The PCUW has posted their schedule of events this week:

‘The Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women seeks to enact the systemic change necessary for the unbridled self-actualization of Penn’s female students, faculty, and staff. We will always do our part to establish the institutional infrastructure within which women are empowered to reach their potential. We take gender equity seriously, and welcome the day that women ascend their own personal and professional ladders free of self-doubt and full of self-esteem.

We invite you to join our week of events!

Monday February 8:

aKDPhi Presents
Shopping for the Cure
Houston Hall Bistro, 11am-4pm

Sister Sister Presents
Why Us? Left Behind and Dying
Dubois MPR, 5pm-8pm

Cinema Studies Presents
Film Screening: Savage Grace
401 Fisher Bennett, 6pm

Panhel and PCUW Present
Women’s Week Kickoff Coffeehouse: “What does a feminist look like?”
Ben Franklin Room, Houston Hall 7:00 pm Suggested Donation: $2
Proceeds go to UN Population Fund: Reproductive Health Supplies to Haitian Women

Tuesday February 9:

Cinema Studies Present
Lecture and Discussion: Christine Vachon, Film Producer
LGBT Center, 6pm

Penn for Choice and Penn for Life Present
Feminism and Abortion: A Discussion
Golkin Room, Houston Hall 6:30 pm

Pre-Law Women at Penn Presents
Film Screening: Erin Brockovich
Women’s Center, 7pm

Wednesday February 10:

WILS, Sigma Psi Zeta, and Ya’lla Present
Feminism as an Expression of the Body: Workshops in Bellydancing and Burlesque
Penn Women’s Center, 2nd Floor, 6:30 pm

V-Day Presents
Vagina Monologues
Irvine Auditorium, 8pm $8 Walk, $10 Door

Thursday February 11:

PCUW, CHAC, Lambda Alliance, PRISM, and Umoja Present
Keynote Address: Rebecca Walker
Cohen G17, 6pm, Free admission

Society of Women Engineers Corporate Dinner
Inn at Penn, 6pm
Ticket Sales in Towne Bldg. $15

Friday February 12:

Kelly Writer’s House, Penn Women’s Center, and PCUW Present
Luncheon with Rebecca Walker
Kelly Writer’s House, 12pm
Limited Seating, Contact Kelly Writer’s House

PWC and Nursing Students for Choice Present
Chat N Chew: Birth Control and Reproductive Health
Penn Women’s Center, 1pm

QSA and PCUW Present
Get Hitched for Freedom to Marry Day!
Terrace Room, Cohen Hall 2pm

F-Word Presents
F-Word Launch Party
Women’s Center, 5pm

PENNaach Presents
Night with Naach: A Red Carpet Special
Iron Gate Theater, 7:30 pm, $8 Walk, $10 Door

V-Day Presents
Vagina Monologues
Irvine Auditorium, 8pm $8 Walk, $10 Door

Saturday February 13:

PENNaach Presents
Night with Naach: A Red Carpet Special
Iron Gate Theater, 7:30 pm, $8 Walk, $10 Door

PCUW Steering 2009-2010:
o Rosa Cui, Chair
o Kaneesha Parsard, Vice Chair of University Relations
o Alex Berger, Vice Chair of Fundraising
o Amy Perlman, Publicity Co-Chair
o Amanda Nelson, Publicity Co-Chair
o Elizabeth Lee, Programming Coordinator
o Tori Searl, Internal Development Coordinator
o Rachel Cohen, Communications Coordinator
o Yiyi Zhang, Webmistress

PCUW would like to thank its generous sponsors:
o Asian American Studies Program
o Christian Association
o English Department
o Kelly Writers House
o Penn Humanities Forum
o SPEC Fully Planned

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Hey FWord Readers!

Borrowing from the title of the popular book Stuff White People Like, I bring you a weekly post completely dedicated to things that we, as feminists, might find interesting, inspiring, humorous, or thought-provoking.

This week: Women that ROCK their hair.

