual harassment. The washing line will march with us on this year’s Reclaim The Night march 07 and will then be exhibited at our rally. It will then appear at various other exhibitions across the UK and it will grow and grow. At the moment we are working on getting a po box or friendly postal address for women to send garments and designs in to us. Watch this space and see our website.LFN website here, MySpace here, email address londonfeminist@yahoo.co.uk.  

Women who are harassed often feel silenced and unable to respond, and this offers a way to give them a voice.  Hopefully, it will also get some press and help to communicate the important message that we’re not sending coded “harass me” messages with our choice of outfits.  Another great way of speaking out is of course the old favorite Holla Back.Lots of interesting stuff on harassment today, actually.  Feministing discusses some here: a woman’s diary of her harassment and what she was wearing, interviews with street harassers, and much more.  It sounds a bit like nobody comes off too well (the woman sounds pretty racist and blames this on her harassment experiences), but still interesting.

Thai Rape Law Improves June 25, 2007

Some good news: Thailand has just recognised marital rape, as well as the possibility that either men or women may be both victims and perpetrators. From Broadsheet.

‘Rape’ banned in rape case June 24, 2007

A judge has banned the use of the words ‘rape’, ‘victim’, ‘assailant’, ’sexual assault kit’, and ’sexual assault’ in a Nebraska rape case, accepting the defense argument that they are prejudicial. This has, it is said, left only the word ’sex’ to describe what took place. (Though the defense has tried to get that banned as well for the re-trial: the first jury deadlocked.) Dahlia Lithwick at Slate writes,

Bowen [the complainant] testified for 13 hours at Safi’s first trial last October, all without using the words rape or sexual assault. She claims, not unreasonably, that describing what happened to her as sex is almost an assault in itself. “This makes women sick, especially the women who have gone through this,” Bowen told the Omaha World-Herald. “They know the difference between sex and rape.”

Of course, some, such as MacKinnon, insist that rape is very much a kind of sex (indeed, an all too common kind of sex). But Lithwick suggests that use of the word ’sex’ carries a very strong presumption of consent:

The real question for Judge Cheuvront, then, is whether embedded in the word sex is another “legal conclusion”—that the intercourse was consensual. And it’s hard to conclude otherwise. Go ahead, use the word sex in a sentence. Asking a complaining witness to scrub the word rape or assault from her testimony is one thing. Asking that she imply that she agreed to what her alleged assailant was doing to her is something else entirely. To put it another way: If the complaining witness in a rape trial has to describe herself as having had “intercourse” with the defendant, should the complaining witness in a mugging be forced to testify that he was merely giving his attacker a loan?

It seems to me that there is indeed a widespread use of ’sex’ on which rape is a kind of sex, but also a widespread use of ’sex’ on which sex must be consensual. Given the latter, it certainly seems that forcing the complaining witness to use the word ’sex’ is prejudicial. It also seems to me that whether the event which occurred should be described as ’sex’ or ‘rape’ is precisely what’s at issue, and that both sides need to be able to describe the facts as they see them. Interestingly, Lithwick notes that it’s increasingly common to get words like ‘victim’ banned in courtroom proceedings. This seems to me somehow different. If a person is being charged with a crime, surely one has to be able to name that crime in the courtroom. And, importantly, Lithwick notes that nobody is trying to ban the use of the word ‘murder’.

Update: I’ve learned here that I made an error in the above description. It was the prosecution that tried to ban ’sex’ and ‘intercourse’ in order to avoid the connotations of consent. The discussion at Sex in the Public Square also makes a very nice case for avoiding both the terms ‘rape’ and ‘’sex’– that testimony would be much clearer and better if it contained more explicit and precise terms than those.

Stunning Tampon Gun! June 23, 2007

Whilst making stun guns that look like Tampons may leave us trying to find some philosophical relevance, I’d be impressed to see what you can find for a tampon gun - with tampon bandolier.  Indeed, what can we find for Tampon Craft generally? (I like the Viagra cuff-links). Sorry.

