Woman of the Week: Eve Ensler

Its been a challenging  past few weeks for the world. With all the disaster and tragedy, unrest and violence occurring all over the place it has been hard to focus on something so minute as blogging. So this week I have decided to honor a woman who has been acting how many of use wish we could in times of huge global crisis, and pinpointing a small way to help that makes hugs waves.

Photo Credit: randomhouse.org

Name: Eve Ensler

Age: 58

Occupation: Playwright, Activist

Why she is making waves: Aside from writing her witty, controversial, eye-opening play The Vagina Monologues, recently Ms. Ensler has been working with something a little more hands on. She has started what could be termed a "women's center" in the Congo, called the City of Hope. This center was built with the full purpose of being a place where local women who are the victims of violence and rape can come to work, share their stories with one another, and to heal. It also focuses on educating the women with the hope that they can then turn around and work to fix their government and their broken communities. The New York Times recently wrote a very thoughtful article on the mechanics of the City of Hope which can be found here. I agree with the Times when they reference the project as "gutsy", considering many of these women are illiterate and "un-educated". However, the idea that educating women about their sexual and domestic choices can lead to safer and stronger communities is not new, it is just that up until recently the rest of the world hasn't thought to share the greatness of this idea with under-developed and struggling countries. I don't think it is "gutsy" to try this idea out on un-educated women in Africa, I just think its gutsy to have been one of the first to actually do it instead of talking about it. So cheers to you Ms. Ensler for having the guts to build a feminine community and incite hope where there is often so little. 

**An organization that contributes strongly to a cause just like that of the City of Hope is called "The Girl Effect". More on this at a later date, but if you are interested please click here for more information: http://www.girleffect.org/video.

"The Flipside of Feminism"...A Response

One of the reasons I started this blog was to encourage a dialogue among women, and I find there to be no better way to start that than a response to an interview I read early this morning. Boston University recently interviewed an alumn of theirs, Susan Venker, who has recently finished her book The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know-- and Men Can't Say (WND Books). While I will state right now that I have not read the book, (yet) the interview, which you can read here, sparked some interesting thoughts. 


Although from the get-go I was hesitant to be completely on board with Ms. Venker, mostly because of the stigma-ed way in which she is introduced by her interviewer, most of my issues lie in response to her interview answers and less to her over-all concept. I am always attempting to be true to what my mama taught me as a little girl (and private university education has somewhat re-enforced): to have a strong argument, no matter what it is, you need to acknowledge both sides of the story. Throughout the interview Ms. Venker continuously references "feminism"; however, nowhere in her answers does she define her view of feminism. I find this to be an especially pertinent issue considering she ties it closely to many negative concepts including "self-pitying" and "narrow minded" view points. I hesitate to jump all over her responses right out of the gate simply because it appears to me she is using "feminism" as a blanket term for the negative aspects she doesn't agree with instead of fully explaining who she is talking about. This only serves to further pigeon hole her in the interview making it challenging for the reader (or at least for me) to really be sympathetic to either side of what she is arguing because it is so ambiguous. You mean you want me to either side with an un-defined group you think is irrational, or side with you? No thank you. 


I take greater issue with this lack of definition because it is just one of the reasons that I began this blog. To agree with Ms. Venker on some level, "feminism" does get a bad wrap from a lot of people. When I told my close male friends that I was starting a blog and what it was about they took one look at it and said in rather joking or intimidated tones, "oh yeah, its a feminist blog". Which brings to the table the bigger issue in my mind: why does the idea of "feminism" have to be so scary? It almost seems that like any other movement or argument, the concept that sticks in people's minds is the most radical part. Ms. Venker seems to draw on this in her interview, referring to one small faction of the feminist movement to define her entire "enemy". But it seems to me that her idea of the enemy is a little out-dated. The feminists of today are not all angered, man-hating, bra-burning females be-moaning their lack of domestic and work-related rights. The feminists I see are women who have learned to appreciate themselves and their abilities, and who have been taught that they have options. They are women who have been taught that there is power in believing in your ability (as cheese-ball and motivational-speaker-y as that sounds), and that there is value in relationships in which both people's needs and goals are recognized, not just that of one person's. I find nothing in these ideas that is self-pitying or negative, rather that they are empowering. And not just to American women; women all over the world see value in these concepts (in fact, in quite a few non-western cultures these ideas are the foundation of domestic life). Why is it seen as negative to associate yourself with these values by people who are otherwise forward thinking? 


I am interested to hear what others think on this matter. I welcome your comments, questions, and rants; share them with everyone! Again, if you missed it the first time around you can read the interview RIGHT HERE.


EDIT: Today is Women's Day! I totally forgot! Isn't that a little ironic? (This is not something I made up. I promise. See: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/ . More on that later.)