Activism Log 2

February 21-28

• The most notable event of the week was that Monday's show was cancelled due to the location where we broadcast was locked, and that we were unable to obtain a key. I was not there that evening, but I can imagine the frustration experienced by my community partner and my fellow volunteers. I was able to redesign the initial flyer, to make it more friendly for black and white printing, and I have been spreading those around in my classes and to the student clubs I visit.
• The catchphrase we use on the flyer "catch the third wave on the airwaves", identifies where this show places itself in the continuum of feminist thought, which made me think of Seely's chapter "Catch A Wave", concerning the benefits of identifying feminism as separate waves. I think that is something that I will be continually thinking about, "the importance of claiming feminism", since the movement has grown to include more than just women (47).
• This week has setbacks, but they were not that frustrating. The show that was cancelled was only the "welcome back" show, and when I found out that the flyers I spent four dollars on printing did not show the web address for the show correctly, it really was not that big of a deal. I was able to arrive at this conclusion after a few breathing exercises and realizing that the small and big pictures are not identical.

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York: NYU, 2007. Print.

Activism Log 1

February 14-20

• This week, we accomplished several things. We were able to meet with our community partner and figure out the schedule for the Feminist Agenda Radio. We reviewed how we could help the radio program, like hosting one of their weekly shows, making people aware of the show via spreading flyers and tabling outside the Student Union, and creating a commercial for the show. As a group, we decided to focus on making people aware of the show and to start handing out flyers. We learned that the first show of the semester would be on February 22nd, and it would be a "welcome back" show. The content would consist of a preview of the shows coming up, and it would be a chance for us (the volunteers) to learn how to use the equipment.
• All that we have done this week has been planning. In the weeks prior we just have been speculating about what we will be doing, but now we have a solid idea. Seely's chapter "Fight Like A Girl" in her titular book has a list of ways to be involved, and she finishes it with "[d]on't let taking action overwhelm you" (19). Once I learned I would be doing a service learning project I was overwhelmed, fearing that I would be thrown in the deep in like in my previous service learning classes, but now that I know what is expected of me and what I will be doing I feel much more confident.
• This project is giving me a sense of how to get things done. I am learning how to stay motivated and make sure to get done what needs to be done.

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York: NYU, 2007. Print.

Discussion Leading; Essay Abstract

Schuyler Kerby
WST 3015
Nina Perez
21 February 2010

Cisneros, Sandra. "Guadalupe the Sex Goddess". Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 164-167.

“Guadalupe the Sex Goddess” is a life narrative that reveals one Mexican-American woman's issues with sexuality. The narrative progresses from her experiences with the sexuality of the other (young white women in the high school locker room), to the physical discover of her sex, and to the acceptance of that sex and her sexuality. This embodiment in the text is paired with Cisneros's critical analysis of the Virgin of Guadalupe (165). She examines her sexuality and that of young Latina girls through the context provided by her intertwined religion and culture.

Cisneros examines the intersectionality that she experiences. As a Mexican, her religion is prominent in her culture. As a young girl living in a crowded home, she did not have privacy. The first affects how sexuality is treated within her culture, and the second shows how she was unable to explore her own body. Culture and religion created “that blur, a vagueness about what went on 'down there'” (165). This forced her to learn about her sex and sexuality through clinical settings, through that of the speculum and not her mother (165). Her family was not able to explain to her how her body worked, and she was not able to discover it on her own (165).

The lack of knowledge created a lack of confidence and security. She describes an experience with an man that led to contraceptive-less sex. She felt “too afraid to sound stupid, afraid to ask him to take responsibility too”, and this caused her emotional turmoil as she waited for her period (165). This lack of knowledge is not exclusive to her situation, and it is this silence concerning Latinas and their bodies that catalyzed her to write (165). Cisneros also recognizes an issue that needs to be address along with that silence and guilt that plagues young women, “a yearning to be loved” (165). These factors, she concludes, present a contradiction. Young Latina women are told to not become pregnant, but “no one tells them how not to” (165). This “culture of denial” leads to her angry to the image of la Virgen de Guadalupe. By presenting young Latina women the Virgin Mary as their cultural role model, while simultaneously not providing Jesus as the model for boys, a dangerous, unrealistic ideal is established that forces these women to have two options—motherhood or putahood (165-166).

As Cisneros discovered sex, she employed this “incredible energy” in order to reexamine the image of la Virgen de Guadalupe. She became a sex goddess, an icon that was a re-manifestation of the old goddesses of fertility, sexual passion, and maternity that were removed from her culture when her ancestors were Catholicized in 1531 (166). This figure, a culmination of old cultural figures; Buddhist writings; and traumatic life events, becomes Cisneros's God. This causes religious conversion in her, where she now believes in God. Her Virgin de Guadalupe allowed her to understand God, and to understand how she was blessed in her womanhood, her sex, and her sexuality.

