Words from a Female Marine

Girl Sailor has recently posted an AMAZING series of narrative pieces by a female midshipman, Cpl Laura B. Ramsey, who was deployed in Iraq before coming to the Naval Academy. She wrote the pieces for a dramatic monologue show being put on earlier this month in the Naval Academy's English Department, called "Forward Deployed." Check out her poignant and amazingly crafted accounts: "Wadi Road," "Nail Polish and Boots," "Sweet Face and Bitter Future," and "My Relief."

(The author wishes to share the following disclaimer: "[These] pieces are true accounts of Cpl Laura B. Ramsey, USMC, while deployed to the Al Anbar Province of Iraq from January to June of 2006. They are not meant to harm, offend, or acts thereof any audience that may hear or read them. These experiences are simply informative first-hand accounts of a female Marine.-Laura B. Ramsey.")

Unhappy Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War

Well, it's five years and counting and what is there to say.

A LOT.

Sara Gould of the Ms. Foundation, for one, has a great oped up at the org's blog which begins with a good ole Albert Einstein quote: "The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." Yesss.

Over at Women's eNews, there's an interesting piece offering a women's perspective on military service and its aftermath. One returning female vet offers advice to the next commander in chief: "I would request that they limit deployments and the time you have between deployments....That is really hurting morale."

And MOMocrats are stirring it up today too. (Thanks, Joanne, for the heads up!)

Just in case anyone's craving a refresher, here's a lovely timeline of what's gone down since we invaded. On Jan. 9, the World Health Organization estimated that the actual number of Iraqi civilian deaths due to the war lo these past 5 years is at 151,000. What'cha going to do about it, George, tough guy, huh? Man.

Intergenerational Feminist Roadshow Continues

Well, Courtney rather beautifully summed up our travel misadventures yesterday and I got nothin' to add. Except that I think I may soon be offering seminars in the Siegel Slip, as I am more than happy to share my line-busting, rule-breaking tips for the good of well-behavin women waiting unnecessarily in lines at airports across the land. Oh--one more thing. Miss Courtney, tomorrow, *I* call the cute black sweater dress and boots.

Thank goodness our travel misadventures nevertheless got us to Mt. Pleasant this morning, because I loved loved loved our visit to Central Michigan University. The students we spoke to today are amazing, and inspire me. During the day, Gloria and I talked to a group of Honors students about the pressures facing "academically gifted" women, while Kristal and Courtney spoke to a journalism class. After the big evening panel, we asked the audience to fill out forms telling us what they, as younger women, would like to say to older women, and vice versa. And we asked the men in the audience to tell us what they think about feminism, or what they'd like women to hear from them. We'll be posting some of the responses here, and my copanelists will be coposting at their various blogs as well. The responses are just too darn good not to coshare.

For more on today, here's the take from our resident young'un over at feministing. And do check out another intergenerational conversation Miss Courtney is participating in--about the election--over on Jewcy, along with Wendy Shanker and Bitch PhD.

(Heads up Kristal and Gloria: I think Courtney may be intergenerationally cheating on us over there!)

TOUR NOTES: I'm in Mt. Pleasant, MI!

Yep, I'm here. If you are too, please come by tonight: "Womengirlsladies: A Fresh Conversation Across Generations" will be on at 7:30 pm, Mount Pleasant, MI 989-774-4000. More info: Central Michigan University.

You know, I think my college roommate lived on a farm nearby, close to Lansing. I remember coming home with her one weekend and riding her family's tractor. It was a true highlight of freshman year for this suburban/city girl. I know you don't really ride a tractor, you drive it. But it sure felt like a ride to me.

Is Spitzergate a New "Anita Hill"?

I found it interesting that in this weekend's NYTimes article "Postfeminism and Other Fairy Tales", Deborah Tannen compares the Spitzergate moment with Anita Hill, and twentysomething Slate blogger Noreen Malone says that for her, an Obama supporter, the Spitzer moment trumped the tearful moment in bringing her to a slightly different point of view. “Oddly enough it’s taken Spitzergate — not Hillary’s tears, not her scolding — to make me less dismissive of the feminist ‘obligation’ to vote for a woman,” says Malone.

So much going on in these comparisons, and if I weren't bleary eyed (or, as Courtney puts it, "feeling like a crackhead") from the past 24 hours of planes, trains, and automobiles, I'm sure I'd have something more to say about it all. Perhaps GWP readers can help me out. What do you think of the comparison between Anita Hill and Spitzergate as rallying moments for feminism?

Transgender Youth & Feminism in NYTimes Magazine

Just a quick one this morning--had to share this article by Alissa Quart, appearing in tomorrow's NYTimes Magazine, called "When Girls Will Be Boys."

