From HENNESSY@ALBNYVMS.BITNET Sat Apr 1 07:19:49 MST 1995 From: HENNESSY@ALBNYVMS.BITNET id <01HOTIF47X8M8WWH9Y@albnyvms.BITNET>; Sat, 01 Apr 1995 09:17:54 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 01 Apr 1995 09:17:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: Nationalism and Sexuality To: matfem@csf.colorado.EDU The anthology edited by Andrew PArker on Nationalism and Sexuality may be of interest to you as well as a classis like Fanon's Black Skins White Masks. Rosemary Hennessy From RNBBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@vaxf.Colorado.EDU Sun Apr 2 22:24:36 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 02 Apr 1995 22:21:01 -0600 (MDT) by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with RFC822 id 3361; Mon, Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 00:23:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Renate Bridenthal Subject: Re: Nationalism and Sexuality In-reply-to: Message of Sat, 01 Apr 1995 07:21:24 -0700 from To: matfem@CSF.COLORADO.EDU Also try George Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality. From jfd@strauss.udel.edu Mon Apr 3 14:54:17 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 16:54:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Jan Davidson To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: discourse and materialism. I, obviously, didn't start this debate, nor will I end it. but I thought that I'd respond to the questions that Judy Evans raised about Chrys Ingrahams response. And in general add my two cents to the what is materialist feminism? debate that seems to rage over the net. It seems to me that what Chrys was saying is key to materialist feminism. i.e. that it is simply not enough to look at how language and debate is contructed. The material conditions of capitalism shape the discourse and are the key to understanding societies. So looking at any topic using a discourse analysis without seeing how that analysis is shaped by class conditions and by the ideological constructs of capitalism and patriarchy, is simplistic and can be misleading. This isn't to imply that there isn't an interaction between "base" and "superstructure" and that capitalism or patriarchy are monolithic ideological constructs. However I would argue that, modifications aside, materialism highlights the role of economic and structural issues without according them deterministic power. Reading texts, deconstructing them for their multiple meanings, is important. But without the historic and economic context, its pretty meaningless. Again, I'm not trying to diss discourse analysis -- it has its uses, but when it is accorded primacy it can serve to shroud, rather than illuminate. It seems to me that, from reading the matfem list for a while, we have a series of different definitions of materialist feminism floating around. that's not necessarily a bad thing. But if we get to far away from the basis of the idea -- that material conditions are key -- then the term loses all usefulness to us as feminists and scholars. I'd be interested in what others think -- I know I tend to be a bit of a purist about the use of descriptive terms. ********** Janet Davidson jfd@strauss.udel.edu University of Delaware "Rage, Rage against the dying of the light." --Dylan Thomas ***************************** From jae2@tmphost.york.ac.uk Mon Apr 3 16:40:34 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 23:10:52 +0100 (BST) From: Judy Evans To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: discourse and materialism. In-Reply-To: On Mon, 3 Apr 1995, Jan Davidson wrote: > I, obviously, didn't start this debate, nor will I end it. but I thought > that I'd respond to the questions that Judy Evans raised about Chrys > Ingrahams response. And in general add my two cents to the what is > materialist feminism? debate that seems to rage over the net. > > It seems to me that what Chrys was saying is key to materialist > feminism. i.e. that it is simply not enough to look at how language and > debate is contructed. I have no problems about materialism. That is, I am a materialist. I do think that there is a leap from that to defining materialist feminism as an engagement with capitalism and patriarchy. Though perhaps I am quibbling a little! > ideological constructs. However I would argue that, modifications > aside, materialism highlights the role of economic and structural > issues without according them deterministic power. Reading texts, > deconstructing them for their multiple meanings, is important. But > without the historic and economic context, its pretty meaningless. Again, I agree entirely. (Maybe I expressed myself badly before.) > that's not necessarily a bad thing. But if we get to far away from the > basis of the idea -- that material conditions are key -- then the term > loses all usefulness to us as feminists and scholars. I'd be interested I think I'll just say again that this doesn't have to lead to an analysis in terms of patriarchy and capitalism, and then lurk for a while to see what other people have to say. > "Rage, Rage against the dying of the light." > --Dylan Thomas (My father's country's poet. I prefer his 'Refusal to Mourn...') > Judy --------------------------------------------------------------- Judy Evans + Politics + jae2@york.ac.uk --------------------------------------------------------------- From mfeske@sjuphil.sju.edu Tue Apr 4 13:30:59 MDT 1995 Date: Tue, 04 Apr 1995 15:25:30 From: mfeske@sjuphil.sju.edu (Dr. Millie Feske) To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) ---------- I thought this might be of interest to some of you, if you have not already received it: Forwarded message follows: ----------------- From: jparker (Jo Alyson Parker) Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) To: gender Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 10:04:28 -0400 (EDT) It appears as if France has its own "contract" out on women's studies. Jo Forwarded message: > From weissert Tue Apr 4 08:42:04 1995 > From: weissert (Thomas Weissert) > Message-Id: <9504041242.AA02250@sjuphil.sju.edu> > Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) > To: jparker@sju.edu (Jo Parker) > Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 08:48:24 -0400 (EDT) > X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] > Mime-Version: 1.0 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Content-Length: 5852 > > Forwarded message: > >From owner-deleuze-guattari@jefferson.village.virginia.edu Mon Apr 3 19:23:45 1995 > Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 19:00:19 -0400 (EDT) > From: Jon Beasley-Murray > To: Deleuze-Guattari list > Cc: LEFT-L - Building a Democratic Left Movement > Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) > Message-Id: > Mime-Version: 1.0 > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > Sender: owner-deleuze-guattari@jefferson.village.virginia.edu > Precedence: bulk > Reply-To: deleuze-guattari@jefferson.village.virginia.edu > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 17:08:51 -0500 (CDT) > From: James P Castonguay > To: ecl.grad@batch1.csd.uwm.edu > Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) > > Forwarded message: > >Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 15:46:39 CDT > >From: Dana Polan <100434.2172@compuserve.com> > >Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered > >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > > > >"I am forwarding to members of this bulletin board the following announcement > >from Helene Cixous in which she asks for letters of support for her Center for > >Research in Women's Studies. This program, the only one of its kind in France, > >risks being shut down by the French ministry of education which has declared > >that the concerns of such a program are lacking a 'real scientific content'! If > >you would like to write on behalf of the Center--and for the possibility of > >women's studies in France, more generally--there are two form letters you can > >use as models for your own letter (to be FAXed to Helene Cixous) > > > >By the way, if users of this bulletin board know of other b-boards this > >announcement should go to, please let me know. > > > >Thanks, > >Dana Polan > > > > > >'Centre de Recherches en Etudes Feminines > >UFR 4 > >Paris VIII > >2, rue de la Liberte > >93526 Saint-Denis Cedex 02 > > > >Paris 16 March, 1995 > > > >Dear Friends, > > The "Mission Scientifique et Technique" of the French Ministry of > >Research has just issued an unfavorable evaluation of the doctoral program of > >the Center fro Research in Women's Studies of the University of Paris VIII. The > >ministerial document asserts that the program "has no real scientific content" > >and that "its faculty is ineffective" in attracting and training students. (70 > >postdoctoral scholars and 44 students from all over the world--22 in "Diplome > >d'Etudes Approfondies" and the other 22 in the doctoral degree program--are > >currently enrolled in the program). > > > > The only doctoral program in Women's Studies in France (created in 1974) > >, > >comprising 20 regular faculty members (among whom Jacques Derrida [Philosophy], > >Francine Demichel [Law and Government], Madeleine Reberioux [History], > >Mireille-Calle Gruber, Gisele Mathieu-Castellani [French Literature], etc.) and > >10 corresponding members from French provinces and countries other than France, > >therefore risks being eliminated. We are asking you to show your support by > >circulating and signing the enclosed petition (version 'a' or 'b') as soon as > >possible. (Please indicate your status and academic discipline). > > > > This letter can be edited by faculty members to say "I declare that my > >students have participated. . .etc." > > > > Thank you for your attention and support, > > Very cordially > > Helene Cixous, Chair > > Centre de recherches en Etudes Feminines > > Universite de Paris VIII > > > >Please fax your signatures to : 33.1.40.47.63.72 > >or 33.1.49.40.67.84 (Service de la Recherche Paris 8, Attn H. Cixous) > >or 33.1.43.28.33.61 (Theatre du Soleil, Attn H. Cixous) > >or 33.1.40.40.95.44 (Mara Negron, Attn H. Cixous) > > > >a) I declare that I have participated/been enrolled at a certain moment of my > >studies in research activities within the framework of the doctoral program in > >Etudes Feminines. > > This research program has played a pioneer role in placing issues of > >women, sexuality and gender within intellectual discourse. > > The epistemological, educational, and cultural impact of a field such as > >Women's Studies, its major contribution to the disciplines of Social and Human > >Sciences need not be demonstrated anymore. > > I want to testify that the scientific training I received during my stay > >at the Center for Women's Studies at Paris VIII was decisive in the development > >of my research. > > > >b) > >I declare that I have benefited form the research activities of the "Centre de > >Recherches en Etudes Feminines" through its publications and holdings of > >international conferences since its inception in 1974. > > This research program has played a pioneer role in placing issues of > >women, sexuality and gender within intellectual discourse. > > The epistemological, educational, and cultural impact of a field such as > >Women's Studies, its major contribution to the disciplines of Social and Human > >Sciences need not be demonstrated anymore. > > The scientific advances made available to me/that emanated from this > >Center were decisive/played an important role in the development of my > >research/work/thought. > > I am greatly disturbed by the treat to this doctoral program, the only > >one in France.'" > > > > > > ========================================================================== > Thomas P. Weissert, Ph.D weissert@mailhost.sju.edu > Saint Joseph's University Office: (610) 660-1811 > 5600 City Ave Home: (610) 664-8463 > Philadelphia, PA 19131 fax: (610) 660-1832 > ========================================================================== > From MSAWICKI%IRISHVMA.BITNET@vaxf.Colorado.EDU Wed Apr 5 09:27:03 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 05 Apr 1995 09:22:47 -0600 (MDT) Date: Wed, 05 Apr 1995 09:39:05 -0500 (EST) From: Marianne Sawicki Subject: discourse & materialism & Evans To: matfem@CSF.COLORADO.EDU Judy Evans suggests that a materialist analysis of discourse can be pursued apart from criticism of capitalist and patriarchal social formations. (Or maybe, prior to the latter?) This is an important point. Because otherwise--that is, if feminist-materialist analysis of discursive formations and practices is made to depend upon economic theory--feminist materialism is undercut by whatever events, arguments, or theories may come along to challenge that economic theory. Better for us to work to establish the priority OF gendered material relations and discourse TO capitalist relations and their supporting discourses. In other words, gender relations are "older" than economic relations for both societies and individuals, although both are discursively carried and applied. (I formed this opinion by reading the anthropology of Karen Brodkin Sacks.) On another tangent: Last weekend I attended a conference on Daniel Dennett's philosophy of mind. Dennett is thoroughly materialist in that he reduces "consciousness" to physiological events in the brain as it perceives visual stimuli. (I'm oversimplifying, of course.) I had three observations. First, Dennett's is a materialism that ignores what we would call the material (i.e. socio-economic) conditions of BOTH the phenomena that he studies AND his own academically supported ability to study them. Second, Dennett hasn't yet taken into account the possibility of gender differences in either the visual stimuli or the physiological responses that he theorizes about. Third, women philosophers seem to avoid this particular academic specialty, "philosophy of mind." There were two of us on the second morning among about 50 men. By afternoon, only me. Otherwise, a very fine conference! Marianne Sawicki University of Notre Dame and University of Kentucky From RUSSELLK@snycorva.cortland.edu Wed Apr 5 09:47:06 MDT 1995 From: RUSSELLK@snycorva.cortland.edu (PMDF V4.3-10 #8051) id <01HOZ7M768LE003JD8@snycorva.cortland.edu>; Wed, 05 Apr 1995 11:48:57 +0000 (EASTERN) Date: Wed, 05 Apr 1995 11:48:57 +0000 (EASTERN) Subject: Re: discourse and materialism. To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu >From: IN%"matfem@csf.colorado.edu" 3-APR-1995 16:12:55.42 >CC: >Subj: discourse and materialism. > >Return-path: >Received: from csf.Colorado.EDU by snycorva.cortland.edu (PMDF V4.3-10 #8051) > id <01HOWPJD0IAO002BY5@snycorva.cortland.edu>; Mon, > 03 Apr 1995 16:12:54 +0000 (EASTERN) >Received: from (LOCALHOST [127.0.0.1]) > 3 Apr 1995 15:09:40 -0600 >Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 15:09:40 -0600 >From: Jan Davidson >Subject: discourse and materialism. >Sender: matfem@csf.colorado.edu >Reply-to: matfem@csf.colorado.edu >Message-id: >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Originator: matfem@csf.colorado.edu >Precedence: bulk >X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas >X-Comment: MATERIALIST FEMINIST > On Monday April 3, Jan Davidson wrote: > >I, obviously, didn't start this debate, nor will I end it. but I thought >that I'd respond to the questions that Judy Evans raised about Chrys >Ingrahams response. And in general add my two cents to the what is >materialist feminism? debate that seems to rage over the net. > >It seems to me that what Chrys was saying is key to materialist >feminism. i.e. that it is simply not enough to look at how language and >debate is contructed. The material conditions of capitalism shape the discourse and are the key to >understanding societies. So looking at any topic >using a discourse analysis without seeing how that analysis is shaped by >class conditions and by the ideological constructs of capitalism and patriarchy, is simplistic and can be misleading. This isn't to >imply that there isn't an interaction between "base" and >"superstructure" and that capitalism or patriarchy are monolithic >ideological constructs. However I would argue that, modifications >aside, materialism highlights the role of economic and structural >issues without according them deterministic power. I couldn't agree more! I also liked what Chrys had to say. I think it's crucial that we "read" texts by relating them to material conditions in ways that are dialectical and not determinist. One way I TRY to do this is to focus on what people are actually doing. I think about women's and men's concrete practical activity being careful to consider WHO they are with respect to gender, race, class, and sexual orientation etc. > Reading texts, >deconstructing them for their multiple meanings, is important. But >without the historic and economic context, its pretty meaningless. I agree, I think. But I'm not sure I would say "meaningless." That does sound too strong and dismissive. Is that the reason for your qualifier "pretty?" Again, >I'm not trying to diss discourse analysis -- it has its uses, but when it is >accorded primacy it can serve to shroud, rather than illuminate. I've worried that discourse analysis and the whole deconstruction movement is insufficiently revolutionary. I have always been suspicious that it is a response conditioned by academics isolation in universities - particularly in the U.S. where we live in the heart of the monster. We are divorced from options for participating in concrete class struggle. And there isn't much of a struggle now to get involved in anyway. It all seems so darn discouraging. And overwhelming. It's easier to focus on texts, and I think that given the stage of imperialism that we live in, it will be extrememly difficult to see though the ideoloical fog - smog - thrown up by material conditions. So I worry too that discourse analysis can serve as an additional shroud, as you put it - a shroud that compounds our difficulty in seeing our way forward. But if we do solve some of the problems that face us, we'll do it collectively. So I guess some will work on discourse analysis and some will focus more on material conditions and politcal activism. I hope forums such as this can assist our need to combine our efforts in ways that support each other. > >It seems to me that, from reading the matfem list for a while, we have a >series of different definitions of materialist feminism floating around. >that's not necessarily a bad thing. But if we get to far away from the >basis of the idea -- that material conditions are key -- then the term >loses all usefulness to us as feminists and scholars. I agree. The interesting issue for me is to work out how to talk about material conditions in ways that aren't static. I also think it's inevitable that we will operate with different definitions and emphases. I'd be interested >in what others think -- I know I tend to be a bit of a purist about the >use of descriptive terms. > I'll look forward to this continued conversation. BTW, when I posted the info about International Women's Day and the strike in New York where the teenager Clara Lemlich called for action and the ILGWU was formed, I forgot to sign my message. Sorry. I am: Kathy Russell Dept. of Philosophy SUNY - Cortland russellk@snycorva.cortland.edu > ********** > >Janet Davidson >jfd@strauss.udel.edu >University of Delaware > > "Rage, Rage against the dying of the light." > --Dylan Thomas > > ***************************** > From tannesd@mail.auburn.edu Wed Apr 5 10:36:28 MDT 1995 Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 11:37:09 -0500 (CDT) From: Susan D Tanner To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: NOW Information In-Reply-To: <01HOZ3SMXJ2A000X7E@VAXF.COLORADO.EDU> content-length: 176 Does anyone know the e-mail address for the National Organization for Women? I would appreciate any help locating this information. Susan Dee Tanner Auburn University, AL