Hair, in general, is a big part of what both men and women use to express themselves and their identity. You can dye it, gel it, cut it, braid it, add more hair to it, and the list goes on. I think, especially for women, hair contributes to making us feel beautiful, and of course, there is that “long and silky locks” ideal that Disney Princesses and celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Beyonce kind of make us feel like we have to live up to.

The reason I bring this up is because, the other day, one of my best friends posed a question to the Facebook world via her status: Should I cut my hair?

I could understand her dilemma. She’s got gorgeous shiny, voluminous, curly black hair but at the same time, she has always liked to experiment with her personal style.  Some people commented with words of encouragement and of course, others objected, but there were two comments in particular (from the same person) that I couldn’t ignore (I have removed this person’s name for privacy reasons):

Aside from the poor grammar and spelling errors, what this person says is completely absurd. While I am sure this person didn’t realize the extent of the ignorance of the comment, the fact is that there are places in the world where there are restrictions on what a woman can and cannot do with her hair. As for hair being what makes women feminine, one can only hope that for this person’s own sake, he/she might discover that there is so much more to what makes a woman.

On that note, I would like to applaud women, and for that matter, all people in general who defy traditional, or archaic, notions of beauty. Hair comes in all textures, lengths, and colors, and we are lucky to have the freedom to style it, manipulate it, and use it to express who we already are!

And hats off to women like Rihanna, the gender-bending supermodel Agyness Deyn, and my best friend who define sex appeal and beauty in a new way: with short hair!

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So, I meant to write this blog last week but lost track of time. I was in class (I won’t tell which one since I do not want to get anyone in trouble!) and the professor had a problem that the class had to solve. The answer was a cooking oven, and when a female answered the question, the professor said that she knew a female would answer the question. Everyone laughed (especially after the professor was embarrassed by the comment), but I sat there in shock thinking why we must associate household appliances with women. Then again the times that my professor grew up in were not conducive to women being away from home. I am not sure what to say about the situation because I can understand where the professor was coming from, though I do not respect her comments.

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Emily Gerard, fellow blogger, reports on the Body Image Awareness event the F-Word hosted recently:

Last Wednesday, F-Word hosted a Body Image Awareness event for the Penn community. F-Word alum Barrie Nussbaum (CAS ’09), who had written her senior thesis on eating disorders at Penn, returned to give a presentation on the findings of research she conducted as an undergraduate, and specialists from the Women’s Center and CAPS were also on hand to help and offer expertise. The event was well attended, by all different kinds of students, though they were exclusively female. Some were involved with F-Word or other women’s organizations, some were interested in the issue for the sake of a friend, and many were just curious to hear what others had to say about body image at Penn.

Barrie began her presentation by clarifying the definition of an eating disorder. She differentiated between anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and eating disorder not specified (ED-NOS). She was careful to explain that eating disorders are not to be confused with eating disturbances, which are less severe and far more common. She cautioned against casually saying, “Oh, she’s so anorexic,” a line frequently tossed off here at Penn about a skinny girl. In fact, Barrie said, very few people are actually classified as anorexic or bulimic, and it’s a serious issue that is trivialized by using the terms casually. But anybody can see that Penn is populated by an unusual number of very skinny students, and that is where eating disturbances come in.

Eating disturbances can involve a vast range of preoccupations with food, of varying degrees of obsessiveness. They can often lead full-blown eating disorders and can be just as physically and psychologically harmful.

Barrie then presented some alarming statistics about the extent to which American women are preoccupied with food and their bodies, to the detriment of their self-image and happiness. Girls are beginning to diet at ever-younger ages, due to the overwhelming insecurity they feel in a culture with such unrealistic standards of beauty. We viewed and talked about images in the media of clearly anorexic women, whose look has now become both mainstream and ideal in our culture. Barrie discussed many contributing factors to eating disorders, including family relationships, cultural expectations, and even a possible genetic component, but the bottom line seemed to be that while eating disorders are technically rare, the vast majority of American females, young and old, feel bad about themselves because of body issues.

