Feminist Critiques in BioMedicine

Women’s Studies 100: Feminist Critiques in Biomedicine undergraduate course

Women’s Studies, Spring 2008

Syllabus

Instructor Moya Z. Bailey

Class meets: 11:30am - 12:45pm TTh Woodruff Library 774

Office Hours: T 10:00am - 11:15am Jazzman’s Café or by appointment

Email: mzbaile@emory.edu (Use this address only; do not use learnlink address, all email will be read between 9-5 on weekdays)

Prerequisites

none

Course Description

This course will ask students to question what they “know” about science and the scientific process. We will problematize “scientific objectivity” and probe foundational scientific ideas about race, sex, and gender while simultaneously examining what these basic tenets have meant for marginalized groups in society, particularly when seeking medical care. Students will engage feminist science theories that range from explorations of the linguistic metaphors of the immune system, the medicalization of race, to critiques of the sexual binary. We will use contemporary as well as historical moments to investigate the evolution of “scientific truth” and its impact on the U.S. cultural landscape. Using the unique lens of feminist theory, students will revisit their disciplinary training as a site for critical analysis.

Goals and Objectives

Students will

• determine the validity of scientific claims based on evidence, not opinion
• recognize societal and cultural influence on “biological” behavior
• grasp basic women’s studies concepts such as intersectionality and standpoint theory
• explore race, class, and gender’s impact on medicine

Required Texts

All text can be ordered online, or are available through the course blackboard site.

Fadiman, Anne The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 0-374-52564-1

Requirements

1. Weekly class blog entry (20%)
2. Active participation in class discussions (10%) (preparation, reading books/articles, attendance, etc.)
3. Activist practicum (15%)
4. Class assignments (10%)
5. Final paper/Project (25%)
6. Assigned discussion leadership (15%)
7. Sustainable classroom efforts (5%)

Class Blog

All students will post ten weekly blog entries that reflect their reaction to the required reading material. Blogs should also show a connection to larger issues happening in the world. You will be graded on the evolution of your responses over the course of the class as well as your ability to draw parallels between class material and local/global events. Each entry should be at least two paragraphs. Students must also comment on another classmate’s post once a week. By the end of the semester students must have 10 posts and 10 responses. Students are expected to read each others responses. Students who go beyond this minimum may receive extra credit. FYI- Blogs are a public forum so other people from around the world can drop in our class conversations and will. Be prepared for this. http://feministscience.blogspot.com/

Class Participation

Students must participate in classroom discussions. To do so students must be present. Students can miss two classes without penalty. Any absence beyond these two will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade. Students must submit in writing their reason for being absent before it occurs and are still responsible for any assignments missed. Tardiness is unacceptable. Excessive tardiness will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade.

Activist Practicum

Students must participate in and/or observe an activist oriented group or organization through out the semester dealing with issues of race, sex, and/or medicine. This could include volunteering at the Feminist Women’s Health Center or participating in their programming, attending a SisterLove healthy love party, working for AID Atlanta etc. Early in the semester students will submit a proposal on their possible practicum action and at the end of the semester a presentation on the experience. Students should spend at least 5 hours participating over the course of the semester. You will be graded on your ability to connect the class material to the experience in your presentation.

Class Assignments

All assignments are detailed on the syllabus or in Blackboard. Late work will receive a letter grade deduction for each day it is late. It is your responsibility to alert me in writing (an e-mail) when you will miss class and how you intend to make up the lost time.

Final Paper/Project

The final paper or project can be one of three topics.

1. Apply the concepts and themes discussed in this course to your proposed area of medicine and/or research. As most of you plan to become doctors or biomedical researchers, what kinds of questions are already being asked in your future field? What might a feminist scientist bring to the discussion?
2. Students may analyze two contemporary news articles that relate to medicine, gender, and/or race. Students will use the concepts explored in class to examine the themes of the articles. What might a feminist scientist say about the claims being made in the articles?
3. Rewrite a chapter of a biology textbook that includes a feminist analysis of the material. Be sure to engage all relevant facets of intersectionality including race, sex, gender, sexuality, disability, etc.

The papers should be 10 or more pages in length, excluding bibliographic references. Students may opt to present the paper in a format other than a paper presentation such as a documentary video, power point etc. upon conference with the professor. Alternative projects must maintain the same level of scholarly rigor of the academic paper and students opting for this option will help the professor in the development of grading rubric for their project.

Assigned Discussion Reading

During the semester student pairs will be assigned one day to facilitate a class discussion. You are responsible for guiding the class through the assigned reading for that day as well as fostering discussion. You should also integrate blog comments and/or related information from the media. Students may sign up on the class calendar in Blackboard. Do not pick a day where we are watching a movie in class. You may use handouts, powerpoint, or a medium of your choice to engage the class.

Sustainable Classroom Efforts

As you will come to see in this course, medicine and health involves more than the body. The outer environment plays an essential role in how healthy we are and as you will see can disproportionately impact marginalized groups. We will attempt to tread a little lighter on the planet, at least in the context of this classroom. Papers, assignments, and grades will be submitted electronically and you are encourages to use both sides of the page if you prefer for print assignments and handouts. Recycling backs of paper is encouraged, as well as students’ suggestions of other sustainable practices that can be employed in the class.

Extra Credit

Students may attend events detailed on the Blackboard Calendar for this class and write a two page reflection on the event that connects to class concepts. Other extra credit opportunities will be announced on Blackboard.

Grades

A 100 – 94

A- 93 – 90

B+ 89 – 87

B 86 – 84

B- 83 – 80

C+ 79 – 76

C 75 – 73

C- 72 – 70

D 69 – 64

F 64 – Below

Any students who feel they may need academic adjustments and/or accommodations should speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities should also contact the Office of Disability Services in the Administration Building.

Academic Honesty and Classroom integrity

Students are expected to be familiar with the Academic Honesty policy of the University. If you have any questions, be sure to come see me during office hours or send me an email. You are also expected to be respectful of your classmates. Many of the issues discussed are highly contested and your opinions will often differ so it is important that everyone is courteous with their contention.