From lek@nevada.edu Wed Apr 5 12:03:28 MDT 1995 Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 11:04:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Lisa Ebeltoft-Kraske To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: NOW announces Homepage (fwd) > From: NOW@NOW.ORG NOW ARRIVES ON THE INTERNET TO COMMEMORATE SUSAN B. ANTHONY'S 175TH BIRTHDAY The National Organization for Women today commemorates the 175th birthday of suffragist Susan B. Anthony by unveiling its own homepage on the Internet's World Wide Web. The Web page can be found at: http://now.org/now/home.html The organization can also be reached by E-mail at: now@now.org An Internet presence will allow NOW to reach a wide public audience through this rapidly expanding medium. It will enable NOW both to efficiently inform the media, and thereby the public, and to collaborate with other organizations. This exchange of information and resources with feminist activists and organizations will reach around the world, providing new links with women in countries where the cost of travel and communications has been an impediment. This is especially important this year, with the Fourth World Conference on Women Aug. 30 to Sept. 15 in Beijing. NOW's presence on the Internet is expected to expand the universe of people who are aware of NOW and educated on women's issues. And as the number of state and local NOW chapters active on the Net grows, NOW's internal democracy and grassroots leadership will be strengthened by cross-fertilization and increased access to information. Kim Gandy, NOW Executive Vice-President, said that the "increased presence of strong women's voices in cyberspace will surely make it a friendlier, less hostile place for women and girls. NOW will be a welcome and welcoming presence for anyone who wants advance the cause of women's equality." From poss@utdallas.edu Thu Apr 6 07:43:29 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 08:44:08 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: Political Woman Daily Hotline #1 (fwd) Here is the latest message from the women's leadership network. Melinda Poss History of Ideas University of Texas at Dallas poss@utdallas.edu ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 17:23:26 -0400 From: PolWoman@aol.com To: dianawynne@macromedia.com, klyndon@qualcomm.com, anderaa@pobox.upenn.edu, lhancock@darkwing.uoregon.edu, Deedebop@aol.com, klebesah@lawremce.edu, avri@ids.net, poss@utdallas.edu, loconnor@weber.ucsd.edu, lrlentz@students.wisc.edu, klebesah@lawrence.edu NSDVMJH@pullen.bas.ncsu.edu, ajl3u@darwin.clas.virginia.edu, U19884@uicvm.cc.uic.edu, rachel@world.std.com, kschulweis@starbase1.caltech.edu, DLONG@portland.caps.maine.edu, dallbauman@ctsd2.jsc.nasa.gov Subject: Political Woman Daily Hotline #1 Political Woman Daily Hotline Volume 1 #1 April 5, 1995 -------------------------------------------- Day 92 of the Contract ON America Only 580 days until Election Day 1996 1,138 responses so far! -------------------------------------------- copyright 1995 political woman inc. #1. Welcome! :) Since we posted our announcement on March 17, we've heard from 1,138 of you in an *overwhelming* show of support for the idea of organizing women and sympathetic men over the Internet to fight the Congressional onslaught on issues of vital concern to women. While we sent out the original announcement to a few obvious places, most of the response was created by *you*, the Charter Members. You posted it where it needed to be seen and encouraged your friends to join. We cannot begin to express our gratitude! The strength of your response gives us tremendous confidence that we can mobilize women and sympathetic men to accomplish our two goals: 1. stop the Congressional onslaught 2. elect pro-woman candidates in 1996. In future issues, we'll give you more background on what is happening internally. Today, however, we are focused on our plans for Saturday, when we will tell the world about our formation at a press conference in New York City. #2. Press Announcement On Saturday, we will tell the world what you, the Charter Members, have accomplished in only three weeks. We will also describe our plan of action, including this Political Woman Daily Hotline and the World Wide Web pages which are being developed at http://www.interport.net/~as herman/wln.html At the end of this Hotline is the announcement that has gone out to the press. Here's what you can do: 1. Post this announcement widely on the Internet. 2. Create your own local press list. In your e-mail address book, record the e-mail addresses of local TV, radio, and newspaper outlets which have e-mail capability. (College newspaper and radio stations should be especially receptive.) Forward this announcement to them via e-mail. For the rest, get their fax numbers. If you have faxing capability from your computer, fax them this announcement. If you can't reach them by e-mail or fax, use snail mail! 3. Become a local spokesperson. Put a cover note on the announcements you send to your local media. Tell them you're a Charter Member and are available for interviews. Initiate coverage yourself by calling local talk shows and writing letters to your newspapers. Lay out the Congressional issues which concern you the most, and explain how you are joining with like-minded women and men through the Women's Leadership Network on the Internet. Give out our e-mail address (polwoman@aol.com) and invite the public to send us messages with the subject "Interested." 4. If you want to form a local chapter in your area, send us an e-mail with the subject "Form Local Committee." We'll pass on the names and e-mail addresses of folks in your area (this may take us a little time, though). In your local press work, provide your e-mail address and invite people to contact you. Forward their messages to us and we'll send them membership materials. 5. If we get any coverage in your area, send us an e-mail with the date, the media outlet, the reporter, and a brief summary. In the subject field, put "Press Coverage." We'll compile this information for future Hotlines. Keep track of this information for the future: you'll develop your own personal media contact list, and make yourself known to reporters and editors as someone who's informed and active. 6. If you want to join the Press Committee, send an e-mail to Carolyn Kamlet (EYDW81A@prodigy.com) with the subject: "Press Committee." If you want to work on national press, add "-National" to the subject; if you want to work on local press, add "-Local." In the message, explain what you'd like to do and how much time you have. #3 Housekeeping If you haven't sent in your membership form and check, please do so. If you lost it or never received one, send us an e-mail with the subject "Resend Membership Form." If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, use the subject "Remove." If you would like to receive mail at a different address, use subject "Change Address." If you got two copies, use subject "Duplicate." If this message arrived in tatters, use subject "Delivery Error." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Press Advisory (e-mail version): April 3, 1995 For More Information Contact: Carolyn Kamlet (914) 738-5670 or e-mail EYDW81A@prodigy.com or write: Women's Leadership Network, 276 Chatterton Parkway, White Plains NY 10606. Videoconference interviews available with adequate notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Women's Leadership Network to be Announced April 8 With Hands-On Computer Demonstration in NYC ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date/Time: Saturday, April 8, 1995, 9:00-10:00 a.m. Location: 191 Madison Ave. (34th St)(in Kinko's computer section). * Reporters will be able to use the computers to explore our World Wide Web pages on their own (or with the help of our young volunteers). Coffee and bagels will be served. * Parking is available at 34th and Park. Speakers: (list in formation) * WLN Chair Deborah Sale, Vice Chair, NYS Council on the Humanities * WLN Vice Chair Polly Rothstein, President, Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion * Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) * Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) * Campaign for Media Fairness on Welfare spokesperson Frances Fox Piven * Eleanor's List president Ross Graham * Take Charge/Be Somebody Youth Network (South Bronx) President Kellie Terry, age 16 What is the Women's Leadership Network? * A new non-partisan national group dedicated to educating and mobilizing women and sympathetic men to fight the Republican Contract With America and elect pro-women candidates in 1996 * The first high-tech effort to organize women electronically over the Internet for political action, which has already enlisted over 1,000 members in just two weeks. * A group supported by such prominent women as former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Rep. Nita Lowey (D/NY), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D/CT), Rep. Louise Slaughter (D/NY), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D/NY), and Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, as well as prominent women's advocates, including Frances Fox Piven, Ross Graham, and Polly Rothstein * A group developing a Women's Contract With America, which it will use to reshape the national political debate in 1996 * A group forming local chapters around the country to recruit women candidates, register women voters, research candidates' voting records, and ensure a high turnout of women to the polls in 1996. The Women's Leadership Network began meeting in New York City on February 2 and decided it was essential to mobilize women to fight the Contract With America and to use the Internet to do so. On March 17, an announcement was made on the Internet seeking supporters. In the first two week, over 1,000 responses were received. Respondents included businesswomen, lawyers, doctors, nurses, ministers, teachers, scientists, computer programmers, administrative assistants, secretaries, filmmakers, women advocates, union activists, social workers, and university professors, administrators, and students, all of whom wrote to express their anger at the Republican agenda. At the announcement on April 8, we will discuss the reasons for forming the Women's Leadership Network and the initial activities of the group, including: * World Wide Web pages (a hands-on demonstration -- with help available). After April 8, the pages will be available over the Internet at http://www.interport.net/~asherman/wln.html * Political Woman Daily Hotline (available nationally by e-mail). The April 8 issue will critique Newt Gingrich's April 7 televised address to the nation * Women's Contract With America * A national 800 number for new members From noreen@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Thu Apr 6 20:14:46 MDT 1995 Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 22:15:26 -0400 (EDT) From: "Noreen T. O'Connor" Sender: "Noreen T. O'Connor" Reply-To: "Noreen T. O'Connor" Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) To: material feminism I thought that this forward would be of interest to some on this list. ______________________________ Noreen O'Connor George Washington University Washington, D.C. noreen@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu ______________________________ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 04:06:19 -0700 From: Jeffrey Cohen Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 19:00:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Jon Beasley-Murray To: Deleuze-Guattari list Subject: Women's Studies in France Endangered (fwd) >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > >"I am forwarding to members of this bulletin board the following announcement >from Helene Cixous in which she asks for letters of support for her Center for >Research in Women's Studies. This program, the only one of its kind in France, >risks being shut down by the French ministry of education which has declared >that the concerns of such a program are lacking a 'real scientific content'! If >you would like to write on behalf of the Center--and for the possibility of >women's studies in France, more generally--there are two form letters you can >use as models for your own letter (to be FAXed to Helene Cixous) > >By the way, if users of this bulletin board know of other b-boards this >announcement should go to, please let me know. > >Thanks, >Dana Polan > > >'Centre de Recherches en Etudes Feminines >UFR 4 >Paris VIII >2, rue de la Liberte >93526 Saint-Denis Cedex 02 > >Paris 16 March, 1995 > >Dear Friends, > The "Mission Scientifique et Technique" of the French Ministry of >Research has just issued an unfavorable evaluation of the doctoral program of >the Center fro Research in Women's Studies of the University of Paris VIII. The >ministerial document asserts that the program "has no real scientific content" >and that "its faculty is ineffective" in attracting and training students. (70 >postdoctoral scholars and 44 students from all over the world--22 in "Diplome >d'Etudes Approfondies" and the other 22 in the doctoral degree program--are >currently enrolled in the program). > > The only doctoral program in Women's Studies in France (created in 1974) >, >comprising 20 regular faculty members (among whom Jacques Derrida [Philosophy], >Francine Demichel [Law and Government], Madeleine Reberioux [History], >Mireille-Calle Gruber, Gisele Mathieu-Castellani [French Literature], etc.) and >10 corresponding members from French provinces and countries other than France, >therefore risks being eliminated. We are asking you to show your support by >circulating and signing the enclosed petition (version 'a' or 'b') as soon as >possible. (Please indicate your status and academic discipline). > > This letter can be edited by faculty members to say "I declare that my >students have participated. . .etc." > > Thank you for your attention and support, > Very cordially > Helene Cixous, Chair > Centre de recherches en Etudes Feminines > Universite de Paris VIII > >Please fax your signatures to : 33.1.40.47.63.72 >or 33.1.49.40.67.84 (Service de la Recherche Paris 8, Attn H. Cixous) >or 33.1.43.28.33.61 (Theatre du Soleil, Attn H. Cixous) >or 33.1.40.40.95.44 (Mara Negron, Attn H. Cixous) > >a) I declare that I have participated/been enrolled at a certain moment of my >studies in research activities within the framework of the doctoral program in >Etudes Feminines. > This research program has played a pioneer role in placing issues of >women, sexuality and gender within intellectual discourse. > The epistemological, educational, and cultural impact of a field such as >Women's Studies, its major contribution to the disciplines of Social and Human >Sciences need not be demonstrated anymore. > I want to testify that the scientific training I received during my stay >at the Center for Women's Studies at Paris VIII was decisive in the development >of my research. > >b) >I declare that I have benefited form the research activities of the "Centre de >Recherches en Etudes Feminines" through its publications and holdings of >international conferences since its inception in 1974. > This research program has played a pioneer role in placing issues of >women, sexuality and gender within intellectual discourse. > The epistemological, educational, and cultural impact of a field such as >Women's Studies, its major contribution to the disciplines of Social and Human >Sciences need not be demonstrated anymore. > The scientific advances made available to me/that emanated from this >Center were decisive/played an important role in the development of my >research/work/thought. > I am greatly disturbed by the treat to this doctoral program, the only >one in France.'" > From poss@utdallas.edu Sat Apr 8 11:55:52 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1995 12:56:39 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: WLN Hotline #2 (fwd) More from the women's leadership network. Melinda ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 17:05:48 -0400 From: PolWoman@aol.com Subject: WLN Hotline #2 Political Woman Hotline Volume 1 #2 April 7, 1995 -------------------------------------------- Day 94 of the Contract ON America Only 578 days until Election Day 1996 1,210 responses so far! -------------------------------------------- copyright 1995 political woman inc. #1. Press Announcement tomorrow At 9:00 a.m. tomorrow in New York City, we will tell the world about the Women's Leadership Network. Attached is the press release that we will distribute, which goes into some depth about our goals. If you made press contacts this week, pass this along to them. Feel free to re-post it, although it is a bit long so use discretion. It will go onto our Web page next week, along with the coverage we get. #2. GOP Propaganda Offensive Underway Now that the first 100 days are over, Newt Gingrich is mounting a campaign to put his "spin" on what happened. And to an extent not seen since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the media is giving a political figure maximum positive exposure. Tonight at 8:00, CBS, CNN, CNBC, and NPR will broadcast Gingrich's made-for-television speech. This is *UNPRECEDENTED.* Never before in the history of television has a Speaker of the House -- especially one who's been Speaker for 100 days! -- been given a national podium. And for what? Passing nine bills, not one of which addresses a critical national issue in a meaningful way? This amounts to a multi- million dollar campaign contribution by these networks to Newt Gingrich and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Clearly, the Washington press corps is blinded by Gingrich's newly- manufactured smile. (Compare election-day videos with recent ones; he's obviously been carefully coached and has been practicing at great length in front of the mirror. Has anyone seen this reported anywhere?) What we need to do: 1. Form a Contract ON America Committee to document *exactly* what the House did in its first 100 days. On each of the 10 points in the Contract, we must document: a. what the GOP promised and how the nation was supposed to benefit b. what the legislation that passed actually *does* c. who *gains* (take a guess!) d. who *loses* (guess again!) Much of this information has been in the newspapers. Fragments of it are available on the Web. We must pull it all together and put it on our web page so we can refute anyone who claims the country benefited from the first 100 days. To participate, you do *not* need to know anything about Web pages; we need your research, analysis, and writing skills. To join the Contract ON America Committee, send us an e-mail with the subject "Contract Committee." If you want to be a Coordinator of the Committee, add "-Coordinator" to the subject. We will form subcommittees for each of the 10 items, so you can concentrate on your specialty. (BTW, someone asked why we request specific subject headings. It is not because some *computer* is reading the messages. It is because some *overworked humans* are reading it and would prefer to see at a glance the nature of each correspondence, both before and after reading it.) 2. Form a Media Watch Committee. One of the tasks of this committee would be to monitor press coverage of Gingrich and the Republicans. When the press presents one-sided pro-Republican coverage, this committee would "blow the whistle" by placing an item in the Daily Hotline and posting it on our Web page. This committee would have a large number of other assignments as well, including monitoring coverage of: * the GOP presidential candidates. For example, the press is calling Bob Dole a "moderate." We need to disprove that one quickly. * polls. There has been a lot of distorted polling on where Americans stand on the Contract. The distortion invariable stems from the specific wording of the questions, which generally follow the Republican "spin." Of course Americans want a "balanced budget" in the abstract. But as soon as you present programs that would be cut under the Republican plan (social security, education, environmental protection, etc.), Americans change their mind. We must challenge meaningless and misleading polls. * women. Although women are the majority of the population and the electorate, women as a group are largely *invisible.