Issue 4

September/October 2013

University of Michigan

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Your Monthly Periodical

All writings depicted are real, found in bathrooms on campus, because sometimes we just need to talk to each other.

Introducing…

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This publication is meant to start conversations—it’s an open channel for all voices. The more voices, the richer the conversation. Because of how we’re raised and who we are, it can be difficult to see past our own experiences. So if when reading anything in this vagazine you find you have a disagreement, a critique, or another viewpoint on an idea, write us in and we’ll publish it. Stretch marks: Stretch past your own head.

Talk to us at WhatTheFMag@umich.edu.

President Jen Spears Editors in Chief Hailey Burns, Bri Kovan Creative Head Margaret Hitch Layout Editor Paula Friedrich Business Manager Sumana Palle Public Relations Coordinator Jillian McConville Social Justice Editor Cosette Kathawa

!"#$%&"'%( is a non-partisan, non-profit publication operated by students at the University of Michigan. What The F’s purpose

is to encourage discussion on significant issues of campus, national, and world interest. The magazine, the advisory board, and our sponsors do not endorse the ideas presented by the writers. We do however, support, and encourage different ideas into our community and into campus discussion.

All writings depicted are real, found in bathrooms on campus, because sometimes we just need to talk to each other.

February/ March 2013

What The F 04 05

Letter from the Editors What is Feminism?

Woman of the Month Catharine MacKinnon Health Shit I’m Afraid to Ask My Doctor Homemade Beauty

06 08 09 10 11 12 14 16

Skin Tight Gender Bias In The Workplace Whose Virginity Is It Anyway?

An Apple A Day Rap Attack: Females in Hip-Hop My Sext Your Doctor’s First Time The World Of Fat Talk

17 18 19

Reviews Is This 2013?

DIY: With Your Dazzling Inner Self Origin of the Word VajA2

01 02

Erica McTurk Kirsten Koseck Michelle Torby Caroline Hickey Gus Navarro Margaret Hitch Paula Friedrich Bri Kovan

Janet Navarro Aviva Marchione Ivana Happycooch

Your Monthly Periodical Issue 4

20 21

The World According to the Mirror What is Woman HPV and Me

22

Sources and Sponsors

Funny, Fresh, Feminine, Feminist, & Fuck Cover Erica McTurk Layout Erica McTurk, Holly Sterling, Paula Friedrich, and HaeJee Yoon Contributing Illustrators Ashley Boudrie, Kit Trowbridge, Stephanie O’Neil, Margaret Hitch, Grace Ludmer, Rachel Cross, Paula Friedrich, and Erica McTurk Contributing Writers Samantha Stewart, Jillian McConville, Lizzie Lane, Colleen Moran, Samantha Hudson, and Lesley McGee Find us on facebook for updates: www.facebook.com/whatthefmag

Letter From the Editor

Welcome to What The F, your campus vagazine!

September/ October 2013

!"#$%&"'%( 04 05

Letter from the Editors What is Feminism?

Woman of the Month Catharine MacKinnon Health Shit I’m Afraid to Ask My Doctor Homemade Beauty

06 08 09 10 11 12 14 16

Skin Tight Gender Bias In The Workplace Whose Virginity Is It Anyway?

An Apple A Day Rap Attack: Females in Hip-Hop My Sext Your Doctor’s First Time The World of Fat Talk

17 18 19 19

Reviews Is This 2013?

DIY: With Your Dazzling Inner You Origin of the Word VajA2

20 20 21

The World According to the Mirror What is Woman?

HPV and Me

23

Sources and Sponsors

01 03

Erica McTurk Kirsten Koseck Michelle Torby Caroline Hickey Gus Navarro Margaret Hitch Paula Friedrich Bri Kovan

Janet Navarro Aviva Marchione Ivana Happycooch

Your Monthly Periodical Issue 4

(23345%(*'."5%('67373'5%('6737.$5 %8%(2+Cover Erica McTurk Layout Erica McTurk, Holly Sterling, Paula Friedrich, and HaeJee Yoon Contributing Illustrators Ashley Boudrie, Kit Trowbridge, Stephanie O’Neil, Margaret Hitch, Grace Ludmer, Rachel Cross, Paula Friedrich, and Erica McTurk Contributing Writers Samantha Stewart, Jillian McConville, Lizzie Lane, Colleen Moran, Samantha Hudson, and Lesley McGee Find us on Facebook for updates: www.facebook.com/whatthefmag Follow us on Twitter: @Whatthefmag

Welcome Back to your campus vagazine, lovely readers! Hope summertime was enjoyed without any Lana del Ray sadness.

As you start jobs and papers and lectures, don’t you forget that summer is simply a state of mind (fist pump). It is fall, however, a breezy time of fresh starts, unless like me, you have graduated and find yourself back in your parents’ house eating copious amounts of Swedish fish with your best friend who is literally a dog. As this is my last issue before passing on the torch to a team of brilliant women, I’d like to get fresh on a word we all know but often dismiss quicker than we can say it: feminism.

For this, I need an expert, and thus I call in our former Social Justice Editor, Colleen Moran. Now she’s been lighting all of her negligees on fire for the past few hours and brandishing the ashen remains on a tampon so I think she’s ready, Colleen?

/,0 What the fuck are you talking about?

110 Colleen, Women’s Studies Major,

feminist extraordinaire, we must clear up the question of the 21st century: What is “feminism?” What about humanism? Isn’t feminism obsolete? (chuckles to herself)

/,0 (adjusts glasses) What fantastic questions! Well, despite what anyone may hear, think, or feel about the subject, feminism is simply the fight for equal political, economic, and social rights for all sexes.

Feminists fight nationally and globally for LGBTQ’s, men’s, and women’s rights, taking into account all of the “isms” out there: sexism, classism, heterosexism, racism, sizism, ageism, ableism, etc. The isms are every-

where if you look for them. The confusing grey matter of feminism is that many types of feminists exist and believe in fighting different battles. But the root of feminism, across all forms, is justice for the oppressed.

Feminism as a movement has had its issues, but when it comes to whether or not I call myself a feminist, I definitely do. And I like “feminism” more than the word “humanism,” because I don’t think we can ignore that with many “human rights” issues, women are disproportionately affected.

Women’s rights are human rights, because oppression against women negatively affects the entire world. Yes, feminism can be a scary word with all its syllables and its pretty ugly historical connotations. It’s a perspective that makes you unlearn a lot of what you have learned, which can be uncomfortable. But alas, the world would be a better place for men and women and everyone in between with more feminism.

110 Word to your motha. Yes, to me feminism is about choices: having them, understanding them, and empowering those withou— /,0 Listen this has been great but I just got a Bic For Her pen and I’m dying to write a grocery list.

110 Well you heard it live, readers, and if you’ll excuse me, I have some Swedish fish to finish.

9:*%;:6'3%;7$"%;:6'3 Rag on,

Vagazine Founder P.S. Want to get involved? E-mail WhatTheFmag@umich.edu. We would love your brilliant minds to write and create with us.

01

02

Woman of the Month

Catharine Mackinnon Our woman of the month, Catharine MacKinnon, is a celebrated feminist, activist, and legal scholar. But perhaps more importantly, she is a Wolverine.

Since 1990, MacKinnon has been the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the Michigan Law School. She also serves as the James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard.

During her expansive legal career, she has distinguished herself as a pioneer in reforming political policy to promote sexual equality. Some of her courses at the University of Michigan include “Evolution of Gender Crimes,” “Women’s Human Rights,” and “Feminist Legal Theory.”

Originally hailing from Minnesota, MacKinnon attended Smith College as an undergraduate and finished in the top 2 percent of her class. She then received her J.D./Ph.D. from Yale Law School in 1977, and two years later published her first book Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination. According to a 2000 study, this book is the eighth most-cited American legal work published since 1978. More importantly, it laid the legal framework under which the Courts interpret sex discrimination cases. At that time, there was no legal precedent about how to confront sexual discrimination in the workplace. In her writing, MacKinnon differentiated between two types of sexual harassment: “quid pro quo” and “work place-condition.”

She argued that these conditions arise for women during employment because of the prevailing cultural norms surrounding female sexuality.

