folklore feminists communication
Newsletter of the AFS Women's Section
Announcements and Calls for Papers
V-day and the Intersex Society of North America
Thank you for your support for our campaign to raise awareness of intersex experiences at V-DAY 2002 activities. We (Intersex Society of North America and Intersex Initiative Portland) are continuing to do just that--raise awareness--in this year's V-DAY around the country. We have detailed information at our campaign web site at http://www.ipdx.org/vday2003 for campus V-DAY organizers wondering why or how to address the medical abuse of intersex children and the sexual trauma that it causes. Please feel free to foward this email if you know of a campus or local V-DAY coordinators. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at emi@ipdx.org.
WHY INCLUDE INTERSEX IN V-DAY PRODUCTIONS?
The notion "genital mutilation" evokes an image of the traditional, ritualistic cutting of young women's bodies in Africa, but its equally ritualistic high-tech version is widely practiced in the U.S. and other Western countries in relative secrecy. Since 1950s, children born with intersex conditions, or physiological anomalies of the reproductive and sexual organs, have been "treated" with "normalizing" surgeries that many survivors say are damaging to their sexual and emotional well-being.
Contrary to the popular mythology, intersex people do not have "both sets of genitals"; they simply have body parts that are different from what is considered "normal"--large clitoris, penis with a urethra on its underside, missing vagina, mixed gonads, etc. Even though it has been practiced for many decades, there is no long-term study that shows that "corrective" surgery is safe, effective, nor necessary.
One of the biggest problems with this "treatment" is that it sets in motion a lifelong pattern of secrecy, isolation, shame, and confusion. Adult intersex people's stories often resemble that of those who survived childhood sexual abuse: trust violation, lack of honest communication, punishment for asking questions or telling the truth, etc. In some cases, intersex people's experiences are exactly like those of child sexual abuse survivors: when they surgically "create" a vagina on a child, the parent--usually the mother--is required to "dilate" the vagina with hard instruments every day for months in order to ensure that the vagina won't close off again.
Even so, many intersex adults report that it was not necessarily the surgery that was most devastating for their self-esteem: for many, it is the repeated exposure to what we call "medical display," or the rampant practice where a child is stripped down to nude and placed on the bed while many doctors, nurses, medical students, and others come in and out of the room, touching and prodding and laughing to each other. Children who experience this get the distinct sense that there is something terribly wrong with who they are and are deeply traumatized.
In the past decade, the movement to challenge these medical abuses of intersex children grew from complete obscurity into an international network of intersex individuals, scholars, supporters, and some sympathetic medical professionals. Still, it is estimated that five children per day continue to undergo the medically unnecessary and irreversible surgeries in the United States. As people who know the most about the devastating impact of childhood sexual traumas, V-DAY and the movement against sexual violence need to work closely with the intersex movement in order to end the ritualistic sexual abuse of children in our own society, not just in other continents.
V-DAY said in its press releaseAs part of its commitment to stop violence against intersex people,
V-Day is urging participants of its College Campaign and Worldwide Campaign to raise the awareness about intersex experiences by distributing information about intersex, showing a documentary film, or hosting an intersex speaker during this year's V-Day activities along with the performances of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" (materials about intersex are available from ISNA). V-Day is also encouraging the more than 500 benefit productions of the play to consider contributing a portion of their proceeds to ntersex Society of North America.
HOW TO HELP US:- Distribute information about intersex at your V-DAY events. Or better yet, include a short article in your printed program, if you have one. PDF and Word files are available for download at our web site.
- Perform an intersex "monologue." This year's edition of "The Vagina Monologues" allows each V-DAY chapters to insert their own monologues around the theme, "what would it look like if the violence against women and girls ended today?" We will shortly make a couple of monologues available that are written by intersex people.
- Show film about intersex. ISNA's brand new film, which usually costs $147.50 list price for universities, is available for $47.50 if you promise to show it on your campus as part of V-DAY activities this year.
- Make ISNA one of your beneficiaries from your V-DAY production. We're in the midst of transitions, with the new executive director (medical sociologist Dr. Monica Casper, Ph. D.) and a new office (Seattle, Washington), and we appreciate every bit of support!
Please visit our web site, "Intersex Resources for V-DAY organizers" at http://www.ipdx.org/vday2003.
Emi Koyama
Intersex Initiative Portland (ipdx)
PO Box 40664, Portland OR 97240
voicemail: (503) 288-3191
web: http://www.ipdx.org/
posted 1/15/2003
CFP: 2nd Annual Women's Studies Graduate Conference Pennsylvania State University [Feb 3, 2003]
April 11-13, 2003
Spaces In-Between: Negotiating, Resisting, Opposing, Supporting Difference(s) Toward a Truly Global Feminism
Call for Proposals
Proposals need not be limited to traditional panel presentations (creativity encouraged!). We welcome proposals for performances, panel, and discussion sessions. In the spirit of creating an open forum we want to create a space within the conference in which all forms of knowledge construction are central rather than marginal.
We envision the conference centering on discussions of feminism post-9/11. Have feminist engagements gained more urgency in a "war on terrorism" climate? How have (or might) feminists responded to:- War and the creation of differences through war
- Nationalism and the war on terror
- Representations of women in the rhetoric of war
- Solidarity and difference in activism and global feminist organizing
- The connection between privilege and oppression
- Linking feminism with other social change movements
- Creative responses and opposition to oppression and injustice
Proposals should be submitted to:
Marla Jaksch
Women's Studies Program
117 Willard Building
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
OR by email to:
Julie Pelton JAP324@PSU.EDU
Deadline for Proposal Submissions: February 3, 2003
Proposals should not exceed one page and are not limited to the broad topics listed above! Please be sure to list all names and contact information for all participants.
Tentative Conference Schedule:
April 11th - Friday evening open conversation.
April 12th- Saturday Keynote over breakfast followed by 3 Sessions. The evening will include a film viewing and conversation.
April 13th - Sunday Breakfast with speaker followed by an open session. Conference will conclude at 12 noon. $25.00 Conference registration fee.
posted 1/15/2003
CFP: Graduate Women's Studies Conference: Women's Studies - The Next Generation [January 24, 2003]
SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY
Women’s Studies Program
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, Connecticut
Saturday, March 8, 2003
Southern Connecticut State University’s Women’s Studies Graduate Program invites proposals for its Graduate Women’s Studies Conference, an interdisciplinary forum for the scholarly and creative work of graduate Women’s Studies students, to be held Saturday, March 8 (snow date Saturday, April 5) on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University. We invite proposals for individual presentations, complete panels, and poster presentations as well as workshops and creative presentations focusing on this year’s theme, “Women’s Studies – the Next Generation.”
Possible topics include:- Individual graduate level research on women and feminist theory
- Third wave feminism
- Global Feminisms
- Women’s Studies/Feminism as lived practice in the new millennium
- Black Feminist Theories
- Chicana Feminisms
- Asian American Feminist Thought
- American Indian Feminisms
- Lesbian Studies and Queer Theory
- Feminism and Disability Issues
- Issues facing women and Women’s Studies
- What is the “next generation” of Women’s Studies?
- Etc
Please submit via e-mail an abstract of no more than 250 words. Submissions should include the presenter’s/presenters’ name(s), title of presentation, a 25 word abstract for possible inclusion in the program, university affiliation, and contact information (address, email, and telephone number). Submissions should be sent to grrxx@yahoo.com
Deadline for submissions: postmarked by January 24, 2003.
For further information, please contact: Barbara Gurr, SCSU Women’s Studies graduate student and conference co-coordinator, at grrxx@yahoo.com
posted 1/07/2003
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