Happy Pi Day!
Today, March 14th, is Pi Day. (Get it? Third month, fourteenth day; pi=3.14…) While the first Pi Day was celebrated back in 1988 with staff of the San Francisco Exploratorium marching around one of its circular spaces and eating fruit pies, it took until March 12, 2009 for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a non-binding resolution recognizing March 14th at National Pi Day.
So now that it is an “official” holiday and all that, I thought I’d pop in here to tell you all to have a great day, or night as it is now, and also give you three great reminders of what 3.1415926535… has brought to the pop culture world.
First, there’s the mathematical thriller Pi from Darren Aronofsky about a paranoid mathematician who searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
Second, there’s the always absolutely amazing Kate Bush and her song, Pi.
And lastly, there’s The Net, the cyberthriller where Sandra Bullock is thrown into a web of computer espionage after clicking on a mysterious pi symbol found at the bottom of her computer screen after loading a program sent to her to de-bug.
I would also like to add that you should most definitely be eating some pie, specifically a pi pie, while you break out the movie Pi tonight.
Women’s Studies and Education Privilege
At the end of October a list of 50 eye-opening Women’s Studies blogs was released and much to my surprise, Menstrual Poetry was on that list. Also to my surprise, it wasn’t just shoved at the bottom of the list with a description of something like ‘a woman who likes to spout her opinion a lot but has no idea what she’s talking about,’ which I honestly would have expected. The reason why I was so surprised is probably because I do not carry a Women’s Studies degree to wave around in the air whenever my identity as a young feminist is questioned or persecuted. In fact, I have never had any college education whatsoever and more to the point, while it has not been a topic on Menstrual Poetry, I have my GED, so I also do not have a complete high school education.
To be included in a list of Women’s Studies and feminist blogs that include staples within the feminist blogosphere like Feministe, Feministing and Shakesville, is a deeply humbling and really fucking awesome moment, especially considering that most, if not all of the people who have founded these blogs do possess a degree of some sort and have had the opportunity to learn and lend their voices within a woman, feminist, GLBTQ-friendly Women’s Studies class.
Which brings me to another point… I think another big reason why I was so surprised to be included in the list of 50 Eye-Opening Women’s Studies blogs, which was compiled to give people who want to “compliment [their] current education with a good dose of Women’s Studies” the resources to do so, is because there is a great deal of education privilege, especially in the US. Most of the time, if you tell someone that you did not attend college or if you studied at a community college, rather than a four-year university, you are looked down upon; people often think that you are stupid, lazy, or you don’t care about your future, which is not the case in the least. The simple truth of it all is that some people have the opportunity to attend a university due to a combination of various and important factors and some people just don’t and regardless of the fact that they did not have the opportunity to experience college, these people work just as hard, if not harder, to make the best of their lives and their futures living in society.
When it comes to the feminist blogosphere, there is an insane amount of education privilege; in fact, it is Women’s Studies and English degrees in overdrive. Just look at the about or bio sections of some of your favorite feminist, womanist and humanist blogs–chances are you’ll find out what kind of degrees your favorite writers hold within the first two sentences of their bio. These bloggers also go on to write books, which you’ll probably find the titles of within the first three to four sentences of their bio and as soon as their books come out, they are appearing on daytime talk shows and are fielding political commentary on MSNBC or being put on panels to create public and social controversy on FOX News. They go on book tours and do readings in local Borders and Barnes & Nobles, they conduct speaking events at colleges around the country and immediately, they are seen and accepted as the “new face” of feminism. They are then practically handed opportunities to write for wide-reaching, influential publications in print and online alike. Now, I am not saying that these people do not deserve the credit that they have, are and will receive; they have undoubtedly worked hard for their social standing in the feminist population, but I have noticed a great deal of education privilege in the most popular of feminist web spaces and it truly bothered me.