Barrie then moved on to the specifics of her own project. She had conducted a survey of 317 undergraduate Penn women, questioning them about their eating and exercise habits, as well as their emotional wellbeing. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said that they restrict their food intake on a daily basis, and 30% said that they are fearful about gaining weight—every single day of their lives. Nearly 40% said that they had a “strong desire” to lose weight either most or all of the time. Out of 317 women who took the survey, only 3 ranked their own bodies as a 10 (meaning they were perfectly satisfied)—the vast majority gave themselves mediocre grades of about 6.

Twenty five of the women surveyed responded that they had been formally diagnosed with an eating disorder, or about 9%. This means that Penn women suffer from eating disorders at more than twice the rate of eating disorder estimates for the rest of America. Barrie found that a high parents’ education level increased daughters’ chances of developing an eating disorder 48-fold. We discussed possible reasons for this, including the stereotype that eating disorders are primarily diseases suffered by wealthy white women (a stereotype which is less and less the case nowadays, as unfortunately more and more people are afflicted).

Barrie also conducted interviews with some of the women she surveyed. Many responses articulated the insecurity Penn women feel when they go to the gym. There were numerous references to competitiveness at Pottruck, whether it is over who is the skinniest person on the treadmill or how fast they are running. Interviewees said that Penn students are unusually good looking and thin, and that there is daily pressure to live up to a certain standard that is unspoken but pervasive nonetheless. One woman theorized that the driven, type-A personalities who are smart enough to get in here, and succeed in highly pressurized environments such as Wharton, are easily susceptible to body image issues and can apply the same compulsive behavior to their bodies that serves them well in their studies.

After the presentation, we opened up the floor for a guided discussion about body image at Penn. Many people shared anecdotes about their struggles to feel self-confident and accepting of their bodies. We agreed that eating disturbances probably affect most women here, to some degree or another. Most everybody seems to have some level of preoccupation with food, so the question that we wanted to address was how to achieve happiness and acceptance in the face of these pressures. Sharing personal experiences was a cathartic experience for some, and we discussed what we could do to promote positive body image here on campus. Ideas ranged from complimenting people we love more often, to setting a good example for friends and letting healthy attitudes rub off instead of negative ones. We ended the session with a guided meditation session meant to turn our focus inwards and keep it on the present. We reflected both individually and as a group, in order to conclude our evening on a calm and self-aware note. We also partook in a healthy and well-balanced communal dinner.

F-Word knew that this would be a relevant topic for an event aimed at raising awareness, but it became strikingly clear over course of the night’s events that these issues are a major source of concern for undergraduate women at Penn. We hope that this will be only the beginning of an ongoing dialogue about body image and efforts to help the high-achieving women of the undergraduate Penn community feel happy and satisfied with their outstanding selves.

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Are you a Penn undergraduate?

If so, please take a few minutes of your time to participate in this survey

We’re trying to gauge the undergraduate perspective on a variety of issues relating to gender and sexuality and we’d love to include your thoughts!

At the end of the survey there will be a link to enter your name in a raffle – You could win one of two $75 gift certificates to Penn Computer Connection!

Thanks for your help!

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Sick of feeling like you have to live up to photoshopped images like this?
Want to eat a free healthy dinner with others who feel the same way?

Join us for a dinner and discussion on body image!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 5:00 PM
Goldberg Lounge in Fisher Hassenfeld

2009 Penn alumna Barrie Nussbaum will briefly discuss her research on body image at Penn and we will discuss what it means to feel healthy over a free, nutritious dinner. Afterwards, Dr. Ella Ray will introduce us to meditation, and how we can practice it to develop healthy minds and bodies.

Please RSVP here

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I love winter break. It gives me time to spend time with family,  speed through some books on my endless “to read” list and flip on the television to see some of the latest and greatest sexist advertisements.