Reading and Discussion Schedule

1. Introduction (1/17)

1. Hey! How are you? Who are you? Why are you here?
2. Syllabus
3. Reader Glossary

2. Sex, Gender, and Science (1/22-1/31)

(1/22) A. “Body Matters: Cultural Inscriptions.” by Lynne Segal

B. “The Importance of Feminist Critique for Contemporary Cell Biology.” by THE BIOLOGY AND GENDER STUDY GROUP http://zygote.swarthmore.edu/fert11a1.html

(1/24) A. Total Patient Care: The Child with an Intersex Condition Video (in class)

B. “Rethinking Genitals and Gender.” by Suzzane J. Kessler

C. “’Cultural Practice’ or ‘Reconstrucive Surgery’: U.S. Genital Cutting and the Intersex Movement, and Medical Double Standards.” By Cherly Chase

(1/29) A. Chapter 1 “Dueling Dualisms” in Sexing the Body by Anne Fausto Sterling

B. “Lesbian Bodies: Tribades, Tomboys, and Tarts” by Barbara Creed

(1/31) A. Ma Vie En Rose (watch before class)

B. “Not Just Passing.” by Leslie Fineberg

3. Sex, Race, and Science (2/5-2/21)

(2/5) A. “Towards a Genology of Black Female Sexuality: The problematic of Silence.” By Evelyn Hammonds

B. "Sexuality and Gender in Certain Native American Tribes: The Case of Cross-Gender Females." by Evelyn Blackwood

(2/7) A.“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” by Peggy McIntosh

B. “I Can Fix It! V.1 Racism.” By Damali Ayo

(2/12) A. “Theories of Gender and Race.” By Londa Schiebinger

B. “Women as Victims of Medical Experimentation.” by Diana E. Axelsen

C. Garcia, Ana Maria. La operacion. Produced and directed by Ana Maria Garcia. 40 min. New York: Cinema Guild, 1982. Videocassette. (Watch in Class)

(2/14) A. Listen to Remembering Tuskegee. Also read the CDC Timeline at the bottom page

B. “Natural Laboratories: Medical Experimentation in Native Communities.” By Andrea Smith

(2/19) A. Chapter 2 Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts

B. Population Control pamphlet

C. Activist Practicum Proposal Due

(2/21) A. Library Visit

4. Disability, Science, and Medicine (2/26-3/6)

(2/26) A. “The Social Construction of Disability.” by Susan Wendall

B. “Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the body.” By Lennard Davis

(2/28) A. “Power vs. Prosthesis.” and “A Burst of Light: Living with Cancer.” by Audrey Lorde

B. Guest Mia Mingus

(3/4) A. “Disability Rights and Selective Abortion.” By Marsha Saxon

B. “Managing Women’s Minds.” by Elaine Showalter

C. Grey’s Anatomy Clip (Watch in Class)

(3/6) A. “Bodies Out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression Editor’s Introduction” by Jana Evans Braziel and Kathleen LeBesco

SPRING BREAK

5. Culture, Science, and Medicine (3/18-4/10)

(3/18) A. 1-6 of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

B. Final Project Proposal Due

(3/20) A. 7-12 of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

(3/25) A. 13-19 of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

(3/27) A. “Poverty fuels medical crisis: Access to care is difficult for rural, urban residents.” by Laura Ungar

B. Watch: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/30/1354251 Minorities and Environmental Racism and read “Dismantling Toxic Racism.” by Robert D. Bullard

(4/1) “Toxic Bodies? ACT UP's Disruption of the Heteronormative Landscape of the Nation.” by Beth Berila.

(4/3) No Class

(4/8) “No Remedy for the Inuit: Accountability for Environmental Harms under U.S. and International Law.” by Anne E. Lucas

Story of Stuff

(4/10) A. Clips Assignment

B. Final Project Outline

6. Activist Practicum and Research Presentations (11/26-12/10)

(4/15) presentations 1-5

(4/17) presentations 6-10

(4/22) presentations 11-15

(4/23) Special Visit with Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter

(4/24) presentations 16-18 & Wrap up

(4/29) All extra credit due and Final Papers due

Feminist Theory

Comparative Women’s Studies 471: Feminist Theory in Practice

Spring 2008

Syllabus

Instructor Moya Z. Bailey

Class meets: 6:00 pm - 8:40 pm Wednesday 217 2^nd Floor Cosby

Office Hours: by appointment only

Email: mzbaile@emory.edu (Use this address only, all email will be read between 9-5 on weekdays)

Prerequisites

none

Course Description

This course will introduce students to major tenants and thinkers in feminist theory. Specific attention will be paid to feminist theory produced by women of color and theorists that students will encounter in graduate school. Students will also generate their own feminist theories that are grounded in their experiences and future goals.

Goals and Objectives

Students will

• Learn theoretical concepts in feminism
• Familiarize themselves with major theorists, particularly theorists of color
• Develop their own theories
• Apply what they’ve learned to real life situations

Required Texts

Feminist Theory: A Reader by Wendy Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski

Additional readings will be provided

Requirements

1. Weekly blog post and response (20%)
2. Active participation in class discussions (15%) (preparation, reading books/articles, attendance, etc.)
3. Activist practicum (20%)
4. Manifesto Project (25%)
5. Assigned discussion leadership (15%)
6. Sustainable classroom efforts (5%)

Class Blog

All students will post 11 weekly blog entries that reflect their reaction to the required reading material and shows a connection to larger issues happening in the world. You will be graded on the evolution of your responses over the course of the class as well as your ability to draw parallels between class material and local/global events. Each entry should be at least two paragraphs. Blog entries must be posted no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesdays. Students must also comment on another classmate’s entry once a week. By the end of the semester students must have 11 posts and 11 responses. Students are expected to read each others responses. Students who go beyond this minimum may receive extra credit. FYI- Blogs are a public forum so other people from around the world can drop in our class conversations and will. Be prepared for this. http://scfemtheory.blogspot.com/

Class Participation

Students must participate in classroom discussions. To do so students must be present. Students can miss one class without penalty. Students must submit in writing their reason for being absent before it occurs and must still turn in the week’s assignment. Any absence beyond one will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade. Tardiness is unacceptable. Excessive tardiness will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade.

Activist Practicum

Students must participate in and/or observe an activist oriented group or organization through out the semester dealing with issues of race, class, gender, and/or sexuality. This could include volunteering at the Feminist Women’s Health Center or participating in their programming, attending a SisterLove healthy love party, or getting involved in Spelman organizations like Afrekete or FMLA. Early in the semester students will submit a proposal on their possible practicum action and at the end of the semester a presentation on the experience. I will meet with each student to discuss the dimensions of the presentation as they develop. Students should spend at least 5 hours participating/observing over the course of the semester. You will be graded on your ability to connect the class material to the experience in your presentation.

Class Assignments

All assignments are detailed on the syllabus or on the web. Late work will receive a letter grade deduction for each day it is late. It is your responsibility to alert me in writing (an e-mail) when you will miss class and how you intend to make up the lost time.

Manifesto Project

Students will create their own manifesto, a paper detailing their theoretical outlook and beliefs about the world. The papers should be 10 or more pages in length, excluding bibliographic references. Students may opt to present the paper in a format other than a paper presentation such as a documentary video, Zine, power point etc. upon conference with the professor. Alternative projects must maintain the same level of scholarly rigor of the academic paper and students opting for this option will help the professor in the development of grading rubric for their project.

