Marathon winner can't run away from sexism

I was watching the LA marathon on TV last weekend with my girlfriend because she's training for the San Francisco marathon in August. My first time watching a marathon and I got to see a woman win! Very cool.

But it was not cool what William Burke, co-founder and president of the City of Los Angeles Marathon, said about it. We're sitting enjoying the excitement of watching Tatiana Aryasova cross the finish line first and the station goes to Burke for a comment. "You can't keep those women down," he says. "You can't get them back in the kitchen." What?!?

There was so much shrieking coming from my house I didn't even hear the rest of the interview. For a few days I wasn't sure if I had dreamt that moment or if it really happened. Unfortunately, later in the week, Feministing (by way of the LA Times) verified that my ears hadn't deceived me. People commenting on Feministing have asked if maybe he was joking. It's possible, but I definitely didn't get that impression. He didn't smile, or wink, or laugh, or give any other clue that he was attempting to make a joke.

All I can say is keep running and let's leave this sexism in the dust!

Super Tuesday Procrastination

It's 11pm on the eve of Super Tuesday and I'm trying to study up and figure out what to vote for. Well if anyone's being real strict, technically I'm writing this blog post and further putting off making my decisions for tomorrow.

Occasionally I'll wait until the last minute to decide about one or two obscure measures, but I've never had it quite this bad. I'm no news junkie, but I get some at work, skim a few newspapers daily, and listen to a lot of NPR.

I relate to a lot of what Rebecca Traister writes in Undecided '08: Should I vote for Clinton or Obama?

I'm undecided at a moment -- one I thought might never transpire in my lifetime -- in which I will have the opportunity to pull a lever for a woman or an African-American. I am undecided while many around me whoop it up, volunteer, yell and cry at rallies, and feel the thrill of political certainty that I cannot share.

From what I can tell Obama and Clinton's stances on the issues are ridiculously close, so that hasn't really helped.

And I'm really trying not to let the identity politics influence my decision. From the much debated Gloria Steinem NY Times piece to NY NOW's scathing press release to e-mails from local feminist groups telling me to "Go vote for Hillary Clinton tomorrow," I'm tired of the feminist=must be for Clinton equation. But I also don't want my rebellion from that equation to be the deciding factor in my vote.

Metacentricies says it well:

This election isn’t about either gender or race. It is a historic occasion that the Democratic party will nominate someone who will be the first in history. That is significant enough. NY NOW’s stance (National NOW has been conciliatory) is divisive, at a time that divisiveness is destructive. We are in deep, deep shit as a country, and we need to find a way out of it. If you think Clinton is best (and not just because she has a vagina) then great. And if you think Obama is best (not just because he has dark skin) that’s great too. Do we need to add identity politics to an already challenging time?

Well, I guess I'll sleep on it.

But first a very appropriate cartoon (thanks feministing!):

nataliedee.com

Hillary Clinton's Visit

So I promised to give a full report on Hillary Clinton's visit to my work last Friday. But the weekend passed and I've been putting it off because, well, it just wasn't that eventful. There was a whole lot of "hurry-up and wait, hurry-up and wait." I think the highlight for me was meeting the secret service. Mostly I had to sit and wait in a dark room and then run around like crazy, so it wasn't like I could really take it all in. A bunch of my coworkers ran smack into Hillary Clinton and saw her off in her motorcade when they went to get lunch, but I was inside working on getting her video online.

Her interview was interesting, but I didn't think it was anything earth shattering. She talked about being annoyed at the media for their obsession with her being a woman and showing her feelings. She tells this story about being at a meeting with other women leaders in Finland:

Here we were in a country where women have enormously achieved equal rights that we hardly can even imagine. What did we talk about?

How frustrated they were that every time they made a serious about monetary policy or defense policy, it was reported what they were wearing or what their husbands thought or what their children thought. So we're moving into a future that nobody's ever lived before, so I don't fault the press because they're doing the best they can to make sense out of all of this. But how many stories do they need to write about the same thing?

It feels weird to be outing the worker bee part of my life here, but now you know what I do at my day job. Sort of. Maybe. A little.

