Author Archives: Linda

Campus police are investigating an assault that occurred on the EWU Cheney main campus on November 2, 2011 at approximately 7:50PM, in the area of the University Recreation Center (URC) and Louise Anderson Hall (LA Hall).

The suspect is a black male in his early to mid twenties, approximate height of 6″2″, medium build, with a goatee. He was wearing a dark colored or black sweatpants and a hooded sweat shirt. The suspect grabbed a female student and attempted to take her into a secluded area. Anyone who has seen a person matching this description or observed suspicious activity in this area on the night of November 2, 2011, is encouraged to call the EWU Police Department at 509.359.6310 during normal business hours, EWU Police Dispatch at 509.535.9233 after hours, or the EWU Police Tip Line at 509.359.4286. If this is an emergency please dial 911.

I just wanted to remind everyone that Halloween is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for racism and link to this really informative post from Bitch Magazine about why some costumes are so hurtful.

If you still have the patience and motivation to politely tell people their costumes are racist, here are some tips. Happy Halloween, have fun, don’t make a fool of yourself, and despite the cute outfits, don’t rape anyone!

Guest post by Amy VanderWel, Eastern Washington University

Nearly one in three women in South Africa, ages 25 to 29, have HIV. Thirty percent of pregnant women surveyed in 2009 tested positive for HIV. The HIV virus is predominately transmitted mother to child. The national transmission rate is about 11 percent. Because of the high infection rate in families with HIV it is hard for family members to provide adequate care for each other. The disease has taken a toll on the productivity, health, and income for these struggling families. In 2010, the government in South Africa implemented a campaign to improve the availability of HIV testing and treatment. The campaign helped create South Africa’s National Strategic Plan. The campaign targeted HIV positive pregnant women. These infected mothers began receiving treatment 14 weeks into their pregnancy. The treatment was successful and it prevented 96.5 percent of the exposed babies from contracting the HIV virus.

For further reading visit http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

While avoiding all the things responsible college grads should do, I saw this commercial for Summer’s Eve.

While not convincing, I thought it was silly and maybe even cute, as long as I could forget what it actually said: not exactly “hail to the V” as it claims. Still, it caught me off guard before I realized what the ad was for. I don’t know what I thought. Feminist PSA, I guess.

Apparently others have noticed Summer’s Eve’s new advertisements as well. Little did I know, the other ads were not as cute but certainly just as “silly.” Featuring different “colored” hands and propagating racist stereotypes. I’d post the videos but I’m late on this issue; they’ve already been taken down.

So that’s great, but I still wonder if there’s anything else to be said about the ad that’s left. It certainly sends a convoluted message. On one hand, female bodies are pretty damn special, but on the other, they’re special because they can reproduce and men fight over them. And maybe on a third hand, they can do really amazing things, including, but not limited to, reproduction and making men fight. And on some other hands, maybe we should recognize the other fun things female bodies can do and maybe we should recognize them in a way that doesn’t promote shame with the natural state of female bodies.  Read more... (294 words, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)

Hello! I know this is late (again) but here it is! The fall program list for WGS.

Angel Crevantes, one of the students who helped create this blog, will present on, what he calls, zombie feminism; there’ll be a poetry slam; a look at brain injuries and disability rights; disabilities in relation to partner violence; contraceptive choices; race and gender in relation to track and field; “The Cult of Mary and the Burning Times” whatever that even is; and a lot more.

You won’t get any spoilers here, but I will say that they’re definitely worth skipping class for. Not that you should do that.

Anyway, if you do attend any of these, write to us about it! For more details on all the presentations, click on the link at the top.

I’m not sure if this requires a trigger warning for racism but, just so you know, it might.

I found this article through Bitch Magazine but it’s originally from Racialicious: Which Women Are What Now? The article features a photo of a protester at SlutWalk NYC holding a sign that…well…here’s the picture.
I’m not picking on SlutWalk now but the article says something important that, I think, as feminists and profeminists, we need to remember, “Nothing kills an idea of coming together faster than the realization that even in a space which is allegedly about your concerns, you are still a marginalized other.”

There’s more to the story, of course, but you can read all that at Racialicious.

Last week I made the stupid mistake of bringing up cultural appropriation on facebook. My status was, what I called, a “privilege confession” about stretched earlobes. I have stretched earlobes and they have no significance to me except looking nice when they are full of swirly clay. The confession was that at the time I started stretching them, I didn’t know anything about cultural appropriation and it inspired a lot of, “I’ll just pretend you didn’t say that” comments.

Now I do know some things about cultural appropriation and, while it’s not much, I’ve recently learned that it’s more than a scarily huge number of feminists. That really is unfortunate because feminists, like everyone else, participate in trends, like wearing feathers and learning belly dancing and carelessly conglomerating “Eastern” religions in to a some new agey thing there isn’t really a name for. So here’s a little Cultural Appropriation 101.  Read more... (563 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

You can read some of my thoughts on SlutWalk here (which someone summed up pretty well,  “is not a movement, it’s a walk”). Obviously, I didn’t go but I did get to see a lot of my friends’ pictures on Facebook. Here’s one that, as an Arab feminist who didn’t attend SlutWalk because of being an Arab Feminist, I found this picture pretty…anxious making.

A friend who was there says the wommin in the picture “made it herself.” What is it? Is it one of these?

I don’t really know what to think about it. I’ll just leave this all here and see if it fester- I mean, if anything comes of it.

Guest Post by Krista Benson, Eastern Washington University

I’m disappointed in you, Pride Spokane. And it’s not because your drag queens are too loud or your Dykes on Bikes are too dykey.

It’s because, once again, I’m not really invited to Pride.

Every year in the United States and in many other countries around the world, the month of June is celebrated as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (and Queer) Pride month. The month of June isn’t chosen for its (normally) gorgeous weather (at least in places that aren’t Spokane), but rather to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, which are credited with sparking a more cohesive then-gay and now-LGBTQ rights movement. For those unfamiliar with a Pride event, it is meant to evoke celebration of diversity and pride for LGBTQ people. It is also meant to be welcoming, accessible, and open to all.

And Pride in Spokane is open to everyone. But it also asks too many of us to make some uncomfortable choices.  Read more... (485 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)