Women's History Month: Spotlight on Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)

I'm drawn to photographers who enter in and out of people’s lives for brief moments and capture their experience on film.  Nan Golden, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Mark, Annie Leibovitz and of course the iconic Dorothea Lange are some of the photographers I enjoy.  

I've often wondered how these photographers balance the emotional and personal connections they make with their subjects through the lens, especially if they are "just visiting". There is a fine line between being the outsider looking in, stealing a glimpse of someone's soul for personal gain.  With this there is also the potential risk of being called an "exploitative photographer".  With that said, I am more from the belief that photographers are ethnographers with a third eye.

Linda Gordon writes in her book Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits of Lange describing Dorothea Lange "...as a photographer of democracy, and for democracy."(W. W. Norton & Co., 2009)

The image she is most known for is "Migrant Mother" (1936) Nipomo, California

"Migrant Mother" (1936) Nipomo, California

Lange recalls her experience taking the photograph of the 32 year old widow Florence Owens Thompson; 

"She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat, in that lean too tent with her children around and seemed to know my picture might help her so she helped me...there was a sort of equality about it."  

Within days of Lange's visit published photographs triggered immediate food aid and called national attention to conditions to California's agricultural valleys.

Katherine McIntosh was 4 years old when the photo was snapped. McIntosh is the girl to the left of her mother when you look at the photograph. McIntosh speaking about her mother (Thompson); "She was the backbone of our family," McIntosh says of her mom. "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. She didn't eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. That's one thing she did do."

So what can we learn from the democratic photographer and her subject?  I find myself referring back to  John Berger's "Ways of Seeing". For me, photographs influence what we say and how we go about trying to say what we mean.  Photography is used as a communication tool that consciously and uninhibitedly removes the blinders while cropping out the world in our peripheral vision.   All in all, photographs provide more questions rather than concrete answers.  This makes me a better critical thinker and entrepreneur of social justice.

Whose Art History Did I Learn?

Women Art Revolution explores the feminist art movement.

This video presents how feminist art gained recognition within art community and how its aesthetics shifted away from statements claimed by US Politicians that ”it is not an art but a pornography”. Via YouTube.

Q: What is feminist art?

A: "The most important artistic movement since World War II" - Blake Gopkin, Washington Post, 2007

Judith F. Baca, "Farewell to Rosie the Riveter and Development of Suburbia,"
detail from The Great Wall of Los Angeles (1983). Photo: Linda Eber. Courtesy of S.P.A.R.C.

 

 

 

The Guerilla Girls - an anonymous group of radical feminist artists established in New York City in 1985

Judy Chicago "The Dinner Party,
A monumental, multi-media installation created by Judy Chicago and hundreds of volunteers between 1974 - 1979

Harmony Hammond (American, b. 1944), "Hunkertime", 1979-1980;
Cloth, wood, acrylic, gesso, latex rubber, rhoplex and metal 83 x 286 in

Faith Ringgold "The Flag is Bleeding #2" (1997), Acrylic on Canvas; Painted and Pieced Border, Size: 76"x79.5"

International Women’s Day: Using “Humanist” instead of Women?

March 8^th, 2011 marks the global centenary year for International Women’s Day – 100 years since the first International Women's Day event was run. More than one million women and men attended rallies in 1911. With that said, I wanted to recap a research quest I went on recently that had me first feeling “punked” and then, near the end, left me feeling accomplished and confident that what I’ve been doing over the past three years, in my job, actually has made me more capable to handle most feminist teaching moments effectively.

After planning, organizing and adverting events for Women’s History Month and more specifically International Women’s Day over the past few weeks, I found myself pondering why a student, I do not know nor have had contact with before, found it necessary to send me an email asking me; “…when is International Men’s Day?”

Now the question seems simple enough and by itself could be a “normal” question that I might receive in my day-to-day job her at the University or in teaching an Intro to Women’s Studies class.  These are typical questions that one receives when you begin focusing on women and men separately in discussions.  Once there is a separation, students seem to be a need to bring the talk back to both as a whole in order to understand them individually.  But as things sometimes happen here in “bible-belt-conservative-USA”, not all questions are innocent in nature and I’m always on the ready for the tactics of “gotcha” politics.

Additionally, in a bit of educational irony, I assumed the person asking this question was capable of doing a search on the Internet so my first response was that of suspicion and wonder.  Did they send me this email to be flippant or sarcastic to counter the fact that there was a celebration of International Women’s Day here in their city?  Or were they asking this in a genuine manner because they understand the gendered conversations of economic, political and social inequalities between women and men?  Either way I found I needed to do some research before I replied.

International Men's Day began on November 19th 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago and was supported by the United Nations. Objectives of International Men's Day include a focus on men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models. It is an occasion for men to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular their contributions to community, family, marriage, and childcare while highlighting the discrimination against them. 

The overall tone of the initial question seems to be more about what is the difference between International Women’s day and International Men’s Day?  What sets them apart?  Why do they need to be separate?