While sex is typically thought of as having one set of genitalia or another, the reality is that women are thought of as sexual objects. To be “womanly” in our society means looking or acting a certain way-- and that female sexuality is intrinsically tied to the female sex. Thus, if the laws did not allow discrimination “because of sex” (e.g. not being willing to hire a woman in a gun shop with an all male staff)-- that would mean any violations to a female’s sexuality (e.g. getting the elevator eyes from a boss every time a woman came in to

work) would be also be prohibited. Ultimately, society’s insistence on reducing women to their sexuality grounds that violations of that sexuality equate to abuses of women as a sex. These arguments were adopted by the Supreme Court in the landmark decision Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986). This court case set the standard for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines against sexual harassment in the workplace. Catharine MacKinnon’s brilliant analysis of societal gender norms have given women an avenue for legal action against employers who sexually harass them.

MacKinnon has also been a large opponent in the silencing and restriction of women by the law. In 1983, MacKinnon critiqued the legal basis of Roe v. Wade, criticizing how it reflects society’s double standard for female sexuality. While many feminists lauded this decision as an important step forward for women, MacKinnon questioned how society continued to ignore the coercive nature of sex.

Abortions or not, women are at the sexual mercy of men. In her argument, she boldly addresses this topic: “Sex doesn’t look a whole lot like freedom when it appears normatively less costly for women to risk an undesired, often painful, traumatic, dangerous, sometimes illegal, and potentially life-threatening procedure than to protect themselves in advance.”

Why not address the accepted social context that produces unwanted pregnancies? Why are women being pressured to have unprotected sex in the first place?

These political ideologies are just a flavor of some of Catharine MacKinnon’s brilliance. MacKinnon has taught at Yale, the University of Chicago, and Stanford University, as well as universities in Germany and Switzerland. Since 2008 she has acted as the Special Gender Adviser

to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Her policies on sexual harassment as well as pornography have been adopted globally. In 2000 she co-counseled Bosnian women survivors of Serbian genocidal sexual brutalities and won them a damage award of $745 million. This was the first legal case to acknowledged rape as a form of genocide. Catharine MacKinnon is one of the most provocative legal minds in the world.

She has spent over 30 years working tirelessly to ensure that women everywhere are legally guaranteed equal treatment. Hail yeah!

-Lesley McGee Suggested Reading Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws By making visible the deep gender bias of existing law, MacKinnon recasts legal debate and action on issues of sex discrimination, sexual abuse, prostitution, pornography, and racism.

Are Women Human?

And Other International Dialogues - After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defined what a human being is and is entitled to, MacKinnon asks: Are women human yet?

Feminism Unmodified Discourses on Life and Law Originally delivered as speeches, these discourses been woven into a book which works through issues such as rape, abortion, athletics, sexual harassment, and pornography, unconstrained by the limits of prior traditions.

03

Health

Shit I’m Afraid to Ask my Doctor What’s up with vagina surgery?

W

hen I hear the term “vaginal cosmetic surgery,” I’m a little alarmed. Altering your vagina, just for looks? Don’t they go through enough?

Did anyone read our article in Issue 3 on the Great Wall of Vagina? Apparently not, because there are multiple kinds of cosmetic surgery performed on female genitalia that are unfortunately growing in demand.

Vaginoplasty

Designed to tighten up the vagina or vaginal opening. Also known as “vaginal rejuvenation” or getting a “designer vagina” (whatever that means).

Labiaplasty

Performed on both the labia majora and minora (outer and inner lips), the labia is trimmed because it is “too large, loose, floppy, bulky, excessive, uneven, redundant, or overpigmented” according to doctors at the symposium, “The Great Controversy: Does Vaginal Rejuvenation Enhance Sexual Gratification.” I will hold my commentary for a few paragraphs, but listen to Leonore Tiefer, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and sex therapist, who says, “in the opinion of most sexologists, the labia are part of the arousal structures of the genitals and their loss impairs sexual experience.”

H!dectomy

Also known as clitoral unhooding, this procedure removes the skin that covers the clitoris. It is supposed to help women who have trouble achieving orgasm. Problem is, the skin that covers your clitoris serves an important purpose. When a woman becomes sexually aroused her clitoris swells, and if it isn’t covered it can cause pain, not pleasure. Trust me, it’s all good in the hood.

Hymenoplasty

Lastly, my favorite, a procedure where they reattach the thin piece of skin at the opening of the vagina: the elusive hymen.

Also known as revirgination – because 04

who doesn’t want to be a virgin again?

These types of operations are supposed to improve the look of your vagina, increase sensitivity, and therefore increase your sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm. Sounds great! However, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say that a tighter vagina and heightened sensitivity does not guarantee better sex, in fact, it can lead to nerve damage and decreased sexual pleasure. In addition to the surgery-specific risks, there are some general risks that come with all cosmetic surgery, including scarring, pain, permanent changes in sensation, and infection. There are also no reliable statistics on the amount and results of these procedures, and the ACOG says that they are “unproven.” Oh, and these procedures can cost anywhere from $3,500 to $12,000.

The majority of these surgeries are elective—it’s not common to need a vaginoplasty or to recreate the beloved hymen, but it is possible. Some of these surgeries were originally developed to repair vaginal birth defects so that women could grow up to have normal urination, periods, and sex. Regardless of their origins, these surgeries are now marketed by plastic surgeons just like any other cosmetic procedure: designed to boost confidence, self-esteem and beauty.

Interestingly enough though, the ACOG says, “women’s genitals naturally have a wide range of normal appearances that are anatomically correct. There’s no one ‘look’ or right way for a vagina and labia to be formed”. If you need proof, please check out The Great Wall of Vagina that was featured in our third issue.

This concludes the scientific portion of the article, and here comes the feminism.

I’m all for boosting confidence and selfesteem, but the question becomes where does this boost come from? The desire to have a “designer vagina” is not inherent in

women; rather it is rooted socially. Our culture is littered with Brazilian bikini waxes, porn, and celebrities accidentally flashing their hoo-has, and the media sensationalizes it all. The thought that our vaginas aren’t as good as someone else’s is just an extension body image issues that can be, at least somewhat, attributed to the way women are portrayed in the media today. I also think it’s arguable that the purpose of vaginal cosmetic surgery is androcentric and has little to do with women’s sexual pleasure and confidence.

Think about it, who sees your vagina the most? Most likely it’s your sexual partner. If you are involved in a mutually pleasurable, sexual relationship, pleasing your partner can be an important part of that relationship, and can be satisfying in its own right. However, if your partner’s satisfaction lies in the physical appearance of your vagina, I think it’s safe to say that person is as shallow as a kiddy pool. At “The Great Controversy: Does Vaginal Rejuvenation Enhance Sexual Gratification?” symposium, New York City gynecologist Robert Jason argued that vaginal rejuvenation can save relationships because “it’s cheaper to keep her” and “breasts catch a man, but a tight vagina keeps him.” He also wondered, out loud, at a medical conference, if men go after younger women because they’re “more beautiful or is it because of this?” This is referring to tight vaginas. Nowhere is this “intelligent” man’s musings of this risky surgical procedure does he even attempt to address the idea of women’s sexual gratification. Not to mention the money involved in this market of insecurities.

I say it’s time we stop comparing our lives, bodies, and apparently vaginas, to everyone else’s, because I’ve got enough on my plate without worrying if my labia is as pretty as my lab partner’s.

-Samantha Stewart

homeade beauty Brown Sugar and Honey Facial Scrub Brown sugar exfoliates the skin, clearing the pores of dirt, oil, and dead skin cells that can cause blemishes.

Honey is naturally antibacterial, so as the brown sugar scrubs away pore-cloggers, the honey cleans out pores to prevent future breakouts.

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Moisturize Skin With Honey and Olive Oil Both honey and olive oil hold moisture well. Mix equal parts of olive oil and honey. Rub it onto the dry skin and let it sit for 10-20 minutes. Your skin will be hydrated for quite some time!

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Lemon and Egg Facial Soothe red splothchiness on your face by mixing together one egg yolk and the juice of one lemon into a paste.

Cover your face with it and leave it on overnight. If this seems too long and messy, leave it on your face for an hour.

Replace Face Wash With Skim Milk Powder Switching face wash out with skim milk powder can soften your face and give you a smoother complexion.

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Replace Conditioner with Vinegar To get rid of the usual problems with hair build up, replace your conditioner with vinegar 1-4 times a month, depending on your hair type. Just use as needed.

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Replace Conditioner with Baking Soda Want to simplify washing your hair? Then just add baking soda to your shampoo. It will remove build up and make hair shinier, and you can use it everyday.

