Enjoy News from the Margins’ first podcast! M. Brent Leonhard, tribal attorney and supporter of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), presented on the impact of VAWA on tribal sovereignty. He spoke at UW-Madison for the Indigenous Law Students Association’s Coming Together of Peoples Conference on March 23, 2012.
News from the Margins
What's happening with women, minorities, and the underrepresented around the globe
Category Archives: Women
Roller Derby Journeys
Mad Cowgirl (Maddie) sought a sport requiring little hand/eye coordination — aerobic exercise in an empowering environment — and she found much more. She discovered derby before Whip It brought the sport mainstream attention. Maddie became a referee with the Mad Rollin’ Dolls (MRD) and a founding member of the recreational league, the Mad Wreckin’ Dolls.
Roller Derby harks back to the late 19th/early 20th century when roller skating was new. Skaters would race around tracks to gain points when they lapped their opponents. Derby lost mainstream favor around the middle of the century, even after becoming more of a contact sport. The sport began it’s most recent revival in 2001 when a group of women in Austin, Texas strapped on skates and began coordinating a league.
When my friend (who I know as Ann) strapped on her skates she became a passionate athlete and inspired member of a community of bad-asses. Maddie introduced me to this spectator sport that manages to be amusing, inspiring, and unique within the arena of women’s sports. For these reasons, I began exploring the Mad Rollin’ Dolls for a 10-minute documentary.
The derby founders in Austin designed the sport for spectators, donning short skirts and edgy personas. The founders named the organization Bad Girl Good Woman (BGGW). Due to personality and business conflicts within the league, BGGW split. Skaters in Austin endured the drama to become the Lonestar Roller Girls (TXRD), where they now play on a banked track.
I enjoy the research I conduct for this project. I have interviewed interesting women and absorbed as much media as I can find on the subject, including a few documentaries. Hell on Wheels chronicles the beginning of derby in Austin. The doc does, admittedly, contain some catty bickering, but the excitement and stress of starting a movement from grassroots carries through. Brutal Beauty – about the skaters in Portland (Rose City Rollers) – includes the softer side of its characters and the people who support them. An interview between skater Cadillac and her boyfriend shows that men (support staff and fans) celebrate women at the center of this rough sport. The ultimate message from some skaters in Brutal Beauty inspires: “Derby saved my soul.”
The Mad Rollin’ Dolls, Madison’s own league, began saving souls eight years ago. The original dolls met, fundraised, and promoted the budding organization in 2004, and began with a full season of bouts in 2005. Their slogans include: “hurt in a skirt,” “real hits, real women, real roller derby,” and “find the derby in you.” The group runs on local sponsorship and volunteer power, including refs, announcers, and support staff at bouts. Papa Razzi explores his photography hobby by taking professional grade photos at bouts, and this man has two daughters who’ve broken legs in derby!
Through my interviews with veteran players I see that roller derby players often commit body and soul to the sport and the community. I went to my second bout last Saturday and the event sold out. The women I’d interviewed blew me away with their skill on the track and leadership on the sidelines. I found myself on the edge of my seat (literally gripping the riser where I filmed) in hopes that Mouse, of the MRD Reservoir Dolls, would make up a large point differential to win against a visiting team from Chicago. Mouse scored 23 points during one jam temporarily reviving the crowd and her team. I cheered.
Derby grows everyday as it enters its second decade. Flat-track roller derby has a governing organization, with hundreds of leagues, tens of thousands of players, and even more fans who support them. Websites now broadcast bouts for international viewership. The first roller derby world cup took place in 2011. Now there’s talk of an Olympic bid. These athletes become faster and fitter to compete on an international scale.
My growing fixation on this game proves that I have morphed from derby researcher to derby fan. I look forward to telling the stories of the MRD athletes I admire in my film, but I can’t wait to return to a bout without my camera to yell from the stands.
Happy International Women’s Day!
I wonder as I write the title to this post, if life today can be considered a happy time for women. As women’s health sits center stage with the religious freedom controversy, for better or worse, it has a lot of people fired up.
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, headlined on last night’s The Daily Show with an inspiring, no-nonsense attitude and an arsenal of statistics. She showed uncompromising confidence in Planned Parenthood, and the support they provide to the entire nation (supporting American women = supporting our nation). She acknowledged that one in five American women receives services from Planned Parenthood in her lifetime. She also pointed out that 90% of care from Planned Parenthood is preventative. I highly recommend the interview to curious or skeptical readers.
A few days ago, Jessica Winter provided a wry, critical look at how legislators, employers, judges, and commentators throw their weight around to the detriment of women’s civil liberties. The article confronts the status quo through a serial list of offences against women. She implies that in this world where talking heads resound and court cases set precedents, a slight to one woman is a slight to all women. I can’t think of a better message for International Women’s Day.