Alissa takes an extremely sympathetic look at gender-nonconforming teens -- one of the first major articles on transfeminism I've seen, perhaps the only one in such a MSM venue.

I'm in Boston Today!

And I feel like a kid in a candy store. Having never gone to journalism school, this conference I'm at is like a speed education. Will report more Monday, when I head to Michigan for WomenGirlsLadies speaking engagements.

Speaking of, if in Michigan next week, do come say hi:

Central Michigan University, Monday, March 17, 7:30 pm, Mount Pleasant, MI 989-774-4000

Eastern Michigan University, Tuesday, March 18, 7:00 pm, Ypsilanti, MI 734-487-1849

Wishing everyone a happy Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

What's the Matter with Kansas?

I have to say, traveling to Kansas City this week was an eye opener. I learned many things, among them this: In Kansas, nutso Fred Phelps (head of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church) is still spearheading protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers across the country, saying that their deaths are "divine retribution" for U.S. tolerance of homosexuality.

Sorry Fred, we're just not seeing the connection.

Kansas legislators are trying to pass a law that would ban protests within 150 feet of a funeral for one hour before and two hours after a service. And here I thought, with all the hoopla around Spitzer, that we had problems in NYC.

Election Watch: We're Getting Punchy Edition

In this week's Newsweek cover package ("Hear Her Roar: Gender, Class, and Hillary Clinton), Tina Brown reports on the euphoria at the Columbus Anthanaeum when the primary results for Ohio started coming in: "They were raising the roof along with the band to the old 1965 McCoys hit 'Hang on Sloopy.'" A number of other women writers weigh in with their observations, punditry, and advice. Two zingers that struck me as funny:

Kathleen Deveny on being fed up with ambient sexism and friends who refer to Hillary as a scold: "[F]orgive me if I'm feeling a little shrewish myself these days. From now on, if you want to call the first woman to win a Democratic primary a bitch in front of me, you'd better be Tina Fey."

Advice from Monica Crowley, a McCain supporter: "Clinton should...reach out to Obama's core constituencies--black voters, the young, higher earners, and those with college degrees. Her message: 'I forgive your fliration with the Hope Guy, but now it's time to come home to Mommy.'"

Interesting little sidenote: the "My Turn" essay in this particular issue is by male ballet dancer"Sascha Radetsky and is called alled "Don't Judge Me By My Tights."

Hello from the airport!

So I return from my traveling bubble to find headlines here ablaze, of course, with Eliot Spitzer (why can't these powerful men just keep it in their pants?) and Geraldline Ferraro's comments about Barack Obama (why oh why). Meanwhile, The Guardian reports this morning that for the first time, the four key members of the Treasury committee that is working with chancellor Alistair Darling to shape the budget are women. The article begins with a cutesy little zinger:

"After Blair's babes, meet Darling's darlings."

Guess the US ain't the only one with issues around women taking charge. You'd think they'd be used to it, with all those queens. The rest of the piece is great, but why must we start with babes and darlings, I ask. Sigh. I was really enjoying my temporary news blackout yesterday.

TOUR NOTES: I'm in Missouri Today

Yep, I'm in the Show Me State today, back in my native Midwest. I'm giving a talk tonight ("Who Framed Feminism? Popularizing Rhetorics Across Generations") at 7pm at Pierson Auditorium at the UMKC University Center. If anywhere nearby and in the mood for feminism tonight, come out and say hi! I'm also doing a "Making It Pop: Translating Your Research for Trade" workshop from 2-4pm in the Alumni Room over there.

Loved meeting one of my hosts last night, Kathy Krause, along with faculty members Jane Greer in English and Jenny in Psychology. And Kansas City is my new favorite town. Who knew?! Well, the folks who live here certainly do.

Meanwhile, I've been reading up on what's going on in the state, feministically speaking, and found this little gem, via my beloved feministing of course: "The Missouri legislature wants to reclassify mifepristone -- the drug used in medical abortions -- as a Schedule I controlled substance, a classification for drugs with 'a high potential for abuse and no medicinal value.'" Oh dear. Read more over at Ms.

Wacky Antifeminist Weed--The IWF Responds

The Independent Women's Forum finally responds to that woman-hating oped by Charlotte Allen that ran in The Washington Post. (Allen was later ID-ed by Katha Pollitt in her lively takedown as associated with the IWF; she used to work there.) Writes IWF's Carrie Lukas:

I agree with the critiques that she took it too far (and lost me on the humor), particularly with the ending: "Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts' content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we are . . . kind of dim."