Service Learning Proposal

Service Learning Proposal

Feminist Agenda Radio

Dominique Gelin

Schuyler Kerby

Josh Simpkins

Evan Wyss

February 3^rd, 2010

Jeanina Perez

WST 3015

Community Partner: Feminist Agenda Radio

Address: 4000 Central Florida Blvd, Orlando, FL 32817

RE: Community Partner Profile

Community Partner Mission Statement

“The Feminist Agenda is a group of feminist minded people coming together to address and combat issues of patriarchal happenings, specifically in the UCF/Orlando area.” - Feminist Agenda Facebook ®page

Political and/or Social Basis of Organization

Feminist Agenda Radio is a radio show that plays music and discusses feminism and topics dealing with inequality, women, gay rights, masculinity, and general societal factors pertaining to oppression.

Community Partner Needs

We will be assisting our community partner in the research required for the weekly shows and help them in any other area where they need us.

Memorandum

To: Jeanina Perez

From: D. Gelin, S. Kerby, J. Simpkins, E. Wyss

Date: February 3^rd, 2010

RE: Service Learning Proposal

Below, our group has outlined our Service Learning Project. The summary will explain why our presence at Feminist Agenda Radio will be beneficial for the program. It will also explain how we intend to execute our goal, how it relates to our studies, and the way in which we will work with Feminist Agenda Radio.

Need for Feminist Agenda Radio

Mission Statement: The Feminist Agenda is a group of feminist minded people coming together to address and combat issues of patriarchal happenings, specifically in the UCF/Orlando area.

In mainstream society, “feminist minded people” are portrayed as “no fun, whining critics who are out to destroy men and the male establishment.” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey, p. 5) The simple reality, however, is that feminists are simply individuals striving for gender equality. We do not hate men, and our goal is not to unravel the very fabric of society.

When activists collectively “combat issues of patriarchal happenings,” we are combating issues and institutions that put women in subordinate positions to men. These include, but are certainly not limited to unequal pay, control over reproductive rights, violence, poverty, racism, sexuality--anything that grants privilege to a dominant group.

Plan Proposal

After speaking with the community partner, we found that F.A.R. needs most help with promotions and developing episodes. It is anticipated that each group member will lead a discussion on air about a different topic at least once during course of the semester.

Rationale for Women’s Studies

The radio show does its best to bring to light issues directly affecting women in the U.S. and in Central Florida in particular. Without praxis, education becomes secluded to its ivory towers. With this in mind, the group feels that a radio show as outspoken as this one fits in perfectly with the material discussed in class.

Action

After our next face-to-face meeting with our community partner, the section will be expanded on. Nevertheless, we know that the bulk of our work will manifest itself in new media promotion (e.g. social networking sites, email lists, text messages) in addition to more traditional methods of advertisement. We will likely table outside the Student Union during the week, handing out flyers and working with other Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) to inform their members and the general student body.

Tentative Timeline (Subject to Change)

January 28^th Established contact with Debbie

February 3^rd Submit proposal

February 9^th Meeting at 12:30pm in the library with Debbie

February 10^th Revised timeline in group meeting

February 19^th Have flyer template ready for advertising

Flyer must include Date and Time of shows, the Knightcast website, and

the Facebook group.

TBD First Feminist Agenda Radio meeting, take meeting minutes

TBD Feminist Agenda Radio meets with other feminist groups, take meeting minutes

March 17^th Deadline to choose show topic

March 24^th Have research for topic ready

March 31^st Put research together in order to have an organized show

April 5^th Ready for our show to air

Citations

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York: NYU, 2007. Print.

Rocky Horror Sexy Show

Schuyler Lincoln Kerby

WST 3015

Jeaninna Perez

Blog 2

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a parody of B-movies (the second movie in a double feature). This film pays homage to the science fiction double features mentioned in the opening track. As we, the audience, follows the bizarre scenarios Brad Majors and Janet Weiss find themselves in, we are forced to challenge our own ideas of human sexuality. Gender-bending, dance routines, and lasers are just a few of the spectacles we see.