* Betty Friedan calls this "symbolic annihilation" and her group Women Men and Media works to fight it. We can fight it every day by calling attention to the startling *absence* of women's viewpoints, for example in the welfare debate. Another example: will the Women's Leadership Network get as much press coverage as other groups on the Internet, like the skinheads? And will NOW's March on April 9 -- when hundreds of thousands gather in protest -- get as much coverage as the O.J. Simpson trial, the baseball strike, or Michael Jordan's return to basketball? If not, let's challenge the media. #3 Technical help needed 1. We're trying to set up a voice-mail system on our Windows computer. If you're up-to-date on this technology and could advise us on the best hardware and software, send a message with the subject "Voice Mail." 2. We'd like to send out these mailings via the Internet rather than AOL (that way you wouldn't see all the "TO's" and "CC's". If you could help with this (probably using Sendmail), send a message with the subject "Internet Mail." 3. If you'd like to help with the Web pages, send a message with the subject "Web Help" to our webmistress (asherman@interport.net) and describe your Web skills. (Note: if you offered to help with Web pages in your membership form, please contact asherman anyway because our data entry committee is not yet up and running and she needs help now). For Immediate Release: April 8, 1995 For More Information Contact: Carolyn Kamlet (914) 738-5670 or e-mail EYDW81A@prodigy.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Women's Leadership Network to Use the Internet to Fight Conservative Policies ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Declaring that the first 100 days of the 104th Congress has been a "war on women and families," a non-partisan group of politically active women is turning to the Internet to fight conservative policies. The new group, called the "Women's Leadership Network," is notable for the following reasons: * It is the first major effort to organize women over the Internet to advocate for the concerns of women and families. * It counts among its supporters prominent women elected officials, including former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, as well as prominent women's advocates, including Campaign for Media Fairness on Welfare spokesperson Frances Fox Piven, Eleanor's List president Ross Graham, Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion president Polly Rothstein, and Ms. Foundation for Women president Marie Wilson. * It has published a Women's Contract With America, which it will use to make women's concerns the focus of the 1996 campaign and transform the national political debate. "After 100 days of Congressional attacks on programs of vital concern to women and children, American women are in a state of shock," said Women's Leadership Network chairwoman Deborah Sale. "We have watched with horror as the entire social safety net has come under assault, including income support for the nation's poorest children, food stamps, school lunches, Medicare, Medicaid, and dozens of other essential programs. American women are appalled by these cuts, and it is time for us to say: Enough!" At the start of the 104th Congress, most of the public was unaware of the fine print of the proposed cuts before Congress. Campaign promises in the 1994 elections have turned into controversial bills which have alienated a growing number of voters. Women in particular are organizing against cuts in social programs which they know will severely harm both working women and poor women, as well as their families. As a result, a large turnout is expected for the April 9 March for Women's Lives that NOW has organized in Washington, D.C. In addition, the Council of Presidents, a national coalition of 80 large women's organizations which represent women from every racial, class, and ethnic background, has also responded to proposals that hurt women and their families. The Women's Leadership Network began meeting in New York City when the controversial bills were introduced. Its goal was to find ways to express women's opposition to these bills and to increase women's participation in the political process. Recognizing that Congress was making major decisions without input from American women, the group decided to pull onto the "Information Superhighway," which is accessible to women all across the country. "The Internet is a terrific tool to use for mobilizing women," said WLN Vice Chair Polly Rothstein. "After we posted a few notices, women on the Internet took the initiative to spread our message to every corner of cyberspace. Within three weeks, we received over 1,200 enthusiastic responses from women across America who are furious about the proposed cuts, and we are getting 50 more each day. Women are using the Internet in larger numbers than anyone realizes, and we believe we will be able to mobilize tens of thousands of women to go out into their communities and defend their rights," she said. Organizers of the new group said the issues most frequently mentioned included: cuts in welfare, food stamps, and other programs essential to the survival of poor women; cuts in primary and secondary education; attacks on affirmative action programs for women and minorities; cuts in public broadcasting and federal support for the arts and humanities; attacks on environmental protection programs; efforts to repeal gun control laws; abandonment of all efforts to reform health care; attacks on abortion rights, gays and lesbians, and immigrants; and the overall climate of intolerance, particularly on talk radio. Organizers said they were particularly struck by the diversity of those responding. "We have heard from women from every walk of life: businesswomen, lawyers, doctors, nurses, ministers, teachers, scientists, computer programmers, administrative assistants, secretaries, filmmakers, women advocates, union activists, social workers, and university professors, administrators, and students. We have heard from lots of men; whites, blacks, Latinas, and Asian-Americans; straights and gays; rich and poor; young and old. They are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. They live in cities, suburbs, and rural areas, and as far away as England, Turkey, and Taiwan. This enormous diversity reveals a stunning new fact about American politics: that the controversial legislation of the new Congress has galvanized women and sympathetic men into a national progressive political force that has not been seen since the 1930's," said Rothstein. Organizers said they were also struck by the passion expressed in the responses, which was greatly facilitated by the unique characteristics of the Internet. "Women poured their hearts out to us in their letters. We heard from victims of sexual harassment whose lives have been wrecked by abusive male bosses; from victims of child abuse, rape, and incest; and women on the front lines of the war on poverty who know exactly how devastating welfare cuts will be. Unlike the loud, pompous, ego-driven discourse of talk radio, the quiet of the Internet gives women the space to express themselves sincerely and intimately. We see how deeply angry women are, and how willing they are to use this new technology to fight back," said WLN Director Carolyn Kamlet. The group has planned its strategy around the recognition that women's scarcest resource is time. "Many women are working three shifts -- jobs, families, and volunteer work in schools, churches, and communities. We want to make this as quick and easy for women as possible," said Sale. Every weekday, the group will distribute an electronic Daily Hotline with up-to- the-minute information about legislation affecting women and families, as well as the names and electronic mail addresses of Members of Congress who need to be contacted. "We will deposit the Daily Hotline in our members' e- mail boxes, where they can retrieve it, print it out, read it, and take action at their convenience," Sale said. Using this tool, the group hopes to generate electronic mail letters to Members of Congress each day. "The Women's Leadership Network's Daily Hotline will serve as a wake-up call to American women across the nation, said Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), a supporter of the new group. "The Republican leadership in Washington has been waging war on women and children. The Women's Leadership Network will help lead the counter-attack by disseminating information and promoting activism." The group also sees its Daily Hotline as the first national women's newspaper. "Today men control virtually every media channel, from the TV networks to radio and daily newspapers. This will be the first news source controlled entirely by women," Sale said. To receive the Daily Hotline, members of the Women's Leadership Network need only a simple connection to the Internet, one capable of receiving electronic mail. Millions of American women have this access to the Internet through their offices, schools, and personal accounts with such services as America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, and Women's Wire. In addition, the group will also form partnerships with on-line service providers and women's membership organizations to bring more women on-line. "There are millions of concerned women who should be on the Internet but aren't, and we will give them a reason to be there," Sale said. For more sophisticated travelers on the Information Superhighway, the group has also designed a World Wide Web page, which computer users can browse at their leisure. The Web page will contain the Daily Hotline as well as in-depth critiques of Congressional bills, information on women's groups and groups hostile to women, and suggestions for action on a wide range of issues. The Web page is currently accessible to direct Internet users and Prodigy subscribers. All of the other major services plan to provide access soon. Looking ahead to the 1996 campaign, the group has drafted a 10-point "Women's Contract With America" which reflects women's priorities for federal legislation. The 10 points include family and work issues, health reform, education reform, crime reduction and prevention, welfare reform and safety net preservation, environmental protection, budget and tax fairness, constitutional rights, political reform, and cultural issues. The group plans to present the contract to candidates for office who seek women's votes in 1996, including Presidential candidates. "For the first time in history, we're going to make the concerns of the American majority -- women -- the focus of a national political campaign," said Rothstein. In addition, the group plans to maintain extensive biographical, quotation, and voting record information on elected officials and candidates, so women can make informed decisions in the 1996 election. "Women do not realize that many of their elected representatives vote consistently against women's interests on issues from Social Security to abortion rights," said Rothstein. "We intend to make sure they get the facts," she said. There is discussion within the group of forming local chapters which could influence local political campaigns. The group is looking at starting a chapter in New Hampshire, where it could bring women's concerns into the Presidential primaries. Abortion rights is already a central issue in the GOP campaign, with pro-choice candidates Arlen Specter, Pete Wilson, and Lynn Martin challenging the anti-choice views of Bob Dole, Phil Gramm, Richard Lugar, Pat Buchanan, Lamar Alexander, and Alan Keyes. On the Democratic side, the abortion issue is propelling abortion opponent Bob Casey to challenge President Clinton. The group's efforts will culminate on election day in 1996, when Congress, the President and most governors and state legislators will be up for re-election. "Women stayed home in 1994, and the results were devastating," said Sale. "We want to use this new medium to mobilize women to register women voters and make sure they get to the polls," she said. "The war on women and their families will end in 1996," she vowed. To join the Women's Leadership Network and receive the Daily Hotline, anyone with the ability to send and receive e-mail over the Internet can send an e-mail to polwoman@aol.com with the subject "Interested." To reach the Web page, experienced Internet users can direct their Web browsers to http://www.interport.net/~asherman/wln.html. To reach WLN by phone, dial 914-285-9761 (after April 15: 800-WOMAN96). - 30 - Women's Leadership Network 276 Chatterton Parkway White Plains, NY 10606 (914) 285-9761 (914) 285-9763 (fax) e-mail: polwoman@aol.com Steering Committee: Deborah Sale, Chair Polly Rothstein, Vice Chair Antonia Stolper, President Christina Mason, Secretary Bob Fertik, Treasurer Carolyn Kamlet, Director Aliza Sherman, Web Coord. Lois Frankel, Database Coord. Founding members: Lori Antonacci Barbara Bergmann Gene Boyer Gale Brewer Debra Cooper Bonny Forrest Jo Freeman Barbara Hohlt Marian Krauskopf Cheryl Lehman Shelley Mayer Jane Moore Frances Fox Piven Elisa Riordan Bobbie Sackman Elsie Shapiro Peggy Shepard Dion Thompson Marie Wilson Advisory Board: Hon. Rosa DeLauro Hon. Geraldine Ferraro Hon. Nita Lowey Hon. Carolyn Maloney Hon. Ruth Messinger From dom.n.a.triece@mail.utexas.edu Mon Apr 10 16:04:41 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 16:55:30 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: dom.n.a.triece@mail.utexas.edu (mary triece) Subject: matfem reading list Hello, my name is Mary Triece and I am a new member of the matfem dialogue. I understand that a materialist feminist book/article list has been started. If this is the case, I am interested in seeing this list. I am a graduate student in Speech Communication at U.T., Austin. I am currently working on my dissertation. I am exploring mass media reception of feminism in the nineteenth century. My broad question is: What does the mass media do with oppositional discourses? How are these discourses absorbed, reinscribed, contained, commodified? What is the role of cultural struggle in any political movement? If political, economic arenas are the key sites of struggle, what is the role of communication? How has the initial growth and expansion of the mass media and of capitalism shaped, affected, feminism/feminist discourse? These are issues I am exploring. I would greatly appreciate any responses...ideas, suggested readings, further questions, etc. Thanks. mary eleanor triece dom.n.a.triece@mail.utexas.edu From ECRYST@macc.wisc.edu Mon Apr 10 20:12:01 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 21:09 CDT From: Elyse Crystall Subject: pro-choice telegram To: pw-list@netcom.com, matfem@csf.colorado.edu ACT NOW! Pro-Choice Support for Dr. Foster (fwd) Easy to do, no cost to you. NARAL will send telegrams to your two senators, without charge. Just forward this to naral@ais.net---------- >> DON'T LET ANTI-CHOICE POLITICIANS STOP >> THE FOSTER NOMINATION!!! >> >> Anti-choice politicians are viciously opposing Dr. Henry >> Foster's nomination for Surgeon General for one reason, and >> one reason alone -- Dr. Foster has performed abortions. >> >> We can't let the Religious Right and anti-choice politicians >> turn abortion into the scarlet letter of American politics! >> >> The National Abortion Rights and Reproductive Rights Action League >> (NARAL) needs your help urgently in supporting the nomination >> of Dr. Henry Foster as Surgeon General. >> >> Dr. Foster has won national recognition for his tireless and >> successful efforts to discourage teenage pregnancy. He has >> helped educate thousands of new physicians. Over his career, >> he has delivered more than 10,000 babies. >> >> Dr. Foster has dedicated his career to improving women's health. >> His confirmation would be a great step forward for all who believe >> that women's health issues have not received the attention or >> priority they deserve. >> >> But Dr. Foster's nomination is in great danger of being defeated! >> >> Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and the leaders of the religious right >> are mounting a massive national post card campaign to oppose the >> Foster nomination. >> >> PRO-CHOICE AMERICANS MUST ACT NOW! >> >> NARAL needs your help. If you support the right to choose and support >> the Foster nomination, the National Abortion and Reproductive >> Rights Action League will make your voice heard on Capitol Hill. >> >> We will send a telegram in your name to your two Senators. >> >> The telegram reads: >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> I support the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster >> as Surgeon General of the United States. >> >> Safe and legal abortion is a constitutional >> right -- not a crime. As a pro-choice American, >> I am outraged by efforts to vilify this individual >> whose long and honored career should be an inspiration >> to every American. >> >> I urge you to support Dr. Foster's nomination. >> >>----------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> If you like the majority of Americans believe in the right >> to choose, then help NARAL send an important message to >> Capitol Hill... >> >> There is no charge for this service. All you need to do >> is e-mail your name and mailing address (your Senators need >> to know that you are a constituent and where you live) to us >> at: NARAL@ais.net. >> >> We will deliver these telegrams under your signature. >> >> Thank you for your support. >> >> >> Kate Michelman >> President >> National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League >> >> >>************************************************************************* >> Don't allow anti-choice politicians to make abortion the scarlet >> letter of American politics! Your voice is needed >> right away. Please e-mail your name and mailing address >> to us at: NARAL@ais.net so that we can send a telegram in your >> name right away. >>********************************************************************** From poss@utdallas.edu Tue Apr 11 09:00:48 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 10:01:40 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: PW Hotline #3 (fwd) Here's the latest. It confirms what I have been sensing about NPR and other media outlets. (It's hard for me to get a feel for what the rest of the country is hearing and doing since here in Dallas everything is skewed to the areas surrounding Atila the Hun's sensibilities.) Melinda ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 09:59:28 -0400 From: PolWoman@aol.com Subject: PW Hotline #3 Political Woman Hotline Volume 1 #3 April 10, 1995 -------------------------------------------- Day 97 of the Contract ON America Only 575 days until Election Day 1996 1,322 responses so far! -------------------------------------------- copyright 1995 political woman inc. #1. Press conference. Thank you to all who attended the press conference on Saturday. The speeches by Deborah Sale, Rep. Nita Lowey, Polly Rothstein, Frances Fox Piven, and Kellie Terry were truly inspirational. Special thanks to Carolyn Kamlet, who ran the event. Please forward any press clips you come across to Carolyn at EYDW81A@prodigy.com. Thanks also to our Webmistress, Aliza Sherman, and the rest of the Web team, who prepared our Web pages for the demonstration. To see them for yourself, visit: http://www.interport.net/~asherman/wln.html. Feel free to make offers of material to asherman@interport.net. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get any major political reporters to cover our New York event. To reach them, we will obviously have to do an event in D.C. Our current thought is to hold a panel discussion in D.C. on the topic: Can Congress's War on Women and Families be Stopped? If we could get prominent speakers (e.g. Hillary Clinton, Donna Shalala, Carol Moseley-Braun, Nita Lowey, Pat Schroeder, Patsy Mink, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Pat Ireland, Pam Maraldo, Marion Wright Edelman), we would get some national political coverage. If you'd like to help us organize such an event, (especially if you're in DC), send us a note with the subject: "DC Event." #2. Media Ignores NOW March: The national media insulted millions of American feminists by largely ignoring the March for Women's Lives organized by NOW, which drew nearly hundreds of thousands of women and sympathetic men for the largest protest so far of the Gingrich Era.. Even NPR, which is largely funded by feminist men and women, undercut NOW's accomplishments in leading the feminist struggle by quoting anti-feminist Beverly LaHaye, who smeared by calling it "out of touch." Meanwhile, NPR's coverage of Bob Dole's announcement of his presidential campaign included not a single quote from a critic, despite a career devoted to erecting barriers to the aspirations of women and minorities. Protest NPR's blatant double-standard. If you contribute to public radio, and you're getting as angry at their coverage as we are, tell them their coverage has shifted unacceptably towards the conservative line since the last election, and you may not renew your membership if they keep it up. E-mail to NPR at atc@npr.org, write to 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001, or call 202-414-3232 #3. Gingrich tells 21 bald-faced lies on to Brinkley on ABC. On Sunday's "Brinkley", Gingrich said he "supported the availability" of federally financed abortions for women who are victims of rape or incest. "I think you should have funding in the case of rape or incest or life of the mother," he said. Gingrich has voted to *DENY* women access to abortions in cases of rape and incest on *21* separate occasions. On *17* of those occasions, Gingrich voted to deny women access to abortions even if their *LIVES* were at risk. 10/3/92 Fazio-AuCoin amendment to DoD Authorization bill permitting military personnel and dependents to obtain abortions in military hospitals using their own funds. 6/4/92 Fazio-AuCoin amendment to DoD Authorization bill permitting military personnel and dependents to obtain abortions in military hospitals using their own funds. 5/22/91 Fazio-AuCoin amendment to DoD Authorization bill permitting military personnel and dependents to obtain abortions in military hospitals using their own funds. 10/25/90 Vote on conference report permitting D.C. to use its own funds for Medicaid abortions 9/19/90 Fazio-AuCoin amendment to DoD Authorization bill permitting military personnel and dependents to obtain abortions in military hospitals using their own funds. 10/25/89 Vote to override President Bush's veto of the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill containing Medicaid funding for abortions for victims of rape and incest 10/11/89 Boxer Amendment to the Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Bill, to provide Medicaid funding for abortions for victims of rape and incest 8/2/89 Dornan amendment denying federal funds for abortions for District residents with no exceptions, including the life of the woman 9/28/88 Dornan motion denying federal funds for abortions for District residents except for the life of the woman 9/9/88 Natcher motion rejecting Senate-approved funding under Medicaid for victims of rape and incest. 6/28/88 Dornan amendment denying federal funds for abortions for District residents with no exceptions, including the life of the woman 6/27/87 Dornan amendment denying federal funds for abortions for prisoners with no exceptions, including the life of the woman. 7/17/86 Dornan amendment denying federal funds for abortions for prisoners. 7/30/85 Smith amendment denying federal funds for abortions for District residents with no exceptions, including the life of the woman. 7/30/85 Dixon motion to kill Smith amendment to D.C. appropriations denying funds for abortions for District residents. 6/27/84 Boxer amendment to Treasury appropriations bill to overturn the 1983 Smith amendment. 10/27/83 Roybal "motion to rise" on the Treasury appropriations bill denying abortions to all federal employees. 9/22/83 Conte/Hyde amendment to Medicaid appropriations denying abortions to all poor women. 6/8/83 Smith amendment to Treasury appropriations bill denying all abortions to federal employees 7/30/81 Ashbrook amendment to Treasury appropriations bill denying all abortions to federal employees, except for the life of the woman 5/3/81 Ashbrook amendment to HR 3512, denying all abortions to federal employees Write or call ABC and demand a news report on Newt's 100% anti- choice voting record at the following address: ABC News, 1717 DeSales St., NW, Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-222-7777, Fax: 202-222-7686 or 7684 Bureau Chief: Robin Sproul #4. Clinton tells affirmative action supporters to listen to the "angry white man." Speaking to delegates at the CA Dem convention, who voted unanimously in support of affirmative action programs for women and minorities, Clinton accepted the conservative argument that affirmative action programs are detrimental to white men. "What we have done for women and minorities is a good thing. But we must respond to those who feel discriminated against. ... This is a psychologically difficult time for the so-called angry white man. ... We must ask ourselves, 'Are these programs working? Are they fair?'" Originally, Clinton had intended to avoid the issue, but the San Francisco Examiner reported that "thousands of 'No Retreat -- Stand up for Affirmative Action'signs and buttons here apparently forced the issue." E-mail the White House and tell President Clinton: 1. Angry white men have wives who work outside the home. Those wives are underpaid because of discrimination. If discrimination were eliminated, angry white men would have more money in their family bank accounts, and they could start being happy white men. 2. Angry white men want poor minorities to get off welfare. Minorities are disproportionately on welfare because of discrimination. If discrimination were eliminated, angry white men could pay lower taxes and become *ecstatic* white men. #5. Charter members. Thanks to so many of you for becoming Charter Members. We had planned to distribute the complete list at our 4/8 press conference. Unfortunately, we're behind in our data entry and didn't get it together in time. But we will post the list on our Web page when we catch up, and refer the press to it. Sorry! #6. Directory of current projects. This is the list of projects we have invited you to participate in. Feel free to join at any time by sending a message with these subject headings to the specified coordinator. * Web Committee (Aliza Sherman, asherman@interport.net). To develop our web pages into a fabulous resource. * Database Committee (Lois Frankel, lfrankel@pluto.njcc.com). To build our membership file and create a powerful national organization. * Press Committee-National (Carolyn Kamlet, EYDW81A@prodigy.com). To solicit national press coverage of our activities. * Press Committee-Local (Carolyn). To solicit local press coverage. * Press Coverage (Carolyn). Feedback on coverage of WLN that you see. * Form Local Committee (polwoman@aol.com). To form local chapters of WLN. We'll supply the names in your area. * Contract ON America Comm. (Robin Grant, 75507.2576@compuserve.com) To set the record straight on the first 100 days. * Media Watch Committee (polwoman@aol.com). To blow the whistle on biased, pro-Republican and/or anti-woman press coverage. * D.C. Event Committee (polwoman@aol.com). To plan a panel discussion on the topic: Can Congress's War on Women and Families be Stopped? From rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu Fri Apr 14 06:20:38 MDT 1995 Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 07:21:36 -0500 (CDT) From: rjensen Subject: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out (fwd) To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu i thought this might be of interest to some on the list. bob jensen university of texas rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Subject: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out Call for submissions... QUITTING PORNOGRAPHY: Men Speak Out About How They Did It PERSONAL STORIES WANTED! We are currently assembling personal accounts by men about quitting pornography. Our plan is to select, edit, and publish an anthology of these stories--in order to share information about techniques and strategies that have worked for men who want to break free of their use of pornography. Your contribution to this project will help fill an urgent and widespread need. We welcome submissions from all men who have tried to quit pornography. We invite you to tell your truth whatever your age, sexual orientation, political opinion, race, religious belief, or income level. We would appreciate a biographical note describing yourself and stating how you prefer to be identified. If you wish, your writing will be published anonymously. But we ask that you include your name, address, and phone number, so that if your submission is selected we can reach you during the editing process. TALK ABOUT THE METHOD THAT WORKED BEST FOR YOU. Because we realize that no single way will work for everyone, we hope to present a variety of men's voices detailing a wide variety of methods, including... * Personal trial and error * Counseling * Therapy * Activism * Going "cold turkey" * A 12-step recovery program * Behavior modification * Religious conviction * Consciousness-raising group * Honest dialogue with partner or friends * Life changes YOUR EXPERIENCE IS IMPORTANT. Share your struggles and successes, your relapses and resolve--whether long ago or recent, temporary or long-term. Nonwriters are welcome! Just tape-record your thoughts and send us a transcript. The experience you have to offer may be exactly what some other man needs to hear. * What is your own history of pornography use? * How was it involved when you masturbated? * How was pornography involved in your sex life? * What types did you use? * What made you realize that you wanted to quit? * What steps did you take? * What worked? What didn't? * For how long did you quit? * What were your most difficult stumbling blocks? * How did quitting affect your relationships? * How did quitting affect how you felt about yourself? SEND YOUR STORY (typed, please, double-spaced and via snail mail) TO: Men Against Pornography PO Box 150786 Brooklyn, NY 11215-0786 U.S.A. Manuscripts not chosen for publication will be returned if you enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. (Men Against Pornography is a group of profeminist men in New York City who want to help create sexual justice and who believe that pornography stands in the way of it. Since our founding in 1984, we have received numerous requests for help in assisting men to deal honestly and openly with pornography. In addition to leading workshops and initiating protests, members of Men Against Pornography have been featured on many local and national TV and radio broadcasts, including Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael, and in periodicals such as Ms., Changing Men, and The Activist Men's Journal. (Please post this message and/or forward it. Thanks.) From RNBBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@vaxf.Colorado.EDU Fri Apr 14 09:46:27 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 14 Apr 1995 09:41:08 -0600 (MDT) by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with RFC822 id 1947; Fri, Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 11:43:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Renate Bridenthal Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out (fwd) In-reply-to: Message of Fri, 14 Apr 1995 06:24:08 -0600 from To: matfem@CSF.COLORADO.EDU In re: Men Quitting Porn Maybe it's well-intentioned, but the kind of information exchange solicited sounds like more porn (on porn). Small groups in person would be better than internet, if they're serious. Or is this a subterfuge against the new directives vs. porn on internet? Paranoically, yours, Renate Bridenthal. From rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu Fri Apr 14 10:07:45 MDT 1995 Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 11:08:41 -0500 (CDT) From: rjensen Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out (fwd) To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu In-Reply-To: <01HPBP2H4YV6001Q2U@VAXF.COLORADO.EDU> On Fri, 14 Apr 1995, Renate Bridenthal wrote: > In re: Men Quitting Porn > Maybe it's well-intentioned, but the kind of information exchange > solicited sounds like more porn (on porn). Small groups in person would > be better than internet, if they're serious. Or is this a subterfuge > against the new directives vs. porn on internet? > Paranoically, yours, Renate Bridenthal. > i appreciate the concern expressed. i posted the call for papers because i know and trust some of the people in the group that is putting the anthology together. their goal is to produce a book that will be useful to men working in groups, or by themselves. i'd be happy to answer other questions if people have any. bob jensen rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu From reneeh@oitunix.oit.umass.edu Sat Apr 15 11:03:41 MDT 1995 Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 10:45:46 -0400 (EDT) From: RENEE J HEBERLE Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out In-reply-to: from "rjensen" at Apr 14, 95 10:13:55 am To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu The anthology proposed which will publish men's stories about 'quitting' porn depoliticizes the issue. It sounds just like the religious right's attitude, that porn is an obscene addiction that individual men should struggle with like they struggle with drugs or alcohol. I am sure there are some very nice men in the group...well-intentioned too. But just like Radical feminists should consider their implicit and sometimes explicit agreements with the political projects of the right-wing in legislating against pornography, this group should consider the general effect such an anthology has of depoliticizing the discourse on porn and thus participating in the obscuring of the feminist struggles to understand the politics of sexuality generally. Renee Heberle reneeh@titan.ucs.umass.edu From Leejane@aol.com Sat Apr 15 12:31:21 MDT 1995 From: Leejane@aol.com Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 14:32:21 -0400 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out um... renee? could you say more about how you see this project as having >>>>general effect such an anthology has of depoliticizing the discourse on porn and thus participating in the obscuring of the feminist struggles to understand the politics of sexuality generally.<<<< lee From lthiwil@uwovax.uwo.ca Sat Apr 15 19:16:53 MDT 1995 From: "L. THIELEN-WILSON" To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Date: Sat, 15 Apr 95 21:16:39 EDT Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out Renee: if the anthology of men's experiences with pornography focusses on how pornography contributes to the construction of the sort of male sexuality which eroticizes subordination and domination, and further explores how men might (indeed OUGHT to) struggle against this construction in order to create sexualities which don't require (neither presuppose nor perpetuate) the domination of others, then this is fairly "political" isn't it?? Isn't this the sort of political work men SHOULD be doing?? Granted, whether this particular group of male authors succeeds in doing this, remains to be seen. Re: your claim that "radical feminists should consider their implicit and sometimes explicit agreements with the political projects of the right-wing in legislating against pornography." Could you clarify what you mean by this? Isn't it fairly obvious that (what might seem to be) "the same conclusion" (e.g. "legislate against pornography") can be arrived at via very different sets of premises, rendering illusory the "agreement" you see between "radical feminists" and "right-wingers"? I think you have been unfair to both the above mentioned men, as well as to "radical feminists". I don't particularly care about the men, but I do care about the radical feminists, as I am one much of the time. ;) Leslie Thielen-Wilson Ph.D. Candidate, Philosophy University of Western Ontario London, Ontario. CANADA LTHIWIL@uwovax.uwo.ca From dhenwood@panix.com Sat Apr 15 22:49:17 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 00:49:36 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: dhenwood@panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out At 7:18 PM 4/15/95, L. THIELEN-WILSON wrote:> >Renee: if the anthology of men's experiences with pornography >focusses on how pornography contributes to the construction of >the sort of male sexuality which eroticizes subordination and >domination, and further explores how men might (indeed OUGHT to) >struggle against this construction in order to create sexualities >which don't require (neither presuppose nor perpetuate) the >domination of others, then this is fairly "political" isn't it?? Doesn't this little hypothetical pretty much assume what it sets out to prove? Let's forget the pious tone of the original, its dependence on a 12-step model of a very complex social phenomenon, the nonmaterialist ease with which one travels from picture to behavior, and just focus on this assumption: that porn, by definition, eroticizes subordination and domination - not in general, I assume, but the subordination/domination of women by men. Is that really what porn is about? Is porn that eroticizes the subordination of men to women - a not uncommon genre - equally offensive? Does sweet and toothless "erotica" fall under the same rubric? Is domination in play the same as domination in life? Can women, even materialist feminist women, enjoy porn? Doug -- Doug Henwood [dhenwood@panix.com] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax From jae2@tmphost.york.ac.uk Sun Apr 16 08:37:05 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 15:24:06 +0100 (BST) From: Judy Evans To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out In-Reply-To: On Sat, 15 Apr 1995, Doug Henwood wrote: (First in reply to various participants: I did write in querying the post - the authorship - and I am a woman. I think my sig. file makes that clear. Second I regret the tone of whoever - sorry, e-overload - said Lulu was a man; but it is true and no secret.) >> At 7:18 PM 4/15/95, L. THIELEN-WILSON wrote:> >> >> > >domination of others, then this is fairly "political" isn't it?? > > Doesn't this little hypothetical pretty much assume what it sets out to > prove? Let's forget the pious tone of the original, its dependence on a > 12-step model of a very complex social phenomenon, the nonmaterialist ease > with which one travels from picture to behavior, and just focus on this > assumption: that porn, by definition, eroticizes subordination and > domination - not in general, I assume, but the subordination/domination of > women by men. Is that really what porn is about? Is porn that eroticizes > the subordination of men to women - a not uncommon genre - equally > offensive? Does sweet and toothless "erotica" fall under the same rubric? > Is domination in play the same as domination in life? Can women, even > materialist feminist women, enjoy porn? Well as I have said it on other lists, here goes: there is porn that I 'enjoy', ie it turns me on. However I support Mackinnon - though with reservations pending