What ever happened to feminism?

Two years ago I worked on an oral history project. I interviewed my academic adviser. She was a big feminist during her college years here at St. Olaf. During her time, students were protesting to have condoms readily available on campus. This was a time where the conversation of sex could lead to a deadly one because of HIV/AIDS. As a feminist, she protested holding signs and shouting for students' rights to have condoms on campus. This was in the 80's.

After graduating from college, she was still a feminist but in subtle ways. She now works here on campus and saw how the student body do not display overt forms of feminism at all. You wouldn't find a group of students holding up signs for change. It's different now.

Some of my friends claim to be feminists. A few despise the word and do not think they need feminism anymore. What is going on? I am not sure, but I believe Courtney E. Martin's TED Talk here is very important to consider.

Because I was Colorblind

I can understand when Camille Wilson Cooper said, "A colorblind society is a detrimental one." 
I feel the oppression of colorblind racism every day. White students all around me are kind and wave hello to me, but that's as far as it really goes.  

In her essay Racially Conscious Mothering, she mentioned how black mothers have been raising their kids to become aware of the racial stratification of society. Black mothers are making their kids aware of how unfair America's society is to them simply because of their brown skin. I wish I had a mentor to tell me about this. I have only been living a lie since I wasn't able to recognize or study what racism really is. 

My mother didn't raise me to be racially conscious. After fleeing from the Vietcong during the Vietnam War, my parents and three older siblings were able to fly to the United States to make a new and better life here. Their minds were filled with the American Dream rhetoric. 

The words that filled my mind were: Education is the key to success! 

It seemed true for a long time. I did well in all my schooling. During high school I even took a few college courses--enough to fulfill a whole semester's worth of courses. I was off to college with so much enthusiasm and happiness because of my academic success. However, once I came here to St. Olaf College, I began experiencing something I could not have prepared for: classicism and racism...covert racism. I never knew these would hurt so much. 

My first year at St. Olaf College was a big disaster. For the first time ever, I was in a room full of white students who are super rich. Some had a few mansions, many had medical doctors for parents. I never felt so far behind in academics before. How could I, an immigrant daughter, compete with that? 

Every single day was an impossible battle in my mind. Before I went to class, I was already stressing about how I'm going to have to sit with all of those white students. When I made it to class, I sat with the international Chinese students so I wouldn't have to fear being judge by using incorrect grammar since the Chinese students I became friends with struggled to understand the English language. I felt more at home sitting next to them.

When class required me to speak for participation points, I began to rehearse a sentence or two in my head for 20 minutes before I actually raise my hand because my mind is always interrupted with fear of what the white students really think of me as an Asian person:

Ching chong, ling long, ting tong.
Those Asians can't even speak English.
They need to go back to China.
Their eyes are so chinky. 

My thoughts became more poisonous. Once I began to raise my hand, my face begins to redden. As I raise my hand up, chaos fills my mind:

I know, I just know, that if I mess up on my grammar when speaking out loud, all the white people will attach it to my whole race of Asians. 

When white people mess up on their grammar, it never attaches to them. 

Think about George W. Bush. 

He made lots of grammatical errors in his public speeches, but most of the American society thinks it was cute, simply adorable and such. 

The American society wouldn't label white people as grammatically incorrect imbeciles. 

If Obama made grammatical errors in his speech, all hell would break loose. 

All of this is because of racism. 

All of this was scrambling all over in my mind. 

Right before I am about to be called on, my mind tells me:
Don't mess up, don't mess up, don't be grammatically incorrect, please don't, or else they will all think you're stupid, they will all think Asian Americans from the ghetto poor neighborhoods are stupid and only made it to campus because of affirmative action and grant money...don't mess up....or else...

...and then the professor picks on me to make a comment....

"...Oh, never mind," I smile politely as my cheeks begin to burn.

"Are you sure?" My professor insists.

I lie, "...Um, you have already answered the question I had..."

"Okay" He turns toward the class again and continues lecture.

My mind is still at war. I replay all the words I've said out loud:

Oh, never mind...Um, you have already answered the question I had...