Just now, I saw the first of the three ads promoting Reebok’s new butt-firming EasyTone shoes.

Check out the other ads in the trio here and here.

There are so many things that infuriate me about these commercials, but I’ll list just a few of my frustrations.

1) Apparently “no” doesn’t really mean “no.” Initially, the woman rebukes the cameraman for objectifying her. However, after the camera ignores her rebuke and zooms in on the butt a second time, the woman playfully laughs off the refusal to honor her request.

2) The woman invites objectification. She clearly emphasizes the word “butt” and both times when she stops moving, she stands to intentionally model her firm ass. There’s already enough blame put on women “inviting” harassment or rape based on the clothes they wear. We don’t need companies to suggest this as well.

3) I’m confused – this ad seems to  be catering to men…but it is a woman’s product? My dad told me that the ads were playing pretty frequently during football games. Is Reebok hoping that men will buy these shoes for their girlfriends or wives? Or are they hoping that the ads will play on women’s insecurities and desire to improve their “imperfections”?

4) The shoe is pink. EasyTones come in a variety of colors; however, they choose pink for this flirty ad.

In case you want to check out some other offensive ads, take a look-see at these oldies but goodies.

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Another post from Penn Asian Review:

If you’re looking for an old Chinese film to watch, I have four to share with you. On October 6, 2008, I attended an interesting CEAS Humanities Colloquium, entitled “Love and Politics in Chinese Film.” In this fascinating cinema studies presentation, Stanford Professor Ban Wang spoke about four films: Nie er, Zhao chun er yue, Fu rong zheng, and Wo do fu qin mu qin.

Professor Wang notes that, during the time periods for several of these films, the public realm is reserved for nationalism, patriotism, and political activity. A cynical construction of love in the early days of the PRC would suggest that a person has a duty to procreate to expand the party. This mechanical construction would repress the individual in favor of the party. Though early films served propagandistic functions and were subject to strict censorship, the expression of private desire becomes a way to poke holes in the system’s limitations. As love becomes subterranean, confined to the private realm, Prof. Wang suggests that the explosion of restricted passion in reaction becomes a way to access the sublime. The degree to which the represented love can sublimate contrasts from film to film, as the turbulent political climates of different decades react against each other. Among these factors, Prof. Wang also examined the different representations of gender.

In the first section of his talk, entitled “Love and Patriotism,” he showed a clip from Nie er, about the composer of China’s national anthem. To celebrate the young nation, the movie was made in 1959, the decade anniversary of the PRC. Interestingly, the woman leads the way in this scene. With the 1930 invasion of the Japanese in this clip’s background, Nie er and his more mature girlfriend’s political passion about the Communist movement legitimizes the expression of their romantic passion (similarly, in the Spanish-language film El crimen del padre Amaro (2002), a priest and his lover couch their physical passion in terms of religious passion). As the camera panning includes the entire surrounding landscape, the Chinese filmmaker invests the scene with a wider scope that embraces patriotism as a form of sublimation. Prof. Wang links the intertwining of personal and political love here with how personal the Beijing Olympics ceremony feels to the Chinese citizenry. In both cases, the expectation that one should love one’s country as one loves himself invests patriotism with personal stakes.

In the second section, entitled “Love and Idealism” he showed a clip from the 1964 film Zhao chun er yue, which refers to ‘early spring in February.’ It takes place after the second revolution’s failure in the 1920s. As the idea of democracy takes hold, the film rejects old society in favor of sublimating movement into the modern world. Here, we see an image of New Youth, the magazine for the new China. The scene closes as a man, shaking his finger in an instructional manner, stands high above a woman.

In the third section, entitled “Love in Bad Times,” he showed a clip from Fu rong zheng, or ‘hibiscus tower.’ This film is from 1986, a time when the Chinese felt as if released from a bad dream. As the figures in the clip sweep in a labor camp, the love contained in this small space is not sublimating. Nonetheless, as relief from this political mayhem, romantic love is presented as a redeeming form of grace.