Assigned Discussion Reading

During the semester student pairs will be assigned one day to facilitate a class discussion. You are responsible for guiding the class through the assigned reading for that day as well as fostering discussion for an hour of class time. You should also integrate blog comments and/or related information from the media. Provide a bio sketch of the authors of the articles you are assigned including a list of their major works, theoretical perspectives, and critiques of their work. Students may sign up for a day on the class calendar. You may use handouts, powerpoint, or a medium of your choice to engage the class.

Sustainable Classroom Efforts

We will attempt to tread a little lighter on the planet, at least in the context of this classroom. Papers, assignments, and grades will be submitted electronically and you are encourages to use both sides of the page if you prefer for print assignments and handouts. Recycling backs of paper is encouraged, as well as students’ suggestions of other sustainable practices that can be employed in the class.

Extra Credit

Students may attend events detailed on the Class Calendar for this class and write a two page reflection on the event. Other extra credit opportunities will be announced in class.

Grades

A 100 – 94

A- 93 – 90

B+ 89 – 87

B 86 – 84

B- 83 – 80

C+ 79 – 76

C 75 – 73

C- 72 – 70

D 69 – 64

F 64 – Below

Any students who feel they may need academic adjustments and/or accommodations should speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities should also contact the Office of Disability Services.

Academic Honesty and Classroom integrity

Students are expected to be familiar with the Academic Honesty policy of the college. If you have any questions, be sure to come see me during office hours or send me an email. You are also expected to be respectful of your classmates. Many of the issues discussed are highly contested and your opinions will often differ so it is important that everyone is courteous with their contention.

Reading and Discussion Schedule

1. Introduction (1/16)

1. Hey! How are you? Who are you? Why are you here?
2. Syllabus

2. Sex

(1/23)

1. “The Importance of Feminist Critique for Contemporary Cell Biology.” by THE BIOLOGY AND GENDER STUDY GROUP http://zygote.swarthmore.edu/fert11a1.html
2. Sandra Harding, “From the Woman Question in Science to the Science Question in Feminism” (1986)

(1/30)

3. Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century”
4. Evelyn Fox Keller, “Making Gender Visible in Pursuit of Nature’s Secrets” (1993)

3. Gender

(2/6)

A. Judith Halberstam, “Transgender Butch: Butch/FTM Border Wars and the Masculine Continuum” from Female Masculinity

B. Judith Butler, from Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990)

C. Woman Identified Woman

(2/13)

D. Beyond Beats and Rhymes, The Aggressives, and/or Paris is Burning

5. Excerpts from Gender Talk
6. Activist Practicum Proposal Due

4. Sexuality

(2/20)

A. “Towards a Genealogy of Black Female Sexuality: The problematic of Silence.” By Evelyn Hammonds

B. Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, “Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality” (2001)

C. “Sexuality” from Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989) by Catherine MacKinnon

D. Something New and/or Daddy’s Little Girls

(2/27)

D. Ann Koedt, “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” (1970)

E. Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (1980) from Blood, Bread, and Poetry (1984)

F. Scum Manifesto

5. Race

(3/5)

1. Patricia Hill Collins, “Defining Black Feminist Thought” (SW)
2. Combahee River Collective, "A Black Feminist Statement"

SPRING BREAK

(3/19)

3. Anna NietoGomez, “Chicana Feminism” (1976)
4. Mitsuye Yamada, “Asian Pacific American Women and Feminism” (1981)
5. Norma Alarcon “The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism”
6. Winona LaDuke, “Mothers of Our Nation: Indigenous Women Address the World” (1995)

6. Disability

(3/26)

1. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. (Bb) “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory”
2. “The Social Construction of Disability.” by Susan Wendall
3. “Bodies Out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression Editor’s Introduction”
4. Cancer Journal Excerpts

(4/2) Guest Lecturer

7. Class

(4/9)

A. Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, “Third Wave Manifesta” from Manifesta (2000)

B. John Lie, "From Agrarian Patriarchy to Patriarchal Capitalism: Gendered Capitalism Industrialization in Korea," in Valentine Moghadam, ed., Patriarchy and Economic Development: Women's Positions at the End of the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)

C. Chapter 2 of Race, Gender, and Work

D. Movie Assignment

8. Globalization

(4/16)

1. “No Remedy for the Inuit: Accountability for Environmental Harms under U.S. and International Law.” by Anne E. Lucas
2. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses"
3. Uma Narayan, “Contesting Cultures: Westernization, Respect for Cultures, and Third-World Feminists”
4. Cynthia Enloe, “Decisions, Decisions, Decisions” Maneuvers: the International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives

9. Presentations and Wrap Up

(4/23) Activist Practicum Presentations

(4/30) Manifesto Presentations

Queer Studies

Queer Studies: Creating Accessible Theory

Spring 2009

Syllabus

Instructor Moya Z. Bailey

Class meets:

Office Hours: by appointment only

Email: mzbaile@emory.edu (Use this address only, all email will be read between 9-5 on weekdays)

Prerequisites

Intro to Women’s Studies

Course Description

Queer theory, like many disciplines, has privileged a white male subject of interest and presumed an elite white audience as its target. This course will introduce students to major tenants and thinkers in queer theory with specific attention paid to queer theory produced by people of color. Students will generate their own explanations of queer theories that are specifically designed to reach communities outside the academy. The class will develop a website to house this newly generated accessible material.

Goals and Objectives

Students will

• Learn theoretical concepts in queer theory
• Familiarize themselves with major theorists, particularly theorists of color
• Reformulate arguments in language accessible beyond the academy
• Apply what they’ve learned to real life situations

Required Texts

Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology by E. Patrick Johnson and Mae G. Henderson

Requirements

1. Blog posts (20%)
2. Active participation in class discussions (15%) (preparation, reading books/articles, attendance, etc.)
3. Archival project (20%)
4. Final Project (25%)
5. Assigned discussion leadership (15%)
6. Sustainable classroom efforts (5%)

Class Blog

All students will post 5 blog entries that summarize a selected reading. Each post should be designed with the intent to present the material in a way that is accessible to an adult who has finished high school but not attended college. You will be graded on the accuracy and accessibility of your summary. Each entry should be at least three paragraphs. Students will select the readings they will address from the syllabus.

Class Participation

Students must participate in classroom discussions. To do so students must be present. Students can miss one class without penalty. Students must submit in writing their reason for being absent before it occurs and must still turn in the week’s assignment. Any absence beyond one will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade. Tardiness is unacceptable. Excessive tardiness will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade.