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Sof ten Skin With Oatmeal Ground up about 1 cup of oatmeal using a blender or coffee grinder, and add it to bath water to soften skin to baby-like condition.

Exfoliate, brighten and moisturize skin with this mask Combine 2 Tbsp sour cream with 2 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Apply to your clean face and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse with tepid water followed by a cool rinse.

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Aspirin & Lemon Juice Skin Home Remedy The aspirin has salicylic acid, which helps to remove acne and pimples since it is like a chemical peel. The lemon juice has vitamin C and helps minimize sun damage to your skin. Baking soda works great at the end to neutralize the salicylic acid.

Mash up 6-12 non-coated aspirins and combine them with lemon juice. Let the aspirin dissolve until it turns into a paste. Then apply the mask to your skin and let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the facemask by dipping a cotton round.

Coconut oil has several uses 1. Make body scrub 2. Apply on dry hair, leave in for an hour or two then shampoo as normal 3. Use as a lip mositurizer 4. Apply to stretch marks or scars to reduce visibility 5. Rub on nails and cuticles to strengthen them.

Olive Oil as Hair Moisturizer Simply massage olive oil into the scalp and leave it in for 30-45 minutes. You can wrap it in plastic wrap to keep it from dripping and to enhance the effect.

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Degrease Oily Hair With Lemons and Aloe Mix together 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp aloe vera, with a normal serving of shampoo. It will get rid of your oiliness in one shower.

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Coffee Grounds in Conditioner This one is really easy. Instead of throwing old coffee grounds away, toss them into your conditioner to make your hair extra shiny.

05

Skin Tight

by Erica McTurk Closet y sister’s boyfriend was coming over to pick her up for a dinner date. She got ready in the bathroom; I kept her company. Watched her straighten her hair and put on make-up. We talked, but not about anything important.

She did her eyeliner and then told me she tried to make it look like Holly Golighty. It did: black shadow above the eyes, extended across the lid, smudged at the edges. She pulled all the clothes out of her closet until the floor was a swamp. She waded through it, tried them all on. Then asked me what looked good. There were too-tight t-shirts in bright colors, with logos on the chest, faded flared jeans, and straight black dresses.

“Do you like this one?” she would ask me. We were in her room now. She was standing in front of the mirror above her dresser.

I went to my closet and pulled out a pale, blue sheer dress with a silk lining. It had an empire silhouette, thin straps, a ribbon that cinched the waist, and a V-neckline. We were close enough in size, being less than three years apart, that the dress would fit her. I carried it to her room. The thin fabric floated behind the hanger. The air loved this dress.

“Here.” I extended the dress to her, held out the hanger for her to take it. It wasn’t my favorite, I wouldn’t have let her try it on if it was, but if she wore it, I knew it would save her from the trap of unsophisticated too-tightness.

“Erica, this isn’t really me. I don’t know.” But she took it off the hanger and started to pull it over her head.

Down to two now: my dress or one of her skin-tight black ones. Jeff was at the door waiting. She let him choose. She ran down the stairs in my dress first, the sheer blue material cutting a line behind her steps. I didn’t hear Jeff ’s reaction, but he probably said something nice, or something neutral.

Aryn ran back up the stairs, pulled on the second dress.

The material didn’t float. She got to the door, showed Jeff the second choice. He said he liked it better. She grabbed her purse and then left, but she returned my dress to me first, put it back on the hanger, and thanked me for letting her try it on.

I put it back in my closet. My dress looked better. I knew it. Jeff. He probably just chose the second dress because Aryn already had it on. He didn’t want her to change for the second time, just wanted to get the hell out to dinner.

M

06

Aunt’s House We were upstairs in the bathroom together, hiding from the relatives. I was listening to her. She told me about when she stayed up until 5 a.m., because it was something she could do now, and how she drank wine once, but just a

little, so it was okay. I was leaning against the sink counter, facing her. Aryn was close to the window, across from the door. She pulled a tube of lip-gloss out of her pocket and looked in the mirror. Aryn always wore lip-gloss because she liked the shine. I thought lipstick was better, because it wasn’t sticky. Aryn said you should apply lipstick with your finger, so I did. It was the first Thanksgiving since she had been in college.

“Have you done anything…?” I was afraid of the answer; I knew she had been sad, but when I remembered her, I knew it had to be no. I hoped.

She shook her head. “No.” Yes. “Really?” My eyes shone at her.

She smiled. It was with a 24-year-old, on my first night away from you.

“That’s good.”

“Why?” “I don’t know. I’m just happy for you. It’s important.”

She was quiet.

I was relieved, not just because she had succeeded in upholding the Christian values that we had been taught as children, but because, as her sister, albeit younger, I wanted to protect her.

Jeff ’s Pool In the car at night. We were together again, driving back from Jeff ’s house. It was the summer after her sophomore year at college. I was driving my car because I could afford the gas. We both had damp hair pulled into ponytails. Jeff had a pool. We had all gone swimming.

“Play it again!”

“Ugh, Aryn…” I said. “It doesn’t sound as good if you play it over and over.”

“Come on, play it again.”

I pushed the button on my iPod and the song started over.

I had one of those devices that went into the tape player. A cord stuck out of it and went into the iPod. “Some people think they’re always right” Aryn started singing, so I did too. It still sounded good.

“Others are quiet and uptight Others they seem so very nice-ice-ice-ice Inside they might feel sad and wrong” And then the chorus: “Sit me down. Shut me up I’ll calm down And I’ll get along with you” We were driving down Square Lake Road, still in the part before the speed limit dropped to thirty-five. The windows were rolled down halfway. I usually don’t like driving with

the windows down, because the wind puts knots in my hair.

It was ok now though, because my hair was mostly wet and matted against my neck.

We hadn’t planned on swimming; we hadn’t brought suits. But it was dusk, or twilight, or whatever that time of night is when the sky is bright and the ground is dark, and the pool looked just right. So Jeff lent us each a pair of his underwear and a T-shirt, and we got in the pool.

Jeff turned on some music. I don’t remember anything about the song that first came on except for one lyric: wellconditioned hair.

I swam from the side of the pool towards Aryn. The T-shirt dragged through the water. The pool was in Jeff ’s backyard, but there were trees and bushes all around it. It seemed strange to me because I was used to public pools, nothing around them but cement. I suppose that if I had my own pool though, this is what I would want, something private.

“Well-conditioned hair. Like yours,” I said.

“Oh yeah.” She smiled. “Jeff, well-conditioned hair!”

He slipped into the pool. I had stolen the inner tube Aryn had been clinging to and slipped it over my head. It came under my armpits and I held it against my chest. Now that Jeff was in the pool, Aryn swam towards him. I felt slightly awkward, not because I wasn’t comfortable around the two of them together, but because I had never had a crush on one of my sister’s boyfriends before. And there I was: in a pool with the two of them, Jeff ’s t-shirt clinging to my shoulders, his underwear swirling around my thighs.

The idea of this crush wasn’t totally implausible in my mind. I was seventeen, only two and a half years younger than Aryn. We looked so similar, almost like twins. If he were attracted to her, wouldn’t he also have to be attracted to me by default? It reminded me of this one time I visited Aryn at school, went to a party with her and her friends.

Jeff ’s roommate Drew was there. He had a crush on Aryn.

He kissed me. Later I thought: maybe he kissed me because it was the closest he would ever get to being with her. That’s how it always was: all the boys wanted Aryn.

She swam over, put her arms around the other side of the inner tube so we were facing each other. Her long black hair floated in the water around her shoulders; her eyes were black from her wet mascara. Jeff floated close behind, following her. I never told her about the crush.

She probably wouldn’t have cared if I had. We were closer that year than we had ever been, or as close as we could get inasmuch that she was away at college and I was three years behind. We had been together our whole lives, but it was different that year. Maybe Jeff brought us together in some

strange way, or maybe it was the combination of the ages.

She was a sophomore in college; free. Me, a junior in high school. Either way, that year she included me always, and I never realized how easy it would have been for her not too.

Three months later Aryn broke it off with Jeff and stopped visiting home, stopped inviting me to see her at school. We stopped drinking small amounts of vodka together. She moved in with another boyfriend half a year later. Kyle.

They live in Lansing, going on three years. I talked to her on the phone about a month ago. She said she was doing well. I miss Jeff now, but only because he reminds me of her.