knowing more about the Canadian rulings, which a woman on another list is researching now. Sheila Jeffreys says the response to enjoying porn is not to allege it is liberatory but to ask _why_ we like porn. I agree though I am not about to go into therapy for 20 years... I take objection to your 'even materialist feminist women', and I hope others on the list do too. ("Can men, even materialist men, dislike pornography?" How would you like it if someone said that? "Can men, even materialist men, support feminism?" And so on. Sneer sneer. I do of course know you were joking. Sure. Jokes are things men say that women have to find amusing for fear of being called A Feminist; worse, A Materialist Feminist. B o r i n g.) On your critique of the men concerned. I know the UK literature. I can get rather tired of the more introspective critiques, the self-absorption of certain writers. There are within the 'real' writers (ie excl Robert Bly and so on) 2 schools, here, the introspective/therapeutic and the more analytical. (Interestingly though of course, the latter are the more 'male' in method and tone.) But if men are trying to understand, they are. Is dominance in sexuality the same as dominance elsewhere? A woman I know works on the German romantics, who thought not. (There is a literature on this. I cannot - and I say that genuinely - look it up now.) (Oh, you said 'play'. Well, what is 'play'? How does it relate to 'life'? I am no postmodernist but think Judith Butler would be a good source for reflecting on that. Meanwhile: is it not our ideas, insofar as they can be ours, that we 'play out'?) --------------------------------------------------------------- Judy Evans + Politics + jae2@york.ac.uk --------------------------------------------------------------- From rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu Sun Apr 16 10:14:38 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 11:15:41 -0500 (CDT) From: rjensen Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu In-Reply-To: because i posted the "quitting pornography" call for submissions, i feel i should respond to the criticisms. the group that is putting together the book (men against pornography, in NY) is extremely political. they work from the feminist critique of pornography most often associated with catharine mackinnon and andrea dworkin. not everyone agrees with that political position, but it is a political position. i believe that it is a political act for men to stop using pornography. the call mentions 12-step recovery programs as one of many possible method men might have used to stop using pornography. this is not an endorsement by the group of 12-step programs, merely an acknowledgement that many people use them to cope with such problems. like others, i worry that 12-step programs tend to personalize and de-politicize problems that are political. but i also have friends who tell me that one can get help through a 12-step program and be political at the same time. if one of the insights of feminist theory and politics is that our personal actions in private have political implications, then a volume such as this seems in keeping with feminist theory and politics. finally, i think concerns about pornography are materialist. pornography has material effects in the world. among other things, it gets women and children raped. to say that is not to argue that it ever is a sole cause of rape, but to suggest it is implicated in rape. i realize not everyone agrees with that conclusion. i defend it at greater length in a recent article, "pornographic lives," in a new journal called Violence Against Women (Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1995). if your library does not get the journal, send me your mailing address and i would be happy to send you a copy. best, bob jensen university of texas rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu From dhenwood@panix.com Sun Apr 16 10:33:25 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 12:34:07 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: dhenwood@panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out At 8:37 AM 4/16/95, Judy Evans wrote: >I take objection to your 'even materialist feminist women', and I hope >others on the list do too. >("Can men, even materialist men, dislike pornography?" How would you >like it if someone said that? "Can men, even materialist men, support >feminism?" And so on. Sneer sneer. >I do of course know you were joking. Sure. Jokes are things men say >that women have to find amusing for fear of being called A Feminist; >worse, A Materialist Feminist. B o r i n g.) Nah, that's not me. I'd call myself a materialist feminist. There's nothing boring about it. There's no sneer in the line. I was trying to draw a distinction between a set of people with a specific analysis of the world and those who don't subscribe to that specific analysis. I guess I was hoping, indirectly, for a specifically materialist feminist account of porn that had something more to offer than the one offered by Andrea Dworkin's squeeze. Doug -- Doug Henwood [dhenwood@panix.com] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax From jae2@tmphost.york.ac.uk Sun Apr 16 10:54:14 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 17:55:35 +0100 (BST) From: Judy Evans To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out In-Reply-To: On Sun, 16 Apr 1995, Doug Henwood wrote: > Nah, that's not me. I'd call myself a materialist feminist. There's nothing > boring about it. There's no sneer in the line. I was trying to draw a > distinction between a set of people with a specific analysis of the world > and those who don't subscribe to that specific analysis. I guess I was So why 'even'? (That is, 'even a materialist feminist...'.) > hoping, indirectly, for a specifically materialist feminist account of porn > that had something more to offer than the one offered by Andrea Dworkin's > squeeze. 'squeeze'? How about Mackinnon? (There are materialist accounts in Catherine Itzin ed Pornography, Oxford UP 1992, 1993; empirical accounts - I am making the distinction because I am not sure what your conception of matfem is - in Diana Russell ed Making Violence Sexy, Open University Press 1993. These were the books I happened to have nearest to my computer so doubtless there will be more.) --------------------------------------------------------------- Judy Evans + Politics + jae2@york.ac.uk --------------------------------------------------------------- From dhenwood@panix.com Sun Apr 16 16:13:41 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 18:14:01 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: dhenwood@panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out At 10:55 AM 4/16/95, Judy Evans wrote: >On Sun, 16 Apr 1995, Doug Henwood wrote: > >> Nah, that's not me. I'd call myself a materialist feminist. There's nothing >> boring about it. There's no sneer in the line. I was trying to draw a >> distinction between a set of people with a specific analysis of the world >> and those who don't subscribe to that specific analysis. I guess I was > >So why 'even'? (That is, 'even a materialist feminist...'.) >> hoping, indirectly, for a specifically materialist feminist account of porn >> that had something more to offer than the one offered by Andrea Dworkin's >> squeeze. > >'squeeze'? Squeeze, American slang for lover, companion, partner, etc. I'm almost sure that the organizer of MAP is Dworkin's lover/companion/partner, whose name is, if I remember right, John Stoltenberg. >How about Mackinnon? How about her? I think she's chilling, but that's just my personal opinion. Doug -- Doug Henwood [dhenwood@panix.com] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax From jae2@tmphost.york.ac.uk Sun Apr 16 16:37:35 MDT 1995 Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 23:38:56 +0100 (BST) From: Judy Evans To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out In-Reply-To: On Sun, 16 Apr 1995, Doug Henwood wrote: > At 10:55 AM 4/16/95, Judy Evans wrote: > > >On Sun, 16 Apr 1995, Doug Henwood wrote: > > > >How about Mackinnon? > > How about her? I think she's chilling, but that's just my personal opinion. > I see. Well, I hope you found my other refs useful. Maybe you could say what you would like to see in a materialist analysis of pornography - I have phrased that badly - maybe you could be more specific than you have been so far. I assume you have not read _Only Words_. But perhaps you have. I would call it moving. Most certainly not chilling. While that is only my opinion, it is not my opinion alone. --------------------------------------------------------------- Judy Evans + Politics + jae2@york.ac.uk --------------------------------------------------------------- From jg0a@lehigh.edu Mon Apr 17 07:37:20 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 09:38:14 EDT From: jg0a@lehigh.edu (Jane Gassner) X-ack: Please RSVP to this message to acknowledge that you have received it. Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu >Squeeze, American slang for lover, companion, partner, etc. I'm almost sure >that the organizer of MAP is Dworkin's lover/companion/partner, whose name >is, if I remember right, John Stoltenberg. > >>How about Mackinnon? > >How about her? I think she's chilling, but that's just my personal opinion. > >Doug And this is the point where Doug degenerates into a personal attack. Having, for whatever reason, nothing of substance to say about Dworkin and Mackinnon, he changes the arena of the debate to Dworkin's personal life, Mackinnon's personality. Jane Gassner jg0a@lehigh.edu From dhenwood@panix.com Mon Apr 17 09:17:58 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 11:18:44 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: dhenwood@panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: Re: QUITTING PORN: Men Speak Out At 7:39 AM 4/17/95, Jane Gassner wrote [responding to me]: >>How about her? I think she's chilling, but that's just my personal opinion. >> >>Doug > >And this is the point where Doug degenerates into a personal attack. Having, >for whatever reason, nothing of substance to say about Dworkin and Mackinnon, >he changes the arena of the debate to Dworkin's personal life, Mackinnon's >personality. I won't quote the classic "personal is political," because that's tired and obvious. There was nothing personal about any of these observations. Mackinnon and Dworkin chill me because I see in them grimness and repression - neo-Puritanism. I don't censors; they shouldn't either, because Ed Meese would as soon censor them as censor Larry Flynt. Dworkin's writing seems quite violent to me, which is what makes her a good polemicist, but one could psychoanalyze that stylistic detail, if one were given to such personalizing modes of inquiry. Doug -- Doug Henwood [dhenwood@panix.com] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax From DLLAFAA%CFRVM.BITNET@vaxf.Colorado.EDU Mon Apr 17 09:58:43 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 17 Apr 1995 09:54:40 -0600 (MDT) Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 09:30:17 -0400 (EDT) From: "Linda Lopez McAlister, SWIP-L Moderator" Subject: Call for Papers: Women and Violence To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu *** Resending note of 04/17/95 09:26 To: SWIP --CMSNAMES From: Linda Lopez McAlister, SWIP-L Moderator Call for Papers: Women and Violence. Hypatia is seeking papers for a special issue on Women and Violence to be guest edited by Bat-Ami Bar On. This issue will bring together diverse examinations of women's victimization by and participation in violence in an attempt to reconsider and reconceptualize the relationship between women and violence in light of discussions of such topics as voice, agency, the body, resistance, responsibility, and the old and new feminist "sex wars." Among the topics that contributors might address are: 1. What does or should count as violence against women? Should the otherwise common distinction between violence and coercion, for example, be preserved or dismissed? What about the distinction between physical and mental violence? 2. Do differences such as those of race or ethnicity, class, or age make a difference with regard to violence against women? That is to say, is there a theoretically significant specificity to, e.g., rape or battering that is a function of a woman's social location? What about context? Is there a theoretically significant specificity to, e.g., rape when it happens during a war like the one in Bosnia or during torture in a state-operated detention center? 3. There are all sorts of situations in which women either inflict violence on other women or are implicated in the violent victimization of other women. Is the violent victimization of women by other women different in kind from the violent victimization of women by men? Is lesbian battering different from bettering in the context of a heterosexual relationship, for example? What about the Euroamerican women implicated in violence against African-American or Native American women slaves or Nazi women implicated in violence against Jewish or Roma women? 4. Women are the perpetrators of or implicated in violence used not only against other women but against others, as well, be they family members such as their own children or strangers. Does this require a feminist rethinking of violence, especially as this concept is understood in phrases such as "violence against women"? 5. Among the strategies used by activists who are working on violence against women internationally is the expansion of the concept of human rights to include women's rights of protection against violence. This strategy has been working but is it satisfactory? Are there other ethico-political discourses that could or should be used in the context of policy recommendations, especially in the international arena? 6. Rights have also been mobilized to make sense of women's training in the martial arts, teaching self-defense, and of women killing their batterers. This mobilization has and may require a rethinking of rights both as legal rights and as ethico-political ones. How fruitful have the changes been? Are there other ethico- political discourses that could be mobilized to make sense of this kind of participation by women in violence? 7. Is the violence of women's self-defense distinctly different from victimizing violence? 8. How is one to view women's soldiering or participation in guerilla groups, since these contexts are different from whose of women inflicting violence on other women or using it in self defense. 9. The relationship to violence may be an engendering one. If it is, is women's victimization by violence normative of being gendered as female and women's participation in violence transgressive of these very norms? All papers should be submitted in quadruplicate and identified as submissions for the Women and Violence issue. Send them to Hypatia, Department of Women's Studies, HMS 413, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 postmarked no later than November 15, 1995. Anticipated date of publication is Fall, 1996. From dhenwood@panix.com Tue Apr 18 08:44:41 MDT 1995 Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 10:45:34 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: dhenwood@panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: MAP & Stoltenberg Alex Cockburn's new book, The Golden Age Is In Us, contains a memo on John Stoltenberg, who is the life-companion since 1974 of Andrea Dworkin and the genius loci of Men Against Pornography. AC gives only the first name of the memo's author, Michael - he is not one to clutter a text with references. But I can reveal that the author is a former researcher of mine who went on to do a term as Cockburn's intern at The Nation. Michael had the painful task of reading Stoltenberg's book The End of Manhood for AC, and offered a precis. "Manhood is a vertical palisades, perpendicular to a base line of female bodies," wrote Stoltenberg. "Authentic human selfhood can only be horizontal." Apparently there are diagrams to illustrate this deep truth. According to a person intimate with the facts whom Michael consulted, Stoltenberg is attempting to keep himself from having an erection, "for the reason that there is no such thing as consensual heterosexual relations, and that the erect penis can only be understood as a tool of rape." (This is Michael's wording, by the way, but I've known Michael for years, and completely trust his reporting.) Michael notes that there's no hint of Stoltenberg's aspiration to impotence in the text, but quotes a passage observing that in the male, erection, orgasm, and ejaculation are completely separate phenomena; one can have one or two without the other one or two. I'd love to hear Jeff Masson's analysis of this. Doug -- Doug Henwood [dhenwood@panix.com] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax From poss@utdallas.edu Tue Apr 18 08:46:42 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 09:47:43 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: PW Hotline #4 (fwd) This is a long message, but I need to read "spins" like this given that I live in the special place mentioned in item #2 that voted to turn down federal funds for AIDS prevention in order to discouraged immoral behaviour. Melinda Poss ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 00:48:33 -0400 From: PolWoman@aol.com Subject: PW Hotline #4 Political Woman Hotline Volume 1 #4 April 17, 1995 -------------------------------------------- Day 104 of the Contract ON America Only 568 days until Election Day 1996 1,678 responses so far! -------------------------------------------- copyright 1995 political woman inc. #1. Foster Nomination Heats Up Bob Dole raised the stakes on the Foster nomination on Sunday when he declared his opposition to Foster and said he was "not certain" he would call it up for a vote on the Senate floor. Dole is clearly playing politics with Foster's nomination and pandering to the politically powerful religious right. In fact, Dole has little choice if he wants to win the GOP primaries, because the Christian Coalition and its allies have gained control of more than 20 GOP state committees, including in Dole's home state of Kansas (see the Wall St. Journal 4/10/95). Dole has convinced the media that he is a "moderate," despite the fact that he has voted more than *100* times against a woman's right to choose. To cement his ties to the religious right, he has hired Christian Coalition field organizers for his presidential campaign, including Steve Scheffler, one of Pat Robertson's leading Iowa organizers in his 1988 presidential campaign. Still, Dole is under pressure from presidential candidates further to his right. Pat Buchanan wants to use the Foster nomination as the occasion for Congressional hearings on when life begins. Phil Gramm (R-TX) has threatened a filibuster if the nomination reaches the floor of the Senate. Alan Keyes and Bob Dornan are also running as implacable and outspoken foes of abortion. Meanwhile, the religious right has been waging a relentless campaign against Foster since the day he was nominated. Using now-infamous inside-the-Beltway character assasination tactics, they have attacked Foster for a dozen reasons, including: performing abortions, distributing condoms with parental consent, supporting sex education, serving on a local Planned Parenthood board, sterilizing institutionalized developmentally disabled women in the 1960s, condoning the infamous Tuskegee syphillis studies, mismanaging Meharry Medical College, and most recently for racism against whites. They have attacked Foster constantly in their various TV and radio shows and mobilized their grassroots to flood Congressional offices with phone calls, mostly focusing on abortion and sex education. The irony, of course, is that Dr. Foster has been a staunch advocate of abstinence-based sex education, teen pregnancy prevention, and youth drug treatment programs. His "I Have a Future" won one of anti- choice President Bush's "Thousand Points of Light" awards, in recognition of its efforts to combat teen pregnancy. Still, the right is determined to destroy his reputation, starting by linking him to their previous character assassination victim, former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. The Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed called him "Joycelyn Elders in a coat and tie." James Smith of the Southern Baptist Commission's Christian Life Commission said "Now we have the 'Condom King,' as opposed to the 'Condom Queen,' Elders.". Bob McCallister, a regular commentator on James Dobson's Family News in Focus, went further, calling Foster "worse than" Elders. "Dr. Joycelyn Elders had a big mouth; her would-be replacement, Dr. Henry Foster, has actually done the things Elders only talked about.... This gynecologist has blood on his hands." The National Right to Life Committee nicknamed Foster "Dr. Abortion," and widely distributed a disputed "transcript" in which Dr. Foster is quoted saying he had performed 700 amniocentesis genetic tests and therapeutic abortions. Dr. Foster has denied making the comment, and, more importantly, has said unequivocally that the statement is not true. Judie Brown of the American Life League called Foster "your worst nightmare come true... a ghoul" and charged Foster with having "opted out of the Hippocratic Oath" for performing abortions. The Traditional Values Coalition called him "a Dr. Kevorkian" with "blood on his hands." Although its rhetoric is desperate, the religious right is not unhappy about the upcoming Congressional fight -- in fact, it relishes it as revenge for the exclusion of abortion from the GOP Contract With America. Concerned Women for America's Janet Parshall was almost gleeful in her anticipation, buoyantly boasting: "Let the games begin. I couldn't be happier.... I remember a whole lot of Republicans saying, the first 100 days we are talking about the Contract With America. Abortion will not even be an issue. Even some presidential wanna-be's said abortion will not be an issue and...bang! Abortion is an issue." In fact, the religious right is making the Foster nomination a test of Congressional Republicans. Gary Bauer said "We will count on the new U.S. Congress that was elected with the votes of millions of pro- family Americans not to repeat the mistake that was made when Dr. Joycelyn Elders was inflicted on our children." Judie Brown predicted that "all hell is going to break loose" if the nomination proceeded. In response to this vicious campaign, the nation's largest pro-choice organizations have geared up major efforts on Foster's behalf: The National Abortion Rights and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) is organizing a *free* telegram campaign to Senators. Simply e-mail your name and address (to verify that you are a constituent) to NARAL@ais.net and NARAL will send telegrams to *your* senators, in *your* name. The telegram reads: "I support the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster as Surgeon General of the United States. Safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right -- not a crime. As a pro-choice American, I am outraged by efforts to vilify this individual whose long and honored career should be an inspiration to every American.I urge you to support Dr. Foster's nomination." Planned Parenthood and People for the American Way have launched what they call the "first national lobbying effort on the information superhighway on behalf of a presidential nominee" by establishing a comprehensive World Wide Web homepage on the Foster nomination battle. The "Support Dr. Henry Foster" homepage is located at URL http://www.igc.apc.org/foster_action/. The page includes an "electronic petition," through which Internet users may offer written messages of support for Dr. Foster. The messages will be sent to appropriate Senate and White House offices. In response to Dole's implied threat to prevent a vote on Foster's nomination, Senator Barbara Boxer weighed in on Monday by issuing a strongly-worded warning to tie up Senate business if Foster's nomination was denied a vote. "To prevent a vote in this case would be a serious breach of faith with the American people," she said. "Dr. Foster deserves a full and fair hearing and a vote by the full Senate, and ... to deny him such treatment would be an affront to millions of Americans who support a woman's right to choose and believe an individual should not be denied the opportunity to serve as Surgeon General simply because he was involved in a medical practice that confronted the difficult issue of choice. It is precisely because of this controversy that the American people deserve to hear their leaders debate the nomination openly and honestly on the Senate floor." Boxer said she would withhold "unanimous consent" on other Senate business, without which the Senate cannot function. The Senate Labor and Human Resources Commitee, chaired by Senator Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.), is scheduled to hold confirmation hearings on May 2, 1995 and may continue onto May 3. What you can do: 1. Put your Senators' names and numbers in your e-mail, fax, phone, and snail-mail address books (see #4 below). Do it *now* so you don't forget (and so we don't have to send it out again)! 2. e-mail NARAL to have them send a *free* telegram to your Senators in your name. 3. visit the PPFA/PAW homepage and sign their "electronic petition". if you don't have access to the Web and would like a copy of the documents e-mailed to you, send us a message with the subject "Foster Documents." 4. send a copy of the PPFA/PAW suggested letter to your Senators: The Honorable ____________________ U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator _______________ Dr. Henry Foster is a superbly qualified nominee for U.S. Surgeon General. He has long advocated responsible reproductive health policies that protect women's health, strengthen families, combat teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion. I urge you to examine Dr. Foster's impressive credentials as an educator and physician and approve his nomination for Surgeon General. Our families deserve the best. Sincerely, _______________ 5. Contact your local Planned Parenthood, NARAL, or other pro-choice groups about participating in a meeting with your Senator in the district. 6. Express your support for Dr. Foster in the newspapers and on talk shows. Don't let the right turn Dr. Foster into a monster -- he could be *your* ob/gyn. #2. Briefs: It's tax day. And there's one question we're *dying* to know the answer to -- and maybe some of you can help us. The question is: What percentage of total tax dollars are being paid by *women*? The *reason* we want to know the answer is simple: it is a sacred American principle that taxation creates an entitlement to *representation.* We know that women hold 8% of the Senate, 11% of the House, 2% of the governorships, and 20% of the state legislatures. Chances are, women pay around *40%* of the taxes -- just counting their *own* income, not even including their appropriate share of their husbands' incomes. If we had an answer to this question, we could launch the 1996 campaign next April 15 with Tea Parties all across the country demanding representation in proportion to our taxation -- that is, 40% (or whatever) of our representatives at all levels should be women. Naturally, this percentage will increase in the years to come as women's particpation in the workforce comes to equal men's, and women's wages draw closer -- so each year thereafter, we can demand even higher representation. To discuss statistical ways to simplify and answer this question, drop us a note with the subject "Taxation." The New York Times reported (4/17/95) on the House-passed bill to deny welfare benefits to unmarried teenagers. The bill is premised on the idea that denial of payments will cause teenage girls to avoid sex. No evidence is cited to support this premise, and the interviews with real teenage mothers prove the opposite: that a welfare cutoff will make no difference, since welfare payments were the furthest thing from the girls' minds when they got pregnant (or contemplated abortions). Buried in the article is the opinion of professionals who work with teenage girls that the only effective approach is "motivating teen-age girls to delay their first pregnancy through programs that offer mentors and other role models and foster career goals." The article gives no consideration to first pregnancy prevention through sex education and birth control, and completely avoids any discussion of the responsibility of men (who are generally adults) to avoid impregnating teenage girls. If you think the Times could report this story more completely, send a letter to the Times at 229 W. 43rd St., New York,. NY 10036. The Times reported (4/17/95) that religious right leaders are playing it coy in the Iowa caucuses, where religious right votes hold the balance of power. While some local activists were leaning towards Phil Gramm, they backed off when Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition instructed them to hold off. Reed has apparently calculated that the longer he waits, the more candidates will have to beg for his flock's votes. Reed's supporters are avoiding the most conservative candidates, Alan Keyes and Pat Buchanan, because they don't think they can win. But they are tiring of Phil Gramm, who has avoided making strong anti-abortion statements. They are increasingly being drawn to Bob Dole because he is catering to them, as his announced opposition to Henry Foster demonstrates (see item #1). The Times also reported on freshman GOP Congressman Michael Forbes of Long Island who, along with other freshman Republicans, began preparing for his 1996 reelection campaign even before the first 100 days was over. At a GOP seminar, Forbes was told to write home often at taxpayer expense, to "spin" the 100 days record ("Big Picture: Republicans Win"), and to apply the "move test" to his campaign strategy: "being so tough on opponents that any sane person would rather move away than suffer the humiliation of taking on another race like that," as the Times put it. If you think this official GOP strategy is arrogant, repulsive, and antithetical to democracy, send a letter to the Times (see above). The Times also reported that the new Republican majority on the Dallas County Commission voted to prohibit the county health department from handing out condoms and bleach kits to drug addicts and other high-risk groups to prevent the spread of AIDS. The Republicans want the department to "emphasize abstinence or monogamous sex and a drug-free life. They said the county should not subsidize what they called illegal or immoral activities," according to the Times. In fact, *all* of the funds for condoms and bleach kits come from the *federal* government. The prevention program, which began in 1986, helped Dallas go from #9 in AIDS cases nationally to #20. Looks like the new city fathers would rather be #1 if it makes the local religious right happy. #3. Letters to the Hotline. We welcome your letters and comments on items which appear in the Hotline. Using the "reply" feature of your e-mail software should keep the "PW Hotline #" in the subject line. If you want your comments to remain private, add "-Private" to the subject line. If you want us to include your full name and e-mail address so readers can respond directly to you, add "-Fullname" to the subject line. Re: NOW Rally for Women's Lives I was disgusted, but not really surprised, by the lack of media attention to this very important march. Local and national news claimed the crowd was only 50,000 strong, as if women's lives are not important enough to draw bigger numbers. We all know this is untrue, that there were far more than 50,000 there. But the media seemed more interested in getting on to more important things - like the latest OJ trial gossip. What do we have to do to let the world know we are SERIOUS? Can we have a discussion on civil disobedience? Should we be more violent? Are we women being too wimpy about standing up for what we believe? I keep thinking that we are being backed so far into a corner, that we will have no choice but to come out fighting and it's sad that the only way to really get through to these redneck Republican bastards is either through money or violence. They seem to worship the NRA and guns more than human lives. How do we as women live with this growing fear and frustration that voting and writing letters and having nice protests IS NO LONGER ENOUGH? -Marie Jones (REERON@aol.com) As for your impression of the media, I would like to mention that some of the local Boston TV stations led their evening news broadcasts with positive stories about the march. -Ian Douglas Agranat (ian@agranat.com) #4. UNITED STATES CONGRESS SENATE DIRECTORY 104th Congress 1995-96 Mail to: Washington, D.C. 20510 E-Mail correspondence may be limited to constituents. Include your mailing address with your e-mail message if a reply is desired. P ST Name and Address Phone & E-Mail Fax = == ======================== ============== ============== R AK Murkowski, Frank H. 1-202-224-6665 1-202-224-5301 R AK Stevens, Ted 1-202-224-3004 1-202-224-1044 D AL Heflin, Howell T. 1-202-224-4124 1-202-224-3149 R AL Shelby, Richard C. 1-202-224-5744 1-202-224-3416 D AR Bumpers, Dale 1-202-224-4843 1-202-224-6435 D AR Pryor, David 1-202-224-2353 1-202-224-8261 R AZ Kyl, Jon 1-202-224-4521 1-202-224-2302 R AZ McCain, John 1-202-224-2235 1-202-228-2862 D CA Boxer, Barbara 1-202-224-3553 na D CA Feinstein, Dianne 1-202-224-3841 1-202-228-3954 R CO Campbell, Ben N. 1-202-224-5852 1-202-225-0228 R CO Brown, Henry 1-202-224-5941 1-202-224-6471 senator_brown@brown.senate.gov D CT Dodd, Christopher J. 1-202-224-2823 na sendodd@dodd.senate.gov D CT Lieberman, Joseph I. 1-202-224-4041 1-202-224-9750 D DE Biden Jr., Joseph R. 1-202-224-5042 1-202-224-0139 R DE Roth Jr. William V. 1-202-224-2441 1-202-224-2805 D FL Graham, Robert 1-202-224-3041 1-202-224-2237 R FL Mack, Connie 1-202-224-5274 1-202-224-8022 D GA Nunn, Samuel 1-202-224-3521 1-202-224-0072 R GA Coverdell, Paul 1-202-224-3643 1-202-228-3783 senator_coverdell@coverdell.senate.gov D HI Akaka, Daniel K. 1-202-224-6361 1-202-224-2126 D HI Inouye, Daniel K. 1-202-224-3934 1-202-224-6747 D IA Harkin, Thomas 1-202-224-3254 1-202-224-7431 tom_harkin@harkin.senate.gov R IA Grassley, Charles E. 1-202-224-3744 1-202-224-6020 R ID Craig, Larry E. 1-202-224-2752 1-202-224-2573 larry.craig@craig.senate.gov R ID Kempthorne, Dirk 1-202-224-6142 1-202-224-5893 dirk_kempthorne@kempthorne.senate.gov D IL Moseley-Braun, Carol 1-202-224-2854 1-202-224-2626 D IL Simon, Paul 1-202-224-2152 1-202-224-0868 senator@simon.senate.gov R IN Coats, Daniel R. 1-202-224-5623 1-202-224-8964 R IN Lugar, Richard G. 1-202-224-4814 1-202-224-7877 R KS Dole, Robert 1-202-224-6521 1-202-224-8952 R KS Kassebaum, Nancy L. 1-202-224-4774 1-202-224-3514 D KY Ford, Wendell H. 1-202-224-4343 1-202-224-0046 SOB wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov R KY McConnell, Mitch 1-202-224-2541 1-202-224-2499 D La Breaux, John B. 1-202-224-4623 1-202-224-2435 D LA Johnston, J. Bennett 1-202-224-5824 1-202-224-2952 D MA Kennedy, Edward M. 1-202-224-4543 1-202-224-2417 senator@kennedy.senate.gov http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/Kennedy/homepage.html) D MA Kerry, John F. 1-202-224-2742 1-202-224-8525 D MD Mikulski, Barbara A. 1-202-224-4654 1-202-224-8858 D MD Sarbanes, Paul S. 1-202-224-4524 1-202-224-1651 R ME Snowe, Olympia 1-202-224-5344 1-202-224-6853 R ME Cohen, William S. 1-202-224-2523 1-202-224-2693 D MI Levin, Carl 1-202-224-6221 na R MI Abraham, Spencer 1-202-224-4822 1-202-224-8834 D MN Wellstone, Paul 1-202-224-5641 1-202-224-8438 R MN Grams, Rod 1-202-224-3244 1-202-224-9931 R MO Bond, Christopher S. 1-202-224-5721 1-202-224-8149 R MO Ashcroft, John 1-202-224-6154 1-202-224-7615 R MS Cochran, Thad 1-202-224-5054 1-202-224-3576 R MS Lott, Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262 D MT Baucus, Max 1-202-224-2651 na R MT Burns, Conrad R. 1-202-224-2644 1-202-224-8594 R NC Faircloth, D. M. 1-202-224-3154 1-202-224-7406 R NC Helms, Jesse 1-202-224-6342 1-202-224-7588 D ND Conrad, Kent 1-202-224-2043 1-202-224-7776 D ND Dorgan, Byron L. 1-202-224-2551 1-202-224-1193 D NE Exon, J. J. 1-202-224-4224 1-202-224-5213 D NE Kerrey, Bob 1-202-224-6551 1-202-224-7645 R NH Gregg, Judd 1-202-224-3324 1-202-224-4952 R NH Smith, Robert 1-202-224-2841 1-202-224-1353 D NJ Bradley, William 1-202-224-3224 1-202-224-8567 D NJ Lautenberg, Frank R. 1-202-224-4744 1-202-224-9707 D NM Bingaman, Jeff 1-202-224-5521 na Senator_Bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov R NM Domenici, Pete V. 1-202-224-6621 1-202-224-7371 D NV Bryan, Richard H. 1-202-224-6244 1-202-224-1867 D NV Reid, Harry 1-202-224-3542 1-202-224-7327 D NY Moynihan, Daniel P. 1-202-224-4451 na R NY D'Amato, Alfonse M. 1-202-224-6542 1-202-224-5871 D OH Glenn, John 1-202-224-3353 1-202-224-7983 R OH Dewine, Michael 1-202-224-2315 1-202-224-6519 R OK Inhofe, James 1-202-224-4721 R OK Nickles, Donald 1-202-224-5754 1-202-224-6008 R OR Hatfield, Mark O. 1-202-224-3753 1-202-224-0276 R OR Packwood, Robert 1-202-224-5244 1-202-228-3576 R PA Santorum, Rick 1-202-224-6324 1-202-228-4991 R PA Specter, Arlen 1-202-224-4254 1-202-224-1893 D RI Pell, Claiborne 1-202-224-4642 1-202-224-4680 R RI Chafee, John H. 1-202-224-2921 na D SC Hollings, Ernest F. 1-202-224-6121 1-202-224-4293 R SC Thurmond, Strom 1-202-224-5972 1-202-224-1300 D SD Daschle, Thomas A. 1-202-224-2321 1-202-224-2047 tom_daschle@daschle.senate.gov R SD Pressler, Larry 1-202-224-5842 larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov R TN Thompson, Fred 1-202-224-4944 1-202-228-3679 R TN Frist, Bill 1-202-224-3344 1-202-224-8062 R TX Hutchison, Kay Bailey 1-202-224-5922 1-202-224-0776 R TX Gramm, Phil 1-202-224-2934 1-202-228-2856 R UT Bennett, Robert 1-202-224-5444 1-202-224-6717 R UT Hatch, Orrin G. 1-202-224-5251 1-202-224-6331 D VA Robb, Charles S. 1-202-224-4024 1-202-224-8689 Senator_Robb@robb.senate.gov vascr@CapAccess.org R VA Warner, John W. 1-202-224-2023 1-202-224-6295 senator@warner.senate.gov D VT Leahy, Patrick J. 1-202-224-4242 1-202-224-3595 senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov R VT Jeffords, James M. 1-202-224-5141 na D WA Murray, Patty 1-202-224-2621 1-202-224-0238 R WA Gorton, Slade 1-202-224-3441 1-202-224-9393 Senator_Gorton@gorton.senate.gov D WI Feingold, Russell 1-202-224-5323 na russell_feingold@feingold.senate.gov D WI Kohl, Herbert H. 1-202-224-5653 1-202-224-9787 D WV Byrd, Robert C. 1-202-224-3954 1-202-224-4025 D WV Rockefeller, John D. 1-202-224-6472 1-202-224-1689 R WY Simpson, Alan K. 1-202-224-3424 1-202-224-1315 R WY Thomas, Craig 1-202-224-6441 1-202-224-3230 From soa00@cc.keele.ac.uk Thu Apr 20 03:13:39 MDT 1995 From: "J. Van Every" Subject: Re: political women hotline ... To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:15:36 +0100 (BST) In-Reply-To: from "matfem@csf.colorado.edu" at Apr 18, 95 08:51:39 am I don't know about everybody else but I joined this list for particular reasons. I do not live in the USA and though interested in the horrible right wing things going on there they are not as high on my agenda as they may be for US women. For this reason I find it annoying that an academic list (even a politically informed one) that I have joined frequently has LONG posts which are at best tangential to its main purpose. Surely there is a better place for these posts and if we all knew about them we could subscribe there for this information. When I have complained about this sort of US cultural/political imperialism on the net before, other women from outside the US have written to me saying they have learned to put up with it. I don't see why we should. This may sound nasty but I