It was quite a few months ago, but I still remember a video where a contributor of Feministing was talking about books she had currently read and while critiquing a book of poetry that was not a book of ‘feminist poems,’ but just of poetry in general, she commented on how the author of the book “obviously did not have the opportunity to attend a Women’s Studies class,” which to me, meant that she thought and was saying that the author’s book apparently could not appeal to the feminist majority because she wasn’t feminist enough. I’m sorry, but that is complete and utter bullshit and by saying that, she basically informed the young feminists who visit Feministing that they are only good to the feminist population and to their communities and to their country with a degree in hand.
Just like any other group of people who unite as one in order to achieve anything, the feminist population is one that is made up of several different types of people and it really bothers me that the perspectives, the thoughts and the opinions of a certain percentage of that population are being taken seriously or seen at all merely because of the fact that they had more opportunities than the rest. If that wasn’t bad enough, it is those same feminists who have had these opportunities and who have written books and who have appeared on television and in publications and have guest posted for the Huffington Post and Alternet and other influential publications that are the same people who are also ignoring the rest of the feminist population and who truly believe that in order to be a good feminist or a real feminist you have to have a Women’s Studies degree in your possession. The way I see it, you do not need to attend a class for however many years you are in college to teach you how to be and think like a feminist–you just are, it’s a part of your personal belief system. Your opinions of society and culture and the political-driven world we live in are not necessarily something that is taught to you.
You do not need a Women’s Studies degree in order to prove that you are a feminist; your activism says and proves a lot more.
Sex Education is Being Reformed! New Evidence-Based Sex Education Amendment Passes in House Committee
Earlier this week the US House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation in a 33-23 vote to support comprehensive sex education. The Healthy Teen Initiative amendment has been added to the proposed health care reform bill, known as the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The Healthy Teen Initiative allocates $50 million dollars in state grant funding for evidence-based sex education programs and will work to reduce teen pregnancy, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and comprehensively address a range of teen sexuality issues. It will also work to build life-long skills to promote good sexual and reproductive health throughout a person’s life.
Personally, I find it a little sad completely and utterly pathetic that I am sitting here writing a post about how awesome it is that we’re finally going to have evidence-based sex education programs taught in schools and organizations. Seriously people–What the fuck are we doing where we need the US House Energy and Commerce Committee to approve legislation to support comprehensive sex education? This is common sense. There is no such thing as telling a teen not to have sex and then thinking that they are actually going to listen to you. When it comes to sex education, you need to have the mindset that whoever you are educating is going to go out and have sex because whether you like it or not. Whether you believe they should or not, they are going to make that decision on their own and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it but feel confident that you have given them all of the information they need to effectively protect themselves against an unwanted pregnancy as well as against sexually transmitted infections. But that isn’t how you wanted your kid to turn out? Too bad, since they are equipped with that pesky free will thing.
But some still aren’t complacent with this common sense approach to sex education and are still fighting to give abstinence-only sex education a voice in the system. Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) proposed that the failed amendment that funded abstinence-only sex education programs be extended to 2012 since their funding expires this year. Thankfully this proposal failed by 3 votes, but the scary thing here is that it could have very well passed and we could have still been funding an amendment that lies to teens if just three people had changed their votes. That is not enough support for comprehensive, fact and evidence-based sex education. Sex education is not an issue where “both sides” can get along. Abstinence-only sex education robs people of way too much for it to have any place at all in the curriculum taught to teens. They need facts, not a sermon that is better reserved for church.
Ellen DeGeneres: Be True to Yourself & Everything Will Be Fine
Ellen DeGeneres gave an incredibly passionate and inspirational commencement speech at Tulane University last week that included some of her own life experience (wanting to be famous, becoming famous, coming out, losing fame, and becoming famous again) and a great deal of humor as only Ellen could pull off effectively. But with all joking aside, Ellen gave an incredibly moving speech with a sentiment that every person needs to be reminded of every once in a while–Be true to yourself and everything will be fine.
Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina Answer Teens’ Questions about Sex
The Birds and Bees Text Line, started by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, has given teens ages 14 to 19 a reliable service to receive answers to questions they have about sex. Teens are encouraged to text the Birds and Bees Text Line and within 24 hours, they will receive a cautious, nonjudgmental reply texted to their cellphones from a nameless, faceless adult at the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina.