New Women Drs Out number Men June 23, 2007

Here’s an interesting one. Women make up 58% of the 2006 graduate class of medical Drs in the U.K., according to UCAS. The BBC has a report here, and the British Medical Association’s press release is here. Superficially, this seems like a good thing, but the BMA have surveryed what they take to be a representative sample of this graduate class and found that one in five of the female Drs expect to work part-time for most of their career (only one in twenty five male Drs had this expectation). Also, 80% of these female Drs expect to take a career break at some point, this is compared to 50% of male Drs. In the NHS which has “all or nothing” training contracts and inflexible attitudes to working practice, this can pose a problem for women.

From the BMA press release, it is not made clear why female Drs expect to take career breaks or work part-time for most of their working lives, but, I suspect it has something to do with women still being primary care givers and taking most responsibility for domestic work in the home. Indeed, the BBC report has an interview with someone who suggests this is precisely the reason. If that’s the case, this is interesting in that it shows then even when women come to make up the majority of an important and well regarded profession, they still have to manage their careers in expectation of conforming to socialised gender roles.

The BMA’s response is interesting in that it recognises a potential problem and calls for greater flexibility in training times and NHS working hours. But, as many people know, working part-time can have a detremental effect on people’s careers, and is often seen as a lack of commitment to the job. (chapter one of Jennifer Saul’s Feminism: Issues and Arguments, and Joan Williams’ Unbending Gender have some good discussion on this). In fairness to the BMA, they do say that the need for flexibility is about more than catering for the increased number of women, but all the same, I think something other than a call for part-time hours is needed if we don’t want newly qualified female drs to suffer in the long run.

Progress on Transgender Rights June 23, 2007

New Jersey has just made it illegal for landlords and employers to discriminate against transgender people, or against people who fail to conform to gender stereotypes, joining 8 other states that ban discrimination against the transgendered. Pathetic that it’s still legal in 42 states, but still– progress is good. In the UK, it is currently legal to discriminate against transgendered people in the provision of goods, services, and housing, although not employment. More on UK law here. Thanks to S for passing this on to me.

Female feet June 22, 2007

Feet. They contain 25% of the bones in the body, and carry us about all over the place, bearing the weight of our bodies, and making sure we don’t topple over. Sensible folk might consider them best left alone, unless they need fixing. But this isn’t the view of female fashion, which has at various times and in various places, dictated foot intervention. Modern folk may shun foot binding, but that doesn’t stop us from cramming our tootsies into pointy-toed platforms with ten inch heels. Willing to suffer ankle, knee, hip, back and neck problems for the latest stiletto fancy, women – particularly in the US – are now turning to surgery to deal with wayward feet. Shortening procedures are available for unsightly toes that flop over the sides of sandals; fat toes can be toe-tucked; the balls of feet can receive extra cushioning in the form of collagen injections to make wearing extremely high heels more comfortable. One can even book oneself in for a complete feet-lift. So, gals, there’s really no excuse for stomping around in those flat lace-ups. More info here.

What women want… June 22, 2007

…other than a sparkly laptop, that is. See here for details of a very interesting sounding exhibition called ‘What Women Want’, at The Women’s Library (London Metropolitan Univ).

The library itself looks to be a very useful resource for feminist philosophers also – details of collections here, with many online resources.

Weight Loss or Bowel Control? June 21, 2007

I know which I’d pick, but apparently others feel differently. Via Broadsheet, I learned of a wildly popular new weight loss drug. It’s very expensive, and its side effects are such that the makers need to warn: “Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it’s probably a smart idea to wear dark [trousers], and bring a change of clothes with you to work.” The fact that women are flocking to buy this shows something very important about the priorities girls and women are taught.

Work, childcare, ending gender June 20, 2007

Zoe Williams writes here about recent statistics on fathers’ participation in childcare and workplace strategies for enabling this – they indicate relatively low participation (1 in 20 refusing payrise, 1 in 10 going part time – though it is not clear whether the data concerns all men, or all men who are fathers). Her take, similarly to Okin’s (1989), seems to be that until we ‘end gender’ – in particular, the assumptions about who does what, family-structure-wise – problems of equal participation in the work place and the family will remain.

She recommends that men should sacrifice the potential to earn more in the short term, in order to take advantage of, and normalise, the working structures that permit more equal participation in childcare. Interesting that this is expressed all in terms of ’sacrifice’, rather than emphasising the surely many good things for men who have more participation in the family…