Remember Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” (“I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman”), released in 1971?

Here we are, 47 years later: a new addition to the feminist message: Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato’s FALL IN LINE.  

TRIGGER WARNING: there are a few lines in this song that are scary hostile obscene and will offend many people in my generation. A theme of anger and protest (“fire in my veins”), not just self-assertion (“I am human”).

This song HAS A DARK SIDE. If you saw the performance during the Billboards Awards, you saw the military theme, with lots of black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyuPSLj_6aw

LYRICS EXCERPTS:

Little girls, listen closely
'Cause no one told me
But you deserve to know
That in this world, you are not beholden
You do not owe them
Your body and your soul
(chorus)
It's just the way it is
And maybe it's never gonna change
But I got a mind to show my strength (my strength)
And I got a right to speak my mind (my mind)
And I'm gonna pay for this (I'm gonna pay for this)
They're gonna burn me at the stake
But I got a fire in my veins
'Cause I wasn't made to fall in line
But I got a fire in my veins
I'm never gonna fall in line, oh
 
On a lighter note. I am a fan of Christina Aguilera, especially: A Great Big World, Say Something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds
​

​Mary Beard, a professor of classics at the University of Cambridge is a well-known expert and author of a history of ancient Rome. She is also present on social media, including a blog and a Twitter feed.

Just this past December she published two talks as Women & Power: a Manifesto. https://www.amazon.com/Women-Power-Manifesto-Mary-Beard/dp/1631494759/

She traces the origins of misogyny to ancient Greek and Roman roots. Women have been prohibited from leadership roles in civic life since then, and public speech has historically been defined as inherently male.

She draws on classic and contemporary examples, including the battering of Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.

p. 36. “It doesn’t much matter what line you take as a woman, if you venture into traditional male territory, the abuse comes anyway. It is not what you say that prompts it, it’s simply the fact that you’re saying it. And that matches the detail of the threats themselves. They include a fairly predictable menu of rape, bombing, murder and so forth. … A significant subsection is directed at silencing the woman. ‘Shut up you bitch.’ … In its crude, aggressive way, this is about keeping, or getting, women out of man’s talk.”

If you look at her Twitter feed, you’ll see that she is very familiar with the most vicious of Internet trolls, and even jokes with them in her Tweets.

In fact, if you are a student of “how bad does the trolling get,” this is one place to look. Also, take a look at responses to #MeToo messages. And “gamergate” messaging, when females in the gaming industry complained about their treatment by male peers and got death threats.

Other quotes:

p. 53 “My basic premise is that our mental, cultural template for a powerful person remains resolutely male. … To put this the other way around, we have no template for what a powerful woman looks like, except that she looks rather like a man.”  [photo of Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton in the “female politician’s uniform” of trousers—a dark pant suit.]

p. 62 [regarding the myths about Amazon women] “The basic message was that the only good Amazon was a dead one, or one that had been mastered, in the bedroom. The underlying point was that it was the duty of men to save civilization from the rule of women.”

Her point about “our mental, cultural template” echoes another favorite expert: Virginia Valian, who wrote Why So Slow? about the low numbers of women in professions. She called it our “schema,” not a “template,” and noted that our schema for a professional person (especially a scientist) was incompatible with our schema for women.

Basically, we think the idea of a powerful woman, or a professional woman, is WRONG, and NOT NATURAL.

Watch this expressed nearly every day, as women are interrupted, insulted, and banned from speaking. (For example, a Congresswoman, IN CONGRESS).

If you have time to dip into feminist classics, this is one, I think.
​
Mary Beard is taking unbelievable fire for speaking out. The backlash is proving her point.

We watched the PBS program Black American Since MLK: And Still I Rise, narrated by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It is awful to see that some of the riots and issues of the 60s seem fresh and raw. Martin Luther King was spot on. He saw it like it is, then, and now.

The level of hostility on the part of whites. The message “I am human. I am beautiful,” on the part of blacks.  http://www.pbs.org/show/black-america-mlk-and-still-i-rise/

(Can you picture dogs being unleashed on white children?)

My Jeff (a political scientist) defines politics as: “who gets what, when, where, and who says who gets what.”

We know which groups are dis-enfranchised in America. What’s shocking is the many ways those groups are DE-HUMANIZED, to justify their exclusion from “the good life in America.”