The decision to start the Birds and Bees Text Line came after realizing that in many areas of the country, rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases remain constant and are even rising. North Carolina’s public school system is forced to teach an abstinence-only curriculum and has the country’s ninth highest teen pregnancy rate. For the last 15 years, school officials and politicians have debated whether the sex education curriculum should mention contraception and during this same time, public health officials have been trying to figure out how to educate teenagers about sex beyond the classroom; because obviously school officials and politicians are too concerned with their own agendas to give a damn about giving their youth the information they need to make informed and educated decisions about their bodies, health, and sex. If you do not give teenagers the sex education that they need to prepare themselves for adulthood, do not expect them to not have sex and to not get pregnant, having never been given the education to even know that they should make sure a condom is present.
The program received a $5,000 grant for the cellphone line and advertising from the State Departments of Health and Human Services, but president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, Bill Brooks, does not like the idea of the Birds and Bees Text Line, for the main reason that teens can receive answers to their sex ed questions through their cell phones and not in the company of their parents, saying:
“If I couldn’t control access to this information, I’d turn off the texting service.” “When it comes to the Internet, parents are advised to put blockers on their computer and keep it in a central place in the home. But kids can have access to this on their cellphones when they’re away from parental influence — and it can’t be controlled.”
Brooks also believes that the abstinence-until-marriage sex education curriculum is working for the state and no group or organization should teach anything outside of that curriculum, whether they are attached to the school or not, saying, “It doesn’t make sense to fund a program that is different than the state standards.”
It is people like Bill Brooks and organizations like the North Carolina Family Policy Council who are damaging teenagers by voicing their out of touch policies and condemning groups and organizations that are trying to reach out to teens to ensure that they have answers to the questions they have and are making sure that these teenagers know how to protect themselves, while Brooks and people who think like him, feel it is best to keep their teenagers in the dark, refusing to provide them with basic comprehensive sex education. You cannot erase adolescent curiosity about sex and the sooner these people realize that, the better.
Hearing about the Birds and Bees Text Line made me incredibly happy; they are doing great work and I hope that they continue to do so and provide teens with a positive source of the information they want and need, regardless of who tries to stand in their way.
Queer Theory & Women’s Studies Programs at Risk in Georgia & Florida
Republican Georgia state Representatives Charlice Byrd and Calvin Hill recently announced their own “grassroots” effort to get rid of professors with expertise in a variety of different subjects, such as male prostitution, oral sex and queer theory. The two representatives have said they will team up with the Christian Coalition and other religious groups to pressure lawmakers as well as the University System Board of Regents to eliminate the jobs of these professors.
Byrd said:
This is not considered higher education. If legislators are going to dole out the dollars, we should have a say-so in where they go.”
Hill added his own condescending insult, saying that their job is to educate “their people” in sciences, business and math and that professors aren’t going to meet those needs by teaching a class in queer theory.
These two representatives have also claimed (and displayed publicly on their website) that a University of Georgia professor is “actively recruiting young teenage gays to accompany him on international trips,” even though UGA investigators have concluded that their argument is false.
Georgia has one of the country’s highest rate of sexually transmitted disease and the research of these experts has been geared towards reducing that number. Last Tuesday, at a meeting of the state House Higher Education Committee, two of the Georgia State University experts that Byrd and Hill are trying to get ousted won praise for their research and have spoken out about their expertise as well as the work they are proud to have accomplished. While these experts have been publicly praised by their superiors and their peers, Byrd and Hill said that they are going to continue to investigate as well as continue to ask their constituents to investigate and refuse to back down.
In Florida, Florida Atlantic University officials have proposed a suspension of their entire Women, Gender and Sexuality department as well as their master’s degree program in women’s studies. The reason behind the proposed suspension is said to be for fiscal reasons.