Oh, never mind...Um, you have already answered the question I had...

Oh, never mind...Um, you have already answered the question I had...

I pause.

I wonder if that statement was grammatically incorrect...

Hmm...
Oh, never mind...Um, you have already answered the question I had...
Oh, never mind...Um, you have already answered the question I had...

Hmm...
Oh, never mind...

Hmm...
Um, you have already answered the question I had...

Okay, I think it's okay...

~*~

I was never like this in high school. I went to a high school that was absolutely racially diverse. It was only when I came to an institution where I am really the only person of color in the classroom that I began to have all these fears of racism. Because all of the white students are very good at hiding their truly racist thoughts and perceptions (colorblind racism), my state of mind has become chaotic somehow. That is how I have tried to understand this situation. Before learning about colorblind racism, I just blamed myself for getting carried away with these thoughts and being far too hysterical. But no, there is a larger social force that is impacting my feelings and thoughts and that is the racial stratification of our society and all the things that emerges from it--colorblind racism, overt racism, white supremacy, etc. And it's not just race. My passiveness also has to do with how women in society are supposed to be the submissive obedient persons to men.

Colorblind racism is all around me. Even if white students did not say racist things to my face, I know it crosses their mind. I know they talk about it behind closed doors. Everyone seems friendly, but no one will ever invite me to their movie nights, luncheons, or other activities. Colorblind racism was destroying me, and I didn't even know it. I've heard several white students say colorblind racists things such as, "Oh, one of my best friends were black." Did they really hangout, invite each other over for dinner in their home, sleepovers, etc? I don't think so. Stop lying to me. 

I believe mothers need to be racially conscious and raise their kids to be aware of it. I believe everyone should be racially conscious just as Professor Ted Thornhill said in our class on Monday. If I had been raised by being aware of the racial stratification of this society and of the world, I believe I would have been a stronger person. I would not be such a passive Asian woman. My mind would not have endured   all this pain because I would have built a strong foundation on how to shift my thinking. 

Burgeoning Feminist

My friend is getting married. 

Don't get excited for me. 

I feel disappointed, upset, angry, and worried about this news. 

For me, it's more like he is purchasing a woman.

Dowry Price (source)

I've been friends with Xavier since high school. We used to play tennis after school with a bunch of friends. 

A couple of months ago, he went to visit Laos with his parents. He posted pictures of their visit to Laos on Facebook. I found it strange that most of the photos are of him and Laotian Hmong women. It seems like his vacation and mission in Laos was to find a wife. Many Hmong American men have been traveling overseas for this purpose. I didn't think Xavier is the kind of person to do this sort of thing, but I guess his actions speak louder than words. After only a few weeks in Laos, my friend returned to the USA engaged to a Hmong woman from Laos.

The worst part is the extra album he created. It is entitled, "Hmong Laos Girls". The description for the album says, "Be serious and you can contact them." In this album, there are 18 individual pictures of Laotian Hmong women. These women look like they are dressed in the best clothing they have. Some stand in front of their home which is a shack with dirt as the floor. The beautiful forest jungle scenery is also in the background. Another woman stands on a bridge. Another woman stands on a dirt road, holding the peace sign up. Each photo has their name.

I had to make a few comments on this album.

Monzong:
Isn't it illegal to post something like this? It's like a different form [a safer form] of human trafficking. What you're saying to your audience is: "If you're serious about 'purchasing' a Laotian Hmong woman through 'marriage', here they are. Just pick and choose." This is highly dehumanizing towards women. A violence done onto women. I do not approve.

Sue:
To an extent, I agree with you Monzong, but maybe the girls approved?!

Xavier:
that's why i said serious inquiries only. if who ever ask and is not serious about actually marrying one then STAY OFF because these are close relatives of mine too. also they did ask too if i can find them one if i don't get involved with anyone of them..

