TSA scanners and gender

"After all, masculinity implies sexual privacy -- the privilege of moving through life unmolested. Or unnoticed. The most powerful, and to men, mostly invisible, sexual privilege of masculinity is the ability to remain unaware of oneself as a body."

I suppose I never included that in my concept of male privilege, but it seems dead on.

Quote from an interesting (and concise) take on the TSA scanners:
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=screening_for_gender

Environmental Justice

Every time I hear about the environmental justice movement I hear it contrasted to the environmental movement: while I was at Greenpeace, in some classes in college, and most recently at the US Social Forum. The environmental movement is mostly situated within middle-class white hegemony and seeks to reduce the problem by individualizing it - giving each individual the power to act, you know, like the good ol’ American Dream. Change your bulbs, save the world. Get a job, end poverty. Use birth control, reduce world population. That kind of thing.

The environmental justice (EJ) movement, on the other hand is grounded in the context of historical social injustice. EJ issues are generally also spatially grounded, and a generically recognized EJ issue is some sort of hazardous waste in the backyards of poor people of color. EJ points out that many of the problems of the environmental crisis lie in the roots of colonialism. So EJ is grounded both historically and socially, as well as spatially. In this context, the way to stop dumping hazardous waste is to stop having poor people.

This week I heard a lecture that talked specifically to the historical/spatial aspect, that of burying the past, of burying social inequity. The work of EJ then is to study the material wastes -- or “imperial debris” -- of the past, making visible social inequalities. EJ, then is the antidote to our “green consumption,” “greenwashing” rampage.

This new wave of “green” consumption is a response to a basic understanding that this treadmill of production and consumption is flawed. However, rather than making any significant changes, we make the superficial addition of “green” consumption, “green” production and continue on our way. Don’t worry that the whole system is flawed; at least it’s green now. Now you can feel good about driving.

Seriously. The slogan for Toyota's new Prius is: "Welcome to the 3rd generation Prius, where man’s wants and nature’s needs agree." (Source) And, "Harmony between man, nature, and machine" (Source) (Also, can't help but notice the repeated use of the gendered word "man.")

As for greenwashing, it’s usually used in this way - just paint the whole thing green. Greenwashing, says Wikipedia, is a portmanteau of "green" and "whitewash." So - make no structural changes, only superficial ones to change how people interpret it. “Green” cars, “green” coal, etc. However, it can also be looked at as a “whitening” of the movement, with regard to class participation. If to be green means to have the newest, greenest product, only those who can afford to buy it can be really green.

EJ provides a grounded antidote to greenwashing by unearthing historical inequities. Grounded in such a context, it becomes clearer that greenwashing is really just the same old symptomatic solution to the continuing problems.

I wonder, though, if it is possible that the environmental movement can provide any new tools to the continuing civil rights movements. Can the environmental movement make us more aware of the ecology of social movements? Or the cyclical nature of change? Can grounding ourselves in the natural world help us gain perspective and inform our work?

Books recommended at this week’s lecture: On Bullshit and There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster

Pinkwashing

Couldn't have said it better myself, so here's a quote:

I want to get serious about breast cancer. I want to raise awareness and find a cure. How will pink kleenex on my desk and pink toilet paper in my office cure breast cancer? How does wearing pink lipstick to work and adorning our suits with pink scarves and pink ribbons change the survival rates for women in our country?

If we really believed in eliminating breast cancer — and all cancers — we would have radically overhauled our health care system in America. We would rethink the relationship between consumers/patients, hospitals, research centers, and pharmaceutical companies. And we wouldn’t try to sell pink clogs and pink candy to raise breast cancer awareness in our country.

From thecynicalgirl.com.

Yes, Bill McKibben, Yes.

Bill McKibben, an outspoken activist and inspiration author (among other things) has recently written another though-but-more-importantly-action-provoking post over at Grist. Check it out. He says:

Mostly, we need to tell the truth, resolutely and constantly. Fossil fuel is wrecking the one earth we've got. It's not going to go away because we ask politely. If we want a world that works, we're going to have to raise our voices.

I recently read the book he mentions writing in 1989, called The End of Nature. It was scary and depressing, and what's worse, it was written 20 years ago and a lot of the issues are still around, as prevalent as ever. It led me to scrawl across my notebook:

HOW CAN PEOPLE NOT SEE THIS GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AS THE BIGGEST ISSUE OF OUR TIME?

I'll share what I thought were a couple pivotal quotes, if you don't have the time to read the whole thing.
His premise is, I think encapsulated in this particular sentence:

"The invention of nuclear weapons may actually have marked the beginning of the end of nature: we possessed, finally, the capacity to overmaster nature, to leave an indelible imprint everywhere all at once."