The opening scene presents us with a pair of voluptuous lips, serenading us the heroes of drive-in double feature movies (Science Fiction). This opening number implicitly gives us a prominent idea repeated throughout the movie. This idea, as stated by Audre Lorde, is the erotic “'as our most profoundly creative source'” (Kirk 149). Those lips, belonging to Magenta (played by the lovely Patricia Quinn), represent the creative power of the erotic. The lips are disembodied, a fragment of a body. Because they are not attached to a body, yet they still have an erotic quality, this demonstrates that the erotic does not solely reside in the whole body of a woman.

Unfortunately, the erotic and sexuality have been conflated in Western society (Kirk 149). Other grievances that so called “deviant” sexualities have against heteronormativity are subject to catharsis in the film. Dr. Frankenfurter is not ashamed of who he is, nor is he willing to be quiet about it (Sweet Transvestite). He has even go so far to deconstruct the male/female and heterosexual/homosexual binaries that he has created a new center. He demands a selfish hedonism in all of his guests (Rose Tint My World). He has successfully dynamited the patriarchy, but he has created a new, Transylvanian system. Eddie violates this and swiftly murdered to death with a pick ax (Eddie). Because of Eddie's masculine, rock and roll ways, he did not follow the path of least resistance (Johnson 70).

In the movie, Brad Majors is the “straight man.” This not only refers to his initial heterosexuality, but also the fact he represents the patriarchy as a whole. Several times throughout the film he makes judgements and stereotypes against the other characters. In the wedding scene, he remarks that the new bridge is “a wonderful little cook” (Dammit Janet). When he first enters the castle with Janet, he makes a classist remark, calling the residents “rich weirdos” (The Time Warp). During the party with the Transylvanians, he dismisses their different behavior by calling them foreigners (Sweet Transvestite). Brad, in any other context, would be considered the character with the most agency. However, he is discovered to have the least. Only until he submits to fellatio by Dr. Frankenfurter, is he accepted in the that new system.

The purpose of the film is to force the audience to reconsider their own opinions considering gender, body, and sexual identity.

Works Cited

Johnson, Allan G. "Patriarchy, The System". Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey.
Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 68-76.

"Women's Sexuality". Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives:

Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 149-164.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Dir. Jim Sharman. Prod. Lou Adler and Michael White. By

Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman. Perf. Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Meat Loaf. 20th Century Fox, 1975. DVD.

2/8; There is never a shortage of grease in space.

This woman wants you to know that in the future, everyone will have a space suit and a bottle of Lestoil. Not only that, the Moon will be colonized. And with all that new land that humans will be living on, oh yes, there will be cleaning. The women will do it, in full evening attire. Their nails will be flawless and their eyes will be smoky. Billowing lashes and pouty lips will complement their lemony fresh all-purpose cleaners. She is not a mere woman. She is a space-woman from the future, where it is possible to be dressed to the nines and still capable and willing to get on their hands and knees to scrub the space-grease from the space-house.

This ad is not just selling a cleaner; it is selling a narrative. The future will be exotic, but social roles will remain the same. “Gendered norms and expectations” will remain the same on the Moon. (Lorber 65). The ad also presents a confusing message of femininity. Not only is the woman expected to clean (with Lestoil, no less), but she has to do it completely done up. She has to do it in order to still be called a woman. The ad perpetuates “gender inequality” and the “devaluation of ‘women’ (Lorber 67).

The ad, although it is selling a product intended for women, is aimed at men. The woman is not shown in a practical outfit to clean. She is in a spacesuit, with exotic features accentuated by her long eyelashes and smoky makeup. Her nails are immaculate, and her lips are perfect. The woman in the advertisement becomes exotic, releasing the message to its male viewers that if they were to buy Lestoil, their 1960s- women will become just as exotic as space-women from 3052.

The largest problem with the ad is the text at the bottom; “Women of the future will make the Moon a cleaner place to live.” This blanket statement forces an identity onto women. They have to be the domestic, cleaning up the messes of the Moon. They have to accept this task, because it is integral to their identity. If they do not clean, then they are not real women. This ad employs “social categories…to establish and maintain a particular kind of social structure” (Kirk, Rey 94). By releasing advertisements that attempt to defend the status quo, Lestoil (owned by Clorox) is trying to keep women in the gender roles that are currently defined for them. That damaging line of thinking also affects men. This presentation of the exotic and the domestic at once creates an unrealistic ideal. Only super-women can be dressed for a night in downtown Moonville and still be expected to clean up the Residential Space Pod. And even as super-women, they are expected to be subservient to their man.

Lorber, Judith "The Social Construction of Gender". Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey.
Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 64-67.

Lukas, Scott. "Exotics--Surreal." Gender Ads. 04/04/2007. Lake Tahoe Community College,
Web. 8 Feb 2010.
"Identities and Social Locations: Who Am I? Who Are My People?". Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 91-103.