Follow the money...even during SAAM

Hat tip to on of my very favorite bloggers: Angry Black Bitch who was so right on with her blog title for Blog for Fair Pay Day that I had to steal it. Except she didn't say that part about Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

I think it's appropriate that yesterday was Fair Pay Day - the day in 2008 when the average woman's wages finally catch up with what the average man earned in 2007.

Women in the United States earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.

African-American women earn 63 cents and Latinas earn 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

As Angry Black Bitch would say: Blink.

That Fair Pay Day was yesterday is appropriate to me because I went downtown and watched the Allies Against Rape Culture screening of Dreamworlds 3. There was a good turn out and good discussion. Thanks for participating in SAAM, AARC!

I will say (in case you haven't seen it)it was pretty traumatic to have to sit in front of relentless images of objectification and worse for an hour BUT what really caught me was his analysis of "following the money" of mainstream music video production. You know, the top guys at Sony, Warner Brothers, etc. Hmmm...do I need to say what demographic these corporate leaders fall into?

Wink. Probably not, considering my audience. If you are confused, just go back to what I posted up front and follow the money......

And then, after de-constructing video after video after video into about 4 basic elements, the director, Sut Jhally made an off-hand comment in the narration about lack of creativity, the sheer lack of creativity in the (how many? 100s?) of videos he had dissected.

And then I felt a little less helpless and a little more empowered. And maybe, just a little bit evil as I thought of the fact that these white men are old and they are going to die and I hope that a person with some cultural competency takes their place. Simple as that.

Please take action and urge the Senate to pass the Fair Pay Restoration Act so that we don't have to wait until all those boring old white men kick the bucket! This act will help women faced with pay discrimination take action against their employer.

SAAM Activism

A big blog thanks goes to Feministing for being so on top of everything.

I just read this article: Another military contractor rape *before you click - trigger warning*

Essentially, another woman working for a US defense contractor in Iraq has come forward as a survivor of a terrible, terrible sexual assault (too many details in the article. sigh.) perpetrated on her by her male coworkers.

The survivor was told to be quiet about it by superiors and stayed quiet for fear that more violence would be perpetrated against her.

Feministing is asking us to do a few things to support this survivor and the many, many survivors who are speaking up after working for defense contractors in Iraq, which I think is just so smart of the Feministing folk and it makes me like them all the more.

So, PWCL folks:

Take Action! Pressure the Department of State and Department of Defense to take steps to protect US contractors; urge them to respond to the concerns raised by Rep. Louise Slaughter.

This is how I feel today...

Earlier this week I saw this picture on CuteOverload (only one of my most favorite sites, ever) and all I could think was, "oh puppy... I can relate."

I personally had a long week at work. Linda and I have recently started working on, what I think will be, our biggest fund raising event ever for the year. Granted, its not until September, but I'm still stressing over every little detail. Hey, it comes with the territory of being a perfectionist. On top of stressing about the event we also had a plethora of computer problems, last minute projects, and of course, crisis calls coming into the office. To say I was tuckered out would be an understatement.

Today I received a phone call from a company taking a survey, and one of the questions was about my place of employment. When I told the person on the phone that I work for PWCL, they told me that the crisis line helped their family get through a domestic violence crisis in the past, and then the interviewer thanked me for doing the work I do.

That was all it took for me to feel less stressed and more hopeful. Rebecca, our wonderful ED, spoke on a panel at International Women's Day a couple weeks ago about the importance of keeping the hope of ending domestic and sexual violence as we continue to do our work at PWCL. Hearing this person thank me, someone who they probably didn't even talk to on the crisis line, really gave me a jolt of hope again.

So as I sit here with wet hair in my pajamas, I want to pass on the news to all of my lovely coworkers that we're making a difference, despite sometimes feeling like there is little momentum of change happening. Since we are a crisis line, we don't often hear how and when we've helped someone, so I think its important to pass on the information when we do find out.

Its interesting how what one person says to you can make your whole day. Thanks random phone interviewer!

Join Us at Portland International Women's Day

Do you often think to yourself, "I wish I could be at an event with over 2,000 people honoring women and the work they do?" Do you often want to attend women's workshops, panels, hear women musicians and speakers, and buy things from women vendors??

If so, PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY is happening THIS SUNDAY (!) at Portland State University in the Smith Center Ballroom from 2p - 8p. PWCL will be there as a community tabling partner, and our very own ED Rebecca Peatow Nickels will be on the "Womening Working for the Community Panel". Hey, I'll even be there facilitating the panel. Come check out my facilitatin' skills.

Other exciting things happening at PIWD 2008:

• Blubird (Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls band who also performed at PWCL's Safety In Numbers 2007)
• Liv Warfield performance
• The Alphabetix performance
• Performance by Oregonian columnist S Renee Mitchell
• Appearance by Hip Mama author Ariel Gore
• Workshops
• Table and food vendors

I'm really excited about this event... mostly because two of the raddest chicks in activism have been chairing this year. So here's a shout out to fellow PWCL blogger Katie C. and Portland State Women's Resource Center all-star staffer Zena P. I can't wait for Sunday!

Portland International Women's Day
www.piwd.org
Sunday, March 9
2:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Portland State University Smith Center Ballroom
1825 SW Broadway

A $3 donation is requested at the door

Awesome to the 10th

One of my earliest experiences of learning about feminism took place while volunteering at the Vagina Monologues at the University of Oregon. Never before had I heard throngs of women yelling the word vagina in a public sphere (and I can't say I heard it much in the private, either). Viewing the V-Monologues as well as reading the novel really helped me to define what feminism is in my life, and it also gave me a better idea of how sexual and domestic violence affect women throughout the world.

Thanks to an advocate at a sister agency, I read this letter written by the fantastic Eve Ensler online last night. Eve gears up for V-Day to the 10th which will be held in the New Orleans SuperDome, which many know as a place where sexual assaults happened at an alarming rate during the chaos of Hurricane Katrina. This year will be the 10th anniversary celebration of a call to action against violence that Eve started years ago by conducting private interviews with women about their relationships to their vaginas. For me, and I'm sure many other folks, the Vagina Monologues hold a special place in my heart.

After reading the above letter I looked further into the V-day in New Orleans in April. Loads of celebrities from Oprah to Glenn Close will be in attendance at the SuperDome. For me, it seems amazing that so many people in the public eye will be attending this event. So, thank you to that lovely advocate who brought Eve's letter to my attention. I hope everyone will take a few minutes out of their day to read it, and I hope you all attend a local showing of the Vagina Monologues to celebrate 10 years of activism around violence against women.

Damn, Eve Ensler helps me be proud to be a woman.