To elaborate:

"If the waves crash up against the beach, eroding dunes and destroying homes, it is not the awesome power of Mother Nature. It is the awesome power of man, who has overpowered in a century the processes that have been slowly evolving and changing of their own accord since the earth was born."

And another:

"We live, all of a sudden, in an astroturf world, and though an astroturf world may have a God, he can't speak through the grass, or even be slient through it and let us hear."

I think this last one hits particularly home for anyone who is remotely spiritual. If your spirituality is even loosely connected with God as life, God as unity, or if there is any Nature in your God, it's a point worth considering.

To deal with guilt, we must take responsibility. We Americans alone are responsible for a huge percentage of global environmental harm (which continues as you read). Knowing this, as many do, we must address it. We must strive as individuals to use less energy, to produce less waste, and to educate our friends and family how (and why) to do these things as well. As consumers, we must demand better products, electric cars, organic foods, local products, sweat-free clothes. We must lead by example and show the world we recognize what we've done, take responsibility for it, and as a nation provide a better way of life as an example for the world.

We must reject products that lie about being "environmentally friendly," and seek to create criteria of our own for how we should treat our environment. What, by the way, is your "environment?" Have you thought about this? Is it something you're intimately familiar with or just catch a glimpse of on your commute? How does Organic Ranch Dressing help our environment?

We must become environmentally-informed consumers, and choose products wisely, not based on ads or alluring packaging.

We must examine and change our habits.

Oh, and I'm tired of this mediocre, middle-of-the-road, compromising bullshit. Let's get mad, let's get radical, and let's get some shit done. Right on Bill.

Write more!

I know, I should write more. Got any ideas?

Agricultural Complex

What do bananas, Colombia, and Disney have in common?


I don't know, but this is what I found at my local food co-op.

Walruses??!

And I QUOTE:

"How can Exxon Mobil have walruses in the response plan for the Gulf of Mexico?"

Story & video @ Huff Post.

1 in 5

One in five American men between the ages of 18 and 29 believe having sex standing up prevents conception:

Reposted from here. I just found this site and I like it a lot!

"Change starts with your underwear."

I haven't been posting much lately, but I have been buying underwear. Yep, that's right. I recently found a company that I like (so far). They produce organic cotton underwear AND support non-profits around the world. My first purchase was one that supported Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

Anyway, if you're looking for a new pair of undies (for men and women), check out PACT!

Their ad's not bad either:

"Huge Eco-Possibilities"

I like efficiently using small spaces, but this guy takes it to a whole new level. Check it out:

Why I’m a feminist, or THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE

First and foremost, I call myself a feminist because my vision of the world includes men and women on equal ground. I reject those attempts to try and make “feminist” a dirty word, making it seem like braless, unshaved women who think men should be kept underground. To me the word feminist represents a vision of equality, one which women still are striving toward, regardless of what undergarments they wear, who they sleep with, and whether or not they shave. I’ve met some people lately who don’t seem to understand that this is still a struggle we women face daily. Here’s what I mean, and this is just off the top of my head, by no means an exhaustive list.

I’m a feminist because:

• I (and all people) should be able to walk down the street not fearing rape. Most men have the privilege not to fear being forced against their will to have sex with someone else, and this may be an altogether unfathomable concept for many men. However, it is rare that I am able to walk down a street at night not aware about the lighting, the other people walking, and calculating the best, safest route home.
• I (and all people) deserve reproductive rights: the right to choose what happens to my own body. I’m talking about the right to abortion (if that’s what I so choose), and I’m talking about the right to choose when and how (at least partially) I want to have sex.
• I am a feminist because it is unacceptable that 1 in 3 women is sexually assaulted in her lifetime. If you think you don’t know these women, it’s because they aren’t talking, not because it didn’t happen. 1 in three: that’s either your grandma, your mom or your girlfriend. It’s your classmate, the women on the street, the woman next to you on the bus. It’s a third of us: the numbers are clear.
• I (and all people) deserve equal pay for an equal job. I still can’t believe this is denied to women.
• I (and all people) deserve to be respected and not have my perspectives discounted because of my gender.
• I’m a feminist because “woman” is a dirty word in our culture. I watch “The L Word,” “Sex in the City,” and virtually any other pop culture movie and hear women -- ages 20 to 65 call themselves and be called “girls.” What is this? Are we so afraid of our womenhood that we can no longer freely use the word ‘woman’ to describe ourselves? That it feels weird to use it to describe myself is motivation for me to keep using it. Woman isn’t a ‘politically correct’ word: IT IS WHO I AM.
• I’m a feminist because I’m tired of this bullshit standard of beauty that’s constantly being fed to me and that I am compared to. Belittling me will not make me buy your stupid product.
• I’m a feminist because I’m fucking pissed off that men feel justified honking, whistling, yelling, and making kissing noises at me on the street.
• I’m a feminist because it’s so hard to find a significant other that respects me. For not being a feminist, for not being outspoken, I am used and abused. I must speak up to be respected: this is what experience has taught me.
• Also, I know that being a (passing-as-white) woman, and being a feminist in the United States is probably a whole lot easier to do than most of the rest of the world and probably a lot of women of color in my own country. I am also a feminist in solidarity with these women; though we have vastly different experiences, we share the common experiences of womanhood.
  