Hillary in the House

Hillary Clinton's coming to my work tomorrow. It's going to be a zoo, but I'm excited. I'll give a full report afterwards.

In the meantime you can check out opinions from Margaret Cho, Gloria Feldt, and others on what they think will happen If Hillary Wins...

Happy 35th Anniversary Roe v. Wade!

Lots of great stuff going on today to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion.

Check out all the bloggers taking part in NARAL's Blog for Choice Day.

Also take a look at Planned Parenthood's Wall of Protest where you can "express your outrage over the Federal Abortion Ban." Beware it loads pretty slow. But I guess that means lots of people have contributed images, so slow is a good thing. The one thing I don't really understand is the images of people's pets up there. I mean I've never asked my cat if she's pro-choice, but maybe I should get on that!

I know there's a lot of talk about how Roe v. Wade is being eroded and reproductive choice is in jeopardy, but I've never felt like young people were really behind that. I mean we've grown up our whole lives with Roe v. Wade. I try not to pay too much attention to polls, but I was kind of freaked out to read that teens and young adults seem less pro-choice than older generations.

I read this today in the LA Times:

Looking specifically at teens, a Gallup survey in 2003 found that 72% called abortion morally wrong, and 32% believed it should be illegal in all circumstances. Among adults surveyed that year, only 17% backed a total ban.

The article talks about antiabortion clubs and summer camps for middle and high school students. Really? Antiabortion summer camp?! I had no idea.

Well we better keep fighting. Here's to many more choice filled years!

The Power of Stickers

So last week I went to my first sticker art show called Peel Here 07. The stickers ranged from fancy stickers printed on shiny origami style paper displayed in frames to sharpie doodles on those priority mail stickers you can get from the post office.

A lot of the stuff wasn't really my style. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't get into the scary clown and one-eyed bunny illustrations. But it was amazing to see the range of stickers and how much they can mean to their creators and the people who see them.

One of the best features of the show was outside where they had set up a bus bench and newspaper boxes for people to sticker. Not that those kept people contained to only stickering the dedicated areas. For blocks around the show you could see small groups of kids lifting each other up to slap stickers up on street signs and light posts.

It was all very inspiring and made me want to make more stickers. And not that this show is representative of the sticker world, but in any case we need more feminist stickers!

Some pictures from the show...

Love Your Body Day Recap

Hollywood NOW's Love Your Body Day celebration was really cool. I can't believe I forgot to bring a camera though! If anyone has pictures, I'd love to post some.

I think the highlight of the event for me was getting to see Joy Nash perform her "Fat Rant" live.

If you haven't seen her video yet, check it out...


What did you do for Love Your Body Day?

P.S. Everyday should be Love Your Body Day. So what did you do today?

10 Ways to Celebrate Your Body Sticker Sisters Style

October 18, 2007 is the National Organization for Women Foundation’s tenth annual Love Your Body Day.

To celebrate, all orders $35 or more ship free this week. Enter the code “loveyourbody” when you checkout. But hurry and get your gear because the free shipping expires 10/22/07.

10 Ways to Celebrate Love Your Body Day:
(adapted from the NOW Foundation's suggestion list with a little Sticker Sisters twist)

1. Go to a Love Your Body Day event or create your own. Sticker Sisters will be taking part in Hollywood NOW’s event.

Hollywood NOW presents
LOVE YOUR BODY DAY!
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
12-4pm
Plummer Park – Fiesta Hall
1200 N. Vista Street
West Hollywood, CA

2. Get some blank t-shirts and decorate them with body positive messages. Or proclaim Action Not Glamour or Girls Rock with a Sticker Sisters tee.

3. Don’t buy products from companies that use negative images of women in their ads. Send them letters letting them know how you feel about their ads.

4. Get a group together and go paste This Insults Women, This insults Girls and This Insults Everyone stickers on everything you find offensive.

5. Listen to positive music that makes you feel good about yourself and your body. Try India.Arie’s “Video,” Northern State’s “Girl For All Seasons ,”and Salt-N-Pepa’s “Ain’t Nothin’ But A She Thing” to get you started.

6. Write down some things you like about yourself. Write yourself a poem or a love letter. If you’re having trouble getting started, our Up Words Girls magnetic poetry kit will inspire your creative juices.

