Pink & Pretty: Traditional Feminine Coding in Cyberspace

Embodiment & Performance: A Cyberfeminist Critique of the Labor Structures in the Information Communication and Technology Industry

Cyberfeminism must frame the relationship of women to the new technoculture so as to facilitate an understanding of women’s relationships with cyberspace. How are women participating on the Internet? How are they engaging in the creation and production of software? What are women doing in comparison to men in cyberspace? These are questions that need to be tackled by cyberfeminists because they give insight into how real life structures are replicated in the cyberworld. This is especially important when it comes to analyzing how women affect the economy in late pan-capitalist structures. Faith Wilding Writes in Art Journal that,  “Women are an important consumer market and help maintain the status quo when the technology is used in a passive manner. For example, most institutions of commerce and government are all too quick to give women computers, e-mail accounts and so on if it will make them better bureaucrats.¨ Not all of women’s actions on the Internet are progressive or feminist. In many ways, womens’ participation perpetuates the current system. Just as women can participate and even replicate the patriarchy in real life, so too in cyberspace. The products that created women oriented cyberspaces online typically stem from socially constructed feminine gender norms such as shopping, health, motherhood and beauty. Paasonen writes:

¨’Female Spaces’ on corporate web sites seem to be defined through a very familiar axis of embodiment (menstruation, reproduction, motherhood) and femininity as a set of values, characteristics, and practices (sharing, caring, emotions, social skills and mutual support). The shared experiences of women are depicted in pastel colors, with images of neatly attired, able-bodied women of various ethnic backgrounds smiling side by side. The diversity has obvious limits, and the sites do not give space to a redefinition of gender and/or femininity.¨

Instead of offering space for liberating exploration of new worlds and means of connecting, women are again confined by patriarchal gender standards. Women could be using these online networks to branch out of mainstream media and corporate consumer culture, instead of being female consumer communities around these very oppressive structures. According to Paasonen, cyberfeminists must challenge the definitions of women:

¨The representation of women as a homogenous group ultimately reinforces the binary gender models…In discussions of women and the Internet we must question which women are being discussed, what meanings are attributed to the category of “women” and what meanings are actively excluded. Critically we must analyze women-oriented products and services along with basic assumptions about women’s ‘nature,’ needs and experiences produced in a commercial context.¨

This is not to say that all of women’s activity on the Internet centers around consumerism and beauty, but the replication of these industries is important to the development of a feminine identity online. Make up and clothing are signifiers of femininity in the real world and have been translated to work in the cyberworld as well. It should also be noted that heterosexism also prevails in these beauty industries online, especially in dating and online advice communities.

The Internet is considered a male domain by default. Men are the assumed builder, producers and users of the Internet; however, this is not the reality. “Women have been under-represented in technical skills, in content production, as well as online usage” (Paasonen 91). It is generally assumed that men are better or more interested in new technologies than women. For example, many new technologies are marketed towards the professional white male. The Internet is seen as gender neutral, when in reality it is not, because it comes from a male designed and defined perspective. This is because women have been weeded out from the design end of computer and technology production. Women on the Internet take a secondary role. When sites are tailored to women’s interests they are done so from the typical slant that is taken in the “real world” it replicates the masculinist capitalist mode of women as passive consumers.

GLAM Camp

Leah Buechley's LED Clothing

My favorite project of the summer has been my internship at Denver Open Media. I am an outreach intern there. Denver Open Media is the public access station in Denver. They have a participatory model that goes beyond typical public access stations. My particular focus has been on planning this event called GLAM Camp, Girls Learning About Multimedia camp. This project was a perfect fit for me, allowing me to inspire girls, work with multimedia, and meet other inspirational women in Denver. The result of the camp will be a documentary on women and technology that the girls will make and will are on DOM channel 57 August 15, 2008. (I will also upload the documentary on my blog…it has a few more edits before it will be up.)

Today was day two of the camp and I left with warm fuzzies all over. The group of eight girls got to help film the presentations of Leah Buechley and Sharee Dieringer and then interview the women for the documentary. The girls were engaged in all aspects of production, from camera work to coming up with the interview questions. When the girls were listening to the presentations they would get excited and curious. I hope they leave the camp inspired to think of their own dreams.

Leah’s work with technology and textile arts reaches far beyond the typical notions of what technology is and how one can work with it. Her interactive fabric pieces combine lights and sound with textile arts and fashion, pushing both areas outside of their comfort zone. I have never seen anything like what Leah had presented. She is an artists and a programmer. Her creations are playful, interactive and completely innovative. I felt personally inspired to expand my own creativity and experiment with her led lights and sounds in fabric.

What I really loved about Leah was her genuine passion for what she did. She has overcome the gender barrier and re-conceptualized what one can do with technology. Instead of feeling confined to the male dominated programming, she paved her own path. Instead of making robots she wanted to make beautiful fashions. She described her experience of being the only girl in classes or one of a few in a computer programming masters program. She overcame her initial insecurities of feeling less experienced with technology, to carving her own niche in the industry.