The Women’s Studies Center and the M.A. program is said to use a combined .00025% of the university’s total education budget, so naturally the FAU’s Women’s Studies department rejects the idea that the decision is about budget cuts, saying:
“At a university where the average salary of a male professor is $16, 000 higher than the average salary of a female professor, how else are we to interpret the proposed suspension of the Women’s Studies Center and M.A. program than as an attack on women?”
FAU is one of only several dozen universities that offer an advanced degree in Women’s Studies and is one of the fewer women’s studies departments to hold an annual symposium attended by other universities. If these proposed budget cuts are approved, the suspension will begin in the fall of 2010 and while officials say the suspension will be short term, no information regarding a time frame has been released by the university.
FAU’s women’s studies department has launched an internet campaign to battle the budget cuts. Sign the petition and join the Facebook group to write letters of protest to be delivered directly to the university president.
The fact that queer theory and women’s studies programs are even at risk in the first place of being declared obsolete shows the true ignorance, bigotry and most of all, fear coming from the Republican representatives urging these changes to be made. They are basically saying that people in college do not have the right to be educated in these important and cultural subjects. I hope that lawmakers in both Georgia and Florida are not in the business of making clones, which is what the Republican, religious right wants–Republican and religious fresh out of college drones that will continue the dishonest and close-minded work of those who came before them.
What Kids Think About Bill O’Reilly
As many of you may have known, the racist, bigot, hard-tempered, shock jock Bill O’Reilly had the nerve to put out a book for kids. That’s right–A man who is condescending, has spread countless, hate-filled lies and a bully himself had the audacity to believe that he could write a book to be consumed by impressionable children, but to also subtitle it “A Survival Guide for America’s Families.”
So how have his efforts paid off? Do the kids who read his book receive sound advice and take it to heart? Do they go through life a little less jaded and confused because of the wise words Bill O’Reilly’s co-author probably wrote, but put O’Reilly’s name on the cover for book sales?
Well, take a look…
Charles Flowers should have probably wrote this book with someone else; someone who wasn’t a walking contradiction.
Debunking the Feminist Myth
When people hear the word feminist, most identify with the word on a level of pure extremism. Some can’t help but contort their faces into a horrified, “hide the children” expression. My personal favorite, however, are the questions–Do you burn bras? So you hate men, right? Are you a lesbian? How many abortions have you had? The list can literally go on for hours. But I have a secret for those out there who think feminists are all man-hating, bra-burning, soulless creatures of evil–You’re wrong.
The myths that revolve around feminism captivate me. They often make me burst into high-pitched giggling fits. At times, they even make me angry because of the sheer ignorance that people hold so close to them and the close-mindedness that they refuse to rid themselves of. I can already sense that this may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this topic and I may be writing more in the future on feminist myths.
Feminists come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds and lifestyles; as does any “group” of people. Those who call themselves feminists or those who identify with feminists are simply the people who care about women and the equality of both sexes alike. They are those who care about the rights we, as people of both sexes, currently have and utilize and about the rights we want. It is a lifestyle–A lifestyle of caring, of standing up for what you believe is right and understanding the full humanity of equality.
For the record, feminists cliches are not always correct. The biggest cliche revolving around this movement is the one I am going to disprove right off the bat–Not all feminists are female! Not all feminists burn bras; although some do (and take beautiful pictures in the process.) Not all feminists are man-haters; in fact, many feminists are in long-term relationships and marriages and have families. It is pure discrimination to believe that feminism and homosexuality go hand in hand. Feminists can enjoy cooking and “being in the kitchen.” Feminists are housewives who do not work outside the house yet may have husbands who do. We enjoy sex–even with men! We are not on a rampage to destroy children, we don’t all hate children and we are not out aborting fetuses every chance we get. We are in the workplace and most of us are also in the home.
By the above examples alone, women have not abandoned their “past identities” such as cooking, cleaning and providing for her family. Women have simply grown stronger and have grown upwards in society and have fought for the right to be active and contributing members of society and to their families; that is something to applaud and to be proud of, not something to hold against women or blame unrelated issues on.
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
