Blog updates round 2!

Get ready for some new-ness!  As my blogging partner, femmemeister, stated in an earlier post, we’ve decided to author our own posts from here on out.  This will allow you to direct all hate (or love!) at one of us specifically if we happen to write something insane or awesome… or insanely awesome.  Also, if you haven’t figured it out already, I’m Dashaway–the name I used to call myself when I was little and couldn’t pronounce my own name correctly.  However, let it be known that I have since grown out of that phase.  Thanks Funetics!   

Leaping Ahead!

Today is a Leap Year! It only comes around once every four years, so there is something a bit magical about the Brigadoon-like February 29. So, go have fun (it is Friday, after all)–but first, some bits o’ seriousness.

This is an extra day–a freebie. So perhaps you can take some time to think about where you want Marquette, the feminist movement, or yourself (you lovely person you) to go in the next 4 years. What do you want to change by the time the next Leap Year comes around?

Please share with us your goals, hopes, and dreams (I am getting sappy in my old age), or things with which you are unsatisfied right now.

Here is what I want to happen by Leap Year 2012:

A follow up to “Sex talk with Father Wild”

Unlike my blogging partner, I actually showed up on time to the Father Wild forum (…meaning that I didn’t have an evening graduate class with a sweet professor.  Jealous!). Anyways, as femmemeister stated, a round of us feminists showed up last Tuesday to smash some patriarchy.  Okay, not really, we just asked a couple questions.  The questions dealt with (1) the lack of stability and decentralized nature of sexual violence awareness and prevention programming at Marquette, (2) the confusing and inadequate “sexual contact/assault” policy, and (3) the fact that Marquette is one of only 3 other Catholic Jesuit universities in the nation not to have a Women’s and/or Gender Relations Resource Center.

We got some ‘Wild’ responses (har har har!):

Blog Update!

Since some of you guys were wondering which one of us was writing which posts, my blogging partner and I have decided to create separate IDs for ourselves.From now on, we will be appearing as our individual log-ins when we do individual posts/comments, and as “thewordwarrior” if we are doing a joint post.This will enable you guys to hate one of us without hating the other one, were we to write something controversial Hi, I’m femmemeister! You’ll be seeing me around!

The fun and fabulous Feminism 101 event…

WAS AWESOME.  A Big Thanks to all who showed up.  There were quite a few of you!  I Hope you all enjoyed the program and discussion as much as I did.  We covered a lot in the time that was given, but there is so much more to talk about… which is why it’s great that we have this blog!  So to continue the conversation, I’ll throw out a question:  Can men be feminists?  Why or why not?  How do you think men fit into the feminist movement?

 I expect 10 pages, double spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point font.

 I kid. I kid.  But seriously–comment away!  What do you think?  I’ll offer this sweet pic to aid in your musings…:)

A response to “what-the-fuck # 2″

A great response to the LA times article that we blogged about a couple days ago was written in the LA times today.  The piece, written by SAFER board member, Nora Niedzielski-Eichner, directly addresses the problems with the article and the larger problems with sexual assault and sexual violence prevention and awareness programming that many college campuses face today.  

In 2002, fewer than half of colleges and universities had sexual assault prevention programs, and the programs that did exist could have been as basic as a skit during orientation that half the freshmen slept through. This is an unacceptable failure to put resources into prevention, given the prevalence of sexual assault on campus. And sexual assault is a problem no matter what numbers you use – did MacDonald really mean to imply that rape isn’t a problem if it is only impacting one woman or two women or 10 women a month per campus? Multiply out those numbers, and I’d say that’s a pretty big problem. 

Please go read the rest of the  piece here. 

Sex Talk with Father Wild!