For if I do not call myself a feminist, that means I accept the current state of women, and I simply, utterly, and to my core do not. It should not be a struggle for half of the world population to achieve basic rights: of respect, of choice, and of equality. These rights are still being denied to us women, and we all must work together to bring them to all people. This is feminism.

Rape...fantasies?

So I was reading Dan Savage's advice column, and recently a self-professed feminist man was asking about enacting a rape fantasy with his feminist girlfriend.

I don't understand this idea of "rape fantasies." It seems sort of like an oxymoron - a situation in which one consents to have their consent removed. Rape is sex (of any kind) without consent. And in the case of a "rape fantasy," people talk this over with their partner(s) beforehand? (Also, as a side note: what kind of feminist are you who would continue to perpetuate this culture of disrespect toward women?!)

It's a very tiny little bit like asking someone to "act surprised" after they already know what the surprise is.

Oftentimes I've heard the idea of "rape fantasies" being nested in the BDSM category. I'm not really sure why this is the case, except for our society's convolution of rape and violence (though this is certainly not the case for all rapes, probably not even the majority).

On the other hand, my first response is to associate "rape fantasies" with the "rape culture" in our society, not BDSM or other deviant sex acts. (Here's a great post on Rape Culture 101, for those unfamiliar with this term. Check it out!) To me, it signifies a misunderstanding of rape and an insensitivity to the experience of rape (to the experience of having one's consent ignored, disregarded, and/or forcefully prevented).

"Rape culture is pervasive narratives about rape that exist despite evidence to the contrary. Rape culture is pervasive imagery of stranger rape, even though women are three times more likely to be raped by someone they know than a stranger, and nine times more likely to be raped in their home, the home of someone they know, or anywhere else than being raped on the street, making what is commonly referred to as "date rape" by far the most prevalent type of rape."

So I'm pretty sure my negative reaction to this idea of "rape fantasies" doesn't come from a prejudice against deviant sex acts, but rather my understanding of it as a logical flaw. Oh and that it is insensitive to the experience of rape, yeah.

What do you think?

4 Rs, for eaRth day

In a consumerist culture where forces act to keep us buying stuff we don't need, no wonder that the rest of this iceberg is left hidden from view. It pisses me off to see recycling touted as the way to 'save the earth,' to the neglect of these 3 other more important actions and lifestyles. Do it, or if you need to hear it again, here:
1) Reject those things you don't need. Don't buy shit that isn't sustainable. At least try not to. Don't buy into the idea that you 'need' to buy anything.
2) Reduce your consumption - buy less. Choose things with less packaging.
3) Reuse: think creatively about the waste that you do create. Compost. DIY.
4) Recycle: you know the drill.

But I don't really mean to be preachy at you. Just saying that this mass of actions below the surface is being hidden from us, as we're herded into doing as little as possible.

Meat (over)consumption

Americans eat 10 billion,

10,000,000,000
animals each year!

Holy cow! Learn more: watch or read.

AmeriCorps going green

I sent an email to my supervisors:

I'm writing in response to a call for "going green tips" for our individual lives. Though I think these changes are necessary, and I appreciate the opportunity to share, I feel that they should also be paired with the larger changes we must all work toward.
--

Our shorter showers, hybrid cars, and organic ranch dressing are far from useful if we don’t also work to change the larger systems of which they are a part. These important yet smaller changes are not nearly on the same magnitude of the problem they attempt to solve: shorter showers will not address the worlds’ water shortages, nor will driving a hybrid change a culture of car ownership, end greenhouse gas emissions, or prevent wars fought for oil security.

Now, if AmeriCorps committed to becoming a “greener” organization, we could enact real green business practices (read: sustainability!) to those (hundreds of?) thousands of non-profits we partner with. This would be change to get behind.