Archival Project

Student pairs will research different aspects of sexuality within the Atlanta University Center’s history. By examining college student newspapers, official papers of the college and yearbooks, students will explore the ways in which sexuality is made visible or invisible in the archives. Possible research topics might be the history of gay/straight alliances in the AUC, school policy changes at Morehouse following the 2002 hate crime committed against a student, the history of out speakers in the AUC, history of domestic partner benefits for faculty, etc. We will meet with the college archivists to get a sense of what is available in the archives so that we can begin to map the direction of the research projects. The completed projects will be housed on the class website. Student groups will meet with the professor for guidance on the direction of the research papers.

Class Assignments

All assignments are detailed on the syllabus or on the web. Late work will receive a letter grade deduction for each day it is late. It is your responsibility to alert me in writing (an e-mail) when you will miss class and how you intend to make up the lost time.

Final Project

Students will create pamphlets, worksheets and other materials for teaching black queer theory to their peers outside the academy. These newly derived accessible materials may take many forms including, short videos, songs, art projects, plays, video treatments, screenplays, etc. Student groups will be responsible for the creation of one creative piece as well as one educational piece. Groups will develop an educational material as well as an entertainment material.

Assigned Discussion Reading

During the semester student pairs will be assigned one day to facilitate a class discussion. You are responsible for guiding the class through the assigned reading for that day as well as fostering discussion for an hour of class time. You should also integrate blog comments and/or related information from the media. Provide a bio sketch of the authors of the articles you are assigned including a list of their major works, theoretical perspectives, and critiques of their work. Students may sign up for a day on the class calendar. You may use handouts, powerpoint, or a medium of your choice to engage the class.

Sustainable Classroom Efforts

We will attempt to tread a little lighter on the planet, at least in the context of this classroom. Papers, assignments, and grades will be submitted electronically and you are encourages to use both sides of the page if you prefer for print assignments and handouts. Recycling backs of paper is encouraged, as well as students’ suggestions of other sustainable practices that can be employed in the class.

Extra Credit

Students may attend events detailed on the Class Calendar for this class and write a two page reflection on the event. Other extra credit opportunities will be announced in class.

Grades

A 100 – 94

A- 93 – 90

B+ 89 – 87

B 86 – 84

B- 83 – 80

C+ 79 – 76

C 75 – 73

C- 72 – 70

D 69 – 64

F 64 – Below

Any students who feel they may need academic adjustments and/or accommodations should speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities should also contact the Office of Disability Services.

Academic Honesty and Classroom integrity

Students are expected to be familiar with the Academic Honesty policy of the college. If you have any questions, be sure to come see me during office hours or send me an email. You are also expected to be respectful of your classmates. Many of the issues discussed are highly contested and your opinions will often differ so it is important that everyone is courteous with their contention.

Reading and Discussion Schedule

1. Introduction

(Day 1)

1. Hey! How are you? Who are you? Why are you here?
2. Syllabus

2. The invention of sex, gender, and sexuality

(Day 2)

1. Dueling Dualisms by Anne Fausto-Sterling
2. Africa and African Homosexualities: An Introduction by Murray and Roscoe
3. Somerville, Siobhan "Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body in American Culture" in Queer Studies, B. Beemyn and L. Eliason (eds.): 241-261. Reprint from J. of the History of Sexuality 5, no.2 (October 1994): 243-66.

(Day 3)

4. Queer Theory by Annamarie Jagose
5. Punks, Bulldaggers, Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics? By Cathy J. Cohen
6. Kendall. "`When A Woman Loves A Woman' in Lesotho: Love, Sex and the (Western) Construction of Homophobia" in S. Murray and W. Roscoe (eds.): 223-241.
7. "Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance" by Cheryl Clarke
8. Zami by Audre Lorde

(Day 4)

9. Excerpts from Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
10. Excerpts from Female Masculinity by Judith Halberstam

3. Heteronormativity and Black Identity

(Day 5)

A. Straight Black Studies: On African American Studies, James Baldwin, and Black Queer Studies by Dwight McBride

B. Race-ing Homonormativity: Citizenship, Sociology and gay identity by Roderick A. Ferguson

C. Skeleton short film by Kortney Ryan Ziegler

(Day 6)

4. Paris is Burning
5. bell hooks: “Is Paris Burning?”
6. Harris, Laura Alexandra "Queer black feminism: the pleasure principle" Feminist Review, no. 54, Autumn 1996:3-30.

(Day 7)

7. Visit with Archivists

(Day 8)

8. Privilege by Devon W. Carbado
9. Why are gay ghettos white? By Charles I. Nero

(Day 9)

10. Why Did I get Married?
11. Introduction and Forward of Black Queer Studies

(Day 10)

12. Still Black and Black Womyn
13. Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley

(Day 11)

14. Archive Proposal Due- Class discussion

4. Brown Queer Theory

(Day 12)

A. Hanawa, Yukiko "Inciting Sites of Political Intervention: Queer'n Asian" in A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, Martin Duberman (ed.), (1997): 39-62. Another version appears in Positions: east asian cultures 4, no. 3 (Winter 1996).

B. Puar, Jasbir "South Asian (Trans)nation(alisms) and Queer Diasporas" in Q&A: Queer in Asian America, PA: Temple University Press, (1998): 405-422.

C. Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, “Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality” (2001)

(Day 13)

C. Anzaldua, Gloria "To(o) Queer the Writer-Loca, Escritora y Chicano in Inversions: Writings from Dykes, Queers and Lesbians, Betsy Warland (ed.), Vancouver: Vancouver Press, 1991.

D. Moraga, Cherrie "Queer Aztlan: The Reformation of the Chicano Tribe" in The Last Generation: Prose and Poetry, Boston: South End Press, 1993: 145-74. Reprinted in Material Queer: A LesBiGay Cultural Studies Reader, Donald Morton (ed.), Westview Press, (1996): 297-304

E. Quiroga, Jose "Latino Cultures, Imperial Sexualities" in Tropics of Desire: Interventions from Queer Latino America, New York: New York University Press, (2000): 191- 234, 267-273 (notes).

(Day 14)

F. Excerpts from Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities by Roscoe and Murray

G. Final Project proposal due

5. Straight Queers

(Day 15)

1. Thomas, Calvin. "Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality" in Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality, Thomas, Calvin, Joseph Aimone and Catherine MaeGillivray, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, (2000): 11-44. Earlier version appeared in Genders 26 (1997): 83-115.
2. Fuertsch, Jacqueline. "In Theory if not in Practice: Straight Feminism's Lesbian Experience" in Straight with a Twist, Calvin Thomas et al (eds.).
3. Eng, David. "Heterosexuality in the Face of Whiteness: Divided belief in M. Butterfly" in Q & A: Queer in Asian America, David Eng and Alice Hom (eds.), PA: Temple University Press, (1998): 335-365.