7. Get moving for fun not to fit into a smaller size. Spice up your running shoes with some Girl Power or Action Not Glamour shoelaces and take a long walk, do some bedroom dancing, shoot some hoops, whatever!

8. Throw an indulgence party where everyone wears whatever is most comfortable, eats whatever they want, talks openly, and guilt is left at the door. Pick up some Sticker Sisters party favors for your guests.

9. Don’t talk about your weight or weigh yourself (especially in front of young girls).

10. Spread the word about Love Your Body Day to your family and friends. The NOW Foundation even has some e-cards you can send.

Photos from Bazaar Bizarre

Here's the Sticker Sisters table at Bazaar Bizarre...




Thanks for the pictures Gwynn!

Overheard and Seen at the NOW Conference

Here are a few pictures and stories from the NOW Conference...


One woman told me a story about trying to get her two-year-old daughter to eat her bread instead of just licking the butter off of it. The little girl responded, “My body, my choice.” All the woman could do was laugh and say, “You’re right.” Guess the little girl had been paying attention during those pro-choice rallies!

Another woman told a story about doing some activism at a Borders bookstore. She had gotten in trouble for stickering offensive magazines so she wrote messages on post-it notes and put those on sexist ads and articles. Since post-it notes are removable, she figured it wasn’t really vandalism. But the store could still have kicked her out for doing it. The employees discovered what she was up to and a female employee approached her. But all the employee did was give her a wink wink “warning.”

Spotted wearing brand new Sticker Sisters shirts!

Greetings from the NOW conference in Albany NY

I'm writing from the Sticker Sisters booth at the NOW conference. Hooray for wireless internet! We're having a blast here. So many cool people have come by and we've been able to get to a couple great workshops. And we unveiled the brand new Sticker Sisters t-shirts. They're hot off the press (no joke--I just got some of them a few days ago and more are being printed as I write this). Everyone's been snapping them up here! Don't worry--they'll be available online in a couple weeks.

Since there are so many women here they converted the men's bathroom into a women's bathroom. There's something kind of fun about changing your tampon in the men's bathroom. And we couldn't resist adding a Visit Our Power Room sticker to the sign!

Okay, I've gotta turn my attention back to the table. But I'll write more later!

Sticker Sisters Coming to a Town Near You

July 21st-23rd
The NOW Conference and Young Feminist Summit in Albany, NY. If you're there, come by the Sticker Sisters table and say hello!

August 5th
Homo A Go Go Craft Fair, Olympia, WA. Noon-6pm. Check out our table!

Turn Beauty Inside Out Conference

Sticker Sisters recently had a table at the Turn Beauty Inside Out (TBIO) girls leadership conference. Wow.

A lot of Sticker Sisters’ growth has been due to experiences at conferences. During high school Sticker Sisters (and I) went to half a dozen conferences. I only had a few friends at school that I could relate to, but at conferences I found myself surrounded by girls and women with similar interests. I met a ton of great people this way and it was also a way for Sticker Sisters to grow.

I had the first Sticker Sisters table at NOW’s Young Feminist Summit in 1997. I also ran a workshop where girls got to make their own political stickers and buttons.

At the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Feminist Expo in 2000, I met Dorina who went on to work with me on Sticker Sisters helping to design the school supply pack. She then ran all the daily operations--like sending out orders--during my first year away at college.

Sticker Sisters hadn’t been to a conference in a few years so it was great to see so many smart, enthusiastic girls vigorously taking notes, making friends, and coming up with ideas at TBIO.

Over the last year being out of school and moving Sticker Sisters across the country has brought up a lot of questions about the future. So it was really important for me to spend a few days surrounded by 8 to 16-year-old girls and find out that they still like and need these stickers and shoelaces.


At the Sticker Sisters table I set up a station where girls could come take a break and play with the Up Words Girls Magnetic Poetry kit.

Here’s what they had to say:

be active
have
passion
for
girls

-Ari

I always wonder if women see that her spirit have action.
-Genevieve

Support life and beautiful feminism.
-Maggie & Ellen

I am a damsel daughter and sister
A strong whisper
Want no empty talented girls
-Haley