Photo from NPR, via The Daily Beast
But women are talking about more than just health care. Newsweek hosts the third annual Women in the World Summit, with an impressive line up of speakers. Since Tina Brown took over as editor, they have done a great job covering women’s issues. A few days ago they published a retrospective pieceabout how female journalists rose to prominence with NPR when other media outlets were not so open to women. These women took the slim opportunities available to them and made a name for themselves. The story describes the “Fallopian Jungle” where these “Founding Mothers” worked.
The internets flow today with a surplus of stories by, for, and about women. I can’t possibly reference all the stories I’m interested in, but I hope they extend beyond International Women’s Day. Here’s to today’s conversation!
Insights from National Eating Disorder Awareness Week
National Eating Disorder Awareness week (NEDAwareness) lasted from February 26 to March 3, but I’m still thinking about it. I took the opportunity to catch up on research about the disorders and follow current conversation on the topic through twitter and comment threads.
I noticed a major difference from when I first tuned into these diseases in the late 1990s. For one thing, people are talking about them. Those afflicted open up about their experiences and recoveries through memoirs and online testimony. Various organizations have sprung up to offer frank discussion on the causes, treatments, and preventative approaches against anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders.
I was disturbed to learn about pro-ana and pro-mia. This online movement consists of people afflicted by anorexia and bulimia who claim their disorder is a lifestyle choice and share techniques on how to continue the mentally and physically harmful practices in secret.
Another disturbing fact: more and more women – and men – continue to develop these diseases. Between eight and ten million people suffer from these diseases. And some of the afflicted die from related physical complications or suicide. According to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, eating disorders have higher mortality rates than any other mental illness.
Most with these diseases do not seek treatment, and maintain disordered behaviors in private. Treatment can be extremely costly, requiring tens of thousands of dollars or comprehensive health insurance. And certainly not all sufferers have health insurance. To make matters worse, not all health insurance plans cover eating disorder treatment.
A 2003 review of literature revealed that only a third of anorexics and six percent of bulimics receive mental health care.
The sheer volume of people suffering from eating disorders can be viewed as a symptom of national low self-esteem (0.5% of American women have anorexia, 2-3% suffer from bulimia). These diseases reflect major issues our society has with food, dieting, and body shape. We have so many obese residents, and yet our models lose more and more inches through the Photoshop process. My colleague posted extensively on her blog regarding this subject.
The fact that Americans spend $40 billion a year on diets and diet products, suggests rampant dissatisfaction with our bodies. The industry literally banks on people’s low self-esteem. I highly recommend Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth for an in-depth look at the media, advertising, and body image.
But skinny models and ubiquitous diet regimes cannot be held fully accountable for the development of eating disorders. Recent research suggests that 50% of the formation of an eating disorder derives from genetic factors. Other environmental factors contribute to these diseases such as stress or trauma, or a family members’ obsession with body image and food.
Research and dialogue on eating disorders continues to progress, and yet so do these diseases. They are entrenched in our population. Forty percent of Americans suffered from an eating disorder or knows someone who has.
Please visit this sensitive letter from Ms. if you or someone you know needs a push to begin the recovery process. To end on a hopeful note, people recover from these illnesses with psychological, emotional, and medical support.
Late Retrospective for Black History Month: From Female Slave, to Southern Gentleman, to Freedom
1. Ellen and William Craft decided they would rather risk their lives than risk the severance of their budding family. These Georgian slaves in the mid-19th century sought a way to escape when they first decided to marry.
My wife was torn from her mother’s embrace in childhood, and taken to a distant part of the country. She had seen so many other children separated from their parents in this cruel manner, that the mere thought of her ever becoming the mother of a child, to linger out a miserable existence under the wretched system of American slavery, appeared to fill her very soul with horror (Craft 27).
2. The couple considered various escape routes, aware that failure would mean death, or worse. Slaveholders seemed to enjoy the pursuit and punishment of escaped slaves. William and Ellen would not risk escaping 1,000 miles without a sure plan. They resigned to marry and toil as slaves until a path to liberty presented herself
3. In December 1848 the idea dawned. Only eight days to freedom
4. Ellen Craft, a fair-skinned slave, must take on the disguise of a white slave master. She would travel from Georgia as the owner of her darker-skinned husband. This clever plan would keep them under the radar, and yet require Ellen to cross firm caste, race, and class lines in disguise.