Monzong:
You may argue men are relieving women through financial support. You could say that this is a form of empowering women and their family in developing countries such as Laos & Thailand. However, the power dynamic of the patriarchal societies in which we exist in coerces women [and their families] to this kind of desperation for wealth. You can argue that these women are giving their consent to marry the 'rich' American Hmong men, but to what extent have their thoughts and values been shaped by their poor living conditions and the oppressive forces of the patriarchal system of a society? In the end, this kind of activity results in the degradation of women (no matter if you have close relations to these women or not), which leads to sexism, and then lead to violence towards women--sexual violence and more. The larger picture is at stake here: women seen as objects--objectification of women.

Xavier:
that's y i said serious inquiries only. the reason i said that is if you don't like the girl why start it. and also i don't approve of a person getting married just because one of them is in a poorer state. that's going to be a mislead to a life of unhappiness. as you noticed and see i married one myself. I made my own choice based on the facts that I've met her and really like and love her and the factors goes the same for her.

Monzong:
So what does marriage mean anyway? Does it begin with seeing someone as sexy and vulnerable and beautiful? And then what's next? Making sure you have enough money? And then what's next? Oh, I know what's next, it's the nice flowery notion of valuing the woman's sense of self-worth, her personality, her obedience, compatibility...? Is this your message to the world about these women? I don't understand. Please debunk these thoughts in my mind. Please do so, as I am contemplating about this all in relation to the greater sociological consequences. I find what you say hard to believe, though I believe you're not the typical ruthless Hmong man who would just go over to Laos merely in pursuit of purchasing a wife. No offense there. I am finding it hard to believe what you're displaying here is a result for the greater good of women's condition. I need to speak to you more about this.

Xavier:
I'm not putting it out that way. I'm just a person who is trying to open a pathway to others. There are many (and I know a few) that would take advantage of this, but at the same time you have to considerate who is the one behind this. Which is me, thinks highly of a women, that is not willing to give anymore information to those who is just trying to take advantage someone.

Monzong:
You think highly of women but how does this display of women not make you hypocritical?

Xavier:
It's not. If I am I would be posting phone numbers left and right like everyone else that are trying to take advantage of others.

Xavier:
I'm not putting it out that way. I'm just a person who is trying to open a pathway to others. There are many (and I know a few) that would take advantage of this, but at the same time you have to considerate who is the one behind this. Which is me, thinks highly of a women, that is not willing to give anymore information to those who is just trying to take advantage someone.

Monzong:
I don't mean to demonize you in anyway. I believe you have good intentions. However, I believe this situation is more complicated than you think it is. It is more complicated than WE think it is. I am here to provoke critical analysis of this situation through a sociological and feminist perspective. I don't want for anyone to be a passive recipient to whatever is in front of them. I want questions.

Sue's comment about how the Laotian Hmong women have agency for approving these marriages troubles me. Do they really have agency? Is it really their choice? The rhetoric of women's choice is a passive discourse. In 21st Century Motherhood, Judith Stadtman Tucker critiques the discourse of choice and agency in her essay From "Choice" to Change: Rewriting the Script of Motherhood as Maternal Activism:

From an activist standpoint, the discourse of choice--which is primarily used to justify or explain the way things are, rather than to defend the way things ought to be--can be understood as a passive discourse (297).

This is the essay I needed to read in order to better analyze this situation. The Laotian Hmong women may approve of the marriage arrangements, but how has their choice been influenced by multiple social factors and systems of oppression like patriarchy and capitalism? 

I've changed a lot since high school. My thinking has become more radical and critical since high school. Many of my old high school friends want to enjoy the simple life and not have to complicate things. I really do not know if they can handle being around me. I don't think they are used to women or thinkers like me because if something sexist is muttered, I will react. I will challenge them. They will feel uncomfortable, but I think they will grow from it nevertheless. 

White Eggs in Brown Bodies

Brown bodies, white eggs. So, what does that mean?  Basically, white women, who cannot carry a fetus for 9 months due to a variety of medical issues, pay black women to become their surrogate. The brown woman's body [uterus] has a fertilized egg from a white couple inside. Race is very important here. Historically, white people have an extremely higher level of income than black people. White women overall are less likely to become surrogate mothers unless they are paid a high income. On a large scale, black women have less income than white women in this country. Black women are  more likely to offer their body as a surrogate way as a means for extra income money and when they do not request as much money for offering these services compared to what white women would demand. 