(Day 16)

4. “Quare” Studies or (Almost) Everything I know about queer I learned from my grandmother by. E. Patrick Johnson
5. Archival Project check-in

6. Disabled Queers

(Day 17)

A. Clare, Exile & Pride, excerpts from Part I: "The Mountain" & "Losing Home"

B. Anne Finger, "Helen and Frida"

C. Guest Speaker

7. Class

(Day 18)

A. D'Emilio, John. "Capitalism and Gay Identity." In LGBT Reader. pp. 467-476.

B. Excerpts from M. Jacqui Alexander’s Pedagogies of Crossing

8. Web design and Wrap up

Syllabi-Sustainability

Women’s Studies 400- Sowing Seeds of Change: Environmental Justice, Feminism, and Globalization

Syllabus*August 5, 2008

Instructor Moya Z. Bailey, Department of Women’s Studies

Class meets:

Office Hours: by appointment only

Email: mzbaile@emory.edu (Use this address only, all email will be read between 9-5 on weekdays)

Prerequisites

WS 100

Course Description

This course will invite students to explore the connections between globalization, westernization, environmental racism, consumption, and global activist movements. We will look at water, land, and people as sites of inquiry, where these issues play out. Students

Goals and Objectives

Students will

• Learn about global environmental justice issues
• Familiarize themselves with global resistance movements
• Develop their own theories about these issues
• Present their research to the larger community
• Offer solutions and insights into the issues of environmental justice

Required Texts

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

E-reserve Readings

Requirements

1. Weekly blog post and response (20%)
2. Active participation in class discussions (15%) (preparation, reading books/articles, attendance, etc.)
3. Activist research project (20%)
4. Dissemination Project (25%)
5. Assigned discussion leadership (15%)
6. Sustainable classroom efforts (5%)

Class Blog

All students will post 11 weekly blog entries that reflect their reaction to the required reading material and shows a connection to larger issues happening in the world. You will be graded on the evolution of your responses over the course of the class as well as your ability to draw parallels between class material and local/global events. Each entry should be at least two paragraphs. Blog entries must be posted no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesdays. Students must also comment on another classmate’s entry once a week. By the end of the semester students must have 11 posts and 11 responses. Students are expected to read each others responses. Students who go beyond this minimum may receive extra credit. FYI- Blogs are a public forum so other people from around the world can drop in our class conversations and will. Be prepared for this.

Class Participation

Students must participate in classroom discussions. To do so students must be present. Students can miss one class without penalty. Students must submit in writing their reason for being absent before it occurs and must still turn in the week’s assignment. Any absence beyond one will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade. Tardiness is unacceptable. Excessive tardiness will result in a percentage decrease from your class participation grade.

Activist Research Project

Students must research an activist movement from around the globe that is grounded in issues of the environment, globalization, or consumerism. This could include the No Logo Campaign, movements around water in India. Early in the semester students will submit a proposal on their possible research project and at the end of the semester a presentation on their findings. I will meet with each student to discuss the dimensions of the presentation as they develop. You will be graded on your ability to connect class material to your research in your presentation.

Class Assignments

All assignments are detailed on the syllabus or on the web. Late work will receive a letter grade deduction for each day it is late. It is your responsibility to alert me in writing (an e-mail) when you will miss class and how you intend to make up the lost time.

• Grocery Field-Trip: Students will travel to a grocery store in the immediate Emory area and also travel to a grocery story in the Atlanta University Center area. Students will compare prices and quality.
• Research Proposal: Students will submit a one page write up of their research project.

Dissemination Project

As a class we will discuss ways to disseminate the material generated through the course to the greater Emory community. The blog is a component of this but students may elect to do a mini symposium on campus, meet with Emory trustees, invite a guest to campus to speak about these issues, make a video, etc. The class will delegate responsibility to all members of the class and evaluate each other’s performance.

Assigned Discussion Reading

During the semester student pairs will be assigned one day to facilitate a class discussion. You are responsible for guiding the class through the assigned reading for that day as well as fostering discussion for an hour of class time. You should also integrate blog comments and/or related information from the media. Provide a bio sketch of the authors of the articles you are assigned including a list of their major works, theoretical perspectives, and critiques of their work. Students may sign up for a day on the class calendar. You may use handouts, powerpoint, or a medium of your choice to engage the class.

Sustainable Classroom Efforts

We will attempt to tread a little lighter on the planet, at least in the context of this classroom. Papers, assignments, and grades will be submitted electronically and you are encourages to use both sides of the page if you prefer for print assignments and handouts. Recycling backs of paper is encouraged, as well as students’ suggestions of other sustainable practices that can be employed in the class.

Extra Credit

Students may attend events detailed on the Class Calendar for this class and write a two page reflection on the event. Other extra credit opportunities will be announced in class.

Grades

A 100 – 94

A- 93 – 90

B+ 89 – 87

B 86 – 84

B- 83 – 80

C+ 79 – 76

C 75 – 73

C- 72 – 70

D 69 – 64

F 64 – Below

Any students who feel they may need academic adjustments and/or accommodations should speak with me during the first two weeks of class. All discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities should also contact the Office of Disability Services.

Academic Honesty and Classroom integrity

Students are expected to be familiar with the Academic Honesty policy of the college. If you have any questions, be sure to come see me during office hours or send me an email. You are also expected to be respectful of your classmates. Many of the issues discussed are highly contested and your opinions will often differ so it is important that everyone is courteous with their contention.