Remember how we told y’all about the Father Wild forum? (If you don’t remember, here’s the post.) Well, seven of us Marquette feminists were in attendance (a pretty good turn-out, if I don’t say so myself!), and we had the opportunity to ask Father Wild several questions.Unfortunately, I showed up rather late, so I’ll let my blogging partner fill you in on Father Wild’s responses to the questions regarding the sexual violence policy, the women’s resource center, and some third thing that I don’t remember. (It’s 2 a.m.–you should be impressed that I am forming coherent sentences.)

However, I did get the chance to ask Father Wild about sexual health on Marquette’s campus–especially the fact that Marquette does an abysmal job at providing programs about STI prevention. What he said was somewhat encouraging: he said that he did not see any reason why sexual health programming should NOT be allowed, although finding the organization and the funding for programming would be difficult. (Hint hint–perhaps a Gender Resources Center could be a good clearinghouse for all things sexual health related?)

However, he also made it abundantly clear that Marquette will not provide condoms (or con-dahhhms) on campus, due to the policies of the Catholic Church. Although the condom issue is one that irks me to no end, it is nice to know that Marquette does not have a policy preventing STI-prevention programming on campus per se–there is a lack of resources and interest, however, and we will try to increase both in order to make the student body healthier and more knowledgeable.We hope that the sheer amount of questions dealing with sex, gender, and sexual violence will show the administration that students do care about these issues, and are willing to speak up!In any case, we talked sex with Father Wild. Slightly absurd (and even a tad giggle-inducing), but cool.

‘Not all feminists burn their bras’–Viewpoint in the trib today!

Check out this sweet viewpoint in the trib today from Lauren Demshar.  It’s fantastic.  Read. Read. Read.  And comment on its sweetness if you want!

Feminists are People Too!

Jacky Fleming: a cool illustrator and activist fighting against sexual violence, domestic violence, and sex trafficking.Go visit her site, read this sweet interview, and in the meantime, enjoy this cartoon:

A Double-Dose of What-the-Fuck?!?!?!

Since it’s a rainy Monday, you all should do some reading. Here are two articles, each with an off-the-charts level of What-the-Fuckness. Aren’t y’all lucky? (I got these articles from feministing.com, which is the BESTEST blog ever–even better than this one!)

What the Fuck #1: Doctors in Canada are refusing to give women Pap smears if they are not married. So . . . women who choose to have sex outside of marriage deserve cancer? Huh?Now, people do have a right to practice their own religions privately. If someone chooses to think that sex outside of wedlock is immoral, that is their prerogative (even though I disagree). However, their right to practice religion DOES NOT trump the right to health care. And I do not think it is a coincidence that most, if not all, of these religion vs. health care battles have to do with women’s health care. After all, it doesn’t seem that unmarried men are being refused treatment for STIs. Nope–women are the ones who have to put up with doctors’ “morality.”In my opinion, any “morality” that puts someone’s life and health at risk is no morality at all.There goes my plan to move to Canada if McCain gets elected. *shudder*

What the Fuck #2: This just makes me livid. I am so pissed right now, that words right order in the can’t put I.This op-ed piece published in the L.A. times attempts to prove that the rape crisis is “overblown” on college campuses. MacDonald’s primary argument is that women are as much of a participant in alcohol-fueled rapes as men, and that these assaults thus take place in the “gray area” of rape. First of all, there is no “gray area” of rape. Consent is consent, and lack of consent is lack of consent. If a woman is too drunk to consent, then that is rape. Second of all, to argue that a woman is complicit in rape will merely exacerbate the rape crisis. After all, what woman would want to report a rape if she will be accused by people like MacDonald of being at fault? MacDonald, so focused on statistical methodology, might want to examine how her viewpoints affect the likelihood of someone reporting an assault.The key is not to vilify survivors of rape, but to continue to provide and build safe social networks (including the rape crisis hotlines that MacDonald abhors in her piece) so that they are encouraged to report the crime and to heal. Pieces like MacDonald’s only makes this less likely.Thank you, Heather MacDonald. Thank you for actively working to make the rape crisis worse, and then to insult survivors by insisting that it was their fault. Good on you, MacDonald. Way to go.