A friend sends me a link on “The Root of All Cruelty?” from the New Yorker. It explains a few things. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/27/the-root-of-all-cruelty

How can humans deny other humans basic respect (food, safety, a livelihood), and systematically block them from a human status, if not systematically kill them? Civilization gives us “normal” inhibitions against murdering people we do not like. To murder them, we have to overcome this inhibition, and see the victims as NOT REALLY HUMANS.

It is “normal” for humans to define people outside their group as Others. But if you convince your tribe that the OTHERS are ANIMALS, you can get respectable people to kill or torture members of an other-group. Engage in genocide.

The history of slavery shows that humans have believed it is acceptable to OWN OTHERs. You need a belief that some people are “natural slaves.” Not-humans.

We can make it more comfortable to exclude, punish, and kill OTHERS by calling them animals. (Sex offenders, the poor, illegal immigrants, dementia patients)

[For example, separating young children from their parents when they are apprehended illegal immigrants. It’s a form of torture.]

One way to DE-HUMANIZE is to HUMILIATE the target group. The Nazis did this by making high-status Jewish professionals sweep the streets. By sexually assaulting Jewish women. “The sadism of treating human beings like vermin.”

I want to get to the insights on MISOGYNY, of course. Rapists are men who degrade women and use them without compassion/mercy. Men can act like they “own” women.

 The root of misogyny, per the author Kate Manne, is that men have come to expect good things from women, like attention, admiration, sympathy, solace, and sex and love. When they don’t get it, they must PUNISH the BAD WOMAN. They feel justified in violence, and even murder. They also want to SHAME and PUNISH women into BEHAVING LIKE MEN WANT THEM TO.

“An observation made by Margaret Atwood [The Handmaid’s Tale etc]—that men are afraid that women will laugh at them, and women are afraid that men will kill them.”

In a discussion of concentration camps, the point goes further: what looks like the dehumanization of the other is instead a way to exert power over another human.

 [The full article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/27/the-root-of-all-cruelty ]

To summarize: a group resorts to HATE in order to gain POWER over an OTHER group. To incite HATE, you need to DE-HUMANIZE the OTHER. Thus normal, “civilized” feelings of empathy, benevolence, even affection, can be transmogrified into rejecting the OTHER as an ANIMAL of sorts. Someone you can USE, DOMINATE, OPPRESS, and even KILL.

To overcome HATE and DISCRIMINATION, you need to HUMANIZE the OTHER. You need to promote empathy, understanding, mutual respect. Have different groups communicate and share perspectives and life experiences. Have people see and feel a common humanity with members of an “other” group.

A favorite book is Allan G. Johnson’s Privilege, Power and Difference. My review and link: http://www.momox.org/blog/allan-g-johnson-privilege-power-and-difference

A favorite intervention is Intergroup Contact Theory. Google “intergroup contact theory” or see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_hypothesis
​
To summarize: HATE is about POWER. We know how it can be lessened. We have to want to lessen the hate.

 
If you want to have a good laugh about the nonsense of messages to girls in our society, follow https://twitter.com/manwhohasitall or buy his book https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Has-All-Patronizing/dp/1510729097/
 
This could be a fun read with a glass of wine or a few, and discussion. As in, what??

He uses SATIRE and PARODY to mock advice columns, by aiming them at men:

“Working husband and father? Feeling overwhelmed? YOUR FAULT. Drink more water, get up earlier and dress in your ‘wow’ colors.”

“Women and men are equal but different. For example, men are better at knowing when to clean the bathroom, dusting, ironing and being the subordinate sex class and we should absolutely celebrate that.”
​
(Here’s a fun fact: Amazon has this classified under “gender studies/men”)

College and Life. Here’s where the harsh facts of a woman’s life are relevant. You know about women who were strong in the face of adversity. You have vicariously lived the experience of girls in novels, telling the emotional struggles of the teen years in forming identity. You are deciding if you care about society and the world, and the status of women. If it is a factor in your life.

This is where you can equip yourself with facts about sexist history in society, so that you do not blame yourself for unfair treatment, if you encounter it. Possibly experiences with: applications to college, applications for jobs, entering the workplace as a nubile, sexually-attractive woman, weighing romance and jobs, marriage and family. Competing with young men whom you want to date or marry, possibly. Marrying somebody and finding out what the partnership means for your career.

