Waiting to Hear: Where are the voices of the Title IX Signatories?

Often times with feminist issues and leaders, if you are not with them, you are against them. Sometimes we fear to ask questions of our feminist leaders, for fear of seeming contrarian. I am not. However, Trying to speak out with an alternative vision for feminism can be particularly difficult for fear of being perceived as being a chauvinist, a self-hating feminist, or as Gloria Steinem said, “If you are not a feminist, you are a masochist.”

However, I am feminist. A large majority people in the Yale community, including myself, thought something had to be done about the way Yale handles cases of sexual harassment and assault. However, judging by the general sentiment I have experienced, many people in the Yale community are more frustrated than pleased with how the 16 signatories of the Title IX complaint went about their way in reforming Yale’s sexual grievance system in near secrecy, without any community lead up or dialogue before going to the Federal government.

I know that what the Title IX complaint is trying to do is reform the institutional inner workings of Yale's policies surrounding sexual harassment and assault. I agree something had to be done, but the fact that there was no public lead up calls into question some of the tactics they used. Of course they got results, but I often wonder at what expense? Especially when they have not voiced their complaints in the Yale student community as directly as they have to national news... The result is a lot of miscommunication on campus. A lot of frustration. A lot of unnecessary sexual jokes and at times, hostilities towards what has been called an "unnecessary and wasteful investigation." As I overheard someone at lunch the other day, this was an "Egregious waste of Federal spending on an investigation that could take place internally." I disagree that this was a waste of spending or a waste of time---something had to happen! However, I think that there has to be major clarifications about the nature of what the Title IX complaint entails, how it was created, etc.

Basically, what I hope and expect is that the public representatives of the Title IX Signatories step forward and explain directly to their peers the nature of their investigation and what it entails, and more importantly, why they chose the tactics they did with so little lead up. If we are to follow our feminist spearheads, we want to know what exactly they are saying.

I just really hope that the Yale community clarifies something that could be potentially divisive in the student body. Title IX can be a very positive step for change, so long as we accept it as such and not misconstrue or misconceive its implications.

Title IX: From a Closeted Feminist

Yale is undergoing a federal investigation by the Office of Civil Rights for violation of Title IX after a group of 16 Yale students went to the feds with complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination of the Yale campus, particularly after many incidents (like DKE shouting, "No means yes, Yes means Anal," the "Yale Sluts" incident done by frat boys, lack of more serious action in punishment to bring about a more equal and zero-tolerance environment for sexual discrimination). If found guilty, Yale could lose $500 million of federal funding under Title IX.

Just to bring attention for more news:

The Yale Herald

From Broad Recognition

The Yale Daily News

Article to be coming soon either here or in another outlet.

A few things to consider:

1) Why not a larger emphasis on the biggest problem: the internal labyrinth of the inadequate sexual grievance review system at Yale? (This is undergoing some reform, but still....)

2) Why not a lead-up on the part of those 16 girls? Why not a larger community movement This grievance comes out of no where, unbeknownst to the Yale community until the Feds were notified. We need a campus movement primarily before we bring in the Feds to solve our problems.

3) Hopefully this will lead to more investigations into sexual harassment/discrimination in hazing both at Yale and around the country. One can hope.

4) How does the average Yale woman feel about this? Most support some sort of reform and investigation, but tend to think we should go about this in a different way, with a lot more community dialog. (Just from talking to a lot of women on campus)

5) What will this do to Yale's Title IX funding?

Grassroots Girls Go Global and $40 BILLION CAMPAIGN!

5 Minutes to write until the next panel.... and GO!

CEO of Vivanista (a social network of philanthropists and fundraisers), Layne Gray, asked a panel of women involved in strategic, philanthropic, and aid agencies for women and children, "Its been 10 years since the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been announced. We are still struggling with universal education (2) gender equality (3) child health (4) and maternal health (5). How do we amp up conversation about women's issues?"

With 5 years left to meet the UN MDGs, we do not have much time. At this moment, the photo in TIME of the Afghan women whose nose had been cut off pops into my head. Gender Equality for Afghanistan?