Every Coffee Table Needs a Book on Vaginas The Big Coloring Book of Vaginas A big girl coloring book; keep crayons handy.

by Morgan Hastings, Big Book Alt Press The Big Book of Pussy Over 400 photos from 1900 to the present day.

by Dian Hanson The Vagina Monologues Famous episodes on everything from rape to menstruation and orgasm.

by Eve Ensler V is for Vagina “Your A-Z guide to periods, piercings, pleasures and so much more.”

by Alyssa Dweck and Robin Westen 199 Vaginas: The Ultimate Photo Collection Up close and personal erotic art from women all over the world.

by Keyser B Soze The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade Examines the multi-billion dollar global market of prostitution and the sex trade.

by Sheila Jeffreys

07

Gender Bias In The Workplace

by Kirsten Koseck

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hile the past decades have showcased efforts to ensure equal opportunity for men and women, women still remain largely underrepresented in leadership roles in the workplace. Although brave women and men before us have waged the battle against blatant sexism and open discrimination, there are still sneaky ways that lingering gender biases can make it difficult for women to reach the top rungs of career ladders.

The Name on your Resume Matters When presented with identical resumes, employers at academic institutions are more likely to hire applicants with stereotypical male names than stereotypical female names, more likely to view the past experiences and achievements of male applicants positively, and more likely to consider the female applicants incompetent.

How to fight it: Researchers suspect that exceptional achievement may be enough to overcome this unconscious gender bias, so this research further emphasizes the importance of adequate preparation and experience in any career path. Using one’s first and middle initial in lieu of a first name could also be a simple, effective solution where appropriate. Some feminists have even chosen to endow their daughters with one of a myriad of gender-neutral names (Cameron or Blake, for example) with hopes that the gender ambiguity can potentially shield them from this bias.

Gender Affects your Recommendation Letters Over 600 letters of recommendation written for applicants seeking university faculty positions were examined in order to explore differences in letters written for men and women.

Researchers found that women were described using more communal terms, such as kind or nurturing, while men were more likely to be described with dominant words, such as independent or confident. The presence of communal descriptions in the letters was inversely correlated with hiring decisions.

How to fight it: Female applicants should provide potential recommendation letter writers with specific attributes that employers are looking for. If a recommendation writer knows that an employer is looking for assertive, autonomous employees, he or she may be less likely to resort to unconscious gender norms when describing one’s work.

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Gender Stereotypes Affect the Way you Talk about Yourself Countless studies assert that women tend to be much more modest when describing their talents and achievements than men, an act of “self-sabotage” that prevents entry and advancement in the workplace.

How to fight it: A job interview is not the time to be modest! Female job-seekers should not be afraid to showcase skills, background, and accomplishments and provide as much depth and detail to their experiences as possible.

Benevolent Sexism Hurts your Work Performance Sometimes unconscious gender biases take on the form of benevolent sexism - the tendency to stereotype women as fitting in traditional gender roles and offering them extra protection, affection, and idolization. While benevolent sexism may at first glance appear positive and sometimes complimentary, being treated like a “delicate little princess” at work is no cause for celebration. Research has shown that benevolent sexism is actually more harmful to a woman’s performance on problem-solving tasks than downright hostile sexism.

How to fight it: Women and men should understand the dangers of benevolent sexism and speak up when it is heard. By increasing awareness of this lesser-known form of sexism, women will feel less patronized in the workplace and more appreciated for their strengths and competence.

The easiest way to fight gender bias is to make yourself, your friends, and your co-workers aware of it. If you make the effort to inform yourself of lingering gender biases and how to combat them, you will reap the benefits in your own professional life and help smash that glass ceiling into pieces. Make a point to share your knowledge and experiences with other women, and don’t fall victim to the belief that other professional women are the enemy. As Tiny Fey warns in her autobiography Bossy Pants: “Don’t be fooled. You’re not in competition with other women. You’re in competition with everyone.”

Whose Virginity Is It Anyway?

by Michelle Torby

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AKE YOUR BIRTH CONTROL TODAY! As I glimpsed up from the book I was reading, these words glared at me from a female student’s computer screen. Obviously meant as a reminder for her, this statement couldn’t help but hold my attention. Why would she allow others to know she took birth control? Wasn’t she the least bit embarrassed of this fact? But suddenly, I thought to myself, “Why does her sexual status matter to me?” Indeed, I couldn’t help but ask myself: where did this concern of mine come from? Little did I know, my current thoughts originated from a time and place long ago: ancient Greece.

According to ancient Greek belief, young females on the precipice of adulthood were to be especially feared. In the middle of a potent transition, these women represented an “attractive, yet threatening wildness.”

This “wildness” served as such a source of angst because it endangered a prominent social construct of the time: patriarchy.

Thought to undermine the male-dominated social order, the ambiguous sexual status of adolescent, unmarried women caused much alarm to those of ancient Greece.

Subsequently, the solution to eradicate this unease was to marry these young females off and sentence them to a life of domesticity. The power of the female was now subdued with the responsibilities of serving as a wife and mother.* In addition to subjugating women, societal fascination with their sexuality stemmed from ancient medical pursuits.

Seeking to categorize life’s forms, Hippocrates divided the female body into upper and lower portions. Both of these discrete entities held something in common: the mouth.

Not only did females have a mouth through which to ingest food and speak, but they also had a mouth, or opening, of the uterus. These mouths were to remain closed at all times, except when “eating, speaking, making love, or giving birth.”

The goal of these rules was to effectively silence women— and this makes sense. In a land dictated by political speech,

women should learn to keep both their mouths shut, so as not to gain too much freedom.

Perhaps this is why so many women feel such a stigma regarding the status of their virginity. Despite its roots in antiquity, these ancient Greek perceptions still prevail into the present-day. Purity Balls, which promote abstinence in young women, are just current-day embodiments of ancient Greek values. Dressing up in ball gowns, young women are escorted by their fathers to a dance centered on the theme of chastity. Upon arriving at the Purity Ball, fathers sign a contract promising to protect their daughters’ virginity. Such an act underscores the primordial belief that a woman’s sexuality is subject to the dictates of a man, in a world seemingly directed by the values of heterosexuality.

Therefore, it’s no wonder many modern women remain torn between the norm of chastity and the notoriety of sexual freedom. If she submits to the former option, she chooses to exercise her sexual tendencies to fulfill the roles of mother and wife.

On the other hand, if she wields her sexual pleasures for her own benefits, she will have entered into that area of dangerous “wildness.”

But why should we remain scared of this “precarious” state? This definition of virginity is a purely male construction; the men of ancient Greece could not stand to see women representing a “multiplicity of powers.” Thus, they sought to reduce the female to an either-or existence— one of appropriate sexual virtue, or of untamable sexual independence. But we’re more dynamic than this onedimensional classification. We shouldn’t remain confined to the ancient ideals of woman. Rather, we should embrace our sexual autonomy, redefine our notions of virginity, and not be ashamed to display that birth control reminder on our computer screen.

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Planned Parenth!d

... just isn’t enough for your vagina

by Caroline Hickey

University Health Services (UHS)

Location: 207 Fletcher Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Hours: MTW: 8-5:30, Th: 9-5:30, Fri: 8-4:30, Sat: 9-noon, Sun: Closed Phone: 734-764-8320 Appointment Required? Yes Services Offered: (Included in U-M students’ tuition)Clinic visits (e.g. medical clinics, women’s health, specialty clinics, nurse visits, etc.), Health education, Pregnancy testing and options counseling, Confidential HIV testing, Nutrition counseling, most laboratory tests, advice by telephone All other services, including immunizations, allergy antigens, medications, genetic testing, etc. charge an additional fee.

HIV testing: Anyonymous rapid HIV Testing (no record of the test), free for currently enrolled students, $20 for nonUofM students. Walk-ins are taken schedule-permitting, or call 734-763-1320 for an appointment. Monday-Friday, 1-3 pm, Health Promotion (2nd floor UHS).

UHS Pharmacy: Emergency Contraception (Plan B) without prescription 17 years of age or older; or with prescription.

Cost: Some services are included in tuition, others cost extra; price for additional services varies (See “services offered” above). HPV vaccination (Cervarix or Gardasil) is priced at $175 (subject to change), but UHS will attempt to bill insurances first.