Allen responded to the furious response to her piece in a live question-and-answer session at the Post, and feministing posted some highlights. I loved the questions, including this one:

"Can I have some of whatever wacky antifeminist week that you're smoking?"

Hehe. Sing it sister.

Sex, Lies, and the Gender Gap?

In case you missed it, Emily Bazelton offers a reality check in "Hormones, Genes and the Corner Office," her NYTimes review of Susan Pinker's new book, The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women, and the Real Gender Gap. Bazelton begins with the question: "Why do girls on average lead boys for all their years in the classroom, only to fall behind in the workplace? Do girls grow up and lose their edge, while boys mature and gain theirs?" She goes on to critique Pinker's answer--which, basically, sounds like a version of biological difference feminism. Some snippets from Bazelton's review:

Because of their biological makeup, [Pinker] argues, most women want to limit the amount of time they spend at work and to find “inherent meaning” there, as opposed to domination. “Both conflict with making lots of money and rising through the ranks,” she points out. Pinker is surely right to contest what she calls the “vanilla male model” of success — “that women should want what men want and be heartily encouraged to choose it 50 percent of the time.” Or that when employers say jump, employees should always say how high. Even as they work fewer hours for less status and less money, on average, more women report that they are satisfied with their careers. Maybe men might well think the same if more of them felt they could cut back. But Pinker’s difference feminism doesn’t really allow for that possibility. She is a believer: “The puzzle is why the idea of sex differences continues to be so controversial,” she writes.

Bazelton concludes that "In her zeal, Pinker veers to the onesided." To wit:

She doesn’t acknowledge that some of the research cited in her footnotes is either highly questionable as social science (Louise Story’s 2005 article in The New York Times, for instance, about her survey of Ivy League women’s aspirations)....Pinker omits the work of scientists who have shown that sex-based brain differences pale in comparison to similarities. We shouldn’t wish the role of sex differences away because they’re at odds with feminist dogma. But that doesn’t mean we should settle for the reductionist version of the relevant science, even if the complexity doesn’t make for as neat a package between hard covers.

Ah yes, that old bugaboo called EVIDENCE. Of course, since I'm a junkie for pop writing on sex and feminism, and since Pinker uses the word "Extreme Men" and I'm dying to know what she means by the term, I'll find my way to this book and will let you know if I agree with Bazelton's take, or if there's more there of interest from which we can learn. But on many levels, it sounds like one those looking for fact-based analysis might veer elsewhere.

An endorsement from Christina Hoff Sommers kind of confirms it for me. Sommers lauds the book thusly:

"Susan Pinker's The Sexual Paradox is meticulously researched, brilliantly argued and thoroughly persuasive. It moves the debate over sex differences to a new level of sophistication." -- Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys

Oh boy.

GWP INSTITUTE: Spring Workshops

While I'm on it, thought I'd post an updated list of where I'll be giving workshops, too. Thanks, as always, for spreading word! And hope to see some of you there, soon!

As always, there a full listing available at:
http://www.deborahsiegel.net/events.htm

March 28-29 – Writing a Book Proposal That Sells
Women and Media (WAM!) Conference
Cambridge, MA
More info: http://www.centerfornewwords.org/wam/

April 7 - Breaking into Anthology Writing
MediaBistro
NYC
More info: http://www.mediabistro.com/courses/cache/crs3683.asp

April 13, 17 - Finding Your Subject, Finding Your Voice: A Seminar in Personal Nonfiction
Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership
NYC
More info: http://www.woodhull.org/classes/

April 25-26 – What You Should Know about Blogging and Why
Council on Contemporary Families Conference
University of IL, Chicago
More info: http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/

Intergen Interpol Hits the Road

I've been really moved reading the comments and emails posted in response to Courtney and my oped ("Come Together? Yes We Can") in The Washington Post yesterday--everything from "This primary fight is breaking my heart" to " I am so glad to read what I have been thinking," and even the occasional "WTF" and "dream on," as it puts me in touch with the various perspectives out there and gives me a sense of what we (as in we Dems) are up against.

The same week our oped appeared, an essay by Jessica Valenti titled "The Sisterhood Split" appeared in The Nation, and Gloria Feldt responded over at Heartfeldt, "What's That about a Sisterhood Split?" For more, see also an article by Jennifer Wells in The Globe and Mail, "Battle Lines Harden on the Gender Front".

Clearly, there's a hunger for discussion! Gloria, Courtney, Kristal Brent Zook, and I are taking the conversation on the road this month with what I've been tongue-in-cheek calling the intergenerational feminist roadshow (otherwise known as "WomenGirlsLadies: A FRESH Conversation Across Generations"*). There's one event in there (March 14 @ Eastern Michigan University) where Courtney and I can't make it, and we're delighted and honored to have Hannah Seligson and Paula Kamen speaking in our stead.