Four other women sit on the panel, clearly eager, angry, talented, and hopeful. They respond. Nainab Salibi goes first. She is the Founder of Women for Women International, who has been described as a new age Mother Theresa, only "better dressed." As an Iraqi whose father flew Saddam Hussein's private plane, she knows a thing or two about war. Her organization has touched 270,000 women and girls in conflict zones by providing access to education and scholarships, practical jobs, and other support to empower women in places like Bosnia, Afghanistan, Rwanda. By offering "Women to women" partnerships where a wealthier woman sponsors another woman in exchange for letters or photos, her organization creates hope for women (ranging from Bosnian rape camps to the hills in Afghanistan) who say, "I'm too hopeless to be helped." Zainab calls for "Humility and help, and a greater interaction between American women and women abroad." Right now, $0.02 of every $1.00 of aid goes to girls/women. She calls for amping up the March 8th World Women's Day in the US. She described Women's day in Bosnia as a time filled with flowers, where a Bosniak woman can hold the hand of a Serbian woman and say "Enough is enough." For Zainab, women in the US need to say, "Enough is enough" as well. "This is the women's and girl's century. We need to speak up and speak loud, get angry!"

Kimberly Perry, the Director of Girl Up as part of the UN Foundation's campaign to meet the MDGs, replies calmly, but boldly. She has faith in the generosity of American Girls and women, why she sponsors initiatives like "High $5" where youth can encourage the donation of $5 to the Foundation. Apparently, its really "cool." 53% of girls across America are willing to donate their own money to causes and hers is one of them. But is this enough?

Nancy Lublin, the CEO of DoSomething is feisty. Her organization has empowered over 1 million kids and teens to create projects that aid others abroad and at home. She says, "If you look on Google Analytics and research crisis stories on Tsunamis or Katrina, you don't get much." When women and girls depend on the connection and story and there is simply no story, how can they help? On top of that, 10 years after the MDGs, they have not been fulfilled. On TOP of that, organizations trying to meet the goals depend a lot on the generosity of "feisty, ambitious, and powerful" women and girls in America who donate $5 or $27 here or there. "Where is the corporate funding? 10 years after the MDGs, this is a global embarrassment! God is pissed. She's really mad!" Her call? Make the STORY! BLog! Get the word out. Her message? "25,000 girls under 15 will become child brides TODAY alone. Be pissed. Tweet it! Tell the story. Do Something!"

Nancy Zhang, a teen who is an International Trustee of Key Club international. She sees that the 250,000 members of Key Club International are mostly girls. As she says, "Girls want to be popular, without standing out too much." They like to do things in groups and collaborate. When the older women on the panel ask her if she can help carry out the MDGs, she replies "yes" confidence.


yet i'm sitting here. I like the hopeful women sitting in front of me and the work they do. Its really powerful and really effective. I've worked with something like Women for Women before, called Women for Afghan Women. I know they do good, effective, powerful work.

However, these women in front of me are all asking for a change in dialogue in order to help meet these MDGs. Has the dialogue changed? They are asking me (a woman) to get angry. To talk. To tell stories. Well, I'm here to tell stories. However, as I've mentioned in my blog before, I'm a born skeptic. Buzz words like "Green" or "Think Globally, Act Locally" and "Party for a Cause" make me a little anxious. How can "party for a cause" and dialogue alone 5 years before the MDGs must be met save the 8 million young children who die each year of preventable causes, including pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and tuberculosis? There has to be something big. Well maybe the prayers (and dialogue) of these women were answered, because this "something big" is coming today.

At 2:00 Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the UN is going to announce the $40 BILLION campaign for the Global Strategy for Women and Children's health and how we are going to meet the millennium goals.

MDG 4 calls for a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality and MDG 5 calls for a three-quarters reduction in maternal mortality and universal access to reproductive health.

Ban Ki-Moon better offer a damn good strategy. He is making this skeptic believe.

Note: facts and figures from UN documents supplied by conference

A Woman of ALL Nations (or no nation)

In the West, we hypothesize about why the conflict in the Balkans happened: the rise of Nationalism, the strive or ethnic independence, ethnic supremacy, da da da (as they say here), but talking to locals who have been displaced by the war gives you a different insight, naturally.

The first was my hostel/homestay host in Mostar, Bosnia. She was a Catholic, married to a Muslim, displaced to Croatia and then Norway (because a Muslim last name just did not work out in Croatia). She was explaining the war to me in terms of sides. She however could not explain to me how or why these sides developed. As she said, "It was confusing. No one knew what was going on. I just knew to leave .