Regarding the college experience, google “feminism and college” for articles on the college experience and discovering women’s rights in college:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/us/on-campus-embracing-feminism-and-facing-the-future.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-embrace-college-as-a-feminist-experience_us_591b4e0be4b03e1c81b00984

(Don’t be put off by the label “feminism.” Substitute the phrase “the status of women” or “equal rights” for that word. There is a stigma on the word “feminism” as “man-hating.” That’s old propaganda.)

Regarding negotiating a salary in a new job, the pay gap, workplace hostility, women’s rights, leadership development, I would scout the AAUW website: https://www.aauw.org/  Look at their reports for topics on women and student loans, for example, and the pay gap. https://www.aauw.org/resources/by-type/reports/

You can get very serious about gender studies and read a textbook or take a course:
https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Womens-Gender-Studies-Interdisciplinary/dp/0199315469/
 
About sexual harassment, I’ve posted these links before:
http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2011/10/23/how-to-respond-to-a-harasser-10-things-to-say/
http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/strategies/assertive-responses/assertive-responses-stories/

Now,
Your girl is prepared for her interview with Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby. Kick it.

High school. This is the age where, I hear, students actually learn about the holocaust. Evils of the world. Below are lists of stories and novels, not political diatribes or data.

Here are recommendations: 11 Young-Adult Books for Stoking the Feminist Fire by Jen Doll
http://nymag.com/strategist/2017/01/good-feminist-books-for-teenage-girls.html

I have not vetted this list, but pick the kind of story you like, and the list-maker thinks they will raise the issues of being a girl/woman here:  50 Crucial Feminist YA Novels by Kayla Whaley.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/teen/50-crucial-feminist-ya-novels/

​It includes, of course, I Am Malala.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-am-malala-malala-yousafzai/1117543444?
 
Again,
Is your girl prepared for her interview with Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby yet?

Up to middle school. We don’t want to traumatize children. We shield them from violence and extreme realities of life, and history.

Let’s emphasize role models. Women who have done wonderful things for society.

The fact that these women overcame obstacles is secondary. What we emphasize here are positives: ambition, persistence, courage. Moxie. They are heroines, and I (a girl) can aspire to become a woman like them.

I personally love biographies: life stories of how a girl became a woman and then a heroine in history. I don’t need to be a heroine myself, but I (a girl) need to know that it is a choice that other women made, AND THEY SUCCEEDED.

For example:
Harriet Tubman
Rosa Parks
Sojourner Truth
Sacagawea
Marie Curie
Sally Ride
Sonya Sotomayor
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Alexandra David-Neel
Madame Blavatsky
Michelle Obama
Oprah Winfrey
Serena Williams
 
Here are some search strategies:
“famous black women”
“famous Native American women”
“famous Latinas”
“famous women in history”
“famous women in science”

Their stories will inevitably tell about obstacles in their way as women. But the stories tell of obstacles OVERCOME. The heroines CLAIM the opportunity. They don’t back off. They PERSIST.

A common message is: “Don’t listen when you hear that girls are not allowed. They allow themselves.”

You get the picture. See if there is a BIOGRAPHY WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN for your favorite female heroines. Search Amazon on her name.

See the section BIOGRAPHIES OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (ROLE MODELS) for links to places that list books for children. http://www.momox.org/women-se-resources.html  

​The National Women’s History Project has resources for children: https://shop.nwhp.org/childrens-resources-c210.aspx

​For example, the book A is for Abigail, From A to Z “This wonderfully illustrated children's book introduces a wide array of women in American history. Each colorful page of the alphabet is filed to the brim with pictures and words that celebrate remarkable achievements of American women. 36 pages, hardcover, enjoyable for all ages.”  https://shop.nwhp.org/a-is-for-abigail-p4703.aspx
Or https://www.amazon.com/Abigail-Almanac-Amazing-American-Women/dp/0689858191/
 
Soooo:
Is your girl prepared for her interview with Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby yet?

What would I tell my younger self, if I could go back in time, and make it easier to navigate the world?

I became depressed in my teens as I became increasingly aware of “the deal for women.” In career counseling, middle school: “no, girls cannot become nuclear physicists” and “no, there are no female surgeons.”

Nobody explained WHY. You had to find out the secret behind these obstacles, and it took decades.