Sheree works in Graphic Design, specifically through civic pixel. She focuses on making logos and designs for non-profits. Her work is elegant and varied for each client. Sheree loves her job and really encouraged the girls not to settle for less than their dreams. She had designed everything from logos and book covers to websites. Working with the latest design software, technology has become her medium of expression. One project that was really amazing was a personal project about the layers of self and identity. She was able to fuse her personal life with design. The girls loved learning that they can utilize their creativity and love of technology and turn it into a satisfying job.

GLAM Camp also provides a space for girls to question the ways that mainstream society values women. We did an activity where we looked at pictures of six women known for their academic and athletic accomplishments. While the girls knew some of the womens’ names or a little bit about them they were not as recognizable as the women on our second slide. On the other slide we featured women, like Paris Hilton who are known for looks and wealth. Most of the girls groaned when they saw pictures of these women, sick of their plastic looks and tabloid shenanigans. Then we talked about women role models in our lives. Many of the girls looked up to their mothers. In many ways this activity enforced the broader goal of the camp to help girls actualize their own potential using their intelligence and creativity.

The Cliff Effect

Tonight I went to a fantastic lecture at one of my favorite places in Colorado called The Lab.  They are holding this great series of lectures called Feminism + Co. Tonight’s topic was women and work. There were three speakers and all were wonderful, but for this post I wanted to focus on the lecture given by Gretchen McComb from The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. She discussed The Cliff Effect, a term used to describe the paradox faced by low-wage workers. The poverty level is considered three times the cost of food; however, this poverty level does not account for basic needs of those with children. The foundation opperates based not off of the standard poverty level, but off of the self-sufficiency standard that includes things like transportation and child care. According to the studies done by the foundation 20% of Colorado households earn below the self-sufficiency standard; while 54% of single mothers earn less than the standard.

Low-wage workers often qualify for “work support” benefits such as food stamps, child care and children’s health insurance. However, if the worker earns more money these benefits are quickly terminated resulting in the worker (and their children) worse off than before the wage increase. If you check out the report offered by the foundation you will see stories of women who have been affected by the cliff effect and a variety of graphs that illustrate the loss of benefits even with an increase of wage. The Cliff Effect can cause women to reject raises and promotions, so as not to lose the benefits necessary to maintain their children’s safety.

These issues disproportionately affect women of color: “While families with less education are more likely to have inadequate income, race and gender are more important predictors of inadequate income than educational level. For example, white men with high school degrees are more likely to have adequate income than women of color with a bachelor’s degree or higher.”   From “Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Colorado” report that is available on the Women’s Foundation website.

Issues of economic inequality between men and women are not improving. With the recent supreme court case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear, proving pay discrimination based on gender or race is more difficult than ever. Thanks to Alito and Roberts, pay discrimination must be proved within 180 day charging period of the first pay check. All I can say to that one is FUCK YOU SUPREME COURT with the exclusion of Justice Ginsburg. This type of case-law supports pay discrimination and protects the interests of corporations rather than workers. Luckily The Wage Transparency Act is on Colorado Legislature. More legislation like this needs to be pushed.

The overall theme of the evening’s lectures seemed to be centered around the need for women to help out other women in the workplace. Dr. Pamela W. Laird, professor at CU Denver and author of Pull: Networking and Success Since Benjamin Franklin, discussed issues of women networking in the corporate world. Women need to cut the competition and focus on collective action. In a white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy we need to find solidarity and support each other. If we don’t then we become victimized by a system that alienates women. Women who are privileged need to fight for the rights of women who are not. The voices of working women who are so often invisible in our society need to be heard. The systematic failings of our society need to fixed to meet the needs of all people, especially working mothers.

craft it out

There is something so satisfying about making things. Anything really, but we all have our favorite things to make. Textile crafts are my favorites right now. I love working with soft draping fabrics and making something substantial with thread. Stitches pull pieces together creating a new whole, shifting the canvas, becoming the canvas. Color emerges slowly in embroidery. Each stitch so loaded with intention. I am making it sound so serious, but really it is about keeping my hands busy and happy. Perhaps I want people to take my crafting seriously because I do. I find crafting a way to release stress and anxiety transforming them into something productive. “Craft it out” became my unofficial motto after returning to the United Sates after studying abroad. My best friend, who just returned from India was also feeling disillusioned. We were both in need of some craft therapy. We spent many Friday nights weaving rugs out of recycled bags and making collages.

I found my great-great grandmother’s iron on transfer patterns for embroidery. There were dancing vegetables, days of the week and flowers. The patterns were fragile and decaying, but with a lot of effort my mom and I were able to actually get the pattern to transfer on a dish towel. Most iron on transfers are a little bit reusable so I was able to embroider the same pattern that my great-great grandmother had. I felt connect to my long lineage of crafting women. That dish towel with the dancing corn was my first really sucessful embroidery project.