Here in Kotor, Montenegro, I met a Bosnian woman from Banja Luka (she was the hostel manager). We got to talking. When I asked her what nationality she was, she said, "Nationality? I am a woman of the world. I just happened to be in Montenegro, but I'm from Bosnia. If I felt like living in Spain I would. You need to stop thinking of nationality. People who thought of that were stupid. "

I asked her how she got here, she said she was on holiday here then the NATO airstrikes began and should could not get back to Banja Luka, so she opened up shop as a hairdresser and a clothing maker. As she said, "Forget what you know. Nationalism or politics. All that matters, just in case is what you can do with your hands."

I asked her what she thought had happened and why it happened (a broad question I know, but I wanted to keep her talking. She was very bright and enthusiastic to talk about this, unlike others I have met here). As she said, "Yugolavia was a beautiful thing, but then this whole WW2 fright got in the way. The Croatians started wearing symbols that scared others. If they had not been allowed to remind us (the children of a scarred generation) of this suffering, then we would have been okay. But no, the get Milosevic in and they ordered a war. Who? I don't know. Its not Nationalism its MONEY. We did not cause this war. Someone else did. Someone said, "Okay, 60,000 people will die, we will focus on the Bosniaks, go!" and that is what happened. It was money. Why else is Russia invested in Montenegro, or Italy in Croatia, or the US in Kosovo? Others dividied it up. Someone ordered a war. Yugoslavia was strong."

She continued her distaste for nationalism, humanitarianism, etc. "Humanitarian workers were all young, like you, and had money. They all just sat in fancy houses with electricity, when we had none. They could not help except with a bottle of water. That is all."

As she said, "Memory is a scary thing. Nationalism was dangerous, but people are stupid. We were beautiful united. It is not stopping me. I am a woman of this planet."

Whether I agree or not, I do agree with her last statement.

Feminist Fallback into the 60s?

So I'm a closeted feminist. But in times of great struggle or stress, (i.e. now, 2 finals a paper and listening exam = rape), I tend to come out. And so do other girls.

Take my friend Evin. She doesn't sleep for 2-3 days. Doesn't shower. Goes to New York to get a passport. Gets hung up on the preoccupation that the only reason she got her passport she needed in 3 days was because she got past the bitch at the counter and upstairs to the men who looked at her dress falling down to reveal her rather large breasts. The woe. She only got what she wanted because she was a pretty woman-- she thought. Not because of her impeccable bargaining skills.

Sometimes feminists hate the fact that beauty can get them what they want. Others embrace it. I tend to embrace it. Or try to. But when I'm feeling bitchy, don't try to compliment me. I will only tear you apart.

Myself, when I'm stressed, I think of an alternative life, where I don't get a job and fall into a traditional gender role that I'm not fit for. Then I freak out. Then I feel bad for all of the women out there that need to depend on men and I get really dogmatic and ROAR!

But NAW MAN! That ain't me. I'm not dogmatic. I, in fact, usually respect the choices of many women to stay at home and raise children, just as I respect men who do the same thing. Its just not for me.

So in times of stress, women get "feministy." They get preoccupied with gender and don't know why. We can't put our finger on that lurking monkey of gender that somehow still affects us. We are women traveling on a gravel (not paved) path of 2nd generation "free" or "more equal" women--especially us at Yale. So what bothers us? If we are at the top at Yale, and we have rights and such, why do we feel there is still something wrong? Feminism isn't as obvious as saying, "Don't say c**t" or "We want equal pay" or "We want abortions" like it was in the 60s.

But we know something is wrong. So what is it? And how do you explain that to a man who doesn't see it?

History Girls: Alan Bennett Hear My Prayer!

Finally, no more Enron love letters.

Anyways, word up to all the Feminists out there. I wanted to put "The History Boys" on at Yale with a cast of all women.

But, as in High School (at The Ellis School For Girls and Young Women), I ran into licensing and legal issues when Samuel L. French required that men be played by men. Women played by women.

Something tells me that Alan Bennett would not have cared too much and might have found my exploration of nostalgia, memory, sexuality, hierarchy and "the cult of masculinity" interesting from a feminine perspective. Granted, I don't like messing with scripts too much in such an Avant Garde way, but there is something to be said about investigating "a Man's World" through a female lens--is breaking through History, making women the makers, seekers, and lenses of history. I mean, even Mrs. Lintott says, "History is just women trailing behind with the bucket." (or something like that). Let's change that. Theater is a good medium to do so.