Did you know that most of the religions of the world, especially conservatives – Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Mormon, even Buddhist – would keep women covered (literally), restricted to the home, out of the workplace? They forbid education, work “outside” in the world, freedom of choice. Forbid birth control, because the value is on procreation. Arranged marriage at a young age. Praising domestic work and child-raising as the ultimate fulfillment for a woman. Punishing deviation from this ideal scenario, where women are controlled slaves with no choice.

There is some literature on preparing girls for the realities of unequal treatment in society. Some call it “inoculation” against succumbing to myths, stereotypes and models that girls are socialized to internalize, and believe. That you are inferior. That home-maker is your only role. That this is a limited but wonderful, even holy, role. That you SHOULD enjoy being a Handmaid.

You may NOT love power and leadership. You may NOT love philosophy, physics, law, medicine, finance, adventure, sports, art. Or if you do, keep it to yourself.

Several of my male friends had a mother who was a near-genius sacrificed to the role of home-maker. She was not allowed or encouraged to apply her brains to economic power, even if that would have made the family stronger and happier. (And her, too!!! These were depressed moms.)

I have tracked closely with the literature on “how to survive as an African-American in America.” African-Americans also grow up to realize that they are screwed. Especially boys—a future of denigration, neglect, incarceration, unemployment.

My most recent inspiration is from the New York Times. Mimi Tessema of Dresher, PA: “I am a mother of two black boys living in relative affluence in the suburbs of Philadelphia. What can I do to protect my children from this unrelenting toxic racism? Are there any evidence-based measures we can take?”
​
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/27/upshot/reader-questions-about-race-gender-and-mobility.html

Here is the response of Noelle Hurd (Psychology assistant professor, University of Virginia) regarding racism, which is also true of sexism:

-Equip your children with facts about racist history in society, so children do not blame themselves for any unfair treatment.

-Highlight the ways in which blacks have resisted mistreatment and persisted in the face of adversity. This includes learning about black heroes and heroines. Racial pride has been associated with better academic and mental health outcomes.

-Support boys in identifying black male role models, especially in career domains that align with the boy’s interests. Build mentoring relationships with positive black men. Ensure that the boys are getting the advice and support they need.

In other posts, I will attempt (as a librarian) to identify resources that are useful in the informal education of girls, to inoculate them.

Bottom line: Is your girl prepared for her interview with Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby?

​Lots of things to be upset by, especially as the #MeToo movement reactivates long-suppressed memories and anger.

My teen years were saddled with depression as it dawned on me that “you can be anything” was not true. And that a hostile world – professions and workplaces – would greet your enthusiastic leap into their arms to fulfill your dreams of how and what you wanted to be.

One of my stories: as a college student, in an airport, I met a woman who said she was one of four female surgeons in the country. (1960s) I told her that that was one of my dreams. She said: “It will be very hard to get in, and you will be battered every step of the way. You will have be to very tough.” She explained to me why there were few female surgeons, and doctors overall. For example, there were quotas for women entering medical school at that time. (And they probably did NOT get financial aid equal to men.) I had NO IDEA how someone like me could finance the education. I was too timid to ask anybody in authority (…refugee mentality, lay low). No internet. No kind librarians in my daily world. I knew I was not that tough. I majored in literature. (You’ll be able to teach elementary school!)

Several college mates who went into science and whom I met again 20 years later had QUIT. Harassed out. Disgusted. Discouraged. Wasted years of trying. And they were tough, and assisted by savvy parents.

There are so many books and movies explaining subtle discrimination, and what it’s like to be put down, harassed, and even raped or killed with no compunction. About racism: Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me. A mind-blowing experience watching the documentary based on James Baldwin’s work, I Am Not Your Negro (directed by Raoul Peck, 2016).

There is a poignant and insightful piece by Christine Emba after the white supremacists landed in Charlottesville. (Washington Post, August 18, 2017) She writes, about painful memories of current racism and marginalization: “No, I can’t just ‘get over it.’” Her last line: “Why is it so hard for you to care?”

Petula Dvorak writes about the abuse of girl gymnasts (six years old and up, over decades) as the result of a systematic denial of their complaints.

After mentally reliving some incidents in my past, I thought, how could I have responded better? In some of my experiences, I froze up, walked away, ran away from insults and aggressions. (No assaults, thank you, God.) There must be guides on what to do? Any tips for the weary?
​
Yes, there are, it turns out, for example:
“How to Respond to a Harasser? 10 Things to Say”

“Assertive Responses [to street harassment]”
 
I saw a video tutorial by Act.tv, on “Understanding White Supremacy (And How to Defeat It).”