Sweing is a practical skill, but embroidery is a little more frivolous. Embroidery was a pastime for privileged young women, expected to learn how to be quiet and delicate. Women were expected to have perfect stiches on both the front and the back. All work should have been done without knots, since they complicate the back. I struggle with the history of textiles. I really love the notion that I am connected to past generations through the manipulation of fabric, but at the same time I find it problematic that it was a skill also used to pacify women. But then on the other had it was one way women were able to express their creativity. On this vein of thought, it is probably time to bring in Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. This amazing and awe-inspiring art work proves the intricacy, beauty and political power of a needle and thread (and the power of collective action and ceramics).

In general I have a love/ hate relation with domesticity. We so often dismiss the work that women were historically assigned to. I want to take it back. Reclaim the tasks of living. The creation of the necessary should be revered not devalued. I love cooking and crafting and can even find cleaning very satisfying. But on the same note I am irritated by the way that this subsistance labor is gendered. Cleaning and cooking are the tasks of living. Without these activities everything else would seize to exist. In American culture we simultaneously glorify and devalue this type of labor. This isn’t about just taking care of yourself, but taking care of each other regardless of gender. bell hooks has a great chapter in Feminist Theory From Margin to Center called “Rethinking the Nature of Work.” It is a great analysis of housework and its relationship to class and the economy. I highly recommend reading the entire book because it is wonderful.

“Bake us some dreams. Cook up some riots. Fry up some screams. When you are sick of your skirts slice open your seams. So they want domestics? Give us a needle and thread for patching up their egos, and we will sew a revolution instead.” ~Alix Olson

saturday morning feminist conversations

So, this is my life. Wake up, make breakfast with friends and then converse about spice girls and feminism. Graham, my housemate is getting ready to attend the Spice Girls Reunion show next weekend by playing their new hit and printing stolen color posters. He asserts that the Spice Girls are kinda feminist.

Excuse me, they are so not feminist! Sure they were all about “Girl Power,” but girl power and feminism are not synonymous. Victoria Beckham’s doesn’t have a feminist fat cell on her whole body. Further proof is that Geri Halliwell, a.k.a. Ginger, said, “For me feminism is bra-burning lesbianism. It’s very unglamourous.” Anyone who reverts back to those stereotypes doesn’t know jack shit about feminism. Obviously feminism is unglamourous, it is a justice movement.

Ellen is roused from her mid-morning nap and joins in the conversation, clearly backing me up. She also notes that they are utterly commercial. We reminisce about the mid 90′s alternative indie chicks. They were smart, talented and insightful. Give me Fiona Apple, Liz Phair, Ani DiFranco and the awesome fucking riot grrrls. There was a time when Clarissa Explains it All, the funky chick on Nickelodeon and No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom gave me great girlhood ambitions. But then came in the year of bubble gum sugar pop. sure they touted messages of “Girl Power” but were skinny and scantily clad. Where had the hole covered jeans and flannel gone? All of sudden it was platforms and halter tops. I think the Spice Girls started that whole prosti-tot trend: think “Baby Spice” always sucking on her lolly-pops.

For me, Feminism is complex and interconnected to larger social issues. Even if the “Girl Power” movement (in this really commercialized form including pencil cases and make up kits) is loosely related to feminism, it fails at connecting to anything larger than the concept itself. “Girl Power” as branded by the Spice Girls wasn’t ecouraging anything them to do anything with that empowerment. Feminism is political. It requires engaging action and discourse. The Spice Girls fail after encouraging you to take up your own fly fashion style. What else did we learn from Sporty, Baby, Post, Ginger and Scary?

The ultimate thing here is that the Spice Girls do not even identify themselves as feminist. Their music and performance played in line with corporate productions of music brands, not bands. They turned a celebration of girlhood as something unique and quirky into something stylized and sexy. If you want to read more about this debate check out the latest Bitch Magazine. Also read about how the spice girls are still selling out.

We will laugh and dance and kiss our way through the revolution

Tonight I watched Iron Jawed Angels for the first time. Women like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns fought for years for the right to vote. I am thankful for that right and to be apart of a movement with some BAMF women who fought for suffrage. But as my blog name would indicate my feminism rests closer to the words of Emma Goldman.

I feel I owe it to Emma to talk about her quote “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” The movie and the radical women of the National Women’s Party really show that it does take pressure from radicals to make change. Voting alone will never be enough participation in any governmental system. One “yay” or “nay” cannot fix the problems of our world. Direct action is critical in making real, immediate change. Direct action doesn’t have to be confrontational or violent. In fact, it can be beautiful, inspiring, practical, silly and sarcastic among many other things. There are no limits on what we can do. As Emma once said, “If I can’t dance – I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” So, lets dance and sing in the streets and plant wild flowers, too.