Who is eligible for services: UM students, UM alumni, UM faculty, staff, retirees, spouses, domestic partners, dependents, and guests of above Website: http://www.uhs.umich.edu/ 10

Location: 3100 Professional Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Hours: M: 9-5, TW: 9-8, Th: 9-6, F: 9:30-5, Sat: 9:30-4, Sun: Closed Phone: 734-973-0710 Appointment Required? No for Walk-In services; Yes for all other Services Offered: LGBT health education, resources, and services referral Walk-In: Pregnancy testing, pregnancy options counseling, emergency contraception (both over-the-counter and by prescription), Depo-Provera injections with current prescription, birth control method options counseling, express STD screening service, and HIV testing Appointment Required: medication abortion, in-clinic abortion, birth control implant, birth control shot, IUD (Mirena and ParaGard) insertion, STD testing, HPV vaccination, Women’s health services including Pap tests, breast exams, UTI testing and treatment, vaginal infection testing and treatment, cervical cancer screening, mammogram referral, and check-ups for a sexual or reproductive health problem Cost: Based on a “sliding fee scale.” The cost of services depends on an individual’s income and takes into account unemployment, disabilities, etc.; cost can be as low as donation-based Who is eligible for services: Everyone Website: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/ centerDetails.asp?f=3296&a=90630&v=details#

SafeHouse Center

Location: 4100 Clark Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48105 Hours: Monday-Friday, 9-5 Phone: 734-995-5444 Appointment Required? No Services Offered: confidential support for those impacted by domestic violence or sexual assault, emergency shelter for those in danger of being hurt or killed, counseling, legal advocacy, support groups, information and referrals Cost: Free Who is eligible for services: Any person that lives or works in Washtenaw county Website: http://www.safehousecenter.org/

Sexual Assault Prevention & Awareness Center (SAPAC) Location: Michigan Union, 530 S. State St., Room G509, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Hours: Monday-Friday, 9-5 Appointment Required?: No Services Offered: Advocates for survivors, Student-led volunteer branch (men’s activism, networking and publicity, peer education), Peer-led support group, 24-hour crisis hotline (734-936-3333) Cost: Free to all UM students Who is eligible for services: UM students Website: http://sapac.umich.edu/

“Friends Like These”—B!g Brown feat. Kam Moye Werkin’ Girls”—Angel Haze

“Fu-Gee-La”—The Fugees ip-hop is something that has defined who I am as a person since I first heard “Don’t Feel Right” by the Roots way back in 2007. I was drawn to hip-hop because of the politically and socially conscious lyricism that can be found in much of the music. The rhythms of the spoken word mixed with heavy boom baps, and complex horn samples spoke to who I wanted to be; cognizant of the societal inequities and double standards we live with everyday.

To me, what makes a real MC is their ability to craft a story with their words. The story could be about love, pain, happiness, partying, or even politics. It really doesn’t matter as long as the MC tells their story in an imaginative way that shows their creativity and makes the listener reflect on what is being said. This type of MC is not what is found in the mainstream culture of hip-hop music. The mainstream of hip-hop is dominated by a masculine ethos that promotes violence, aggression, and degradation towards women. It is easy to assume that hip-hop is a genre intended for male consumption because of the glorification and emphasis on hyper-masculinity and homophobia. This is unfortunately the case in much of mainstream hip-hop, however this is not true of all hip-hop.

They are not as well known, but there are many female MCs that are clever storytellers and attentive social commentators. Female MCs such as Invincible, Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Boog Brown, Miz Korona, Angel Haze, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and Jane Doe offer up their unique perspective of what it means to be a female artist in a genre of music that is dominated by masculinity.

B!g Brown Hailing from Detroit, Boog Brown is a brilliant lyricist that describes herself as a “lover, fighter, and artist.” In September 2010, she released Brown Study with Detroit producer Apollo Brown. In the song “Master Plan,” the second cut from the record, Boog Brown declares, “I want my toes painted fresh/new sun dress/new Tims/new vest/ and a Smith and Wes.” In the chorus, “I want the power/ peace, knowledge, wisdom, understanding/it’s the master

“You Don’t Want it”—Jean Grae “Sledgehammer”—Invincible

plan.” And in the second verse she explains her ideal man would “respect me as his equal/don’t mind checking his ego.” In “Master Plan”, Ms. Brown defies the objectification of women found in many rap lyrics and takes ownership of her identity as a woman and artist.

In the song “Play The Game,” also off Brown Study, Ms. Brown explains how she will not let people take advantage of her. In the first verse she tells the story of a producer that is attracted to her and tries to get with her. However, as Brown explains, “I ain’t so dope when you find out I won’t fuck for a placement.” In the chorus Brown declares, “I play the game never let the game play me/gotta be in it, never of it, don’t explain a thing/they misconstrue try to use it for the third degree/but save your scrutiny, I’ll continue doing me.” This is repeated again, but this time ends with “save your scrutiny, I’m a human being.” In one fell swoop, Boog Brown is challenging the notion that women are objects to be used and abused by men within the music industry.

Invincible Originally from the Middle East, Invincible moved to Detroit when she was in middle school. Invincible is on par with any of the popular MCs currently in the rap game. Invincible blends intellectual lyricism with a passion for social justice issues within her music. In Detroit, she does a lot of work to raise awareness for the neighborhoods and communities affected by regentrification. In the song “Sledgehammer,” off her 2008 release, Shape Shifters, Invincible declares that we must “SMASH the walls of hate/end it for the next descendants” and then goes on to insist that “each generation must find its mission, fulfill or betray it/I know that ours is more than just being killers or players.” Invincible is making the argument that with the corruption and greed, society can’t wait for the government or depend on other politicians to make the world a better place. Instead, if we want a better tomorrow, we have to make it happen. This is much different from the common themes of “smoking trees” and “gettin’ money” found in much of the popular hip-hop out there.

“Friends Like These”—B!g Brown feat. Kam Moye

“How Many Mics”—The Fugees

H

“Detroit Summer”—Invincible and Wajeed

by Gus Navarro

“Everything is Everything”—Lauryn Hill

If you’re interested in listening to more Female MCs, here is a list of songs to get you started!

Rap Attack: Females in Hip Hop

11

Your Doctor’s First Time

by Paula Friedrich

H

olly Hopkins is soft-spoken and doesn’t wear a lot of makeup. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Nursing. And she guides Medical Students through their first breast and pelvic exams with her very own vagina, cervix, ovaries and breasts.

Hopkins is a Gynecological Teaching Associate (GTA).

GTAs take two or three medical students under their wing for two hours and teach them how to conduct pelvic and breast exams that are both medically sound, and comfortable for the patient.

“I thought that it sounded empowering and like a very good way to make a difference in education of medical students and nursing students,” said Hopkins. “And so I signed up.”

She’s been a GTA on and off since her sophomore year of nursing school and now also trains new GTAs for the University of Michigan Medical School.

“Our GTAs are giving ... the patients viewpoint,” said Stacie Buckler, the Standardized Patient Educator in charge of GTAs at the U of M Medical School. “[The GTAs are] making sure they know how to do [the exam] in a way that makes the women feel comfortable.”

Here’s what happens: The students enter what is essentially an examination

14

room complete with the generic decor and a chair covered with that paper that crinkles awkwardly every time you shift your weight a little bit.

The Director of U of M’s Standardized Patient Program, Kelly Poszywak said the students come in visibly nervous.

Their palms sweat as they stand waiting for what will be one of their first medical experiences with a living, breathing human person.

Up until now they’ve learned all of the “down-there” anatomy and some of the diseases that can affect the lady parts from lectures and textbooks, preparation booklets and instructional videos.

“Their lectures are generally very medicalized, very much about how to perform the assessment and what is normal and what is pathology,” said Hopkins. “So they miss sometimes a lot of the communication aspects of the examination which is just as important as the physical components.”

Before the instructional examination begins, they meet their new teacher and are able to discuss any questions or concerns, Hopkins said.

Then the GTA walks the students through the full examination, emphasizing that communication is key in making patients comfortable.

Hopkins said an important part of communication during a gynecological exam is “desexualizing the examination.”

“You’re not gonna say ‘I’m going to feel your breast’ but ‘I’m going to check or examine your breast tissue,’” said Hopkins. “When they’re reporting their findings of the examination [they are taught to say] ‘Everything appears normal and healthy as opposed to “Your breasts look good.’”

Students are also taught to put their patient in control of the examination, but to maintain eye contact in order to see nonverbal displays of discomfort.

After that first bit of training, the med students step out and the GTA changes. Then the students each get to practice a pelvic exam and a breast exam, Buckler said.

Hopkins said she thinks the biggest challenge for the GTA is “instilling confidence in the students.”