really wish that US women would start to think that other people subscribe to these lists, and that US politics is not the most important thing going on in the world. Sorry to rant. Jo VanEvery soa00@cc.keele.ac.uk From utscherm@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu Thu Apr 20 07:02:50 MDT 1995 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 08:02:49 -0500 (CDT) From: Timothy Scherman Subject: Re: political women hotline ... To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu In-Reply-To: <18711.9504200915@potter.cc.keele.ac.uk> Dear Jo, There are countless reasons why posts on American politics' bearing on women should appear on this list, from the economic and political influence of the US world-wide, to the mere fact that the list emanates from a site called "colorado.edu." Granting your exception to them, I will say for my own part that I find these THE most important things coming from matfem, and I hope they will continue to appear. Timothy H. Scherman Northeastern Illinois Unversity From jbarison@students.wisc.edu Thu Apr 20 07:58:32 MDT 1995 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 09:04:34 -0600 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: jbarison@students.wisc.edu (jeannette barisonzi) Subject: Re: political women hotline ... It has been my experience that especially during the 1980s many academic feminists isolated themselves to theoretical debates and campus activities. I find it INCREDIBLY encouraging that on this list we are mixing ideological and concrete discussions. The stands that academic women have taken in defense of welfare, for example, show that class lines can be crossed in our activism. The attitude that a loss of women's rights in the United States doesn't affect women in European countries saddens me. One of the supposed benefits of e-mail was to show us how small the world has become and how intricately affected we all are by each other. I hope that we can all continue to analyze how the retreat of the moderates in the United States is going to affect ALL of us and continue to develop strategies of resistance. Jeannette Barisonzi jbarison@students.wisc.edu From poss@utdallas.edu Thu Apr 20 08:36:28 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 09:37:34 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: political postings Since I am the one that has been reposting the WLN postings to Matfem, I thought I would ask what the consensus is on these. I personally have been getting uncomfortable with posting these messages of ever increasing length. I had decided to desist after the last one, hoping that those who were interested had signed on directly with the wln. I will continue having direct contact with this group, so I will have the information if there is a need or desire for it. Melinda Poss From gimenez@csf.Colorado.EDU Thu Apr 20 09:27:05 MDT 1995 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 09:27:03 -0600 (MDT) From: Martha Gimenez To: matfem@csf.Colorado.EDU Subject: Re: political postings In-Reply-To: I believe we can find a way to make political postings available to Matfem without filling everyone's mail box. This could be placed in Matfem's archives, which members could reach through ftp, gopher, and web. Melinda can send me the posting, I will archive it, and Melinda can announce its availability to Matfem. I will remind members, now that I am talking about archives, that you are welcome to post your work in progress, published work (with permission of the publishers), book reviews, syllabi, and anything you fancy could be of interest to Matfem. Martha E. Gimenez gimenez@csf.colorado.edu ___________________________________ OnK Thu, 20 Apr 1995 poss@utdallas.edu wrote: > Since I am the one that has been reposting the WLN postings to Matfem, I > thought I would ask what the consensus is on these. I personally have been > getting uncomfortable with posting these messages of ever increasing > length. I had decided to desist after the last one, hoping that those > who were interested had signed on directly with the wln. I will continue > having direct contact with this group, so I will have the information if > there is a need or desire for it. > > Melinda Poss > > From CYSU@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA Thu Apr 20 09:40:48 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 20 Apr 1995 09:36:45 -0600 (MDT) Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 11:19:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Rebecca Subject: Re: political postings In-reply-to: In reply to your message of Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:40:08 EDT To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Melinda, thanks for your efforts in getting what you think is important information out to us. I did not join WLN because it seemed specifically geared to US political issues and, as a Canadian, there's only so much I can do except get really, really, angry. Perhaps we've had a good enough glimpse into WLN to know if we want to join. Thanks again for keeping us informed. I would hope that list members from other countries will also keep us informed of recent political decisions affecting the daily lives of women -- surely, a materialist concern. However, I strongly disagree with the flippant remark made about "colorado.edu" as a signifier of American supremacy on this list. I often use a movie database that originates from Cardiff, UK. Does that mean it ought to have greater emphasis on the British film industry? The reason this medium is called a "net" or a "web" is that it spreads out across the world, interconnecting different nodal points. Let's not get reductive and petty, eh? My two cents. Rebecca Sullivan (Montreal) cysu@musica.mcgill.ca From poss@utdallas.edu Thu Apr 20 09:48:13 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 10:49:17 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: Sources request I would like Matfem subscribers to help me with some research I am doing. Despite my appearance on this list as a "political" person, I am actually an architect and urban historian. Right now I am doing a project in which I deconstruct the suburban kitchen, physically and metaphorically. What I would like is suggestions of literary sources, films and perhaps (gasp) TV shows that would help me with representations that illustrate this project, which at this point I can only say lies at the intersections of gender, space, technology, culture, history and of course ideology. Among my favorite so far are Margaret Atwood's _The Edible Woman_ and Jon Katz's two mysteries with "The Suburban Detective." Thanks. Melinda P.S. If there are any sister architects or geographers out there on this list, I would like to hear from you. I am starting to work on some course offerings for a school of architecture that is in dire need of female/feminist input. (Right now I am working and studying in the history department within UT Dallas' School of Art & Humanities.) From CZSJ@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA Thu Apr 20 09:59:25 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 20 Apr 1995 09:55:18 -0600 (MDT) Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 11:58:19 -0400 (EDT) From: johnson Subject: Re: Sources request In-reply-to: In reply to your message of Thu, 20 Apr 1995 11:52:36 EDT To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu There's certainly a lot of stuff out there on domestic space. off the top of my head right now re) technology and space...Judy Wajcman FEMINISM CONFRONTS TECHNOLOGY and on television and domestic space Lynn Spigel MAKE ROOM FOR TV ...both have pretty good bibliographies/references too. Stacey Johnson (Montreal) czsj@musica.mcgill.ca >I would like Matfem subscribers to help me with some research I am >doing. Despite my appearance on this list as a "political" person, I am >actually an architect and urban historian. Right now I am doing a >project in which I deconstruct the suburban kitchen, physically and >metaphorically. What I would like is suggestions of literary sources, >films and perhaps (gasp) TV shows that would help me with >representations that illustrate this project, which at this point I can >only say lies at the intersections of gender, space, technology, culture, >history and of course ideology. > >Among my favorite so far are Margaret Atwood's _The Edible Woman_ >and Jon Katz's two mysteries with "The Suburban Detective." > >Thanks. > >Melinda > >P.S. If there are any sister architects or geographers out there on this >list, I would like to hear from you. I am starting to work on some >course offerings for a school of architecture that is in dire need of >female/feminist input. (Right now I am working and studying >in the history department within UT Dallas' School of Art & Humanities.) > From jae2@tmphost.york.ac.uk Thu Apr 20 12:54:27 MDT 1995 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 19:55:52 +0100 (BST) From: Judy Evans To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: political postings In-Reply-To: <20APR95.12236294.0274.MUSIC@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA> I want to endorse Rebecca's post - I have written to Melinda off-list - I had tremendous problems phrasing my points so I am glad Rebecca said it for me! On Thu, 20 Apr 1995, Rebecca wrote: > Melinda, thanks for your efforts in getting what you > think is important information out to us. I did not > join WLN because it seemed specifically geared to > US political issues and, as a Canadian, there's only > so much I can do except get really, really, angry. > Perhaps we've had a good enough glimpse into WLN to > know if we want to join. Thanks again for keeping > us informed. > > I would hope that list members from other countries > will also keep us informed of recent political decisions > affecting the daily lives of women -- surely, a materialist > concern. However, I strongly disagree with the flippant > remark made about "colorado.edu" as a signifier of American > supremacy on this list. I often use a movie database that > originates from Cardiff, UK. Does that mean it ought to > have greater emphasis on the British film industry? The > reason this medium is called a "net" or a "web" is that it > spreads out across the world, interconnecting different > nodal points. Let's not get reductive and petty, eh? > > My two cents. > > Rebecca Sullivan (Montreal) > cysu@musica.mcgill.ca > --------------------------------------------------------------- Judy Evans + Politics + jae2@york.ac.uk --------------------------------------------------------------- From golomb@biosci.mbp.missouri.edu Thu Apr 20 15:40:20 MDT 1995 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 16:41:33 -0500 To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: golomb@biosci.mbp.missouri.edu (Miriam Golomb) With apologies, I would like to unsubscribe. The directions haven't been posted for a while and I don't know the proper address. Dr. Miriam Golomb Division of Biological Sciences 407 Tucker Hall University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211 Phone (314) 882-4440 FAX (314) 882-0123 From BNABC%CUNYVM.BITNET@vaxf.Colorado.EDU Thu Apr 20 18:26:11 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 20 Apr 1995 16:38:43 -0600 (MDT) by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with RFC822 id 7330; Thu, Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 18:18:41 -0400 (EDT) From: aunt bonnie Subject: Re: political postings In-reply-to: Message of Thu, 20 Apr 1995 09:52:09 -0600 from To: matfem@CSF.COLORADO.EDU Brava, Rebecca! I'll add my 2 cents to yours. I especially hope that we receive political postings from outside the US -- this lurch to the right is (I think) as true of England and Europe as of the U.S. Best, Bonnie Anderson From kschmelz@mondec.monmouth.edu Thu Apr 20 18:27:30 MDT 1995 From: kschmelz@mondec.monmouth.edu (Karen Schmelzkopf) Subject: digest form To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Date: Thu, 20 Apr 95 20:29:59 EDT In-Reply-To: ; from "Martha Gimenez" at Apr 20, 95 9:30 am Is there any way to get MATFEM in digest form? Sorry to post to the entire group, but I didn't know how else to do it! From RNBBC%CUNYVM.BITNET@vaxf.Colorado.EDU Thu Apr 20 20:55:46 MDT 1995 by VAXF.COLORADO.EDU (PMDF V4.3-10 #8140) 20 Apr 1995 20:51:51 -0600 (MDT) by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with RFC822 id 2295; Thu, Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 22:56:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Renate Bridenthal Subject: Re: political postings In-reply-to: Message of Thu, 20 Apr 1995 18:33:34 -0600 from To: matfem@CSF.COLORADO.EDU Brava, Rebecca and Aunt Bonnie! Another two cents makes 6 cents! Renate Bridenthal From jlo@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu Sat Apr 22 00:24:57 MDT 1995 Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 02:24:12 EST From: JUDITH LORBER To: SWS-LIST@NCSU.EDU, SOCPOL-L@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU, MATFEM@CSF.COLORADO.EDU Subject: welfare COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED NOW LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND 99 HUDSON STREET 12TH FL. NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 10013, 212-343-4346 April 19, 1995 Dear Friend: We are a group of women concerned about the impending legislation on welfare. We think that it is urgent that women speak out as women against punitive welfare legislation. We write to you because you are a woman of prominence who can provide leadership. We hope that you will take time out of your busy schedule to consider what this piece of social legislation will mean for millions of women and what you might do to raise your voice against this looming disaster. We have reached the end of the first furious 100 days of the current session of Congress. The Contract with America undoes progressive social legislation in force since the New Deal. A centerpiece of the Contract is the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT. On March 24th, a shameful day, the legislation passed the House. But this bill is not yet law, and we have the possibility of blocking the passage of a similar bill in the Senate. The stated aim of the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT is to move people off the welfare rolls and to discourage unmarried women from having children. ALL responsible researchers insist that, in reality, the measures outlined in this bill will do little to reduce poverty or change women's reproductive choices. Instead, they will succeed in consigning these women to untold misery and abject poverty. This legislation will primarily wreak its havoc on poor women and their children. (See the enclosed sheet for details.) But the provisions concerning reproductive and familial choices for those needing welfare suggest a broader effort to pressure all women into a repressive sexuality, limited reproductive choices, and conventional family arrangements. Researchers have documented the crucial importance of subsidized child care, job training, education and health benefits in helping women move out of poverty. This legislation, however, ignores those needs, shredding the already skimpy safety net poor women have relied upon when they lose a job, when their marriage or relationships fall apart, or when their children fall ill. Women with children, regardless of social strata, have relied on this safety net when their domestic lives are shattered by spousal abuse, or when a relationship that once provided economic security can no longer do so. No one likes the current welfare system. Its grants are meager and stigmatizing; its provisions are restrictive; it does not address crucial social problems of endemic unemployment, poor education, and the absence of support systems. The House Bill, however, is even worse much worse. It cuts the life line, already only a slender thread, that women must have if we are ever to establish our economic autonomy, our safety in personal relationships, and our freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace. The genius of the current radical right is its ability to intuit just this connection between a safety net and women's autonomy, but to keep that connection invisible. Instead it exploits the post-feminist economic reality that most women have to work to make ends meet. This agenda is billed as a campaign to decrease women's dependency on welfare, and to increase women's self-sufficiency. But by withdrawing federal assistance for women who find themselves without a male support (and by simultaneously attacking affirmative action, Title IX, and college financing), by pauperizing these women and questioning their fitness as mothers, by invoking demeaning racial stereotypes with which to brand them, this agenda manifests it real intent: to pressure all women to depend economically on a man within a traditional marriage whether or not she wants to, and whether or not the man is dependable. The economic alternative is made increasingly harsh so harsh that women may find themselves unable to provide for their families and face the need to relinguish their children to foster care or adoption. Not only are federal funds withdrawn from poor women and children, but states are now newly entitled to financial bonuses (through the "illegitimacy ratio") for policies that succeed in pushing women back to conventional reproductive and familial choices. WE MUST SPEAK UP. The ideals and struggles that have shaped and benefitted many of us, some of which are under attack especially for poor women, must be ideals and struggles that benefit all women. We must not tolerate this attack on the poorest among us. We cannot stand by while those who are most vulnerable receive the full force of the backlash and fury of men who fear the erosion of their power. It is our moral duty to stand together at this critical juncture. We must stand with the women on welfare and say NO to the legislation just passed through the House. We must say: A War Against Poor Women is a War Against All Women. In response to Gingrich's 100 days, we are asking you to join a COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED (plus): women leaders, artists, academics, activists and professionals powerful and committed women who are willing to publically protest the war against poor women. In doing so you will affirm the PLEDGE FOR REAL WELFARE REFORM signed by over twenty-five national women's organizations. We will organize a number of visible events where women speak out on the issue of welfare. As a member of the Committee, you will be lending your support to events carried out under its banner. Your support is expressed in your willingness to have your name associated with the organization. We also welcome, of course, your active participation in any of these events, or your financial support which will enable poor women to participate. Here are some things we encourage you to do as a member of the Committee of One Hundred: 1.One of the most pressing concerns is to influence the Senators on their home visits during the upcoming recess and throughout the month of May there will be another recess May 27-June 4. We encourage you to arrange to meet with your Senator and a number of concerned citizens. Or write a letter or submit an op-ed piece to your local newspaper. Or arrange for a local television station to interview and speak with real welfare mothers who will help break the vicious stereotypes. We will provide you with a packet for how to lobby your Senators while they are at their home office. 2.We want to sponsor a Press Conference and Lobby Day on May 11th as a Mother's Day gesture. We are not aiming at a mass demonstration but at groups large enough to attract news coverage. Your joining us will help achieve that. Consider the cost of your transportation (and lodging) as a much needed contribution. As plans materialize for this event, we will contact you with further information. 