With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights (although with the current healthcare debate in the US and my state you could say otherwise), and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality.  Which usually leads to the old standby of “Feminism is Dead”.  The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is still being used as a weapon in war and peace. 

Although there have been great strides made over the years, one might think that with 100 yrs of celebration, education and awareness building there might have been more changes to the economic, social and political inequality between women and men.

So, I sent off my careful reply, including some of the above information and received the following email back:

“But I don't understand -- If both support gender equality, then why not throw 'em both out the window and have an international human day? Because that's what we're saying right? We're all people, we'll equal. So doesn't promoting one gender on a specific day defeat the purpose of saying we're all equal?” – Anonymous

I can see where she was coming from in theory but I encouraged her to investigate the words that are used to describe why these events exist in the first place.  I also made it a point to say that along with theoretical hypotheses, it is necessary to include real lived experiences.  I agree both use the term gender equality but what does that really mean for these two days out of the year?

Differences:

• Words used to describe why International Women’s Day exist:

-Bring about opportunity and visibility of women in business and politics
-Increase awareness of unequal pay for equal work
-End violent acts toward women in war and peace
-Increase opportunity for education of young girls and women
-Increase accessibility of health care to young girls and women

• Words used to describe why International Men’s Day exist:

-Promote positive role models
-Promote achievements and contributions to children, family, marriage, community

Even if you take just one part of these descriptors, such as violence against women, on a global level, you are sure to see the higher percentage of women and girls being effected differently than men.

I agree with the student in her desire to use the word “humanist”.  I think it’s a great word to use when trying to help bridge the conversations but I feel until the economical, political and social equality for both women and men are on the same level, humanist has an uphill battle and a longer wait before it becomes second nature in our discussions.

I also agree men are stereotyped and defined into gender roles that are problematic.  This is why I think having an International Men’s Day can be affective.  Discussing gender equality without social and cultural pressures can include; men choosing to be a father or not be a father, a man loving who he chooses to love not based on gender, choosing to work in the home or not work in the home without remorse, choosing a career that is categorized as pink collar and lower pay, and the list continues.  For me, I believe it is critical to point out that these are choices. Choices that men have and can make but face social and cultural repercussions that try to sustain patriarchy.  The difference is that a large number of women and girls are educated early in life to not choose or believe that they don’t have a choice but instead stay with the status quo of social norms.

So, what’s the teaching moment I’ve learned here? When discussing an event that focuses on women’s history and women’s achievements I will always be asked how men are celebrated and valued.  I think that’s what makes us practicing critical thinkers.  The critical part is, reaching solutions to have all parts of diverse people at the table to discuss these achievements so that more women and men can find their voice to move forward towards social justice, reaching and creating a society based on principles of equality and solidarity valuing human rights.

But in the meantime I will set aside celebration to focus on women and women's achievements because even with 100 years behind the history of International Women’s Day atrocities are still being committed towards women based on their sex, women's voices are still being silenced, and women and girls are at the heart of why I do what I do in my life choices.

Sacred Witness or Terror Texts? Grappling with the Poetics of Rape in the Hebrew Bible

Since my last post, I felt like I should send out this event coming up here in Lubbock, TX.

On Wednesday, January 19, at 6:00 p.m. at St. John's United Methodist Church, 1501 University Avenue, Lubbock, TX.  Dr. Susanne Scholz,  professor of Old Testament at Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, will address the question: How do you read and talk about rape in the Hebrew Bible when it is so common that statistically most church congregants have first or second hand knowledge of rape? To them these are terror texts that offer little support to contemporary people.  This lecture invites you to become acquainted with a feminist sociology of biblical hermeneutics.  Biblical narratives and poems will illustrate that the Old Testament can indeed be read as a "sacred witness" of rape and serve as an ethical and theological foundation for the Christian faith.

For ten years, Dr. Scholz taught in a liberal arts college setting and also taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in fall 2007. She received both her Ph.D and M.Phil from Union Theological Seminary in New York, as well as having received the M.Div (equivalent) from the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Her scholarly interests are in Hebrew Bible, biblical studies, feminism/women/gender, culture, and religion, as well as interfaith dialog. She is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), American Academy of Religion (AAR), European Society of Women in Theological Research (ESWTR), and the Catholic Biblical Association (CBA).

Among her publications are "Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible" (Fortress, 2010), "Introducing the Women's Hebrew Bible” (T&T Clark, 2007,) "Rape Plots: A Feminist Cultural Study of Genesis 34" (Lang, 2000), "Biblical Studies Alternatively: An Introductory Reader" (Prentice Hall, 2003), and "Zwischenräume: Deutsche feministische Theologinnen im Ausland" (LIT, 2000).

For more information, visit http://www.womenshebrewbible.com/teachings.html and http://www.smu.edu/Perkins/FacultyAcademics/DirectoryList/Scholz.aspx

Stop using rape as political banter!