“They’re very nervous that they’re causing us discomfort or pain or that simply performing the exam is too intrusive which is kind of the point,” she said. “So making sure that they’re comfortable takes some time.”

But eventually students do become more comfortable.

“If they’re able to palpate an ovary their face just lights up because they actually get it,” said Hopkins. “It’s neat to see.”

“After (the exam) unanimously they come out and say ‘That wasn’t so bad. That was actually pretty easy,’” said Poszywak. “So they have big smiles. They kind of go from the deer in the headlights to ‘I can do this.’”

Poszywak said it’s important that the GTAs are there as teachers, rather than to revenge a previous bad experience with a physician and “set everybody straight.”

For Hopkins, it’s this teaching aspect that makes the job rewarding.

“I, as an individual, can only impact the health care of a set number of women, ultimately,” she said. “But by

THEN and NOw

A brief look at the history of the pelvic exam

pre 1970

Fledgling doctors learn exams on women who have been put under for a surgery.

pre 1970

Other med students practice pelvic exams on cadavers or plastic mannequins, none of which can give the student feedback.

Alternatively, students practice on peers.

continuing to train medical students and nurse practitioner students who are going to go out and you know perform these examinations however many times my reach is much more broad.”

Hopkins, who minored in Women’s Race and Ethnicity here at U of M, said women’s health has been a passion of hers for over a decade.

“When I was in high school I felt neither respected nor empowered by my physician,” she wrote in an email. “He was rather dismissive with every complaint I presented including providing what I now know to be incorrect diagnoses that caused great anxiety. I did not trust medicine and I did not trust my body. I became a GTA and a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) to prevent that from happening to other women and girls. Having negative thoughts about your body carries over to so many other facets of your life - and to know that a small dose of education and reassurance could have prevented my worry made me angry. That’s why I am passionate about women’s health: because we deserve to be respected, we deserve to be heard, and we deserve the best health care possible.”

And of course, the question we all secretly want to ask: “Does it ever get uncomfortable?”

She said its never bothered her, but she’s had some awkward run-ins.

“I have seen some of the students, particularly when I was in undergrad, like slink away if they passed me in the street or if they saw me in the bar,” she said. “Because we’d be out on the weekend and two days earlier they’d been looking at my cervix! They passed me getting a beer and that certainly seemed to make them uncomfortable, but I’m comfortable with what I do. I think it’s a good job to have.”

2013

1970

Hospitals begin questioning the ethical implications of practicing exams on anesthesized patients. They instead hire prostitutes to work as “models.”

1972

Dr. Robert Kretzschmar begins the first GTA program at the University of Iowa.

The majority of medical schools employ GTAs, but the practice is still not standard.

Want more info?

Take a look at “Cadavers, Dolls, and Prostitutes: Medical Pedagogy and the Pelvic Rehearsal” by Terri Kapsalis

15

The World of Fat Talk

by Bri Kovan

W

16

hen I think of elementary school girls, I want them to be singing Old McDonald at recess or playing in the sand box. I imagine them making flower crowns on the soccer field and holding hands in an 8-year-old jubilee.

Unfortunately, this rose-colored world isn’t quite reality.

Recent studies have shown that by age five, girls start to understand others’ judgments about them. At seven, they report showing their own body dissatisfaction. 81% of ten-year-old girls have already tried dieting at least once in order to lose weight. If their ten-year-old, pre-pubescent bodies seem fat, puberty will certainly come as a shock.

How does this teach them to react to, say, boobs? God forbid they’re cursed with hips.

In the college setting, these anxieties can further fester.

Journalist Eva Wiseman took an in-depth look at the relationship between young-adult women and body image.

In a June 2012 article for The Guardian, she discussed the layering of social anxieties related to weight. “The longterm effects, the piling on of pressures one by one, like a dangerous Jenga tower, means women’s … lives are being damaged, not by the way they look but by the way they feel about the way they look,” Wiseman said. “We hate how we look because of our new, complicated visual culture, because of a fashion industry that has not adapted, a media that forensically analyses women’s bodies and saturates our culture with body-change stories,” Wiseman said. “To be feminine, today means to hate your body.” Is this what our society has come to?

Dr. Phillippa Diedrichs, a research physiologist at the Center for Appearance Research in Bristol, studies body image and eating disorder prevention. “We’re socialised to be negative about our bodies,” Diedrichs said. Women are taught to feel bad for being too skinny, for being too fat, having small boobs, having big boobs, for having big noses, the list goes on. We live in this world. It’s a world of convoluted messages, anxiety, and self-degradation. Who’s created this measuring system anyways? Who sets this “normal” standard within a culture? And more importantly, why haven’t we ditched these judgments we know make us unhappy?

In my social circles, I find this self-degradation mainly manifests in discussions around weight. Diedrichs labels this language of scrutiny “fat talk.” It involves all the discussions I’ve heard and partaken in during meals, in the bathroom, and about everywhere in between.

“Look at my food baby – I ate way too much.”

“Have you lost weight? You look awesome!”

“The holidays are over … now time for that diet!”

“After three minutes of [this] fat talk,” Diedrichs says, “there’s evidence that our body dissatisfaction increases significantly.” When my friend comments on her “muffin top,” what’s the appropriate response? It’s easy to fall into the fat talk trap: “Oh stop, you look great! Just look at my thighs!”

Fat talk follows a common pattern: first, to validate the friend. But then I have to humble myself. Fat talk has trained me to self-degrade my own body in an effort to be modest and connect with others. But by acknowledging my own flaws, I submit to the convoluted language. Our generation has stumbled in to a twisted and dangerous world. The challenge becomes how to get out.

Body Peace Corps, a University Health Service sponsored student organization at the University of Michigan, addresses fat talk. The organization, founded in 2010, strives to prevent negative self-degradation and promote healthy body image on campus. In a campaign last fall, Body Peace Corps aimed to raise awareness of the negative effects of fat talk. They’ve distributed post cards around campus with information and ways to combat the destructive habit.

“Fat talk is everyday conversation that reinforces the belief that we would be happier if only our bodies were different,” the postcard reads. This is the same dissatisfaction being found in seven-year-old girls. It’s a language of thinking that we don’t seem to be able to escape from, and now it’s entering the conversation at earlier ages than ever.

New research is also being conducted on campus to further the discussion on body image. Six University schools and Ann Arbor organizations are collaborating to study the relationship between food and body image in college students. The project, with expected results by the end of the term, is the most in-depth of its kind.

As encouraging as this information sounds, we can’t rely on the University to change our understandings of body image. Beauty isn’t something solely found on the surface.

It delves into our inner worlds: our daily outlooks, sources of inspiration, and our inner glow. As a campus, we need to socialize ourselves to love our bodies and remind each other what it means to be beautiful.

by Colleen Moran and Lizzie Lane

T

his may be a Debbie Downer of an article, but when we hear that feminism is a dead or unnecessary movement, we can’t help but freak out. Feminism fights gender-based oppression in all forms, such as the following events that have taken place in the past year. Yes, this is 2013.

January 2013 An off-duty cop in D.C. shoots multiple times at three transgender prostitutes after they refused him their service. The cop received a hefty $150 fine and 100 hours of community service.

January 2013 A female state representative of New Mexico put forth a proposal that would force an impregnated rape victim to carry the pregnancy to full term, because abortion would be considered “tampering with evidence.” The victim would thus face up to three years in prison due to felony charges. The state rep holds that this proposal would help punish rapists who might coerce their victims into having an abortion.

January 2013 Authorities in Indonesia are pushing ahead with a proposal to ban women from straddling motorcycles.

“The curves of a woman’s body are more visible when straddling a motorbike than when sitting sideways with legs dangling,” said Suaidi Yahya, the mayor of Lhokseumawe.

January 2013 A political party in Rajasthan, India is rallying for a ban on uniform skirts in schools to “keep girl students away from men’s lustful gazes” (legislator Banwari Lal Singhal).

December 2013 An Indian woman boarded a bus with a male friend in Delhi, headed home after watching a movie, and was subsequently gang-raped by five men on the bus while the bus driver continued driving and eventually took part in the brutality. For what investigators have suspected to have been an hour, the men rape and penetrated her with a rusty L-shaped iron rod, eventually throwing both her and her companion out of the moving bus. By the time they reached emergency care, the woman was left with just pieces of her intestines left. She died days later. The six perpetrators currently face multiple charges including rape and murder. One of the perpetrator’s lawyers holds that the responsibility lies with the victims, who should not have been on the streets at night as anunmarried couple.