In the fourth section, entitled “Love and the schoolmaster,” he showed a clip from Zhang Yimou’s 1999 film Wo de fu qin mu qin, or ‘my father and my mother.’ Relying heavily on primary colors, this clip comes from a time when China has been trying to reclaim older cultural values. This is the demonstrated through the sacred Confucian shrine in the scene. Just as Confucius is loved as a teacher, so is the man in the clip. Love is represented in a sublimating way here because the source of the love is his role as a teacher, not for his own personal subjectivity as a man.

I found this presentation interesting as I often look at representations of romantic love in medieval English and French literature, in which tropes of religious love are mapped onto romantic love (also, the female lover idealized as doctor, teacher, etc.). However, where the analogy in medieval writings is between human love and God, the analogy in these 20th-century Chinese films seems to be between human love and the state. In each, love becomes an external projection of a larger ideal onto another person.

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When I worked in the live-in component of a summer academic program for pre-teens one summer, I was reminded of how much taller twelve-year-old girls are than their male counterparts. It made me think of how different the reactions you evoke from people are as your height changes. Though my sister is three years younger than I, most people treated us as if we were twins because she spent much of her childhood near my height. I never received the deferential treatment I imagine most elder siblings do.

In response to a question in my math textbook, my second-grade teacher once determined that I was the shortest person in my class. As a consolation, she predicted that one day I would be even taller than her. She was correct, as I became one of the tallest students in my eighth-grade class. At the time, the other girls and I would make ourselves even taller with multi-inched platform shoes. For commencement and our formal graduation boat trip across Lake Michigan, we competed over the lengths of our heels.

As some eighth graders competed over height, others implicitly idealized their prepubescent petiteness. People often say that a girl can be tall, as long as she’s not too tall. In response to the Common App diversity question years later, one friend recalled being made to feel ‘oversized’ (she was not) in contrast with the daintiest, porcelain-doll-like little girls. I had not expected my friend to feel this way, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized people do associate physical smallness and consequent, so-called cuteness with femininity. I suppose such ideas should not surprise me, given the social pressure for women to be look younger, and the preference for neoteny in women.

Expectations of smallness are not that far removed from expectations that girls be skinny. When we first discovered e-mail addresses in middle school, the kids forwarded so many chain-letter surveys to each other. They would regularly fill out class superlatives—‘smartest,’ ‘most talkative,’ ‘skinniest.’ I remember never being considered the skinniest compared to those kids, which has made me feel taken aback every time someone in college has called me skinny. But I suppose body image is relative. It seems we’re always negotiating the relationship between our sizes and our reactions from others.

Perhaps I had especially short high school classmates, male and female, but I continued to tower over many a 5′ peer in my adolescence. I felt like a giant standing among them. By the time I reached college, however, I lost the height advantage. While I am still above the average height of a woman in the US (5′ 3.8″, according to About.com; I am 5′ 4.5″), even my little sister now considers me ‘little’ (today, she is 3.5″ taller than me).

The height difference between the average matriculating Penn freshman and the average graduating senior from my high school was enough that I hadn’t anticipated that other Penn students would call me small. I was unused to it because it was not how I positioned myself relative to others in high school. Being treated as a petite person made me feel as if others inferred some corresponding docility based on my size. It’s disconcerting when people in a new environment interpret your size differently from the self-construction you’ve developed in your original environment. Being thought of as diminutive as an adult is also socially belittling, as if you’re a child or cartoon character, instead of a respected, full-grown human being to be treated seriously as an equal (indeed, there are other, more serious cultural precedents for women being treated as permanent children). Hopefully, I don’t shrink too much when I get old.

Posted in Feminism @ Penn, Feminism in the wider world, This is what a feminist looks like | No Comments »

Read the link below for more information:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/12/12/uganda.genital.mutilation/index.html?iref=allsearch

One of many steps that need to be taken to prevent genital mutilation from occurring any longer.

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