Reading and Discussion Schedule

1. Introduction (Week 1)
1. Hey! How are you? Who are you? Why are you here?
2. Syllabus
2. The Scope (Weeks 2-5)
1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler chapters 1-6
2. Story of Stuff
3. Parable of the Sower chapters 7-10
4. The Globetrotting Sneaker by Cynthia Enloe
5. Parable of the Sower chapters 11-14
3. Water (Weeks 6)
1. Scientists Warn of Depletion of Ocean Fish in 40 Years http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-11/2006-11-02-voa61.cfm?CFID=21934462&CFTOKEN=62741429
2. 150 'dead zones' counted in oceans U.N. report warns of nitrogen runoff killing fisheries http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4624359/
3. Water Wars by Vandana Shiva (selected chapters)
4. Land (Weeks 7-8)
1. Haunani-Kay Trask. 1999. From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Revised Edition. (Selected Chapters)
2. Snipp, “The First Americans.”
3. LaDuke. “Nuclear Waste: Dumping on the Indians.”
4. Pulido, Laura. 2000. “Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(1): 12-40.
5. Clapp, Jennifer. 2001. Toxic Exports: The Transfer of Hazardous Wastes from Rich to Poor Countries. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, chapters 1, 2 and 7 (40 pages).
6. Anderton, D., A. Anderson, et al. (1994). "Environmental Equity: The Demographics of Dumping." Demography 31(2): 229-248. (E).
7. Research project proposal
5. People (Weeks 9-10)
1. Deafness and Disability—Forgotten Components of Environmental Justice: Illustrated by the Case of Local Agenda 21 in South Wales by Andrew Charles and Huw Thomas
2. Winona LaDuke, “Mothers of Our Nation: Indigenous Women Address the World” (1995)
3. Yang, Tseming “International Environmental Protection, Human Rights and the North South Divide,” from Justice and Natural Resources (2002)
4. Garwal, Anil, Narain, Sunita and Aharma, Anju. “The Global Commons and Environmental Justice – Climate Change,” from Environmental Justice, Discourses in International Political Economy (2002).
5. Zarsky, Lyuba “Global Reach: Human Rights and Environment in the Framework of Corporate Accountability” from Human Rights and the Environment, Conflicts and Norms in a Globalizing World.” (2002).
6. Women and toxic waste protests: Race, class and gender as resources of resistance by Celene Krauss
7. John Lie, "From Agrarian Patriarchy to Patriarchal Capitalism: Gendered Capitalism Industrialization in Korea," in Valentine Moghadam, ed., Patriarchy and Economic Development: Women's Positions at the End of the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)
8. “No Remedy for the Inuit: Accountability for Environmental Harms under U.S. and International Law.” by Anne E. Lucas
9. Mortality Rates in Appalachian Coal Mining Counties: 24 Years Behind the Nation by Michael Hendryx Environmental Justice. March 2008, 1(1): 5-11
6. Dissemination Project (Weeks 11-14)
7. Presentations and Projects Due (Week 15)

2nd Annual Community Writing Intensive

Because When and Where We Enter...

...the entire human race enters with us.

Posted at elle who got it from Nora who got it in circulation because Kendra Tappin, a Firewalker/Afrofuturist/Womanist/artist/activist/comrade put it out there.

Hell yes.

Give it another push please, as Kendra requested. Forward to at least ONE other person you know.

(X-posted @ Waiting 2 Speak)

Dear Friends,

On Wednesday, June 25 a 20-year-old black woman was raped and robbed in her apartment in Philadelphia. A man forced himself into her apartment and once he was inside he called up two of his friends. After four hours the three men left. The victim was left to walk a mile alone to the closest police station where she reported the crime. The woman’s next-door neighbor has said that she saw the initial intrusion and heard the screaming but that she went to bed and did nothing. Other neighbors reported that they also heard the woman’s screams but that they did nothing.

Twenty-four hours before this incident a 48 year-old woman was raped just a few blocks away. She was lying in her bed when an unknown man intruded into her home. He raped her and he stabbed her in her neck. Police say that they do not believe the two crimes are related or that any of the same men are involved.

I have been silent on this issue, but this morning I woke to a note from a friend who reminded me of the powerful ways in which our silence condemns us.

I am writing you this letter because I know we must do the telling even if we feel afraid, anxious or alone. I am writing this letter to urge you to take up this issue as though you or your family member were the victim, and because I am troubled.

I am troubled because there seems to be an epidemic of violence, sexual violence, against black women. I am troubled because this country’s history is replete with instances of violence against black women, denigration of black women, sexual violation of black women and then turning a blind eye those crimes. Presently I am reminded of:


• The acquittal of R. Kelley

• Megan Williams, a 20 year old black woman in West Virginia who was kidnapped and gang raped by 6 other people, three of whom were women, forced to eat animal feces and insulted with racial slurs.

• A 35 year old black woman in Miami, Florida living in the Dunbar Village Housing Projects who was gang raped by up to 10 men. For three hours the men beat and raped her. They also forced her to perform oral sex on her 12 year-old son whom they also beat and doused with household chemicals. Several months after the crime 4 teenagers, aged14-18, were arrested and charged in relation to the crime.

• The New Jersey 4, black lesbians ages 19, 20, 20 and 24 who were sentenced to prison terms ranging between 3 to 11 years because they defended themselves against a physical and sexual assault from a man who held them down, choked them, spat on them, pulled out their hair from their scalps all because these women are lesbians.

• A conversation with a friend who was distressed because she had heard signs of domestic violence in her neighbor’s apartment but did not know what to do. She was anxious about calling the a hotline because she didn’t think they would offer real alternatives, and she was anxious about calling the police because she thought they’re presence would exacerbate the situation.

• My interaction with a visibly pregnant woman in East Palo Alto with whom l sat and spoke on the street corner after seeing her walking and sobbing, hearing her engaged in a public shouting match with her boyfriend, and noticing black and blue bruises on her arms.

I am troubled by these cases because they reflect, I think, what seems to be an epidemic of violence against black women, little action on the part of our communities and the police/judicial system to protect them, and few strategies for how we might respond.

I am troubled because of the rate at which crimes of sexual and physical violence against black women seem to be occurring. Thinking about it I wonder:

• Why are these crimes happening?

• Is it that black women are being sexually assaulted with more frequency or is it that more cases are being reported?

• Why is it that crimes of sexual violence against black women, particularly as they are happening in such high instances, do not spark movements in our communities like the one to free the Jena 6? See for instance see the case of the New Jersey 4.

• Do these cases just serve as flash and puff for the media but nothing else?

• Is it that black women are quite simply expendable?

• What are we to do?

• For instance, I am for abolishing the prison industry, but how do we hold our communities and these men accountable in the interim when we do not as yet have the means set in place to do so?

I am deeply frustrated, traumatized and pained by the continued disregard for black women’s lives. But a sister-friend has reminded me that it is imperative that we transform our rage and frustration into a vision for action and that it is the power of all of us together that makes us brave.

I am asking you all to be courageous.

I am asking you to read Audre Lorde’s essay “Need,”* a trenchant call to end violence against black women, and her poem ”A Litany for Survival,” a reminder that our silence will not save us. I have attached both pieces. Audre Lorde wrote “Need” in 1979 when 12 black women in Boston were killed in the space of 4 months, but the police and the media ignored the killings claiming that these women were mostly prostitutes. Audre Lorde’s essay and poem are tools for our liberation and creation of a space for community action and healing to protect black women. Her powerful essay provides creative ways that we can respond to gendered violence.

Please read these pieces and share them with at least one other person.