At first she shrank from the idea. She thought it almost impossible for her to assume that disguise, and travel a distance of 1,000 miles across slave States. … [But] the more she contemplated her helpless condition, the more anvious she was to escape from it (Craft 30).
5. Over the course of four days William purchased a disguise piece by piece. Ellen tailored herself a pair of pants and hid all the items in a locked drawer. They convinced their master and mistress to permit them a few days of Christmas holiday, as they were trusted and well liked. The leave allowed them a head start towards the North.
Just before the time arrived for us to leave I cut my wife’s hair square at the back of the head and got her to dress in the disguise and stand out on the floor. I found that she made a most respectable looking gentleman (Craft 35).
6. When William opened the door to flee, Ellen burst into tears. A perilous journey waited for them, but remaining meant a life of slavery and uncertainty. William sympathized. After a prayer, they set off.
We were like persons near a tottering avalanche; afraid to move, or even breathe freely, for fear the sleeping tyrants should be aroused (Craft 42)
7. Once on the train, William spotted his master peering through the train cars, suspicious that the couple might flee. He failed to recognize Ellen, and the train pulled away before he could find William
8. Ellen endured the first leg of the trip next a friend of her master who had known her since childhood. She pretended to be deaf to avoid contact with him. He did not recognize her and treated her like a gentleman.
9. A trader en route sought to separate the two and buy William. Slaves on free soil could not be trusted. A military officer recommended she stop saying “thank you” and “if you please” to her slave.
10. They were held up in Charleston, where legislators feared abolitionists would smuggle slaves through to the north. The same military gentleman, who provided Ellen with advice on how to treat her “slave,” vouched for them.
11. On the train to Richmond,Virginia, Ellen, pretending to be asleep, overheard a young women swooning over her male persona:
After [Ellen had] been lying there a little while the ladies, I suppose, thought he was asleep; so one of them gave a long sigh, and said, in a quiet fascinating tone, “Papa, he seems to be a very nice young gentleman.” But before papa could speak the other lady quickly said, “Oh! Dear me, I never felt so much for a gentleman in my life!” (Craft 60).
12. Officers stopped the couple in Baltimore, their last transfer before Philadelphia — and freedom. The law required registration and documentation for slaves. Their courage waned. The room filled with tension. The train’s captain passed through, acknowledged them, and then sounded the train’s bell for departure. An officer waved them through indifferently at the last moment.
13. They arrived in Pennsylvania on Christmas day. Eight days after they conceived the plan, four days after their flight began, Ellen collapsed on William. They found refuge in local abolitionists.
14. The couple moved to England where they raised a family, received an education, and spoke out against slavery.
15. Ellen became a symbol for the anti-slavery movement.
[The picture of her as a man] sold so well William hoped the proceeds might assist him in securing his still-enslaved sister (McCaskill 515).
16. Reluctantly, Ellen challenged many aspects of the status quo, so that she could live her life as a mother and educated lady. In an effort to escape one institution she subverted many.
With her appearance as an Africa woman ‘dressed’ as a white woman dressed as a white Southern man, Ellen elides the distinctions between the genders and scrambles the identities of haughty mistress and humble slave (McCaskill 520).
Sources:
Running a thousand miles for freedom, or The Escape of William and Ellen Craft. 1860. William Craft.
“Yours Very Truly”: Ellen Craft–The Fugitive as Text and Artifact. 1994. Barbara McCaskill
Women’s Shelter Opens Doors on Coldest Nights
This winter may seem mild, but Madison’s homeless residents feel it when the temperature drops.
“When you’re outside, it’s cold. Cold is cold,” said Pamela Brunk, evening supervisor at the Single Women’s Shelter.
The playground and small community garden rest dormant and untouched outside the building, but the Salvation Army facility opens wide its doors on the coldest nights.
When the temperature drops below 21 degrees the shelter takes everyone in, even beyond the 30 bed capacity.
“If I have to have people sit in the reception area, if I don’t have beds, I’ll try and do that just to get them out of the cold,” said Brunk.
Brunk conducts intakes of clients at the shelter and serves as a problem-solver in the evenings. She has a large, generous smile and a small nose ring. Her counseling background serves her well in mediating disputes and addressing the needs of clients.
The shelter, located on the 600 block of East Washington, remains the only shelter for single women in Dane County. Brunk explained that single women have little access to housing support and health care.
The shelter is drop-in only. That means that women can arrive at the shelter at 5pm, sleep on a mattress in the facilities’ gym, and leave by 8am. Guests receive dinner and breakfast for each overnight visit.
Women visiting the shelter also benefit from certain health services including visits from MEDiC providers and Meriter Health Program which offers mental health assessments and prescription drugs.