“Going green” doesn’t mean spending more money or expending a lot of effort; rather it is grounded in awareness of our use of resources and an acknowledgement of our relationship with the earth.

I see and appreciate the Forest Stewardship Council certification on the envelopes for the receipt of my direct deposits, but part of the reason I chose direct deposit was to reduce the amount of paper I get. We work for finding solutions to poverty but buy our AmeriCorps clothes from countries employing sweat-shop labor practices (read: exported American jobs).

If we as individuals commit to changing our lifestyles, part of that change should also be working toward “greening” the systems to which we belong, in which we work, and on which we depend.

Acting in Triplicate?

Seeing triple?


Michael Bluth (aka Jason Bateman)


Malcolm Reynolds (aka Nathan Fillion)


Marty McFly (aka Michael J. Fox)

Also, all of the characters names start with 'M'. Coincidence? I think not.

Thoughts from No Impact Man

Reblogged from here
Thoughts I come back to when thinking about environmentalism 2.0:
1. Happier planet = happier people.
2. You make a difference.
3. Our culture is broken.
4. The personal is political.
5. Economic growth ≠ Life satisfaction growth.
6. Jobs are paramount but we should work to make our planetary home better not worse.
7. The concept of zero sum game is for people with zero sum brains.
8. There is a better, happier system out there.
9. If thine eyes (or thine economic system) offends thee, pluck them (or it) out.
10. It’s not about having less. It’s about having more. The question is: more of what?
11. There is dis-ease in our culture. People yearn for something better.
12. People are trustworthy and altruistic and good and will do the right thing if you let them.
13. This does not deny the fact that normal people act abnormally in abnormal situations.
14. Love and good company, the chance to be of service and to matter, connection to something bigger, the use of our most prized talents—these things make most people happier than stuff.
15. Being responsible for the world is not a burden. It is freedom from victimhood!
16. My happiness cannot be complete unless you are happy, too.

Ants & Humans

Another William McDonough quote:

"Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals and the soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do."

Come to the edge

"Come to the edge."
"We might fall."
"Come to the edge."
"It's too high!"
"COME TO THE EDGE!"
And they came
And he pushed
And they flew.

Christopher Logue (commonly misattributed to Apollinaire)

Ingrained Music

This video amazes me.

Bobby McFerrin plays pentatonic scale with an audience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!

Stolen verbatim from GIRL W/ PEN.Love it.

1 Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.
2 When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!
3 If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!
4 NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.
5 If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON’T ASSAULT THEM!
6 Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.
7 USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.
8 Always be honest with people! Don’t pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.
9 Don’t forget: you can’t have sex with someone unless they are awake!
10 Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone “on accident” you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.

And, ALWAYS REMEMBER: if you didn’t ask permission and then respect the answer the first time, you are committing a crime- no matter how “into it” others appear to be.

Oh, and HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY.

Partnership for Community Development

PPG, Partnership for the Public Good, is a group in Buffalo, sort of a "think and do tank" which has also been described as a progressive alternative to a chamber of commerce. They create useful online resources, host fruitful workshops, and organize panel discussions on pertinent local, democratically-chosen topics. Check them out, they've got an interesting approach to community development.

rainstick

I'm sitting next to a window working, but I wanted to write that the sleet falling outside hitting the metal screen and the roof next door sounds like a giant rainstick.

I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.

I read this today for the first time:
"I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."
I love this!

It reminds me of another Neruda morsel I have written in my room:
Eres para mi suculenta | You are for me succulent
como una panaderia | like a bakery.             

Here's the full poem including the title quote:

Every Day You Play

Every day you play with the light of the universe.
Subtle visitor, you arrive in the flower and the water.
You are more than this white head that I hold tightly
as a cluster of fruit, every day, between my hands.

You are like nobody since I love you.
Let me spread you out among yellow garlands.
Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.

Suddenly the wind howls and bangs at my shut window.
The sky is a net crammed with shadowy fish.
Here all the winds let go sooner or later, all of them.
The rain takes off her clothes.

The birds go by, fleeing.
The wind. The wind.
I can contend only against the power of men.
The storm whirls dark leaves
and turns loose all the boats that were moored last night to the sky.

You are here. Oh, you do not run away.
You will answer me to the last cry.
Cling to me as though you were frightened.
Even so, at one time a strange shadow ran through your eyes.

Now, now too, little one, you bring me honeysuckle,
and even your breasts smell of it.
While the sad wind goes slaughtering butterflies
I love you, and my happiness bites the plum of your mouth.

How you must have suffered getting accustomed to me,
my savage, solitary soul, my name that sends them all running.
So many times we have seen the morning star burn, kissing our eyes,
and over our heads the gray light unwind in turning fans.