In Deborah R. Grayson's journal article, Mediating Intimacy: Black Surrogate Mothers and the Law, she poses these questions after the case of Mark and Crispina Calvert—a white and Filipina ancestry middle-class couple—and their surrogate Anna Johnson—a working-class woman of African American descent. 

• Can a woman be the mother of a child with whom she has no genetic connection? 

• Or does the genetic material provided by the egg and the sperm donated to create the child determine who its natural parent or parents are? 

• When does a woman become a mother--while she is pregnant or after she has delivered a baby? 

• What of the bodily experience of pregnancy?

• Does a woman's participation in pregnancy--her carrying the fetus in her uterus--have any bearing on the determining factor in defining parental rights and relationships, or that custody disputes should be decided solely on the basis of the parental intent of the persons who supplied the genetic material? 

• Who and what is a mother? 

• Can a child have two biological mothers? 

How would you answer these questions?

Race Matters Campaign

At the beginning of this semester, I thought I had the worst Sociology & Anthropology senior seminar course. We did not even have a syllabus until a couple of weeks ago. The readings for class seemed randomly selected based on the most recent books on the economy, environment, health care, and race. It was a drag to go to class, and even worse to be stuck in class for 55 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Wow. I never knew this would happen to me at St. Olaf College. 

On the other hand.....

The reason why this is the best class ever:

Our professor gave us full autonomy in designing any kind of project we want.

At first, we all wanted to create a protest. We wanted to do something radical about racism on campus. After much discussion and reconstruction of our ideas, we have decided to create the Race Matters campaign.

It has been a rewarding experience! I'm so proud of my colleagues and I for being so passionate about addressing racism on campus!

Please join us for the Panel Discussion on Monday April 15th 7pm in the Black and Gold Ballroom!

This is the poster that I created through Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Addressing colourblind racism.

Women of Color: Struggles with Eating Disorders and Body Image

Women of Color Struggle with Body Image

The wonderful Robyn McGee paid a visit to St. Olaf College to talk about eating disorders and body image. She created a workshop for the St. Olaf community. This was not the usual event about women's eating disorders that St. Olaf has had in the past.

McGee's workshop came with a unique perspective: black women's struggle with eating disorders and body image.
When McGee tried to engage the audience in a dialogue about black women's issues on body image and eating disorders, my natural inclination was to sigh and stare at the ground because the audience wasn't able to make any good connections with what McGee was trying to ask and speak about. The fact that white people in the audience found it difficult to relate to what McGee was trying to say made me rather miserable. It reminded me about how white people do not need to know the struggles of people of color.

Oh, white privilege....why do you hurt me so....

I felt like the audience needed a "Black Women's Struggle with Body Image and Eating Disorders 101" before we could engage in a dialogue within the workshop. But this isn't right. Why should the oppressed have to explain their conditions and situations to the oppressive dominant majority of the society? That just gets exhausting for the oppressed.

Simply, I think that McGee should have begun with an introduction that would set aside the audience's biases of the mainstream ideas of eating disorders, and ideas of body image (i.e. white females dealing with anorexia). I am pretty sure that only the black women present in the audience really understood all that McGee was referring to.

For instance, a pop culture artist who is an inspirational figure for the issues of hair in the black community is India Arie. Please listen to this song below.

Is Michelle Obama her hair?

Photoshopped Michelle Obama's Natural Hair

Pathology of Perfectionism

Fat in the right places

Courtney E. Martin's book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters is a book for the majority of white women and their struggles with eating disorders.

Martin has a chapter that talks about Latina adolescent women struggle with having "fat in the right places", which means they are pressured to have a big bosom like Jennifer Lopez since that's the stereotype of Latinas. Martin also mentions the struggles about a few other women of color, but it's only one little chapter.

If Martin were to create a workshop about eating disorders and body image, it would be more suitable for St. Olaf's predominantly white student body (80%).

These are really my frustrations with the workshop and the turnout of it. I am perhaps far too cynical. Perhaps race is on my mind far too much.