3.We want to publicize the existence of this group. Please say that you will allow us to use your name in an advertisement or other form of publicity. 4.Fill out the enclosed form to indicate your interest in this project, your willingness to lend your name to this endeavor, and any comments, suggestions or responses that you may have. 5.Last, but not least, please help with a financial contribution to realize this project. Help make a reality of the feminist dream: A Women's Movement that unites and touches the lives of all women. Right now we face a glass ceiling for high achieving women and a bottomless abyss for women denied all opportunity. Let's raise the floor at the same time as we lift the ceiling. In Sisterhood, PAT REUSS, Senior Policy Analyst, NOW Legal Defense Fund HEIDI HARTMANN, Director, Institute for Women's Policy Research HARRIET TRUDELL, Fund for a Feminist Majority LINDA GORDON, Florence Kelly Professor of History, University of Wisconsin ALICE HARRIS-KESSLER, Director of Women Studies, Rutgers University NELL PAINTER, Edwards Professor of American History, Princeton University EILEEN BORIS, Professor of History, Howard University CYNTHIA HARRISON, Professor of History and Women Studies, George Washington University SONYA MICHEL, Visiting Professor of History and Women's Studies, FRANCES FOX PIVEN, Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate School, Activist and Author MIMI ABRAMOWITZ, Professor of Social Work, Hunter College MARTHA DAVIS, Senior Staff Attorney, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund GUIDA WEST, Welfare Reform Network & Former Director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies LORRETTA ROSS, Director, Center for Democratic Renewal RUTH BRANDWEIN, Professor & Former Dean, School of Social Work, SUNY at Stony Brook; former Commissioner, Suffolk County (NY) Department of Social Services, Vice President National Association of Social Workers GWENDOYN MINK, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Santa Cruz EVA KITTAY, Professor of Philosophy, SUNY at Stony Brook P.S. We have JUST begun this organizing effort, but I thought I would inform you of the women who have already agreed to be part of the Committee. Bella Abzug; Barbara Ehrenreich, author; Blanche Wiesen Cook, author Eleanor Roosevelt: A Biography; Susan Brownmiller, author; Alice Illchman, President of Sarah Lawrence College Rosalyn Baxandall, Historian. THE HOUSE WELFARE BILL WAR AGAINST POOR WOMEN A Brief Overview The House Welfare Bill provisions: * End the entitlement of families primarily female-headed households with dependent children to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) these are a subsistence cash grant guaranteed if the family falls below the poverty line and meets Federal eligibility standards. * Lump monies from AFDC and Emergency Aid To Families into block grants paid to states with virtually no Federal Government oversight and with no requirement that states provide matching funds. This effectively and significantly reduces available monies. * Exclude millions of women and children because of "drop dead" time-limits time-limits which make women ineligible for the remainder of their lives, irrespective of the woman's or her family's circumstances. * Exclude many more women and their children through prohibitions on states giving money to unmarried pregnant women under eighteen or women who become pregnant while on public assistance. * Demand work without providing childcare, job training or education. Women who are trying to move out of poverty through education and job training in skilled jobs will be cut off and consigned to eking out a scant livelihood for themselves and their families. Millions after them will be denied any opportunity to get the education they require to better their situation. * Reward states by granting them up to a 10% increase if they reduce their "illegitimacy ratio," the ratio of live births to out-of wedlock births and the sum of abortions. The rates are calculated from the general population not just from women on welfare. * Punishes women and children in cases where paternity has not been established, even when the mother is fully cooperating with the state. * Excludes most legal immigrants from over 60 public assistance programs. URGENT! PLEASE FILL THIS REPLY FORM OUT NOW! AND MAIL IT TODAY!! __I accept the invitation to join the Committee of One Hundred. Add my name to your list. Signature:________________________________________________________ Name and Title as you want it to appear: __________________________________________________________________ Affiliation:______________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ Phone: ________________ Fax:________________ Email:___________________________________________ In addition, I will lend my support by __Being a part of a National Press Conference __My willingness to have my name appear if you publicize the Committee in an ad campaign __Lobbying at the May event in Washington __Participating in an event in my home state in the next six weeks __I cannot participate in these events, but would like to participate in a future effort. __I cannot accept the invitation to join the Committee of One Hundred Comments:________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ I enclose a contribution to help form the Committee and support its activities: __$200 __$150 __$100 __$50 __$25 ____$ Make check payable to: Committee of One Hundred / NOW LDEF Return to: Committee of One Hundred NOW LDEF 99 Hudson St. New York, NY 10013 Fax: 914-835-2753; 212-226-1066 Phone: 212-343-4346 Email responses to: Ekittay@ccmail.sunysb.edu or US003667@interramp.com NATIONAL WOMEN'S PLEDGE ON WELFARE REFORM:PRINCIPLES FOR ELIMINATING POVERTY * We support welfare reform that will do more than maintain families in poverty; it should help them make a permanent escape from poverty. The vast majority of adults who receive assistance from Aid to Families with Dependent Children are women. * As leaders of women's groups in the United States, we state unequivocally that women who receive welfare benefits have the same rights as all women and have the same goals for their families. * We cannot allow their rights to be curtailed because they are poor nor their values impugned because they need help to support their families. Welfare has served as an essential safety net for poor women and their children. Many women use welfare at various points throughout their lives, because they have few other resources to tide them over during one-time or recurring events such as illness, unemployment, child birth, domestic violence, or divorce. * We cannot allow the guarantee of minimal survival assistance to be removed or reduced by caps on spending, time limits, child exclusion policies, or other means. We cannot allow the federal government to abandon its commitment to a basic safety net for poor mothers and their children. * We oppose punitive measures that assume that the behavior, attitudes, and values of women on welfare are the problem. Welfare mothers have not abandoned their children; they are struggling to hold their families together with extremely limited resources. Many are already working or looking for work in order to raise their families' incomes. * We believe the problem lies, rather, in the labor market conditions these women face, including gender- and race-based discrimination that limits their opportunities, unstable jobs that pay low wages and lack health and retirement benefits, inaccessible jobs, and no jobs at all. In addition, lack of educational opportunity, inadequate support services and benefits, lack of child support from fathers, and punitive welfare regulations have made it impossible for poor women to get ahead. 1. THE HELP WE PROVIDE OR DO NOT PROVIDE TO MOTHERS DETERMINES THE WELL-BEING OF THEIR CHILDREN. Penalizing certain groups of women and children by withholding welfare benefits is not acceptable. We unequivocally oppose punitive policies that deny or reduce benefits to unmarried teenage mothers and their children, to poor children for whom paternity has not been established, and to additional children born to women on welfare. Further impoverishing mothers does not help their children 2. WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO DECIDE WHETHER AND WHEN TO HAVE CHILDREN. Women's reproductive choices should not be restricted by government sanctions, mandates, or economic coercion. Women on welfare do not need to be discouraged from having children, since they already have fewer children than women in the general population. Many women now have inadequate access to desired reproductive health services. Access to and funding for contraception, family planning counseling, and abortion services should be improved. Early teen pregnancy and childbirth can be harmful to the health, education, and training of young women. Educational opportunities, family planning, contraceptive access, and hope for the future are the best and most humane deterrents. 3. POOR FAMILIES NEED HELP TO MEET THE COSTS OF CHILD CARE AND HEALTH CARE. In order to work or to participate in job training or educational programs, poor parents need access to good quality child and elder care that they can afford. Otherwise, they will be either unable to work or forced to leave their children or elderly relatives unattended, in substandard care, or with underpaid caregivers. Poor families also must have access to health care in order to stay healthy. They must be able to receive medical treatment as needed, rather than be forced to go without necessary treatment or to choose between health care and other basic necessities. 4. MEN MUST BEAR THEIR SHARE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUPPORTING THE CHILDREN THEY HAVE FATHERED. Stronger child support enforcement is essential to effective welfare reform. Families receiving welfare should be allowed to keep a larger portion of the child support payments made by absent fathers. At the same time, we must recognize that child support alone will not lift women and their children out of poverty. Nor should women be forced to reveal the identity of fathers who they believe would harm them or their children. 5. INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING SERVICES FOR WELFARE RECIPIENTS IS ESSENTIAL. The majority of welfare recipients want work and often have work experience, but lack the skills, education, or English proficiency to obtain jobs that pay adequate wages to support their families. Women who participate in high quality education and training, including post-secondary education and training for nontraditional occupations, have higher earnings and are less likely to return to welfare. 6. IMPROVING WOMEN 'S WAGES AND BENEFITS WILL REDUCE FAMILY POVERTY. Achieving pay equity, increasing the minimum wage, creating incentives for employers to provide fringe benefits in contingent and other low-wage jobs, and encouraging collective bargaining should be integral parts of an effective and comprehensive welfare reform strategy. 7. UNTIL WAGES ARE IMPROVED FOR WOMEN, THE COMBINATION OF WAGES AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS SHOULD PROVIDE A LIVEABLE INCOME. For many women, at current wage rates and benefit levels, neither work nor welfare alone can bring their families up to and out of poverty. In most states, when women on welfare work, they lose at least 80 cents in welfare benefits for every dollar they earn. These punitive regulations must be changed. Other forms of income assistance, such as unemployment insurance, paid family leaves, and temporary disability insurance, must be expanded to cover all low income families, including families who receive or have received welfare. In addition, housing and food assistance programs must be adequate to the need. ------------------------------------- Name: Eva Feder Kittay E-mail: us003667@pop3.interramp.com (Eva Feder Kittay) Date: 03/24/95 Time: 23:06:21 This message was sent by Chameleon ------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________________ Judith Lorber Sociology, CUNY Graduate School 33 West 42 Street, NY, NY 10036 212-642-2416 FAX:212-642-2420 JLO@CUNYVMS1.GC.CUNY.EDU From cstarr@orion.oac.uci.edu Sat Apr 22 02:06:08 MDT 1995 Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 01:07:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Little Miss Orbit To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Sources request In-Reply-To: On Thu, 20 Apr 1995 poss@utdallas.edu wrote: > metaphorically. What I would like is suggestions of literary sources, > films and perhaps (gasp) TV shows that would help me with > representations that illustrate this project, which at this point I can > only say lies at the intersections of gender, space, technology, culture, > history and of course ideology. These may be helpful: Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment by Leslie Kanes Weisman Illinois UP 1992 "The Space Behind the Dialogoue: The Gender-Coding of Space on Cheers" by Charles Acland in (journal) Women and Language vol 13 no 1 pg 38 Herbert Schiller's Culture Inc, while not focused on gender, is an interesting read on the "Corporate Takeoever of Public Space" Cheers, Chelsea Starr Graduate Student Dept. of Social Relations U.C. Irvine cstarr@uci.edu From poss@utdallas.edu Sat Apr 22 10:29:31 MDT 1995 From: poss@utdallas.edu Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 11:30:42 -0500 (CDT) To: Matfem Subject: political notice I have received the next forward from the Women's Leadership Network. (#5 I believe.) It is lengthy but informative. It contains an 'expose' on the "Idependent Women's Forum" which seems to be comprised of "Clarence Thomas Feminists" (my wording). I have sent it to Martha Gimenez for archiving. I can forward it personally if just a few of you send me requests for it. (I don't know what a few is, so give it a try.) Melinda From lizard@aa.net Sat Apr 22 12:30:03 MDT 1995 Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 11:31:15 -0700 X-Intended-For: To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu From: lizard@aa.net (Liz White) Subject: Request for audiotape sources >Help. I've recently become involved with a local college radio station in Seattle. So I have an opportunity to play some feminist tapes, if I can get my hands on them. Trouble is I don't have any sources for good feminist lectures. > >We play David Barsamian's Alternative Radio and get some stuff from WINGS, but there seems to be a dearth of feminist audiotapes. Does any one have any ideas? > >I would like to see more theoretical discussion on this list, but hope no-one objects to using it for other purposes. Maybe there is somewhere else I should have posted this? If so, sorry. I'm new at this. > >-lizard@aa.net > From diiorio@smtplink.ipfw.indiana.edu Mon Apr 24 08:30:31 MDT 1995 From: diiorio@smtplink.ipfw.indiana.edu Date: Mon, 24 Apr 95 09:22:12 EST To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Request for audiotape sources Audiotapes of the plenary sessions of the NWSA meetings are available from that organization. You can try contacting that organization for a list. There snail mail address is National Women's Studies Association University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-1325 Sorry, but I don't know their e-mail address. From lek@nevada.edu Mon Apr 24 12:03:27 MDT 1995 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 11:04:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Lisa Ebeltoft-Kraske To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Request for audiotape sources On Mon, 24 Apr 1995 diiorio@smtplink.ipfw.indiana.edu wrote: > Audiotapes of the plenary sessions of the NWSA meetings are > available from that organization. You can try contacting > that organization for a list. There snail mail address is > National Women's Studies Association > University of Maryland > College Park, MD 20742-1325 > > Sorry, but I don't know their e-mail address. Their e-mail address is nwsa@umail.umd.edu Lisa Ebeltoft-Kraske lek@nevada.edu From kblair@falcon.tamucc.edu Tue Apr 25 09:27:08 MDT 1995 Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 10:28:10 -0500 (CDT) From: Kristine Blair To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Subject: call for abstracts/papers Call for Papers: Feminist Landscapes: Essays on Gender and Technology in the Writing Classroom Computer technologies are becoming more central and important to writing theory and instruction. Among the cited benefits to users are a democratizing potential, an increased awareness of multiple perspectives through networking, and an increased distribution of power and authority. But how do theories of gender and feminism complicate these issues of power, authority, and voice? How do these theorized and actual potentials meet the material realities of women? The relationship between gender and technology has been viewed by scholars working in other disciplines as a complex and problematic one. In mapping the terrain of computers and writing, it is important that writing teachers and theorists also consider the role of women, gender, and feminisms in using technologies in writing instruction. Submissions are sought for a new collection, Feminist Landscapes: Essays on Gender and Technology in the Writing Classroom. We welcome articles on any aspect of the complex relationship between technology, gender, and feminism in writing theory. Possible topics to consider: %feminist geography in computerized writing classrooms %feminist pedagogies in computerized writing instruction %gendered space in virtual communities %feminist critiques of technology design and uses %gender, technology, and professional or technical communication %lesbian communities and on-line activism %the presence of the body and virtual realities %empirical studies involving gender and technology Abstracts of up to 500 words must be received by May 25, 1995. Selected articles will be due January 15, 1996. Abstracts may be submitted electronically or in hard-copy to either Kristine Blair or Pamela Takayoshi. Please include your name, affiliation, full mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address with your abstract. Kristine Blair Pamela Takayoshi Texas A & M, Corpus Christi University of Louisville Division of Arts and Humanities Department of English 6300 Ocean Drive Louisville, KY 40292 Corpus Christi, TX 78412 pdtaka01@homer.louisville.edu kblair@falcon.tamucc.edu fax: (512) 994-5844 From shy3y@darwin.clas.virginia.edu Tue Apr 25 10:17:05 MDT 1995 From: Suzanne Hamilton Young Subject: Re: political notice To: matfem@csf.colorado.edu Date: Tue, 25 Apr 95 12:18:20 EDT In-Reply-To: ; from "poss@utdallas.edu" at Apr 22, 95 10:31 am According to poss@utdallas.edu: > > I have received the next forward from the Women's Leadership Network. > (#5 I believe.) It is lengthy but informative. It contains an 'expose' > on the "Idependent Women's Forum" which seems to be comprised of > "Clarence Thomas Feminists" (my wording). > > I have sent it to Martha Gimenez for archiving. I can forward it > personally if just a few of you send me requests for it. (I don't know > what a few is, so give it a try.) > > Melinda > > > Please forward the next update to me. Thanks for keeping us informed!! Suzanne Young shy3y@darwin.clas.virginia.edu From gimenez@csf.Colorado.EDU Wed Apr 26 18:29:19 MDT 1995 Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 18:29:16 -0600 (MDT) From: Martha Gimenez To: matfem@csf.Colorado.EDU Subject: Re: Political Notice Political-Woman #5 is available from Matfem's Archives. You can reach them via gopher csf.colorado.edu Once you have the menu in front of you, select # 7 Feminist Scholarship This will take you to the next screen where you can locate Matfem in # 3 Selecting #3 takes you to Matfem's archives, where # 1 is Politics. If you wish additional information send me a private message. cordially, Martha E. Gimenez gimenez@csf.colorado.edu