My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want
to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.

Pablo Neruda

photo series: costa rican graffiti, part 6

De pie C.R. NO AL TLC

On your feet, CR, no to the TLC

On a statue near La Sabana park in San Jose

Slow.

photo series: costa rican graffiti, part 5

i really like the colors in this picture:
"el gobierno hace a los ricos mas ricos y a los pobres mas pobres."
english: the government makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.
(also all of the 'a's are anarchy symbols)

here's another one. i like the placement, someone rising up and shouting.
in the buffalo winter, i miss all the tropical plants, too.

mentira lo que dice | what's said is a lie
mentira lo que da | what's given is a lie
mentira lo que hace | what's done is a lie
mentira lo que va | what happens is a lie
. . .
todo es mentira en este mundo | everything is this world is a lie

just now i'm listing to manu chao's mentira (song). here are the lyrics. this doesn't include the news-like clips at the end that speak of the US emitting a quarter of the world's greenhouse gasses and not taking any action (like kyoto) to stop it. i don't understand the world we live in, nor the country i was born into.

Two month report: Americorps

I chose to do Americorps so I could stay in my own country. Perhaps it was also slightly motivated by some underlying "white guilt," my struggles with the current re-definition of colonialism, or neo-colonialism. I want to make sure I'm not part of it, or at least to understand it more and then become a part of it intentionally.

However, I'm not sure I'm able to do that. I have felt like an "outsider" here, still, even in my own country. Also, ironically, one of my strong points for getting this job was my ability to speak Spanish, which I mostly gained from travelling to other countries, and, arguably, spreading ideas of American colonialism.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though; I am working for the US Government. I am an agent of propaganda as much as I wear that identity, which, incidentally, is strongly encouraged. So far, I've received 5 items of clothing from VISTA with the Americorps logo. "You're our best advertisements," they told us during training. I don't doubt that. Here is where the articles of clothing are produced:

So much for not taking part in neocolonialism!

(Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Honduras, and Haiti)

I guess I could contextualize this journal entry a little better. I'm currently reading an article by Kim England called "Getting Personal: Reflexivity, Positionality, and Feminist Research." It's part of my work toward researching the feasibility of low-income car-sharing. There's a specific section of my research called 'research approach' so we can be more reflexive, and more intentional about our methods. England brings up several good, albiet challenging, points. In a nutshell: how can the researcher NOT bring a power struggle into the relationship of researcher-researched? She suggests "supplication", in which “the researcher explicitly acknowledges her/his reliance on the research subject to provide insight into the subtle nuances of meaning that structure and shape everyday lives.” (3) I'm really glad to be reading this kind of critical article.

Also, sort of on a side note (at this point, because I'm not sure how to integrate it), England quotes Stanley and Wise (1993): "treating people like objects – sex objects or research objects – is morally unjustifiable." I've honestly never thought of this, and it's quite an interesting wrench to throw in the gears of normal qualitative research methonds.

How does this boil down into the work I am and will be doing in Buffalo's lower-income neighborhoods? How will I continue to negotiate the boundaries between my status as a US citizen and an outsider to this city?

Stay tuned to learn the answers to these questions and many more!

Gendered TED

'ingenious' - click for bigger version

check out the genders of the people on TEDs 'beautiful' and 'ingenious' tags. a friend and i were looking at the videos tagged 'ingenious' on TED and noticed that they're *all* men, and i jokingly said that 'beautiful' would be all women. unfortunately it was.

'beautiful' - click for bigger version

i'm not trying to place blame on TED or anything, because i'm pretty sure these are user-generated tags, just pointing out (because someone should) that it's a little sexist...

photo series: costa rican graffiti, part 4

i know all 0 of you dedicated readers have been anxiously awaiting my next post, so here it is:

che has become a ubiquitous symbol on this continent. no wonder someone decided to graffiti on a soccer stadium. region brunca is the san isidro de general valley i think, the southern quarter of costa rica.

photo series: costa rican graffiti, part 3

n o   a l   T L C
perez zeledon/san isidro de general
estadio futbol stadium

photo series: costa rican graffiti, part 2

a lot of them refer to the TLC, which translates to tratado de libre comercio, or CAFTA in english. within the past few years, there had been a very close (nearly 50% split) vote on whether costa rica should pass the TLC. a common reason people we talked to said they voted for it was that they were scared of possible loss of trade resulting from not signing.

photo series: costa rican graffiti, part 1

i took a bunch of pictures of graffiti when i was in costa rica this past summer, and i'll be posting them to my blog in the coming few days.

not god or love