But no! Women of color have to deal with body image in a vast different way than white women. This is the difference that needed to be stated at McGee's workshop. I wish she compared and contrasted these differences because of the ratio of white women and women of color in the audience.

Double Eyelid Surgery

My little niece came up to me telling me how her eyes are not beautiful. She told me how she had the same conversation with her mother. I asked what her mother (my eldest sister) said to her. My sister told her that surgery is an option. I was absolutely furious within, yet I kept calm for my nieces needs and concerns. Right away, I reassured my niece that her eyes are beautiful. I even Googled pictures of Asian women who have single eyelid like hers and are beautiful (i.e. Lucy Liu). My niece was far more confident and happy with the shape of her eyes. Her eyes do not need a double eyelid like that of white women. This moment in my life reminded me how powerful the universal beauty of whiteness is in the Asian community all around the world. In Korea's pop culture, many of the actors and actresses have gone under the knife to reshape their natural facial features such as the eyes and nose to look more white. 

The End of Men???

Hanna Rosin gave this TED talk on how women are rising above men in almost every area! She makes global generalizations on how women are succeeding everywhere. For example, women are becoming the breadwinners! Women have higher income than men! She also claims that there are more women in the world such as in China. This is not true.

According to Mara Hvistendahl, author of Unnatural Selection, there is a gender imbalance in the world.  The male to female ratio is distorted. There are more men in China than women. Rosin's hopeful speech about how women are rising above men lacks solid research. 

Watch and listen critically.

In Reshaping the Work-Family Debate, Joan Williams critiques Sarah Palin's version of feminism:
"In Palin's version of feminism, men need not change. In addition, she herself exemplifies the conventional success strategy, which is to dress femme but act the tomboy, taking on masculine personality traits (firm, comanding, competent, confident) and roles (breadwinner). This strategy works for many professional women while they are young and child free. But it does not appeal to many women, and for many others, assimilation opportunities end abruptly once children are born. Palin so captivated many American women, in part, because she sent a reassuring message: I can be a good mother, a hot babe, and a successful leader. Nothing needs to change (218)."

Really!!?

Does Rosin's TED talk seem similar to that of Sarah Palin's version of feminism?

That's what it seems so to me! You could easily replace much of what Williams said about Palin's "version of feminism" and relate it to Rosin's message. Rosin over generalizes women. Her TED talk will not appeal to all mothers, women of color, women in poverty, and more. Rosin's TED talk only leads to how "nothing needs to change" except that maybe too many women are rising to the top and we need to help men.

By the way, check out Rosin's new book, The End of Men and the Rise of Women. I don't mean to promote her work. The title sounds iffy. Challenge her work.

Spring Break--Teaching Gender

Sad news:
I didn't get to adopt the cute little blind yorkie-chihuahua puppy. My mother and brother would leave it outside in the cold when I return to college. The puppy is better off with it's original owner for now.

Night Lights in Chicago, IL

Good news:
Over spring break, I presented research on teamwork in the classroom at the MSS Midwest Sociological Society annual conference in Chicago, Illinois. Wow, the city of Chicago is beautiful!

Great news: 
Throughout the MSS conference, I went to several sessions which prepared burgeoning professors on how to teach courses and how to work with students.

I attended a panel session about teaching gender. Four professors of WGST studies discussed their tactics on how to teach gender. One professor actually created a Facebook page for her students to think more critically about daily Facebook posts from their friends. Students would share these posts on their course's Facebook page. They would all engage in commenting critically about it.

After the panel discussion, the audience could share more tactics on teaching gender and ask questions. I shared our blogging communication style with them, and I also shared the idea of how feminism is found online through blogs and websites. And that the internet is a new space for raising consciousness about feminism.  There are also women who created scholarly blogs while publishing journal articles. The discourse of feminism can be found through this digital space.

Another session had 2 female professors of color who spoke about how they experienced racism from their students. One professor shared how a student came up to tell her, "I don't think you understood my paper," implying that the Latina professor wasn't proficient enough in English [because English is not her first language]. The professor, however, responded by saying, "Yes! I didn't understand your paper! That's why you got a C+."