Please sit and talk with people in your community to strategize and brainstorm ways that you could respond to sexual violence or any other kind of violence in our communities.

Please create ways to end gendered and sexual violence against women.

With love, love and more love,

Kendra

Kendra Tappin, Stanford University

"Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole...race enters with me.'"

Anna Julia Cooper
1892

What We NEED or Too Important: Transforming Silence and Violence into Action and Power

"I wrote it because I wanted to talk abut blackwomanslaughter in a way that could not be unfelt or ignored by anyone who heard it with a hope perhaps of each one of us doing something within our immediate living to change to change this destruction."

"We are too important to each other to waste ourselves in silence."
- Audre Lorde in a prefatory essay to Need: A Chorale for Black Woman Voices


In 1979 Barbara Smith sent Audre Lorde a news clipping via snail mail. Yet another black woman in her community in Roxbury had been found dead. Over these four months, during which 12 black women were killed in the black nieghborhods of Boston, black feminists, led by black lesbian feminists built a coalitional movement to respond, using public art, poetry, self-defense, publishing and political education. Barbara Smith and Lorraine Bethel were editing what would become the foundation black feminist collection, Conditions 5: The Black Women's Issue. Audre Lorde wrote Need: A Chorale for Black Woman Voices in response to this wave of murders. The energy and analysis forged in the words and promises exchanged between black feminists at that moment grew into a broad movement that lives, waiting and growing in those of us hungry for the words that were never meant to survive.

This past Monday, not yet 30 years after Barbara Smith's letter to Audre Lorde, Moya sent an email with a link to a news story:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/take_action&id=6227125

This woman is black
so her blood is shed into silence.

A building full of neighbors heard the screams of this survivor while she was being sexual assaulted in her home, but were at a loss to actually act against this violence in their community. They didn't know how to respond, they didn't want to believe what was happening. So they kept their doors closed. They went to sleep.

This story is important for a number of reasons. As Moya points out it is yet another instance of silence within the black community about violence against a black woman coming on the heels of Megan Williams, Dunbar Village, R. Kelley's Acquittal and more. This is what breaks our backs.

I also think this story, literal silence in the moment of violence, is important for what it demonstrates more generally. Our silence, as oppressed communities about the gendered violence that disproportionately impacts our communities is glaring, harmful, devastating. We generally really feel that in a racist police state, and individualist capitalist state, a fear-filled falling apart place we don't have the resources to respond to violence even when we hear it happening, on the news and in our buildings every night.

But if we have each other, we do have what we need to take care of each other, hold each other accountable, keep each other safe and whole. If we have each other we do.

And I say, thank the Lorde, we have in Need a resource for transformation and a means to open us these impossible conversations about the real costs of gendered violence in our communities. The task of the poet is to say the unsayable, and Audre Lorde, may she never be forgotten, literally gives us the tools to open our mouths.

The UBUNTU Artistic Respons committee which convened in Durham, North Carolina in the midst of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, used Need (in addition to other poems and the documentary NO! by Aishah Simmons) to break open rooms of people and to instigate real discussions about the impact of gendered violence against black women WITHIN black communities, at the hands of other black people.

When my father, a person professionally trained and personally prone to debate and argument, read Need he had no arguments to make. He told me that reading the piece was simply a moment in his education. He compared it to a moment in high school when he watched a film that documented all the shaven hair, all the bodily ashes, all the teeth and bones of the victims of the Nazi holocaust. He said that a mass of violence, an unimaginable horror had become visible and real to him in Audre Lorde's words. He said there was no question about whether this was true, whether it was relevant, whether it impacted him. He said now I know. The only question is what we do.

This is the Summer of Our Lorde, when we transform silence into action and power. I want to ask us to read and share Need available for download via:http://letterstoaudre.wordpress.com/need-end-violence-against-women-of-color-now/

with everyone we can share it with. Let us read it with other women in our communities, let us print our copies and give them to our families. Let us build a fire of healing that can ignite our communities into the conversations we need in order to build the trust, connection and analysis that we need to work together for survival, safety and love in our communities.

love always (in the hands of Audre),
lex

p.s. and please draw on me personally or firewalkers generally as a space to discuss and process this transformation

Andrea Hairston's Mindscape

X-Posted @ Waiting 2 Speak--but I'm wondering if the women walking here might have read it, might have ideas on it, are as fascinated by the story she told as I am. I'm still digesting it...

"We still yearn for a Metatheory, a God who never lies, whose simple, absolute truth will guide us from nothing to everything without once falling down. Unfortunately truths are false and lies are true. Anything we are absolutely certain of doesn't matter and everything that truly matters is uncertain."
~~Vera Xa Lalafia

Finished. Really, really liked it. And since I am still stuck in the Lull and am apparently incapable of constructing a coherent paragraph much less a review essay, here are the bullet points. (Never fear--no spoilers ahead). Mindscape:

• Confirms for me that the best hard sci-fi is the kind that openly lusts for magical realism and leaps of fantasy.
  
  
• Confirms that science fiction looks very different when it takes takes seriously 1) that a hero can be female and still sexy, violent, flawed, vulnerable and triumphant 2) a female hero of color can be all of these without being junglefied or mammied 3) people of color can play roles that aren't just witty, "ethnic throwback" sidekicks or helplessly tormented victims.
  
  
• POC humanity can be fundamental parts of the plot without the story collapsing into racial polemics, masochistic Afrocentricity, ambiguous mestizaje, or a melting pot of Latinidad. Translation? The history, culture, politics, and, hell, the people-dom of people of African, Latina/o and Native American descent should not only be a part of the story that is told but that people-dom should be critiqued and created with the same rigor as majority (Anglo or European) societies. That means asking what is it that poc nickname God? Was it the color of their skin only? Was the rhythm of the drums/beat/scratch? Was it the distribution of political and social power between men and women, elders and age-grades? Was it the lyric and spiritual? The curve of clay forms? Was it a kind of prayer or a way of speaking? And where do you then place histories of slavery and genocide, how do your characters feel that as spectre even as they walk in worlds three, four or five thousand years ahead of today?
  
  
• You don't have to say your characters are any color for them to be that color. (Proof again that putting the humanity of people of color into sci-fi is more than just taking a brown crayon to your cookie-cutter hero or heroine)
  
  
• Just because you don't give your characters a color doesn't make them "everyman" or "everywoman" (Proof again....)
  
  
• Gender is as much a myth as race and should be interrogated and respected just as is explained above. Sexuality is the same deal. And the absolute best sci-fi out right now is flipping both of those way on their head and them thrusting them into another dimension before bringing them back and commiting them to paper.
  