During the day women can take shuttles to Porchlight’s Hospitality House to stay warm and access other resources during the winter.
According to Brunk, the shelters and service centers experience more traffic in the summer.
“Summer is our busier time of year,” said Brunk. “I think people are more mobile in the summer.”
But with the recent closing of the central library for renovation and restricted access to the capitol, homeless women and men gather at the shelters on winter nights of all temperatures.
Black Women in American Culture and History: Mary Church Terrell
In 1906 Mary Church Terrell pointed out that Washington DC, the center of American liberty, failed to live up to its reputation as “The Colored Man’s Paradise.” During her speech to the United Women’s Club in DC, Terrell tore apart the slogan. She proved it a misnomer with anecdotes of segregation and discrimination against African-Americans.
At the time, DC was a difficult place for traveling African Americans to find room and board. It was difficult for African Americans to find a place on a tram, in a church, or at the theater. In her speech, Terrell described the loss of job experienced by many of her very qualified friends and acquaintances:
“A colored woman, as fair as a lily and as beautiful as a Madonna, who was the head saleswoman in a large department store in New York, had been discharged, after she had held this position for years, when the proprietor accidentally discovered that a fatal drop of African blood was percolating somewhere thru her veins.”
One hundred and six years after Terrell told that story, we can appreciate that “a drop of African blood,” is no longer “fatal.” Washington DC, though never a paradise for any man, does host the first African American first family. And this month, we look back at the achievements of and the difficulties surmounted by African Americans. This year in particular African American History Month celebrates the theme, “Black Women in American Culture and History.”
Terrell lived from 1863 to 1954 and was well educated, well traveled, and wealthy. Her parents were slaves before her father became a millionaire. She spoke professionally on behalf of women and African Americans, and against lynching and disenfranchisement.
She ended her 1906 speech, “What it means to be colored in the Capital of the United States,” with a lament that treatment of African Americans in DC (and elsewhere) leads to “helplessness and hopelessness” and a loss of “incentive and effort” that even sympathetic white people couldn’t appreciate. But the irony she saw in the capital shone through her last remark:
“And surely nowhere in the world do oppression and persecution based solely on the color of the skin appear more hateful and hideous than in the capital of the United States, because the chasm between the principles upon which this Government was founded, in which it still professes to believe, and those which are daily practiced under the protection of the flag, yawns so wide and deep.”
Along similar lines, an exhibit on “The Paradox of Liberty” will explore Thomas Jefferson and his conflicting positions on liberty and slavery. Check it out online or in DC. The exhibit is presented by the forthcoming Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and Monticello.
Source: Man Cannot Speak for Her, Volume II, Compiled by Karlyn Kohrs Campbell
Language, Race, and Provocation: The Evolution of SlutWalk in a Timeline
SlutWalk’s provocative title garnered attention and support for the series of marches against sexual assault and victim blaming. But mainstream and feminist commentators criticized the organizer’s preoccupation with the term “slut.” The movement sought to end slut shaming and reclamation of “slut” featured in the mission statements of various SlutWalk marches. Each march rose separately from the grassroots level, and they generally included speakers, signs, and some scantily clad participants.
I created this timeline to accompany a research paper on rhetorical and racial hang-ups presented through the SlutWalk movement. In my research I examined the discourse around and criticism towards SlutWalk regarding reclamation of the term “Slut” and the N-word as it was presented on an NYC SlutWalk sign. I also explored the racial dynamic of the event and how the choice of the term “Slut” both raised awareness of the marches and alienated women of color.
This timeline shows the progression of these language and race issues as they arose throughout the year. Many other events took place under the umbrella of SlutWalk, which I did not include here.
Sources
The Star | Toronto Sun | The Washington Post | Time Magazine | The New York Post | Ms. Magazine | Ms. Blog | The Guardian | To The Curb Blog | The Crunk Feminist Collective Blog | Black Women’s Blueprint Website | SlutWalk NYC Website
Rape Jokes and Equal Opportunity Killing: Pros and Cons of Female Progress in the Macho Worlds of Comedy and Video Games
Women comedians thriving in their industry draw on a realm of issues to tickle, shock, or gross out audiences more familiar with the male-centered scene. But the racy topics rising from the likes of Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer push more than the glass ceiling or the “taste taboo ceiling.” A recent article in the New York Times touches on rising female comics and the use of rape humor in their acts.
Jason Zinomen writes, recounting Silverman, “if you had to pinpoint one joke as a breakthrough for this new generation of female comedians, it might be this one: ‘I was raped by a doctor, which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.’”