I'm posting our March events below, along with talks I'm giving on Sisterhood Interrupted this month too. A thousand thanks for spreading word, and def come say hi if you're there!

March 11 @ University of Missouri, Kansas City (Sisterhood, Interrupted)

March 14 @ Eastern Michigan University (WomenGirlsLadies)

March 17 @ Central Michigan University (WomenGirlsLadies)

March 18 @ Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University (WomenGirlsLadies)

March 26 @ Lafayette College, PA (Sisterhood, Interrupted)

March 27 @ New School (Feminist Generations/Feminist Locations with Ann Snitow, Meredith Tax, me, Cleopatra Lamothe, and Ercia Reade)

April 18 @ Harvard University (WomenGirlsLadies)

*WomenGirlsLadies will be booking throughout 2008. To book an engagement, please contact Taryn Kutujian at taryn.kutujian@gmail.com.

EVENT: Intergenerational Panel at the New School

When Ann Snitow calls, I jump. And so, I of course said YES to participating on a panel at The New School in celebration of Women's History Month. Ann is coeditor of The Feminist Memoir Project and a founder of New York Radical Feminists (circa 1969), the group that brought us the Miss America Protest that put women's liberation on the map, and so much more. The panel, "Feminist Generations/Feminist Locations: The Continuing Vitality of Feminist Thought and Action," will take on the state of feminism across generations. Joining me will be:

AI-JEN POO of Domestic Workers United
MEREDITH TAX of Women’s World
(a founder of Boston’s Bread & Roses – 1969)
ANN SNITOW of Eugene Lang College and New School
(a founder of New York Radical Feminists – 1969)
CLEOPATRA LAMOTHE of Women of Color Collective, Lang
ERICA READE of Moxie, Lang College Feminist Club

When and where, you ask?

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
66 WEST 12TH ST., ROOM 407
6:30-8 PM

For more info, please contact Soraya Field Fiorio, fiors393@newschool.edu.

CFP: Race, Gender, and Media in the 2008 Elections

Many democracies--the United Kingdom, Argentina, India, Israel, the Philippines, Pakistan, Liberia, France, and Jamaica, to name a few--have or have had women heads of state, and other countries--oh, like Peru and Bolivia--have elected presidents who are members of racial minority groups. Not so much here in the US of A, which is why, of course, it is rightly Such a Friggin Huge Deal. And the scholars are rightly getting busy.

On September 26-27, 2008, the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John's University School of Law will hold a symposium entitled Making History: Race, Gender and the Media in the 2008 Elections at their Queens campus to explore it all. They're inviting proposals from scholars from all relevant disciplines (law, media, political science, gender studies, race studies, ethnic studies, sociology, economics, history) and activists engaged in "developing concepts, analyses, methods, or data relevant to race, gender, media and elections." Any takers? The deadline for submissions is March 14, 2008. More info available here.

Quick--pass it on!

Come Together? Yes We Can.

My oped with Courtney is live, in The Washington Post! Here tis: "Come Together? Yes We Can."

Courtney and My OpEd in WaPo Tomorrow!

This week Miss Courtney Martin and I penned a joint rebuttal, of sorts, to dear Charlotte Allen's oped and to other divisive pieces by women about divides among us around this election of late. And it's going to appear in Sunday's WaPo, in the Outlook section. Please visit, leave comments, and let us know what you think!

My first national oped was placed with the help of Kathy Vermazen at the Women's Media Center, and my dear friend Heather Hewett, who shared a contact with me. Thank you, ladies! Needless to say, Courtney and I are damn ridiculously thrilled.

10,000 Women: A Goldman Sachs Initiative

Incredibly exciting news this week from Goldman Sachs, via Purse Pundit, who was summoned to a press conference last week and told only that the announcement would make her proud. She writes:

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, took center stage to tell us why we had been summoned. Goldman Sachs was announcing a brand new initiative that “will provide 10,000 under-served women, predominantly in developing and emerging markets, with a business and management education.” Why? Because he, they, Goldman Sachs, the firm that gave me my start in the business, the firm I worked with for fourteen years and gave me the honor of being a partner, had come to believe that the way to change the world for the better was to economically empower women. Here they were making a considerable and creative commitment to do just that. Damn right that was "right up by alley.” I was floored.

Also check out Purse Pundit's call to Goldman to hook up with key experts within the women's movement to help provide direction. And a joint post she and I wrote for HuffPo about it, here.