  
• Ooooooh on the way that really, really good sci-fi can take things that are absolutely normal today, magnify them, and make them absolutely otherworldly and yet frighteningly prescient. (I can't say more without spoiling...but ooooohhhhhh!)
  
  
• Ooooooh on the way that afrofuturism deplores the happy ending. After all: "Anything we are absolutely certain of doesn't matter and everything that truly matters is uncertain."
  
  

That is all, at least until I am a real writer again. If you have free time, read the book. If I had free time I would start a TechnoAfroCats Book Collective or distro (yay, I just learned what that is!) or something.

Hmm. Actually, interesting thought. I might have to consider that....

Feminists Must Heal the Wounds of Racism

http://www.afrolezproductions.com/blog/feminists-must-heal-the-wounds-of-racism/

by Aishah Shahidah Simmons

June 9, 2008

Dear Sisters ~

I'm writing self-identified second wave and third wave White feminists, who have expressed a commitment to ending sexism and racism, about their public uncritical support of Hillary Clinton. Granted my letter could be perceived as a moot point because she conceded on Saturday, June 7, 2008. However, for me, a hard core unapologetic third wave Black feminist lesbian (who's the daughter of a second wave Black feminist), it's not a moot point because while it is about Hillary Clinton's campaign, for me it's about my deep and profound betrayal that I've personally and politically experienced during the primaries, especially the last few months of the campaign.

I was appalled by the fact that when the going got very rough and tough, that Clinton and her campaign became blatantly racist. I was very alarmed when White feminists (not to be confused with women who supported Hillary Clinton) who supported Clinton didn't publicly critique her racism, while continuing to support her campaign. I'm not talking about the pundits who didn't support her and critiqued her. I'm not talking about feminists of all races who supported Obama who critiqued her. I'm talking about White feminists who supported Clinton critiquing her in a way to encourage her to be the best candidate that she could be, which I hope would mean not to run a racist campaign.

It's important for me to share that in the beginning of the primaries I supported two white men – Kucinich and Edwards – based on their political platforms which radically spoke to those issues which are near and dear to my Spirit and Soul. I share this because it's important to note that I didn't run to the primaries supporting either the (White) woman candidate or the African-American (man) candidate because I thought their platforms were too centrist, based on how I view the world. If I could have my way, based on the candidates running in the democratic primaries, I would've put Kucinich in the Oval Office. When the last two Democratic candidates standing were both Clinton and Obama, I supported Obama.

I don't want to get into why I ultimately, whole heartedly supported Obama and why folks whole heartedly supported Clinton during the Democratic primaries. That for me is not the issue, in this letter, per se.

The concern for me is that I longed to hear from progressive, anti-racist White feminists who publicly supported Clinton but also publicly took stands against her and her campaign's racism. I felt and feel many of her supporters (who know the vicious hertories and contemporary realities of the intersections of race and gender in this country) were complicit as she and her campaign fanned the fires of racism, which like sexism, is deeply entrenched into the very fibers of the founding of this country.

I was also struck by the fact that there wasn't much (if any) anger/outrage/public critiques expressed, by White feminists who supported Clinton, when Fox News Commentator Bill O'Reilly said he didn't have enough information to go to a lynching party for Michelle Obama, just yet. I was struck by the fact that in all of the justifiable and critically needed conversations and fact finding on sexism in the media, that not too much was documented, by White feminists, about how Michelle Obama has been (and continues to be) treated, which is both sexist and racist. To paraphrase the infamous words of the great African-American suffragist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, "Ain't Michelle Obama a woman too?"

It appeared to me that the desire, on the part of so many White feminists to have a (White) woman in the oval office superceded anything, including racism. It really felt like a repeat of the racist (White—because as we should all know there were Black ones too) suffragists.

The painful irony about all of this is that those of us who support Obama and challenge sexism pay the awful price for bringing ants to the party. One clear cut example is with Salamishah Tillet, a hardcore unapologetic third wave Black feminist who supports Obama. In spite of her concrete financial and foot soldier support of Obama, her allegiance/loyalty has been ridiculously questioned and challenged because she dared to talk and write about the critical importance that sexism and the non-negotiable need for gender equity be key components in Obama's platform and talking points. (Read some of the sexist and racist comments following her two essays "All the Men Are Black, All the Women Are White, and Some of Us Vote: A Remix" and "Obama and the 'Women Question" which are featured on BlackProf.com and TheRoot.com).

Salamishah Tillet, like too many feminists of Color who precede her and who are her contemporaries, walked and walks that tightrope of both literally living at and challenging the intersections of race and gender in a White and male supremacist society without the support from other marginalized groups – men of Color and White women. For me the primaries really magnified this reality. I was so tired of and enraged by any real analysis about the intersections of identities. I was deeply pained by both too many (not all) men of Color and White women's lack of concern about the lack of intersectional analysis in the media. I was beyond frustrated that if we, feminists of Color, critiqued sexism of men of Color, our race loyalty was called into question and if we critiqued racism of White women, our feminism was called into question.

I'm struck by the fact that in 2008, woman is still equated with White and African-American is equated with man… In the infamous words of Barbara Smith, Gloria (Akasha) Hull and Patricia Bell Scott timeless anthology "But Some of Us are Brave…"

My herstory has consistently shown me that too often feminists of Color have literally taken risks that men of Color and White women haven't dared to take because they thought it wasn't in their interests while not understanding that if we centralize all of the margins, then all of us will be free from oppression.

I try to envision what it would've meant during the Democratic primaries if those of us who supported Clinton or Obama compassionately privately and publicly challenged and encouraged both them to address racism and sexism in the United States.

I thought the goal for feminism was to work towards creating a world where there is equality for all not just White women.

When I heard Hillary Clinton's speech on Saturday, June 7, 2008, I literally said to myself and to my inner circle "Oh my Goddess, where was this Hillary Clinton months ago?" I know for a fact that it would've been a lot harder for me to be so adamant in my support of Barack Obama had Hillary Clinton's campaign actively used the language that she used on Saturday, June 7, 2008. For the first time, in a very long time, she articulated the her/history and cotemporary reality of millions of Americans. And, equally as important, she projected a future America that I hope we will all live to see.

As we all know truth-telling is never ever easy and more often than not, truth-tellers pay the price literally and/or figuratively.

There are some serious wounds that need to be healed and I'm not talking about Clinton supporters who have to be "convinced" that voting for McCain is voting against their self-interests. Though the aforementioned is most critical, I'm talking about healing the wounds between many White feminists and feminists of Color.

No One Is Free While Others Are Oppressed.

In Sisterhood and In Struggle,
Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian documentary filmmaker who produced and directed the internationally acclaimed documentary NO!, which unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence and healing in African-American communities. www.NOtheRapeDocumentary.org