Rape may fall logically on the list of things more approachable by female comics. But for my part, too many people avoid, or remain ignorant of, the realities of sexual assault. Making light of sexual violations belittles the physical and psychological trauma of the experience. That said, I am not here to criticize the risqué aspects of stand up comedy, whose primary purpose seems provocation.
I am interested in the way that women make a place for themselves within comedy entertainment. Vanity Fair, in 2008, printed the article “Who Says Women Aren’t Funny?” It covered 12 contemporary funny women, remarking on the requirement that they be simultaneously clever and sexy. The article featured Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig, whose recent movie Bridesmaids included female-centered humor, and some ground breaking gross-out scenes with women.
But female comedians aren’t the only ones breaking ground. Female reviewer Emma Boyes touts the third installation of Saints Row, a violent, gangster genre video game, as “good for women.”
This game which features gratuitous violence and prostitution allows players to control the gender of their avatar. Within both realms (game playing and character creating) players experience gender neutrality uncharacteristic of video games in general.
Boyes writes, “the best thing about the way women are depicted in Saints Row is the fact that it never seems to occur to anyone to treat them any differently.”
The game, according to Boyes, includes a substantial number of bad-ass female characters and no diminutive language when referring to them. Male and female prostitutes are featured and objectified. Players have a great deal of flexibility when creating their avatars.
“All outfits, makeup, and hair styles are available to both genders, so there’s nothing stopping you from, say, being a girl with a beard or a fella with pigtails, lip gloss, and high heels. You can wear a sexy dress. You can wear a power suit. You can be androgynous,” writes Boyes.
Boyes’ review also includes disclaimers that the game is saucy, provocative, and sometimes immature. Gender equity will not necessarily draw a flock of female gamers if they weren’t already interested in gangster games. And the benefits, or consequences, of playing at theft and death remain debatable for all genders.
Does the new installation of Saints Row demonstrate progress? Yes, definitely. Although equal opportunity violence and rape humor still leave a bad taste in my mouth, women deserve a place in these fields. I remain hopeful that females advance in comedy and gaming on their own terms.
News from the Margins 
Delving into the issue of Sexual Assault in Native Populations
Last spring, Jacqui Callari-Robinson visited Sawyer County in Wisconsin, which hosts the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe and the Oakwood Haven shelter for victims of domestic and sexual violence. She worked with a focus group of women to determine what services tribal communities needed to protect against these issues. Ten women of various tribes throughout the state participated and shared their own experiences.
All ten of the women were victims of sexual assault. They did not receive physical or emotional treatment, nor legal justice. Callari-Robinson holds onto this memory as she strives for full sexual assault response coverage throughout the state. I too grasped onto this story.
Callari-Robinson, the director of health services for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault (WCASA), keeps an eye on all the SANE certified nurses and SART teams throughout the state. SANE stands for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, a national certification for nurses who conduct forensic exams and collect evidence from victims of sexual assault. The exams play a crucial role in the medical treatment of victims and subsequent cases against their perpetrators. Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART) consist of medical personnel, law enforcement, and advocates within a community who work together to help victims of assault.
Many of the eleven Native American tribes in Wisconsin do not have SANE nurses or SART programs on their reservations. Callari-Robinson forged relationships over the last 14 years with tribal community members and advocates to try to develop these programs.
My discussions with Callari-Robinson mark the beginning of my investigation into domestic violence and sexual assault programs in Indian country. A report from Amnesty International pulled me further into this issue. Maze of Injustice documents the high volume of indigenous American women who experience assault. This report came out in 2007, and the CDC confirmed in their 2010 Survey that native women still experience assault more frequently than women of other races.
Why is this problem so pervasive in Native communities? Maze of Injustice reports that in our American history of colonialism rape became a tool of conquest placing Native women in a position vulnerable to abuse. And some Native Americans report that they inherited abuse practices from colonizers. Boarding schools which indoctrinated indigenous youths with a punitive system taught them to be ashamed of their culture. When these “reformed” Natives returned to their communities as adults, they brought punitive methods with them. C.J. Doxtater, an Oneida member and employee of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence shared this theory with me, and the anecdote that Native children who spoke their indigenous language were punished with pins in their tongue.
Many Native groups have sprung up in response to reports of high numbers of sexual and domestic abuse against Native American women and children including Mending the Sacred Hoop, a group based in Minnesota. They strive to disrupt the cycles of abuse that affect Native communities. Other groups addressing this issue include American Indians Against Abuse in Wisconsin and the national Indian Health Service. These groups work hard to address sexual assault and domestic violence on tribal land. Prevention of abuse remains a priority. And considering the focus group with ten out of ten women retaining the trauma and memory of abuse, these organizations work for healing and recovery on the individual and cultural level.