There’s hope In January in Bangalore, India, hundreds of activists gathered to protest the incident and rape culture, including men donned in skirts.

October 2012: Globally-renowned gynecologist Dr. Dennis Mukwege was attacked and his security guard killed by opponents of the clinic he founded for rape victims in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

October 2012: 15-year old Pakistani Malala Yousufzai, a student and activist for women’s education rights, was shot point-blank in the head by a Taliban gunman who boarded her school bus. She survived and courageously continues to speak out about the need for education for women.

September 2012 The 2010 suicide of St. Mary’s College freshman Lizzy Seeberg due to death threats after she reported a sexual assault by a member of the Notre Dame football team garners little attention from the media and slow action from the university itself. Fast forward to September 2012, when Heisman-seeking Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s girlfriend’s death made continual national headlines, and Te’O received unwavering support from the university and fans for his loss; but in January 2013, the death is reported to be a confusing fabrication.

September 2012 Female students in China shave their heads in protest of gender discrimination in admission policies of several Chinese universities, which required a higher test score for women than for men.

August 2012 Bic Pens releases a “Bic for Her” pen, complete with an “elegant design” and available in pink and purple.

There’s hope Check out the pen’s reviews on Amazon and Ellen Degeneres’ spot-on parody.

August 2012 The rape of an unconscious 16-year-old teenage girl is reported to police in Steubenville, Ohio.

By the end of August, two teenage boys were arrested and charged with rape. In December, the case was brought to national attention thanks to an activist hacker group called “Anonymous” who leaked cell phone pictures, tweets, and a video recording taped by the assaulters themselves. All this circulated the internet, revealing that many of the facts of the case had been covered up. The girl was reportedly dragged unconcious to multiple parties where she was sexually assaulted, peed on, and forced into sexually explicit positions while onlookers watched and cheered. Now in January 2013, the trial continues.

There’s hope The use of social media by activists helped raise awareness about the rape, the alleged cover-up of the rape, and of the men involved.

17

DIY: With Your Dazzling Inner You

by Lizzie Lane Period blood art: someone’s macabre idea of finger-painting? A vagary belonging to those who refer to their flow as “moon blood?�

An anomaly you would only hear about from Saturday Night Live’s “city correspondent� Stefon? The latest green eco-craft of the hipster generation? A simple expression of womanhood? I’ll leave that up to you. But for all you menstruating and curious women, painting with your period blood is an experience there’s no harm in trying.

You might even find it spiritual and empowering. The process does not need to end with a piece of art for display, but is more about reaching an understanding of your body, recognizing yourself as a part of nature, harnessing your inner power as woman, and materializing it through sacred art. Or rolling a lot of doobies. So in case your womanly hands are tingling with intrigue and creativity, counting down the days until your next cycle, some words of wisdom from a few (brave? bizarre?) artists themselves. t %P OPU UP DPMMFDU BOE TUPSF ZPVS QBJOU JO TQBHIFUUJ sauce jars, unless you add some essential oil such as lavender (Or, if you lack a nose and miss your sixthgrade science lab on bacterial growth). t %JWB$VQ *OTUBOU QBJOUJOH QBMFUUF t #MPPE ESJFT GBTU TP XPSL RVJDLMZ t 5SZ NJYJOH ZPVS FS QBJOU XJUI TPNF DMFBS BDSZMJD gloss or other material to help it spread over a larger surface.

On her blog “Moon Wisdom,� fellow “moon blood� lover DeAnna gives us a little encouragement on the subject: “Yes, years of societal taboos may spring to mind, disguised as resistance, aversion, or judgments. Listen to them.

Then inquire within: whose voices are talking to you? Can you find your authentic voice among all others? If not, where is it? Relax into a comfortable position, dive deep into your wellspring, and let your deepest guidance speak. That is the most worthy voice‌ “Baloney or beauty? Who knows, maybe you’ll end up with a refrigerator-worthy creation.

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Made with real menstrual blood!

VAJA2

Lecture: Auti Neurodive sm Speaks Back: rs Studies M ity and Disability arch 21, 2 013 1-4 PM, H en Rooms, M derson and Koess ler ichigan L eague

More Events Students for Choice Production of The Vagina Monologues March 21 8 PM Rackham Auditorium

s Lecture Serie Penny Stamps ing the ss ce Ac y: rr Lynda Ba Imaginary 13, 5:10 PM March 14, 20 eatre Michigan Th

Lecture: The New Sterilization: Incarceration as Population Policy in the United States, and Multimedia Exhibition Interrupted Life: Incarcerated Mothers in the United States March 20, 2013 4-6 PM, Lane Hall

enship: eering Citiz Lecture: Qu ugh Cartographies ro Thinking th of Sexuality 2013 March 19, ne Hall La , PM 5 4-

Michigan Women’s Basketball Feb. 28 vs. Northwestern @ Crisler Arena Students/Faculty/Staff: Free with Mcard General Admission $7 Big Ten Tournament March 7-10 Mgoblue.com for schedule

Origin of the Word

T

he first time the word “thong” was ever used was during the first century. Technically it was “thwong,” the Old English word for “cord.”

But who decided a piece of fabric up one’s butt crack was a comfortable, sexy, or practical item for women to wear? Truth is, the thong was created for men, not women. It was designed with the practical idea of holding up the male genitalia, a practice dating back to the 12th century. So as hilarious as banana hammocks are, they were the start of what we know as thongs for women today.

The exact history of the thong does not seem to be completely clear, but the modern thong’s first U.S appearance was apparently on nude dancers in New York City, to which the mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, insisted that they cover up a little more. The year was 1939, but the U.S was already behind in the thong revolution, as the scantily clad clothing option had been a popular swimsuit style in Brazil for some time.

In the 1970’s, South American

designer Rudi Gernreich popularized the thong in the U.S. He introduced many designs and styles, soon to make the underwear a staple in any teenage girl’s or hippie’s closet.

As the years went on, thongs continued to evolve in sexier ways.

Through the 70’s and 80’s, the style was to have the straps of the thong above the pant-line, so that everyone could get a hint of what lay underneath. In the 90’s, thongs became even sexier and lower cut, so that the only time someone could catch a glimpse of this hot article of clothing was when the ladies did a little bend-and-snap (I’m sure we’ve all seen that lovely view, whether we’d like to or not). Still to this day, the thong industry is continuing to grow, and the lacy and racy is here to stay.

Thongs used to be a grown-up article of clothing, and surely they still are, but they are also being targeted towards younger and younger women.

In fact, stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Argos, and Etam have been campaigning thongs to girls as young as seven years old. At this

rate, toddlers will be walking around asking, “Mommy, have you seen my thwong?”

-Samantha Hudson

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What is Woman?

by Aviva Marchione What is woman Is she warm flesh and skin and blood invisible hormones that dictate what goes where and when and how... …organic or imitation… and so it is. or a secret serum injected into the older sorts to maintain their freshness is she dirt grounds of brown soil embedded in the cracks of our hands and stuffed under our fingernails or dust that sits on a jar of the overpriced secret serum that hasn’t been touched in years how about the crunch of earth that comes with every step in the fall or is that sound masked by the click click of pointy shoes regardless. is she laughter I think she’s warm laughter Or maybe she’s something more shrill like shrieks of emotion that sometimes erupt unexpectedly sad and click click of pointy shoes and the sound of a dusty aged jar unscrewing she can be those sounds he can be those sounds woman is those sounds but I know better too woman is dirt and secret serum and imaginary cartoon hormones dancing around our veins… …indigenous or not though woman is laughter too warm and airy and soft and forgiving spiced with dirt or leaves or click click or cackling from the throat of a human with an adam’s apple fullness ha ha ha ha

20 Later, when you stand staring beyond the light into your own reflection all shaky and pale-Would it be that I could speak I would cradle you in your arms and tell you over and over again how lovely you are.

It’s only for a moment, after your ritual exorcism, when you come for absolution and scrape the bile from your lips, that I clearly see the Disney eyes you wanted the, shape of your dreams.

Or, the regularity of the confession that leaks from the sideways glace you send me furtively over the shoulder of the chalky skeleton you drag behind you like an anchor.

You think I don’t notice the vulgarity of silent retching you summon from the darkness hidden in the farthest stall— The World According to the Mirror in the Woman’s Basement Bathroom in the Library

by: Janet Navarro

The World According to the Mirror

Ivanna Happycooch is an anonymous outlet for anyone to tell their story. If you have an experience you would like to share, without having to let everyone on campus know your identity, please send an email to samstew@umich.edu.