While I don't want to deal with the fines and legal issues of breaking contract, I do want to bring this issue to the public eye with my play (or rather the program). I want to let people know about these restrictions in the theater world, which is apparently so free and accepting and open to the eyes of idealists out there. Baby, this is a business.

But even if we are a business, business is all about innovation and growth. We are a creative century. Why can't we get past these gender issues already? Break into new territory with theater? Go beyond licensing restrictions and move to something better?

Sell Yourself for a Cause

Blurb of the day because I am bogged down:

So Queen Rania of Jordan came to Yale last week. Of course I couldn't go because of a Theater Studies class. However, I respect Queen Rania.

In an age of FACEbook, linked in, Twitter, and Myspace, there really is no better time to sell yourself, your lifestyle, and your face for causes---especially if you have the power, the connections, and the money to do so. I respect women and men who have this ability. Queen Rania is one of them.

When you can literally tag your name to Women's Empowerment, Children's Rights, Community Connectivity, and even Jordanian Tourism, there is some definite Marketing power in your voice. Don't get me wrong, I love what she's doing and think more icons should do work like this. Don't think I am dissin HM Queen Rania.

http://www.queenrania.jo/default.aspx

The world loves an icon. Why not make yourself an icon for a cause and then run with it? We love to worship something or someone beautiful and then have a reason to do so. Throw in some human rights to a picture of a beautiful lady and suddenly you aren't guilty for wanting to follow someone.

There should be a course at Yale in "How to make yourself into an Icon-101."

Today in my "Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform" class with Douglas Rae gave a great lecture on the utter importance of Freedom as a means of driving cooperation, success, innovation, and reform. Freedom to enter a market. Freedom to do. Freedom to choose what we so pleased.

As I was leaving, I noticed what looked like a black and white photo of a round planet on a sheet of paper tacked to a message board in LC. Upon further investigation, I found that it was actually titled:

"BABY LUCY, 0 weeks."

"Baby Lucy has just been conceived. She is a zygote, a single cell invisible to the unaided eye, but she is already a whole and distinct organism, possessing all the genetic characteristics necessary to direct her own development from within. We invite you to join us as we watch Baby Lucy grow over the next nine months. Sponsored by Choose Life at Yale."

Feeling that I should be incensed, that some inner feminist rage should overtake me, I came up with a bunch of rash arguments and ranting in my head:

WHAT? MAYBE THOSE MEN SHOULD THINK OF ALL THE DATE RAPES ON CAMPUS. THEY CAN'T CHOOSE TO PREVENT. MAYBE THEY SHOULD TALK TO THOSE BOYS FIRST. HUH? HUH? HUHHHH?

Hold up. This is not how I think. After a moment, I realized, "Danielle, you can't be that crass. You can't be like the anarchist Living Theater people you saw last night. You need to be tactful towards yourself." It's very difficult for a woman not to sound like a raging feminist and get a bad rap when she sees things like this.

You see, it is very difficult for a woman to think about abortion, about choice. Its not as simple as choosing life. Its about preventing life. Its about choosing to DEVELOP life when you want to.

Its about freedom. Freedom of expression of both parties. Yes. However, if there is something that I learned in life, its not what you say, its how you say it.

Look boys. Its about FREEDOM. I want the freedom to choose life. I want the freedom to choose life when its ready, and when I'm ready. I want the freedom to prevent it up until that point. I want the freedom to regulate when my eggs will become human beings (they too are potential life, like a zygote). I also want the freedom to stop the development of a zygote into a human being. You care about life obviously, so lets work together to maybe get some of the date rape off campus we see, to ease/end the inequality between the sexes we see at Yale, even today. Lets create a dialogue with less accusation. Please stop incensing most women on this campus with biting and cruel posters that do nothing to promote life, only anger it.

Forty years, women have been at Yale. About 40 years, women have been able to get an abortion or birth control. 40 years. 40 years. 40 years and you want to take my freedom?

Look. I don't want an abortion... ever. But do you understand the circumstances and consequences of what it means to be in that situation? Perhaps, as a male, you really wouldn't. You've been at Yale for hundreds of years. My sex has only been around for forty. We don't have time to loose with an unwanted RAPE.

I don't want to sound emotional, but LIFE is emotional. Choice is serious. Choice is about freedom. Freedom is life.