After watching and listening to the most recent round of #mooreandme tweets about Naomi Wolf’s radio interview on the BBC and her December 15, 2010 Huffington Post article as well as reading Andrea Grimes blog post, “Who Will Rape Me? it has triggered something inside me that I’ve kept to myself for a long time.

I cannot begin to understand first hand experience of rape and living to talk about it nor will I claim to know how I would “handle” my life if I were to “survive” being raped. But what I do know is that because of my friend Jane (not really her name) I am on the side of the victim, survivor, advocate, activist that listens, really listens, to women before passing deconstructive, academic speak to how any rape/sexual assault should or should not be discussed in the media. This is why I feel compelled to write this blog and tell Jane’s story as I remember it.

As I listened to the women calling into the radio show wanting so desperately to be heard and reading similar tweets with the same emotion, I kept hearing and seeing my friend Jane from 24 years ago. At times it wasn’t Jane’s voice so much so as it was her actions and my memory of them during the months that followed her rape. I also wondered how she would respond to hearing other women’s stories and would she agree that the “sex by surprise” criticism by Naomi Wolf was using rape as political banter? I’m not sure I’ll ever get the chance to ask my friend Jane.

I will say now that this story may trigger some people to be uncomfortable and would encourage you to stop now if you feel this story may hit too close to home.

Jane’s story:
I was a senior in high school when I first came to understand what it is to be an outside spectator to a young woman’s bruised and battered body at the hands of another. A body that was used and tossed aside, left for dead. It was also the first time I would become more educated with the words sexual assault and rape.

Jane was a classmate of mine that I knew since junior high. We had lost touch here and there throughout our high school days but for the most part we shared our lives when we could and as luck would have it we were in the same class that year it happened. The violent sexual assault happened, as we were seniors, full of hope of how our lives would be changing once we graduated in May. Little did we know how quickly our lives could change, hers much more extreme than mine, but none the less we were changed before we were ready.

Jane was on a dark stretch of road we all drove often, in between suburban neighborhoods, stranded needing help. As she began her walk to the nearest gas station or house she said yes to a person (an acquaintance that happened by) that offered her a ride home. Jane didn’t make it to the gas station or home. She regained consciousness in the dirt, alone, with little to no clothing, frantically remembering what had just happened. Some how she found the strength to walk, bleeding, broken and clinging to anything that would hide her naked body, to a house where she found protection.

It took awhile before I knew of these details as I just wrote them. Bits and pieces came from the few friends, in our inner circle, Jane told her story to over the next few months. Between us all we came to hear what Jane had gone through trying to fight for her life, using any part of her body as protection, on that road, in the dirt, discarded like trash.

I didn’t see her for many weeks while she was “recovering”. By the time I was able to speak to Jane, time had passed so much so that I didn’t want to bring it up unless she wanted to talk about it, which was not often. When she did return to class she had many cuts and bruises still visible, her hand was crushed and in traction, and she seemed to walk with her eyes tilted downward. I still remember how I almost broke down in tears when she walked in the room. Taking a deep breath and waiting for her eyes to meet mine, all I felt I could do was hug her. It was an awkward hug because I didn’t know how to maneuver around her bandaged arms, hands and wrists. Even though she had put on a good front, misery with a smile, I also thought I would break her if I hugged her as she seemed so fragile. I also didn’t want to make her uncomfortable with all the stares she was getting already so I must have started talking about something else so to break the emotion up to think about something else and anyone else.

For the next few weeks I would see her gradually healing on the outside. The wounds where she had fought so hard against her attacker were closing and leaving scars. The massive contraption that was keeping her fingers stable would stay on her arm for many months. As time passed the contraption became a part of her and I didn’t see it as evidence to a crime but as a reminder to keep moving forward through her pain. As time went by, she gradually became the graceful, warm, and friendly Jane I had known. But still, that was on the outside. I would never come to know the Jane she was on the inside.

I lost touch with Jane as graduation came and went. Come to think of it, I never saw her again until our 20th year reunion. As soon as I saw her I found myself flashing back to that classroom and most of all the smile she had on her face when I saw her last, it was the same as the one she met me with 20 years later. I knew then and there that she would stay in my memory forever as someone that walked through fire and lived.

I never told her how I felt then or now. Of how I felt like a fraud and a failure for not being able to help her like I thought she might have needed. Even as I type now I feel the guilt coming back that I didn’t do enough to tell her how angry I was that she had this as part of her life. But I also know that it’s not about me, it’s definitely not about me. It’s about women finding their own way to walk through life after they have been touched by pain caused at the hand of someone else.

So, what do I take away from what has happened over the past few weeks in the twitterverse, television, and radio BBC with regard to people using the word rape, rape culture, “rape apologist”, “sex by surprise”, “cut-and-dry”, “survivor”, “victim”? The answer is, I use these triggered moments to remember my friend Jane and honor her by telling others that they are not alone. I believe there is a story in all of us, some split us apart and some bring us together. It’s time to bring the stories together so that we remember why we are telling them in the first place, to make change for all!