CWLU Herstory Blog

Alison Kafer will talk about,"Queerness, Disability, and the Foundation for a Better Life" at the University of Illinois at Chicago on September 26.

Summary of the talk:

In the years since 9/11, the philanthropic organization the Foundation for a Better Life has funded a public service campaign touting "community values" and "character development," arguing that these values will result in a "better life" and future for the United States. Representations of disability and illness play a large role in this campaign, with a majority of billboards praising individuals with disabilities for having the strength of character to "overcome" their impairments. Using insights from feminist and queer theory, Alison Kafer offers a crip reading of these billboards, tracing their adherence to a neoliberal politics of sentimentality and their potential subversion by disability activists.

Alison Kafer is an assistant professor of feminist studies at Southwestern University where she teaches courses on feminist and queer theory, activism, and disability studies. She is currently co-editing an anthology with Susan Burch on the intersections between Deaf Studies and Disability Studies for Gallaudet University Press

PLACE

• DHSP Building, 1640 West Roosevelt Road, 1st Floor Auditorium
• Wednesday, September 26th from 2:00 to 3:30 PM
• Refreshments will be provided! The lecture is free and open to the public.

ACCESS:

Adella Ladjevardi of Zohe Film Productions contacted us about a new film that will open in Chicago at the Siskel Center September 14-18.

Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman is a global conversation among women that spans 17 countries. According to the film's press kit:

Never before in our collective human history have so many women had such freedom to construct a life of their own creation. Yet old structures and realities still haunt us; many women are looking for new role models, but finding them difficult to identify for lack of precedent and because even today women so often remain the invisible, silent class...From South Africa to California, from Sweden to India, the film creates a cross-cultural story about common experiences of modern female life on issues such as love, socialization, marriage, work, childrearing, aging, violence, spirituality, death, politics.

Filmmaker Jennifer Fox has divided the film into three 2 hour episodes. She used an innovative technique she calls "passing the camera" to make the women's conversations more intimate and less artificial. I know I plan to see it. You can visit the film's amazing website at www.flyingconfessions.com.

View the trailer and some brief reviews after the jump.

The AFL-CIO has launched a major new campaign to secure healthcare for every American by 2009. According to campaign director Heather Booth,

Maybe we can make this election provide a mandate on health care reform--getting the candidates to commit to progressive reform and then holding them to it after the election by mobilizing a massive force, in this campaign that means 10 million union members and 3 million retirees. And this time, we will win.

Stop by the AFL-CIO blog to learn more and get involved.

Heather Booth is a longtime organizer with roots in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the founding members of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union.

Courtney Martin has a thought provoking article about men and abortion over at Alternet. In it she says,"

In the private sphere, men struggle to reach out to one another about their experiences for a variety of reasons. A stigma against abortion overall remains (more oppressive in some geographies than others, of course), often keeping both women and their partners silent with even the closest of friends and family. In the same way that contemporary men are still groping for ways to be honest with one another about all things sexual -- abuse, orientation, dysfunction -- they just don't seem to have the language to talk about their abortion experiences.

I agree that men should be involved, but how and under what circumstances? That will be a long and complex discussion I'm sure. Kudos to Courtney for starting this conversation.

Adam Ayd sent us this essay that he wrote for a school assignment back in 1995. Please feel free to comment, but to be fair, make sure you read it all the way to the end.

Why I Want A Real Wife - October 6, 1995 by Adam Ayd

A real wife - a woman who is as much of a wife as her husband is a husband.

I belong to a classification of people know as men. I am A Man who is put down so very often by women for the way that they think we treat them.

Not too long ago in AP English, I was given an assignment to read an essay by Judy Syfers called Why I Want A Wife. Although the essay was written in 1971, Syfers went on to explain what the stereotypical man would want for a perfect wife. As I read the essay, I felt offended because the fact of the matter is that most women think that men expect this, but most men actually don't. Have you read some of the headlines on women's magazines? "How to Get the Money You Deserve", "How to Cheat, and Get Away With It", and most of all, "All Men Are Pigs, the Proof on p. 130." Please! I don't treat women like this and most of my friends don't either. Bitter are we? All I want is a real wife.

I would like to go to college so I can live a better life, support myself, and support those dependent of me. I want a wife who works and can take care of the kids. I want a wife who takes care of the children's clothing, schooling, and health problems. I want a wife who will spend quality time with the children and insure a safe and happy life with them. I want a wife who will keep the children clean and make sure they are taught the proper way. I want a wife who will feed the children and make sure what they are eating is healthy. I want a wife who will make sure that the children have an adequate social life and encourages them to interact with their peers. I want a wife who will take time from her work and leisure time to be with the children.

I want a wife who will attend to my physical needs. I want a wife who will clean the house and pick up after me and the children. I want a wife who will do the laundry, and iron and mend the clothes. I want a wife who is a good cook and will cook dinner at any time. I want a wife who will go to the market when need be. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathise with me when I am injured. I want a wife who will plan the family vacations and who will handle the monthly budget.