It inspired my own take on MISOGYNY. It is 7.5-minute tutorial on WHAT is misogyny, what causes it, how it is expressed in social practices and rules, and how we can reduce it.

Finally, on a positive note, the wisdom of the recently departed Ursula Le Guin, a writer, who gave a commencement speech at Mills College in 1983, that tells women a way to think about where we find ourselves.
 
There is MUCH WISDOM out there. It just wasn’t in my mind when I needed it and could have handled it, e.g., entering college. I wish for a boot camp on “the world for women and minorities.” It is possible to be better equipped for the bad stuff, and to learn to roll with some punches, ignore, resist, and succeed in chasing your dreams in spite of it. Bring your sisters along on the wisdom. And, if you have any strength left, act to change it. 

Feminism was STIGMATIZED over the last decades. It’s having a revival, however. People like Beyonce and Taylor Swift are able to use the word again. Some of their critics are boiling them in oil for using the word, or for being “the wrong kind of feminist.”

They were joined by about six million people during the Women’s Marches the day after Trump’s inauguration (January 2017), who defied the STIGMA of “feminism” to protest the sexism of the Trump campaign.

What’s a stigma? It’s a strong feeling of disapproval, a mark of disgrace or reproach, a set of negative and often unfair beliefs.

I think the stereotype of a feminist is someone who is angry, unhinged, and obsessively hates men. Someone “who doesn’t know how to be a woman and who doesn’t like being a woman.” (Note: And “a woman is… ?”)

This stereotype led to fierce rejection of the label by generations after 1975 or so: “I am NO feminist!” “Feminists are against Moms.” “We don’t want any feminists in our workplace.” “Feminists [like female graduate students] are ugly, angry spoilers. Undateable.”

Meanwhile, since the 1950’s and 1960’s when feminism rose up—Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer—many were proud to finally decipher and talk about what was wrong with the treatment of women in our time. There are explicitly “feminist” movements and organizations that never faded from the scene, in spite of decades of stigma: NOW, MS Magazine.

The rise of women’s studies (facilitated by The Feminist Press) means we are busy documenting the “missing stories” about women in history. (The first college course was in 1969.) Stories about women whose research was denied and stolen by Nobel Prize winners, whose mathematical skills were critical in national achievements (“Hidden Figures”), women who trained as astronauts and were denied their chance by men like John Glenn (who thought he deserved one more mission at 70-years, over any woman).

Even though we are half the population of the world, we need to list the leading lights just to remember they exist. See the “ten most famous” and even databases of names. As if, THERE ARE NOT MANY, my dear, who “make it.”

Organizations who don’t use “the word” are busy challenging laws, practices, concepts: National Women’s Law Center, AAUW, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and Women’s National History Museum campaign, for example.

Here’s my point: it is really about respect and dignity for women, and opportunity. We can call it a wish for “equal rights.” It’s a protest against stereotypes, behavior, laws, and social conventions that limit women and push them into lesser-paid, subordinate roles. That insult them and exclude them from power and achievement. Steer them only to the roles of the nurturing servant and the sex-mate.

Our wish for respect is NOT inconsistent with the wish for nurturing, motherhood, femininity, or LOVING MEN. It means: just like men, women want to live free of harassment, free of being reduced to being a sex servant, free from being pressured to be a near SLAVE in a highly restricted role in society. We want choice in procreation, in managing the marvelous role of motherhood. And we have brains just like men who want power and complexity at work.

What the anti-feminists want, is to make this wish AWFUL. They say, Girls: Stop protesting, stop complaining about the insults, the lower pay, the lack of advancement at work, the stupid pressure to be a man’s wet dream. It’s unpleasant. It interferes with the power and PLEASURE men have in feeling that they own women. It tarnishes the treasured image of the selfless, loving mother who wants nothing more, the giving lover who needs nothing for herself. JUST SHUT UP. Stay in the little box we’ve made for you.
​
I think we need to reframe the “dialog.” Just like the politicians we know do. Talk about a “new normal” when a girl can grow up as free as a boy, and a woman can live like a man. (Without some of the garbage that goes with that…). Talk about respect, dignity, freedom of choice in life, and fair pay. Don’t use “the word” because there’s an automatic stupid response to it.