HPV and Me

by Ivana Happyc!ch

T

his story begins when I gave head to a perfect stranger three years ago on his futon. I didn’t stay the night, and I can’t remember his name.

This story ends on a different frat star’s futon, but this time the brother doesn’t join me. Instead, he sits on his bed and patiently listens to my confession. I have HPV. For far too long, I was in denial about having HPV even though the tests that diagnosed me where all too real. I will never forget the procedure that burned the surface of my cervix to remove the precancerous cells. At first, it felt like any other gyno appointment. When was the last time you had sex? Do you smoke? How’s school going? My doctor’s smile helped me relax enough to hoist my legs onto the stirrups. First came the shot of anesthetic. The side effects played out exactly as my doctor predicted. My breath grew short, my heart raced, and there was a bitter taste in my mouth. Will this stop? I panicked. Reading my mind she said, this is normal. You’ll start feeling better in about 30 seconds. Sure enough, my breathing slowed, and the procedure was over. I called my mom on the drive back to Ann Arbor and started to cry. She said, it’s hard, but you’ll be fine. I believed her. She had HPV once, too.

School was in full swing and those three letters couldn’t be further from my mind. It was exciting being a senior.

I spent my days attending interesting lectures and my nights singing karaoke at the bar. But everything changed the night I met Cody. Life seemed to pick me up, turn me upside down, and shake everything out of me but the desire to be with him. My studies suffered, but my heart swelled.

He took my hand the night I sat on my bed, drunk and tearstained, and told him I had HPV. We had already had sex when I told him, and even though we used protection, he was most likely infected. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I repeated over and over. He wiped my tears and we fell into tortured sleep.

The issue was far from resolved, but we didn’t talk about my HPV status sober. While I harbored a lingering guilt, he fueled a growing fear that finally burned us to ashes one chilly morning. I was walking to an exam when I received the first text message: I think I got HPV from you. I stopped dead in my tracks. Guys don’t show symptoms, I respond. I haven’t slept in days, he says, I’m sick. What did you do to me? I can’t deal with this right now, I say, I have an exam in minutes. You lied, he says. I know, I’m sorry, we’ll talk after. I turned off my phone, buried it deep in my backpack, and concentrated on the exam. Afterwards, I dug it up and tried to tell him. HPV is the most common STD there is, you probably already had it. He was blinded

by fear, and I was wrung with guilt. Our texts turned venomous. Sitting in my next class, a giant lecture hall, I read his final message: I hope you get cervical cancer and die. I laughed because I couldn’t cry.

A couple of weeks ago, I revealed my secret to a different fraternity stranger I had met that very night. We hit one house party after another until it was 5 in the morning, but I couldn’t sleep. He stayed up with me, listening. I argued, “50% of sexually active people will get it sometime in their lifetime, men don’t show symptoms, and so many people don’t even know they have it. Why should I have to tell anyone?” He was compassionate yet firm, “Because it’s your responsibility. How would you feel if someone knowingly spread an STD to you?” In that moment, I knew he was right.

Despite the ubiquity of HPV, it remains my individual burden. Until I feel ready to confess before sex, I’m practicing abstinence. I still make mistakes, mistakes I know I can’t afford to make.

I’m not the only one with this burden. Those with HPV are a group that has been granted knowledge and responsibility. We must take care of ourselves, visit our doctors regularly, and tell our partners the truth, because we are strong enough to take rejection and know the right person will listen.

21

22

Sources Cover,

Illustrated by Erica McTurk

list of Editors,

Photo by Grace Ludmer

Bathroom Confessional ,

Illustrations by Ashley Boudrie

Damn, Why Am I wearing a mini skirt?, pg. 2,

Illustration by Stephanie O’neil

Woman of the month , pg. 3,

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University of Michigan Law School. Web. 11 Dec, 2012.

“Catharine Mackinnon” Wikipedia.

Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 11 Dec, 2012.

Mackinnon, Catherine. “Privacy v.

Equality: Beyond Roe v. Wade,” In Application of Feminist Legal Theory to Women’s Lives: Sex Violence, Work, and Reproduction (1996).

Mackinnon, Catherine. Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination. Yale University Press, 1979. Print.

Photo: http://static.thedartmouth. com/2009/10/09/photos/

Shit I’m afraid to ask my doctor, pg. 4,

Chang, Louise. “Vaginoplasty and Labiaplasty.” Web. Geb 25, 2011. http:// women.webmd.com/vaginoplasty-andlabiaplasty-procedures?page=2 Illustrations by Ashley Boudrie

Homeade Beauty, pg.5,

Patel, Arti, Huffington Post, 04/18/12, http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/18/ homemade-beauty-ideas_n_1434330. html#s837752 Adams, Gryphon, Livestrong, 06/14/11, http://www.livestrong.com/article/327099natural-skincare-remedies/ Illustrations by Erica McTurk Layout by Paula Friedrich

Gender Bias in the Workplace, pg. 8, Illustrations by Erica McTurk Who’s Virginity is it Anway, pg. 9,

Fletcher, Judith, and Bonnie Maclachlan, eds.

Virginity Revisited: Configurations of the Unpossessed Body. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2007. Ebrary. Web. 6 Oct. 2012.

Oppenheimer, Mark. “‘Purity Balls’ Get Attention, But Might Not Be All They Claim.”

The New York Times, June-July 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. (nytimes.com) Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves. New York: Shocken, 1975. Print.

Sissa, Giulia. Greek Virginity. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1990. Print.

Illustrations by Ashley Boudrie

An apple a day, pg. 10,

http://www.plannedparenthood. org/health-center/centerDetails. asp?f=3296&a=90630&v=details uhs.umich.edu Layout and Photos by Paula Friedrich

Rap Attack: Females in Hip Hop, pg. 11,

Nottingham, Kevin. “Artist Spotlight: Boog Brown.” September 28, 2010. Web. Rapgenius.com. “Invincible: Sledgehammer Lyrics.” 2013. Web. Illustrations by Margaret Hitch

Period Blood Art, pg. 18, Illustrations by Ashley Boudrie VAJA2, pg. 19,

Photos by Lizzie Lane and Erica McTurk

Origin of the Word, pg. 19,

Girlishh. “The Origin of the Thong.” Web. March 18, 2009. http://www.girlishh.com/ the-origin-of-the-thong/ Dictionary.com. 2013. http://dictionary. reference.com/browse/thong Photo by Erica McTurk

The World According to the Mirror pg. 20, Illustrations by Lyz Luidens

Ivana Happycooch, pg. 21, Illustrations by Grace Ludmer Power for you, pg. 22,

Illustrations by Rachel Cross

Sponsors

My Sext, pg. 12-13,

Illustrations by Margaret Hitch

Your Doctor’s First Time, pg. 14-15, Illustrations by Stephanie O’Neil Layout by Paula Friedrich The World of Fat Talk, pg. 16,

Wiseman, Eva. “Uncomfortable in Our Skin: The Body Image Report.” June 10, 2012. Web.

Student Government

Illustrations by Kit Trowbridge

Is this 2013?, pg. 17,

The Hindu. “Ban skirts in schools, says Rajasthan MLA.” Web Dec 31, 2012. Web. George, Nirmala. “India Bus Gang Rape: Outrage Spreads Over Public Sexual Assault.” Web Dec 19, 2012. Web. Kane, Alex. “Drunk D.C. Cop Gets Off Easy After Shooting 3 Transgender Women.” Web Jan 11, 2013. Web. Macur, Juliet, and Nate Schweber. “Rape Case Unfolds on Web and Splits City.” Web Dec 16, 2012. Web. Hassan, Nurdin. “Aceh Mayor’s Ban on Straddling Motorcycles Triggers Criticism.”

Web Jan 3, 2013.Web. Alafouzos, Maria. “Malala Yousufzai, Pakistani Girl Shot by Taliban.” Web Jan 30, 2013. Web. Bullock, Brittney. “GOP Rep’s Rape-Abortion Law Loses Sight of Rape Victims.” Web Jan 30, 2013. Web. Illustrations by Erica McTurk

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For I conclude that the enemy is not

lipstick, but guilt itself; that we deserve lipstick, if we want it,

and free speech; we deserve to be sexual

and serious.

-Naomi Wolf